Frugal Feeds | Raw Diet Day 4

Raw Diet Day 4:

My appetite has returned and although I haven't eaten tons of food I haven't felt unusually hungry. After eating I didn't feel hungry for about five hours each time.

For breakfast I made some juice. It was really tasty but a tad too sweet. Next time I think I would use a green apple in place of one of the pears or add 3 or 4 leafy vegetable greens like kale or collards to cut the sweetness down.

Juiced 4 Medium Carrots with tops
2 Large Bosc Pears
1 inch Ginger

Made about 20 ounces.

For lunch I was pretty busy and not very hungry so I had a very light lunch.

About 1 cup of green grapes
1 avocado with sea salt
2 cups refrigerator tea steeped with stevia

For dinner I wanted to use up some mint and cilantro I had in the fridge and also use the butter lettuce from yesterday. Spring rolls came to mind so I julienned some jicama, cucumber and peeled sweet potato. I laid them on top of whole butter lettuce leaves, laid on some julienned mint leaves, julienned basil and whole cilantro leaves next. I topped those with snow peas and mung bean sprouts. I rolled them more like a taco than a spring roll and put about a tablespoon of dipping sauce on each. They were excellent but a little too drippy, so have a plate underneath and a napkin close by. :D

For the dipping sauce I whisked together a scant 1/4 cup Braggs Amino Acids, a Tablespoon of ginger, minced, half of a serrano chili pepper, minced, one medium clove of garlic, minced, juice of one lime and about two Tablespoon of raw honey. Using butter leaf lettuce it takes about four rolls to make a meal. Using a larger leaf type three rolls would probably do it. With collard greens it might just be two.                                                                                                                                           

I found that the butter lettuce tore fairly easily when I bit into the crunchy vegetables so for the next one I made I tried purple kale. It held together very well but wasn't as delicious as the butter lettuce. Next time I think I will use either collard greens or romaine.

Spring rolls are very flexible with ingredients. You want some crunchy vegetables that are julienned and some juicy vegetables. The amount you fill it with is really dependent on the wrapper you are using. Butter lettuce leaves are much smaller than collard greens so the amounts would vary.

Wrappers could be butter lettuce, chard, chinese cabbage, collard greens, red lettuce or romaine. I think if you used the smaller butter lettuce leaves it would work better.

Traditionally Vietnamese spring rolls include mint, basil and cilantro but you could use just one of those or use entirely different herbs. I think a small amount of lemon balm julienned would be nice, as would nasturtium leaves. You could use celery leaves, chives, dill, fenugreek greens, garlic chives, parsley, peppermint, a small amount of summer savory or winter mint.

For the sauce you want something salty, something sweet, something sour and something spicy plus a little garlic and ginger. If you need more liquid you could juice a cucumber and add the cucumber juice to the sauce. If you do, omit the cucumber from the ingredients in the spring roll.