Considering the Raw Food Diet

I’ve been hearing about something called the Raw Food Diet lately. As I’ve gotten older, I absolutely LOVE fresh vegetables and fruits (especially vegetables). You know, I almost never ate fresh vegetables or fruits growing up. I wonder if this is why my family members have certain health problems. I remember eating a lot of pasta, a lot of cream dishes (tomato soups to casseroles, ick), and a lot of fried foods. No wonder my mom was always on weight loss products.. yuk, friend foods. The only vegetables I can recall eating are canned corn, iceberg lettuce, celery, and potatoes. Sometimes apples and peaches. And I was a fussy eater– I didn’t eat the onions, peppers, and tomatoes that were served.

I grew up in a large family and my step-dad was out of work from time to time (we live in Upstate New York). So we ate a lot of canned stuff, and ate seasonal stuff. When it was apple season, we ate apples, but never ate apples out of season. Same with broccoli and peaches. Oh, how I craved broccoli and peaches!

It’s funny, but I don’t cook hardly anything that I ate as I was growing up. I’m a fresh-food gal now, and I like fish (although I do like spaghetti and meatballs from time to time!). But I hate casseroles, dislike fried foods very much, and hate cream sauces and creamy soups. I rarely make casseroles and soups, and never fry anything except eggs.

Anyway, back to the raw foods. I would love to go on a raw food diet. I think. I would miss my fish, though. I love salmon, pollock, haddock, whiting– YUM! It’d be difficult to skip the fish. And I like spiedies, although I don’t eat them a whole lot. The Raw Food diet is very, very healthy– exceptionally healthy. I heard testimonies from my friends and they are very enthusiastic about it.

Cost is another thorn. In the summer, we eat a ton of raw stuff, anyway, but come winter, when fruits and veggies are twice the price…. yow. I think the biggest reason for eating cooked foods to begin with is found in just one word: winter. There’s just nothing fresh available during the winter.

So I’m reading more about the diet, weighing my options. Lord knows, I could sure lose weight and be healthier. I sit at a computer ALL day, sheesh. I could easily go 60% raw, or even 80% raw. Right now, my regular diet is probably 30%….

In considering the Raw Food diet, I’m noticing things a lot more, too– how EVERYTHING in the cooking world is geared toward, well, cooking! Think of all the stuff we have in our kitchens for cooking food, all those appliances, all that money spent: ingredients, bakeware, cookware, toaster, microwave, coffeepot, crock pot, oven, pots, pans… and loads and loads of recipe books, ugh!

I know I’m rambling here. I guess my thoughts haven’t completed formed concepts yet. I’m seeing for the first time how integrated cooking is for us. And when it comes down to it, we really don’t NEED to cook anything. Except during winter. That blasted thing called winter.

I’ll have more on this as I think more about it…

Four Foods For Friday #112

We have another One Question Quiz, and interesting one.

What can you make with meat or poultry, rice, cheese and a vegetable?

Hmmmm. I’m not very fond of rice or chicken. And while I like cheese, I am fussy about my cheese (only Mozzarella, Swiss, and American). So this one has me as stumped as if making photo birth announcements or something. Uhhhh….

Well, I guess I like Turkey Divan. Boring, I know. Turkey is poultry! It’s a pretty bland dish, though (which is why I dislike casseroles and why I dislike rice and chicken). Last time i made Turkey Divan, I made it this way:

Turkey Divan

4 cups diced leftover turkey
6 slices Swiss cheese
1 bag frozen broccoli florets
1/2 cup chicken broth
1/2 cup canned roasted red peppers, drained and diced
4 leaves kale, washed and sliced into strips
4 cups rice, cooked

Throw broccoli in the microwave to thaw.

In a large casserole dish, place the turkey on the bottom. Add the kale and peppers, then the broccoli. Add the broth. Layer with the cheese.

Pop in the oven until heated through (about 30-35 minutes).

Serve with rice.

The kale and peppers spruce up the blandness of the turkey and rice, and help to sneak in a few added vegetables.

Easy-on-the Cream Broccoli Soup

I’m not very fond of cream and milk dishes, but one of my daughters requested Cream of Broccoli Soup. And what good mother would refuse her child broccoli when she asks?? So I made some, but went easy on the cream. This recipe turned out SO good. The entire family ate it up. This recipe really goes all out with the broccoli, too. We love it, so I really let myself go hog wild. Using the blender to puree half of the soup made it very rich.

Easy-On-the-Cream Broccoli Soup
serves 6-8

Two large bunches of broccoli, washed and cut (about 7-8 cups)
1 white onion, diced
6 cups chicken stock (or 3 cups stock, 3 cups water and 2 bouillon cubes)
2 red potatoes, skinned and diced
2 Tablespoons butter
1/4 cup Half-n-Half creamer

In a large stockpot, melt the butter and quickly saute the potatoes and onion. Add the stock. Allow to heat up. Add the broccoli all at once. Allow to cook (stir frequently) for about 15-20 minutes.

Ladle out some of the soup (about half) into a blender, and quickly puree. Return to the stockpot. Add the creamer and stir until heated.

Serve with fresh crusty bread, fresh carrots, and a nice spinach salad. It’s GREAT! You won’t be needing those home security systems after eating this, believe me– you will feel like Superman! I just love green food.

The Super Speedy Spiedie Wrap

This recipe has probably been invented before. As I was making it, I gloated that perhaps I was concocting something new, but then the realization hit me that spiedies are really, really popular, and people have been making wraps for thousands of years (hello, falafel!)… so maybe I’m having a delusion of grandeur.. but these are SO GOOD!!! I threw these together today for lunches. This is perhaps the easiest and fastest recipe, ever. These would be great for dinner, too, with lots of fruit and finger veggies (like olives, carrots, chickpeas, etc).

One other note: the Salamida Brothers Spiedie marinade is crucial to the recipe. It is STUPENDOUS stuff. The Salamida dudes sent me a free bottle to blog about it (ta daa), but I’ve been using Salamida since I was 15 years old, living in Southern New York where spiedies are a regional dish. The marinade is not expensive, and I only used half a bottle for this recipe (I could have used even less, I discovered). But if you want a wrap that will send people to your feet, kissing them in gratitude, use the Salamida stuff. You won’t regret it! Here in New York, it’s every where at the grocery stores (no grocery store would dare not sell it, there’d be riots!), but if your local area does not have it, you can order online here. And if you place an order, use the discount code SAUCE3 at Spiedie.com, you will get 15% off your order! Coupon code is good until April 1st.

Here goes:

Super Speedy Spiedie Wrap
serves 6

2 to 3 pounds of beef, trimmed of fat
1 large white onion, sliced thickly
sliced red pepper
kale, destemmed and washed
Salamida Brothers Spiedie Marinade

Slice the beef. Thinner is better– I did mine a little too thickly.

Slice the onions(s) (thick slices is better).

Put the meat and onions in an air-tight container. Dump in enough Salamida marinade to cover everything. Stir well. Cover the container and refrigerate, anywhere from 12 to 72 hours.

Take out the meat and onions from the container, and place in a large saucepan. Do not add water or oil to the saucepan! Set the pan on medium-high and allow the meat and onions to sizzle. Discard any remaining marinade.

Allow the meat to cook, about 7-10 minutes. The onions will soften but should not get mushy.

Slice some red peppers and kale and set on a dish. Set some flat bread in a dish. When the meat is done, pile it into a prepared wrap and DEVOUR.

Additional yummies to add to the table for wraps can be: lettuce, spinach, feta cheese, marinated olives, marinated garlic cloves, green peppers, chickpeas, sliced American cheese, and etc. You can do so much with this recipe. It makes a terrific healthy dinner, and it only takes 10 minutes to cook!!! I love it. I think this will be my new favorite recipes. I am “into” kale very much these days. I have always liked it, but I recently realized that it can be purchased at my local grocery store. Yum! It’s SO healthy for you– it’s not exactly a wonder-working adult acne cure, but it has calcium, iron, and protein. I’m going to be growing it fresh on my garden this year, to use as a supplement for my salads.

And by the way, if you don’t want to use beef, you can also use chicken or pork with the Salamida Spiedie marinade. Salamida also makes a nice marinade for chicken, too, which is superb. I am going to be making these all summer long. Yay!

Super-Easy Hummus Salad Wrap

My daughter, a fanatic about hummus (good girl!), created this terrific little lunch wrap. She made one for me the other day, and it is so good that I just have to blog about it! We don’t have a name for it… maybe Super-Easy Hummus Salad Wrap?

I love the colors, too. It looks like a plate full of toys or something. Pretty!

All you do is spread some hummus (we used Roasted Red Pepper hummus onto some flat bread. Layer it with salad greens and a few diced red peppers. YUMMMM. It’s surprisingly filling and it’s so healthy!

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