It was lunch time, and I was beginning to get a bit hungry. While looking outside at the garden, and really procrastinating in making lunch, I thought of one of my favorite lunches. It is a basil, tomato, and cheese sandwich. OK, so I know this is not entirely raw, But if you use organic cheese, and put this in an organic, sprouted grain pita, man is it good.

We have tomatoes and basil in the garden, so I walked out there in the blistering 97F heat, and picked my tomatoes. Then I headed to the basil to cut the tops of a few. Once I cut the first top, something looked strange. There was this white slime on my basil. I thought it might just be the first piece I cut, so I started inspecting all of the basil. Sure enough, it was all of it. I had no idea what this was.

I brought it inside for closer inspection. the white slimy looking stuff was right where the stems split and make the “v” shaped. then I noticed something else: There was a little white seed looking thing inside this slime. As I went to move the slime to seed the seed, it moved! Uhhh …. That is no seed. It is a little white bug.

Now, with this being my first year gardening, everything that happens is a first time thing and a learning experience. So, I have no idea what this is. I fire up the computer and start searching for this. I came across a section on white mold, but the mold seemed to be more dry than this. Plus, I have the added bonus of a bug in it.

Some people reference white flies, but that just did not fit the bill. Then I came across the information I needed, and had found my answer: Spittle Bugs. This little guys get on a plant (or in the grass), and start to basically spit this slimy, bubbly substance out around themselves. It is a sort of protective layer to keep other bugs away. While they are inside this mucous looking stuff, they feed off of the sap of the plants.

I now know what they are, but are they harmful? No. They do no harm. And, if they did not spittle, you would have no idea they were there. Apparently, there are all sorts of bugs in your garden you have no idea about. But, they are part of the ecosystem out there. You can not imagine how many more birds and squirrels are in my backyard now.

I personally do not want them on my basil, so I read just to blast them off with the garden hose. And it works. I also read you can take some dish soap and water and spray down the garden to prevent the bugs from coming back. I use an organic type of dish soap, so I also did that.

I did manage to get the bugs off of the basil and eventually eat my sandwich. And it was well worth the wait.

Here is a quick video I made of my newly made cucumber trellis. My son and I made this in about 2 hours on afternoon after I got home from work. It is not some designer piece of art, thatis for sure. But I did let my son, who is 9, add his ideas to it and help with the tools.

The old stuff we used were pallet boards, 2×4′s, some screen we had laying around, plastic ties, and bamboo shoots from last year.

Sometimes, we get to thinking about meals. We are so used to having to “cook” something, we bring this into our raw food diet. It seems like we should be preparing a meal, with a bunch of different sides. You know what I mean.

Well, here is a tip: Keep it simple. You always just eat regular fruit and vegetables without cooking them or making a meal out of them. Today, for work, I took with me 2 apples, 2 bananas, and a handful of grapes. I had some raw nuts and seeds to go with it. It does not seem like much, but you would be amazed at how this will fill you up.

Before venturing down the raw food road, I was always told bananas were evil. That there was so much sugar, and no fiber. I believe the people who say stuff like this really are just misguided or uneducated. It is amazing at how the knowledge of main stream health is put out by people who do not have any real knowledge about health.

You would not believe the amount of bananas and apples we now eat. When we went shopping this past Thursday, we bought 7 things of bananas (what are they called, bunches?). Yes, 7!!!! We use them in smoothies and eat them plain. If you want a really good smoothie, slice up the bananas and freeze them. Then add these to a smoothie. WOW!!

Before I get ahead of myself, let me get back to the point. Do not get caught up in recipes. If you have time, make something. If not, just grab a handful of fruit and get going. Definitely do not let it be a deal breaker. In the summer time it is really much easier to do this because fruits and vegetables are readily available. In the winter, it will take just a bit more planning to make sure you have the fruits on hand.

Raw Multivitamin

I was in Whole Check Foods on Sunday, buying the normal assortment of herbal coffees, organic fruits and veggies, and nuts and seeds. I thought I was just about done shopping, or hoping anyway, when I had to walk by the supplement section to check out. Right in the front of the aisle was a new display. Upon closer inspection, I soon discovered I had found what I had been looking for: A Raw Multivitamin

Yes, you read that correctly. This multivitamin has be minimally processes, and all of the raw components have been left intact. This is awesome. You may have read one of my other posts that we were using the whole foods vitamin, which is also a very good vitamin. But as always, you progress and advance is what ever you are doing. In this case, taking multivitamins, we have gone from the GNC multivitamins, to the whole food multivitamins, now to the raw multivitamins.

As it has only been 3 days, and if you are fairly healthy in the first place, taking a multivitamin should not have some immediate impact, like say, a jolt of caffeine. It is a gradual process, and just helps the underlying systems in the body. So, while I wish I could tell you I have so much energy, I can’t. But, this is because I already have energy, each and every day, based on my choices.

But I would recommend if you are going to be on a raw diet, or at least make your diet as raw as you can, to take a look at this raw multivitamin and see of it is something you are going to want to take.

They say to try to get as many different colors  of foods in your diet. There are special properties from each one of these fruits or vegetables that give it the color. So, I got to thinking as I was walking around the produce section the other day:

Are there any other fruits and vegetables that have the magenta color like the beet?

I could not think of any off the top of my head. Plus, I never did like cooked beets, so I was really searching hard in that produce section for anything else. I just could not find anything. So, I bought the beets.

Once I had them home, I had no idea what to really do with them. I honestly could not imaging slicing them up and chowing down on some raw beet slices. When all else fails for raw stuff, I turn to juicing.

If you are not into juicing, or are just getting started, then you should know there are some staples for juices. Just like SAD staples are flour, milk, and eggs, and most raw food diets have staples like agave nectar, honey, and raw nuts, juicers should have carrots, celery, and apples around.

So, first I gathered all of my ingredients:

Carrot Beet Juice Ingredients

Since this was my first time juicing a beet, I juiced the beet first just so I could taste this to see how it was. And, yes, I juiced the beet, the stem, and all of the leaves. And, I was surprised at how good it really was.

I still added all the rest of the ingredients above, and this was one of the best juices I have ever had.

Beet and Carrot Juice

The color in this juice is beautiful. And the taste is even better. I made so much, I bottled up some in one of my recycled bottles and took it to work with me. The one thing you need to know about this is it will leave your lips very red. So, be sure to have a napkin around.

Bottled Raw Beet Juice

I’ll post later about all of the health benefits of beet juice. But for not, juice away and enjoy!

One of the things I love about the raw food recipes is the simplicity of them. They are usually just a few ingredients, take a few minutes to prepare, and are ready to serve right away. This is a quick recipe that can be used for desserts or even breakfasts. It is always best if you have some fresh blueberries on hand. If not, you could substitute any other fruit or berry.

First, slice some bananas and place them in the bowl:

Sliced Bananas In A Bowl

Next, add your blueberries to the top. There really is not limit, so load it up.

Blueberries and Bananas In A Bowl

Lastly, add the cream to the top. Here is how to make the cream:

• 1/2 Cup of soaked Pine Nuts
• 1 Tablespoon of maple syrup (technically not raw, but you can add raw agave nectar)
• Filtered water

Add these ingredients into a blender and mix. You can add as much water as you want to get the consistency of a cream. Then, pour this over the top of the blue berries and bananas.

Blueberries And Cream

Raw Blueberry Crumb Pie Recipe

Here is a recipe I came across the other day, and after putting a raw spin on it, I came up with this. It works with just about any raw nut you have and any fruit you want to make into a pie. It is normally best to use the fruits that are in season where you live. I would also recommend using a fruit which is very juicy. This will more mimic the original blueberry pies we used to eat when younger. I like to call this my Raw Blueberry Crumb Pie Recipe.

Ingredients:

Crust:

• 1 cup of raw pumpkin seeds
• 1 cup of raw pecans (you can substitute any other raw nut for this one)
• Dash of Sea Salt
• Couple table spoons of oil (olive will give it an olive taste, so if this is a concern, then go with canola oil)
• About 1/2 cup of dates

Process the first 4 ingredients into crumbs. Then add the dates and process them until they are in fine pieces like the crumbs. Place this into the bottom of a pie pan and press down to make the crust.

Blueberry Sauce:

• 1 Cup of blueberries
• 1/2 cup of dates
• 1/2 cup of purified water

Combine all of these ingredients into a blender and process until smooth. then, pour this sauce over the top of the crust in the pie pan.

Topping:

• 1 cup of fresh blueberries

Add the blue berries to the top of the sauce. Now, serve.

Raw Blueberry Crumb Pie

People are always looking for some healthy snack recipes for children. We always play it safe when we are traveling somewhere. There is always bottled water in the back, and we normally try to put together some healthy snacks to take with us. The last thing you really want is to be out somewhere, and start to get hungry. You will then end up with headaches and stopping at the closest thing to get some food. Not a good situation at all.

For the kids, we just don’t buy anything bad for the house. I normally make my own granola and keep this around. The kids love it. They eat it plain, and also with almond milk. The granola is not 100% raw. But, I do add all of the raisins, cranberries, and nuts at the end. This keeps this part raw.

For the recipe, I sort of just wing it. But here is the basics:

• 3 – 5 cups of organic oats
• 1 cup of raw oat groats soaked for 24 hours
• 1/2 cup of raw honey
• 1/2 cup of raw agave nectar
• 1/2 cup of 100% pure maple syrup
• 1/2 cup of raw coconut oil
• 1 teaspoon of cinnamon
• pinch of nutmeg
• dash of salt

I heat the honey, nectar, syrup, coconut oil cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt at a low heat to mix everything up pretty good. You must keep stirring this at a low heat. Try not to get it above 105F. Then I add this mixture to the oats and groats and mix around. Ensure the oats are all wet and sticky.

Dehydrate this at 105F for about 24 hours. I keep the heat lower just because there is plenty of information out there about the 105F temperature concerning raw foods. When it is all done, remove from dehydrator and allow to cool

Once cool, we place ours in a cereal tupperware thingy. I then add as many nuts, cranberries, and raisins as I want. All of the nuts are raw, and we make sure to keep them that way.

If you keep this around, you just can not go wrong. It is a healthy snack recipe for children.

Let me know if you have anything else you add to granola so I can try it.

Now is the time for corn to be in season. It is getting to where it is almost .10 per ear in the stores. Plus, it is coming as part of our Angel Food Ministries packages. So, I wanted to find something I could make with this corn, and still keep it raw. This has led me to this video on making corn chips. Enjoy!

You can see more of his videos here