Thanks, Mona. Good luck with your copying and conversions. I have done that with a couple of books and it's a good idea.

Funny, though, the more I make raw things, the more creative of an "uncook" I am becoming. I'm now seriously into mixing up veggie pate' concoctions. They almost always taste great, but who knows what the proportions or spices are? I sure don't! Sometimes it'll be heavy on peas, with zucchini, celery and sun-dried tomatoes. Other times it'll have mostly eggplant (that has been soaked to reduce bitterness), along with parsley, tahini, corn kernels, and shredded carrot. The spices may be more Italian, or Mexican or some other ethnic combination. I often still add some Braggs, although I am gradually reducing the amount of it that I use. That's true for the amount of onion and garlic I add too. Maybe I'll get to the point where I don't want any at all, but that day is not here yet. Anyway, that's beside the point. Really, what I'm thrilled about is the liberation of being recipe-free. I love variety. And I love creativity. These pate' non-recipes are quite different every time.

To further mix things up I like making my food look different too... nothing complicated, though. Like, sometimes I put the pate' on slices of yellow bell pepper or on scooped out cucumber rounds. Other times I wrap it in lettuce leaves or roll it up in a zucchini ribbon made using a vegetable peeler. Maybe I stuff it in cherry tomatoes or on a celery log. Somewhere I read about someone scooping out a cucumber and filling it with yummy fillings; they called it a gorilla sandwich. (I haven't tried that idea yet, but it sounds great.)

There are a gazillion smoothie ingredient combinations, so the creative process is wide open there too. I wish I had the money for a super blender and juicer. Unfortunately, I spent too much on ovens and cookers before going raw!

At some point I'll get bored with my pate' creations and move on to some other adventure. That's still a way away.

P.S.: Yesterday someone who hasn't seen me in months, saw me and wouldn't stop saying how great I looked, that I'd lost weight, looked trim, looked younger, that my skin looked like someone years younger than I am, etc., etc. How nice!


My favorite raw vegan

> Sometimes it'll be heavy on peas, with zucchini, celery and sun-dried tomatoes. Other times it'll have mostly eggplant (that has been soaked to reduce bitterness), along with parsley, tahini, corn kernels, and shredded carrot. The spices may be more Italian, or Mexican or some other ethnic combination<

Wow, that sounds really good!

Sharrhan:


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trive if ya feel like posting any combos that turn out wowza feel free

...Jodi, the banana eating buddhist

Jodi, Will do that.

Last night we had guests staying overnight. One, a relative and long-time vegetarian, asked to make a gourmet raw dish for supper, knowing how much I used to love cooking fancy things and wanting to try something raw that she hadn't had before. It is so wonderful to have her loving support.

We made raw lasagna. Zucchini ribbons as the pasta. Tomato and sundried tomato sauce layer. Spinach layer. Nut "cheese layer. Repeat. Topped with tomato layer and minced onion. Various herbs and spices in the layers. Sliced it looked fantastic! Oh, the anticipation!

It was our main meal and others had it as a side dish along with some cooked food. My new-found confidence - you know, "add a dash of this and a pinch of that" style of meal prep that had been serving me so well - failed me. Oh, I'm exaggerating. It wasn't a disaster, just bland. Everyone was polite about it, but I was disappointed nonetheless. Guess I shoulda made one o' my pate' thingees.


My favorite raw vegan

This is the first day in a long time that I have had acid reflux symptoms. Darn it. I used tumeric in something I made and it immediately made me cough and get a sore throat. I tell ya - acid reflux really keeps me honest on raw food. (Talk about yer blessing in disguise!)


My favorite raw vegan

Jodi, I have posted a LOT of fillings for wraps in the recipe section. I hope you find something you like.


My favorite raw vegan

indeedy yum yum keep it up ! i dont think i ever have the same smoothie ever or wrap for that matter ..

its pretty much anything an the kitchen sink whatevers available

sorry to hear about the tumeric .. least ya know what got ya

...Jodi, the banana eating buddhist

I am living in Mango Land and loving it. The price of mangoes has plummeted to one third of the usual cost and I have been taking full advantage. Does anyone know the Guinness Book of Records for the most mangoes eaten in one day? Hee hee... just kidding. It has been delicious fun, though.


My favorite raw vegan

It is Thursday here in NZ (and will soon be Thanksgiving in the US). That always used to be a special holiday get-together in my family despite the fact that my mother never liked cooking. Growing up I thought everyone burned toast and scraped it off in the sink. Most of our pots had blackened outlines of burned rice on the bottom. TV dinners were a major food group. However, somehow Thanksgiving brought out her creative side. We'd make things with ingredients I'd never seen or heard of. Great fun. I suppose that's why I got so much into cooking gourmet food and built a house with a dream kitchen.

Well, things have certainly changed. I haven't had a Thanksgiving meal in over 10 years. I still cook things for my sweetie, but even he is eating more raw food.
Lately, I am finding that the smell of cooked food is unpleasant. I had read about that being so for other people, but am experiencing it for myself now.

So, although I still have some nostalgia for the Thanksgiving meal, I really don't want it. I suppose the trick is to find new rituals.


My favorite raw vegan

Hi Trive, I also find cooked food unpleasant smelling more and more often. Sometimes I even have to leave the kitchen and even close my self off in another room when my hubby cooks. I don't help him as much as I used to because he's gotten to where he loves cooking.

It's great that your sweetie eats more and more raw food. Lucky you.

Have a happy turkey-free Thanksgiving!

Love,

Mona
padremickey.blogspot.com

Even if I'm on the right track, if I don't move I'll get run over.

You know how an artist is famous for having a "Blue Period"? Well, I as a raw food artist I guess I am in my "Red Period" because I have been craving red food.

Strawberries are in season now at the local berry farm. Huge! Cheap! Delish!

Red capsicum (bell peppers) are also cheap right now, but I love them regardless of the price. I put them in salads, slice them and fill the slices with stuffing, and just eat them plain. So sweet. Yellow and orange ones are pretty good too! But you can have my share of green ones.

And tomatoes!!! I have taken to eating tomatoes plain, biting into them just as I would an apple or pear and sucking out the delicious seeds and juice inside. I do that carefully - section by section. Very neurotic, I know, but how else to get every drop of that wonderful transparent juice? My favorite part! I have never liked pulpy tomato juice, but LOVE tomatoes and the clear juice around the seeds. I wish I had a dehydrator for making sun-dried tomatoes. Alas, no.

There's more, but you get the idea.

Now, I'm off to eat a tamarillo... bye....


My favorite raw vegan

Silly me... I'll be doing great and then try something questionable (in raw food terms) and pay the price. My acid reflux symptoms are completely gone until I add spices I shouldn't. I guess I feel so good now, that I think I can do and eat whatever I want. Fortunately, I don't want cooked food, but I do still want spices....

Luckily, raw ginger doesn't give me any trouble. Dried green herbs have been fine so far too. The iffy ones are the powdered spices. You'd think I'd have learned my lesson with the tumeric, but noooooo. I had to go and make raw banana chutney with chili powder. It tasted WONDERFUL - while I was eating it. But soon a bump appeared inside my lower lip - strange - not an open ulcer, but a small, hard, sensitive bump. It has already subsided. However, my stomach and throat are still giving me the message that chili powder IS OFF THE LIST OF ACCEPTABLE FOODS for me!

The up side to this latest adventure is that it keeps me moving on my path to 100% raw.


My favorite raw vegan

maybe next time try some fresh raw minced chili and see how you react, you have to use alot less for the same impact and might not get the same reaction ...or you might get the same reaction chili's are pretty much out for me these days

...Jodi, the banana eating buddhist

It's official: I am now the Queen of Compost.

The peelings, seeds and bruised spots from all of the fruits and vegetables that I have been eating are beginning to pile up, literally. And the abundant donkey droppings that Fernando and Ruffin so kindly provide, have resulted in heaps of let's call it "raw material" that could be used... hmmm... let's see... I could start a compost business and make a fortune! Okay, okay, there's not THAT much, but my stockpile of raw material is quickly becoming a stockhill. Not to worry. It will all go into a garden at some point.

I have planted a few things. I have even eaten my first tangelo from one of the three fruit trees we planted. Some herbs are growing too, but I haven't gotten into serious food planting - - yet. However, when I do, there will be more than enough compost!


My favorite raw vegan

i have several containers of worms (vermicomposting) on the go digesting all my toss aways you should look into it, its a very rewarding thing and a pound of worms quickly multiplies from your original stock

also ive been looking at trying out bokashi bucket composting which is supposed to speed things up

...Jodi, the banana eating buddhist

Jodi, you are such a resource! It seems I am always learning something new from you. Oil pulling one day and bokashi buckets the next... You are amazing.

Thanks for sharing what you know.


My favorite raw vegan

aww Thanks Trive

...Jodi, the banana eating buddhist

I grew up hearing tugboats on the Mississippi River. You know, the foghorn sound. So deep. So restful. Just imagining it brings a peaceful feeling. Now Whakatane is my home, not New Orleans. It's strange that the Mississippi River and its sounds were such a comfort to me as a child and that the levee wasn't the safety I thought it was....

Levees are "stopbanks" here in NZ. When I walk along the stopbank of the river in town here, I have that same feeling of calm that had growing up. Leaving my husband reading the newspaper at the coffee shop... (He gets coffee. I don't.) I walk ahead to the grocery store to see what wonderful raw delights inspire me.

Here is a picture of the river taken from the stopbank on my walk to the grocery. The mountain in the background is actually an island. (I selected medium-size to test, so we'll see how big it comes out.)




My favorite raw vegan

Alas, no joy. Have to go now and don't have time to figure out why the photo didn't work. Mmmm, bye.


My favorite raw vegan

Ta da! Here is the picture I mentioned above. (I should have been using the preview button all along. Live and learn.)




My favorite raw vegan

For some mysterious reason, pictures appear sometimes and not others. I'll try again, but apologize in advance if I can't figure out how to post them so they stick.

#1 is Otarawairere Beach which is on a hiking trail that is walking distance from town. On the beach you cannot see a house, telephone pole or even evidence of humans, although on this day footprints were there.


#2 is the same beach as seen from the trail along the cliffs.


#3 is a view toward Ohope Beach. Ohope spit is the peninsula of land separating the Bay of Plenty (Pacific Ocean) from the natural harbour, Ohiwa Harbour.



My favorite raw vegan

Hey, I am now a picture-posting genius! (Yeah, right!) Since I seem to have the hang of it, I'll post the picture that I took of the Whakatane River on the stopbank in town. It's not the right size, but here (hopefully) it is...

honestly i prefer the big pictures i like to see the detail

very cool love em !

...Jodi, the banana eating buddhist

Interesting happenings with family members lately...

My husband now requests a raw salad for dinner every evening. When I offer him raw food during the day (e.g., piece of fruit, taste of smoothie, a small serving of what I make for lunch), he always tries it.

Our oldest daughter, who has been a vegetarian for many years, is staying with us for a few weeks. While here she wants to try a raw diet. So far it has been a week. It has been interesting hearing her ups and downs with it. Her verdict is not yet in, but I admire her interest and willingness to try it.

My younger sister mailed Christmas presents to me at great expense, although we haven't exchanged presents in years. I had emailed her a few months ago about how well my raw food diet/lifestyle was going. Despite that, one of the presents she sent to me was a cookbook on cheese-based hors d'oeuvres.

Our youngest daughter lives in Brooklyn. She is has been researching the internet for info on raw food and has been experimenting with creating her own green smoothies.

My older sister hasn't responded to my email and probably thinks I have lost my mind.

Quite different interactions, yes? No problems,really. Just interesting.


My favorite raw vegan

What a beautiful beach. Thank you for sharing your pictures.

I'm really happy for you that your daughter and husband want to include more raw food into their diet. That's wonderful. May your success continue.

Peace and love,

Mona
padremickey.blogspot.com

Wisdom is knowing the right path to take.  Integrity is taking it.

What I am is God's gift to me. What I make of myself is my gift to God.

I shop for produce almost every day. It's fun to choose what attracts me on the day. This morning, recognizing me from yesterday, the grocer commented that I must have lots of people at my house for the holidays. I smiled instead of saying that, no, this is about how much fruit and vegetables I will eat today. It still amazes me that I can eat so much and yet I am still losing weight (which I'm happy about). I'd like to lose about 5 more kilos and then stay around that weight.

It's interesting to me that I can't say that my acid reflux is cured because when I eat too much fat, concentrated protein or strong spices, I have symptoms. However, as long as I stay within the guidelines of what I've learned works, all is fine and dandy. Luckily, I'm still loving eating raw foods after six months and have no desire for cooked foods. It is disappointing to me that my body has not completely healed, but am so tremendously grateful that it is doing as well as it is! I'm wondering if it will improve more (since it has stayed like this for a while now).


My favorite raw vegan

Beautiful pictures

Woo hoo! Pomegranates: six for the price of one. (I got 12.)


My favorite raw vegan

share !!!

...Jodi, the banana eating buddhist

Oh, Jodi, terribly sorry... I just saw your request, and I didn't mean to be greedy, (HONEST!), but the bad news is that the 12 pomegranates are all gone already. The good news is that they were quite tasty!


My favorite raw vegan