RAW DINNER IDEAS TO KNOCK THE SOCKS OF ANYBODY

Hello beautiful people! I've just gotten back from my 4 day trip to Sydney, which was super duper fun. 

If you're on my mailing list you'd know that I was going down for Dr Libby's Beautiful You weekend, and catching up with family and friends around that - Dr Libby was spectacular, so watch out for a recap on Thursday. 

Up before dawn this morning to fly out and I forget how manic Sydney airport is at 6am on a weekday. F-bombs dropping left, right and centre, pushing through queues, and disgruntled individuals... if you're plane is delayed, it's likely everyone else's is too buddy. 

And yes, our plane was an hour late, so by the time B and I got to Cairns, we were staaaaarving! 

We headed straight to the Paleo Cafe! Then a detour home to grab our box of organic produce, and we only got home about an hour ago.

My body was screaming cold shower so I quickly whipped up a scrub (sugar, coffee grounds, coconut oil) and jumped in, getting my skin super smooth in the shower, and then lathered coconut oil all through my hair and chucked it up - the Sydney wind made my skin, lips and hair all super dry - so I'm feeling fab now, and have finally jumped on my laptop to post to you guys.

So... Most of you know that I no longer eat 100% raw foods for many reasons, but I am still very partial to an amazing raw pot-luck, and go out of my way to get to any raw cafes on my travels around the country. Whether a raw foodie or not, I am a huge advocate of everyone incorporating more raw foods into the diet - but with Summer on it's way, you don't need me to tell you right?

Brekkies and lunches eating raw is super easy to do (and this is also when the cafes are open serving the incredible raw meals) but dinner can be a little harder to get creative, especially when you're getting a bit sick and tired of eating the same kale and tomato salad.

So, as you asked for it, here you go... Raw dinner suggestions anyone will wanna eat...

+ Zucchini Pasta

Probably the easiest raw dinner option when you're feeding vegos and meat fans alike, fussy kids, or the in-laws. Zucchini pasta is so easy to make, presents like a regular looking bowl of pasta, and tastes so good, anyone will eat it. And what I love most about it, is you can usually tailor it to whats in your fridge (providing you've got zucchinis first of course). A few great recipes can be found here, here, and here, but in essence you're using a spirooli gadget to get the perfect spaghetti noodles, or a regular veggie peeler to get a fettuccine noodles. Blitz up fresh and dried tomatoes, onion, garlic, basil, salt, pepper, and a date or two and you've got your sauce. Add the two together and you're done!

+ Curried Carrot Soup

I found this recipe years ago now and was hooked at my first mouthful. I've made it time and time again and it's always a winner. You could warm this up a little if you like, but as the weather heats up, a cooler version would be perfect. Make this. Trust me. Amazing.

+ Antipasto Platter

Raw flax crackers, crudites (that's fancy pants for chopped up veg), zucchini or bean hommous, raw olives, cashew cheeze, capsicum dip, tapenades. All home made or store bought. Whatever floats your boat really. If you know Botanical Cuisine products - oof - perfect for a platter. This sorta thing is perfect for those nights friends are popping by, or you're not too hungry and would rather a nibble whilst watching a good chic flick. You can use mini wooden chopping boards for individual platters to make it all a bit spesh, or share one big platter amongst all, while chatting and laughing sitting on the floor around the coffee table - Japanese style... only more kinda Italian.

+ Raw lasagna

I've seen plenty of recipes for this and they range from an easy-slice-dice-in-a-dish-ready-in-ten to the whole 3 days prep, $50 worth of nuts type dish. I used to create my own and it was different every time but always easy and delicious. Have a look at a simple one here, a slightly more complicated but still amazing one here or this creme de la creme recipe here but be warned, this one is pretty nut heavy.

Or DIY by thinly slicing zucchinis, eggplant, tomato and capsicums. Let them marinate for a few hours in 'juice' - this juice can be olive oil/orange juice/salt or a blitzed tomato and garlic. Make a separate tomato sauce (like the zucchini pasta recipe above) and a separate guacamole or pesto. Grab a dish suited to the amount of food you cut up, and start layering each veggie, then some sauce, some kale or spinach leaves, more veggies, more sauce, etc, etc and complete it with your sauce, sprinkling a few crushed walnuts on top. An easy, no fuss, raw lasagna.

+ Burger Patties

I love a good burger pattie be it vego or not, and raw patties are just as easy to make yourself. I used to save the veggie pulp from making juices and mix that with some water, flax meal, herbs and spices, and roll that into balls and squash 'em flat! If you've got a dehydrator by all means use it and have a sensational scent wafting through the house, but you can eat them as is - un-dehydrated I mean. Serve with whatever salad you've got or on flax crackers with tomato and lettuce like a real burger. Try this easy recipe.

+ Vegetable Stacks

Super easy and can be done with any vegetables. Slice whatever you fancy and start layering in the middle of a large plate - purely for aesthetics you know. Drizzle flax oil, or a home made dressing, tomato salsa, cashew cheese... serve with fresh rocket and pears... This one is only limited by your imagination

+ Raw Pizza

Who doesn't love a good pizza? Well I can tell you when you nail a raw pizza, wowzas! You're onto a good thing. A few awesome recipes I've found are this almond meal crust, a buckwheat crust, and a youtube clip here using portobello mushrooms for those with no dehydrator.

+ Salads

Raw pad thai, kelp noodles, sweet coleslaw, Greek salad, a whopper salad, quinoa salad, an easy tabouli, the list is endless. But what I like better than salad for dinner... is two salads for dinner. You know at Christmas when you can load your plate with 5 or 6 different salads? How good do they taste all together? I get B to make one, and I make one, and that way we have two salads for variety, taste, and nutritional power!

+ Raw Indian Curry

Just make this. And thank me later.

So there you go. More raw dinner ideas to get creative and playing around the kitchen with. Let me know how you go.

 Christie xx

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