Kickin' It Up A Notch

Fiesta Chopped Salad with Lime & Honey Dressing

Since I have been reading Eat to Live

by Dr. Joel Fuhrman, 

I  have learned the importance for a volume of mixed vegetables, (2 lbs a day he says to be the goal) getting in a variety of colors, and the many health benefits of beans. So I was thinking of ways to incorporate a greater mix of colorful veggies and beans and came up with this spicy little number. 

I just loved chopped salads and the way you get a mix of flavors in every bite. I even branched out and added some veggies that alone are not my favs but are so worth the vitamins and minerals and guess what? Mixed in they are subtle enough to just add to the overall flavor without being noticeable.

I mixed this all up last night and Mr. "I don't like salads much" devoured 2/3 of the huge bowl! Since Dr. Fuhrman says vegetables and beans can be eaten in unlimited quantities, it's all good.

The Tossed Fiesta Chopped Salad

The Recipe:

The Salad Ingredients:

black beans, corn salsa, jicama, romaine, red pepper, radish, tomatoes, carrots, green onions, avocado

1 head of romaine lettuce, washed and chopped

1 can 15.5 oz organic low salt black beans, rinsed and well drained

1 1/2 cup chopped jicama (I actually had picked up some jicama sticks from the the store and chopped)

1/2 red bell pepper, diced

4 radishes, grated

3 medium tomatoes, seeded and chopped

2 carrots, grated

1/4 cup green onions, diced

1/2 avocado, diced

2 cups raw or blanched corn or corn salsa (secret ingredient -see below)

Put Greens in bottom of large bowl. Layer remaining ingredients except avocado in decorative piles around top if you like.

When ready to serve, toss with dressing and plate with avocado added to the top.

Fiesta Salad Plated With Avocado

Lime & Honey Dressing

EVOO, honey, cilantro, lime, jalapeño, garlic

2 tbsp honey

3 limes, juiced

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

3 tbsp cilantro, finely chopped

1 large clove garlic, peeled and minced

1 tsp chopped and seeded jalapeño pepper or more to taste

Mix together

A word about the corn salsa:

Trader Joes' Corn and Chili Tomato Less Salsa

I found this on my last trip to Trader Joe's and thought it worth a try. It's not raw but it is really delicious! I barely could keep R from eating it all up while I prepared the salad. I can see just adding black beans or even mango and beans to it and eating it as a salad by itself.

Fiesta Salad With Added Brown Rice

If you are wanting a little more hearty of a meal, or want to stretch your leftovers, you could add some brown rice to it as well. Although, this salad is really filling on it's own.

Olé

love, Love, LOVE Summer Fruit Season!!

Jumble Berry Upside Down Cake

With all the berries and summer fruit coming into season, this little cake has been on my mind. It is sooo good and a huge favorite in our house.


With summer around the corner, this dessert will make you a star with friends and family.
It's super easy and so much better than any cake with processed flour, sugar, milk, and butter and no baking! Actually forget I even mentioned all those because it takes very few ingredients and little set up time to have something absolutely delicious!

Get ready because everyone will be asking for the recipe. It's that good!

Prep time is about 10 minutes total and set up is 1/2 hour to overnight, so great to make ahead of time for a party. I have found that a little longer set up time is better.

Total Ingredients:

sea salt, coconut, strawberries, walnuts, agave, blueberries, raspberries, dates

For Shortbread Crumble:

sea salt, unsweetened coconut, walnuts, dates.

Ready to Assemble:

These berries could have been mushed up and sweetened a little more- so taste while making.

Ready to Serve:

Note: I increased the recipe by half to accommodate a larger pan.

I did a pattern with just strawberries on top and the blueberries and raspberries in the bottom layer, so it's not quite as jumbled but that's the beauty of this recipe. 

Plus you can use any kind of fruit that fits your fancy or season for this. Always a winner!

Don't forget this for 4th of July picnics.

The colors are just perfect.

Recipe from Jennifer Cornbleet 

author of Raw For Dessert 

Yield: one 6-inch cake (8 servings)

For Filling:

1 cup fresh blueberries

3/4 cup fresh raspberries

3/4 cup sliced fresh strawberries

1 tablespoon light agave syrup

2 1/2 cups Shortbread Crust (see next recipe)

1. Place the berries and agave syrup in a medium mixing bowl and toss to combine. Let sit for 5 minutes.

2. Line a 6-inch cake pan with a parchment-paper round. Place half of the berries on the paper. Top with

half of the Shortbread Crust, distributing it evenly. Press down with your hand to compact. Repeat with the

remaining berries, and then cover with the remaining crust.

3. Chill in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes or up to 12 hours before serving.

To serve, run a knife around the edge of the pan to loosen the cake. Place a serving plate upside down on

the cake pan. Invert, then lift the pan off. Remove the parchment round.

Covered with plastic wrap and stored in the refrigerator, Jumble Berry Upside-Down Cake will keep for 2 days.

Shortbread Crust

Yield: 2 1/2 cups

1 cup unsweetened shredded dried coconut

1 cup raw walnuts (unsoaked)

1/4 teaspoon salt

6 pitted medjool dates

1. Place the coconut, walnuts, and salt in a food processor fitted with the S blade. Process until finely

ground. Add the dates and process until the mixture begins to stick together. Don’t overprocess.

Stored in a sealed container, Shortbread Crust will keep for 1 month in the refrigerator or for 3 months in the freezer. The crust doesn’t need to be thawed before using.

It took summer fruit season to get me out of hiding. Sorry I went MIA but I promise to share more of my adventures of getting raw and getting healthy.

Easy Thai Flavored Staples

This week, we were both feeling a little under the weather so we needed something really easy to keep ready to eat in the fridge. Enter the Favorite ...

Thai Crunch Salad.

Thai Crunch Salad

There are a couple of ways to enjoy these flavors - as a salad and as lettuce wraps.
I have posted them both below.
If you want simple and tasty, it doesn't get much easier than this.

The Thai Crunch Salad

Ingredients:

Bag of shredded Cabbage
Bag of Broccoli Slaw
Bag of shredded Carrots
Bag of Mung Bean Sprouts
Cucumber, peeled, and chopped or julienned (depending how much time you want to spend.)
Raw Cashews, roughly chopped

If you have a larger family or more time, of course you can buy the whole ingredients and shred them yourself as well.

Put all but the cashews into a big bowl and mix well. Then put into a ziplock bag or container until ready to portion out and serve.

To Serve: grab a handful or so per person, add to a bowl, add dressing and toss. Plate and sprinkle cashews over top. This is perfect to take to work as well.

Dressing:

If you are fortunate to have a Trader Joe's Market around and are not concerned with eating peanuts, then the Asian Style Spicy Peanut Vinaigrette is a wonderful dressing!!

You can find it in the refrigerated produce section at Trader Joe's.

For a raw version without peanuts try this:

Mock Peanut Sauce
1/2 cup raw Almond Butter
1/4 cup Water
1 Tbsp fresh Lemon juice
2 tsp Agave Nectar or Maple Syrup
2 tsp Tamari
1/2 tsp crushed Garlic ( 1 clove)
1/4 tsp grated fresh Ginger
dash Cayenne Pepper
dash Sea Salt

Place all ingredients in a blender and process until smooth. Store in sealed container in the fridge. Should keep 5 days. Makes 1 cup

Dressing Recipe found in Jennifer Cornbleet's Raw Food Made Easy for 1 or 2 people, which by the way is a really great book!
I haven't ever made something from this book that we did not like.

Thai Lettuce Wraps

Thai Lettuce Wraps

Ingredients:

Boston Bib Lettuce

Carrot -grated

Broccoli Coleslaw (comes in bag pre shredded)

Cucumber - julienned or cucumber salad (recipe to follow)

Sunflower Sprouts or Mung Bean Sprouts

Raw Cashews, chopped

Spicy Peanut Dressing or Mock Dressing from above

Assemble like a taco using lettuce leaves, putting dressing on top with a sprinkle of cashews to finish. 

Lettuce wrap

Cucumber Salad

cucumber- julienned

1 tsp salt

1 Tbsp agave

1 Tbsp nama shoyu

1/4 cup rice wine vinegar

1 tsp sesame oil

1 Tbsp sesame seeds

Mix all except sesame seeds and place in bowl over cucumber to marinate in refrigerator. 

Sprinkle sesame seeds on top at serving.

I hope you try this. It is so delicious!

Breakfast is Served

Tangelo Kiwi Cups

We are really loving the citrus right now and with the trees still ripe for the picking, 

we are still exploring new combinations.

These little gems were almost too beautiful to eat!

But we got over it.

Tangelo Kiwi Cups

As you can see the ingredients are pretty straight forward.

Ingredients:

3 Tangelos, peeled and segmented

2 Kiwi, peeled and sliced

Pomegrante seeds

Mint for garnish

To use the tangelos as cups, I just sliced them in half and segmented with a grapefruit knife. 

Then used the electric juicer to swirl out the insides and get any remaining juice (to enjoy as I worked.)

Assemble all into the tangelo shell or bowl and garnish with mint.

Tropical Fruit Salad

This has been a total surprise!

While I love pineapple and bananas,  R. doesn't care for either of them and yet

 he's already asking for me to make this on a regular basis.

Go figure!

This recipe would be great all thrown in the blender too!

Ingredients:

2 Tangelos, peeled and segmented

1 Mango, peeled and diced

1 cups Pineapple, peeled cored and cubed

1 Banana, peeled and sliced

1 Lime, juiced

1 Tbsp Agave Nectar

1/4 cup shredded Coconut, unsweetened

Assemble first 6 items in the bowl and toss gently to mix.

Cover and let chill for about an hour.

Sprinkle with Coconut and Serve.

This morning's repeat.

Mmm....So good!

I called this breakfast but these are both good anytime!

Raw Bananas Foster Cheezecake

On my birthday, we had the pleasure of tasting a Bananas Foster Cheesecake at a wonderful local restaurant. It was divine but later was a little heavy and icky feeling in the stomach. From the first bite, I set out examining how I could replicate this flavor in raw vegan form so that it could be enjoyed again without the after effects.

R doesn't like bananas so I wasn't expecting him to like it at all but he surprised me when he asked for seconds and said how great he thought it was. He said he actually preferred this one to the restaurant version as it isn't as overly sweet.  Just now he asked about any leftovers and announced he wants it for dinner tonight.  So that's saying quite a bit!

Raw Vegan Bananas Foster Cheezecake

I decided that the best way for me to make these kinds of desserts would be in smaller portions and especially when experimenting, so I purchased a cute little 5" spring form pan.  Nordic Ware 5 Inch Springform Pan.

As raw desserts are so rich and a little goes a long way, it turns out to be the perfect size for the two of us and still leaves us half the cake for left overs.

I provided the recipe for a 8-9 " spring pan but also the amounts I used for the smaller 5" size will be posted below it.


Plain Raw Cheezecake:


Crust:
2 cups Pecans, (Almonds or raw Macadamia nuts will work as well)
1/2 cup Dates, pitted and deflowered (if your dates are really dry, soak in some water first to soften.)
1/4 cup dried unsweetened shredded Coconut
1/4 tsp Vanilla (optional)

Put the nuts and dates in a food processor and process until mixture is crumbly but will stick together when pressed between your fingers. If it needs a little more moisture, add the vanilla. Be careful not to over process or the nuts will become oily and start turning to to butter.

Dust the bottom of your spring form pan with the shredded coconut so as to prevent sticking.
Press the crust into the pan bottom.


Tip: Press too hard and it will stick later on, not enough and it will crumble.

Place in freezer to set while you make filling.

Filling:
3 cups chopped raw Cashews (soak in filtered water for at least a couple of hrs before hand and rinse.)
          Cut one nut in half to check readiness. You want them to be soft all the way through.)
1/2 cup fresh Lemon juice (I used Meyer lemons to cut tartness but regular are what most use.)
3/4 cup Agave syrup (honey can be used but keep in mind the flavor of the honey will come through.)
1/2 cup liquid Virgin Coconut oil (becomes liquid at 76 degrees)
1 tsp Vanilla extract
1/2 tsp Sea Salt. (I use the pink Himalayan)
1/2 cup filtered Water

Blend all in the blender until smooth and creamy.  The beauty of raw is that the flavor does not change beyond this point due to the no baking, so make any adjustments to the flavor now.
Does it need more creaminess?- add a little water.
More sweetness?- more agave.
More tartness?- lemon.
Something's still missing? -a pinch of salt.
( I did not need to make any changes)

Pour into pan and then give a few taps on the counter to level it out and remove any air bubbles. Cover with wrap and place back into freezer to set. It will keep about a week frozen which makes it nice to make ahead of time.

Raw Caramel Sauce
(previous post on caramel sauce here)


Caramel Dip
1 cup dates, soaked and soft
1/4-1/2 cup Almond Mylk ( THE Best explanation of how to make Almond Mylk) or can be purchased
1 tsp liquid Virgin Coconut oil, (becomes liquid at 76 degrees)
dash of sea salt
1 tsp vanilla

To the caramel dip I added more Almond Mylk until I reached the desired consistency I wanted, slightly liquid, then added more agave to sweeten to taste. I could have also used more coconut oil to thin but didn't want to chance it tasting like coconut. Experiment if you like.

I apologize I don't have exact measures for the larger cake size. I do have them for the 5" size below.

Preparing Cheesecake for Serving:


Remove Cheezecake from freezer 1/2 hr prior to serving but adjust depending on room temperatures. Remember that coconut oil melts at 76 degrees and you don't want it to get too soft. Allow for time to top and "dress" it as well.

Spoon the Caramel sauce along edges of the cake top and encourage it to drip down. Then fill the center with more sauce. Chop a banana into small pieces and pile on top. A little caramel sauce on the plate and

Voila!

Slice of Bananas Foster Cheezecake

Adjusted  Measurements for 5" pan:

Crust: 1/2 cup pecans, 3-4 pitted dates, 1 Tbsp shredded coconut

Filling: 1 cup cashews, juice of 1 lemon, 1/4 cup agave+ 1 Tbsp, 3 Tbsp coconut oil, 1/3 tsp vanilla, pinch salt, 1/4 cup water

Caramel Sauce: Make dip as described. Then use 1/2 cup of dip, 1/8 cup almond mylk, 1 Tbsp agave  and mix together.

Topping: 1/2 banana chopped into small pieces


Don't worry. The extra dip can be eaten with apple slices, bananas or anything else. It's delicious!

Let me know if you tried this and what you think. 

Enjoy!