Hope everyone is doing SUPER! I posted this on my blog (www.KristensRaw.blogspot.com) and thought you all might like it :)

Here is a cool idea that I’m so excited to do this holiday season – I’m asking family and friends to go vegan for 5-7 days, as their gift to me. (Asking them to go Raw is probably too much of a stretch, so I’m starting with vegan. Next year I’ll hit them up with Raw! Remember, baby steps are important.) It’s a chance for them to feel great, learn about the health benefits, reduce their carbon footprint, see how simple it is, and hopefully start making better choices about their food in the future. This is a great gift for any occasion (birthday, anniversary, etc).

With the money they won’t be spending on me, I told them to buy a few staples to last the week (soy or hemp milk, fresh/frozen vegan foods, fresh Raw produce, etc). I’m providing them with a shopping list and I offered to go with them to show them how easy it is. I’ll also give them simple and delicious vegan recipes (as well as easy and great Raw recipes), a list of restaurants in their areas for great vegan food (I’ll use the Internet for areas that I’m not familiar with), as well as giving them ideas for breakfasts, lunches and dinners. The goal is to give them everything they could possibly need for making the week easy and fun. I’m also giving them a free vegetarian starter kit from “GoVeg” www.goveg.com that I pre-ordered early to arrive in time.

Cheers!
Kristen Suzanne

www.KristensRaw.com

Hi Kristen~ Awesome idea. Just a thought… The starter kit is available as a download. For a gift, package all the ingredients for one (or more) of the recipes or some vegan supplies and give the link to the starter kit. That way, someone can print out only the pages they are interested in, if any, instead of the whole thing. This would save on paper, ink, energy, the cost to PETA, etc. It would also introduce the person to the website. Of course, this would only work for those with internet access. I was also thinking one might include a follow up email with the link. That way it is just a click away…

oh wow. i LOVE that idea. if anyone asks that’s what i’ll say from now on in general. i really have no need for more THINGS.

have many agreed to this?

kristensraw- this is totally off the topic, but last time we “talked” you gave me a recipe for making my own tahini. it ended up REALLY grainy. how much of it do you make at a time, because i think maybe i made too little. do you use a regular food processor like a cuisinart?

BLUEDOLFIN:
I AGREE! That would be great. Thank you for mentioning this! I’m very much into being as Green as possible and my approach will be using the online version for people who are out-of-state.

For people in-state…I feel the kit is very effective when I present it at holiday time, because they have something to look at, and I can walk through it with them then and there. I think this is quite powerful. Additionally, as you wrote, I have people who don’t have internet access easily accessible so they need the kit.

The environmental impact of them not eating meat is huge and should outweigh the cost of the marterials. PETA was in love with the idea and even sent me dvds and stickers to include in the kits.

PIANISSIMA
Yes, I use a regular food processor. Here are some suggestions to try:
1) Add a little olive oil to help it process smoother.
2) Grind the hulled sesame seeds in a coffee grinder in small batches first (or maybe your blender) and then transfer them to the food processor.
3) Did you grind them long enough? I don’t recall mine being grainy, but I usually only need to make small batches at a time…about 2 cups worth by the time it’s done.

Cheers!
Kristen Suzanne

www.KristensRaw.com

Last year, for Christmas, we managed to serve a completely vegan meal (except for the meat brought by a family member). I was really exited to see everyone using mushroom gravy and even raw cranberry sauce and salads. I love your idea about asking folks to go vegan for a short time and am really interested to see how this goes for your friends and family. I actually suggested to my Catholic Grandma that she go vegan for Lent, but didn’t have such good luck. This sounds much more positive. Do keep us posted!

I love celebrating the Holidays, RAW!
Try getting as many people together to have a Thanksliving Dinner. I let them experiment with preparing raw foods with alittle help.
It is best to do it on the Saturday after, cause it helps them get all those turkey toxins out of their system with a good rawfood flush!
Btw, I love watching everyone pass out after the big meal, so funny.
Another note…did you know more heart attacks happen on thanksgiving than any other day of the year!!

I’m really excited about it because I actually have 3 takers for it so far.