I have a love/hate relationship with raw wraps. I love them because they’re versatile, easy to prepare, and way more fun than sandwiches. I hate them because I have yet to make a homemade raw wrap that was really excellent. They’ve all been too thin, too dry, to thick, or too dense. When I went to Gingersnap’s Organic in NYC, and tasted the stellar reuben wrap, I thought to myself, “what the heck am I doing wrong”?

If there’s one thing I’ve learned about raw wrap-making, it’s that the dehydrating time matters every bit as much as the recipe itself; if you over- or under-dehydrate your wrap, you’ll end up either with mush or a giant, brittle cracker. This means that you have to treat the dehydration process (which is usually gloriously hands-off) more like baking: you have to check in on the wraps, test the texture, and make sure you’re not letting things get too dry. This week, for the first time in CR history, I made raw wraps that were of Gena-approved quality; pliable, yet sturdy. And I made them with one of my favorite flavor combinations: carrot and cumin.

It is my duty to tell you that this recipe will be easiest with a Vitamix or another high-quality blender. You can certainly give it a shot in the food processor (if you do, let me know if it works), but the trick to this recipe was getting a smooth, pancake-batter-like texture out of my wrap “dough,” and I used the Vitamix to do that.

The recipe is extremely simple, as per my own taste, so feel free to embellish and flavor it as you wish. Garlic and cilantro would be nice to through in the “dough”; so would lemon, cinnamon, coriander, or dates. Or, you can follow my lead, and make this one of those delightful, economical, 5-ingredients-or-less recipes. When time is short, such recipes are your best friend.

Gena’s Raw, Vegan Carrot and Cumin Wraps (vegan, gluten free, soy free if you sub sea salt for the tamari)

Makes 6 wraps

2 cups carrot pulp OR grated carrot (if you use the latter, give it a quick squeeze with paper towel to remove a little excess moisture)
1 cup flax meal
2 cups water (+ extra as needed)
1 tbsp cumin
1-2 tbsp tamari

1) Blend all ingredients in a high speed blender till very smooth. Add more water as needed; you want a pancake batter consistency. The moisture will vary depending on your pulp and how dry it is, so you may need to add a lot or only a little more. Use your kitchen intuition!

2) Spread wrap batter evenly onto two Teflex-lined dehydrator sheets. Dehydrate at 115 degrees for about 3 1/2 hours, or until the tops are firm and you can peel the wraps away from the nonstick sheets (if they’re a mess when you try to peel them off, keep dehydrating).

3) Flip your Teflex sheet (with the wrap on it) upside down onto the mesh sheet beneath, and carefully peel back the Teflex till the wrap has been flipped onto its other side. Continue dehydrating another 1 1/2 hours or so, checking in on the wraps every so often. You want them to ultimately be firm and sturdy, but still flexible, and you don’t want the edges to start cracking too much when you bend them (they’ll definitely crack a little no matter what you do).

4) When the wraps have finished dehydrating, you can use a pizza wheel or knife to cut them into 6 rectangles. You can also cut away some of the edges, if they’ve gotten very hard.

5) This is important: store these overnight in a plastic bag or airtight container. This will get rid of some of the brittleness that the wraps may have taken on in the dehydrating process. When you’re ready to use them, simply stuff them with fillings of choice, and get eating!

I chose sweet potato, avocado, red cabbage, greens, and a bit of my red pepper, chickpea, and tahini dressing. The same ingredients, give or take, went into my accompanying salad:

What a great lunch. I have never once been able to devour a raw wrap and give myself a pat on the back for authenticity: this time, I could.

Though I do still often seek out whole grain wraps for their own sake—my personal favorites are the Food for Life wraps—it’s fantastic to have the option of a wrap that is rich in Omega-3 EFAs, as well as full of vegetable power. If you wanted to make these wraps without the dehydrator, you could definitely try various oven settings, or you could try adding some flour of your choice and making them like crepes, in a skillet. Let me know how it goes if you try either method!

Today, I’m giddy because a) I got out of my lab a little early and b) as of next week, I’ll have “graduated” in my volunteer position in pediatric oncology and hematology at Georgetown University Teaching Hospital, to the status of “cuddler and snuggler.” This means I’ll be able to cradle and hold infants and babies who need care. It also means I’ll occasionally get to visit the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) and hold babies there. What a gift!

xo

Happy Friday!!! I can’t believe that NYE is upon us. Time, as they say, flies.

All morning, I did the annoying thing where I excitedly tweeted about an “awesome” recipe and then refused to say what it was. I should make a point of not doing this, because when I do, the pressure to deliver something fabulous is really high. The recipe in question—a chocolate avocado sauce and matching breakfast salad—is really one of the simpler things I’ve made in a while. But I know my readers, and something tells me that you guys love my more simple and sweet recipes. In that spirit, I hope you’ll love what I have to share today.

This recipe is of course a spin on my famous chocomole, which many of you have tried and loved. The avocado and chocolate combination never fails to raise eyebrows, but fortunately it also never fails to win people over. I have made my regular chocomole, my mexican spiced chocomole, and my sweet potato and chocomole for countless friends (including Melissa) and the reviews are always two thumbs way up.

Why, then, not turn this classic raw foodie favorite into a sauce?

Today, I woke up craving something on the green side. But it was too cold for a green smoothie, and to be honest, I prefer to chew my greens than to puree them. I’ve always enjoyed breakfast salads, but this is the first one I’ve thought to post about. If you guys dig it, it may be the first of many.

The salad itself is about 4 cups romaine and 1 banana. To be clear, you can use any kind of favorite fruit in this recipe. Banana is my personal favorite, so that’s what I did, but mango and apple would also be great. So would fresh berries! The possibilities are endless. But no matter what you do, don’t forget the chocolate.

Chocolate Avocado Sauce (raw, vegan, gluten free, soy free)

Makes about 1 1/2 cups

1 small avocado
1/4 cup cocoa powder (I use raw cacao powder from Navitas naturals)
3/4 cup water
1 tbsp almond butter
1/4 cup agave syrup
Dash salt
Stevia to taste
1 tsp vanilla (optional)

Blend all ingredients in a high speed blender till smooth. Add stevia to taste: I prefer making this recipe less sweet, but you should follow your tastebuds. The reason I use a stevia/agave mix is that I find pure stevia to be rather bitter, while all agave can get a little too sugary. Using a mix is a nice way to balance it out, but you can certainly use all of one or the other depending on your needs. Date paste would work well, too!

Now, breakfasts salads are all well and good, but if you’re like me, you may find that banana+avo+greens is not quite filling enough. For that reason, feel free to add nuts, to serve it with some toast, or to sprinkle it with granola, as I did! Low fat apple cinnamon raisin graw-nola, to be precise:

That’s fruit, nutrient rich buckwheat, healthy polyunsaturated fats from avocado, and a whole bowl of greens, all before 9 am. Breakfast salads are revolutionary!

Speaking of salad, I had the pleasure of sharing lunch with one of my dearest blogger friends yesterday. JL, whom I met for the first time at Vida Vegan Con, and I met at Pure Food and Wine for a scrumptious raw lunch. It has been so long since I had the pleasure of dining there, and I was so excited!

I began with a “thai greens”—cilantro, pineapple, cucumber, and celery.

Next came appetizers. The original plan was to split one: the raw nori rolls, which contain jicama rice, avocado, and mirin soaked mushrooms (quite possibly my favorite Pure dish). So that happened.

But who were JL and I kidding? One appetizer? I think not. A caesar salad was in order, too:

The Pure caesar is a thing of beauty: delicious raw parm, a tangy, lemony dressing, and crisp nori strips. I love it.

For my entrée, I got a “make your own” salad with beets, carrots, cucumbers, dulse, tomato, avocado, jicama, basil, and the restaurant’s famous rosemary “quackers.” I always feel a little bad ordering salad at Pure, but salad’s my favorite thing, and no one does it better than they do. Finest and most giant salads around. Just look at my mountain:

JL got a little more creative, and went with the fantastic raw hemp burger:

You can always count on Pure for fantastic food and exquisite presentation. Sarma, we thank you!!!

JL is truly one of my favorite people: so wise, so whip smart, so generous in every way. She is the embodiment of warmth. I cherish my time with her, and can’t wait for our next hang.

Before I go: thanks for the good feedback yesterday. I’m glad that many of you found the Tara Parker-Pope article interesting. I think it certainly has implications for the ED-recovered: as I’m sure a great many of you have experienced the consequences of metabolic adjustment from weight loss, and if you have, you know that they can feel terribly frustrating, and compound the fear of food, as my friend Elizabeth aptly remarked today. With all of that said, I want to also point out that it is possible for even a temporarily “injured” metabolism to become balanced again: certainly I’m living proof of that. And if you are contemplating necessary weight loss this year (that is, if you need to lose weight for health reasons), you can rest assured that many people do manage to successfully lose enormous amounts of weight, and maintain it. And the vegan and raw communities are particularly full of such stories.

xo

I think Valerie’s gonna like this post!

Why? Because mung bean pancakes and mango kale avocado salad are both signature dishes at Café Green, the highly imperfect, yet deeply loveable little vegan restaurant here in Washington’s Dupont Circle, where you’ll often find me having dinner with friends (most recently, a fun evening with Brendan). Of all of the dishes on that menu, the mung bean pancakes (served with a sweet mustard sauce) and mango kale salad are certainly two of my favorites, though I’m leaning lately toward the raw pizza and beet n’ berry salad. Anyway, I digress: I first fell in love with mung bean pancakes at CG, and I’ve wanted to make them at home ever since.

These gave me the perfect excuse:

Sprouted mung beans from Tru Roots. I found these at Whole Foods and seized them as my chance to explore the world of mung bean pancake batter, and I’m so very glad that I did.

These pancakes are many wonderful things. They are thick and filling. They are supremely rich in plant-based protein, due a chickpea flour and bean base. They are easy to prepare, impressive to serve, and—since they’re made entirely without glutenous flours—they are also gluten free (and soy free), for my friends with allergies. And they are, most importantly, very tasty.

Most recipes for mung bean pancakes are made similarly to this one: you soak split mung beans in water and blend them up to create a batter. The cool thing about my sprouted mung beans is that they only require 5 minutes of cooking time, and they’re sprouted well enough to be soaked and eaten directly (if you’re a strict raw foodist). This meant that I only soaked them for an hour; if you are making this recipe from regular split mung beans (which will be cheaper), you should soak them overnight.

Off we go.

Mung Bean Pancakes with Mustard Sauce (Vegan, Gluten and Soy Free)

Makes 12 large pancakes, or 4-6 servings

1 1/2 cups mung beans, soaked 8 hours (less if they’re sprouted)
2 cups water
2/3 cups chickpea flour
1/2 cup brown rice flour
2 tsp baking soda
1 tbsp tamari
2 tsp rice wine vinegar
1/2 tsp sesame oil
1 tbsp agave syrup
1 small (or 1/2 large) chopped onion
1 small chopped bell pepper

1) Placed soaked beans, water, flours, and baking soda in a good blender and blend till totally smooth. If the batter is too thin, add a little flour; if it’s too thick, add some water. You want a thick but easy to pour consistency, just as you’d want for regular pancakes, but maybe even a touch thicker.

2) Transfer batter to a large bowl. Add tamari, vinegar, sesame oil, agave, onion, and peppers.

3) Heat a large skillet to medium/high, and drop batter by 1/3 cup heaps. Cook till you see bubbles on one side of the pancake; flip, and cook some till second side is golden brown. Serve with mustard sauce, below.

Sweet mustard sauce (vegan, gluten free with right mustard)

Makes about 1/4 cup

3 tbsp stoneground mustard (look for a gluten free variety if this is a particular concern for you)
1 1/2 tbsp agave nectar
1 tsp apple cider vinegar

1) Whisk all ingredients with a fork, and pour over pancakes.

Mango Kale Avocado Salad (raw, vegan, gluten and soy free)

Serves 2-4

1 bunch curly kale, de-stemmed, chopped, washed, and dried
Juice of 1 large lemon
2 tsps flax oil
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tbsp agave nectar
1/4 tsp sea salt
1 chopped red bell pepper
1 cup mango, cut into small cubes
1/2 large avocado cut into cubes

1) With your hands, "massage" the lemon juice, flax and sesame oils, agave, and salt into your kale till it is wilted and nicely coated. Taste the kale–what does it need? I usually add extra lemon, but feel free to add a little more oil, salt, or sweetness, too.

2) Mix in the pepper, mango, and veggies. Toss well to combine. Serve with pancakes!

Just look at all of that vibrant color!

Yum!

This is such a delicious lunch or dinner—the tastes and textures are perfect together, and the meal is filling without without feeling heavy in the slightest. The salad is a little summery, but I actually love summery flavors in winter (don’t hate me, strict locavores!). They’re like a little burst of sun. I can’t wait to make this meal again.

So on that note: exam #1 is over. One down, two to go. Ready, set, study!

xo

PS – Don’t forget that my Alo yoga giveaway ends Weds. And tune in for another incredible holiday giveaway tomorrow!

As a student, I have been amused to see school lunches on everybody’s mind this week. As you probably heard, last Monday, Congress overruled a proposal to turn down the nation’s school lunch program, in which tomato sauce on pizza is counted as a vegetable. The new rules would also have cut sodium in school meals and reduced the overwhelming number of potatoes that are served to kid (white potatoes, no doubt, and I’m guessing quite a few end up in the “fry” form).

It’s grim stuff, but no matter how incensed I’d like to get about it, I’ve decided to channel my frustration into hopeful imagining. What if more lunchroom sandwiches looked like this?

That’s avocado, lettuce, tomato, and tahini dressing on flax and chia bread, served with an apple (and some un-pictured butternut squash and apple soup).

OK, so that’s an extreme example of vegetable infatuation. I realize that few kids will gobble down the stuff I eat with utter abandon (though I’m sure there are some kids out there, raised on veggies, who would!). Even so, imagine: rather than white flour in white bread that would raise the kids’ glycemic index after eating, and lunchmeats packed with nitrates, sodium, and the shadow of factory farming, and sodas packed either with corn syrup or with aspartame, kids could enjoy the following nutrients:

From the raw chia and flax bread: Omega 3 and 6 fatty acids, calcium, protein, fiber, and what’s leftover from numerous veggies

From the avocado: Heart-healthy polyunsaturated fats, which have the added bonus of helping to signal satiety and prevent overeating

From the lettuce and tomato: Vitamins A and C; lycopene, alpha-tomatine, and powerful antioxidants.

From the tahini dressing: Traces of calcium and minerals, as well as a lot of taste.

What a world that would be.

Here at school, I’ve noticed a lot of unhealthy eating—diet soda and nibbling at soy crisps among some of the young women (it’s strange, by the way, to be exposed to college age eating disorders again at this point in my life) and Taco Bell, Subway, and lots of white bread and potato chips for many others. Both approaches are pretty void of nutrients, which is the main source of my concern. In spite of how people always say doctors have poor eating habits themselves, however, my fellow post-baccs are a pretty healthy bunch: lots of awareness about good eating habits, and a tremendous collective zeal for exercise (those who suffer through Orgo together, sweat together). I like to hope I bring a little inspiration to the group through the daily experience of bringing “weird food” to campus: chia puddings, raw bars, and salads that take up more room in my bag than do my textbooks. I’ve even got some of my peers hooked on kale chips.

So for now, while I can’t do much to change the stubborn, bottom-line driven thinking among the powers that be here in the nation’s capitol, I can at least share my passion for veggies with the world. Starting now.

Gena’s Favorite Raw Sandwich (raw, vegan, gluten and soy free)

Serves 1

2 squares Chia Flax Sandwich Bread (follow my instructions for chia juice pulp crackers, adding 1/4 cup flax and using 1/2 cup water. Score and cut into sandwich size pieces rather than crackers!)

Veggies:

• Avocado
• Cucumber
• Tomato
• Beet
• Lettuce
• etc.

Drizzle of my tangy tahini dressing

1) Pile bread high with veggies.

Close it all up:

And enjoy with fresh fruit, as well as some raw or cooked soup, some salad, or some whole grains/beans.

Delicious. With fingers crossed, maybe vegan—or even high raw—lunches will be more commonplace in twenty or fifty years. Maybe they’ll even be in school lunchrooms.

A girl can hope.

Before I sign off tonight: more Thanksgiving ideas!

Vegan Colcannon with Kale

Black Bean and Sweet Potato Enchiladas

Raw Stuffing!

Roasted Cauliflower and Parsnip Soup

Back here tomorrow, in the midst of cooking…

xo

It’s the week of speedy raw lunches!

Today’s recipe came to me at random, as I was attempting to prep for a bio lab. I had half an avocado, tons of carrots (I always have tons of carrots on hand for juicing), half a cup of aduki beans that were left over from a batch I cooked up in the rice cooker this past weekend, and…and what? I knew I could throw these all into a salad, but suddenly, it dawned on me: I had a bag of kelp noodles that had been sitting around for quite a while. I love kelp noodles because they offer the crunch of salad with the general aesthetic and feel of pasta. And it’s very easy to control how soft or crispy they are.

How? Well, when I’m not in the mood for kelp noodles that have a bit of crunch in them (which all of them naturally do), I simply heat a pot of water till it’s quite hot, but cool enough for me to stick a finger in quickly. I turn off the heat, add my kelp noodles, cover them, and let them steam for about ten minutes. I then drain and serve. This is a very easy way to make the noodles softer and more palatable, especially if you’re not familiar with their texture.

As usual, I’m sure a few of you are wondering where to get kelp noodles. My answer: I order them online, either directly from the Sea Tangle Company or through Amazon. You can find kelp noodles at many health food stores and Whole Foods, but many still don’t carry them, and I find that it’s very easy to simply order a pack of six. They have a seemingly endless shelf life, and I use them often enough that it’s absolutely worth it for me!

So: I had the ingredients I needed for an excellent raw lunch. Here’s what I did with them.

Kelp Noodles and Azuki Beans with Creamy Carrot Avocado Sauce (high raw, vegan, gluten free)

Serves 1

For the sauce:

1/2 large avocado
1 large carrot (or 2 small), chopped
1 tsp fresh minced ginger (or powdered)
2 pitted dates
1 tbsp nama shoyu or tamari (I try to use reduced sodium)
1 cup water
Juice of half a lemon

Blend all ingredients in a high speed blender till smooth.

For the pasta:

1 package kelp noodles (Yes, I eat about a package for a meal. You can definitely split this between two people! Or just cut down on the noodles.)
1/2 cup aduki beans (fresh is loveliest, but BPA-free canned beans are fine, too)

Mix the beans and noodles, and top with about half a cup of sauce. Mix and serve with some fresh greens, vegetable crudites, steamed broccoli, or raw crackers (or a mish mosh of all of the above!). A sprinkle of nutritional yeast is nice here, too.

The sauce is delectably creamy, and the ginger gives it a nice bite:

There’s a lesson here: when you’re wondering “what should I eat for lunch,” do a quick inventory of what’s in your fridge. Think about what you can use for a sauce or dressing, what you can use as a protein, what you can use as a source of complex carbs (energy!!), and what might work as a “base.” By base, I simply mean whatever is going to take up the most volume in your meal: for me, it’s usually greens (a salad base, for instance), but it’s often also zucchini noodles, kelp noodles, or a grain. Then, think about flavor pairings (carrot, avocado, and ginger are heavenly together), and mix it all up. It’s that simple!

Complex recipes are great when you have time for them, but when it comes to making a high raw lunch on the fly, this little “system” tends to work for me.

Speaking of time, my blogging time is running short. Till tomorrow, friends!

xo

On Friday night, I had the pleasure of a unique DC dining experience: dinner at Elizabeth’s Gone Raw.

It is an unbelievable fact that, in the many months I’ve now lived in DC, I have not yet had a chance to try DC’s only raw, vegan restaurant. I blame this on a few things: school, budget, timing, negligence. Fortunately for me, Elizabeth Petty, the elegant and gracious founder of Elizabeth’s Gone Raw, invited me to the restaurant for a raw dinner on Friday night. With the enthusiasm of a raw foodie who hasn’t eaten so much as a bite of raw restaurant food in months, I said yes.

I’ll be honest: when you’ve lived in NYC for a while—thus had Pure Food and Wine, Bonobos, Quintessence, and a host of other raw restaurants at your fingertips—you become a little immune to the wonder of raw restaurant dining. You forget that the chefs have been dehydrating things for days. You forget that they’re relying on such simple and delicate ingredients that they—more than any other chefs, perhaps—must labor to get flavors just right. You forget that these restaurants are almost always organic, and primarily local, which means that they’re paying premium so that you, the diner, can eat with a sense of assurance about the origins of your food. And you forget how much sheer creativity raw food demands.

Eating at Elizabeth’s on Friday reminded me of all that. I’d go so far as to say that it reminded me of why I love raw food in the first place.

When I arrived at Elizabeth’s, I was immediately greeted by the restaurateur herself, who was busy seating guests. Elizabeth’s interest in raw food goes beyond mere culinary inclination: several years ago, she was diagnosed with breast cancer, and her raw foods journey has been a part of her healing process.

For Elizabeth (as for many of us), raw foods are about so much more than pretty skin or bright eyes: they’re also a means of learning to appreciate good health, vibrant energy, and a reinvented relationship with food. I love that Elizabeth has invested this dining space with personal passion. Beyond that, Elizabeth has studied at Hippocrates and comes from a restaurant background, so EGR is a natural marriage of her history and talents.

As I waited to be seated, I munched on some of the best kale chips I’ve ever had:

I may or may not have gotten an order of seconds when I was seated at my table.

The ambiance at EGR—which is situated in a lovely, restored townhouse—is very elegant. I haven’t had a meal that declares “fine dining” so clearly in a long time.

Elizabeth’s is only open on Friday nights, and they serve patrons only with a five course tasting menu that is designed around local produce each week. As a diner, an experience at EGR means putting yourself in the hands of the chef. This is not something that’s easy for me: picky eater that I am, I like to have control over what my dinner will be, and this is never more true than when I eat raw, because I happen to know my own raw palate so very well. With that said, I couldn’t have picked out a lovelier—or more Gena-ppropriate—menu for dinner on Friday. It was fresh, elegant, and the portion sizes were spot on.

We started with a cream of celeriac soup, warmed in the Vitamix, and served up with an orange relish and black sesame seeds.

The soup might have been a tiny bit thicker, but then, I appreciated that I was not dipping into a giant bowl of cashew cream, which is how a lot of raw soup feels. Moreover, the flavors were fantastic: I loved how the sweet and bitter bite of orange peel brought life to the creamy, calm celeriac. And the contrast in texture was also great: it’s key in raw, blended soups!

Next was our salad course: sunflower seeds, avocado, and a raw cracker.

Because I’m me, this was probably my favorite course of the night. Avocado? A gingery dressing? Sunflower sprouts?! Be still my heart. Sunflower sprouts are the queens of sproutland—so dense, filling, and rich in protein—and I cannot find them anywhere in DC. Anywhere! Elizabeth grows her own, and uses them at the restaurant, which gave my enjoyment of this dish a personal touch.

We were served a small refresher sorbet:

And then it was time for our entrée. Remember what I made for dinner a few nights ago?

This would be the all raw version:

Beet Carpaccio with garlicky cashew cheese and fresh dill. Along with a green sauce that blew my mind, whatever it was. (I should know what it was. EGR prints every single ingredient on the back of the menu—a transparency that I absolutely love.)

So many raw entrees err on the side of excess: too much fat, too much spice, too much stuff. I realize that these dishes may be trying to compensate for a lack of animal protein, and that this is a good thing for mainstream diners, but I’ll always feel that the best raw food is also the most minimalist. This dish was bursting with flavor, but it was also light, bright, and simple, so that I enjoyed every note of fresh dill and ever sweet bite of beet. Delicious.

Thankfully, I saved room for dessert:

Raw, vegan pumpkin pie. Having glanced at the ingredients, I will tell you that it contains no pumpkin (thank goodness, because raw pumpkin, in my experience, is a little too raw) and I will also tell you that I plan on trying to imitate it. Soon. It was spectacular: spicy, and very sweet.

I thanked Elizabeth for a great meal:

…and for bringing a slice of the raw community to me. Here in DC, I don’t have the support of Dhru, Philip, and the WLIR meet up folks; I don’t have a thriving juice scene, or a restaurant and takeaway around the corner from work that exceeds my wildest dreams (Sarma, I heart you). The vegan scene in DC is small, and the raw scene far smaller. Eating at EGR reminded me that we raw foods lovers have strength in numbers, wherever we may be, and that we’re always thrilled to connect over kale.

Over dinner, I was asked “what is it you love so much about raw food?” I’ve been writing about the semi-raw life for so long that I actually paused to consider that answer.

“They’re light and bright,” I said. “They’re simple. You have to season everything perfectly, because you can’t hide under heat and and processing and fat. They’re healthy. And they’re so, so, creative—to make raw food great, you have to bring so much ingenuity to what you do.”

Thanks to Elizabeth and Ares and the EGR staff for reminding me why I happen to be a raw foods lover. Thanks, too, for your hospitality and kindness. In general, I love to have some choice in the matter of what I eat, so prefix tasting menus really aren’t my ideal. But if they always taste this good, I’ll stand corrected. Anytime.

xo

Well, that was quite the upswelling of autumnal breakfast enthusiasm. So glad you liked the buckwheat quinoa pancake recipe!

Let’s switch gears today and talk about one of the great Choosing Raw love affair: guacamole. Aside from banana soft serve, I doubt there’s a single recipe that people associate more closely with my blog than guacamole (and really, anything with avocado). I can unapologetically eat an entire batch of the stuff in one sitting, and I often do. I break locavore values to stock my kitchen with avocados year round, so that I can savor the joys of a creamy, lime green bowl of guac in the dead of winter. I use guacamole in place of mayo or mustard in sandwiches, I plop it atop bowls of whole grain, and I smear it onto my salads (if you ask me, it’s better on salad than salad dressing).

In short, I’m a fan.

My favorite guacamole recipe is the one you’ll see most frequently on this blog. It’s sweet, tangy, and it’s sans onion, which means you won’t be popping breath mints for hours after your lunch.

The following recipe puts a fresh and crunchy spin on the classic guac formula. Like my original favorite guac, it features chopped vegetables and a variety of fresh herbs as well as guac; like my original, it’s onion-free (though you can certainly add red onion if you’d like to). And, like the original, it’s seriously delicious and extremely simple!

The stars of this guac are fresh mint and fresh basil. If you don’t have either, you can use dried herbs, or you can substitute parsley and cilantro. That said, it’s worth making the recipe just as specified; these herbs elevate guacamole to a bright, fresh, and surprising new plateau.

Cool as Cucumber Guacamole (raw, vegan, gluten and soy free)

Serves 2-4 (who am I kidding: 2)

1/2 cucumber, chopped
6 cherry tomatoes, quartered
2 avocadoes, pitted and cubed
Handful fresh basil, finely chopped
Handful fresh mint, finely chopped
Juice of 2 small lemons (or 1 large)
Salt and pepper to taste
Drizzle of agave (about 2 tbsp)

Mix all ingredients together, using a fork to mash the avocado, in a medium or large bowl. Serve with crudites, salad, pita chips, corn chips, nori sheets, or just about anything!

Optional add-ins!

• 1/4 cup chopped red onion
• 1/2 cup corn kernels
• substitute lime juice for lemon
• roasted red pepper
• 1/3 cup chopped grapes

I think any of the above would be delicious with this guac recipe; I plan on making them all! In spite of being a little lower in fat than your table variety guac (because there are so many veggies thrown in), this recipe is oh-so-rich and creamy:

There it is, folks: a nutrient dense, flavorful, and light, bright recipe with minimal ingredients. I hope it’s what you all have come to expect from me

With that, I’ve got a long day of studying ahead of me. Till soon!

xo

Nice responses to my eggplant bacon! Glad it’s a hit, and hope you all start sneaking it into your vegan BLT’s soon.

Last week, I made my chocomole for the first time in a long time, mostly because M had never tasted it before. At some point between food processor and fridge, as I was licking the spoon and cleaning the spatula, I wondered, “why don’t I make this every week? Every day? Every hour?”

Chocomole is one of the first dessert recipes I posted here on CR. If you’re new to the blog and have no idea what I’m talking about, I’m talking about a raw chocolate pudding that uses avocado—yes, avocado—as the base. I know it sounds weird, but trust me when I tell you that, once you taste chocomole, you’ll never look at pudding the same way again, or stop coveting the richness of this particularly decadent version.

I think that certain recipes are so flawless that we shouldn’t even attempt to improve them. I have no intention of messing around with banana soft serve, with my outstanding miso sesame dressing, with my zucchini marinara, or with my zesty orange cashew cheese. These recipes are great precisely because I can keep making them almost by heart, and I know that they’ll always be as good as they were the first time. No upgrades needed.

I was fairly certain that chocomole was in that category of recipes until last week, when it occurred to me that it might be fun to put the “mole” in my mole. With mesquite from my friends at Navitas Naturals on hand, as well as some yacon syrup, chili powder, and cinnamon, I decided to spice up my usual formula for chocomole, and see how I liked it.

As it turned out, I liked it a lot.

Mexican Chocomole (Raw Chocolate, Avocado, and Cinnamon Pudding)

(Raw, vegan, gluten and soy free)

Serves 2-4

1 large avocado
4 pitted dates
2 tbsp yacon syrup
2 tbsp almond butter
2 tbsp mesquite
1/4 cup cocoa or cacao powder
1 tsp chili powder
2 tsps cinnamon
1/4 cup almond milk or water, and more reserved in case

1) Place all ingredients in your food processor and pulse to combine.

2) Run motor and add liquid, keeping in mind that you might need more to get the pudding right. Stop, scrape the sides of the bowl, and turn on the motor again, adding more liquid if you need to. In the end, you want a whipped pudding texture.

Like so:

I challenge you to eat a single portion of this stuff. If you’re a student working from home, and fighting off the jitters about Monday’s orgo exam, I challenge you to eat less than all of the portions.

Kidding. Kind of.

A few nota bene’s about this recipe:

First, the almond butter is not necessary, and if you’re on a lower fat diet, you can certainly omit. But I find that it adds a nice balance and mouthfeel to the pudding, so definitely consider it.

Second, you can absolutely omit the yacon and use dates alone, or a dates and stevia combo. I love the flavor of yacon syrup, but it’s pricey, and the recipe will be great without. The mesquite is optional as well, but once again, it really does good things for the flavor.

Third, this could keep for about 2-3 days in the fridge. But it won’t. Trust me.

I love revisiting old classics and discovering their tastes, textures, and delights anew. I’m going to bed tonight on a chocomole high.

Till tomorrow!

xo

Thanks for such nice comments on my wedding posts (part one and two). I was especially pleased to hear an outpouring of comments on my closing thoughts about Blue Hill, and other farms like it: a mixed bag of emotions, to be sure, but I’m glad that the loss of animal life still reverberates with so many of you, regardless of the practices that precede it.

I’m here tonight with a recent “dinner with omnis,” which is how I sometimes jestingly refer to evenings when I entertain for non veg*n diners at the Hobbit House. My guest last week was my lovely cousin Kathleen, who happens to be a lifelong D.C. resident. Kathleen and I are only a year apart, and we were very close growing up (especially since I’m siblingless). Now, years and years after my wishing with all my might that I could live closer to my hip and savvy older cousin, I finally do. It’s great to have her nearby.

Cooking for fellow vegans, or fellow food bloggers, tends to be easy: we all eat a lot of the same stuff (kale, yams, beans, quinoa) and we’re all used to filling up on the same kinds of food. When I cook for omnis, I try hard to create meals that are healthy and nutrient dense, but which confer a sense of satisfaction and fullness. I can easily feel sated with a big, nutrient dense salad, but that’s not the norm for many eaters (heck, it’s not the norm for many vegans I know), and I try to build my entertaining meals around beans, grains, and tofu or tempeh, always being sure to feature at least one raw dish or salad, too.

This meal offered balance and heft along with optimum nutrition. The star of the meal were my eggplant rollatini—one of my first vegan dinners as a home cook, and a classic in my home. They’re fancy-sounding, but trust me, they’re also ridiculously easy. And if you whip up some tofu ricotta in advance, they’re also remarkably quick to make. I paired them with a simple green salad with roast baby beets and sugar snap peas (steamed) and a quinoa/whole grain cous cous mix (ideas stolen from Bryanna!) that came together in a pinch in my rice cooker. Ultimately, a meal with multiple components took me no time at all.

If your mouth is watering, I’ll spare you the wait. Here’s the eggplant rollatini recipe: so decadent and delicious that you’d never guess it was also healthy-as-can-be.

Vegan Eggplant Rollatini (vegan, gluten free)

Serves 4

2 large eggplant, sliced lengthwise into 1/4 inch thick slices
1 package (16 oz or so) extra firm tofu, pressed for 10 min or more to release extra water
1/2 10 oz. package frozen spinach, drained thoroughly (I press mine through a sieve)
1/3 cup nutritional yeast
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsps dried basil
1 tsp dried oregano
1/2-1 tsp minced garlic (or garlic powder to taste)
Black pepper to taste

For my "in a hurry" tomato sauce:

1 tbsp fruity olive oil
1 clove garlic
1 28 oz can of fire roasted diced or crushed tomatoes (I really like Muir Glen Organic)
2 tbsp organic tomato paste
1 tsp agave nectar
Handful of coarsely chopped fresh basil

1) Place eggplant slices onto baking sheets and sprinkle well with sea salt or kosher salt. Let sit for 30 minutes; this decreases bitterness and removes excess moisture. Pat the slices dry, and spray them or brush them lightly with coconut or olive oil.

2) Make the tomato sauce. Heat the olive oil in a saucepan and saute the garlic till fragrant. Add the diced tomatoes, paste, agave, and heat thoroughly. Toss in basil at the end, and remove from heat.

3) Heat oven to 400 degrees Farenheit. Roast eggplant till browning (about 20-30 min) flipping slices halfway through.

4) While eggplant cooks, transfer tofu to a bowl and crumble it with hands. Add the nutritional yeast, salt, pepper, garlic, basil, oregano, and spinach. Mix it well with hands, crumbling through fingers till it resembles a bowl of crumbly ricotta cheese.

5) When eggplant is finished, transfer slices to a cutting board (wait for them to cool, of course) and add about 3 tbsp of the ricotta mixture to the end of one side. Roll up from that side, and place seam down in a baking dish of choice till you’ve finished all slices.

6) Reduce oven to 350 degrees. Smother the eggplant rolls with tomato sauce, and bake, uncovered, for about 20-25 minutes, or until hot. Serve with sides of choice.

My salad, as mentioned above, was made of baby romaine, roast baby beets, steamed snap peas, and my smoky avocado dressing:

The quinoa cous cous mix was simply grains, water, salt, pepper, raisins, and a touch of almond milk at the end:

But it was the burst of Italian flavor in the rollatini that served as the star of the meal. My cousin exclaimed that she’d never have guessed it wasn’t cheese!

Indeed, these are a great dish to pull the ole, “bet you never would have guessed it was vegan!” trick on people with. They’re a dead ringer for the “real” thing.

Hope you give these guys a try soon—for family, for friends, or just for you.

xo

I’m almost sad not to have a Vida Vegan Con recap for today! If you missed any of my dispatches from the weekend, you can check them out here:

• Day One: Champagne reception and VegNews dinner at Portobello
• Day Two: Panels and Galarama
• Day Three: Panels, closing remarks, dinner with friends, and breakfast at Black Sheep Bakery

Travel is great, especially when it involves vegan restaurants in cool new cities. But to be honest, I always greet a return to my kitchen with glee To see me run out for fresh groceries and start cooking (sometimes before I’ve even unpacked my carry on) you’d think I’d starved on vacation, which is never true. I’ve just missed the pleasures of doing it all myself.

When I got home from PDX, I was greeted with terrifying reality of organic chemistry. I know, it sounds so nice, right? Organic! But let me quote the interwebs for you:

There is nothing quite like organic chemistry to strike fear into the hearts of pre-med students everywhere. Few other subjects require such massive memorization of terms and concepts, and even fewer cover so much difficult work at such a feverish pace.

If you have any doubt, your orgo professors will apparently be glad to confirm these legends by spending the first few days of class warning you what you’re in for.

To distract myself, and to celebrate coming back to the hobbit house after ten days of travel, I decided to prepare a dish that was both homemade and inspired by my restaurant dining in PDX. Remember the goddess bowl I ate not once, but twice at Blossoming Lotus? If you don’t, it was steamed kale and raw baby greens over a bed of hot quinoa, topped with balsamic and smoked avocado dressings and some avocado slices. It’s as if someone googled “choosing raw dream comfort food” and then constructed a dish according to my wishes. Heaven.

In honor of that dish, I decided to make a slightly raw-er version for lunch on Tuesday, subbing kelp noodles for quinoa and spiralized zucchini for mesclun, and adding some of my favorite power food, hemp, for a little extra protein and fat. I threw in some cherry tomatoes, too, and ended up with a bowl that was lighter and brighter than the Blo Lo creation, but totally authentic in terms of flavors.

I’m going to use the same idea and dressings to make a more authentic, hot version next week, which I’ll also be sharing.

The Raw Goddess Bowl (inspired by Blossoming Lotus in Portland, OR; high raw, vegan, GF and soy free)

Serves 1

3 cups kale, chopped
1/2 cup broccoli florets, chopped
1/2 zucchini, spiralized
1/2 cup kelp noodles, soaked and drained
1/3 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
2 tbsp hemp seeds

Smoked avocado cumin dressing
Balsamic tahini dressing

1) Lightly steam kale and broccoli, and blanch in cool water to retain freshness and color.

2) Mix zucchini and kelp noodles, and toss them with a generous serving of smoked avocado cumin dressing. Add cherry tomatoes and toss again.

3) Plate the kale and broccoli, and drizzle them with some balsamic tahini dressing. Top them with the dressed noodles and tomatoes and then sprinkle the whole dish with hemp seeds. Serve.

Avocado, hemp, greens, and sea veggies—so much unbelievable nutrition in every bite of this dish!! This is what I call a power meal. Maybe orgo won’t be so tough, after all.

Speaking of power foods, raw foods, super foods, and the people who know them best, my dear friend Brendan has a new book coming out—Thrive Foods. It’s already available for order on Amazon, and I’m already planning on a giveaway, but right now you can download a FREE sneak peak on his Facebook site. Don’t waste a single minute! Brendan’s recipes are stellar, but that’s not even the main reason to invest in his work. He may be the single most balanced, intelligent, inspiring, and well-educated person writing about high raw, plant-based, and nutrient dense foods out there. Beyond that, he’s a professional athlete and tireless entrepreneur who fuels his busy life with the same foods he writes about. I don’t throw praise around lightly, so trust me: this one is worth it.

See you back here tomorrow with a special “back to school” feature!

xo