Low Fat Raw Vegan 811 Dinner Ideas

Strawberry Ice-Cream Shortcake

Yum! This is so decadent and super simple and healthy - only 4 whole food, raw ingredients!
It would make an excellent Valentines meal or dessert.

There's two parts:

Shortcake:
—30 halawy dates (or 15 medjools)
—¼c dried, unsweetened coconut

Icecream:
—¾c frozen strawberries
—1 banana

Simply blend dates & coconut until a sticky, sweet dough is formed. Press lightly into bowl or dish.

Blend bananas & strawberries with a little bit of water. Pile on top of your shortcake pastry and enjoy!

This recipe makes a nice meal for 1 person, or a good dessert for 2.

Peace!

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Raw Vegan Teens: Tips From 16y/o Low Fat Raw Vegan

What A Teenage Fruitarian Eats In A Day

I get people asking me often enough, what and how much they should be eating in a day. I obviously can't answer that 100% - we're all different; only you can answer that by experimenting and finding out what what works for you.

However, I can show you what works for me and what I do, to give you some sort of basic understanding.

So, here is a play-by-play of everything I'm eating today!

Breakfast - smoothie (1L):
—4-5 bananas
—2c OJ
—¾c strawberries (or other berry)
Blend everything until smooth.

I always start my day with a smoothie! I sometimes experiment with different foods for breakfast, but in my experience, a smoothie for breakfast is the best! It's hydrating, flavorful, easy to digest, and full of healthy carbohydrates to fill you up and energize you for the day.

I've found that it's very important to get enough calories in my breakfast meal, and that eating a lot early in the morning provides excellent energy levels and a positive mood for the whole day - plus I'm not hungry all the time for the rest of the day.

This size smoothie normally fills me up until lunch - but some days I'm hungry earlier, so I often bring a small snack of whole fruit or extra smoothie to school with me (it almost always gets eaten up, either before lunch or as a snack in the afternoon).

Snack - extra green smoothie that wouldnt fit in my lunch jar. Aha

Lunch - green smoothie (1L):
—2c romaine
—¼cilantro
—1c water
—½lemon, juiced
—3bananas
—1.5c pineapple
Blend greens with water and lemon until smooth. Add fruit, blend again until smooth.

This is probably my favorite green smoothie! I love pineapple with greens.

For lunch, I normally have either a green smoothie or a monomeal of whole fruit.

I like the fruit monomeal because it is convenient and easy. Recently, my monomeal has been about 10 oranges. There're super easy to transport and don't go bad fast, so it's nice.

I'm out of oranges now, though, so I've been doing green smoothies instead. I really like the way they are sort of savory and sweet at the same time. I think this is awesome for lunch, because you're not looking for something quite as sweet at lunchtime as you had for breakfast, but you still need a good amount of calories to get you through the rest of the day. Making smoothies take a little extra prep time in the morning, but they are also a nice, convenient way to eat at school (or work).

Dinner - 2 heads of broccoli dipped in maybe ½c sundried tomato paste, with ¼ avocado and a sprinkling of curry

This may sound like a wierd meal, but I thought it was super good! Lol, I have really been loving broccoli the past few days! (And, it was on sale at the grocery store, aha.)

I've noticed that at different times, I'll crave different types of greens and fruits. (I normally can't stand broccoli or cruciferous veggies, but I sometimes go through phases of like a week, where I just can't get enough of them. Wtf?) I can't imagine this is anything other than my body telling me what it needs, which I think is pretty cool! ...I used to try and eat the things that I knew were *good* for me....but I've found that I feel and do a lot better when just eating the fruits and veggies I'm wanting to eat at the time.

Previously to my broccoli kick, I was doing a cucumber "pasta" just about every night, with a sauce that differed from day to day. I posted a few of these sauce recipes. Basicalky what I would do, would be blend up a base of about 1c water and 2 - 3c greens, then add spices, herbs, other veggies, to to taste, and see what worked. This was super fun, and made for awesome flavor variey - even when using basically the same base ingredients every day, hah. (:

I like having a savory, green meal for dinner. I often throw in a few dates or some dried fruit to sweeten the meal up. The sweetness helps to satiate better than if it were just a low-calorie green meal. The fact that I eat more carb calories earlier in the day, makes it possible for me to have and enjoy a green/salad-type meal for dinner.

I also had about 2½ cups of water today. I don't force down the water like I know sme raw foodists do. I just drink when I feel I need it. Many days, I don't actually drink water by itself (though I normally blend some with my smoothies), and this seems to work just fine for me.

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So, thats my intake for the whole day! Keep in mind that I am a small-boned, 5'2, 100lb female. I don't do huge amounts of excersize, especially being winter - just some walking and about an hour of yoga every night.

So, obviously most people are going to need more food than this. The best way to figure out just how much food you need is to listen to your own body and experiment: there is no one size fits all answer.

If you are just beginning a low fat raw vegan diet, theres a good chance your tummy won't even be able to fit all the food you'll be needing! This is because cooked food is a more concentrated source of calories - a lot of the fiber and water that is present in raw foods is normally removed in cooked food. So it will take some getting used to, just do the best you can - and if you must, don't be afraid to maybe supplement with some rice for dinner, if you must. It's better than not getting enough food, in my opinion!

Hope this was helpful to you!

-Peace!

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Flavorful Fat-free Parsley-Tomato Pasta!

Yumm. I've got a super simple, intensely flavored, awesome low fat raw vegan pasta recipe, and I'm gonna share it with you!

This salt free, fat free, raw recipe is soo good, you've gotta try it!

Introducing, cucumber noodlies with tomato-parsley sauce!

Ingredients:

• Noodlies: (I just love that word. Say it: "Noodlies." Hehehehehehe.)
• 3 Cucumbers
• You could probably use zucchini as well if you like it; I don't. I do think the cucumber noodles give a lovely freshness to the dish.
• Dressing:


• ⅓ c sun-dried tomatoes
• ½ c parsely
• ½ c water
• ⅛ onion (or, preferably, use chives or scallions for a fresher tasting, less mucous-forming option!)
• 1Tbsp lemon juice


• Optional, but yummy:
• avocado chunks
• dried apricot slices

Spiralize, julienne, or use a veggie peeler to make noodles out of cucumber.

Blend parsley & water until smooth. Add rest of ingredients and blend until smooth.

Pour sauce over cucumber s'gettis and enjoy!

Low Fat Raw Gourmet: Sushi

Ahhh, winter break! As of last Thursday, I went from having little to no free time, to having all the free time in the world! I've been investing this time doing lots of yoga, playing outside, cleaning, reading, and making art in the kitchen!

Today I came up with a nut & oil free, low fat, raw, vegan sushi recipe that is just incredible!

It's not traditional simple low-fat fare; there are quite a few ingredients - but it's definitely a dish worth treating yourself to - without splurging on the fat, salt, and/or cooked foods!

There are 3 basic parts (rice, veggies, dipping sauces), plus the nori.

Rice
—1 head cauliflower
—¼ onion

Veggies
—2 carrots

—1 cucumber

Dips
—1in ginger, peeled & sliced
—½c water
—½ lime, juiced
—5 - 6 small dates (or 3 large), pitted

—1c arugula
—¾c water
—½ lime, juiced
—½ celery stalk
—1 garlic clove
—½ avocado

For the rice:
Chop cauliflower into pieces:

Put about a handful or two in your blender at a time, and pulse once or twice (until consistancy of rice):

Finally, mince onion and mix them in. Mix in a few tablespoons of ginger-date sauce.

For ginger-date sauce:
Put ¾c water, 1in ginger, and 6 dates in blender; blend until smooth. Mix some into 'rice' and set the rest aside.

For the pineapple-avocado sauce:
Blend arugula with water until smooth. Add celery, lime, and pineapple. Blend until smooth. Add ½ avocado.

For veggies:
Julienne or spiralize cucumbers. Shred, shave, or spiralize carrots (I used a veg peeler).

Assembly:
Lay out a nori roll, smooth side down. On one side, put a generous helping of cauliflower 'rice'. On top of the rice, put some carrot & cucumber, then drizzle some ginger-date & avocado-pinapple sauce, roll up tightly, and eat! (Or cut them into little noris, if you're sharing with other people. 

Yum! 

LFRV Chocolate Icecream?!

Today for lunch, I've got a huge (24oz!) tub of chocolate icecream... Fat free, guilt free, and cruelty free! Vegans can't eat anything? Bullshiiit!

The recipe is super simple (and delicious, and totally the consistency of icecream!) :

—8 frozen bananas (chunked)

—8 dates

—½c carob powder

—⅓c water (if using blender)

Blend all ingredients in a blender (or with icecream maker? I assume it would work, I don't have one so I don't know.)

That's it! Enjoy!

(Recipe is best if eaten right after making it.)

Keepin' It Frugal On LFRV!

This article is for those of you who are young and can't afford to spend $100 on food per week. This article is for people who think spending such a huge amount of money just to eat raw foods is ridiculous. This article is for those SAD eater who say that they won't switch because organic vegan foods are so expensive. This article is for anybody who is already eating a low fat, high carb, raw plant-based diet and wants to explore ways to eat more cheaply on this diet.

I am a 16-year-old in High School, and I only have $40-$50 to spend on fruit each week.

I eat loads of bananas, because truthfully, they're pretty much the only thing I an afford to eat significant quantities of (especially in the winter). I don't really like bananas much at all, and contemplated, at one point, going back to cooked vegan in lieu of living on bananas...but I just absolutely didn't want all the bloating and gas and constipation and apathy and lack of energy that comes with cooked every time I try. HCRV is like golden handcuffs.. Now that you've tried it, you can never leave. Because its just too good.

So, I finally gave in and started making smoothies... I'm so glad, it really helps, and they're actually super delicious! Right now (I know it's bad food combining, but,) I've been making banana-OJ-frozen strawberry smoothies. Super cheap and utterly delicious. Sometimes I put chopped dates on top. Its an easy way to add calories and...yum! Extra sweetness.
Another nummy way to eat bananas (and making sure you always have ripe, raw calories in the house!) is letting them ripen, and then freezing them! Throw 'em in the blender with some dates and carob, makes a perfect chocolate icecream....guilt free! (;

Also, make sure you're eating plenty of greens, especially if you are eating mostly just dates and bananas. I find that it helps my appetite for these sweet foods. Especially on a limited budget, you'll probably want to grow your own (since there's no way you'll be able to afford organic greens, and there's generally a lot of pesticides in the conventional stuff). This is not hard to do, even if you live in a cold climate! Just put some big pots of dirt by a window, and sprinkle salad mix seeds - and a few days later, they'll start sprouting! They'll keep producing as you cut them, so it's super easy! Just make sure to keep them watered, and maybe put some compost on occasionally, to make sure they don't use up the nutrients in the soil (:

 So yeah, buying conventional produce and bananas from Kwik Trip, I'm living on $6 per day - that's less than most people on SAD!

An additional tip for young people: Ask your parents how much they spend on food for a week for your family. Then divide that by the number of people in your family - ask them if they can just give you your share of your families food budget to spend on your own food - if you're determined, you will learn to budget it correctly to get enough calories and make raw veganism work for you.

Peace, and good luck to all!

Valuable Beginner Tips!

•young people (under 20) don't be afraid to eat a little extra fat (between 10 - 20%, probably-ish)

•get fats from fruits (avo is best from experience) rather than nuts & seeds

•surround yourself with fruit that you love!

• don't be afraid of overreating! (eat as much as you desire, that's the beauty)

•eat enough! Dont end up one of those people who decides veganism made them sick, emaciated and tired all the time - that was you under relating cause you're not used to the light caloric density of whole plant-based carbohydrate. (ideally fruit)

•if you're craving salt, eat greens. As many greens as you desire (try fruit-based dressings, no oil)

•it's not an all or nothing thing. Almost all raw foodists eat cooked sometimes. (not naming specific people, but I have heard from close friends of some big raw names, that they occasionally eat cooked; a few others like durian rider & Fredric patenaud are open about it. (i personally drink pasteurized not-from-concentrate oj, and will have marinara sauce sometimes) you do eat some cooked it's ok, just keep it high raw, always keep it vegan (although if you don't think you can do that even, then obviously mostly vegan is better than not at all), and try to keep cooked foods whole and carb-rich as much as you can.

•do what is right for you! Every step in the right direction is better than where you started, if you don't think your ready for something, that's fine. Don't push yourself and end up giving up and going back to SAD.

•educate yourself! Watch earthings, read 80-10-10 - if you know exactly why youre doing this, you'll obviously be more likely to stick with it.

•try smoothies! I'm personally not a big fan, but I know lots of people love smoothies and it enables them to get lots more fruit in, and even positively share part of this diet with those around them, and that's excellent.

•start paying attention to just how you feel after eating things, emotionally, mentally and physically. Rather than following diet dogma, listen to your body. As your body becomes more accustomed to a whole food, raw, plant-based diet, your body will become better and better at sending you signals - and it'll get more and more natural for you to pick up on them.