Sorry!

I've been so busy with my new dehydrator and other web projects that I've neglected this site quite a bit (that's an understatement!) I have some exciting changes though coming up to the site. I don't consider myself a failure for not doing this-one thing I'm good at is not failing at trying things! :) I just tend to get a bit ADD when I start projects, so you'll have to forgive me. Check back soon for updates! xoxo

On Hold....

...until I get a dehydrator! I'm still making raw food recipes-however, until I get a dehydrator...my recipes haven't been interesting enough to post about. I find myself pretty limited without one. But hey, that's what this blog is for-so you can learn from my experience. I never thought a dehydrator was important, but if you really want variety in your raw food recipes, it's definitely a must in my opionion! Oh well, live and learn!

Day 14...I really need a dehydrator!

Ok, so I'm not exactly following the rules here...but then again, I have never been good at that!(even if they are my own!) I'm sorry I haven't posted in awhile, just haven't felt inspired to share anything I made (been making my own creations, not from a recipe book.) I bought the Carol Alt Recipe book yesterday though.

I am learning that if I want to make raw food recipes-I MUST get a dehydrator! Anybody know where I can get a good one at? (for a decent price!) I also probably should have prepared ahead of time what recipes I was going to do-instead of doing it on a day by day basis. Might have made things easier to stick to a daily schedule! lol Oh, well. A little late for that now!


I made the cucumber, avocado and dill soup, and the raw ravioli and goat cheese from Carol Alt's book. I guess the raw ravioli was from Sarma, of Pure Food and Wine in New York City. Her recipe book is:



Let me just say that I LOVED, LOVED the goat cheese and raw ravioli! Omg! It was soo good! I definitely need to get Sarma's book soon! I didn't exactly follow the directions though, since I couldn't find all of the ingredients, and I didn't know how to (or feel like learning!) zest a lemon! I did, however, learn what a shallot is, and tarragon! :) I couldn't find the beets, so I used radishes.

Although I didn't follow it exactly, I'm in love with how it turned out, and I definitely didn't come up with my creation without the idea from the book. Here is what I did for the goat cheese:

Squeeze half a lemon in a food processer, with half a shallot, and 1/3 teaspoon olive oil

Than put that in a blender, add in pine nuts (I used about 6 oz. from a bag and it made a TON)

Sprinkle in some garlic, and pepper to taste
Mix in some tarragon leaves, to taste..blend it all up
Put in refrigerator to cool while you cut up the radishes

Cut them in half

When its chilled to your liking, put them inside the radish pieces and enjoy :)

Sooo freakin' good, I was eating the "goat cheese" by itself lol

This would be really good cheese to use in other recipes too. I'm in love :)


As for the soup....I was kind of rushed into finishing it up, so I didn't get to mix it to my liking...but everyone said it tasted good. I guess I'm just too picky :)

Day 13

I think I know why my fettucine alfredo dish didn't turn out how I expected. I saw a lot of recipes with cashews in it. I think that would have tasted better than walnuts (although I think walnuts are probably better for you!). I will try a cashew recipe another time. Today my mom and I got a bit experimental because we had some veggies that would go bad if we didn't use them today. SO we made our own recipes! I made a cucumber-tomato soup, which was very easy to make and surprisingly filling:

4 small cucumbers
4 cherry tomatoes, one regular sized tomato (using what we had here lol)
a cup of water
a teaspoon of nutritional yeast
2 tablespoons flaxseeds
a handful of fresh oregano
a handful of fresh basil
2 handfuls of sprouts
1 tablespoon of dill
couple of dashes of cayenne
1 teaspoon of himalayan salt
**Can also add avocado's if you have them for a creamier consistency.
*Mix in blender cucumbers, tomatoes, and water. Add the rest a little bit at time, to taste.


Man, did I ever feel good after that soup! I think this is probably a good ddetox/cleansing soup. I heated it up a bit on the stove, keeping the temp. low.


My mom made a squash soup-not sure exactly what she added, but I know she put in some nutmeg in it, and it was really good. My mom was going to cook it, but didn't want to spend the time so I said, just make it raw!

Raw soups are one of my favorite recipes-quick, and better than canned soup! I also like it on cold, gloomy Michigan days like today!


I had some figs too today. So good! :)

Day 12

My internet access was sporatic this weekend, and I didn't have much time to make food. I know, excuses, excuses. The good news is that after about only a week, I really just wanted simple raw foods like salads and smoothies. This should be good news anyways, if you are like me, and don't like making recipes. I do think I get bored way too easily, so I'm going to keep making two recipes a day. If anything, my mom is enjoying it! lol I think it keeps me motivated. So, since I didn't do any this weekend, I'm just going to say today was day 12. I made from the Alive in Five recipe book (which you can find on the right hand side of my blog, under recipe books used) the Fettucine Alfredo and Broccoli and Cheese. I also have some banana's freezing in the freezer for some raw ice cream! I have already had it before, so I know it tastes good-just not sure if the bananas I got were ripe enough. I bought all kinds of banana's today so I'll have some ripe ones in a few days-but I just couldn't wait to get started ;) My parents keep asking when the ice cream will be done too! It almost seems TOO easy, so I'm skeptical I can make it ok! Ok, on to the fettucine...I am just not impressed with Zucchini's for pasta, so I used quinoa and a tiny bit of semolina pasta. I figured, quinoa is close to being raw, and I didn't have to heat it up that long, and I kept it on a light simmer most of the time. I also didn't make the tomato sauce for the fettucine because it was just a ton of ingredients-I just made the parmesan cheese (out of pine nuts!) and the alfredo sauce (walnut milk! and I am excited to use the walnut milk for other things instead of milk-it tasted a lot better!) I accidentally spilled the walnut milk all over the sink trying to strain it-whoops! Luckily I made a lot so it didn't matter. The fettucine was, eh, ok. Not my favorite. I'll admit it taste like fettucine, but it was a bit too salty for my taste. My mom liked it though. I liked the parmesan cheese though. I think it would have been better with the tomato sauce. Oh, well. I am really full at least! This was my first experience with nutritional yeast (the only places around Southeast Michigan I know that sell it are Zerbo's in Livonia, and Whole Foods in Ann Arbor.) I was expecting nutritional yeast to taste just like cheese, because that's what everyone always says-but to me, it was a disappointing substitute. I have had raw fettucine alfredo that was really, really good, so maybe it was the recipe? I took Alissa Cohen's raw food chef class, and I really liked the one my instructor Beth made, and I have had some by Michael Dwyer at one of his classes at Better Health in Novi. SO, I was a little disappointed. Maybe I will have to buy Alissa Cohen's recipe book! The broccoli and cheese, same thing...it wasn't what I was expecting. Not bad, but just..."eh." It had tahini and nutritional yeast...but it tasted almost more like peanut butter!! Broccoli and peanut butter? blech. It was edible, but just not what I had in mind. I guess if you are looking for a peanut butter alternative, that would be a good recipe?! lol I think it could have called for less tahini. I had a hard time finding tahini, I had no idea what it was or where to look! It was in the baking isle! Weird. I also tried to find kelp noodles, but they are hard to find! I have only seen them at Zerbo's and one Better Health store. Oh, well. I worked out with weights today, so quinoa is a good source of protein. The tahini wasn't raw either, but oh well. Maybe I'm being too hard on the recipe-it did taste a LITTLE bit like cheese. Just if you make it, don't use a lot of tahini. It kind of tasted like diet pop...it tastes like pop, but just leaves you unsatisfied! Maybe it's because it didn't have any casein in it?! Read about my thoughts on cheese and dairy on my Michiganrawfood blog.

Pics from day 12!

Day 11

Well, today I had my Mom make the recipes while I watched. She was so inspired and felt so good from my last meals that she wanted to try some. I guess they were out of raw food recipe books at the library, but the vegan books she got had some raw recipes. I thought what my mom made turned out good, but my Dad went to taco bell afterwards. lol Anyways, my Mom made raw spaghetti (which turned out ok but it was a bit too garlicky-I told her to add the garlic in slowly, and not all at once...maybe she will listen to me next time!) and an apple pie. The apple pie was really good, but it was just apples with cinnamon and some nuts. I think people get disappointed with raw foods because they expect it to be like the name...but it's something totally different. Raw Lasagna isn't really lasagna, raw apple pie isn't really apple pie...but the few I have had that actually taste like the real thing are cheesecakes, ice cream, fettucine sauces, and the chocolate pudding. I think it's best to keep an open mind so you aren't disappointed. I hope my mom isn't discouraged though, it was only her first time making raw food. It takes a bit of time to get used to, especially if you have actually cooked regular stuff before (which may be why I'm pretty good at it, as I have nothing to really compare it to!) I'm about a day behind, so I will post tomorrow about today's recipes!

Days 9 and 10

Ok, sorry I haven't felt like updating. I'm really not sure why, but I kept putting it off. To be fair, Julie in the movie didn't have to make TWO recipes a day, or try to find practical recipes from a style of cooking (it's not even cooking really!) with all these weird ingredients. If I want to take a couple of days off from blogging, than I will! lol I did still make my recipes though. Two days ago (day 9) I made the stuffed mushroom (p. 46), raw tostadas (98), and even made chocolate pudding (p.119). I kind of made up for the day off also, since I had to make the salsa (71) again for the tostada's, so it was technically four recipes. All of the recipes in this post are from: a>



Other than not putting all of the ingredients in, or changing a few here and there, I followed the recipes ok with no issues. I made the food for my parents and they really liked it. Ok, my Mom more than my Dad. Since my Mom had breast cancer, she is much more interested in eating healthy. My Dad...still wants to eat whatever he wants. Oh, well. He's going to eat what I make! lol He can eat one bad meal when he's at work! My favorite was the chocolate pudding. It was soo good! I was pretty proud of it. You really couldn't tell the difference from regular pudding-and it tasted less "heavy." I didn't feel gross when I ate it. Oh, and I took some MMS and my stuffy nose went away immediately! I only made a solution of two drops and when I went to drink it, even before I swallowed it, I could feel my nose clear up! It was really crazy! I don't like to take that stuff, but I was getting desperate as it was four days with a stuffy nose. It was the kind of stuffy nose that wasn't bad enough to keep you in the house sick,but just enough to get on your nerves! I'm SO happy I can breathe ok again!!


Day 10.

Still from the same book...I tried a different chili recipe this time, hoping it would be better than the first disaster. The unbelievable chili (p.100) was well...not unbelieveable, but tolerable. My parents ate it...so at least it wasn't so spicy it burned, but it wasn't that good. I didn't like it. I don't think I will be making any more raw chili's! I accidentally put in the tostada spice though, so I think maybe that threw off the flavor? But still, the spices in that weren't that much different from chili spice. Either way, chili is way too easy to mess up and way too picky about the spices being exact. I like to not measure and just kinda wing it-I think chili is out from now on! I was happy with the corn medley though (p. 96) turned out REALLY good. I loved it! So, that made up for the chili I guess. I'm not really losing weight, but I feel lighter....oh well. I am working out with weights so I'm probably just gaining muscle. (or so I'm telling myself! lol)

Here are day 9 and 10 pics: tostada, stuffed peppers, chocolate pudding, chili, and corn medley


Oh, and my mom wants to help pay for the recipes which is a HUGE relief. She wants me to make food for her every day, so she is going to help out! Today I found a bunch of vegan recipe books from the library that she checked out for me! :)Not raw, but hey, she is on the right track! I was just really wondering how I was going to keep affording this, and was getting sick of my recipe options. I love how when you set your mind to do something, it just falls into place. (well, if it's something you are supposed to do anyways!!) I tend to overanalyze things to death and wait until just the perfect moment...but we all know there really is no such thing as the "perfect" moment, right? Sometimes it's better to just do do what you know you need to do, and worry about the details later. I keep wanting to say screw it, I know enough about recipes now, I won't get bored. But that's ridiculous. I've made, what? 20 recipes? I'm not an expert yet. I know if I start going back to just smoothies and salads I'll get bored again. Soooo....what to make tonight? I can't spend all day making recipes like I did yesterday and get behind on work. I'm already behind by blogging...still waiting for the raw food to make me want to start waking up earlier like I've heard but alas, I still need around 9 hours of sleep!!