NEW BOOKS and SAUERKRAUT

I have been kind of busy lately.  I’ve had to put off a bunch of things I want to do, like finish up my Raw Vegan Nutritionist Centre of Excellence online course (hope they’ll give me some extra time on account of the virus or some other excuse – I really do want to finish the thing up. More about that later.)

My job went from brick-and-mortar English school to on-line virtual English school over one weekend.  We got about 5 minutes of training,  and then they handed me a computer and said, basically ‘go home and do the job’.  So I’m learning how to do that.

Meanwhile, I’m self-isolated in my building. So, what to do.  I accidentally found some raw vegan books when I answered a dumb question on Quora (have you ever done that?)… So, anyway, someone recommended this book, The Health Seekers’ Yearbook:  a Revolutionist’s Handbook for Getting Well and Staying Well Without the Medicine Men, and it’s by Victoria Bidwell, an author I had never heard of before.   This goes on my “early books shelf” – published in 1990 – how did I miss it?  Anyhow it is really seriously about food combining, nutrition, and lifestyle.  It’s kind of strict, but that’s not so bad.   There are some recipes, but not too many… it’s more about managing a very healthy lifestyle with exercise, positive thoughts, and la la la.  Once I’d found that one, I found another one which is pretty much an encyclopedia  (like 2 or 3 inches thick), again talking seriously about nutrition and raw vegan natural hygiene (food combining).

I’m looking forward to having time to sit down seriously and read through these books (I’ve just looked at the index and, yes, they are influenced by T.C. Fry’s work, among others.)

Then, too, I found Cherie Soria’s book Raw Food for Dummies.  How come I didn’t know about that?  Probably because I’ve been working my way to a minimalist approach toward raw veganism, where you don’t need an arsenal of expensive equipment to be raw vegan. (I’m back to my knife, and my cutting board. Okay, I do have a food processor and a spiralizer.  And a nut grinder.  I’ve always followed Soria, and liked her recipes.  Now I have a book full of them, plus lots of instructions for stuff I had forgotten about. This book was published in 2013.  I think that, by then, I had decided that all the great books had already been written.  Nope!  This is a fun romp, with lots of recipes I’ll be willing to make when I get some time (i.e., not everything is made using a dehydrator or a juicer costing hundreds of dollars and requiring gobs of space)

My other news is my new sauerkraut batch.  When I went in the supermarket and saw a head of cabbage for 59cents, I knew it was time.   So, the day before yesterday, I went into the kitchen, chopped up the head of cabbage, chopped like 4 jalapeno peppers, mixed it all with salt, probiotics, and water, and I am eagerly expecting some delish sauerkraut the day after tomorrow.

Oh, yes! I forgot to mention that I have been sprouting lentils like nobody’s business!  They’re so easy, so fast, so gratifying, and so tasty!  It only takes about 3 days to get a nice quart of lentil sprouts, and they’ll last in the refrigerator for 5-6 days!  Yum!  Now, I am a window farmer!

Now, off to teach another class.

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DINNER: CASHEW KALE CHEEZE ON TOMATO SLICES, CORN SALAD, INSTANT KIRBY PICKLE

I am very pleased with myself: I can make a nice dinner tomorrow with 3 of the items from my CSA share

CASHEW/KALE CHEEZE ON TOMATO SLICES
1 C cashews, soaked and rinsed
2 C kale, chopped fine
2 – 3 cloves garlic, chopped
1/4 C onion, chopped
1/4 C extra virgin olive oil
Sea salt and pepper to taste

In the food processor, process all to a fine consistency.
Spread on 1/4 inch-thick Roma (or other) tomato slices

INSTANT KIRBY PICKLE
1 small kirby cucumber, thinly sliced
1 t minced onion
1 T raw apple cider vinegar
Sea salt to taste
Black pepper to taste

Place in a tightly covered container and shake well. (Otherwise stir thoroughly to mix well.  Let set for 1/2 hour or more.

RAW CORN SALAD
1 C raw corn kernels (this can also be done with cooked corn)
1 T onion
3 T sweet red pepper
1 t cumin powder
1/4 t minced garlic
1/2 t raw apple cider vinegar
1/2 t olive oil

Toss to mix well

MY NEW CSA – YOU CAN STILL SIGN UP HERE

The history of Pretty Smart Raw Food Ideas is directly tied to my first venture into CSAs.  Some years back, I saw an announcement for a CSA a couple of blocks from my home, and I signed up right away.  As CSAs often deliver vegetables folks have never seen before, I began to hear people asking what they should do with what they had received in the box.    Me? Being raw, I just went on-line, found out about the vegetable in question, and then started experimenting.  People started asking me for recipes.  I asked the CSA if we couldn’t have a way to publish recipes for the benefit of the members. They poo-poo’d my idea.  My blog was born the next day, with raw recipes for the vegetables I found in my box. 

Now, I have found  a CSA which allows you to casually  join whenever you find out about it, and allows you to pay by the week.  (I have had to leave that first CSA because they require an up front payment which I could not manage).  I’m telling you this because, if you have thought about a CSA, but didn’t sign up for one in the spring (most CSAs require you to sign up before May), there is a CSA that you can still join.

Corbin Hill Food Project is a CSA that works with local farmers to provide low cost organic vegetables and fruit (and other products, as add-ons), mostly in low-income neighborhoods (that doesn’t mean that you can’t join if you are not low-income – it just means that you might have to travel a bit).  The beauty of this CSA is that you can sign up at any time during CSA season (summer to fall), and, if, for any reason, you cannot receive your share the next week (for example: you will be away, or you can’t afford it), you can put your share on hold, simply by notifying them a week in advance.  If you are interested, please visit Corbin Hill Food Project to find the most convenient location for you to receive your share (I’ll be going to the Community Kitchen and Food Pantry on 116th St in Harlem – it’s familiar to me, and I want to support its programs, and, also, the commute there and back home is reasonable, even if it is not right near my home – heck! Fairway, Costco, and Trader Joe’s involve commutes so it is not really that big of a deal). 

The first deliveries are June 18th and June 19th (depending on your chosen location – I’m set to receive my share on Tuesday, the 18th), and the last day to sign up for that week is June 10th. 

Just saying.

NICE RECIPES from Renewed Living

Every once in a while I do open an email I never signed up for, and some of those times, I am pleasantly surprised.  This is one of those times. No idea whatsoever how I got on Renewed Living‘s mailing list, but they do have some nice recipes on their blog.  Check them out.

UnCooking 101 Recipe Index

POST #984
Are you looking for some new recipe ideas?  One of my hobbies is reading other people’s ideas (yes, and sometimes making them)

UnCooking101 has been trying out several different things over the past year or two, but I think her collection of recipes is the best reason to go to her website — of course, you might some other things that interest you there – I’m still working my way through the recipes.

WHERE HAS GONE RAW GONE?

POST #982
SOMETHING HAS GONE RAWNG
Admittedly, I had not visited GoneRaw.com in quite a while (okay, maybe a year or so), but I was surprised and disheartened to find the place in a shambles today when I clicked through and old link on an old, inactive blog, looking for Chef Landria, who seems to have disappeared.  On the home page, there was some kind of code disturbance, which just got worse when I clicked on RECIPES at the top of the page.  

Ah, but help is on the way, if you want to go see this famous old repository for raw recipes of all kinds.

Go to the bottom of the page, and find where it says RECIPES –GONE RAW – that link is healthy (at least as of a few minutes ago)  You can page through the recipes, which seem to be intact. 

My advice – if you want to avail yourself of a number of wonderful recipes from people who have posted over the years, who may or may not still be active, QUICK! Go there and look through all of the recipes which sound like something you might want to eat or prepare for someone else.  (Who knows how long this site will remain – it has apparently been abandoned, and there have been no postings in the past year or so).

RAW ANIMAL CRACKERS from Nouveau Raw

POST #979

You’ve got to love Amie Sue Oldfather and her Nouveau Raw creations!  She just doesn’t stop coming up with great ideas.

Her photo here shows the raw animal crackers she has come up with this time!  Cute, tasty, and easy enough to make. The step-by-step instructions with illustrative photos and useful tips make this recipe look do-able. 

If you haven’t visited Nouveau Raw, now is the time to go there. I always find something there that I haven’t thought of before.  It really is a one-stop shop, brimming with great recipes and wonderful ideas.

HEIDI OHLANDER’S EASTER ROAST – my take

POST #911
Okay, folks, I have scored! I have tracked down Heidi Ohlander, from the wonderful, but now defunct Raw Food Right Now, and been allowed a glance at her Easter Recipes book.  Hustle! You still have time to make this before Easter!

Here is my version of her wonderful Easter Roast

EASTER ROAST
Based on Heidi Ohlander’s recipe, RFRN

2 C pecans, soaked 4-6 hrs
2 C almonds, soaked 4-6 hrs
2 sm. White onions
1 red apple, peeled, cored, chopped
1 green apple, peeled, cored, chopped

SPICE BLEND
1-1/2 t allspice
Pinch ground cumin
1 t celery seed
3-4 peppercorns, ground (1 t fresh ground peppercorns
Dash sea salt

DRY RUB INGREDIENTS
1/4 C date sugar
1/4  C mesquite powder
1/4 t ground nutmeg
1/4 t ground cinnamon
1/4 – 1/2 t black pepper (or to taste)
30 -40 cloves, to place on top of dry rub

APRICOT GLAZE
1-1/2 C dried/unsulphered apricots, soaked 4-6 hrs
1/4 t allspice
1 pinch nutmeg
1/4 t cinnamon
Dash cayenne pepper
2 T nama shoyu
1/4 lemon, juiced
Sea salt to taste

MAKE:
Process pecans and almonds to a smooth consistency in the food processor.   Set aside in large bowl.
In the food processor, process onion and apples to a coarse consistency.  Add to bowl with pecans and almonds.
Add spice blend to almond/pecan/’onion/apple mix in bowl and mix well.
Place roast mix on Teflex-lined dehydrator sheet.  Shape mixture to no more than 3 in. high.
Sprinkle dry rub onto top and sides of “roast”.  To have a crispy shell, ensure that dry rub covers every part of roast.
Insert whole cloves into top of roast
Dehydrate loaf for 4-8 hrs at 120 degrees. The finished roast should be slightly firm to touch.
Before serving, remove cloves.
Spread apricot glaze over entire roast.

To serve, slide loaf onto serving platter, and surround with greens, grapes, or decorative fruit, if desired.

BEST OF RAW – great recipes!

POST #907
Congratulations to Amie Sue of Nouveau Raw for winning BEST OF RAW – 2013!  This girl has some  of, if not the,  best raw vegan recipes in town (yours, mine, anybody’s!). Do check out her recipes – I’ve already mentioned a lot of them, but, it seems that, each time I go to her blog, it seems I have a different hankering, so I end up looking at something that has probably been there all along, but which I have cavalierly ignored previously. Today’s discovery was the coconut bark recipes – I don’t rightly know that I’ll ever get around to making those, but I might, since they do sound delicious (but I would need to get the cute little molds first, wouldn’t I?

CARMELLA’S SUNNY RAW KITCHEN RETURNS!

I’m happy to see that Carmella, of the Sunny Raw Kitchen blog, has come back to us, with a dynamic new website, Carmella’s Sunny Raw Kitchen.  She has some free recipes there, and she is also offering special prices on her books.