Raw Food Recipes that are Fabulous!!!

As part of my Day Zero Project, I did a raw foods detox! I felt sooooo good while I was doing it and it is actually not so restrictive as one may think! I have never felt more energized before but after I stopped, I immediately went back to being exhausted so Michael and I are going to try are very hardest to follow a mostly raw foods diet. You can still eat meat and eggs but only cooked very simply. However, you do not cook vegetables or fruits as heating these above 120 F makes all the healthy nutrients that fruits and veggies are all about break down and thus, you lose much of the benefits. And for all of you, who may think "But, Bri, I love pie and thusly, I cannot be a raw foodie," I have news for you....Yes, you can eat pie but in a fabulously healthy way. Simply follow the recipes below. But a bit more before I give you the yummy dishes!

One slight negative is that most of the food you eat must be prepared at home, which is slightly hard as a student/law office assistant/museum lady/bollywood dancer, however, I found that it was doable and on mornings when I was really pressed for time, I ate a banana for breakfast and put some spinich, tomatoes, and vinegarette in a zippy bag and had that for lunch. So there are easy ways to do this to! Also, if you live in a dorm, this works phenomenally! Most the food does not have to be cooked and recipes that have an element of cooking use a dehydrator, which are small appliances you can simply plug in and then put away. Some of the following recipes require that and some don't. Basically, if you have a blender, food processor, dehydrator, and a juicer, then you are set, which works great for those without kitchens or who are to busy to stand over the oven cooking all day. You might have to buy a few new appliances but they aren't too pricy and are well worth it. You will notice that many of the recipes call for ingredients that may seem unusual, but look around your local store or organic market and they are fairly easy to find! So I am posting two recipes for raw drinks and two for raw desserts. I will post breakfast, lunch, and dinner recipes later! Ok, here they are:

Drinks
Omega 3 Blueberry Banana Blast
Ingredients:
1 cup orange juice (preferebly home juiced or if store bought, no sugar added)
1 cup blueberries
1-2 bananas, peeled
2 tablespoons flax seed, ground

Directions:
Blend everything together until smooth!

Side notes: I like to freeze the fruit first to make this more slushy. And this is also a way yummier way to get your omega 3's than fish oil!

Light and Tangy Lemonade
Ingredients:
1/2 blender of water
2-3 lemons juiced
1/4 cup raw agave necter, or to taste

Directions:
1. Sqeeze the juice out of your lemons being sure to remove seeds
2. Blend water with lemon juice
3. Add agave, more or less than directed according to taste

Side notes: SOOOOO good! And for those of you who don't know about agave, it is inexpensive, delicious, and a naturally low carb/low calorie sweetner. So much better for you than artificial sweeteners.

Desserts-for most of these you have to have a blender, unless you are patient enough to mash things with a spoon in a bowl
Pinapple and Mint Sorbet
Ingredients:
1 3/4 cups of pinapple juice (made at home or no sugar added from the store)
1/4 cup of agave
1 tablespoon of mint leaves, finely chopped

Directions:
1. Pour mixture into icecube trays and freeze.
2. Blend in your blender until you get a sorbet texture or wait for them to thaw a little and mash them in a bowl. Delish!

Easy Apple Pie
Ingredients:
Crust:
2 cups sunflower seeds
1 cup of raisins, soaked in water for a couple hours
1/2 apple

Filling:
6 apples
8 dates (pitted and soaked in water for a couple hours)
1/2 cup currants or raisins
1/2 lemon juiced
1 teaspoon cinnomon

Directions:
1. Blend all the crust ingredients in a food processor and form into a pie pan
2. In a food processor, blend 2 apples with the dates until smooth
3. Pour apple/date mixture into a bowl and set aside
4. In the food processor, pulse chop 4 apples into small pieces
5. Add apple bits into apple/date mixture
6. Add the cinnomon, lemon juice, and currants/raisins to the apple/date mixture and mix well
7. Pour the filling into the pie crust and let stand out for at least one hour or until it is thickened to your liking

Side notes: This may sound wierd, but it is wonderful and I bet no one will ever guess it isn't baked!

So there you have it, ridiculously healthy pie with very little prep time and other lovely recipes! Let me know if you try any of these and what your take on them is!

Love!