If you want to learn how to create palate-pleasing raw cheeses, crackers, milks, pies, patés, creamy sauces, and more, then these three books will delight your senses and tantalize your taste buds. And when you begin to incorporate these satisfying recipes into your everyday meal planning, you'll be easing into a living foods diet that is more healthful and eco-friendly than a diet comprised solely of cooked foods.

The Complete Idiot's Guide to Eating Raw, Raw Food in Ten Minutes, and Ani's Raw Food Kitchen, each have something unique and surprising to offer readers, including a bounty of recipes that go well beyond the typical raw food fare. I feel blessed to have a copy of each of these wonderful books in my library, and heartily recommend each of them to both longtime and aspiring raw fooders.

The Complete Idiot's Guide to Eating Raw
by Mark Reinfeld, Bo Rinaldi, and Jennifer Murray

With it's breezy writing style and in-depth information, The Complete Idiot's Guide to Eating Raw is the first book I've read to truly take the mystery out of living a raw foods lifestyle. With clear, concise instructions on techniques such as dehydrating, soaking, sprouting, culturing, and pickling, this book inspired me to dust off my Excalibur dehydrator and Saldocca spiralizer, and get back into the fun of making exciting and delicious raw food meals.

But I'm a simple girl at heart. And the fact that I randomly opened the book to the recipe for Lavender-Orange Sun Tea was no accident, I'm sure. I made my first batch that very same day and immediately became hooked on its sweetly scented flavor. That simple recipe alone was worth the price of the book.

Moving ever so gingerly along the living foods continuum, I tried my hand at Cashew Cheese, and was delighted with its creamy consistency and tangy flavor. Becoming a bit more confident, I zoned in on the recipe for Cinnamon-Almond Fig Bread. After all, I needed something sweet and "doughy" to spread my cashew cheese on. So I soaked some nuts, figs, and dates, sprouted some wheat berries, and put my dehydrator to work. This "bread" was so tasty by itself, I almost forgot to top it with the cheese I had made. But I finally did eat them together, and my taste buds went into overdrive!

Preparing the Tropical Thai Coconut Soup involved no more than a bit of dicing, slicing, blending, optional dehydrating, and cracking open a young coconut. (Thank goodness they provided clear instructions for that!) The end result was a sensationally fragrant and creamy soup that tasted as good as any cooked Thom Ka I've ever eaten.

I can't wait to (literally) sink my teeth into some of the taste-tempting recipes for raw ravioli, pasta, and mu-shu and the mouth-watering dessert recipes that include a variety of puddings, pies, and parfaits.

If like me, you're trying to transition to eating more raw foods, you'll appreciate the tips and tricks for eating raw in day-to-day life, succeeding as a raw traveler, and ideas on how to introduce your kids to the pleasure of eating raw foods.

Raw Food in Ten Minutes
by Brian Au

Prepare great-tasting gourmet raw food meals in just ten minutes? How can that be? In his book, Raw Food in Ten Minutes, raw food chef Bryan Au shows readers how easily it can be done.

Without fuss or fanfare, I was able to create many of the delicious recipes in Bryan's book in ten minutes or less. And I'm guessing that if I had better knife skills, I'd be able to make them all in under ten minutes, just like Bryan does.

I started with the recipe for Mango Cheesecake. ("Life is short. Eat dessert first," is my motto.) To satisfy my insatiable sweet tooth, I chose to add an extra mango and a little extra agave, so perhaps this is what put me closer to the twenty-minute mark. But food preparation is less about speed and more about love as far as I'm concerned, and the finished pie was so very delicious!

I couldn't wait to try my hand at Bryan's raw Pad Thai. I was able to make raw noodles from zucchini that tasted a lot like cooked noodles in no time at all, and the "peanut" sauce made with almond butter was sensational. As yummy as these first two recipes were, I think my favorite recipe in the book so far is the Raw Waldorf Salad. This tasted very much like a traditional Waldorf, and was so easy to make, I'll be having it for lunch at least once every week.

Some of the book's other lightening-fast and revitalizing living-food recipes include Eggplant Manicotti, Crepes, Macaroni & Cheese, Pasta Alfredo, and Baklava. If you want to incorporate more gourmet living foods into your diet, but don't think you have the time to prepare them, then this is the book for you.

Ani's Raw Food Kitchen: Easy, Delectable Living Foods Recipes
by Ani Phyo

I love this gorgeous book. Photos of author Ani Phyo laced throughout its pages are visual proof of the beauty and vitality that can be obtained through the practice of eating a living foods diet. The tantalizing food photos more than whet my appetite for the recipes contained within. And best of all, I discovered that most of Ani's recipes require few ingredients, utensils, or equipment, and relatively little time to prepare.

Ani gives readers simple, easy-to-follow instructions and timely tips for preparing a dazzling array of gourmet raw food dishes. Her shopping checklist holds the promise of the delightful foods I would learn to prepare with flavorful and ingredients like Thai basil, cardamom, hazelnuts, agave nectar, hijiki, and raw carob powder.

Her recipes span the culinary spectrum, from exotic-sounding dishes like Pistachio Pesto, (one of my favorites!) Walnut Cranberry Squash "Rice," Stuffed Anaheim Chili with Mole Sauce, and Spinach Salad with Persimmons and Spiced Pecans in Shallot Lemon Dressing, to living foods versions of down-home comfort foods like breakfast scrambles, pancakes, chowders, burgers, soups, cakes, lasagna, and even raw "tuna."

Readers will also appreciate the tips on Essential Tools, Key Ingredients, and How-to Kitchen Skills. Not to be missed is the chapter, "Kanga's Dandy Dog Food," in which we meet Ani's beloved Rhodesian Ridgeback, and learn how this beautiful dog regained her health on a totally raw vegan diet. There are even a couple of recipes for raw doggie treats!