One of my most popular posts to date is my DIY tutorial for making raw almond milk. In spite of the dinky photos and bad lighting, this post embodies what I always wanted Choosing Raw to be: an easy and practical resource for eating (and living) vegan and raw. I will never forget how astounded I was the first time I figured out that I could actually make the same almond milk that I was spending three or five dollars on in health food stores. And not only make, but make easily and economically! It was the first of many lessons that raw foodism taught me about what it means to live off of nature’s raw materials, as it were: to make astonishingly tasty food from only the simplest ingredients.

As it turns out, almond milk is within everybody’s reach. And so too is the creamy vanilla cashew milk I’m about to share.

My second revelation about making homemade almond milk was that I didn’t actually have to use almonds. Hemp seed, pumpkin seed, cashews, pecans, and sesame seeds all make wonderful bases for nut/seed milk. If you’re not convinced, check out my tahini milk or hemp milk. Or simply drink a glass of this sweet, creamy, dreamy cashew milk, which is my nut milk favorite du jour. The ingredient list is short, the procedure is simple, and you absolutely don’t need a high speed blender for this to work: soaked cashews are a lot more blendable (?) than are soaked almonds. No matter how old your blender is, it’s time to dust it off!

Creamy Vanilla Cashew Milk (raw, vegan, gluten free, soy free)

Makes about 3 cups

1 cup cashews, soaked overnight
4 cups filtered water
4 pitted dates
1 vanilla bean, scraped into the blender, or 1 tsp vanilla extract
Pinch of sea salt

1) Blend all ingredients together till very, very smooth. This will be a few minutes in a normal blender, or 1-2 in a high speed variety.

2) Optional step! Affix some cheesecloth over the mouth of a large container using a rubber band. I actually use my VitaMix most of the time. You can see how it ought to be set up below.

3) Pour the cashew milk over the cloth in batches, till you’re able to pour it all out. Allow the milk to strain for a couple of hours; you can leave it in the fridge if you like, but I’ve never had a problem with leaving it out as it strains. If you’d prefer to have a creamier and thicker cashew milk, skip this step!

4) Save the cashew milk pulp for use in raw treats (see: tomorrow’s recipe). Pour cashew milk into an airtight container (I like to use glass jars):

Keep in the fridge for about 2-3 days (if it’s at all sour, it’s gone off). Serve over cereal, graw-nola, in smoothies, or simply as a rich afternoon snack.

See how smooth and creamy it is? Now this is the kind of thing that actually does a body good.

Here on CR, you’re used to seeing 1001 recipes that call for juice pulp. What can I say: I juice a lot, and I don’t like to throw the pulp out. But many of you have also requested recipes for almond milk pulp, and as of now, I have yet to oblige you. Stay tuned, then, for a recipe tomorrow that features one of the many ways I put my almond (or cashew) mush to good use.

In other news, I found out on Friday that I made the Greatist list of 60 Must-Read Health and Fitness Blogs, along with such talented friends as Ashley, Sarah, and Kath. What an honor! Look for CR in the “special interest food” category.

Finally, many of you have emailed me to ask about my blog design, and how-to questions about getting set up with blogs of your own. I’m happy to share the news that my blog designer, Cory, has now gone full time with his Zesty Blog Consulting services. Cory is the best: over the years, he has not only helped to make CR what it is aesthetically, but he’s also been a source of insight about marketing and growth, and he’s done a wonderful job of helping me to keep my blog current. I really recommend him if you’re looking to have someone help you with tech and design. Congrats on the new chapter, Cory!

With that, another weekend slips by. It’s back to molecular orbitals for me—later!

xo

Hello all. I hope the muffin makers among you are planning on a date with my banana, oat, and chia seed muffins very soon!

Whenever I post a kale salad recipe on this blog, I worry. You have seen so many kinds of kale salads from me, and I fear that posting more will push the limits of even healthy eaters to muster up enthusiasm for raw greens. Thus far, however, you haven’t stopped me—in fact, my kale salad with outstanding miso dressing was one of my most popular recipes of the summer. So, until you tell me that you’re tired of seeing massaged kale on the front of this blog, I’ll keep giving it to you, because it may very well be the foundation of my diet!

As such, I’m always looking for new and tasty ways to dress kale up and make it taste even better than it does by its lonesome. This week, I tried a new combination: citrus, fennel, and radicchio. If I’d been thinking hard enough about my motives for this recipe, I might have postulated that my subconscious was trying to stave off the cold and cough that’s spreading like wildfire across the Georgetown campus; fennel and orange are both outstanding sources of Vitamin C. I might also have been thinking about the fact that Vitamin C aids in iron absorption, and that kale is a high source of iron (for those of you who are worried about the oxalates in dark leafy greens, which can block iron and calcium absorption, keep in mind that kale is much lower in oxalates than other dark leafy greens, like spinach). Finally, I might have been thinking that radicchio has not only Vitamin C, but Vitamin E, and that it’s a rich source of antioxidants and phytonutrients in the “red” family of veggies, including lycopene, ellagic acid, quercetin and hesperidin.

Or maybe I wasn’t thinking about any of these things. Perhaps I was simply thinking that citrus and kale are a stunning, colorful, and tasty combination. Perhaps I was thinking that the sweet, licorice hints of fennel pair beautifully with the tart sweetness of orange and the bitterness of radicchio. This salad contains quite a few of the six tastes of food: it’s bitter, sweet, salty, and sour all at once. Not bad for a dish that contains four humble vegetables and a simple dressing. As always, simple food is often the richest.

Kale Salad with Orange, Radicchio, Fennel, and Orange Miso Vinaigrette (raw, vegan, gluten free)

Serves 2

For the salad:

1 small head kale, de-stemmed, chopped, and washed
1 1/2 cups radicchio, chopped or torn into pieces
1 small bulb fennel, thinly sliced
1/2 cup orange pieces, slices, or slivers

For the dressing:

3/4 cup fresh orange juice
Juice of 1 lemon
1 heaping tbsp miso
1/3 cup olive or flax oil (I like flax)
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp nama shoyu or tamari

1) Blend all dressing ingredients together in a blender or food processor.

2) “Massage” dressing into your kale with hands, using only as much as you need to coat the salad well, and soften the kale. Add the radicchio, fennel, and orange, and mix, adding more dressing as needed.

3) Serve with a vegan entree of choice, a soup or sandwich at lunch, or an assortment of raw crackers and dip.

Just look at those vibrant and varied colors:

This is the kind of dish that makes me marvel at the beauty of raw vegetables.

Pop quiz, CR readers: is this a side salad or a meal-sized salad?

Answer: Side salad!! While delicious, varied, rich, and bursting with micronutrients (vitamins and minerals), this salad isn’t high enough in all of the essential macronutrients (protein, complex carbs, and fats) to fill most people up as a meal (I say “most people” because all of our bodies and nutrition needs do vary). So, if we don’t want to serve this dish along with an entrée of sorts (I served mine along with a collard wrap stuffed with hummus and avocado), how would we go about transforming this delicious meal component into a meal in and of itself?

• Add two tablespoons of hemp seeds and a tablespoon of nutritional yeast to the salad for increased protein and fat
• Add a half cup of lentils and some avocado chunks for protein, complex carbs, and fat
• Add half of a steamed and chopped yam for complex carbs, and 1/4 cup chopped walnuts for fat and protein
• Serve the salad with a giant dollop of my hemp hummus and some avocado
• Throw 1 cup quinoa into the salad and mix it all together. Top with some hemp seeds for a huge increase in protein, complex carbs, and fatty acids.

I hope this is how you all tend to think when you make salads! Ask yourself, do I have a side salad or a main dish on my hands? If it’s a salad, ask yourself, how can I use this as the backbone for a more nutrient rich meal? What can I add to increase nutrient density and ensure my own satiety? Salads are extraordinary and health giving in almost any form (unless we’re talking iceberg wedge salads with blue cheese dressing, or something) but it’s crucial that we high raw and plant-based readers be able to know which salads are best served with other foods, which stand alone as meals, and how to transition from one to another. This way, we can all have our salad, and feel satisfied with it, too.

Happy almost-Friday…

xo

Huge response to my hemp pesto; I should’ve known that would appeal to the CR community! I enjoyed some of it over raw flatbread just a few hours ago, at lunch: absolutely scrumptious.

I like to talk about salad: perhaps you’ve noticed? It’s my favorite food, ever, and I consider it my mission to show salad skeptics that it ain’t all about the leafy greens (even though the leafy greens are fabulous). I do this by telling people that it’s possible to build a meal-sized salad with a few, key nutrient-dense add-ons:

…and by providing recipes that switch up the greens-to-protein ratio (like my spicy marinated tempeh salad with cumin vinaigrette).

Today, I just wanted to show you that “salad” doesn’t even have to mean “lettuce”: there are slaws that are virtually green-free, and it’s absolutely possible to julienne vegetables so that they compose a salad on their own. For example, I like to chiffonade collards:

Cut celery thinly, on a diagonal:

Julienne red peppers, cut cucumbers into matchsticks, and shred some radicchio:

This isn’t a traditional salad bowl, but it is a salad to be sure, and a delicious one at that. It can be fun to eat a salad dish that has different texture and crunch than the usual. Especially when it’s topped with my outstanding miso sesame dressing, which readers are already commenting on to say “I could drink this with a straw!”

Funny story about this salad: because it was so noticeably all raw, and because it involved raw collards, which are tough for even me, I was sure that M would be on the fence. But he loved it, which is proof that either a) my outstanding miso sesame dressing would make newspaper taste good, b) even untraditional salads, made from julienned leftover veggies, can be delicious, or c) both.

My money’s on both.

At the tail end of each week, I tend to find myself with a fridge full of veggie odds and ends: broccoli spears, a single carrot or two, a celery stick, the dregs of greens. If you’re in the same boat tonight, why don’t you think about putting your knife skills to good use and making an untraditional salad this weekend? With the right dressing, you may have a success on your hands!

Happy Friday, CR readers.

xo

Over the course of this past weekend, the Bestie and I spent a lot of time talking about her new blog, Gourmet and Gourmand. Our conversations brought me back to my early days of blogging, which were, incidentally, exactly two years ago. They also reminded me of a conversation I recently had with Valerie and Katie over a weekday lunch in D.C., wherein we spoke at length about the trials and tribulations of starting, growing, and maintaining a blog.

I’ve always avoided putting blog biz talk on CR—tutorials on getting ad space, mastering social media, and taking perfect DSLR photos just aren’t topics that feel urgent to me. I’ve got too much to say as it is about veganism, body image, health, food love, food hate, and food politics. It’s sort of like exercise: I do it, I love it, and I’ll talk about it if asked, but I’m just not very interested in writing about it. But lately—in part because I’m close to so many people who are starting new blogs—I’ve also given some thought to doing a post on my tips for fledgling bloggers.

New bloggers may think that we veterans (to use a title that’s highly undeserved after two short years, but then the internet is a fast paced world) have forgotten what it’s like to define a new online space, but believe me, we haven’t. We remember our early days of blogging as if they were yesterday. If I could go back in time today and give myself ten pieces of advice based on what I’ve learned in the two years I’ve been writing CR, here’s what I would say:

1) To Thine Own Self Be True

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: do not try to shape your blog around other peoples’ tastes. What are your ten favorite blogs to read? Go through them, one by one. Chances are, each of the writers has a clear and vibrant sensibility, issues he or she cares about, a way of being that’s tried and true. The same things that make people interesting in the real world make bloggers interesting online: passion, confidence, commitment, and individuality.

What doesn’t tend to make a blog interesting is grasping at popularity. If you set out to write a blog that will satisfy this or that market trend—if you start writing posts simply because you think they’ll be popular—your readers will know it. Believe me. We’ve all done it—written posts because we thought there was a demand for them, and not because we wanted to—and we’ve all seen how quickly it backfires with a lackluster response. Readers are discerning, intuitive, and smart: they know when your heart’s not in it. Stay true to a clearly defined personality and point of view: even if your readers don’t always agree, they’ll always respect what you have to say. A year ago, I started writing about animal rights and vegan ethics. I knew I’d lose a few readers, but I also knew that the readers I want would stand by me, even if I had become more outspoken about a cause I’d formerly kept private. It was the right decision, and my blog is so much richer for it.

2) Focus, Focus, Focus

I don’t love the idea that all blogs have to have a “niche”—I find that my own blog straddles a couple of niches, and so do lots of the blogs I love. But I do happen to think that the best blogs have a sense of focus, a core set of interests that they keep returning to. Think back to my comment above, about fitness: I love fitness. I do it everyday. But to be honest, I’ve never had much of a desire to write about it, because there are other things I write about better, and care about more. And the people who do truly live and breathe fitness are probably already writing about it better than I can.

It’s good to go outside of your comfort zone thematically now and then, but it’s even better to know what your core interests as a blogger are, and stick with them.

3) Be a Perfectionist

Dot your i’s and cross your t’s. Learn to distinguish between “your” and “you’re.” Use your spell check, consult a dictionary when you’re not sure of a word, and always, always, always read a post twice before you post it.

In this new internet age of ours, many lovers of the written word still regard blogs as poorly written bits of navel gazing—indulgent at worst, amateurish at best. They’re absolutely wrong, but there are enough blogs out there to confirm their prejudices. Don’t let your blog be one of them. Be careful, be precise, be articulate, and be organized. Tie your blog posts together thematically. Check your grammar and spelling. Edit your photos. Correct formatting issues. Fix broken hyperlinks. Don’t note a mistake in a publish post and think “oh well, it’s already published.” Go back and change it. Blogs are fluid, but they’re also a public record of your voice. Don’t get sloppy.

4) ….But Not Such a Perfectionist that You Lose Your Mind

With all of that said, if I were to bring the same hawk eye I brought to my editorial work at FSG to my blog, I’d never leave my apartment. And I’d certainly never update my blog more than once a week. I’m a perfectionist of the most extreme order: I have been known to laminate notes, re-write things more than five times, and start recipes from scratch if I bungle them even a little. I can’t possibly bring those standards to a piece of text that I update every single day, all while balancing pre-med life and a counseling practice. I have to be realistic, and so do you. You’re going to misspell things sometimes, and you’re going to say things that don’t make sense, and you’re going to blurt out sentiments that make you cringe a year later.

That’s fine. As long as you work on being as professional and polished as you can be 99% of the time, you can forgive yourself the other 1%.

5) Know the Market

It sounds cheesy, but starting a blog really is like starting a business: you need a business plan, and that includes a sense of who your audience is, and what they’re already reading. The best thing you can do as you start to conceptualize a blog is to read other peoples’ blogs. Read lots of them. Figure out which ones you love. Figure out who’s reading them, and find out if they have blogs, too. Identify voices you admire, and return to them whenever you need motivation. Reading, commenting on other people’s blogs, and exploring the blog community will help you to ultimately become a part of it.

6) Reach Out

Blogging isn’t a competition: the nice thing about the food blog world is that we’re all just a bunch of foodies and readers who love to gaze at food photos and hear personal stories. No matter how many times we read about food, we still want to read more. So put aside any worries you have that space is limited: it’s not. We’re all in this together: a community of like minded men and women sharing our passions.

As you begin blogging, I can’t encourage you enough to reach out to your fellow bloggers. Send out an email introducing yourself and sharing a link. Send a blogger you love a little fan email, and tell her how much you were inspired by her work. Get to know other bloggers by leaving comments on their blogs. If you run across a glitch or tech question, don’t be afraid to gchat a blogger you know with an SOS message (I can’t tell you how often I do this). The food blog world is, by and large, friendly, open, and caring. Consider your fellow bloggers friends, colleagues, and an invaluable resource as you begin the blogging journey.

7) Work Hard

Success as a blogger is like any other kind of success: it demands hard work, patience, and discipline. Blogs may be more informal and spontaneous than other kinds of writing, but that doesn’t mean that they’re easy to write. I spend at least an hour on any average post; sometimes it’s much less, but sometimes it’s more. And that doesn’t include the hours I spend responding to emails and comments, photographing food, coming up with recipes, planning my posts, and so on. Blogging can feel like a tremendous burden at times—especially if it’s not your full time job.

Then again, the payoff is wonderful. You can spark conversations; you can make friends that last a lifetime; you can incite thoughtfulness about issues you care about; you can sort through thoughts, vent feelings, come to conclusions, and reflect upon experience. The more you give, the more you get. Sometimes this means blogging at 9 p.m. after a long day, when you’d rather watch TV; sometimes it means canceling a walk because you’ve got to finish up a post; sometimes it means cooking something “special” when you’d rather eat salad out of the box the mesclun greens came in. But, as with any other pursuit, your hard work and sacrifice will yield huge rewards.

8  ) Promote Yourself…

(NB: This tip is more for bloggers who want to turn their blogs into businesses than bloggers who blog purely for personal expression.)

Given that we’re all children of the “me” era and the internet age, you’d think we’d all be comfortable hocking our wares. But you’d be wrong. I can’t tell you how often friends who want to start smart, potentially successful blogs tell me that they won’t, because they’re not comfortable “putting themselves out there.” Or how often fellow bloggers tell me that they want to reach bigger audiences, but are scared of “self-promoting.”

Guess what? If you write a blog, you’re out there already. So it’s time to self-promote.

Look, no one likes to look pushy, and I think we all have an intuitive sense of what’s obnoxious and what isn’t (if you’re not sure, see point #9 for examples). But if you want your blog to be at all business-driven—even a little—you’re going to have to share your work widely. Don’t treat your blog like a guilty secret. Show it to your friends, family, and colleagues; tweet your posts with pride; mention a post you love or a recipe you shared with someone—a stranger, even—who might love it. Self-promotion doesn’t have to mean horrifyingly overpopulated twitter feeds, constant facebook updates, or other activities that reek of narcissism. It simply means taking pride in your work, and presenting it to the world with confidence.

9) …But Don’t Promote Yourself Too Much

Now that I’ve told you to put yourself out there, keep this in mind: it’s not all about you. Don’t use other peoples’ comments section as a chalkboard on which to talk about yourself, or list twenty links back to your own work. You do want to mention it if that person’s post reminded you of something personally relevant, but you don’t want to use his or her blog as ad space. Don’t bombard your twitter followers with 839382 of the same tweets about a giveaway. Don’t overwhelm your friends or family with nudges about how they should spend more time reading your blog. Put yourself out there, and let people come to you. If you write well, and you write with passion, it’s only a matter of time.

10) Don’t Compare

One of my favorite new bloggers, Katie, recently wrote a post in which she talked about self-doubt and self-comparison as a blogger. It’s easy to do: we’re a small community of very passionate writers who talk about a lot of the same stuff. How could we not occasionally feel compelled to glance over our shoulders and compare our blogs, our food, and our lives to other peoples’?

Don’t. Really. What’s nice about the blogosphere is that we’re all so remarkably different, and we can appreciate each other’s amazing marks of individuality. I love Melissa’s healthy brand of fitness enthusiasm and Mama Pea’s wit; I love Kath’s organization and sense of aesthetics; I love Bitt’s tough-minded, yet compassionate views on animal rights; I love Anne’s enthusiasm and Elise’s sly humor, Gina’s cheery attitude and Ange’s meticulous hard work, Ashley’s photos and Kristen’s recipes; I love Evan’s wit and Matt’s commitment and Heather’s honesty. Lord knows I love Laura’s outrageousness.

I love and respect these qualities in my friends, but I wouldn’t dream of trying to strategically emulate them, or sigh over why I can’t have them myself. How could I? They’re unique. In the meantime, I feel confident that I have strengths of my own. When I sit down to write every night, I’m only focused on what I have to give, and how I can give it. The rest of my time as a blogger is spent in happy appreciation of my place in a diverse community, in which we all have gifts to share, and the capacity to receive.

You’ll notice that I didn’t put anything on this list that actually sounds like business advice: no tips about getting ads or affiliate programs, or setting up online stores, or editing photos, or using Stumbleupon and Facebook. Why? Because I’m terrible at all of that stuff. But I also don’t really believe that it’s essential to success as a blogger. Social media and advertising can certainly help you reach new heights as a blogger, once a firm foundation is in place. But they can’t define a quality blog. What can—at least in my opinion—is solid writing, hard work, a clearly defined point of view, and the capacity to interact joyfully with fellow bloggers. That’s what it’s all about.

As I wrap up, I thought I would spotlight some of the blogs I’ve discovered in the last year. Not all are new, but they were/are newish to me, and some I have yet to explore. I can’t wait!

• Nourishing Flourishing
• Quick Cook Rice
• Chef Katelyn
• Wayfaring Chocolate
• Namaste Gurl
• Pinches of Jen
• Unmitigated Grub
• Ulterior Harmony
• Our Crazy, Sweet Life
• The Fruit Pursuit

And a word to all of the new bloggers who have visited CR and shared your thoughts with me: I can’t always comment, but you should know that, if you’ve found me, I’ve probably found you, too. Keep doing what you’re doing. The blog world welcomes you!

With a big cheer for new and soon-to-be bloggers everywhere, I bid you good night.

xo

Lately, I’ve been making a lot of collard green or Swiss chard wraps. This isn’t totally out of the ordinary, as raw wraps are one of my favorite dishes. But the frequency has been notable lately, and that’s because of the changes associated with student life. Being in school again means finding more options for eating on the go, and wraps make that really easy: they’re neat, portable, and a reliable way to get greens and veggies in without salads, which can be messy to pack up. As you can see, I can’t get enough of them these days:

Of course, collard green (or any green) wraps are only useful when they don’t fall apart, and they’re a little tricky to get right at first. A few of you have been asking me about how I get mine to stay neatly together, so today I figured I’d pause to give you all a little tutorial. Don’t worry: I promise this is a lot easier than my physics homework.

Step 1: Select a Good Leaf

You don’t want a massive leaf, because you’ll end up with too much of it to eat (and raw collards, when we’re not enjoying them with a tasty filling, are pretty strong). Choose a flat, even, medium sized leaf, like this one:

Step 2: De-Stem

Flip the leaf over so that the side with the prominent spine is facing up. Using a paring knife, cafefully start to shave off the spine, starting near the bottom, where it begins to protrude most:

Careful as you do this: you don’t want to cut so deep that you actually cut through the leaf! Just follow carefully along the spine, slicing away only the thick part of it.

Step 3: Flip the Leaf

…so that the side you didn’t cut is facing up.

Step 4: Place a Vertical Column of Filler on One Side of the Leaf’s Center

Like so:

I use hummus, nut pates, sauces, mashed potatoes, and all sorts of fillings! Get creative. I used my new favorite hummus—sweet potato hummus—here. (That recipe’s coming atcha soon!) I usually find that 1/4 of a cup is the right amount per leaf.

If I’m using a nut pate that I know is very calorically dense, I may use only 2-3 tbsp instead.

Step 5: Pile Veggies Atop Filling

I always have my sliced veggies laid out neatly before I assemble, like so:

And then I lie them vertically on top of the filling:

Step 6: Fold the Top and Bottom Flaps of the Collard Leaf Toward the Center

Like so:

Step 7: Fold the Side Closer to the Filling Over the Filling

Step 8: Starting with the Folded Side, Roll the Leaf Up

You’ll be rolling from the folded side to the unfolded side, right to left or left to right (I almost just said “along the x-axis.” YIKES.)

In this case, I rolled from right to left. And voila!

A neat, perfect little wrap. Slice it on a diagonal:

And serve, or wrap tightly in foil, saran, or cloth to pack up for lunch or dinner on the go.

Last night, I served my rolls with some leftover pressure cooker stew (that recipe will go up tomorrow) and some leftover crudites. Simple, semi-raw, and delicious:

Hope this settles the mystery, guys! It’s really not hard at all: just requires a little paint-by-numbers

If you’re suddenly motivated to try a leafy green wrap, let me know what you make! I’ll be back tomorrow with a 15 minute stew recipe and a recap of an important community service event. Stay warm!

xo

Hey all! Hope you’re recovering from a wonderful Christmas celebration (or from a nice day of rest). My day was cozy and quiet, just as I was hoping it would be! But before I get to Christmas day, let me tell you a big more about my Christmas eve.

For the last five years or so, I’ve taken the liberty of cooking Christmas dinner for my Mom and me. I’ve always enjoyed the meals, and for the most part, Mom has too. There have, however, been a few meals she didn’t relish: I’m thinking, for example, of the raw beet ravioli with cashew cheese and massaged kale salad we split two years ago. It all tasted good, she said, but it was a little “cold.”

Of course it was cold. It was raw.

Looking back, I see that I have a tendency to bombard my mother with food that I like, but I’m not certain she’ll like. Given that eating 100% vegan on any holiday is already a concession for her, I decided that this year, I’d focus more on her palate than on mine. I’d find a dish she loved, and veganize it. The choice wasn’t very hard: my mom has one favorite comfort food dish that stands out above all others, and it’s shepherd’s pie.

Traditional shepherd’s pie is, as you probably know, made with ground beef, carrots, and beans or celery, and it’s topped with mashed potatoes and then baked. When I was growing up, my mother made a very traditional version for parties and entertaining friends. I still remember the smell of beef browning in butter (not fondly), and the sight of her putting dots of butter on top of the potatoes before it all went in to the oven. My mom was always adamant about the fact that her shepherd’s pie was a “special treat” dish—too rich, she said, to serve on just any old night. Now, all these years later, I hope I’ve persuaded her that it’s not hard to make shepherd’s pie that’s healthy enough for any weeknight supper, but also tasty enough to satisfy our appetites.

My vegan shepherd’s pie was borrowed heavily from this recipe, courtesy of Aida Mollencamp. I did, though, make a few adjustments, so I thought I’d go through it all step by step.

Vegan Shepherd’s Pie (serves 6 generously)

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups low-sodium vegetable broth
1/3 cup red wine
3/4 ounce dried porcini mushrooms
3 pounds russet potatoes, peeled, and cut into large dice
4 tbsp Earth Balance, divided
1/3 cup rice, almond, or soy milk
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 pounds cremini mushrooms, stemmed and quartered
1 small yellow onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced (optional)
2 medium celery stalks, finely chopped
1 small celery root, peeled and small dice
3 medium carrots, peeled and small dice
2 large parsnips, peeled and small dice
1 tbsp minced fresh sage leaves
1 tbsp minced fresh thyme leaves
3 tbsp all purpose flour (if you’re gluten free, you can go ahead and use GF flour, or you can try a thickener like agar agar or arrowroot)

Directions

1) In a medium bowl, whisk together broth and wine. Stir in dried porcinis and set aside to plump up; give it at least 30 minutes. Strain mushrooms before using, reserving liquid.

2) Place potatoes in a large pot and cover with heavily salted water. Bring them to a boil and cook until very tender (about 30 minutes).

3) Using a potato masher or potato ricer, mash the potatoes. Add 2 tbsp Earth Balance and milk as you go along. Add more of both or either if you need to adjust texture. Season well with salt and pepper. Set mashed potatoes aside.

4) Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Spray a large cooking dish with olive oil or coconut oil.

5) In a large pot (at least 3-4 quarts), heat 1 tbsp Earth Balance over medium heat and begin cooking mushrooms. Start with 1/2 of the creminis, seasoning them well with salt and pepper as you cook them. When they’re brown and well cooked, set them aside. Add the remaining half to the pot and repeat.

6) When mushrooms are cooked, set them aside and heat the remaining 1 tbsp Earth Balance in the pot. Add onions and garlic and cook till translucent or golden. Add carrots and celery and cook till carrots are tender. Add parsnips and celery root and continue cooking till all vegetables are getting tender.

7) Add the cremini and the porcini mushrooms to the pot. Next, whisk 3 tbps flour into the reserved broth and wine, and add the liquid to the pot, along with the sage and thyme. Continue cooking the vegetables in the broth over a low to medium flame, stirring frequently. Check the broth and vegetables for seasoning, and season to taste with salt and pepper.

8 ) When the vegetables are very tender, and the broth has reduced almost completely (you want a bit of liquid in the pot, but not much), you’re ready to assemble the shepherd’s pie. Take the pot off of the heat. Transfer the vegetables to the large baking dish or casserole.

Next, spread the mashed potatoes carefully over the surface of the vegetables, so that it forms two neat layers.

Sprinkle the top of the potatoes with dried parsley or thyme. Transfer the dish to the oven, and bake for 30 minutes, or until the vegetables are bubbling ever so slightly, and the top of the potatoes is golden brown.

9) Remove shepherd’s pie from oven, and cut to serve.

It should be piping hot, fragrant, and absolutely scrumptious-looking:

My mom, who claims that I “only eat vegetables,” declared that she could not possibly eat both the pie, and a salad. “And I don’t know how you can possibly eat so many vegetables, either!” she added.

I scoffed. Just try me, Mom.

Spinach, fennel, and celery met olive oil, lemon, and salt. I rarely eat a meal that hasn’t at least got a raw, green component, and I’m not about to start.

My plate:

The pie was divine – earthy, comforting, very flavorful, and bursting with root vegetable goodness. My mom claimed I was heavy on the pepper; I disagree, and so did my father when he devoured some leftovers the next day. Even so, season according to your whole family’s tastes!

For dessert, I treated mom to lemon coconut Bundt cake, courtesy of Epicurean Vegan. Perfect example of a food Mom loves, and I don’t. I’d so much rather have a raw macaroon or chocolate for dessert than cake. But Bundt cake is mom’s favorite, and I was thrilled to show her how easy it is to veganize:

By the end of the night, Mom seemed thrilled with her eats. And I, in turn, was thrilled to have given her a meal that she loved.

Today, it was back to meals I love, and that included some raw soup. Raw soup isn’t always a crowd pleaser—even among raw foodies, it’s not for everyone—but it happens to be one of my favorite dishes, and after all of the chopping and dicing and sautéing and baking on Christmas, I was thrilled to throw together a soup as simple as the following.

Raw Celery Soup (serves 1)

1 cup celery juice
1 cup almond milk
1/4 avocado
Small squeeze lemon

Blend all ingredients in a blender till smooth.

Paired with a salad, it was a lovely and simple lunch—just for me.

Before I go, I wanted to mention that I also visited my father and his girlfriend on Christmas day, and that they have a new domestic companion. Meet my rambunctious younger brother, Fritz:

Meeting him was the best of Christmas presents!

How were your holidays? Did you cook mostly for yourself, or for others? According to your own tastes, or in keeping with the tastes of a crowd? I’m dying to know.

xo

Friday! Friday! Friday!

Thank you so much for the thoughtful responses to my conscious shopping post. What I’m hearing is that most of us aren’t carrying our conscientious food habits into our habits as consumers of clothing, shoes, and accessories. But it’s never too late to start!

Each month, I get countless emails about sprouting. What can I sprout? Why should I sprout it? Do I have to sprout it to get nutritional benefits?  How does one sprout something? Is it safe?

I’m delighted to see such a healthy interest in sprouting, though I also have to confess to you that I’m not an expert. Readers often assume that I sprout all of my nuts, seeds, and grains; they’re wrong! I often don’t. Sprouting is a wonderful practice, but I consider it an optional one. If you don’t do it, I assure you that you’ll survive.

What does it mean to sprout something, and why do it? Simply put, sprouting initiates the growth process of a seed, grain, or seed-grain. When a grain is sprouted, some of its complex carbohydrates are broken down into simple sugars, which are easier for our body to digest that long chains of starch. Some of the grain’s protein, likewise, is broken down into amino acids, which spares our bodies the labor of breaking it down later on. Most significantly, sprouting wicks away a grain, nut, or seed’s enzyme inhibitors and naturally occurring tannins; these are compounds that reside in the skin of the nuts, seeds, and grains, and they’re very slow to digest. The goal of soaking and sprouting is to “de-activate” them, so that our bodies face no barriers when they digest and assimilate the food.

Sprouting, soaking, and germination aren’t the same things. When you soak nuts, seeds, and grains, you break down their enzyme inhibitors. You also reduce phytic acid, a compound that binds with minerals in the grain–such as calcium, magnesium, iron, copper, and zinc–and makes it difficult for our bodies to absorb them. Soaking neutralizes the phytic acid, and “releases” those minerals for our bodies’ use. Soaking initiates germination (growth), and if you then rinse grains and leave them in a warm, damp place, they’ll begin to sprout.

Which grains can be sprouted? The simplest grains to sprout are wheat, kamut, spelt, barley, and rye. The most sproutable “pseudograins” — or “seed-grains,” as some people call them–are millet, amaranth, quinoa, buckwheat, and wild rice. I’ve experimented with sprouting all of these grains at home, and my favorites are quinoa, millet, and wheatberries (spelt and kamut are runners up!).

How often do I sprout grains? I’ll be frank: I don’t much like the taste of sprouted grains — at least not in comparison to cooked ones. And while I recognize the benefits of soaking and sprouting, I also believe that cooked grains still retain a great deal of their nutrient value; soaking and sprouting are means of optimizing absorption, but choosing not to soak or sprout won’t negate the value of your grains.

There are times, though, when sprouting grains becomes my prep method of choice. Surprisingly, I sprout grains most often when I’m busy. Why? Because once the grains are sprouted, they demand no prep time! If I have a sprouted grain on hand, I can literally throw it into a salad, mix it with veggies for a cold grain salad, or eat it plain; if I come home and want cooked grains, on the other hand, I need to put aside 20 minutes – 1 hour for the cooking process. And when it’s 9 pm after a grueling day of work, watching a simmering pot for half an hour is really the last thing I feel like doing. Having sprouted grains in my fridge means access to a meal component that’s versatile and nutrient dense; I can simply plate the grains and go.

As I battle my summer schedule, sprouted grains are making frequent appearances in the CR kitchen. Last week, I whipped up a batch of one of my very favorite sprouted grains: wheatberries. As a rule, whole wheat is less nutrient rich than some of my other favorite grains (such as millet, quinoa, or even kamut and spelt). Still, it’s a terrific source of fiber (which can help to manage cholesterol, contributes to heart health, and keeps us feeling sated), manganese (which is an enzyme activator and an aid in lipid synthesis), magnesium (which helps to keep bones healthy). In other words, it’s got tons of nutrient benefits. It’s also pretty tasty

Soaking and sprouting grains — whatever grains they may be — is far easier than you’d expect!

Today, I’ll offer a short grain sprouting tutorial:

1) Place one full cup of wheatberries in a large mason jar. Fill it with 2 1/2 cups filtered water. Let it sit, open, at room temperature for one full day.

2) 24 hours later, drain the wheatberries and rinse them well.

3) Return the soaked grains to your mason jar. Take a paper towel or cheesecloth, put it over the mouth of the jar, and secure it there with a rubber band. Turn the jar on its side, and leave it be in a room temperature nook of your kitchen.

4) Let the jar sit for 12-24 hours — I almost always give it a full day. At the end of this time period, you can remove the paper towel or cloth, and you’ll see that the grains have sprouted little “tails,” like so!

At this point, the grains are ready for consumption. You should have about 2 cups of sprouted grains at the ready. It’s. That. Simple.

See? No fuss! Sprouting is a cinch, and once you get used to it, you’ll love the process. Right now, I’ve got a jar or two of different grains sprouting or soaking almost all the time; it’s such a relief to have them at the ready when I need to toss a meal together on the fly. Note that different grains take different amounts of time to sprout; wheatberries take a long time, relatively speaking, but grains like quinoa sprout in a jiffy. As you get used to sprouting, you’ll get a sense of the times that different grains demand.

What to do with you sprouted grains? I’m glad you asked. As you know, I’m a big fan of throwing grains+avocado onto a nutrient dense salad. I also love mixing sprouted grains with banana and nut milk for breakfast. Sometimes, I grind sprouted grains and put them in cracker or bread dough.

Most of all, I love to use my sprouted grains in grain salads. These are, quite simply, big batches of sprouted grains mixed with raw veggies, oil, and a hint of acid in the form of lemon or vinegar. Here, friends, is one of my favorites.

Sprouted Wheatberry Salad (serves 4)

2 cups sprouted wheatberries
1/2 cup dried apples, chopped into small pieces
2 cups shredded dino or curly kale
1 cup chopped or grated carrots
1-2 tsp agave nectar or maple syrup
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp flax oil

Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl.

I don’t think it’s any great secret at this point that I love salad. Salads are the foundational food in my diet, the meal I eat more than any other. I’ve shared countless favorite recipes with you here at CR, which fall into numerous categories. There are the kale salads, ranging from my basic massaged kale salad, to the Gena Divine (inspired by Sun in Bloom‘s Bella Divine) and the newly concocted Surf n’ Turf salad. There are the seasonal salads, such as my avocado, fennel, and cherry tomato salad (summer), my root vegetable salad (autumn), and my cabbage and fennel slaw (winter). (Clearly, I need to get cracking on a spring salad). And then, there are my specialty salads, such as the spicy thai, the cucumber and coconut, or the butter lettuce, cherry tomato, and corn medley.

Today, I’d like to discuss another category of salads. This isn’t so much a recipe post as a how-to. What I’m here to show you is how to build a salad that’s meal sized. What does meal sized mean? It means salads that boast enough nutrients and density to serve as an entree.

One of the most common complaints I get from clients is that they’re eating big salads at lunchtime, but that these salads never keep them full. “I’m starving by 3 p.m.!” they exclaim. When a client tells me such a thing, a familiar dialog always begins:

Me: “So. What’s in your lunchtime salad?”

Client: “Wellll. Some romaine, or baby greens, with some shredded carrots or cucumber or tomato, and half an avocado.”

Let’s see: lettuce, shredded carrots, cucumber, and half an avocado. (Sometimes, a client will add that she dresses it with lemon and stevia; no oil, of course.)

That’s lunch?

No wonder my client is starving to death by 3! Lettuce and veggies (which, though nutrient-packed powerhouses, are mostly water, after all) +  half an avocado do not a satiating meal make. If you try to take all of the oomph out of your lunchtime salad, relegating yourself to veggies and more veggies, you’re lucky to crash and burn in the afternoon. And that, friends, is when mindless office snacking, cranky moods, brain fog, and binges happen.

So the idea behind today’s post is this: how can we put together lunchtime (or dinnertime) salads that are light and digestible, but offer us adequate–nay, optimal–nutrition?

You all know by now that I am not a fan of calorie counting, mostly because I believe it emphasizes the wrong values (numbers over quality) in selecting food. But with that said and understood, I’ll also say that there are moments in life when I believe counting can be useful. It’s useful for people who are extremely overweight and looking to lose a significant amount. It’s useful for women who are very underweight, and need to get the scale moving into higher ranges. It can be useful for athletes in training (though I know many athletes who perform beautifully without it). It can be a useful tool for people who have virtually no familiarity with nutrition, who are trying to learn the values of various foods.

And sometimes, it can be useful for women who are perpetually starving to do brief, approximate experiments with calorie awareness, only so that they can figure out whether or not they might be eating far too little to fuel their bodies. So let’s take that client’s salad. Lettuce, and a handful or two of chopped veggies, coupled with half an avocado? Probably someplace between 180 and 220 calories, give or take. Now, if an average woman is eating (as most average women do) between 1600 and 2400 calories each day, then the truth becomes painfully obvious: that lunchtime salad was snack-sized.

Bear with me. I don’t like this numbers game any more than you do. I believe it’s absolutely possible to have certain meals (or even certain days) that are low, calorically speaking, as long as there are other days that are higher than usual, too. If balance is present, then meals or snacks that are exceptionally dense or light don’t matter; the point is that you’re eating enough from day to day, week to week, and so on, not that you get every single plate of food “right” according to a numeric standard. But if you’re finding that salad after salad leaves you ravenous, I think it’s time for you to face the obvious: your salads are probably too light to keep you full. And it’s time for you to rethink your salad formula.

What’s my salad formula? Simple! I like to add at least two or three sources of density to my salads if they’re going to serve as meals. What’s density? Well, I do mean a source of caloric density, but what I really mean is a source of nutritional heft and satiety. This might be a starch, like sweet potatoes or grains; it might be a fat source, like a tahini dressing or avocado; it might be nuts or dried fruit; it might be a bit of tempeh; it might be as simple as a healthy flax oil. The idea is that I like for at least two of these things to join forces, affording me a filling and nutritionally rich meal.

Rather than go on about this methodology, I thought I’d show you what I mean. Over the last few weeks, I snapped photos of salads at home and at work, trying to give you a sense of what a nutrient rich salad looks like. All of these salads, by my own very loose estimates, fall into the 400-650 calorie range, which is about meal sized by typical standards. Again, it’s not the number that really counts: what I want you all to internalize is the idea of building upon your veggies to form a real meal. Let the slideshow begin:

Salad with sweet potatoes? Almost there.

Salad with sweet potatoes, avocados, and my zucchini dressing? Lunch.

Romaine lettuce and veggies? Sad.

Salad with romaine lettuce, veggies, and white bean and spinach dip? Better.

Salad with romaine lettuce and veggies, white bean dip, zucchini dressing and Lydia’s crackers? Yum!

Greens and lentils? Barren.

Greens, lentils, olive oil, lemon, agave, and avocado? That’s more like it!

Spinach, cabbage, and carrots? Grumble, grumble.

Spinach, cabbage, carrots, pumpkin seeds, and raisins? Kind of.

Spinach, cabbage, carrots, raisins, pumpkin seeds, vinaigrette, and a Prana bar? Lunch is served!

Spinach and ruby kraut? A good start.

Spinach, ruby kraut, half a cup of leftover quinoa? You’re getting closer…

Spinach, ruby kraut, quinoa, and leftover kabocha? Almost there!

Spinach, ruby kraut, quinoa, leftover kabocha, and zucchini dressing? We have a winner!!

Spinach and broc? Not.

Spinach and broc, seeds and figs? Better.

Spinach, broc, seeds + figs, zucchini dressing and zucchini slices with walnut-lentil pate? Genius!

Olive-oil massaged kale salad with veggies? An auspicious start.

Massaged kale salad with marinated veggies and Lydia’s crackers? Nom nom.

Vinaigrette + baby romaine? Lame.

Vinaigrette, baby romaine, and pistachios? Better.

Vinaigrette, baby romaine, pistachios and figs? Almost!

Vinaigrette, baby romaine, pistachios, figs, and carrots + walnut butter? Bon appetit!

Veggie medley? Nice, but no cigar.

Veggie medley + raw nori bites? Let the games begin.

Veggie medley, raw nori bites, drizzle of flax oil + lemon, and a side of raw almonds? She shoots, she scores!

Kale salad? Step 1.

Kale salad + sea veggies? Step 2.

Kale salad + sea veggies + marinated portobello + hempesan? Bingo!

Veggies galore? Needs more.

Veggies galore, vinaigrette, and crumbled Larabar? Score!

Need other ideas?

How about a big spicy thai salad:

Or a bed of spinach, dressed and topped with my Middle Eastern cauliflower “rice”?

Or dark greens, topped with juice pulp crackers and a giant bed of broccoli hummus?

A picture’s worth a thousand words.

If you’re a food combiner, fear not: the salads above should show you, with a few exceptions, that it’s possible to get enough variety and density without too many miscombinations. Full belly, calm belly.

I hope this little gallery has given you a sense of the rich, nourishing, and filling world of salads, guys! If you’ve been sitting at your desk or table scratching your head as to why a salad simply can’t seem to keep you full, fear not: you are not alone. You are, however, in a position to mix things up. Begin layering your salad with sources of nutrient rich foods, and sources of density. You’ll be amazed at how your perception of “a salad” begins to evolve — and your bodies and bellies will be thanking you in the meantime.

Have a great day!

xo

Happy weekend, guys.

I’m here to introduce a guest post from one of my favorite bloggers and blog friends: Cory (aka Zestycook!). Cory’s blog is one of my very favorites. The premise of the blog is to present delicious and crowd-pleasing recipes that are quick and easy to prepare. Think sweet potato fries, sweet and savory toast toppings (talk about simple and delicious!), pineapple glazed ham, and cheese-stuffed burgers (yeah, you heard me right).

Though Cory’s blog is not — as Cory himself likes to jovially remind me — even a little bit raw or vegan, the blog is everything I look for in a food blog. It’s beautifully presented, passionate, informative, and it features simple recipes made with whole foods. So in spite of the fact that Cory and I eat very different diets, we value the same things: quick, fresh and feasible recipes for busy people who love good food. Delivered with a side of humor.

Cory’s chosen to discuss a topic I’ve been hoping to address for a while now: how to select and store veggies. In my work as a coach, I often find that the single most useful tips I give my clients are practical, rather than dietetic. For example: if a client has a fridge stocked with fresh vegetables, he or she will be far more likely to whip up vegetable-based meals. If he or she has a fridge full of wilting spinach, or no vegetables at all, my client will probably reach for the cereal box or the takeout number. For this reason, I like to urge clients to buy and replenish produce once or twice a week, and to store it properly. So take note, guys: having fresh, crisp vegetables on hand can be one of the most crucial steps to raw success.

On that note, I’ll turn the lesson over to my good friend, ZestyCook!

___________________________________________________________________________________________

Hi, Choosing Raw readers.  I am Zesty from Zestycook.com, and I am super excited to be here guest posting for Gena.  I love Gena’s writing and reading her posts, but I will forewarn you, my writing is not quite up to Gena’s, so bear with me. When I was trying to decide on a topic for Choosing Raw I immediately thought of fresh fruit and vegetables and ways to prepare them.  Then I thought it would be fun to answer a very common question… how do you blanch vegetables?

There is nothing tastier than fresh produce. And learning to cook with fresh ingredients will ensure that you will enjoy healthy and tasty meals. Whether you are buying produce from a grocery store or from a local farmers market, here are some tips on what to look for when buying fresh fruits and vegetables:

• Purchase fruit and vegetables that look and smell fresh. Look for produce that is not bruised or damaged. Over-handling the produce can cause damage and spoilage.

• Refrigeration keeps most fruits and vegetables from ripening. If you purchase unripe fruits or vegetables, place the fruit in a paper bag and close tightly. For certain vegetables and fruits such as avocados, it is best to just lay them on the counter until they are ripe.

Now onto blanching vegetables.

I get this question a fair bit, especially from the older folks who tend to boil the living daylights out of their vegetables.  They could use a lesson in blanching, a technique that’s excellent both for locking in nutritional and for keeping the vegetables slightly firmer and with more texture.  I, for one, prefer a slightly undercooked carrot than a waterlogged boiled carrot.

So follow the simple steps below to blanch your next batch of vegetables.

How to Blanch Vegetables

1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil over high heat. Add enough salt so the water tastes faintly salty.

2. While the water heats, fill a medium bowl about 3/4 full with ice, then add enough cold water to come just to the top of the ice.

3. When the water is boiling and the ice bath is ready, trim the vegetables to your desired size. It’s best to trim them just prior to cooking so that they won’t oxidize or dehydrate.

4. Add the vegetables to the boiling water in batches small enough to ensure that the water doesn’t lose its boil.  This is crucial, as you don’t want to have to wait for the water to come up to a boil again and cause the vegetables to over cook.

5. Boil the vegetables only until they’re barely cooked through but still tender. To test, remove one piece with a slotted spoon, dip it into the ice bath to cool, and eat it.

6. As soon as the vegetables are done, quickly remove and submerge them in the ice bath.

7. Remove them from the ice bath as soon as they are no longer warm.  Note that if you plan on eating the vegetables right away you can avoid the ice bath and just EAT.

8. To reheat the vegetables, you can use any cooking method you wish, such as sauteing, grilling, or boiling; just make sure to barely heat them up and not to cook them again.  This is also an excellent way to freeze vegetables and then use them in stir fry’s or cooked salads.

Thanks so much for reading! If you enjoyed this post, please let Gena know — and if you want to see more Zesty, just head over here and check it out.  I would be happy to have you!

Take care,

Zesty

___________________________________________________________________________________________

Thanks, Zest! I’m sure my readers will find these tips immensely helpful.

I should add that blanching (along with lightly steaming) is one of the cooking techniques that many raw foodists — even hardcore ones — continue to employ in their food preparation, as it’s gentle enough to preserve a high portion of nutrient content in vegetables. It can be particularly useful when cooking firm veggies (like carrots or beets) for guests who aren’t quite ready to embrace them in the raw. It’s also a nice way of enjoying food that’s warm, yet still nutrient-rich, in the winter.

Hope you’re all enjoying a good weekend. I’ll be back this week with a recipe, a question of the week, and a Choosing Raw interview!

xo

I interrupt your regularly scheduled Tuesdays for the following astonishment, brought to me by my friend Ben. I (and, quite possibly, you too) have spent my entire life believing that there is only one way to open a banana. I was wrong. Very wrong. Behold, friends:

Who knew? Now you can make that banana soft serve even faster!