It's so much fun to prepare Living Food!	This page is about the raw vegan lifestyle.   Some of my favorite raw, or living food, recipes will populate this page -- eventually!  So watch this space!
Joanie's Heretical Raw Kitchen A well-equipped raw kitchen benefits from having a blender, a food processor, a juicer, a dehydrator and a seed grinder. Mine are not the best-known ones but they do the job quite well, especially in a small kitchen for one or two people. This is not to disparage the more famous brands, but to suggest some alternatives. Blender. You know the biggie. But consider the Blend-Tec. Same strong motor and super blending power, but lighter, easier to handle, and smaller to store or have out on the counter. The bowl isn't quite as large but I've never found it inadequate for raw soups, smoothies or other goodies for one or two people. See the Blend-Tec Total Blender for $400 and learn more at www.blendtec.com Food Processor. I've been fine for years with my Seven Cup Cuisinart Prep 7. Along the way I added a few extra slicing disks for variety. Juicer: My Omega 8003 is powerful, quiet, handles leafy greens -- even wheat grass -- beautifully, and is ridiculously fast to assemble/disassemble and clean. It doesn't take up much counter space either. The pulp is generally quite dry but if not I run it through again. Makes great frozen desserts too with the “blank” screen. Under $250 from www.omegajuicers.com. I also have a Breville Juice Fountain Plus. $150 minus a 20% store coupon. Makes a quart of juice in a flash. Entire bunches of celery, whole beets, apples and pears, and even wadded up greens disappear in its giant chute. Great for juice feasting. Downside: Lots of wet pulp that I mix with flax to make delicious raw crackers. Dehydrator: Mine may be the biggest “heresy” of all but I love it. It's the Nesco Snackmaster Express, FD-60 for about $65 (www.nesco.com) It comes with four trays and a sample screen insert and a sample “fruit leather” insert which works pretty much like a Teflex screen. I've purchased extra trays and inserts over the years for mine. Takes very little room to store because it all comes apart, and has a modest footprint as well. The thermostat is quite accurate (I've tested mine) and it's handy to use and clean. It's round, so I just cut my crackers and breads etc. in wedges or even leave them in big 12" rounds! You can buy rings with a removable bottom tray if you want to warm or dry taller containers. Seed Grinder. Any little electric coffee grinder works well, but for grinding soaked flax seed I love my little “Tri-Best” personal blender. See it at www.tribest.com or www.personalblender.com It's handy for small smoothes or powdered drinks, and the grinding blade handles any kind of dry seed or spice with ease. Prices vary depending on what comes with it, but the motors are all the same. PB 200 for under $60 has blender and grinder blades and a few jars. See their website for raw food applications. You can always buy more accessories. I have a very small, inexpensive (under $15) Black & Decker citrus juicer for making a lot of lemon juice every few days. Handy but not mandatory!