A Whole New World

Last night the most magnificent electrical storm swept through my new neighbourhood. It was both incredible and frightening. Huge, jagged bolts of lightening crashing down around me. The wind howling like a million banshees let loose and water, water everywhere! As I sat through this raging tempest, I started thinking about the ties Nature had to human life. The storm was symbolic of change, great or small. Changes that shake you out of your comfort zone and make you ask, why?

I am a self professed food lover, junkie, forever epicurious. I love the taste, smell, texture and appearance of good food.

Right now, this foodie is going through some major changes of her own. The ‘Foodmatters’ documentary got me thinking about food (surprise, surprise). In particular, the history of my eating habits. Dad used to fry eggs and thick slices of SPAM for breakfast and top that off with lashings of soy sauce. We’d soak slices of white bread in the runny egg yolk. We’d also have squares of soft, sweet bread bought fresh from the local bakery. Dinner time was an elaborate affair of at least 3 or 4 different dishes to go with our steamed white rice. MSG was a factor in these dishes. Everything was cooked and it all tasted GOOD. This is how I ate for a good part of my life.

Lately, I’ve been going through some major changes in my life and one area of change is my nutrition. The saying, “You Are What You Eat”, has taken a deeper meaning for me. Do I want to look like a plate of fried eggs and SPAM or do I want to look like a bowl of luscious strawberries, blueberries and goji berries?

I still occasionally crave meat, cheese, bread, chips and fried, cooked food that would leave me glutted out and a few inches wider. To be completely honest, I sometimes succumb to these cravings and my body (and the weighing machine) always tells me afterwards, “I should not have eaten that”

So I’ve started researching and experimenting with new raw recipes. As conscious as I am about eating for health, the food I put in my mouth HAS to taste good, otherwise I’ll fall back to my old eating habits. This is what I had for dinner last night – ALL RAW and ALL ORGANIC and it was scrumptious!

Spinach bisque soup with cashew nut milk, topped with goji berries

Baby Portabella mushrooms stuffed with marinated plum tomatoes and basil nut pesto

Crunchy apple, carrot and cabbage coleslaw with homemade organic yoghurt sprinkled with shaved coconut

It takes a little time and some imagination (this is where the Internet comes in handy), but I have to admit, the results have been pretty fabulous. Ok, I confess, I cheated a little. I added hot water to the Spinach bisque soup and the shaved coconut was roasted…