"April in the Raw" and recipe for Layered Rainbow Salad
Posted Apr 11 2011 5:00am
Brittany at Real Sustenance is hosting a great blog event this month called April in the Raw . I was thrilled when she asked me to participate. All month long, bloggers will be posting about their experiences with raw food and sharing raw and raw inspired recipes. Be sure to check out the April in the Raw home page to see all the posts and recipes from other participating bloggers.
Sometimes the raw food culture can seem intimidating. The soaking, the sprouting, the dehydrating, the mixing, the requisite dehydrator, the frequent expensive (and often imported) specialty ingredients - it can be overwhelming. Don't get me wrong, I'm not attacking the way that many individuals choose to incorporate raw foods in their life. I like a young coconut and a raw flax cracker as much as the next person. But when it comes to incorporating raw food in my diet, I prefer to take a more simplistic, more local approach. I am privileged enough to choose the foods I eat each day, and I want to make sure that my choices support my health, my local economy, my values, and the overall well-being of the individuals, animals, and land that produced them, whether I'm making a raw vegan meal or roasting a brisket. Simple salads and slaws, raw cultured vegetables and sauerkraut, smoothies, fresh green juices, sprouted chickpeas and homemade broccoli sprouts - these are my favorite way to eat raw foods. I eat raw foods most in the spring and summer, when produce is fresh and the temperatures are warm. In autumn and winter, as temperatures cool and my body needs to expend more energy to stay warm, I stray from eating as many raw foods and incorporate more cooked vegetables. I find I feel best when I connect my dietary choices to the season, so that's what I do.
As a smoothie addict and lover of salads, my excitement for warmer weather - and all the food that goes with it - is pretty intense.
Sometimes the raw food culture can seem intimidating. The soaking, the sprouting, the dehydrating, the mixing, the requisite dehydrator, the frequent expensive (and often imported) specialty ingredients - it can be overwhelming. Don't get me wrong, I'm not attacking the way that many individuals choose to incorporate raw foods in their life. I like a young coconut and a raw flax cracker as much as the next person. But when it comes to incorporating raw food in my diet, I prefer to take a more simplistic, more local approach. I am privileged enough to choose the foods I eat each day, and I want to make sure that my choices support my health, my local economy, my values, and the overall well-being of the individuals, animals, and land that produced them, whether I'm making a raw vegan meal or roasting a brisket. Simple salads and slaws, raw cultured vegetables and sauerkraut, smoothies, fresh green juices, sprouted chickpeas and homemade broccoli sprouts - these are my favorite way to eat raw foods. I eat raw foods most in the spring and summer, when produce is fresh and the temperatures are warm. In autumn and winter, as temperatures cool and my body needs to expend more energy to stay warm, I stray from eating as many raw foods and incorporate more cooked vegetables. I find I feel best when I connect my dietary choices to the season, so that's what I do.
As a smoothie addict and lover of salads, my excitement for warmer weather - and all the food that goes with it - is pretty intense.