Coconut and Berries

Healthy, Vegan Recipes by Emma Potts

Raw Foods for Winter

Now, if you’re anything like me, you might well be thinking that raw food isn’t particularly suitable for winter and cold weather. We’re naturally drawn to warming, comforting foods at this time of year, and my associations of crisp, fresh, raw salads just didn’t fit into this picture. Nevertheless, at this time of year we’re all extra susceptible to getting ill and it’s now when we need to be taking extra good care of ourselves and eating the most nutritious foods possible. Raw food is just that!

So, how to make raw meals that are just as warming and comforting as our cooked favourites?

That’s where Tanya comes in.

"Nourished-Raw Foods for Winter": e-book Review

Tanya Alekseeva is one of the UK’s leading raw food chefs and educators and blogs over at better raw. If you haven’t met her yet, definitely read her amazing story of transformation.

Tanya’s e-book “Nourished - Comforting Raw Food Recipes for Winter” addresses the issue of eating raw in winter, with lots of useful info and recipes.

- It’s a full-colour book with pictures of all the recipes, along with step-by-step instructions.  It’s always nice to know what you’re aiming for!

- The book’s got you covered for drinks, breakfasts, sauces, sides, snacks, meals and desserts. There are some real show-stoppers in here which I think would be especially fantastic to serve to guests, along with dishes ideal for everyday eating.

- It includes some great tips for eating raw when it’s chilly out, many I hadn’t thought of, but which make such a big difference.

- There’s also a guide to local and seasonal produce and recommended equipment for a raw kitchen.

Note, most of the recipes don’t require specialist equipment and if you’ve got a good knife, a blender and/or food processor you’ll be able to make most. About a quarter do call for a dehydrator though, something I don’t own (yet…), so I couldn’t make these, slightly torturous as they all looked really good. If you do have a dehydrator you’ll definitely want this book!

- Particularly handy if you’re new to raw food, there’s also a glossary of ingredients you might be unfamiliar with.

You can find a full list of the recipes included and more pictures here, but this is what I made:

"Nourished-Raw Foods for Winter": e-book Review

First up, I tried the Apple & Cinnamon Chia Pudding. This was a really tasty, light breakfast. It’s creamy, mildly-spiced and sweet, even with only fruit to sweeten it. I would probably add less almond milk next time though as I like my chia pudding a little thicker.

"Nourished-Raw Foods for Winter": e-book Review

I really wanted to try one of the main-dishes from the book but struggled to make a decision with so many options. Lots of the recipes might sound like conventional dishes: “burgers”, “ noodles” “mash”” “pie” and “curry”, but they’re probably not what you’re expecting! Tanya’s given these traditional dishes a  raw make-over, but their healthiness definitely doesn’t compromise their flavour.

"Nourished-Raw Foods for Winter": e-book Review

I decided to put together a few of the recipes for a meal with some serious wow-factor. Here we have the “Winter Sun Burgers”, “Tangy Cabbage Salad” and “Ranch Dressing”. The burgers were rich and flavourful. They’re very easy to make too, just a few ingredients and a food processor is all you need. I’m already planning on using the same mixture and blending it up a little more and using it as a dip Smile

The cabbage gets jazzed up with a yummy raspberry vinaigrette (Tanya suggests using frozen berries if they’re not in season where you live).

I’m not exaggerating when I say that the ranch dressing was absolutely incredible! I could have eaten this stuff with a spoon! I’m definitely going to be making it regularly. Note: there wasn’t any water listed in the ingredients and I found I needed to add some to get a smooth, pourable consistency. I also subbed tamari for the liquid aminos listed as I didn’t have any.

A perfectly satisfying meal, and I didn’t miss hot food at all.

"Nourished-Raw Foods for Winter": e-book Review

The last of the recipes I tried was the “Spiced Hot Chocolate”. This was creamy and indulgent-tasting, and it would have been hard to believe it was healthy if I hadn’t made it myself. You can still have warm food eating raw, just as long as you don’t heat foods above a certain temperature which is thought to damage their nutrients. Blending all the ingredients on high with some hot water made this plenty warm enough, and the kick of cayenne added extra heat.

(Pictured above with store-bought raw oatmeal-raisin cookies)

Tanya has kindly allowed me to re-print the recipe here for you all to enjoy.

Spiced Hot Chocolate:

1C Almonds, soaked overnight
4C Pure water (2C cold, 2C hot)
½C Pitted dates
¼ avocado
2T Raw cacao powder
1T Agave nectar
¾t Cayenne pepper

Rinse the nuts, drain and blend with 2 cups cold water.

Strain the liquid through a nut milk bag/cheese cloth/stocking to remove the pulp. Pour the strained milk back into blender and add the rest of ingredients including the hot water, blend on high. Enjoy immediately.

Serves 3

The next recipes I want to try are the Pecan Pie Shake, “Never Miss Meat” Stroganov, Root Veggie Satay Noodles…and the Traditional Apple Crumble with Vanilla Sauce! You can get your hands on the book instantly by downloading it from Tanya’s website, better raw, here.

I know it’s only October, but December will be here before we know it! Tanya’s book of raw Christmas recipes- “Festive”, is one I’m definitely considering. There are always so many parties and social events at this time of year, not usually involving the healthiest of foods, but with these recipes you’ll be well-equipped to wow friends and family with healthy and delicious raw alternatives.

You might want to check out Tanya’s other e-books:

“Purified - Your Complete 7 Day Detox Program” and “Seduced - Raw Chocolate Recipes to Get Very Excited For”

If you’re in the UK you might also be interested in the workshops Tanya runs in London- coming up very soon, with just a few spots left are the Comforting Raw Foods for Winter Workshop (THIS Saturday 25th October) and the Raw Food Christmas Festivities Workshop (7th December).

Do you try and incorporate raw food into your diet? I’d love to hear your thoughts about raw food in general.

Note: I was provided with a copy of the book for review purposes, but all opinions expressed are my own.

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Comments

  2. Everything looks so colourful and perfect but I’m with Lauren, I often don’t feel like eating raw food in Winter, even though I KNOW it’s so much better for you nutritionally! However, I will definitely look at this book because these recipes look so gorgeous and nutritious and on the warmer Winter days, I can see myself really enjoying her creations!

    • I like a mix of raw and cooked food too. I’ve been amazed at how warming and filling these foods have been- seems like a nice blend of spices and some richness can really be satisfying, even in winter.

    • Great! Using some warming spices and adding richer foods makes a huge difference. You have a dehydrator don’t you?! There are some amazing-looking dishes using a dehydrator in this book :)

  5. You’re right. I totally do not associate raw foods with cooler weather BUT these dishes look yummy! Your pictures are rockin’ girl! What kind of camera/lens do you use?

  7. I was totally going to keep eating salads all winter long, and then I moved to Scotland and, well, let’s just say that I never once switched on the heating when I lived in London, but I do now in Stirling. I have a feeling it’s going to be ruddy cold up here. I’ve been having soup nearly every day this month.

    But I have also had some really nasty colds already, so I definitely want to eat more raw foods! I still have smoothies for breakfast during the week, then baked porridge with fruit at the weekend. I definitely want to try eating more salads, too, and maybe some raw vegetable noodles.

    Thanks for sharing the recipe and talking to us about the e-book! :)

    • I don’t think I could live up North! I’m not good in cold weather at all. I have managed to resist turning on the heating here but tbh it hasn’t actually got very cold yet.
      There are some really cool ideas in the e-book. As much as I love giant salads, it’s nice to have some variety.
      I could never go fully raw though- I love baking too much…and pancakes!

  8. All those meals look amazing. Well, you know I’ve been incorporating more cooked foods lately, and I love making up big batches of soup again. But I’ll never forget how raw foods make me feel, so I’ll always want that to be the basis of my diet. And then add some fun bonuses as we go along.
    Post like these are always very triggering for my (un)cookbook obsession. I always want all the cookbooks I read about. *Damn you!* 😉

    • haha, i’m cookbook obsessed too. I managed to restrain myself from buying 2 at once yesterday! I still succumbed to buying 1 though…V.naughty of me!
      I definitely love both raw and cooked food though I usually lean more towards raw for the desserts!

  11. OH MY! Everything looks wonderful, but I am smitten with those Winter Sun Burgers! And I will definitely be trying her spiced hot chocolate. What a wonderful book. I must get my hands on a copy!

    Heather

  12. I agree, I always thought raw food isn’t suitable for winter & cold weather. I love my warm potatoes, toast, and stews. I can’t imagine eating raw foods in Iceland, can’t you? I’ve heard of Tanya before, and wow the sun burgers look pretty good with the ranch dressing. Sometimes, I would eat raw once a month back in Oregon (not during travels), for instance, I would make raw foods and do a juice cleanse every few days. I love making kale salad with lemon & raw shallots (so good), and of course the raw cashew cheese with stringy “pasta.” But most of the times, I enjoy juice cleanses and making my own juices.

    • The ingredients for the sun burgers are available all year round so you could definitely eat them in the summer (though they wouldn’t be “winter sun burgers” then!).
      I’m a kale salad girl too- will try shallots next time.
      I’ve been wanting to try a juice cleanse for ages but sadly I don’t own a juicer and purchasing a few days worth of fresh juice is super expensive :(

  15. I only done a few raw foods. Wouldn’t be easy to be all raw in Canada, though I’m not exactly in the far north. I love the food in your lovely photos. Must try the hot cocoa first :)

  16. Thank you for sharing this delicious hot cocoa at Smoothie OTW as a good hot chocolate is one of my little evening pleasures 😀 I love that you make it completely from scratch, including the almond milk!
    Thanks again for linkup up and I hope you will again in the future :)

  17. Guess what I’m drinking for afternoon tea - A Raw Spiced Hot Chocolate!
    The method for making this couldn’t be simpler and it tastes truly decadent. I really needed a pick-me-up after work today before I got stuck into studying, and this hit the spot 😀 Thanks for recipe and for sharing it at Smoothie OTW, I hope you’ll link up again soon :)

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