Raw Recipe: Mock Pina Colada

I love Pina Coladas... and with this easy recipe, delicious raw vegan virgin Pina Coladas are a breeze!

Ingredients:
1/3 of a large pineapple, chopped
1 cup 100% coconut water
1 banana
Ice and water to fill blender or mute strong taste
Optional: one date or touch of raw agave.

Blend! I usually like to add a bunch of ice, and I find in this recipe it didn't affect the flavour at all!
Enjoy :)

Recipe: Easy Garlic Dill Dressing/Sauce

So, I was looking for a quick, easy and delicious vegan sauce. I also found out it was a good warm dressing.

Ingredients:
1 tbsp Vegan Margarine (Earth Balance is what I used)
2 teaspoons of Nutritional Yeast (or more if you want it cheezier!)
1 tsp of Dill (I love my dill)
2/4 tsp of powdered Garlic
2/3 tsp of Almond Milk


Method:
I honestly just microwaved mine for some quick! Mix and enjoy! As you see above, I put it on brown rice pasta for lunch, but I did it on a cucumber slaw salad for dinner and it was sooo good.

Easy and yummy! Sometimes, that's very much needed.

Recipe: Hummus Zucchini Tofu Scramble

My very first vegan dish I made was a tofu scramble... but since then I've traveled around the US, and have had my share of scrambles. I finally bought some ground veggie from Yves, and thought I'd make an improvement to my first dish. It's easy, and oh, so good.

Ingredients:
1/2 package firm tofu (you can press yours, but I just bought some already pressed)
1 package Yves Ground Veggie
1 small zucchini
3/4 tbsp Roasted Red Pepper Hummus (scoop out of the middle to grab all the red peppers)
1 tbsp Earth Balance (I used the Whipped version)
Tumeric
Nutritional Yeast
Sea Salt
Pepper
Tarragon

Method:
In a hot pan, melt the Earth Balance. When almost melted, hand crumble the firm tofu, and throw in the pan. Let it simmer for a bit and put in the ground veggie. Next, add the Tumeric. Slice the zucchini in half, then half again, and slice into chunks. Add into the tofu mix. Scoop in your red pepper hummus, salt, pepper, and tarragon. Let simmer for about 5 minutes while stirring on Medium Heat.
Plate and enjoy!
Ok so this makes a BIG tofu scramble, but it's sooooo good. So it can serve one OR two.

:D There we go!

Raw Recipe: Chocolate Banana Crepes

My mom is always bugging me about not making her anyone of my raw creations, which although is often not true, I find it's mostly because what I make is usually a trial run. I decided to get out there and make her a grande raw vegan breakfast that I know she'd love: Chocolate Banana Crepes. I had some Thai coconut meat in the fridge just waiting, and soaking a bunch of raw organic almonds to make a butter anyway.

Ingredients (serves 1 huge, or 2 regular)

Crepe:
2 bananas, 1 med gala apple

Chocolate almond butter (serves 2 easily. I ended up eating the rest with a sliced apple)
1/2 banana
3/4 soaked raw almonds
touch of agave (for the smooth texture)
1 1/2 tsp raw org. cocoa powder

Coconut Cream (ohhh yeah):
meat from 1 young thai coconut
4 soaked raw almonds
touch of raw agave for consistency

Additional garnish:
1/2 sliced banana
dried coconut

Method:
Process crepe ingredients until smooth. Dehydrate for 10 hours overnight at 105 degrees
For the butter, process ingredients until smooth. Same for the coconut cream. I honestly made the cream first, and just used the food processor right after for the almond butter.
To assemble, on 1 quarter of the crepe, spread hefty amount of almond butter, and top with coconut cream. Place a few pieces of sliced banana in there.
Fold crepe into quarters and top with garnish.
Enjoy!

My mom went CRAZY over this. Said it was one of the best breakfasts she's had in forever... and this is from someone that isn't afraid to share her honest opinion ;)

Here was my remaining almond butter with apples. Delish as well:

Raw Recipe: Spicy Onion Bread

Here is my first attempt at raw vegan bread. I have a ways to go, but I thought I'd post this recipe anyway.

 

Ingredients (general):

1 small zucchini

1 red pepper

1/4 red onion

2 green onions

stone ground mustard

cayenne pepper

1/2 cup soaked ground flax seeds

1 tbsp raw Pumpkin Seed Butter

Method:

Blend all ingredients in the food processor.
Dehydrate at 110 for 12 hours (or until desired texture/ firmness is reached)

Enjoy with your favorite sandwich fillings! I did apple, mustard, cucumber, and onion w/spinach. I wish I had some tahini so I could've added some red pepper hummus!

(Raw) Recipe: Tomato w/Red Pepper Hummus Wraps

They worked! Words cannot describe how happy I am right now! Easy as pie too ;)

Ingredients:
For the wrap:
2 tomatoes
tsp agave
(cayenne pepper for a bit of a kick and a GREAT saltiness later on)

For the Hummus:
1 med zucchini
3/4 T raw tahini
1 red bell pepper
1 green onion
a bit of raw mustard
a bit of red onion

For the Filling:
I used lettuce, orange/red bell pepper, cucumber, red onion. I left out the avocado, but play around with what you like!

Method:
In a blender, mix the wrap ingredients. Pour on dehydrator sheet and dehydrate for one hour at 140, and remaining 8 hours at 110.
For the hummus, just throw all the ingredients in the food processor.
Slice up the filling ingredients.
Roll your wrap and there you go! Delish, and so easy. I can't wait to make a spinach one next!

Enjoy!

(Raw) Recipe: Banana Crepes w/ Cashew Peach Cream

Again, the amounts are not listed, but I'm sure you could experiment and come up with something great just from my ingredient list.

 

Ingredients:
Crepe -
1 banana and a touch of agave makes 1 crepe
Cream -
1 peach, 1/4 cup soaked cashews, 3/4 cup coconut meat, 2 soaked dates
Blueberry Sauce:
1 cups org. bluberries, touch of raw agave

Fruit of choice!

Method:
blend crepe mixture. Dehydrate at 105 for 10 hours.
Blend cream ingredients. Fill crepe, and wrap. Add in the fruits of your choice. I did more peaches, apple, and blueberries.
Blend blueberry sauce ingredients. Top crepe!
If you have extra ingredients, like I did, make a parfait on the side!

Enjoy!

(Raw) Recipe: Goji Power Bites

It seems my recipes lately are vague on amounts, but it's because I'm enjoying experimenting! These goji bites gave me a real power boost in the mornings, and before workouts.

Ingredients:
soaked almonds
soaked dates
soaked raisins
organic cocoa powder
org. cocoa nibs
a touch of maca powder
Goji berries (of course), soaked
a touch of agave to lessen in the thickening.

Method:
Blend all ingredients in the food processor as listed.
Form cookies on a dehydrator sheet. (I used a cookie dough tool to make the flowers!)
Dehydrate at 110 for 5-6 hours.

Enjoy!

(Raw) Recipe: Eggplant Summer Salad

As summer is winding down, I've been stuffing myself with fruit. So, thus the lack of remotely complicated recipes. So I came up with this! Mmmm... it was delicious. An Eggplant Summer Salad, which although has a bunch of instructions, was actually generally simple.

Ingredients:
Bottom layer: Organic Mixed Greens
First Layer: Cut Cucumbers
Second Layer: Chopped orange bell pepper, and chopped red onion, soaked in lemon juice
Sauce: Cauliflower Tomato Sauce (cauliflower mixture below, tomatoes, agave, org. rice vinegar, water
           (cauliflower dipped in mustard, tamari, miso, nooch, and tumeric)
Topping 1: Kale chips (kale, and cauliflower dip mixture)
Topping 2: Eggplant Bacon (eggplant, tamari)

Method:
In the morning, I dipped the eggplant in tamari, and laid out the slices on a dehydrator sheet. On a mesh sheet, I dipped the cauliflower and kale in the "cauliflower mixture". I dehydrated both sheets at 110 for about 10 hours.
To make the Cauliflower Tomato Sauce, I put the dehydrated cauliflower, and remaining ingredients in the food processor, along with some dill weed.
Layer the salad levels, crumb the kale, and you're set!! Enjoy!

Oh, summer.

Recipe: Raw Kale Chips v.1

I got my dehydrator!! First order of business: Kale Chips.

These are less recipes than they are just ideas:

Sea Salt and Vinegar:
2 stalks Kale
vinegar
touch of Tamari
Pinch of Sea Salt

Tamari Mustard:
2 stalks Kale
Organic Stone Ground Mustard
Tamari
touch of Agave

Soak, then dehydrate at 105 degrees for 12 hours.

I'm going to be trying more complicated flavours soon, I promise. Pizza Kale Chips here I come!

Recipe: Blue Tahini Salad

This would have to be one of my favorite salads I've ever made. I would have liked to have added a bit of nori squares in there to add something a bit salty, but I really liked how it turned out regardless.

Ingredients:
- 3 cups of mixed greens
- 1 banana
- 1/3 cup blueberries

Dressing:
- 2/3 Tbsp Raw Tahini
- 3/4 Tbsp Raw Agave
- 1 tsp purified water

Method:
- For the dressing, mix raw tahini and agave until creamy. Add water until a tad runny. It'll turn a lighter white color
- Toss salad w/ dressing, and there ya have it!

I personally love the taste of this dressing, as it reminds me of halvah (mmmm). Try adding the nori I missed out on for a bit of a salty twist!

Recipe: Raw Choco-Banana Pudding

I tried to make ice-cream... needless to say it didn't work, but it made an awesome pudding!

Ingredients (serves 3):
- 3 frozen bananas
- 1 tsp raw organic cocoa powder
- 1/3 c cashews

Method:
- Soak cashews for 2-3 hours, then strain and rinse
- (to make cashew milk, blend cashews with 1 cup of water and sift through a nut milk bag, You can save the "fiber" to make cheeses and spreads)
- Mix in bananas, cashew milk, and cocoa powder.
- Cut up an additional banana for a topping, and there you have it! You can put it in the freezer for an additional 15 minutes if you feel it melted a bit.

Yum!!

Recipe: Raw Mustard Stuffed-Mushrooms

Strangely enough, one of my all time favorite snacks is mustard with either mushrooms, or orange bell peppers. Now organic stone-ground mustard is sometimes considered raw, but I suggest making your own to be sure.
I had my left over cashew cheese from when I made my choco-banana pudding, so I thought I'd make this little stuffing mixture to make the mushrooms a little appetizer for dinner tonight.

  

Ingredients:

- 3 white mushrooms

- 1/3 cup worth of cashew cheese (extracted through nut milk bag when making nut milk)

- 3 slices of orange bell pepper

- 1/2 tsp miso

- 1 tsp tamari

- organic or raw organic mustard

Method:

(Marinate the mushrooms if you wish.. I suggest if you do, a simple olive oil- tamari marinade)

- Slice pepper into small cubes

- Mix a touch of mustard, miso, pepper cubes, and tamari 

- Stuff mushrooms with mixture

- Top with mustard and enjoy!!

Raw Recipe: Pad Thai

I finally got my hand on some kelp noodles at Whole Foods! So what to do with them... Pad Thai!
This recipe could be done with zucchini new'dles just as easily :) I know what I'll be having again for dinner...

Recipe: Raw Pad Thai

Ingredients (serves 1):

1/2 pack of Kelp Noodles

1/2 Tbsp Sunflower Seeds

1/2 Slivered Almonds

Pad Thai Dressing:

2 tsp Raw Tahini

2 tsp vinegar (I used Apple Cider Vinegar)

1/2 tsp ginger

1 tsp garlic

1 tbsp Tamari

1 tsp White Organic Miso

3 tbsp water

1 1/2 tsp Nutritional Yeast (optional)
touch of raw agave nectar (optional)

Method:

 - Rinse Kelp Noodles

- Mix all dressing ingredients. 
- Allow kelp noodles to soak in dressing ingredients for 20-30 min

- Toss Noodles, with nuts, and seeds 
(variation: add cucumber, avocado, pea-pods and seaweed for a different flavour!)

Enjoy!

Raw Recipe: Carrot Mustard Salad

What was I to do with the fiber from my juice in the morning? Make a Salad, of course!

Carrot Mustard Salad

 

 
Now just because I made the salad from fiber, doesn't mean it needs to be made from it. You can just use carrots, beets and ginger, fiber and juice.

Ingredients:
(Base)
   4 Medium Carrots
   1/2 Red Beet
   hint of ginger (depends on how spicy you want the salad)
(Dressing)
   2 tbsp Apple Cider Vinegar
   3/4 tsp Organic Stone-Ground Mustard
   3 tsp Nutritional Yeast

Method:
Either juice the base ingredients and use the fiber for the salad, OR thinly slice or grate the ingredients.
For the dressing, mix the ingredients in order. The dressing should be runny, so if it's a bit solid, add more vinegar. Top with seeds or nuts of choices, and serve! I ate mine with sliced red and yellow pepper which was a delightful add on.
Enjoy!

Raw Recipe: Stuffed Peppers

I had a few red bell peppers kicking around, so I thought I'd make a filling to create a raw stuffed pepper recipe!

Raw Stuffed Peppers

Ingredients (serves 2):
3 bell peppers
9 med. white/brown mushrooms

3 sun dried tomatoes (with some oil from the container)
2 tbsp italian seasoning
1 1/2 tbsp nutrional yeast
1/2 a lemon worth of juice
(I also added in a bit of zucchini, but it was minimal, so it's optional)
salt and pepper 

Method:
Chop one pepper and mushrooms, and throw in the food processor with the remaining ingredients (except 2 left bell peppers) until creamy

Chop off the tops of the other 2 peppers, and scoop out the seeds if any remain.
Fill the peppers with the creamed mixture.

Top with sunflower seeds and serve!

Raw Recipe: Apple Raisin Salad

When made with Quinoa, this is my ultimate favorite salad. Although, since I'm not sprouting my own any time soon, I decided to use my grain substitute (Cauliflower) instead of Quinoa, and I rather enjoyed it!

Apple Raisin Salad

 

Ingredients:
1 large Fuji (or of your choice) Apple
1/3 cup Raisins
2 tbsp sunflower seeds and nuts
1/2 large head of cauliflower
2 tbsp raw agave nectar
pinch of sea salt

Method:
-Chop cauliflower then throw into the food processor, until it looks grain like (resembles couscous)
-Chop apple, and add to cauliflower.
-Add remaining ingredients and it's finished!

Raw Recipe: Raw "Stir-fry"

I was playing around with this idea for a while, and this is what I finally came up with! It was so fulfilling and delicious, I no longer even miss the warm version.

Raw "Stir-fry"

 

 

Ingredients (serves 2.. and then some):
1/2 a large head of Cauliflower
8 brown mushrooms (medium sized)
1 red bell pepper
2 celery stalks
2 large carrots
Tamari Sauce

Method:

Slice up the mushrooms and marinate in about 3 tbsp of tamari sauce, for about a half hour.

Cut up the cauliflower into medium chunks, and throw in the food processor. Now, mine was so massive that it took 2 takes with the food processor. Grind, then bowl. Already you'll see this looks like a grain.
Cut up the pepper, celery, carrots (and what ever else you'd like in the "stir-fry"), and add them to the mushrooms, and mix them in the tamari sauce as you go.
Then add the mushroom- veggie mix in with the cauliflower.
Mix and voila! 

Raw Recipe: Seaweed Salad

I wasn't too hungry for dinner, so I thought I'd whip up something simple. What to do with raw nori sheets? A seaweed salad of course!! I was pleasantly surprised with how delicious this turned out. Just a rough recipe again. It all depends on how hungry you are!

Raw Seaweed Salad

Ingredients:
Wakame
Nori sheets
Raw agave nectar
Garlic (powdered, or fresh)
Ginger (powdered, or fresh)
Tamari sauce
Sesame seeds (optional)
Miso paste (optional)

Method:
Rip up the nori into small squares, and soak in a bit of warm water with the wakame strips for about 15- 20 min. This makes them moist.
Then add in about a tbsp of tamari sauce, and a tsp of agave nectar. I added some powdered garlic and ginger (about 1/2 tsp each... because I had the powdered kind kicking around and fresh in neither D: )
Mix around and bowl. Then add the sesame seeds on top. I added the miso for something extra... and I love miso.
So simple, so yummy!  Enjoy!

Raw Recipe: Coconut Macaroons

It's Saturday! Meaning it's been a week since the start of my raw challenge. I thought I'd make a little treat to celebrate the occasion. Now, this will just list the ingredients. I haven't got this recipe exactly right, but it'll guide you on your own experiments! They were like little drops of heaven....

Coconut Macaroons

Ingredients:
1 cup Cashews (soaked for 12 hours)
3 tbsps agave
5 pitted dates
2 tbsp flax seeds
4 tbsp shredded unsweetened coconut
1 tsp almond butter

Method:
I mixed all the ingredients except 3 tbsp of the coconut in the food processor. Then I let it chill in the freezer for a couple hours.
I took a melon baller for approx. sizing, then took the dough and balled it in my hands. I then rolled them in the rest of the coconut.
Happy Raw- Unbaking!