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This delicious soup is creamy, satisfying and totally RAW! Admittedly, it would probably make a better mid-summer’s snack as opposed to lunch on a 10 degree day in January (thank you, New England). Maybe it was a bit of wishful thinking on my part?
If you don’t have a juicer, you can used pasteurized/bottled/store-bought carrot juice …. but the final product won’t be raw, of course.
Ingredients:
- 2 avocados
- 1 mango, chopped
- about 1 1/4 cup of fresh carrot juice — more or less according to how thick or thin you want the soup to be.
- a small handful of fresh basil leaves
- a small handful of fresh mint leaves
- 1 jalapeno pepper
- 1/2 inch chunk of ginger root, peeled
- 1 T (more or less) flaxseed oil
- something crunch for garnish (I used red bell peppers)
- sea salt to taste
To make:
- Run the ginger root through a food processor to mince.
- Add all other ingredients EXCEPT carrot juice (and red bell pepper/crunch garnish) to the food processor and process until well combined — however, save a bit of the mango and avocado for additional garnish, if desired.
- Slowly add in the carrot juice until an even consistency is achieved.
- Garnish with mango, avocado and red bell pepper …. and enjoy!
I really had no intention of posting this dish. If I did, I would have tried to make it look better. Basically it came about because of my recent obsession with soaking and sprouting nuts, seeds and legumes, which has been an interesting mix of successes and failures.
I’ve had a bag of wild rice sitting around in my pantry for some time, but I’ve always thought wild rice has a strange taste to it, so it was hard to get excited about it. I decided to soak the rice, just for kicks. I did this for about two days, and then on a (hungry) whim threw together this salad, which was actually really, really tasty – and totally raw. For some reason it just works together. I didn’t take measurements, so this is approximate, and should serve about 2.
Ingredients for the salad:
- wild rice, soaked in filtered water for 2 days or until soft and chewy (change water once a day)
- fresh, raw colorful vegetables (I used carrots, tomatoes, red bell pepper and cucumber
- a bed of greens (I used baby spinach leaves and arugala)
Ingredients for the dressing:
- juice of one lemon
- pinch of dried tarragon (this was totally random, I just bought it for kicks because I’ve never used it; any old dried herb — or none at all — would be just as fine)
- about 2 fistfuls of fresh parsley
- some flaxseed oil, maybe a T or
- a small chunk of fresh ginger, minced
- about a T or so of raw apple cider vinegar (use more lemon juice if you can’t find it)
- about 1 tsp of raw honey
- sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
To make:
- Mix together the rice and veggies in a bowl.
- Make the dressing: I used my handy new immersion blender to make the dressing. It came with a cup that the blender fits neatly into, which is perfect for making dressings – just put all the dressing ingredients in there and blend away. If you don’t have one, I might suggest chopping the parsley very finely (a regular food processor works great for this) and mixing it in with the rice and veggies, then just whisk together the remaining dressing ingredients.
- Pour dressing over rice and veggies and mix.
- Serve over bed of greens.
A few months ago, after reading up on the many benefits of consuming fresh fruit and vegetable juices, I purchased the cheapest respectable juicer I could find: the Breville Compact Juice Fountain. Since then, I’ve been *meaning* to try out some green juice concoctions, those enzyme and nutrient rich beverages so highly revered by the raw food movement. According to many, green juice is where it’s at. I’ve even heard it described as “life-changing.” But, I have to admit that I was so enthralled with making frothy fresh OJ and grapefruit juice in the morning that I didn’t get around to attempting the green stuff until today. This was my loss. Green juice is amazing. I have had unusually high energy all day long, for no other explicable reason. Coincidence? Perhaps, but I’m hooked nonetheless.
By the way, note that once you begin drinking fresh juices, you will find it hard to return to the pasteurized, bottled varieties (i.e., essentially any juice you buy at the grocery store or in a bottle or carton). First of all, fresh juices just taste a million times better. But more importantly, pasteurization destroys the enzymes in fresh juice, which is what makes it so healthful. These enzymes detox and cleanse at the cellular level, and they are key for digestion. Also, juicing the greens removes the fiber, which allows for easier and faster absorption of nutrients.
I made this from what I had on hand; I added in the apple, ginger, lemon, etc. to spice it up and give it a more palatable lemonade-y taste. The result was somewhere in the neighborhood of 16 ounces of juice.
Ingredients (use organic if possible!):
- about 7 or 8 stalks of kale
- one carrot
- 1/2 cucumber
- 1 honey crisp apple
- 1 lemon
- tiny chunk of ginger (like half the size of my pinky nail)
To make:
- Throw it all in your juicer according to directions and behold the frothy green glory. Consume immediately.
After what I affectionately refer to as my “European Summer of Self-Indulgence,” I have been attempting to clean house with a raw food kick. The raw food movement has always intrigued me. But every time I crack open a raw food recipe book, I am ultimately scared away by the unfamiliar, expensive, and/or time consuming appliances and processes such as food dehydrators, juicers, Vita-Mix blenders (the ones that will apparently puree rocks) and, the most scary thing of all — sprouting.
If you share my raw food fears, take heart. It’s quick and easy to whip up some great raw food recipes without a major investment of time or money. While eating 100% raw is intimidating (and for many of us, impossible), the benefits of raw, living foods can be easily experienced just by incorporating more raw food meals into your diet. Raw fruits, vegetables, seeds and nuts are a high vibration food — the ultimate whole food, completely unprocessed. Undamaged by heat, which changes the chemical structure of food, they are rich in vitamins, minerals, oxygen, and enzymes. Eating raw foods is a gift to your digestive system and allows you instantly access the energy of what you eat. Since I’ve made an effort to incorporate more raw and living foods into my diet, I’ve experienced a very noticeable increase in energy and quite welcome feeling of lightness. And I still haven’t attempted to sprout a thing — although I must admit my curiosity is starting to get the better of me . . . stay tuned for possible forthcoming adventures in sprouting.
I have enjoyed a bowl of this gazpacho pretty much every day since I first made it about a month ago — no kidding. It’s great as a meal or refreshing snack. I like to make it with colorful heirloom tomatoes, but any fresh, juicy tomato will do. The addition of fresh raw corn was pleasant surprise. I grew up in Indiana, surrounded by corn fields, and corn was always a rather boring and pedestrian starchy vegetable that I typically avoided. But when cut fresh off the cob, it adds a great crunchy sweetness to the gazpacho — although any crunchy fresh vegetable can provide the same effect. Gazpacho is often made with garlic, but raw garlic is sometimes a little too much for me to handle, so I don’t use it. Feel free to add it in for an additional flavor boost.
Serves 2.
Ingredients for the soup:
- about one pound of heirloom tomatoes, coarsely chopped
- one medium to large cucumber, peeled and coarsely chopped
- about 1 T of cold expeller pressed extra virgin olive oil (or more, to taste)
- a fistful of fresh basil leaves
- about a cup of a coarsely chopped “filler” vegetable - whatever you have on hand (I like to use carrots or red or orange bell peppers)
- pinch of cayenne pepper to taste
- sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
For the garnish:
- one avocado, chopped
- fresh corn from one cob
- optional: shredded veggies such as carrots
To make:
- Combine all ingredients in a food processor until well mixed.
- Top with garnish and serve
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