Healthy Raw Lunch Ideas: Find Easy to Prepare Recipes
Whether or not you follow a raw food diet the majority of the time, you can enjoy healthy raw lunch ideas that taste good and provide a number of significant health benefits. A raw foodist basis at least 75 percent of their diet on live, fresh, organic fruits, vegetables and legumes. Prepare some healthy raw foods in advance in large batches and freeze to save time. Washing and chopping produce ahead of time can be a time saver as well. If a recipe calls for soaked nuts, consider soaking overnight while you sleep.
Raw Veggie Pizza
Prepare raw veggie pizzas for lunch. Start with sprouted pita bread either homemade or purchased from a health food store. Warm in an oven set at 100 degrees F. This will heat the bread without destroying enzymes. Cover with organic pizza sauce or slices of tomato and then cover with the toppings of your choice.
Possible choices include:
- Chopped onion
- Mushroom slices
- Black olives
- Bell pepper
- Broccoli
- Cauliflower
- Jalapenos
Sprinkle with cilantro, basil or cayenne pepper. Pieces of fresh pineapple can also be included if desired.
Garbanzo and Avocado Salad
Prepare a healthy and satisfying raw food lunch for two.
You will need:
- 1 cup garbanzo beans
- 1 cup diced cucumber
- 2 tablespoons chopped parsley
- 2 tablespoons cilantro
- Green onion
- 1 medium avocado
- 1/2 cup picante sauce
- 2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
- lime
- lettuce leaves, or cabbage
Combine garbanzo beans with diced cucumber, chopped parsley and cilantro, diced green onion and cubes of avocado. Mix with Mexican dressing which is a 1/2 cup picante sauce mixed thoroughly with 2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil, 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar and the juice of one lime. When ready to serve, scoop onto lettuce leaves, or set on top of shredded cabbage.
Raw Energy Bars
A quick and healthy raw lunch idea is to make a batch of raw energy bars. Making your own gives you control over the flavors and ingredients. Choose your favorite dried fruits, nuts and seeds along with your choice of superfoods. Superfoods include carob, spirulina and maca. You can also decide to use your favorite spices to create a special raw food lunch such as cinnamon or vanilla. Use a food processor with the S blade to create the coarse flour-like consistency. Start with a basic recipe like the Lemon Energy Bars below, and then alter as desired.
Lemon Energy Bars
You will need:
- 1 cup soft medjool dates
- 2 cups raw dehydrated coconut
- 1/2 cup ground chia seeds
- 1/2 cup ground sesame seeds
- 2 tablespoons lemon zest
- 10 drops lemon stevia
Grind chia and sesame seeds until fine in a blender or food processor. Add the rest of the ingredients to the food processor and process until well mixed. Press the resulting dough in an 8 x 8-inch glass pan. Greasing the pan with coconut oil will help when you want to release the bars. Cut into bars and then freeze overnight.
Substitution ideas include using ground almonds or Brazil nuts instead of the chia and sesame seeds, including dried fruit and carob instead of the lemon choices, or substituting vanilla for the lemon.
