The Lunch Bunch: Salad Flax Wraps

Courtesy of Kitchen Dispensary http://thekitchendispensary.wordpress.com/

A few people have asked me to post the types of things that I take for lunch. I am fortunate enough to work in an office with a modest kitchen, so I can quite easily assemble salads and things with produce I keep in the work fridge or that I grab from the supermarket over the road. I’m not really into eating a lot of fats anymore, I’m close to 80/10/10 but I’m not strict about it, I just try to keep it low-fat with lots of fruits and vegetables. So with these wraps I try to keep the amounts of flax seeds quite low and bulk them up with celery and psyllium instead. The amounts are very approximate so use what you have on hand and they’ll probably still turn out fine. I’ll write it down properly with the next batch.

Flax Wraps

Ingredients:

• 1 large zucchini
• 3 large stalks of celery
• 1 Red Pepper/Capsicum
• 1/2 cup ground flax seeds
• 1-2 tsp psyllium husk powder
• About 3 cups of water

Preparation:

1. Blend everything in a high speed blender until smooth. You may want to add the water gradually. The psyllium and flax will absorb the water and make a thick gel like mixture, so you can always add more water if you think it is too thick.
   
2. Spread the mixture out into circles about 3-4mm thick on dehydrator mats. Make sure not to have any spots that are too thin.
3. Dehydrate for about 4 hours. Check as you go that they are not getting too dry. They should still be pliable.
4. Flip them over and dehydrate another 2-4 hours.
5. Store in a ziplock bag or container.

Tip: If you over dehydrate and end up with large thin crackers instead, you can take a spray bottle filled with water and finely mist them. Lay them between damp paper or tea towels and they will become bendy again.

Fillings

1. You can pretty much use anything you would normally have in a salad sandwich. For these I had lettuce, cucumber, tomato and grated carrot with a squeeze of lemon juice and a wee bit of sea salt. A small amount of avocado would go down well in the mix too. I find that grated veges are more juicy so I don’t have the need for a dressing or dip which keeps things nice and simple.
   

Ginger Mushrooms & Wilted Asian Greens

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This is so like a cooked stirfry you could easily fool your cooked foodie friends. The mushrooms you need to do in advance, but you could get away with not dehydrating the greens if you let the dish sit and marinade for a half hour or so, or just eat them crunchy.

Ginger Mushrooms & Asian Greens

The Ginger Mushrooms

Ingredients:

• About 20 Button Mushrooms
• 1 Tsp Minced Ginger
• 1 Tsp Minced Garlic
• 1 Tbsp Tamari
• Juice of 1/2 Lemon
• 1 Tbsp Cold Pressed Oil (flax, olive, sesame or similar)

Preparation:

1. Wash and slice the mushrooms about 5mm thick.
2. Throw all the ingredients into a large bowl and mix with your hands until the mushrooms are well coated.
3. Place onto mesh dehydrator trays and dehydrate for about 6 hours.

The Wilted Asian Greens
About 4 Cups of Chopped Bok Choy or Similar Asian Greens

Place on mesh dehydrator trays and dehydrate for 1 hour

The Sauce

Ingredients:

• 1 Tbsp Tamari
• 2 Tbsp Cold Pressed Sesame or Olive Oil
• 1cm Piece of Ginger
• Juice of 1/2 Lemon
• 2 Tbsp Water

Preparation:

1. Place in a blender and blend until well combined.
2. Strain to remove any large chunks of ginger.

Putting It All Together
The Ginger Mushrooms
The Wilted Asian Greens
The Sauce
3 Tbsp Sesame Seeds
1-2 Cups Mung Bean Sprouts

Combine all everything in a bowl and toss to combine.

Zucchini Linguine with Basil Pesto

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I made this dish for a raw potluck this weekend. There are plenty of cheap organic zucchini and tomatoes at the Victoria Street farmers market in Wellington now that it’s near the end of summer. I also picked up the basil there for the pesto. All the classic italian flavours are there which makes this a favourite for friends and family who are not raw. You can make a big batch of pesto up to keep for the week and just do the zucchini on the night.

Basil Pesto

Ingredients

• 2 Cups Tightly Packed Basil
• 1/2 Cup Pine Nuts
• 1/4 Cup Pumpkin Seeds
• 1 Tbsp Lemon Juice
• 1 Clove Garlic
• 1/2 Tsp Himalayan or Celtic Sea Salt
• 1/4 Cup Cold Pressed Olive Oil
• Spring or Filtered Water

Method

1. Soak the pinenuts and pumpkin seeds for at least 4 hours. Drain and rinse.
2. Place all ingredients apart from the water into a food processor and process until almost smooth. You still want a little texture to it. Add a little water at a time if it seems too dry.
3. Store in a glass jar in the fridge for up to a week.

Zucchini Linguini

Ingredients

• 3 Large Zucchini
• 2 Medium Tomatoes
• 8-10 Dried Olives
• 1/2 Red Capsicum
• 2 Tbsp Pine Nuts
• 1/2 Cup Basil Pesto

Method

1. Use a julienne peeler to slice the zucchini lengthways into long noodles and place in a large bowl. You could also use a spiralizer.
2. Chop the tomatoes and capsicum, destone and chop the olives and add these with the pine nuts to the zucchini.
3. Add the pesto and mix thoroughly to combine.
4. Leave to sit for 1hour before serving if you would like the noodles to soften a bit.

Double Dip

Courtesy of Kitchen Dispensary http://thekitchendispensary.wordpress.com/

These are a couple of Turkish inspired dips that you can use with almost anything. Perfect with celery sticks, cucumber slices or flax crackers, delicious with salad stuffed into a large leaf of romaine and great on their own as a soup if you add a little extra water.

Zucchini & Avocado Dip

The flavour of this dip reminds me of Mucver (pronounced MOOSH-vair), the zucchini fritters often served in a mixed vegetarian kebab or as an entree in Turkish restaurants.

Ingredients:

• 1 Large Zucchini
• 1 Medium Avocado
• 1 Tsp Sea Salt or Himalayan Salt
• Juice of 1/2 a Lemon
• 1 Tsp Cumin
• 1 Tsp Tumeric
• 1/2 Tsp Cayenne Pepper
• 1 Large Clove Garlic

Preparation:

1. Chop up the zucchini, avocado and garlic into smaller pieces. Add with the remaining ingredients to your food processor or high speed blender and blend until smooth. You can add a little water if the dip seems too thick.

Beetroot Dip

This was once a favourite of mine in vege kebabs. The traditional version sometimes has yoghurt which I have substituted here with brazil nuts although you could easily use cashews or macadamias or omit them all together if you are looking for a nut free version.

Ingredients:

• 1 large beetroot
• 20 soaked brazil nuts
• Juice of 1 Lemon
• 1 Large Clove Garlic
• 1 Tsp Sea Salt or Himalayan Salt

Preparation:

1. Chop up the beetroot and garlic into smaller pieces. Add with the remaining ingredients to your food processor or high speed blender and blend until smooth. You can add a little water if the dip seems too thick.

Golden Kumara Chips

Courtesy of Kitchen Dispensary http://thekitchendispensary.wordpress.com/

This is what happens when you get the Raw Vegan to do the snacks for friday drinks at the the office.

Kumara is an iconic New Zealand vegetable and a staple of traditional Maori cooking. It’s also known as sweet potato in the northern hemisphere and comes in a variety of colours and flavours. It’s rich in anti-oxidants and one of the top potassium rich foods. Kumara is also high in vitamin A and C and full of fibre. You could really use any colour, the orange ones are just much sweeter than the red, white fleshed kumara.

Golden Kumara Chips

Ingredients

• 1 large Golden Kumara (Sweet Potato)
• 1-2 Tbsp Cold Pressed Olive Oil
• 1 tsp Himalayan or Sea Salt
• Optional: 1 tsp Smoked Paprika

Method

1. Peel the whole kumara into thin slices with a potato peeler. I have found this works better than my mandoline, it gets the slices much thinner.
2. Cut or break the slices into smaller chip sized pieces and place in a large bowl.
3. Add olive oil, salt and paprika and massage with your hands.
4. Layout evenly onto mesh dehydrator trays and dehydrate at around 43degrees celcius/110 degrees farenheight for 12 hours or until cripsy.

The Lunch Bunch: Red Cabbage Tacos

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Red cabbage is one of my favourite leaves to use as a wrap. It looks amazing, it’s crunchy and you can fit a lot into one leaf. It’s really one of the things we raw foodies use as a bread substitute. The ingredients below are pretty much what I had in the fridge today. You could just as easily use things like cucumbers, tomatoes, sprouts or leftover salad. Whatever takes your fancy.

Makes 5

Ingredients

• 5 smallish red cabbage leaves
• 2 medium sized carrots
• 1/4 avocado
• 1-2 tsp lemon juice
• about 8 stalks of fresh chives
• Greens of your choice (I used a mix of spinach, chard and lettuces)
• Dulse flakes (Karengo Seaweed) for saltiness

Preparation

1. Finely grate the carrot. If you have a fine grater like one usually used for parmesean you will get more juicy flavour from the carrot.
2. Mash in the avocado, lemon juice and finely chopped chives. Add a little himalayan or sea salt if you wish.
3. Take a red cabbage leaf and fill with a few green leaves of your choice and top with some of the carrot avocado mixture.
4. Top with some dulse (karengo) and a few chopped chives.

Feijoa & Manuka Icecream

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Feijoa & Manuka Honey Icecream

This recipe combines two iconic New Zealand ingredients. Feijoas and Manuka Honey. Feijoas, also known as the pineapple guava, are in abundance at this time of year and are one of my all time favourite fruits. This icecream has a delicate clean flavour, a slight sweetness and it’s not too rich or heavy. Very cleansing on the palette. You could play around with the quantities to make it sweeter.

Ingredients:

• 2 Cups Soaked Raw Cashews
• 6-8 Feijoas
• 1/4 Cup agave syrup
• 1 Tbsp Soy Lecithin Granules (optional, for extra creaminess)
• About 12 Large Ice Cubes
• 1 Cup Pure Water

Preparation:

1. Make sure your icecream maker bowl is sufficiently frozen. It will most likely need to have been in the freezer 18-22 hours.
2. Blend all ingredients in a high speed blender until smooth and creamy.
3. Pour the mixture into your icecream maker immediately and process according your your machines instructions.

Note: If you don’t have an icecream maker you can pour the mixture into a bowl and place it in the freezer. Then whisk with a fork every 30 minutes. Or you can freeze the mixture in icecube trays and once frozen, blend in a food processor.

What is a Feijoa?

Although originally from South America, some might say the feijoa is now even more kiwi than the kiwifruit. They come around once a year in the autumnal months and people tend to go a little crazy for them when they are about. Besides being overly delicious, feijoas are a good source of vitamin C, folate and fibre. and they are so low maintenance that at least one house on every block is likely to have a tree.

Tom Kha or Tom Yum with Spiced Coconut Dumplings

Courtesy of Kitchen Dispensary http://thekitchendispensary.wordpress.com/

I love Thai food. The flavours are always so fresh and vegetables are often the star. Tom Yum is one of the cooked dishes I will eat if I am going out to dinner with friends and there are no raw options. It’s still all vegetables in a light spicy broth. But making a raw version of Tom Yum or Tom Kha is so easy to do at home. The main difference between the two is just the coconut which is used in Tom Kha. So if you are looking for a fat-free version just leave it out and perhaps add extra tomato for a Tom Yum version.

Tom Kha
Ingredients

Stock

• 1 Stalk of Lemongrass
  
• 1 Lime Leaf
  
• 1 cm Piece of Ginger
  
• 1 cm Piece of Galangal
  
• 2 Stalks of Celery
  
• 1 Cup Dried Coconut
  
• 2 Cups of Spring Water
  
• 1 Tomato
  
• 2 Tbsp Lemon Juice
  
• 1 Tbsp Miso Paste
  
• 1/4 Tsp Cayenne Pepper
  

Fillings

1. Choose from a variety of fresh raw shredded or spiralised vegetables like cucumber or zucchini noodles, carrot, mung bean sprouts, snow pea greens, cabbage, tomatoes, turnips or anything else that you have. In the picture above I used snow pea greens and cucumber sliced into wide noodles with a vegetable peeler and a few slivers of avocado.

Preparation

1. Place the lemongrass, lime leaf, ginger, galangal, celery, coconut and water into a blender and process until well mixed. Strain through a nutmilk bag or a fine sieve.


2. Pour the liquid back into the blender and add the remaining ingredients. Blend well.


3. You may like to gently warm the stock to a low temperature before pouring over the vegetables, but it does just fine as a cold soup as well.


4. Place your vegetables of choice into a bowl and pour the stock over the top.
   

Black Pepper Celeriac Risotto

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It’s mid-winter here in New Zealand and the organic supermarket is full of celeriac and fennel, two vegetables that go well together in a kind of rustic French way. Celeriac is one of those underrated but highly versatile vegetables that often gets shunned for it’s rather unelegant apperance. It’s not the root of celery as it’s name suggests but kind of like a cousin, similar in flavour but a little more nutty. With the fennel, lemon and celeriac, this whole dish is very high in vitamin C. Mother Nature sure knows how to look after us by providing produce that’s high in flu-fighting properties during the winter. It’s also pretty high in magnesium, phosphorus and vitamin K. Make sure to use the zest of the lemon as well as the juice to give the risotto that wonderfully fragrant flavour. Yum.

Serves one

Ingredients

• 1 medium celeriac root juice
• zest of 1 small lemon
• 1 tbsp finely chopped celery leaves
• 1/2 cup finely shaved fennel bulb
• 1 tsp unpasteurised miso
• 1/4 cup soaked sunflower seeds
• 1/4 cup pure water
• 1/2 tsp cracked black pepper
• 1/4 tsp sea salt

Preparation

1. Trim off the outer layer of the celeriac root to remove all the dirt filled crevices, dice into cubes and pulse in a high speed blender or food processor with the lemon juice until fine. It should be about the size of rice or a little smaller in order to release more of the flavoursome juices. Adding the lemon juice at this point prevents the celeriac from discolouring as it oxidises.
2. Set the celeriac aside and process the sunflower seeds, miso paste and water until fairly smooth but still with a little texture.
3. Combine the sunflower mixture with the celeriac and the remaining ingredients.
4. Season with extra black pepper, sea salt and a little cold pressed olive oil if desired.
5. Serve in a bowl garnished with chopped celery leaves and lemon zest, scoop up with flax crackers or even wrap in romaine leaves with some fresh alfalfa sprouts and your favourite greens.

Blueberry & Banana Icecream

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This is a delicious alternative to the heavy nut based raw icecreams and it’s super quick and easy to make if you keep some bananas on hand in the freezer. The riper the bananas the sweeter it will be.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup frozen organic blueberries
• 1 frozen organic banana
• 1/2 organic avocado
• 1 tbsp organic raw agave nectar
• a splash of filtered or spring water

Method

1. Put everything apart from the water into a blender or food processor and blend until smooth. If it’s not moving just add a little water to get it going.
2. Either eat it right away for soft serve or if you are patient enough freeze for about hour then whisk with a fork before serving. Yum!

TIP: Peeling and chopping your bananas before freezing makes life much easier. Peeling frozen bananas is a surefire way to get a bad case of finger frostbite.

Green Curry Soup

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A lot of raw vegans find it difficult to keep warm in the colder months. This soup uses a lot of warming spices to heat you up from the depths of your belly. I made it in the middle of a hailstorm, parked myself by the heater and got toastie.

Serves 2

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups filtered or spring water
• 1 cup tightly packed chopped spinach
• 1 cup chopped broccoli stalks
• 1/2 cup chopped leeks
• 1 avocado
• 1 carrot
• 4 – 6 soaked sundried tomatoes
• 1 clove garlic
• 1 tbsp miso paste
• 1 tsp himalayan or celtic sea salt
• 1 tbsp coconut oil
• 1 tbsp cumin
• 2 tsp tumeric
• 1 tbsp tamari or nama shoyu
• 1/2 – 1 tsp cayenne pepper

Method

1. Blend the water, spinach, broccoli and leeks in a blender until smooth.
2. Add the remaining ingredients and blend again until smooth. You can adjust the spices to taste.
3. This can be served chilled in the summer or in winter it’s nice to warm it up a little. You can warm it either in the dehydrator for about an hour, or it can be warmed on the stove. If you are warming it on the stove, to preserve the enzymes, keep it on the lowest heat, stir constantly and make sure it doesn’t go over body temperature by dipping your finger in. It should be just warm, not steaming hot.
4. Sprinkle with cayenne pepper, flaxseed oil and top with some crunchy kale chips.

Blueberry & Banana Pudding

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I made this for my flatmates last night to eat while we watched a movie. It’s really easy if you keep chopped frozen bananas in the freezer and have a jar of buckwheaties on hand. It probably took 10 minutes to whip up.

Ingredients

• 2 frozen bananas (chopped)
• 1 cup frozen blueberries
• 1 small avocado
• 1 tbsp honey, agave or a couple of dates (whichever you prefer)
• 1/2 cup dried coconut
• 1/2 cup buckwheaties

Method

Pudding:

1. Place the chopped frozen banana, avocado, blueberries and your sweetener of choice into a food processor or high speed blender and blend until smooth.
2. Spoon into bowls and sprinkle with coconut and buckwheaties for a bit of crunch!

Buckwheaties:

1. Soak whole buckwheat groats in water for about 8 hrs.
2. Use a sieve to drain and thoroughly rinse the buckwheat.
3. Spread the buckwheat over mesh dehydrator tray and dehydrate 8-12hrs or until fully dry and crunchy.
4. Another optional extra is to add cinnamon and honey, maple syrup or agave nectar before dehydrating.

Red Cabbage, Fennel and Mandarin Salad

Courtesy of Kitchen Dispensary http://thekitchendispensary.wordpress.com/

This is a fantastic winter salad with amazing colour and a good sweet/savory balance. It’s full of vitamin C to keep away colds in the chilly months. It’s good to use a mandoline to help you to slice things finely which brings out the flavour more. Always try to use organic ingredients where possible.

Serves 1-2

Ingredients

• 1/4 of a red cabbage
• 1 fennel bulb
• 4-5 mandarins
• 1 lemon
• 1 orange
• a good splash of cold-pressed olive oil
• a sprinkling of himalayan salt

Method

1. Using a mandoline, shred the cabbage and fennel. If you don’t have a mandoline you could use a food processor or slice finely with a knife.
2. Halve the orange and slice a few pieces off with the mandoline to save as a garnish. Juice the rest of the orange and the lemon.
3. Peel the mandarins and break into segments.
4. Combine all ingredients in a bowl to serve.

Optional Extra: This is also great with some chunks of avocado mushed into the salad. It combines nicely with the juices.

Florence Fennel & Strawberry Salad

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Strawberries have just arrived at Commonsense Organics! To celebrate the onset of summer produce I threw these few ingredients together for lunch today and it turned out great. It just tastes like summer. And because all the ingredients are really juicy you don’t even need a dressing. I found it perfect just as is.

Ingredients:

• 3-4 Large Strawberries
• 1/2 a Lebanese Cucumber
• 1 Small Fennel Bulb
• A Handful of Fennel Fronds
• 2 Cups Chopped Lettuce
• 1/2 Avocado

Preparation:

1. Slice the strawberries, cucumber and fennel bulb with a mandoline. Finely chop the lettuce and the fennel fronds and dice the avocado into thin pieces. Combine everything in a bowl to serve. Easy.

Strawberries are the one of the most popular berries in the world. Not only do they taste and look great but they are also full of anti-oxidants. They are also heart-protective, anti-cancer fruit, and anti-inflammatory.

Nutrient-wise, strawberries are an excellent source of vitamin C and manganese. They’re also pretty high in fibre and a good organic source of iodine.

You can read more about the big red berries here

Chocolate Cherries Ice Cream

Courtesy of Beautiful Living Food in Vermont http://beautifullivingfood.blogspot.com/

Ingredients:

• 1 cup of cashew pieces. (soak them for 4 or 5 hours)


• 1/4 cup of packed, pitted dates cut in half. (soak for 30 minutes )


• 1/2 cup of reserve water from soaking the dates


• 1 1/4 cups of pitted and coarsely chopped fresh cherries


• 1 cup of firm young Thai coconut meat (I used one large coconut)


• 1 cup of coconut water


• 1/2 cup and 1 tablespoon of agave syrup


• 1 scraped vanilla bean


• 1 tablespoon of vanilla extract (or 2 vanilla beans)


• 2 pinches of sea salt


• 1 tablespoon of coconut oil


• 1 capful of cherry extract (Boyajian brand)


• 2-3 tablespoons of raw cacao powder

Add all the ingredients into the Vitamix and blend until smooth. Pour into a container and chill in the fridge until nice and cold (several hours or overnight).

Pour the mixture into the ice cream maker (according to the manufacturer’s directions). It takes about 30 minutes to reach a nice soft serve consistency. Stick ice cream into the freezer for a couple hours for a firmer texture that you can scoop with an ice cream scooper.

Kale Chips

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Now I’m certainly not the first to post a recipe for kale chips but I think it’s important to revisit them considering how freakin delicious and nutritious they are. These chips can rival any potato snack and win hands down. Even if you don’t dehydrate these the recipe can make a very tasty salad. I can’t wait until my homegrown kale gets bigger and I can eat chips like theres no tomorrow.

Ingredients

The amounts of these are really up to individual taste, but I suggest you start with lots of kale because it shrinks quite considerably with dehydration and just add seasonings to taste as you go. Remember that flavours tend to become concentrated after dehydrating. Try to use all organic ingredients where possible.

• Kale (I like the curly kale)
• Lemon Juice
• Flaxseed, Hemp or Olive oil
• Himalayan or Celtic Sea Salt

Method

1. Destalk the kale and chop any larger pieces into smaller sizes. The size is not really too important.
2. Throw the kale into a large bowl and drizzle with a little oil and lemon juice. Massage the kale with your hands until it has wilted a bit and turned a dark glossy green. You can add more oil as you go if needed.
3. Sprinkle with a little salt and place on mesh dehydrator trays.
4. Dehydrate for about 6-8 hours or until crispy.
5. Store in an airtight container.

About the Ingredients

Kale is a part of the brassica family so it’s a sibling of broccoli, cabbage, brussel sprouts and collard greens. It is very high in beta carotene, vitamin K, vitamin C, and also pretty high in calcium. It has anti-cancer properties and can help your cells to cleanse and detoxify among other things. It’s also going to give you a pretty good dose of amino acids which are the building blocks of protein. So when anyone asks you where you get your protein just say kale!

Sesame & Fig Chai Milk

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Today is the Autumn equinox. Summer really feels like it’s gone now and the air is beginning to feel fresh and crisp. I just feel like donning a pair of unattractive slippers and sitting on the couch. So today we were thinking of Chai Tea and how delicious and warming the spices are, but we wanted to make a sesame milk version. This recipe has all the traditional Chai spices but not the caffeine, sugar and dairy that Chai usually has and you shouldn’t. This is a drink that will go down well with friends who are not raw because it’s just so tasty and if you don’t have figs on hand you could also substitute with dates. It’s perfectly autumnal.

Sesame & Fig Chai Milk

Serves 4-5

Ingredients

• 2 Cups Sesame Seeds
• 4 Cups Filtered or Spring Water
• 6 Dried Figs
• 2cm Piece of Fresh Ginger Root
• 1 Tsp Cinnamon Powder
• 1/2 Tsp Grated Nutmeg
• Seeds of 3 Cardamom Pods
• 1/2 tsp Ground Cloves
• 2 Tbsp Raw Manuka Honey

Method

1. Blend the sesame seeds, water, ginger and cardamom pods together in a high speed blender for at least a minute.
2. Strain and squeeze through a nut milk bag or piece of cheesecloth. Compost the sesame seed hulls and pour the milk back into the blender.
3. Add the remaining ingredients and blend for another minute. Feel free to adjust the spices to your personal taste.
4. Pour into short tumbler glasses and sprinkle with cinnamon. Serve with a cinnamon quill to use as a straw.

For a Chocolate Chai Milk simply add 1 -2 Tbsp of Raw Cacao Powder.

Making Seed and Nut Milks

Seed and Nut Milks are so easy to make. They are a great base for smoothies in place of dairy or soy. There are a number of videos on YouTube showing how to make the milk. This is a great demonstration by Karen Knowler. She uses almonds in this recipe which also make a delicious milk, I just use sesame seeds quite often as they are less expensive.

Not Milk

There are just so many health problems associated with dairy products. If you think about it we are the only species to drink milk as adults and we are the only species to drink the milk of another animal. It’s infant formula for cows, do you really think it’s going to be good for a human to drink? Cow’s are usually pumped so full of hormones and antibiotics which end up in their milk and eventually into the person who drinks it. Check out this interview with Robert Cohen, author of ‘Milk, The Deadly Poison’ about the dangers of dairy.

Thai Coleslaw

Courtesy of Gone Raw http://goneraw.com/

Servings: 4-6

You could make this with any kind of sauce you like. This sauce is "Thai" because it contains a lot of classic Thai flavors, but you could modify it to taste however you want!

Ingredients

• 2 zucchini
• 1 bunch carrots
• 1/2 cabbage (any kind you like!)
• A few tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil (cold pressed is best)
• 1 bunch basil
• 1/2 bunch cilantro
• 1/2 bunch mint, stems removed
• 1/2 tsp thai chili sauce
• Sea salt to taste
• Juice of 1-2 limes
• 1/4 cup agave nectar
• Pepper to taste
• 1 cup raw peanuts
• 1 small piece ginger
• 1 small clove garlic

Instructions

1. Process the carrots and cabbage in the food processor until chopped and/or shredded.
2. Peel the zucchini into strands and set aside core/seeds for future use.
3. Chop herbs and add.
4. Blend dressing ingredients, dress and enjoy!

Mustard-Date-Herb Dressing

Courtesy of Gone Raw http://goneraw.com/

Servings: 1.5 cups

Ingredients:

• 3/4 c. water
• 2-3 dates
• optional clove of garlic
• optional pinch of pink salt
• 1 T. mustard (dijon or stoneground)
• 6-7 spinach leaves or collard leaf
• 2 T. basil
• 1/2 c. cilantro
• 1/2 c. parsley

Preparation:

1. Blend until smooth in a blender or Vita-Mix. Vita-Mix or a high-speed blender works best. Otherwise, you may want to soak the dates.
2. You can sub or add chives in as well.

Peach Pie

Courtesy of Gone Raw http://goneraw.com/
Servings: 6

Ingredients:

• 2 cups ground almonds
• 1 cup coconut flakes
• About 8 dates, soaked
• 2 cups dried apricots, soaked
• 1 banana
• 1 lemon
• Vanilla
• 3 tablespoons psyllium husks
• 4 - 5 peaches
• Mint (peppermint) leaves for decoration

Preparation:

1. For the crust: Blend the soaked dates without the water. Mix the ground almonds and the coconut flakes. Add the date paste to the almond-coconut "flour" and mix it with your hands to form a dough. Press dough into pie pan. Set aside, this allows the dough to get firm.
2. For the apricot layer: Blend the soaked apricots (without the water) with the banana, juice from about ½ lemon, and some vanilla. Stir in the psyllium husks. Set aside.
3. Topping: Peel the peaches and cut into slices. Sprinkle with juice from ½ lemon.
4. Assembly: Pour apricot puree evenly onto the crust. Put peach slices above. Decorate with mint leaves.
   

Notes:

* Can use any kind of nuts instead of the coconut flakes

* Can make the crust the day before, so that it gets firmer during the night

* It tastes good with cashew-coconut cream (you can see in on the picture)

Cashew Coconut Cream

Ingredients:

• 1-2 cups cashews (soaked)
• 2 young coconut (only the meat)
• 2 tablespoons agave
• ½ vanilla bean
• Some coconut oil
  

Preparation:

Blend the soaked cashews. Add the meat of the young coconuts and blend. Add some agave nectar, so that it gets sweeter but does not change colour! Add vanilla from about ½ vanilla bean. In order to get a firm consistency, add some (about 2 tablespoons) melted coconut oil. Put in fridge for at least one hour.

Notes:

- If it stays too liquid, you can add more coconut oil and put it into the fridge for a few more hours.

Creamy Cabbage Salad

Courtesy of Gitta's raw kitchen http://gittarawkitchen.blogspot.com
Ingrendients:

• 6 cups white cabbage chopped into little pieces
• 3 cups of sweet apple, chopped
• 1/2 cup onion chopped
• 1 pinch salt
• 1 pinch ground pepper
• 1 spoon lemmon juice
• 1/2 avocado

Preparation:
Mix all the ingredients in a large bowl, put the mashed avocado in, and it is ready. Enjoy!

Cauliflower Rice

Courtesy of Kitchen Dispensary http://thekitchendispensary.wordpress.com/

We’ve been getting a lot of Cauliflower in our organic vege box recently. It’s the poor cousin to broccoli who always gets picked first. So we have to come up with creative ways to let that cauli-wall-flower shine through. This cauliflower salad is reminiscent of stir fried rice. You basically just need a base of cauliflower and the sesame oil and tamari dressing, then you’re free to change up the other vegetables in this dish to make your own variations. Here’s the combination I whipped up the other night.

Ingredients

• 1 small head cauliflower
• 2 carrots
• 1 large stalk celery
• 1 stalk spring onion
• 1 red bell pepper
• 1/2 cup sprouted sunflower seeds
• 1 Tbsp tamari
• 2 Tbsp cold-pressed sesame oil
• Juice of 1 lemon

Method:

1. Chop the cauliflower into florets and place a few at a time into the food processor or blender. Pulse until it looks about the size of grains of rice and place in a large bowl.
2. Chop the carrots and do the same as with the cauliflower.
3. Dice the bell pepper, celery and spring onion and combine with the remaining ingredients in the bowl.
4. This should keep for a few days in the fridge.

Cauliflower is a member of club cruciferous, just like Kale, Broccoli and Cabbage. These types of vegetables promote liver detoxification and help to prevent cancer. The phytonutrients contained in Cauliflower tell your genes to make more of the enzymes that are involved in detoxification which is why cruciferous vegetables are shown to be more effective in fighting cancer. If that wasn’t enough, Cauliflower is also very high in Vitamin C, it has more than oranges. These facts, figures and more are available over at World’s Healthiest Foods.

Chocolate Stawberry Pie

Courtesy of Gone Raw http://goneraw.com/
Servings: 8-10

Ingredients:

Pie crust:

• 1 cup almonds, soaked
• 1 cup pecan nuts, soaked
• 1 1/2 cup dates
• 1/2 cup raw cocoa powder
• 1/3 cup raw cocoa nibs
• 1/2 cup dried coconut flakes
• 2 TBSP agave nectar
  

Filling:

• 3 cup strawberries (save a few for decoration)
• 2/3 ground cashew nuts or almonds
• Juice of 1 small lime or 1/2 lemon
• 2 to 4 TBSP agave nectar
  

Preparation:

Crust:

1. Put all the ingredients in a food processor and blend until the mixture sticks together, form into a crust in the tart pan.
   

Filling:

1. Mix the strawberries with your ground nuts adding some agave and lime/lemon juice. When nice but still a bit coarse pour over the crust and decorate wth some fresh strawberry slices. sprinkle gently with coconut flakes.
2. Leave in a freezer for about an hour before serving.