April 10th, 2011
Last week, I decided to hop on the adventure that is the Master Cleanse and just recently completed the ten days. Fasting a couple of times a year works for me, it makes me feel lighter, more refreshed, and reminds me to be appreciative of food and its true purpose – to nourish the body and feed the soul. I like to do it during the warmer months of the year, and this time was a sort of Spring Cleaning.
I’ve been on other juice fasts and feasts before, but this was my first time on the Master Cleanse. I found this program to be much more manageable – it did not make me sleepy or drain all my energy like the aforementioned juice fasts often did. That’s likely due to the fact that the cleanse drink consists of two tablespoons of lemon juice, the same amount of grade B maple syrup, and a generous pinch of cayenne pepper, all for a glass of water. Six cups is the minimum for a day. Maple syrup has plenty of sugar and calories, and cayenne pumps up the blood flow, so there are lots of reasons for energy.
Ten days later, I feel great, just like new. Now I just need to do the same kind of deep cleaning to my kitchen!
While I did not get any hunger pains during this program, I did get plenty of cravings. Cooking is my thing, what I think about all the time, so that was only natural. I found myself in silly daydreams about the first thing I’ll eat after the cleanse, recollecting special culinary memories, composing new recipes, anything and everything food-related kept knocking on my mind’s door. In addition, I had to continue feeding my family, packing lunches for Paloma and keeping it all interesting.
Also, I could not pass by the beautiful local strawberries we’ve been having at our markets. Pretty, plump ones, with vines still attached. That is when I bit my maple syrup-ed lips and started working on this recipe. A strawberry shortcake of sorts.
I utilized my favourite oat dough, combining it with strawberry puree to get a moist and fruity crust. I then topped it, simply, with the same puree, raw preserve and sliced fresh berries. After some time in the dehydrator, the dough happily hardened on the outside and stayed nicely moist in the middle. All the while, the topping thickened, concentrated, and turned into a ruby jam.
At first, we treated this “shortcake” as dessert and ate it after dinner, appropriately. The surviving cakes, however, became snacks and regulars in Paloma’s lunchbox. Oh that lunchbox, I’m not exaggerating when I say that everything I cook ends up in there, our girl’s appetite is no joke!
And even though I am now “easing out” of my cleanse with fresh juices and light meals, I let myself have a slice, and really enjoyed it.
I believe there’s enough sweetness here to last us all a while. The next recipe will be a savoury, I promise.
Strawberry Shortcake
(Makes about two standard sized half-sheet pans)
Dough
Same as here
3 cups chunky fresh strawberry puree
To make the puree, pulse fresh strawberries in a food processor until you end up with a slightly chunky puree. Mix the oat dough with the puree. Divide it between two sheet pans covered with parchment paper (or you can use any smaller individual dishes if you’d like) and press into the pans to achieve a uniform layer.
Topping
For the top I used a combination of raw strawberry preserve and fresh chunky strawberry puree. The preserve makes the mixture a bit thicker, and less runny, but I believe that you can get away with using just the fresh puree. You can just dehydrate it by itself for a couple of hours to thicken it up more. You can sweeten the puree/preserve mix to your taste with your favourite sweetener, or just leave it as is. I didn’t measure the proportion, or the combined amount. The more berry puree you use, the sweeter and more moist your cakes will be.
Assembly
Divide the strawberry puree between the two pans, or other dishes, and spread evenly on top. Sprinkle with oat flour or ground nuts and decorate with sliced fresh berries.
Dehydrate at 115F for about 20 hours. Remove from pans, peel away the parchment paper, and dehydrate on the mesh screens for another 6 hours or until your cakes are firm enough for you to cut them into desired shapes. Cut or leave as individual cakes, depending on the dishes you are using. After this step, dehydrate for another 2-3 hours or more. The time of dehydration depends on the thickness of your strawberry puree layer. It should be dry to touch, but moist and chewy on the inside.
I noticed that these cakes become increasingly tastier after some time in the refrigerator. Usually, they are the best at the end of a batch, when the crust becomes moist and full of the topping flavour throughout.
Tags: dessert, food, paloma, raw food, recipe
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March 31st, 2011
Today, we have a hearty recipe for you. We’ve been enjoying these cakes all throughout the winter. They work equally well as dessert, breakfast, or sometimes even a whole meal. The warm, satisfying flavours have kept us feeling cozy throughout the winter and we continue coming back to these cakes all the way into spring.
Oh spring, we are so excited to welcome it. I know that it hasn’t exactly stepped in yet up North, but it’s coming! Here in Florida it’s warm, very much so. We’ve been frequenting the beach, and although the water is still a bit too chilly for my liking, Paloma runs right in. A brave soul.
Back to the food, my husband fell in love with the cakes and always asks about a new batch while still in the process of finishing a current one. In fact, the whole family loves these round treats, everyone except Paloma. I’m beginning to think that it’s the ginger that bothers her, although she likes all other spices. I’m sure one day she’ll come around.
Lately, we’ve been getting lots of questions regarding substitutes for sprouted oat flour. We use it in many recipes and it tastes heavenly, but the allergy to oats is a concern to many. I’ve been trying to come up with a tasty alternative and finally decided to try sprouted quinoa, the star of vegan and gluten free culinary worlds.
The dough with quinoa and buckwheat did taste a little stronger, a bit more sprouted. But when the flavours of fresh ginger, agave soaked pears, vanilla, and lemon combine and integrate into the crust, the result is just lovely.
And if you want to add a touch of decadence, top the cakes with a perfectly smooth and indulgent macadamia whipped cream and enjoy.
Pear Ginger Cakes
Multigrain Crust
1 cup each sprouted quinoa, buckwheat, and oat flours
2/3 cup maple syrup powder
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 cup cocoa butter – gently melted on a double boiler
1/2 cup date paste
2-3 tablespoons vanilla extract
1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger root
less than 1/4 cup purified water
We used the same technique to make the quinoa and buckwheat flours as we did for our oat flour here.
In a large bowl, sift together the flours, maple syrup powder, and nutmeg. Add the cocoa butter and mix thoroughly. In a separate bowl, mix together the rest of the ingredients. Add the liquid to the flour mixture and combine well.
Place the dough on a Teflex sheet, cover with parchment paper, and using a rolling pin, roll evenly to about 1/4″ thickness. Cut out round-shaped cakes about 4 1/2″ in diameter, reform the remaining dough and cut out again until all is used. Dehydrate for 2-3 hours at 115F. Flip and continue to dehydrate on the mesh screen only for another 6 to 8 hours.
Sweet Pear Topping
3-4 Red Bartlet or any other type of pears – thinly sliced
raw agave syrup or other preferred sweetener – enough to cover the pear slices
seeds of 1 vanilla been
1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger root
juice of 1/2 lemon, OR to taste
Combine your sweetener with the seeds of vanilla been, ginger and lemon juice. Pour over pear slices and let soak for an hour.
Assembly
Spread any raw preserve or fruit puree on the cakes. We used our prune-apricot puree. Arrange the pear slices in a spiral on top. Dehydrate for 8 hours or overnight. The cakes hold very well when refrigerated in an air tight container.
Macadamia Whipped Cream
(optional and adapted from The Raw 50)
1 cup macadamia nuts – soaked for 8-10 hours and dehydrated at 115F for 12 hours
1/2 cup water of fresh young Thai coconut
5 pitted dates – soaked for 2 hours and drained
1 tablespoon coconut butter
Blend all the ingredients in a high speed blender until smooth. Chill in the refrigerator for at least an hour before serving.
Tags: dessert, food, paloma, raw food, recipe
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March 2nd, 2011
Before falling in love with raw food, I went through a vegetarian phase, which lasted for several years. My kitchen shelves are still stocked with lots of inspiring cookbooks from that time. One of my favourites was New Vegetarian Food by Christine McFadden. It had a number of smart, tasty recipes that I kept coming back to, and this tart is a tribute to one of them. A sun dried tomato, basil and olive tart.
Let me just say that the recipes for both the original and raw variety of this tart are very close to my heart.
The former reminds me of the time when I just became interested in whole foods. It brings me back to those first few exciting years in the kitchen, when I discovered that nourishing food is also versatile and delicious.
The latter is a source of personal culinary achievement. I love it when a recipe that I’ve been daydreaming about comes together just the way I imagined. This raw tart tastes almost exactly like the original, or maybe even a bit better.
Of course, the original recipe calls for ricotta and parmesan cheeses, eggs and butter. After some brainstorming and careful estimations, I came up with this little tribute, and we loved it on the first try. It’s wonderfully creamy, with a subtly spiced crust, and bits of basil, sun-dried tomatoes and black Cerignola olives spread all throughout.
Luckily, it’s the season of fragrant, local & organic tomatoes here in Florida – just in time to garnish and bring some sweetness to the plate.
I made several tarts of different sizes, as I usually do with any kinds of tarts, pies, or quiches. There were individual, baby ones for Paloma and for bringing to lunch at work, and bigger ones for the whole family. I also discovered that the tart holds very well in the refrigerator for several days, unlike many other raw dishes. In fact, it becomes even better after it sits and all the flavours become integrated.
I enjoyed this recipe so much, that I decided to make it for a catering project for my friend’s birthday. I served our orange-cinammon crepes, falafel, and this tart. Feeding people is one of my favourite things in the whole world, and I waited anxiously for their reaction. It was exciting to hear that everything was received with plenty of “mmmm – ing.”
Paloma and her papa like to eat dinner on the beach, after their evening walk. My husband has mentioned that this dish tastes even better outside.
At home, though, as I witnessed, Paloma was crazy mostly about the crust. I watched her carefully bite around the whole diameter to get the crunchy bits. She’s a funny one.
Sun Dried Tomato, Basil and Olive Tart
(Makes approximately two circular 9″ tarts and three 4″ tarts)
Crust
2 1/2 cups almonds – soaked overnight
2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
1/2 cup ground golden flax seeds
1 teaspoon sea salt
2-3 tablespoons purified water
5 tablespoons za’atar spice
Mix all the crust ingredients in a food processor until smooth, adding more water if needed. Press the dough into your tart shells, preferably with removable bottoms. Distribute the dough evenly against the sides and bottom of the shell. Place the tart shell(s) in the dehydrator for 4-5 hours. Gently remove the shell from the mold, and put it back onto a screen-lined dehydrator tray. Dehydrate for another 8-10 hours until completely dry and crispy.
Filling
2 cups meat of fresh young Thai coconut
1 cup water of fresh young Thai coconut
3/4 cup coconut oil – gently warmed in warm water or the dehydrator to soften
1/4 cup Irish moss – washed thoroughly and soaked in hot water for at least 10 minutes
1 cup each raw macadamia and raw cashew nuts – soaked for 2-4 hours
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
1-2 teaspoons salt
about 6 tablespoons purified water
1 cup of chopped olives of your favourite kind (may I suggest Cerignola olives that come with pits and taste velvety)
1 cup of chopped sun-dried tomatoes (this time I made an exception and used tomatoes preserved in olive oil instead of the dry variety)
1 packed cup fresh basil leaves – or more to taste
fresh red and yellow tomatoes for garnishing – optionalIn a high speed blender, combine the coconut meat, water and oil with the Irish moss until very smooth.
In a food processor, mix together the nuts, lemon juice, yeast, salt and water until well combined and fluffy like ricotta cheese. Add the basil leaves and pulse briefly.
In a large mixing bowl, gently fold the coconut mixture into the nut “ricotta”, followed by the chopped sun-dried tomatoes and olives.
Pour the filling into the crusts. Dehydrate at 115F for 6 hours, then refrigerate overnight.
Optionally, slice fresh tomatoes thinly and dehydrate on Teflex-lined dehydrator trays just to dry the surface. Garnish the tarts, placing the tomatoes dry side down for the last 1-2 hours of tart dehydration.
Tags: food, paloma, raw food, recipe, savoury
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