Raw Foods Recipes Part 3: Super Simple

These recipes only take minutes to prepare and my kids have really liked them.

FruitShi  (FruitRoll Ups) from Living On Fruit

Cut cucumber with a mandoline or slice into wide, thin strips with a knife

Options for filling:

Apple slices

Kiwi slices

Avocado

Dates

Other fruit

Cut fruit into small strips and put inside the cucumber.  Roll up!

I don't have a mandoline, so I tried cutting the cucumber into the right size strip with a knife.  It was too thick to roll up, so I cut them into rectangle size little "plates" for the other ingredients to sit on.



I found this recipe in the book The Raw Gourmet:

Fruits, Veges and Dip

Apples, bananas, celery, carrots or anything else you want to dip.

Fruit Dip

1 banana

½ avocado

½ cup raspberries

4 strawberries

Combine in blender.

Can also use extra strawberries in place of raspberries.

Simple Rosemary Oregano Noodle Salad from Ani Phyo

 

    1 cup zucchini noodles, from about 1/2 zucchini, spiralized

    1/2 cup diced tomato

    1/2 cup diced avocado, peeled and seeded

    1/4 teaspoon minced garlic

    1/8 teaspoon rosemary, dry

    1/4 teaspoon oregano, dry

    1/2 teaspoon lemon juice

The kids didn't like the herbs, so I left those out for them.  They then declared this "the best salad ever that we should have for breakfast, lunch and dinner every day!" 

 

Raw Foods Recipes Part 2: Lunch and Dinner

These are some of the recipes I've really been enjoying for lunches and dinners:

California Rolls

2 sheets nori

2 c alfalfa or clover sprouts

1/4 cucumber, peeled, seeded & cut lengthwise into thin strips

1/2 avocado, thinly sliced

1/4 c peeled & shredded carrot or carrot ribbons

1/4 red pepper, cut lengthwise into thin strips

tamari for dipping (optional)

I've also liked my mom's nori rolls which had:

Rice

Avocado

Purple onion

Asparagus (slightly cooked) 

Cucumber. 

 The rice is optional.  It helps them stick together and is filling and makes it cheaper, but of course is cooked so not suitable if you're trying for 100% raw.

A really simple nori roll recipe is just avocado and sprouts.  I think I used buckwheat, lentil, and quinoa sprouts, but you could do any kind.

Today I had this delicious Kale Slaw with Curried Almond Dressing, except I left a few things out of the dressing, like the curry, so it ended up like this:

Kale Slaw with Almond Dressing

1 apple cored and julienned, tossed in 1 tsp lemon juice

2 ½- 3 cups julienned kale, stems discarded

1 ½ cups grated carrot

1 cup very thinly sliced or julienned fennel (optional)

¼ cup cranberries or raisins

Creamy Almond Dressing

½ cup raw almonds

2 ½ tbsps apple cider vinegar

2 tbsps maple syrup, agave or honey

2/3 cup water

¼ tsp minced garlic

¼ tsp ginger

½ tsp mustard

½ tsp sea salt

Blend until smooth.  Pour over salad.

Garnish with 2-4 tbsps chopped or sliced almonds

This Lasagna is great as well:

Lasagna

2 c spinach

1/2 c marinara

1/2 zucchini

1/2 avocado, mashed

Finely chop spinach. Thinly slice zucchini lengthwise (best if you use a mandoline.)

Layer sauce, zucchini, sauce, avocado, spinach. Repeat. Eat.

Marinara

In a food processor, blend:

1/2 c tomato

1/2 c sun dried tomatoes, soaked

1/2 red bell pepper

1 T fresh basil

1 T EVOO

1 tsp dried oregano

1/2 t garlic

1/4+ t salt

dash cayenne

This "taco salad" recipe is a combination of two recipes.  Part of it is from Ani Phyo's Baja Fresh Taco Boats and the other part is from Happy Foody's Walnut Meat Taco Salad. 

Walnut or Almond “Meat” Taco Salad

Walnut or Almond “Meat”
 
1/2 cup almonds (you can also substitute pecans or any other nut)
1/2 cup walnuts  (can use all almonds)
1 T ground cumin
1 T ground coriander
1/3 cup olive oil
2/3 t sea salt
1 t nama shoyu or soy sauce

Process almond and walnuts and put aside in a bowl. Add other ingredients and mix well with a spoon. Keeps for 4-5 days in the fridge.

Salsa

4 tomatoes, chopped
2 scallions
2 cloves garlic
1/2 cup parsley
1/2 cup cilantro
1 T cider vinegar
1 T olive oil
1 T lime juice
1 t cumin
1 t sea salt
Jalapeno to taste

Pulse blend in food processor to blend (I like to leave large chunks of tomato in and add separately). Let sit for an hour in fridge so the flavors can blend.

Guacamole
 
2 avocados
1 tomato
1/4 cup onion or green onions
1/4 cup cilantro
Sea salt to taste
Pinch of Cayenne

Food process until desired consistency.

Cashew Sour Cream
 

1 1/2 cups soaked cashews (soak 8 hours and rinse)
1/2 t salt
2 T lemon juice
Approx. 3/4 cup fresh water

Blend in blender until smooth. Add more lemon juice or salt to taste. I like to put this in a squirt bottle and squirt it on top of the taco or other wraps. It looks pretty

    OR Cilantro Cashew Cheeze

    1 1/2 teaspoon garlic

    1/2 teaspoon sea salt

    1 cup cashews

    2 Tablespoons lemon juice, fresh, from about 1 lemon

    1/4 cup packed cilantro leaves

    1/4 cup water, as needed

     To make cheeze, process garlic and salt into small pieces. Add cashews, juice, cilantro, and only enough water to process into a thick cream texture.

Raw Foods Recipes Part 1: Smoothies

Beginning in August, I started eating a primarily raw foods diet again.  I've done this before and always feel great when I do, but then I slowly get back into old habits and before I know it, I'm only eating fruit for snacks and veges on the side with dinner.  I didn't make any commitments, I just did it and was thrilled to continue after August was over.  It was MUCH easier this time to start.  I was familiar with the whole idea and the basic recipes already.  My husband is away fighting fires, so I didn't have to worry about eating different meals than him or what he might like.  I've gotten in the habit of making meal plans and shopping sales, so it was just a matter of switching it to raw meals.  I've been feeling really good and wondering why on earth I ever stopped eating this way!

Here are some of the recipes I've been enjoying.

For breakfast, I've mostly been drinking smoothies.

If you scroll down on this post from We Like It Raw, you'll find recipes for a Berry BlissTastic Smoothie and a Giddy and Green Smoothie.  Both are delicious!  I modified them a little- I use dates instead of figs in both and no sesame seeds on the Berry BlissTastic Smoothie.   

This recipe from The Rawtarian for an Orange Smoothie inspired me to make something similar: 

2 bananas
2 oranges
1/2 cup coconut milk
1 tablespoon coconut oil

Blend.  Enjoy!  It tastes just like those orange creamsicle icecreams.

Another good one is the Spinach Mango Smoothie:

2 bananas

1 mango

handful of spinach

enough water to give it the consistency you desire

Blend!

This Sweet Kiwi Green Smoothie and this Zesty Raw Vegan Grape Parsley Lemonade Smoothie from Healthy Blender Recipes are delicious as well!

Last but not least are these chocolate milkshake type smoothies that will make all thoughts of chalky vending machine chocolate run from your mind screaming.  This Chocolate Mint Smoothie from Girl Gone Green is heaven in a glass and inspired me to start growing my own mint!  

This evening I invented my own chocolate smoothie that I had for dinner:

Chocolate Blueberry Smoothie

2 bananas

½ cup blueberries

2 tablespoons cocoa

½ cups cashews

1 ½ cups water

I'll post lunch and dinner recipes soon!

Rawgust!

For the month of August, I'm going to start eating a whole lot more raw foods, and hopefully start a new habit that I'll keep up after August is over.  

I didn't come up with the catchy title of Rawgust- that was my friend and pastor.

I've eaten a high raw foods diet before.  Once for a month almost 100% raw, and a high percentage of raw off and on.  Lately, I've only been eating raw fruits and veges as a snack, but almost entirely cooked foods for meals.  I'm feeling drained and I know I'll feel better if I get back to eating raw. 

I'm working on my menu plan for next month. I will go shopping on the 6th and start after that. I'm going to attempt a combination between OAM... um NC  (Once A Month Not Cooking) .... and raw foods. 

I don't have a food processor and so many of the recipes I want to try require one. So, if I can plan ahead and spend one day chopping everything up at my mom's house, then I can freeze those things so they are ready to go. I hope it works!  I'd love to hear from anyone who's had experience doing that.  I'll also freeze fruit when I find a really good price and use it for things like smoothies.

So far I have:

Smoothies- which I do pretty often anyway, but I've kind of fallen into a rut of the same old ones. I need some new ideas!

Kale Avocado Sprout Salad

Rosemary Oregano Noodle Salad

Mango Breakfast Cobbler

Chickpea of the Sea

Pineapple Icebox Dessert

Several of those recipes came from this website, which looks like a great resource.

Something I learned from my fruititarian friend is how yummy and filling something as simple as a half a watermelon or a half a dozen bananas can be.  So I'm going to do a lot of just straight fruit, but I'll probably do recipes for dinners. 

How are you eating these days?  Have you ever tried eating raw?  How did you feel?

__________________

Mostly Raw Chocolate Chip Or Chocolate Swirl Cookies

I think these would be considered raw. Or mostly raw. The olive oil isn't, but coconut oil can be. Honey can be, but I don't know about agave nectar. So, whatever! Either way, they are a heck of a lot better than regular old chocolate chip cookies. I love my yummy, vegan cooked chocolate chip cookies, but I made those and these at the same time, and these are way better.



Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough

2 ½ cups raw cashews, ground into flour
¼ cup honey (agave nectar)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/8 cup olive oil (coconut oil)


Raw Chocolate Chips
2 Tablespoons olive oil (coconut oil)
1 cup cocoa powder ( ½ cocoa, ½ carob)
4 Tablespoons honey (agave nectar)
2 teaspoons vanilla



Grind raw cashews in food processor or blender until it's flour (or leave a few bigger chunks if you want the cookies to be a little crunchy). Mix cashew flour, honey or agave, vanilla extract and oil in a bowl.

Mix all ingredients for chocolate chips in a bowl. Cover a cookie sheet with wax paper and spread chocolate evenly. Place in the freezer until hard (1 hour approx.). Take it out and chop frozen chocolate into chip size pieces. Mix with the dough.

Place tablespoon sized drops of cookie dough on a cookie sheet and place in the fridge until firm. Or just eat them now, even though they are squishy!

Variations: Don't bother with putting the chocolate in the freezer to make chips. Just mix the chocolate into the dough until it's swirled. Now you have Chocolate Swirl Cookies.

These is a combination of two recipes and my own variations.

http://ohsheglows.com/2009/05/03/raw-chocolate-chip-cookies/

http://thesunnyrawkitchen.blogspot.com/2008/06/recipe-of-week-chocolate-chip-cookies.html