Eat: Raw Cashew Sour Cream

I guess I must be all about eating lately.  My blog posts sure reflect that!  Tonight is going to be taco night which consists of grass-fed beef, corn tortillas, spinach, onion, salsa, and cashew sour cream.  This sour cream is a great dairy free option for those who don't do dairy.  It's also raw so it's full of enzymes, vitamins, and minerals.

Ingredients
1/2 cup Soaked Cashews
Juice of 1/2 Lemon
1 tsp Apple Cider Vinegar
~5 tbsp Water

Start by soaking your raw cashews in water for a minimum of 2 hours.  You'll tell that they are ready when they become pliable.  Make sure to drain them well.

Next add all your ingredients in a blender.  Blend on high until nice and creamy. You may need more water depending on how juicy your lime is.  I start with 5 tbsp but feel free to add more one tbsp at a time until you get the right consistency. This will firm up a bit more once you put it in the fridge.  As with all raw recipes please use up within the next couple of days.

Bon Appetite!

Eat: Homemade Almond Milk

Well hello there dear readers.  I hope we all had a wonderful Thanksgiving.  You all know me and how much I like to try to make things from scratch.  Sometimes it's worth it, sometimes it's not.  But you know, you'll never really know unless you try.  One thing that I do think is super worth it is making your own almond milk.  Any nut milk really can be made from scratch.  Why do I think it's worth it you may ask?  You can control everything that goes in it.  From the quality of the almonds, to if it is sweetened or not, how you are sweetening it, is it flavored, etc.  It's easy too!  So here's my simple way of making Almond Milk

I made sweetened vanilla almond milk but you can really customize this however you want.  Want chocolate?  Add cocoa powder when blending.  Want plain unsweetened?  Skip adding the dates and vanilla extract.  Want strawberry?  Blend some strawberries with the almonds.... really it's that easy.

Ingredients
2 Cups Raw Almonds (soaked for a minimum of 4 hours, overnight it better)
4-5 Raw Dates, make sure to take out the pits! (this is your sweetener)
1 Tbs Vanilla Extract (I make my own but use whatever you have)
4-6 Cups Water (I use filtered since our tap water has a lot of chlorine in it)

Equipment
Bowl for soaking
Strainer
Nut Milk Bag (or cheesecloth or I use a flour-sack cloth)
Blender
Something to bottle your milk in

1. Soak almonds in a bowl for a minimum of 4 hours.  I like to do this right before I go to bed and then I can make a fresh batch in the morning.
2. Rinse your almonds in a strainer until water is clear.  This helps eliminate the bitterness raw almonds can have.
3. Put almonds in a blender with the dates and water.  How much water depends on what consistency milk you would like.  If you like thicker milk (like whole or 2%) add 4 cups water.  If you are a skim person add up to 6 cups water.  It's completely up to you.
4. Blend on high for ~ 1 min
5. Take a bowl and place your strainer over the top.  Layer in your cloth or nut milk bag.
6. Slowly pour your almond mixture into the cloth.  Gather up the sides and squeeze out all the liquid until almond pulp is dry.
7. Set aside the pulp and add your vanilla to the liquid.  You now have almond milk.  Because there aren't any preservatives use this up within a couple of days.  I keep mine in 2 milk jugs I found on clearance at Target but a canning jar works great.   Before you use your milk make sure to shake well.

These steps can be used to make a variety of nut milks just make sure to use raw nuts and not roasted ones.

** What to do with the pulp**
You can use this as almond meal, actually that is what almond meal is.  It can be used right away or frozen for later.  You can also put it in your dehydrator until completely dry and it can be stored in the cupboard until needed.  I do love when you can do 2 things with 1 item don't you?

Eat: Soupalicious

Nothing says Fall like soup.  I have recently made French Onion and Cheesy Bacon Potato and Leek Soup. Both were delicious and really got me in the Fall mood.  Another reason I like to make soup is that it's cheap, makes a lot, and freezes well.  I always try to make enough to freeze 2 containers for later.  It makes it an easy way to make an instant dinner for those times you just don't want to use a lot of effort.  Lately I have been going toward one of my favorite cookbooks, Super Natural Cooking Every Day by Heidi Swanson.  She's also the wonderful food goddess of 101 cookbooks.  She makes delicious vegetarian food and her recipes are always so easy to follow.

Tonight I decided Green Lentil Soup was just what we needed on the gray dreary day.  Of course me being me I substituted a few of the ingredients.  I used split peas (they are cheaper then lentils and it's what I had), I didn't make the brown butter but incorporated the curry in the soup itself, and instead of red pepper flake I added some cayenne pepper.

Voila!  It turned out fabulous!  It got rave reviews from the hubby.  I really recommend this recipe.  Here's a few other cookbooks I really recommend for super tasty cooking.

Preserving The Harvest: Carol Costenbader

This cookbook is great to learn how to preserve fruits and veggies in a variety easy to follow recipes

Super Natural Cooking: Heidi Swanson

This book is beautiful.  The pictures really bring the food to life and her explainations on ingredients and nutrition is very valuable.  It provides a great entry into vegetarian cooking.

Super Natural Cooking Every Day: Heidi Swanson

Another great book with wonderful pictures.  This one goes from breakfast to dinner drinks and everything in between.  Another great resource in vegetarian cooking.

Allergy Free Cookbook: Alice Sherwood

This one is a great book on how to cook with a variety of food allergies.  It provides subsitutions to turn any recipe into one you or your family can eat.  It is in the metric system so you may need a conversion chart.

Almost Vegetarian: Diana Shaw

This book is great for those who are vegetarian and those who want to eat a bit more plant based.  Offers lots of suggestions and has a ton of recipes!

Food: Orange Chia Pancakes

There are times, usually Sundays, where I want to make something just a little more scrumptious than the other days.  I haven't made Pancakes in forever and they are so easy to make from scratch, I knew that this was what I was going to make today.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 C. Gluten-Free Flour
3 1/2 tsp. Baking Powder
3/4 tsp. Salt
1 tbsp. Raw Honey (It's what I had on hand)
1 C. Vanilla Almond Milk
1 Egg
3 tbsp Coconut Butter
1/4 C. Orange Juice (Fresh Squeezed)
~1 tsp to 2 tsp Orange Zest
1 tbsp Chia Seeds
1/2 tsp Guar Gum

Mix everything together in a bowl.  Once mixed heat your pan on medium low to medium heat.   I used an 1/8 C. as a scoop.  This recipe made around 18 to 20 pancakes.  They have a wonderful orange flavor and the chia seeds add a wonderful texture.  Drizzle some agave nectar and enjoy!

Raw Food: Typical Day

Yesterday I decided to take a picture of what a typical day is for me.  I usually eat raw for breakfast and lunch and then sometimes each raw or cooked for dinner.  I find this works the best for me right now.  It also works out best for my family.  So what did I have to eat?

Here's the ingredients for my morning smoothie:  Banana, Blackberries, Cucumber, Almond Milk, and Psyllium Husk. (click on the link to find out more about this ingredient)  

This is what I took to work.  In the jar is my smoothie.  Then I have an orange (I used some of the zest in Tuesdays smoothie), and a layered salad.  I don't always eat salad but yesterday I didn't know what to have so I threw some things together.  This salad had: Broccoli Slaw, Lettuce, Tomato, Mushroom, Radish Sprouts (home sprouted), Cucumber, and Pepitas.  The dressing (sitting in the container on top of the salad) has: 1 Avocado, 2 Tbsp AC Vinegar, 1 Tbsp Aminos, Garlic Powder, Olive Oil (I didn't measure this), and just a little water to thin it out. 

I could only eat 1/2 of my salad yesterday so I left it at work for today.  It turned out so yummy!  The dressing was a nice creamy slightly tangy element.  Being raw does not mean boring.  You can really play around with flavors to make an amazing meal that is very highly nutritious.  What raw thing did you have today?

Raw Food: Smoothies and Juice

I  love raw food and on most days I eat mostly raw.  In the winter I eat around I meal a day cooked.  One reason for this is that it's cold here in good ole Wisconsin.  And, the cost for good fresh produce in the winter becomes crazy expensive.  If I stick with what's local I am stuck with mainly root veggies, which while great, are kinda boring if that is the only thing you are eating.  I have been asked how to transition into raw food and here are my thoughts on this:

Start with one meal at a time.  I think the easiest one to convert into raw is breakfast.  I tend to have fresh made juice or a smoothie.  It's quick and easy, you can use up whatever you have, and yes, it will keep you full.  I usually have about 16 oz, and that keeps me full from 7:00 am to about 10:30 or 11:00 am.

So, what do you need?  A good high powered blender.  You can use a juicer (and I love mine) but it is not necessary.  I have a Ninja and it works really well making smoothies.  To make juice pour your liquid into a colander lined with cheesecloth or a milk bag and squeeze out the juice.  See, very easy!  Here's some of my favorites:

1 Apple, 2 Carrots, 1 Hunk Ginger, 2 Handfuls Spinach

1 Cup Pineapple, 2 Carrots, 1 Inch Ginger, 1 Orange (peeled)

2 Apples, 2 Stalks Celery, 1 Lemon, 2 Carrots, 1 Bunch Kale

It is so fun to just throw things together and see what happens.  Usually my smoothies contain some sort of berry and almond milk.  I sometime blend in banana, avocado, and/or spinach.  When it comes to juicing I love beet juice (I'll have to take a picture of that one soon), and throwing whatever veggies/fruits I have laying around.  The rule is if you add an apple to your juice you will taste apple.  This is an excellent way of hiding the veggie taste if that is something you don't care for.  So get out there, add 1 raw meal to your day.