Raw Food Recipes:
Cucumber

Recipe #46 of the Complete Book of Raw Food Endeavor. Loveliest Live Almond Hummus by Michal Adi, p. 275. I served this hummus with a simple cucumber, tomato and parsley salad.

February is coming to a close in a few days and I have to make the decision if I will do the NaBloPoMo again for March. I have my own ideas on it but I would like to open it for discussion with you. So what do you think? To daily blog or not? Leave a comment or answer the poll at the top left.

photo by me*volia

Are you cool as a cucumber (botantically a fruit but it's okay for this survey)? Do you like to hang close to the ground like an eggplant or do you swim with the fishes like seaweed?
My question to you if you so choose to answer is.... "If you were to be a vegetable, what vegetable would you be?"

Leave your answer in the comments section.

Here are the ingredients I used to create my recipes for The Daily Raw Blog Recipe Challenge

1. Red Grapes
2. Cashews
3. Almonds
4. Garlic
5. Red Pepper
6. Lemon 7. Tomatoes

Focaccia with Grapes
Yield: 12 slices

2 cups flax seeds, ground into flour
1 cup almonds, ground into flour
¼ cup olive oil, plus more for drizzling
2 teaspoons agave nectar
1 garlic clove, minced
1 tablespoon chopped onions
2 tablespoons Italian seasonings
2 teaspoon sea salt 1/2 cup red grapes, sliced

1 Combine flax and almond flours in a large bowl. Add olive oil, agave nectar, garlic, onion, rosemary and sea salt. Mix well.

2 Fold in grapes.

3 Spread Focaccia dough on two Teflex-sheets, making them about 1/4-inch thick. Drizzle with olive oil. Place in dehydrator at 140 degrees for 4-6 hours or until Focaccia is dry on the top.

4 Flip over and remove Teflex sheets. With a pizza cutter, score the Focaccia into six large rectangles. You should have 12 slices of Focaccia bread. Drizzle with olive oil. Dehydrate at 110 degrees for an additional 8-12 hours or until the Focaccia is dry and semi-hard on the outside but soft and somewhat moist on the inside.

The Daily Raw Blog Kitchen Tip: From time to time I use a thermometer to check the temperature of the foods I dehydrate. Particularly when I raise the temperature of the dehydrator. I just like to make sure the temperature of my food doesn't rise also.

My 1, 2 and 8-year old children are used to mom's raw food creations. For better or worse, they have acquired a taste for fresh fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds. Kevin, my 14 year-old stepson is the new kid on the block and has come from a bag-of-candy-a-day habit.
Now, when I create dishes, he is the gauge I use to determine if my recipes are up to par. I am pleased to say that he has asked me to make this recipe twice since it's conception.

Red Pepper Aioli
1 cup cashews, soaked for an hour
¼ cup water
2 garlic cloves, minced
juice one one lemon
½ red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 teaspoons sea salt

1 Combine cashews, water, lemon juice and garlic in a blender. Blend until cashew becomes a thick, smooth mayonnaise. Add more water one tablespoon at a time until you cashews break down and you achieve desired consistency.

2 Add in the red peppers, olive oil and sea salt. Briefly process until peppers are smooth.
3 Serve with bread, cucumbers, mushrooms and tomatoes.

It's not too late to submit a recipe for February's challenge. Next week, I'll post the recipe for Radicchio and Fennel Coleslaw.

A Blended Salad is a mixture of raw, leafy greens and other foods blended together to create a smooth, creamy consistency. Eating a salad prepared in this manner is quick, convenient and increases absorption of important nutrients.

Recipe #37 of the Complete Book of Raw Food Endeavor.

This is a pretty standard recipe and the beauty of the salad is you can add your favorite vegetables to eat.

Blended Salad by Paul Nison, p. 93
1 handful leafy greens (lettuce and spinach work best)
1/2 cucumber
1 stalk celery
1/2 lemon, juiced
1 handful sunflower sprouts (optional)
1/2 red pepper (optional)
1 avocado
1 teaspoon flaxseed oil (optional)
1 tomato

Blend all ingredients and serve.

9:48 a.m. Blueberry Smoothie at work

11:51 a.m. Large salad (spinach, mixed greens, cucumbers, beets, carrots, seasoned seeds, nutritional yeast, dijon dressing) at work

12:36 p.m. kale chips at work

12:50 p.m. green juice at work

2:04 p.m. Mocha cheesecake at work

6:04 p.m. red wine at home

7:57 p.m. wine at home

8:00 p.m. salad with Foods Alive Mike's Special Flax oil dressing

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!

That's how Man on the Raw described my first month of eating a Raw Vegan diet. The month did kind of fly by with relative ease, and the next 11 will be easy if he keeps making meals like he did tonight.

9:20 a.m. Smoothie at work

11:53 a.m. Mila with water at work

1:25 p.m. Mixed greens with olive dressing, cucumbers, slaw, pickled pink onions

10:30 a.m. Green Smoothie with my little one

2:04 p.m. almonds at home

2:26 p.m. Large salad (Romaine, cabbages, cucumber, scallions) at home

2:51 p.m. almonds while reading my favorite blogs

5:36 p.m. Eating a Peppermint Paddie

6:04 p.m. licking liquid chocolate from the bowl

6:17 p.m. glass of wine at home

7:42 p.m. Kelp noodles, mushrooms and Kimchi at home sipping on the same glass of wine from above; I only ate half a bowl of this, saved the rest for tomorrow

7:56 p.m. Peppermint Paddies in bed while watching P90X with Man on the Raw

10:44 a.m. Lettuce Wraps with cucumbers, cilantro, guacamole and chili garlic sauce at home

1:45 p.m. Large salad with green leaf lettuce, cabbage (napa and red), avocado and Mila) at home

2:48 p.m. Green juice at home

5:07 p.m. wine at home

5:18 p.m. raw coconut curry crackers at home

10:37 a.m. Green Smoothie at work

10:06 a.m. Island Paradise smoothie at work

11:34 p.m. 2 celery sticks at work (the bag of ice was for the stiff neck I woke up with this morning)

12:05 p.m. Mixed greens salad with a raw Mexican corn dish at work

12:53 p.m. Mila and water at work

2 p.m. Chocolate Mousse Tart at work

3:12 p.m. Green Juice at work

5:14 p.m. Glass of organic wine at home

5:52 p.m. Lettuce Wraps with guacamole, cucumber, and Chili Garlic Sauce at home

7:31 p.m. glass of wine at home

7:38 p.m. Granny Smiths and date paste at home

Did you miss me? I didn't have internet last night so I couldn't post the goodies from Day 26. So here they are.

8:43 a.m. Green Smoothie at work

11:17 p.m. Mila with water and celery at work

1:25 p.m. Mixed greens (with cucumber, sprouts and olives), raw quiche with red pepper remoulade and carrot/raisins slaw

2:57 p.m. lemon tartlet at my desk

6:46 p.m. wine with Man on the Raw at home

7:39 p.m. Romaine, cilantro, avocado salad at home

7:51 p.m. Glass of Wine at homeDay 27 of My Year of Living Foods10:54 a.m. Green Smoothie and Mila at work

1:21 p.m. Living Light's Associate Students' meal features Raw Enchilada, Mexican Wild Rice, Avocado Salsa, Colorado Chili Sauce (very spicy)

5:50 p.m. Green Juice at home

6:12 p.m. left over quiche at home

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

6:49 p.m. Bowl of Kimchi at home

7:22 p.m. Glass of wine 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

9:15 a.m. Green Juice

12:12 p.m. Kelp Noodles and my Creamy Coleslaw

5 minutes later added an avocado

1 p.m. 1/2 avocado with lemon juice, salt and pepper

1:35 p.m. a forkful of Man on the Raw (very spicy) concoction — a Hot Cranberry relish (Dried Cranberries, endive, carrots, radishes, parsley and Serrano peppers with agave nectar and sea salt)

2:45 p.m. final taste test of creamy coleslaw at home
4:00 p.m. Creamy Coleslaw, Guacamole and Cucumber and red pepper salad at Kristina's son's party

5:15 p.m. Seasoned pumpkin seeds at Kristina's son party5:30 p.m. second helping of Creamy Coleslaw at Kristina's son's party

8:30 p.m. Creamy Coleslaw and wine at home with Man on the Raw

9:45 p.m. Wine and Creamy Coleslaw (with raisins added; the raisins brought a nice chewy textural contrast to the crunchy coleslaw) at home watching A Nightmare on Elm St. with Man on the Raw
Sunday, January 23, 2011 — Day 23 11:30 a.m. Green Smoothie with Man on the Raw at home

2:30 p.m. Salad while reading at home

5:30 p.m. glass of wine (I know, yet another wine) while doing laundry

5:50 p.m. Medjool Dates at home

6:37 p.m. Salad (Romaine, red cabbage, cucumber, scallions, avocados lemon juice) with my son and Buzz Lightyear

7 p.m. 2nd bowl of salad with cranberries thrown in

Caesar Salad by Jalissa Letendre, p. 56

I’m suppose to be writing something pithy about Jalissa Letendre’s extremely non-traditional Caesar Salad (cucumber, red pepper, carrot and dried coconuts in a Caesar?), but, I’m having way too much fun singing badly during family karaoke night.

Happy Saturday!

"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.

9:12 a.m. 1st glass of grapefruit juice10 a.m. Associate Chef students' desserts

10:53 a.m. 2nd glass of grapefruit juice11:19 3rd glass of grapefruit juice

12:15 p.m. Salad bar fixings (mixed greens, romaine, cucumber, beets, cabbage, carrots, raw Dijon Dressing, nutritional yeast)2:46 p.m. Mila with water

5:45-7:15 p.m. Four-course raw meal at Living Light with Man on the Raw featuring...

Hibiscus Cooler

Mediterranean Torte with flax crackers

Gazpacho with pumpkin seedsCaesar Salad with Mila croutons

Ice Cream and brownie with chocolate sauce and raspberry coulis

9 p.m. red organic wine at home with Man on the Raw

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

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