Mid-afternoon snack: Maca mylkshake

I love a mid-afternoon snack during the workday. Today my kitchen is a bit bare, so I made a yummy shake by combining a few basic staples. It was my first time using walnuts in a mylkshake, definitely adds a different flavor!

My trusty owl of wisdom from Lyon, Athena
watching over the maca mylkshake

Maca mylkshake
1/3 cup walnuts
1 cup water
1 ripe banana
2 tsp maca
1 tsp cinnamon
1 T raw honey
6 small ice cubes

Blend!

Enjoy... and get back to work!

Raw Creativity, thank you Ani Phyo

I recently went on a new recipe rampage... sometimes I am enamored with simple salads, sprouts, smoothies and juices... and then other times, I will have the creative urge to make a smorgasbord of raw gourmet meals. Isn't it great to be able to hear what your body wants, and then to have the means and ability to satisfy that craving? I count this as a true blessing!

Raw Inventor at work with her cat

I love the creative energy inspired by with food preparation. One of the reasons I enjoy exploring raw food so much is that many culinary adventures can be taken in largely unchartered territories. For example, the other day I was wondering if there was a raw recipe for bread pudding. As I have not been able to find one online, I have started brainstorming what ingredients and processing techniques would be required to create a similar texture and taste to the cooked version. (Stay tuned!) I feel like a mad scientist in the laboratory concocting yummy dishes with a little bit of this and a little bit of that.

My camera and photography skills are not satisfactory at capturing the true beauty and deliciousness of recent concoctions, but I thought I would  share anyway. Reviews and links to recipes provided. A special thanks to Ani Phyo for her delicious creations and the creativity they inspire in us food lovers!

Ani Phyo Cauliflower Mash and Miso Gravy from Ani's Raw Food Kitchen: Easy, Delectable Living Foods Recipes

Ani Phyo's Cauliflower Mash and Miso Gravy

I have been obsessed with Ani Phyo's miso gravy since last November. The combination of miso + orange creates a deliciously unique flavor. This was my first time making her cauliflower mash, and I will definitely be making it again. It looks just like mashed potatoes (does it not?), and has a beautifully creamy texture coupled with a light cauliflower flavor. Plus, the added bonus of psyllium powder really helps your intestines clean themselves out over the next few days...

Miso gravy recipe online here.

Variation of the cauliflower mash recipe available here.

Strawberry white chocolate cheezecake posted by Vanessa Sherwood on GLiving Community Forum

Strawberry White Chocolate Cheezecake
First,  I am a huge fan of heavy, creamy-textured food - for example, raw chocolate mousse made with avocado is one of my all-time favorite meals. So the fact that I made this cheezecake 4 times in the past month is not surprising. It's that good. I brought one cheezecake to Easter dinner at a friend's house, and it was well received. Sharing raw desserts is such a great way to turn people onto raw food!

Strawberry white chocolate cheezecake recipe and discussion online at Raw Freedom Community here.

Raw veggie burger!

Raw Veggie Burger
There is something about a yummy burger in the summertime that puts a smile on my face. And Ani Phyo has a good raw veggie burger recipe. It is very tasty, not nut-based, and super simple to make - no dehydrator required meaning you can be eating a veggie burger within 20 minutes of craving one. I would like to find a recipe for a slightly thicker burger, next I would like to try Café Gratitude's veggie burger recipe.

I double layered this raw veggie burger on top of a celeriac/carrot pulp flax bread, with pineapple, homemade ketchup, tomatoes, cucumber, capsicum, lettuce, and sprouts. I was introduced to burgers with pineapple and beet root while in Australia many years ago, and was hooked. These two additions take any burger to the next level - whether that burger is raw, veggie or cooked meat!

Raw Ketchup recipe
Blend 1 tomato together with 1 date, 1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes, 1 T apple cider vinegar, 1 T olive oil, and a pinch of salt. If too runny, add more sun-dried tomatoes. If too thick, add some water. Blend again.

Ani Phyo Sun Burgers recipe online at Raw Freedom Community

Ani Phyo Donut Holes from Ani's Raw Food Kitchen: Easy, Delectable Living Foods Recipes

 

Donut Holes
Don't they look so cute? These donut holes are a great option to take to a raw food potluck or a friend's house for tea and coffee. They are easy to make and use simple ingredients. I ate them with a raw strawberry compote, as suggested by Ani Phyo, which nicely complemented the texture and flavor of the donut holes. 
  
Ani Phyo Donut Holes recipe online at Raw Freedom Community here.

Zucchini-ccini with sun-dried tomato pesto and cherry tomatoes

 

Pesto Tguch Style
There are so many varieties of pesto to make. This is my own recipe:
 
* In a food processor, process 1 clove garlic, 1/4 tsp sea salt, 2/3 cup basil and 1/2 cup spinach until leaves are well torn and mixed. 
* Add 1/3 cup shelled pistachio nuts and 8 sun-dried tomatoes. Process until well mixed, then slowly begin to add in olive oil as the mixture continues to process. 
* Drizzle oil slowly and stop when desired moisture level has been reached (I estimate about 1 T).

I make my zucchini-ccini using a peeler from Williams Sonoma. I think the "pasta" looks like real linguine in this photo!

What recent creations have inspired you? Share the creative energy!

 

Straight from the Olive Grove

My very own olive oil, straight from the olive grove

This past Christmas my lovely sister adopted me my very own olive tree, from a grove in the Italian Apennines. This excellent marketing initiative (check it out: http://www.nudo-italia.com/) helps small artisanal olive oil producers stay in business. In addition  to knowing that I am contributing to sustainable development for an oil that I love and use daily, I also receive two deliveries a year of fresh, cold-pressed olive oil from my grove. My first delivery arrived last week! 

I recommend only eating fresh, cold-pressed oils that are not cooked or broken down by heat. Oils that are extracted using heat and then sit in plastic bottles under fluorescent lights in the supermarket have gone rancid. Think how your car would react to dirty, sluggish oil being run through the motor - it may still run, but its performance would be reduced and it wouldn't look too pretty in there. Oil is so good for your skin, your brain, your hair, your flexibility, your nails, etc., and if you are eating clean oil, you will look and feel all clean and shiny. Pay attention to the quality of the oil you consume, it is worth the price to your health! And don't cook with oil, as heat makes the oil rancid (yes, even olive oil!). Suggest to steam, broil, grill etc. and then drizzle oil on top.

Raw pizza with olive oil drizzled on top.
Base of celeriac/carrot pulp + flax seeds, layered with macadamia nut cheeze, pistachio pesto, basil, marinated onions, tomatoes, and capsicum.

Recipe: Summer Zucchini-guine with Miso

Day 14 of my 30-day 100% Rawgust adventure, and I am so psyched to be sharing my first raw food creation with you. This is the very first raw recipe thought up completely from scratch in reaction to what tastes and food my body was craving. And it was delicious! A really nice, light, flavorful pasta dish for the summer. I would do a few things differently next time around, and I am including these potential variations in the recipe below. As with all raw recipes, take liberties with it and mix up the veggies based on what your body gravitates towards. Bon appetit!

Summer Zucchini-guine with Miso

Summer Zucchini-guine with Miso

Pasta: one round zucchini spiral-sliced in a saladacco to make wide noodles. I have recently started using the round zucchinis as they make thicker strips then the long squash, and I love a nice pappardelle noodle.

Sauce:
- Bring water nearly to a boil (this will be the quantity of your sauce so use as much or as little water as you want. Remember also that the zucchini will expel water unless you salt and drain it prior to mixing in with the sauce).
- When the water has cooled a touch, mix in with 1/2 T of white miso. Let sit while you prepare your veggies.
- Cut up your veggies. I chose thinly sliced yellow onion (1/4 of an onion), freshly shelled peas (my first time eating raw peas - yum yum and yum! be sure they are not old- you will know because old peas' skins come off and the peas split- as old peas are bitter), thinly sliced radishes (about 6), green onion (2 bunches), 1/2 green pepper. You can see I was gravitating towards bitter and spicy veggies... I will add tomato next time.
- Back to your miso: cut up ginger (I did 2 T) and add together with sesame oil (few squirts) to miso. I also added a touch of agave, but next time I will use lucuma as I prefer the taste, and the powder will help to thicken the sauce. Whisk it up!
- To serve, I put the veggies on the bottom of the bowl, then added the noodles, then poured the sauce over the top. Stirred it up, and ate it with a smile.

Any comments or thoughts, please share. And enjoy!

Raw food at Bob's Kitchen

One of my favorite vegetarian restaurants in Paris is Bob's Kitchen. It is just up the street from the Marais Bikram yoga studio, on Rue des Gravilliers, and after class I love to treat myself to their fresh juice of the day. My fave so far has been lemon, strawberries and mint. Yum!

Two weeks ago I noticed they were announcing a raw food special dinner hosted by local raw foodie Arletty Abady with special guest chef Adam Graham. Hooray! This was my first discovery of raw cuisine in Paris, I was more than excited. Could this mean no more trips to London for raw desserts?

The theme was Italian food, and it was delicious. The appetizer was a fennel, orange, yellow pepper salad and mushrooms marinated, stuffed with olive tapenade, and dehydrated. As someone who has dehydrated a fair amount of mushrooms, I can tell you that these were divine. Full of flavor and a great texture.

The main course was zucchinetti (can I trademark that word?) with a pesto made from a wild herb foraged in the forests of Belgium. Foraging is becoming a new interest of mine, so I was very excited to discover a potential forest guide in neighboring Belgium. There was also a delicious eggplant, marinara tomato, cashew cheese stack.


Dessert was a chocolate cheesecake (made from cashew cheese) parfait with raspberries. It was divine. Raw desserts are the best! The raw heart-shaped chocolate was made by Arletty herself.

Overall, it was a wonderful evening. It was great to meet other folks in Paris interested in raw food, and I look forward to working with them to help build the budding community. There will be other raw food events in the future, I will be sure to post about them here. In the meantime, check out the awesome veggie resto. Enjoy!


Bob's Kitchen
74 Rue des Gravilliers 75003