Kung Pao Coconut
Here’s what happens when you take an old Chinese restaurant classic and turn it raw vegan. These are the kind of experiments that seem almost fruitless at first; it just doesn’t seem possible. Even when they make vegan ‘chicken’ it doesn’t taste much like chicken to me at all. I feel like saying, “Just stop! Call it what it is and stop messing with people’s heads!” Theres no way cauliflower is ever going to taste like chicken. And why would we want it to? So this is Kung Pao Coconut. You might say tomato and I say toe-mah-to but none of us be calling this ”chicken. That said, my inspiration…
Green Cabbage Steaks with Black Olive Tapenade
Lately I seem to be having a love affair with cabbage. I’ve already made these green cabbage steaks three times; twice before I ate them so fast I completely neglected taking pictures of them, never mind sharing any with anyone else. I don’t think Melissa actually believes that I made them at all because there’s never anything left when she comes ’round and no one else knows anything about them either. It’s like a covert operation. This time around I only had enough cabbage to make two steaks but I remembered to take pictures as evidence. I really am doing the work! Unfortunately, once again I ate both of those…
Smokin’ Raw Chili Chill Chaser
I just finished eating this raw chili for lunch for the second day in a row. The first day I ate it at room temperature and all the spices and chile peppers gave me all the heat I needed. But today, after coming in from a very snowy day, I heated it up for an hour in the dehydrator. After it had spent the night in the fridge it needed the chill taken off as much as I did! This is not verboten. That’s what the dehydrator is for: making sure those enzymes stay intact and you still get to have something warm when it strikes your fancy. In the…
Fennel Lemon Spring Rolls
I don’t know about you but when summer comes, I lose all desire for heavy food. Being new to the raw food diet, I have found myself eating the same portion sizes and still being hungry after. This is common. So my challenge has been to make myself meals that are filling, but don’t leave me feeling like I swallowed a hunk of granite. I love eating spring rolls in the summer and always have, but lately, without fish, they just haven’t been as filling. Until now! I filled these gorgeous raw spring rolls with fennel and carrot and micro-greens. Mixed with the sauce, just two of these rolls had…
Fruit Skewers with Tamarind Sauce
To date, I’d never prepared anything using fresh tamarinds before. Previously I used tamarind paste to make the sauce for this recipe and that was ‘fresh’ out of a package. It doesn’t take a brain surgeon to know that wasn’t all as raw as it was supposed to be. Yes, I cheated. So I vowed to take the high road this time and make it all from scratch. Little did I know what I was getting myself in for. We picked up a box of fresh tamarinds at Whole Foods and I set about preparing them for the final feast. Unfortunately, what I read on the box completely commiserated with…
Water Works: The Good, The Bad and the Bubbly
You’ve got to notice that there’s an awful lot of bottled water out there. It’s from springs, from clouds, distilled, artisan, purified, energized, sparkling… I immediately remind myself of Forrest Gump’s army buddy, Bubba, who had an endless list of all the ways to cook shrimp. The mind reels. Rush Now to A Spring Near You Most gurus claim that natural spring water is the best and I guess it’s hardly debatable since that’s the stuff coming straight from the source and all the rest seem to pale in comparison. But there’s a kind of craziness to it too. Spurred by the desire for fresh water, Find A Spring is…
Almond Ginger Chia Pudding
Ch-Ch-Ch-Chia! Whenever I prepare food or smoothies with these tiny seeds, I can’t help but remember all those commercials for Chia Pets. And -let’s not forget – the famous Chia Head (scary and ridiculous)! I, myself, succumbed to the lure of the miraculous Chia Pet when I received one of the kits for my birthday. That was a long time ago. As I recall it was a hedgehog that actually looked pretty damn cute when it began to sprout green chia quills! But, never, at that time, did I ever anticipate a day that I would actually be eating those little seeds. And – even more miraculous – that I…
Green Grape and Cucumber Minted Soup
Late spring and summer is such a wonderful time to be raw! And that means it’s prime time to begin incorporating more raw food into your diet! During this time of the year it takes barely any energy at all to create satisfying raw dishes that will completely steal the spotlight away from cooked foods. It’s just not what our bodies crave in the heat! Me, I love to whip things together in the kitchen but it’s just too warm to spend a lot of time doing it, so my summer fall-backs are incredible soups and smoothies that I toss together in a blender in a matter of minutes. This…
Fried Rice in the Raw
What’s fried rice when it’s not rice? And when the fried rice isn’t fried? There’s no telling really, is there? But this happens to be a very tasty and remarkably similar tasting version of the fried rice we all know and love with all the flavor of Asia completely intact. Only minus the frying. And also minus the MSG. This is a recipe that can change the mindset of almost anyone with a cauliflower phobia – and there’s plenty of those out there. In fact, you’ll barely know it’s there at all! And the nice thing is that you can eat this cold or at room temperature… or you could…
Great Sex Through Great Food
Great sex is something we all long for and consistently look to someone else to ‘give it to us’. I mean, let’s not deny it: most often all we hear from each other are the complaints about our lovers and what they’re not doing and all the stuff that could make them better. But what can we do to make it all better for ourselves? How Can We Gift Ourselves With Great Sex? Now, I love sex. And not really for any of the obvious reasons: the aspect of release, the intimacy… any of those things. I just think it’s fun! I’ve had many friends bitch about how their significant…
