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Tuesday, January 6, 2009

Taking a Shot at Raw

Today was my first day trying a completely raw day.  Well, maybe not completely, but over 90%, I think.  

Almost everything from this post is from Ani's Raw Food Kitchen.  

My main reason for wanting to try a raw day was because I think some of the stuff you can do with raw food is just so plain cool.  Poor Joanna has gotten a comment from me about this on her blog for her last 5 posts, at least.  I think that breakfast best showcased doing cool stuff with raw food.

Breakfast:  Crepe Kream Stack:  Coconut Breakfast Cakes with Cashew Coconut Pudding and Banana.

        Apart

Together!

This was so yummy.  I think I may have put too much liquid in, it was a little off since I quartered it.  So the cakes were softer and stickier than they should have been, but they still tasted awesome.  The pudding was good, but not so good that I won't try a different one next time.  All together it was awesome.  I made a full batch of the pudding.  I think it is going to be great with some Cinnamon Puffins tomorrow!  

Post Workout Snack:  Protein Powder and Orange Juice.  I don't think this is raw, I'm sure the OJ is pasteurized or something, right?  In the book, she seems to consider hemp protein powder raw.  I don't know if rice or pea would be.  

Lunch:  Spinach Salad with Apricots and Spiced Pecans in Shallot Lemon Dressing


Spiced Pecans and Lemon Shallot Dressing

This salad was supposed to be with persimmons, not apricots, but I couldn't find persimmons.  Altogether, the salad was awesome.  The pecans are stellar, they're spiced with cardamom and cayenne, and they brought it together perfectly.  I wasn't thrilled with the dressing, I just thought it tasted like olive oil really.  If I ever made it again, I would use less oil.  Also, do shallots make anyone else cry even more than onions?  My brother was in the kitchen while I was chopping it, in tears (literally), and was like "is it really going to taste THAT good?" haha.  My only gripe with this dish, really, was that I wish I had a dehydrator so that the coating stuck to the pecans better.  But it all mixed together perfectly.  

Snack:  Lemon Coconut Bars

Hm, I had a lot of coconut today huh? 

  
Not to be negative, but these were just okay.  I don't know if I didn't let them chill long enough, but the flavors were kind of splattered....and not in a good way.  Parts were really salty and parts were too lemony.  I probably wouldn't make them again, but maybe they'll be better tomorrow.  

Dinner:  Fettucine Squash Noodles with Cilantro Pesto


This was the only thing that really wasn't from Ani's book.  The zucchini isn't a new idea, and the pesto I just whipped up because I had a lot of cilantro I needed to use.  It was really yummy.  
For something different today, I am giving you a more detailed total nutrition breakdown for the day:  

Nutrition Information:  1982 Calories;  132g Total Fat;  25g Saturated Fat;  0.0mg Cholesterol;  2685mg Sodium;  170g Carbohydrates;  37g Fiber;  65g Protein;  66mg Iron;  28mg Calcium;  3262mg Potassium;  135ug Folate;  67ug Vitamin B12 

I'm also probably going to have a few strawberries before bed.   

This may seem like a lot, but its pretty much exactly what the calories I eat every day.  The fat is much higher, but I actually do pretty well on a high (good) fat diet.  My breakfast had 60g of fat, and it kept me full for hours.  I'm not saying I will do this every day, but I'm not feeling bad about it.  I do think that next time, I will try not to use quite so much coconut in one day!  

I going to try and do this once a week.  I felt like it took a lot of planning though.  It was kind of hard too.  The asparagus I bought yesterday was screaming "roast me, roast me!" every time I opened the fridge!  

So, I'd like to end this with some major props to people who eat primarily raw on a day to day basis.  I don't think I could do it!  I'm sure that sounds naive, like people who say "I could never be vegan, it would be too hard", but..oh well, I said it anyway.      

Tomorrow I'm going to turn on my oven again..yay!  

14 comments:

  1. mm coconut rules!

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  2. ummm your zucci salad looks so yummy

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  3. I wish I could do this once a week but I'm always so cold! Maybe I'll try it.

    Everything looks so delicious and that pudding does sound like it would be amazing with Puffins!

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  4. I'd like to try a raw food day once a week as well, but I always crave hot foods during the winter! Maybe during the summer, for me!

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  5. Yums! When making Ani recipes, I find it's good to reduce the amounts of salt and oil automatically. I had the same problem when I made the lemon coconut bars, but I think less of a finer salt would be good.

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  6. Good start,it not easy to put together an all raw meal.Every dish looks very tasty:)

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  7. Sorry I've been so bad at replying to comments lately!

    Larisa, I agree, coconut DOES rule...and I don't normally eat it enough..I think I made up for that!

    Jackie, it was very yummy, I will most definitely be making that again!

    Shelby and Sweetpotato, I never even really considered that it was cold out! I kept like reaching for the stovetop though, out of habit, it was funny, haha.

    Sarah, thanks so much for the tip! I thought I was crazy or something, the bars were so salty I don't think I can eat the rest of them.

    Thanks so much Yasmeen! It was aalll good (besides the salty lemon bars), and definitely a completely new way of "cooking" for me.

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  8. Congrats on your first raw day. I MUST get that Ani book. I drool over it at the bookstore all the time. I'm just so cheap. But that breakfast looks delightful.

    The nutritional info is really interesting. I wonder how many calories I consumed yesterday. Does the Ani book have the nutritional info with recipes? That would be so helpful.

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  9. That breakfast...oh my...I'm wiping the drool off my computer as I type this. I need to get that cookbook! Everything looks amazing, but I'm with you. Raw eating requires a lot of time and energy. I love the food, but I don't think I could ever go 100%. I'm making raw mac and cheese tonight. Can't wait. Have a good day Gina. I'm off to Whole Foods to get you some carob chips...and some for me as well. :)
    PS - LOVE coconut!

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  10. Bianca...I think its really strange, she gives the nutrition information for a few recipes. Just a few. Mostly desserts. I guess the point is to show how healthy a raw dessert can be? The thing that surprised me the most was the amount of salt...I don't think I usually eat that much salt, and its more than one should be eating. But, as a previous commenter suggested, I can probably just decrease that. I assumed there was a reason behind it though.

    I'm totally looking forward to your raw mac and cheese now Heather!! Of course, looking forward to carob chips as well..yay!

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  11. I'm drooling over your breakfast and your salad, and I don't even LIKE salad! Go you for eating raw for a day and for trying to make the effort to keep it up!

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  12. Thanks Claudia! I'm not really a big salad person either, but this was really yummy!

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  13. July through October I ate raw till dinner most days. Spelt crackers or tortilla chips were the only cooked foods I ate at lunch. I did green juice or smoothies in the morning with other whole fruits, nuts or larabars as snacks, veggies and nut butter or hummus or salad for lunch. When I started craving more at lunch I added raw cheddar goat cheese (not vegan, but much better to digest than cows milk). When the weather turned colder it was much harder to stick with it. I think the key to raw is the juicing or smoothies. When it gets warmer again I'll probably be more raw. Have you read Natalia Rose's Raw Food Detox Diet. She has one geared to women coming out later this year.

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  14. Thanks for the great comment Lauren! I haven't read her book, although I did just read about it on your blog! I will be on the lookout for her book coming out this year. I like the books I have, but I feel like I need some more guidelines? I don't know if that makes sense. Its funny though, yesterday still ended up being raw until dinner, just because I had stuff leftover from this post. Actually breakfast was raw again today! I really like the puddings from Ani's book for breakfast, they're yummy.

    My concern with doing an actual raw food diet is that I'm concerned about having enough energy to lift weights and work out as much as I do. This may be naive though, so I'm sure I will give it a try at some point :)

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