Tuesday, September 2, 2008

Best Raw Food Day Ever!

I do a raw food detox on the first Monday of every month, but since that was Labor Day, I pushed the cleanse off until Tuesday. Usually when I do the detox, I'm super hungry all day and I tend to crash around 3 p.m. I've got low energy (from the lack of caffeine, I'm sure), and by the time raw dinner rolls around, I'm craving cooked food like a mofo.

But today was different. I think I did something right this time. For breakfast, I whipped up some Raw Cinnamon Apple Cereal with Raw Almond Milk:

The recipe came from Alive in 5: Raw Gourmet Meals in Five Minutes by Angela Elliot. First, I had to make the almond milk using soaked almonds, water, vanilla, and agave in the blender. Then I strained out the almond pulp with a cheesecloth. The pulp made the base of this cereal, along with fresh farmer's market apples, raisins, cinnamon, and agave. I poured a little almond milk over the mix to give it a cereal mouthfeel (don't you hate that word?).

Around 10 a.m., the monthly shot nurse visited our office for $15 B-12 shots. I got one and had an immediate energy burst, so I think that helped with the caffeine withdrawal. Around 11 a.m., I snacked on these AMAZING Eternal Bliss Balls:

Based on a recipe from Vegan Fusion, these coconut date balls saved me from hunger throughout the day. I used dates, cocoa powder, soaked almonds, raisins, tahini, and flax seeds to create the ball base, and then I rolled each one in coconut. It was like dessert, only super healthy!

For lunch, I dined on this Corn Symphony Soup from Alive in 5:

To make it, I tossed thawed frozen corn, almond milk, red bell pepper, jalapeno, and cilantro in the blender. It was thick and creamy, and pretty darn tasty. I also had a side salad with the soup. Later in the afternoon, I snacked on a fresh farmer's market pear and some leftover corn soup ... and of course, more date balls.

Before hitting up the gym after work, I made some Fresh V6 Juice in my Jack Lalanne Juicer:

This stuff contains 1 tomato, 1 bell pepper, 4 carrots, 3 stalks of celery, a handful of parsley, and a handful of cilantro. Yum! It kept me satisfied at the gym until I was able to come home and make Raw "Spaghetti" with Puttanesca Sauce and Not Meat Balls:

Based on a recipe from Raw Food Made Easy by Jennifer Cornbleet, this dish was hands down my favorite raw food cleanse dish that I've made so far. I've only been detoxing once a month since March, but this one takes the cake (or, um, I mean takes the raw flax cracker).

The "pasta" is made from squash peeled with a vegetable peeler, and the sauce contains all kinds of yumminess like fresh tomato, fresh basil, garlic, olive oil, cayenne pepper, and black olives. The Not Meat Balls, made from a Pecan Paté of soaked pecans, onion, parsley, tamari, and lemon juice, really made the dish shine. Thank god I have leftovers!

I'm going to attribute my success this time to more frequent snacking. Anytime thoughout the day that I felt the slightest bit hungry, I ate ... and that means I was eating almost every hour. But at least I didn't feel like crap this time.

18 comments:

Anonymous said...

*Puttanesca* I love that word. It looks so yum right now its unbelievable

LizNoVeggieGirl said...

SPECTACULAR raw goodness - come "cook" for me?? :0)

Anonymous said...

mmm I love raw food, yours looks amazing! I wish mine turned out that delicious looking =)

ChocolateCoveredVegan said...

I couldn't even concentrate on the rest of your pictures, because I was too busy dreaming about that first pic of the apple cinnamon cereal!

Anonymous said...

Wow! What deliciously appealing food you made on your raw day! That cereal, that soup, that pasta - all of it looks incredible!

Congrats on a successful detox day!

VeganCowGirl said...

Holy Raw Goodness batman! your september is off to a kicking start with a line up like that. I love love love the cereal. Sounds and looks amazing. I love raw days.

urban vegan said...

My 1st thought was "She is so disciplined"--but with that gorgeous food, it doesn't look like much of a sacrifice ;)

River (Wing-It Vegan) said...

You're too good, woman! It's unreal!

Everything looks ridiculously good! I gotta make me some of those date balls!

Anonymous said...

Oh raw is so freaking tasty! I just got some zucchini and summer squash to make raw pasta too. I made raw MOCK TUNA SALAD this morning and just had it for lunch -wow is that super. I love the recipes (I will be posting mine later today) that you can just whip up with some pre-soaked nuts and a blender - rockin'!

Lisa (Show Me Vegan) said...

Congrats on a better raw food day! The pasta looks delicious with those pecan pate balls.

tofufreak said...

i recently bought alive in 5 and it's been sitting on the shelf since most of the recipes seemed too simplistic to be called recipes. i think i might have to take it off the shelf and reconsider now! thanks for the inspiration! your raw food looks super yummy :)

Peggy said...

Mmm, that all looks SO amazing. I've been thinking about dabbling in raw food, maybe I'll try a once-a-month detox too! What a lovely way to start the month!

Erin said...

Those foods all look great! You've definitely got the right books and tools to do raw right.

jessy said...

nice job on a tasty & successful raw food day! your breakfast looked soooooo good. i really like how you use the almond pulp, too! less food waste = awesomeface!

your raw puttanesca looks amazing! damn! i really want that for dinner tonight! mmmmmmmmmmmmm! this rock'n raw day makes me want to start having one too, Bianca!

and i love both mouthfeel and mofo! ahahahahaa! yay!

Anonymous said...

What a great raw day! I've heard good things about Alive in 5. That soup looks lovely, and I'm kicking myself for not having tried those not meat balls from Conbleet's book yet...maybe next Tuesday!

Sheridan said...

Hey! I really want to try that pasta! Sounds and looks amazing! Seems like a really creative and tasty meal. Why don't we live closer?

BTW - Whatchu want for your birfday? It's not long off...

The Vegan Snorkeler said...

Everything looks amazing, especially your raw breakfast. I'm going to have to try it!

Anonymous said...

I was trying to find the recipe I used for vegan date balls when I found your blog. And I just have to say I think your blog is so cool!
I love the title and that you are "veganizing" some southern food! I am from NY but I've lived in "N'awlins" for about 12 years now. I've been vegetarian for 17 years but recently become vegan and so I'm all too familiar with the challenges of eating veg in the south, especially here in New Orleans where they eat everything that crawls! I'm going to add your blog to my list of favorite blogs(on my blog). Best of luck to you on your cookbook! Let me know when it comes out so I can buy it!