2012 Raw Foods Challenge, Day 6

Day 6. I had a smoothie with fruit & greens for breakfast. Raw trek mix, fruit & honey for lunch, and raw guacamole with Brad's Sun Dried Tomato Chips. I don't really like these chips on their own, but with the right pairing the flavor explodes. They are really good with guacamole.




Raw Guacamole

Ingredients
1 avocado
juice from 1/2 fresh lime
lemon pepper
1 tablespoon chopped onion (optional)
dash of sea salt (optional)

Mash everything together until smooth & creamy. Serves 1-2.

2012 Raw Foods Challenge, Day 5

Day 5. I was not very hungry today. Not sure why. But I felt satisfied by all that I did eat, and when I broke down the nutritional information for today, I was a little low on protein but otherwise good.

Breakfast was kombucha and some clementines.






For lunch, I ate this:



For dinner I had leftover salad, some Go Raw Trek Mix, a bit more cheese & honey, and this smoothie:


Ingredients
1 banana
handful of frozen strawberries
handful of frozen blueberries
1 cup of spinach
1 container of TJ's mango puree
1 tbs. of ground flaxseed
coconut water (less water='soft serve style' more water='drinkable')
pomegranate seeds

Blend everything except for the pomegranate seeds. Pour into glass & sprinkle seeds on top.

2012 Raw Foods Challenge, Day 4

Day four started with oatmeal. Soaked oats are not at all like cooked oatmeal that's cold. When you eat cooked oatmeal when it's cold, it's usually a solid lump. Raw soaked oatmeal's texture is much more like hot oatmeal. But you need to plan ahead on this one for it to turn out right.



Ingredients:

1/4 cup of oatmeal
1/2 cup of water
dash of cinnamon
raw honey to taste
fresh or dried berries


1 day before you want to eat it, mix the oatmeal, water and cinnamon. When blended, put into the fridge. Give it a stir once or twice over the next 24 hours. The next morning add the berries & eat!


For lunch I had almonds, clementines, honeycomb, and cheese.
And for dinner I made a salad:


Ingredients:
about 2 cups of spinach
lemon-cashew dressing (See: the "pasta sauce" recipe from Day 3's dinner)
handful of raspberries
handful of blueberries
carrot
grape tomatoes


Toss everything together & coat with the lemon-cashew dressing.

2012 Raw Foods Challenge, Day 3

Day 3. I honestly was not sure I would make it this far, and I thought it would be a bit more difficult than it has been. I don't plan on keeping a totally raw diet after this, but it has been an interesting undertaking so far & I haven't really felt cravings, hunger, or lack of energy like I thought I might.



Breakfast was clementines, apple slices, raw cheddar cheese, honeycomb and almonds. Super easy & a delicious sweet start to the day.





For lunch I had leftover salad & raspberry chia kombucha. If you've never had kombucha, it is definitely an acquired taste. The first time I bought a bottle I thought it had gone bad. However, it grew on me when I was under the weather once & discovered how quickly I felt better after drinking some--it's filled with B vitamins & probiotics.





For a mid-afternoon snack I had some raw dark chocolate & leafy kale chips.



For dinner I made some raw "creamy pasta."



Ingredients:

1 carrot
1 zucchini
a handful of grape tomatoes
about 1 cup of raw cashews
Juice of 1 lemon
about 1/4 cup nutritional yeast
water as needed
lemon pepper
chipotle pepper



Combine the cashews with nutritional yeast, lemon juice & water. Blend until smooth.
Add lemon pepper to taste.
Grate the carrot & the zucchini into strips.
Pour the sauce over it & top with tomatoes & chipolte pepper.

2012 Raw Foods Challenge, Day 2

Day 2 of the Raw Foods Challenge. I started the day with a delicious smoothie. I combined 1 cara cara orange, some frozen strawberries, frozen blueberries, ground flaxseeds, a handful of spinach, and some coconut water. I was pleasantly surprised at how filling it was, not to mention yummy.








For lunch I had a raw pumpkin bar & some Brad's Raw Kale (the addictive snack that lead me to this challenge to begin with). The pumpkin bar was only so-so but handy to eat on the go.






For dinner I made a Berry Spinach Salad. I really love putting fruit into my salads. This one turned out rather well.


Ingredients:

About 4 cups of spinach
1/4 cup of Trader Joe's Go Raw Trek Mix
1 clementine
a handful of raspberries
a handful of blueberries
a handful of pomegranate seeds
leftover tomato-avocado salad (or just some avocado & some tomatoes)
Idiazabal cheese, made from raw sheep's milk





Mix everything together & eat!

Recipe Video: Avocado Tomato Salad

This is Brunch Philly's first video recipe. I tried the salad with raw onions this time, but realized that it's better without them.

2012 Raw Foods Challenge, Day 1

Happy New Year! I decided to start this year with a challenge.

Specifically, Brad's Raw Chips 7 Day Raw Foods Challenge .

I always figured that if I would ever try a raw foods diet it would be in the middle of summer, but today marks day one of the seven day challenge. Each day I'm going to be writing about the experience and posting recipes and photos.





Today I started breakfast with a delicious fresh grapefruit, something I love in the mornings anyway so it was hardly a challenge. Preparing it is super easy with a grapefruit knife.









For lunch, I had an apple, a handful of steam-pasteurized almonds, a slice of Amish raw milk cheddar cheese with microbial rennet, and a piece of somewhat local raw honeycomb.







Despite what you might think, honeycomb is totally edible and quite tasty when paired with nuts, fruit & cheese!




For dinner I'm making one of my summer favorites, Tomato Avocado salad (with the onion and fresh squeezed lemon pictured below). However, I think I may have messed up a little bit. My recipe includes balsamic vinegar, which I thought was raw, but after a quick search on the internet it seems most (if not all) are not. Oops! Hopefully that won't disqualify me, but all in all this has been a pretty raw day.



Another new thing for Brunch Philly this year, I'm going to be posting occasional recipe videos. The first one will appear later today and is for tonight's dinner, Tomato Avocado Salad. Stay tuned!