Almost Tuna Salad

Having attended webinars with many raw foodists, read Brian Clement's book Living Foods for Optimum Health, and fallen in love with sprouts, we noticed the recipe for Almost Tuna Salad, page 206 in this book.

Ingredients
1/2 cup celery
2-3 tablespoons seed sauce (1 cup sunflower or pumpkin seeds and 1/2 cup water blended until smooth)
2-3 tablespoons raw almond butter
1 tablespoon kelp (we used less and NO REACTION for our son, HUGE blessing!!!)
1/4 cup mung beans sprouts
1/4 cup lentil sprouts
1/4 cup chopped onion
1/4 cup chopped parsley (split 1/8 for blend and 1/8 for garnish)
1 cup alfalfa sprouts (we used red clover)

Blend all but the sprouts until smooth. Pulse in the bean and lentil sprouts. Then stir in the alfalfa sprouts. It can be served on red bell peppers halves or over lettuce.

We served it with raw red pepper/sesame crackers on a bed of greens.

a natural and easy way to clean your stainless sink

We ran out of our co-op purchased stainless natural cleaner, so we searched for a homemade natural way to make our kitchen sink shine.  Since we have a freshly squeezed lemon every morning and have the other ingredients in the pantry, this is the site for us, http://www.savvysugar.com/How-Clean-Your-Stainless-Steel-Sink-30688216

What You'll Need:

• Sponge
• Baking soda
• Vinegar
• Lemon or orange peel
• Olive oil
• Paper towel

Directions:

1. Give your sink a quick wash and rinse, removing all dishes and any food bits from the drain. Then sprinkle the entire sink with baking soda and use a soft sponge, working in a circular movement, to scrub the basin. Baking soda softly cleans without scratching stainless steel.
2. Rinse the sink with vinegar, which will bubble and fizz. Vinegar naturally disinfects while helping remove hard water stains from your stainless steel sink. Then lightly rub with the sponge and rinse the sink with water. You can also drop a garbage disposal refreshing bomb down the drain to keep the entire sink smelling fresh.
3. Put lemon or orange peel to good use, and rub the entire sink basin with a section of peel, rubbing the skin against the stainless steel, which helps deodorize the sink while helping the basin keep its new shine.
4. Finish by buffing with a paper towel and a touch of olive oil. Your sink will stay wonderfully shiny for several weeks before needing a refresher.

Raw Greek Lunch

Raw Greek lunch

For lunch today we had a Raw Greek Lunch. Both recipes are from Raw Food for Dummies. The recipe for the dolmas is quite long and would take too long to retype. The raw almond feta is here http://heal-thy-self-cb.blogspot.com/2014/07/almond-feta.html
We had raw dolmas using zucchini "rice" and the Greek salad uses a raw almond feta.
To those wanting to incorporate more raw food into the diet, we highly recommend the purchase of Raw Food for Dummies.

raw dolmas

companion planting guide

As we are planting our summer garden we are interested in companion planting. Here are a couple of companion planting online guides.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_companion_plants

http://www.motherearthnews.com/organic-gardening/companion-planting-guide-zmaz81mjzraw.aspx?PageId=3#axzz2z9JlrOcA

http://www.naturalnews.com/045894_vegetable_gardens_gardening_tips_companion_plants.html

http://www.realfarmacy.com/companion-planting-guide/

Companion Planting for the Garden (The Easy Way) (commonsensehome.com)

This one is my favorite one

http://www.ghorganics.com/page2.html

This one also includes natural pest control


This link is for NC planting schedule

Raw Peppermint Chocolate bars

These are so good!!!! I love using the fresh mint. Happy birthday Donna!!!
This recipe is from http://www.rawguru.com/raw-food-recipes/raw-peppermint-chocolate-squares.html.html

Ingredients

At a glance

Makes

1, 8 x 8 pan

Crust:

Raw Almonds - 1 cup
Medjool Dates - 1 cup
Raw Cacao Powder - 1 Tbsp

Mint Filling:
Cashews - 1 cup
Buckwheat Groats - 1/2 cup
Fresh Mint - 1/4 cup, loosely packed
Melted Coconut Oil - 1/4 cup
Maple Syrup - 1/4 cup
Peppermint Oil - 1/4-3/4 tsp, depending on strength of peppermint taste you want
Frozen Spinach - Scant 1/2 cup
Almond Milk - 1/4 cup

Chocolate Topping:
Raw Cacao Powder - 1/2 cup
Melted Coconut Oil - 1/2 cup
Maple Syrup - 1/4 cup
Cacao Nibs - to garnish 

Methods/steps

Line an 8 x 8 inch baking pan with plastic wrap so you can easily lift the whole square out later to cut.

In a food processor, combine almonds, dates, and cacao powder. Process until mixture is crumbly and can easily be pressed into a crust. Evenly pack crust into prepared pan.

In a food processor or high speed blender, combine all ingredients and blend until smooth. Pour on top of crust and refrigerate until set.

Whisk together all chocolate topping ingredients except cacao nibs. Layer half the mixture on top of the peppermint layer and sprinkle with cacao nibs. Let set for a couple minutes. Layer the remaining chocolate on top, and again sprinkle with cacao nibs. This creates a nice crunchy, cacao layer!

Refrigerate until set. Slice into 16 pieces. Enjoy

Dilly Green Beans

We have green beans in abundance this summer and LOVE dill.
This recipe is wonderful, the crispness of the beans and the "dill pickle" taste is amazing.
the recipe is as follows:
What you’ll need:
pot
1-quart jar

Ingredients:
8 cups water
3 cups of water
2 tablespoons sea salt
1 large handful green beans
¼ cup apple cider vinegar
¼ cup fresh dill
10 black peppercorns

Steps:
1. Bring eight cups of salted water to a simmer then blanch the green beans for 30
seconds. Remove from the water and pour a continual stream of cold water over
them until fully chilled.
2. Make the brine by mixing the apple cider vinegar, sea salt and three cups of water
together. Stir to dissolve the salt.
3. Place the blanched green beans into a one quart jar, then pour the brine in,
covering completely. Add the dill and peppercorns. Cover, then allow to stand for a
few hours before serving. Store in the fridge and consume within 3-4 days.

http://gallery.mailchimp.com/fdcae9e4ba04c333cde18f2c4/files/ba94f5a7-db93-4735-822a-2f86a350f58a.pdf?mc_cid=c2bd25df76&mc_eid=3100d0fd66

Raw Blueberry Crumble

Raw Blueberry Crumble

Crumble

2 cups nuts (we used 1 cup walnuts and 1 cup almonds that soaked overnight & dehydrated back to dry)

1/2 cup coconut flakes

4 dates, pitted

1/2 tsp vanilla extract (or powder)

Pinch Himalayan salt

Filling

4.5 cup fresh blueberries (thanks Dupree's)

6 dates, pitted

3 Tbsp raw honey (thanks Dupree's)

Methods/steps

Crumble

1) In a food processor, add the crumble ingredients.  Process down to a fine crumble, do not overprocess. save for the top of the crumble. It can be split for a bottom layer and a top layer.

Filling

1) Add 1-1/2 cup blueberries back into the food processor, along with dates and honey.  Process until well incorporated.

2) Add the remaining blueberries in the pan

Pour the blueberry filling over blueberries in the pan, and top with the crumble that was set aside.  Gently press through the crumble to expose some of the filling underneath.

Raw Walnut Chocolate

This recipe is from http://www.theearthdiet.org/june-2014/roasted-walnut-chocolate and altered to make it raw.

Serves: 5ish or more, it's a decent sized batch

Ingredients:
2 cups soaked and dehydrated walnuts and a handful extra (these will stay whole)
1/2 cup melted cacao butter
1/2 cup coconut oil
6 tablespoons maple syrup or honey
5 tablespoons raw cacao powder
Pinch of salt

Directions:
1.  Soak the walnuts in filtered water with a teaspoon of salt. Drain and rinse the walnuts. Add walnuts to a dehydrator sheet  and dehydrate at 105. Should take several hours. Taste test one before you take them out. You'll know when they're ready, they taste amazing and different than raw walnuts.
2. Once walnuts are dehydrated, put the 2 cups through the food processor until they form a fluffy meal. Leave the other handful on the side as whole walnuts. These will go in the chocolate at the end.
3. After the food processor creates the nut meal, add other ingredients and process until liquid smooth.
4. Set a flat sheet down with parchment paper and pour the chocolate liquid onto the sheet and spread it evenly.
5. Put the extra roasted walnuts on top and put the full sheet in the freezer.
6. Let it sit for at least an hour until chocolate hardens then cut into squares and enjoy!

Almond Feta

This is from Raw Foods for Dummies, page 158-159
2 cups of almonds soaked in boiling water for 5 minutes, drained, rinsed, drained and peeled. The peeled almonds are then soaked 8-12 hours.
1 cup filtered water
1/4 teaspoon probiotic powder
2 teaspoons miso (we use chickpea because it is the only miso that is gluten free, as well as soy free)
2 teaspoon nutritional yeast
1/8 red onion diced
pinch nutmeg, ground pepper, and salt.

place all ingredients in a high speed blender until smooth.
place mixture in a nut milk bag. place filled nut milk bag in a colander over a bowl. Place in a warm place for two hours. After two hours place a weight (jar of grains, seeds, or nuts) on top of nut milk bag to help press out excess liquid. Continue fermenting for a total of 8-12 hours.then refrigerate. It keeps in the refrigerator for a week.

July Potluck - Tacos

What an amazing turn-out today and the food was wonderful!!!!This month we had a raw Taco Bar.

Our bar included walnut "taco" meat, nacho cheeze, sour kreme, lettuce, peach mango salsa, guacamole, black olives, diced tomatoes, tortilla, green onions, red pepper hummus, and sliced veggies. We had blueberry watermelon salad for dessert.  We also had hibiscus tea. The recipes for the walnut "taco" meat, tortillas, nacho cheeze, sour kreme,  red pepper hummus, and hibiscus tea are as follows:

lettuce

The  Walnut Taco Meat recipe is from Ani's Raw Food Essentials, page 146.
2 cup soaked and dehydrated walnuts
2 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoon ground cumin
4 teaspoons ground coriander
2 teaspoon liquid aminos (Braggs or coconut)
1/2 teaspoon salt
pulse all ingredients in the food processor

peach mango salsa

The Corn Tortillas recipe is from Raw Foods for Dummies, page 150.
4 cups seeds chopped red, yellow, or orange bell peppers
4 cups raw corn
2 cups peeled, chopped zucchini
2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 peeled, pitted and mashed avocado
3 tablespoon ground flax seed
(we added the juice of half a lime to this recipe)
Place all the ingredients in a high speed blender, adding the flax last after the mixture is well blended.
Place 1/4 cup of mixture on a non-stick dehydrator sheet, spreading into a small circle with a spatula. Dehydrate at 105 for 4-6 hours. When the tops are no longer sticky flip onto a mesh screen. Continue dehydrating an additional 3-4 hours. They will be dry and still flexible. Four tortillas will fit on a 14x14 dehydrator screen. They will keep in the refrigerator for 2 weeks or the freezer for 2 months.

guacamole

the nacho cheeze is from Raw Foods for Dummies, page 274.
1/2 cup raw cashews, soaked for 4-6 hours, rinsed and drained.
1/2 cup shredded carrot
1/4 cup filtered water
1 tablespoon nutritional yeast
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 clove garlic
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon cumin
Place all the ingredients in a high speed blender and blend until smooth.

tomatoes

The sour cream is from http://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-8796/forget-dairy-your-new-best-friend-is-cashew-cream.html

To make savory cashew cream:

• 1 cup raw cashews soaked overnight, rinsed drained
• ½ cup water
• Juice of 1 lemon
• Splash of Apple Cider Vinegar
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
  place the ingredients in a high speed blender and blend until smooth.

The red pepper hummus is from Raw Foods for Dummies, page 202
1 cup chopped zucchini
1 cup seeded red pepper
3 tablespoon lemon juice
3 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
4 cloves garlic
1 teaspoon paprika
1/4 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoon tahini
place all the ingredients in a high speed blender and blend until smooth.

blueberry watermelon salad

Hibiscus tea
place 6 hibiscus tea bags in a gallon of water. Cover and place in the sun.
Prior
to serving add a sprig of mint, a slice of orange, and a few blueberries.

Red, White and Blueberry Salad

Our neighbor Debbie made this last summer and we loved it!!!
We made it using almond feta instead of dairy feta.

The almond feta is a basic almond cheese recipe adding miso, nutritional yeast, nutmeg, pepper, salt, red onion to the blending step.

Red, White & Blueberry Salad (Watermelon, Feta and Blueberry)

Ingredients

2 cups diced watermelon (about the size of dice)

1 cup blueberries 

2 T. crumbled feta cheese

1 T. fresh lime juice

Dash sea salt

2 t. chopped fresh mint

2 t. honey or agave nectar

Directions

In a glass bowl, layer the watermelon, blueberries and feta, in that order.  Just before serving add the rest of the ingredients and toss very gently again. Serve. 

http://welaughwecrywecook.com/2012/07/04/red-white-blueberry-salad-watermelon-blueberry-feta-2/