Thanks for getting so excited about yesterday’s juice post! Before I tell you all about the fantastic raw “beet ball” recipe I recently made from recycled juice pulp and almond pulp, I wanted to pause to answer a couple of questions that popped up about juicing. If I don’t answer your particular question in this list, feel free to ask away in the comments section!

Isn’t it true that juicing makes your blood sugar “spike,” because you’re not eating the juice with enough fiber and protein to slow sugar absorption into your bloodstream?

It’s true that fruit juices raise blood sugar, which is why they may not be suitable for diabetes or people who are sensitive to sugar. But for individuals who respond normally to fruits and sweeter vegetables, juicing in moderation should not be a problem, especially if juice is consumed in proximity to a properly balanced meal. I often drink juice *with* a meal, or I drink it as a snack not long before another meal, which means that the sugar is digested more slowly than it would be if I were to use juice as a meal replacement, which I do not recommend. This way, the many nutritional benefits are delivered without too much blood sugar variance.

Additionally, be aware that you can create many tasty, all vegetable blends, and that you can adjust the sweetness of your juices as you wish! I often do straight greens with only a little carrot. On days when I need more simple sugar as fuel (right before a workout, for example), I do more fruit. Balance is key.

Why can’t I just blend vegetables up in a Vita-Mix to make juice? I don’t have a juicer.

For more detail on this question, I could refer you back to this post, straight up from the CR archives! But in short, I’ll say: the point of juicing is to flood your body with nutrients without activating digestion through the absorption of fiber. This is not to say that fiber is bad; fiber is great! But to ingest the amount of vitamins and minerals one has access to in a juice, one would have to eat or blend a lot of vegetables. For people with sensitive digestive systems, juicing is a relief: it allows for maximum vegetable consumption with minimal irritation from enormous amounts of dietary fiber.

I do not personally subscribe to the popular theory that digestion is a horrible, taxing process from which we must intermittently offer our bodies period of “rest” in the form of fasting or juicing. I believe our digestive systems are meant to process ample food, several times daily. But I do have moments when I want to perk up with a ton of vitamins and some simple sugars, and I’m not in the mood to digest a giant bowl o’ vegetable, or to fill up completely (for example, if I want a really nutrient dense but light afternoon snack in preparation for a full dinner). This is where juicing can be really helpful.

It’s also a tool to simply increase the nutritional power of your lunch or dinner without adding too much heft!

Blending is great, too: it allows for rich nutrition with the addition of fiber, which helps to create satiety and is generally good for bowel and heart health. But it’s a different creature altogether from juicing; more filling, more of a “meal” experience, and not always as likely to provide quite the same amount of vitamins with as little fuss.

Now, if you want to create regular fruit and vegetable juices with your Vitamix, you can most certainly blend them and then strain them, reserving the pulp (as I always do) for recipes. Check out Sarah’s helpful tutorial! This is a perfectly acceptable means of juicing without a juicer!

What kind of juicer do you recommend?

I use a Breville Juice Fountain Plus. It’s hardly the fanciest juicer, but it’s very decent, it was a good price for me, it has stood the test of time, and the pulp is "wet” enough that I can use it in many fun recipes (super dry pulp can be impossible to work with).

Hope this is helpful!

So: almond pulp. I promised you guys a recipe on Sunday, and now I’m here to deliver. Most of you requested cookies, and I’m sorry to say that I’m not sharing a recipe for those: rather, this is a savory dinner/lunch recipe. But I promise I’ll come up with some incredible cookie recipes, too!

These raw, vegan “beet” balls use flax and almond pulp as a base. The addition of beet pulp, left over (of course) from my juice, makes this meal rich in ingenious conservation skills: juicing is not necessarily the most cost-effective health habit, so I like to counter the volume of vegetables that go in my juicer by always using the pulp in bread, crackers, burgers, and more. Ditto for homemade almond milk, when I make it. Nothing in my kitchen goes to waste.

Can this recipe be modified for non-juicer, non-dehydrator, non-blender homes? It’s a little tough, but you can experiment with grated beets, almond meal, and an oven. I know I’ve been throwing you guys a ton of “appliance-heavy” recipes lately, and I’m sorry for that: it’s just that pre-med/blogger life really means planning ahead, and my dehydrator helps me to preserve things for later enjoyment. Tomorrow’s recipe will be gloriously appliance free!!!!

Raw, Vegan Spaghetti and Beet Balls (vegan, raw, gluten free, soy free)

Makes about 10

1 1/4 cup beet pulp OR grated beet, squeezed well to remove moisture
3/4 cup almond pulp, as dry as possible
1/4 cup + 1 tbsp flax meal
2 tsp Italian seasoning or oregano
1 tbsp dried basil or 2 tbsp pesto
1/4 – 1/2 tsp salt (or to taste)
Black pepper to taste

1 large zucchini

1 recipe of my raw marinara sauce

1) Mix all ingredients by hand or in a food processor. Add as much water as necessary to get a sticky, firm dough.

2) Shape mixture into 10-12 “balls.” Dehydrate at 115 degrees for about 6 hours, rolling around for even dehydration. You may also bake these at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes.

3) Spiralize 1 zucchini, or use a grater to grate the zucchini, and top it with half the beet balls. Add a heap of raw marinara sauce, and dig in!

Hope you enjoy these delicious, vegan “balls.” I suspect I’ll get to work on a cooked version for you guys soon, too. And keep in mind that they make great, savory snacks!

Anyway, it’s back to studying for me! Don’t forget to tune into tonight’s VegNews Twitter Chat with me and other plant-based health professionals! 9 pm EST. Be there.

xo

Merry post-Christmas! I hope you all had joyous and merry holidays, and that you enjoyed some excellent food. Me? Well, let’s just say that I was well fed. I had the pleasure of dining at my dear friend Blanche’s home on Christmas night. The spread, while not intended specifically to be vegan, was one of the more vegan-friendly feasts I’ve seen in ages.

Highlights: A raw beet and fennel salad that I am dying to recreate soon, on my own; cranberry sauce; butternut squash puree; roasted turnips, carrots, and parsnips; simple baked sweet potatoes; roasted brussels sprouts; a kale, spinach, scallion, and mixed veggie salad (to die for—I had 3 servings!); and a lentil and sweet potato loaf courtesy of moi (recipe tomorrow). My plate raneth over with plants:

What a spectacular feast. One can count upon fine food and generosity in Blanche’s home!

On Christmas Eve, my Mom and I enjoyed an intimate meal at our place, and a menu of my own devising. There were mashed turnips (yum), there was a big salad of beets, spinach, radicchio, carrots, celery, and balsamic dressing, and there was the savory tart that I am about to share.

Tarts aren’t usually my thing. They take a lot of work, and they’re often on the rich or heavy side. This tart is a little time intensive, sure, but it is also delicious, and it’s uber healthy! It features dark leafy greens, with all of their tremendous nutrition properties, beets, which are phytonutrient superstars, decadent cashew cheese, and savory roasted potatoes. Best of all, the crust, which is typically rather void of good nutrition, is made of chickpea flour, which is impressively high in protein and creates a crisp, savory base for this delectable dish.

The key to making this tart is to cook it in parts. I roasted potatoes and beets and made the crust on Friday; I sauteed my kale and baked the tart crust on Saturday, then warmed the whole dish. Do it in stages, and it feels like a cinch!

As for the cashew cheese, it’s optional. And soy feta or daiya would also work well!

Chickpea Tart with Roast Potatoes, Sauteed Swiss Chard and Garlic, Beets and Cashew Cheese (vegan, gluten free, soy free)

Serves 6

Prep Work (one day in advance):

For the crust:

1 1/2 cups chickpea flour
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 tsp salt
Black pepper to taste
1 tbsp herbes de provence (or thyme, or oregano)
6 tbsp ice cold water

1) Place the flour, salt, herbs, and pepper into a mixing bowl. Add the olive oil and mix quickly; then, add the water and mix with hands till a solid dough forms. Add more chickpea flour if necessary to reduce stickiness.

2) Place chickpea crust onto a sheet of saran wrap and cover with another sheet. Flatten into a disk, and refrigerate for one hour, or overnight (recommended).

For the potatoes:

1 large russet potato
1 tbsp coconut oil
Sea salt
Black pepper

1) Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Thinly slice 1 large russet or other white potato. Place slices onto a baking sheet and brush with olive oil. Dust with salt and pepper.

2) Bake potatoes till brown on each side, flipping once (about 30 minutes). Set aside or refrigerate.

For the beets:

2 large red beets

1) Wrap beets in tinfoil. Roast in an oven set to 375 degrees for about 45 minutes, or until a knife pierces beets easily. Run under cold water and slip skins off beets. Chop and set aside or refrigerate. (You can cook these simultaneously with the potatoes.)

For the chard:

1 bunch Swiss chard

1) Trim bottoms of stems from chard leaves. Slice leaves into ribbons. Wash and spin chard dry.

To assemble your tart (day of your meal):

Have ready:

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 clove garlic
• 1 batch Gena’s cashew goat cheese OR vegan cheese of choosing
• salt and pepper

1) Heat oven to 350 degrees. Roll crust out with a rolling pin or a large drinking glass until it’s a 1/4 inch thick round.

2) Press crust into a pie dish. Trim edges.

3) Bake crust for about 25 minutes, or until it’s golden brown. Add roasted potatoes to the bottom of the tart crust in a nice pattern.

If you’re serving this dish soon, reduce oven to 275 degrees and allow tart to cool outside of oven. If you’re serving it later, turn oven off (you’ll reheat right before mealtime).

4) To prepare the chard: Bring pot of water to boil. Par boil the chard for about five minutes to make your sauteeing easier and get any toughness out. Drain chard.

5) Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in a large pan. Over medium heat, add 1 clove minced garlic and sautée for about two minutes, stirring often. Add chopped chard, and then sprinkle chard with sea salt and pepper to taste. Sautee until chard is very tender (about 5-10 minutes).

6) Layer the sautéed chard over the potatoes in the tart crust. Add sliced beets on top, and finish with some crumbled cashew goat cheese (or a vegan cheese of your choosing).

7) If you’ve done all of this ahead of time, and put it in the fridge, heat tart in an oven set to 275 degrees for about 15 minutes, or a little longer if necessary. Cut into 8 wedges, and serve!

What a beautiful, festively colored vegan entrée. So elegant, too.

This is precisely the kind of intricate recipe that feels rewarding for a holiday. Or when you happen to be on vacation! But if you are balking at the work, feel free to:

• follow the same idea with a store-bought whole wheat vegan crust
• use packaged roast beets or canned beets
• use a pre-made vegan cheese
• omit any of the components: potato, cheese, etc. The tart will still rock.

OK, my dears. Speaking of rocking, I’m off to rock some crazy amounts of hummus with my friend Rose downtown. I’ll have a recap of that, and some other dining, very soon!

xo

Thursday night express post!

This is my kinda pasta. Fusilli overflowing with beets, garlicky kale, toasted pine nuts, and just a touch of electric pink cashew cream sauce. This bowl screams “healthy!” more than most pasta dishes, replacing what’s usually a bowl full of beige colored pasta with the bright hues and beauty of the vegetable kingdom.

This pasta was originally going to be even more minimalistic: sauteed kale, roasted beets, toasted pine nuts, and olive oil—maybe a spot of pesto. But it was a drizzly, cold early winter day, and I was craving something a little heartier and creamier. I usually forgo using my cashew alfredo on regular pasta—I find that the combination of pure cashew sauce and hot pasta ends being altogether too rich for me, and prefer to use an almond milk/arrowroot/nutritional yeast mix (with a little cashew thrown in) for cooked pasta alfredo. But I also know that a tiny bit of cashew cream goes a long way in dishes. So the idea was to use just a thin coating of cashew cream (blended with some fresh beet for color) and let the veggies do the rest of the talking.

It worked. This pasta bowl hits the perfect sweet spot between hearty and light. You’ll feel satisfied, warm, and content, but you won’t feel as though your creamy pasta dinner has pushed you into a coma. It’s an ideal weeknight supper as the weather gets colder, and best of all, it harnesses the health properties of a few of nature’s plant superfoods!

Creamy Fusilli with Beets, Kale, and Pine Nuts (vegan, gluten free as prepared, soy free)

Serves 4

8 oz dry pasta (I always use Tinkyada brown rice pasta)
1/4 cup pine nuts
2 large (or 4 small) red beets, trimmed of stems and roots
4 heaping cups washed and chopped kale
1-2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tsps olive oil, separated

1 recipe of my cashew alfredo, with 1/2 cooked beet blended in for color (the beet part is optional!)

1) Heat oven to 400 degrees. Wrap your beets in tinfoil (really, wrap them—don’t just line a sheet) and roast for about 40-45 minutes, or until a knife pierces one of your beets easily.

Remove beets from oven and run them under very cold water. When they’ve cooled sufficiently, you can just slip their skins off. Skin them, chop them, and set aside.

2) Place pine nuts in a small frying pan and toast for a few minutes, or until they’re just barely golden (they’ll keep cooking after you remove them from heat, so you have to watch this like a hawk). Set aside.

3) Place a pot of salted water on the stove to boil. Add a drizzle of olive oil to prevent your pasta from sticking once you put it in. When the water is boiling, add pasta and cook till tender, but still a little al dente. Drain pasta, toss with 1 tsp olive oil, and set aside momentarily, while your greens finish cooking.

4) Per the above, while pasta is cooking, heat 1 tsp oil in a large sautee pan or pot. When it’s hot, add the garlic and cook for about 1-2 minutes. Add the kale, along with a few tablespoons of water and a nice pinch of salt, and allow the greens to cook and steam, stirring occasionally, for about 5-10 minutes. You do NOT want to wilt the kale entirely—it should retain some crunch and form. When it’s just right, remove from the heat.

5) Place cooked pasta, kale, and roast beets in a large serving bowl. Pour about 1/3-1/2 cup of the alfredo over the pasta and veggies, and mix well. Top with toasted pine nuts, and serve!

Look at all of the texture and color here:

And, if I may be lame for a moment, these are very Christmas-y colors.

Just sayin.’

You may be thinking, why the heck should I bother with brown rice pasta, when the regular stuff is easy to find? Good question. The answer is that I think brown rice and quinoa pasta are far, far more tender and tasty than whole wheat pasta, which is often tough and tasteless. I recommend them strongly if you’re looking to replace regular pasta with something more wholesome.

This recipe sounds a little complex, but believe me when I say that it’s very easy if you roast the beets ahead of time, or even skip toasting your pine nuts. If you’re really pressed for time, you can use canned beets, or some of the cool vacuumed packed and pre-cooked ones they sell at health stores now. And I’m sure I don’t need to remind you that the dish is loaded with superior nutrition: kale is packed with iron, protein, and vitamins A & K, while the beets offer heavy doses of anti-oxidants and phytonutrients with anti-inflammatory properties. Even pine nuts, tiny though they are, are nutritionally fascinating: they contain some of the same compounds that regulate appetite and satiety in human beings, which means that some have postulated that they’re useful for hunger management.

Regardless of what drives you to this colorful supper—the Christmas tones, the nutrition, or the creamy taste—I hope you enjoy it.

Maybe with a macaroon or two for dessert

I’ll probably be taking tomorrow off, as my giant biology final is on Saturday at 8 am. So I’ll see you back here after my test!

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

Great response to my pumpkin and chocolate parfait! For those of you who asked, Irish Moss can be found through specialty stores and online; it’s not typically available at Whole Foods (yet). Right now, it’s available through The Raw Food World and Amazon. My personal favorite source is One Lucky Duck, where you can also purchase a host of other incredible raw food specialty items. It is not cheap stuff, but a little can go a long way, and I think it’s worth investing.

In addition to all of the pumpkin love going on on this blog, we’ve also been sharing in some major enthusiasm for beets lately. Most significantly, my sweet potato and beet nori rolls were an unexpected hit (I’m glad so many of you like them!). One reader even told me that it had been his first time using beets. That’s great, and I hope it’s the start of a trend! Beets are tremendously healthy vegetables, for oh-so-many reasons:

• Beets are rich in anti-inflammatory phyto-nutrients
• Beets are extremely rich in antioxidants
• Rich in folate
• Rich in manganese, potassium, and other minerals
• An excellent source of betaine, a compound that is shown to lower homocysteine levels in the blood. Homocysteine is an amino acid that, in excessive quantities, has been linked to heart disease; not incidentally, a buildup of homocysteine is often attributed to meat eating.

For all of these reasons, and because beets are absolutely delicious, I eat them frequently, and even more when they’re in bloom at autumn farmers’ markets. I’m often asked how I prepare beets: the short answer is that I like them best when they’re raw and grated into my nutrient dense salads! But I also love to roast them at 400 degrees in tinfoil for about an hour, slipping the skins off in cold water when I’m done. They’re also easy to boil, and they make for fantastic soup bases, raw or cooked (check out my raw borscht if you’re curious!)

The following meal is actually inspired by borscht, but only insofar as it contains both beets and dill. It features a new dip—dilly white bean dip—that I’m kind of in love with, and it’s altogether a joy to eat. You can use either raw or cooked beet layers: I’ve made it twice now, with both varieties, and I preferred the raw one, but I’ll warn you that you have to slice the beets incredibly thin if you want to avoid cooking them. No matter what, I guarantee that this is a quick, easy, and beautiful part of a meal.

Dilly White Bean and Beet Napoleons (vegan, can be semi-raw, gluten and soy free)

Serves 3-4

For the white bean and dill spread:

1 can cannellini beans, drained
1/4 cup cashews
Juice of 1 lemon
1/4 tsp salt
Black pepper to taste
Water
1/3 cup dill, tightly packed

1) Grind the cashews in a food processor till finely ground.

2) Add cannellini beans, lemon, salt, and pepper. Run the motor, drizzling in water until the dip reaches a consistency you like. This will probably be 1/3-1/2 of a cup. I like this dip slightly thinner than hummus.

3) Add dill, and pulse to combine.

For the napoleons:

About 10 thin slices of beet, raw or cooked

Layer one slice of beet on a plate, and cover with a layer of dilly white bean dip. Add another layer of beet, another layer of dip, and top with one final beet layer and a dollop of white bean dip. Serve, garnished with fresh dill.

Look, for a moment, at the insane, silky creaminess of this fresh and tasty dip:

Like clouds. But tastier than clouds.

I loved this dish, and I know you guys will, too. Serve it with a big salad, a medley of vegetable sides, and/or a whole grain of choice (I suspect quinoa or cous cous would be lovely here). And I’d even double the dip, which is so tasty that it’s sure to disappear from your kitchen quickly.

Have a lovely evening, everyone!

xo

Q: What’s scarier than a Halloween horror movie?

A: A 7 pm Orgo exam!

Yes, my friends: this is not a particularly festive Halloween for the Georgetown post-baccs, who are quivering with dread at our second Orgo test. It is, however, one of my favorite holidays (you had me at pumpkin and horror movies), and it would be remiss of me not to at least post something orange.

I haven’t gotten everything right in my return to student life, but one thing I have managed to do admirably is to maintain wholesome and pleasurable eating habits. Even on my busiest days, I try to whip up at least something that’s as tasty as it is healthy. Yesterday, this was one of the speedy snacks I made to keep me company in the library: a seasonally orange sweet potato hummus and beet nori roll.

As you all know, I have an untraditional approach to nori rolls: I rarely ever make them with rice, but I often make them with nut pates, hummus, jicama or parsnip rice, and even leftover juice pulp. I also always add veggies: this is a great way to use up odds and ends from your raw veggies, and it’s also a nice way to finish off some leftover salad (I often stuff kale salad into my nori rolls). Nori rolls are fast, easy, and they’re a nice, raw alternative to regular whole grain wraps, without having to go through the trouble of dehydrating a raw wrap recipe. Plus, you get the added benefit of a nutrient-dense and iodine rice sea vegetable: what’s not to like?

I love the color of this beautiful and unique roll. It’s not quite Halloween coloring (I’d have to find a black vegetable, which is rare and doesn’t sound particularly appealing to me), but it is vibrantly autumnal. Additionally, sweet potatoes and beets taste fabulous together, and the touch of sesame in the hummus recipe makes it all sing.

Sweet Potato and Beet Nori Roll (semi-raw, vegan, gluten and soy free)

Serves 1

1 sheet untoasted nori
1 recipe sweet potato hummus
About 8 raw or cooked beet matchsticks (I adore raw beet, but it’s an acquired texture)
Baby greens of choice

1) Spread about 1/3 cup hummus over the bottom half of your nori sheet.

2) Add the beet matchsticks and greens to the center of the hummus. Roll the nori sheet up, starting at the bottom edge and moving to the top, and seal the nori with some water. Cut into slices, and serve.

A quick, easy, veggie-packed, and flavorful snack. This is also a great lunch component, and would be a fantastic accompaniment to a nutrient dense salad our soup.

With a little creativity (that is, thinking to stick some hummus into a nori roll) and color (orange+scarlet) it’s easy to make even the busiest of days a little brighter.

And on that note, I have absolutely no business blogging today. Wish me luck this evening, and Happy Halloween! Tomorrow’s post will feature a Halloween themed sweet treat, which I promise you will be more tempting than leftover trick or treat candy.

xo

In my last post, I showed you my delicious recipe for pretty in pink crackers: in translation, these are pink-hued crackers that I made with the remnants of some beet and vegetable juice.

I also mentioned that I’d had some extra pulp leftover after I made my crackers, and that I’d made another tasty meal with it.

Above you have raw nori rolls, stuffed with a nut pate that I made with my leftover pulp and tons of fresh veggies. They are plump, savory, and simple to make:

They’re also raw, vegan, and full of healthy fat, vitamins and minerals, and iodine rich nori. You can absolutely prepare these with shredded and processed beets and carrots, rather than juice pulp, but if you are using pulp, these get extra bonus points for being a wonderful way to use up the byproducts of your daily green juice.

People tend to get really freaked out about sushi-making, and there’s no need. Yes, making traditional sushi can be time consuming (I find that getting the rice to a perfect texture and adjusting its seasoning alone is a process) but raw nori rolls are really easy: you just pile some pate, hummus, or other filling onto the bottom 2/3 of a nori sheet, pile veggies into a line along the center of your filling, and then roll from the bottom edge up to the top. Seal with a touch of water. I always wait about 5-10 minutes before cutting my raw nori roll, as the nori becomes softer and a bit easier to handle. Once you slice your long roll into pieces, you have a restaurant worthy and beautiful treat to share with your friends:

I fill my nori rolls up with all sorts of things: parsnip and cauliflower “rice,” pate, hummus, dressing and veggies, and regular ‘ole brown rice, just to name a few. But I think I like the texture of a pate base the most: reminds me of my beloved nori rolls at Bonobos in NYC!

(photo courtesy of Sophia)

Any kind of nut pate will do, but I personally love a little ginger in my nori pates. I’m also a huge fan of my pumpkinseed pate for raw sushi!

To make today’s sushi rolls, you’ll need juice pulp, preferably with some beets and carrots, or you’ll want about a cup and a half of grated carrots and beets. The rest is a mix of almonds, dates, sea salt, lemon, and a hint of ginger: simple, clean, and impossibly tasty.

Raw Nori Rolls with Beet and Veggie Pate (raw, vegan, gluten and soy free)

Makes 4 sushi rolls

2/3 cup almonds
1/2 tsp sea salt (or to taste)
1 1/2 cups pulp from vegetable juice of choice that features beets and carrots OR a cup and a half of shredded carrots and beets
2 pitted dates
1/4 tsp ginger powder OR put ginger into your veggie juice, and the flavor will carry from the pulp
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 cup water

4 sheets nori
1 small bell pepper, sliced into thin strips
1/2 small cucumber, sliced into thin strips
Salad greens

1) Place almonds in a food processor and grind with sea salt till a fine meal.

2) Add pulp, dates, ginger (if adding) sesame oil, and lemon juice to processor. Pulse just to combine. Then, turn the motor on and, with motor running, add water in a thin stream, stopping occasionally to scrape sides of bowl. Continue adding water till the pate is a consistency you like. If you use shredded veggies, you’ll probably need less water.

3) Place a sheet of nori on your cutting board in a horizontal direction. Cover the bottom 2/3 of the sheet with about 1/4 cup pate. Fill the center of the spread with a long strip of veggies. Roll upwards from the bottom of the sheet (the edge that has filling on it) upward, and seal the end with a bit of water.

4) Repeat, using the remaining sheets. Cut all rolls into even pieces, and serve.

Traditional sushis these are not, but they’re no less tasty for it. Serve with a big salad, topped with some lentils or beans and a great dressing, and you’ll have a perfect, high-raw meal on your hands!

Before I sign off, I wanted to congratulate my friend Chad Harbach on the publication of his new novel, The Art of Fielding. I’ve known Chad for years now—we spent our first publishing drink discussing Moby Dick, which is how I knew we’d be friends—and can tell you that he’s as brilliant as he is unassuming and kind. He’s editing and writing for N+1 for years now, and it makes me really happy to see his name on a book spine, too. For all of you who ask me frequently for book recommendations, this is my fiction pick of the fall.

Chad, congrats—I wish I were in NYC to toast you. But I know that the whole publishing world is doing it in my stead.

xo

Hey all! I promised you hummus today, so you may be wondering why I’m offering you a chocolate vinaigrette instead. The answer is that I changed my plan on a whim. Last night, I learned that one of my former college professors, the poet Paul Violi, had passed away at the age of 67. Today, as I go about business as usual, I’m thinking about him.

I was fond of Professor Violi: he was wry, amicable, and obviously very kind. He taught me and other undergraduates American poetry without unnecessary reverence or deference; he rarely taught us a poem that didn’t invite us—if not downright beg us—to read with a humorous touch. He chatted with us after class let out, and during breaks. He was a forgiving grader. And he and I both happened to frequent Le Monde, a cheesy imitation French sidewalk café in Morningside Heights.

I spent nearly every night of my undergraduate career at Le Monde, smoking camel lights and sipping wine, either alone (in which case I fancied myself very independent and sophisticated), or with my friend Gabi (in which case we were probably talking about boys). Sometimes, I brought one of my books to the café, sat at the bar, and read. Sometimes, Professor Violi would be there, too, doing the same thing. On those nights, we’d usually have a short and amusing chat—maybe about what we were reading, maybe about the weather, maybe about class that day. I’m sure that these exchanges made me feel precocious and special; I’m sure he was just being polite, and would have liked to read in peace. But if my chatter was an imposition on his time, he never let on.

Young students tend to forget that their teachers have professional lives that extend beyond the classroom. I knew Professor Violi was a working poet while I was his student, but it was only years after I studied with him that I realized what a major force he was in the world of contemporary American poetry. In the whole semester I studied with him, I’m ashamed to say I never once looked up one of his poems.

Years later, when I worked at FSG—a career I may not have pursued without inspiration from Professor Violi and others—I read some of Violi’s poems with a newfound admiration. I was thrilled to discover that they were energetic and playful and sly. Take this poem, for instance—one of his most famous:

Appeal to the Grammarians

by Paul Violi

We, the naturally hopeful,
Need a simple sign
For the myriad ways we’re capsized.
We who love precise language
Need a finer way to convey
Disappointment and perplexity.
For speechlessness and all its inflections,
For up-ended expectations,
For every time we’re ambushed
By trivial or stupefying irony,
For pure incredulity, we need
The inverted exclamation point.
For the dropped smile, the limp handshake,
For whoever has just unwrapped a dumb gift
Or taken the first sip of a flat beer,
Or felt love or pond ice
Give way underfoot, we deserve it.
We need it for the air pocket, the scratch shot,
The child whose ball doesn’t bounce back,
The flat tire at journey’s outset,
The odyssey that ends up in Weehawken.
But mainly because I need it—here and now
As I sit outside the Caffe Reggio
Staring at my espresso and cannoli
After this middle-aged couple
Came strolling by and he suddenly
Veered and sneezed all over my table
And she said to him, "See, that’s why
I don’t like to eat outside."

The poem is playful and agile; what begins as a series of musings on the problem of language is quickly mapped onto the absurdities of everyday experience. If you’d like an even funnier example, check out “Extenuating Circumstances” or “Excess.” Violi’s poems are high and low, articulate and blunt, sincere and cheeky, all at once.

As an undergraduate, I assumed that “great” poetry had to be magisterial and grave: it had to have the poignancy of “In Memoriam” or the ominousness of “The Second Coming” or the psychedelic intensity of “Kubla Kahn.” It couldn’t possibly be worth studying, I reasoned, if it didn’t have…well, gravitas. Then I read John Donne and Robert Burns (“Bobby Burns,” as Professor Violi once hilariously called him) and Alexander Pope and Frank O’Hara, and I realized that great poetry can be playful and sensual and full of whimsy. It can be satirical, and it can be pleasing. Great poetry can be a lot of things. Violi’s work has its moments of sadness, to be sure, like this stanza of “Little Testament”:

“It’s not the four million tons
of cosmic dust
that gravity gathers
and drops on earth each day,
it’s your own squandered magic,
the weight of your own quiet voice.
It’s the peculiar sense of nothing
when the middle of nowhere shifts again.
It’s the quiet, disappointing extreme,
another long-deserted drive-in movie
at high noon…”

But even those moments are softened with a disarming candor and familiarity.

When I was a teen, I marveled at how the adults in my life could laugh even when things were gloomy, or how they could see the world, not in the black-and-white and very moral terms in which I saw it, but rather in all sorts of amusing shades of gray. The older I get, the more I understand the necessity of good humor. I’m still a serious girl, but I allow myself to chuckle at most things. And when I read Violi’s poems, I feel particularly grateful that one of the true marks of growing up—at least as I understand it—is developing a rich capacity for amusement.

Since I tend to process things through the recipes I create and the food I eat, I thought I’d make today’s recipe a little whimsical, in honor of my late professor and his work.

Whenever possible, I aim for my food to be optimally nutritious. Sometimes, though, it’s important to make food that’s as playful as it is useful. Here at CR, we all love to eat salad. But most of us also know how to savor some of the sweeter things in life, like chocolate. And why shouldn’t we appreciate them both at the same time? Forget green smoothies: this salad is the quickest way to make greens alluring. It’s also a reminder that even the things we take seriously—like healthy eating—can be infused with a sense of fun.

Strawberry, Avocado, and Roasted Beet Salad with Chocolate Vinaigrette (mostly raw, vegan, gluten and soy free)

Serves 1

For the salad

4 large strawberries, sliced
3 baby beets, roasted, baked, or steamed, and quartered
1/2 small avocado, chopped
3-4 cups baby romaine or spinach greens
Optional: 1 tbsp cacao nibs

Chocolate Balsamic Vinaigrette

1/2 cup oil; you can use flax, hemp, a healthy EFA blend, or olive
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
3 tablespoons raw cacao powder (substitute regular cocoa powder if you don’t have cacao or it’s outside of your budget)
1/4-1/2 tsp sea salt
Dash pepper

1) Combine all dressing ingredients in a blender or by hand. Set aside.

2) Toss all salad ingredients together, and drizzle with 1-2 tbsp dressing. If you like, sprinkle the salad with 1 tbsp cacao nibs, for crunch and taste!

This salad is chock full of heart healthy EFA’s (essential fatty acids) from the flax oil, polyunsaturated fats from the avocado, antioxidants and Vitamin C from the strawberries, and Vitamin A and folate from the greens. But these health benefits faded into the back of my consciousness as I focused on the creaminess of the avocado, the sweetness of the baby beets and strawberries, and the rich, deep flavors of the cacao dressing. I was in heaven.

Note that while this salad gets an A+ for heart healthy fat and antioxidants and vitamins, it’s not my own definition of a meal sized salad. So you may want to beef it up by serving it alongside some beans/hummus, a slice of sprouted grain bread with almond butter, a cup of my wall of green soup, a slice of my hemp bread, or some steamed sweet potato topped with mashed black beans. Whatever you like—as I’m sure you already know, there are few things in life that don’t go well with chocolate.

May you all start your weeks off with both a sense of seriousness, and a sense of fun. And may you take Professor Violi’s wise words to heart:

For we were made to reach for things.
For imagination extends life.
For our reach must exceed our grasp.
For in confinement imagination thrives.

-Paul Violi, 1944-2011

xo

A few days ago, as I herded together some of my recent raw meals, I mentioned that I’d made and immediately liked some raw beet “pancakes.” Immediately, you guys were asking for the recipe. Here, without further ado, it is.

First, let me just say why I love these guys. They’re less dense than raw burgers tend to be—even less dense than my carrot falafel—but more substantial than, say, juice pulp crackers. Which means they’re great for adding bulk to salads, and you can certainly eat them along with other things to give them more heft (I love spreading them with my raw, vegan goat cheese, as you’ll see below!). In theory, this is a dehydrator recipe, but you can easily make them in the oven at 200 degrees – I’m not sure how long they’d take, but I’d wager an hour on each side, or less if you heat it to 350. Experiment! And let me know.

Raw Beet Pancakes (makes about

2 very large beets, shredded and squeezed gently to release some of the moisture
1 large stalk celery, chopped finely
1/3 cup finely ground pistachios or almonds
1/4 cup ground flax seed
1 tbsp dijon mustard
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
Water as needed
1/4 – 1/2 tsp salt (to taste)
Black pepper to taste
1 tsp onion powder or Herbamare (optional)
1 tsp ground celery seed
1 tbsp caraway seeds

1) Mix the shredded beets, celery, pistachios or almonds, flax, vinegar and mustard in a bowl, using your hands to mix them all well. Add water until the mix is moist and easy to handle, but not total mush.

2) Add all remaining ingredients. Adjust spices to suit your tastes.

3) Shape mix into “pancakes.” They’ll feel as though they’re falling apart. If this seems really likely, add a bit of water, or give them a moment for the flax seed to bind them. Otherwise, just work quickly to shape them into discs (about eight total) and lay them on a lined dehydrator sheet.

4) Dehydrate for about four hours at 115 degrees. Flip, and dehydrate for another 4-5. They should be pretty crispy when you finish.

Enjoy!

If you’re not into the vinegar or celery seed, go ahead and omit. But adding them reminded me of borscht. And I like being reminded of borscht. So far, my favorite way to enjoy these is, as I said, atop salad (no shock there), and topped with my raw, vegan goat cheese. Beets and goat cheese are one of those ubiquitously popular flavor combinations; this is my all raw, all vegan homage.

Hope you give these guys a shot!

With that, I’m trying to call it a night. See, I have to be up very early tomorrow, to fly westward. Where, you ask? Maybe this gives you a hint:

Yep, I’m off to L.A. for what promises to be a super special food blogging event! It’s the Dole Wellness Summit, held at the preposterously scenic Four Seasons Westlake Village, and I’m lucky enough to attend! To sum it up, Dole is giving me and a select group of fellow food and wellness bloggers a behind-the-scenes peek into its business. How does the world’s largest provider of fresh fruits and vegetables keep up with the latest nutritional research, and consumer tips? How does it handle the demands of an ever changing—and increasingly eco-and animal-conscious—market? I’ll be a happy witness to hands-on culinary competitions, a few meals, and I’ll even be getting personal spa and wellness treatments and consultations (for instance, I can’t wait to chat with you about my acupuncture appointment). I’ll also get to see some of Dole’s upcoming product releases, and demos from Dole Fresh Fruit, Dole Fresh Vegetables and Dole Packaged Foods.

Why am I so excited? Because typically, I talk about products and foods that lie pretty far from the norms of food production in this country. We raw foodists and vegans—or, let’s simply say we hyper-conscious eaters—often choose to separate ourselves from the corporate food world. There are reasons why this is important, but I also believe that massive change must often start from within large centers of power. So it always pleases me when I hear that companies like Dole are trying to stay on top of shifts in the foodie zeitgeist—especially green shifts. I’m eager to hear about what the company is up to, how they manage to preserve integrity while also catering to a huge consumer base, and to test out some of their new foods. It’s been a long time since I’ve eaten a vegetable or fruit that didn’t come in a CSA box or from a farmer’s market—or at least from the produce aisle—but if packaging fresh produce is what’ll help Americans to eat more of it, I’m certainly willing to try the goods along with them.

Most of all, I’m excited to see a certain good friend of mine.

Anne and I experienced what can only be the platonic version of love at first sight the first time we hung out in person (which was at the HLS this summer in Chicago). Maybe it’s because we’ve both spent a fair bit of time editing stuff, and we’re both sticklers for good writing. Maybe it’s because I love her positive and friendly blog voice. Maybe it’s because I admire her nutrition studies, or her commitment and speed as a runner. Or maybe it’s just because she’ll never stop teasing me about my photo booth shots at the Summit cocktail party. (Anne, for the last time: I was not inebriated. I just looked that way.)

Whatever the case, I heart this sassy lady, and I cannot wait to spend three days in her company. Anne, I’m guessing you have to wake up at 5 am, too. Godspeed to you, my friend.

On that note, I can’t wait to catch you guys tomorrow from Cali! Note to LA friends and readers: I’m only there for less than 72 hours, so I won’t have any time for blogger meet ups or restaurant dining in the city, alas. Next time.

Away I go…

xo

Another wonderful set of responses! That was an important topic, and I’m so glad that it struck a chord with you. Actually, this has been a great week of blog commentary in general! I always tell people that the actual writing of a blog is really less than half of the fun: the real fun is to see what readers will respond to via comments, and how they’ll run with a conversation.

As I bid you adieu last night, I said I was off to make a half raw, half cooked dinner. This is what resulted. The inspiration for this all began last weekend, when I saw huge heads of basil at my farmer’s market. It seemed so uncanny and too good to be true: great, bright, vibrant bunches of basil in early November? (This is, I suppose, in keeping with the late heirloom tomatoes we’ve also been having.) Immediately, I bought a bunch: when I see late-growing produce at a farmer’s market, l usually pounce on the chance to enjoy the last of it before winter’s chill.

As soon as I  got home, though, I realized that I didn’t have many ideas about how to use basil in the autumn. I usually use it in summer pestos, sandwiched in between stacks of heirloom tomatoes, or as a topper for summery roast veggies (bell peppers, zucchinis, etc.). I’m really not used to eating it any other way. I’m not a 100% local and seasonal eater – I’ve blogged about this before – but I do try to obey the seasons in a broad way, and there are certain flavors, like basil, that seem so deeply tied to a particular season that I rarely use them in other ones.

Eating seasonally is good, but it’s also a shame to miss out on superb flavors at other times of the year (especially when we have slightly off calendar crops, or if we’re lucky enough to have frozen some pesto over the summer, which I wish I’d done). And if I hadn’t leaped upon those basils bunches, I’d have never have come up with the following dinner, which was a perfect marriage, not only of raw and cooked food, but also of summery and wintery flavors and textures. Who knew that butternut squash is so totally delicious when drizzled with a good, tangy pesto? Or that beets and squash are harmonious bedmates, even if the beet is likely to turn the butternut squash pink?

This dinner was facilitated by the use of M’s pressure cooker, which I am currently holding hostage in NYC. I didn’t get home from the work and the gym until 8:45 last night, and when I did I was hungry. Normally, this would be a night for salad or leftovers—taking the time to cook root veggies would be unheard of. With the pressure cooker, though, I was able to cook a small b-nut squash and two gargantuan beets in ten minutes. I cut the squash into three parts and trimmed the beets, and I put them all in about 1 cup of water in the pressure cooker. After five minutes of pressure cooking, the squash was ready; another five minutes later, the beets emerged tender. What a miraculously efficient appliance! I must have one of my own, and soon.

Regardless of how you cook your veggies for this recipe, it’s easy to assemble: just a matter of having your components (beets, squash, a batch of pesto, and a batch of cashew cream) ready to stack. Here’s how it happens:

Butternut Squash and Beet Napoleon with Pesto and Cashew Cream (serves 2)

For the pesto (yields one cup):

3 cups basil, packed
Generous 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup pine nuts (pistachios are also great)
2 cloves garlic
2 tbsp lemon juice, freshly squeezed
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

1) Combine the basil with the pine nuts and pulse a few times in a food processor till roughly mixed. Add the garlic and pulse a bit more.

2) Add the olive oil in a thin stream with the food processor motor running. You’ll want to be careful but fast, since you don’t want the mix to lose all of its texture.Stop to scrape down bowl if necessary. Add lemon, salt, and pepper to taste, and pulse once more to incorporate.

For the cashew cream (yields 1 1/4 cups):

1 ¼ cup cashews, soaked for a few hours
¾ cup water
1 tsp agave
2 tbsp lemon juice
½ tsp sea salt
Freshly ground pepper to taste

1) Put the soaked cashews in your Vita-Mix or food processor along with the agave, lemon juice, sea salt, and 1/3 cup water. Blend until it looks thick and creamy.

2) With the motor running (in either the processor or the Vita), drizzle more water in until the sauce is totally smooth (if you’re using a food processor, you’ll have to stop and scrape sides occasionally) and the consistency you want.

For the stacks:

12 thick slices cooked butternut squash
12 thick slices cooked beets

To assemble:

1) Place 3 beet slices on a plate, and drizzle with a teaspoon or so of pesto.

2) Place 3 butternut squash slices on top, and drizzle with another teaspoon or so of pesto.

Layer two beets on top of that, repeat the pesto, and place two layers of squash over that.

3) For your last layer, just place one round (either squash or beet) on top, and then give the whole stack a thick drizzle of cashew cream.

I served all of this unparalleled deliciousness over a bed of arugula salad with balsamic vinaigrette. I cannot tell you how rich in flavor the dish was: pesto is so vibrant and distinctive, but somehow the cream and the sweetness of the rest of the stack compliment it in really wonderful ways. I was blown away by how tasty this dinner was:

If you’re looking for a super-fast, semi-raw dinner that doesn’t demand too much fuss, I can’t recommend this strongly enough. Winter pesto is now a brave new world for the taking, and I can’t wait to explore it more!

In honor of recent requests for more straight up nutrition info on CR, I’m adding a new “feature”: Nutritionist’s Note. In it, I’ll point out noteworthy things about the meals I share from a nutritional standpoint—either an assessment of nutrient density, a word about nutritional strengths and weaknesses, or fun trivia about what the provides. (Or all of the above.)

In this case, I’m weighing strengths and weaknesses. This meal is very rich in healthy fats, but it’s a little weak in the protein department. So, if it’s dinner, you’ll want to amp up the beans, hemp, soy, or other vegan protein sources at other meals of the day. As I always remind clients and readers, not every meal has to be the protein all star (or fat all star, or carb all star, or iron all star). But you do need to take a bird’s eye view of your day and compensate for the things you miss at certain meals in others. Capisco?

Hope you all feel inspired to put some basil to use, even now that its nearly gone. Any winter basil recipes you love? Or flavor pairings that knit one season’s flavors with another’s?

Final announcement: This is your last two days to enter to win a free health consultation with me. Check out my counseling giveaway and comment there to qualify!

xo