When I first became raw vegan I was unable to make food for myself or my family. So my husband (who is also raw vegan) made raw food for me. At this point I was still having to spend the majority of my days sitting down and resting. While doing this I would spend hours watching raw vegan content on YouTube about how raw vegan food is incredible for our bodies. I also started following some raw vegans on Instagram. I enjoyed the many pictures of amazing raw food creations people would make. I really found the whole process captivating!!
As the first weeks of my raw vegan journey went by in 2021, my health and my strength began to improve, and I was able to begin making some of my own food. This process started with very small things like washing and chopping my lettuce, and tomato. As
my body healed my stability improved and this lead to improved ability in many areas of food making.
I soon began to spend as long as I could doing raw food preparation and making. This naturally led me to learn about more about creating recipes with raw foods. I began to learn how the food behaves in different recipes, how it tastes, what foods to pair together, and also what raw vegan foods taste great. This raw food self education still continues every day, as the possibilities are endless when it comes to raw food recipe creating!!
As you can see above I fell in love with raw food, raw food preparing and creating recipes very quickly. This is a love affair that continues to grow daily. I have become very passionate about creating raw dishes that make me excited to be eat this way and I believe this is key if you want to stay eating raw foods.
I have also become very passionate about taking responsibility for my body and for providing it with the best nutrition I can. By doing so, not only am I the best version of myself for myself, but also for those I love and those around me!
How do I create raw food recipes?
I create my recipes predominantly by designing a recipe around the tastes, and textures I feel attracted to on the day. I also give attention to which raw foods are visually attractive to me and grab my attention in my pantry. I find some of my inspiration from pictures I see of raw food creations on Instagram and YouTube. This can be a big help and I will share who I follow below in Leanne's Tip's below.
There are also times that if I do not have the raw foods I would have liked to eat that day I find inspiration in challenging myself to make a delicious recipe from which ever raw ingredients I have on hand. So remember to always work with what you have got .
I believe that because I eat a raw vegan diet, every thing I eat blesses my body without exception, and I believe that I can trust my body to know intuitively what it needs at any given time. I believe that this is one of the most beautiful things about the raw vegan diet.
Most of all though, I get my inspiration from my imagination, and from whatever tastes and textures I am desiring, and which ever foods are visually attractive to me in my kitchen or a fruit market. Creating raw food feels very natural to me and I enjoy it a great deal!
What do I use to create my raw food recipes?
Fruits
Vegetables
Nuts
Seeds (such as chia seeds and flax seeds)
Dried herbs
Spices (such as smoked paprika and black pepper)
Dried fruits (such as dates, raisins, cranberries)
Dehydrated tomatoes
Psyllium husks
Coconut aminos
Tamari
Carob
I do not choose to use any salt, or any grains as they do not make me feel my best. I have also begun sprouting for the very first time and really looking forward to adding these to my recipes and diet. I have created and continue to create many delicious raw vegan recipes using the above ingredients. You can head over to Leanne's Recipes page here at Roar where I share many raw food recipes weekly.
How I created my Raw vegan loaf?
Often my vegan recipes will come very easily to me, the bread was not all plain sailing when I first tried to create it. I originally came up with the idea of using cauliflower and zucchini as a base for bread recipe. The reason is that they are they are light in colour, reasonably neutral in taste on their own and low in fat. Since my husband prefers a lower fat raw vegan diet I wanted to limit the fat where possible.
S0 I decided next to use pumpkin seeds and chia as part of my bread recipe. As they both have a nutty and grainy type taste like bread. They are both also great “binding” ingredients in recipes and worked really well here.
I was now happy with the texture and visual result of the bread, but I was still not happy with the taste. So I continued to play with flavours and textures, trying other ingredients including, pumpkin, ground almonds, garlic, some herbs. I was still not happy with the result after multiple tries, so continued playing around with flavours while trying to be patient with myself and the creating process.
Eventually I realised that my recipe was missing sweetness, so I began working on that and came up with the idea of using dates and carrots in the bread recipe.
It worked wonderfully and I am now so happy and proud of my bread, it’s a big hit in my home right now. You can head over to my recipe page and try my raw vegan loaf for yourself!!
Leanne’s tips
As a raw vegan, I encourage you to listen to your body, it knows what you need and many of my recipes come from things my body needs.
I do not follow “food combining” rules as I have found we can learn for ourselves what foods work and feel good together. So do not be afraid to experiment with raw food recipes that combine different foods.
Create only with raw food ingredients that your system and tastebuds like, your body is changing and healing all the time so just relax and trust your body.
Remember that the food you ingest is nourishing your body in the most incredible way and that the recipes. Keep this in mind as you create your raw food recipes.
Take pride in the recipes you create as this will help to build your confidence in the kitchen.
Don’t be afraid to create dishes that you see in your imagination, even if you feel that they are “to advanced” for you. Your body is always talking to you through your imagination.
Get inspiration from your favourite raw vegan chef's on Youtube and Instagram. My favourites are @rawfoodromance, @joywithrawfood and @enzyme.333.
You will be surprised what you can create if you relax, and go with your “intuition” when it comes to raw food recipes.Most important of all enjoy creating raw vegan food for yourself .
As you can see raw vegan diet is massively versatile and exciting in my opinion. As I said earlier, the possibilities are literally endless and I am very excited everyday to continue creating many more recipes!
I hope raw food recipes bring you the joy it brings me. Please share below in the comments any of your favourite raw food recipes.
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