Thanksgiving 2010 | Raw Food Blog Entry

November 22nd 2010

I had an excellent Thanksgiving Feast yesterday. My husband and I journeyed out (from Walnut Creek, CA) to Berkeley (California). This feast was with friends and strangers alike.

Raw Pumpkin "Cheesecake" Pie

While having many different thought-provoking conversations we happily devoured:

• Pomegranate salad lightly sweetened with fresh-squeezed orange juice.
• "Eggnog" made from almond milk and banana.
• Creamy Sweet Garlic Dressing which I enjoyed both over seed chips and over the Pomegranate salad.
• Red Pepper Soup and Broccoli soup. My husband enjoyed these best mixed with added fresh parsley and cilantro.
• Sweet "Green Drink" made up of many vegetables including broccoli and many fruits including pears.
• Cinnamon Fruit Salad made up of persimmons, apples, other fruit and much cinnamon.
• A spicy salsa that my husband and I made served with butter-leaf lettuce.
• Autumn Curry with mushrooms and broccoli. This was a popular favorite among the table and the first dish to be entirely devoured.
• A pâté made by the host including green onion, avocado, garlic and other deliciousness served with fresh lettuce.
• Blueberry Pandowdy, my personal favorite. Blueberries covered in a delicious simple crumble top.
• Chocolate Mint Banana Pudding, which I brought. One of my favorites lately. Made with much fresh mint.
• Pumpkin Date Pie, with no actual pumpkin included. It was made from persimmons.
• Pumpkin "Cheesecake" Pie, made with a almond and date crust and a filling including cashews, pumpkin and spices.

Fruit salad, salsa on lettuce and seed chip pieces


Lettuce with pâté and tomato, and autumn curry


Blueberry Pandowdy


Pumpkin Date Pie


Pumpkin "Cheesecake" Pie

Thanks for stopping by my blog. Come again!

~ Raederle

[As of today -- November 22nd 2010 -- I've been 100% raw for 80 days! Still loving it.]

Return to: Raederle's Memoirs

Mint Cantaloupe Smoothie | Raederle's Raw Recipe

A daring recipe for the young at heart.

• 1 cup cantaloupe (roughly a quarter of a full sized cantaloupe) 
• 1 large ripe banana (or two to three small bananas) 
• 1 drop mint oil or 15-20 fresh mint leaves
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• ½ teaspoon vanilla powder (or 1 drop vanilla extract, unsweetened)
• 1 pinch cinnamon
• ½ cup water (give or take a little)

Directions & Notes:

Selecting Cantaloupe

When buying cantaloupe search for an unbruised melon that has a little give in the skin. Squeezing these melons takes some finger strength, but it should have a slight squish if you give it a good squeeze. If there is no give, then it is under-ripe. If it is squishy without much effort, it is very over ripe. It seems to be much more common to find them very under ripe and hard. Leave it on your table for a couple of days if you can only find them under-ripe.

Preparing Cantaloupe

Cut cantaloupe and half and scoop the seeds out of the part you are about to use. If you're saving a piece for later, leave the seeds in that piece to keep it fresher. When scraping out the seeds, try to leave as much as possible of the soft part of the cantaloupe that is next to the seeds. That part is very sweet and delicious. Put the seeds and rind in your compost when you're finished.

Compost

If you do not have a compost, but do have a yard or a garden, consider digging a few holes during a season where the ground is somewhat soft and disposing of seeds and rotten vegetables or fruit there. I do not recommend putting rinds or citrus peels in a hole in the ground because they take a very long time to decompose this way and build up fast.

Smoothie Making

Put your ingredients together in the blender and pulse until broken up, blend on low until it appears to be blended, blend on high for a short time, and then serve. Recipe serves one or two people. For a cold smoothie, use frozen bananas.

Flavor Adjustments

If the mint or thyme is overly strong for your taste, add more cantaloupe and banana and blend further. Or, if you're not a huge cantaloupe fan, consider using two bananas per one cup of cantaloupe. For some, adding a pinch of salt will greatly improve the flavor.

Thanks for reading.

Namaste

~ Raederle Phoenix