Creamy Low Fat Raw Vegan Dill Chowder

Hi there! Yes, yes this is a new recipe. And yes, I realize pretty much all my recipes are green. I love greens, they make me feel awesome! (And they have a pretty overpowering color.)

I love fruit, too. Fruit makes me feel awesome as well.
However - I don't know why, but - in the winter, I'm much more attracted to greens & savory foods. I normally eat greens with at least two of my meals in the winter, unlike in the summer, when I might have a some greens every few days.

To ensure I'm getting enough carbohydrates with my green soups and so that they are more satiating, I normally add some sweet dried fruit or dates to my soups.

Anyhow, my favorite way to eat greens is blended. It's less natural, I know - but I feel better afterwards, and enjoy eating blended greens over whole greens, generally.

For lunch, I like to have either a green smoothie or green soup.

Today, I made myself some nummy Creamy Dill Chowder Soup, and now I'm gonna share it with you.

Ingredients

• 1¼ cucumbers
• 1 c water
• 1 c fresh dill or 1Tbsp dried
• ½ c cilantro
• ½ c salad greens
• 1Tbsp lemon juice
• ½ avocado

• 1½ c corn kernels (one corn cob=about 1c corn kernels)
• 13 small dates (or 7 medjools)
• ½ tomato

Easy Prep

1. Blend 1 cucumber with water.
2. Add dill, cilantro, salad greens, lemon. Blend again.
3. Add scooped out avocado and blend one last time, until smooth.
4. Chop dates and tomatos into chunks & slice ¼cucumber thin (like in photo to the right!)
5. Pour soup into bowl. Mix in veggies & fruits.
6. Enjoy!

(Sit cross-legged on a wooden floor while playing Jack Johnson as you eat for full effect.)

Peace! 

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hope everybody (in the US) had an awesome, cruelty free Thanksgiving! I know I did. I just wanna share some pictures of my high-carb, low-fat, salt-free, whole plant food vegan (not raw, though) thanksgiving dinner!

Here's my pumpkin pie pudding, chillin' next to everybody else's!

Basically just roasted pumpkin pureed and blended with dates (soaked in water a few hours), and pumpkin pie spice, to taste.

On top is some delicious, creamy coconut milk (which is basically the consistency of whipping cream).

And here's my dinner! Fruit salad, squash, steamed brussels sprouts, more fruit salad, a baked sweet potato, and cranberries! All made from whole plant foods, without salt. All the 'side dishes' everybody else was eating and loving!

I love being a raw vegan, but I think sharing some traditional cooked foods with my family on special occasions is really awesome. I don't get to share meals with people a lot, because my family are a bunch of omnivores; so I think I'm missing out on an element of social life that a lot of people take for granted. Therefore, on the few occasions that I do compromise and eat some (still delicious) cooked foods, I really enjoy eating what everybody else is eating and sharing.

Healthy Appetite Again!

So I have a story to share, I haven't talked about this much before.

Like most girls of my generation, I once upon a time had an eating disorder. I actually don't know when it started for me. I faintly remember worrying that I was too fat before I was even in school. I think maybe it stemmed from the fact that Daddy spoke badly of fat people on occasion... People would always tell me I was skinny/tiny, even when I was little, but for whatever reason, I didn't believe them. Anyhow, psychoanalyzing that is a job for someone like Sigmund Freud, not a 16 year old who's been in her first psychology class for about 20 days. 'Cause I'm just guessin'. Aha.

Anyhow, I remember being like 10 years old, and I would eat more than I needed. I wouldn't really be hungry - I just loved the taste of bagels and Ritz crackers!

In 5th grade, I visited France on foreign exchange; I was there for about 3 weeks, and spent  the last half frightened that I had gained weight eating all of this rich, probably unhealthy, french food. And I didn't have a scale to make sure I hadn't gotten fat! Not kidding. 5th grade.

In 6th, I went on my first diet.

In 7th was when the eating disorder started, officially, I think. I started eating like 200calories per day, pro-ana sites, the works.

In 8th grade, I started going through binge-starve phases. At times I would decide I wanted to get better, but at the time I didn't really know how to do it, and I was still super afraid of gaining weight... So even though I tried not to care and just "listen to my body", it had me eating crazy amounts of food (to make up for starving at other times), I puffed up to my highest weight of 114. (It doesn't sound that bad...for whatever reason, I'm lucky enough my weight actually has never fluctuated horribly.)

Around 9th grade, bulimia started as well.

Throughout all this, I was slowly working my way through veganism, gourmet raw veganism, and fruitarianism.

Recently, I came to a place where I really feel like I understand food and what I'm eating. I understand what my body needs, and no longer feel like its a fight.

I've been raw for almost two years now, and I finally feel like my appetite has returned to normal. Like, normal normal healthy healthy. I eat when I'm hungry, and I don't eat when I'm not. The food I'm eating feels good in my body, and I don't regret what I'm eating.

I feel like I've reached equilibrium. I think a lot of this long-sought-after peace is thanks to my raw vegan fruitarian diet, and I feel so lucky that I found the diet and had the strength and resolve to stick with it this long.

I can't explain exactly what the diet has done for me, I don't think someone who hasn't experienced it could understand. But I feel more confident, I feel more mature, I feel more empathetic, I feel more in tune with my body, I am able to feel emotions more purely and strongly, I feel capable of truly loving, I feel more positive, I feel more at peace, I feel stronger, I feel more independent, I feel better.

And I can't imagine why anybody wouldn't want to live this way. And lucky you, now that you've heard about LFRV, you have the opportunity to make it yours, too.

Woodstock Fruit Festival 2012!