Raw Dinner Party help?

[nightheron]

Hi everyone!

I hope this is in the right place... feel free to move it if not.

I'm having some people over next month and I wanted to make a raw dinner feast for them. I wouldn't consider myself raw (I make a HUGE green smoothie every day for breakfast and try to eat fresh fruit and a salad throughout the day), but have prepared some simple raw recipes from Ani Phyo's book and Rainbow Green Live-Food Cuisine, for example.

I really want to wow them, but am dealing with 1) a "day-of" time constraint (I'll be home at 2 and they're likely coming over at 6), and 2) a wide range of picky eaters. For some reason I don't feel like making an Italian-style dinner (like pizza or pasta), but the foods I can't include involve: corn, cilantro, mushrooms, beans, and spicy foods. It looks like a small list, but the mushrooms, cilantro, and spicy foods are really putting a damper on me coming up with a cohesive dinner theme.

There is this lovely website and a plethora of on-line stuff to look at, of course, and I do own the following raw foods books: Ani's Kitchen, Living Cuisine and the Balanced Plate, Rainbow Green Live-Food Cuisine, Raw Food Real World, and RAW (Juliano). (Yes, I have a bit of a cookbook problem! ) I also just ordered the RFC eBook, which I'm super-excited about!

So, with all this wealth of knowledge I'm getting overwhelmed and feeling drawn to all the recipes that conflict with the no-no's listed above. Does anyone have any suggestions for a main course that I can build off of, or recipes you would suggest in general, that are omni-/vegeterian-friendly?

(Thanks for reading this, sorry it got so long!)

[J.o.y.c.e]

I just logged on to check emails and such and saw this post (I just love doing small dinner parties so I couldn't resist peeking at this thread). Since you have Raw Food Real World, I'd recommend making the Red Beet Ravioli. This is an amazing dish for picky non-raw, non- vegan eaters. I've tested it out already on some of the fussiest eaters you could imagine, some of which couldn't eat anything spicy. Four hours to prepare a raw food dinner party is not a lot of time but it is definitely feasible. You have to soak some pine nuts and cashews in the recipe, but you could do that in the morning and they'd be ready for you by 2pm. This is a 3 part recipe but it's not that complicated. The hardest part for me is slicing those darn beets on the mandolin (so I have my hubby do this one job for me since he gets them sliced nice and thin).

I would make your dessert the night before. Carmella, Snowdrop, Heathy and quite a few others are experts in this category. Plenty of nice and easy raw cheesecake recipes you could do the night before, place in the freezer overnight and then put in your fridge to thaw out at 2pm.

Well that's my 1 cent. I look forward to hearing what others might also suggest for entries. There are so many good ones!

Best of luck

[Velvet]

I agree, cakes can be made the day before (and even earlier for frozen ones) and you just have to take them out a little while before dinner starts.

The Cheddar Cheeze Dip is great if you plan on serving appetizers. People can dip veggie sticks in them, and it's really delicious.

[nightheron]

As it turns out, I may have more time to prepare this than I thought (likely switch to the weekday I have off)... which makes me relieved.

You know, I was thinking about beet ravioli! There is a local raw restaurant that makes AMAZING beauty heart ravioli and everyone who tries it is amazed by the cheeze filling.

There are so many dessert choices, I might go mad trying to figure out which one it's going to be! (Or just make a couple baby ones).

[J.o.y.c.e]

Best of luck with it all!

Please do tell us how it turns out and what you decide to prepare!

[GreenVariety]

RAWvolution no bean hummus is always a hit (from my experience)! As an app. anyway Throw some fresh veggies and some dehydrated bread down with it and watch it dissapear!

Soup might be fun (a creamy tomato or something of that sort) as a "first course" too Not so easy for buffet style though! How many people are you serving?!?!

Good Luck! Let us know how it goes!

[Random Violin Guy]

So how'd it go? Or how's the planning going?

[nightheron]

Sorry, I seem to have missed some of these recent replies. I'm loving all the interest!

Well, the party isn't for another month (!) actually, so I guess you could say I'm getting really well-prepared. I'll only be feeding 7 people or so, so it doesn't have to be buffet-style or anything. It also gives me the chance to test out some recipes beforehand. I've gone in a different direction, and am thinking of doing non-spicy Thai (with maybe raw hot sauce or chili flakes or whatnot on the side for those who want the spice).

I was dehydrating jicama for the first time and it got kind of crispy and papery at the end and thought it might make a really good wonton wrapper for some raw cream cheeze. And perhaps some fresh spring rolls as well. That covers appetizers.

For the main course, I was thinking about a (cilantro-less) version of this salad that I made a few weeks ago, only made more pretty now that I got a spiralizer!

And for dessert, I still haven't decided. Something with mango or a tropical fruit tart maybe? I'm definitely open to suggestions!