Vegannosaurus Rex

I’ve seen, and eaten, a few ‘tempura’ dishes over the last 6 months, but have never found a recipe. To be honest, i didn’t look very hard for a recipe, i was interested in the challenge of trying to create this one on my own. A special thanks to my sister to lending her nose to identify an ingredient or two that made the recipe close to perfect.

• 1 cup raw pistachios (soaked for at least 2 hours)
• 1/2 cup pinenuts (soaked for at least 2 hours)
• 2 Tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 2-3 Tablespoons Nama Shoyu
• 1 teaspoon Turmeric
• 4 Tablespoons Apple Cider Vinegar
• 1/2 lemon (juice only)
• nutmeg (will explain later in the post)
• pepper
• sea salt
• cayenne
• 1/2 cup water (max, this is added as needed)
• 1 head of Cauliflower

This recipe is super easy. If you subtract the dehydrating time you could accomplish the whole mess in about 10-15 minutes.

1. Soak pistachios and pinenuts in water for at least 2 hours, the longer they soak the creamier they become, which can affect how much water you use in the final mix (this will make sense later).

2. Chop the cauliflower into bite sized pieces. This solves two problems, one, you want them to be able to fit in your mouth, and two, you have to cut them relatively small to fit in the dehydrator.

3. Put everything else in the food processor. Pistachios, pinenuts, dash of sea salt and pepper, cayenne to taste, olive oil, turmeric, Nama Shoyu, apple cider vinegar, lemon juice. For the nutmeg…I took a nutmeg seed in one hand and a microplane in the other hand and ground a dusting over the top of the other ingredients

4. Turn on the food processor. As ingredients are blending add water as needed to create a creamy consistency. I’ve never used more than 1/2 a cup of water. Depending on how long you soak the pistachios and pinenuts you may not need to add any water at all, but even after allowing nuts to soak overnight I still needed 1/8 to 1/4 cup of water. Altitude and ingredients play a factor, as always.

5. Pour the blended mixture on to the chopped cauliflower and mix together.

6. Stick the whole mess (i’m not kidding here, its a mess) in the dehydrator for 2 hours or longer depending on the type of dehydrator being used.

Enjoy. You may want to vary the amount of apple cider vinegar depending on how your palate reacts to the taste, i happen to like it, many don’t.

My take on simple and quick Tabbouleh.

• 1/2 cup hulled hemp seeds
• 1 head of parsley, chopped
• 2 roma tomatoes, chopped
• 4-5 green onions, chopped
• 1/4 cup fresh mint, chopped
• 2-3 Tablespoons olive oil
• juice from 1 lemon
• 1 cucumber, seeded and chopped

put it all in a bowl, mix, eat. Flavors integrate very nicely overnight.

I have a minor hemp seed obsession (maybe ‘addiction’ would be more appropriate in this case), i’ve been finding ways to include hemp seeds as an ingredient in almost everything. Hemp seeds work especially well as a substitute for bulgur wheat in tabbouleh.

I really have nothing poignant to say in this post, except that i have ‘discovered’ another great recipe.  I’ve been super busy with moving and work related BS and have been sitting on this one for a few weeks, while i had a second to breathe i thought i would get it out there in the ether for all to enjoy.

I found a great ’snack’ at a local health food/co-op grocery here in town. Sevananda carries some prepared raw dishes from a local catering company that i have been giving a try lately. The stand-out of the bunch is curried cabbage. At $4.99 for what amounts to about a cup or two of curried cabbage, i set out to reverse engineer this dish.

Curried Cabbage:

1/3 head cabbage
1/4 cup sprouted lentils
4 green onions
2 cloves garlic
4 Tablespoons olive oil
1/4 red bell pepper
2 teaspoons curry powder
juice from 1.5 lemons
1 serrano chile
salt to taste

Directions: blend until desired consistency. Serve on green leaf lettuce, or just dig in with a spoon.

I was quite fortunate this holiday season. My family was amazing in their support of my dietary decisions, and made it damn near impossible for me to look back now. I was on the receiving end of a dehydrator (thanks Lauren!), a high speed food processor (thanks Mom and Bill!), a very sharp kitchen knife (cut my finger within 5 minutes of first use, thanks Mom and Bill…for the knife, not the cut), and a mini food processor (thanks Erika!). All in all, everyone was amazing and I am quite fortunate to have such an understanding and supportive family.

I’m warming up to the dehydrator (pun intended) after many initial experiments. It takes a few failures before you realize what is possible and what isn’t possible. Failed experiments include a baby bella mushroom jerky (dont ask), and and eggplant facon recipe i found on gone raw (i know how i screwed this one up, user error, not the recipe’s fault). I’ve had a few successes as well.

I found a veggie burger recipe on gone raw, but, to be perfectly honest, it was quite bland, so i spiced it up, in the process doubling the amount of ingredients.

Mung Bean Veggie Burger (Raw Veggie Burger, Way #1)

• 3 cups mung bean sprouts
• 3 cups carrot, shredded
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/2 cup sage, oregano, thyme, any combination of the three, totaling 1/2 cup
• 1/2 cup fresh ground flax seeds
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• dash teaspoon cayenne
• 1/2 – 1 teaspoon pepper
• salt, to taste

Super simple to make. I bought my mung bean sprouts at the farmers market, if you are going to sprout them yourself let them grow to 3″-4″ for this recipe. Ground the flax seeds in a food processor or coffee grinder. Shred the carrots, doesn’t really matter how you perform this task, vegetable grater or a food processor will work. Add all ingredients to a food processor and blend. Place in the dehydrator for 6 hours on one side, then flip and dehydrate for another 6 hours.

**Note about dehydrating times**

I’ve only had a dehydrator for 2 weeks and I have already figured out one important fact about dehydrating times listed in recipes. Similar to the times i have seen listed in sprouting directions/instructions, the dehydrating times used in recipes are merely guidelines. Each dehydrator is different, and I’m sure that climate and elevation play a role as well. Basically, use your best judgment, and check progress often.

**end of dehydrating note**

Sprouted Lentil Veggie Burger (Raw Veggie Burger, Way #2)

• 2 cups sprouted red lentils
• 2 cups carrot, shredded
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/2 cup sage, oregano, thyme, any combination of the three, totaling 1/2 cup
• 1/3 cup fresh ground flax seeds
• 2-3 cloves of garlic
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1/2 – 1 teaspoon cayenne
• 1/2 – 1 teaspoon pepper
• salt, to taste

Obviously, i didn’t make many amendments. I cut the recipe by a third, more or less, and I substituted sprouted red lentils for the mung bean sprouts. I’m not really sure which recipe i like better, or if i do at all. I definitely like the color of the lentil burger better, and i added a little more cayenne to that version which spiced it up a bit. Try them both, you be the judge.

I took a second shot at my Raw Lemongrass Jicama recipe last week. Flavor was never an issue, but i wanted to improve on the consistency. I used 1 cup of sprouted sunflower seed in place of the ½ cup of dry sunflower seeds i used in the original recipe. This prevented me from having to use as much water as well. Due to the lack of jicama at the farmer’s market last week i had to freestyle on that ingredient as well. I chose to chop zucchini into chunks and dehydrate in the oven at 100 degrees for 2-3 hours. I think I prefer the zucchini to the jicama, but i’m going to work on the jicama one last time before making the final call.

The recipe now reads:

• 3 stalks of lemongrass (use only the ‘meat’ from the bottom 2-3 inches)
• 1.5 tblsp nama shoyu
• 1 serrano chile
• 1/2 tsp chili flake
• 1 tsp turmeric
• 1 tsp agave nectar
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 3 green onions
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1/4 tsp basil oil
• 1 cup sunflower seeds, sprouted
• 1/4-1/3 water cup of water

I’ve been craving comfort foods lately, i’m blaming it on the holidays. I decided to attempt a macaroni salad substitute. My craving was extremely pleased with the results of this experiment.

The recipe

• 2 zucchini’s worth of elbow noodles (preparation notes below)
• 1 cup raw mayonnaise (preparation notes below)
• 2 1/2 tablespoons prepared yellow mustard
  (mix 2 1/2 tablespoons of mustard powder with apple cider vinegar until it forms the consistency of mustard paste)
• 1/4 cup (approx) apple cider vinegar (to taste)
• 1 tablespoon agave nectar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 5-6 green onions, chopped
• 2 stalks celery, chopped
• 1 red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
• 1 carrot, grated
• dash of cayenne

The preparation

First I made the mayonnaise, borrowed from RAW by Charlie Trotter and Roxanne Klein:

• 1/2 cup pinenuts (soaked for at least 6 hours in water)
• 1/4 cup water
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 1/2 tablespoons lemon juice
• sea salt

blend pinenuts, water, olive oil and lemon juice in a blender until you achieve the desired consistency, then add salt to taste.

Next I made the noodles:

Start by peeling two zucchini

cut the peeled zucchini into quarters

cut out the seeds so the remaining zucchini quarters form the shape of a ‘u’

slice the zucchini with seeds removed into small pieces that mimic macaroni elbow noodles

And last i assembled all the ingredients:

chopped red bell pepper

chopped 2 stalks of celery

1 grated carrot, prepared mustard, apple cider vinegar, salt, pepper, raw mayonnaise, agave nectar, cayenne and green onions. Voila, rawcaroni salad:

Raw Vegan Stuffing, borrowed from a recipe on goneraw.com.

• 1 cup raw walnuts, finely ground
• 1 cup raw sunflower seeds, finely ground
• 1 cup raw pumpkin seeds, finely ground
• ½ cup green onion (4-6 onions), chopped
• ½ cup celery (two stalks), chopped
• 1 cup crimini mushrooms, diced and briefly marinated in Soy or Name Shoyu
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• ¼ teaspoon sea salt
• ½ teaspoon black pepper
• 1½ teaspoons kelp, crumbled or chopped if needed
• 1½ teaspoons thyme
• 1½ teaspoon rosemary
• 1 cup dried exotic mushrooms (variety or shitake), reconstituted in warm water and patted dry

1. finely ground the walnuts, sunflower seeds and pumpkin seeds in a spice grinder. It’s a little bit of a challenge with the walnuts, they have enough oil in them to not want to cooperate with the spice grinder. They kinda turn into mush. I left the walnuts slightly chunky, hoping it would add texture to the stuffing.

2. chop the celery and green onion

3. dice crimini mushrooms and marinate in nama shoyu for 20 mins or so

4. reconstitute, in warm water, the dried shitake mushrooms

5 mix all ingredients together

As I sit down on Thanksgiving morning to write this post I’m forced to smile a little at the irony of my intended blog post subject. My plan, even before realizing the irony, was to comment on my inability to post in the last few weeks due to an extremely hectic work schedule. Well, I think I’ll turn that around, and note how thankful I am for the time and peace of mind to sit down and comment on my culinary exploits.

Not only has my busy schedule caused me to neglect my blog, but I haven’t really had the time to do a lot of experimentation lately, with a few minor exceptions. I’ve learned A LOT about sprouting, or attempting to, in the last few weeks. I’ve mastered sunflower seeds, developed a great system that works quite quickly, and miserably failed at chickpeas, and soybeans. The one constant I have found in sprouting is that there are no standards. You can read every how-to, from every ‘expert’ on the internet, and still find that their method doesn’t work perfectly for you. I’ve been led to believe that weather, humidity, elevation, etc. play a fairly large role in the process of sprouting, so experimentation and patience are necessary until you master the process that works best for you. I would assume that the variety and quality of the nuts or beans you have access to has an affect as well. Just like everything else in life, you have to find what works best for you. I’ll comment on my experiences in a later post or two.

The night before Thanksgiving

I started the day by heading to the farmer’s market with my sister. Thank whatever-you-choose-to-consider-a-higher -being we had short shopping lists, the farmer’s market was a zoo. I was a little lost as to what i was going to do for thanksgiving food prep, so i kinda randomly assembled ingredients to get me through the week. All of the brainstorming hit me when i got home. These ‘brainstorms’ necessitated a second trip to the store, but this time i cut it short and went to the local co-op natural food store to fill in the gaps in my recipes. Have i put you to sleep yet? Rest of my day went something like this:

The necessary

• Started sprouting 1 cup of sunflower seeds, not so exciting.
• Made a batch of curried kale, which is a staple i try to keep around as much as possible. It never gets old (on the palate) and it never gets old, quite literally, it lasts forever in the fridge.
• Juiced 2lbs of lemons by hand. That’s a labor of love for sure. I’ve found that its almost impossible to maintain a raw diet without lemon juice on hand at all times, i buy 2lbs a week under the assumption I’ll use it all, and I always do.
• Made spinach hummus.

The fun

I really wanted to make a raw/vegan stuffing. As with most experimentation’s i head over to goneraw.com to get an idea of what other people have done with the same idea. From there I take some combination of a few recipes i find, add a little of my own ‘flavor’ and fine tune the ingredients and quantities. Short story long, my first stop was goneraw.com when i decided to make raw/vegan stuffing. Due to the length of this blog post, and the lengthy process to create the stuffing, i have decided to dedicate an entire post to the stuffing.

Next stop, brown gravy. This turned out great, but i think i would add a little garlic next time, so i added it to the recipe below, although it was not added to my concoction.

• 1.5 cups crimini mushrooms
• 1 Tablespoon nama shoyu
• 3/4 stick of celery
• 2 green onions
• 1 Tablespoon nutritional yeast
• dash salt
• dash pepper
• 1 small clove of garlic
• add waluts to thicken as you blend all ingredients

This recipe doesn’t yield a whole lot, probably enough for two people depending on how you like your gravy ( i smother), so you may want to increase the recipe for events like Thanksgiving. AND!!! due to the primary ingredient being mushrooms, if you let this gravy sit it gets a dark brown layer on top, just like when ‘traditional’ gravy crusts over if left out, its brilliant!

I, honestly, have no idea why i decided to work on my own ‘mock tuna’ recipe. A quick search around the internet has found that this is a pursuit in which many engage. What is so alluring about tuna salad? I ate tuna salad as a kid, and every now and then as an adult, but I don’t remember any aspect of it particularly spectacular. Quite the contrary, tuna was something you knew you always had in the cabinet when you were in college, it was the insurance policy meal. If all else fails make a tuna sandwich. Yet again, i digress.

So……I decided to attempt to make my version of phoney fish, and here it is:

• 3 green onions
• 1.5-2 celery stick
• 1 cup sprouted sunflower seeds
• 3 teaspoon nama shoyu
• 1/8 cup lemon juice (or 1 Tablespoon Apple Cider Vinegar)
• dash (or two) salt
• dash pepper
• 1 Tablespoon olive oil
• 1/4 cup soaked Dulse
• cayenne to taste (i use quite a bit, i like it spicy)

I make two different versions, you can either use 1/8 cup of lemon juice (1-1.5 lemons) or 1 Tablespoon of Apple Vinegar, both equally good. I’m not sure i would fully commit to saying that this recipe is a ‘dead ringer’ for tuna salad, but i don’t really care, i was out to make something that taste good, and this tastes pretty tasty. AND, its semi-photogenic.

In retrospect, after looking at the photos, this recipe wasn’t as much of a failure as I had once thought. I attempted a rather ambitious undertaking. My version falls under the category ‘looks better in the cookbook’ but the flavor, texture, aesthetics in general, were all spot on. I made this recipe for raw vegan meatloaf from The Daily Raw Cafe.

Start with a sun-dried tomato ketchup:

• 1 cup sun-dried tomato, soaked, 1/4 c reserved water
• 1/4 cup raisins, soaked
• 1 tablespoon Italian Seasonings
• 1/4 tablespoon chopped onion
• 1 clove garlic, minced

chop 2-4 cups (recipe calls for 2 cups, i found that to be far less than i actually needed) of spinach and place in a Ziploc bag with 2 tablespoons of olive oil, juice from half a lemon, and 1 teaspoon of sea salt for an hour. This gets the spinach tender and juicy.

blend 2 cups walnuts (soaked for 4-6 hours), 1 cup almonds (soaked 4-6 hours), 1 cup soaked sun-dried tomatoes, 1/2 cup reserved tomato water, 2 tablespoons parsley, 4 chopped green onions, 1 clove garlic and 2 stalks of celery. Add the remaining 1/2 cup water one tablespoon at a time to moisten the meat loaf. This can’t be understated, be careful when adding the water, it is very easy to over moisten the ‘meat’.

blended meat should look something like below, mine was a little too moist. Blend with 2 teaspoons of sea salt and 1 teaspoon of black pepper.

spread the meatloaf mixture on baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Form the mixture in the shape of multiple rectangles approximately 2 inches my 8 inches. Cover the top of the spread meatloaf mixture with marinated spinach and roll. The result should look something similar to the picture below. Two notes about this step of the process.

#1: my mixture was too moist, which made it a little difficult to roll, if you monitor the moisture closely the rolling shouldn’t be a problem.

#2: the original recipe calls for a dehydrator, which i do not own. I try to compensate for this shortcoming by setting my oven to 100 degrees and use that as my version of a dehydrator. In theory as long as it doesn’t get above 118 degrees then the food remains raw. I had the oven set a little too high in this case, as you can see from the results…

cover rolls with sun-dried tomato ketchup.

slice and cover with more sun-dried tomato ketchup. As i stated earlier, i had my oven temp set a little too high (it was a mistake on my part) and the result looks a little ‘cooked’, although it didn’t taste that way. As long as the temp of the over stays around 100 degrees i think this recipe will turn out as expected. If nothing else it was delicious.