Raw in New Jersey

Very exotic locale, may I say. We went to my Aunt’s house near Asbury Park for Thanksgiving, and really had such a lovely time. My family is amazing, so many generations and stories and love and comfort.

I offered to bring a salad, but that was already on the docket. And while I had a vague plan to go all out and bring raw stuffing and raw blah blah blah, I didn’t quite get around to it. Also, honestly, as a compulsive overeater, the holidays are big potential excuses for a binge, raw or not. So it’s important to me to remember that it’s just a day like any other – I love that joke, “What does a recovering compulsive eater call Thanksgiving? Thursday.”

Part of the amazingness of my family is that they are, by and large, very willing to accommodate my food lifestyle. When I was a vegetarian, vegan, and now raw, at big holiday meals my aunt would make sure that she had something that I could eat. There were plenty of cut up vegetables with (non-raw) hummus during appetizers, and aforementioned big, raw salad. I volunteered to help, and was put in charge of the salad, so I made it exactly as I wanted – different sized cuts of crunchy vegetables, a few different types of greens.

In tribute to “What We Ate Wednesdays”, I give you What I Ate Thursday, ‘cause it was just Thursday, a Thursday that I spent with family, and a Thursday that I continued to be grateful for all of the gifts in my life:

* 2 apples with cashew butter, some flax crackers
* mixed salad with greens, yellow pepper, cucumber, grated carrots, mushrooms, tomatoes / oil and vinegar
* handful of raisin and nut mix
* nori rolls with cucumber, tomato, kohlrabi, daikon
* raw blondie macaroons from Pure Food and Wine takeout

This isn’t a typical day for me, I usually have at least one green juice and green smoothie, but it got me through.

One Love,
Marissa