Day 21 – Heating Raw Foods and a Noodley Raw Soup Recipe

Raw foods don’t have to be cold! Although they shouldn’t be hot either, there are several ways to warm up with raw food.

• Take food out of the fridge to warm them up to room temperature. This might not sound like a big difference, but it helps a lot.
• Season your food with warming spices. Flavors such as ginger, garlic, cayenne, and chili give your mouth a warm sensation.
• Warm your food on the stove. Do this carefully as to not kill all those precious enzymes. You want to be able to stick your finger in, and keep it there, comfortably.
• Heat up your dishes in the microwave before you plate your meal. Serving lunch on a warmed plate or bowl will gently transfer some of the heat to your food.
• Puree sauces and soups in your blender or food processor for longer. The heat from the motor will warm it up.

Speaking of warm raw foods, I made a raw soup recipe tonight that was really good. The cooked foodies around me were all very confused as how I could eat soup on the raw food diet. (Probably because it looked so amazing!)

Raw Noodle Soup
Serves 2

Broth
1/2 cup celery
1/3 cup carrot (about 1/2 carrot)
1/8 cup yellow onion
1 tsp tahini
1 tsp tamari or nama shoyu
1/4 tsp black pepper
2 cups water, separated

Noodles and Such
1 zucchini
1 celery stalk
1/2 carrot (use remaining from above)
1/4 cup broccoli
2-3 cabbage leaves
handful snow peas
handful sprouts

• Add all ingredients, but just one cup of water, to your blender or food processor and liquefy. 
• Julienne zucchini into noodles. Separate evenly into two serving bowls.
• Thinly slice celery, carrot, broccoli, and snow peas and divide equally into the serving bowls.
• Add half of broth mixture to each bowl. Stir to mix.
• Heat the remaining cup of water on the stove. Do not microwave it. Once warmed, pour 1/2 cup almost-hot water into each bowl and stir.
• Top each bowl with shredded cabbage and sprouts before serving.

Feel free to add any vegetables you like or have on hand to the broth. Thinly sliced mushrooms might be a nice add-in. I kept my noodles long and ate them with chopsticks, but you can cut the noodles into whatever length you want.