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?