Archive for Featured Recipes
Homemade Cashew Mayonnaise
Posted by: | CommentsThis raw vegan version is one condiment you’ll always want to have ready in the kitchen. For variations of sauces and dressings from this base recipe, here’s a handy chart.
Yield: 3 cups
INGREDIENTS
2 cups raw cashews, soaked 4 hours, rinsed then drained
¾ cup filtered water
¼ cup olive oil
¼ cup flax oil
3 Tablespoons lemon juice
2 pitted Medjool dates
2 teaspoons onion powder
1½ teaspoons Celtic sea salt
1 teaspoon garlic powder
Pinch of white pepper
PREPARATION METHOD
- In a high-speed blender, puree all of the ingredients, stopping the blender to scrape down the sides with a spatula. Resume blending until the mayonnaise is smooth and creamy.
- Store in an air-tight container in the refrigerator for up to two weeks.
Date Paste
Posted by: | CommentsWith all the hoopla that has been going on in the raw foods community surrounding the "rawness" of agave nectar, here's an alternative, natural sweetener: Date Paste.
Date paste, you ask?
Where can you get it? Well, actually you can make it yourself. Just pit some dates, Medjool preferably. Then, in a high-speed blender, add the dates with a little bit of water, and blend away until smooth and creamy. The more water you add, the thinner the consistency and the more diluted the taste. Now if you prefer to do this by hand, just use a mortar and pestle. Same results, just takes a lot longer (if you don't mind).
What's it for? Use as a sweetener without added liquid. Useful in cakes, cookies, crusts, icing, mousse, pies, toppings, ice cream, parfait, puddings, truffles. You name it!
Date Paste
Yield: Approximately 2 cups
Ingredients
2 cups Medjool dates, pitted
1 cup filtered water
2 teaspoons lemon juice
Preparation
In a high-speed blender, combine all ingredients and blend until smooth and creamy. For a more syrupy consistency, add more water.
Storage: Refrigerate up to 3 days
Warming Spices
Posted by: | CommentsStaying on a raw food diet in cold climates can pose a challenge for some.
Teas, nutmilks, hearty soups, sauces, breads and crackers, vegetable dishes, desserts and snacks can be transformed to give a distinct regional flavor with just the right amount and ideal combination of spices. In addition to adding flavor to your dishes, they can be used for stimulating your immune system with its health-promoting properties, and for keeping your body warm during the colder season. Read More→
Kale Chips Gone Mainstream
Posted by: | CommentsThe following is a reprint of an article by food writer Florence Fabricant published on September 22, 2010 in the The New York Times Dining Section.
Nutritious Chips: Not an Oxymoron–The Rorschach allure of the dark, leafy shapes have you admiring the crisp kale chips before you nibble. Thin and glazed with various seasonings, they not only are snack worthy and packed with nutrients, but they also can be used for dipping or as a salad or a garnish for all sorts of dishes, like baked fish or even soups. Amy Hamberry and Joe Orr make them by dehydrating kale in their Brooklyn plant, where some magic makes than taste fried. They come in three flavors: spicy miso, vegan cheese and, my favorite, Bombay curry, which I would certainly serve with an Indian dinner.
Photo credit: Tony Cenicola/The New York Times
New York Naturals Kale Chips are sold at Columbus Natural Foods, Garden of Eden stores, Foragers in Dumbo, Brooklyn, and the Flatbush and Park Slope food co-ops, for $7.49 for 3.5 ounces, and at nynshop.com, where they are sold individually and also in a pack of three for $19.95.
Now if you’d like to make your own, here’s a simple recipe for cheesy kale chips from my own private chef collection.
Cheesy Kale Chips
Yield: Approximately 2½ cups
Ingredients
Bunch of curly kale, washed, stemmed and torn into large pieces
2 cups raw cashews, soaked for 4 hours, rinsed and drained
2 yellow bell peppers, seeded and chopped topping
2 Tablespoons lemon juice
2 Tablespoons nutritional yeast
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon Celtic sea salt
Preparation Method
- In a high-speed blender, blend cashews, yellow bell pepper, lemon juice, nutritional yeast, cayenne pepper and salt until smooth and creamy.
- Pour batter into a large mixing bowl. Add kale, and using your hands, massage the batter into the kale until it is thoroughly coated.
- Place coated kale chips onto mesh-screened dehydrator trays. Dehydrate at 118°F for 12 hours or more until coating is dry and kale becomes crispy.
- Store in an air-tight container until ready to serve.
Variation: For a spicier taste, blend in 1 Tablespoon chili pepper flakes.
Enjoy!
