Vegannosaurus Rex

I made a little pesto

• sundried tomatoes
• garlic
• basil
• oregano
• olive oil
• sea salt
• pine nuts

Steamed a spaghetti squash and chopped some spinach.

Put it all in a bowl and eat. Why ’slow food’ you ask? Or maybe you didn’t ask, or even care for that matter…but i’m going to tell you anyway. Steaming spaghetti squash reminds me of that old adage about a watched pot never boiling. I don’t know what my problem is, but it takes for-f*ing-ever to steam spaghetti squash. I actually had a friend cancel plans we had last night because the spaghetti squash screwed up our timeline by about 30-45 minutes.

I’ve started to try to make raw version of cooked foods that i like. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. Actually, many times it doesn’t, but, tonight, i’m quite proud of my concoction. A stuffed red pepper. Very simple, and straight forward, and also very easy to amend to your liking.

ingredients (all raw; yields 2-4 stuffed peppers):

• organic red pepper
• corn
• tomato
• green onion
• garlic
• spinach
• cilantro
• serrano chile
• quinoa
• sea salt
• ground cumin
• olive oil

Step 1:

sprout 1 cup quinoa (or more depending on how much you are making). To sprout soak in water overnight, rinse once or twice, after draining. Let the quinoa drain for a few hours, you want it to be semi-moist, but definitely not wet.

step 2:

Add chopped tomato, minced garlic, chopped spinach, chopped serrano chile, green onions cut length-wise approx 2 inches long, olive oil, ground cumin, sea salt, white pepper, and corn.

step 3:

cut red pepper in half, hallow out the pepper.

step 4:

stuff the red pepper and eat.

Make the stuffing to taste. I used 1 roma tomato, 1 clove of garlic, about 1/2 cup of corn, 1/2 serrano chile, and sprouted 1 cup of quinoa. Be careful with the cumin, i used a tad too much, but also realize that the red pepper will offset some of the stronger flavors in the stuffing. I’m going to try a slightly mellower pepper next time, orange or yellow.

One of the biggest frustrations i have found about the more upscale raw cookbooks (RAW FOOD real world, RAW) is the need for a dehydrator in a majority of the recipes. I’m new to raw food preparation, and have yet to justify the expense of a dehydrator. Not to mention I have no idea what features make a ‘good’ dehydrator.

As I have mentioned in a previous post, these two books can be a little intimidating. Many of the recipes are long, include multiple recipes that are later assembled into a presentable dish, use many different ingredients, and are time consuming, and the added complication of requiring a dehydrator. My solution has been to use these books as inspiration, and I have done so yet again.

‘RAW FOOD real world’ has a recipe for sushi rolls that includes jicama rice as a component. I make this jicama rice as a stand alone dish, and although I make raw sushi quite often, i have never actually used this jicama rice as a component for my sushi rolls. Once again, not having a dehydrator presents a problem. Sort of. I don’t have a dehydrator, so i’m not really sure how the jicama rice is supposed to turn out, but i do know that my version can hold its own.

in the absence of a dehydrator i press as much moisture out of the jicama after blending. This can be a somewhat delicate process as you don’t want the jicama to turn into one big glob of mush. I us paper towels to press the moisture out, changing towels a few times. I then place the jicama into a large bowl, cover it with a paper towel so the towel is resting on top of the jicama and set it in the refrigerator. The paper towel will continue to absorb some of the moisture, i change it once or twice when it becomes saturated.

After setting in the refrigerator over night i use this jicama rice as i would any other rice.  I spice mine up with a little chili powder, then mix in some vegetables and nama shoyu, but you could really do just about anything you want with it.

Whew, big food preparation night. I got home from the gym around 5:30-5:45, and didn’t stop until 11pm. I did take a break to eat, and drink a few beers, but otherwise did a lot of food preparation. A lot. I tend to plan meals for the week, sometimes longer, then do all of my shopping at the Dekalb Farmers Market on Monday afternoons, then doing as much of the preparation on Monday or Tuesday as possible. The rest of the week, if not longer, is a breeze as all I am doing is assembling meals or snacks. As much as I like playing around in the kitchen, i also like making it easy on myself by getting a lion share of the work done in one…errr…standing.

First off, i made the quinoa tabouli from ‘RAW FOOD real world’ cookbook. I am in love with this recipe. It’s simple, and delicious, plus it yields quite a bit, so you can snack off it for many days.

I also made a new version of rawcotta. I plan to try it out in an heirloom tomato raw lasagna later in the week. This rawcotta is sunflower seed based.

[i'll provide the recipe as soon as i receive approval from the creator]

I also made the sun-dried tomato ravioli recipe provided by Hi-Rawkus for dinner tonight. As i mentioned in a comment on the Hi-Rawkus MySpace page ’twas delicious’.

I only had one zucchini to make the ‘noodles’ for the ravioli, and due to some technique experimentation, it didn’t yield enough noodles to satisfy my hunger. This is where I decided to freestyle. I didn’t have a second zucchini, but i did have a squash, as well as some organic grape tomatoes I bought from the East Atlanta Farmer’s Market about 10 days ago. The tomatoes were slightly under ripe when i bought them, but perfect tonight. I made a little platter of finger food, almost like passed hors d’oeuvres. I sliced thin ‘crackers’ of squash, topped them with a small dollop of the sun dried tomato rawcotta cheese, then some Italian parsley, a piece of the grape tomato and sprinkled with olive oil. Turned out great, and was super simple.

Today was a great food day. I went to the Dekalb Farmer’s Market to load up for the week. I did some prep work for the week’s menu. First on the agenda was hummus, I decided to throw a little spinach in the processor for some color…it worked, i’m digging the color:

I have often purchased items with ’spinach’ flavor in the past, tortillas, hummus, whatever. For the most part i find that it adds absolutely nothing to the flavor. I love spinach as much as the next person, but i don’t think it has a strong enough flavor to really add anything extraordinary to a tortilla. Enough commentary. This hummus was actually really good, best i’ve made yet. Hummus is so easy, and so rewarding. I make it at least once a week. Try some combination of the following:

[i neglected to give credit where due when i first published this blog post, that would go to Erlene Zierke, Thanks!]

• 15oz can of organic garbanzo beans (strained)
• olive oil (1/8 cup-ish)
• sea salt (3/4 tbsp)
• cumin
• white pepper (to taste)
• spinach (your call)
• garlic (one or two cloves)
• tahini (1/8 to 1/4 cup)
• paprika (to taste)
• cayenne (to taste)
• 1/2 lemon
• water (to texture)

Honestly, just wing it. Put some garbonzo beans, garlic, and tahini to a food processor then go to work on the rest. I have yet to find two people that have the exact same taste in hummus. Its as if hummus had some kind of unique fingerprint, no two are alike. Anyway, play around with it and have fun. I managed a really good combination of ingredients tonight. The above is only a rough outline, i have no idea what my final mix contained, i was throwing ingredients in left and right, tasting often.

I also made the cashew based ‘ricotta’:

[pre-prcoessing]

[post-processing]

from the Hi-Rawkus Raw Food Blog’s sun dried tomato ravioli recipe, I’ll be eating that for dinner tomorrow.

For lunch/dinner today i had sushi. I used a raw pate recipe that was generously given to me by Katie. I have a sushi experiment planned for later in the week. I’m going to make a quinoa tabouli, the raw pate mentioned above, and the jicama ‘rice’ recipe from the ‘RAW FOOD real world’ cookbook, and use each as the base for raw/vegan sushi. I’ll report findings here.

Thanks for tuning in.

The first book I referenced in beginning my raw food experimentation was ‘RAW FOOD real world‘ from Matthew Kenney and Sarma Melngailis, the founders of Pure Food and Wine in New York City. First of all, this book is beautiful, perhaps one of the most beautiful cookbooks i have ever seen. The design and layout is intuitive, there are ample pictures, all extremely appetizing, and the book as a whole is full of color.

The pictures in this book are beautiful, i wanted to make every single recipe in the book the first time i laid eyes on it, then i started reading the recipes… With eyes popping out of my head, and beads of sweat forming on my brow, i expressed slight trepidation upon first glance at this challenging cookbook. Katie offered sage advice, ‘I use it as inspiration.’ Well spoken. That’s exactly how i have been using it, and it works. The pictures of the final products are so beautiful it is very tempting to attempt to make each and every one of them from start to finish, but i’ve found it far more rewarding, at this early stage in my raw food experience, to use the recipes more as a guideline. Many of these recipes have multiple parts that each have their own recipe and come together to make a greater whole. Instead of diving in and trying to create the masterpiece, i have started by making some of the pieces of the puzzle and applying them to meals in my own way. Its a great way to become familiar with both the book as well as some of the ingredients and techniques, as well as build my confidence, which leads me to my next point.

For some reason i get an incredible sense of accomplishment when i make food from this book. I’ve never had issues cooking, or following recipes, in fact i think i’m pretty good in the kitchen, but i get an elevated sense of accomplishment when completing these recipes. I’m still fascinated by what can be done with raw food, i’m sure that is a contributing factor, and i have someone i can lean on for guidance, which is motivating. Whatever the case, this book continues to provide inspiration.

As amazing as the recipes are in ‘RAW FOOD’ the ‘real world’ section is fascinating. The authors illustrate the path upon which the traveled to a raw diet and lifestyle, and it proves very educational. I’m a huge fan of the tone of these sections of the book, the authors don’t preach, they merely explain the route they have taken. I have referred back to these sections many times, its a fun read. They are honest, sometimes a little too honest, and self deprecating, two characteristics I appreciate in people.

I took the raw ricotta i used in the lasagna from the previous post, blended it with fresh thyme, basil and oregano and wrapped it in spinach and voila, rawvioli!

add a little raw marinara…

I made my first attempt at raw lasagna. It was better than any lasagna i have ever eaten. I was craving it so much the next day that i made it again. And…its super easy.

Not only am i obsessed with food, but i am obsessed with taking pictures of food. Following is my step by step instructions for raw vegan lasagna, in pictures:

[step 1] chop fresh oregano, basil and thyme. Slice zucchini into thin lasagna ‘noodles’

[step 2] raw ricotta (recipe courtesy of Katie Foerter, seeking approval to publish here)

[step 3] thinly slice an heirloom tomato. For the record, I did NOT make this lasagna in a bowl that is the exact same color of this heirloom tomato on purpose, and i wish i hadn’t made that mistake, the lasagna gets lost in the pictures.

[step 4] cover bottom of dish with sliced zucchini

[step 5] spread a thin layer of raw marinara over the zucchini

[step 6] cover raw marinara with a layer of raw ricotta and sprinkle some chopped oregano, basil and thyme over the raw ricotta

[step 7] add a layer of thinly sliced heirloom tomato

[step 8] add a second layer of zucchini

[step 9] more raw marinara

[step 10] more raw ricotta and hopped herbs

[step 11] a final layer of heirloom tomatoes and chopped herbs

ENJOY!