the sweet potato test

I came across a recipe for dehydrated sweet potato chips on Vegetarian Times. I didn't know sweet potatoes could be eaten raw.  In all of my dehydrator escapades I had yet to try a sweet potato chip.

Instead of just trying the recipe out verbatim, I thought I'd give the potato a challenge. I made half of the recipe as instructed, and then the other half went in the oven instead of the dehydrator.

The oven batch came out crispy and delicious. It took about 10-12 minutes of baking before I flipped them over and finished them off with another 5 to even out the chip sides.

The flavor was a wonderful balance of sweet and salt, and I loved the hit of Rosemary. My daughter devoured the batch in a few minutes and was asking for more! (a make-again for sure)

The dehydrator recipe took about 4 hours at 118 degrees. Quite a wait!- but worth it to see how different they would come out.

They were terrible. Tough, not crispy, and although more pleasant to look at, I decided they make a great dog treat. No kidding! Bubbles, my 2 year old Bichon Frisee loved them. In fact, I may add them to my offerings at my etsy site.

So there you have it. The cooked and not raw variety won out over the raw variety. I do eat roasted veggies for dinner often, so making these chips will be a fun addition to my repertoire of root vegetable recipes.

Sweet Potato Chips

1 sweet potato
sea salt
1 T olive oil
1 tsp rosemary crumbled

Slice the sweet potato very thinly and on an angle to make nice large ovals. Place in a bowl and toss with the olive oil, salt to taste, and rosemary.
Arrange on cookie sheet lined with parchment.
Bake at 325 degrees for about 12 minutes or until they start to brown and then flip over for another 5 minutes or so.

Fresh Fruit Crumble

I am still pouring through the recipes in Cafe Gratitude's cookbook, determined to get the Irish moss thing going, but alas, I have put it off again. At least for another 24 hours while the moss soaks in my fridge. Then I will have to conquer it.

I don't know why I am so daunted by the task of soaking something and then blending it up with water. I tend to do that on a a daily basis with nuts and seeds. Irish moss just seems so... strange.

Mysterious Irish moss. It's a seaweed really. It makes raw desserts thicken up the way a gelatin would, which is really helpful in recipes that require food to take on a shape or stay firm when cut like a mousse pie.

So instead today I decided to make the fruit cobbler.
It's called I am Lovely in the cookbook.
I see why now it is named such.

It's simple to put together, requires no soaking for hours nor waiting for hours to dehydrate. I love that! One can also use fresh fruit on hand. The recipe calls for apples and strawberries, but I bet stone fruits like nectarines and apricots would be delicious as well.

I made a quarter of the recipe and found that I like these proportions even better since I can't possibly eat the entire thing in a week and it wouldn't keep anyway. The smaller portion I can eat with my daughter helping in a couple of days and not feel the guilt of not finishing something I spent time on creating. Sometimes the desserts are so good I feel terrible to throw out leftovers after they have been sitting in the fridge a while... the food is so pure, delicious and special I don't ever want to waste it. Perhaps smaller portions and cutting recipes down can help a bit.

Fruit Cobbler (serves 4)

Crust:

in a food processor, use the "s" blade and process together:
1 cup pecans (not soaked)
pinch of salt
2 medjool dates
2 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp vanilla

Spoon and press half of the mixture into any bowl dish with edges on it that can give you a base about 5 inches wide. Individual cups like ramekins would work well for this also.

Save the rest of the mixture for the topping.

 Filling:

1 apple diced
5-6 strawberries cut into bite sized pieces
squeeze of lemon
tiny pinch of salt

 

Mix together in a bowl and scoop onto the crust.

Spoon the remaining topping on the fruit and it is done.

 

Enjoy

what to do with ripe bananas

I freeze them.

Grab a freezer safe container and tear chunks of ripe banana into it, close the lid, place in the freezer and wait about 8 hours.

Then when it's time,  take the bananas out, add about 2T fresh water to a blender or food processor and blend them up.

It's the fastest and easiest homemade ice- creamy dessert I know. It's delicious.

Garnish how ever you feel like- I like to add some dehydrated banana chips and cacao nibs for crunch and a chocolate bite.

1 or 2 bananas per person is a good amount to start with.

fat free banana crepe with berries

Eating raw vegan is a challenge. Eating low fat raw vegan and making gourmet -style food? a huge challenge. Less fat for me means higher insulin sensitivity. That's good for me.

I came up with this recipe to find an alternative to the high fat desserts and breakfasts I eat which can wreak havoc on my blood sugars. These crepes and berries are very sweet - no agave needed! Also, the combination of textures is really nice. The crepes are chewy, the berries are crisp and juicy, and the mellowness of the banana creme just holds it all together.

This recipe is a great breakfast, brunch or dessert idea. It requires a dehydrator, but if you don't have one you can make the crepes using an oven trick.

There are only three ingredients, which keeps things very simple. Here in Northern California, we are seeing the first real strawberries of Spring coming into the stores. Frozen can work too if you live in the north. I like how simple the recipe is and how easy it can come together. There are lots of variations on this same theme if you feel adventurous and want to try different fruits to include.

Ingredients:

4 bananas (one frozen)
1 cup blueberries
1 pint of strawberries


Crepes:
In a high speed blender, mix together two bananas with 1/4 cup cold filtered water. Blend until smooth. Spread into 4 circles about 6 inches in diameter on a teflex sheet for your dehydrator. Dehydrate for 4 hours. remove when still pliable. If they get too dry or crisp up you can soften them by dabbling a bit of water on top and smooth it in with your finger.

**if you don't have a dehydrator, you can use your oven. Turn it up to 200 and then right back off when it reaches full temperature. Using parchment paper or  a silpat, spread out your crepes and place in oven for 4 hours or until mostly dry.

Filling:
2 bananas (one frozen in chunks) and one room temperature.
blueberries and strawberries


Slice the strawberries and mix with blueberries.
Blend the bananas until you have a thick and creamy texture.

Assembly:

Pile the berries in the middle of the crepe and make a line. Then spread some of the banana cream on one side of the crepe and more on top of the berries. Roll the sides up and fold one over the other. you can use the banana cream as a glue so have fun and get creative! Like I said, there are many alternatives to just these berries. You can use kiwi, grapes, apple slices, figs! you name it.

In health,

.

a study in pesto: part 1

Pesto is a great staple to know how to make when eating a raw vegan diet. You can take anything relatively bland and with a smear of pesto it transforms into something deep, rich and satisfying.

I will be sharing three pesto recipes in the next few weeks with you. The first comes out of the Idiot's Guide to Raw. I liked that there isn't any oil in it. Some pestos can be really oily and separate quickly in the fridge if you have leftovers. I changed the recipe a bit adding more water to blend easier by 4T instead of 2T. I also used a full tsp of salt instead of 1/2.

This is a semi-traditional basil pesto. It can be used as a spread on crackers, pizza crusts,or live noodles like zucchini or yellow squash. I used zucchini noodles.

Using a spiralizer really helps turn zucchini and other squashes into a noodle shape with great texture. The right texture can really make or break a recipe. I use the Joyce Chen spiralizer and love it. I also have the green Benriner one, but I actually prefer the texture of the cheaper one!! The noodles come out looking like curly fusilli shapes.

Instead of olive oil, however, is avocado. The avocado is apparent as a flavor, which isn't all bad. It mellows out the citrus and basil well.

There are pine nuts in this recipe, so if you have an allergy to these as many do, or don't feel up to spending 29 dollars a pound, (yikes) you can substitute raw macadamias.





On top of the noodles with basil pesto, I added a hearty sprinkling of cashew parmesan. It's a simple recipe similar to the Brazil nut parmesan I make, just using cashews instead of Brazil nuts. They are both great. I think the Brazil nut recipe is a heavier flavor,(which I prefer), and find that I use more of the cashew sprinkle to get the same satisfaction.

Basil Pesto:

1/2 avocado
3 T lemon juice
2-3 cloves garlic
1 bunch basil
1 tsp salt
pinch cayenne
1 T pine nuts


Blend in a mini prep food processor or a blender.

Cashew Parmesan:

frozen cashews in a mason jar

1 handful raw cashews ( soaked and dehydrated if you can)
2-3 cloves garlic
1 tsp himalayan sea salt

process in a food processor
I use a Cuisinart mini prep- great for small batches.