Cooking from CSA week 4

So with our CSA its always interesting to try out new meals and cook with ingredients you never had before. At the begin of this week I soaked some brazil nuts, pumpkin seeds, walnuts, and almonds overnight in a bowl of water. The next day I blended them to make some nut mylk and some nut cream. I will say that unless you have a nice blender, and we don’t (I really want a Vitamix haha) almonds are really hard to get creamy. The consistency wasn’t what I was looking for but it was still good.

For the mylk I just add more water to the mix, and strain it through a fine strainer. You could also use a nut bag/cheese clothe/piece of fabric/ect.

The other day was the first relatively cool day in a while and since we rarely use the oven when its already so hot in the apartment, I decided to roast some vegetables. I threw the beets, broccoli and spring onion that we received from out CSA this week. I kept it simple for them all since I just got in from work. I tossed the broccoli in oil, salt, pepper, granulated garlic, and red pepper flakes, the beets in oil, salt, and pepper and wrapped them in foil, and I split the spring onions down the center length wise, coated with a dab of oil and threw them in with some red potatoes. I turned the oven to 425F and kept the broccoli in for 15 minutes until crispy, the beets in for 25-30 until soft, and the potatoes 30 until crispy enough for Lauren’s taste 🙂 During this time I threw a pot of quinoa on the stove and had a very simple dinner that turned out excellent.

Roasted beets & some nooch ,potatoes, broccoli, and spring onions over quinoa.

Last night I made two different tacos, a raw version and a cooked lentil version. My first attempt at both of these. I think brazil nuts would be really good in the raw version due to their constancy… next time!

For the raw version I used:

1 cup almonds
1.5 T extra virgin olive oil
1.5 t cumin
1.5 t coriander
1 t black pepper
1/8 t salt

Lauren went with the raw version and wrapped it in the Napa cabbage that we recieved.

For the lentil version:

I cooked two spring onions and two cloves of garlic. Added cumin, coriander. chili powder, oregano, parsley, red pepper flakes, cayenne, salt, and pepper. Then added 1.5 cups of green lentil (rinsed) and 2 cups of water. Next I added a vegan bullion cube and waited for it to boil for 2 minutes. After that I simmered the pot for ~30-35 minutes until the water was absorbed and the lentils are to your liking. I like a little tooth on mine personally. Note: there would be loads of cilantro and avocado on these if we had any.

I tried both out and I used some Ezekiel sprouted corn tortillas with some nut cream, garlic scapes, quinoa, beets, and carrot.

Raw Eats!

My goal is to start eating more raw meals. I have been putting this off until the seasons changed and the temperature was a bit warmer. I feel like raw meals are more my style when its warmer out. Anyways I went over to Gena’s blog, Choosing Raw and found an idea or two. She def has some amazing recipes.

I ended up making the “Raw Peanut Noodles” and “Ricki’s Carob-Coconut Sweeties”

For the raw peanut noodles I changed a few things. I ended up julienning carrots, onions, green/red bells peppers, cucumber, spiral cutting some zucchini, and threw in some kale that was massaged and marinated in the ginger dressing. I feel like the kale really added another dimension to the texture of the dish which I would recommend.

For the ginger dressing I ended up using about a 1/4c less oil and less sesame seed oil (since Lauren isn’t a huge fan) and since we were out of dates I went with the maple syrup. Next time I will make sure we have dates since i think this will thicken the dressing up a bit. I added a bit of salt and fresh cracked pepper and half a clove of garlic minced as well. Overall it turned out amazing, definitely worth making for a dressing/wraps/fried rice/to drink 🙂

For dessert I made Ricki’s Carob-Coconut Sweeties, which turned out excellent. Instead of using stevia, I used some raw agave and used raw almond butter as well. I put half into the fridge and the other half into the freezer. We both agreed the ones in the freezer were best.

Raw-ish wraps

It seems the longer/more intense the workout, the more I crave raw food. This seems especially true now that its getting closer to summer. Its probably because wraps are cool, crunchy, and so so easy to make. There’s no cooking, no mess (unless your me), and no waiting around…just eating! And that’s how it should be since there’s not much worse than being hungry and waiting on food to cook. I will say it does help to have vegetables already prepped. We always have washed lettuce, cabbage, julienned carrots/peppers laying around to make quick meals even faster. For items that get used less frequently only a portion is usually sliced to keep its integrity. Doing a little prep work can really make life easier for the next couple days.

The wrappers themselves can be pretty much anything. We use kale, cabbage, and rice paper as our staples. The filling is up to you though, I usually tend to go with an Asian twist when using cabbage and rice paper. Whatever you have in your fridge will work, which makes cleaning out your fridge easy. It’s also a good way to get in plenty of vegetables if your not in the mood for a salad. I have been really trying to eat more healthy food at work, aka not as many carbs even though they are very convent to bring.

This particular night cabbage was used as the wrapper and the filling consisted of: rice, raw cashew cream, carrots, zucchini, onion, red bell pepper, cucumber, cilantro, soy sauce, sriracha, nooch, and ground flax. I’m a big supporter of having something like a nut cream/avocado/mango/something to that nature in order to help the otherwise crunchy wrap have a smooth creamy richness side to them. Everything else has its place in the wrap as well.. the vegetables for substance/crunch, sriracha for heat, the soy sauce for the saltiness, cilantro for freshness, flax for the omegas, and nooch because I can’t stay away….!

Raw cashew cheese… what did I do with out you?

Id say raw cashew cheese is my new favorite condiment other than hot sauce of course and Lauren even likes it?!?? Wild I know! There is nothing fancy about it at all, just soaked cashews, water, some acidity (i.e. lemon, apple cider vinegar), salt and pepper, and a blender. The great thing is it can give a great creamy touch to any dish and be healthy. I will admit I was a bit intimidated at first when I heard about nut cheeses, but I promise there is nothing to it, just a little forethought for the soaking. I’m hoping to dial in a few recipes using nut cheese as a base in the next few weeks to post. Since I’m not a fan of silken tofu for cheese sauces, I feel that nut creams are more of my style anyways.

The Asian super market near us has mostly everything you need. I really enjoy the fresh pasta they carry that is made in Brooklyn, NY. Some do have egg, but you can find many that are vegan with a small list of ingredients. I found some fettuccine type noodles there that I had not tried and wanted to give them a go. I was down to the end of my home made marinara and figured I should use it up before it went south. My end result was fettuccine tossed in marinara and topped with basil pesto with roasted almonds, cashew cream, and of course some nutritional yeast. I had never really tried marinara with pesto too much before last year but I love it! The acidity of the marinara with the rich, freshness of the basil pesto… its what dreams are made of and throw in the creamy, silky texture of the cashew cream, good lord.