A few days ago, I was sitting on the subway when one of New York’s iconic subway mariachi bands boarded and began to play. As I stared around at the bemused and tolerant faces of the passengers around me, I thought to myself, “this could never happen in D.C..”

It couldn’t. For one thing, it’s forbidden to drink coffee on the D.C. subway, let alone sing, dance, and make merry. For another, D.C. doesn’t quite have New York’s adoration of street artists and musicians; “bohemian” isn’t the word I’d use to describe the city. The words I usually use are “Ann Taylor Loft” (not that there’s anything wrong with ATL, whence my Mom just got me a holiday gift. It’s just a very sensible look).

Don’t get me wrong: I’ve come to like my life here in the District. I really have. And it is a city with plenty of fine arts, which I’m lucky to be around. It’s just…well, it’s not New York. At the tail end of my publishing career, I remember sometimes feeling annoyed with hipsters. Having now been in D.C. for about eight months, let me tell you: I’d pay good money to see a few more hipsters around these parts. Or unconventionally dressed folks. Or mariachi bands on the subway.

But I digress. The point is that I came home yesterday, to D.C., in a state of some wistfulness. I thought about how I wouldn’t see my mother, my childhood friends, or Candle Café for another few months. Let alone an efficient public transportation system. And then I came home to this:

Hello, Hobbit House

I also came home to about ten texts from the other post-baccs, who are filing into the District for another semester. And as it occurred to me that I’d be seeing them all today, tomorrow, and all semester long, I was also struck by how much I’ve missed them. The other post-baccs are like family to me, and they’re one of many reasons that I can now call D.C. “home” without hesitating.

In the spirit of homecoming, I decided to make a recipe that screams “comfort” to me. Inspired by the extraordinary zucchini and almond hummus I gobbled down at Gingersnap’s Organic, I decided to pay homage to with a zucchini almond concoction of my own. I’ve made both zucchini hummus and almond hummus (Karen Knowler’s recipe) and I thought this was a really lovely in between: very rich, but lightened up by the zucchini base. Thanks to the chef at Gingersnap’s for planting the idea!

Zucchini Almond Hummus (raw, vegan, gluten free, soy free)

Makes about 4-5 servings

1 cup almonds, soaked for about 8 hours (or overnight)
2 small zucchini, chopped (about 2 1/2 cups)
1 clove garlic (optional–I didn’t use, but it’ll taste traditional)
2 tsps cumin powder
1 tsp salt (or more, to taste)
Black pepper to taste
Juice of 1 large lemon (2-3 tbsp)

1) Place all ingredients in a Vitamix or other high speed blender, putting the zucchini at the bottom.

2) Blend on high, using the tamp attachment, till the mixture starts to get smooth. Resist the urge to add water. You’ll want to, but try first to let the tamp do the work, so that you don’t end up with a watery mix. If it’s not blending, then go ahead and add water very slowly, tablespoon by tablespoon, to get the hummus moving!

3) Keep blending till mixture is very smooth. Taste for seasoning, and add more salt or pepper if desired. Remove from blender and serve with raw crackers, in a wrap, with salad, on toast, with raw veggies, or however you like to eat your hummus.

This hummus is truly delicious: lemony, fresh, and fragrant from the cumin. It’s also great to know that there’s a vegetable packed into every single bite!

Zucchini hummus holds a tender place in my heart, because it was one of the first recipes I made for myself when I was in my “experimental” early phases of raw foodism. I remember being so sure it wouldn’t work, and then so happy when it did. I can’t think of a better recipe to welcome myself home to D.C. with—a raw food classic, a personal favorite, and a recipe that is loaded with sentimental value.

With that, CR readers, it’s back to the grind I go. Tomorrow begins a new semester, and Orgo II is at noon. I won’t be able to be quite as present as I’ve been on the blog and on Twitter, but I’ll be here. And I’ll be back to tell you how the first day of Spring 2012 went tomorrow.

xo

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Serves 1

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

Smoked avocado cumin dressing
Balsamic tahini dressing

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

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

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

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

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

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

xo

Hello from Phoenix! I’m posting mid-travel to Portland, where Vida Vegan Con is just starting to kick off. It’ll be such an exciting weekend of blog posts, and I hope you’ll be tuning in!

Today, my very lovely and talented friend Clotilde has featured me on her blog as part of her “cooking on vacation series.” Other bloggers who have contributed while Clotilde is traveling are Heidi Swanson, author of 101 Cookbooks, and Molly Wizenberg, author of Orangette. These blogs, along with Clotilde’s, house some of the finest food writing and recipes on the web, so I’m pretty flabbergasted to be in their company. Thank you, Clotilde! If any of you are interested what tools and ingredients travel with me on vacation, what my fondest vacation cooking memories are, or if you want to hear about my most traumatizing food experience was, check it out!

While we talk about Chocolate and Zucchini, I thought I would share my favorite new smoothie recipe, which employs both. This smoothie is essentially lifted from an ingenious smoothie concoction that Valerie made just a little while ago, and which you can find here. Given my propensity to put green vegetables in just about anything, and sneak my carrot pulp into smoothies, it actually surprises me that this never occurred to me before. Valerie made her chocolate and zucchini smoothie with zucchini pulp; I just grated 3/4 cup zucchini and froze it. You could certainly do either: the result will be a delicious, filling, and veggie-ful smoothie no matter what!

Chocolate and Zucchini Smoothie (raw, vegan, gluten free, soy free)

Serves 1

1 small frozen banana
3/4 cup grated zucchini, frozen
3/4-1 cup almond milk
2 tbsp cacao nibs
1 tbsp cocoa or cacao powder
1/3 cup blueberries (optional, but I needed to use them up before I left for NYC)

Blend all ingredients on high, and top with whatever your’e in the mood for. More cacao nibs would be great, though I was personally in the mood for the granola spin on my no-bake sunflower oat bars. It was delicious!

This recipe could, in theory, qualify as an entry for Valerie and Victoria’s chocolate and zucchini blog party:

A fun chocolate/zucchini recipe round up that’s going on from now till the second week of September. But since I basically copied Val’s excellent smoothie, I’ll need to come up with something a little more creative! Maybe you guys can help me with suggestions.

On that note, back in the air I go. Back with dispatches from the Pacific Northwest soon!

xo

Great responses to the edamame hummus! I was excited to hear that some of you already tried it and loved it. Today’s raw-ish entrée—high raw, vegan manicotti—may not be quite so quick or easy, but it is delicious, and I’m hoping that you guys will be as quick to give it a shot!

Last Thursday, my friend Andrea came over for dinner at the Hobbit House. I love preparing meals for friends, because I have such an advantage: I knew already that Andrea loves my cheesy parsnip spread:

…and that she loves anything with Italian flavors. With a bag of parsnips (on sale!) on my hands, a ton of fresh summer basil, two ripe tomatoes, and more zucchini than a vegetable patch, I knew precisely what I wanted to make her for dinner:

And I knew—or at least I suspected strongly—that the dish would be easy to prepare and very delicious.

And it was.

High Raw, Vegan Manicotti (mostly raw, vegan, gluten free, soy free)

Serves 2

For the “pasta”:

2 large zucchini

For the pesto:

Hemp pesto (recipe to come later this week!) or any other pesto—give my walnut pesto a try!

For the parsnip “cheese” filling:

1 batch of my cheesy parsnip spread

For the sauce:

1 batch of my sweet red pepper marinara sauce (all raw—no simmering needed!)

For the cashew cream:

Use 1 batch of the recipe in this post

To prepare:

1 large tomato, thinly sliced

To assemble:

1) Lay three sheets of very thinly sliced zucchini (pictured below) with edges overlapping, and cover with a thin layer of pesto, a layer of parsnip spread, and a layer of tomato:

Roll all three slices up from the edge to which the fillings are closer, to the far edge, and seal with a tiny smear of pesto. You should end up with nice, neat rolls (check out my hemp hummus zucchini wraps for an additional how-to):

Cover with a heaping layer of sweet pepper marinara and a nice drizzle of your cashew cream. Serve!

I rounded out my meal with Andrea with a huge bowl of fennel, romaine, and tomato with my raw, vegan Caesar salad dressing:

We also nibbled on the last of my black bean and quinoa salad with quick cumin dressing, making for two very messy—and very tasty—dinner plates:

What a spectacular night of high raw, all vegan food!

This meal reminded me of how fun it is to work with raw-ish entrees. In these busy student days, my cooking is dictated more by necessity and efficiency than by artistry: I make dips, spreads, versatile grain dishes, raw snacks, and salads, and little else. But there is such joy to preparing a raw or high raw meal that’s complete and beautiful, and I hope that no amount of homework will ever keep me from this kind of dinner for long.

On that note, it’s time for this sleepy blogger to retire. My midterm was (I think) alright, but I’m running on < 4 hours of sleep. Night!

xo

A few weeks ago, my DC family was kind enough to have me over for dinner, and even kinder to cook a bunch of vegan dishes for me. They all raved about how interesting it was to make vegan food: my aunt noted that it compelled her to try spices and flavor pairings she’d never thought of before, as well as some global accents that were new. They all had the same thing to say, though: “it’s cool cooking vegan,” my cousin remarked. “It just takes a ton of time.”

I guess “time” is a relative thing. Making vegan food, even if you take every shortcut you can, will never be as easy as nuking a microwave dinner (though nuking an Amy’s vegan burrito might compare). But can it be every bit as easy as making a standard omni dinner? It sure can. People are quick to confuse difficulty and novelty: it takes no more time to roast a squash than a chicken (less, actually), or to make lentil daal rather than meat sauce. The former dishes are just less familiar, so they feel time consuming and imposing.

I get tons of emails every day from readers who want to make more vegan food, but find themselves spending hours in the kitchen. Either this is because they’ve gotten overly ambitious with cookbooks and five course dinners, or because they simply need to be shown that vegan dinners can be ready in a jiffy. Today, I’d like to share what I hope will be the first of a few “vegan in a hurry” dinner ideas: meals that are healthy enough to appear here on CR, but also budget conscious, family friendly, and, most of all, fast. I’ll start with a seasonal dish: pasta with white beans, eggplant, and summer vegetables. The recipe utilizes canned legumes and tomato sauce and readily available produce, which means it’s easy to prepare. Just see for yourself.

White Bean and Summer Vegetable Pasta (vegan, gluten free if you use gluten free pasta, soy free)

Serves 4

1 small eggplant, cut into 1 inch cubes and lightly salted
1 clove garlic, minced
1 zucchini, sliced
1 can fire roasted or diced tomatoes (buy organic)
1 small can organic tomato sauce
1 tsp agave
1 tbsp dried basil
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp dried thyme
1 can white beans, drained

4 servings pasta, dry (my idea of a serving is usually more than a boxes’ idea of a serving)

1) Heat a large skillet with olive or coconut oil spray (or just use a few tbsp water). Sautee the eggplant with the garlic till the eggplant is getting nice and brown (about 8 minutes).

2) Add the zucchini and cook it till tender (another 5 minutes).

3) Add the canned tomatoes, tomato sauce, agave, basil, oregano, thyme. Heat through. Test for seasoning, and add more of whatever herbs you like.

4) Add the white beans and heat the whole sauce through. This is so tasty and simple, you could eat it on its own as a “cheater’s” ratatouille.

5) While your sauce cooks, put a pot of salted water to boil. Add pasta when it hits a rolling boil, and cook pasta till tender but still a little al dente.

6) Drain pasta, smother with sauce, and dinner is ready!

Delicious. Mine was served, not shockingly, with my miso sesame kale and tomato salad:

I would like to eat this photo.

This recipe boats a few key time saving techniques:

1) Stock your pantry. Canned legumes, tomatoes, and dried herbs make it easy to eat healthy in a time pinch.

2) Don’t get too fussy. Yes, I could have slow roasted that eggplant and the sauce would be smokier, and yes I could make my own tomato sauce. But when forced to choose between a satisfying, healthy meal that’s doable, and a fantasy that isn’t, I’ll take reality.

3) Use familiar recipes. This is a classic: spaghetti and tomato sauce. But I add oomph to the sauce with veggies and beans for a protein boost. It’s the healthy vegan’s spin on a classic. Use recipe templates you know and love, guys, and apply your green cuisine savvy to them!

Hope this helps to show you how I manage to make weeknight suppers for me and people I love—vegans, rawbies, and omnivores alike—without getting too stressed.

What’s your favorite “hurry up vegan” supper? Tell me all about it!

See you back here tomorrow….

xo

Wow! Having just written a post in which I talked about the importance of staying on topic as a blogger, I think I ought to switch gears more often! Your response to my blogging 101 post was absolutely delightful, and I’m happy so many of you found it useful. I think it would be fun to keep that conversation going, so hopefully we can return to the topic of blogging do’s and don’ts soon.

This is a week full of guest posting. If you haven’t already found it via my Twitter feed, I wrote a fun guest post yesterday for my dear friend Anne, entitled “Bet You Didn’t Know it Was Raw.” The purpose of the post was to show readers that raw foods don’t have to be categorized in a different way than the foods we already know and love. Most of us eat a lot of raw foods without giving it much thought. This should be comforting to aspiring raw foodies, because it means that choosing raw doesn’t mean trading familiar food for a foreign set of flavors and ingredients: instead, it can mean giving thought to what you already like in an uncooked form, and simply eating more of it. To read more about the five raw foods you already know and love—even if you didn’t know they were raw—head over to Fannetastic Food and check the post out! And please stay tuned for a very special guest post announcement tomorrow.

Today, it’s back to the normal routine here at CR. You know, one of the nice things about being a “veteran blogger”—to use an expression I pulled out in yesterday’s post—is that I’m finally at a point where I feel I can comfortably repeat or reinvent recipes without having my readers feeling short-changed. Not too long ago, I shared my recipe for cashew alfredo for the second time; I think a lot of my readers actually appreciated the reminder that the recipe exists. There’s nothing more fun than finding an old recipe—one I haven’t made in a long time—and rediscovering it. It’s like reconnecting with a long lost friend, with the added benefit of being able to make small modifications or improvements if you want to. Today, I’m bringing one of my favorite recipes back to the front page of CR. It’s my raw hummus, and it’s a CR classic.

In my guest post for Anne, I emphasized that many commonplace, popular foods are already raw. Hummus is sort of the opposite: it’s not a raw food, but many people assume it is until they’re forced to give it a little thought. Yes, it’s cold, and yes, it’s veggie-based, and if you use canned beans it doesn’t seem to necessitate cooking. But the beans are nevertheless cooked, so it’s not technically a raw food. Now, I don’t subscribe to the idea that cooked food is inherently inferior to raw food. But lots of raw foodists do.

So what happens if you’re a strict raw foodist who loves hummus? This hummus recipe happens. There are many raw hummus recipes that are offered as a solution to the cooked chickpea dilemma: some use sprouted, raw chickpeas, some use almonds. I happen to find the taste of sprouted chickpeas totally unbearable, and I’ve never been able to digest them, so those aren’t an option for me. Almond hummus is tasty alright, but the combination of almonds and tahini/sesame seeds makes it a very high fat and high calorie option; this is totally fine if you have normal needs or even need higher calorie food, but it’s not an ideal recipe for, say, a CR client who needs to lose weight.

The solution? Zucchini. Zucchini hummus is a staple in the kitchens of many raw foodies, with good reason. It’s delicious, it’s easy, it’s not too heavy, and it tastes and looks a lot like regular hummus, but it’s suitable for strict raw foodists and people who don’t digest beans very well. I tend to make classic hummus or any one of my hummus varieties (such as sweet potato hummus) more often, because I like the traditional texture and the protein boost, but I frequently enjoy zucchini hummus as a tasty alternative. It’s a terrific filling for wraps and sandwiches, and it’s also great atop salads or as a dip. If you’re newly raw-ish and wondering how to replicate the hummus you know and love, this recipe is absolutely for you.

Note that the recipe I use calls for a high speed blender, which can grind sesame seeds with zucchini easily and create a thick texture (I like thick hummus). This isn’t necessary; you can also use tahini in place of sesame seeds in a regular blender, or you can follow my food processor option below the main recipe.

Classic Raw Hummus (Raw, vegan, gluten and soy free)

Yields 1 3/4 cups

2 heaping cups (about 2 small zucchini) chopped
1 clove garlic, minced (optional)
1 tsp cumin
2 tbsp lemon juice
1 cup hulled sesame seeds

1) Place ingredients in a high speed blender (like a Vitamix) set to manual speed, with zucchini at the bottom. Begin blending at low speed, using the plunger to help get everything going. As the mixture blends, you can turn the speed up, until eventually the whole mixture is blending smoothly.

2) Switch speed to high, and let the mix get very creamy. Taste; adjust seasonings, and re-blend. Serve.

Food processor option:

2 heaping cups (about 2 small zucchini) chopped
1 clove garlic, minced (optional)
1 tsp cumin
2 tbsp lemon juice
3/4 cup tahini

1) Instead of chopping zucchini, shred it using the processor’s shredder attachment. Turn shredded zucchini into a bowl, and use paper towel or a clean dish cloth to squeeze out as much of the natural moisture as you can.

2) Return zucchini to processor and add remaining ingredients. Process till smooth.

The food processor option will yield thinner hummus, but it will still taste great; this is how I made raw hummus for over a year before I got my Vita-Mix!

Check out the smooth, fluffy texture of this hummus:

I typically enjoy mine in raw wraps of some variety. The other day, I stuffed it into romaine leaves and ate them along with a giant salad:

Delicious!

Hope you give this raw foods classic a try soon. In the meantime, what recipe have you rediscovered lately? Have you changed it at all since you originally made it?

xo

I’ve got a new Friday night tradition. Well, almost: I’ve got a new every-other-Friday tradition. Every other Friday, as I do homework and wait patiently for M to arrive from D.C., I take a short break to bake. And what am I baking, you ask? Muffins. Lots and lots of muffins.

This ritual goes back to my first CR baking post—vegan carrot raisin muffins—back in October, and it has held its own in the months since. As it turns out, M is a big muffin fan, which is convenient, because muffins are undoubtedly my favorite type of baked good. They’re also the most convenient, at least IMO: they’re basically a breakfast food, but they can also double nicely as snacks and sweet treats. So M and I can nibble on a muffin or two at midnight when he gets in, but most of all we can look forward to enjoying them with a smoothie for breakfast. These muffins get more love from me than most, because they’re packed with veggies. Zucchini muffins are a terrific way to sneak some green veggies into a tasty treat. They’re an ideal food for kids, or even for adults who have a tough time tolerating vegetables.

The abundance of vegetables doesn’t, however, mean that these muffins are tasteless. Chopped dates lend a wonderful touch of natural sweetness, and cinnamon and ginger add spice and flavor. So while you can feel glad that the muffins are made with whole grains (I used whole wheat pastry flour; a gluten-free baking mix would work nicely, too, and so would all-purpose) and a green vegetable, but you can also feel certain that they’ll impress.

Nice added bonus? Zucchini and applesauce add a lot of natural moisture, so the oil in this recipe only amounts to four tablespoons.

Vegan Zucchini Date Muffins (vegan, soy free, can be gluten-free if you substitute GF flour)

Yields 12 muffins

2 cups whole wheat pastry flour (sub all purpose GF flour, or regular all purpose flour)
2 tsps baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp ginger
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup applesauce
1/4 cup coconut or olive oil
1/4 cup almond milk
1/3 cup sucanat or sugar (this will make the muffins moderately sweet; use 1/2 cup for sweeter muffins, but keep in mind that the dates will add sweetness too)
1 1/4 cup shredded zucchini
2/3 cup chopped dates, tossed in a little flour so that they don’t clump together

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2) Mix all dry ingredients (save sugar) in a large bowl.

3) Whisk together applesauce, oil, milk, and sucanat, and pour them into the dry ingredients.

4) Fold ingredients together till just mixed, and then fold in the zucchini and dates.

5) Pour batter into muffin tins and bake until golden brown — about 12-15 minutes.

Few midnight snacks taste better than these—especially if you happen to share one with someone special, who’s just coming in from the cold.

On that note, a new week begins. Tune in tomorrow for a special NEDA week post!

xo

It’s always nice when a recipe you like seems to “take off” with other bloggers. This has been true recently of my sweet potato and chickpea burgers, which Matt and Katie have made recently, as well as a bunch of other bloggers and readers who have emailed me or left comments on the original post. Thank you guys for trying the recipe out! I hope you’ve enjoyed the sweet, dense taste and texture as much as I did when I first made the burgers.

My experience with the sweet potato burgers got me hooked on chickpea flour. Versatile, high-protein, and possessed of a starchy texture that’s fairly unique, chickpea flour is ideal for all sorts of pancakes, burgers, and bread recipes. Just check out the Twins’ socca adventures if you’re looking to be inspired!

I’ve been enamored of chickpea flour as a burger ingredient, but this week I wondered whether or not I might extend its powers to the world of pancake making. Not sweet pancakes, but savory ones. Back before I became a vegan, I had a zucchini pancake recipe I loved, which came together with shredded zucchini, flour, and egg whites. I’ve long wanted to veganize it and amp up the color with more veggies. On Monday, with some corn and red pepper in hand (ah, summer produce!) I decided I’d give a zucchini and corn pancake a shot—made with chickpea flour as a binder, of course, and with flax as an egg replacer. The results were great!

With most of my raw recipes, I remind you guys that most substitutions and tweaks at home are just fine—they won’t do much to disturb taste or flavor. With anything involving flour and flax, however, I tend to say that it’s best to stick to instruction, because small changes might really affect texture and results. If you make these, then, try to stick to the instructions.

Corn and Zucchini Pancakes (makes 4 large pancakes)

1 small zucchini, shredded
Kernels from 1 large ear corn
1 red pepper, chopped
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
6 tbsp chickpea flour
1 tsp non-aluminum baking powder
1/4 cup flax meal + 6 tbsp water, mixed 5 min prior to making pancake batter and set aside
3/4 tsp salt
1 tsp coriander
1 tsp Herbamare or Spike
1/2 tsp cumin
Dash red pepper flakes (to taste)

1) Preheat a griddle or large saute pan over a medium flame. Spray or rub it with coconut oil—just enough for pancake making.

2) Mix all ingredients together.

3) As if you were making regular pancakes, drop the batter by 2-tbsp servings onto the griddle, and wait until the bottom side is nicely browned. Flip, and cook till second side is browned.

4) Serve!

These are fresh, sweet, and tasty:

And I imagine they’d be equally perfect for breakfast OR dinner. For my part, I enjoyed them over a big raw kale salad (how else?):

A few months ago, I made raw and cooked versions of homemade Sunshine burgers, which also got some nice reader feedback. You guys will be glad to know that I’m hard at work on a perfect raw version of these corn and zucchini pancakes, so stay tuned! It’s time to take advantage of the last few bushels of summer produce.

On that note, I have a long and busy Saturday ahead of me. I hope you guys have a great one—if you’re in NYC, enjoy the sun for me—and I’ll be back tomorrow.

xo

Hey guys!

Happy Memorial Day. It’s warm and sunny here in NYC, so I hope anyone who’s local is taking some time to enjoy the weather and soak up a little vitamin D!

Starting tomorrow, my schedule will be shifting–not, I’m afraid, for the better. Between this coming week and the end of July, I’ll be working later than usual–probably till 9:30 or 10:00 pm each night. This has some unpleasant side effects–less time with my friends, later bedtimes (because I’ll have counseling work to do when I get home), and less time to enjoy the long daylight hours. But it’s professionally important, so I’m making the best of it!

The real downside of working later will be having less time to cook. Sad face! Creating nourishing and tasty food is my favorite hobby and one of my only creative outlets; it is also, obviously, a huge part of my work as a blogger. I hope you’ll all bear with me patiently for the next two months as I work my derriere off, forgiving me when creative recipes don’t go up as often as usual. August will afford me more time for fresh and innovative food: that’s a promise!

Working past 8:00 pm means dinner at the desk (or on the go). This, in turn, means that, for the next 6-8 weeks, I’ll be packing all three meals and snacks every single weekday. Ooof! This will require

• Superhuman organization
• Weekend planning
• Efficient leftover usage
• Remembering to freeze excess food
• Keeping a checklist in my head each morning of what I’ll need for the day, so that I pack it all accordingly.

I’ve certainly gone through periods of late working hours like this before, so I know what I need to do: the trick is staying energetic and organized, so that I don’t fall into the habit of squandering money on takeout or the Whole Foods salad bar.

Packing three meals a day also means relying on more prepared foods than I usually do, which is sort of a bummer in that it quashes my love for all things spontaneous and fresh, but absolutely necessary for my schedule (and sanity). In this busy period of time–and whenever I’m away from my apartment more than usual–foods that will keep me going include:

• Nutrient dense salads, packed up the night before work
• Sprouted bread sandwiches, filled with marinated veggies, avocado and greens, hummus, or other veggie-based fillings
• PB and banana on manna bread. A comfort food fave.
• Grain salads–favorite bases for these include quinoa, millet, wheatberries (sprouted or boiled), and brown rice
• Raw collard wraps, with various nut pates and nut cheezes as fillings
• Snack plates of hummus or nut butter and raw veggies
• Kale chips
• Larabars, Wild Bars, and Flying Vegan bars (for more on my top energy bar picks, check out this recent post)
• Homemade raw trail mix
• Lydia’s raw crackers
• Soups and curries — easy to prepare on weekends and easy to freeze for future consumption
• Brown rice sushi rolls from Whole Foods when I’m feeling lazy

Naturally, other foods will make appearances in what I’m eating, but these will be the fundamentals. Stable, quick to prepare, and transportable.

Another food trend I expect in the next two months is increased use of my dehydrator. You all know how I feel about the dehydrator: it’s not an appliance I use often, and if I hadn’t been gifted with one, I wouldn’t have invested in it: since I’m not strict on the 115 degree law (or enzyme theory in general), I’d be content to bake food at a very low temperature in my oven. However, I do have a dehydrator, and it will come in handy in the coming weeks, as I work to prepare foods on the weekend that will remain shelf-stable and snackable.

This weekend, I decided to fire up the dehydrator with my first batch of portable snacks: veggie chips. In spite of the fact that I have almost no memory of eating regular potato chips (I know I did when I was little, but I don’t remember, and didn’t have much sentimental attachment to them), I do love a bit of crunch in my life, and I love it even more when it comes with some vitamins and nutrients. What could be better for this than veggie chips, which are painless to make and lack the sodium and low-quality fat content of conventional chips?

Making veggie chips is truly a cinch. Slice whatever veggies you’re using (eggplant, zucchini, yam, white potato, turnip, carrot, parsnip, etc.) very thinly–I’d say 1/8 inch is ideal–on a mandolin, in a food processor, or by hand. Toss them in a bit of olive oil or coconut oil, salt, pepper, and any spices you like (Italian spices are great; so is cumin or chili powder, especially on sweet potatoes or yams). Next, arrange all veggies on mesh dehydrator sheets (covered with Teflex if you like) and dehydrate for about 5-8 hours, or however long it takes for the chips to dry out and get crunchy. I used zucchini and sweet potato, like so:

After a night in my dehydrator, they were crispy, salty, and ready for munching! I served them as appetizers in a special lunch for my Mom yesterday:

From left to right, that’s leftover tomato tahini kale chips, sweet potato chips, and zucchini chips (which my friend Bitt has also made!).  They were a hit, and I’ve got a ton leftover to pack up for snackage this week. It’s one small item to check off my planning ahead list, and it couldn’t possibly have been easier to accomplish.

Before I sign off for the day, I wanted to share this week’s nutrient dense salad:

That’s chopped sweet potato, massaged kale, white beans, marinated and dehydrated broccoli and fennel, and zucchini dressing.

With that, I’m off to get some editing, reading, and more logistical planning done before the week begins. I’ll be back soon. In the meantime, wish me luck!!

xo

How do I love thee, hummus? Let me count the ways:

I love my zucchini hummus. I love my digestive-friendly hummus. I love hummus in wraps, on salads, and served up with veggies for dipping. I love it almost as much as I love my guac, and sometimes more. No matter how you slice or dice it, I’m a hummus fiend.

My friend Caroline is a hummus fiend, too. And as it turns out, she’s also a lover of broccoli (in fact, that most beloved of crucifers is nestled snugly in her blog title). Recently, as I was reading Caroline’s blog, I thought, “Hmm. Broccoli+hummus. Broccoli hummus?” Heck, if I could make it out of raw zucchini, then surely I could make it out of broccoli, too?

The problem was that I worried about the bitterness of raw broccoli. Dearly though I love that veggie in any shape or form, it tends to pack a spicy (and not always pleasing) bite when we’re lovin’ it in the raw. Still, recent experiments with a broccoli-tahini pate had given me encouragement that raw broccoli can, with the right balance of flavors, be perfectly mellow. And so, with Miss Caroline in mind, I set out to concoct a recipe for a raw hummus that’s simple, tasty, and that tempers the bitterness of raw broc.

The key, it turned out, was to mix broccoli and zucchini together in equal parts. The rest was predictable: tahini, a little nooch (that’s nutritional yeast for you non-vegans), some salt, pepper, and even a squirt of mustard, and my perfect broccoli hummus–all raw and vegan–came to be. I spent the better part of my weekend doing away with the stuff, but graciously saved a photo for you all from today’s lunch, at work:

Caroline, this baby’s for you.

Gena’s (Raw) Broccoli Hummus (yields about 1 1/2 – 2 cups)

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups raw broccoli, chopped
1 1/2 cups raw zucchini, chopped
1/3 cup raw sesame tahini (substitute regular tahini if that’s what you have)
2 tbsp nutritional yeast
1 tbsp organic mustard (totally optional)
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp cumin
3 tbsp lemon juice
Freshly ground pepper

Place the veggies into your processor and process till finely chopped. Add remaining ingredients, and blend till smooth. This will mean stopping a few times to scrape your bowl!

If the mix is too thick — which it may well be — add a thin stream of water or more lemon juice to thin it out. I like my hummus very thick, and the zucchini adds liquid, so I only added a few tablespoons of water as I went along.

What’s a better way to pack nutrition into your lunch than to infuse your hummus with green power? This is a great way to get kids to eat their broccoli (or, if you’re a broccoli fanatic like Caroline, to find ways to eat more of the stuff). And it’s also just a darn tasty recipe, which I think you’ll all love. It’s great on its own, but I’ve already enjoyed it in raw wraps and scooped atop salads, as pictured in this post.

So next time you whip up a batch of chickpea crack hummus, keep this variety in mind. Your body will thank you for the boost of calcium and protien, and your palate will thank you, period.

Before I go, a note to people who use Google Reader: last night, a few of you let me know that my posts were just showing up as blurbs. This was not intentional–I was fiddling with some techie stuff for the blog and changed it by accident–so no need to, um, freak out at me, as a few of you did! My settings are back to normal, and my posts should show up in full next time.

xo