Raw Fast Food!!

RAW FAST FOOD

Buttery Peas and Corn

1/2 cup corn (I use the frozen kind and warm them with warm water)

1/2 cup peas (same as corn)
3 teaspoons cold pressed organic olive oil
dashes of salt
1/8 teaspoon ceyenne powder
1/8 tsp basil (optional)

Mix it up...yeah! This recipe can be switched up by using different veggies. Get creative! Have fun with it!

Healthy Pizza (not Raw)

Healthy Pizza

While this is not a Raw recipe...it is very good and healthy. This is day two of the April Blizzard of 2009 and I cheated on my Raw diet with this wonderful pizza. I needed something hot and hearty to warm me from the insides. All of the commercials for Pizza on TV got me really craving it...so I made this healthy version. It is a modified version of the "Loaded and Oated Pizza" from the Hungry Girl Cookbook by Lisa Lillien. Enjoy!!

Ingredients:

1/4 cup Fiber One bran cereal (original)
1/4 cup regular oats (not instant)
1/4 cup fat-free liquid egg substitute
1/3 cup shredded fat-free mozzarella cheese (I used low fat rather than fat free)
1 tablespoon diced mushrooms
1 tablespoon diced green bell peppers
1 tablespoons onions (I did not use onions)
1/3 cup canned tomato sauce
1/2 tablespoon garlic powder
Turkey Pepperoni slices to taste

Optional: salt, black pepper, oregano, additional garlic powder, onion powder, red pepper flakes, etc...

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Place Oats and Fiber One in a blender or food processor and grind until a bread-crumb like consistency is reached. In a small bowl, combine the "breadcrumb" mixture, egg substitute, and garlic powder. Mix well. (*I added a little onion powder)

Over medium high heat, spoon mixture into a pan sprayed with nonstick spray and smooth into a circular shape. Allow to cook until the bottom is slightly browned (2 minutes) then gently flip. Once both sides are slightly browned, remove crust from the pan and place it on a plate to cool.

Remove pan from heat and respray. Cook diced veggies in teh pan over medium high heat for 1 to 2 minutes. Remove from heat.

Season tomato sauce, to taste, with any of the optional ingredients and mix well. Pour sauce evenly onto oat/cereal crust.

Next evenly top crust - first with cheese and then with the veggies and Turkey Pepperoni's. Place pizza in on aluminum foil directly on the oven rack and cook for 10 minutes.

Makes 1 serving.

Since making the crust for this is really an ordeal...I usually make several pizzas at one time, wrap them in foil and then place them in a freezer bag and freeze them for cooking later....like for today. I just took it out of the fridge and cooked in in the oven for 30 minutes. Yum!! It hit the pizza-craving spot! =)

Pasta Marinara

I have been craving some Italian food lately and so I decided to try a raw recipe. Of course, I can never follow a recipe exactly....I always have to "tweak" it somehow. i ended up looking at several raw Marinara recipe's and then creating my own version.

Ingredients and Process:
This makes one serving

For the Pasta -
1 Zucchini, Shredded like noodles
1 Yellow Squash, Shredded like noodles
Salt and Pepper to taste

Peal the Zucchini and Yellow Squash, then either chop into extra fine "noodles," or grate them into "noodles." Place n a bowl and add salt and pepper to taste.

For the Marinara-
1/2 Red Pepper, chopped
1 Roma Tomato, chopped
3-4 Sun-dried Tomatoes, and a little less than a teaspoon of the oil from the jar - just whatever was picked up by the spoon when I fished out the tomatoes. (I used the ones packed in oil. If you use the dried ones then you will need to soak them for about 30 minutes to an hour to soften them up a bit. You will also need to to add a teaspoon of Olive Oil)
1 teaspoon Italian Spices
Dash Garlic powder (you can use garlic cloves, but I thought a whole garlic clove for one serving might be a bit much)
Salt and pepper to taste

Blend everything in a blender until smooth (this also makes an awesome raw soup). Pour over "noodles."

For the Garnish-
1/2 Portobello Mushroom, sliced
1 Tablespoon Bragg's Liquid Amino's
Salt and Pepper to taste

Marinate the Mushrooms for about an hour in the Bragg's Liquid Amino's. Add Salt and Pepper. Place on dehydrator for about an hour or two. (Today I was really hungry, so I only dehydrated for 30 minutes). Add the mushrooms an viola! You have a yummy Italian Raw Meal!

Portobello Steaks

Tonight I had the most amazing dinner. I made some Portobello Mushroom Steaks with Gravy and put them over a bed of shredded cabbage and tomato slivers...YUM!!
I used Matthew Kenney's Portobello Steak recipe from his book Everyday Raw. The recipe (listed below) makes 4 servings. I cut the recipe down for just one serving.

4 Portobello mushroom caps, stems removed
Olive Oil
Balsamic Vinegar
Black Pepper
Sea Salt

Gently toss Portobello mushrooms with ingredients. Spread on Teflex Dehydrator sheets and dehydrate 1-2 hour, until soft.

As you can see there were no "measurements" - so I just tried equal parts of Olive Oil and Balsamic Vinegar. I also sliced the portobellos into strips. The recipe doesn't tell you to marinated....but I thought it would add flavor. So, I marinated them for about 3 hours (in the fridge), and then dehydrated for a little over an hour. I added some Tahini (about a tablespoon) and warm water (to thin) to the left over marinade to create "gravy." I also cut up one of the strips into tiny pieces and added it to the gravy for texture. I can't believe how EASY this entire meal was, from start to finish! This was by far the best raw "meal" that I have made yet!! YUM!

Raw Hummus

I made the most amazing Raw Hummus this week. I have eaten it on everything from my favorite raw "bread" to using it as a pate inside a romaine lettuce leaf wrap. As usual, when I went to make the hummus, I didn't have all the necessary ingredients, and there was a blizzard going on outside - and I didn't want to venture out in it to go to the store...so I improvised. =) Below is the recipe as written in the book in which I found it, and under that I have the recipe as I made it.

Raw Hummus - from The Raw Food Gourmet by Gabrielle Chavez.

8 oz Sprouted Chickpeas
2 tablespoons tahini
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon tamari
2 cloves of garlic
2 tablespoons water

Blend in bender until creamy.

Wendy's Substitutions:
1 16oz can of organically grown Chickpeas (I haven't ventured into the world of sprouting yet)
2 tablespoons tahini
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoon lemon juice
garlic powder to taste
about 2 tablespoons water (didn't measure)
I also added a teaspoon of a green spice, although for the life of me I can't remember if it was oregano or basil or something else. Ooops!

*I was out of fresh or minced garlic and didn't have any tamari. I used a conventional blender, but ended up scooping the mixture out and using a hand blender to mix it thoroughly.

Yummy Green Lemonade!!!

Green Lemonade
(official recipe from The Raw Food Detox Diet by Natalia Rose)


Makes 1 Serving


1 head romaine lettuce or celery
5 - 6 stalks kale (any type)
1 -2 apples (as needed for sweetness - I recommend fuji)
1 whole organic lemon
1 - 2 tablespoons fresh ginger (optional)

Process the vegetables through the juicer by admitting one vegetable at a time...Notice how the lemon really cuts out the "green" taste that most people try to avoid.

I didn't have any romaine lettuce, celery or kale, so I used a whole bunch of collard greens instead. I still used 2 apples (fuji) and lemon. I didn't have any fresh ginger on hand...so I used organic ground ginger instead. It was soooo yummy!!! I will be making and drinking TONS of this stuff! It tastes like a glass of spring!!! YUM!!!

Detox Symptoms - Or Not?

Well...this is my 4th day on a completely (between 85-100%) raw diet. I woke up with a tummy-ache this morning...like the start of nausea. I ended up drinking ginger tea and made some oatmeal by soaking the oats in warm water and then adding some maple syrup and raisins. I felt mild nausea off and on all morning and didn't feel like eating much else until the late afternoon. I laid around and watched movies. In the late afternoon I started to feel hungry, that is when I started craving Pizza, of all things...and saltine crackers...what was that about? I don't know if this is detox or not (doesn't seem severe enough -from what I have read), but it was unusual. I never did throw-up, but I craved the strangest cooked foods...saltine crackers, of all the things in the world to crave....why those?! Anyway...I was much more hungry in the afternoon and ate some raw food, mostly cabbage, raisins and a marinated portobello mushroom...oh yes, and a banana with almond butter wrapped in a romaine leaf. My stomach is still acidy, off and on, but no nausea at the moment. I will be heading to bed soon...so we shall see how I feel in the morning. =)