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Hi everyone, today I have an extra special treat for you, a lovely guest post from Alissa over at Not Just Apples! We have shared guest posts today – check mine out over on her blog for two very tasty recipes and leave us some comment love! Over to Alissa…

G’day to all Laura’s lovely readers! Today’s post comes all the way from Australia - where I’m currently spending six months enjoying the exciting fruits and vegetables this sunny country has to offer…

My name is Alissa, and I write the blog Not Just Apples, it’s such a pleasure to do a blog swap with Laura - I’ve admired her food journey for many months now, and it’s so exciting to experiment further into raw foods together.

I’ve created a few raw dishes in the past, like dill sauerkraut, cinnamon almond milk or green monsters - and I’ve been looking for an opportunity to try out more raw food recipes. The freshness, flavour and nutrition in living foods really make it such a winner for me - and the more uncooked food I get into my diet the better I feel! I always try to eat something raw at each meal, and love nothing more than a giant raw salad packed full of fruit and veggies.
So, today I want to share with you a raw food lunchbox that I enjoyed recently, as well as a recipe or two:

♥ So here it is - mock tuna with macadamia mayonnaise, guacamole, celery flax crackers with vegetable crudités, raw cookies and a fresh Ozzie mandarin.

♥ I unashamedly adore raw vegetable sticks, because they have so much crunch and juiciness to them. Raw beetroot is way sweeter than cooked, and has a lovely texture when eaten raw

Celery flax crackers were a new and successful experiment for me - inspired by Ani Phyo. I don’t yet have a dehydrator, so I baked these in a very low oven with the door ajar - pretty easy alternative, though not exactly great for your energy bills I imagine (I’m very jealous that Laura’s going to be getting a dehydrator soon!)
To make these crackers:

♥ Place 1 cup diced celery, ½ an onion, diced, ½ cup ground flaxseed, 1 ½ Tbsp olive oil, ½ Tbsp dried oregano, ¾ cup water and a little salt and pepper in a blender, and mix until thoroughly combined. Spread the mixture out on greaseproof paper in circles or large rectangles, and dehydrate for 4-6 hours, cut into triangles and dehydrate again for a few hours until crisp.
You can use this mixture to create thin wraps, or thicker pizza bases (my personal favourite!) too - just only dehydrate for 4-6 hours.

♥ Mock tuna salad with macadamia mayonnaise was a recipe I used from Ani Phyo’s Raw Food Essentials book - p192 & p198. It’s basically carrot and celery pulp, and then the mayo is made by whizzing up macadamia nuts with water, minced garlic and a drop of olive oil (which turns out to be so good, you’ll want to eat it always). The combination of the two is irresistible!

♥ Raw cookie dough is a new found thing for me too! How have I lived without it for so long?? It’s so easy too - you just have to stir together a few ingredients sort of roughly until it combines, then roll into balls and eat them up!

This particular batch were cinnamon, raisin peanut butter - and wowee they were good. I took some inspiration from Fran at High on Health and Averie at Love Veggies and Yoga, to create the ultimate flavour packed dessert.
So, to create these, all you need to do is mix together in a large bowl: ¼ cup ground flaxseeds, ½ cup ground almonds, 1tsp cinnamon, ¼ cup raisins, 1 Tbsp peanut butter, 1 Tbsp honey, a few drops of vanilla extract and ½ - 1 Tbsp water (enough to bring the mix together). Once it’s come into a ball of dough, roll them out, and store in the refrigerator until required.
Well, there you have it - a raw food lunchbox Not Just Apples style!

Before I go, I’ve got a few more ideas for how you can incorporate raw foods into your lunchboxes at home:

• Gazpacho tomato soup
• Chia seed pudding
• Kale chips
• Nori vegetable wraps
• Oregano and thyme aubergine
• Pear and radish salad with basil pesto
• Lemon cashew cream with fresh berries
• Julienned celeriac with chives and raw mayo
• Marinated garlic mushrooms
• Fruit leathers
• Dill sauerkraut

There are so many options on what you could have, it’s hard to know where to start - but those are some of my favourite ideas, and definitely where I’d begin!

So, I wonder, what are your favourite raw food recipes? What would you bring with you in a living foods lunchbox?

Thanks for reading - I hope you all have a wonderful day!

Thanks Alissa, I know I’ll be trying out a few of those recipes!