PRETTY SMART RAW FOOD IDEAS

For some reason, today, I have had a sweet attack. I first searched high and low for something that would resolve it, but found nothing that seemed it would take care of the craving, until…… my eyes fell on the stack of dehydrated vegetables that remain from my winter share. There were the bags of dehydrated apple pulp — I guess I could call it “apple leather“. I think I ate about 6 apples worth of the stuff in the “sitting”. I’m still going. I estimate I have enough to just do a mono-diet tomorrow and maybe the next day. We’ll see.

I was stuck for what to make for dinner tonight– it was my turn to prepare dinner and I hadn’t thought it out, but I stopped by the market and picked up two pretty red Roma (or maybe they were “plum” - what is the difference?) tomatoes and a “seedless” English cucumber.  (I have seen these cucumbers but never been able to justify the cost, but this one was discounted, so I got it.

I soaked some dehydrated parsnips, chopped some red bell pepper that I had, finely sliced the cucumber and the tomatoes, and then went to town.

I added finely chopped red bell pepper to the drained and squeezed dry parsnips added some freshly finely chopped garlic, and then drizzled in some olive oil, and mixed everything well.

I put the finely sliced cucumbers and tomatoes in a bowl with some Spike, some olive oil, and some apple cider vinegar ,and waited.

Dinner was delicious

A couple of years back, I saw this book, HOW WE ALL WENT RAW, and I thought it looked good (that was in the time when finding raw food books was still something kind of new to me). I was on vacation in the Outer Banks of North Carolina, and I really did not think I had enough money at the time, and the book looked good enough that I figured I could find it later (whoops! That was a NO!! I never saw it again. I went back on my next vacation and the store was “reorganized” and did not have such a lovely book section anymore. I forgot about the book.

Not too long ago, I was looking around for New York City raw food stores and I saw the book listed on one of the store sites I visited, so I put that store on my to “visit list”. Today I got to that number on the list of things to do!

Now I have this book. I went to the store and looked at the book and walked around with it for a while, and went back and looked at all the other books and then I found that I was still holding the book (I put back books that don’t seem right, so I went ahead and bought it.

We must understand that, since 1999, when I woke up to the fact that there were raw food books other than the 1970s books I had started out with in the 1970s, I have managed to collect quite a few books. Still, the memory of this book stayed with me… I seemed to have a connection with it.

Okay, now… the review. HOW WE ALL WENT RAW is a family venture and it seems to be self-published. I haven’t found it easily anywhere else other than this place in NYC. It has a number of recipes that I haven’t seen anywhere else, and, for the most part, the recipes involve only simple ingredients, i.e., not too many (one of my friends eschews recipes that have more than 4 ingredients, and I kind of do look at how many things are to go in when I am figuring out my food combinations). the recipes are simple and and look really delicious.

I’m writing this after reading half the book, without having used any of the recipes (some of them are familiar versions of things I already do), so I cannot tell you that the recipes are delicious, but they sure do look like they would turn out well.

I’ve got 3 graduating classes this weekend, so I am making crackers and cheez… I am making my two favorite cracker recipes - my delicious corn crackers based on a recipe I learned from Lillian Butler at Raw Soul, and my sunflower seed crackers based on a recipe from Living in the Raw: Recipes for a Healthy LifestyleLiving in the Raw by Rose Ann Calabro. I think I might make two cheezes - one spicy– or I might make some salsa with my leftover tomato sauce from the zucchini pasta last night.

It is always “fun” when I bring y students the crackers — they are not quite sure if they should try them because they are American-made, and many of my foreign students are convinced they cannot like anything American. I know I will get fans from the people who want “halal” or “kosher”, and I have quite a few of those.

The best time was when I had a raw foodist in my class… he was standing around smiling shyly and avoiding all the food on the table, but when I explained to him that I, the raw food teacher, had brought the crackers and cheez, and that I could personally attest to the fact that they were made of totally raw vegan ingredients and even give him the recipe, he came over and chowed down with the rest of the class.

The CSA is going to start up again in the beginning of June. I am making the same commitment to myself as I did last year: I will use everything in the box. (If the farm does as much lettuce as they did last year, I will have to start liking green smoothies, whether I want to or not).

It will be interesting. I am looking forward to it.

Yes, I know… I have been lazy. Without deliveries of unexpected vegetables (okay, I did learn, over the winter, to expect carrots, parsnips, and potatoes!), I did not feel like coming here.

Now, HALLELUIA!!!! I have finished paying off the $722 for my summer share with fruit and 2 tomato shares. I am doing this all by myself this year, because, last year, sharing, I always had to go to the market anyway. This year, I will only have to go to the market for sprouting things and nuts and flax seeds.

I am looking forward to this year, and REALLY REALLY hoping that the farmers are not so lettuce-focused!!! I learned a lot about lettuce last year, but I still don’t really like it (probably because I do not like salads.

The season starts up in the beginning of June, as I understand it. Then I will have my own private competition to use everything in the box.

Be here!!!!

I am of two minds when it comes to raw food desserts.

Do I think that you should not eat delicious raw chocolate caramels??? No, not at all (if I were not so lazy, I might make them myself).  At the same time, I think that “raw food candy” and similar items should not be the primary item on anyone’s food list.

These are some markets that I like. There may be others that I might like, but that I do not know of. If I find them, I will list them.
I am not listing Whole Foods because I do not necessarily like them. Here in New York City, they have forced a lot of independent natural food markets that I used to like out of business. I also do not trust their honesty about organic food. If you want a Whole Foods, there are a number of them listed in the phone book.

INTEGRAL YOGA FOODS
I love this market – they refuse to sell anything they cannot guarantee is organic (so you won’t get young Thai coconuts there!). They have all sorts of nuts, seeds, and beans, and they often carry Ms. Lillian’s raw food creations.
229 West 13th Street (btw 7th and 8th Aves.)
New York, NY 10011
212-243-2642
8:00am - 9:30pm, weekdays
9:00am - 8:30pm, weekends
#1/2/3 or A/C/E trains to 14th St, or L line to 8th Ave.

WESTERLY NATURAL MARKET
all organic, and they have a deli with raw food creations for takeout.
913 8th Ave. @ 54th Street
New York, NY 10019
212-586-5262
7 AM - 12 AM weekdays
9 AM - 12 AM weekends
E train to 50th St. Station

FAIRWAY MARKET
cheap vegetables and everything downstairs, and a secret (hard to find) upstairs organic market with just about everything you can think of – my test was Lara Bars – they have them for $1.25 (as of March 08). Their upstairs organic market is as big as any other organic market in town.
2127 Broadway
New York, NY 10023
212-595-1888
6AM-1AM Daily
SECOND FLOOR ORGANICS 8AM-10PM DAILY
#1, 2, or 3 trains to 72nd St. Exit north end of station, walk 2 blocks north.

HIGH VIBE
raw focus store with raw prepared goodies to buy. Interesting place to visit.
138 East 3rd St (btw Ave A and 1st Ave)
New York, NY. 10009
212 777 6645
1 888 554 6645
11 am - 7 pm, weekdays
12 pm - 6 pm, weekends
F/V train, Second Ave. Station, 1st Ave. exit
walk north to 3rd St, east on south side of 3rd St.

ORGANIC AVENUE
101 Stanton St, (btw Orchard and Ludlow Sts., one block S of Houston)
New York, NY
(212) 334-4593
10 am to 10 pm daily
F train to 2nd Ave Walk one block south of Houston Street.
# 6 train to Bleecker St. Walk one block south to Houston, 5 blocks east to Allen, then one block south to Stanton Street.
J or Z train to Essex Street. Walk two blocks north on Essex, then 2 blocks west on Stanton.

I still have a lot of dehydrated parsnip, so this one looked good. I added a little grated onion and garlic.

PARSNIP-AVOCADO SOUP
based on a recipe found on chidiet.net blog

• Process parsnip in food processor to a fine grated texture.
• Peel celery.
• Cut up avocado.
• In a VitaMix, process parsnip, water (or celery juice), oil, and lemon juice until smooth.
• Add remaining ingredients, and continue processing until smooth.
• If desired, garnish with a sprinkle of parsley

PARSNIP “RICE”
Parsnips were new to me last year.  I had no clue what to do with them.  I saw one recipe using them for “sushi rice”, but that was about it.  Finally, since they are root vegetables,  I decided to do what I do with beets and turnips….

I grated  and mixed them with olive oil once, and then I grated them and mixed them with apple cider vinegar and a little garlic.  The olive oil version is more like rice, but I like the vinegar version best.

I can do this recipe with fresh parsnips or soaked dehydrated parsnips. 

My new favorite commercial is the MasterCard “Priceless: Giving Your Kitchen the Night Off”

To tell the truth, I had always wondered how my stuff always got all tangled up between when I laid things carefully in their places and when went to look for them again.

If you have not seen it please do right away. It is priceless!