CatherineR

Thanks, Claire, you've totally been my check-in buddy, too. It's been much appreciated. Oh, and I love breakfast because it requires zero thought--throw in some fruit and greens, and good to go. :)

Also checking in to say I found that dosa substitute, yay! I tried Markus Rothkranz and Cara Brotman's raw vegan naan recipe made from coconut meat. I have super easy access to tender coconut meat here so I figured I'd give it a try: it's just blending coconut meat with onion, then dehydrating the mixture while topping it with garlic, more onion, and a few spices. I was actually really impressed with the consistency and texture, although admittedly I've toned down the onion on subsequent batches. It tastes suuuper spicy otherwise. But it makes for a fantastic wrap--soft, holds together well. Which is great because I've spent like, $10 on a pack of coconut wraps from Whole Foods before and they weren't good at all. The most recent thing I made was a soft taco and was impressed that it held up beautifully. This one's a winner. Only thing that may hold me back is finding out those suckers are a million calories and while I generally don't hold that as a benchmarker for what I will/won't eat, that's a little steep even for me. But I'm super thrilled to have discovered the beauty of coconut wraps, esp because they're so easy to make here. I've since made "soft tacos" and even momos with them. 

It's funny because every time I'm in the US I think, "how am I going to survive back in India without things like peaches, cherries, good lettuce, hemp seeds and this restaurant to keep me raw?" And then when in India I wonder how I can go to the US without my fresh coconut meat, mango for breakfast, coconut water, dehydrator and amazing dates?" Funny the way that works!

But yeah, still going raw and still doing well. :)

I'm still raw! Just being lazy at the documentation process... but I've been having fun in the kitchen with various veggie burgers. Unfortunately I'm having a hard time getting good recipes. I'll try one from online that looks gorgeous and it just turns out to be rubbish. I also tried a recipe from yet another pretty well-known raw foodist who self-published her recipe book and I've not been pleased with the outcomes of those, either. 

I guess I'll continue my Julia and Julia-like endeavor of just trying the recipes from the Rawtarian's book since those have been overwhelmingly good. 

On the whole, it's been pretty easy being raw! No cravings at all for cooked food and I'm in a decent routine: fruit or a green smoothie for breakfast (and the usual coffee), a salad for lunch, and for dinner I'll have soup, some type of pasta or dehydrated meal (sandwich or pizza). Snacks will be something sweet, salty, or a juice. 

Oh, exercise fell by the wayside though. Otherwise all good, but I may not do as regular of updates. Just perhaps checkins. :)

Thanks for the unwavering optimism, Claire. :) At least I'm finally being able to do a sit up again. 

Day 38: I was on the go yesterday. I got dropped off at Starbucks and had a fruit cup and tea. Then I walked across the street to a small minimart where they amazingly had raw (cold pressed) juices and even this flax snack granola thingie. So, I picked up some green juice, beet juice, and a liter of mango-pineapple juice. Drank the former two, saved the mango juice.

Lunch was red pepper soup.

Post-lunch I had the flax snacks.

When I got home, I checked on the "dosas" which were brittle crackers--not a hint of leavening. I tried with more batter and monitored them, but they turned out terrrrrribly. Glue-like mess that even when slightly soft and somewhat moist, didn't taste very good. I know it's possible to make raw vegan crepes, so I'm not sure if it was just me giving up prematurely but this experiment was a fail. Ah well. Proud of myself for trying. I also made a green smoothie with the mango juice, coconut, lime, ice, and wheatgrass. 

Dinner was a giant kale salad. I wasn't good at taking many pics yesterday but it was a good food day. Really happy to have fortuitously found the juice. That kept me going until lunch.

Day 37: 

Morning I had another large green smoothie made of just mangos, coconut milk, ice, and the wheatgrass. And usual coffee. 

Lunch: salad with a creamy mustard dressing and purple cabbage, carrot, tomato, celery, and raisins--it was really delicious.

Dinner: easily my favorite meal today since I made a fantastic pizza. I made the cauliflower crust, and I also marinated some veggies beforehand: just some Bragg's, olive oil, date syrup, and Italian seasoning. The veggies were zucchini, red pepper, tomato, and onions. I let those sit for an hour before throwing them in the dehydrator. I also made a great marinara by blending fresh tomato, sundried tomato, a date, walnut, garlic, a bit of olive oil, and more pizza seasoning. It came out suuuuuper delicious. I also liked that it made my whole kitchen smell lovely.

Tomorrow I'm out and about. I'll throw the dosas in the dehydrator tomorrow morning in prep for when I'm back for dinner. I'm not sure how long to set them, is the thing. Maybe I'll do 5 hours at 115? I'll be home in time to let them dehydrate for a few more hours if they're still too runny. It's too bad I won't be around to check up on the progress and go from there, though. Ah well, it'll be an experiment for sure! 

Day 34:

Breakfast was a bowl of papaya and coffee smoothie. I also later had more granola with coconut milk and trail mix. My meals are a bit repetitive since I didn't have much on hand there like I do here.

Lunch: Big bowl of red pepper soup with half an avocado. Definitely on the denser side for yesterday but it was really hearty and sat well. 

Dinner (which I had around 5): Mango and sapota. 

It doesn't sound like a lot of food but I remember feeling like I was eating big portions. 

------

Day 35

Still a bit early to report in, but I have a good sense of what I'll be eating for dinner.

Morning: Mango parfait, pomegranate seeds and papaya. Coffee as usual.

Lunch: Had a ton of celery on hand so I made some celery soup! Mine didn't turn out like the Rawtarian's appeared, despite using the same recipe. I think it's because the celery here is super dense and not as water-rich as the kind in N America. 

Post-lunch I prepped the tuna sandwich wrap. I used the onion flax wrap recipe from the book but without a food processor I didn't quite know how the texture of the onions should be. I minced maybe a third of the onions super-fine, but then tried to process the rest of the onions in the blender and those turned out downright mushy. But hey, I threw some flax seed meal on the mix, added salt, and threw it in the dehydrator. I won't blame the recipe if it doesn't come out as wrap-like, but it'll still be a good complement to the tuna so I'm fine with it. 

Dinner, we'll see how that wrap turns out.

I might also go for a green smoothie since I froze some mango, have good pineapple juice, and wheatgrass powder on hand. I remember being horrified by the premise of green smoothies two years ago thinking they'd taste awful, but have since built a high tolerance for the greens taste. That said, the thought of using wheatgrass powder might require some ramping up. I got the powder because greens are somewhat hard to procure here. There is spinach, but it's not the delicate salad type. Most are cooked here because the taste is just too overwhelming. I might go back to the spinach, but perhaps I'll see how the powder goes.

I'm trying to not eat late in the nights, too. Something about eating like a king for breakfast and pauper for dinner. 

Oh, still exercising, too. It's not so bad when I get to watch/listen to music videos for over half of it.