I have always been a huge fan of "The Complete Idiot's Guide To...." series and I own  8 of them. I was therefore thrilled to find there was one titled The Complete Idiot's Guide to Eating Raw. It is written by Mark Reinfeld, Bo Rinaldi and Jennifer Murray. Having enough credit for purchase and shipping in my Amazon Associates account I immediately bought it. I received the book  last week and just by browsing through the index I realized that this will become a major asset on my journey to Raw Vegan.

Mark Reinfeld has been preparing gourmet vegan and live food for over 15 years, is a founding chef of the Blossoming Lotus Restaurant and  the winner of 2006 Platinum Carrot Award for living foods. Bo Rinaldi is a vegan, herbalist, and vegan cook, and co-authored Vegan Fusion with Mark Reinfeld. Jennifer Murray played an integral role in the menu development of the Blossoming Lotus restaurant. The restaurant won the Llima Award for best restaurant on Kaua'i, Hawaii in 2006.

The book is well written and very easy to understand. It covers virtually everything you need to know on a raw food lifestyle....the benefits, best ingredients for your store cupboard, tools of the trade, preparation, sprouting, fasts and cleanses, over 150 nutritious, tasty recipes, plus much, much, more.

Pop into your local book store, or click on the link or book cover above, and have a browse through the book. I am sure you will be as interested as I was and purchase it for yourself.

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Page 143 : Sun-Dried Tomato Sage Sauce

You will taste Italy with the pungent sun-dried Tomatoes and hint of fresh sage. Use in live pasta dishes or to top nut loaves.

1/4 cup sun-dried tomatoes

1 cup filtered water

2 cups Roma Tomatoes, chopped

½ cup sun-dried tomato soak water

2 tbsps raw beets, shredded

2 tbsps olive oil

1  tbsp fresh basil, minced

1  tbsp fresh parsley, minced

1 tsp nama shoyu (or to taste)

1 tsp nutritional yeast

1/2 tsp fresh oregano

1/2 tsp fresh thyme

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper

1 1/2 tsp. rubbed sage

Soak sun-dried tomatoes in at least 1 cup of filtered water for at least 30 minutes minimum. Strain, reserving liquid. Place sun-dried tomatoes, roma tomatoes, soak water, beets, olive oil, basil, parsley, nama shoyu, nutritional yeast, oregano, thyme, salt, pepper, and sage in a blender; blend on high for 40 seconds or until desired consistency. Depending upon the flavor of the tomatoes, you may wish to add some agave nectar to sweeten this recipe.