Raw Food Recipes:
Apple

photo by [OP]

Tomatoes are an excellent source of vitamin C, vitamin A, and vitamin K, plus the antioxidant benefits of lycopene*. They are a fruit, but they are usually served as a vegetable.
*Lycopene is the pigment that makes tomatoes red. The redder the tomato, the more lycopene it has.
Season: Available year-round but tomatoes are at their peak June-September

How to select: Choose firm tomatoes, richly colored and noticeably fragrant.

photo by babybee

How to store: Ripe tomatoes should be stored at room temperature and used within a few days.

photo by Pieter Pieterse
Tip: Don't store tomatoes in the refrigerator, cold temperatures kill the flavor and turns the flesh grainy.

Tomato Salad 6 large ripe tomatoes, sliced into 1/4-inch pieces 1 small red onion, thinly sliced1 orange or yellow bell pepper, sliced in strips (de-seed)1/2 cup basil, cut into stripsHemp oil (or your favorite oil)
Apple Cider Vinegar
Sea salt, to taste
1. Place tomatoes in large salad bowl, add slice onions on top.
2. Layer with bell pepper and basil.

3. Drizzle hemp oil and vinegar over the top of salad. Sprinkle with sea salt and gently toss. Fun Facts: The tomato is in the same family as the potato, pepper, eggplant, and petunia (nightshades). Tomatoes are also known as the 'apple of love' There are at least 10,000 varieties of tomatoes

Salad

Scott's chocolate sesame balls
Kimchee

Carrots and Dip

Salad

Gary's Suishi

Grapes

Apples and Walnuts

Purple Cabbage and Onions

Gary enjoying the Radicchio and Fennel Coleslaw

Here are some photos from last night's The Aurora Living and Raw Food Cafe hosted by the lovely Gina. My contribution was Radicchio and Fennel Coleslaw. I used some ingredients from the Daily Raw Recipe Challenge. I will post the recipe some time this week. This month's challenge is almost over. March 1 will bring a new ingredient list.

10:59 a.m. Salad (green leaf lettuce, cabbage, jalapeno and Mike's Special Flax Oil dressing at home

12:45 p.m. green juice at home

2:54 p.m. chocolate Brazil nut milk

2:57 p.m. red wine and kale chips at home

4:28 p.m. red wine and sweet and creamy coleslaw with cranberries at home

4:56 p.m. sweet and creamy coleslaw with cranberries

5:09 p.m. 3rd bowl of sweet and creamy coleslaw with cranberries

5:24 p.m. red wine at home

6:08 p.m. So much for variety; 4th bowl of sweet and creamy coleslaw with cranberries

6:33 p.m. Italian zest flax cracker

7:18 p.m. apple at home

image Detoxifynow.com
On an episode of "He Said She Said" Man on the Raw and I talked about food combining and offered an overview of the principles of food combining. I wanted to touch base with it again after Traci left a comment on the post.

I want to stress that during "Everything I Eat -Raw" thus far, I am not practicing food combining at all.
Not to say that I won't. In between Living Light's culinary school creations, I actually was thinking about trying different raw food "diets" (mono, juice feasting *a third one? IDK*, 80-10-10, etc.) and documenting those experiences. For now, I am enjoying sharing the raw goodies that are out there to be had.

On to the question.

Traci asks
"What are examples of "concentrated carb/concentrated protein?"

Concentrated Carbohydrates are considered foods that are on the the top of the glycemic index, mainly starchy vegetables and fruits.

Here is a brief list of various vegetables and fruits carrying a high glycemic index:

Vegetables
artichokes
carrot
corn
parsnips
potato
squash
sweet potato
yam

High glycemic fruit
blueberries
dried fruit
figs
grapes
kumquats
loganberries
mangoes
mulberries
pears
pineapple
pomegranates
prunes
watermelon (however, it has a low glycemic load)

Examples of concentrated proteins
bean sprouts

dairy products
garbanzo sprouts
lentil sprouts
raw nuts
nut butters
seeds
seed butters
sunflower sprouts

Other resources on raw foods and food combining:
Raw Food Living has a chart with digestive times.
Raw Food Explained offers several articles on the subject
Food Combining for Optimal Health by Angela Stokes-Monarch
Food Combining Wallet Card

I promise I had the best intentions. I had a beautiful menu planned for you for this Thursday. Each day this week I would focus on a different course for you to seduce your sweetie into a meal he or she would always remember.

The foreplay of the evening would have been the Sweet and Spicy Neptune Salad Cocktail, followed by a bit of cool Cucumber soup or maybe a Shaved Fennel salad with cranberries. Moving on to main event it was a Mushroom Ragu and Chickpea Polenta with Asparagus Rolls. The climax was Cheesecakes Shots with Blueberry sauce.

I like to cuddle after. Do you like to cuddle? I thought you might cuddle with a Fruit Platter of pineapple cubes, strawberries and raspberries with two spicy chocolate sauces for dipping and feeding . One laced with cayenne and the other with cinnamon.

Time escaped me and I really couldn't indulge in such an extravagant venture, you know the juice feasting thing.

Now before you leave in a huff and curse me for being such a tease or so you won't wear "that shirt" that says "I visited The Daily Raw Blog and all I got was this stinking T-shirt"...try this, to soothe the savage beast.

A sweet and fiery concoction that will most definitely set the fires ablazing. Here folks to get your party started is the.....

Sweet and Spicy Neptune Salad Cocktail
2 cups finely diced coconut meat
2 tablespoon finely diced red onion
1 Holland chili (or another red-colored chili or pepper), finely diced
2 long pieces of dried seaweed, broken into small pieces, save extra for garnish
1 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon coconut butter
Juice of one lime juice
1 teaspoon sea salt
2 lettuce leaf
1 ripe avocado, peeled and cut into slices
A few sprigs of cilantro for garnish

1 Toss coconut meat, onion, chilies and seaweed in a bowl.

2 Whisk together honey, coconut butter, lime juice and sea salt until the honey and coconut butter dissolves a bit, creating a smooth consistency. Pour into bowl with coconut meat. Marinate at least an hour.

3 Place lettuce leaf in the bottom of cocktail glass. Place a heaping amount of Neptune salad on top of leaf. Garnish with avocado, cilantro and a few flakes of seaweed.

Servings: 2

After you finish eating the salad, sip on the juice that have collected in the bottom of the glasses.

Have a very happy V-Day!

I want to pursue my Raw Chef Certification. Pretty neat goal, huh? It has been something I’ve wanted to do for a very, very long time. That was one of the reason I started the Daily Raw Café. It is a safe haven to help develop my skills until I could one day learn from the big boys.

As a mother, there is always, and I mean always that realization that you can’t make a move in life without taking in consideration of the children.

A father may say he understands, but unless he’s a single father or a saint, his first thought is how a situation will work for him and then it trickles down to wife, children, dog, etc.

It was brought to my attention that maybe I should discard this pipe dream of raw food culinary school until the children are old enough to fend for themselves. A suggestion of the children staying with their father while I go to school out of state for 4 months was suggested and the answer was no, children need to be with their mother.

It was mentioned that if their father had a chance to go away for 4 months to pursue whatever he choose that would be okay because he’s a man. I’m sorry, but what century are we in?

I understand that I took on a huge responsibility with having children (so did dad by the way) but where is it written that a mother’s personal fulfillment is placed on hold until her youngest’s 18th birthday? Or that mothers are welcome to have personal growth as long as it doesn’t interfere with raising their offspring. I really want to see this documentation, preferable something that is notarized.

So in the midst of finding balance with doing what I want to do and being a good mother, it’s a wonder I found time to create Chad Sarno’s Carrot Pineapple Shortcake with Mesquite Flour and Sweet Cashew Cream Cheese (p. 310) (Okay, Avery helped), go grocery shopping, help my son make his school project, submit some job applications, do some laundry, yada, yada, ya... The cake was very good, my children (and their father) ate it up.

Have I mentioned how wonderful and supportive the raw community is in Denver. I attended a rawluck on Saturday and I was at another last night. And I tell you what, Denver is building something special. I haven't had such a stimulating, exciting evening in quite a while. Thank you Loriel, Soleil, Mila, Rachel and CJ for the lively conversation.

Of yeah, the food looked great too. My contribution was Lentil Patties with Coconut Peanut Sauce, but alas, I won't share the recipe until next week. Please forgive.

Today I present my dish from Saturday's rawluck. The tapenade and vegetable dip works perfectly with crudites and flax crackers.

There's many a day where I'll whip up the dip and chop some veggies for the littles to eat for lunch.

Olive Tapenade Yield: 2 cups
1 cup Kalamata olives, roughly chopped
½ cup Green Olives, roughly chopped
1 clove garlic, peeled and minced
1 tablespoon Italian seasonings
1/8 cup Red Wine Vinegar (or apple cider vinegar)
1/3 cup Olive Oil

1 Combine olives, garlic and Italian Seasoning in a bowl.
2 Add red wine vinegar and olive oil. Gently toss. Refrigerate at least 4 hours to allow the flavors to marinate. Overnight is best.

Vegetable Dip
Yield: 2 cups
1 celery stalk, finely diced
¼ onion, finely diced
½ carrot, shredded¼ teaspoon sea salt
½ garlic powder
1 cup cashews, soaked for 2 hours
½ cup water, or more as needed
Juice of one lemon

1 Toss celery, onion and carrots in a bowl. Sprinkle with sea salt and garlic powder.
2 Place cashews, lemon juice and water in a blender. Process until cashews are very creamy, add more water if needed.

3 Combine cashew cream and vegetables. Chill overnight. Remove from refrigerator 30 minutes before serving.

I would like to pass along my Inspirational Blogger Award to Rediscover Raw Foods. She is a honest, straight forward lady. As for the other four? They will have to wait I'm going to bed.

Here are some photos from The Denver Living and Raw Food Cafe rawluck I attended yesterday.

Kale Salad
I made a platter of crudites with three different flavors of flax crackers, olive tapenade and

vegetable dip. I will share the recipes for the platter sometime next week. As you can see there were a variety of raw dishes at Saturday's rawluck, it was amazing!
Fettuccine Alfredo

Blondies

Stuffed peppers with Cashew/Macadamia nut cream and avocado

Fruit Salad

Apple with chocolate

I am attending a second rawluck on Tuesday so there will be even more tasty treats to share!

Mixed Green Salad

10:15 a.m. Smoothie (ingredients listed above) at my work

11:30 a.m. Mila and water with celery at work11:45 a.m. celery at my desk

2:23 p.m. Mixed greens with food prepared by the Associate Chef students — Vegetable Teriyaki Stirred Not Fried, Pineapple Skewers, Sesame Sea Palm Salad, Asian Slaw, Seaweed crackers

3:35 p.m. Chocolate Cheesecake3:59 p.m. Raw Chocolate at work

6:36 p.m. Granny Smith apple and date paste at home

10:30 a.m. Green Smoothie at work

2 p.m. salad (mixed greens, romaine, carrots, cabbage, cucumber and seasoned pumpkin seeds with raw Dijon Dressing and nutritional yeast) at work3:15 p.m. Berries at work

5:17 p.m. Mila and water at home6:20 p.m. Kelp noodles and Kimchi at home

7:10 p.m. date at home7:17 p.m. date paste and apples

7:45 p.m. Granny Smiths with Date paste at home

"For those bloggers who inspire others through their words and actions.
With a positive attitude, and uplifting spirit these bloggers make the blogosphere
a better place, and encourage others to do the same. This award is for bloggers
who rise up to set an example but continue to reach out and support others.”
What is better than getting an Inspirational Blogger Award from your peers? Getting two Inspirational Blogger Awards. What are the odds that Inspiration:Life and the Daily Raw Blog get awards on the same day? Bizarre.
This means I can pass along this award to 10 bloggers, instead of 5. Yeah!
Thank you Fatma for bestowing such an honor to The Daily Raw Blog and I wish I could open up a real Cafe.
Let's celebrate with a salad!
Cucumber Salad

Serves 6

3 cucumbers, peeled, thinly sliced
½ red onion, thinly slice
¼ cup apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon dill weed
1 teaspoon sea salt
1/8 teaspoon black pepper

1 Combine cucumbers, onions and dill in a bowl.

2 In a small bowl, whisk vinegar, apple cider vinegar, sea salt and pepper.

3 Pour mixture over cucumber and onions. Gently toss. Cover and chill.

Cucumber Number by Shazzie, p. 143

Yesterday, the Man on the Raw and I went to hot yoga. I was a bit worried practicing in the heat and not eating solids for the past 21 days, but I managed just fine. The heat felt like heaven during these cold winter nights in Colorado.

What can I say about Cucumber Number? Let me start with it being very refreshing, crisp and cool. Cool like a cucumber. With cucumbers being about 95% water, Cucumber Number was the perfect drink to have after a hot yoga class. I could feel this drink re-hydrating my cells with each sip.

Cucumbers are our friends, we should have at least one a day, I am juicing three a day during this feast. I did make a slight modification, instead of the suggested lemon peel, I just peeled the lemon and threw the whole thing in the juicer.

All three ingredients worked in harmony with each other, the cucumber, lemon and apples.
Uh yes, apples. Any juice that uses apples as its ingredients has my vote. Truth be told, when it comes to eating apples, I am picky.

If there is one soft spot, bruise, any sort of imperfection, I won’t put it to my lips. They can be sweet or tart, but when it comes to the texture, it better be hard and firm.

Now, when it comes to juicing apples all are fair game. The bruises are the sweetest part anyway, right? The sugar from the apples will give me the extra energy to make my next recipe…Rose Lee Calabro’s Falafel. That experience is coming up on Monday.

I have come to the place where it is time dust off the Excalibur. I, personally, haven’t used my dehydrator in over two years, maybe three. I had forgotten how to turn it on and to what setting it should be at.

I remember when we first got it, the Man on the Raw and I were raw for about four months before we got it. I think we had thick flax crackers, thin fruit leather and somewhere in between sun burgers every day for a month. That dehydrator didn’t get any rest. Oh, by-the-way, soak a cup of flax seeds (golden or brown makes no difference) in a large bowl with a cup-and- a-half of purified water for about five hours. Jameth and Kim’s Original Flax crackers are coming up next week also.

So if you are creating recipes with me, break out your Excalibur, it’s time to start dehydrating.

9:10 a.m. green smoothie at work

10 a.m. Mila in water at work

10:23 a.m. Romaine lettuce at work

11:10 a.m. Island Paradise Smoothie (Papaya, pineapple, mango, oranges, bananas) and E3Live shot

12:20 p.m. Romaine leaves at work

1:15 p.m. Linguini Parody, Salad bar fixings with students2:30 p.m. Dream Bar at my desk

3:10 p.m. Green Juice at work5:35 p.m. Lemon tartlet at home with Man on the Raw

6:15 p.m. Glass of wine at home

7:45 p.m. Guacamole, cucumbers and raw coconut curry crackers at Kristina's

8 p.m. glass of wine at Kristina's

Ants in a Canoe by Stephen Arlin, p. 110
My daughter, Donavan, loved, loved, l-o-v-e-d, loved this snack. She could not get enough of the salty raw almond butter with the tart apples and sweet raisins. She did ask me why there was almond butter inside the canoe, I told her the hull had a hole and filled up with gooey, almond butter and the "ants" were hanging on for dear life, just like mommy.
I decided against making my own almond butter as the recipe called for. I understand back in the day, raw almond butter probably was not readily available in your local grocery store, so making it from scratch might have been required.

But why make this kid-friendly treat harder than it has to be?

I did go a bit further with the recipe and hollowed out the apple to add more almond butter. Donavan seemed to appreciate that.

Ants in a Canoe
Adapted from Stephen Arlin's recipe

2 large apples
¼ cup raw almond butter
¼ cup raisins

With a paring knife, cut the apples into quarters. Remove the core and seeds and carve the apple to create the tiny hull of the canoe.

Spoon the almond butter in the hull and top with raisins.

9:32 a.m. Green Smoothie at work

10 a.m. Red apple at work10:23 a.m. Mila in water at work

11:15 p.m. Lemon Poppyseed cake sample at Living Light Cafe12:17 p.m. Green juice

1:10 p.m. Lunch with Associate Chef students and Jenny Cornbleet (Mixed greens, avocado, Pickled "Pink" onions, Sun-dried tomato rose, not tuna pate, slaw)1:45 p.m. Cheesecake made by an Associate Chef student

3:32 p.m. green juice at work

5:23 p.m. Green apples at home with my Avery

6:30 p.m. Spinach salad with cranberries, walnuts and a glass of wine at home with Man on the Raw

7:35 p.m. Glass of wine and dates stuffed with almonds at home

10 a.m. Green Smoothie

10:45 p.m. Raw Peppermint Paddies10:50 p.m. Chocolate Covered Goji Berries

12:14 p.m. Snacking on Romaine and celery at work

1:20 p.m. Lunch with the Associate Chef students Mixed greens, cucumbers and Nutritional Yeast with Dijon Dressing, Pickled "Pink" Onions, Sea Snacks, Flax Crackers, Nut Pate

2:45 p.m. Apple at my desk

3:35 p.m. Chocolate covered Goji Berries in the Main Office at work

6 p.m. Salad with Avocado, Carrots, Scallions, Mila with Lemon juice

9:30 a.m. Man on the Raw's Green Juice (Spinach, parsley, celery, apple) at home

12:12 p.m. Salad (lettuce, scallion, cucumber) with home-made dressing at home

1:14 p.m. Mila with water and agave nectar at home

3:34 p.m. Almonds at home

6:20 p.m. Salad at a Mexican restaurant with my family

7:30 p.m. Glass of organic wine at home

8:10 p.m. Cacao beans and almonds with agave at home

A number of rawsome folks have asked for the recipe for Elaine Love's Ranch Dip or Dressing. If you have The Complete Book of Raw Food, the recipe is on page 276. Normally, I would be hesitate to print recipes for my endeavor but this dressing is worth being sued for copyright infringement.

Ranch Dip or Dressing by Elaina Love (from the Complete Book of Raw Food)
1-1/2 cups raw cashews
4 t. lemon juice or 2-1/2 t. raw apple cider vinegar
1 t. Celtic sea salt
1 t. onion powder
1 t. garlic powder
1 t. dried dill weed
1 t. Italian seasoning
1 basil leaf, minced

Blend the cashews, lemon juice, sea salt, onion and garlic powder with 1 cup purified water until smooth and creamy. You may need to add more lemon juice if the lemons you are using are not sour enough. Pour into a bowl.

Add the dill, Italian seasoning and basil by hand to the blended dressing. Serve as dip or salad dressing. Store in a glass jar in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.

Recipe #6 Ranch Dip or Dressing by Elaina Love, p. 276 and Recipe #7 Winter Salad by John Fielder, p. 77

My daughter, Avery, and I tagged along with my husband while he went to the Emissions Office, fun right? Before I move on to the actual fun part of the day, I just have one question. What is it about men naming their cars after women?

My husband has a Cadillac. I know next to nothing about cars, so please don't ask me what type of Cadillac it is. My best guess would be the purple kind. It's not just his car, it's his Purple Haz, that's "her" nickname, short for Hazel.

He has accused me of not liking his car. I have to admit I do have a bit of misguided animosity surrounding the car. It could be the fact that I drive the sensible Saturn with all the kids' car seats and strollers and crap. I don't know, maybe I am jealous each time he bumps and grinds with Hazel, I'm told she needs new shocks. Truth be told I'm not mad at him, it was just one of those things I could have lived my whole life without knowing. It's a sensitivity issue, I mean come on, I don't let him know that I ride George Clooney everyday.
Okay, I'm done. Back to the fun part, creating today's recipes.

I have been dying to make Elaina Love's Ranch Dip/Dressing with John Fielder's Winter Salad all week, so imagine my disappointment this morning to find no cashews in the cupboard. Hence the event which set into motion the tag-a-long with my husband and his mistress Hazel to Emissions and to Vitamin Cottage.
After all the "Hazel" drama, I was back at home with cashews in hand and I set out to create one of the best salad dressing I have ever smelled and my husband has tasted.

The recipe was super easy to make, it took all of five minutes. I used the apple cider vinegar instead of lemon juice and I almost was going to use dried basil but I put forth the effort and minced fresh basil. That was totally worth it. The basil fragrance is killer in this recipe.

I deviated from the instructions a bit, I opted out of pouring the blended cashew mixture in a bowl then adding the herbs. To save a bit of time, I just threw the herbs into the blender and gave a quick pulse, so the mixture would retain it's white ranch coloring.

The bright and colorful Winter Salad was a fun salad to make. I thought the cilantro, basil and lettuce leaves would be greenery over-kill but they meshed really well. My lettuce leaf of choice was Escarole, a type of endive, but not as bitter and sturdy enough to hold the Ranch Dressing.

Here's a bit of something to take away with you. If you are using the same grater (without rinsing in between grates) to grate the vegetables, make sure you grate your carrot and ginger before the beet, so that they maintain their vibrant hues and not turn crimson.