Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Raw Day Is Baaa-aaack!

If you've been following my blog for awhile, you might remember Raw Food Tuesdays, my once-a-month all-raw, all-day cleanse. I ate raw on the first Tuesday of each month for over a year, but my 26-day mostly-raw detox in January led to major whole foods burnout. After depriving myself of coffee, sugar, and processed food (oh, how I missed you vegan cheese and faux meat!) for so long, I wanted nothing to do with raw food for awhile.

But after four months of skipping out on raw foods (except for daily salads and the occasional raw foods potluck), I'm ready to dive back into my monthly cleanse ... with one major exception. From now on, I will continue to enjoy coffee (black with raw agave) on raw days. I don't care if caffeine is a toxin. I will not go a day without coffee again. Never again.

So for breakfast, I enjoyed my precious black coffee with this tasty bowl of Buckwheat Crispies with Raw Almond Milk and Fresh Strawberries:

The raw buckwheat groats were soaked and dehydrated for about eight hours according to the recipe in Ani's Raw Food Kitchen. The milk recipe came from Raw Food Made Easy by Jennifer Cornbleet. I drizzled the bowl with a little raw agave for sweetness.

Mid-morning, I stopped my tummy from rumbling with this assortment of fresh veggies. I snacked on these (and a juicy navel orange) at my desk throughout the day. I got the cute Easy Lunch Boxes brand divided storage container from a giveaway on Cooking for a Vegan Lover:

Strawberries made a repeat performance in my lunch with this Elegant Greens and Strawberry Salad with Orange-Poppy Seed Dressing from Becoming Raw:

Just a simple salad of sweet spring berries, sliced almonds, and romaine mix. But the dressing — olive oil, orange juice, poppy seeds, and dill — really impressed. I'll certainly be making this dressing again for any salad.

Dinner was this lovely plate of Raw Pasta Puttanesca from 30 Minute Vegan:

Isn't that just the prettiest plate of raw pasta you've ever seen? I've tried loads of raw pasta recipes, but this simple tomato/basil/kalamata olive/caper topping is among the tastiest. Technically, this dish isn't totally raw because I used regular (not sun-dried olives) but whatever. It's close enough for me. The raw pasta is made from julienned yellow zucchini.

I had to rush out to my friend Shara's house for O.C. Night (just it like sounds, a bunch of girls watch old episodes of The O.C.) after dinner. I brought along this tub of Live Chocolate Mousse from 30 Minute Vegan for mid-show snacking:

How is that creamy concoction raw, you ask? It's made from avocado (don't worry, you can't taste it), raw cacao powder, raw agave, and raw almond butter — all whipped up in the food processor. Decadent, delicious, and loaded with healthy fat.

Right now, I'm enjoying a late-night cup of plain miso, and then I'm off to bed. Though I enjoyed my raw eats today, I can't say that I'm not excited about my hot peanut butter oatmeal in the morning.

17 comments:

Sarah (GF vegan) said...

Yay! I love your raw food tuesdays. They inspire me in times when I'm craving raw foods but don't know what to eat. Enjoy your PB oats in the morning :)

The Health Sensei said...

you know what i'm about to say...AWESOME! Raw Food Tuesdays?!?! Love it! I'll be popping in every Tuesday for sure :D

if you ever want to talk raw, i'm all about it of course...

- rick

Anonymous said...

I want!!!
Ohmigoshthatlookssogoodohmigosh!

(If you didn't get that, it's: oh my gosh, that looks so good. Oh my gosh.)

:)

Sarah @ See Sarah Eat said...

oh my gosh that mousse looks delicious! I love that you have OC Nights :)

The Kuntrageous Vegan said...

I know how you feel about raw food burn out!
I used to watch The O.C. heh. I've definitely seen them all.

miss v said...

i tend to lose some of my high raw eating habits over the winter... but lately, it's been super high raw for me. green smoothies and kale salads have been been my diet staples!

and don't worry about your non-raw olives... it's still raw enough for a post!

The Voracious Vegan said...

Oooh that choco avo pudding looks phenomenal. I LOVE whipping up a quick raw chocolate avocado pudding, it always blows people's minds when I tell them what's in there. You are right - you can't taste the avocado, it is just the most luscious and rich pudding/frosting ever.

Hahah, you sound like my hubby about coffee. I don't drink coffee, but he LOVES it. One time he went a month without it, just to see if he could (and because I told him he couldn't!) but after that I think he will never skip a day again. You fiends!

Vegan In The VI said...

Beautiful photos. The 'vegan' bowl is cool

J said...

Me and my husband are spending the month of June to (mostly) raw food cleanse, and I can tell that the first thing I do at the end of the month is get a dirty chai. (Sadly, I have not been able to train myself to drink coffee black, so I stick with tea and espresso.)

I'm glad that your raw Tuesdays are back, even though I didn't know they were gone. But I'm glad I found your blog and know what I've been missing now.

jessy said...

i almost forgot about your raw days, Bianca. i can totally see how you got burned out due to the cleanse a while ago, i burned out for a good while after mine as well. nice to see your new bowl making another appearance, and buckwheat groats = the best! i've still got a bunch in my freezer that i need to do something with. think i might just soak 'em on my lunch break and then dehyrdate 'em when i get home after the gym tonight so i can have some for breakfast in the morning. yum! your simple salad looks great, and the dressing does sound awesome! i'm really digging the raw pasta puttanesca, too - it's beautiful, and the live chocolate mousse = divine! what a delicious raw day. w00ts all around!

Lauren said...

Your food looks great! I definitely need to make that dressing and the pasta looks delicious.

Do not even get me started on The O.C.! I LOOOOOOVE that show (or really just seasons 1 and 2).

Anonymous said...

This has nothing to do with this post but I was wondering if there was a way to look up specific recipes on your site? I am wondering if you have ever posted about a vegan alfredo sauce?

Jenn Shagrin said...

I'm so glad to hear I'm not the only one. High five for Birth-Months!

All of this food looks soooo fantastic. That salad is beautiful :)

Jessica said...

Your pasta topping does look great, and I'd be willing to try that on just about anything (raw squash, bread, cooked pasta). And I'll have to check out your brand of divided containers -- I have one that gets a real workout, so I should probably get another!

Morgan@LittleHouseofVeggies said...

I love raw foods! My mouth is totally watering right now for the chocolate mouse! I loooove raw choclate mouse!

Dianne said...

Yay for raw day being back! This really does inspire me to eat more raw foods!

Chioma said...

yum!