if you've been reading this blog for awhile, you're probably aware of my love for raw pizza. if you're not familiar with raw pizza, let me break it down for you (with links for more information.)
the crust is a mix of zucchini (or any summer squash), sprouted buckwheat groats and flax seed.
the toppings for raw pizza are endless. this time we went with walnut sausage and basil, pesto and sun-dried tomatoes, and rainbow chard with raw tomato sauce, lightly heated in the dehydrator.
why raw? raw or living food is food not heated above 115 degrees, to preserve the live enzymes, amino acids, vitamins and minerals that can otherwise be destroyed or altered when heated. raw food is more nutritionally dense and is generally easier to digest, giving our systems a huge break. although i don't eat an all raw diet, i make it a point to eat as many raw fruits and vegetables as i can. it seems the more raw food in my diet, the more energy i have and the better i feel overall.
as i heard someone say just yesterday, your body is the place you live, take care of it!
(in order to make raw pizza, a dehydrator is needed. i recommend an excalibur 5 or 9-tray system. if you search around you may be able to find a good deal. it will probably run you around $150-200. for us it was a great investment. we make kale chips, cheez-its, fruit roll-ups, eggplant bacon, crepes, crackers, raw lasagna, nori snacks, granola, green powder, buckwheat crunchies...all kinds of things! ours is running right now, making "sun-dried" tomatoes with the surplus of romas.)
enjoy your weekend! i plan to be back soon with a community garden update.
last night's dinner was sort of a finish-up-what's-in-the-fridge meal. i do my best to keep raw pizza crusts in the freezer for easier dishes like this one.
my fungus was about to grow more fungus, so i used 'shrooms for the pizza topping. they were marinated in equal parts shoyu and olive oil with a splash of agave and dehydrated for about an hour. there was a little bit of eggplant caponata left swimming in a lot of dressing - i blended it with a handful of soaked cashews, sun-dried tomato and garlic for a two-in-one tomato/cheese topping.
half of a zucchini leftover from my ramekin raw lasagna was spiralized for a small side of "pasta", topped with the aforementioned tomato/cheese sauce. the lettuce from our garden was served with a maple balsamic dressing john whipped up. (he likes to help in the kitchen so he can get fed quicker because he loves me.=)
on a whim i made a strawberry banana ice cream cake for dessert. more details on this fabulous frozen delight to follow!=)
for lunch i threw together a really yummy salad of cooked chick peas, artichoke hearts and sun-dried tomatoes over spiralized zucchini ribbons with olive oil, hemp seeds and black pepper. (breakfast was coffee and raisins, and no, i wasn't trying to make myself go number two!=)
as a mid-afternoon snack, i enjoyed one of my favorite green smoothies: banana, strawberry, apple, lemon, kale and chia seeds.
this evening i made raw meals for the rest of our busy week - lasagna, eggplant caponata and pizza. the pizza we had tonight was made using leftover ingredients from the lasagna, which was pretty convenient. i stored the lasagna in four ramekins so we can get two easy dinners out of it.
raw eggplant caponota minus olives, capers and celery, but still yummy!
mushroom and "sausage" pizza
pesto, cashew cheese, raw tomato sauce and spinach
a local supermarket was going out of business and i decided to stop in just to see what they had. they must have known i was coming because they saved one big container of the most delicious, soft medjool dates, marked seventy percent off! john and i stuffed some with walnuts and pecans for a sweet bedtime snack. yum!=)
sprouting edible seeds seems to be all the rage right now, and rightfully so, as sprouts are plants at their greatest point of vitality and are said to be the most nutrient-rich food on earth!
what's great is sprouting can be done most anywhere, any time of year - with just a jar, some seeds and water.
the bag of fenugreek seed above cost between one and two dollars and will yield a few jars of sprouts. some farmer's markets and health food stores sell seeds for edible sprouts. seeds may also be purchased online.
the sproutpeople say, "fenugreek has gained popularity in recent years due to research that indicates that it increases the breast size." what?! fenugreek in general is great for breast health - it's been used to increase milk production in nursing mothers for hundreds of years! there are many other therapeutic uses, including those for men, found here.
convenient sprouting kits and lids exist, but this little set-up works fine. a piece of clean nylon pantyhose or cheesecloth would also work - anything that will allow for proper drainage.
after a good rinse in a mesh strainer,
two tablespoons of seed were soaked in filtered water overnight.
another good rinsing and they're placed upside down to drain and sprout out of direct sunlight.
they were rinsed and drained every 8-12 hours.
day 1 - soaked seeds ready for sprouting
day 2 - little tails or roots have already formed!
day 3 - tails are longer. this is when the sproutpeople would eat them - before the leaves open. i like to let my sprouts "green-up" for more nutrients, so on we sprout...
day 4 - they're ready to go! wow, that was fast!
they received a very thorough rinse and were set out to dry before storage in the fridge.
alone, fenugreek spouts are a bit on the bitter side, but i find them to be really tasty atop salad, soup, raw pizza and wraps.
good news, flax-avoiders - you can make raw pizza crusts without it! (personally, i don't avoid flaxseeds, just forgot to add them.) the crusts are on the thin side and may crack a bit when frozen, so please be gentle.
flax-less raw pizza crusts
(fits one excalibur deydrator tray and yields 9 crusts)
ingredients:
1 1/4 cup raw buckwheat groats
2/3 cup raw sunflower seeds
1 cup summer squash, chopped
1/4 cup water
1 T olive oil (more for a softer crust, less for a crunchier crust)
1 tsp herbs of choice (oregano, basil, thyme, parsley...)
1 tsp fresh garlic
1 tsp sea salt
love
preparation:
• soak buckwheat groats and sunflower seeds in filtered water.
(buckwheat groats 30 minutes, sunflower seeds 4 hours)
• rinse soaked groats and seeds thoroughly.
• chop squash (i use zucchini or yellow squash).
procedure:
• in a food processor, blend all ingredients until smooth.
• spread onto teflex sheet and score into 9 crusts.
• dehydrate at 145° for one hour, then turn down to 115°.
• after a few hours the batter will peel nicely from the tray. at this point, flip batter onto mesh screen and dehydrate at 115° until dry.
crusts may be stored in the fridge a few weeks or frozen for months. they thaw quickly at room temperature.
•
quick and easy cashew cheezy topped the crusts, with walnuts subbing half the cashews in the recipe. it added a nice, rich flavor and made for an interesting color - before tasting john asked if i added blueberries! he's grown to expect the unexpected in our kitchen.=)
kale and mushrooms lightly coated and massaged in olive oil and balsamic vinegar went on last, and the pizza was dehydrated about an hour prior to serving.
the lemon love dressing recipe is robyn's from girl on raw. though a bit tart (as to be expected with lemons) i found it to be quite tasty. i did use less local raw honey and blended the dressing with about one tablespoon of irish moss gel for added nutrition.
spirulina was sprinkled on the salad, another superfood from the sea.
here's an interesting comment i found while researching sea vegetables:
Edible sea vegetables have many useful benefits. Besides the benefits you mentioned, they are loaded with fiber too. When my daughter was a baby, we made her gentle laxatives out of agar-agar. We mixed the dried seaweed flakes with hot cherry juice (the all-natural stuff, not the cocktail) to make a sort of seaweed gelatin. We poured the liquid into ice cube trays and let them set in the refrigerator. We would give her a couple pieces a day, and she would be her regular self in no time. The agar-agar has no taste and it is low in sodium, so it is totally safe for a baby. Adding the cherry juice made it tasty enough for the baby to nibble on, and it was able to be mushed up with just her gums, so it wasn't a choking hazard.
agar-agar was also used by barbara to make a fascinating onion, dill and horseradish uncheeze in this video featured at the sunny raw kitchen. (barbara got off her high blood pressure, high cholesterol, auto-immune, constipation and retinal vein inclusion medications and released a lot of weight eating vegan food. yay barbara!) i've yet to work with agar-agar. have you?
this fall marks one year since my introduction to raw foods. while searching for gluten-free dessert recipes, i stumbled upon carmella's blog, the sunny raw kitchen. carmi and i connected via email and before long made plans for her family to stay with us during their journey through the u.s.
(you can read installments of the delicious visit if you'd like: part I, II, and III, and at carmella's blog.)
one of the first raw recipes i made was pizza. it was love at first bite! i followed carmella's herb pizza crust recipe and have adapted it to fit one excalibur dehydrator tray. i've posted the recipe before, but since then have added tomato.
Raw Pizza Crusts
(fits one excalibur deydrator tray and yields 9 crusts)
ingredients:
1 1/4 C. raw buckwheat groats
2/3 C. raw sunflower seeds
5 T. ground flax
1 C. summer squash
1 medium tomato OR 1/4 C. water
1 T. olive oil (more for a softer crust, less for a crunchier crust)
1 tsp. herbs of choice (oregano, basil, thyme, parsley...)
1 tsp. fresh garlic
1 tsp. sea salt
love
preparation:
1. soak buckwheat groats and sunflower seeds in filtered water a few hours. (some sources say overnight is fine, others no longer than four hours. do what feels best to you.)
update: i'm told buckwheat groats should be soaked no longer than 30 minutes. thanks, rick!
2. rinse soaked groats and seeds thoroughly.
3. you can use prepared flax meal or make your own by processing a few tablespoons flax seeds in a dry grinder (a coffee grinder or magic bullet works nicely).
4. chop squash and tomato. you may prefer to remove the tomato seeds and skin. or you may prefer to nix the tomato and use water instead. i use tomato because of the lovely color it adds to the crust. soaked sun-dried tomatoes will also work.
note: raw pizza crusts are very forgiving. don't be afraid to play with the ingredients to suit your preferences.
procedure:
in a food processor, blend all ingredients until smooth.
spread onto teflex sheet and score into 9 crusts.
dehydrate at 145° for one hour, then turn down to 115°.
after a few hours the batter will peel nicely from the tray. at this point, flip batter onto mesh screen and dehydrate at 115° until dry.
crusts may be stored in the fridge a few weeks or frozen for months. they thaw quickly at room temperature.
the toppings:
there are many nut cheese recipes out there. some involve fermentation with powdered probiotics or rejuvelac. i'd like to try fermenting nut cheese, but for now find the simple recipe below to suit my taste buds just fine.
Quick and Easy Cashew Cheezy
2/3 C. raw cashews, soaked
1/4 C. water
1-2 garlic cloves
1 tsp. lemon juice
1/4 tsp. salt
1 Tbsp. nutritional yeast flakes
process all ingredients in a high speed blender until smooth and creamy.
dehydrating the cheese enhances the flavor and reminds me of melted mozzarella.
Marinated Veggies
chop veggies of choice and coat in a mixture of equal parts olive oil and shoyu and a squirt of agave and crushed garlic if you'd like.
choose your favorite pesto recipe and top with tomato sauce or cashew cheese and veggies.
Avocado and Veggies
simply mash up an avocado, season to taste, and top with veggies.
***
in the not-so-mainstream news:
john and i have been keeping a watchful eye on what is unfolding in many parts of the world. we don't recommend protesting nor rioting mainly because what you fight, you become. our solution is as simple as refusing to play the game. when you step back and take a fresh look at it, that's what it is - a game. and it's all our choice.
muth family farm's organic csa week 8: red chard, bok choy, yellow watermelon, lettuce, canary melon, sungolds and other heirloom tomatoes, white and purple pepper, onions, amaranth leaves, raspberries, yellow squash, cucumber, 8 ball squash, beets, corn...
and another cute eggplant - this time a girl!
emma the eggplant
the vase in the center is holding just a fraction of the pears i have from my mother and stepfather's tree. pears are up there as one of my favorite fruits, so i've been eating them as often as possible.
and used pear in most of my fruit roll-ups, along with bananas, blueberries and canary melon.
the idea struck to recreate my pearberry bliss ice cream cake with muth raspberries. (can't believe it's mid-august and i haven't made a raw ice cream cake - shame on me!=)
...
our generous neighbor has been sharing her harvest of cantaloupe, tomatoes and potatoes. john and i made a delicious italian-style tomato sauce to top our raw pizza, with garden basil pesto sauce and zucchini pasta.
(some purists may think it sacreligious to put cooked tomato sauce on raw food, but i say, why not? it tasted great, and i'm told that cooking tomatoes increases the lycopene, an antioxidant known to decrease cancer and heart-disease risk.)
we found another little friend in the potatoes...
potsy the potato
that we fried in a big wok with olive oil, garlic and rosemary. the potatoes made a delicious side for grilled tomato sandwiches on ezekiel bread smothered in raw ranch dip. super yummsies!
the raspberries for the vinaigrette were from muth, as well as the tomatoes...
and our garden green apple cucumbers topped the salad.
...
my mom sent me this funny picture of a friend she found in her cucumber patch with the caption
on the gardening front, things aren't looking too good in our raised beds. i'm not sure why. it's been a pretty dry, sunny summer, though our plants at the community garden are flourishing.
we've got at least 10 butternut squash growing from seeds that i saved last summer. with global seed saboteurs like monsanto, i feel it's wise to save seeds that have not been genetically modified. no franken-fruits in my house!=)
here's an interesting video i had to share (cute goats about 7 and a half minutes in!=):
i hope you're enjoying fresh fruits and veggies around your way!
