RAWkstar RAW Food Recipes

RAW food gives you maximum health benefits over cooking your food….read on to find out why.

These days, vegetarians and vegans are ubiquitous, but unless you live in Southern California, raw vegans—those who eat foods in their natural state and eschew cooking anything above 116ºF—are harder to come by.

It’s no wonder. As a society conditioned to cook mostly everything we put in our mouth, the idea of trading our gas range for a dehydrator may seem daunting. But most who follow a raw diet say they live life with the utmost vigor and vitality and are even able to reverse the aging process!

The truth is, we can ALL benefit from incorporating more raw food into our diet—because it’s highly alkaline and oxygen rich, it promotes optimal health. In addition, cooking food zaps it of its nutrients, zaps valuable digestive enzymes, and zaps good bacteria (probiotics).

Here are a few ideas of how easy (and tasty!) it is to convert some of you old standby recipes into healthy raw raw food recipes:

Zucchini Pasta & Tomato-Pesto Sauce

Serves 4

Ingredients:

2 large zucchini
2-3 large tomatoes
Handful fresh basil
½ cup pine nuts or walnuts
3 large cloves garlic (peeled)
¼ cup nutritional yeast
¼-1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
Sea salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

With a mandolin or a spiral slicer, slice zucchini into thin pasta-like ribbons. Set aside.
Put remaining ingredients into food processor and pulse until thoroughly combined. Toss with zucchini and enjoy.

Kale Salad

Serves 4

Ingredients:

1 bunch kale leaves
1 avocado, diced
Juice of 1 lemon
Sea salt to taste

Directions:

Tear kale leaves into bite-size pieces and put into a large bowl.
Add remaining ingredients, and with CLEAN hands, massage avocado and lemon thoroughly and evenly into the kale leaves (don’t be shy!). You’ll be left with an uber-healthy salad that’s dressed with a creamy-tart dressing.

Raw Brownie Bites

Makes 12-15 bites

Ingredients:

1 cup walnuts
1 cup dates, pitted
Splash of vanilla
Pinch sea salt
2 tablespoons raw cacao powder
2 tablespoons raw cacao nibs
Dried coconut flakes for dusting

Directions:

In a food processor, pulse nuts until finely chopped.
Add in dates, vanilla, salt, cacao powder, and cacao nibs, and pulse until everything is incorporated and the mixture sticks together when pressed between your fingers.
Roll into balls and dust in coconut. Set and store in the fridge or freezer.

Try not to eat the entire batch in one sitting!