Archive for the ‘sauces’ Category

Summer Pizza and Pesto!

August 24th, 2011

I love the bounty of summertime and basil is one of the tops for me. First of all, I think it is such a beautiful plant. The green of the leaves, the delicious aroma and the possibilities in the kitchen that are endless. It is part of the mint family nd in Greek, basil means “King”. It is high in Vitamin A, beta-carotene, magnesium and potassium. It has anti-inflammatory properties and is used for skin ailments as well as cold, headache, reducing fever and digestive aid. Medicinally, not only the leaves but the seed and oil of the plant are used for treating various ailments.

Basil is fairly easy to grow especially in the garden. It will also do well as a potted plant. Since it likes humidity and lots of sunshine, it is easier to grow in the summer than indoors in the colder months but it can be done and is quite worth the efffort. If you pinch back the plant, it will bush out a bit creating more and longer growth. Use the leaves as they are picked. Keep those stems! When mincing up basil for use in sauces or making pesto, use those stems.

Oooooo, speaking of pesto, what a treat it is to have in the summer! It is so fresh and makes you feel incredibly alive. I swear I get a jolt of energy when I eat the stuff. It is so easy to make and I recommend making a lot, I mean a hge batch so you can store the goodness away for the middle of winter as well.

Pesto!

2 cups basil leaves
1/2 cup olive oil
1/3 cup pine nuts
3 medium sized cloves of garlic
salt to taste

Put all the ingredients in the food processor and pulse until well blended.

Now, the great thing about making pesto is it lends itself to a lot of variation. Instead of pine nuts, you can use walnuts or a comination of the two. I like to use a bit less oil while making the pesto when I am going to be storing it. To do this, make the pesto minus a little oil. Fill an ice cube tray wwith eh pesto. Then, here is the little trick, top the pesto cubes with a little more oil. That helps seal in the color and it will brown less. Once the cubes are frozen, pop them out and store in the freezer in a container until you are ready to use it. The otehr reason I like to use less oil is so I have more flexibility withe the cubes. In winter, it is lovely to pull out a pesto cube, add some coconut milk and serve over veggies.

Let’s not rush things though. After all, it is still summer and we have plenty of sunny basil picking days ahead of us. Pesto is a great way to dress up a plate of veggies or add some fresh basil to your homemade salad dressing. A perfect appetizer or main meal for two is summer pizza. Using your favorite raw bread or cracker recipe, make one large or a couple smaller rounds and dehydrate. My new favorite is a cheezy cracker recipe. It is made with cashew and sunflower seeds as the base. Added in are tomatoes and red pepper. It is the loveliest orange color and really tastes like cheezy crackers. It compliments the color of the pesto superbly. Top your pizza with pesto and fresh sliced tomatoes. Rigth now there are a lot of great Heirloom tomatoes available in your garden or at local farmers markets and stands. The pizza takes only five minutes to make if you have preparred pizza flats stored away and is filling, full flavored and a divine treat!

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Free Thanksgiving Ebook

November 21st, 2010

This is amazing!!

Heidi and Justin over at Raw Food Right Now sent a most gracious email with an offering you will truly be Thankful for this Thanksgiving!

I love that Heidi and Justin are truly real people trying to survive eating raw in a not so raw food society. They always have great tips and have the most delish recipes. Definately check out their site.

Now on to the good stuff. Here is the email I recieved and morning free to share!! Thank you Heidi and Justin!!

Please make sure to mention Crunchybits when you email Heidi to get your FREE Thanksgiving book. I already recieved mine and can’t wait to make the Cranberry Relish recipe. Christmas holds no worries either with their Christmas Ebook. I am most excited about drinking the ‘egg’nog and making sugar cookies for Santa with the kids and OOooo, don’t forget the chocolate coins which was always the best to get when I woke on Christmas Morning!!

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Raw Food Right Now
Thanksgiving 2010 Issue

Inside This Issue:
How to Get Your Own F’ree Raw Thanksgiving ebook!

Get More Holiday Recipes with Our RFRN Christmas eBook!

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Hellooo from snowy Minnesota! Justin and I are all curled up near the modern “fireplace” …our computers. :-)

We had over 12 inches of snow…and more is on the way! We are looking forward to having some nice hot tea and warming soups this winter in addition to all our raw favorites.

I just can’t believe how fast this year has been – it will already be Thanksgiving in one week! Amazing!

Justin and I are working hard on a few upcoming “secret raw food projects”. I have been sworn to secrecy so I can’t say anything specific…but all I can say right now is be on the lookout in your inbox – I’ll email you with the news because we are going to tell you first!!!

I hope that no matter where you are right now in the world that as the end of the year…the end of a decade rolls near…that you are able to find time to take care of yourself!
XOXO,
~ Heidi & JS

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How to Get Your Own F’REE Copy of Our Insanely Popular Raw Thanksgiving eBook!

As much as we love all of our international friends reading this right now (from 37 countries!!!), our American holiday of Thanksgiving is upon us.

We love you Canadians too – hope you enjoyed your Thanksgiving this year!

You may be a long time raw foodie, or this may be your first Thanksgiving raw.

But did you know that Justin and I wrote our first book, “Raw Thanksgiving ebook” over 4 years ago?!

We originally offered the ebook for f’ree in November 2006…and the response was so huge I couldn’t leave my computer for a week!!

Nowadays the ebook “Raw Thanksgiving Recipes” sells year-round for 12 dollars. Hundreds of people have purchased our Thanksgiving ebook, and we are thankful for their support to help keep RawFoodRightNow.com alive.

Keep in mind the f’ree ebook promotion expired over four years ago…but we have decided to offer one final special for the Thanksgiving ebook…

…we are offering YOU your own very f’ree copy of the book!

HOW TO GET YOUR F’REE RAW THANKSGIVING EBOOK

All you have to do…. is email us a quick nice little note to me before 11/25/2010 to:

rawfoodrightnow@gmail.com

Make sure to introduce yourself and ask nicely for the Thanksgiving book!

It’s that simple!

Keep in mind that we haven’t set up some crazy delivery system for doing this… so when you email me I will be emailing you personally!

Please be patient if I don’t email you immediately…but I promise if you email me I’ll send you the book for f’ree within 24-48 hours.

I’m so excited for you to try my Goji Berry Cranberry Sauce! And the Raw Stuffing — mmm!!

FYI my most popular recipe EVER is inside the Raw Thanksgiving ebook – for Raw Devilled “Egg-less” Egg Spread!

Get Your Copy Today – Email Heidi now!!

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Get More Recipes with Our Raw Christmas Ebook – ON SALE! One Week Only!!

And if you want extra holiday recipes…our second book, Raw Christmas, is going on sale today for one week only!

Normally we sell copies of this gem for $15 each, but we’ve slashed the price all the way down to less than 10 dollars…you can get 14 more holiday recipes for only 9.97!!

Just look at all the Yummy Christmas recipes:

Spiced Apple Cider
Instant Egg Nog
Christmas Wreath Salad
Red Berry Vinaigrette
Flax seed Crackers
Mango Cranberry Chutney
Macadamia White Cheddar Cheese Ball
Meaty Nut Loaf.
Marinara Sauce
Dark Chocolate Coins
Rich Chocolate Fudge
Creamy Rice Pudding
Raspberry Jam
Sugar Cookies

Just think: Two books filled with holiday recipes for 9.97 is a great deal – especially because hundreds of raw foodies know these recipes actually work!

You can see pictures of all the recipes on the official Christmas ebook web page:

http://www.rawfoodrightnow.com/rawchristmas.html

Grab your copy today and get ready for all the upcoming holiday parties!!

Buy Raw Christmas Right Now!!

And if you already have the books or don’t need them this year and still want to support us, feel free to send over a “donation” by buying a copy. We appreciate it!

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Heidi’s Famous Caramel Apple Dip

You may already have my secret recipe for Raw Carmel Apple Dip…but I have been getting many requests for it from people claiming they can’t find their copy of the recipe.
Raw Carmel Apple Dip is one of the recipes included in the Raw Thanksgiving ebook that I am sending out for F’ree – this week only!!! so if you haven’t already gotten a copy of the Thanksgiving ebook…email Heidi now!!
Raw Carmel Apple Dip
Makes 4-6 servings

Ingredients:

2 cups Medjool dates, chopped and soaked for one hour in a mixture of water with the juice of one small lemon (drain the dates, and leave the soaking water aside)
1/2 cup maple syrup
1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
juice of one half small lemon
1 teaspoon salt

Blend in a high powered blender, and using the plunger tool, keep moving the mixture as the blender might struggle a bit. Blend until creamy. Serve the dip with apples or pears.

Tips:

1. The dates get a much better “bite” of flavor when soaked in the water/lemon juice mixture
2. Maple syrup gives a better caramel flavor than agave nectar. Or, if you are opposed to maple syrup, you can choose to use the clear agave nectar (the ONLY kind to use) instead.
3. the vanilla extract helps give the mixture the color and the flavor of caramel. Without the vanilla extract the dip has a much lighter brown color and the date flavor comes through.

Good news! If you store the dip in an airtight container, this caramel apple dip will last for approximately three days.

If you want more awesome recipes like this for the Holiday season, make sure to check out our Raw Christmas ebook!

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What is Raw Food Right Now?

Raw Food Right Now is a raw food company dedicated to helping you go raw in your world. We are here to help you learn about raw food and make the raw food diet work for you.

Raw Food Right Now is the creation of Heidi and JS Ohlander; a happy loving couple who went raw together back in 2004. Since that time they have studied every aspect of raw food, and are here to share their extensive knowledge with others.

Their popular blog, rawfoodrightnow.blogspot.com is revered as one of the best raw food blogs on the Internet. It’s frequent content is full of raw food news, articles, tips, tricks, recipes and inspiration on how to make raw food quick and easy and fun.

Raw Food Right Now means eating food that feels right to you, feels right for your body, and makes you feel good. Raw Food Right Now means making raw food preparation as quick and easy as possible so you can eat raw food and get on with the other important things in your life. And Raw Food Right Now means the latest news and information to keep you up to date in the raw food world!

For more information, check out the blog:
http://rawfoodrightnow.blogspot.com

To make sure you stay up to date on all the news and information we bring you on RFRN, make sure you are signed up to our RSS Feed and get our posts in your inbox using Feedburner!

Get RFRN blog posts in your inbox today!

That’s it for this issue!
Talk to you soon!

~ Heidi and JS

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Want to Share the Fun that we call Raw Food Right Now?

Go for it!! Feel free to forward any parts of this newsletter to whoever you think would benefit from our information…even someone who isn’t raw! Here’s how you can spread the word:

Heidi & JS Ohlander are the creators of Raw Food, Right Now!, a website dedicated to making the raw food diet fun and easy for everyone. Heidi & JS help bring raw food to your world by offering tips, news, and information on integrating raw foods into your daily life.

Visit their site athttp://www.RawFoodRightNow.com

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Blushing Almond Sundae

August 7th, 2010

The other night, I made a decadent dessert of banana crepes with cashew whipped cream and strawberry sauce atop. Gatlin ate two he loved them so. River is not a banana fan and so I am going to make apple crepes next time. They were lovely but I wanted a little twist and wasn’t in the mood for a crepe.

Into the fridge I went……. I came out with a new favorite sweet treat that truly makes me blush. Almond butter seems to have that warming effect on me.

I scooped a big dollop of raw almond butter into a bowl and topped it with strawberry sauce and a nice dollop of whipped cashew cream. Ooooo wheeeee! It is quick and easy!

I used the cashew cream recipe in Ani Phyo’s Raw Food Essentials since I have it on loan from the library right now. This book also has the wonderful crepes mentioned earlier.

Strawberry Sauce

  • 2 cups fresh strawberries or 15 oz frozen strawberries
  • 1-2 TBS ground chia seeds
  1. Mash the strawberries in a bowl. I use a potato masher.
  2. Grind chia seeds in a spice or coffee grinder
  3. Mix ground chia seeds with strawberries until well combined
  4. Leave to sit 5-10 minutes.

The chia seeds absorb moisture. Chia seeds also help to keep you hydrated since they absorb so much water. Adding more or less ground chia seeds allows you to reach a sauce consistency or a jam like consistency. This stays fresh in the fridge 3-5 days.

Go ahead and be creative! place sliced bananas on the bottom of your sundae or over banana ice cream. Add different toppings like chopped walnuts, whole chia seeds, cacao nibs, buckwheaties or dried coconut.

Have a sundae party and put everything in it’s own bowl and let everyone make their own. Especially fun for kids!

Enjoy!

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patriotic shortcake

July 9th, 2010

strawberry blueberry shortcakeThe kids voted for which red-white-and blue dessert we would make as part of our Fourth of July festivities this year — smoothie parfait with a blueberry level, coconut milk yogurt level and sour cherry or raspberry level; blueberry shortcake with raspberries, or something along the lines of Sabrina’s Berries ‘n Cream.

As you can see, shortcake had unanimous support, and I made a sour cherry smoothie to wash it down — mostly cherries, with a little water, one banana and 2 dates. To  prepare for this colorful treat, we picked oodles of fat blueberries at Belltown Hills Orchard in Glastonbury.  Afterward, we followed Matson Hill Road to the end and went for a walk in the woods and dip in the water at Cotton Hollow. Then onto the Glastonbury library (to reluctantly relinquish their overdue copy of David Wolfe’s The Sunfood Diet Success System) and Whole Foods where we found organic strawberries on sale.

I hem and haw (gee, that seems silly in print) about buying organic berries from California, but everything I have read on the topic makes me feel very strongly that even washed berries contain high levels of pesticides and chemical fertilizers. You remember the invaluable resource we mentioned back in February — Environmental Working Group’s Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides. Like this article today from Rodale:  Coming Soon to Your Strawberries: Newly Approved Carcinogenic Pesticide. Aside from those grown in my yard, I have yet to find a good source of local organic berries, especially strawberries. Last year we drove out to the lovely and amazing Kristin Orr’s organic blueberry patch at Fort Hill Farms in Thompson, CT. A gem of a woman, a very special farm, it was worth the trip and we picked 10lbs of organic blueberries! If you know of another organic pick-your-own or farm stand in CT, please pass that info on!

I avoid buying food from across the country when local alternatives are present, but we wanted us some strawberry shortcake.  We had several bowlfuls of homegrown strawberries this year (well, those that actually made it into the bowl, that is, and weren’t gobbled up by my two garden gremlins), but we only made shortcake once.

This is a picture of our first attempt at almond flour drop biscuits which I actually made as drop biscuits. Ignoring the directions, I scooped out a bunch of dough, dropped it on the pan and baked it. Dante chopped  and slightly mashed up our berries with a little wood sorrel and Voila!  We sliced them in half and added the berries, but since they were so big, the texture of the biscuits left something to be desired and we didn’t have the abundance of berries so much biscuit required. Since they were tasty, we tried again.

I followed the directions and used my 1/4 cup measuring cup to scoop the dough, and flattened it once it came out on the baking sheet. Much better! Here’s the recipe, once again using almond flour so entirely gluten free and without that odd aftertaste that we find in many GF flour mixes that involve beans and loads of tapioca or corn starch!

Gluten Free Almond Flour Classic Drop Biscuits

  • 2 1/2 cups blanched almond flour
  • 1/2 tsp. sea salt
  • 1/2 tsp. baking soda
  • 1/4 cup melted coconut oil
  • 1/4 cup honey
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 tsp. lemon juice
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees; line baking sheet with parchment or grease the baking sheet.
  2. Mix the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Mix the wet ingredients in a medium bowl. Combine wet into dry until thoroughly mixed.
  3. Drop the batter in scant 1/4 cups onto baking sheet (will make 8-10 biscuits). Bake for 15-20 minutes until golden brown and cooked through.

She called for grapeseed oil and agave, and we replaced each egg with 1 Tbs ground flax mixed with 3 Tbs water, allowing it to stand until thickened. I mooshed the dough into my 1/4 cup measure, and it came out nicely onto my sheet. I then pressed it down a bit into the shape you see on the right and popped them in the oven.

I whizzed some blueberries and chia seeds in the Vita-Mix, and once smooth I added another couple handfuls and ran the blender gently to chop them a bit to give the sauce a chunky texture. Blueberries thicken on their own, as anyone who has left a blueberry smoothie to stand for a while can attest, but I added the chia to accelerate this and boost the nutrition of the dish.

I started 1 cup of cashews soaking before I mixing shortcake dough or chopping berries. I rinsed these well, drained and added them to the rinsed blender with some water, several dates, the juice of 1 lemon and a pinch of Himalayan sea salt and whizzed til smooth to make a cream sauce to top our shortcake. I didn’t measure, and did this to taste, adding a little water gradually until the blender was able to do it’s job and I achieved the consistency I was looking for.

Our red, white and blue shortcake was a big hit with the family, and some had seconds. The shortcakes were tasty, and I want to try them with little or no sweetener perhaps mix in some chives or other herbs and serve them with a savory dish for dinner. We used to make a veggie stew with cheesy cheddar biscuits, and I think these would be a lovely sub. We’ve even found a replacement for the cheese that melts, stretches and taste delicious! More to come soon on that!

The garden beckons, and the heat wave demands a pilgrimmage to a local body of water, so I’m off!

Happy high garden season!

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our class raw potluck

May 6th, 2010

raw potluck and some workshop studentsHi everyone!

Yesterday was the last day of the raw class we taught at Greenspring. It was a fantastic 12 weeks and we received lots of positive feedback which we are ever so grateful for!!

For the last class, we had a raw potluck to share a couple of our favorite dishes and give the students a chance to spread their wings and bring in a raw recipe and dish to share with the class. What a beautiful display!! We were so happy to see how everyone really took on the challenge and made some remarkable dishes. We’ve left the pictures really big, so if you click on them, you can see the dishes better.

There was so much variety:

raw potluck dishes* a beautiful garden salad with homegrown sprouts with a citrus dill vinaigrette – nice and light and the dressing had a fabulous tang.

* an Italian salad of simply cut oranges with red pepper flakes, onions and oil and vinegar was a flavorful and colorful dish

* guacamole beautifully dressed up with red pepper left nice and chunky

* one student got so excited she just couldn’t stop the creative juices from flowing and brought three dishes in! One was a balsamic dressing served over tomato and avocado. The lemon bars were superb with strawberries and chocolate sauce. Her last dish, black bean brownies, demonstrated nutritious cooked options. They were rich, fudgy and all gone!

* dehydrated pear and peaches looked pretty and were a light, sweet chip.

*crudites were served with a pumpkin seed pate which was a lovely light green color that really felt like spring. This same student brought in a dessert –  chocolate coconut balls.

* another student who is obviously an artist in the kitchen brought in a version of the coconut white cake in the form of cupcakes with filling in the middle, cashew cream frosting and elegant decor of slivered almond atop. She made a chocolate version, and an alternative made with almond butter instead of tahini as well. They looked stunning.

littles sucking down sprouts* a big bowl bursting with nutrient packed homegrown sunflower sprouts with velvety white cream sauce was a hit among the little ones as they went back for seconds and thirds. I heard Lucia say, “I could eat these every night for dinner if I wanted to ya know!” I loved it!!

* fruit salad was also gobbled up by the littles with big smiles on their faces

* Pad Thai seemed to be a hit and I happily recited the ingredients to many who said, ” I must have that recipe.”

One of the best parts of getting together with others in this way is everyone brings such a unique quality to the experience. I love sharing my favorite dishes and trying others creations. It is a wonderful way to sample recipes you may have not come across yet or ones that include flavors you do not typically use in your kitchen. You go with one recipe and come away with so many more and you now know how they taste. Potlucks are a great way to quickly expand your repertoire.

It is also important to have community. Going to a raw potluck or hosting one does just that. It is a good way to connect with others and discuss successes and challenges, get feedback and share experiences.

So, here’s to you, our raw class participants and friends!! We so enjoyed the experience and hope you did as well!

In gratitude!!

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Velvety Smooth Cream Sauce

April 3rd, 2010

We are a family divided. My husband, Dan and River tend to like white sauces like cream sauce or Alfredo where Gatlin and I tend to like marinara. Ok, to be honest, I could go either way and actually like half marinara and half white sauce over my noodles. I wouldn’t want to leave anyone out!

A few months ago, I made dinner for our date night and was thrilled with the results of this dish. Kudos to Carmella at Raw Freedom Community for this one. The sauce is part of her Spinach and Cream Pasta Casserole. It is so quick and super yummy. The sauce is a great addition to your recipe box as a sauce for zucchini or carrot noodles or on top of fresh green beans, pea pods or sprout salads.

Cream Sauce

  • 1 c. cashews and/or macadamias
  • 1/2 to 3/4 c. water
  • 1 clove garlic
  • 1/4 c. lemon juice
  • 1 tsp. salt
  1. Put the nuts in your blender and grind them up until as fine as possible.
  2. Add the other ingredients and blend until smooth and creamy.
  3. Add water slowly so you end up with a desired thickness.
  4. Pour over your noodles or dish you are serving it and that is it.

I like the creaminess of cashews and tend to use just those. Feel free to add more garlic if that’s the way you like it. It stays beautiful white in color, but you could easily adapt this sauce by adding some sun-dried tomatoes or mushrooms for a new flavor.

This one is a sure favorite. You can add some marinated mushrooms or spinach marinated in salt and olive oil for a special touch!

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