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Monday, August 4, 2008

Raw Food Monday

Today is the first Monday in August, and you all know what that means. Well, maybe you don't. It's time for my monthly raw food detox day. I started the morning with a Orange Strawberry Banana Smoothie:


I juiced two oranges in my Jack Lalanne and blended the juice with a frozen banana, a handful of frozen strawberries, 1/4 cup raw oats, and a tablespoon of ground flax seed. It was tasty and held me through until about 10 a.m. when my tummy started growling like crazy.

At that point, I ate an apricot, some grapes, and few walnuts. But I was still starving come noon when I shoveled in this Huge Green Salad with Inner Light Cucumber Dressing:


The dressing recipe (cucumbers, macadamia nuts, garlic, lemon juice) came from Vegan Fusion, an awesome cookbook that's about half raw. The salad was filling, but only for about an hour. I'm used to salads piled high with fattening extras, like tofu, veggie bacon bits, croutons, vegan cheese. So the plain veggies didn't do much to keep my belly full. I stopped for a wheatgrass shot at Smooth Moves smoothie shop after lunch, just because it seemed appropriate.

I had to go to a Shelby County Commission meeting after lunch ... for work. And I wisely stuffed a bag of nuts, a bag of grapes, and an Active Greens Organic Food Bar (they're 90% raw but who's counting) in my purse. Over the course of the three hours I sat in that meeting, I consumed all of that. And I was still starving.

After work, I whisked together this Creamy Carrot Ginger Bisque from last month's Vegetarian Times:


This was SO delicious and simple. Just blend carrot juice, avocado, garlic, ginger, lime juice, soaked nuts (I used cashews instead of the pine nuts called for in the recipe), and cumin.

On the side, I had Raw Mashed "Potatoes":


It's really raw cauliflower blended with soaked cashews, olive oil, garlic, salt, and pepper. This stuff was also awesome. I found the recipe online, but it's so simple I have to share it.

Raw Mashed "Potatoes"
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1 small cauliflower, cut into small pieces
2/3 cup cashews, soaked for half an hour
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1-2 cloves garlic

Blend the cashews in a food processor. Add cauliflower and blend until it forms course crumbs. Add the olive oil and garlic and blend again until combined. Add salt and pepper to taste.


This meal actually kept me full for several hours. In the future when I do these detoxes, I think I need to eat more hearty food during the day. Also, I always feel super tired on these detox days. I blame the lack of coffee (I do allow myself to have green tea because I will DIE with no caffeine). Any suggestions?

14 comments:

  1. Hey Bianca! Would you mind sharing that cucumber dressing recipe with me? I don't have the book and I've been looking for a cucumber dressing for so long! Thanks. :)

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  2. The salad looks great but perhaps you need some raw crackers to round things out. When I do a raw day I eat tons of crackers, apples and pears too - that seems to really help. The smoothie looked delicious too. I totally need a smoothie right now.

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  3. The bisque and "potatoes" look so good! I recently made a raw corn soup with cashews, but it didn't require soaking them. Is soaking supposed to help with digestion?

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  4. Everything you ate during your raw day looked positively scrumptious! I didn't do a raw day yesterday, but I was hungry all day long, too. Maybe it was something in the air?? :-)

    I was on a site where some people made suggestions for raw alternatives to coffee. Several suggested rooibos tea or Teeccino. Another suggestion was drinking beverages made from cacao or maca.

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  5. That IS a big salad, wowsa!

    And the mashed "potatoes" what a creative idea!

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  6. mmmmmmmmmm! i love your raw day - everything looks so fresh and colorful and glorious! Vegan Fusion - i have to check out that book! and i've seen the raw mashed "potatoes" before but been too intimidated to try them! i think i need to give them a shot after your review. thanks for the recipe, Bianca!

    i think that your salad and the bisque look super stellar! i hear ya the fact that a salad without all the good fats on there won't keep you full for long. i find the same thing to hold true for me, too!

    i need to stop being a lazy bones and do a raw day some time! your pictures of all the yummies are really inspiring!

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  7. Oooh, that Orange-Strawberry-Banana Smoothie, the salad, and the cauliflower dish look ESPECIALLY enticing - yum!

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  8. The raw carrot ginger bisque looks amazing!

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  9. yes! raw food definitely doesn't fill me up for too long either.
    but I'd still happily go for the raw mashed "potatoes" thing you've got going on here.

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  10. The only reason why I haven't started my "Raw Mondays" is the coffee. I just can't live without it...

    Great post and everything looks delicious. Awesome ideas for light meals.

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  11. Thank you so much, but I found it online, so you're off the hook! I hope you have a great day!

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  12. hi
    I will def try this raw thing for a day.
    I think I will feel a bit drained but I am not closed minded to raw. I def will never go raw if I can help it but it is a good detox from the cooked stuff.
    Thanks for an inspirational post on raw foodism!

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  13. ALL this Raw food looks great !
    I never hear about raw day diet..in France we have Fasting Day (or week), then you can only drink veggie broth...

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  14. Raw cauliflower WILL keep you full for a while :) The raw mashed potatoes sound really good and I'll have to try that sometime - alot healthier than the starchy mashed potatoes.

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