Sorry about you lemon trees. I’m growing a Meyer myself, but I keep it indoors! =D

Yeah on the raw vegan – we are vegan, but not religious about it, so yeah the raw thing is hard but it doesn’t mean we will quit the vegan thing. Going vegan was a decision, going raw is a goal. But that could change – it’s kinda weird now… it’s cheaper for us to be vegan, but more expensive to be raw. Trying to find a happy medium… we really eat similar to you – raw during the day, cooked meals in the evening. It’s hard to find balance on a budget. And I totally agree that it’s different for everyone. Lot of trial and error… so who knows. I think the most important thing is not to be legalistic about it. It’s ok to give and take – better to eat a cooked meal than starve because you can’t make something raw, or not eat because you’re out of town and there’s nothing 100% vegan. We still eat eggs, we still eat sushi (mwhahahahahah). I ate a California roll with cream cheese in it this weekend. Ha… oh well. Will I die? I think not. Did I know it was cream cheese BEFORE I ate it? Yeeeessssssss…

@Kelly yeah I totally hear you… I feel so much better raw, but it is difficult to mix it up. And it’s incredibly hard to be vegan, not to mention raw, in Missouri. Coast vegans should never complain ha.

The naan recipe is from The Post Punk Kitchen, available here. I used whole wheat flour instead of all purpose, olive oil as my veggie oil, and added 1 teaspoon of alt milk to the batter. When brushing the baking breads with oil, I added crushed garlic and fresh dill to the oil mix I brushed onto the breads. THEY ARE SO GOOD.

The pita recipe is from Bread & Honey, available here. Again I subbed in all whole wheat flour instead of all purpose. I’ve made this recipe a few times and I’ve only successfully gotten my pitas to ‘pocket’ once. But it makes great flatbreads!

@ Hannah – My biggest reason for not staying RAW, I suppose, id because I’m not convinced of its superiority. I went into my RAW trial with a very open mind, neither pro or anti. I definitely felt great in some ways while I was RAW, but I also suffered in others. Doing my nutritional analysis, I was not entirely satisfied with my overall intakes (my calories were generally too low and I was getting very little protein. I’m not an ‘omg you need protein!!!1′ person at all, but I wasn’t satisfied with what I was getting).

I do think that raw foods are great for you, and these days I eat probably 50-60% raw, some days as much as 85%. I often eat entirely raw before sundown (not ‘on purpose’, just because that’s how I like to eat and it makes me feel good) But I’m not going to make some rules about how much RAW foods I need to incorporate each day – that sort of rigid dietary structure is just not for me, right now.

That said, I know people who THRIVE on a RAW diet. My RAW teacher beat cancer by going RAW and has been absolutely flourishing on her RAW diet ever since. Personally, I know I feel *crappy* if I only eat cooked foods, and I feel great with a higher percentage of RAW foods. My husband and my father (who practices Chinese medicine, which really condones cooked food) both do much better with a primarily cooked foods diet.

So, bottom line, to each their own! =D

@ Kelly – I agree, I missed a lot being RAW, and at least right now in my life, being able to ”break bread’ with friends is important to me! But every body is different. Maybe you should try to bring in more fresh fruits and veggies – I bet you’d benefit from it (more fresh foods never hurt anyone, right??). I definitely feel better with more raw foods in my life.

I’m just curious,why didn’t you stay raw? I realize it can be very costly and is pretty restrictive,and I’ve been trying, but keep crawling back to my pasta/vegan home-baked sweets.Some people say that’s just part of the ‘detox’,the cravings, but having to not give in to them (sugar,breads),it totally screwed up my normal eating patterns and I ended up with disordered eating :/
Needless to say,when I was eating mostly raw,I felt amazing.
I was just wondering about your views on RAW (even though I realize a good bit of mine was mental,not other things like cost,effort & time spent on recipes,etc)