fond farewells

As January (and my official month of raw food) comes to an end, I thought I'd celebrate with the most beautiful and delicious creation I've made yet.  Naturally, it's a dessert, albeit a breakfast-type of dessert, and it takes so long to prepare that I won't even bother with a recipe.  Instead, I thought I'd put together a list of tips for anyone looking to try going raw. I wish someone had made a list for me - I learned it all the hard way. 

I) If you're committed to doing it, be well prepared.  Have everything you need before you start the diet, because searching for macadamia nuts on an empty stomach is the last thing anyone wants to do, ever.

II) Don't throw away any leftover ingredients. If a recipe calls for 3/4 of an onion, don't chuck the remnants. You can always throw it into a salad, or, as was the case for me, miraculously the next recipe will call for exactly (or close to) what you have left.

III) Wear plastic gloves when you squeeze all those lemons, and you'll be squeezing a lot of those, let me tell you. My fingers are cracking and it's not a pretty sight - citric acid is not very pleasant. 

IV) Don't be afraid to try green smoothies. They don't look fabulous but they taste really great and it sure beats shoving a handful of collards in your mouth like a moron.

V) Make sure you read the entire recipe before you start making it. Often, people will mention AT THE END that the last thing you need to put into the mix is a cup of pre-soaked nuts. Oh, did you have 7 hours to wait for that to happen? Didn't think so. Pre-soak everything and don't be a chump.  Ugh, still haven't fully learned this lesson, to be honest.

VI) Always have snacks available.  Kale chips, flaxseed crackers, whatever. Just make sure you have them on hand cause nothing's worse than having to wait 3 hrs for something to dehydrate while you're starving.

VII) Keep in mind that you'll basically be living in your kitchen for the duration of your diet. Oh, just me? Okay.

VIII) Invest in a blender and dehydrator. There is just no way around it if you want to make it through a significant amount of time doing this.  Salads ain't gonna cut it, sorry.

IX) On the subject of investing, invest in some good quality Chlorella, hemp, and chia seeds. Take the Chlorella as a supplement, and throw the hemp and chia into smoothies and salads, like a boss. 

I have a few photos left of some cute things I've made, so they'll likely be popping up here and there in the coming months (sorry Tyler...).  A recent BeSleek article I wrote talks about the idea of a detox diet, and how we force ourselves to do something for a certain period of time and give up shortly thereafter.  I don't think that's the best way to go about that, so I'll likely be keeping a lot of this raw diet in the 'regular world', interspersed with ridiculous French food and cakes, of course. But for now, without further ado, I present you with banana crepes filled with vanilla cream, with mixed berries and raspberry coulis.  Merveilleux.