Happy Labor Day, folks!

I’m on my way back to DC, after a whirlwind weekend spent at the ultimate NYC wedding celebration. The culmination? A ceremony and dinner last night at Blue Hill Stone Barns, a fine dining hotspot that surely many of my foodie readers have heard about. I can’t wait to share my thoughts on the ceremony and my recap through photos—not to mention details of my all vegan wedding dinner—but today, I’m here to share a recipe that tickled my palate in the weeks before I left for NYC and Portland. August feels like a lifetime ago, doesn’t it?

When people ask me if there are any vegetables that can’t be eaten raw, I always give the standard advice: beware of raw potatoes (though raw yams can work well in certain recipes), winter squash, and some people claim that raw green beans and snap peas can be mildly toxic (I eat the latter raw, not the former). Additionally, many people find that raw legumes, even sprouted, can be a digestive nightmare; I personally find cooked beans much easier to digest than sprouted ones. Finally, I caution everyone to listen to their bodies and use intuition: if there’s a certain vegetable that just seems to wreak havoc on you when you eat it raw, cut yourself a break, and try gently steaming it for a while.

Raw broccoli used to be just that food for me. I digest it with no trouble when it’s steamed, but eating it raw was rather unpredictable. Something has changed, and suddenly I find myself loving—and digesting well—raw broccoli in all sorts of recipes and applications. I’ve even been choosing it instead of cucumbers and carrots for dipping and snacking. I love when our relationship with a food shifts over time.

For those of you who are still feeling so-so about the prospect of raw broc—and believe me, I get it—I have a few ideas about how you can make the stuff far more palatable. The first idea I’ll share is this fabulous raw broccoli and cauliflower slaw with Asian “peanut” dressing and raisins. Chopping the crucifers very finely will help you to digest them better (as will chewing your food well—ahem!) and render them a little more tasty. The dressing, which is one of my all time favorites (and, judging by reader response, a favorite of yours, too) takes care of the rest, uniting this into a sweet, salty, gingery, and downright fantastic salad for any time of year.

Raw Broccoli and Cauliflower Salad with Creamy Asian Dressing (raw, vegan, GF)

Serves 4

3 heaping cups broccoli florets
3 heaping cups cauliflower florets
1 small or 1/2 large red bell pepper, chopped
1/3 cup raisins

1 batch of my creamy Asian dressing (for this recipe, I’d add extra lime juice for more zesty taste!)

1) Place the broccoli and cauliflower in a food processor and roughly process. Alternately, chop into small pieces with a big knife.

2) Transfer to a bowl and add chopped bell pepper and raisins.

3) Dress to taste with creamy Asian dressing, and serve! I like this finished with a squeeze of lime.

Quick point of interest before I go: many of you have asked me about goitrogens in raw broccoli and other crucifers. It’s totally true that cruciferous veggies contain goiter producers, or goitrogens, that can interfere with the synthesis of thyroid hormones and block iodine absorption. On the other hand, keeping broccoli raw protects its vitamin C content and leaves available sulforaphane, a cancer fighting compound that is made inaccessible to our bodies through the cooking process. For this reason, I’d suggest that anyone with thyroid issues try steaming all broccoli and other crucifers lightly before consumption (talk to your health care provider if you have more questions, of course), and that everyone else consume broccoli regularly in both raw and cooked form, so as to always enjoy the full spectrum of its health offerings!

OK: I have errands and studying and a dinner date to get to. Tomorrow: wedding weekend adventures!

xo

Some recipes are too good to share only once.

Yesterday was the first day of the Spark! Wellness + Choosing Raw Spring Detox. On my menu was a lunchtime salad featuring my Asian dressing, and let me tell you: the level 3 forum was abuzz with glee!! I couldn’t get over the reaction: people l-o-v-e this stuff. So in case you missed it the first time, here’s a little slice of heaven:

Creamy Asian Dressing (Makes 1 1/2 cup)

Ingredients:

1 inch ginger (you can add a bit more if you love ginger, which I sure do!)
1 cup olive or flax oil
2 tsp toasted sesame oil
Juice of 1 lime
3 tbsp mellow white miso (you can add a bit more of this one, too, if you like the saltiness)
6 dates, pitted
2 tbsp tamari or nama shoyu
1/3 cup water (add more if you like the dressing looser)

Blend all ingredients on high till creamy and emulsified.

Serve this crack dressing over vegetable crudites, as a dip for appetizers, as a salad dressing, or just lick the blender.

Or, you can serve it over zucchini noodles and chopped veggies, and it’ll look something like this:

(That photo is borrowed from my raw “peanut” noodles, but the idea is the same!)

Banana soft serve. Chocomole. Guac. Carrot falafel. These are the kinds of recipes that make me want to grab you by the shoulders and push you into your kitchen. I’m going to go ahead and add this dressing to that list. Try it, and try it soon. You’ll thank me

xo

Is it Monday already?

I’m back from upstate, and none too happy about it: I miss the smell of lilacs and the sight of gold-flecked grass under afternoon sun. Sigh.

Sadness over leaving the country was offset by a lovely mother’s day dinner with my mom, who just so happened to be celebrating her birthday yesterday, too! It was our first mother’s day dinner at a vegetarian friendly restaurant (Josie’s, on the Upper West Side), and it was probably one of our best ever. Before I arrived back in NYC, I got to spend a slice of mother’s day with Chloe’s Mom, who is like a second mother to me, so yesterday truly was a celebration of the wonderful women in my life.

On Saturday evening, Chloe’s mother and sister and I set about preparing a quick dinner upstate. I already had it in mind to try some of the tasty looking short-grained brown rice mix that Chloe’s mom had in her pantry: it’s a Lundberg variety, and it looks something like this:

Before I get to the recipe, I’ll say this: try this mix out! It’s extremely chewy and flavorful, and it’s got just a touch of stickiness (which I love for Asian-inspired dinners). Two thumbs way up!

Chloe’s mom also had a lovely selection of bok choy, asparagus, and shitake mushrooms in the crisper, so I decided I’d pair my rice with some steamed veggies. Of course, I needed some kind of flavorful sauce to top it with. Typically, when I make these steamed grain/veggie plates for dinner, I’ll opt for a tahini dressing of sorts–such as my carrotini, tangy tahini, or simple tahini dressings. But we didn’t have any tahini handy. What we did have was a wealth of organic miso paste (mellow white and red), and a pantry stocked with every specialty vinegar under the sun. As soon as I saw that we had mirin–which is one of my absolute favorite condiments–I knew what I wanted to try: a sweet and salty miso glaze.

The nicest thing about staying upstate is participating in the harmonious ballet of simultaneous omni/vegan cooking. Chloe’s mother is a spectacular cook, and she’s passed it down to her kids (Chloe’s sister is a consummate baker; Chloe’s a terrific chef in her own right, and I like to harass her about starting a catering company in New Orleans). Though Chloe’s family is mostly omnivorous (Chloe’s a pescatarian), they’ve always been accepting and gracious about my way of eating, and Chloe’s mother always takes care to have a fridge full of produce when I’m staying upstate. She also gives me space to whip up vegan food alongside the family meal, which is exceedingly considerate of her!

What’s really fun, though, is when we can collaborate a little on dinner. So when I mentioned my idea for a miso glaze, Chloe’s mother immediately perked up and said she might use it to glaze and grill some chicken breasts she was planning on making. One sauce, two dinners–what could be more copasetic?

Of course, I’d never made miso glaze before in my life. In truth, I’d never even prepared miso soup. So with a little trepidation, I decided to wing it, and I came up with this:

Delicate Miso Glaze (yields 1 cup, or so)

1 cup water
1 1/2 tbsp miso
1 1/2 tbsp dijon mustard
2 tbsp mirin
1 tbsp rice vinegar
1 tsp tamari
1 tbsp maple syrup (optional, but the sweetness really deepens the flavor of this sauce)

Bring water to a simmer and add the miso, stirring until it’s dissolved. Add remaining ingredients and keep stirring till the sauce has reduced and thickened a bit — I’d say twenty or twenty-five minutes should do it. Use the sauce on chicken, fish, veggies, or grains.

To recreate my dinner, simply prepare some brown rice ahead of time, and set it aside. While the glaze is reducing, steam 1 small head of baby bok choy, 3 fat asparagus stalks (chopped), 1 medium sized carrot (chopped), 5 thinly sliced shitake mushrooms, and a cup or more of kale. Steam the veggies till crisp-tender, and remove from heat.

To serve, toss the steamed veggies in a tablespoon of the glaze — just enough to coat them lightly, but not enough to mask their natural flavor. Plate them alongside a cup or so of cooked rice, and drizzle the plate with another tablespoon or two of the miso glaze. Bon appetit!

In spite of my inexperience with such a glaze, it turned out really well. I loved the flavor. Chloe’s mom thought it might use a bit more tamari, so if you make this, I’d suggest you feel free to season with more tamari if you like, and to play with your proportions of flavor (I really loved the mustard and sweetness, but you could also amp up the vinegar). This, like all easy recipes, works best if you modify it to suit your own palate.

Check out this earthy, nourishing meal:

Yum!

And since we’re all enamored of nutrient-rich, meal size salads these days, I thought I’d share yesterday’s lunch, which was vaguely Indian in flavor. I paired some of my leftover curried cashew spread with about half a cup of cooked red lentils (one of my absolute favorite legumes — so tasty and fast to prepare!) and some of Chloe’s mom’s signature lemon vinaigrette. I also got a taste of my first ripe and delicious tomato of the season — local and greenhouse!

Such a perfect lunch.

I hope you had a wonderful weekend, too. What did you do to celebrate the moms in your life?

And finally, I owe you all a winner of my iHerb giveaway! The winner of a $50 shopping spree to iHerb.com is (drumroll):

#99, Greenbean, who would love to buy some Alba body butter with her giveaway prize. Congratulations, Greenbean! Please email me (gena@choosingraw.com) to discuss details of cashing in on your prize.

With that, it’s go time. Have a good one!

xo

Hi all!

Hope you had a wonderful weekend.

This recipe is a great lesson in what to do with leftovers. Remember the Asian dressing I mentioned as a part of my raw dinner party? Well, I found myself with a small surplus last week. Since the dressing is highly reminiscent of the peanut sauces one might find in Thai or Chinese restaurants, I figured I would break out my spiralizer and do my best impersonation of peanut noodles. The result? A cool, simple, and delicious summertime recipe.

Gena’s Peanut Noodles (serves 1-2)

Ingredients

Asian Dressing (Makes 1 1/2 cups)

Ingredients:

1 inch ginger
1 cup olive oil (or flax oil)
2 tsp sesame oil (toasted)
Juice of 1 lime
4 tbsp mellow white miso
6 dates, pitted, or ¼ cup maple syrup
2 tbsp nama shoyu
1/3 cup water

Blend all ingredients on high till creamy and emulsified.

Noodles:

1 large or 2 small zucchinis, spiralized or sliced with a vegetable peeler
1/2 red pepper, sliced into matchsticks
1/2 carrot, sliced into matchsticks
1/4 large or 1/2 small cucumber, grated or peeled into long strips
Scallions or green onion to garnish

To make the dish, simply prepare and mix all veggies, save the scallions or green onion. Toss them with 1/4 cup sauce, adding more if necessary, and sprinkle with scallions.

Sugar snaps, shitake mushrooms, snow pea shoots, or mung bean sprouts would also be a great addition to the noodles. Experiment with stuff you like, and enjoy!

Speaking of cooking (or un-cooking), I hope everyone caught Michael Pollan’s terrific piece in the Times Magazine yesterday on Julia Child and the rise of the Food Network. If you didn’t, please read it: among many other things, it’s a tribute to the value of cooking, rendered in Pollan’s characteristically intelligent prose. I find that, among my clients, one of the most decisive predictors of success with a healthier lifestyle is the development of enthusiasm for cooking. It never ceases to amaze me how many of my clients have been divorced from the process of preparing food for years or even decades; in spite of an active interest in healthy eating, and often a working knowledge of nutritious food, they’re accustomed to eating from boxes, mixes, bags, packages, and plastic squeeze bottles.

Unfortunately, the idea of cooking has often become entangled with rhetoric about women’s rights — the central argument being that cooking is a tedious, gender-biased, and oppressive activity for women of all occupations, and particularly for working mothers. I was raised by a hard-working single Mom, and I assure you all that no category of person ranks higher in my estimation.

Even so, the notion that cooking is disempowering strikes me as misleading. To be sure, it’s an added use of one’s time and energy. But isn’t the alternative — becomg divorced from a sense of what one is and isn’t putting in one’s own body — infinitely more disempowering? All too often, intelligent women simply trust in the integrity of brand names, when the makers of those brands have anything but their health interests in mind (for more on this, I recommend checking out Food, Inc.).

Preparing food from scratch — even if the recipes are quick and simple — gives us all an understanding of what’s in our food, where it comes from, and whether or not it is indeed health promoting. As a woman with two jobs and not a lot of time, I can say that the payoff of cooking and preparing food — in spite of the time it might cost me at the end of a long day — is always worth it. It’s true that I’m also the kind of person who finds cooking relaxing and enjoyable, but that is only one part of the reason I do it; having an intimate connection to what I’m putting in my body and how it’s made is the other part. Next time you find yourself loathe to wash and chop greens, or bake a piece of fish, try to shift your frame of mind: see cooking as an act of empowerment, rather than a burden.

And remember that the best recipes (at least in my mind) are simple, anyway!

Have a great start to the week.

xo

Hi guys!

As always, I am moved and thrilled with your comments on the “perfect” post. Thank you!

I now present you with some food porn:

The dish? Carrot avocado bisque and simple sushi rolls. To read all about it–and to get the recipe–please head over to my friend Zestycook’s blog, where I’ve got a little guest post up. Enjoy!

xo