5 Reasons Why You Should Try a Raw Food Meet Up!

This weekend I had the pleasure of hosting a raw food potluck for the K-W Raw Food Meet Up. It was a success and the turnout was a great. Big thank you to all of the members!



5 Reasons Why You Should Try a Raw Food Meet Up:

1. You get to sample a multitude of raw food dishes. Having access to 15-20 different dishes to choose from is amazing.









2. The company is just as great as the food. You will meet all sorts of people from all walks of life and most of them are passionate about raw food whether they are new to the raw movement or have been in it for a while.


3, Share resources on raw food recipes, books, films and information.



4. You become part of a community. You can do a lot of things together like go see health related movies, have discussions and go to raw food events together.




5. The sweetest part is the SUPPORT. Whatever stage you are in on your raw food/health journey you can get moral support from other's in the group. I think this is one of the most important points. While you start to eat more and more raw food it is nice to have the support of others to help you along the way.



I hope you get out there before summer is over and enjoy some raw food with friends! Big THANK YOU to all my raw foodies for the great day.

If you haven't seen it yet, I would love for you to check out the guest post that I wrote on Crazy Sexy Life on "Raw Food Strategies For Your Family" and leave a comment.

.............Stay tuned for our next contest coming up soon.

Raw Weekend Part 1: A Rawsome Potluck!!

As many of you may know I started up a raw meet-up in my community a few months ago. I wanted to connect to other's with an interest in eating healthy with a focus on raw food. We have met once prior to this weekend at WOW, a raw cafe.

For our second meeting we had a Raw Potluck on Saturday, that was hosted at a members house. Let me tell you it was a lot of fun. Fun to meet all of the new members and also great to eat all of the wonderful food.

Here is a picture of our RAW FOODIES who attended. I am taking the photo, so I am not in the picture. Also two members had to leave early. We had 15 people attend, so a big thank you to all that came.



As you can see we had lots of fun things on the table. Raw food book, a couple of bottles of kombucha, some marinated mushrooms and raw homemade salsa and dip.

Here is our raw food feast.


I am so happy that we had a great turnout and so much yummy raw food to share. Thanks to everyone for all of your raw food dishes. Take a look at this spread of raw eats. This is most, but not all because we could not fit it on the table.

Menu included:
Thai Coleslaw
Nori Rolls
Almond Nori Rolls
Pesto and veggie noodles
Cheesecake (not in photo)
Carrot Cake
Fudge
Mok Tuna
Mixed Seed and Fruit Salad
Kale Salad
Kombucha
Marinated mushrooms
Real raw salsa, veggie chips and guacamole
Cookie Dough Balls
Several Salads
Broccoli and Veggies
Fruits
and more (sorry if I missed anyone)


Can I just say how RAWSOME it was to have this great table of raw food to eat. I think everyone had a great time and had lots to eat.

This is one of the dishes that I brought. Thai Coleslaw from Rawvolution. It is always a hit.




We played a fun bingo icebreaker game and I also had two raw treats to giveaway. Some kale chips and a goji bar.




I had a great time and can't wait to meet up again and for our community to grow!!! Thanks everyone who came.


Stay tuned for the rest of the weekend in the next post.... and a belated MOTHER'S DAY to all my blogging friends.

Delish Raw Chocolate Cheesecake

Last night I made a Delish Chocolate Cheesecake. It is pretty easy to do. Don't get me wrong there are many versions of this raw desserts that are out there that are more complex. These day's I tend to go for easy. I have a four year old and a 2 year old with special needs, so my time is limited. So I tend to pick some easy recipes if I know that I am going to be in a rush.

This one includes the following ingredients:

Filling
3 cups Raw Cashews soaked overnight and rinsed
1/3 Lemon Juice
1/3 Coconut Oil (also called coconut butter)
2 tsp Vanilla Powder
Cacao Nibs (for sprinkling on top)
Pinch of Salt
Cacao Powder (depends on your craving for chocolate)
1/4 Agave Nectar (I always cut my sweetener, so you could add more)
1/4 Almond Milk

Crust
Walnuts crushed
Raw Coconut
Agave Nectar

First blend the cashews, lemon juice, coconut oil and vanilla in the food processor.



Depending on the flavor that you want you can either add in cacao powder as seen below or leave it plain. You could also do fruit. Everything from raspberries to mango works. Note if you want a 2 layered cake, let's say part white and part chocolate take out a little more than half of the white. Once it is taken out then add in your flavor choice.



Now you need a base. I usually use walnut and coconut for the base. This recipe I was in a rush so I used agave nectar and mixed together well and placed on the bottom of my glass dish. Make sure it is padded in well. It should look like this. For the best version pulse all the ingredients int0 the processor for a few minutes until it creates a ball. Then place in dish. I cheated a bit and just crushed it in the dish itself so that is why it is a bit thicker of a crust.




Then layer the first batch of cashews, which is the plain white mixture.



Then add on your second layer of the mixture, which is the chocolate mixture. Add your cacao nibs on top. If you are doing a different flavour you can add the fruit on top. Just make sure it is not one that is going to bleed all over the cake. If it is blueberries for example, I will leave the sauce separately until I am ready to serve it.



Stick in the freezer to settle and solidify a bit. I love mine a little bit frozen so I just keep it in the freezer until about 10-15 minutes before I want to eat it. For a fancy cake you can put this in a spring form pan or a round dish and decorate with a raw chocolate sauce.




Enjoy, this is a guilt free cheesecake!!!