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

Thanks for the intelligent commentary on yesterday’s post. I look forward to more discussions about vegan attire!

Switching gears today, I’m here with a new raw bread recipe—carrot oat bread, to be precise. You may be thinking that I’ve started to repeat myself: I already have two recipes for raw bread (here and here) that features carrots and/or dried fruit. So what am I doing making another one?

Well, I’ll be honest: I have a lot of carrot pulp to use up. That’s one reason. And since I’m not in the mood for carrot cupcakes again, bread it is. I am not, however, repeating the same flatbread/cracker like concoctions I’ve already made—promise! Instead, I’m bringing you a soft, dense, and thick bread, that’s a lot more like the real thing than my thinner, crispier breads have been.

The trick here was substituting oat flour for the usual mix of ground nuts/seeds and flax that I typically use. How did I make raw oat flour? By simply grinding up raw oat groats in my coffee grinder (which I don’t actually use for coffee; I use it for flax, chia, and grains that I want to make powdery for my recipes). If you have a Vitamix or a grinder, you too can make the homemade raw oat flour; if you don’t, you can grind up rolled oats in a food processor, or you can simply use store bought oat flour (Bob’s Red Mill makes one that is gluten free, no less).

Raw, Vegan Carrot Oat Bread (gluten free if you use GF oats, soy free)

Makes about 10 slices

2 heaping cups carrot pulp or grated carrot that has been squeezed thoroughly to remove excess moisture
1 cup oat flour
12 prunes, soaked in hot water for 30 min or more and drained
1/4 cup water + extra for blending
1 tsp sea salt
1/4 cup flax

1) Place pulp and prunes in a food processor fitted with the S blade. Process with the 1/4 cup water till the mixture is smooth.

2) Add oat flour, flax, sea salt. Process mixture into a “dough” that forms a ball. You may need more water, but don’t assume you will: drizzle it in only if your dough is much too pasty.

3) Shape your “dough” into a cute mini-loaf. Score the top into thick slices, about ten.

4) Dehydrate at 115 degrees for about 4 hours. Flip it so that the bottom is exposed, and dehydrate for another 3. Slice dough along score marks, and dehydrate the slices for another hour or so. If it’s still moist, keep dehydrating, but remember that the bread should be chewy, not crunchy. Don’t overdo it!

Alternately, you can bake the bread at 300 for about 40 minutes. However, I urge you to check it often, since I haven’t tried this method myself, and I don’t want to give you instructions that will ruin it!! It’s too cute to ruin:

Of all the raw breads I’ve made, this is by far the most “bready.” The slices are quite small, you’ll find—they kind of resemble biscotti—but for a loaf that is 100% raw and vegan, they’re not bad at all.

Along with some almond butter and apple? An incredible raw breakfast.

A few other cool things about this recipe: first, since we’ve all been discussing student-friendly food, note that the ingredients are fairly inexpensive. Prunes are less costly by far than dates, and oats are infinitely less pricey than nuts! Carrots are usually budget-friendly, and flax is cheaper than, say, chia. To say nothing of the fact that the recipe is a chance to reuse juicing leftovers.

Second, this recipe is friendly to my readers who find the volume of nuts/seeds in the raw diet a little intimidating. Though I do think that nuts and seeds have an important purpose in all vegan diets, I totally understand that they’re overused in many raw recipes. Oat groats, though unconventional, are a fun alternative.

And the taste? Well, I love it. This bread isn’t very sweet; don’t expect it to taste like a cupcake in spite of the prunes. I think they give it just enough sweet flavor. It tastes a little “bready” from the oats, and I think the salt lends it a lot of flavor, too. It’s a very mild, very basic bread upon which you can stack all sorts of toppings, dips, fruits, and veggies.

Before I go, have you picked up the January issue of VegNews yet?

In addition to featuring great articles by Jasmin and Corinne, it also features my regular column, “Raw Done Right.” This month’s recipe? A wonderful raw pad thai, which was made all the more appealing in Hannah Kaminsky’s amazing photography:

Hannah, will you always make my food look that good?

Check out the latest issue of the magazine for the recipe, and many other mouth-watering delights!

xo

First of all: I am so sorry that you guys have not seen a raw green veggie on the front of this blog in a week. Who AM I? It’s just that I’m darn proud of my assembly of edible gifts this holiday season, and I’ve wanted to share them all with you. So bear with me for a few more days of treats, sweets, and cereals, starting now, with my newest buckwheat granola—buckwheat apple cinnamon raisin granola, that is!

This recipe started with a couple of reader emails. I have two main buckwheat granola recipes: my classic raw granola recipe, my sunflower oat granola (technically a bar recipe, but convertible) and, more recently, my cocoa crunch buckwheat granola. All are fabulous, but the latter two are not low in fat: most of my granola recipes call for a fairly liberal application of nut butter or oil. Personally? I like my granola that way. But I also respect that many of my readers are mindful of fats in their diets, for a variety of reasons. I remain committed to showcasing the value of healthy fats on this blog, but I’m also committed to inclusivity.

So, when I got not one, but four emails to my Choosing Raw address asking if I could come up with a buckwheat granola that would hold together well but also be lower in fat, I was committed to rising to the occasion. I think I did.

The magic in this recipe is the use of date paste, which helps to bind the granola together without too much fat, and is also a good alternative to agave. For instructions on using date paste, please check out this post! It’s an easy, delicious, healthy sweetener, and it tastes like caramel. I also blended fresh apple with the date paste, and I ended up with a pretty ideal level of sweetness (for me, that is: I like my granola sweet, but not sugary).

You have the option of adding 1 tbsp of nut butter to the mix for this recipe, but if you are following a truly lower fat way of eating, you can omit it, and pumpkin seeds will be the only fat source in the recipe.

Raw, Vegan Buckwheat Apple Cinnamon Granola or Cereal (raw, vegan, gluten free, soy free)

Makes about 4-5 heaping cups of granola

3 cups dehydrated buckwheat crispies (instructions here)
1 cup raisins
1/2 cup pumpkin seeds
2 tsps cinnamon
1 tsp ginger powder
Dash salt
1 cup date paste (make this batch on the thinner side; alternately, you can also substitute 3/4 cup maple syrup or agave)
1 apple, chopped
1 tbsp cashew or almond butter (optional)

1) Place all the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl and toss to combine.

2) Blend the date paste, apple, and almond butter (if using) in a blender. Pour wet ingredients over dry, and mix well to combine.

3) Place mixture onto a Teflex-lined dehydrator sheet and dehydrate overnight, or 8-10 hours. Stir once or twice. You may also bake at 250 degrees for about 1 hour.

The nice thing about this granola is that it’s so unbelievably crunchy! In fact, it solved one of my food dilemmas, which is that I love dumping granola in a thick smoothie and eating it with a spoon, but I feel bad wasting a very rich or chocolate-y granola by submerging it in smoothie. This granola is nice on its own or with almond milk, but it’s also dry and crunchy enough to be a perfect topper.

Most of all, you’ll fall in love with the fresh cinnamon taste! So ideal for this time of year.

If you have a healthy eater on your holiday gift list—or simply anyone who’s eager for an intro to raw, vegan granola—this is it.

So: I’m back in NYC. Hooray! Thanks for the kind funeral well-wishes: it was a lovely service. And now, I get to actually be on vacation for a little while. I haven’t yet had a chance to empty my bank account in NYC restaurants, but I was walking around the Flatiron area today, and stopped into one of my favorite spots, Terri, for some juice.

Terri was founded by my friend Craig, a longtime vegan who has tremendous commitment and passion, not to mention business savvy! He’s turned it into NYC’s best vegan lunch stop. The juices, sandwiches, and salads at Terri are reasonably priced, freshly prepared, and easy to take to work or on a picnic in Madison Square Park. The food also covers a spectrum of health freak fare to normal vegan dining: you can opt for tempeh bacon OR kale chips. That’s my kind of lunch spot.

I opted for a large green lemonade. And kale chips. Which I inhaled before I got to the 1 train.

I look forward to stopping into Terri again over this break to experience the high quality and budget-friendly lunch options! New Yorkers, I give it a thumbs up.

And now, the NYC streets are telling me to get off my computer and get walking. Tomorrow, I’ll be posting en route upstate, where I’ll be spending a blissful three days with my Chloe. Can’t. Wait.

Night!

xo

I should probably think twice before I toss around words like “ultimate”—there are a lot of raw mushroom burgers out there, and this is but one of them. With that said, it’s probably my favorite raw burger so far, and I’ve got a bunch that I love: most recently, I posted a raw spinach burger that was pretty delicious. What I like about this burger is its “meatier” texture (most of my burgers are a little crumbly) and the earthy taste that comes from mushrooms and seasonings.

To be honest, I could have gotten a lot more creative with this burger. That is, I could have added more seasonings, more spice, more…stuff. But with my raw recipes, I nearly always come to a moment where I do a taste test, and in spite of knowing that I could do a lot more, I feel really good about the recipe just the way it is. Minimalism and raw eats go hand and hand.

So on that note, I’ll skip the chatter: let’s talk raw shroom burgers!!

Raw, Vegan Mushroom Burgers (vegan, raw, GF if you use GF tamari)

Serves 4

3 large portobello mushroom caps, chopped
2 tbsp tamari (I use low-sodium) or nama shoyu
2 tsps liquid smoke
1 tbsp agave
1 1/2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
1 cup pumpkin seeds
1/2 cup chopped carrot (or carrot pulp)
1/2 cup chopped celery (or celery pulp)
1 tsp rosemary or thyme

1) Mix the tamari, liquid smoke, agave, and ACV in a bowl. Add mushrooms and try to mix them well into this marinade. Let sit for about 2 hours.

2) In a food processor fitted with the S blade, grind pumpkin seeds till smooth.

3) Remove mushrooms from the marinade (reserving it) and add to the processor. Process till the mixture has very little texture, but isn’t as smooth or uniform as a nut pate. If it’s overly pasty, add a few tablespoons of water or your leftover marinade.

3) Add the carrot, celery, and thyme, and pulse to incorporate it all, still leaving some texture.

4) Shape into four patties and dehydrate at 115 for about 2 hours, flip, and keep dehydrating for another 3-4, or until they’re the texture you like. Alternately, you can bake these at 325 degrees for about 30-35 minutes, flipping once. Serve over greens, on some raw bread, or in a wrap sandwich!

No matter how you serve, these are a delicious and satisfying part of a meal, and especially appropriate for this time of year.

These are also a great use for carrot pulp, if you happen to be tired of making carrot cake muffins (which I’m so glad you guys liked!).

And now, it’s time for me to wrap up the express post and get back to some biology. Till tomorrow, folks!

xo

Happy Tuesday! I hope everyone is settling nicely into a new week. Remember yesterday, when I hinted at the fact that I’d made some chocolate date paste? That’s basically just my normal recipe for date paste, with about 1/4 cup cacao powder and 1/4 extra cup water added.

Now, with the unveiling of this wonderful buckwheat cocoa granola, I can tell you all about it.

I love raw granola. It’s one of the first dishes that I actually made in raw form, and I think it’s highly versatile: you can put it on top of smoothies, cover it in almond milk and eat with a spoon, sprinkle over fresh fruit, and snack on it just the way it is. Over the years, I’ve shared a few recipes with you; recent favorites include my raw, vegan “cheater’s granola:”

My sunflower oat bars, which can be crumbled instead of pressed into bar shapes, and thus turned into granola:

And my personal favorite: my “only raw, vegan granola you’ll ever need:”

Today’s recipe offers a new and whimsical twist on plain ‘ole granola: it’s chocolate granola, and it’s sure to astound chocoholics and regular breakfast lovers alike!

Cacao nibs from Navitas Naturals play a big role in this recipe. You could absolutely use any cacao nibs you like or have around, or, if you’re cacao-less, try using chocolate chips or carob chips (you may want to decrease the quantities, because chocolate goes a long way in granola). Round this out with nutrient-rich buckwheat, vitamin-rich sunflower seeds, and a touch of almond milk for a very special treat!

Raw Cocoa Buckwheat Granola (raw, vegan, gluten and soy free)

Makes about 6 servings

2 full cups buckwheat, soaked for 2-3 days and dehydrated fully (see instructions for my buckwheat cereal)
1/2 cup sunflower seeds
1/2 cup cacao nibs
3/4 cup chocolate date paste
1/4 cup almond butter

1) Mix buckwheat, sunflower seeds, and cacao nibs together.

2) Mix almond butter and date paste with a fork, and add them to the buckwheat mixture. Mix well with hands.

3) Place mixture onto a Teflex-lined dehydrator sheet and dehydrate overnight (8-10 hrs) at 115 degrees. Alternately, you can bake this mixture at 325 degrees for about 20-25 minutes.

Check out the fantastic texture!

Chef’s Notes: This is actually a very mildly sweetened raw granola, in spite of the dates! If you taste it while you’re making it and it’s not sweet enough for you, try adding a bit of stevia to get it sweeter (alternately, maple syrup will be great).

I haven’t yet had this for breakfast—I’ve been too busy snacking on it! But I can’t wait to have my first bowl with homemade almond milk and berries tomorrow. Yum, yum.

Before I go, I should mention that this is the week of creative use of Thanksgiving leftovers. It started in earnest today, as I threw some leftover succotash (cherry tomatoes, corn, lima beans, roasted) on top of zucchini pasta, and covered it all in cashew dill cream (my cashew alfredo with dill added). It was pretty excellent.

Bet you can’t wait to see what other Thanksgiving leftover concoctions I come up with.

Night!

xo

Happy almost Friday, all. So glad this week is coming to an end!

I sometimes feel bad when I give you a bunch of linked posts all in a row—shouldn’t I be offering you variety, range, and so on? But since everything has been so excited about date paste (and the awesome things you can do with it) I thought I’d quickly share one of the ways I put it to good use this week. For the first time in many years of raw cracker making, I made raw cocoa crackers, using chia seeds, raw cacao nibs, and date paste as a sweetener.

Ladies and gentlemen, we have a winner.

These crackers really do have it all: they’re a little salty, a little sweet, a little crunchy, and a lot addictive. The chia seeds add some variety in texture, along with all of their usual nutritional benefits: fiber, Omega 3 and 6 fatty acids, protein, and calcium. Whether you use date paste as directed, or substitute another sweetener (prune paste would work, as would pureed bananas, agave, or maple syrup, you can absolutely sweeten to taste. The crackers should be more sweet than savory, but how much more is up to you!

In case you all were wondering, these are technically raw cacao crackers. But to be honest, I think that “cocoa” has a nicer, more velvety ring to it.

Raw Cocoa Crackers (raw, vegan, gluten and soy free)

Makes about 25-30 crackers

1 cup cashews
1/3 cup flax meal
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup cacao nibs
1/2 cup date paste
Scant 1/2 cup water (or as needed)
2 tbsp chia seeds

1) Grind cashews, flax, salt, and cacao nibs in a food processor till finely ground.

2) Add date paste and run the processor motor. Drizzle water in until the mixture is the texture you want: it should be thick but not so thick you can’t spread it easily on a dehydrator tray.

3) Add chia seeds and pulse to combine.

4) Spread onto a Teflex lined dehydrator sheet and dehydrate for 3-4 hours at 115 degrees. Flip, score into cracker shapes, and dehydrate for another four hours.

The crackers have a fabulous texture, as you can see:

As always, you can bake these at 300 or 325 for about 35 minutes.

Now that I’ve made a foray into the world of sweet crackers, I may never come back. These were delicious, and they hit that wonderful sweet and savory spot (from the sea salt) that I adore. Here’s to more chocolatey crunch!!

Here, too, is to a weekend. I’ll be back tomorrow night with a delicious high raw dinner recipe to start your weekends off on the right foot!

xo

Nothing quite like pumpkin to get people excited. Thanks for the pumpkin pie pudding love!

As you all know, I got more adventurous with superfoods this summer. I made a superfood salad:

A batch of crackers infused with a super seed blend:

and a super breakfast bowl with quinoa flakes:

Most of these dishes were truly thanks to my friends at Navitas Naturals, who graciously shared some of their products with me so that I could experiment a little in the kitchen. One of these products was their mesquite powder, which has quickly become one of my favorite go-to ingredients. Mesquite has a subtle flavor: it’s sweet, smoky, and a little spicy, all at once. Depending on the moment, it might remind me either of vanilla beans or a sizzling pot of barbeque sauce. Its flavor, much like the flavors of lucuma and maca (also superfoods from the Americas) is hard to place, hard to describe, and a little amorphous. Which makes it an ideal ingredient to play with: it will never overpower a dish the way certain spices do. Instead, it will enhance the flavors that I’m focused on in all sorts of fun and unexpected way.

Mesquite also boasts some nifty health properties:

• Excellent form of fiber – almost a quarter of daily needs in just two tablespoons
• Contains lysine (an amino acid), as well as notable quantities of digestible protein, calcium, magnesium, potassium, iron and zinc.
• Mild alternative to other sweeteners

Thus far, I’ve used mesquite primarily in my smoothie recipes and a few sweets (mesquite cashew date balls, by the way, are amazing). Last week, I decided to give mesquite an unexpected application, in savory raw falafel. I wasn’t sure whether this was brilliant or bonkers, but the results made me really happy. It’s really hard for any raw falafel recipe to stand up to my carrot falafel, which I adore, but these come close. And, just like my carrot falafel, they make sneaky use of vegetables: cauliflower is mixed in with sunflower seeds to add nutrient density and help even out some of the fat content.

Smoky Cauliflower and Mesquite Falafel with Fresh Parsley Dressing (raw, vegan, gluten free)

Makes 10 Falafel

1 cup raw sunflower seeds
1 1/2 cups cauliflower, chopped
1 tbsp tahini
1/2 tsp cumin
1 tsp coriander
1 tsp paprika
1/4 cup mesquite
Dash cayenne pepper

1) Grind sunflower seeds in a food processor fitted with the S blade.

2) When seeds are ground into a coarse meal, add chopped cauliflower, tahini, cumin, coriander, paprika, and mesquite. Pulse to combine, then run the motor. You should have a VERY thick paste. Add water in a thin stream until the mixture is still quite thick (thick enough to be shaped into firm balls) but not pasty. I used about 4 scant tbsp (1/4 cup).

3) Roll mixture into 2 inch balls and flatter onto a Teflex lined dehydrator tray with palms. Dehydrating for 12-14 hours, until exterior is very dry but interior is still slightly moist, flipping once through. Serve drizzled with my fresh parsley dressing or a tahini dressing of choice.

*Oven option: Bake falafel for 30-35 minutes at 350 degrees.*

Parsley Dressing:

1 small avocado
1/2 bunch parsley, washed
Juice of 2-3 lemons (2 large, or 3 tiny ones)
1/4 cup olive oil
1 cup water
1/2 tsp sea salt
Black pepper

1) Blend all ingredients in a high speed blender till smooth. Serve.

I love the subtly smokiness of these falafel. And I think that the mesquite adds a nice creaminess to the texture, too!

Aren’t they authentic looking?! Not bad for a raw dish.

Hope you guys give these guys a shot. And it goes without saying that the parsley dressing is also great on salad, as a dip, or drizzled over a plate of steamed veggies. Let me know what you think!

Lastly, I wanted to thank everyone who has tried (and loved) the zucchini pasta with creamy garlic sauce and the gingery rice with butternut squash and onions. I’ve already gotten some lovely feedback on those recipes, and it makes me so, so happy to know that my readers like them. Here’s to fall produce!

Back tomorrow! And don’t forget that the 30 Day Vegan Challenge is on.

xo

Hey all! Glad you liked my Aloo Gobi wraps. They’re mighty delicious, and they’ve quickly found a place on my “to make again soon” list.

I’m back today with a very different kind of recipe. It is, I’m sorry to say, yet another raw cracker recipe, but I’m taking a break from the usual flax or chia meal/pulp/spice formulation to share something a little heartier and more flavorful. I love the simplicity of my regular old juice pulp crackers (flax or chia variety) but what I’m finding lately is that being in class till noon, on my feet from noon to 3:30, and studying till the wee hours means that I need foods that are higher-fuel than the usual. Flax and pulvarized veggies taste great (to me) but they’re not quite high enough in the fats and/or protein I need to keep going over an extended period of time—especially since I don’t have much room for food breaks in the summer class schedule.

So that’s where these crackers came from. I wanted to keep the basic idea of my juice crackers intact (juice pulp, spices, salt, flax or chia to bind), but add some nuts or seeds for a little extra calorie and nutrient density. I used almonds to make that happen, but keep in mind that you could certainly use cashews, sunflower seeds, or pumpkin seeds, too. They’d all be delicious, and seeds are typically cheaper than tree nuts.

What’ll make you happiest about this recipe is that I’ve included both non-dehydrator and non-juicer recipe variations—this means you can make these crackers even if you don’t have raw food appliances at home! I hope it’s also a reminder that eating raw is simply a means of preparation; anyone can harness the benefits of plant-based nutrition at home, often with no more than a good knife and a mixing bowl. I use a food processor (my most used kitchen appliance) here, but you could even use a spice mill to grind the nuts and then mix by hand.

What’ll make you second happiest is that this recipe is a guaranteed crowd-pleaser: whether it’s the ginger and tamari, the thick texture, or the simple goodness of green, it’s a recipe tasty enough to appeal even to those of us who’d find regular juice pulp crackers a little bland. You can enjoy them on your own, or share them with anyone: I call that a winning proposition.

Crowd Pleasing Green Crackers (raw, vegan, gluten free, soy free if you replace tamari with coconut aminos)

Yields 35 crackers

1 cup almonds (not soaked)
1/4 cup chia seed
2 – 2 1/2 cups green juice pulp with ginger (if you don’t have juice pulp, use 2 cups grated zucchini and 1 inch grated ginger, along with a fistful of spinach)
3-4 tbsp regular or low sodium tamari (use your own taste here; I like these salty, but you can absolutely modify for a lower-sodium diet)
Black pepper to taste
Juice of 1 lemon
2 cups water

1) Grind almonds and chia seed in a food processor (or coffee grinder, or spice mill) till finely ground.

2) Add the juice pulp or veggies, tamari, black pepper, and lemon juice. Pulse to combine (you’ll probably need to work on scraping the bowl as you do this).

3) With motor running, begin adding water. You may not need two full cups; what you want is to keep adding water and scraping the bowl until you have a mixture that’s still sticky and thick, but spreadable.

4) When you’ve created a proper “dough,” remove it from the food processor and spread onto a single Teflex dehydrator sheet (you want these crackers relatively thick). Score into cracker shapes.

5) Dehydrate at 115 degrees for 7 or 8 hours. Flip the cracker dough over (you may want to put a new Teflex sheet on top, flip the whole thing, and peel the first Teflex sheet off). Continue to dehydrate for 4-5 hours. Break the crackers apart, and serve.

If you don’t have a dehydrator: Line a baking sheet with parchment, and spread the dough onto it evenly. Bake at 350 degrees till nice and crispy: I’d guess this take 40 minutes or so, but use your kitchen intuition to see when it’s done.

As I said before: crowd pleasing. Seriously. Hope you try them soon!

And now, a big announcement: I’ve been nominated for two VegNews Magazine Veggie Awards! I can’t believe it! I just found out at the end of last week, and I’m so delighted to share the news with you. Now, I try never to grovel here on my blog, or ask you guys for much (except your killer comments and thoughts), but I’m hereby genuflecting and asking you all to please support me with your vote!

Voting can be done here, and it’s very easy: you can either enter your vote for all categories (which I suggest doing, so that you can show support for movers and shakers in our community!) or you can skip ahead by hitting “more veggie awards please” at the bottom, until you get to the “people and media” page. I’m listed under best column (“Raw Done Right”) and best blog (“Choosing Raw”).

For voting, you qualify to win a year of Luna and Larry’s Coconut Bliss Ice cream, a Vitamix, trips around the world, and pounds of vegan chocolate. All for a click of the mouse. And you’ll also be doing me a huge personal favor, which is to show your support for CR. It has been very tough to keep up my blog with summer pre-med studies, counseling, and (starting now) MCAT prep, so I really appreciate that I’m still being offered the chance at this award, which is a big honor in the vegan community. I’d be so excited if you all helped me to get there.

With that, back to work. See you all tomorrow!

xo

So glad that everyone enjoyed my big questions. In posing them, I mentioned that my mother simply cannot seem to get used to the weirdness of my food, but made a bold prediction that one day she will. My friend Karen wrote in saying,

Good luck on that prediction that one day your weird food will look normal to your Mom…I’ve been eating a clean vegetarian/vegan diet for 25+ years and my otherwise worldly and intelligent and lovely parents still don’t get it!

Yep, I thought. That’s probably true. I’ve gotten my mom to appreciate almond milk and the odd raw entrée or two, but the foreignness of my diet will never cease to amaze her. Or other people, for that matter.

This week, as I ease into a new and much more intense class schedule, I’m also easing into a lot of bonding time with my fellow post-baccs. We eat together, perform labs together, study together, complain together, cry together, laugh together, and yes, we also eat together. When you’re stuck in class with the same group of people from 8am-3pm daily, you grow very accustomed to seeing what they eat: snacks, packed breakfasts, packed lunches, treats, beverages, and treats.

Most post-baccs eat the predictable stuff: PB&J, turkey sandwiches, muffins, yogurts, fruit, snack bars. And then there’s me, munching on my packed chia and fruit puddings:

I’ve noticed that I usually get some quizzical looks when I eat these guys. Ditto for my homemade snack bars and energy balls. And let’s not even start on kale salad.

Of course, I’m used to a certain amount of eyebrow-raising when it comes to my diet, and that’s fine with me. But I’m also very determined to share the joys of vegan and raw food with the world. This summer, I’m bringing my plot to take over the world with veggies celebration of colorful food to the Georgetown campus, and I’m starting with my fellow post-baccs.

Today, a few of us gathered in the library for a brief respite between lab and lecture. My friends Peter and Anna eyed me suspiciously as I ate crackers that looked like this:

“What are those,” Peter inquired.

“They’re carrot and sunflower seed crackers,” I replied. “They’re a little weird, but tasty.”

I broke off a piece for Anna and Peter, and, as they began to munch, I had a moment I often have, which is wondering if my food appeals to everyone, or if it’s only tasty to me and my readers and other people who share our (slightly offbeat) tastes. If the latter is true, I think I’m doing a great job cooking for me, but maybe I’m not doing as great a job sharing veganism with others.

Much to my delight, Anna perked up. “Mmmmm,” she said. “These are really good! Do you have more?” I didn’t—I had scarfed them all down—but I was almost giddy with excitement about her excitement. I promised the gang I’d bring more in, and then I breathed a sigh of relief, because the whole exchange reminded me that it is possible to make food that’s simple and good enough to appeal to seasoned raw foods lovers and mainstream eaters both. Thank goodness I can stay true to my own tastes while also delighting the tastes of other people.

And the best part? The crackers started with carrot pulp. Yes, carrot pulp. If only my friends had known.

Gingery Carrot and Roasted Sunflower Seed Crackers (vegan, mostly raw, gluten free, soy free)

Makes about 40 crackers

1 cup sunflower roasted sunflower seeds*
2 1/2 cups carrot pulp
4 tbsp flax meal
1 tsp sea salt (or more to taste)
Black pepper to taste
1 tbsp minced ginger, or 1/2 tsp powdered ginger

1) Place sunflower seeds in a food processor fitted with the “S” blade. Grind well.

2) Add the pulp, flax, and spices to the bowl. Process till the mixture is thick but moist enough to spread.

3) Spread mixture onto two Teflex lined dehydrator sheets and score into cracker and/or flatbread shapes.

4) Dehydrate at 115 degrees for about 6 hours. Flip the dough (it should be dry enough to peel off and do this) and dehydrate on other side for another 4 hours.

Non-dehydrator option!: Spread onto parchment lines baking sheets. Bake in an oven set to 350 degrees for about 40 minutes, or until dry and crispy.

*You don’t have to use roasted sunflower seeds if you feel strongly about it: I did because they really enhance the taste for this particular recipe.

These crackers are oh-so-savory and flavorful!

Yet another way to use up your juicing leftovers, conserve veggies, nourish your body, snack on quality food, and maybe, just maybe, share the love with others.

And if you’re not into crackers, my raw carrot falafel just might be a crowd pleaser, too.

What’s your favorite vegan or raw recipe to share with your friends? Do you consider yourself an offbeat eater? If so, how do you reconcile your own tastes with the world around you?

xo

Back in the days when I juiced almost daily—a bygone era whose recession I attribute to being just a whole lot busier—I watched bowl after bowl of organic veggie pulp migrate into my trash. It was awful to watch, if only because it was like watching so many dollar signs be flushed away. Sure, I had a great cup of juice, but what of all the stuff I was throwing out? Surely, I thought, I could figure out a use for it.

Life changed forever when I discovered how to make juice pulp crackers at home (and carrot falafel, and spinach burgers, and green guac, and more). I was ecstatic to find that there was a simple and easy way to avoid having any waste at all (even though I maintain that, if I couldn’t use the pulp, it would still be worth it to juice).

Nowadays, the problem isn’t that I have too much juice pulp on my hands, but rather that I have too little. I try to juice on Saturdays and Sundays, but the honest truth of the matter is that I don’t often find time during my busy weeks, and I’m at peace with it. The downside is that I miss having juice pulp crackers, flatbreads, burgers, and so on to snack on, as they make for a great alternative to grain based sources of crunch. They’re also economical, tasty, and—as far as dehydrator recipes go—very easy.

That’s where friends like Valerie come in. Valerie happens to run her blog out of a very modest kitchen—it’s amazing what she does to economize space—and she recently mentioned that she always has a glut of juice pulp in her freezer. The excited look on my face must have said it all: she immediately offered to send me home with a few bags of frozen juice pulp.

Is it a little weird to catch a bus home with a big purse full of frozen green juice pulp? Yes, yes it is. But I never said I was normal.

If any of you are wondering, juice pulp freezes beautifully, though I wouldn’t exceed 3-4 weeks.

Valerie mentioned that she’s been experimenting with different sorts of pulp crackers, and namely with both chia and flax as her base. After sampling some of her delicious creations (some with cayenne—yum!) I was inspired to get to work on my own, side-by-side comparison of the two methods. I made a chia seed recipe first, using my original template for pulp crackers and substituting chia for flax. I also threw chia seeds in at the end, which was a great touch!

Chia Juice Pulp Crackers (raw, vegan, GF)

Yields 1 dehydrator sheet worth of crackers, 24-30

2 cups juice pulp, tightly packed
1/2 cup ground chia seed
2-3 tbsp tamari (I like my salty)
2 tsps coriander
black pepper to taste
1/3-1/2 cup water
1/3 cup chia seeds, whole

1) Place pulp, ground chia, tamari, coriander, and black pepper in a food processor fitted with the S blade. Pulse to combine well.

2) Add the water and let the motor run, till mixture is right consistency (start by adding 1/4 of a cup and move up: how much you need will depend on how much liquid was in the pulp already). You want your mixture to be thick and sticky, but spreadable.

3) Add whole chia seeds and pulse to combine.

4) Spread on a Teflex lined dehydrator sheet, score into cracker shapes and dehydrate at 115 for about 5-6 hours. Flip the sheet over (you may want to put another sheet on top and then flip them both), and then dehydrate till very dry, about 4-5 more hours.

Love! My immediate thought is that the chia seed crackers end up less crunchy than flax crackers, but they’re also thicker and a little heartier. I think they’d actually make wonderful raw flatbread that’s actually more bread than cracker—it’s next on my agenda! These were a refreshing alternative to the usual flax stuff.

But of course, the flax crackers are great, too. And since I had a lot of juice pulp thanks to Val, I made some of those, too, using a new lemon thyme variation that’s stunning!

Lemon Thyme Juice Pulp Crackers (raw, vegan, GF)

Makes about 24-30 crackers

2 tightly packed cups juice pulp (any veggies you like)
1/2 cup flax meal, ground
1 tsp sea salt
2 tsps crushed thyme
2 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp lemon zest
Black pepper to taste (I’m generous with it)
1/4-1/2 cup water

1) Blend all ingredients save the water in a food processor. Add water in a thin stream till the mix is easy to spread, but still a bit sticky (the amount of water you’ll need will vary based on how watery the pulp is).

2) Turn the "dough" out onto a teflex dehydrator sheet and spread it evenly. Score into cracker or flatbread shapes–I tend to do half and half of each!

3) Dehydrate the crackers at 115 degrees for about 5-6 hours. Flip the sheet by putting another teflex sheet over it, flipping it over, and then peeling off your original sheet.

4) Dehydrate for another 4-5 hours, or until crackers are nice and crunchy (again, this time may vary based on how watery your pulp was).

Oven option (also applies to chia crackers): bake crackers at 325 degrees for about 30 minutes, checking on them often to be sure they’re not burning. Use your kitchen intuition!

These, too, are delicious. See how they’re sort of thinner and crunchier than the chia ones?

They also make wonderful flatbread for lunch or snackage:

Chia, flax…let’s call the whole thing off. No matter how you slice it (pun intended) these mixtures are wonderful way to get essential fatty acids, beneficial fiber, and veggie goodness into a high raw day. Enjoy!

What’s your favorite raw or cooked cracker recipe? And what other sorts of things do you like to do with juice pulp?

xo