Think Outside the Lunchbox!

I had the wonderful opportunity to share some "raw wisdom" with the wonderful hosts of My Carolina Today recently.  With the start of school in North Carolina just around the corner my segment focused on "thinking outside the lunchbox" and finding creative and yummy ways to include more fresh, whole living foods in the 'ol brown bag!

Consider these statistics from the NC Department of Public Heath:

·        Only 16% of NC high school students getting 5+ servings of fruits and vegetables per day

·        The percentage of children (ages 5-10) getting 5+ servings of fruits and vegetables (including 100% fruit juice) per day has declined by 8% since 2005, with 58% currently getting the recommended daily servings of fruits and vegetables.

·        North Carolina is ranked 43^rd for fruit and vegetable consumption among adults. In 2001, approximately 25% of adults consumed the recommended 5+ servings of fruits and vegetables per day. As of 2009, there had been a statistically significant decrease to slightly over 20% of adults.

I think some of the the biggest obstacles in packing great lunches is not having enough time, finding things that "pack well", and creating food that kids will eat and not throw away.  Some easy ways to overcome these barriers are to:

• Chop veggies for easy use on Sunday nights and again on Wednesday
• Most spreads and dips will keep in the fridge for 5 days so make a few different ones to use throughout the week
• Get your kids involved – let them pick veggies for lunches and have them help to assemble them
• Keep a bowl of fruit salad chopped and ready in the refridgerator
• Make the food fun.  Kids like to dip, dunk, and eat food with their hands.

THE SANDWICH: 

What's a lunch without a sandwich???  Ditch the starchy breads, nitrate filled lunch meats and processed cheeses.  Use romaine lettuce, endive cups, or collard leafs to create unique wraps to fill with veggies and healthy nut sauces!  Rice papers also make a great carrier for veggies.  Veggies can be served as is or marinated overnight to soften. Get creative and use different flavors to keep lunches interesting and fun.

The wraps and rolls carry great in a lunch box.  Just wrap them securely in saran wrap or parachment paper.

Nut Butter Sandwich

Manna Bread (available in the freezer section of Whole Foods) topped with Raw Nut Butter
*Ezekiel and Manna Breads are flourless, made from sprouted grains and "cooked" at very low temperatures. While technically they are not raw they are highly nutritious and are a much better alternative then white and "wheat" breads.  My favorite is the Cinnamon and Raisen!

Mexican Lettuce Wrap with Red Pepper Spread

1 head romaine, washed

1 carrot, thin matchsticks

1 cup cucumber, diced small

1 avocado, cubed small

6 basil leaves, chiffonade

Red Pepper Cashew Spread

1/2 cup cashews, soaked 3 hours

1/8 cup water

1/2 cup red pepper, chopped (about 1 pepper)

1.5 tablespoons Bragg Liquid Aminos

1/2 tablespoon maple syrup

1/2 tablespoon apple cider vinegar

1/2 lemon, zested and juiced

Sea salt, to taste

Drain cashews. In a food processor, blend cashews with water until fairly creamy, about 2 minutes. Add the rest of spread ingredients and blend until smooth.

To assemble wrap, spread red pepper cashew spread on a lettuce leaf and top with a sprinkle of carrot, cucumber, avocado, and basil. Repeat. Serve immediately.

Spring Rollers with Asian Dipping Sauce

Julienned Veggies of Choice (cucumber, zucchini, peppers, avocado, carrots, etc.)

Spring Roll Wrappers (available in Asian section of grocery store)

Dipping Sauce

1/2 cup almonds

1/2 tablespoon ginger, minced

1 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 tablespoon hot chili pepper sauce (again, if you don't like spice, skip this!)

1 tablespoons lemon juice

1 tablespoons honey

1/2 tablespoon Braggs soy sauce

½  cup water**

pinch sea salt

pinch pepper

In a food processor, blend the almond into a mill. Add the minced ginger, garlic, hot pepper sauce, lemon juice, honey, braggs, water, salt and pepper, and blend until smooth. **Adjust amount of water to create your desired consistency. 

Soak rice paper in water until pliable. Place veggies in center of paper and roll.  Serve with Dipping Sauce.
Fruit with a Twist

Jazz up your kid’s fruit with an antioxidant rich dip made with raw cacao!

Fruit with Chocolate Dipping Sauce

Chopped fruit of your choice

Chocolate Sauce

1 1/4 cup raw cacao powder or carob powder

1 cup agave nectar

1/4 cup coconut oil

1/8 t. salt

In a small bowl, mix together the raw cacao powder, agave, oil and salt until well combined and smooth. Place in the refrigerator to chill for 10 minutes.

Drizzle fruit with chocolate sauce or skewer fruit and serve with sauce on the side.

Guilt Free Cookies

Throw away the processed store bought cookies AND the homemade goodies laden with processed sugar. Your kids will love these alternatives and can help make them too!

Oatmeal Chewies

3C Rolled Oats

2C Any Raw Nut Butter

3/4C Raw Honey

Optional: shredded coconut, powdered cacao, cinnamon

Mix butter and honey until smooth. Mix in Oats. Form small balls with dough and roll in coconut, cacoa or cinnamon. Refridgerate.

Coconut Caramel Cookies

3 cups dried and shredded coconut

1 cup dates, pitted

3 tablespoons almond butter

2 tablespoons agave nectar

2 tablespoons coconut butter

1 tablespoon vanilla

1 tablespoon cinnamon

2 teaspoons nutmeg

A pinch of finely ground sea salt

In a food processor, combine dates, honey, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, coconut butter, almond butter, and sea salt. Process thoroughly and transfer to a large mixing bowl.  Add dried coconut and mix together. Roll into balls and place on a dehydrator sheet. Press into cookies shapes with the bottom of a glass and store in refrigerator until hard.  If you have a dehydrator, dehydrate for 12-20 hours at 110 degrees. Store in an airtight container in the fridge, dry place, or freezer.

Almond Cookies

2 cups almonds, ground

1/3 cup agave

2 teaspoon organic almond extract

1 teaspoon organic vanilla extract

¼ teaspoon Himalayan crystal salt or sea salt

Using a coffee grinder, grind almonds into flour – one cup at a time. Add almond flour and remaining ingredients to a food processor. Process until the dough forms into a ball. Transfer dough to a bowl and refrigerator for an hour.  Scoop dough out in balls and press into cookie shapes. If desired garnish with an almond on top.  Dehydrate for 8-10 hours at 110 degrees flipping cookies after 5 hours.

Summertime Dreaming - Creamy Picnic Salads

Summer is right around the corner (hopefully!!!) and with that will come the onslaught of mayo laden salads - pasta salad, egg salad, Waldorf salad, etc.  Using the word "salad", with its connotations of healthful nourishment, does not provide an accurate description of these picnic staples! These traditional "salads" are full of saturated fat, ccholesterol and calories.  A little piece of green lettuce doesn't stand a chance under a mountain of gloppy mayonnaise!

The good news is that just because you're following a raw, vegan diet doesn't mean you have to miss out on creamy "mayo-laden" salads. Pine Nut Mayonnaise is easy to make and better tasting than regular mayo.  It is incredibly versatile and can be used on fruit based salads such as Waldorf Salad or veggie based salads like coleslaw and Broccoli Salad (my fav!!).   Check out the recipes below and give them a try..........

Brocolli Salad

Pine Nut Mayo
1 C raw pine nuts
1/2 C water
4 T olive oil
3 T lemon juice
pinch sea salt
agave nectar to taste (optional)
Blend all together in a blender.

Waldorf Salad
1 C celery, chopped fine
1 C grapes, halved
1 apple, peeled
1/2 lemon, juiced
1/2 C water
1 batch Pine Nut Mayo
Mix lemon juice and water.
Dice apple, soak in lemon juice/water mix for 10 mins., and drain.
Mix celery, grapes, and apple.
Mix in pine nut mayonnaise to taste.

Brocolli Salad
2C broccoli, roughly chopped
1C finely chopped celery
1/2 C golden raisins
1/2 C finely diced red onion
1/4 C sunflower seeds
1 batch Pine Nut Mayo (recipe under Dips and Sauces)
Mix broccoli, celery, raisins, onion, and sunflower seed in bowl. Toss with Pine Nut May until coated.


To learn how to tranistion to a raw, vegan diet, online raw cooking instruction, recipes, and more check out our membership site at: www.rawkstarlivingfoods.com

Sunday Night Routine

I travel on business quite bit so part of my Sunday night routine is to prep food for the coming week for my family.  If I don't my crew with find their way over to our golf club to participate in Wacky Wing Night, Pasta Night, and other celebrations of food debauchery. 

A few nights ago I had dehydrated some apples that were about to take a turn for the worse.  The apples turnout out so sweet and delicious. I included these tonight in making my daughter's cereal/snack blend.

This cereal is prepared with coursely chopped almonds, cashews, macadamia nuts, pumpkin seeds, walnut, pecans, coconut and dried apples. Then the nuts are mixed with cinnamon and a 5-grain cereal blend.  I lightly tossed it in a little agave. 

My daughter is extrememly active and plays tennis and golf several times a week.  This cereal is a great energy booster for her especially is she has a couple of matches in one day.  For the rest of us however...... beware of the calories in this one.  Although I must say, when I am eating a nutritionally dense item such as this I don't feel like eating as much. My body gets everything it needs in a smaller portion.

As a side note, you could add some nut butter or a little nut milk with the cereal to create a dough that can be dehydrated into yummy 'nola cookies!

Raw Breakfast Food - Grab and Go

So many times people, including myself, get frustrated trying to fit a raw diet into their busy lives.  You really have to get the hang of planning ahead, dehydrating ahead, chopping veggies ahead, and basically thinking about meals a few days in advance.  This is where people get the misconception that eating a raw diet is hard because it takes up too much time.  It doesn't really take up anymore physical time than conventional cooking but you definately have to think and plan differently.  For instance, I make bread or cookies in the dehydrator while I sleep but I never would have cooked anything during slumber - in my book this is saving time. 

However, it's this change in "food-prep mentality" that can also quickly derail our raw efforts.  If we are not prepared with our food we get frustrated and give up.  Sure, you can always grab a salad or piece of fruit in a pinch but that is only going to satisfy you if the lack of preparation is an occassionally thing.  For chronic food-prep-procrastinators, a daily diet of a bunch of salad gets old quick!

I've been wanting to post out a raw breakfast cereal that is kid-friendly, quick, and easy to make. This cereal is great for breakfast but also excellent for a quick on-the-go snack that is portable, travel-friendly, and tasty. I make this cereal in large batches and stash it in the fridge.  You can eat it with nut milk or just out of the bag like granola.  My kids also really dig this cereal when I spruce it up with cacao nibs, coconut or other goodies they like. 

If you are a mom trying to get your kids off the sugary cereals one approach you might take when making this for the first time is to really sweeten it up with agave or really kick up the amount of dried fruit so your kids will take to it.  Each time you make a new batch just use a little less agave/dried fruit than you did with the previous.  Your kids will adjust to having the cereal be less and less sweet.

Also, if you want a more traditional cooked oatmeal you can take a bowl of the cereal, add nut milk and let it set overnight.  The cereal will absorb the nutmilk and soften with an cooked oats consistency by morning.

OK - here is the recipe.  There are no amounts because I just throw it together.

Nuts (almonds, macadamias, walnuts, pecans, or any blend you like)
Seeds (hemp, sunflower, flax or any blend you like)
5 grain oat cereal (I use the 5 grain blend so that there is a variety of grains - you could just us whole oatmeal)
Agave
Cinnamon and or nutmeg
Dried Fruit (I like dates, apples and goji berries)

To make it yummier for your kids - add shredded coconut and cacao nibs.

Pulse a bunch of the nuts in the food processor until chunky (again, how chucky is your preference).  Take the nuts and mix with oat cereal in a large bowl (there should be way more oats than nuts or you will have a very calorie dense cereal).  Add in any seeds that you want.  Add in chopped dried fruit.  Toss it all with cinnamon and/or nutmeg to taste.  At this point I squirt a little agave on and toss the cereal to coat.  Store in a zip lock bag and air tight container.

In the past I have done the cereal with some honey and spread it in the dehydrator to make more of a traditional granola but, of course, this is more time consumming.

Enjoy this recipe.  It's my mom's favorite - I make large batches and send it out to California just for her!

Labor Day Chili

What a beautiful weekend!  Raleigh, NC really pulled through with some great weather - milder temperatures and cool nights - all the signs of fall in the air.  But still.....it's summer and I normally don't like to eat chili in this time of year but this chili so so good, so refreshing, and too good to pass up!  The "walnut meat" is absolutely delicious and really give the chili a hearty weight and appeal.  It you are lucky enough to have left overs you can use the walnut meat in raw tacos and the chili would be great scooped up in endive cups!

This recipe is from Ani Phyo so you know its gotta be good!  Super easy, super fast, and super fabulous - Enjoy!

TOMATO CHILI

• 3 cup tomatoes, chop

• 1 cup red bell pepper, chop

• 1/4 cup celery, chop

• 1/4 cup yellow onion, chop

• 1/3 cup mushroom, chop

• 1/3 c corn kernels

• 1 teaspoon garlic, mince
• 1 – 2 teaspoon chili powder, to taste
• 1 teaspoon cumin, powder
• 3/4 teaspoon oregano, fresh or dry
• 1/4 teaspoon sea salt, to taste

Place all ingredients into a large mixing bowl, toss to mix well.

Place half of your mixture into your food processor or blender and puree. Scoop back into bowl with mixture and toss to mix well.

NUT MEAT TOPPING

• 1 cup walnuts
• 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 tablespoon cumin, powder
• 2 teaspoons coriander, powder
• 1 teaspoon bragg’s or nama shoyu, or 1/4 teaspoon sea salt, to taste

Place all ingredients into your food processor, and process into small pieces.

To serve, scoop raw Tomato Chili into bowls. Top with Taco Nut Meat. Enjoy.