We had been getting bales for our horses from one of our neighbors named Paul Epp for a couple of years now. Paul would always come by when he delivered them with an easy smile on his face and be ready for some good conversation. Andrew and I really liked him. He thought a lot like us… He believed in sustainable housing and renewable energies and all other kinds of our “hippie” and green ideas. One of the times that he came by to deliver the bales, he invited us to look at his wife’s website and to come for coffee when we dropped off the money for the hay.
Wow!! Have a look… http://www.beate-epp.com/ She’s got quite a wide range of experience. She makes wonderful homemade organic cream… And a wonderful artist and an author… I was kind of shocked that I had not heard of someone with so many talents living down the road from me. (Must be something about being humble)
We went for coffee (Turned out to be herbal tea lol) and these amazing dried fruit. Beate invited us over for supper, not before she told us that they were raw vegans…….. Andrew and I were honestly scared. We enjoyed Paul and Beate’s company so we immediately said yes to the invitation, but we still had some fear about what raw vegans ate lol. We discussed it and told ourselves that if we were still hungry after we went for salad that we would go to the city for a burger. I looked online in the next few days for raw vegan recipes so that I could bring something for the supper. I found a “simple” raw pudding. I was so excited. I went out to Walmart to get the ingredients. I needed some dates, so I bought the kind of dates that are all pressed together in a tight square. I needed some almonds, so I found some roasted unsalted almonds… I was so proud that I grabbed the unsalted. I already had cocoa powder at home, so I was ready to get started.
I fought to break off what I thought would be three dates from the square o’ dates. I threw the almonds in my magic bullet with the dates cocoa powder and the little bit of water that it called for….. What a disgusting mess… I decided that I better put more water in because it just wasn’t mixing up well. So, I put a lot of water in… Too soupy. Oh my, what am I going to do now… More dates.. No these dates taste icky… Ok how about some raisins. It got thicker but not much thicker. “Noah, do you want some pudding?” “Yup” “Ok, here you go…. How is it?” “It tastes a little funny but it tastes good”
Ok, I thought I might just have to do more research first… People can’t really eat this stuff. I read somewhere that you have to soak your nuts over night. I tried it. I made three more batches for Noah before I got it to taste decent.
The day of the supper came and I whipped up a fresh batch of my almond pudding. Andrew and I had concerns that all of the food we were going to have would taste like it. We were planning for the burger later. We drove to Paul and Beate’s with my stinky pudding turning my stomach all the way there. Paul answered the door as Beate was busy in the kitchen. I was so proud that I had made something raw vegan so I showed it to him straight away. He made a look like a parent would give a child when they’ve presented them with a mud pie. But, he brought me into the kitchen where Beate was busy cutting some flat dry looking stuff. I presented her with my supper contribution. She gave me the same look that Paul did, but she started asking me questions about it. “What’s in it?” “Dates, almonds, cocoa powder, and water”. To this she said Carob would be better because it doesn’t have any caffeine in it. Then she asked me if the cocoa was raw… I had never heard of raw cocoa. I said I didn’t know. It wasn’t lol. I checked when I went home. She asked me if the dates were Majool. Again, I didn’t know. Then she asked me if the almonds were raw…. I said they weren’t salted if that’s what she meant. She kind of looked at the concoction and said “I’m sure it will be good”. She explained to me that raw nuts have an anti digestive property in them until you soak them for the proper amount of time and then rinse them well. She explained that the roasting process kills the nut and changed the properties of the oil in them. The best way to eat them is to eat them soaked in their natural state. You get the most bang for your buck in the way of nutrients.
Like I said before, we were expecting salad for supper. We were not expecting the most decadent salad we had ever eaten. We had a kale salad with peppers and a simple dressing of lemon juice and Bragg’s raw apple cider vinegar, cayenne pepper and some hemp seeds that Beate admitted picking up out of the sample basket at Dad’s Nutrition Centre. I still grab a bag of them every time I stop in there. We had zuccinni and mushrooms that were marinated in nama shoyu (naturally fermented soy sauce) and spices, then dehydrated slightly to make them warm. Yumm. I ate so many of them. The flat dry looking stuff was actually raw vegan bread. She had so many different kinds. She had some with tomatoes and onions that were for making pizzas with and some that were spicy and a sweeter one with pumpkin. We put some seed cheese that she made on the bread and it was heavenly. It really tastes like a cheese ball. The best part of the meal was dessert. Oh my goodness was it ever good. We had a three layer deal with the bottom consisting of raspberries, the middle was poppy seed and mashed banana, and the top was a cashew cream. The cashew cream tastes like whipping cream. Andrew and I were stuffed. We sat and talked with Paul and Beate for hours about the raw vegan lifestyle. I was amazed. I had no clue that vegan food could be this good. After we went home, I didn’t even need to grab my nightly snack. I was satisfied. The next day, I got up in the morning feeling wonderful. I cleaned my whole house.
I didn’t have the desire to go back to feeling yucky after I ate anymore so I grabbed some veggies and started eating them throughout the day. I made a supper of salad for myself that night. I was hungry. I snacked that night on some of the fabulous dried fruit that I had grabbed a few days before. It helped. I spent the night watching you tube videos about raw food. I was amazed. I followed Bunny Berry through her 100 day raw vegan challenge. She lost 25lbs or so. Wow! I knew I was getting bigger and bigger being on the SAD (Standard American Diet). OK, here’s the embarrassing part… I had just hit 200lbs. Ugh. I said it. My life of meat and dairy and cooked oils and snacks and crashes just wasn’t working for me. I talked to Andrew and told him that I wanted to try it out to lose weight and feel better. My husband is very supportive and told me to get whatever I needed to be able to do this for myself. So, Monday morning I set out to find some raw nuts. The first place I went was the local organic market. OMG!!! I thought I was going to faint. How can anyone afford to eat this way!! So, I went to a bulk-ish food store. I bought some things I needed. I still thought it was pretty pricey though. I started thinking of places I might be able to get cheap raw nuts. I thought of the actual bulk store in town. I thought it was worth trying to see what they had. I was right. They had affordable raw nuts there.
So my raw journey had begun.
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