Low Fat Raw Gourmet: Crêpes

Merry Christmas, all; hope you had a great time opening gifts and hanging out with your wonderful family!

My family is full of cooks and food connoisseurs, so we like to do different cuisines for holiday meals. This year, the theme is French food.

Not eager to be left out, I decided I would take part in this French cuisine theme myself! I plan upon having a creamy, nut free, salt free, raw red pepper bisque (it's delicious); I'll definitely post that recipe in the near future!

For dessert, I shall be enjoying crêpes...yum!

This has got to be the easiest crêpe recipe ever. Its also super duper yummy & 100% fruit! It does use a dehydrator, but its still a great once-in-a-while treat, methinks.

Ingredients:
—3 bananas
—¾ avocado
—8 - 12 halawy dates (or 4 - 6 soft medjools)
—¾c water
—½c berries, +a few more for the filling

There is three parts to the recipe: the crêpe, the creamy filling, and a berry coulis to drizzle on top.

For the crêpe:
Blend bananas together in blender. Spread into two circles on a dehydrator sheet (you may want to spread a teeny bit of coconut oil down first, so they dont stick). Dehydrate until pliable, but not sticky (I just dehydrated mine overnight).

For the cream filling:
Blend dates (pitted), avocado, and water (don't add it all right away) in blender until smooth and creamy.

For the coulis:
Blend berries of your choice into a sauce (I used strawberries).

Assembly: (wait until your ready to eat or almost ready! If you assemble agead of time, the banana crêpe may absorb water from filling and turn back to mush.)
Spread half the cream on one side of each crêpe. Sprinkle some whole berries on top (I used raspberries). Roll up the crêpes, and drizzle the coulis on top. Now you're done, enjoy!

Banana-nog!

YUM! So it turns out even raw vegans can sip eggnog by the fireside this holiday season! (And anybody else can have a nutritious, guilt-free version of this favorite holiday drink!) Just made this for breakfast this morning, it really does taste pretty eggnog-y. (And yummy!)

It's super easy to make:
—2 bananas, chunked
—2 frozen bananas, chunked
—1c coconut milk (or, if you're staying overt-free, coconut water would probably be good as well)
—½ tsp cinnamon (or more, to taste)
—dash nutmeg (to taste)

Throw everything in the blender and blend away until it's smooth and creamy...then pour into your favorite mason jar and enjoy!

The Cooked Experiment

"You know what I want more than anything for Christmas, Daddy?" I asked, following a list of objects I would like to receive under the Christmas tree. "The gift of life! You could be vegan with me...vegan December. Peace on earth."

To my surprise, Dad didn't look at me as if I was being ridiculous. In fact, his response was, "I would be willing to be vegetarian - if you would start eating some cooked vegan foods again."

And that was how it started. My family is eating vegetarian meals, which I will share with them - in true family dinner fashion (which was done away with a while ago in my family, when I started taking interest in my health and the ingredients that would make up my sacred temple of a body, while my mother, father, and brother lacked this enthusiasm), throughout the month of December (maybe longer, if cravings for their meaty addictions don't get the best of them), as an experiment for themselves (and maybe a ploy to get me eating 'normal' food again, and to experience family dinners again).

I still won't eat wheat. I still won't eat salt. I still plan upon keeping it low fat high carb. My breakfast, lunch, and snacks will still be fruit. I don't think I'll eat legumes. I don't want to eat refined foods like flour and sugar. And as soon as January comes, I already can't wait to metaphorically throw myself back into fruit's perfect embrace and start repairing the damage that I know I'm furthering with each bite I take.

Both parties will obviously have to compromise this month to make this work. I know the idea that I would give up my fruit for a month sounds ludicrous to a lot of my friends who understand just what I'm giving up, and the damage that I will be putting myself through.

But for this month, because I love my family and because I know it will make them happy, I temporarily walk away from the beautiful, colorful, flavorful world that is low fat raw veganism, for the less enchanting reality of cooked veganism.

Anyhow, this month, I plan upon posting about things I'm experiencing differently from fruit, tribulations and triumphs, etcetera.

So, tonight was December 1st. I had my first cooked family meal, "Brown Rice & Lentil Soup". It was fat free, basically tomatoes, rice, lentils, corn, and some other vegetables, all mixed together into a soup. I noticed just a few things.

• The soup (though there was a lot of water in it from the tomato juice, I assume) felt quite dehydrating.
• I normally don't feel the need to drink much water throughout the day (and my pee is most always clear), but I've been drinking non-stop since dinner.
• I felt really super full.
• I was kind of hungry, and the soup was pretty good...but after about half a bowl, I felt so full I just couldn't eat anymore.
• It would seem it is way easier to eat lots of energy from fruit. I can't imagine I had more than 200cal over dinner...
• I felt emotionally off after dinner last nigh.
• I don't know whether it was real or in my mind, but I felt distracted, heavy, tired, and just not...lacking that emotional glow I feel from fruit, I guess. Interesting.

That's all I've got for today. But stay tuned, I guess. I plan on posting every few days, listing new experiences and noticings.

Peace!