Raw Food Recipes [Search results for Vitamin Cottage] 

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.

DeAnna Raw in Obamaville has a question about dried fruit and almonds.

She asks, "Do you make them yourself and dry them and then soak them or do you buy them dried from the store? Just wanted to know. And also must all almonds be soaked and for how long?"

DeAnna,

Thank you for the question. Other than fruit leather, I have not dried fruit in my dehydrator, yet. It’s definitely on my raw foodie to-do list.

I buy my dried fruit at a few places here in the Denver area, Sunflower Farmers Market, Sprouts Farmers Market and Vitamin Cottage.

Soaking almonds is a good habit to get into. It removes the enzyme inhibitors, thus making the nuts more digestible. A good time frame is 6-8 hours. Before you go to bed, just place almonds in a bowl and pour filtered water over the nuts to cover and in the morning you are good to go.

If you were going to prepare an almond flour, you have two options. 1. Soak, dehydrated until dry and crunchy, then grind into flour. or 2. Grind straight away to flour. I think at this point it’s personal preference and how much time you have to work with almonds. I am more prone to grind straight away. (Ok, is it me? or did that statement just come off naughty?)

There’s a catch with soaking though. Soaking doesn’t amount to a hill of beans (nuts) if the almonds are not raw. I purchase my almonds at one of the stores mentioned above and buy from the bins labeled “Organic Raw Almonds.” They are priced about twice as much as the pasteurized raw almonds. I’ve asked about it and I was told the Organic Raw Almonds are straight from the farmers and they are unpasteurized.

But truth be told I don’t know if they are truly raw. I have soaked them and they soak fine. I see nothing hanky. It’s hard to tell with almonds because you don’t get a sprout to indicate life. I have to trust I purchased the good stuff. I’m not going to sweat it too, much. Heck, I just found out that agave nectar is evil now. I’ve been away too long.

Here are a few sites that offer raw almonds:
Living Nutz
Sun Organic Farm
Briden Wilson Farm

If you want to get updates on The Authentic Almond Project, visit The Cornucopia Institute. They have done a good job relaying current information regarding the matter.

If others can add more to anything stated, please feel free to. The more the merrier.

DeAnna, thanks again for your question and for reading.

Terilynn