Sesame Turnip Chips

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

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

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!

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

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

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

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 :)