smooth

i had a refreshing smoothie the other day. I had frozen a banana (in a few pieces in a cup) i added about a cup of soy milk (not raw, but you could make almond milk), half a fresh papaya, and a 1/3 cup of frozen bluberries. i was surprised at the thickeness of it because i didnt add any ice, but the banana made it creamy. yum!

Zucchini Bread Smoothie

I saw this recipe because i am a fan of Blendtec on facebook. and they posted a link to a blog with this recipe.

http://edibleperspective.com/2011/09/change-is-good-so-are-recipes/

(scroll down past the bunch of pics of this lady's haircut...)

i had most of the other ingredients so i got a zucchini to try. i didn't follow it exactly, but the general idea was there. i added a little dried coconut, used buckwheat instead of oats, and flax seed instead of chia. i think i through in some psyllium to so it was very thick even without any ice. i've made it twice now (i knew i'd better use up the rest of the zucchini right away or i may never do it) the second time i added a little thinly sliced fresh ginger and some cardamon, and a frozen banana because i wanted a little more volume. i really don't taste much zucchini, but that's alright.


i think it is possible to make this totally raw if you make your own nutmilk (or just use water or coconut water) and use a raw honey for the sweetner. so then it's just zucchini, nuts, seeds, and spices. pretty good.

i didn't use any vanilla or protein powder and i went with soymilk for the liquid and agave for the sweetner. It really did resemble the taste of zuchinni bread batter and was a good use of a vegetable in a smoothie. It's one of those drinks that is less fruity and more of a creamy, protein, cookie milkshake taste (yum!) and i'll probably make it again sometime

Invaders, from the frozen depths of Space.

for a long while i've wanted to recreate the Happy Day Foods raw popsicles. i didn't have a good icetray to use as the freezing mold. but i now have a silicon mold in the shape of Space Invaders. :D

they will still be small and i can't put a stick in them or anything (well maybe i could with toothpicks), but i want to try.

now, i am aware that the coconut milk i have is most likely not raw, since it has been canned.



to get real raw milk, i wold need to open a coconut, and shred and press the meat myself. every time i buy a coconut, i always leave it for too long and it is rotten inside. i just don't seem to have the willpower to do it right away for some reason.

since i'll be making some red curry for my sweetheart tonight, i will use some of the can of coconut milk for his dish, and some for freezing into delicious treats.

so the ingredients of the original bars are:
raw coconut milk,coconut oil, coconut sugar, lucuma powder, vanilla bean.


but here's what i did.
i have some finely shredded coconut( third of a cup? half?), so i put that in a bowl, poured in almost all of the agave syrup i had left (1/4 cup).

then a few spoons of coconut butter, and just a bit of coconut oil after that (not pictured).




plus, a few drops of vanilla extract. then i mixed those together to break up the stiff coconut butter. at that point it looked like that delicious topping on german chocolate cake. mmmm...



by the way, i went with
so then i poured in half a can of coconut milk. so i ended up with four different sources of coconut in there!


i figured i would pour the liquid from the mixing bowl, but i think i made a good choice with just using a spoon to fill the mold.


i have it on a small plate to stabilize the floppy silicon mold, and i can just put the whole thing right into the little icetray area in my freezer.


i had about a third of it left after filling the mold. it would have been great to fill up a small yogurt cup and freeze it with a stick in it.


the whole thing took less than ten minutes to add ingredients, mix, and pour. then the only thing to do is wait, while it freezes... "quiesently"
and then Voila,


they never really hardened up like ice cubes, and melt really quickly after they leave the freezer. i think adding at least some water would make them more icey and likable. the taste is good, but could be a little sweeter. i once had a homemade chai popsicle and this would be good to try in this recipe, adding cinnamon, cardamom, and chopped almonds :)





i think one of the great things about raw cooking (or "uncooking") is the experimentation. you can get a bunch of ingredients that are yummy, throw them together, and result is usually yummy as well!like, throwing a bunch of different fruits in a blender. or making a raw cracker with seeds and nuts and vegetables and spices. the exact proportions, amounts, or exact food species are usually critical. not like in say, a souffle, or some other baked item where the chemistry and timing have to be correct to produce the desired result. anyway, i think you all know what i mean, don't be afraid to play with your food! and if it all goes terribly wrong, just feed it to the worms and we won't mention it to anyone. ;D more later on the box of worms that lives in my kitchen..


P.s. the Chaokoh brand of coconut milk is manufactured by THEPPADUNGPORN Coconut co. ltd. *snark*

Hanas don't know it's not bacon!

I'd been hesitant about trying the eggplant bacon idea, but i finally got another free eggplant and acted quickly to make it before the eggplant was too old. i searched online for this recipe and there are a lot of different versions:


http://www.eons.com/groups/topic/1790919
http://goneraw.com/recipe/eggplant-bacon
http://www.rawsimple.com/2009/05/everydayraw/
http://www.foodbuzz.com/recipes/1033474-eggplant-bacon-raw-vegan-
http://www.rawfoodtalk.com/showthread.php?t=5762
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/rawfood/message/28760
http://thesunnyrawkitchen.blogspot.com/2007/03/ode-to-raw-sammies-and-wraps-too.html



but i could see that they all had similar flavor elements (and of course they all had the eggplant.)
so they had some:
something oily (olive oil, sunflower..)
something salty (seasalt, soy sauce, bragg's liquid aminos..)
something sweet (honey, agave, maple syrup)
something spicy (black pepper, paprika, chilipowder)
maybe something tart (apple cider vinegar)

so whatever you choose will have a slight effect on the finished taste, but i think it's sorta mix and match. So i built my own recipe based on what i had in the kitchen.

2 tablespoons soysauce
2 Tbs. Apple cider vinegar (i used my home-brew kombucha, it tastes the same)
1/2 tsp. black pepper (used up the last at the bottom of the jar.)
chilipowder ( a teaspoon or so)
taco seasoning (optional. i like that it has cumin, which gives a "meaty" flavor)
2 tbls. honey
i had to add some water to feel like i had enough marinade to cover all the eggplant.
3 tbls oil i used sunflower


here's my marinade in the mixing bowl.





to make all the bacon slices i just cut the eggplant in half lengthwise. then i put the cut side face-down on my mandolin slicer and sliced away! it went so fast. (thanks goes to my sister who gave me this handy kitchen dealy. the blade is so sharp i can make a whole carrot into thin rounds in a snap. cuts through it like butter. )


i put all the slices in a large ziploc bag and poured in the marinade. i added a little extra water until i felt like i had enough to get all the slices drenched in it. i had this bag in the fridge for 24 hours, but it probably didn't have too be that long. it seemed like some of the slices soaked up more than others, and became darker and translucent. i would guess the difference was due to being from different areas on the eggplant?

i laid out the slices on my trays in the evening, and rotated the order of the stack the next morning. i'm not sure how long it took them all to dry, but i think less than one day. they are very thin.






so the end result was a crispy, spicy chip! it reminded me a bit of BBQ flavor potato chips (except these were better.) with the oil on them, they didn't stick to the trays at all. i should have moved them to airtight packaging right away, but i just sorta stored them in the trays. the downside to this was that a few days later, they had reabsorbed some moisture from the air (probably from the hygroscopic nature of the honey) so they had lost the crispiness. that was easy to fix though, i just turned the dehydrator back on for a few hours and they dried out again!




here is some bacon acting as crispy croutons on some salad. ( the white stuff is the raw cheese i mentioned earlier, which makes a yummy dressing)

oatmeal with real oats!

I don't know why i hadn't thought of this before. for some reason i thought you wren't supposed to eat raw oats, or i thought that oats weren't really raw, like they'd been steamed or something. which could be the case for rolled oats, but i guess steel cut oats are just cut and dried. and then of course you can get oat groatts which are intact except with the seed coat removed.

anyway, i'd been having "raw oatmeal", which i talked about here. now it is good in it's own way, but it is an approximation of oatmeal made with apple, banana, and flax.
while browsing my new cookbook, the "Complete Book of Raw food" i found this recipe:



It was so good that i made it again the next day. i add in a banana just for some added creaminess and more nutrients, and i don't bother grinding up the flax ( and maybe i cheat and add a dash of soymilk). i don't have any berries, but if you like the idea, go ahead. but this oatmeal is very good! it's delicious! just like normal oatmeal, but room temperature.

mock tuna salad

Loosely inspired by recipes like this( see links), but basically my own version of imitation tuna salad.

http://www.livestrong.com/recipes/raw-mock-tuna-salad/
http://goneraw.com/recipe/amazing-tuna-sushi
http://therawtarian.com/raw-tuna-salad-recipe/
http://www.adventuresinrawfood.com/raw-recipe-for-vegan-raw-fake-tuna-fish-salad-yum-its-so-good


1/2 cup soaked sunflower seeds
1/5 cup soaked almonds
1/2 a green onion stalk
teaspoon or so of minced garlic
cup of cauliflower (1/4 head?)
i used wakame since i already packed up my dulse, a pinch bloomed in warm water
a little salt or soy sauce.
i added some curly parsley since i discovered i like it. (they make a raw tabouleh at work that is basic just curly parsley with hemp seeds.)
a tablespoon of oil
a squirt of mustard.
black pepper would be good.
and a small pickle.
a squeeze or two of lemon.


eat with avocado it you like it






when i close my eyes and think about it, it really does taste like restaurant tuna salad with parsley and that little hint of pickle. yum!

return of the cashew cream

after enjoying the Onion Cashew cream on my meal at Thrive, i found a recipe online and tried making it myself. i don't know if this is the exact recipe they used, but my attempt turned out alright.

http://hi-rawkus.com/recipe/onion-and-herbs-cashew-cream/
2 cups raw cashews (preferably soaked for one hour)
1/2 cup pure water
3 tablespoons fresh-squeezed lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon raw apple cider vinegar
2 tablespoons Vidalia onion, chopped small
1 level teaspoon Herbes de Provence
1/2 teaspoon Celtic sea salt

i made a few changes, i just used as much flesh and juice that i could get out of one medium lemon, it was probably 3 tablespoons or less. i used a pinch of rosemary and two dried basil leaves for the herbs. and i used my homemade kombucha in lieu of apple cider vinegar (they taste very similar), and a plain yellow onion. i had to use a blender, which is probably why mine was a little less creamy(more granulated) than the restaurant version.

i used it as a dip with some of my dried zucchini chips(flavored with taco seasoning)



i still have plenty left over so it will go on more meals.

this is another recipe from this website that i'd like to try.
http://hi-rawkus.com/recipe/superfood-chocolate-banana-pudding/


i watned some juice tonight. i haven't used the juicer for a few weeks, but i was especially inspiried after seeing this!:



:D

i remember that juiceman's eyebrows from all the infomercials i watched as a child.


i wonder if there is any truth to this Eugene college students story of his:

raw food companies of the northwest

just making a list of semi-local raw food companies. i'm not advertising, but it's good to know where food comes from ....

It's Alive http://www.itsalivefood.com/

living spoonful http://www.gluten-free-crackers.com/ Portland, Oregon

Happy Day Raw Foods http://dnb.powerprofiles.com/profile/613928287/HAPPY+DAY+RAW+FOODS-ASHLAND-OR Ashland, Oregon

http://www.upayanaturals.com/Raw_Vegan_Food_s/27.htm

hmm, here's a link that made the list for me! (at least for portland http://www.therawdiet.com/portlandrawfoodrestaurants.html


seattle:
http://chacocanyoncafe.com/index.php?page=175&CID=55
http://www.seastarrestaurant.com/seattle.php?page=Raw_Bar
http://generationthrive.com/



guides for the whole country? http://www.rawfoodplanet.com/rawcity/Oregon.html

of course, eating out, especially at a raw restaurant often cost more money than i'd like to spend. so i mostly buy my own ingredients and make meals myself.




and i found a raw-interest website with some beautiful food photography:

http://www.highonhealth.org/im-eating-my-way-across-the-us-in-a-raw-way/
http://www.highonhealth.org/pretty-pictures-of-the-raw-food-ive-been-uncooking/
http://www.highonhealth.org/raw-carob-cashew-nut-cookies-recipe/
it looks like a nice site, i'll have to check out more of it. but it also makes me feel like "who would ready my blog when there is pretty, professional ones like this?" oh wait, nobody does read my blog...

well, it's been nearly a month of raw food for me. i'll try to do a retrospective on the 13th. and i never mentioned that i bought some chia seeds, because i keep forgetting i have them and i haven't used them for anything yet.

"Cheesecake"

i was never a superfan of normal cheesecake. i'll eat it if it's available, but i never had cravings for it or anything. anyway, this tastes just as good, or even better

i didn't make this exactly as the recipe indicates but here is the version i got from the cafe i work at. (with my notes in parenthesis)

Crust:
-2 cups raw nuts-almonds,pecans,walnuts,macadamia.. (i soaked my walnuts and then re dehydrated them)

-1/2 dates, soaked in water to soften ( i used this date and walnut loaf called ...)

-coconut ( i didn't really add coconut, well, just a little coconut butter)

-optional, add a layer of sliced bananas in between the crust and filling as another layer of flavor


Cheese:

-3 cups of cashews soaked until they are soft.

-3/4 cup lemon juice and pulp ( i just threw in some peeled, deseeded, frozen lemon that i had been keeping in the freezer. since i did this in a blender it got all cut up and assimilated into the cashews. i didn't measure and this probably wasnt enough juice)

-3/4 cup agave or honey. ( i used agave and eyeballed it. i'm sure i didn't put enough in. and now i drizzle honey on the slice when i eat this because i didn't make it sweet enough)

-3/4 coconut oil, lightly melted. (hint: microwaving raw food is a no no. melt the oil by placing the jar in a bowl of warm water, or setting it on top of a warm dehydrator or other warm place.)

- a scarped vanilla bean or small amount of vanilla extract ( i was running low on vanilla flavor so i put in Rum and Almond flavors! i'm sure any flavor could go in to change the end result: maple? orange? mint?)

- fruit topping ( i put some coconut meat and cocoa powder on top of mine. in my cafe they blend some frozen strawberries and add that on top.)

Directions.

make the crust using a food processor.(or a nut chopper and a lot of brute strength). press the sticky crust into the bottom of a springform cake pan (i suppose you could use a normal pie tin, it just might be hard to get it out of there.)

make the cheese and pour into the pan, on top of the crust. smooth it with your favorite smotthing device (spoon, knife, spatuala...)

add any toppings as desired and then put into a flat, level space in your freezer.

after it is frozen, use a strong knife to cut a slice out. then the hard part is waiting for it to deforst. i usually can wait that long and it is still icy when i eat it. but if if warms up it will be a soft texture like dairy cheescake.