6 Raw Recipes For A Joyous Picnic!

Hello my joyous readers,

This morning I did a segment on Global TV's Morning Show sharing healthy and of course smashingly delicious raw recipes! You can watch the segment below:

As you may have heard, I'm not a fan of typical picnic or BBQ recipes which usually entail macaroni salads drenched in goodness knows what non-food-like dressing ingredients and other items. This usually spells out a recipe for a bloated belly and feeling like you've been hit by a mack truck the next day. We've all been there at some point or another. So I'm thrilled to share some amazing recipes that are easy to create and completely raw.

Most people when they think of "raw" they automatically assume they will just be eating vegetables for the whole meal, but this couldn't be further from the truth. Here's an entire meal that you can re-create. It is incredibly fulfilling (not just veggies) and absolutely delicious. In fact, it was totally hilarious because as soon as we finished the segment the whole crew at Global feasted on all the food!!

Here are the recipes:

Watermelon Cucumber Refresher

2 cups watermelon, cubed

1 large cucumber cut into chunks

2-3 cups coconut water

Place all ingredients into a food processor and blend for 30-60 seconds until smooth. Serves 4 to 6.

Beet & Carrot Sprout Salad

6 cups mixed greens

1 cup sprouted lentils and chick peas (You can very easily make these or buy them at a health food store. Kind Organics is one such brand I really love. If you don't have sprouts on hand, then organic low or no-salt chick peas will do just fine.)

1 cup pea shoots (or raw green beans)

1 cup shredded raw beets (they can be quite water dense... so you can always pat them dry a bit so they don't weigh down your salad greens)

1 cup shredded raw carrots

1/2 cup hemp seeds

1/2 pumpkin seeds

Sea salt and pepper to taste

Dressing: I like to keep things really simple for this recipe. I used the juice from one lemon with 1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil and a touch of coconut sugar.

Combine all salad ingredients into a large bowl. Drizzle dressing over top just before serving. Serves 4.

Apple Avocado Collard Wraps

I made these wraps last weekend and they are the perfect picnic treat. They are also wonderful to pack in your lunch for work! Here is the recipe: http://www.joyoushealth.ca/2013/07/29/raw-recipe-apple-avocado-collard-wraps/

Yummy Snacks

Apple & Raw Almond Butter

2-3 apples, washed and thinly sliced

1/2 cup raw almond butter (I LOVE this brand: Artisana. It's also quite easy to make yourself. I will have an amazing recipe in my upcoming book!!)

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

Chop apple just before serving (so it doesn't turn brown by the time you get around to eating it). Sprinkle with cinnamon and dip into almond butter. Serves 4.

Guacamole

My gauc is kick-ass if I do say so myself! It's got a nice bite to it thanks to the hot sauce.

Joyous Tip: You need 1 avocado per 2 people when making gaucamole.

This is based on serving 2 people so just add more ingredients based on the size of your group.

1 avocado

Juice from 1 lime

1 tbsp hot sauce

1/2 fresh garlic clove minced

1/2 of a tomato chopped

1/2 of a red onion finely chopped

2 tbsp finely chopped cilantro

Sprinkle of hemp seeds

Combine all ingredients into a bowl and enjoy with some raw crackers. On the segment, I used Sundried Tomato Chia Live Organic Raw crackers.

Peach Tart with a Maple Cashew Cream

This was absolutely divine. I made this for the first time last February, but with apples. I took the same recipe and swapped in peaches and did not heat them. In the apple version, I heated the apples in a pan which you could also do with these peaches because it will soften them nicely.

If you want to keep this recipe truly raw then you would obviously need to substitute the maple syrup in the cashew cream for raw honey. I personally like it best with maple syrup and I really don't think anyone will mind!

After the segment, I had a generous slice as my breakfast with some green tea. Here is the recipe: http://www.joyoushealth.ca/2013/02/01/apple-tart-with-maple-cream-delicious-healthy-dessert-recipe/

No picnic would be complete without some dark mint RAW chocolate by Giddy YoYo. I had a bar on hand for the segment but I didn't get to take any home because the hosts ate it all. HAHA! That's okay, I have a good stash in my office at the Joyous Health HQ!

I hope you enjoy the video and try out some of my recipes. In my upcoming cook book I have an amazing mayo-free potato salad which will blow your socks off it's so flavourful and totally guilt-free.

Have a joyous weekend!