Wild Rice with Cranberries and Cashews

This one was delicious and simple. No blenders. No food processors. No dehydrators. No complaints tonight! You better warm up your teeth though. There will be a lot of chewing going on!

This evenings meal was Wild Rice with Cranberries and Cashews and a Spinach Salad with Trader Joe's Organic Miso Ginger Dressing. I usually make my dressings homemade but when I was at Trader Joe's a while back I couldn't resist. I really wish there was a Trader Joe's nearby but the closest one to us is about 40 minutes north depending on traffic. It's a real treat to go there. Although they don't always have everything I need the prices are so much better then that "whole paycheck" place if you get my drift. I always stop by the "whole paycheck" place anyway while I am up there. I can get GT's Kombucha an entire dollar cheaper then what we pay down here at the local supermarket at the "whole paycheck" place! So, I guess "whole paycheck" isn't so bad for some things. Want to know what Kombucha is? It's a wonderful refreshing and energizing raw fermented tea filled with all kinds of nutrients including probiotics and B vitamins. Kombucha is my favorite beverage in the whole world. I brew it myself but my new culture isn't mature right now and is taking a really long time to ferment the tea. I am excited that very soon The Herb Shop at 20 Highland Drive in Newnan Georgia will be selling Kombucha!

Ok, on to the recipe!!

Wild Rice with Cranberries and Cashews

This rice is raw. How, you might say, can you do that? It's soaked! Soaking is wonderful. We do it with all our raw nuts. It "activates" the enzymes that help you digest the nut or grain. Since we have a big family this recipe is doubled. This recipe is very similar to the Ano Phyo's recipe in Raw Food Essentials with a few minor adjustments.

To soak the wild rice I pour 3 cups of wild rice into a bowl and combine with 6 cups of purified water and cover with a clean towel. Drain and rinse the rice the next day in a sieve and add the 6 cups of water back when you are done and cover again with a clean towel. (As you can see there is a bit of planning involved here, but everything else is easy.) After two days the rice will open revealing the "meat" on the inside and it will become softer and chewy. Drain the rice of it's water and rinse in a sieve one more time. This time do not put any water back in. Pour your rice in a bowl.

Now add 2 cups of dried cranberries, 2 cups of cashews, 1/2 cup of chopped cilantro and 2 teaspoons of sea salt. Toss all together and serve! Easy.


Put aside a lovely spinach salad and you have a wonderful raw vegan meal! Oh and get those "chompers" ready. There is a lot of chewing ahead.

Rawmometer Rating: 4.8
Husband, "Very good."
Oldest Daughter, "This is a 5 mom!"
Youngest Son, "I like this!"
Youngest Daughter, "I give it a 5 mom!" (wow, did I hear that right, she likes it, she really likes it!)
Oldest Son, at work, again. Boo!

Raw Lasagna

I hear a lot of folks voice concern over the "labor intensive" nature of raw meals. Some of them can be laborious to prepare and some of them are not. None the less that idea, that preparing raw foods is laborious, can make it hard to get motivated. So I want to address that a bit before we get started. (This recipe I am going to share does have a lot of steps involved but uses no dehydrator. All fresh ingredients!)  When you are beginning a raw diet it is not required to do anything complex. Your meals could be simple salads or some sort of nut and sliced vegetables. Nuts and fruit are great for breakfast. Soaked and or sprouted grains and fruit or vegetables are a simple and nutritious meal. Frequently my lunches are humus with veges or veges and some sort of soaked nut and that is all! You can keep it very simple if you like. The point is getting more "living" food in your body so you can have energy, good health, wonderful digestion and be in amazing spirits. The reason I prepare some of these more complex recipes is to "train" our palate to eat raw foods and demonstrate that there can be creativity and fun in raw food preparation. Our palates, particularly here in America and in the Western world are very spoiled. We are accustomed to constant gastronomic stimulation. I am a person that loves preparing food. I consider it an art, but I can easily get carried away using food more for entertainment rather than it's real purpose. With children, in particular, years of this kind of eating can make a raw diet very difficult to transition to. We have to learn and teach our children that we eat to live, not live to eat. My hope and prayer is that educating the public about the benefits of raw foods will help people see how important it is to learn what real nourishment is all about. We need to get back to the simplicity of how our Creator intended food to taste and what it's purpose really is in our lives. Too many people are sick and getting sicker because of the abuse of these principles. Our society is complicit in this travesty. Time to change the tide folks! These recipes can "wean" one off of eating mostly cooked food but simplicity, eventually, is the goal.
I am done preaching. On to the recipe!


                                                                 Raw Lasagna

                                        (we doubled this recipe because of the size of our family)

"Noodles"
3 Zucchini (peeled and sliced into circles, a food processor with a slicer or a mandoline slicer works great for this, but you can use a knife just as well)

Filling

1.) Sun dried tomato marinara sauce
     Process 2 tomatoes, 1 clove of garlic, 1/2 cup fresh basil leaves, 1/4 extra virgin olive oil, juice of 1/2   lemon, 2 pitted dates, 1/4 cup fresh oregano, 1/2 fresh or dried rosemary, 1 teaspoon of sea salt, 3 tablespoons of sun dried tomatoes.

2.) 1 tomato, sliced

3.) 1/4 cup yellow onion, sliced

4.) Italian Cheeze
     Process 2 cups of cashews, the juice of a lemon, 1 clove of garlic, 1/2 cup of basil leaves, 1 teaspoon of sea salt, 2/3 cup of purified water

Directions: Layer in this order: Zucchini, cheeze, tomato, onion, marinara and then again until you use all of the ingredients.

***You can top with Cashew Garlic Parmesan Cheeze (Adapted from Ani Phyo's recipe in Ani's Raw Food Kitchen)

In your clean coffee grinder, grind cashews until powdery. Process cashews with 1/4 teaspoon sea salt and 1 clove of garlic. Sprinkle mixer over your lasagna. You can also top with sliced black olives if you like. Enjoy!


Rawmometer Rating: 4.8

Husband, "There is something about this sauce I can't get enough of."
Oldest Daughter, "Way better than I expected!"
Youngest Son, "I loved the cheeze and the sauce."
Youngest Daughter, "It's good!"
(Oldest Son at work, not an Italian fan anyway)

Wonton Soup

Well today flew by! Got to talk to my friend Aline George of Mishkanim http://www.mishkanim.com/ today on Hebrew Nation Radio http://www.hebrewnationradio.com/  . Aline and Howie George are wonderful musical artists and just all around great people. Gene and Don joined us too. What nice guys. We had a great time! Then off to work I went for a little bit and back home to prepare dinner.

Now on to dinner! Tonight we prepared Wonton Soup. I really enjoyed this meal and the house smells like Chinese food without all the fat, calories and sugars.

First you have to make the "Wontons". The wontons are really a recipe for apple crepes. They are wonderful prepared for breakfast with a little Cashew Kream. We will give you the recipe for the Kream another time.

Apple Crepes

2 cups cored and diced apple
1 cup of flax meal (grind in a coffee grinder)
2 tablespoons of honey
1/2 cup water, or as needed

Process until it takes on a "dough consistency". Spread onto dehydrator tray lined with a teflex sheet. Dehydrate for 4 to 6 hours, or until completely dry. I turn over the "dough" half way through to make sure both side dry. When done it will take on a "tortilla" like consistency.

Now slice the crepe into 16 pieces that are in the shape of a squares. Put aside.

Wonton Filling
3 cups finely chopped napa cabbage
1/4 cup finely chopped yellow onion
1/3 cup of of finely chopped green onions
2 Bragg's Liquid Aminos
2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil

Combine and allow to marinate for about 15 minutes.

Soup
6 cups of warm water
1 teaspoon of Miso paste
1 cup of peas, fresh or thawed from frozen

Stir together until miso paste dissolve.

Press the liquid out of the cabbage filling mixture through a sieve and into a bowl. Add liquid from cabbage filling mixture to soup.

Now put one teaspoon of the cabbage filling in the center of the square crepe and fold into a "wonton". Add wontons to soup and serve immediately. Yum!

Rawmometer Rating "4"

Husband, "This is very good. "

Oldest Son, (at work, not present)

Oldest Daughter, "This is good."

Youngest Son, "Not my favorite."

Youngest Daughter, "I don't yike this." (sigh, what's new?!)

"Risotto" with Cherry Tomatoes, Black Olives and Jalapeno Cheeze

Spring is here! The flowers and trees are blooming and the air in Georgia looks like a yellow fog right now. OK, maybe that's an a bit of an exaggeration. It certainly feels like that! The pollen count is reaching record highs. Our temperatures, unusually high for this time of year, have been in the 80's. Here at our house some of us are doing a little sneezing. Honestly I am shocked that our allergies are not more severe. I think all the raw food is equipping our immune systems to handle all the allergens better than usual. I work at an Herb Shop as a herbal educator http://www.georgiaherbshop.com/ and we are seeing lots of folks come in to find natural remedies for their allergies. There are many, many things you can do herbally, but your first line of defense is a healthy diet. The Herb Shop will be having a class explaining how to combat and prevent allergies naturally this coming Sunday March 25th at 5:30 p.m. http://georgiaherbshop.com/georgia-herb-shop-events/abundant-health-classes/. The class is FREE! So if you are here in Georgia, near Atlanta, plan to attend. You will learn a lot!

So on to tonight's recipe. This recipe has been adapted from Ani Phyo's recipe in Ani's Raw Food Essentials. Tonight we experienced a raw dish that is designed to look like Risotto. It absolutely looks like Risotto as you can see from the picture below!

Looks can be deceiving. One should never expect raw food meals to taste like cooked ones.
Sometimes they are much better than cooked food and sometimes not. This one was no Risotto! I am a little spoiled. I have had and have prepared very good risotto. So I might have had my expectations a little high considering this particular dish.

Don't get me wrong this dish in and of it's self was good. My husband said it would be an excellent raw sandwich spread or perhaps a dip. I would agree with that completely. It was tasty but we broke out the carrot sticks and pita chips because the taste was slightly overpowering by itself. It almost tasted and had texture like chicken salad. Very interesting.

So here is the recipe:

Risotto With Cherry Tomatoes, Black Olives, and Jalapeno Cheeze

First prepare "Raw Sushi Recipe"
1 1/2 cups peeled and diced turnips
1/2 cup pine nuts
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
2 teaspoons raw apple cider vinegar

In a food processor, combine the turnips, pine nuts and salt. Process into "rice-size" pieces. Add the vinegar and pulse gently to mix. I did end up adding a little purified water to help it combine better. I few teaspoons.

Next prepare one recipe of Jalapeno Cheeze by processing:

1 clove of garlic
1/2 teaspoon of sea salt
2 cups of soaked sunflower seeds
the juice of one lemon
1/2 cup water,  or as needed to process
1 Jalapeno pepper, seeded and chopped

Next, slice 1 cup of cherry tomatoes in halves. Now mix the "rice", the "cheeze" the and tomatoes well. Top with black olives and enjoy.

Rawmometer Rating "3"

Husband, "Wasn't quite what I expected. Good for a dip or sandwich spread."

Oldest Son, "Better on bread mom, not by itself."

Oldest Daughter, "Not my favorite, but not bad."

Youngest Son, "Alright."

Youngest Daughter, "This is great!" (go figure, LOL)

Philly "Cheese Steak"

Tonight's recipe is one of our all time favorites! And it's EASY!! Some of the comments I had last week were folks overwhelmed by all the dehydration. This recipe doesn't require that at all. It is not 100% raw because we use Ezekiel bread rather than romaine lettuce leaves. If you are going for "all raw" use the lettuce as your "bread" or a raw bread recipe made with flax. I will being putting the recipe for the raw flax bread in a future post, so stay tuned.


Philly "Cheese Steak"

I used to have a tough time with raw mushrooms. I just didn't like them. However, since I have learned to marinate them I love them!

The "Steak", a.k.a. Marinated Portobello Mushroom


4 Portobello Mushrooms, sliced
1/2 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1/2 cup Liquid Amino's or Tamari
2 teaspoons cumin powder
2 teaspoons coriander powder
1 tablespoon Ume Plum Vinegar or Bragg's Apple Cider Vinegar

Set aside and let this marinate while you prepare everything else.

Vegetables
In a separate bowl, add:
1 red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
1 cup of broccoli, chopped
1/2 cup white onion
1 clove of garlic, minced
1 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

Process through food processor and set aside.

Cheese
In a blender, add:
1 cup raw pine nuts
1/2 cup raw sunflower seeds
2-3 tablespoons of Bragg's Apple Cider Vinegar
1/4 cup onion
1 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 cup of purified water

Blend until creamy.

To assemble spread cheese on Ezekiel bread then place vegetable mixture and mushrooms on your sandwich. You can add lettuce and alfalfa sprouts as well if you like.
Enjoy!!

Rawmometer Rating: 4.50 (we have two that are not mushroom fans)

Oldest son, "C" "It's alright." (not his fav)

Oldest daughter, "M" "I could eat two. They are great!"

Youngest son, "B" "Good!"

Youngest daughter, "C" "I don't yike it"

Husband, "Very good!"

RAWCHOS!!!!!

Since I last posted we have been doing a little gardening. A friend said to try some mushroom compost so oldest daughter "M" and myself were out spreading it last night. The package said odorless, I beg to differ.

Anyway I was raking leaves and all of a sudden I see a wad of animal hair. I was puzzled and used the rake to pull away more of the dirt and out popped a baby bunny. The bunny really scared "M" and myself and we both jumped back not realizing initially what we had found. It seems a mommy rabbit thought it would be a good idea to build her nest in my garden. We found another baby, frozen from fear, further down in the shallow hole. I released them into the forest behind our house, but did so sadly, because I know it's unlikely the mom and the babies will be reunited. I couldn't help it, I cried a little bit. I know I am silly that way.


Ok, on to what you came here for.................RAWCHOS!!

Tonight's meal is RAWCHOS! These are so full of flavor and filling it is hard to eat a lot of them! It's actually three recipes in one.

First the Corn Chips:

Raw Corn Chips
This recipe is adapted from Paul Nison's website. His wife Andrea has a video showing you how to make these. He has a wonderful site and is a big inspiration to me. Check it out!! http://healthwatchman.com/

8 cups of organic corn
1 cup of sunflower sheets
1/2 raw onion
1/2 cup of ground flax seed
1 teaspoon of sea salt (or to taste)
1 teaspoon of chili powder

Blend till creamy. Spread on teflex dehydrator sheets and dehydrate for 12 hrs. turn over and dehydrate another 12 hrs. This takes total of 24 hrs. or until crispy. (ours took more like 30 hrs. so plan ahead! We have a lot of humidity) When done score into triangles.

Taco Meat
This recipe is a combination of Ani Phyo's Taco Meat and the Nungessors.

In a food processor, using the S blade, combine:

2 cups of soaked walnuts
1 tablespoon of cumin powder
2 tablespoons of Tamari Sauce
Sea Salt to taste (careful not too much!)
1 cup of fresh (organic) corn

Pulse untill it resembles ground beef. You may have to "spoon" ingredients off the side of the processor to help it mix better.

Nacho Sauce

In a blender add:

1 cup of purified water
1 red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
1 cup of pine nuts, soaked overnight and drained
1 cup of sunflower seeds, soaked overnight and drained
1 clove of garlic
1 tablespoon of fresh lemon juice
1 jalapeno pepper
1 teaspoon of sea salt or to taste

Blend till creamy. (This sauce is very versatile. It can be used on pizza, in tacos and as a dip!)

Assemble your nachos! Place chips on plate, then "meat", then cheese. Top with a little fresh salsa and some chopped avocado.

 Rawmometer Rating: Nachos 4.5 , Taco "Meat" 5 , Nacho Sauce 5

Oldest son, "C" "It's good mom, it's a taco."

Oldest daughter, "M" "This is my favorite meal all week!"

Youngest son, "B" "Good!"

Youngest daugter, "C" "5"

Husband, "Very good!"



Tabbouleh (From Sprouted Quinoa) , Popcorn (NOT!) and Marinated Tomatoes

Well, we had a sad occurrence this morning. We say "goodbye" to another kitchen appliance. I killed our little Nesco dehydrator a few weeks ago with Eggplant Bacon. This necessitated the purchase of an Excalibur dehydrator (the champ of all dehydrators!!☺). Now we say goodbye to our little blender, who after attempting to blend corn for raw corn chips (recipe coming soon), had smoke coming out of it's back side. I guess this will necessitate the purchase, sometime in the future, of say a Vitamix or perhaps a Ninja Kitchen Machine? While we are grieving we will depend on our handy, dandy little food processor from Walmart. Sniff, sniff..no I am not crying...man, burnt rubber sure smells up the place!

On tonight's Raw menu is Tabbouleh and Popcorn. No not movie theatre popcorn but it smells sort of similar and has a cheesy taste, minus the cow. Quinoa is an amazing grain and even more amazing sprouted. It is rich in Amino Acids and Minerals. I have read that it benefits people that suffer from migraine headaches, diabetes and heart disease. Sprouting it takes it to another level as it now provides amazing enzymes that help with digestion and nutritional absorption. So here is the recipe:

Quinoa Tabbouleh

Sprouted Tabbouleh (see below)

1 Diced Cucumber

1/4 Diced Onion

1 Seeded and Diced Red Pepper

1 Cup Chopped Fresh Parsley

1/2 Cup Fresh Mint

Mix all ingredients together and toss with dressing below. Garnish with sliced avocado and kalamata olives. Yum!

Dressing

4 Teaspoons Fresh Lemon Juice
4 Teaspoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 Teaspoon Himalayan Salt

**to sprout Quinoa combine 2 cups of well rinsed Quinoa with 4 cups of filtered water. Soak for 4 hours. Drain in a sieve then set sieve in a bowl and cover with a plate. Set aside for an additional 4-6 hours. You will see "tails" coming out of the quinoa as they sprout! Use immediately or within a few hours for best tasting quinoa. You can store them in your refrigerator for 1 day if necessary.

Soaking

Sprouted, look closely, you will see tails!

Marinated Tomatoes

Adapted from a recipe from "How We All Went Raw" by the Nungessers
In a bowl, add:
6 vine ripened tomatoes,each sliced into 8 sections
4 cloves of garlic, minced
1 jjalapeno pepper

1/4 cup of basil, minced

1 teaspoon fresh rosemary, minced

1 cup extra virgin olive oil

1 teaspoon sea salt or to taste

Let tomatoes marinate for about 10 minutes. Enjoy!

Cauliflower Popcorn, No Really!

We tried dehydrating this and it turned out nasty. Either we did it wrong or it just was.....well, nasty. We noticed while making it though that it was wonderful undehydrated! So that is how we are going to serve it tonight. This is recipe is adapted from Philip McCluskey's recipe for Raw Popcorn. ***See below for more about Philip.

One head of Cauliflower broken into small florets
4 Tablespoons of Nutritional Yeast or enough to coat all the florets
1 Tablespoon of Himalayan Salt
A dash of Cayenne Pepper

Put it all in a freezer bag and shake like crazy. The kids think it's really funny when I do this. Then enjoy!

Rawmometer Rating:

Tabbouleh 4.5, Popcorn 5 and Marinated Tomatoes 5 out of 5

Kids and Husband's ccomments:

"I don't know any thoughts mom, can I watch Tom and Jerry now?" - 7 year out daughter "C"

"Good."- 9 year old son "B"

"Everything turned out really good!" 16 year old daughter and photographer "M"
"I am really surprised but that actually filled me up and it was good!" Husband "O"

Adult son "C" working again. :( no comment at this time

***Philip McCluskey is a sought-after motivational speaker, author, and weight loss expert who inspires and educates thousands worldwide about the raw food lifestyle, after he lost over 200 pounds naturally. After thirty failed diet attempts…  and the looming prospect of gastric bypass surgery, raw food saved Philip’s life, transforming him from a morbidly obese 400 pounds to a fit, energized, and glowing 185 pounds.

Raw Corn Chowder

Our family has begun a journey of adding more raw food (fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds) into our vegetarian diet. We are approximately 80% raw at this point. The enzymes, vitamins and minerals gained by eating this way far surpass any other style of eating. Meat, organic and free range, where we are living, is expensive and hard to find not to mention animals are rarely slaughtered in a humane way. So we have opted for this style of eating to keep our bodies as healthy as possible and to feel our best. It is not a judgement on anyone elses way of eating but even carnivores could benefit from eating more raw produce, nuts and seeds. We will try to frequently post our reviews and recipes here for you. You are welcome to take this journey with us if you'd like and we are happy to share what we are learning!

Tonight's meal was raw corn chowder. I adapted it from Ani Phyo's recipe to fit the needs of the size and individual tastes of my family. There are six of us. The corn chowder also had a mound of Jalapeno Lime Kream in the center and is garnished with "Bacon" made from eggplant and a little cilantro for the finishing touch on our Southwestern meal. You will find when you eat raw you do not need to eat as much of a "volume" as you did before eating cooked food. Be aware this is a "cold" soup. It can take a while to get used to eating cold soups, but they are very good when you do. Not only that, they are full of LIFE!!

OK, so here is the recipe. I have homework to get to with kids so I better make this quick!

Corn Chowder
1 clove of garlic
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon of Himalayan salt
6 cups of organic non GMO raw corn kernels
1/4 cup of extra virgin olive oil
2 cups of purified water
1 recipe of Eggplant Bacon (recipe below), diced
1 recipe of Jalapeno-Lime Kream (recipe below)

Place garlic, corn, thyme, salt, olive oil and water in a blender. Blend till slightly smooth and slightly chunky. Top with a mound of Kream and sprinkle "Bacon" and a sprig of cilantro on top.

Jalapeno-Lime Kream
1 cup of soaked and drained cashews (at least 4 hours)
1 whole jalapeno pepper seeded and roughly chopped
1 teaspoon of lime zest
The juice of one lime
1/2 teaspoon of Himalayan salt
1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup of purified water, as needed to blend

Blend all ingredients in a blender until creamy.

Eggplant Bacon
(you will need to prepare this a few days ahead of time)
In a bowl, marinate
1 large eggplant, thinly sliced length wise
3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon black pepper
2 tablespoons of raw honey (do not feed to children under 1 year)
4 tablespoons of Ume Plum Vinegar (if you can not find raw Apple Cider Vinegar works great)
Marinate for 2 hours, wipe off some of the oil or it will not dehydrate to "crisp", place on teflex sheets in dehydrator (Excalibur works best) and dehydrate for 12 hours. Turn "Bacon" over and dehydrate for another 12 hours without teflex sheets. It should be crispy.

My youngest child, who is the picky one, consumed the entire bowl. A tiny bit of protest about the cilantro but she ate her meal. Everyone else had no problem with it. My oldest son was not present. So we will give Raw Corn Chowder a 4 out of 5 on the Rawmometer.

Many blessings to you from The Raw Mommy