Suggestions for adding more raw food into my diet?

Dehydrated food is another option. Veggie chips are delicious.

@gorillapaws i may invest in a dehydrater at a later date, but is there much of a selection of dehydrated foods in shops/supermarkets?

Actually, I much prefer my veggies raw. I don’t care at all for cooked carrots, etc. But I’ll munch on a crisp uncooked carrot, celery, etc. A little salt on it…yum!

Salads, salads, salads. You can put almost anything you eat raw or cold in salads including leftovers. Add a little dressing of some sort and there you are.

I’m addicted to baby carrots. I cut them up into little pieces and eat them with a lite red wine vinegar dressing or a dash of ranch. Very good for you and easy to eat. Sliced yellow squash and Zuchinni and Cucumbers are delicious too dipped in a bit of low fat dressing of your choice.

I make another quickie salad with pear tomatos, black olives and english cucumbers in a lite italian or vinegarette dressing. Yummy!
Radishes are great too, the spicy white ice cicle variety are really good.

@Sunny2 Amen to salads!
And +1 for a good dressing. Use a good quality oil, a little vinegar or lemon juice, good quality spices…
I see Kardamom is responding too. She has some of the best veggie recipes I’ve ever seen. Mouth is already watering in anticipation….

I make a wicked cucumber salad. Chop up some tomato and cucumber, shred some zucchini, and throw some vinegar based dressing on it. It’s amazing.

Also, here’s a great recipe for a raw veggie lunch.

1 shredded zucchini
2 shredded carrots
1 shredded cucumber
1 diced tomato
Hummus
Flour tortilla or your favorite wrap of choice

(You can pretty much add any veggie you really like, but these are what I use)

Take the shredded and diced veggies and mix them together. Take your flour tortilla and spread some hummus on it. Take the veggies and put them in the tortilla and eat it like a burrito! It’s healthy and delicious. I eat these almost every day.

Raw veggies with dip ale a great snack. Bag them up and take them with you to work or wherever.

carrots, celery, broccoli, cauliflower with hommus

The easiest thing to do is to sneak them into other dishes that you probably already eat. Grate carrots or rutabagas or squash or turnips or whatever you like into soups and spaghetti sauce. You’ll quickly find out which veggies you like better for certain dishes.

Find some good recipes for nutrient dense raw salads like this one for Raw Kale Salad with Root Veggies (note: if you don’t want to go to the trouble of making the nuts, just use Trader Joe’s sweet spicy pecans for the garnish) I make this delicious salad all the time with beets, rutabagas and turnips.

Mushrooms are really good in just about any kind of savory dish, some of the schrooms need to be cooked a little bit though, like shiitakes, but others such as regular old white button or brown schrooms or even those cute little white enoki mushrooms can be eaten raw.

I like to make a frozen cheese pizza and then after it comes out of the oven, put some microgreens, or fancy salad mix on top. It sounds kind of weird, but the first time I had this at a restaurant, I was hooked. Sometimes, I’ll throw some chopped kale onto my pizza about 5 minutes before it’s done, it kind of crisps up and has a marvelous taste and texture.

This Raw Sweet Potato Slaw is really yummy. I use Vegenaise and/or non-fat plain yogurt instead of regular mayo.

I had the pleasure of sampling some raw soups at a Vegan Vietnamese restaurant and one of the ingredients that really made an impact on me was avocado. When it’s blended and added into a soup, it has a very different quality than it does when it’s made into guacamole or just added to a sandwich (which are also good choices) but it lends a very smooth buttery undertone. Here is a website that has a whole bunch of raw soups. They suggest one of those vitamix blenders, but I think a regular blender would be fine, or a food processor, you might need to blend your soups in smaller batches.

Make a point of getting 2 or 3 different veggies each week, but don’t buy more than you can eat in a week, or else they will go bad. As soon as you get home from the store, wash and dry those veggies and cut them up into bite sized pieces and bag ‘em up into individual servings so you can just grab them and put them into your lunch box or cooler before heading out the door. It’s much easier to do all of the work on one day, rather than getting up in the morning and realizing that you still need to do the prep work. Save yourself the headache and do it, right when you get back from the store.

There’s a great snack product called Just Raspberries, or Just Corn or Just Strawberries that make a line of dehydrated fruits and veggies, that have no added anything. They’re not like the chewy style dried cranberries, these are actually crispy. You can see some of them Here. I got some at Whole Foods.

Here’s another website dedicated to raw foods, scroll down to the dips/dressing/spreads section. Yummo!

I love beans, invest in some low sodium canned beans: garbanzo, cannellini, black beans, red kidney beans, lentils, pinto beans. Whatever you like. Rinse them and throw them into your salads for some extra flavor and nutrition. Or if you make a quesadilla, throw on some beans just before serving with a dollop of fresh Guacamole

Want to try a crazy sounding, but delicious drink? Check out this Heirloom Tomato Lassi with Fennel and Orange Zest

I love cabbage, here are several recipes internationally oriented for different Cabbage Salads The Mexican inspired salad is especially good along any kind of Mexican food from burritos, to enchiladas to tacos.

Until recently, I had no idea that Brussels sprouts could/should be consumed raw, but now this recipe for Lemony Shredded Brussels Sprouts Salad with Hazelnuts and Shaved Parmesan is one of my favorites.

Salsa is another good option. Try some new ones like Mango Salsa or Fresh Cranberry Salsa or Fresh Pineapple Salsa or Fresh Tomatillo Salsa

Burp!

I like cucumber and tomato sandwiches and wraps. Sometimes I add onions or green pepper to them.

@WestRiverrat Oooh, I love tomato sandwiches on lightly toasted bread. :-)

@Coloma You know what else is good on tomato sandwiches? Pea sprouts. They are like microgreens. I know Trader Joe’s has them, but I get a bigger container for super cheap at the Korean market in my area. They’re kind of radishy in flavor. This is them

@Kardamom Oooh, never tried them, but I love alfalfa sprouts. I make veggie burritos with diced cucumbers in them with alfalfa sprouts. Hmm..I think the nearest Korean market will be about 40 miles from me. lol