We have some wonderful friends who eat an exclusively raw diet.  They came over for dinner a couple weeks back, so I was inspired to get out our favourite raw cookbook, Rainbow Green Live-Food Cuisine by Gabriel Cousens, M.D..  I am always so pleased with what I make when it comes from this book.

A common misconception about raw eating is that everything has to be cold.  This is not the case, and infact Ayurveda suggests we need warm foods in the winter.  The idea with raw is to not heat anything beyond 115 F so that the living organisms stay in tact.

So, with company coming, I prepared my first raw soup!  I was able to use some of the frozen tomatoes from our garden that are supposed to some how turn into pasta sauce in our slower months.  Remind me again when to expect those?!  The soup was so simple and quick to make, and the result was fantastic.  Here is the recipe:

Pine Nut Cream of Tomato Soup

4 tomatoes

3 stalks of celery

1 cup water

3/4 cup pine nuts

2 TBSP lemon juice

1 tsp basil

1 tsp oregano

2 tsp sea salt

1/4 tsp freely ground black pepper

1/4 tsp cinnamon

Directions:  Place all ingredients in a blender and process until smooth.

Advice from my raw eating friends:  Heat on the stove on LOW, stirring constantly until soup reaches 115 degrees (we used my candy thermometer to be sure, although my friend who does this often now knows the ‘feel’ of it).  You can also heat things in a dehydrator, although this isn’t as practical for soups.  They also suggested adding some sprouted rice or mung beans just before serving to make it more hearty.