What's for Dinner???

Yesterday our home teacher's* wife invited us over for dinner after church. She had been meaning to have us over, she said, but knowing our dietary choices she could just never think of anything to fix. But when she found that she had a bunch of salad leftover from an event on Saturday, she knew we would enjoy that for dinner.

So we had a lovely salad bar for dinner and it was great. I brought some lentil sprouts and was able to give a two minute lesson on sprouting. I also brought a plate of avocado slices to share.

I always appreciate when our friends are supportive of what we are trying to do with our crazy raw food diet. :-) And it was a very nice break from the kitchen for me!

But if we're going to survive on raw food for an extended period of healing, we have to eat more than salads for dinner. Over the weekend, as I sat waiting for my daughter's choir group to compete, I started writing down some ideas for raw dinner menus using Jennifer Cornbleet's Raw Food Made Easy. Here are some of them:

Italian Dinner
Not Meatballs
Fresh Marinara Sauce
Zucchini Pasta
Mediterranean Kale Salad OR Marinated Vegetables

Asian Dinner
California Rolls made with raw nori paper OR Spring Rolls made with napa cabbage
Mock Peanut Sauce
Zucchini Noodles
Asian Cole Slaw

Middle Eastern Dinner
Tabouli-filled Tomatoes
Indian Greens
Hummus and Flax crackers
Carrots with Moroccan Spices

Healthy American Dinner
Garden Vegetable Soup
Tomato Stacks made with Not Tuna Pate
Swiss Chard with Pine Nuts and Raisins

I have been struck with the realization that food is culturally learned. If we had grown up in some kind of place, maybe right outside the Garden of Eden ;-), where raw food was the norm, we would not think it was strange at all. As my husband says, "It's all just food." I'm really happy that he is so willing to give this a try.

*For those who are not Mormon or a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, "home teachers" are pairs of men assigned to visit families in our "ward" or congregation each month. Most LDS men serve as home teachers and most families have a set of home teachers assigned to them. They help the family in time of need and bring an inspirational message to share each month. Over the years, our home teachers have helped with child care, meals, graduations, illnesses, yard work and lots of etc! Home teachers are all about practicing Christlike service.