Raw Apple Cobbler

From Thanksgiving to New Year's, it's really easy to forget about health.
It's the holidays, it's cold, family get-togethers... all of these things make eating sweets very justifiable. Especially on Thanksgiving when the majority of my calories are coming from mashed potatoes and pumpkin pie!

But eat decadently doesn't have to mean eating poorly. This raw apple cobbler was well-liked by family- even the New Orleans-food loving step-cousin of mine.


Ingredients:
4 C apples, diced

Sauce:
1 banana
1 apple
1/3 C maple syrup
1 T cinnamon
1 C almond milk

Crust:
2/3 C almonds
1/2 Tbsp neutral oil (I actually used flax oil for omega-3's, and it came out fine!)
pinch salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1 1/2 Tbsp maple syrup
2 Tbsp raisins

Chop up the apples and place in a serving dish, I leave the skin on.
Then, add all of the sauce ingredients to a food processor or blender and puree. This will make more than enough, so you'll only need about half of this. Pour what you will use over the apples and toss.
Add the almonds to the food processor and pulse. Add the remaining ingredients and process until well combined. Crumble this over the apples.



It can be eaten right away, but it's better if it's left to marinate a little in the fridge. It's perfect for both dessert and breakfast!

Banana Almond Maca Mush

Fruit is great for breakfast. Especially on those hot Summer mornings when it seems all I want is watermelon. But on a chilly morning before a long day of school? I tend to want something more substantial...

This is a tasty bowl of banana-ness, raw, and a wonderful breakfast to wake up to!

Ingredients:
☺ 2 ripe bananas
☺ 1 Tbsp raw almond butter
☺ 1/4 C almond milk
☺ 1/2 Tbsp maple syrup (or to preference)
☺ 1 tsp maca powder
☺ cinnamon and ginger, to taste

☻ In a bowl, thoroughly mix the almond milk, almond butter, maple syrup, maca, and spices. Mash in the bananas so that it has a lumpy texture, and voila! Easy, delicious raw breakfast.

Raw Buckwheatie Cereal

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day.

But trite expressions aside, eating a raw breakfast is more important that eating any other meal raw. And I need a breakfast that I can anticipate every night. If I weren't trying to be more raw, soy yogurt with fruit and granola, oatmeal, quinoa pilafs, cereal, nut butter on bread with apple slices, or sometimes even pancakes would suffice. And sometimes I don't mind enjoying some oatmeal or soy yogurt for breakfast, still.
But this recipe satisfies any cravings for a non-raw breakfast. It's sweet, flavorful, with a slight crunch, and it's raw!

♫ Buckwheaties ♪
1 C buckwheat
1/4 C nuts or seeds, chopped up, more or less if you want (optional)
1/4 C raisins or other dried fruit (optional)
Cinnamon

Soak the buckwheat for eight hours, or overnight. Drain it and rinse well. Rinse once or twice a day until you see little tails, this should take only around one or two days.
Dehydrate them until they are crispy.
Toss them with the other ingredients in an airtight jar or container.

☼Cereal☼
Fill a bowl with fruit. I like to use grapes, strawberries, blueberries, and bananas, but whatever works for you.
Take a small handful of the buckwheaties cereal and toss with the fruit. Pour over some almond mylk like you would pour it on cereal, and add a drizzle of maple syrup.

It's mostly fruit, but it's pretty jazzed up for a fruit salad, and it has been my latest breakfast obsession! ☺

Raw Carrot-Veggie Mush

I think one of the main reasons I get sick of eating raw food is that I quickly fall into a routine. Breakfast goes through cycles, spending a week or so on monkey sandwiches then to raw cereals to fruit salad to smoothies. Lunch is usually a salad consisting of kale, broccoli, carrots, raisins, and either a chopped apple or berries, all tossed with olive oil, sea salt, and lemon juice. Dinner will perhaps be a little more varied, sometimes raw pasta, or raw macaroni and cheez, perhaps raw tacos... but it just gets boring.
I once tried a raw chicken salad recipe and found it so delicious, but, like many raw recipes, it required the nuts/seeds to be soaked. Sure, it makes them easier to digest, but it's so inconvenient!
This recipe was just trying to come up with some type of raw vegan meat-like food without the nuts and seeds. Not very meat-like, but still delicious, this recipe can be tossed with a salad, eaten as a little loaf, or on raw crackers or bread. I complemented it with this broccoli mash recipe, and found, with a few modifications, the cheez sauce for said recipe went very well with the carrot veggie mush. With a handful of spinach and raisins (definitely went well with the raisins!!), this was a great lunch!


Carrot Veggie Pate Loaf serves 2-3
3 Carrots
1/2 small yellow onion
3 stalks celery
2/3 C chopped bell peppers (I used red and green)
1 T raw almond butter
Pinch of paprika
Pinch of turmeric
Pinch of cumin
salt and pepper to taste

Toss all the ingredients in the food processor until well combined.

Cheezy Sauce:
1 T and 1 tsp miso
2 T water
2 T olive oil
2 T nutritional yeast
2 tsp red wine vinegar

Mix the miso with the water, and mix in the remaining ingredients.


This is definitely a recipe I will make again, but for dinner tonight, I might just cook up some pasta and roast some veggies! :)

Ode to the Farmer's Market

Here’s to the Farmer’s Market
That comes once a week,
It’s hard not to love it
With produce picked at its peak

We grab the reusable bags
Out from the backseats
And soon they begin to sag
With fresh fruit and bright red beets

Purple broccoli and seeded watermelon,
Peppers, plums, and crispy, green lettuce
all the fresh food the farmers are sellin’
And it’s all local, healthy, and completely delicious!

And when the cute organic farmer flashes his smile
It’s no use trying to not splurge
and buy enough zucchini to last quite the while
And eat enough to fall into an inevitable purge

It is better for the body
And easier on the earth
To not buy is folly,
And will lead to certain dearth

Better than organic,
Healthier and Tastier
There's no need to panic
For Local is Superior!



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It's been a while since I have lasted posted... between spending a week at my aunt's and uncle's, a two week vacation, my cousin and aunt practically moving in with us, and going through a knitting frenzy, I haven't been doing much experimentation in the kitchen. (well, I have, but haven't been writing anything down).


I'm going to take advantage of the fresh, local produce (and yes, there is now an organic produce stand!) and increase my raw food intake. It has been a while since my maintenance of 80% + raw, and I definitely feel the difference. I still feel great- hyper, energetic, spastic.... but not as great.
I remember reading "Nothing cooked tastes as good as raw feels." Now, I'm not so sure if this is quite true or not... And I'm definitely not ready to abandon cooking and cooked foods completely (I'm not sure if I'll ever be able to that, but of course, I never thought I would be vegan either!). Returning to to at least a 75% raw diet is something I most definitely want to do, though. So here goes!

The improvised raw lasagna I made today has inspired me to experiment further with raw food, and that is what I shall try to do!

Raw Asian Salad

Chinese food has long been one of my favorite cuisine, although I would always get the same thing (chicken and broccoli- yuck!)from a somewhat-dirty place. I finally began to really appreciate Asian food after going vegetarian and discovering a veg Asian restaurant not too far from me. And, especially after going vegan, I found it so nice to be able to actually look through a menu and have options rather than just getting the house salad or plain pasta.
I was happy to find that making raw vegetables Asian-style was easy and tasty. I decided to take raw Asian food a step further when I found some cabbage and mushrooms in the fridge that just needed to be used.
The outcome wasn't bad at all! My meat-loving dad even rated it a 7 out of 10 as a meal and a whopping 8 1/2 as a salad! (My mom gave it 8 out of 10 for a meal and 9 out of 10 for a salad)



Asian Salad serves 3

Ingredients:
1 ½ C shredded cabbage
3 carrots, grated
2 stalks celery, diced
1 C snow peas, chopped
1 C button mushrooms, chopped
1 shallot, diced
2 scallions, chopped

Marinade:
2 ½ Tbsp Olive Oil
1 ½ Tbsp Sesame Oil
2 Tbsp Nama Shoyu
½ Tbso rice vinegar
1 Tbsp Water
½ Tbsp Lemon juice
¼ tsp ground ginger
¼ tsp white pepper

Prepare all of the vegetables and mushrooms, and toss in a large enough dish.
Mix the marinade ingredients together in a bowl, and pour over the vegetable mixture. Mix well.
You can eat it now, but it tastes better if you let it marinate for an hour or so.
Serve over a bed of spinach.

MacaRAWne and Cheez

I don't think I have ever had a hard time being vegetarian or vegan. The only thing that makes things a little difficult would be eating out at restaurants that aren't able to comply (Because when I order a baked potato and steamed broccoli-the only two vegan things on the menu- with nothing on them, I mean NOTHING, not melted butter!!!). But other than that, I have had nightmares about accidently eating meat (obsessive?), I have no yogurt cravings, could care less about ice cream or cream cheese, and cheeses kind of gross me out- especially melted.

Although, I did nonchalantly say to my sister that if there were anything I miss, it's macaroni and cheese. I would never eat that again (well, exept for vegan versions, of course), but the dish does hold a lot of memories for me, like lunch at my grampa's, making it for dinner while on vacation, mixing in ridiculous amounts of broccoli to it...

I have tried to find some vegan substitute to match up to dairy mac and cheese, but to no avail... And then I tried a raw recipe for i... I've made quite a few changes to it, and I have to say, of all the vegan mac and cheeses I've had, this is my favorite, despite the pasta being carrots!


MacaRAWne and Cheez: Serves 2-4
6-8 carrots, grated (or more if you want)
3/4 C finely chopped broccoli florets
1 avocado
1/2 C nutrional yeast
6 Tbsp water (more or less, to your preferance)
2 Tbsp lemon juice
2 tsp garlic powder
2 tsp nama shoyu
Salt and Pepper, to taste

~Mash the avocado with the nutrional yeast, water, lemon jice, garlic powder, and nama shoyu. Add salt and pepper to taste.
~Mix in the grated carrots and chopped broccoli.

I think it goes best on top of a handful or two of spinach or lettuce! And with some dried basil or oregano sprinkled on top, too... yum!