Happy Mother's Day

Mommy & Beckett, Kailua, HI 2004

Today I will be going to my mom's house for lunch to celebrate Mother's Day. This is going to be my first raw family holiday, and I'm excited to be bringing a couple of raw dishes to share. When I talked to my mother yesterday she said that we would be doing our traditional family holiday meal: steak, baked potato, and salad. When my father was alive, he owned a small town grocery store, and was the neighborhood butcher. I grew up eating the best cuts of meat, and have always had an appreciation for great steaks.

I told my mom she didn't need to buy me a steak, and that I would bring the salad, a fruit, and a dessert. That will be my Mother's Day meal, and a chance for me to show the family how delicious the food is that I've been eating. My brother commented a few days ago that I looked like I had lost weight. I'm happy that it's already starting to show. But what I really think that he was noticing was that I wasn't sluggish and tired, and I was actually smiling. I think smiling definitely makes you look skinny!
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Amazing Spinach & Pear Salad
from LazyDayGourmet.com

With a wonderful rosemary and parsley dressing, fresh pears, and a few blue cheese crumbles (for your friends who are not raw), this is a wonderful starter salad for a nice dinner with company, or great as a dinner salad.

The pears and the spinach together are just sweet and tasty.

Amazing Spinach & Pear Salad
1 large bag of spinach salad greens
3 medium pears, ripe
2 TBS rosemary, finely chopped
2 TBS parsley, finely chopped
4 TBS olive oil
4 TBS red wine vinegar
4 TBS rice vinegar
1/4 cup bllue cheese crumbles
Salt and Pepper to taste

Wash your spinach and shake gently in collander to remove water.
Slice pears very thinly, leaving the skin on. If you like smaller bites, cut to the size you like.

In a blender, small food processor, or a cup with a tight lid add the rosemary, parsley, oil, vinegars, salt and pepper. Blend until thoroughly mixed, or shake until thorougly mixed.

Toss the pears into the spinach greens.
Pour the dressing over the salad, and toss using your tongs.

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Dreaming of Donut Holes
from Ani Phyo.com

I'm serving this topped with the Berry Compote, which is also in the book.

I went to the library to check out a couple of new raw food cookbooks, and picked up this wonderful book by Ani Phyo. The recipes are just what I was looking for: easy, fresh, and most of them don't require any fancy pants equipment. A blender, a good knife, and maybe a food processor (if you have one) will get you through most of the recipes in this book.

The other thing I love about this book is that Ani tells you how long things will keep in the fridge after you've made them. Oh, and there is a VERY HANDY page on substitutions for those of us who live in places that don't have easy access to things like dates and vanilla beans.

And OH MY LORDY! I made these donut holes when I got home to see if they would be good to take as dessert for this Mother's Day lunch. Let's just say I had to make another batch so that there would be enough to take for the party. Holy Dunkin Donuts, Batman! They are GREAT!

I'm definitely going to put this book on my gift list. And I'm going to return this copy to the library, and buy one for keeps. You can click on the picture of the book below to buy a copy of the book on Amazon. Or Click Here to Buy Ani's Raw Food Kitchen.

Bunny Loves This Book!