Raw Chocolate Pudding

I have fallen a little behind with the posting of my raw food adventures, but with good reason, my very best friend has been visiting from KY and you better believe that he had some strange looks to give when he saw what I was eating. I quote him saying "I remember a day when you would not eat anything and now look at ya." He was a pretty good sport and tried most of what I made. He still favors fast food and Mt Dew to my raw food creations.

Last night I made delicious raw chocolate pudding. Here's what I did;

Raw Chocolate Pudding

3 ripe organic avocados
1/3 cup raw cacao powder
1 tsp organic vanilla extract
1/2 tsp raw organic apple cider vinegar
1/8 cup water
1/2 cup raw agave nectar
1/4 raw organic almond butter
pinch of Himalayan sea salt

Peel and slice avocados and blend in food processor until smooth. Add all other ingredients and blend until creamy pudding consistency. Scrape sides of food processor and blend again.

One of the greatest things that I have discovered about raw food recipes is that you can alter them and they still taste great! I found a very simple recipe and added vanilla and almond butter to make it my own. Now I am in LOVE with this pudding recipe.

After eating dinner tonight I served this pudding with a few fresh organic raspberries on top! BIG HIT!!

Stuffed Portabella Mushrooms

I had a chance to stop into Access to Organics today and pick up a few items; raw organic shredded coconut, raw organic brazil nuts, raw organic macadamia nuts, organic green beans, and organic baby portabella mushrooms. They had a great price on baby portabella mushrooms, $7 per lb (publix's price equals out to be $16 per lb). If you live local I suggest you check them out (www.accesstoorganics.com)

Stuffed Raw Baby Portabella Mushrooms

1.) 16-20 baby portabella mushrooms
2.) 3-4 Tbsp cold pressed extra virgin olive oil


FILLING
1.) 1/2 cup raw organic pistachios (soaked for 4 hrs or longer)
2.) 1/2 cup raw organic brazil nuts (soaked for 4 hrs or longer)
3.) 1/2 cup organic fresh basil (chopped)
4.) 2 cloves organic fresh garlic (chopped)
5.) 1/2 tsp Himalayan sea salt

TOPPING
sun dried tomatoes

Clean and de-stem mushrooms.
Put in a glass bowl & toss with 3-4 Tbsp olive oil, set aside
In a food processor mix all filling ingredients except the nuts. Blend into a dark green paste.
Rinse and drain the soaked nuts, then add to the filling mixture in the food processor.
Blend until desired texture (kind of creamy)
Spoon filling into mushroom caps and top with a sun dried tomato.

*** I had bought 16 mushrooms today and had some filling left over***

Today's Adventure

ughhh.....I was so excited this morning to meet up with the local organic farmer that I met last Saturday. After dropping the kiddies off at school I headed straight to Deland. The place was a MAD HOUSE!!! I was not able to find my farmer. There were several produce tables set up with very reasonable prices on their goods, but after walking around and observing for about 45 minutes I decided to leave empty handed. I wouldn't call the morning a complete loss, I had a nice walk and got my daily does of vitamin D from the Florida sunshine.

After leaving the farmer's market I headed to a newly opened organic store in Daytona, called Access to Organics (http://www.accesstoorganics.com/). I heard about this little place at the raw food class last week. I must say I'm kinda lovin the place!! The owner, Richard Buffington, was super nice. He spent a good hour talking to me about everything from sprouting, to juicing, to recipes, etc... I left feeling much more knowledgeable and with some great items in my hand.

For years I have wanted to grow my own sprouts. At the raw food class last week they told us how easy of a process it is, they even sent each of us home with a container of almost ready sprouts. All we had to do was take them home, rinse them, drain them, then do the same the following morning and they would be ready to eat. I ended up throwing mine away a few days later because they looked different than the typical alfalfa sprouts that I am used to, I wasn't quite sure how to eat them and they started smelling a little rancid. Richard was able to get me up with a glass sprouting jar that had a mesh lid for drainage, organic sprouting seeds, and fool proof directions on how to sprout. If all works out as planned I should be enjoying my sprouts in a few days.

Access to Organics is a must see for anyone local who is interested in eating more healthy. They sell a nice selection of organic veggies, organic raw seasoning, seeds, books, and even gardening supplies. The owner is very sweet and you can see his kindness gleaming in his eyes. They even offer the occasional educational class for people who are just getting started and looking for guidance.

I'm in the mood to write

It's been such a long time since I've even signed into my blog. So much going on that I just haven't had the time...but today I'm in the mood to write. I feel like I have something exciting to share!

Just over a month ago I decided to try the "30 days in the cave" paleo/primal diet. I basically cut out dairy and processed foods (anything from a box)and started using coconut oil to cook with.

At first I thought I would "die" without cheese!!! Anybody who knows me knows that I routinely eat cheese with EVERY MEAL!!! But it proved to be a fairly simple adaption. Then I thought I would "die" without my cereal or oatmeal & orange juice in the morning, but again I was able to adapt.

Last Tuesday myself and a friend attended a Raw Food class. I was told that we would be served a sampling of many different raw dishes. I was prepared to be grossed out and was honestly mildly nervous when I saw the plates sitting at the front of the room. About 30 minutes into the class they began to pass out a few samplings. I believe Chia pudding was the first item up for sampling followed by a cantaloupe/ginger/coconut milk smoothie. Both items proved to be DELICIOUS!! We then tried raw cacao chocolate, raw zucchini hummus, raw spring rolls, raw granola bars, raw crackers, and raw lasagna (not what it sounds like). Everything tasting better than the previous.

At the end of the meeting the instructor challenged us to try to go raw (at least 50%) for the next 7 days. She had prepared extra servings of all the foods she had sampled to us and offered them to us for a nominal fee. My friend and myself both decided to go for it. The foods we bought were enough to tie us over until we could figure out what we were going to make ourselves.

It's not uncommon to find fridge stocked full of raw vegetables for snacking. Growing up in the sticks of Northern NY we always had a large garden and lots of fresh raw veggies to eat. So naturally one of the first things I made was a dip for my veggies. Technically it's called "cashew cheese" but it reminds me of a hummus type dip. Here's how I made it;

1 cup raw organic cashews
1 clove of fresh organic garlic chopped
1/2 tsp Himalayan sea salt
1/2 tsp chipotle seasoning (i used Mrs Dash bc we had it in the cupboard)
1/8 cup organic lemon juice
1/8 cup filtered water

Put the cashews into the food processor and chop fine.
Add garlic, sea salt, & chipotle seasoning and mix.
Add lemon juice & water and process into a thick creamy consistency.

This was so delicious!! I took it to work and ate it on my carrots & mini sweet peppers. My co-workers that tried it also loved it. I believe this will be what I bring to my next pot luck party.

As I "invent" more scruptious recipes I will be posting them to share with you all. If I come across something thats is not so good I will most likely rant about it as well. I hope some of you will chose to join me on this new journey of experimentation and share some of your own recipes along the way.