Who needs to write about the benefits of a raw vegan diet when you can see it in action in Mimi Kirk, Peta’s Sexiest Vegetarian Over 50. Wow.
I love my local library. You just never know what treasures you can to find. For a not-so-vegan-friendly community where I live (that is, it’s hard to find a restaurant that doesn’t use animal products in every dish), I’ve been surprised to discover quite a few books on vegan topics.
The latest find is RAW from Charlie Trotter and Roxanne Klein — two celebrated US chefs who actively promote sustainable living and showcase it through their incredible culinary pursuits. Many of which are featured in RAW.
With recipes such as Mediterranean Cheese Salad with Dragon Crackers and Indian Red Peaches with Vanilla Ice Cream and Pecan Praline, this talented duo show just how diverse and satisfying a raw diet can be (although they do include not-so-veganesque raw honey in some recipes, which I’d suggest switching up with raw agave nectar).
Plus with gorgeous pics from photographer Tim Turner you’ll want to un-cook every recipe in the book. I’m starting with the sweet stuff: banana chocolate tart with caramel and chocolate sauces, minus the honey of course.
While Thanksgiving may be an American tradition, I’m including it on my yearly calendar because I love the idea of expressing gratitude for all of the amazing things that fill my life (and even the not so amazing — because you learn from those, right?). I’m a big believer that anything we give out (whether it be gratitude or even the not-so-nice-stuff) comes right back at’cha.
So, in celebration of this wee American tradition (November 26), I’m sharing a pumpkin cheesecake recipe from Rachel Fracassa, via one of my fave social sites, Welikeitraw.com. Now this is definitely something to give thanks for! YUM.
Oh, and I say skip the Tofurky (yech) and get straight to dessert because this is one sweet snack that is actually good for your health. Bless you, raw food!
Raw Pumpkin Cheesecake
Ingredients
Crust
- 1 1/2 Cups Pecans
- 1/3 Cup Raisins
- 1/4 Teaspoon Cinnamon
- Salt
Filling
- 1/2 Cup Soft Dates, pitted and packed
- 1/2 Cup Agave
- 1/4 Cup Lemon Juice
- 2 Cups Cashews, soaked 2 hours, drained
- 1/2 Cup Young Coconut Meat
- 1 Tablespoon Pumpkin Pie Spice
- 1/2 Cup Coconut Oil, warmed to liquid
- 1/2 Cup Irish Moss Paste
Pumpkin Topping
- 3/4 Cup Pumpkin, chopped
- 1/4 Cup Carrots, peeled and chopped
- 6 Tablespoons Water
- 2 teaspoons Lemon Juice
- 1/4 Cup Dates, soaked
- 1 Teaspoon Pumpkin Pie Spice
Directions
- To make the crust: In a food processor, process pecans, raisins, cinnamon, and salt until the mixture begins to stick together. Press the crust mixture evenly in the bottom of an 8-inch spring form pan.
- To make the filling: Process the dates, agave, and lemon juice in a food processor until smooth. Add the pumpkin, cashews and coconut meat and process until completely smooth. Add the coconut oil and irish moss and process until well incorporated. Pour the filling onto the crust.
- To make the topping: Place the pumpkin and carrot along with the water and lemon juice in a blender and blend until smooth. Add the dates and pumpkin pie spice and blend again until smooth. Spread the pumpkin topping evenly on top of the filling.
- Chill at least 3 hours before serving
Servings: 8
Notes
- If you don’t have Irish Moss, don’t fret. You can make the cheesecake without it, but serve it straight from the refrigerator.
- If you have an aversion to eating raw pumpkin, peeled carrots can be substituted for pumpkin at any time.
- To make a pumpkin drizzle instead of topping, replace the dates with 2 tablespoons of Agave.
So GMO non-organic soy is out. What to pour over your oats now? Well, the answer is simple—and so much more delicious and nutritious than any supermarket packaged non-dairy milks that are often laden with preservatives and goodness knows what else.
Making your own almond milk at home takes a small amount of preparation, and not only leaves you with great tasting milk, but also the peace of mind knowing exactly where it came from.
As with any recipe, you can change this around to suit your specific taste. Even add some raw cacao for a chocolate drink like no other. Here is the basic recipe I use to make my very own fresh almond milk. Enjoy!
Raw Almond Milk
1 cup of soaked raw almonds
Spring water for soaking
3 cups of spring water (for actual milk)
3 to 6 pitted dates
• Almonds are best soaked overnight in a refrigerator, but if you’re in a rush, soak for a couple of hours and you’ll still be on your way to making a fabulous milk. Be sure to rinse them before using.
• I usually soak the dates in spring water for half an hour or so, but this isn’t always necessary if you’re using soft dates.
Blend the soaked almonds with the spring water until smooth. Then strain that mix through a strainer or cheesecloth (I find a strainer much easier to use). You can also save the left over pulp to sprinkle over cereal or use in baking recipes. Waste not, want not!
Place the almond milk back into your blender, throw in the dates and blend until smooth.
And, voila, there you have it, fresh almond milk. If you prefer a thinner or thicker milk, simply add or take away water as desired. Your milk will last in the refrigerator for about three days. Be sure to shake before using.
To make vanilla almond milk
Add the seeds from 1 vanilla bean or a natural sweetener such as stevia.
One last tip: You can also add your almond milk to a green smoothie recipe to make it that much more delicious.
Pics courtesy of www.thehealthyeatingsite.com
I’ve just moved out of one of the most vegan-friendly cities in the world — Los Angeles. I’m now halfway across the globe to a beautiful country where there are actually more sheep than people (guesses anyone?).
While my new city is quite green conscious, its eco-ness hasn’t yet extended into the vegan realm. This of course means rather than eating out at some of my fave vegan restaurants (as I did often in LA), I’ll be at home keeping my food dehydrator company.
To pay homage to the city that supported my vegan lifestyle so well over the past few years, I’ve compiled a top 10 list of things I miss about LA (mostly food, as you’ll see!) in no particular order:
Leaf Organics
From the can’t-get-enough live food wraps to the most incredible smoothies you’ll ever slurp, Leaf Organics is a raw food vegan’s heaven. Besides their cafe-style eateries in Sherman Oaks and Culver City, Leaf Oranics provides their scrumptious raw goodies (including burgers – see below) to many Wholefoods stores. Owner and vegan extraordinaire Rod Rotondi also recently joined forces with Agape’s Dr Michael Beckwith to produce a book: Raw Food for Real People, a guide I’ll be reviewing in the coming weeks.
Wholefoods
Wholefoods‘ aisles are peppered with vegan friendly edibles. From nature’s energy drink of choice — young coconuts — to specialised products such as sausages from the Field Roast Grain Meat Co (go for the smoked apple sage variety, the rest pale in comparison) this market is the place to shop if health is at the top of your agenda. Wholefoods, it’s time you swung open your doors down under.
Erewhon
You could sit for hours at the Eerewhon (pronounced air-ee-won) juice bar, sipping on liquid potions guaranteed to put an enzyme-infused spring in your step. This market is known by health gurus, such as David “Avocado” Wolfe, (who I heard speak there recently … if you ever get the chance to do the same, jump at it) to be at the forefront of real good real food. Really. Sure, it’s a tad pricey, but well worth spending a few extra bucks to get great vegan food and optimal health. Long live Erewhon!
Hugos
Oh Hugos, how I miss you so. Whether you’re in the Valley or on Santa Monica Boulevard, be sure to stop off at this ever-popular brunch, lunch and dinner hotspot. The new American veggie burger (made vegan) is out of this world. Be sure to order it in a spinach wrap with all the extras. If you don’t mind a bit of that evil soy every now and again, add the vege bacon to your order. Having just checked out the menu online, I also see they’ve added new vegan delights to their already jam-packed menu: vegan orange pancakes for brekky and the “best vegan New York style blueberry cheesecake”. Hugo’s how could you? Worth a trip back Stateside just to test these newbies out!
Bodhi Tree Book Store
A treasure trove of all things holistic and spiritual, Bodhi Tree Book Store on Melrose has a special section dedicated to vegans and vegetarians — including must-have cookbooks. Worth a wander, no matter your belief or diet. You might even spot a celeb or three in this local fave.
Vegan Plate
There’s a lot of soy on the menu at Vegan Plate, but there are also other options (including veges and wheat meat) at this Studio City restaurant, tucked away in a strip mall on Ventura Boulevard. It’s clean, the service is friendly and it’s frequented by vegan types and those who simply appreciate good Thai food.
Planet Raw
This Santa Monica restaurant is the playground of raw food god, Juliano. That is, this is his restaurant, where every raw vegan foodie dreams of visiting at least once. While prices are, well, pricey, the raw vegan food served up here is nothing short of sensational. You can also pick up kitchen goodies such as a Vitamix blender or Excalibur food dehydrator — must haves according to any good raw food vegan chef in the know.
Kombucha
Available at select cafes and eateries, I’d usually get my daily kombucha fix from Wholefoods. The multi-green variety from Synergy is my absolute fave, packed with live enzymes, probiotics and everything a body loves. Its founder Dave developed his brand of the cold tea after his mother was diagnosed with breast cancer and found it hadn’t spread because of the kombucha tea she had been drinking.
Nutritional Yeast
This stuff is kind of addictive, simply because it tastes so good. Be warned, however, too much vitamin B can be bad, and cause you to break out in an unsightly red rash (speaking from experience). Nutritional yeast (and my fave from Kal’s) has various B vitamins including 1, 3, 6 and 12, which are much needed when you’re living vegan. It’s also packed with other nutrients including phosphorus, biotin, magnesium, zinc, copper and more. With Kal’s nowhere to be found at my local supermarket, I’m now sourcing a local equivalent.
Sunshine
LA is known for pretty well much constant sunshine — and after almost two weeks of rain now — I dearly miss it and have upped mushrooms in my diet, as they boast Vitamin D2. Besides being an instant mood-lifter, sunshine plays a huge role in our lives and isn’t the demon it’s made out to be (no, the sun doesn’t cause cancer, but sunblocks do!). Check out this great article from Health Ranger, Mike Adams.
I’ve been travelling a lot lately. Country hopping via long haul flights, sandwiched between lengthy hours on the road. Tripping from country to country has affected my diet much more than I expected. My usual raw food diet, which I eat around 80 per cent or so of the time, has turned to mostly cooked (gasp!).
The great thing about such a big change in my diet, besides the not-so-good noticeable decline in my usual joie de vivre? It has been a fabulous experiment.
I can easily tell the difference in my body from transitioning to mostly cooked, from raw, meals … physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually. My energy levels have dropped, my thinking isn’t as clear and my usual Reiki practice and meditation has come to almost a complete standstill.
But why, one may ask, does eating cooked food make so much of a difference? Well, because I’m a) not thinking clearly and b) tired, I thought it best I get the lowdown from living-foods.com.
What are Living and Raw Foods?
They are foods that contain enzymes. In general, the act of heating food over 116 degrees F destroys enzymes in food (enzymes start to degrade in as little as 106 degrees F). All cooked food is devoid of enzymes, furthermore cooking food changes the molecular structure of the food and renders it toxic. Living and raw foods also have enormously higher nutrient values than the foods that have been cooked.
What are Enzymes?
Enzymes assist in the digestion of foods. They are known to be the “life-force” and or “energy” of food.
Why are Enzymes Important?
They assist in the digestion and absorption of food. If you eat food that is enzyme-less, your body will not get maximum utilization of the food. This causes toxicity in the body.
A raw creamy kale salad from chef Russell James. Delish!
