Finding Your Raw Groove

I have a pattern. It seems to happen to me every year, right about now. First, I start to get a little cabin fever. Then, to add insult to injury, I put on a pair of pants, or look in the mirror and all of the slack I have cut myself over the Christmas holidays has caught up 10 fold. My 80-90% raw diet has turned into 40-50%, and the food that I am eating that is not raw is not healthy.
I am not always 100% raw. Nor are most of the raw food leaders that you know. Sometimes I am, especially in the spring, summer and most of the fall. At that time of year I follow a 95-100% raw diet. But when the winter hits, living where I do, I start incorporating more cooked foods.
Finding high quality fresh produce that hasn’t been trucked for thousands of miles is next to impossible where I live in the winter. The prices go through the roof. Combined with that,  I crave warm, dense foods. Root vegetables, and hearty beans and grains. If I stopped there, I would be ok. But then the holidays hit and I indulge. And little by little, the unhealthy temptations sneak in and before I know it, I need a reset. I need to find my Raw Food Groove.
What is a Raw Food Groove? The most important thing to know is that it is different for everyone. It is figuring out how raw food can  fit into your life-style in an easily maintainable way.  It isn’t about being 100%, unless that is your raw groove. It is about health. It is about figuring out how to make it work, so we don’t give up.
That is where finding your RAW FOOD GROOVE comes in. It is all about figuring out how to make incorporating more raw food into your diet can work for you. Over the next month, I am going to be working on my raw groove and I invite you follow along, take notes and work on finding your raw food groove.
Tomorrow, I am starting my reset. For a week, I will be detoxing. No grains, beans, or processed sugars. I don’t eat animals but if I did, they would be eliminated for this week, too. I will be eating fruit, veggies, some nuts and that’s about it. Hmmmm…sounds remarkably like my 100% raw diet! I am allowing for some cooked foods, soups, etc. Just cleaning out.
If you want to join me, would love to help you find your raw groove too!
A quick note: Voting for The Best of Raw ends tonight at midnight. You can vote for Rawmazing in the following categories: Best Raw Gourmet Chef (Susan Powers), Best Raw Website: Rawmazing (under media) and also Best Raw Book, Rawmazing Desserts (under media). Vote here: Best of Raw 2010.
Tagged as: gluten free recipes, healthy recipes, raw food cooking, raw food diet, raw food recipes, vegan recipes
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Marinated Zucchini with Veggies

I love using my spiral cutter to make raw food “noodles”, and zucchini makes the best “noodles” for your raw food recipes. The only problem is they lack in flavor. When you are just using them as a base for a flavorful sauce, it isn’t an issue. But when they become a center item for your raw food recipe, they need a little help.
I decided to make a dish using marinated zucchini. It is amazing how much zing a little marinade can give to these noodles. Since I was craving a clean recipe, the filling had to be tasty but light. You eat this for lunch or warm it in the dehydrator for diner.

Marinated Zucchini with Veggies
Marinade
2 tablespoons lemon juice1 tablespoon agave (or sweetener of choice)1 teaspoon grated ginger1/3 cup olive oil1 teaspoon thyme
1. Mix all ingredients together.
Mushrooms:
2 cups portabello mushrooms1/4 cup olive oil3 tablespoons nama shoyu2 tablespoons agave, or sweetener of choice
1. Cut mushrooms into slices
2. Mix together olive oil, nama shoyu and sweetener. Pour over mushrooms and marinate overnight.
Assembly:
2 zucchinis, spiralized2 carrots, grated2 scallions, thinly slicedmarinated mushrooms, see above1/2 cup pumpkin seeds
1. Place zucchini noodles in bowl, pour marinade over noodles and let sit in the refrigerator overnight.
2. Drain noodles and place in a circle on the plate.
3. Mix together carrots, scallions, mushrooms and pumpkin seeds. Place in the center of the noodle nest.
Tagged as: raw food, raw food diet, raw food recipes
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Winter Pick Me Up Sale

Weekend E-Book Sale!
It always happens at this time of year. And because of my love of winter, it always surprises me. I hit the winter wall and get a touch of cabin fever. I have to shake things up a bit, usually by going to the conservatory and photographing flowers or diving into something new to inspire me.
I wanted to give you a little something to shake up your winter doldrums so I am offering the Rawmazing Dessert E-Book and also the Holiday E-Book for more that 20% off through the weekend. If you don’t have either of these books yet, now is a great time to order them. A little inspiration for you and your raw food diet.
Rawmazing Desserts E-Book: 14.99
Sale has ended
Rawmazing Holiday E-Book: 9.95
Sale has ended
Have a wonderful weekend!
Tagged as: healthy recipes, raw food diet, raw food recipes, vegan recipes
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Soon to be Released!

I was going to post a recipe for pears with pistachio cream and chocolate sauce today but I got started late and the pistachio cream just hasn’t set up yet. You will get that recipe tomorrow! And I do apologize for the site being a little quiet this week but I have been up to my eyeballs putting the final touches on my latest project!
My next book, Rawmazing Easy Raw Food just got sent to the printer and will be released very soon! I am really excited about this collection of raw food recipes and information. I was inspired to put this book together by all of the emails I received requesting that I do a book all of the recipes from Rawmazing.  After months of work, and over 230 pages of recipes and information, the collection is done. I am excited.
Honestly, I can’t wait to have a copy of the book in my kitchen. To be able to have 2 years worth of recipes, right at my fingertips will be so convenient. And what a great way to share these raw food recipes with your friends! To see two years worth of recipes in one place blew me away. Every one with the quality and ease that you have come to love and expect from Rawmazing.
The book is beautiful, stunning design, great color pictures and chapters on kitchen equipment, pantry set up, ingredients and more! You will thrilled. I am even more excited to let you know that the book will be available 3 ways. The Deluxe Print Book is a full color book, the B&W copy has a full color cover and a black and white interior. I decided to offer the book both ways so there is a more economical version available. The third way to get the book will be a PDF download.
Look for more information next week! And make sure you stop come back tomorrow for one of my favorite recipes, Pears with pistachio cream and chocolate sauce!
Tagged as: raw food, raw food cooking, raw food diet, raw food recipes
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Sotheby’s Artful Living and Rawmazing!

Every time I see something about raw food in main stream media, I get excited. Today, I am really excited. Sotheby’s Artful Living magazine highlighted Rawmazing in their winter food issue. To see the on-line version and the article, click here: Artful Living Rawmazing.  You can zoom in.

I also have a photo shoot that starts on page 77. I photographed 5 of the top Minneapolis chefs and their food. I can’t figure out which one I am more excited about.

Upcoming Classes:

I will be teaching Intro to Raw Foods, sessions 1 and 2 starting next Saturday, January 22nd. The follow up class will be January 29th. There is a discount if you take both classes. It will be a great series. We will be covering raw food basics, why, how, kitchen equipment, setting up raw pantries, techniques to make raw quick and easy plus some great recipes. Each attendee will get a spiral bound book of all the information we cover and recipes. More information can be found here: Rawmazing Classes.

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Finding Your Raw Food Balance

A good friend of mine posted a comment today on her Facebook page. She made tacos with walnuts and her ph level was more acidic. She was wondering if it was the walnuts. It could very well have been because walnuts are very acidic. But they also contain tons of health promoting nutrients. The good and the bad?

Let’s look at spinach, one of the most nutrient rich vegetables out there. It is full of vitamins, minerals and phyto nutrients. Spinach contains nutrients that fight inflammation and cancer. It also is full of anti-oxidants. Calorie for calorie it is said to have more nutrients than any other food. Sounds perfect? Not quite.

Spinach is one of the vegetables that is on the dirty dozen list, meaning one of the top 12 fruits and vegetables that pesticides are most frequently found on. Spinach also has measurable amounts of oxalates. Oxalates can cause problems for people with kidney issues and also interfere with calcium adsorption. It also contains purines which can lead to a build up of uric acid.

So, here we have the good and the bad of spinach. And lately, it seems you can read negative and positive about almost everything we put in our mouths. And I am talking about the healthy stuff.  So what do we do? Stop eating all together? Well, then we are left with air and water and everyone knows about the pollution issues associated with that!

Ok…I was a little tongue in cheek there but I think you can catch my drift. How do we deal with all of the information that bombards us? Moderation. Balance. Eat your spinach but not every day of the week, or at the exclusion of other greens. Mix it up. Go for variety. Eat a lot of different foods so you can get the different benefits from all of them. Cover your bases, so to speak. Oh…and buy organic spinach.

Tagged as: organic, raw food, raw food diet, raw food recipes, vegan, vegan recipes

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BBQ Brown Rice Crackers

I have gotten numerous emails requesting the raw food recipe for the crackers pictured in the cheese post on January 6th. They were a new experiment that I tried that turned out better than I could have hoped for. I used organic, long grain brown rice for the flour, chia seeds for the binder and flavored them with a wonderful BBQ spice mix. These crackers have a wonderful, crisp texture that reminds me of brown rice crackers I have bought in the store. They are also gluten free! Another great addition to your raw food recipe collection!

I am lucky enough to have a flour mill from Sunrise Flour Mills to grind the brown rice in. You can buy stone ground brown rice flour at your coop. If it is stone ground, it shouldn’t have been interfered with. I love my mill and will be trying many other grains to see what fun combinations I can come up with.

Brown Rice Almond BBQ Crackers

2 cups brown rice flour1 cup almonds, soaked overnight, drained and rinsed1/2 cup cup chia seeds soaked in 1 cup water4 tablespoons bbq spice mix*

1. Place almonds in food processor and process until they resemble a fine crumb. Remove to bowl.

2.  Stir in the rest of the ingredients. Combine well.

3. Spread on non-stick sheets about 1/4 – inch thick. Dehydrate at 145 for 1 hour, reduce heat to 115 and dehydrate, flipping once during dehydration for 6-8 more hours or until dry. Don’t worry about compromising the raw status, the food temperature never gets above 115 in that first hour.

*I use BBQ spice mix from Penzey’s spices.

Tagged as: gluten free, gluten free recipes, raw food diet, raw food recipes, vegan recipes

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