Spring has sprung! It’s been gloriously sunny and about 75 degrees here for the past few days, allowing us to celebrate the first day of spring by spending all our time outside! I was thinking about how we humans have our own circadian rhythms and noticing that the cozy down energy I feel during the post-holiday rush is now gone, replaced by an almost anxiety to get my hands in the dirt outside. The cathartic feeling I get wielding the rake gleefully on leaves and dead plant matter blanketing our garden beds is so fitting now when it would have felt incongruous just 2 months ago.
I also find that I’m looking for different food these days. And while I’m putting a serious dent in the box of dates I brought home from my food coop pickup (I can’t resist them dipped in almond butter!) most of the time I’m looking for something light and fresh. So with that in mind:
One of my all-time favorite raw recipes is based on the lemon fennel soup in Ani’s Raw Food Kitchen: Easy, Delectable Living Foods Recipes. Simple ingredients, no fancy equipment required, and ingredients I adore in all one place. This is a cold or room temperature soup, so it’s great for the summer, and yet with my modifications (the addition of oodles of garlic and a pinch of cayenne) it’s incredibly warming. I could gobble this up every day, and often do when I’m feeling sickness lurking around the corner.
Lemon Fennel Soup
1/4 cup lemon juice
3 cups water
1/2 cup olive oil
1 tsp salt
1/2 bulb fennel, sliced
scallions, chopped
Whisk together lemon juice, water, olive oil and salt. When ready to serve, pour into bowls and garnish with chopped fennel and scallions.
For me, this is not lemony enough, and has waaaay too much olive oil. I put the water, more lemon juice (at least double — the 8 lemons pictured was what I started with for a class of 20 people — I usually use around 4-5 to make dinner for my family of 4), olive oil (2-3 Tbs or so), and salt into a blender with lots of garlic (4+ cloves) and a dollop of honey. I blend this to emulsify (any old blender will do for this, and I used to make it in my food processor too, tho the max liquid issue caused some trouble once I realized how yummy this was), and once it’s a lovely creamy opaque liquid, I pour into a bowl. I like to add chopped greens (usually kale, this time spinach) as well as sliced red onion and fennel before serving. I also add minced garlic to the bowl with the greens, onion and fennel — can you tell I loves me some garlic? If there are leftovers (infrequently) the greens wilt even more and the flavors meld nicely to make a subtler, less fiery soup. I also add cayenne if I”m feeling the need for some extra heat, but I often am adding enough raw garlic that sometimes that warms it up enough for me. Oh, and once we start having fresh herbs outside again, I must say that I love this soup with some basil chiffonade. Parsley, dill, cilantro, thyme, many herbs would work. In fact, I’m waiting for my mint to rear it’s head in the garden so I can try it with that.
Between the greens, garlic, onion and lemon, this soup packs a powerful immune-boosting punch loaded with vitamins and minerals. We like to eat it even when we’re not feeling wretched, and the kids cheer for this one. We like to bring this with the dolmas and a green salad for a cool summer picnic — easy to prepare ahead, and light for a hot day. Can’t wait for more hot days like the 75 degree March days we’ve been having this week! Happy Spring!
What’s your favorite light meal recipe or idea?
<a href=”http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1600940005?ie=UTF8&tag=crunchybits-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1600940005″>Ani’s Raw Food Kitchen: Easy, Delectable Living Foods Recipes</a><img src=”http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=crunchybits-20&l=as2&o=1&a=1600940005″ width=”1″ height=”1″ border=”0″ alt=”" style=”border:none !important; margin:0px !important;” />
We had so much fun in our raw class this week and were able to whip up four great lunches! These included two from Ani Phyo — mediterranean dolmas and lemon fennel soup — as well as the very filling celery soup. The fourth light meal we shared is from one of our favorite books called Raw Foods for Busy People: Simple and Machine-Free Recipes for Every Day. Author Jordan Maerin really hit the mark with this little gem of a book. The recipes are just as she says, easy, quick and oh, so yummy!
The other recipe is Jordans Nori Filling that we used in a nori wrap. I love that this recipe requires only a couple minutes, is versatile and requires no equipment other than a whisk.
EZ Nori Filling
1/3 cup raw tahini or almond butter, at room temp
3 TBS unpasteurized miso of your choice
1TBS raw honey
1 clove garlic, minced or 1/8 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp powdered ginger
1/4 cup scallions, minced
1 TBS Nama Shoyu, or more to taste
Mix all ingredients. Yup, that’s all folks!
For our class I used almond butter and red miso. Again, this is an adaptable recipe and I usually use tahini and white miso. If you do not have scallion on hand you can use onion or onion powder. I always use wheat free Tamari instead of Nama Shoyu and 1 TBS is plenty. I do not recommend adding more.
To make a yummy wrap, take a quartered sheet of untoasted nori and put a smear of nor filling on it, some avocado and tomato slice, fold and eat!
Add water to the filling and you have a fantastic dip for veggie crudites or a little thinner and a fine dressing to wow your taste buds atop fresh salad greens.
One of the first raw books I ever purchased was Living On live Food by Alissa Cohen. At a friend’s party I couldn’t get enough of a dip she had made and had no idea it was even raw! Turns out it was the Mock Salmon Pate in Alissa’s book. It is still a favorite. Alissa did it again with her Pesto Stuffed Mushrooms. These little morsels are amazing and you would never know they weren’t cooked. Serving them right out of the dehydrator, they are warm and divine with their bready stuffing. I would double this recipe if you are sharing!
You will need 18-22 button mushrooms, washed and stemmed. Save the stems for an upcoming recipe!
Stuffing
1 cup walnuts
1/2 cup pine nuts
2 cups fresh basil
1/2 cup olive oil
3 cloves garlic
1/2 tsp sea salt
Blend all stuffing ingredients in food processor until smooth.
Scoop small amount of stuffing into each mushroom cap.
Dehydrate at 105 for 5-6 hours or until soft.
As they dehydrate, the mushroom caps absorb some of the oil and give a cooked appearance as well as softening the caps.
I usually have extra pesto leftover that I can then add water to for a dressing or I will also use it to mix with steamed veggies for the kids for dinner. Myself, I love pesto, so I eat it right off the spoon as well!
I think my favorite part of this whole recipe is seeing Gatlin sneaking into the pantry and reaching way up high (for him) into the dehydrator for a mushroom. River is not as big of a fan but does love pesto on veggies. My husband, Dan loves these almost as much as Gatlin!
We first tried this lovely concoction at a friend’s house. Our kids, seeing their friends slurping this green concoction down greedily, gave it a try and have never looked back. This is still one of their favorites.
It’s super sweet, and the spinach is so mild you can’t taste the “green” at all, which makes this a wonderful introduction to green smoothies! I love the color of this breakfast beverage, it’s so in your face GREEN. We put berries in most of our smoothies, which, in the presence of greens, turn the smoothie something along the spectrum from mauve to brown, depending on the ratio of red to green I suppose. So I really love it when our “green smoothie” is actually green!
it’s-so-easy-being-green smoothie
1 pineapple
1 banana
couple handfuls of spinach
Tbs flax seeds, ground
Chop pineapple, break up banana, top with greens and seeds. Blend. Share with others!
I add a variety of things to our smoothies to boost the nutrition. Sometimes it’s herbal infusions, sometimes flax, chia or hemp seeds, sometimes bee pollen or spirulina, it all depends on what I have on hand and what I’m in the mood for. My kids don’t care for much pollen or spirulina, so when using those I will pour off their smoothies and blend mine a bit more to disperse the add-in of the day. I do this with the greens too sometimes, especially if I’m using green curly kale. Those leaves have a stronger flavor than baby spinach, so I’ll just include one or two for their smoothie and return the carafe to the blender base and toss in more leaves for my smoothie.
Lucia prefers to just eat her pineapple and spinach from separate bowls, so about 1/3 of the pineapple ends up in a dish for her. Sometimes she wraps the spinach around the pineapple slices, sometimes she just nibbles them separately.This smoothie can also make a great fruit dip or raw fondue if you want to get fancy. Just cut up your favorite fruits into bite-size cubes, and serve with toothpicks and a bowl of lovely green fruit dip. Or go the extra mile and wrap your small pieces of fruit in a collard or lettuce leaf, roll and dip into this as you would a spring roll. Yummers!
I’ve also noticed that you can add the pineapple core to the Vita-Mix, but I’m not sure I would try this with a regular blender. I think my old Oster would be up to the task, but I don’t know for sure. Maybe we’ll have to have a blender showdown! Any excuse for a party!
Have you ever tried a green green smoothie? Were you surprised by the taste? What was in it? Do you still make a green-colored green smoothie with no red or blue ingredients to mess with the gorgeous green? What’s your favorite? Now that our Smoothie Extravaganza is coming to a close, let us know if you tried any, what modifications you made and how you liked it! Not that we won’t post any more smoothies, but as we’re doing snacks and dehydration in class this week, well, I guess that makes this the week of the Snack Attack!
Botanically, carrots belong to the Umbelliferae family, which also includes fennel/anise, celery, parsnips, dill, cilantro/cumin, parsley, caraway, Queen Anne’s Lace and the poisonous hemlock. Many of the popular plants in this family works well in the garden as a companion plant. Largely because the tiny flowers forming the umbels, for which the group is named, are perfectly suited for parasitic wasps, ladybugs and predatory flies which drink their nectar. These beneficial insects will then dine upon insect pests on nearby plants. Some of the more fragrant herbs in this family possibly dilute the odors of nearby plants, or the pheromones emitted by pest insects to signal to other pests.
Raw carrots contain vitamin C, vitamin B6, thiamine, folic acid, potassium and magnesium. Carrots are one of the best sources of carotene which is a strong antioxidant and is converted by the body into Vitamin A. Also most of the goodness is actually in, or just below the skin. Many people do not realize that numerous antioxidant compounds are located in the skin of fruit and vegetables, so buy organic where you can for fruits and veggies that have edible peels and don’t peel them before using! You can get some vitamin K by using the greens on top of the carrot — the carrots themselves don’t have much of this important vitamin, so save those greens for your next green smoothie! Carrots are also known for their sweetening, antianemic, healing, diuretic, remineralizing and sedative properties.
This smoothie isn’t as simple as my usual morning fare, so I only tend to make it once or twice a year as a treat. It’s also incredibly sweet, so seldom is probably better than frequently anyway. But I’ve been thinking about it for a few weeks now, and bought an extra bag of carrots to satisfy my craving.
We are lucky to have gotten a juicer from Luke’s parents when our old one broke, but if I didn’t have this I would probably just make a pulpier version in the Vita-Mix. Since I do, I juice the carrots ahead of time. I was making enough for myself and the kids, and while a better juicer might yield more juice with less carrots, I nearly used the entire 5lb bag!
I poured all the carrot juice into the blender and set the pulp aside for a later use (I’ll post that later this week — Luke ate all that I made so I am dehydrating the second batch for pictures). The kids were playing Harry Potter and had a hard time settling to smoothie, so I’m here to confess that I didn’t push this sweet treat too hard and found an alternative use for the extra smoothie.
Carrot Cake Smoothie
3.5lbs carrots, juiced
2 carrots
1/2 cup walnuts
2 bananas
2-3 dates
cinnamon, ginger, cloves, allspice, nutmeg, etc to taste
I juiced all the carrots, poured this into the blender.
I roughly chopped 2 carrots, added to the blender, along with the bananas, walnuts and spice. I opted for only cinnamon this time to keep it simple.
Blend til smooth. My old Oster blender never managed to get all the little walnut bits, so I had to chew that smoothie more, but this one was pure smooth goodness.
If our ice cream maker hadn’t started leaking freezy fluid, I would pour this in for a delicious and different raw ice cream. It’s incredibly rich. If making this as a smoothie, I would probably leave out the dates and perhaps one of the bananas. Did I mention that I found this to be incredibly sweet? I don’t remember thinking that at all in the summer when I made this last, so either my carrots were much sweeter or my palate and sensitivity to sweetness has changed. At any rate, it was a lovely, rich treat on a cold winter day.
My brother took his two older girls to see the Lion King in Hartford on Sunday evening, so we got to spend some time with my turning-3-in-March nephew. He came with a short sleeve t-shirt, so we bundled him up in some of our smaller sweatshirts, mittens and hat and headed out into the yard to feed the chickens and swing the racket and hockey stick that I wouldn’t let him swing inside. Dante mentioned that he’d like to go visit Luke who was skating at the cranberry bog, so we piled into the car and headed out to get the wiggles out before settling down to watch the Superbowl.
The little man and I kept our boots on, but Dante and Lucia popped on their skates and sailed about on the ice for a while. The damn on the bog had broken this summer, so the first half of the winter was sadly skateless. Luckily, it was fixed before the torrential rains we had a month or so ago, and the bog filled back up and froze pretty soon thereafter. We love skating outdoors (and by “we”, I find that I mean Luke and the kids. I like to go along and chase people with my feet firmly tied up in my wonderful new boots that are super-soft and comfortable — everything my ice skates are not) and missed having this convenient skating option so close by.
It was pretty chilly and windy on the ice, so once occasional respite by the bonfire wasn’t able to warm us sufficiently, we left Luke and Dante to finish their hockey game with some of the other local kids and headed home to get the party started. Lucia adored taking care of her little cousin, and was glowing with pride at this newly discovered ability. She’s usually playing with his older sisters, getting frustrated with him as he innocently destroys whatever project or game they have going. Now she saw a more charming side of him and she responded in kind.
She ushered him about and entertained him while I made our eclectic fare (which means I didn’t think of how everything would go together, but instead picked random things I’d been craving) - bean dip, cucumber arame salad, veggies with mayo dip and Ani Phyo’s mediterranean dolmas. I got the bean dip in the oven first, so that the boys would have something warm to eat when they got back. The mayo and dolma filling I’d made earlier in the week, so it was just a matter of chopping some veggies and slicing up the collards. Pretty quick and easy to get to the table. The cucumber salad was also fairly fast to prep, and it hit the table at the same time as the bean dip finished warming in the oven.
Mediterranean Dolmas by Ani Phyo
1 cup sun-dried tomatoes, sliced
1/2 cup fresh dill, chopped
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup pine nuts
2 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
Pinch of sea salt
collard leaves
Soak the tomatoes in 1 cup of water for 10 minutes, until soft. Mix together the dill, raisins, nuts, oil, and salt. Add the tomatoes and mix well.
Cut the collard leaf from its stem. Cut each leaf piece in half, for a total of four roughly equal-sized pieces.
Fill each leaf piece with a quarter of the tomato-raisin-nut filling. Fold down the top and bottom edges of each leaf, rotate it 90 degrees, and roll it up. Repeat with each leaf piece. Serve at room temperature.
My notes:
I don’t soak the tomatoes, and often forget that they already have salt on them. If I add the salt the recipe calls for, it’s a bit much. I also don’t tend to chop by hand — I toss it all in the food processor and pulse til it’s chopped and mixed. I also really like this mixture smooshed into the dent in celery sticks, on top of salads, spread in sandwiches, etc. It keeps in the fridge for several days and is a quick sweet and salty snack that really satisfies.
Stumbled across this and found it to be thought-provoking and inspiring:
So let’s make some snacks that don’t need to be wrapped in plastic! Looking at the ingredients on the expensive Larabar package, it seemed silly not to try to replicate these at home. Scouring the internets, I found recipes out there, and boiled them down to their common denominator. Sheri from green & crunchy calls these Earth balls, and I guess that’s stuck in my head. But online I found them called Laraballs. Either way, they’re chock full of tasty nutrients.
Earth Balls
3/4 lb nuts
1/4lb dried fruit
spices
Grind the nuts a bit in the food processor.
Toss in the fruit and process until it starts to whir about as a cohesive “dough”. For this past week’s class, I used 3/4 lb of a mixture of walnuts and cashews, and 1/4lb of deglet dates.
Once the nuts and dates are pretty well mixed, you can add spices to enhance your vision. I added 2 Tbsp of cinnamon and processed til no cinnamon powder was left in the bowl.
Roll out and cut into rectangular bars if you like the shape, but we often roll them into balls. Luke likes them better if I then roll the balls in shredded coconut.
The options are endless — add some dried apple and apple pie spices. Ditto dried banana and the spices you use in your favorite banana bread. Play with the ratio to make a more crumbly cookie by adding more nuts or less fruit.
I store them in the fridge in my glass-topped pyrex food storage containers. I’m not sure how long they’ll last there because we gobble them up pretty quickly, but if you needed them to be there longer, you could put them in an airtight continer to keep them from drying out.
Golden cabbage! Cabbage is part of the Brassicaceae family of greens. Others in the family are broccoli, brussel sprouts, kale, cauliflower and collards.
Cabbage is high in vitamin K and vitamin C. It also contains manganese, vitamin B6, folate, thiamin, riboflavin, calcium, potassium, vitamin A, tryptophan, protein and magnesium.
Eating cabbage and others from this family have been shown to lower the risk of breast cancer in women so stock up ladies!
This recipe is so incredibly easy and very satisfying. By the way, tryptophan is the same thing found in turkey that makes people feel sleepy after. This is of course much healthier than that turkey dinner and oh so cheezy and yummy.
Golden Cabbage
1 head green cabbage
4 TBS olive oil
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp garlic powder
pepper to taste
2 TBS nutritional yeast
Shred cabbage. Add olive oil. Add other ingredients. Put in dehydrator to desired softness.
My adaptions:
Sometimes I just cut the cabbage real thin. This time I used the shedding blade on my food processor. I didn’t really measure the ingredients and it still comes out fantastic every time. I didn’t have garlic powder so I added a clove of chopped garlic. The rest I did as the recipe states. I do not dehydrate this and don’t find it necessary at all. I do massage the cabbage to mix it around and this helps wilt the cabbage a little to make it softer. This recipe is so versatile. You can easily add other veggies to dress it up as well. Carrots or red pepper would look especially pretty.
Sioux pipes up: Hemp or chia seeds add a nice crunch and flavor, giving a big boost to the nutrient profile as well. I also often add thinly sliced red onion for color and flavor. We don’t dehydrate it, and like it both fresh and after it’s been marinating for a while. Lucia prefers it fresh and with a sprinkle of chia seeds in her bowl, but will eat it once it has wilted down a bit.
Leftovers can always be topped on salad or used in a collard with other veggies as a wrap.
Today was our first raw food class at Green School — thanks to all who were able to join us, and we look forward to journeying further into the world of raw food together. For the younger folks in the crowd who had no clue when I started singing, this is the commercial that started it all:
And you can head on over to our Bodega and find quite a few Chia Pets, as well as chia seeds by the pound to boost the nutrition of your smoothies, salads and more.
A member of the mint family (Latin name Salvia Hispanica), this tiny black seed was used as a staple by the indigenous populations of the southwestern US, Mexico and down into South America. Mountain Rose Herbs gives us this brief history lesson, adding context to our appreciation of this important plant: “Chia was a staple for Incan, Mayan, and Aztec cultures. “Chia” is even the Mayan word for “strength”, and Chia seeds used to be referred to as “Indian Running Food” because they are so energizing. Apache and Aztec warriors sustained themselves by bringing the seeds along while on conquests, Aztecs used Chia as a legal tender, Indians of the southwest depended upon them during long trading expeditions, and they were also used by the Indians and missionaries as a poultice for gunshot wounds and other injuries.” I found this image with the tag “Mural depicting Aztec chia harvest (Courtesy of Missouri State)” but couldn’t actually find it at Missouri State, or any other information but included it anyway to give some Aztec flair to this section.
So what about the chia seed could have brought about this reverence throughout human history? According to the USDA National Nutrient Database, chia seeds are 16% protein, 44% carbohydrates (the majority of which are fiber) and 30% fat, most of which are essential fatty acids, or EFAs you read so much about these days. If you mix a spoonful of chia in a glass of water and set it aside for half an hour, the glass will be full of a mucilaginous substance upon your return. The high content of soluble fiber in the chia seed which brings about this transformation creates a physical barrier between carbohydrates and the digestive enzymes that break them down, thus slowing the conversion of carbohydrates into sugar. The result is that you feel “full” and that sugars hit your bloodstream at a slower rate, thus releasing “fuel” for your body over a longer period and contributing to chia’s reputation as an endurance food.
You can peruse a 16 page chia seed nutrition report/recipe collection at goodcausewellness.com, which lists the following benefits of chia seed consumption:
High In Omega-3 Acids. Chia seeds have higher levels of alpha-linolenic acid (ALA) than flax seed. ALA is an essential acid because it is not produced by the body. Chia contains almost a third of its mass as omega-3 and omega-6 oils. In fact, chia seeds have the highest whole-food source levels of Omega-3 acids, as measured by percent of weight.
Rich In Antioxidants. Chia is a great natural source of antioxidants, including chlorogenic acid, caffeic acid, myricetin, quercetin and flavonols.
Full of Important Nutrients. Chia is an excellent source of calcium, phosphorus, manganese, potassium, iron, zinc and copper. Chia contains six times more iron than spinach per serving.
Low In Sodium and Cholesterol-Free. Chia contains less than half the sodium of flax seed, per serving. This is
important to those with high blood pressure and concerned about sodium intake. As a plant-based source of Omega-3, chia is cholesterol-free.
Promotes Hydration. Chia soaks up water and this promotes hydration and electrolytes retention.
Helps in Weight Loss. Chock full of soluble fiber, chia is very filling. As more chia is eaten, there’s less room for higher caloric foods.
Builds Endurance. The Mayan word for chia is “strength” chia builds stamina and endurance because it steadily releases slow-burning glucose into the bloodstream
Gluten-Free. The protein in chia seed is gluten free.
Stays Fresh. Unlike flax seed, chia seed stays fresh for extended periods of time.
I myself use chia primarily as a supplement in my smoothies, tossed into the blender after the rest of the ingredients have homogenized. Dante loves chia seed pudding with fresh or dried fruit mixed in. He’s not a big chocolate fan, but I would also consider making a chocolate chia pudding by adding some cacao powder to the mix. Either way, this makes a great cooling breakfast or snack, though we’re not looking for “cooling” foods much this winter so we haven’t had some in months.
I also toss them on top of salads, salads, oatmeal, etc., but since chia seeds absorb up to seven times their weight of water, they swell into tapioca-like balls. This can add a odd texture in your salad if you’re not expecting it, so I tend to sprinkle these on just as we sit down to eat them, not ahead of time. You can take advantage of this property and make chia gel to use as a thickener for dressings, jams, and other condiments.
Chia Gel
Mix 1 part chia seeds to 8 parts water, stir several times in the first 10-20 minutes to ensure no lumps
So why all this about chia? Because I used ground chia seeds to the Ani Phyo’s Halva recipe from her new dessert book, also found in the Bodega.
Ani Phyo’s Halva Chia Thumbprint Cookie
Raspberry Sauce:
1/2 cup fresh or frozen raspberries
1/4 cup pitted Medjool dates
1/4 cup agave syrup (didn’t add)
1/4 cup water
Combine well in blender. Will keep for 3 days in refrigerator or a few weeks in freezer.
Cookies:
3/4 cup sprouted chia seed powder
1/2 cup tahini
3/4 cup almond meal
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup pitted semi-soft Medjool dates -chopped
2 tablespoons Raspberry Sauce
Combine dry ingredients with tahini and mix well. Add in agave, mix well. Add in dates and mix with your hands. I also added a little water to help them stay together.
Roll dough into 9-12 balls place on sheet preferably lined with parchment paper.
Use your thumb or end of wooden spoon to make an indentation into the center of each cookie. Fill each with generous amount of sauce.
To serve, chill in the refrigerator for 20 min. or more to firm up. Will keep for several days or many weeks stored separately from jam. Enjoy
As you have probably noticed by now, we often make changes to the recipes based on the availability of ingredients at the time inspiration strikes as well as our own ideas of ingredients we like to use or avoid. For this recipe, I made the following alterations:
I thought the oblong nuts lurking in my refrigerator drawer were almonds when I was making my shopping list, but as I discovered when I pulled them out to make this recipe, they were brazil nuts. Different flavor, but since they were all I had, I used them anyway.
I did not have sprouted chia powder, so I ground the chia seeds in my spice grinder and replaced that 1:1 for the powder.
I had only 1/4 cup tahini, so I quickly ground some sesame seeds in the grinder and added that to the Brazil nuts as I whirred them in the food processor.
I had forgotten that when watching Kevin and Ann Marie Gianni make this recipe on the Renegade Health Show that they mentioned how sweet it was. After making the “dough” by putting everything in the food processor and mashing it (not following the directions above) I tasted it and found it to be unbearably sweet. So I rummaged through the dried fruit and nut drawer and found some walnuts which I processed and added to the dough to cut the sugar.
I replaced agave nectar with honey.
I did not add honey or agave to the raspberries, just the dates and water.
I would like to give this recipe another shot using the almonds, and cutting the sweetener upfront so I don’t have to fiddle about on the back end. Luke loves these and ate half the batch I’d left home while I was at Green School, but I find that it has a funny taste, which I attribute to the chia powder, as well as possibly a bit to the Brazil nuts. I would probably not grind the seeds and just add them to the dough next time as is. The raspberry sauce was amazing and I plan on making it for other uses as well, and as Luke said, it made this recipe.
This is one of my favorites. It was my best friend as I was making the transition to raw and is always a hit at a gathering.
I got the recipe somewhere while searching the masses of raw recipes on the internet. This recipe is from Chef Jana Adjani and is by far the yummiest fudge I have made.
Chocolate Fudge
1/3-1/2 cup raw cocoa beans (to taste)
1 cup raw almond butter
4 TBS Virgin Coconut butter
1/4-1/2 cup agave syrup
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp sea salt
Put the raw cocoa beans in high speed blender or food processor until it is a powder.
Put the rest of the ingredients in and process until thick cake like batter.
Pour batter into a square glass baking pan, cover and freeze for about an hour.
When ready to serve, leave on the counter for a few minutes to thaw to make it easier to cut with a knife. Enjoy!
My side notes…
I use raw cocoa powder instead of nibs and grinding them as the directions suggest. It is hard to get those little nibs to a very fine powder. I use closer to the 1/2 cup since I am starting with the powder. I also throw everything except the coconut oil in to the vitamix blender first to get it incorporated a bit first. The coconut butter melts because of the little bit of heat being produced by the blender. Otherwise, this is a very easy straightforward recipe.
The author also recommends you play around with it a bit. Feeling free to add in extras like coconut, chopped walnuts or dried fruits. I second that. Of course, I haven’t ever done that but rather opted to go for the straight up chocolate but it would make a nice option for a dessert platter at your next party or for your Valentine sweetheart!
Lemon Fennel Soup
For me, this is not lemony enough, and has waaaay too much olive oil. I put the water, more lemon juice (at least double — the 8 lemons pictured was what I started with for a class of 20 people — I usually use around 4-5 to make dinner for my family of 4), olive oil (2-3 Tbs or so), and salt into a blender with lots of garlic (4+ cloves) and a dollop of honey. I blend this to emulsify (any old blender will do for this, and I used to make it in my food processor too, tho the max liquid issue caused some trouble once I realized how yummy this was), and once it’s a lovely creamy opaque liquid, I pour into a bowl. I like to add chopped greens (usually kale, this time spinach) as well as sliced red onion and fennel before serving. I also add minced garlic to the bowl with the greens, onion and fennel — can you tell I loves me some garlic? If there are leftovers (infrequently) the greens wilt even more and the flavors meld nicely to make a subtler, less fiery soup. I also add cayenne if I”m feeling the need for some extra heat, but I often am adding enough raw garlic that sometimes that warms it up enough for me. Oh, and once we start having fresh herbs outside again, I must say that I love this soup with some basil chiffonade. Parsley, dill, cilantro, thyme, many herbs would work. In fact, I’m waiting for my mint to rear it’s head in the garden so I can try it with that.
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