Marinated Tomato Salad

Entertaining in the Raw

I added the raw tofu to the salad.  Shown here with pine-nut based parmesan and basil oil.

Green & Red Cabbage with Kale Slaw

Kale, red & green cabbage, and carrots in a creamy nut-based dressing and topped with basil.

Raw Tamales

Entertaining in the Raw

I stopped putting these together for a bit to take a picture with the garnish, sour cream and tomato-chile sauce (thick sauce).  The tamale mixture, like most raw foods I’ve found, is much more delicious than any cooked I’ve ever had.  It has corn, red bell pepper, tomatoes, and lime juice.

Raw Tofu

Entertaining in the Raw

I know it’s not the best presentation, but everything is going to be eaten tomorrow after traveling, so I’m not sure how many pictures I’m going to be able to get.  I wanted to show this, though; it’s so cool!  Just five ingredients.

I’m serving it with a cherry/grape tomato salad with basil oil and parmesan cheese (yes, all raw).

Strawberry Brilliance Pie

Sweet Gratitude

(Edited later to add this photo and comment:  You ever notice how the first piece of pie is usually the messiest?  Well, I knew I was going to cut this pie further down into 16 pieces, so I figured I might as well get a picture tonight.  It looks great!  I hope it travels well.)

Without topping.

and with:

You can’t really tell its goodness yet; I’ll try to get an inside shot!

Kelp Noodles w/ Green Sprouted Almond Sauce

http://www.kelpnoodles.com/

These kelp noodles seemed to be popular among raw-food circles, so I decided to give them a try.  I found it amazing that they only have 6 calories per 4 oz.  It seems other noodles, whether they be wheat-based, rice-based, or even mung-bean-based, have about 200 calories per 4 oz.  And they have the minerals from the seaweed!  Win-win.  :)  

I don’t count calories on a raw-food diet – I eat whatever I want — but it seems that with a noodle, a nut-based sauce would go best, so it’s nice that this is a light meal, not heavy like a cooked pasta dish would be.  Yes, you can leave your buttons fastened after this one.  :D

I made the sauce from sprouted almonds, garlic, pink salt, and a fresh juice (apple, parsley, cilantro, chard, and carrot – sweet and flavorful) blended in the Vita-Mix.  The noodles have cucumbers mixed in and are topped with spinach and more sprouted sliced almonds.  I feel like the raw sauces that I make nowadays are a drastic improvement on the salty, less-fresh ones I used to mix up.  This was fabulous.

Pic of the Raw Lemon Strawberry Pie

Sweet Gratitude

As it turns out, the strawberries are perfectly sweet to balance the tartness of the lemon, and look how colorful it is!  The crust comes out of the glass pie pan fine, but the lemon part separates a little from the crust.

Also, the strawberry parfait keeps for only 2-3 days.  I’m glad I’m sharing this!  I guess Irish Moss doesn’t take to the freezer well.  Desserts….well, all food is better fresh, anyway.  :)

Raw Lemon Meringue Pie….oh, well. :)

Sweet Gratitude

This is the beginning of the raw lemon meringue pie.  It has a macadamia-cashew-coconut-date crust.  This was my first time working with Irish Moss as a thickening agent.  It was a bit of work but turned out great; I imagine this makes it so you can use less coconut oil or coconut butter, thus adding less fat and more varied nutrients.  

So I got my two coconuts ready to make the meringue, cut one open and realized the water smelled. Then I tasted it.  Immediately spat it out.  This coconut was bad; let’s try the next one.  Same thing!  And I didn’t want to run to the store just to get the same thing over again, so I figured I’d improvise.

I had already bought 2 lbs. of strawberries today, had vanilla beans and cashews soaking for the meringue, so I chose the strawberry parfait to top the pie.  I also had some left over that I just put in dessert dishes/ramekins.  The strawberry mixture smells great!  I didn’t test the final result because I’m doing no added fat for 3 days a week and this day is one of them.  Without the coconut butter (which is made using whole coconut, as opposed to just the fat), it was divine!  No seaweed taste.  :)

Let’s hope the strawberry parfait and lemon pie go well together.  If not, there’s always cooked chocolate cupcakes for the cooked food eaters!

Dr. Cow Cheese Wraps

Many people seem to not like soy-based vegan cheeses as much as they had liked cow-milk or goat-milk dairy products, but Dr. Cow Cheese is really getting some attention.  Some of the greatest things about it is it’s raw, has a short list of identifiable ingredients, the fat comes from whole nuts and seeds, and it’s not too salty/dehydrating.  Besides that, there’s the taste – incredible!  I have been fond of my own cooked vegan cheeses in the past, and still continue to make a cashew-red pepper one for my boyfriend.  While I rarely eat raw vegan cheese, I think this one is the best choice for store-bought.  www.dr-cow.com  You can get Dr. Cow online or in some places in New York City and New Jersey; see their Website for more information.  No dirty sock smell here! 

Wraps with Dr. Cow hempseed cheese, kale, red bell pepper, tomato, basil (I love the smell of fresh basil), and spinach:

I haven’t been posting a lot lately, but I do plan on making a raw lemon meringue pie later this week from Sweet Gratitude.

Raw Chocolate Brazil Nut Cups

http://rawgoddessheathy.blogspot.com/2008/12/raw-goddess-heathys-just-desserts-ebook.html

I made the “Peanut Butter Cup” recipe from this book except using Brazil nuts instead of almonds (ground into butter).  I am not going to attempt to take a picture because dark brown and light brown and my camera will look like a big circle of mud.  They are so delicious and one is very filling!    I probably won’t be buying raw chocolate bars anymore, now that I know how to make these.