Raw Nut-based Parmesan Cheese

We have combined several recipes for this Pinenut based Parmesan Cheese recipe. This has more flavor than the others we have tried.

Ingredients
1.5 cups pinenuts (or cashews), soaked for 2 hours, drained, rinsed and drained
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup lemon juice
2 TBS nutritional yeast
1/4 tsp probiotic powder
1 tsp salt
1 clove garlic

Directions: place all the ingredients in a high speed blender until creamy. Spread on silicon dehydrator sheets, waiting 4 hours for fermentation to begin. Dry at 105 for 18-24 hours. Scrape off, crumble and store in a jar. This will keep for 2-3 months in the refrigerator. We freeze one jar and refrigerate the other.

Raw Buckwheat biscuits

Tomorrow we host a raw breakfast potluck. Ani's Raw Food Essential's has an entire chapter on breakfast foods. We tried to make her buckwheat biscuits but didn't want to use the oil. The first attempt, we use aquafaba, they were OK, but not as good as the one's with the olive oil. The second attempt we used applesauce plus apple cider vinegar. The biscuits mounded and the vinegar gave them a spongy texture.
I am so thankful for the converting recipes to gluten free days, beginning in 1997, and using vinegar to give it the sponginess.

Ingredients:

2 cups buckwheat crispies

¼ cup flax meal

¼ cup apple sauce

1 tsp apple cider vinegar

1 tsp salt

1 ½ cup water

grind buckwheat to powder in coffee grinder

mix in flax meal

add applesauce, apple cider vinegar, and salt mix

add water and mix dough batter

Place 1/3 scoop batter biscuit shape (~9) on 1 tray dehydrator mesh sheet

Dehydrate at 105 for 10-14 hrs

Raw Everything Bagels

After giving a bagel demo this weekend, i thought I should retry Everything Bagels. This is what we did:

Ingredients: Made 5 small bagels
almond pulp (leftovers from using 1 cups almonds to make almond milk, ~ 1 cup pulp)
1 cup carrot
2 TBS apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup flax meal
1/4 cup dried onion flakes
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp salt

poppy seeds
sesame seeds
course salt

Directions: grind the carrots and garlic in a high speed blender. Add the carrot and garlic mixture, almond pulp, vinegar, and salt to the food processor. Then add the flax meal and onion flakes until a sticky dough is formed. Add 1-2 TBS of water if the dough isn't workable.
Form round balls, and flatten to make a bagel. Push your finger through the center to make the hole. Place the bagel in a mixture of poppy seeds, sesame seeds and course sea salt.
Place the bagels on a dehydrator sheet and dehydrate at 105 drying overnight, ~10-12 hours.

Spaghetti Squash Lasagna Low Fat Vegan

We are able to purchase spaghetti squash for $1 at the farmers' market. We found a recipe for Spaghetti Squash Lasagna. The original recipe is from Eating Well. We have altered it to fit our needs and what we have on hand from our garden, refrigerator and pantry. and OMGosh is this good!!!

Ingredients:
1 2.5 -3 pound spaghetti squash

1 bunch of broccoli, ~ 2 cups
4 cloves of garlic, minced
1 large tomato, diced, ~ 2 cups
1 poblano pepper, diced (any pepper could be used, we just have so many of these in the garden)
1 onion, diced
1 cup mushrooms of choice (we used shiitake), sliced

1/4 cup nutritional yeast
1 cup daiya mozzarella
1/4 cup pine nut based Parmesan style cheese
1 tsp Italian seasoning
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground black pepper

Directions:
Slice the spaghetti squash in half length-wise, placing in a pan cut side down. Add water covering an inch of the squash. Bake at 400 for ~ 45 minutes, until soft to the touch. Once done scrap the squash from the shells and place in a bowl with the vegetables. Save the shells for stuffing.

Water saute the mushrooms, onion, pepper, garlic, tomato, and broccoli, 3-5 minutes. Place in a bowl.

Mix in the nutritional yeast, 3/4 cup of the mozzarella, 2 TBS of the Parmesan, and the seasonings with the squash and vegetables.

Stuff the shells with the above mixture.Top with the remaining cheese.

Bake at 400 for ~10 minutes. Broil for 2 minutes to lightly brown the cheeses.

Sweet Potato Chili

This is a wonderful way to use our tomatoes and peppers from our garden.

Ingredients:
2 small Poblano peppers, seeded and diced
1 red bell pepper, seeded and diced
1 banana pepper, seeded and diced
2 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and diced
1 large onion diced
1 cup sliced mushrooms
4-5 cloves garlic, minced
1 jalapeno, seeded and diced (optional)
1 cayenne, seeded and diced (optional)

4 cups diced tomatoes or 2 cans of diced tomatoes
1 TBS chili powder
1 TBS cumin
1 TBS paprika
1 TBS cacao powder
4 cups vegetable broth

1 can black beans, drained rinsed and drained
1 can chickpea, drained rinsed and drained
3 TBS lime juice or juice of 1 lime

1/2 cup fresh cilantro

Directions: water saute (2-3 TBS water) the vegetables (first 5 ingredients) and garlic until soft, about 4-5 minutes. Add the water and spices, bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for about 10 minutes, until the sweet potatoes are soft. Add the tomatoes, lime juice and beans, continue to simmer another 10 minutes. Then stir in cilantro and serve. We topped with a cashew based sour cream, a recipe from Ani's Raw Food Essentials. For my husband we topped with jalapeno slices.

Fuhrman's Perfect Smoothie Formula

Here is Fuhrman's link for his Perfect Smoothies Formula

His Perfect formula is
Greens 
2 cups, packed Kale or Collards, Lettuce, Spinach* (Spinach contains high levels of oxalates, which inhibit calcium absorption, so it shouldn’t be your primary source of greens. Use no more than 1 cup of spinach and combine with another type of greens.)

Fruit 
½ - 1 cup (Fresh or frozen): Berries, Cherries, Peaches, Mangos, Pineapple, Apple, Grapes ½ Banana (Pro-tip: When your bananas get nice and ripe, peel, cut in half and freeze so they are always smoothie-ready.)

Nuts/ Seeds 
1 Tbsp Flax, hemp or chia seeds 2 to 3 Tbsp sunflower seeds or raw nuts(almonds, walnuts, Mediterranean Pine nuts)

Liquid
 ½ cup (optional) Water or ice Unsweetened non-dairy milk (hemp, almond or soy milk) Pomegranate juice Vegetable juice

homemade ketchup

This is from Dr Mercola for homemade condiments. We didn't have honey zest, so I used raw honey, a couple of drops of elderberry and doubled the onion powder and garlic powder.

Ingredients:

Ketchup

• 6 oz. organic tomato paste
• ¼ cup organic honey zest
• 1 tsp. fresh lemon juice (a squeeze)
• ¼ cup water (you can add more if you want it runnier)
• ¾ tsp. Himalayan salt
• ¼ tsp. onion powder
• 1/8 tsp. garlic powder

Procedure:

Ketchup

1. Whisk the ingredients together and add to a small saucepan over medium heat.
2. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook for 20 minutes, stirring often. Let cool.
3. Store in a glass container or jar. Remember that this ketchup doesn’t contain preservatives so it won’t keep as long. It will keep for up to two weeks in the fridge.

Vegan "Junk Food" Mexican Casserole

Our garden peppers are becoming abundant, so we went looking for recipes. When our boys were young, now 27, we made a Mexican Casserole using corn chips, salsa, cheddar cheese and chicken or beef. We have altered it to fit our needs. Any peppers could be used, our son doesn't like it spicy, so we didn't add our cayenne or jalapeno, but they could easily be added.

from our garden

Ingredients: serves 4
2 small poblano peppers
2 small banana peppers
2 small red bell peppers
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 sweet onion, diced
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 tsp cumin powder
1 TBS chili powder
juice of half a lime
1/4 cup fresh cilantro, minced
1/2 a bag of Daiya cheddar cheese
3-4 oz Black Bean Chips (we use Simply Tostito  Black Bean, 5 g fiber)

Directions: Water saute the peppers, garlic, and onions. Toss in the beans, tomatoes, spices, cilantro and lime juice.
Place half the chips on the bottom of a glass pan. Top with half the bean mix. Top with half the Daiya cheese. Repeat.
Bake at 350 for 20 minutes. We topped with Cashew based Sour Cream. The recipe is from Ani's Raw Food Essential

Lemon Tahini Buddha Bowl

We had leftovers that we turned into a Buddha Bowl.

Ingredients:

Bowl serves 4:

2 cups wild rice cooked

2 cups of lightly steamed broccoli (~1 minute and then run under cold water to stop the cooking process)

1 can chickpeas, drained, rinsed and drained

6-8 oz  sliced mushrooms, water sauteed

1 TBS southwest seasoning mix

1 cup mango salsa

Light toss the cooked mushrooms, broccoli, and chickpeas with the SW seasoning mix and heat if needed.

Lemon Tahini Dressing:

1/2 cup lemon juice

1/2 cup tahini

3 TBS chickpea miso

4 cloves of garlic

Directions: place ingredients in a high speed blender. Blend until smooth.

To assemble the bowl:

Place a 1/2 cup cooked rice at the bottom of the bowl

Place the mushrooms, chickpeas, and broccoli over the rice

Top with mango salsa

Drizzle with Lemon Tahini dressing and serve

mix and match Buddha Bowls

This is a wonderful site for mix and match Buddha. A second great site is from nutritionstudies.org

Shiitake Risotto

Our neighbors (thanks Debbie and Craig) grow shiitakes and blessed us with some. With half we made stroganoff and the remaining we used for the risotto.

Ingredients:
1 cup wild rice
4 cups vegetable broth
Directions: Boil water add rice. Simmer 50 minutes

1/2 pound shiitake mushrooms, sliced
2 leeks, sliced
2 garlic cloves minced
1 zucchini or summer squash (we used leftover pieces from zucchini manicotti)
Directions: Saute the garlic, carrots, mushrooms and leeks.

Once the rice is cooked, stir in the vegetables and

2 TBS nutritional yeast
1/4 raw vegan Parmesan cheese
2 TBS fresh sage leaves
1 cup Daiya cheddar cheese

Prickly Pear

We purchased Prickly Pear at the farmers market today. What a delicious fruit!

Kebabs

This recipe for Kebabs is from Jiyo. We altered it to fit our pantry and needs. We served them with a Ginger Apple Bok Choy Slaw

Ingredients: serve 8

1 can chickpeas, drained, rinsed and drained

1 onion – finely chopped

8 cloves of garlic – finely chopped

vegetables: 2 potatoes, 2 carrots, 2 medium sweet potatoes

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

2 TBS parsley 

1 TBS coriander powder

1 tsp turmeric

1 tsp chili powder

1 tsp cumin

How You Make It

Boil vegetables and strain out the stock (this can be used in soups). Add the chickpeas and the cooked vegetables to the food processor. Process until smooth.

Use 1/4 cup batter for each patty.

Bake on seasoned stoneware at 350 for 20 minutes flip and bake another 20 minutes.

Veggie hash browns

This recipe is from Grow Your Own Groceries's Newsletter. We also used spiralized sweet potatoes and/or butternut squash. We used the almond pulp from when we make almond milk instead of flour. We baked them at 400 for 10 minutes each side instead of frying, so we didn't use any oil. Here is a photo of the carrot and beet "hash brown". We added cinnamon and salt to the beets and carrots and served with homemade pear sauce.

Carrot & Beet “Hash Browns” and Waffles Recipe

• 1 1/4 cups packed spiralized beet, carrot, or a combination of both
• 3 TBsp flax + 9 TBsp water
• 1 heaping TBsp chickpea, almond or coconut flour
We added 1 tsp cinnamon and 1/2 tsp salt
• Coconut oil, for frying

Directions: Add altogether in a bowl and let sit for 5 minutes for the flax to gel. Squeeze the dough together and divide into 4. Heat a frying pan on medium-high heat and add coconut oil. Squeeze each hash brown to hold its shape and place in the frying pan. Fry for 5-8 minutes, gently pressing down on each hash brown, then flip and do the other side. Serve and eat on up!

Notes: 1) The coconut and almond flour lend a sweeter dough than using chickpea or a grain flour. That means you can make these sweet or savory: if you want to go the sweet “root,” top with fresh fruit and a low calorie sweetener like stevia and eat on up! If you want to go the savory “root,” consider adding in 1/2 tsp each garlic and onion powder (or more, as you like), and salt and pepper to taste. 2) You can also use these savory hash browns as a burger patty or to eat as a side of veggie “bread” with soup. Enjoy!

Variation: To turn these into waffles, grease a waffle maker and scoop the “dough” across the top. Close waffle maker and press down for 1 minute. Cook for 12-15 minutes, until there is no more steam being released. Repeat. Top with fresh fruit and stevia, or whatever catches your fancy.

Loaded Sweet Potato Fries

We saw this recipe for Loaded Sweet Potato Fries and thought YUM!!! We have altered the recipe to our taste and needs.

Ingredients:
Fries
3 large sweet potatoes peeled and cut into fries
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp olive oil

Toss the fries and the seasoning together in a bag. Spread on a cookie sheet and bake at 425 for 25  minutes

Salsa
2 cups tomatoes, diced
1/2 red bell pepper, diced
1 shallot, minced
2 TBS fresh cilantro
1 tsp lime juice
1/2 tsp salt

Place in a bowl, toss

Black beans
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp lime juice

Heat on stove until warm

Cashew Sour Kream is from Ani's Essential
1 cup cashews, soaked, drained, rinsed and drained
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/2 cup water

To assemble:
place the sweet potato fries as the base. Top with black beans, then the salsa, and then the cashew based sour kream

September Potluck 2016

Our theme this month is appetizers. What a great theme to kick off college football weekend!!!!
Next month is a breakfast theme.

We had to start with petite desserts

Blueberry Cacao Cups

frozen blueberries
dates
cacao powder
shredded coconut

Oat Cranberry Truffles

She used pistachios, almonds, and pine nuts, cranberries, molasses (did not have maple sugar),coconut oil, and  oats.  No chocolate outside as she did not have the ingredients.  :(

Roll-ups
She uses jicama as the "wrapper"
asparagus and dill with an Avocado Dip
carrots and cucumber with an Asian Dip

Mini Buckwheat Pesto Pizzas
Macadamia & Cashew Herb Cheese

This is a fresh herbed cheese similar in flavor to a herbed Boursin ™ cheese. You can use it in
lots of ways: as a dip, spread, in ravioli and in our zucchini cannelloni (see page 188). Make
time: 20 minutes | Soak time: 2– 4 hours | Equipment required: blender or food processor
1 cup cashews (soaked 2– 4 hours)
1/ 2 cup macadamia nuts (soaked 2– 4 hours)
1/ 2 cup filtered water

1/ 4 cup lemon juice
2 tsp nutritional yeast
1 tbsp finely chopped chives
1 tbsp finely chopped tarragon
1 tbsp finely chopped parsley
1 tbsp finely diced shallot
1 tbsp finely chopped chervil
1/ 3 tsp sea salt

Drain the soaked nuts and rinse thoroughly. Place in a food processor (you could use a blender but this will require more water to get it moving and create a runnier cheese) with the water, lemon juice and nutritional yeast and mix until smooth. Finely chop all the herbs and fold in, add sea salt. Add any additional sea salt and cracked pepper to taste. Will keep in the refrigerator for 3– 4 days.
May, Megan. Raw Organic Goodness

Tapenade with baby bell peppers 

She added broccoli to the second one and adjusted the spices a little. 

Ants on a Log

Celery sticks

almond butter
organic raisins

Watermelon Gazpacho

3 lbs Watermelon, (or as much as you want)  rind removed

1 unwaxed cucumber cut in small chunks

1 yellow or red tomato cut in chunks

1 seeded red or yellow bell pepper cut in chunks

1 or 2 c. fresh orange juice

1 T fresh lemon juice

chopped cilantro or basil (fresh)

DO NOT USE FOOD PROCESSOR FOR WATERMELON!!!!!  Chop watermelon into very small pieces to get around 3 cups including juice and place in a large bowl.

Chop the cucumber, tomato and bell pepper finely (you can use a food processor but I chopped by hand) and add to the watermelon.  Stir in the orange and lemon juices and stir well.  Top with the chopped herb.  You can serve immediately or refrigerate up to 24 hours.

This recipe is from Fully Raw Christina

Artichoke Dip with onion crackers, carrot and jicama chips