Rawk Out

Raspberry Lime Rickey

2011-07-15T13:02:00.004-04:00

Fresh raspberries are now in season, so I couldn't resist cleaning up a diner favorite, the Raspberry Lime Rickey, which is usually loaded with syrupy sweet raspberry flavoring.
I'm not sure what the stance is on drinking seltzer water on a raw foods diet....we have the Soda Stream which carbonates water. I am 100% dead against drinking soda, but seltzer I like. So we use the SodaStream to make carbonated water only!!
I started with a pint of Stillman's amazing raspberries and processed them in my BlendTec blender with the second ingredient, Agave syrup, to sweeten it up.
I strained the puree to get out any bits and pieces of seeds that were left behind. Look at this glorious color!
I squeezed some lime juice with my trusty "MightyOJ" juicer. It works like a charm! Not sure how old it is, but it must be some where around 30 yrs old? What's that saying...if it's not broken, why try to fix it??
Ok, so now to the drink. It was really trial and error with how much of the different ingredients to add; I added way too much lime juice right off the bat...think, less is more!! I ended up using more raspberry puree in each drink than I thought I was going to....but the drink was SO delicious and visually appealing as well. Check it out:
Yummy and so refreshing, especially on 90+ degree hot summer days!!!
Try something raw today!

Sesame Turnip Chips

2011-06-21T20:05:00.004-04:00

CSA season is in full swing and so I expect to pick up on my blogging. Here's a quick recipe for raw, dehydrated Turnip chips.
The turnip is an interesting veggie...both the root and the green are edible. The root is packed w.Vitamin C and the green is high in Vitamins A, C, and K, Folate and Calcium (as most dark greens are). Turnip greens are also a great source of fiber and have a small bit of protein....

I got some great small, white turnips called Haruki turnips from my CSA at Newton Community Farm. They are yummy, with a fairly mild flavor. I figured they'd be nice to dehydrate. So I whipped out my spiralizer and went to town....
I used the flat blade of my Paderno spirilazer to make some thin turnip curls:

I made a marinade of unrefined sesame oil, Nama Shoyu, fresh lemon juice and a bit of agave, and let the turnips marinate in it for about an hour before dehydrating.
I dehydrated the turnips at 105 degrees overnight and here was the result:
Yummy, crunchy sesame flavored turnip chips. They were great as a snack but they were even better topped on salad. Delish :)
Try something raw today!

Vegan Caesar Dressing

2011-04-09T18:21:00.006-04:00

I'm always looking for yummy dressings to put on my salads....my fallback is simply extra virgin olive oil, lemon juice and a bit of tamari......
I love to use cashews to add creaminess to raw, vegan soups and sauces so I was happy to see a recipe for a vegan, raw Caesar salad dressing in the most recent issue of VegNews.

The recipe uses cashews for creaminess, hemp seeds, nutritional yeast for that cheesy taste, dates to round out the sweetness, lemon juice for tang, Dulse for that slight taste of the sea and celery for saltiness and to add body.
Let's talk nutrition for a second......
Hemp seeds!

Hemp seeds are the seeds of the Cannabinum plant and no, they don't have any THC in them like their relatives do....they do have highly digestable forms of protein, omega fatty acids, fiber, antioxidants and vitamins E and A in them....
Nutritional yeast.....
Nutritional yeast is a non-leavening type of yeast that is packed with protein, fiber and vitamins, in particular, the B complex vitamins, including Thiamin (B1), Riboflavin (B2), Niacin, B6, B12, Folic Acid and Biotin (B7). A mere 2 Tablespoons has ~8g protein and 4g fiber, as well as less than a gram of fat!!! It adds a great cheesy flavor to dishes and can be used to replace Parmesan cheese.
Dulse...
Dulse is a form of seaweed. It has a high protein content, as well as high fiber content and is high in nutrients such as iodine, sodium and iron. It can be used as a salt substitute and lends a "fishy" flavor, or the flavor of the sea to recipes. In this recipe, it takes the place of anchovy paste or anchovies, which are used in classic Caesar dressing.

The recipe couldn't be easier....just put all of the ingredients in the blender and process.
The result is a creamy, somewhat sweet dressing.

The dressing was definitely creamy, but was a bit too sweet and not tangy enough. I will give you the recipe as is, and let you know where I'd make some changes for the next time....
From VegNews
Vegan Caesar Dressing
1/2 cup cashews (I soaked mine for a couple hours)
1/4 cup hemp seeds
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
1/2 tsp salt (I used more, prob at least a tsp of Celtic Sea Salt)
Juice of 2 lemons (I also used the zest of a lemon as well)
Black pepper to taste
3 pitted dates (I would only use 2 next time)
1 tsp dulse flakes (I would use 2 tsp next time)
3/4 cup water
2 stalks celery, chopped

All you do is put all of the ingredients in a high speed blender and process until smooth.....
While this recipe is not technically "raw", it is vegan, so enjoy (and try something raw today)..

Thyme To Cook in Super Raw Life Magazine

2011-03-31T16:24:00.002-04:00

Hi everyone - sorry for the lack of posts. Sometimes life gets in the way. My son has Asperger's Syndrome, a form of high functioning Autism, as well as ADHD, and needless to say, it's been a rough few months. I'll be back to more regular posts soon, especially since the spring season brings amazing fruits and veggies to eat....
Anyways, I was featured in the most recent issue of Super Raw Life Magazine, which can be downloaded for free here: Super Raw Life Magazine.
Please check it out!
:) Try something raw today!

gRAWnola!

2011-01-16T19:23:00.009-05:00

My friend and colleague Rob Costello posted this recipe on his youtube channel, so I decided to try it out. It's a gluten free, sugar free and delicious gRAWnola made from nuts, berries (goji, mulberries and golden berries), spices and buckwheat groats.
Buckwheat is a nutritional powerhouse, packed with all of the essential amino acids, rich in iron, zinc and selenium, and high in antioxidants. The berries in the gRAWnola are packed with antioxidants and vitamins. The nuts are packed with protein and healthy fats. The mix is called gRAWnola because it is dehydrated at 105 degrees in order to preserve the digestive enzymes and to keep the components raw.

The first step to making gRAWnola is the soak step, an overnight soak in water in order to remove the enzyme inhibitors found in nuts, seeds and grains; the berries are soaked as well to rehydrate them.
Soaking the buckwheat:
Soaking the nuts (hazelnuts, almonds and cashews):
Soaking the berries (goji berries, mulberries and golden berries):
After an overnight soak, all of the components are drained and rinsed well. The buckwheat gets very gooey and needs to be rinsed a number of times. Here are the berries and the buckwheat after the soak and the rinse:
After rinsing the nuts, they need to go through a food processor with the slicing blade (alternatively you can slice by hand):
After slicing the nuts, they get added to the berries and the buckwheat and the spices are added: cinnamon, freshly grated nutmeg, sea salt and agave syrup to sweeten. The nutmeg gets grated on a microplane and is ultra fragrant and rich in flavor:

Once the ingredients are all mixed together they are spread out on the dehydrator trays and go into the dehydrator for 12 hours:
After 12 hrs, a bit of agave is drizzled over the ingredients and they are left to dehydrate for 12 more hours. The end product is a slightly sticky, definitely crunchy gRAWnola that is sweet from the agave, mulberries and goji berries and tangy from the cinnamon and golden berries. I ate it as cereal with homemade almond milk and it was to die for. Absolutely delicious!!!

Thanks Rob for posting the original recipe :)
Enjoy. Try something raw today!

Raw Sesame Onion Wraps

2010-12-22T15:10:00.005-05:00

I swear, this is the easiest raw, dehydrated wrap you'll ever make....and it's delicious as well! The original recipe was actually a curry wrap, also delicious, but I don't LOVE curry. So I decided that the same recipe might be tweeked a bit by omitting the curry and adding onion and sesame seeds....the result was a flavorful wrap that had added texture from the sesame seeds.

Here is the recipe:
1-2 cups water
1 cup cup ground flax seeds
1 apple, peeled and seeded, chopped
1/2 sweet onion, chopped
1/2 cup dried, shredded coconut
1/2 cup raw, hulled sesame seeds
1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp lemon juice, fresh squeezed
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp turmeric

Technique

Start with 1 cup of water, lemon juice, onion and apple, blending in a high speed blender until combined.

Next add in coconut, salt, cinnamon and turmeric, again, blending until combined.

The ground flax gets added last, along with more water if necessary.

After a smooth, relatively thick consistency is achieved, stir the sesame seeds in by hand. Do not blend them in, because you want the texture that they yield in the finished product.

Pour out onto a nonstick Teflex sheet or parchment paper and spread out to about 1/2 - 1/4 inch thick.

Put in the dehydrator at 105 degrees and dehydrate for 5-6 hours. See the patches of light (still wet) and dark (dehydrated) "batter"...

After the first 5-6 hours, flip the wrap, placing it directly onto the dehydrator sheet, and dehydrate for about 2 more hours.

When it's dehydrated, it will look something like this and will still be pliable; note how the color is now homogeneous throughout the wrap.

Cut into the desired shape; I actually used a kitchen scissor to do so.

So now, wrap away or use as sandwich bread...
Here's a wrap I made with hummus (not raw), sunflower sprouts, hemp seeds, alfalfa and broccoli sprouts.

This wrap will become a staple in my house; it's too easy to not keep making. I'm going to play around with the taste of different spices in the future...I'll report back!
Enjoy and try something raw today!
Sharon

Raw Brussels Sprout Chips

2010-12-18T07:48:00.003-05:00

Ok, who doesn't like a good salty, crispy bite? Right, I'm sure just about everyone does....so using the same recipe for kale chips, you can use Brussels Sprout leaves and accomplish the same thing!

Here are some fine looking Brussels Sprouts, from Stillman's Farm, Lunenberg, Ma....you've heard me toot their horn many a time :)
So, all you need to do is cut off the bottom, where the leaves come together, and simply peel off all of the leaves. I put them into a bowl of water to rinse them.
Then, the recipe is exactly the same as the kale chips - take about a tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil, a teaspoon of apple cider vinegar, a generous pinch of salt and a drizzle of agave syrup, and mix it all in with the leaves, after they are rinsed and drained.
Put the Brussels Sprout leaves on to the dehydrator sheet and let 'em go...they don't need as long as an overnight dehydration, so check them after a few hours. It's OK to let them go overnight, but if you're hunkering for that salty bite, get them out earlier...
Before dehydration:
After dehydration:
Crispy and delicious....
Try this out. It's a neat way to eat your Brussels Sprouts.....if you don't have a dehydrator, cook these in a low oven, say 250-300 for 30 minutes, stirring half way through.

:) enjoy and try something raw today!

Raw Butternut Squash Apple Cider Soup

2010-10-28T20:49:00.004-04:00

I LOVE butternut squash; it's probably my most favorite winter squash. Today I used it in a raw soup, with a base of raw apple cider and fresh squeezed orange juice. I adapted the recipe from VegNews Magazine, only making a couple changes from their base recipe.

The recipe called for butternut squash, apple cider, orange juice, celery, a bit of spice, a few dates for sweetness and that's about it. I added in a couple of things:, some beautiful white carrots that I had from the farm... a garnish of fresh dill and cilantro - the recipe did not call for any herbs at all...and the juice of a fresh lemon to heighten and brighten the flavor.

I grated both the carrots and the squash, chopped the celery and set them aside. Look at how beautiful the white carrots are :)...they are the sweetest carrots I have ever tried.
In my blender, I added in the apple cider, which I had made with my juicer earlier, some fresh squeezed orange juice, some water, the dates (to soften up), salt and pumpkin pie spice.

When I added all the ingredients together, they filled up the entire blender container - it was packed with goodness.
The resulting soup was really delicious. The carrots and dates sweetened up the delicious, earthy squash. The celery added some body and some saltiness. The pumpkin pie spice added some warmth; to add some zing, I added the fresh, chopped dill and cilantro. The herbs really freshened up each bite of the soup. Each bite was like fall in a spoon.
Here is my adapted version of the recipe:

Ingredients
1 butternut squash, peeled, seeded and grated
2 carrots, grated
2 celery stalks, chopped
2 cups raw apple cider
Juice of 1 orange
1/2 cup water
4 dates (soaked in apple cider and OJ to soften up)
1 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
4 TBS fresh, chopped herbs
Juice of 1 lemon

Technique
Blend all ingredients together in high speed blender, except fresh herbs and lemon juice. Add the herbs and lemon juice as well as more S+P (if needed) after blending.

Enjoy! Try something raw today :)

Rawkin' Raw Chili

2010-10-21T18:25:00.005-04:00

Today I made a raw chili recipe that Dee Charboneau posted on Road to Raw. The Road to Raw is a great website that runs raw food cleanses and offers a TON if information on raw food and healthy living. Dee posted a recipe called Penni's Rawkin' Raw Chili...I'm not sure who Penni is, but my guess is Penni Shelton, a well versed raw food enthusiast who runs the website Raw Food Rehab.
Regardless, I decided to make it because it seemed fitting on this cold, blustery, rainy fall day.
Here is the recipe - don't get turned off by the amount of ingredients. It actually comes together quite quick...I will indicate where I made adjustments to the recipe.

Penni's Rawkin' Raw Chili
1 cup soaked almonds (walnuts would also work well) - I used almonds
1 cup carrots
1 med portabello mushroom (or 6 shiitake) - I used shiitake and I soaked them in Liquid Braggs before using them in the recipe to flavor them up and "cook" them a bit
1/2 cup finely minced red bell pepper
1/3 cup finely minced red onion - I used scallions
1-2 finely minced jalapeno, without the seeds - I used a serrano
1 cup sundried tomatoes, soaked (reserve 1 cup soak water)
1 cup cherry or grape tomatoes
1/3 cup soaked golden raisins
2 T fresh leeks (yellow or white onion would work) - I used a small shallot
3 T chili powder - I used Powdered New Mexico Chiles
2 cloves garlic - I used 1 garlic clove only
1 T olive oil
2 t Alder Smoked Sea Salt (Celtic is also fine) - I used Himilayan Sea Salt
2 t apple cider vinegar
2 t dried oregano - I used Mexican Oregano
1 tsp. cumin
1 handful chopped cilantro, stirred in at the end, prior to dehydration

Technique
Put nuts and carrots into a food processor and run until well blended. This will be your "meat base," so don't over process. Once ground, place into a large bowl and set aside.

Either on a cutting board or in your food processor, chop the mushroom (I marinated the mushroom in Liquid Braggs, see picture. I drained the mushrooms prior to processing them), red bell pepper, scallions and serrano. Add this to the bowl. I used my food processor to do this step.

In a high powered blender, such as a Vita Mix or Blend-Tec, add all of the remaining ingredients and blend until you have everything well combined and liquefied. Stir this mixture into the bowl with the existing ingredients to complete the chili.

The recommendation was to place the chili into a dehydrator set at 145 degrees for about one hour, stirring the chili every 15 minutes will help to warm it evenly. (Although your dehydrator will feel hot, the temperature of the food will not exceed 110 degrees in this amount of time). I didn't have the luxury of being able to stir the chili every 15 minutes, so I stuck it in the dehydrator @ 115 degrees for 1 hr, then 105 degrees for 1 hr and ate it after that. It wasn't as warm as I would have liked it to be, but it was delicious.

Here is the bowl of chili, with cilantro, prior to going into the dehydrator
And after
You can see it got a little thick on the edges (that was the best, most yummy part!!). Overall, delicious. Tomorrow, when I eat more, I'll try the 145 degree dehydration with stirring every 15 minutes, and I'll garnish it with avocado. Already looking forward to it!!
Try something raw today!

Dried Apple Chips

2010-10-18T19:37:00.004-04:00

Fall is apple season and I'm feeling the apple love. After becoming inundated with apples from a visit to the apple farm, I needed to use them up. I decided to make some apple chips in the dehydrator.
I used my spirulizer to make ultra thin slices, using the flat blade.

I sliced up 5 apples. To the apples I added the juice of a lemon, a few shakes of pumpkin pie spice and a short drizzle of agave syrup.
The pumpkin pie spice from Trader Joe's is a mix of cinnamon, ginger, cloves, lemon peel, cardamom and nutmeg. It goes nice with the tang of the lemon and the sweetness of the agave and the apples. The lemon juice keeps the apples from turning brown when dehydrating.

I laid the apples out on the dehydrator trays, not worrying too much about getting a single layer and dehydrated the apples for about 20 hrs.
Here is what the finished apples looked like:

The apples were crispy and delicious with a hint of spice. My kids ate them up, so there's proof that they tasted good :)
Enjoy - try something raw today!

Thyme To Cook wins a Raw Food Recipe contest!

2010-09-10T18:16:00.005-04:00

I'm proud to announce that I've won a raw food recipe contest!
I usually do not enter anything (I'm a party pooper)...

I entered my Raw Creamy Gazpacho into the Raw Food Naturals/Raw Way Bar raw recipe contest; the criteria was to use 3 in season produce items in a raw recipe.
Here is the link the announcement on FB: Yea for Gazpacho!

Here is the recipe I submitted:
Gazpacho
4 tomatoes, rough chopped
4 tomatillos, tough skin peeled off, rinsed and rough chopped
1 cucumber, peeled and seeded, then rough chopped
1/2 - 1 cup coconut water from young Thai coconut
1/2 cup packed coconut meat from young Thai coconut

1-2 garlic cloves
1/4 sweet onion, rough chopped

1 red pepper, rough chopped
1 handful cilantro
Juice of 1 lime
1 tsp Sea Salt

Garnish
Kernels from 1 ear of corn, removed from cob
1 jalapeno, minced
1/2 red pepper, finely diced
1/2 cucumber, peeled, seeded and finely diced

Technique
1. Place all ingredients for Gazpacho (tomatoes->salt) into a high speed blender or food processor and pulse to liquid texture. Give it a taste and correct seasoning if necessary.

2. Pour Gazpacho into a bowl and add the ingredients from the Garnish section (corn->cucumber) and stir them in.
3. Serve chilled or at room temperature.

That's it :) I chose this recipe for a couple reasons, with 1 being you don't need fancy equipment for it. It can be made in an ordinary blender, food processor or high speed blender. Secondly, it really uses the bounty of what's in season: tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, tomatillos, corn, jalapenos, onions, garlic, you get the idea....it can be made without the coconut water and meat as well. It just will be less creamy, but still excellent.

Try something raw today!!! :)

Raw Sesame Kale Salad

2010-09-07T20:02:00.004-04:00

I love the late summer when kale becomes abundant...it lasts, and lasts and lasts long into the fall even winter...Last week I made a raw kale salad with arame and carrots and a sesame dressing. It was quite good.

The secret to eating kale in it's raw form is in the massage. Yup, the massage. You have to massage it, rubbing the leaves in between your fingers in order to soften up the texture and to release some of the moisture. I massage the kale with lemon juice and a pinch of salt. The acid of the lemon juice almost "cooks" the kale and the salt will draw out the moisture. You'll see that you can start out with a huge bowl of kale and after rubbing the leaves with the lemon juice and salt for just a couple minutes, the volume is drastically reduced to at least 1/2 the bowl.

So here's the recipe:
1 head of kale, cut into thin stips
2 carrots, grated
2 handfuls arame, soaked 20 minutes and rinsed
2 lemons, juiced and juice divided
2 TBS tahini, room temp
2 tsp unrefined sesame oil
2 TBS sesame seeds

Technique
Take your kale and put in a bowl. Pour juice of 1 lemon and a pinch of sea salt over the top. Mix the juice and salt into leaves and then start to rub the leaves between your fingers, massaging them for a couple minutes, until wilted.

Add in the carrots and soaked/rinsed arame then mix so all ingredients are incorporated.

To make dressing, whisk the room temperature tahini, sesame oil, juice of lemon and a pinch of sea salt until combined. If necessary, add a touch of warm water to thin out.
Pour over the kale mixture and combine to dress the salad.
Garnish with the sesame seeds.

I put some into romaine lettuce leaves and made little boats out of them.
So, try out the kale massage and see how you like it. It just might change your mind about eating kale in it's raw form. :)
Try some thing raw today!

Raw dehydrated corn tortillas

2010-08-05T20:51:00.005-04:00

It's corn season!!! I belong to a CSA and I get 6-12 ears of corn each week. What to do with all that corn?!? Well, 1 thing you can do is make corn tortillas, or chips or tostadas or wraps....this recipe can do all of those. By varying dehydration time you can achieve the different textures.

First off though, the recipe....

Ingredients
4 ears corn or 4 cups corn kernels
2 small garlic cloves
1/3 sweet onion
1-2 cups water
2 tsp salt
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp coriander
handful cilantro - optional, nice addition
1/2 cup ground flax seed

What to do:
First off, if using fresh corn, remove the corn from the cob and put into high speed blender along with garlic, onion, water, salt, cumin, coriander and cilantro (if using). Blend ingredients until nice and smooth.

Add in flax and blend until flax is incorporated.

So now it's decision time about what you're going to make. To make tortillas or tostadas, pour out rounds onto the teflex dehydrator sheets. To make chips, pour out a big square, as big as the dehydrator sheet. For wraps, either do rounds or a couple large rectangles.
Put in the dehydrator at 105 degrees. For tortillas and wraps, set it for ~6hrs, then flip them and let it go for another 2-6hrs. For tostadas and chips, set the dehydrator for 8hrs, flip it, then let it go for another 8hrs or so.

Here are the tortillas at the half way point, before flipping.
After dehydrating for ~10 hrs.
All done :)
I used one of the tortillas to make a taco with a sunflower seed pate, pine nut cheese and sunflower sprouts.
Try something raw today!!
Sharon

Raw Carrot Cake Cookies

2010-07-30T19:45:00.005-04:00

These raw cookies are delish! I developed the recipe so that I could use the carrot pulp from making carrot juice, as well as the almond meal from making almond milk. I always feel a bit guilty if I don't use up both, so this solves that problem.

The recipe is pretty basic and includes raw oats, dates, almond milk, carrot pulp, vanilla, a bit of salt, cinnamon and nutmeg.
First off, the raw oats need to be soaked overnight. When ready to use, place in food processor with dates and process. The mix should be pretty moist. If it isn't, then try adding a few drops of water.

After the oats and dates are combined, add in the almond meal and carrot pulp. Process to combine, then add the vanilla, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg, then process once more.

After processing everything together, you should have a nice soft, moist but not sticky dough to make into cookies.
I use a small scooper to scoop out the cookies for dehydrating. They are pretty small and around 50 fit on 1 Excalibur dehydrator sheet.
Dehydrate at 105 for approximately 8-10 hrs. The final cookie should be firm on the outside and soft on the inside.
Here is the recipe (with some crude measurements)
1 cup raw oats, soaked overnight, then drained and rinsed
1.5 cups dates, pits removed
1.5 cups almond meal (I used meal that was dehydrated and processed to a powder in the food processor)
1 cup carrot pulp from making carrot juice
1 TBS pure vanilla
1 tsp cinnamon
pinch fresh grated nutmeg
Pinch sea salt

See instructions above :)

Enjoy! Try something raw today!

Raw Blueberry Tart with Cashew Cream and Apricot Kernel Crust

2010-07-17T19:51:00.005-04:00

It's the heart of blueberry season so I decided to make a blueberry tart. I used apricot kernels for the crust and a sweet cashew cream for the filling....

Have you tried apricot kernels? Basically, they are the inside of the pit of the apricot. Historically, they have not been consumed because they are known to have cyanide in them. However, you'd have to eat a whole bag of them to get cyanide poisoning. Apricot kernels are high in Vitamin B17, or Laetrile and are said to have a direct correlation to low incidence of cancer. Nutrition wise, they are packed with heart healthy fats.
For the entire tart, I used 1 cup and soaked them overnight. I then processed them with ~1 cup Medjool dates, cinnamon, juice of 1/2 a lemon and a pinch of Himalayan sea salt and pressed the dough into a tart pan (one with a removable bottom). I put it into the freezer to set up overnight.

For the filling, I used a basic cashew cream. The recipe is something like this:
1 cup cashews, soaked overnight
2-4 TBS coconut water
1/4-1/2 cup coconut meat
2 TBS agave syrup
1 TBS yacon syrup
1 tsp pure vanilla
pinch Himalayan or Celtic sea salt
Take all ingredients and blend together in a high speed blender....that's it.

After blending, I spread the cashew cream in the tart and let it set up for a bit in the freezer.

To finish the tart off you could really use any fruit. I used blueberries today because I happen to have a whole bunch from the farm. It's nice to take some time and arrange the fruit to look pretty...I just kind of dumped them on and spread them out...I was too hungry to take time and since the tart was just for me and my family (as opposed to being for family and friends), I didn't take too much care.

The tart is truly delicious. The creaminess of the filling and the sweetness of the crust rounded out by the earthy berries, mmmm, so delicious...and the best thing...this is raw! and dairy free! Amazing!

Enjoy! Try something raw today!
NOTE: This tart is best kept in the freezer...

Arame Salad with Miso Sesame Dressing

2010-07-12T08:09:00.006-04:00

What is arame? Arame is a sea vegetable, a species of kelp that has a mild, sweet flavor and a nice firm texture. This sea veggie is a great one to start out with because it is so mild tasting. It is also quite easy to work with. All you need to do is soak it prior to use for about 20 minutes in cool water, then drain it and give it a good rinse. That's all the prep it needs.

I use Emerald Cove arame. They harvest their arame from the Ise peninsula in Japan. It grows about 20 ft below the low tide level and it is harvested and then sun dried. Here is the pkg so you know what to look for.

Dried arame:
Soaking the arame:
This is what the arame looks likt after it has soaked and been rinsed:
For the salad, I mixed the arame with grated carrots and sliced snap peas, though you could use any other green veggie, asparagus, green beans, broccoli...you get the idea.

I dressed the salad with a Miso Sesame dressing that is worth preparing, even if you're not interested in the arame salad. It is a great dressing for any salad really. For the dressing, to keep it raw, use an unpasturized miso such as Miso Master brand. The dressing also has sesame tahini in it so look for a raw brand such as Artisana. The dressing has some sesame oil in it, so again, to keep it raw, get an unrefined brand.
Miso Sesame Dressing (adapted from Raw Foods For Busy People 2, Green Magic, by Jordan Maerin)
Ingredients
1/4 cup water
2 TBS miso (@room temp)
2 TBS sesame tahini (@room temp)
1 TBS sesame oil
Juice of 1 lemon (original recipe called for using 2 tsp vinegar, but I like to use lemon instead)
Pinch fresh ground black pepper

Whisk all of the ingredients together in a bowl...it's that easy...
On to the salad.
Mix some of the Miso Sesame Dressing into the arame, carrot, snap pea mixture. I put down a bed of mixed greens and piled the arame salad in the middle, then added in sliced tomatoes and avocados. I topped with a drizzle of Miso Sesame dressing. Delicious...

Go ahead and give arame a try. It is sweet and yummy, not fishy tasting at all.
Try something raw today! Enjoy :)

Raw Chia Oat Energy Bars

2010-07-11T19:32:00.008-04:00

Here is a recipe for a true energy bar that is packed with nutrition, and rivals any cooked and processed commercial energy bar out in the markets.
The bar is made with raw, sprouted oats, prunes, chia seeds, raw cacao powder, cacao nibs, pure vanilla and a pinch of Celtic sea salt.

Let's talk Chia first. The Chia seed or Salvia Hispanica is a mega energy food, packed with protein (it is a complete source of protein containing all essential amino acids), calcium, potassium, iron, antioxidants, fiber, and essential fatty acids (Omega 3 and Omega 6).
It is an ancient superfood, once a staple of the Incan, Mayan and Aztec cultures.

The Chia seed is extremely hydrophilic, meaning water loving, and can absorb 9-12x their weight in liquid; chia becomes gelatinous when mixed with liquid making it a good seed to use as a binder in raw bars, cookies and breads, to make puddings from, to add to smoothies and other drinks. It can also be ground up to make a chia "flour" to use in raw recipes as well.

There are a number of health benefits that can be reaped from eating chia seeds. These include weight loss, balancing of blood sugar, and intestinal regularity to name a few.

I use the chia seeds in this bar as a binder along with the prunes...so let's get to the recipe.

I soaked a cup of raw, sproutable oats overnight, and then to them added approximately 1 - 1.5 cups of pitted prunes to soak for about 30 minutes. I drained and rinsed the oats/prunes and processed them with the S-blade of my food processor. To that I added about 1/4 cup of chia seeds.
I also added in about 1/2 cup raw cacao powder, a pinch of Celtic sea salt and ~ 1 TBS vanilla. I chose not to add any other sweetener to this bar, though if you wanted it to be sweeter, you could add in 1/4 cup of a raw sweetener such as agave syrup or maple syrup. After processing all the ingredients together, I transferred them to a bowl.
To this, I hand mixed in about 1/4 to 1/3 cup of raw cacao nibs. That's it. Next you need to form the mix into bar format. The best way to do that is to spread it out in between wax paper with a rolling pin to a uniform thickness.

After you get it to a uniform thickness, place it in the fridge, wax paper and all, overnight, to allow the chia to absorb some of the liquid in the mix, and to firm the bar up. The next day, pull it, and cut into bars.
These bars will give you instant energy, I guarantee it. They are slightly sweet from the prune, chewy from the chia, and crunchy from the cacao nibs. I like to store them wrapped in wax paper, in the freezer.
Enjoy! Try something raw today!

My new Health Educator Certification

2010-07-05T05:35:00.004-04:00

As some of you know, I've been taking a 10 week course called Life Force Energy (The Hippocrates Approach to Optimum Health)...
Well, I finished! So I am now a Certified Health Educator in the Hippocrates approach to health.
It's pretty exciting and now I'm going to incorporate that knowledge into my business, Thyme To Cook Personal Chef Service.
Please check out my Thyme To Cook FB page, found here: Thyme To Cook on FB and please check out my business website, found here: Thyme To Cook.
I'm always up for a chat, so please don't hesitate to contact me @ sharon@thyme-to-cook.com.
Thanks everyone!
Try something raw today!

Recreating "goraw's" Ginger Snap

2010-07-04T20:16:00.004-04:00

Now here's a raw food I am totally excited about being able to make.....it's the ginger snap, recreated from the brand "goraw"....when I first tried this little cookie I said to myself, I need to figure out how to make it. I was thinking it would not be too hard, since there are only 4 ingredients: ginger, coconut, dates and sesame seeds.

So, I took a shot at it....
I figured that the ginger in the cookie came from ginger juice. The cookies have a real pronounced ginger flavor that tastes fresh and not from powdered ginger. I juiced some in my juicer.
Next, I processed some dates in the food processor....
I transferred the dates to a bowl, and added in the ginger juice, coconut and sesame seeds, then mixed until it was homogeneous.
Now, this was trial and error and I really didn't measure out anything...I just did it by feel, look and taste.
Next came time to recreate the cute little round shape that the goraw brand has for their cookies. I used the smallest biscuit cutter that I have.
They went into the dehydrator @ 105 for 12 hrs.
Here is the final cookie:
So, not sure if you've ever seen the goraw brand that I'm referring to, but this was a pretty good recreation of their ginger snap. Some changes I'd make when making them again are 1) add more ginger juice and 2) add less sesame seeds....they were very yummy, and I'm glad to be able to make them myself (they are quite expensive :) ).....

Enjoy and try something raw today!

Green Juice

2010-07-01T13:48:00.004-04:00

With the start of my CSA, I have to say my consumption of green juice has skyrocketed! I am getting the most amazing greens, zukes, cukes, and summer squashes :)
Today I'm using gorgeous beet greens, Russian Red Kale, Spinach....

Summer squash, cuke, and from Stillman's. I also added green apple, pear, bok choy, Rainbow Chard and lemon balm from my window boxes, cilantro, and parsley.

The beet greens and kale make the "green" juice a bit brown, but it's delicious none the less :)

This little guy almost made it into the juice - let's say we're both probably glad he didn't make it in there....
Try something raw today!!

Stuffed Zucchini

2010-07-01T13:10:00.007-04:00

I got some beautiful globe zucchini @ "my" farm, Stillman's the other day and decided to stuff 'em!

Over the weekend I stopped by the Marblehead Farmer's Market and got some of the first, local corn of the season (as well as local cherries and tomatoes). I used the corn for the stuffing, along with the tomatoes, avocado, grated beets, snap peas, sprouted quinoa, and lime juice.

Let's talk sprouting quinoa. Quinoa is an amazing seed that everyone should be eating. It can be sprouted and it can be steamed. It is contains all the essential amino acids that the body needs to ingest (as opposed to producing itself). It is also alkaline forming, meaning it will not cause your body to become acidic; acidic bodies are more prone to getting illnesses, while those more alkaline are known to have less illness.
If you are going to sprout quinoa, make sure you know the source from where you are getting it. I buy raw, sproutable quinoa. If you get the quinoa in the box or from the bins @ Whole Foods, be sure to watch it closely as it may mold over more quickly.
You can purchase the raw, sproutable quinoa from Raw Food Naturals.

To sprout the quinoa, soak it for a minimum of 3 hrs. Sometimes I just put it up to soak overnight because its easier to just set it and forget it.
After the soak, give it a healthy rinse with water and then it will start to sprout. The sprouting time is very quick and you can see the tail form as soon as 8 hrs in. I like to sprout it in a fine mesh strainer that I leave by the sink. After the first rinse, let it sit, then give it another rinse 8 hrs later. Let it go overnight and the next morning, rinse again. It should be ready to eat now, but you can let it go longer if you'd like. After the 2nd day I would suggest putting it in a glass container and put in the fridge. It will keep for about a day more and that's it. I have learned to sprout only what I can eat in a day or so because the shelf life is so short.
Here's the quinoa after about a day :

When I was ready to stuff the zucchinis, I first hollowed them out:
I brushed the inside of the zukes with a nice coating of cold pressed olive oil, and a gave them a sprinkle of salt as well.
I then took the mixture I described above and stuffed the zukes with it. Here's a pic before I mixed in the sprouted quinoa:

I dehydrated them at 105 degrees for about 12 hrs.
So, they were pretty good. I think that they could have gone a bit longer in order to soften up the zucchini a bit more. They were just very deep and stuffed pretty much all the way, so dehydration was not even throughout the entire zucchini. I will make this again using regular zucchini and I think they'll probably "cook" through a bit more evenly.

Get out and enjoy the local bounty!!!
Eat something raw today!

Community Supported Agriculture (CSA)

2010-06-26T21:04:00.001-04:00

I'm sure most of you reading this know what a CSA is, but for those who do not, it is Community Supported Agriculture. Basically, it is a way that you can get involved with your local farms, by buying a "share" of the farm. Most farms either deliver to you once a week, or you go to the farm to pick up a cut of what the farm is harvesting that week. It is hands down, the best way to get the freshest produce out there (short of growing it yourself). For more information about farms in your area that offer CSAs, check out localharvest.org.
The farm that I have been a member of for years is Stillman's Farm. It is a family run farm out of Western, Mass that offers both a produce CSA and a meat CSA. I am as proud to support both CSAs as I am honored to support them. Their produce and meats are exemplary and I am excited each week to get my share....(the meat pick-ups are once a month and the CSA runs through the entire year).
So, it's probably not too late to check out if there is a farm in your area that offers a CSA program. Look into it, you will not be disappointed, especially if you are shelling out cash a couple times a week to Whole Foods or some other store. If you were to buy the amount of fresh, local and conscientiously grown food that you get from the farm at Whole Foods I guarantee you'd be spending far more than what your share will cost you. It's worth it!!!

It's easy to grow Wheat Berries and Sunflower Sprouts

2010-06-13T08:44:00.000-04:00

I do a ton of sprouting...clover...alfalfa...garbanzos.....lentils....adzukis....broccoli....you get it.. whatever I can sprout.....those seeds/beans are sprouted w/out soil, usually in glass jars or some other sprouting device.
I'm just getting into sprouting wheat berries for wheatgrass juice, sunflower sprouts and peas, which are done in soil. As part of my Life Force Energy class, we got to sprout both wheat berries and sunflower sprouts, which was surprisingly easy to do.
You first soak your wheat berries (Hard Red Winter Wheat) and sunflower seeds (Black Oil sunflower seeds) overnight in water. The size of the tray will determine what volume of seeds to soak.
The trays are filled with soil; I use a top soil mix w/peat moss and enrich it with glacial rock powder. After the over night soak, drain and rinse the wheat berries and/or sunflower sprouts and press them into the soil.
It's best to dedicate trays, but for our class, we split 1 tray each to get started.
Gently water to make sure soil is moist, and then cover with another tray. Water again in the evening. Repeat this for 3 days, and the sprouts will actually start to push up the tray that is laying on top of it. At this point, remove the top tray and give the sprouts indirect sunlight and continue to water 2-3 times daily, depending on soil moisture.

Day 2:
Day 4:

Day 7:
Harvest the wheatgrass when you see a second, smaller piece of grass growing out of the first, ~7-10 days. The sunflower sprouts are harvested when you can see the second pair of leaves starting to grow with the larger, top pair of leaves, also ~7-10 days.
The wheatgrass obviously you juice into wheatgrass juice...the sunflower sprouts can also be juiced, or eaten straight up, they are delicious and sweet.

Eat something raw today!

Raw Portobello "Parmesan"

2010-06-10T20:26:00.000-04:00

Hands down, this is the best raw food I have prepared to date.
Using the raw marinara that I blogged about here, and a cashew "cream", I stuffed portobellos and dehydrated them. The result was a melt in your mouth, delicious, velvety, yet savory and filling dish.

Let's talk about the cashew cream. The recipe came from an amazing blog, called Rawmazing. The recipe that follows is my adaptation:
Cashew Cream
1 cup cashews, soaked until soft, drained and rinsed
1/2 cup young coconut meat
2-3 TBS young coconut water (I actually used a bit more than this)
1 small garlic clove (I used only 1/2 a clove since I find garlic can easily overpower a raw recipe)
Pinch Celtic Sea Salt
Pinch of fresh ground black pepper
2-3 TBS fresh chopped cilantro (You can use any herb that you like)

To prepare, simply put all ingredients except cilantro in a high speed blender and blend until a smooth consistency is achieved. Stir in the fresh herbs and check your seasoning; adjust accordingly.
Cashews are a great nut to make creamy sauces out of, including ice creams! That is for another blog...

Next you need to prepare the portobellos. Remove the stem and then use a small spoon to gently scrape out the gills. Once the gills are cleaned out, drizzle a bit of extra virgin olive oil across the area where the gills were, and season with Celtic sea salt and pepper.
Now, layer in your sauces, first the raw marinara, then the cashew cream.

That's it. The portobellos are ready to go into the dehydrator. I chose not to use a Teflex sheet, but rather put the portobellos on the screen instead. I dehydrated them at 105 for ~8 hrs.
The portobellos softened up beautifully, and the marinara and cream sauces both firmed up a bit, creating a pleasing texture. The taste was off the hook.
I enjoyed them so much that I wanted, no strike that, I NEEDED to make more! I didn't have any more portobellos, but I did have a zucchini, so I decided to try it with that. I added on a sprinkle of nutritional yeast as well, and dehydrated it at 105 for ~8 hrs. Here is a pic, prior to dehydrating:
Delicious....I have another batch of portobellos in the dehydrator as I type. DO TRY THIS AT HOME!!!!
:) Eat something raw today!

Raw Marinara Sauce

2010-06-04T21:04:00.001-04:00

It's almost (not quite yet) tomato season, and I can't wait. In the meantime, using sun dried tomatoes is a good way to get your tomato dose in. You can use both fresh tomatoes and sun drieds to make a robust, raw marinara sauce.

First off you need to soak your sun dried tomatoes (~1 cup) to rehydrate them; to keep it raw, soak for about 4 hours in lukewarm water. After soaking, drain the tomatoes, reserving the soaking water to use to thin out the sauce as you process. Put the soaked tomatoes in a high speed blender.
In the meantime, rough chop 5-8 Roma tomatoes, depending on size, a garlic clove, 1-2 tsp fresh oregano and thyme, and a handful of fresh basil. Put all of those ingredients in the blender with the sun drieds.

Add the following to the blender: juice of 1 lemon, 2 TBS best quality cold pressed olive oil, 3 dates (pitted) and sea salt to taste.
Process the ingredients, adding the soak water to thin as necessary. Season with S+P to taste after processing. The consistency of the sauce will vary based on your preference.

So, what do you eat the sauce with? Well, to keep it raw, you can make "pasta" out of veggies. I used zucchini, summer squash and carrots.
I used a tool called the Spirooli Spiral Slicer. Its basically a tool with 3 different blades that can be used to cut vegetables into thin cut slices, or 2 different size spiral slices.
Here's a pic with the zucchini in place:
Here are a couple of pics of the veggies as they come off the blade:

And the finished product:

Before I sauce the noodles, I add a pinch of salt and a squeeze of lemon juice to soften them up a bit.
Though not totally raw, but enjoyed by raw food enthusiasts, for a cheesy taste like Parm cheese, you can top the sauce and noodles with some nutritional yeast.

I had a bunch of sauce left over, so I took some and added ground flax to it and then blended it together in the high speed blender. I spread it on the dehydrator sheet and dehydrated it into a tomato wrap. Today I enjoyed it filled with sprouts, avocado, grape tomatoes, hemp seeds and a sprinkle of nutritional yeast:
Enjoy! Eat something raw today!

Stocking my Raw Foods Kitchen

2010-05-31T07:58:00.000-04:00

Where do I get my ingredients to stock my raw kitchen? Well, I do a lot of shopping on the internet. Whole Foods has a fine assortment of ingredients as well, but I do find their prices to be on the higher side, and they don't have everything I need to stock my raw kitchen with the hard goods.

One internet shop I like to buy from is Raw Food Naturals. They have a great assortment of the essentials that you need to eat on a day to day basis: nuts, seeds, nut and seed butters, raw food bars, raw food snacks, raw oils (think coconut, hemp etc), dried fruits and superfoods (gojis, mulberries), superfood powders for smoothies, sweeteners, the list goes on....and the best thing about this online store is it's excellent customer service.

Another internet site I buy from is The Raw Food World. Their site is bigger than Raw Food Naturals, as they offer equipment and appliances and other kitchen tools you might need. Their prices are competitive and they have a ton to offer.

I think that stocking the raw food kitchen is the most important thing to being successful on a raw foods diet. If you don't have the ingredients to prepare foods, you're going to then be at a loss at what to eat, and that's when you'll go back to the SAD (standard American diet).
So, lets chat a bit about what's in my kitchen. This is not an inclusive list, but highlights some of the hard items that have made it easier for me to add raw foods to my diet. When purchasing these ingredients, always chose the "raw" option. If it doesn't say raw, it isn't raw.....

1) Nuts and Seeds/Nut butters/Seed Butters:
Almonds - a must have nut in my kitchen, to make almond milk, "refried beans", a variety of raw bars, cookies, and treats
Cashews - excellent for making cashew cheese and creamy desserts, like ice cream (non-dairy of course)
Sunflower seeds - again, a must have seed for making a nice veggie pate, which can be used in rolls and wraps
Flax seeds - Huge in Omegas and great to act as a binder for crackers and breads
Hemp Seeds - possibly my favorite seed right now, hemp seed is packed with Omegas, protein and they are delicious on salads.
Chia Seeds - I know, Chia, you say? Yes Chia. The chia seed is an excellent seed to make into puddings, crackers, to add to smoothies etc. It is a nutritional powerhouse as well, high in fiber and protein.
Quinoa - quinoa is actually a seed and not a grain. I sprout it or cook it and eat it. I love it - it contains all the amino acids needed to make a complete protein and so is a good choice for vegans/vegetarians.
Raw Almond butter - Yum. Enough said.
Raw Sesame Tahini - perfect for making hummus and other pates.
Other nuts are great to have as well, such as pine nuts, macadamia nuts and the other tree nuts (walnuts, pecans, Brazil nuts); unfortunately, I am allergic to the other tree nuts so I can't enjoy them.
Sprouts
Sprouts are a powerhouse of nutrition. If you think about it, each tiny seed has everything inside of it necessary to make a plant. When you sprout a seed, and all of that nutrition comes out into the tail, you have life - all amino acids necessary to grow that plant are right there, ready to eat. Imagine what the sprout can do in your body? It's completely bio-available nutrition.
I sprout whatever I can - a variety of dried peas, beans (azuki, garbanzo, lentils) and seeds (clover, alfalfa, broccoli). The possibilities are endless.
Sunflower sprouts are also extremely nutritious. I have grown my own in the past, in soil, and I am currently getting set up to grow them as well as wheatgrass.

2) Sweeteners:
Raw Honey - honey that is unheated, unprocessed straight from the hive. Look for honey local to your area
Lucuma powder- this powder is a great sweetener - it comes from the fruit of plant in Peru and has a great caramel flavor.
Maple Syrup, Grade B - this grade of maple syrup is often not sold in conventional mkts. It is the least processed of syrups and has more minerals than the Grade A you find at the store.
Agave syrup - I'm still not convinced that this syrup is as bad as HFCS. Yes, it is high in fructose, but it still is low glycemic, not spiking the blood sugar as high as refined white sugar.
Mesquite Powder - this powder comes from the pod of the mesquite bean and is a pleasant sweetener. It has protein in it as well as vitamins and minerals.
Dates - dates are high on the glycemic scale and so for some people, such as diabetics, they are not ideal to consume. I love dates and I use them to make bars and cookies, to sweeten up almond milk and to round out the flavor in some savory soups and sauces.
Yacon Syrup - I'm just getting into this sweetener. It is delicious, reminiscent of molasses. However, it is extremely expensive.

3) Superfoods:
Raw Cacao pwder and nibs - yum, just yum. Nibs are great for a pick me up and to put in raw bars and cookies as well as trail mix. The powder has endless possibilities, cookies, smoothies, bars, ice cream, nut milks, you get the idea
Dried Goji Berries - a berry native to Asia, high in protein, good carbs, fiber and fat
Dried Mulberries - an antioxidant powerhouse!
Cacao Butter: Not used that much in my kitchen, but delicious to use in raw chocolates and other treats.
Coconut - I'm putting coconut under superfood because I think it's super - high in medium chain fatty acids and capryilic acid (natural antimicrobial agent), as well as electrolytes. Both the meat and water are a great addition to your kitchen.

4) Oils/Condiments:
Coconut oil/butter - excellent for adding to bars, smoothies and other treats
Cold pressed extra virgin olive oil
Hemp oil - see hemp seed above
Apple Cider Vinegar - many health benefits from apple cider vinegar, including anti-bacterial properties, increases metabolism, and helps fight allergies to name a few
Nama Shoyu - similar to soy, but naturally fermented
Bragg's Amino Acids - liquid protein that has a soy like flavor, vegetarian

5) Grains:
Millet, Amaranth (and quinoa): all of these will alkalize the body and can be sprouted.
Hard Red Winter Wheat - for growing wheatgrass and for sprouting to make raw, dehydrated breads
Oats - for soaking overnight to make raw oatmeal or to make into raw cookies and bars
Buckwheat - for soaking overnight to make raw porridge or to dehydrate into buckwheat "crispies" to eat as cereal, also to make into raw cookies and bars

So, these are some ingredients in my kitchen. Again, the list is not complete, there are many other ingredients that I have probably forgotten :) Contact me for more information :)
Eat something raw today!

Raw Nori Rolls

2010-05-06T20:27:00.000-04:00

I am currently taking a 10 week course called Life Force Energy, The Hippocrates Approach to Optimum Health. The Hippocrates Institute was founded in Boston, in the 1950's by a woman named Ann Wigmore. She was one of the earliest pioneers of raw and living foods. Hippocrates is now located in Florida and people go there to get healthy and to learn about raw and living foods.
A special woman named Betsy Bragg runs the Life Force Energy course here in the Boston area, and at the end of the 10 weeks, I'll be a certified educator in the Hippocrates approach to healthy living.
All of the proceeds of the course go towards a program that Betsy has started in the Boston school system to teach the children and teachers about raw and living foods, health and nutrition and about gardening; the Martin Luther King Jr Elementary School in Dorchester, Ma is lucky enough to have this program. Truly an amazing program that is giving the opportunity to kids to learn about where their food comes from. To learn more about the program, check out the website for Optimum Health Solutions.
Just in the first 3 weeks of the course, I have learned so much about raw and living foods, sprouting, juicing etc. It's great.
Today in class, we made raw nori rolls and they were so yummy, I stopped on my way home to pick up some nori to make the rolls at home.
What is nori?
Nori is seaweed, and you probably know if from "maki" in sushi restaurants:
This nori is raw and untoasted as opposed to "toasted" nori which is also available. Nori is a sea vegetable and is packed with nutrients. Just one sheet has 13 calories, 1.2g fiber, 1.2g protein, Vitamins A and B, iodine, carotene, calcium, iron and zinc. Because it is raw, the nutrients are highly bioavailable and digestable.

Now, most sushi rolls are filled with rice and some type of veggies and fish.
The sushi rolls I made today are raw, so they do not contain rice or fish. Instead, jicama and daikon radish are used to simulate rice, and a variety of veggies are used as filling. For more protein, a nut or seed pate can be used as well, however, I didn't have any pate kicking around. I used mashed avocado for flavor, and mouth feel (plus healthy fats). I used Shoyu, a naturally brewed or fermented soy sauce to seal the rolls.
Most soy sauces are heated during processing. Shoyu is not heated and so is considered raw.

Here we go: 1 sheet of nori on my sushi rolling mat:

Grated jicama, daikon and carrots:

Building the roll with the avocado, jicama, daikon, carrots, alfalfa sprouts and sunflower sprouts:
Rolling the nori:
The finished roll that I sealed with the shoyu (usually water is used, but I like using shoyu since it adds more flavor):

The finished roll:

Warning: These rolls are highly addicting!!!
:) Try something raw today......

Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies

2010-04-21T06:20:00.000-04:00

mmmmm chocolate......there are many things you can do with raw cocoa, one which is make raw chocolate cookies.
I found a recipe by raw food chef Matthew Kenny, and changed it up to suit what I had in my pantry. Chef Kenny is an amazing raw foods chef, and is hard core - he even makes his own raw chocolate chips!!! In his recipe he used cashew flour and oat flour. In mine, I used almond meal and ground oats. For the chips, I used Enjoy Life dairy, nut and soy free, vegan, mini, semi-sweet chocolate chips.

So, basically, the recipe consisted of mixing the oat flour, almond meal, raw cacao powder, water, maple syrup (which isn't raw, but, hey that's ok), vanilla, sea salt and the chips.
I shaped the cookies and put them on to the dehydrator sheets and let them go overnight at 105 degrees.
The result was a pretty yummy treat. I do have to say that the oat flour was a bit strong tasting. When I make these again, I'll try to use cashew flour and actually make the oat flour from raw oat flakes instead of from raw oats.
Gearing up for the 7 day raw food challenge which starts next week!!!!!!

7 Day Raw Food Challenge

2010-03-27T08:27:00.000-04:00

I wanted to share this with you, but with a disclaimer - I am in NO WAY affiliated with the people bringing you this challenge, other than LOVING their health show, the Renegade Health show on YouTube. Their names are Kevin and AnneMarie Gianni, and they are awesome. I have their link on the left side of this blog so please check them out. They are a great source of information on raw foods, vegan eating, health, fitness and general well being. They have interviewed some heavy hitters in the health and fitness field and have great energy.
Anyways, they are doing a 7 day raw food challenge, which is a great way to get introduced to raw foods and it's also a great way to re-commit to raw foods, if you've slipped off the wagon, so to speak. Their plan includes a 96 page booklet, which details raw food nutrition, includes the plan, as well as includes the recipes and shopping lists for the plan. Also included are 2 coaching calls over the 7 days, which you can call into on Day 1 and Day 3 (I think those are the correct days)...that's pretty cool - a plan that offers support.
7 days is not a long time at all, and so if you're interested in what raw food nutrition is all about, than maybe this is for you.
Here's a link:
7 Day Raw Food Challenge
Enjoy!

Raw Hot and Sour Soup

2010-03-27T07:46:00.000-04:00

This past week I enjoyed a raw hot and sour soup, interpreted from a recipe by Mark Reinfeld and Jennifer Murray, co-authors of the 30 Minute Vegan. Their recipes were highlighted in last month's Vegetarian Times.
One change I made was the addition of coconut water in place of regular water. I happened to have a young coconut, and wanted to use it, so I added in the water (the meat I used in a raw cocoa pudding, which was off the hook good)....
I also used smoked paprika instead of cayenne pepper, which isn't raw, but is so delicious. If you've read my Thyme To Cook blog, you know that I call smoked paprika my secret weapon.

The one ingredient I was curious about in the recipe was dried apricots. I have to say, that the apricot was the "secret weapon" of this recipe. The addition of the sweet, yet sour apricot was what made the soup. You had to soak the apricots to rehydrate them prior to blending. Another change to the recipe included using the soaking water of the apricots as part of the total liquid needed. That way I retained the flavor and any nutrients that might have floated out while soaking.

Here is my interpretation of the recipe:
1/2-3/4 cup mung bean sprouts
3-4 TBS Nama Shoyu (raw soy sauce)
5-6 organic, unsulphured, dried apricots, soaked in 1 cup warm water
Water from 1 young thai coconut (usually ~ 1 or 1.5 cups), meat saved for another recipe
1 1/2 cups chopped tomatoes
1/4 cup thinly sliced scallions
2 TBS raw apple cider (unpasteurized)
2 tsp peeled, minced fresh ginger
1/2 cup diced cucumber or zucchini
1 jalapeno, seeded and minced
2 TBS fresh lime juice
2-4 TBS chopped cilantro
1 TBS raw agave nectar
1/4 tsp smoked paprika (or cayenne)

1. Soak apricots in warm water, saving that soaking water.
2. Marinate mung sprouts in the nama shoyu and set aside.
3. Place apricots, tomatoes, scallions, vinegar, ginger, in high speed blender or food processor.
4. Measure out thai coconut water, apricot soaking water and bring total volume up to 3 cups with filtered water. Add to blender.
5. Blend up ingredients until smooth.
6. Transfer to serving bowl and stir in jalapeno, cuke or zuke, lime juice, cilantro, agave and smoked paprika (or cayenne).

I let the soup sit @ room temp for a couple hours before eating it, but you could heat in a double boiler until just warm to the touch.
If you don't have a double boiler, here's a technique you could do to warm up the soup.
Put a small amount of water in a small saucepan and put on medium heat. Place soup in a bowl which can be placed over the saucepan. Slowly heat the soup, stirring, and placing finger into it. Take the soup off the heat once the soup is warm to your finger.
Remember, raw, "living" foods should not be heated above the range of 105-118.
Sorry for the not so great pics...I just couldn't capture the soup the way I wanted to w/my iphone...gotta get a new camera (or break out my old one...hmm..where is that since we've moved???)

Enjoy!

Coconut Carrot Curry Soup

2010-02-28T10:38:00.000-05:00

One of the first raw soups I made was a Coconut Curry soup. The recipe I used was from a book called Raw Foods For Busy People by Jordan Maerin. The book is a thin paperback, and at first glance, might be overlooked, which is a shame, because it is packed with excellent information for a new raw foodist, as well as some great recipes.
This recipe involved opening up a Thai coconut to get the milk and the meat. I know what you're thinking - isn't that and advanced technique? Well, yes and no, really. There are some excellent, informative videos on how to open a Thai coconut on line, on being this video from the Renegade Health Show: go(coco)nuts!!
This is a Thai coconut:
Inside is the round nut which has the milk and meat in it. To get to it, you cut off the white husk, and use the heel of your knife to break the shell open:
Here's the meat and milk after I scraped it out of the shell:
The meat is very soft, almost gelatinous, and the milk, is actually a thin liquid with a mild coconut flavor (I actually made coconut "ice cream" from one on Friday which was soooo delicious, but that's for another post)....

The soup had grated carrots, the coconut milk and meat, diced onion, juice of a lime or 2, powdered ginger, curry powder and cilantro in it. I used my new Blend-Tec blender, which is a high speed blender, that can process just about anything, to process it all up (except cilantro).
After blending it all together, I added the chopped cilantro. The soup was spicy and delicious. The spice of the ginger and curry powder really warmed the body. I will definitely make this soup again :)
Try something raw today!

Sprouted Chickpea Hummus

2010-02-26T05:43:00.000-05:00

I wanted to post a quick note about using the sprouted chickpeas from my last post.
I ate some of them on salad and the rest I made into hummus.

Here's a pic of the chick peas - look at their tails :)

For the hummus I pureed the sprouted chickpeas, sesame tahini (which is sesame seed paste), garlic, a bit of extra virgin olive oil and I also added in nutritional yeast and sea salt. It was delectable.
I ate it on salad. topped with Hemp seeds. Hemp is a great source of your essential fatty acids (omegas) as well as protein. Here's some nutritional stats:
In 3 TBS there are:
174 calories
14g fat w/only 1g saturated and 7.5g Omega-6, 3.0g Omega-3, 0.6g Super Omega-6 and 0.3g Super Omega-3 SDA
2g Total carb (1g fiber, <1g sugar)
11g protein!! In 3 TBS!! Amazing!

Here's the hummus - it was thick and hearty enough to be a meal....
Enjoy - try something raw today!

So, what is raw food anyways?

2010-02-20T09:55:00.000-05:00

I was mystified by the term "raw food" when I first started learning about the concept. But really, it's not hard to grasp. Have you eaten an apple off the tree? Then you've eaten raw food.
What about a salad with crisp greens and lots of fresh veggies? Then you've eaten raw food.

Where I think the mystique comes in is regarding "cooking".
Raw foods are typically are heated to only the range of ~104-118. The theory is that any heat above 118 will destroy the vital enzymes in raw, "living" foods. When living foods are taken into the body, the enzymes they contain can first digest the nutrients and break them down so that they can then be absorbed by the body. When the enzymes are destroyed, and food is eaten, the body tries to break the foods down and has a hard time doing so. This causes less nutrients to be absorbed, and it causes foods to stay in the body longer than they should be.
Raw living foods are also full of fiber, and you know what that means!!! To put it nicely, easy elimination by the body.... as I indicated above, cooked foods are harder to digest and tend to hang out in the body as waste products, bogging the body down.

Another highlight of raw, living foods is that they get the pH of the body to alkaline, or base. This is desirable because a healthy body is about 70% alkaline and 30% acidic. Cooked foods, that have had their enzymes destroyed by heat will create a more acidic body and that leads to a variety of health problems. For that reason, many people who have chronic health issues, if they want to take a more holistic approach to getting better, will turn to raw foods to heal.

So, raw foods are foods that have not been heated about 118. But there's more to it.
Many foods are raw, but are in a dormant state. What does that mean you might ask?
Well, take a raw bean, nut or seed. They all contain the nutrients and enzymes necessary to promote life, right? Plant them and you (might) get a plant.
Well, when you buy them, they first need to be stimulated or woken up so to speak, to get those enzymes going. The way this happens is by soaking them in water, causing them to sprout.
That sprout contains quality protein, high levels of amino acids, vitamins, minerals and enzymes, in a highly digestible form.
Soaking the seeds, nuts and beans also removes undesirable acids that protect them in their dormant state called phytic acid and oxalyic acid. Again, this then makes digestion of these seeds, nuts and beans much more digestible by the body.
Sprouting is one of the easiest ways to add raw foods to your body.
Here's a pic of some chick peas that I have sprouting:
Basic sprouting technique:
Even before I became interested in raw foods, I did my own sprouting. Basically what you do is first, take your beans or seeds and soak them overnight in a Ball Jar as I have done in my picture.
Cover the top with cheese cloth and then cover the jar w/a towel so that sunlight does not get in.
The next morning, drain the jar, leaving the cheese cloth over the top. Rinse a couple of times with new, cool water and drain completely. Cover again with the towel. Rinse again in the evening and cover w/towel. Repeat these steps until you have the desired size sprout. Obviously, different beans and seeds, and nuts as well will have different sprouting lengths.
To harvest, simply remove cheese cloth, dump sprouts into a bowl and cover w/cool water. Swish them around, and then lift them out of the water. Place them onto a baking sheet covered with paper towels to dry out, and leave them out on the counter to get a bit of green going (stimulate that chlorophyll!!).
That's it. The sprouts are then ready to use.
What would I do with them, you might wonder?
Well, I like to eat sprouts on top of sprouted grain bread w/a schmear of Tofutti Cream Cheese. I will eat them w/hummus on crackers. I will add them to salads. Etc...possibilities are endless.
Some of these chickpeas are going to be mixed with raw sesame tahini, garlic, lemon juice and sea salt to be turned into hummus.
My next step is to start to use sprouts in foods that I will then dehydrate in a dehydrator. Dehydrators will "cook" the food by removing the water, but leaving the nutrients behind. I have purchased an Excalibur Dehydrator that can be set ~104-118 degrees for a set period of time.
Looking forward to blogging on that once I use it!!!
Rawk out all!!!

Going raw

2010-02-19T15:45:00.000-05:00

As some know, I'm a personal fitness chef and spinning instructor. I'm always on the pursuit to better my health and fitness.
Recently, I've started to cook for the family of a woman on a raw diet. In just a couple of months, I have learned from her, and have become SO intrigued with the idea of a raw food diet, that I've been studying and reading all I can about it, while at the same time, adding raw foods to my diet.

I've decided to chronicle my fascination with raw foods, and will post about the foods that I've added to my diet. Check back again for more on my "rawking out", 2010!

:) sharon