Eating is a social matter and when we gather for a feast it can become even more stressful. But let’s go through some possibilities and solutions that really work. First ask yourself what matters the most: the food or the company. I do want to make one remark here…

Raw foodism is not about being fanatic but about finding the best solution that lies the closest to your principles and serves your guests as well. Feasting is about compassion, respect for each others choices and love.

A while ago I heard someone say that she refused to serve wine to her guests because nothing that was in combat with her raw principles would ever enter her house. Every guest who dared asking for a glass of wine or a beer got a sermon. I was very disturbed by this attitude and honestly, I wonder if those guests will ever return.

Raw food can’t be forced upon others. It is your choice, and others have to make their own. But what you can do, is make it look like something they know, serve it at your best, seduce them with your wonderful food, the love you prepared it with and leave them the choice. So…

• Let’s forget about what they might think or say, give it our very best and blow them away.

• Or… go for a good compromise that works for everybody and make “having a good time together” priority number one.

• If you want to keep it all raw but want your family to have their own choices at the same time, organize your Xmas feast as a raw food potluck to which they can bring their own made salads.

• My mother will take care of her own food as this issue has become too complicated for us and she knows best what she can eat without becoming ill.

• I will make a raw cocktail with some snacks as an aperitif, raw dessert and cake for a coffee or tea afterward.

• My sister is making vegetarian soup and steamed root vegetables with a nice sauce and puree.

• I am adding a raw food dish to this assortment for those who prefer staying raw or want to try something new.

THINK OF A NEW CONCEPT

Let me give you an example. My family is extremely difficult when it comes to food. My mother is allergic to practically all foods, my sister and her boyfriend are vegetarian but struggle with stomach issues, my daughter is transferring to raw food, her boyfriend loves meat and fish, my father is a very conservative eater, my son is luckily opening up, his girlfriend eats in the best restaurants but doesn’t like trying what she doesn’t know and I am raw. Ok… What can we do about this? This is the question you have to ask yourself.

My sister and I met with our mother, we went through each course and decided on who would prepare which course.

How difficult can it be to look for a solution that fits everybody? Just as difficult as you wanna make it…

Last time when I made dessert for Xmas -a delicious raw chocolate mousse with coulis- my father asked a second portion, not knowing what he was eating. My mother said that he talked about it for days!

THINK OF A NEW WAY OF PRESENTING YOUR DAILY RAW FOOD

If you don’t feel comfortable about serving totally new recipes or if you are too busy around Xmas to spend more time than usual, be gentle to yourself. Just take the recipes that you really have in your fingers and plate them differently. By changing the way you serve them you can make them unrecognizable and glamorous! How?

• Use a “ring” to serve your ice cream, pasta, guacamole or mushrooms in and they will look fancy!
• With a small bottle you can “draw” your sauce on your plate. Try a square or a circle…
• Look at the plate you will use. Does it have a detail you can use in the ornament you apply?
• Let a color detail in your plate return in your food by adding it in a spice or herb on top
• Try to look at the right proportions, find a nice composition, “paint” with your food on a white plate
• Sometimes a nice fork or stick can bring a lovely idea. Have a look at the fruit sticks I made here below…
• Look in your cupboards at what you have. A cocktail glass can serve to present your fruit sticks…
• A piece of wood or a nice stone can make a wonderful plate for food!
• Think “out of your boxes”, color out of the lines and you will be stunned with what you come up with

I hope this is shedding a light on your Xmas dinner. Enjoy creating! Please share your thoughts and habits with me in the comment box below. Merry Raw Xmas!

Juicy Crackers

When you juice a lot you will often wonder what to do with all the pulp. Throw it away in a garbage bag? Throw it out on your compost? Feed it to the pets? Crackers are a wonderful, tasteful, economic solution and will save you a lot of money.  Just think of what one small pack is costing and you will know how much.

Juice all day long and make a tray in the early evening for a nice and warm breakfast the next morning. This makes a lovely recipe for early, dark winter mornings when you are aching for some warm comfort while the house is warming up.

The principle is very easy and you can add whatever you like. As each juice and the variety of  juices you make throughout the day is different, each tray of these crackers will have its surprising tastes. A good timing to make a new batter is around 5 or 6 pm or when you stop juicing. You will still have the time to flip your tray after the first drying period of 4 to 5 hours. Then you can go to bed with a smile. The dehydrator will do the rest overnight while you are having juicy dreams.

Deep Purple

TOOLS YOU NEED

• A juicer
• A dehydrator or oven
• A large bowl
• A wooden spoon or a spatula

INGREDIENTS

• The pulp of your daily juices
• 1-2 C grind flax seeds
• 1 C grind nuts to your choice
• Herbs and seasonings which fit to the taste of the pulp
• Sea salt to taste
• Some pure water or original juice, depending on how much pulp you have

THE MAKING OF…

• If you like your crackers  with a “clean” color, don’t mix the pulp of the different juices you made but separate them
• If you don’t mind mixing, stir the pulps until well mixed
• Grind the nuts you like in your crackers and throw the flour in the bowl with the pulp
• Add the herbs and seasonings you think will fit with the taste of the crackers, spicy, Mediterranean or sweet…
• Taste, taste, taste and adjust until you say “Mmmm!
• Grind your flax seeds and mix everything very well
• Now add the water or juice you need to have an easy consistency to spread out on your tray
• Spread the batter on a teflex sheet or parchment paper and make squares so you can break them easily when ready
• Place the tray in your dehydrator
• If you don’t have a dehydrator, you can use an oven on the lowest temperature, not higher than 118°F or 42°C . Leave the door a little bit open so the water can evaporate and your crackers will be crunchy
• If you put your tray in around 5 or 6 pm, you can still flip it over after 4 to 5 hours
• Let it dehydrate until the next morning and they will be perfect for breakfast

Try out what you like. This basic principle works for every pulp and you will have fun creating your own recipes. Enjoy your creations!

Green Juicy Crackers

Happy Raw Snacks

A home party doesn’t require that much work if you present daily snacks a bit different. A lovely snack are olives and colorful marinated vegetables. Some crackers left? Place them next to this tempting food with a few dip sauces and your friends can create their own snacks with what you are offering. Happy Raw Year!

Find some nice cocktail skewers, look for ‘something else’ and your olives will look fancy.

Party Olives

MARINATED VEGETABLES

TOOLS YOU NEED

• A sharp knife
• A cutting board
• A bowl

INGREDIENTS

• A red bell pepper
• A yellow bell pepper
• An orange bell pepper
• 2 C cherry tomatoes
• 4 spring onions
• A bunch of parsley
• Sea salt to taste
• Black pepper to taste
• Fresh herbs; a few sprigs of thyme, oregano, basil
• Olive oil

THE MAKING OF…

• Make small nice cubes of all your vegetables
• Cut the cherry tomatoes in 4 parts
• Mince all the herbs and spring onions
• Mix everything in a bowl
• Pour olive oil generously until the veggies are moist
• Add some sea salt and pepper
• Cover up and let sit for a half hour, but when you leave them soaking overnight, they will be heavenly soft
• To have more effect, dehydrate them on a teflex sheet for two hours

Pure and delicious! Have a wonderful New Year!

Hugs and love,

Marie-Claire

Hot snack

]]> http://ravishingraw.com/wordpress/2010/12/29/happy-raw-year/feed/ 0 http://ravishingraw.com/wordpress/2010/12/11/superb-smoothie/ http://ravishingraw.com/wordpress/2010/12/11/superb-smoothie/#comments Sat, 11 Dec 2010 11:18:19 +0000 Marie-Claire http://ravishingraw.com/wordpress/?p=1029 The less I think about what to put in my morning smoothie, the better it gets! Of course you have to be lucky with the individual tastes of the vegetables and fruits you grab because they vary every day. But well, I was lucky and if you have sweet pears and bananas available nothing much can go wrong with this combination.

Slamming Smoothie

TOOLS YOU NEED

• A blender
• A sharp knife
• A cutting board

INGREDIENTS

• 4 small leaves of kale (or two large ones)
• A frozen banana (you can take unfrozen too)
• A sweet pear
• Fill up your blender with spinach
• A grab of parsley
• A handful of Goji Berries (it adds sweetness and so many great nutrients!)
• 1 tsp beepollen
• 1 tsp Maca
• 1 TBS coconut butter
• Rejuvelac (see the recipe here; I added slices of lemon and mint to this batch)

THE MAKING OF…

• Throw everything in your blender
• Blend and chew that smooth smoothie! Cheers!
  

  Super Smoothie

Raw?

Winter, snow, freezing wind… I am aching for warmth inside of my body. Sure, my green smoothies help but when dinner time is there, I want more. I bet you do too! I learned that when you cheat your ‘eye’ with the food you make, you feel warmer just by looking at your plate. Making or finishing off dishes with raw food that is looking as if it is cooked is a trick that works every time. How you can change that raw view into a softened, wilted look?

It is very simple. Marinate your vegetables. Slice them very small, cover them up with olive oil, add a spoon of hemp oil for great omega’s and… you know what? Let me put it down here in a simple, fast and delicious recipe for two persons. This is a lovely side dish which combines so well with nori rolls or on top of a pizza or pasta to get that cooked look or simply mixed with salad.

TOOLS YOU NEED

• A sharp knife
• A large bowl
• A (wooden) spoon
• A dehydrator or oven (optional)

Organic Mushrooms

INGREDIENTS

• About a half pound of mushrooms to your choice
• Enough olive oil to moist the mushrooms (be generous)
• A TBS of hemp oil or sesame oil (optional)
• A big bunch of finely chopped parsley
• Whatever herbs that can enhance that wild taste of mushrooms; chive, rosemary, thyme, oregano… (optional)
• Sea salt to taste
• A tsp of kelp granules (optional but great if you have thyroid issues)
• Juice of a half lemon
• Some apple cider vinegar (optional if you added lemon juice but a nice touch)

Wild herbs to add

THE MAKING OF…

Sliced

• Chop up the mushrooms into fine slices and throw them in a large bowl

Pour enough olive oil to cover up

• Pour your oil generously over them so they can soak in it

Add your herbs and other ingredients

• Add the herbs of your choice, the salt, the lemon and apple cider vinegar and enjoy the odors!

Mix well and let sit

• Mix well with a spoon or your hands
• Taste if it is to your taste and add what you want more in there
• Set it away for about twenty minutes; the mushrooms will wilt and start looking cooked!
• For maximum effect; put it on a tray with teflex sheet and warm it up for an hour in your dehydrator
• Add some extra olive oil so they still stay moist while dehydrating

TIPS

• You can easily make one pound  of these marinated mushrooms. They will be even better the next day!
• You can add them with another recipe then and they will give another extra dimension
• You can marinate whatever you like to look cooked; peppers, eggplant, zucchini, tomatoes …

Enjoy your uncooked, cooked looking dish!

Mixed with cherry tomatoes