CREAMY MUSHROOM SAFFRON ALFREDO
So this idea was ass backwards. Originally I really wanted to make mushroom raviolis with a creamy Alfredo sauce, but the rice paper was too thin. Then I tried butternut squash, but I couldn’t get it thin enough in the shape I wanted. Every stupid contraption Marie and I purchased didn’t work so we broke down and used the spiralizer to make fettuccini. So even though I made this with the butternut squash, I preferred it with rice noodles. I liked it with the rice paper raviolis too, but the pics were hideous and looked really unappetizing even if it tasted the best. I’ve now had it 4 different ways…
Harvest Time Raw Caramel Apples
So, let’s get it straight: this whole idea emerged as a healthy treat for Halloween. Raw Caramel Apples. We’re always trying to think of ways to make all those old, comfortable, non-raw, non-vegan recipes into something we can eat now. Face it: it’s become our life mission. It’s like, whatever recipe we come across that sounds good, we first ask, “Is it raw?”. If the answer to that question is no -as it most often is – secondly we’ll ask, “Can we make it raw?” Honestly, you can’t imagine how often those questions get asked around here. It’s like a broken record. Ultimately, when it comes to making things raw,…
Blood Orange Cordials
I want to start by saying these are one of the most delicious candies I’ve ever had. The tartness of blood orange oozes from the sweet almond marzipan, covered in a deep, dark chocolate shell. I think this is my new favorite raw-vegan dessert, but…I will never make these damn things again! Okay, that’s not fair, I will make them again. What I won’t do again is give a damn what they look like. Trying to make raw chocolate stick to something is an exercise in insanity. Your choice is either a loose chocolate sauce that will never set, or a seized ball that can only be described as a…
Teriyaki Coconut Bowl
I love teriyaki! So when the craving hit, I opened the fridge and started brainstorming. I had a young coconut, some veggies and rice noodles. My idea hinged on the texture of the coconut meat. It needs to be firm, but still soft, but not too soft (like spoon meat), that you can’t slice it. This coconut was perfect so a recipe was born. I marinated the coconut in a sweet and spicy teriyaki sauce. I could have left it like that, just sitting in the marinade. Instead I put it in the dehydrator to make the texture firmer and to get that marinade deep into the coconut meat. My…
Avocado Chocolate-Coffee Mousse
The trials and tribulations of ripening a perfect avocado in the desert. The struggle is real. One minute it’s almost ready and an hour later it’s overripe. The trick is to be so hyper aware that you look like you’re waiting for an egg to hatch. I love avocados and I eat them a couple of times a week. In my world they go with everything. For 26 years, I was able to get them from local farmers in California or pick them from a neighbors tree. On occasion a friend would call and beg me to take them off their hands. A mature avocado tree can produce up to…
Sweet Potato “Bacon” Fritters
Back in the 80’s Marie and I would go downtown every Saturday for brunch at Elephant and Castle in SoHo, NYC. Whether we were roomies or we lived on opposite ends of Manhattan, this was our go to brunch spot. On the menu they had sweet potato bacon fritters that were served with warm maple syrup. They were so good that no matter what else we chose to eat, we had to get at least one serving to share. In this recipe I chose one Garnet and one Purple sweet potato. I love the flavors and color, the flesh is bright, moist and sweet. More importantly, they tend to be…
Rosemary Olive Oil Crackers
If you’ve been reading the blurbs that accompany our recipes you know by now how much we dislike flax seed in everything. It drives us crazy that a lot of raw/vegan crackers and bread bases rely on something that leaves such a weird aftertaste. Starting innocently enough, I was dehydrating thin slices of plantains for chips when it became apparent, they were way too dry to be enjoyable. Instead of throwing out two trays full of plantains, I pulverized them into flour. I had never used plantain flour before but it’s very popular in Caribbean cooking, so that was going to be my plan. At this point I had already…
Not Your Mothers Pop Tarts
I was hardly ever allowed to have pop tarts as a girl. That was the one food arena where, all of a sudden, my mother drew the line. And it’s not because of all the icing and sprinkles on what was supposed to be a breakfast treat. Because she was all about coffee cake and strudel and cinnamon buns – as long as she made them. And she was. literally, baking round the clock. Homemade was healthiest as far as she was concerned. Even if it was filled with sugar, you couldn’t convince her otherwise. I was a ‘growing girl’ in desperate need of ‘sustenance’ and it was her mission…
Lime Corn Chips
With all the corn being harvested all over the place around now, it seemed like the perfect time to make corn chips. Frankly, it’s hard to make enough of them. Raw corn chips, done right, taste so much more ‘corny’ than the kind you might have once bought at the grocery store that, no matter how natural they may have been, always seemed to have a bunch of other ingredients filling in where corn is supposed to be. Frito-lay just isn’t even in the same arena as these. And just think of all the decadent snacks that can evolve out of just a handful of chips. Soak and sprout some…
Tempura Battered “BLT”
There is a restaurant down the road apiece that makes a delicious fried green tomato BLT. But since we aren’t cooking, eating anything fried and maintaining a vegan diet, the original is out. Well let me introduce you to our version. As a kid I would have a BLT all the time. My mom considered them a healthy lunch. It’s funny to think that now, but back then if something had a vegetable in it, it was good for you. Even if those vegetables consisted of iceberg lettuce and a tomato (I know, I know). I love tomatoes. I think it’s my favorite vegetable (fruit) and I put them in…
