Raw veganism has been an idea that has stumped me for a while. Maybe it’s the fact that I love my cooked carbs and figure that it’s enough. However, in the past month I have had a couple of very intense conversations with people about the raw vegan diet. With my anxiety acting up more than ever, I find myself drawn to the simplicity of the raw food/vegan lifestyle. I keep hearing about how great it feels and I can’t help but want to try it.

However, warnings keep sounding in my head about how I would be able to get the 90g of protein per day required for my training. I would have to eat a LOT of nuts and hemp seeds to make that happen. I have been thinking, though, that incorporating raw foods into my diet slowly might work for now as I make my way to Ironman. So I took the liberty at contacting my local bookstore and getting the books ordered. They won’t be here for a couple of weeks, but it’s better on my conscience than ordering it from Amazon.

Raw Food, Real World: 100 Recipes to Get the Glow was recommended to me by my former roommate, Heather, who is trying to be mostly raw and absolutely loves it. I believe her since I’ve heard this numerous times from numerous people. I’ve also been part of a Raw Vegan Community on LiveJournal for almost 2 years now.

The Complete Book of Raw Food is the other book I ordered. I’m excited about having a good base for learning about preparation and that sort of thing.

I also found a great blog called Raw Food, Right Now. These people are very inspiring and committed to the raw food lifestyle.

I like trying things out to see how it works. I’m not sure how it will work as an athlete, but I guess I’ll find out!

I’ve recently gotten back into cooking new and exciting vegan recipes. I’m thinking that it will inspire me to resurrect this blog. On top of that, I have been reading some vegan blogs and looking at pictures of vegan cooking and am becoming more and more inspired! Seriously, how could one NOT be inspired by this:

Stuffed Bell Peppers from Celine, who I became familiar with from the Vegan Food Pics LiveJournal blog.

Her recipe for the stuffed peppers is as such:
Ingredients:
3 large bell peppers
1 package firm OR extra firm OR super firm tofu, drained
1 medium sized onion
3 garlic cloves [or less if you're not a fan. I happen to be!]
1 28 oz can diced tomatoes
2 T tomato paste
herbs, your choice
salt, pepper, to taste
Bragg’s liquid aminos OR soy sauce
1 cup breadcrumbs [I used panko style whole wheat breadcrumbs] OR cooked rice OR any other grain
1/2 cup cooked black beans, rinsed
1 T olive oil or other oil
6 slices tofutti cheese or other vegan cheese [optional]

Instructions:
* cut peppers in half, remove seeds and clean. boil water in a large pot, place clean peppers in them and boil for 5 minutes. remove peppers and let drain well. [do not put away the pot, or clean it, you will need it later!]
* preheat oven to 350F.
* in a food processor, crumble tofu, place in large bowl. in same food processor, chop onions and garlic. add to tofu in large bowl.
* pour out some of the liquid from diced tomatoes can, add to tofu mixture. add all the herbs you want [I used all purpose seasoning from mccormack's, it's salt free], some salt, some pepper, a teaspoon Bragg’s liquid aminos or soy sauce if you prefer, breadcrumbs, black beans, mix well.
* place oil in reserved pot, put tofu mixture in, cook for a few minutes. remove from heat.
* place bell pepper halves in a baking pan [no need to spray it or butter it], fill them up with tofu mixture. there might be leftover stuffing, but you can freeze it and use it again at a later time, that’s what I did. or you could simply get more bell peppers to feed more people that very same day.
* place a slice of tofutti cheese on each bell pepper.
* put in oven and let bake for 20-25 minutes. serve hot and enjoy!