I should preface this all with saying I'm not raw vegan, vegan, or even a vegetarian. I love steak. There's no way around that. It is fact. I crave meat like a squirrel craves nuts. However, the more time I spend in this life, the more I find that a little bit of everything is what we need excluding fast food, prepackage garbage, and the like. You have to do what works well for your body, and what works well for your body may not be the exact same as the person standing next to you, across the street, or in your own house. I don't think there is a one-size fits all diet. I've heard of many a raw vegan who couldn't sustain themselves past 5 years without bringing back animal product in some form or constantly investing time and energy to check levels of different vitamins and nutrients. The best source for B12, you ask? Organic, grass-fed cow meat. An organic, free-range raw egg yolk is good too. I don't want anyone thinking I'm something I'm not. I see value in eating lots of 'raw' things (including animal product to some extent), but I also see the value in eating cooked items as well.
That being said.... I should be honest and say I've never been a huge fan of root vegetables or squash growing up. I didn't even like sweet potatoes covered with butter and marshmellows and who knows what else at Thanksgiving. I've started conquering my squash aversion, but I struggle to eat 'baked' sweet potato, even now. For whatever reason, the texture just throws me off. I had a friend over for dinner last night who happens to be a Lacto-Ovo Vegetarian. Not only that but she is also a willing guinea pig as I try my hand at raw vegan entrees, desserts, soups and dressings. I decided to make a salad and a baked sweet potato side being that it is becoming quite cool here in the Midwest. I should probably also point out I'm not a fan of salads, but I can go over my greens aversion in another post. Do you see why it would be hard for me to be a raw vegan?
Anyway, the sweet potato side..... It didn't require me to take the skin off of the potato. Clearly, I'm lazy. I mean, I make a lot of my own food and baby food, use cloth diapers, etc, so I'm not a complete bum. However, the fact that I didn't have to take time to take the skin off of the sweet potatoes elated me beyond belief. It's quite sad now looking back at my excitement over something so miniscule. You slice the potato into rounds (one of the easiest ways to cut up a potato, in my opinion) and mix it together with coconut oil, cinnamon, sea salt, black pepper and a dash of coconut sugar (low GI). You bake it in the oven for 30 minutes or so and it's magnificent!
Now, maybe it was the skin adding something to the texture I'd been missing before, as I've never eaten the skin of a sweet potato. Maybe it was eating the potatoes with a Kale salad which involved quite a bit of lemon juice (sour and sweet combo). I don't know.... All I know is I'm going back to the grocery store to get some more sweet potatoes tonight and make more Baked SP Chips. Even little Wren was begging off of me even though she had carrots/zucchini and peas of her own to eat. I gladly shared with my little bird-babe, as I think it's great that she wants to eat healthy things at 8 months old when most kids are eating packaged junk their parents use out of a lack of understanding and a desire for convenience.
I'm also going to make some chili and toss in some sweet potatoes. I saw a picture of vegan chili with sweet potato in the starring role. I might take a bite without meat just to see how it lends itself, but I'm DEFINITELY adding some grassfed beef to the chili.... Maybe just less meat than I normally would add before my adventures into vegan and raw vegan cuisine. My chili has slowly transitioned from a bean, meat, cheese paste when I first got married to a thinner 'sauce' with more and more veggies. I may even add a little celery. We'll see. I'm not committing to anything except my new-found love for sweet potatoes.
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