Practically Raw: Flexible Raw Recipes Anyone Can Make

I've been procrastinating on the purchase of this book for months. (Part of this was due to the husband putting his foot down on weekly Amazon arrivals...) I finally gave in and just purchased the Kindle version, which I can easily pull up on my little iPhone when I'm in the kitchen and don't want to run over to my laptop. Yeah, yeah...I'm behind--no iPad or Kindle...yet. Anyway, I first of all LOVE how simply this book was put together. There isn't a long story behind each recipe. A short description, what I need, and how to make it. Easy, peasy. Just how I like it in my kitchen, and just the way I like it on my little iPhone screen. But all of the above is really just a bonus compared to all the other amazing perks of this wonderfully flexible cookbook.Foremost, I'm a reader of Mrs. Amber's blog. Without sounding like a fan-girl, I'll just put that out there. And it could make me a little biased, but then again I've purchased cookbooks from other bloggers I followed and wasn't nearly as impressed. I'm all for supporting bloggers, but some aren't really producing professional cookbook material. There were times where I just felt like I paid for an 'extension' of the blog and not actually things that made me feel good about spending my money. This book is NOT that kind of book. It IS in some ways an extension of her blog (mainly because of her quirky sense of humor and writing style, which I love), but truthfully these recipes are incredibly innovative, creative, and SO tasty. These ARE the recipes that you put in a cookbook and not share on a blog for free, although Amber has been so generous in the past and shared a few of them with her faithful readers. Every single thing I've made to date has been amazing. And amazing because most of the recipes are so stinking simple! I've seen a few straggling complaints that some of the ingredients aren't readily available in certain areas or that the prep time is tedious. I just don't find that to be an issue at all. Okay, so I DO have easy access to ethnic grocery stores, within walking distance to where I live. But the awesome thing is that Amber gives substitutions for nearly every single ingredient that CAN be swapped out without ruining the recipe. Truthfully, the only 'exotic' thing some people may have to purchase is nutritional yeast, and that's only if one wasn't already a vegan to begin with. (Don't know too many vegans who don't have a jar of this in their pantries.) And I personally found that in a regular, suburban grocery store. Don't have access to tamari? No problem! Just grab a bottle of soy sauce from the little 'Asian' food section at your local Wal-Mart. No raw cashews? Cool! Get roasted ones and don't stress about the recipe not being entirely 'raw'. And speaking of which, I am without dehydrator. So do you KNOW how excited I am to have a cookbook that gives me the cooked options of goodies like kale chips? And these kale chips...boy, oh boy. I used to be the sea-salt-and-olive-oil kind of kale-chip girl. Now that I've discovered the world of actually COATING kale chips in all the wonderful sauces that Amber has invented, I don't think I could ever go back to plain ole' kale chip or even a POTATO chip. Ever.The only 'con' is that I don't own a dehydrator, and obviously that is the fault of myself and not the author nor her book. The pros, in a nice neat list?-COOKED OPTIONS--Praise the vegan gods, for they are looking down upon us peasants who don't own expensive dehydrators.-Flexible ingredients. (I discussed this above, and I HAVE taken advantage of swapping out a few things based on what I had on hand and cost.)-Oh, and COST. Because there ARE easy and flexible substitutions for each recipe, you can design the recipe around your own budget.-An entire chapter on crunchy, coated kale chips. Maple-pecan, anyone??-Raw apple pie oatmeal. Which can be cooked. And gets cooked often in this home. (I've also had it raw, and it's a nice change for my body.)-Cashew Nacho Cheese Sauce. This has changed my life. I can't do dairy, and I DON'T LIKE CHEESE. This has the thick, creamy quality of real nacho cheese, but it doesn't has the disgusting smell and awful 'tang' that I just cannot handle. The ingredients used still gives it a nutty, slightly-cheesy flavor that I bet even your die-hard cheese addicts would find pleasure in consuming. (You should have SEEN the nachos I made with this cheese and the garden fresh salsa just a few nights ago. My Instagram feed blew up when I posted the pictures!)-Easy smoothies. Cocoa Corruption. Sounds sinful, but the ingredients are actually nourishing.-The marinated mushrooms, which are used in several recipes throughout the book. They are AMAZING. They take on the texture of the little mushrooms that come in the glass jars, but they taste a million times better.-The desserts. Oh the sweet desserts. (Patiently awaiting the next book on desserts.) I really love dessert, especially when it's no-bake and oh-so-good for me.-The writing style. Easy to read, simply entertaining, and straight to the point. As I mentioned above, there isn't a full-page story on WHY this recipe was created, whose grandmother made this generations ago, etc. Don't get me wrong. I when a lot of thought has gone into creating something as beautiful as deliciously satisfying meals, but I don't want to READ about the process with each recipe. It's like a good book that just FLOWS and doesn't require pictures (although this book DOES have pictures...pictures that will excite your taste buds).I'm so excited about exploring the rest of the book and making everything, one recipe at a time. And there are SO MANY recipes in this book, another thing I truly adore. The mix and variety of the types of recipes offered. Pastas, soups, salads, kale chips, smoothies, desserts, oatmeal, cookies, taco salads, oh my goodness. My suggestion is to go through and pick out just 2-3 recipe you want to start with for the week (if you can contain yourself), go through your pantry and see what you already have, and then make a list of what you'll need. If you are starting out brand new in the world of raw (or even vegan), this will make the process less intimidating. And trust me, you'll probably be surprised at how many things you DO already have on hand.

I find raw foods and the raw foods movement fascinating. It’s truly amazing what can be done with just a little bit of creativity and imagination, I’m not a raw foods purist though, but rather a dabbler in it, and it’s probably because of this fact that I love “Practically Raw” so much. I own many raw foods cookbooks that cover everything from the basics to the gourmet, but most of them rarely get any use, which is not so with “Practically Raw.” What I love most about this book is how easy, effortless, simplistic and accessible Amber Shea Crawley makes raw foods ‘cooking.’ Unlike a lot of other raw food books Crawley uses simple ingredients that are common enough in most vegan and raw foods households. There’s nothing to out of the ordinary here - except perhaps kelp noodles though these are becoming more and more popular. - and there are no recipes calling for store-bought packages foods. Everything you need is right here. She shows you how to make your own homemade raw coconut yogurt, how to make your own coconut butter, how to make nut milks, cheeses, sauces, granola, kale chips and everything in-between.The book includes a rich variety of recipes that are so flexible anyone could make them. I really appreciate this flexibility and love that most of the recipes can be made raw or cooked, or even partially cooked. I do believe in having a healthy balance between eating cooked and raw foods, most of us should really be eating more raw fruit and veg and this book makes doing that easy. I also love Crawley’s down to earth writing style. She makes raw cooking fun and easy, she makes you feel inspired to eat in new and challenging ways. I like that her writing seems to come from a place of excitement - about - and passion - for - raw foods, she truly wants you to discover how awesome they are, vs some raw cook books that take a preachy tone. It’s that ‘all or nothing’ attitude or the ‘If you’re not 100% raw all the time you’re doing it wrong’ mentality that I find cumbersome, but Crawley isn’t like that. In fact she even encourages you to experiment, she encourages you to use her recipes as a base and do as you like with them to find what suits your needs and your tastebuds best. She even offers up many variations on her own recipes to make them as easy as possible for people. For example - don’t have macadamia nuts? Use cashews. Don’t have kelp noodles? Then use sliced zucchini to keep it raw or turn it into a semi-cooked dish by making traditional pasta. This is probably one of the greatest and original ideas I’ve seen for a cook book in a long time - raw or otherwise, and it’s a true pleasure to cook from.Having said that some things you may want to consider before purchasing the book is that several of the recipes call for nuts, and several recipes also call for a dehydrator. If you have a nut allergy it may be hard to work around this, but even without a dehydrator you can still enjoy the recipes. Some ovens now come with a built in dehydrator function, or you can simply make the recipes as cooked, or do what a lot of people do which is to set your oven to the lowest temp and leave the door cracked a bit. To make the zucchini pasta a spiral slicer is also used, but if you don’t have one you can easily make fettuccini style noodles by simply using your vegetable peeler instead of investing in new equipment. For those who are particularly calorie conscious you’ll be happy to know that nutritional information is given for each recipe, and most are relatively low calorie - in comparison to a lot of other raw foods recipes.My only complaints are that I would have liked even more recipes - particularly in the main dish and breakfast categories, and that I would have liked to see more pictures. Though there are many pictures in the book, I’m the kind of person that likes a picture to accompany each recipe. Of course, of the pictures that are in the book, they are lovely shots, that really make your mouth water.I wish that I had the time - and the stomach space - to make more recipes but so far I’ve had great success with the ones I have made.Almond Milk - Loved it, this is my go-to recipeMaple Cinnamon Pecan Milk - OkayCherry Mash Smoothie - Loved itPeaches ‘n’ Creamsicle Smoothie - Loved itChocolate Covered Strawberry Smoothie - Loved itApple Pie Smoothie - Loved itCocoa Corruption Smoothie - Loved itChia Porridge with Blueberries - Loved itApple Pie Oatmeal - Loved itBanana Bread Squares - Loved itApple Cinnamon Raisin Bread - Loved ItBasic Flax Crackers - Pretty goodBasic Nut Cheese - Loved itBalsamic-Fig Pistachio Cheese - Pretty goodChristmas Cheese Ball - Loved itNacho Cheese Sauce - Loved itGarlicky Guacamole - Loved it but prefer my own versionGarden Fresh Salsa - Pretty good but prefer my own versionBasil Parsley Pesto - Loved itNaked Kale Chips - Pretty goodSour Cream and Onion Kale Chips - Loved itHummus Kale Chips - Loved itCurried Kale Chips - Loved itZucchini Humus - Loved itCashew-Macadamia Humus - Pretty goodLemon Garlic Humus - Loved itTex Mex Humus - Loved itHummus Amongus Salad - Loved itKale Tahini Salad - Loved itInsalata di Trattoria - Loved itSpaghetti alla Marinara - Loved itAthenian Deli Wraps - Loved itAlmond Butter Sesame Noodles - Loved itVermicelli with Pecan Cream Sauce - Loved itDeconstructed Sushi Bowl - Loved itFiesta Taco Roll Ups - Loved it!!!Simple Seasoned Mushrooms - Loved itCauliflower Rice Pilaf - pretty goodChewy Pear Chips - Loved itChocolate Almond Butter Cookies - Loved itOverall I’d say this is a great raw book for anyone new to the raw foods scene. It’s great for someone looking to shake up their eating habits a little bit, or great for anyone interested in trying a healthier diet as the book is based on whole foods. Though I think whether or not this book is right for you truly depends more on your interest in cooking - or ‘uncooking’ as it were - how familiar you are in the kitchen, and how much time you want to spend there. If you like to cook, and love to try new things then I highly recommend this book, the flavors are astounding, most of the food tastes like ‘traditional’ cooked food, without that weird raw aftertaste. It’s definitely a winner, and much beloved in my collection.

Very good recipes without the ususal preachy virtuous foreward. Made me want to buy a dehydrater though anyone could make these meals and feel really good - no recipes for raw meat or fish!

Very good book with many delicious recipes for vegan and healthy lifestyle

This book is a great introduction to raw food. I'd wanted to try for a while but frankly had been put off by some of the earnestness and doggedness of some of the books I'd looked at. This is non-intimidating and has suggestions drying food in the oven without the need for a dehydrator which allows you to experiment a bit before buying expensive equipment. One warning; I originally purchased the Kindle version and I returned it and bought the print version. Some of the pages are completely unreadable on the Kindle and as some of the recipes have you going backwards and forwards it's not really practical.

We have many raw food and cooked food recipe books and I have found since purchasing Practically Raw it is our new favourite by far! For the past month I have used nothing but this book and I am delighted. The recipes are easy and consistently yummy too. What makes this book different is that the author has included food substitutions which is very, very handy as well as cooking and dehydrating instructions.In the past I have spent days dehydrating recipes from other books just to have the final product taste terrible. With this book you can try the recipe cooked in your oven first and if you like it then the next time you can dehydrate (which makes the recipe taste even better!)We used to hate kale but the kale chips recipes in the book are worth the cost alone.I strongly recommend Practically Raw for anyone, even those that cannot eat nuts as seeds are used as well. For beginners or for those that want to own two great, simple, and reliable recipe books I would recommend Practically Raw and Raw Food Made Easy by Jennifer Cornbleet. They are the only books I use regularly.

Ich habe beide Kochbücher der Autorin und liebe vor allem das ihre Rezepte so flexibel sind: man kann sie roh machen oder kochen und sie gibt in jedem Rezept was man durch etwas anderes ersetzen kann. Das hat mir auch schon oft bei anderen Rohkost Rezepten geholfen, da es meistens genauso funktioniert. Ein weiteres riesiges Plus an ihren Rezepten ist das sie sehr genügsam sind, das heisst das ich auch mit groben schätzen der Menge und vielen ersetzten Zutaten. Vor allem aber ist dies das aller-erste Kochbuch in dem jedes Rezept gelungen ist und super gut schmeckt auch für McDonalds Junkies und selbst meine Kinder haben alles gerne gegessen. Der 5-Minute Blondie ist absolut genial und ich habe dieses Rezept schon unzählige Male gemacht. Die Pizza Kale Chips halten nie sehr lange bei uns und meine Kinder essen sie direkt aus dem Dehydrator. Die Corn Tortillas haben schon viele gegessen ohne zu wissen das sie roh waren. Ich liebe auch den Korma Curry und hätte nie gedacht das rohes Curry geht. Mein einziger Tip bei dem Curry ist: das Rezept zu halbieren, es wird ganz schön viel...Dieses Buch ist auf jeden Fall ein Gewinn egal ob Rohköstler oder nicht - ich bin ja auch keiner - habe nur nach Wegen gesucht mehr Gemüse zu essen.