Raw Tomato Soup

Adapted from here!

Ingredients:
2 tomatoes, seeded
1/4 c sun-dried tomatoes, soaked in warm water for 10+ minutes
1 clove garlic
1/4 large red onion
2 T olive oil
6 basil leaves
a handful of spinach
1/2 t red pepper flakes
salt and pepper to taste

a handful of grape tomatoes, cut in half (optional but I like something to chomp on)

Directions:
Puree in a food processor or blender and garnish.

This is not an all local recipe but all ingredients can be bought trash free. For Ann Arbor residents:
-Spinach and basil can be bought locally right now at the AA farmers' market.
-Herbs can be bought unpackaged at Sparrow Market.
-Onions, garlic and tomatoes can be purchased packaging free.
-Red pepper flakes, sun-dried tomatoes, salt/pepper, olive oil can all be bought in bulk at the People's Food Co-op.

Pumpkin Pie in a Bowl

From Natalia Rose

With a piece of raw cinnamon toast.

2 c carrot juice
1 cup raw sweet potato (about 1/2 of medium one), peeled and cubed
4-6 dates, pitted (depends on how sweet you like it)
1/2 avocado
Pumpkin pie spice or a dash of cloves, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg to taste

Blend ingredients in a food processor or high speed blender until smooth.

This is not an all local recipe but all ingredients can be bought trash free. For Ann Arbor residents:
-All produce can be purchased packaging free.
-Spices can be bought in bulk at the People's Food Co-op.

-Dates can be bought in bulk at Whole Foods

Spirulina Sprout Salad

Spirulina is pretty important for vegans. It is one of the only non-flesh source of vitamin B-12, a vitamin that is essential to the human body and if you become deficient side effects include irreversible nerve damage. Serious issue.


More nutritional info can be found here.


Easy way to get all that goodness into your cells? Salad dressing, duh! I found this video and followed his lead. Best part is that it makes your lips/teeth/face green...



Ingredients:
sprouts
1 carrot, grated
1/2 red pepper, julienned
1 green onion, chopped
1 c sauerkraut

juice of 1 lemon
1/4 c olive oil
1 t curry powder
1 T spirulina
pinch of salt

Directions:
Mix mix mix!

Bleeding Hearts

Could also be named Love Bites but considering how I have very recently became a single lady, I'm going with the slightly more distasteful name...

Whether you have an oh so significant other or you are planning on cuddling up to your roommate or Fido tonight, these bite-sized bits of love will provide anyone with a healthy dosage of endorphins. Hello world!

Bleeding Hearts

Raw vegan, gluten free, and willing to resolve all your of sorrows.

Ingredients:
1 c walnuts
1 c dates, soaked until soft
2 T unsweetened cocoa powder
add-ins of your choice (cinnamon, cacao nibs, chili powder, mint extract...)
Raspberry Frosting (recipe below)

Directions:
Food process all ingredients together.
Roll out "dough" between 2 sheets of parchment paper.
Cookie cut to your hearts desire!
If you don't have cookie cutters, use a cup or a knife and a little creativity ;)
Frost with Raspberry Frosting.

Raspberry Frosting
Because it's delicious and blood should be red.

Ingredients:
frozen raspberries
optional: sweetener of choice (stevia, maple syrup, honey, dates...)

Directions:
Puree raspberries in food processor or blender.
Add in sweetener if you want (I did not think this was necessary but others may think that berries are a bit bitter).
Frost the hearts or eat straight up (both ways are awesome).

And for everyone's viewing pleasure...

Red Pepper Deli [Northville, MI]

My mom had a couple of Groupons to Red Pepper Deli, an organic raw vegan eatery in Northville, so this Saturday we ate (an enormous) lunch there. It was so delicious! 

*One main concept to remember is that for raw foodists, nothing can be heated above about 115 degrees Fahrenheit. It is believed that above this temperature the living enzymes in the food are killed making it more difficult for the body to digest.

Whenever I go out to eat with my mom there is one rule: you are not allowed to order what you can make at home. This narrows down the selection quite a bit because we both really enjoy cooking/un-cooking. It helps us to discover new types of food/flavor combos so we can happily scurry home and try to recreate on our own.

It is always such  pleasure eating at raw restaurants because of the thought and energy that goes into all of the food. For example, raw baking recipes usually uses a dehydrator and takes hours (sometimes days) to complete! Between the 3 sandwiches we tried (that's right, we ate 3 sandwiches between the 2 of us...) there were 3 different kinds of breads! Rye, house-made seed, and pizza bread. Needless to say, we stuffed our faces and also bought some house-made seed bread to go.

My mom refused to open-mouth smile because she

was afraid that she had spinach in her teeth haha

MOCK TUNA ON RYE- SUNFLOWER DILL PATE, TOMATO,

SPINACH and SPROUTS. The special of the day!

N.Y. SUN BURGER- MACADAMIA and CASHEW MOZZARELLA, CASHEW PESTO,

SUN-DRIED TOMATO SAUCE, TOMATO, ROMAINE and SPROUTS

GREENWICH- SEED CHEESE, SPINACH, CUCUMBER, AVOCADO and SPROUTS

We also had a side of house-made sauerkraut and a double shot of wheatgrass. All of it was delicious but we both agreed that we liked the mock tuna salad sandwich the best. It tasted unbelievably similar to traditional (i.e., full of meat, dairy, eggs...) tuna salad!

The Red Pepper Deli Hours: Monday - Wednesday 10:30 - 7:30, Thursday - Saturday 10:30 - 8:00, Sunday Closed.

Located at 116 West Main Street, Northville, MI. 48167 248-773-7671

Zucchini Pasta with Pesto Sauce

Zucchini made into "pasta" = the best. It is water rich, alkaline and nutrient rich. I have been on a serious pesto kick lately, pureeing just about any leafy green and nut that I can get my hands on. 

Based off of Pesto Pasta in Raw: The Uncook Book. This is a much more allaborate recipe than my typical one

For Pasta:

1 zucchini, cut lengthwise into pasta-like strips

1/4 of a red pepper, thinly sliced

1/4 c of marinated onions*

1/2 tomato, diced

5 basil leaves, chopped

leaves from 1 sprig of oregano

leaves from 1 sprig of rosemary, chopped

8 sun-dried tomatoes, soaked in warm water for at least 10 minutes, chopped

1/4 jalapeno, chopped

1 garlic clove, chopped

juice from 1/2 lemon

Pre sauce

Mix together and set aside.

*1 onion thinly sliced and marinated in 2/3 c tamari for 10 minutes - 8 hrs

For Sauce: (This makes more than you need for the pasta so add as much as you desire!)

3 cloves garlic, chopped

2 handfuls of walnuts

1/4 c basil leaves

2 handfuls of baby spinach (MI spinach is finally in season!!)

1 heaping T miso

2 T olive oil

1 t salt

8 sun-dried tomatoes, soaked in warm water for at least 10 minutes

Blend sauce ingredients in a food processor or blender until smooth.

Add water to reach desired consistency (I used 1/2 c).

Pour as much as you want onto the pasta and refrigerate the rest.

Remember how I actually eat my food? Pasta curled up on my couch with my laptop ;)

This is not an all local recipe but all ingredients can be bought trash free. For Ann Arbor residents:

-Herbs can be bought unpackaged at Sparrow Market.
-All vegetables can be purchased packaging free.
-Tamari, sun-dried tomatoes, walnuts, miso, salt, olive oil can all be bought in bulk at the People's Food Co-op.

Cheezy Dorito Sauce

Source: wired.com

Yeah you heard it. This sauce taste exactly like Spicy Doritos. It is SO bizarre. It has been quite a while since I have eaten a Dorito so I wouldn't have completely thought my opinion to be valid however Marcy was there to confirm it. Dorito.

When I ran across it on Averie's blog I had to try it ASAP and I'm so glad of that. Also, Marcy is brilliant for suggesting that we actually attempt to make Doritos. Well we attempted alright but we failed.

The failure sure is tasty though! Not crispy like a Dorito and has less of a punch but I would guess that rolling the dough thinner and adding more cheesy coating and we'd have one hell of an all natural, gluten free, vegan Dorito! (The picture above is particularly appropriate since we created the S&M Doritos instead of going out on a Saturday night. We party hard.)

“Spicy Doritos” Spread
Raw vegan and based off of this recipe.

Ingredients:

1/3 c sunflower seeds, soaked
1/2 c nut/seed of choice, soaked (I used more sunflower but cashews, sesame seeds, hemp seeds, etc. would work just as well)
1/4 c nutritional yeast
1/2 of a red pepper
3 T apple cider vinegar (or lemon juice)
1/2 t salt (or to taste)
1 t cayenne

Directions:

Blend it up!

Sam and Marcy's (S&M) Doritos Attempt 1.

Based off this recipe to make homemade gluten-free cinnamon toast crunch (yeah the sound of that blew me away too...). These measurements ended up with a Doritos-flavored, pita bread-textured treat! If you play around with it and make something more Doritos-like, please let me know.

Ingredients:

1/2 c garbanzo bean flour
1/2 c millet flour (or dried millet ground in a spice/coffee grinder or food processor)
2 T coconut oil, melted
3/4 c water
1 T nutritional yeast
1 t cayenne
1/4 t salt

"Spicy Doritos" Spread (recipe above)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 F.

Mix together flours, oil, nutritional yeast, cayenne and salt.

Whisk in water until smooth.

Pour batter into a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. (Looking back on it, this was our fail. The batter we made was not of a pourable consistency. Add more water!)

Bake for 25-30 minutes, until starting to brown.

Remove from parchment paper and spread with a decent amount of "Spicy Doritos" Spread.

Score into triangle and return to oven for another 5 minutes.

Snack away!

Sweet Potato Ravioli Stacks

Boy do I love playing with my food. The colors of this far from traditional lasagna makes playing way too easy.

Based off of Rawxy's Ravioli Stacks who I currently have a blog crush on.

Sweet Potato Ravioli Stacks

Ingredients:

1/2 of a sweet potato

4-5 T Goaty Seed Cheese (recipe below)

4-5 T Spinach "Ricotta" Stuffing (recipe below)

1 T salt

Directions:

Slice the sweet potato as thin as possible with a mandolin or a sharp knife and steady hand.

Dissolve the salt in water and soak the sweet potato slices for 2 hours.

Rinse the salt off of soaked slices.

Layer the cheeses between the sweet potato slices.

Garnish* as you wish and enjoy!

*Try lemon zest, pesto mixed into olive oil, chopped olives, parsley leaves...

Goaty Seed Cheese

Raw vegan and based off of Melody's recipe.

Purple from using homemade red cabbage sauerkraut!

Ingredients:
1 c raw sunflower seeds, soaked for 4 hours
1 c sauerkraut (if you don't make it yourself, make sure it's unpasteurized)
2 T miso (make sure it's unpasteurized)
2 t Dijon mustard
1 t apple cider vinegar

Directions:

Blend all ingredients in a food processor until smooth.

Spoon into a bowl and cover with something breathable (cheesecloth, dish towel...).

Allow those lovely bacteria cultures to proliferate!

...AKA let it ferment on the counter overnight.

Spinach "Ricotta" Stuffing

Raw vegan and also from Rawxy

Ingredients:
1.5 c sunflower seeds, soaked

3-4 c packed spinach

1/2 c sun-dried tomatoes, soaked in warm water for at least 10 minutes
1 T kalamata olives

1 garlic clove, chopped
2 T nutritional yeast
1 T olive oil
2 T lemon juice
1 T dried Italian herbs
3/4-1 c water (enough to move in blender)
sea salt to taste

Directions:

Blend all the ingredients except the water and salt in a food processor or blender.

Slowly add in enough water to create a smooth and creamy texture.

Taste and add salt to your liking.

 

Oreo-style

Two Minute Peanut Sauce

Chomp.

One of my favorite "oh, duh!" moments was when I found out large leaf veggies like swiss chard, cabbage, and lettuce, can be used to make sandwiched and wraps. Leafy greens are way more nutrient dense than tortillas or pita bread, you can buy them without packaging, and let's not forget that they are way easier to make (wash and cut off stem v. make dough and bake)!

Now that the weather is getting nicer (65 degrees outside yesterday?!), I am moving from my I-want-soup-all-day-everyday phase into one involving oodles of fresh, raw veggies.

Enter: Rainbow Chard Wraps

 Rainbow chard.

Microgreens. 

Sliced red cabbage. 

Soaked and chopped sun-dried tomatoes. 

But here's my mantra: the sauce is always the best part. Averie from Love Veggies and Yoga has become my new sauce guru. I made 3 different sauce recipes of hers last weekend and there have been times this week that I have just stuck a spoon in the sauces and ate it straight up.

Averie’s 2 Minute Peanut Sauce
[Original recipe here]

1/3 c nut butter
1/4 c raw honey (or other liquid sweetener of choice)
1/4 c sesame oil (for that asian flavor)
1/4 c apple cider vinegar
1 t powdered ginger

Just whisk it together!

Guest Recipe: Veggie Socca with Savory Almond Sauce

Martha Johnston, also known as my mom, made a socca of her own! Different veggies but same basic socca recipe. Here's her experience:

Mine was a comedy of errors. I did not have a non-stick pan and should have used more oil. I did it on the stove, could not flip it so I popped it in the oven. I ended up scraping it out and reforming it into 2 small pan cakes and re frying it. It still tasted great. 

The veggies in it I used was portabello mushrooms, red peppers, onions and dried basil.

Lookin' good garnished with sprouts, chopped scallions,

and raw almond spread (recipe below)

And here is the recipe for the dollop of goodness on top. Based off Yuri's cleanse recipes.

Almond Sauce (raw vegan)

Ingredients:
1 c almonds, soaked overnight
2 T sesame oil
3 T Bragg's Liquid Aminos (or tamari or soy sauce)
1 clove garlic, minced
2 dried dates, soaked for 2-3+ hours
½ lemon, juiced
¼ t cayenne, or to taste (or pinch red pepper flakes)
Coconut water (or water)

Directions:
Pulse all ingredients, except water, in a food processor.

Add water until desired consistency is reached, smooth and creamy.

Vegetable Pulp Crackers

I am very blessed to have a juicer. I love fresh veggie juice and it is super healthy for you, however it is a bit of a wasteful practice. Separating plant juice from it's biomass just to drink the juice? Wasteful.

However this little recipe is making me sing a different tune! Crispy and tasty and oh so frugal.

Kristen's Raw is a raw food blog so the cooking is low heat for a long time. The thought process behind this is to not heat your food above roughly 115 degrees so that the living enzymes in food will not be killed. These enzymes help to digest the things that you eat so your body will more energy to do other important processes. I personally do not have a dehydrator so I just cranked my oven down to it's lowest temp (200 degrees) but if you don't really care or don't have the time, turn up the heat! The high fiber from the veggies and omega-3's from the flax certainly won't hurt you ;)

Veggie Pulp Crackers
Ingredients:
2 c vegetable pulp from juicing
1/2 c flax meal (flax seeds ground in a food processor)
1 T tamari
spices (I used chili pepper, cumin, garam masala, and turmeric)

Directions:

Preheat oven to lowest temperature.

Mix together ingredients (For some reason a potato masher just felt right to use for this...)

Roll out dough (or smoosh with fingers) REALLY THIN onto a cookie sheet.

Score with a knife to the size crackers that you desire.

Bake for an hour or two until crispy, flipping halfway through.

**Alternative Directions:

Preheat oven to 350F.

Mix together ingredients (For some reason a potato masher just felt right to use for this...)

Roll out dough (or smoosh with fingers) REALLY THIN onto a cookie sheet.

Score with a knife to the size crackers that you desire.

Bake until crispy, 5-15 minutes depending on the oven.

Mexican Fiesta (with Sunflower Seed Cheeze)

Before holiday break last month, Matt allowed me to express my culinary creativity in making dinner for the two of us. I chose Mexican as the theme and going along with my inability to make a decision, this resulted in me making 6 different kinds of salsa...

 Mexican Sweet Potato Risotto

 Pumpkin Seed Mole

 Roasted Tomatillo Salsa

Sunflower Seed Cheeze

 Peach Salsa = Absolutely fantastic.

 Bosc Pear Salsa

 Roasted Corn and Zucchini Salsa

 Butternut Squash Salsa

Sunflower Seed Cheeze

Not eating dairy did not pose a problem due to the wonderful world of seed cheeses. Salty and delicious, this is a perfect spread for... anything, and it worked great in our quesadillas!

Ingredients:
1 c sunflower seeds, soaked for 6-8 hours
1/2 c water
1 T unpasteurized apple cider vinegar
juice of 1 lemon (I just added in 2 more T apple cider vinegar...)
1 clove garlic
1/2 t salt
Additional water to blend

Directions:

Put all ingredients in the food processor and blend!

Add more water for the desired consistency.

Recipes for the salsas:

Pear Salsa

Pumpkin Seed Mole

Peach Salsa (this one was the best.)

Roaster Tomatillo Salsa

Roasted Corn and Zucchini Salsa

Butternut Squash Salsa

I obviously adapted the recipes for what I had (no pomegranate seeds for me, surprise surprise) but I have to give a special thanks to Locavorious for providing me with so many frozen Michigan fruits and veggies! Pear, peaches, zucchini, corn, red peppers all from them. <3

I also made Mexican Sweet Potato Risotto