Miller - Raw. Vegan. Not Gross.: All Vegan and Mostly Raw Recipes for People Who Love to Eat

RAW. VEGAN. NOT GROSS.

All Vegan and Mostly Raw Recipes for People Who
Love to Eat

LAURA MILLER

Photography by David Loftus

The author and publisher have provided this e-book to you for your personal use only. You may not make this e-book publicly available in any way. Copyright infringement is against the law. If you believe the copy of this e-book you are reading infringes on the authors copyright, please notify the publisher at: http://us.macmillanusa.com/piracy.

FOR MY PARENTS, BOB AND MAUREEN MILLER. THANK YOU FOR LOVING ME SO FIERCELY. I AM SO GRATEFUL TO HAVE YOU.

What I love about raw food is the juiciness and pleasure it adds to everyday life. Eating a mango on your lunch break, scooping the meat out of a coconut in your kitchen, breaking open a pomegranate and watching the seeds burst outeach of these experiences is grounding and connects you to nature in a tangible way. Sure, raw food is credited with glowing skin, bright eyes, shiny hair, and weight loss. But I think eating raw food is really about falling back in love with produce.

I am not fully raw. Im madly in love with raw food, but I dont have the time, money, or energy to eat raw all the time. It can be incredibly laborious and isolating to try to plan out every single meal in advance because you know you wont be able to find anything you can eat at work, while traveling, or at a restaurant. Eating cheeseburgers for every meal isnt healthy, but you know whats also unhealthy? Being constantly stressed about your diet!

Our health is an accumulation of what we put into our bodies. Id rather go for five years eating mostly plants than try to spend one month eating 100 percent raw only to get frustrated, throw up my hands, and eat cheese puffs for the next four years. It is much more realistic and sustainable to incorporate these kinds of changes into your diet one by one to see which ones work for you. Then you wont have to worry about being the clich Oh, yeah, I was raw vegan for a month guy.

The danger of starting many new diets or lifestyles is that they often encourage people to abandon their former selves in favor of a newer, shinier version. I am always suspicious of people who flaunt their after pictures and talk badly about their previous selves. Wait, that version was you too! And that version of you was the one smart enough and strong enough to realize that you could be happier and healthier. That version of you is the real hero in this story.

We have no shortage of advice and information on how to lose the pounds, get rock-hard abs, and shape the kind of butt you can bounce a quarter off. And sure, all those things are great shiny pennies! But the real change happens when you find a way of taking care of yourself that makes you feel good inside and out, a way that allows you to eat intuitively to nourish your body and mind. Its not about discipline, its about feeling good. And if it doesnt feel good, its not going to last.

You want foods that make you feel good now, but that also keep you feeling good five minutes, two hours, and twenty-four hours after youve eaten them. Simply paying attention to how your body feels after you eat something will teach you more than anything I can tell you, and will also lay out a pretty clear roadmap for what you should and shouldnt be eating on a regular basis.

My hope is that more people will come to realize that plant-based diets dont have to be depressing, dogmatic, or cultlike. I see much more benefit for our collective health and environment if most of us eat a plant-based diet than if a handful of us are extreme hard-core raw vegans.

The whole raw vegan thing can really scare people off, and I get it: Youre already cutting out animal products with veganism, so adding in the raw component, meaning nothing processed or cooked, can feel really restrictive. I personally hate rules when it comes to food, but the boundaries of raw veganism have always felt like a creative challenge for me, and have pushed me to look at produce with fresh eyes. As for me, I eat all vegan and mostly raw. As youll see in the recipes in this book, that doesnt mean all salads and green smoothies!

You are holding in your hands over a hundred of my favorite recipes from ten years of making and eating raw food. Ive organized them by meal, course, and also context: For me, raw food is fun and social and great for parties, which is why Ive included an entire chapter on Party Food. If youre just beginning to dip your toes into eating raw, or wanting to share your love of raw food with friends, try pulling some treats from chapters like Sweets or Die Alone (my answer to comfort food, acknowledging the fact that we all want to eat our feelings now and then). Rather than focusing on eliminating foods from your diet, try adding one recipe from Weeknight Dinners into your repertoire each week, or start your mornings with a raw vegan Breakfast. If youre in a hurry, head over to the To-Go chapter for instant meals that will satisfy you while youre checking items off your to-do list.

Of course, if youre already eating mostly (or entirely) raw and vegan, youll be familiar with the basics and ready to dive into some of the more unusual ingredients and flavor combinations throughout the book. And youll also find my versions of some raw vegan classics. But, hey, I love my banana soft serve better than any other banana soft serve Ive tried, and I sure hope you will too.

No matter where you are in your raw food journey, youll find that many of the recipes in this book are truly simple, and Ive made sure to leave out any ingredients or equipment you can do without. Eating raw doesnt need to be expensive or time consuming. If youre not sure where to start, close your eyes and pick a page at random. You dont need to wait until youre more prepared, or own a fancier blender, or can differentiate among different types of sea vegetables at a casual glance. I hope these recipes will be as fun for you to make as they are for me.

I grew up with my parents and my older sisters, Mechele and Katie, on a twenty-acre parcel of land in northern California. There were rolling hills, giant oaks, a moss-covered creek that overflowed to the main road during heavy rains, a catfish-filled pond, and a garden that was bursting at the seams.

My dad owned a flooring business and worked very long hours but still managed to keep up a giant garden, a greenhouse, and a little orchard. He is one of those intuitive gardenershe often didnt know what a plant was called, but always knew how to make it grow. I spent a lot of time going to hardware and feed stores with him on the weekends. He had aviaries where he kept different kinds of birds. At one point, he and I even had a little bird business called Lovebirds R Us where we just sold birds to other breeders and made zero money. I learned to balance a checkbook and handle weird bird peopleboth skills that came in handy for future life endeavors.