bad girl

I'm the worst raw foodist ever! A couple nights ago, I was really hungry and since I don't fall asleep until around 3 AM now - don't ask - I wasn't going to go to bed for several hours. What was I craving for no reason? A big, fat sandwich (I don't even GET cravings, let alone eat sandwiches, so it was truly bizarre). What'd I decide to do? Make a big, fat sandwich.

It was so comfort food-y. Delicious.
First, I toasted some organic sprouted chia bread and put on lettuce and avocado. Then I baked some butternut squash mac n' cheese leftovers, and sauteed some tofu in Bragg's, homemade breadcrumbs and nutritional yeast. Stacked it all up and cut it in half - then sat down and enjoyed.
I know! Even typing this out makes me feel indulgent. Oh man. This is the most unhealthy thing I've eaten in... forever.

 I'm comfortable with this, occasionally. I've written posts about this before: there's many reasons I'm not 100% raw. My living situation, my family, my lifestyle, and also what eating all raw means to me - because sometimes it's NOT for the best. When I eat 100% raw, I unfortunately become a little obsessive about it, to the extreme. I get too idealistic. This isn't healthy. Ultimately all I want in my diet is health. So for me, eating a percentage of cooked food is healthier mentally, than eating totally raw.

In the future I do want to become pretty much 100% raw, after I move out and buy all my own food (another reason I'm not all raw - it stresses out my family). But I need to get comfortable with myself and how I think of the diet before this happens, otherwise I'll be doing it for the wrong reasons. 

Note: If you don't care about raw food, sorry you have to read this! It probably sounds insane. If you're a raw foodist, I hope you know what I'm talking about.

At the end of the day? Loved every bite of this sandwich.

beautiful butternut squash; i love gourds

A couple weeks ago, I began to get the Autumn Soup Cravings. And I wanted a warming soup made from some sort of gourd, with curry spices and coconut milk. I was at the farmer's market last Saturday and when we saw butternut squash, I decided to make it the star of the soup.
I bought two, just to be sure I'd have enough. A nice thing about gourds is you can let them sit around FOREVER. We've had this spaghetti squash in the kitchen for like a month now. They keep extremely well... They're tough little guys. So it was fine that I wasn't able to make the soup until today.

My family ate this soup right up, even my little carnivorous brother. They said they weren't crazy about the texture, because it is a little chunky... but that's the fibre! If you prefer it smoother however, just strain it.  No biggie. I suggest using the fibrous stuff left over in baked goods, raw crackers, even cookies, etc.
I also made a simple cashew cream that really complemented the colours and flavours of the soup; sweet and cool while the soup was spicy and warm. 

I actually had about 3 cups of squash left over so I made muffins (baked)! They were delicious. Sometimes ya just need a muffin and some soup. Oh, and some good friends to carve pumpkins with =)

Raw Coconut Curry Butternut Squash Soup with Cashew Cream: makes about 8 cups (8 or so servings)

5 cups peeled, cubed raw butternut squash

2 cups coconut milk

1 orange, peeled

1/2 yellow onion, roughly chopped

1/4 raisins or bit of agave/honey (to sweeten)

1 Tbsp your fave curry powder

3 T ginger, peeled (or more, to taste)

1 clove of peeled garlic

1 t cinnamon 

1/2 cup vegetable stock (not raw, but adds to the flavour)

Water or orange juice as needed

Blend all ingredients together in Vita-mix or other high-speed blender until smooth, adding water as needed. Taste it and see what you think. Add more/other ingredients until you like what you taste. Put into bowls. 

Cashew Cream:

3/4 cup cashews

3 dates

1/2 t cinnamon 

1/2 t garlic powder and onion powder - don't use too much, you want the cream to be a little sweet

Water as needed

Blend all ingredients in high-speed blender until smooth, adding water as needed. It should be about the same consistency as the soup, and a little sweet, not very spicy.

Drizzle onto soup in bowls and top with a sprig of carrot greens, or other pretty herbs you have around. Enjoy!

I love how this soup is raw, but warms you up anyway because of the ginger, onion, garlic, and curry. I also love how nicely the sweet cashew cream contrasts. And I love that it's all mostly squash! Which is just water, vitamins, nutrients and fibre! I hope you like it.
Remember, if it's too chunky: just strain it. It will become like creamy cooked soup.