Picnic Food - Veggie Sandwiches on Raw Onion Bread & Sweet Potato Fries

Friday night. What shall we do? We're in the habit of going out, usually to a restaurant, and normally to one that's inexpensive. These days we look for places that have salads or salad bars, but we opted for a little picnic at the park instead. We hadn't planned ahead, so it was very last minute and the food had to be prepared fairly quickly. We settled on Veggie Sandwiches on Raw Onion Bread and Sweet Potato Fries.

If you're not very familiar with a raw foods diet (I distinctly remember the first time I heard the term and thought of all the food we ate and how they'd taste raw - yuck! I couldn't imagine), do a little Google research and you'll find it's pretty popular and there are tons of recipes and recipe books on the subject. At any rate, we're trying to eat a large portion of our diet raw because of the health benefits, and with the dietary restrictions that my husband has had, bread has been completely out of the picture. But he can have raw breads, and the onion variety is a good one!

There are a number of different twists on raw onion bread and I've made several. I've taken a couple of recipes and tweaked them into my own, so I guess I get to put my name on it. You'll need a dehydrator to make this work.

Cristi's Raw Onion Bread

2 1/2 lbs sweet onions, peeled
1 cup ground sunflower seeds
1 cup ground golden flax seeds
1 zucchini
1/2 avocado, well mashed
2 T. olive oil
1 1/2 t. Real Salt

Note: You may want to start with 1/2 batch if you're uncertain about liking it or not. Also, I use a coffee grinder to grind the flax seeds and sunflower seeds.

Put onions in food processor with 's' blade and process until small pieces, (but not mush). Put in mixing bowl with the other ingredients and mix thoroughly. The flax will absorb liquid. Smooth onto Teflex sheets* about 1/4" thick and place in dehydrator for 5 hours, turning over for another 3-4 hours or until dry and crispy. Either break into pieces or cut with a pizza cutter, and store in refrigerator in an airtight container.

*If you don't have an Excalibur dehydrator, any type will do - just use natural unbleached parchment paper instead of the Teflex sheets.

Of course you'd have to be thinking ahead to have this ready to make sandwiches. Once you have a batch, you'll be good to go. Here's what we do:


Veggies Sandwiches on Raw Onion Bread


Spread a little mayo on the bread. We prefer Vegenaise with a few seasonings thrown in. Chef's Shake was our favorite, but we can't seem to find it anymore. I used Herbamare but it was a little on the salty side. You're on your own for this! Experiment a little. 


Place lots of cut up raw veggies on. We've used spinach, romaine lettuce, bell peppers, onions, avocados, tomatoes, carrots (thinly sliced), you name it. Put another slice of the bread on top and you're good to go. Chances are that your veggies will start falling out. Eat quick and keep a plate and fork handy for what drops!


*For the picnic, we placed the veggies in a plastic container and assembled the sandwiches just before eating.


Now for the fries. They're a bit of an odd thing to take along for a picnic, but they sounded good and we weren't going far. We baked them, wrapped them in foil, and wrapped the whole thing in a towel. They were still good and hot when we were ready to eat.

If you're only accustomed to white potato fries, you're in for a treat. These generally aren't very crispy, but they are oh so flavorful. And they're much healthier, being lower glycemic and higher in nutrients. Yum, yum!


Indian Spiced Sweet Potato Fries


2 med. sweet potatoes
1 1/2 T olive oil
1 t curry powder
1/4 t turmeric
1/4 t cumin
1/4 t ginger powder
1/2 t Real Salt
Parchment paper

Preheat oven to 400F. Line cookie sheet with parchment paper.
Wash & scrub potatoes, leaving the skins on. Cut them into sticks and place in mixing bowl. 
Pour on olive oil and mix together until all are coated. 
Mix spices together in small bowl (I'm generous with the amounts!), then dust over sweet potatoes, mixing them around as you dust. (I mix everything together with my hands. It's messy but it gets the job done better.) 
Spread in single layer onto cookie sheet.
Bake for 30 to 40 minutes, turning them half way through the baking time.

And here's my man, enjoying our little picnic. We ate, then walked the perimeter of the park in our bare feet, a healthy thing to do called grounding.  Then we played a round of croquet. 'Twas fun and relaxing. It reminded us of our engagement days. Who cares if that was 32 years ago? We don't!!!