raw challenge - day 32 - raw pizza

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Raw Pizza with Mushrooms, Cheez Crumble, Tomatoes and Arugula (and Hummus)

Who among us does not love a good slice of pizza? If you are like me, you probably assumed that this hugely popular food item originated in Italy. Not so. The history of pizza is cloudy at best, with a variety of theories and speculation. But regardless of where it came from, it is a favoured menu item for so many walks of life, having enjoyed enormous popularity on our side of the pond since post World War 2 when American soldiers returned home from Italy, eager to replicate their memorable experiences of this tasty dish. Another huge contributor to the dish’s gaining popularity was the influx of Italian immigrants who had brought with them their rich and delicious food culture.

The ‘Margherita’ (a classic pizza garnished with tomatoes, mozzarella cheese and basil, to represent the colors of the Italian flag) was created in June of 1889 by chef Raffaele Esposito to honour the Queen consort of Italy, Margherita Savoy. But long before this Naples based creation was first introduced, Babylonians, Israelites, Egyptians and other ancient Middle Eastern people used to eat a flat, un-leaven bread, which was cooked in mud ovens and had an appearance somewhat similar to the pizzas we eat today.

So how the heck do you make a raw pizza? With an open mind and a little creativity, there are countless versions to explore. You are limited only by your imagination. I’ve made quite a few versions in the last 4 weeks, finding them to be a great lunch time item. Teamed up with a green salad and a ‘Rum Ball’ for dessert- I’m sated and fueled up until dinner time. Dehydrated flax crackers are the foundation for this recipe. Don’t be daunted by the labour involved to make them. Once you have made up a batch, they will store well for up to one week. The ‘Sun Dried Tomato Hummus’ for this version requires 4 days of sprouting but, again, once a batch has been made, it’s a very diverse, high energy snack item that will last in the fridge for up to one week. The ‘Marinated Crimmini Mushrooms’ and ‘Cheez Crumble’ toppings are dead easy to make and any leftovers are really yummy thrown into a salad or made into another pizza the next day.

The point of using a dehydrator in raw food preparation is to remove the moisture from food items at a temperature below 115*, as a higher temperature will begin to kill the food’s natural enzymes. Though I was at first resistant to purchasing yet another bulky appliance, I must say that I am now glad to have it. In addition to crisping up my weekly crackers, it is also a great tool for making veggie meatballs, tortilla chips and other pizza toppings such as ‘caramelized’ peppers and onions. And I am well aware that I have yet to come anywhere near to utilizing this appliance's potential, not even having touched upon the world of desserts yet.....

Flax Seed Crackers

1 c. flax seed (soaked in 2 c of water for 2 hours)
½ c sunflower seeds
3/4 t salt
1 tsp onion powder
1 T poppy seeds
2 T nutritional yeast
2 T sesame seeds
1 T apple cider vinegar

Mix all ingredients together in a food processor. Roll dough out between 2 layers of parchment paper or teflex sheets, peeling away the top layer when the dough is fully rolled out. Dehydrate at 114 degrees for 3 hours. Turn crackers over onto regular mesh screen, peeling away the 1 layer of parchment or teflex. Continue to dehydrate another 3 hours. Remove crackers from dehydrator and cut into ‘cracker sized shapes. Allow to dry on a cooling rack for 1 hour. Store in a tightly sealed container (at room temperature) for up to 1 week.

Sprouted Sun Dried Tomato Hummus

1 cup sprouted garbanzo beans (soaked in cold water for 4 days, changing water 2 x day)
1/3 c tahini
1 garlic clove, minced
4 sun dried tomatoes, soaked for 4 hours
½ t salt
Pepper
1 T Tamari
¼ t chipotle spice
Juice of 1 lemon
1/3 c water, plus more if needed

Marinated Crimmini Mushrooms

1 T Tamari
1 T water
1 T extra virgin olive oil
1 garlic clove, minced
1 T balsamic vinegar
1 ½ cup crimmini mushrooms, cleaned and sliced

In a large bowl, combine the first 5 ingredients. Add the mushrooms and lightly toss. Allow to stand for 2 hours. Remove mushrooms from marinade and serve as desired. For pizza, roughly chop.

Cheez Crumble

½ cup raw cashew nuts
4 t sea salt
3 T nutritional yeast

Whirl up all 3 ingredients in food processor. Store in the fridge, in a tightly sealed container. Will last for at least 1 week. The nutritional yeast actually makes it taste like parmesan cheese.

raw asian 'noodle' salad with peas, mushrooms and arugula

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I made this for lunch yesterday and.... yee-ow!... it was yum. Super fresh and super light.

Asian ‘Noodle’ Salad with Peas, Mushrooms & Arugula

Marinade:

1 T tamari
1 c fresh mushrooms, sliced1 1/2 T water
1 T extra virgin olive oil
1 t fresh lime juice
1 t vinegar (balsamic or apple cider)
1 garlic clove, minced
1 t fresh grated ginger
1/8 t chili flakes

1 small-medium zucchini, cut into noodles on a spiral slicer
¾ c fresh arugula, roughly chopped
½ c frozen green peas, defrosted at room temperature for 2 hours
1 T extra virgin olive oil
1 T black sesame seeds

In medium sized bowl combine all marinade ingredients. Add sliced and allow to stand at room temperature for 2 hours. In a larger bowl add zucchini, arugula, green peas, olive oil, mushrooms and their marinade and toss all to combine. Serve on a large bowl or dinner plate. Garnish with a sprinkling of black sesame seeds.

raw challenge - day 25 - d.i.y. sprouting + kitchen gadgets

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Before and after: broccoli, red clover, radish and salad sprouts.

As week 4 of my '100 Day Raw Food Challenge' quickly approaches, my menu repertoire is finally beginning to solidify. I was clear from the onset that keeping proteins and carbs in my diet was going to be an absolute essential. While nuts, seeds and oils are certainly a cornerstone to such a diet, I was not willing to abandon my propensity for the complex carbs I have grown to know and love. But if I couldn't cook them, then how the heck was I going to eat them? It turns out that you can sprout things- a lot of things. It was news to me that sprouts are actually a living food, rich with vitamins, minerals, proteins, and enzymes. One of the most complete and nutritional of all existing foods, sprouts actually continue to grow and increase in vitamin content after been harvested, even as they sit in the fridge. So far, I have been enjoying great success with quinoa. Forty eight hours of sprouting on the windowsill (and rinsing twice daily) results in a delightful, crun-chewy flavour extravaganza that makes for a uniquely delicious salad booster. Chick peas take a full four days to sprout, though they are well worth the wait. When they are ready to use, sprouted chick peas can be tossed into a salad as is, or whirled up into an arugula hummus or a sun dried tomato dip. The next ingredients on my list of things to attempt sprouting are puy lentils and sunflower seeds. Click here to learn more about how to make your own sprouts.

The dried seeds to get you sprouting are readily available at most health food stores, as are 'sprouters' designed to house the process. After inspecting a few different options, I decided that the $20 being charged for such a kit was a waste of money, as one can easily be fashioned at home using a mason jar, some cheese cloth and an elastic band. That cash would be much better spent on more seeds or put towards other, more exciting kitchen gadgets..... Ah, the allure of the kitchen gadget. Most avid home cooks just can't get enough of these culinary toys. It seems a constant struggle to draw that defining line between what will actually be useful and that which simply looks like fun to play with. Making ruthless decisions early on will help to shut out future dust collectors destined to clutter up precious kitchen real estate.

I have to say, this raw business has made me a whirling dervish with many of my beloved gadgets….. the food processor, blender, dehydrator, juicer and now, my latest acquisition- a spiral vegetable slicer. At first glance, it appears less than impressive. Flimsy, cumbersome and fabricated from mostly 100% pure, genuine plastique- I was somewhat skeptical when first opening the box (instructions were also minimal, so I had to phone the store to figure out how to work the darn thing). But once up and running, what this baby does is pure magic. Beets, carrots, zucchini, daikon radishes and more are all transformed into spectacular lengths of pasta-like ribbons. Raw foodists often make 'pasta' by preparing zucchini this way and then topping it with a raw sauce, such as 'Marinara'. Any of these spiral veggies also serve as an extremely impressive addition to a salad, providing truly dynamic colour, shapes and textures to accompany greens, sprouts and so on. They also store well in the fridge for a few days, sealed in a tightly lidded container.

Spiral Vegetable Salad with Sprouted Quinoa

1 medium zuccini, turned on the small setting
1 medium beet, turned on the small setting
1 c sprouted quinoa
1 cup mixed greens, roughly torn
2 T parsley, roughly chopped
1/4 c raw pumpkin seeds
1 tomato, medium dice
salt + pepper
1/3 - 1/2 c 'Green Goddess Dressing'

Toss all ingredients and serve immediately. There will be extra dressing leftover. Keep in a lidded jar in the fridge. You will be glad to have extra on hand when whipping up a quick salad.

Green Goddess Dressing

1/4 c nutritional yeast
2 T Tamari sauce
3 T apple cider vinegar
3/4 grape seed or canola oil
3 T water
1/3 c roughly chopped parsley

To blender, add first ingredients. Whirl to combine. While blender is still on, slowly drizzle in the oil and then the water. Add the parsley last. Whirl to combine.

fresh mint and strawberry 'sangria'

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Oh yeah! Keep cool this summer with a tasty herbal brew.

Nothing fancy to this, really. It's just a nice way to keep hydrated in style when the mercury starts to rise. Simply take a whack of fresh mint, place it in a large juice container and top it up with about one and a half litres of boiling water. Stir in honey or sugar to achieve desired sweetness. Cool and refrigerate. When serving, fill a glass with ice. Top up with chilled mint tea. Add diced fruit, such as strawberries and, finally, garnish with a sprig of mint. Cheers.

day 18 - cro-magnon raw with beef carpaccio

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The view under glass at ‘Market Meats’.

Before I begin.... a warning to all vegetarians. The following content is likely to disturb and disgust. But if you are a card carrying meat eater, then why not get comfortable?

So here I am on Day 18 of my '100 Day Raw Food Challenge'. I had realized a month before starting this diet that I would need to sort out my protein sources. Normally, I eat an occasional, small serving of meat. Though it is usually of the organic, med free variety, it is meat none the less. In researching my options, it turned out that Vegans make for 95% of Raw Foodists, while raw meat, fish and (unpasturized) dairy consuming Raw Foodists account for the other 5%. When I learned that the slang for this fringing 5% was 'Cro-Magnon Raw', I new I'd found my niche. This was a chance to get in touch with my inner cave woman- if I had the stomach to follow through, that is. Eating cooked meat is one thing, but the very idea of swallowing it down uncooked left me wavering with uncertainty.

According to primatologist and anthropologist Richard Wrangham, the mastery of fire to cook was a key evolutionary turning point for proto-humans. In an excerpt from his book "Catching Fire: How Cooking Made Us Human" Wrangham writes "Cooking meant they could get dense, empowering nourishment. Then came bigger brains, a different body and — voila! — homo sapiens. Complete with a social structure built around that fire." And keep in mind- this was almost two million years ago. I was going to have to ease into this raw meat thing gently.

If you are thinking of consuming any sort of raw animal products, the first and most important thing to do is to find a good source. By 'good' I mean a reputable, hygienic, informative and consistent supplier that you feel a trust and comfort with- no different than how one chooses their other suppliers and services. Whether it's the butcher, the baker or the candlestick maker..... it is always best to patronize those that we feel a rapport with, those that become a reliable fixture in our daily lives and in our communities.

For me, Market Meats is just such a place. Located in Vancouver's Kitsilano neighbourhood, this outstanding butcher shop / 'protein boutique' has been offering a top notch selection of quality products and exceptional service for over 13 years. All meat and poultry is chemical free, free range and as local as possible (mostly from B.C. and Alberta). Some, but not all products are organic. Just ask, and they will be happy to answer any of your questions and also to offer excellent recommendations. When I popped in one day last week and presented them with my new dietary challenge, we collaborated on 'Beef Carpaccio'. They firmed up a 4 oz beef tenderloin for 15 minutes in the freezer and then sliced it thinly (on their slicer, while I waited). As he prepared my order, butcher extraordinaire Spencer even suggested a Dijon, caper and olive oil dressing, which I ended up making to finish this dish. You are going to pay more to buy such products, but just like Mamma said, you get what you pay for. The 4 oz cut I purchased set me back $14, but it would serve four people as an appetizer. At $3.50 a head, it's a bargain at twice the price. Buying well and consuming smaller servings is healthier and need not cost the earth.....

As for my Beef Carpaccio experiment, it certainly was not love at first sight. When I got home and opened the package, I realized immediately that it was going to take some thoughtful presentation to get me in the mood. After whisking up Spencer's recipe for 'Dijon Caper Sauce', I arranged the tenderloin slices on a dinner plate, all the while thinking of the petals of a rose. I even garnished the centre of the plate with a colourful mixture of greens from my garden and then finished the presentation with a sprinkling of freshly snipped chives. The first few bites did not win me over, but by slice number two, my trepidation had melted away and I found myself in a carnivorous Nirvana. I'm quite sure that my incisors grew longer (and sharper) and the hair on the back of my neck stood up just a little. It was primal and it was delicious.

Beef Carpaccio with Dijon Caper Sauce

4 oz (200gr) fresh, raw beef tenderloin, thinly sliced
2 good servings of salad greens lightly tossed in extra virgin olive oil
right before serving
1 T chives, finely chopped

Sauce:

1 T Dijon Mustard
1 T capers, roughly chopped
2 T extra virgin olive oil
1 t balsamic vinegar
1/8 t salt
Fresh ground pepper
1 ½ T water

Whisk together the sauce ingredients. Assemble carpaccio by laying the meat slices onto a dinner plate, in a circle, in a single layer and leaving a hole in the centre (dividing the meat evenly between 2 dinner or 4 appetizer plates ). Drizzle the sauce around the meat slices. Pile one handful of greens in the centre of each plate. Sprinkle the chives on top of the greens and the meat. Serve with bread or…… when eating a raw diet….. flax crackers! Serves 2 as a meal, or 4 as an appetizer.

gourmet guerrilla grub

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Artwork in the interior hallway of 12B.

I received a call from Misty Harris at Canwest earlier this week. She was interviewing people to gather information about their experiences in underground dining. Back in June of 08, I had a blast at Vancouver 'eatery' 12b.... Check out her story at canada.com

global peasant turns 2 years old today!

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raw challenge - day 11- surviving with ‘rum balls’

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My kitchen counter abundant with fresh ingredients.

Today marks not only my first blog posting at Metro News Canada, but also Day 11 of my ‘100 Day Raw Food Challenge’. When I first made my decision this past May, the prospect of a summer diet consisting of fresh, healthy uncooked food seemed appealing, exciting and downright daunting. Although I completed a professional culinary program last year, would I actually be able to apply some of what I’d learned about ‘cooking’ to creating raw dishes? Well, so far so good. I’ve clearly not starved yet. The food that I’ve been consuming during these last 10 days has been a pleasure to prepare and to eat. Well, for the most part, anyway. Monday’s effort at ‘Cream of Cauliflower Soup’ was just plain wrong. So was putting raw eggplant into veggie meatballs. Both experiments were bitter like aspirin. Lessons learned. Going into this challenge, I really had no idea if my new food options would be enough to sustain either my physical body or my demanding palette. Nor was I sure that it could fit into my current lifestyle. Granted, the first week was a flurry of kitchen activity and the learning curve enormous. I am no longer ‘cooking’ at all. Like learning anything new and wishing to excel at it, starting out demands a great deal of focus, determination and commitment. I am already starting to feel a rhythm with it all…..sprouting, soaking, marinating and dehydrating all require planning ahead and keeping an eye on both the clock and the calendar. Making hummus is no longer a ten minute operation. The garbanzo beans must be sprouted first, and this is a 4 day process. Flax seed crackers require a minimum of 4 hours in the dehydrator. Oatmeal for breakfast means soaking steel cut outs 8 hours before I rise and shine. Whirling up a litre of nut milk also means begin soaking the almonds 8 hours ahead of time.

And thank God for counter space! I am blessed with a sizable horizontal surface to really spread out on and to craft my concoctions. I suspect that, unless one is uber organized, trying to operate within the confines of a small apartment kitchen would quickly become cramped and cluttered. I am also so very fortunate to have a backyard space that has been transformed into a sizeable kitchen garden, just this past Spring. It was a heap of work to get up and growing, but now only requires a daily watering and the occasional tugging of pesky weeds. It’s time to enjoy the fruits and vegetables of my labour, to pick produce fresh and incorporate it into the raw meals that I am enjoying…. kale, spinach, assorted lettuces, arugula, radishes, Swiss chard and parsley so far. Still to come are beans, peas, zucchini, fennel, onions, leeks, tomatoes, eggplant, beets, and nasturtiums.

It took me a few tries to get this one right, but I think I finally perfected it. As far as I'm concerned, it would be completely uncivilized to participate in a raw food challenge without planning and preparing some strategically placed culinary treats. An after lunch sweet really hits the spot these days, even more so than when eating my regular diet. Having these 'Rum' Ball's' on hand really rounds out a meal, while also pleasing the palate. Though there is actually no rum in this recipe, I call them 'Rum Balls' anyway, as they do have a slight 'rummish' flavour to them, though I have absolutely no idea why.

’Rum’ Balls

3/4 c almonds, soaked for 8 hours, then rinsed and drained
3 medjool dates
1/4 c cacao powder
½ t vanilla
Pinch of salt
1 ½ T coconut oil, warmed so that it is liquid
¼ c ground coconut
1 t fresh orange zest- optional

Grind nuts in food pro. Add remaining ingredients except for the coconut and whirl until well blended. Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes. Form mixture into 1” balls. Roll in ground coconut. Store in the fridge in a tightly sealed container.

raw challenge - day 9 - scrumptious cream of wheat

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Raw Cream of Wheat with Date & Prune Puree.

Didn't think it was possible, did you? How could a bowl of raw wheat actually be 'scrumptious'? I must admit that, when I took my first shot at this dish, my hopes were not particularly high. That'll learn me. This recipe is creamy, so yummy, dead easy to make and you can really go to town as far as the toppings are concerned. Try it with fruit, nuts, seeds, ground flax, a drizzle of honey or maple syrup and so on. I'm adorning my breakfast bowl these days with a date and prune puree, plus a good glug of homemade nut milk. If you like your porridge or cereal, I highly recommend giving this recipe a whirl.... whether you are eating a raw diet or not.

Raw Oatmeal

1/2 cup steel-cut oats
2 tablespoons raisins
3/4 cup water

Soak oats and raisins in the water for eight to twelve hours in a 2 c measuring cup or yogurt container, left on the counter. In the morning, blend the soaked ingredients until creamy, using a hand held blender. Serve in a bowl and top with whatever your heart desires.

Date & Prune Puree

6 prunes, pitted
6 dates, pitted
1 ½ c H2O

Place dried fruit in a bowl, along with the water and allow to soak for 8 hours. Whirl up all ingredients in food pro, adding more water until desired ‘sauce-like’ consistency is achieved. Press sauce through a sieve. Store in the fridge in a sealed container.

first from my garden

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I've been waiting for this moment since mid February.... the experience of eating food grown with my own two hands. Ironically, the seedlings started last winter were not the first to yield sustenance. It was the radishes and salad greens planted outdoors, straight from seed some 5 weeks ago, that grew most rapidly. So far, the harvest tastes as you would expect: fresh, crisp and gloriously flavourful.