Fabulous conversation we’re having about the link between professional life and EDs, particularly among adult women. Join in!

A month or so ago, I was treated to one of the finest meals of my life by my friends at VegNews. The location? Portobello restaurant in PDX. The highlights of the meal? Where do I begin! There was a gnocchi from heaven, garnished with sweet corn cream; there were Italian cookies crispy and crumbly enough to make the folks at Veniero’s genuflect. And, most of all, there were soups.

A trio of soups, each more delicious than the last. For me, there was a clear highlight, and that was the grape and almond soup (it’s the creamy looking one to the left). I’d never heard of such a combination before, and I was astounded by how delicious it was: sweet, of course, but also subtly tart and a little salty (sweet, tart, and salty: it’s my holy trinity).

I vowed that night, at the table, to recreate this dish. Since it’s now officially autumn (happy October, people!) and the season of farmer’s market grapes is upon us, I figured now was the right moment to try.

As it turns out, there are quite a few recipes for white grape and almond soup or gazpacho floating around out there on the internet. But most of them are not raw, and most of them are a little complex. Per my norm, I decided to keep mine very, very simple. All you need are fresh grapes (OK I’ll be honest: I did not use the farmer’s market variety; I used seedless ones from Whole Foods. You can too.) soaked almonds, apple cider vinegar, salt, and a willingness to try something wonderful and new.

Red Grape and Almond Gazpacho (raw, vegan, gluten and soy free)

Serves 2, or 4-6 as soup shooters

1 1/2 cups red seedless grapes (or pitted red grapes)
2 tsps apple cider vinegar
1/4 tsp sea salt
A dash of black pepper
1/2 cup grape juice (I made fresh grape juice from the juicer, but you could certainly purchase an organic juice from a brand you like)
2/3 cup almonds, soaked 8-12 hours
Water to thin (about 1/4 – 1/2 cup, depending on your consistency)

Handful raw almond slivers and 1/2 cup halved red grapes for garnish

1) Blend all ingredients in a high speed blender till smooth. Check seasonings (add more salt if needed) and check the consistency: at this point (depending on how plump your grapes were) you might need quite a bit more water, or not very much at all. I needed no more than 1/4 cup.

2) Garnish soup with almond sliver and grapes. Mine sunk to the bottom of my bowl, which is why they’re largely invisible in my photos. A professional food stylist I shall never be.

This is a great soup to serve as a small appetizer. It’s very rich, so you don’t need much to feel sated and delighted. If I were you, though, and I were serving this to guests, I’d take a cue from the folks at Portobello and I’d serve the soup in shooter glasses; it’s a fun way to have a mini-appetizer or an amuse-bouche that’s easy to prepare and highly unusual. And the creaminess and richness of this soup will lend itself well to such a presentation.

The color, as you can see, is a beautiful but subtle pink/purple.

This soup serves as a reminder that the most unlikely of food combinations can prove to be stunningly tasty. And as far as raw soups go, it’s one of the more palatable and mild. I urge you to try it for yourselves! And since it’s a very simple recipe, I urge you to play around with the acid, salt, and consistency: I had to experiment quite a bit before I hit the right combination.

On that note, I have a hot date with this guy:

Have a fabulous Saturday, guys!

xo

It’s Friday!

In spite of a exam looming on Tuesday, I’m delighted to be facing a weekend. Happy, too, that you all enjoyed the raw nori rolls yesterday—do not fear sushi making, folks! It’s so fun and such an easy way to turn an everyday meal into something beautiful and elegant

It’s September, which means that autumn, my favorite time of year, has officially begun. Today is the first cool and crisp day we’ve had here in the swamps in a long, long time, and I’m excited for all the little details of the coming season: apples, nubby sweaters, boots, scarves, hot cocoa, and, most importantly, the best farmers’ markets of the whole year. Sure, I like a July farmer’s market, with its abundance of berries and heirloom tomatoes, but I think that September is really the best time of year to soak up local produce. You have all of the marvelous bounty of fall rolling in—broccoli, autumn squashes, green beans, kale—and you’ve still got fresh corn, tomatoes by the bushel, and even some late summer peaches. What more could any of us ask for?

Last week, a bunch of plums appeared in M’s produce box. Plums embody the summer/fall transition nicely, since their season spans May-October (depending on where you live, of course). I was glad to have them, but aside from my vegan sugar plum muffins, I really couldn’t think of what to do with them. Then it occurred to me that, as we kiss summer goodbye, we’re also bidding au revoir to the season of chilled soups. I decided to make a dessert soup for a change, featuring these beautiful scarlet fruits. The result—a really simple plum purée, spiced with cinnamon and topped off with cashew cream—was a delicious sweet treat.

Chilled Plum Soup With Cashew Cream (vegan, gluten free and soy free)

Serves 4

5-6 plums, pitted and quartered
1/4 cup dermarara sugar (agave would be alright, too)
1/2 cup water
2 tbsp orange juice (optional)
1 tbsp orange zest or 1 tsp lemon zest (optional)
2 tsps cinnamon
1 tbsp arrowroot or tapioca starch

For the cashew cream:

1 cup cashews, soaked for a few hours
1 1/4 cup water
2 tbsp agave
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp vanilla extract

1) To make the cashew cream, put the soaked cashews in your Vita-Mix or food processor along with the agave, vanilla, and water. Blend until mixture is very creamy.

2) Place plums, sugar, water, OJ, zest, and cinnamon in a medium pot and bring to a boil. When it boils, reduce to a simmer and cook, stirring occasionally, for 15 minutes.

3) Add arrowroot or cornstarch and raise heat slightly. Whisk as you cook for another 5-10 minutes, until soup has thickened a bit and is bubbling.

4) Transfer soup to a blender and blend till very smooth. (Careful! Hot liquid will expand and spatter if you don’t keep your blender lid on very tightly!). Let cool to room temperature, then transfer to fridge and cool completely.

5) To serve, ladle into bowls and top with a swirl of cashew cream. Enjoy either as a sweet accompaniment to lunch, or as a dessert!

Just look at that spectacular hue:

This is the perfect celebration for the end of summer, or a light, bright way to end a richer autumnal meal.

Obvious question: why not raw? Honestly, because I tried making it raw, and didn’t love it; here, simmering the plums really brings out a deeper sweetness and a better texture. But if one of you manages to perfect this soup in the raw, come back and tell us about it!

Looking for other things to do with plums? Give my sugar plum muffins a try!

Have a stellar Friday night, everyone. See you this weekend!

xo

A few days ago, I shared the last meal that I threw together before my final exam descended and kept me out of the kitchen for a week. It rightfully earned the title of a “hurry up vegan” meal: though filling and heart (a soup, a salad, and a bean burger) it was also stunningly fast, and that was mostly thanks to the following soup.

This soup is almost too good to be true. It really is. It’s ready in just under fifteen minutes, but it tastes as though it’s been simmering and collecting flavor for hours. Everyone you make it for will tell you it’s one of your best recipes, and none of them will suspect that it’s as simple as throwing together some pantry and freezer staples.

The inspiration for this recipe came from my friend Nava Atlas, who’s book Vegan Express is among my top five vegan cookbook resources of all time. It is an essential book for any vegan home cook: no one masters the art of food that’s fast AND healthy quite the way Nava does. (For more of her recipes and work, check out her awesome website.) When I first read the recipe for Nava’s thai corn chowder, I marveled at the idea that any recipe could be so easy, and also taste good. It did, and I’ve been using it as a template for this, my own version, ever since.

Summer Corn and Coconut Soup (inspired by Nava Atlas; vegan, gluten and soy free)

Serves 4

3/4 cup chopped onion
1 small bell pepper, chopped
1 small clove garlic, chopped
1 tsp olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
1 cup coconut milk (full fat or light)
2 cups almond milk, plain
Corn from 3 large ears of corn, fresh (or 1 bag, frozen)
2 tsps curry powder

1) Sautee the onion, pepper and garlic in the oil till nice and golden (8 min or so).

2) Add the coconut milk, almond milk, all but one cup of the corn, and curry. Bring to a boil.

3) Simmer for 10 minutes, until the corn is cooked through. Add salt and pepper to taste.

4) Optional: Using an immersion blender, purree the soup till creamy, then add last cup of corn and heat through to serve. If you don’t have time, simply add all the corn when you add the almond and coconut milk, and cook through. The soup is tasty when half-purreed, but it’s definitely not necessary.

5) Garnish with fresh herbs (cilantro is great) and serve!

This, along with some sort of plant-based protein and a big leafy salad, makes for a speedy and scrumptious summertime supper. And lots of bad alliteration. If you’re not sure what to pair with it, try my black bean and corn burgers!

Hope you try this miraculous soup soon, and check out the cookbook that inspired it.

Meanwhile, stay tuned for a giveaway tomorrow! And hope you’re having a sunny Monday.

xo

After our side by side comparison of butternut squash and apple soup this week—a fun conversation, I thought—it felt only right that I experiment with another soup on an unseasonably chilly Wednesday afternoon. It had been a long time since I’d made cauliflower soup, and since we’d all been talking about the depth of flavor that comes from roasting veggies before puréeing them, I decided to caramelize my cauliflower in the oven. As I was chopping it, my gaze happened to fall upon the four parsnips that had been sitting patiently in my fridge for over a week. I thought that their sweetness would complement the sweetness of roasted cauliflower well, and parsnips also have a subtle spice that I love. So, without wasting a breath, I peeled and chopped them, and threw them into the mix.

When I was pointing out the pros and cons of cooked vs. raw soups on Monday, I mentioned that cleaning roasting pans is one of the disadvantages of cooked soup prep. Tons of you chimed in to say that lining pains with tin foil is the best way to avoid this trap. Believe it or not, this had never occurred to me! I made this my first experiment with it, and was impressed by the amazingly easy cleanup!

As for the soup itself, the ingredients are fairly straightforward. Rather than using onions, which most cooked soup recipes do, I used shallots. This is a great tip for any chef who, like me, has a slight aversion to the taste of onions. Shallots lend amazing flavor and sophistication to cooking—they’re true staples in most restaurant kitchens—without adding too much oniony taste or aftertaste. I highly recommend them!

Roasted Cauliflower and Parsnip Soup (Vegan, gluten free, can be soy free)

Yields 4-5 cups

1 small head cauliflower, chopped
4 large parsnips, peeled and chopped
1-2 tbsp olive oil
4 shallots, cut in half
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp sage
4 cups vegetable broth
1/2 cup rice, soy, or coconut milk
Sea salt and pepper to taste
Paprika

1) Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking tray or two with tin foil.

2) Lay cauliflower, parsnips, shallots, and garlic, out on foil, and drizzle with olive oil, thyme, sage, salt and pepper.

3) Roast veggies for about 35-40 min, or until they’re soft and golden brown.

4) Place veggies in a high speed blender (you may have to work in batches) and add broth and non-dairy milk. Blend until soup is smooth and creamy, adding more liquid if you need to. Alternately, you can use an immersion blender.

5) Transfer soup to a pot and re-season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve with a swirl of cashew cream (recipe to follow).

Cashew Cream

Yields about 1 1/2 cups

1 cup cashews, soaked for at least 2 hours
1 tsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp salt
Fresh water

Placed soaked cashews in a blender. Add enough water to cover them by an inch. Blend until silky smooth. Serve over soups, or any other dish that begs for cream!

Look at how rich and decadent it is—and the sweetness of the vegetables makes it all the more delicious!

Served here with my walnut cheese and apple wraps:

It’s a gray, drizzly day here in DC, and I’m almost tempted to make the soup again—that’s how much I liked it. Regardless of where you are or what the weather’s like, I hope you give this one a try soon!

Happy weekend!

xo

Thanks for sharing your weird ‘sammich ideas! I was glad you all liked the cashew/apple combo.

When you’ve been eating semi-raw for as long as I have, you start to realize that you’ve had both a raw and a cooked version of almost all of your favorite foods: soups, burgers, wraps, etc. I make sunshine burgers raw, and I make them cooked; I make hummus raw, and hummus cooked; I make noodles raw, and noodles cooked; you get the idea, right?

One of my favorite soups in the world is butternut squash and apple. I love how the sweet, starchiness of the squash is met by the tartness of apples; I love the fall flavors and spices; I love the simplicity and ease of making it. A long time ago, I shared my recipe for a raw version of butternut squash and apple soup (I don’t love root vegetables in raw form, but I don’t mind them that way when they’re blended), which is one of my favorite raw soups, period.

This past weekend, I tried my hand at a cooked version, and liked the results almost as much. Before I play a fun little game of comparison, let me share the new recipe:

Roasted Butternut Squash and Apple Soup (Vegan, gluten free, soy free if you don’t use soy milk)

(serves 2-4)

1 butternut squash, peeled and chopped (if you use pre-cut, this should be about 3 lbs)
3 apples of choice, chopped; I used Braeburn
1 very small onion, chopped
2 tbsp coconut oil
1/2 tsp kosher or sea salt (+more to taste)
Black pepper to taste
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp crushed thyme
2 1/2 cups vegetable broth
1/2 cup coconut, soy, or rice milk

1) Place squash, apples, and onion on a large roasting tray. Drizzle coconut oil and salt and pepper over them, mix with your hands, and roast at 375 degrees for about 45 minutes, or until they’re all soft and golden.

2) Place roasted veggies in a blender with vegetable broth, nutmeg, soy, rice, or coconut milk, and thyme. Blend, and season to taste with salt and pepper. If the soup needs more liquid, add some more, until it’s the consistency you like. I like mine nice and thick!

3) Transfer to a pot, and re-heat. Serve dusted with cinnamon.

How does this recipe stack up to my raw recipe? Good question. Let’s compare:

The Cooked

Pros:

• Depth of flavor: roasting the veggies gives this soup a deep, sweet, smoky flavor that simply can’t be found in the raw recipe.
• Mainstream appeal: this recipe is, I think, a little more familiar in flavor than my raw recipe, which is also familiar, but brighter and lighter than the norm.
• Heat: this is your go-to for a cold winter day.

Cons

• Time: roasting the vegetables takes quite a bit of time, so this isn’t a recipe you can make spontaneously, or enjoy immediately.
• Mess: roasting pans are a pain to clean.
• Sweetness: I find that roasting all of your veggies brings out the natural sugars, which means that this soup is on the sweet side. Now, I love this, and many others will, too, but if you’re cooking for someone who doesn’t appreciate sweet/savory food, you may prefer the raw version.

The Raw

Pros:

• Speed! This soup comes together in mere moments, and tastes as if you’ve simmered it for a while (well, aside from the fact that it’s not hot…you know what I mean. It tastes complete). So, even if it occurs to you to make this at the last moment, you’ll still have time for a delicious meal.
• Less mess: You’ll chop a lot, but no roasting pans to deal with. Or pots. Score.
• Brightness of flavor: you taste everything in this soup—the spices, the apple, the salt—because it’s so unbelievably fresh.

Cons:

• Temperature: while you could easily heat this soup up, it lacks the warmth (and depth of flavor) of the cooked soup. Maybe better for autumnal cravings during the summer?
• Starchiness: leaving the butternut squash raw will give the soup a slightly starchy mouthfeel. I barely notice this, but a very picky eater might. If you’re scared of that, steam the squash lightly.
• Novelty: the idea of a raw soup may freak out non-raw guests. You can either trick them, and not say a thing before you serve it (just let them be surprised), or you can opt to make a cooked version for others, and enjoy the raw version yourself.

I think that’s a pretty good summary of the soups’ strengths and weaknesses—and it speaks to some of the pros and cons of cooking vs. uncooking in general (that is, cooking is messier and slower, but often easier when you entertain; raw food can present challenges in terms of texture and novelty, but is fast and fresh). In truth, they’re both delicious meals, both worthy of dinner, depending on how much time you have and what your priorities are!

As for taste, did I have a preference? Yep. I registered a faint preference for my raw version when I tried the cooked one, but I still really, really enjoyed the cooked one. And M did too, though he noted that it was a little salty (I originally had 3/4 tsp, so I decreased it to 1/2; that should be safe, and you can add more if you want more).

In any case, butternut and apple is a match made in heaven, so I hope you try either of these soups—or both of them!—soon!

What’s your favorite soup? If it’s raw, can you imagine eating it cooked? If it’s cooked, do you think you could make a raw version?

xo

Glad you’re all into the chia hemp power pudding! I suspected you would be

If M were chiming in as I write this, he’d think of a good name for the stew I’m about to share. As you can see, the name I’ve given it is none too creative. But let that not dissuade you, readers: this is a tasty one.

When I was a normal working lady, coming home to dinner was my favorite ritual. No, I didn’t always have the luxury of a home made meal at the end of each day, but I’d say there were at least three nights each week when I could come home from the office, make a great dinner, and eat it in the quiet comfort of my little apartment. Nowadays, I get home from class anytime between 8 pm and 11 pm, so those perfect weekday meals are a thing of the past: sometimes I manage a great mid-week dinner, but more often than not I’m throwing together a salad as quickly as I know how.

As recompense for this, I spend my weekdays looking forward to my two favorite rituals: being reunited with M at the end of each week, and cooking. Friday mornings are always a high point for me, since I can wake up knowing that my day will end either with my arrival in D.C., or M’s arrival here. And amidst all of that, dinner will have to be made.

Last night, I got to D.C. after a long week of exams and counseling work. It was a perfect night for a rewarding, home cooked meal if ever there was one, but I needed that meal to be fast and easy. Pressure cooker to the rescue! As you all know, M introduced me to the wonder that is the pressure cooker early in our relationship, and life hasn’t been the same since. I know I owe you guys a tutorial, and I swear I’ll get on that, but in the meantime let me tell you about the quick and easy soup I threw together in 10 minutes with its trusty help.

Spontaneity doesn’t rank too high in my skills as a chef. I’m great at making recipes up, following them, and I’m a champ at planning: give me a dinner party or a busy week of packed lunches and I’ll have a step-by-step game plan at the ready in a moment’s time. I’m methodical and I think ahead, and I find this to be a good asset as a food blogger. What I wish I had, though, is that magical quality that truly “chefly” people seem to have: the capacity to improvise brilliantly. I’m a self-trained cook who’s proud of her progress, but boy do I wish I could simply gaze into a pantry or a grocery box and be flooded with brilliant meal ideas and flavor pairings.

Sigh. One day.

For now, I’m getting better at working spontaneously with ingredients on hand. Case in point? A soup that came from my leftover butternut squash, M’s brand new split peas, a grocery box full of kale and chard, and a cabinet stocked with spices.

Butternut Squash and Split Pea Soup (Vegan, Gluten Free, Soy Free)

Serves 3-4

1 lb butternut squash, chopped into small chunks or cubes
1 cup green or yellow split peas
3 carrots, chopped
1 onion, chopped
5 1/2 cups water with 1/2 vegan bouillan cub, or 5 1/2 cups vegetable broth
1-2 tsps curry powder (adjust this to taste)
1 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp cinnamon
Salt to taste
Black pepper to taste

Place all ingredients in a pressure cooker and bring to a low boil. Seal the cooker and cook on high pressure for 7 or 8 minutes.

Release pressure (naturally or quick release) and serve. I enjoyed my with a sprinkle of nooch on top!

If you don’t have a pressure cooker, simply bring the ingredients to a boil, lower to a simmer, and cook until squash and peas are tender (45 min or so).

It was delicious on its own:

And equally excellent with some kale salad and Ezekiel toast:

What a perfect way to end the week: twin homecomings. Reunited with M and the kitchen, all’s right with the world.

What’s your favorite Friday or weekend ritual? And what sort of food goes with it?

xo

I’ll admit it: I’m not good with titles. I spent four years of college studying English, and another six editing books, and I never managed to acquire a knack for naming. When my authors used to consult me about potential book titles, a lump formed in my throat: heck if I knew. Coming up with clever titles—for books, essays, or even emails—is an art, and I’m not that kind of artist.

Thankfully, M happens to be the more creative in our partnership. And so on Saturday, while we were pondering a name for the incredible and nutritious new soup I’d made, he suggested the gently amusing “wall of green.” It couldn’t have been more apt, because this soup, which contains green split peas and no less than five heaping cups of green leafy vegetables, brings a new level of texture, taste, and harmony to your standard blended green food. It’s delicious, and if you gave me a choice of this soup, a green smoothie, a green juice, or even my standard blended salad, this would win in an instant.

Appropriately, the idea for this soup was also M’s. Thanks to my weekly grocery run and his grocery box, we had about five pounds of bok choy, lettuce, kale, and spinach in my fridge. I knew it would be tough to finish them before the weekend ended, and so did he, which is why blending the greens seemed so smart.

At first, I wasn’t sure how I’d pull off a soup that was delicious, but also incorporated so many leafy greens. After a little brainstorming and some inspiration in the form of this recipe from my friend Susan, I came up with the following. Using my pressure cooker made it super quick and easy, but you could absolutely cook it the regular way, too; I’ll give you both instructions below. In the end, you should have a thick, creamy, piping hot pot of soup that’ll help you to max out on your leafy green intake for the day without even the slightest of grimaces.

“Wall of Green” Soup (Vegan, Soy Free, Gluten Free)

Serves 3 for a meal or 4 for a small appetizer

2 small white potatoes, skinned and quartered
3 shallots, chopped
3 carrots, roughly chopped
2 stalks celery, roughly chopped
1/2 cup green split peas, rinsed
5 cups vegetable broth
5 cups of washed and chopped green leafy vegetables (eyeball it; you can add a little more or a little less)
1 cup white button mushrooms, chopped
2 tsps oregano
1 tsp thyme
Handful fresh parsley, chopped
1 tbsp almond, coconut, or cashew butter (I used coconut butter)
1/2 cup almond milk
1 tbsp lemon juice
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
Salt and pepper to taste

1) Place the potatoes, shallots, carrots, celery, split peas, and broth in a pressure cooker and bring to pressure. Cook on high pressure for 8-10 minutes; then release pressure (manually or by letting the pressure come down on its own).

Alternately, bring the ingredients to a boil and then simmer for about 35-45 minutes, or until split peas are very tender.

2) Blend all ingredients with an immersion blender or pour it into a regular blender and do it that way, till it’s well pureed.

3) Add greens and mushrooms to the blended soup, cover, and bring to a gentle simmer. Let it simmer for 25 minutes or so.

4) Add the parsley, lemon, nut or coconut butter, almond milk, and nutritional yeast. Using an immersion blender or a regular blender, blend the soup a second time.

5) Warm the soup over a gentle flame once more, and season to taste with salt and black pepper.

Note that you can use any combo of greens in this soup. I used bok choy, spinach, and kale, but broccoli, chard, and even zucchini would be great, too.

As you can see, I served ours with a nice drizzle of flax oil. On the side we had sprouted grain buns and a lovely salad of lettuce, warm russet potatoes, button mushrooms, olive oil, lemon, a touch of agave, salt, and pepper. It was a hearty and tasty and healthy dinner.

Over dinner, the topic turned momentarily to protein, and how easy it is for vegans to adequately meet their protein needs. I realized that this dinner was in fact a perfect example of that fact: split between three, it delivers almost 20 (yes, 20!) grams of protein (split peas, nutritional yeast, potatoes, and leafy greens go a LONG way). Split between four people, it delivers about 14.75 grams.

And of course, this is to say nothing of how incredibly nutrient dense the soup is otherwise: it’s bursting with vitamins A and K, folate, magnesium, iron, a full spectrum of B vitamins (including B-12), and healthy fats. It’s one of the most nourishing meals I can think of, and for that reason I think it’s destined to become a student favorite of mine. Now more than ever, I need optimal plant fuel that demands little time and work; this soup, which is easy to transport and makes great leftovers, fits the bill perfectly.

And if I had to be honest, I’d say it’s a little more palatable than blended salad.

What’s your favorite nutrient dense meal? What does it provide, and why do you love it?

Happy Monday!

xo

Hello from halftime!

Like the tablecloth?

Obviously, time is of the essence here. In just a few moments, I’ll be glued to the TV again. So I just wanted to take a moment to round up my week of game day eats.

There was my artichoke and sun-dried tomato pizza:

My three layer dip: semi-raw, all vegan, and totally crowd-pleasing:

My—well, my friend Kristen’s—cheesy hemp nacho chips:

My creamy avocado soup with mango salsa:

My hot n’ cheesy vegan spinach artichoke dip:

And tonight, my spicy three bean chili!

I admit, I can’t take the main credit for this recipe. It’s based heavily on one of my favorites by Colleen Patrick Goudreau, and it’s a perennial winner. I did make a few modifications—including a little shredded Daiya topping—so here’s my own version of the recipe!

Three Bean Chili (based on a recipe by Colleen Patrick Goudreau; vegan, gluten free, soy free)

Serves 4

Ingredients:

1 tbsp oil, or nonstick oil spray
3 bell peppers, seeded and chopped
1 medium Spanish or yellow onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbsp chili powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1.5 tsps ground cumin
1.5 tsps dry oregano
2 tbsp tomato paste
6 sundried tomatoes, soaked and chopped
1 can (16 oz) diced tomatoes (I like Muir Glen fire roasted)
1 can (15 oz) canned corn
1 can (15 oz) kidney beans
1 can (15 oz) black beans
1 can (15 oz pinto beans)
Salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup fresh cilantro

1) Sautee peppers, onion, garlic, chili powder, coriander, cumin, cinnamon, oregano, and cayenne for 5-10 min, until soft and onion is translucent. Stir in tomatoes, sundried tomatoes, tomato paste, corn, and all the beans.

2) Lower heat and simmer for 30-40 minutes, or until chili is fragrant and flavorful. Season with salt and pepper and turn off the heat. Serve topped with Daiya chedder, if desired.

Packers tablecloth optional.

GO PACK!

xo

Since I’ve started student life anew, my week as a foodie is firmly divided: on weekends, I relish every free moment I have to cook, and I go big: casseroles, pizzas, extensive raw entrees, and even the occasional baking venture. During the week, I have four priorities:

1. Portability
2. Ease
3. Taste
4. Health

I want food that’ll nourish me quickly and feed my brain; that’s easy to make and transport, and that tastes great. So far my lunches and dinners have been marinated kale salads (of course), raw collard wraps, leftover cups of soup and stew, almond butter and raw strawberry jam sandwiches on sprouted grain bread, and—when I have a little time to eat and don’t mind more mess—a nutrient dense salad. But I’m not just hungry at lunchtime and dinnertime; there seems to be a direct correlation between the number of physics problem sets I do, and my appetite. So snacks are quickly becoming a priority, and my goal is to come up with snack ideas that meet all of those criteria.

The following snack succeeds. It’s portable, easy to make, delicious, and packed with vital nutrition in the form of healthy fats, Vitamins E, B1, and B5, and protein. It’s also a good source of iodine, which most of us tend to skimp on in our diets. Best of all, and unlike most of my snacks, it’s not sweet: it’s a savory snack, and a welcome break from raw bars, fruit, and trail mix. Behold, the nori cigar:

These guys are inspired by a snack item at Bonobos. When Ricki visited NYC, she was so impressed with Bonobos raw nori cigars that she created a version of them over at her blog, Diet, Dessert & Dogs. Today, I offer you mine, made with a super simple (and versatile) sunflower seed pate.

Raw Nori Cigars (Raw, vegan, gluten free, soy free)

Yields up to 10

For the cigars:

• 5 sheets raw, untoasted nori
• 1 recipe gingery sunflower pate, below

Gingery Sunflower Seed Pate (Raw, vegan, gluten free)

Yields about 1 1/2 cups

1 1/4 cup sunflower seeds, soaked for at least 1 hr
Juice of 1 lemon
2 tbsp tahini
1 1/2 tbsp Bragg’s liquid aminos
1 tiny garlic clove, minced (optional)
1/4 tsp powdered ginger (more if you like the taste)
Black pepper to taste
Water
Handful chopped scallions (optional)

1) Place all ingredients in a food processor and run motor till it’s relatively smooth.

2) With motor running, drizzle in enough water for the pate to be thick, but easy to spread (careful not to add too much!).

To assemble cigars:

Cut a sheet of nori in half. Spread each half with two generous dollops of pate:

Using a knife or spatula (I used an inverted spatula—great kitchen tool, if you don’t have one), spread the pate in a thin, even layer over the nori:

Beginning at the shorter end of the sheet, roll the nori carefully up to make a single cigar:

Keep working with all of the nori, until you’ve got about 8 or 10 cigars:

These guys are so easy to cut in half and transport! And in spite of their convenience, they make a nice presentation:

I recommend these for all of the snackers among you. And keep in mind that they’ll also be a perfect component of a nutrient dense salad; just chop two or three up and arrange them over your greens!

And now, for the third installment in my week of “Go Pack!” recipes.

Two days ago, you guys got my semi-raw three layer dip:

Which, I realized this week, makes for an awesome salad-topper:

Today, I’m asking you to recycle the delicious jicama-mango salsa (and you ought to have a little bit leftover after you make your three layer dip) for a soup garnish.

Raw soup isn’t exactly the sort of thing I usually serve to guests. I love the stuff, but it’s a little far left of center on the foodie spectrum. Nevertheless, a lot of popular soups are chilled: gazpacho is the most notable example! And the following soup, while very simple, has never steered me wrong with friends (or even when I feed myself). It’s the most basic of all of my avocado based soups, and it’s also my favorite.

Avocado Soup with Lime (Raw, Vegan, Gluten Free)

Serves 4

3 ripe avocadoes
4 cups of water or coconut water
3 tbsp lime juice
A few sprigs parsley
1 tbsp mellow white miso
3/4 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp smoked paprika
Dash cayenne pepper

Optional: Salsa of choice for garnish

Blend all ingredients in a blender on high. If you find that it’s too thick (this will happen if you use giant avocados), add 1/2-1 cup additional water, till the texture is perfect.

Pour soup into glasses, and top with your salsa.

What makes this Super Bowl worthy? The fact that there’s green and yellow in the dish.

No, I kid. It’s easy. It’s tasty. It’s a little spicy. It’s a raw, vegan dish that feels totally accessible. It’s a fun alternative to guac.

And it’s very pretty. My idea for how you’d serve this to company is to pour it into shot glasses and spoon your salsa on—avocado shooters!

On that note, I have other great game eats to contemplate, some homework to master, and a weekend in DC to look forward to. Night all.

xo

This week, mother nature has proven to be a bit of a drama queen.

For the third time this winter, NYC has been pummeled with snow. This isn’t such a bad thing for winter weather lovers like me. In fact, I’ve spent the last few days marveling over our January snowscape with my camera, as you can see:

But as fun as it is for me to frolic and snap photos of snow covered branches, I can’t help but think about New York’s homeless population, and what they experience when the weather is like this. I took a bus out of the city during our first big blizzard, at the end of December, and was so saddened to see how many people had crowded into Port Authority’s entranceways during the wee hours of the night. Winter’s fury is no laughing matter for those who don’t have easy access to heat and shelter.

Just as shelter and warmth are precious, so too is health care—both urgent and long-term. This can be especially true for the elderly in colder months. The plight of America’s uninsured is hardly news to any of us, but now that I’m pursuing a career in health care, it’s an issue that hits home for me in ways it didn’t before. With that in mind, I participated in a wonderful, student-organized initiative this week: a day of free health screenings for the uninsured and undocumented in New York City.

The idea is this: a doctor (in this case, a doctor from St. Luke’s Roosevelt) arrives at a local Church (the lovely Church of the Ascension on 107th Street) and offers his or her services for the day. The services are intended to uncover health issues that may be undiscovered, but may also prove to be chronic: high blood pressure, for example, or high blood sugar. Giving patients—whose identities are kept confidential—an early warning will help them to manage these conditions before they become life-threatening. Free clinics and ERs can help to treat heart or manage attacks, diabetes, or hypertension, yes, but the goal here is preventative care. It’s a young initiative, and a unique one, and I was proud to be a part of it.

The initiative was put together by my friend Kirk, who’s one of the more inspiring fellow post-baccs I’ve met so far. When he asked if I might be interested in helping out—especially given that there’s a healthy eating open forum coming up, and I might be a good person to participate—I said I’d be delighted. On Tuesday, I, along with a bunch of my post-bacc peers, trudged out into slush and snow banks to hand out fliers on street corners advertising the free health screening day. It was cold, and it was predictably hard to grab people’s attention (we had some Spanish speaking volunteers in the group, and their success was more robust than ours). Still, we managed to get fliers to a lot of passers by, and many of them seemed interested in coming to the next health screening, which is for diabetes (this week’s screening and education was for asthma). In spite of the fact that we were catching people as they marched to and from places they had to be, we managed to bring five or so people into the church for a screening and conversation with our M.D. That’s five people who are less likely to ignore or misread the signs of asthma as it’s starting out.

In short, it was very, very worth it.

Here are some shots of the church that shelters this wonderful community service:

I really hope that projects like this one can be a big part of my life as a post-bacc. As I’ve said before, I think that becoming vegan gave me far more sensitivity and to human suffering than I had before, and charity and volunteer work is one expression of compassion. With any luck, this was only the first of many opportunities I’ll have to give back to my own community as I prepare to practice medicine.

When I came home that night, I felt thankful for many of my blessings. But given the chilly temperatures, I was feeling particularly thankful for

1. Nourishing Food
2. My pressure cooker

Most of my classes get out late this semester, and I’m finding that it’s pretty hard to prepare an inspiring dinner at 8 or 8:30pm when I get home. On Tuesday night, after an unusually long day (and much of it standing), I really wanted a soup or stew of some sort, but the prospect of standing and waiting by a simmering pot seemed fairly unlikely. Pressure cooker to the rescue. The following stew took me 15 minutes from start to finish (minus the time I spent bringing the pressure cooker to pressure), and it was absolutely tasty.

15 Minute Kale, Sweet Potato, and Black Bean Stew (serves 3-4)

2 medium yams, peeled and quartered
2 medium carrots, peeled and chopped
1 stalk celery
1/2 tsp ginger powder
1/2 tsp chili powder
1 tsp cinnamon
Vegetable broth
1 tbsp almond butter
1 cup cooked black beans (I used canned, but home cooked are great)
3 cups chopped kale
Salt and pepper to taste

1) Place yams, carrots, and celery in the pressure cooker and add enough broth to almost cover them (almost). Add the spices.

2) Cover the pressure cooker and bring it to pressure; cook on high pressure for about 10 minutes.

3) Let pressure release naturally or use the quick release method on your pressure cooker. Using an immersion blender, puree the mixture till it’s very smooth.

4) Stir in almond butter, black beans, and kale. The kale will quickly cook in the warm soup.

Season to taste with salt and pepper, and serve!

There are two important variations on this recipe:

• If you don’t have a pressure cooker, just follow step one, bring the broth to a boil, and simmer till veggies are tender. Then proceed with steps 3-4.
• If you want to use dry black beans, go ahead, but then you’ll want to cook the whole thing for about 16-18 minutes and then release pressure.

I served mine with some of my new favorite kale chips and some celery sticks. I was way too tired to come up with better side dishes.

Right now more than ever, let’s feel grateful for warm (and raw!) food, for shelter, and—if we’re lucky enough to have it—our access to health care.

If you’re in NYC and you’d like to get involved with the free community health screening project in conjunction with St. Luke’s, please shoot me an email at gena@choosingraw.com. We need more volunteers, and since the project is in its grassroots phase, we’re really open to suggestions, involvement, and initiative. I’d love to tell you more about what’s involved!

xo