Raw Repast

The Raw Food experiment continues. . . .

Yesterday, I made another blender-full of my new favorite, the cilantro smoothie. (One whole bunch of cilantro, a peeled cucumber, a peeled grapefruit, fresh pineapple, a granny Smith apple, fresh spinach and cinnamon all blended together).

Last night, I was wondering what to make for dinner. I had eaten all the cashew-sunflower seed hummus. I looked through my raw food cookbook to get some ideas.

Did you know you can make cheese from nuts? It’s awfully labor intensive. You soak cashews, macadamias or almonds in water, blend them up, strain off the “milk”, add lemon juice to coagulate it, let it sit out for eight hours, refrigerate it to thicken it, strain off the whey, and you have cheese. Isn't that incredible?

I didn’t do that.

I was still trying to think of something to make. I had bought a spiral slicer that will turn a zucchini into strands of “spaghetti” but it turns out I really don’t like the dry, spongy texture of raw zucchini.

The raw food “hamburger” looked good. You make an herby nut-seed patty, and the “bun” is a giant Portobello mushroom. However, a blizzard was raging outside and the 'bello burger would have to wait.

I was still in a quandary. I was about to say “the hell with it” and boil some pasta or have Thai food delivered when I thought of it. . . .

Why hadn’t I thought of this before?. . .

. . . a salad

Simple, healthy salad.

I had been admiring the raw food “thing” and the creative, albeit counterfeit, means of coming up with cheese, spaghetti, and hamburgers when I had neglected the simplest means of consuming raw foods.

Of course, I had tons of tasty things with which to make a salad. Spinach, parsley, cucumbers, carrots, a grated beet, nuts of all kinds, some chopped dates all got dumped into a big bowl.

For the dressing, I have the most delicious stuff on hand from Old Town Oil here in Chicago. . . a bottle of tangerine balsamic vinegar and a bottle of orange olive oil. The two combined makes the most incredible vinaigrette you’ve ever had. Salad like this has never been more appealing.

After my salad and smoothie, I had a craving for sweets so I ate about a dozen prunes.

Needless to say, there’s a lot to be said for the digestive . . . um. . . "properties" of eating a dozen prunes.