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Tangy Mango Hemp Cilantro Dressing

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Mango hemp cilantro dressing

I was having a major craving for a crisp, romaine salad with a cilantro dressing last night. I always have lots of cilantro in the fridge and I was ready to create something new. I threw a bunch of ingredients into my mixing cup and searched the fridge for cilantro, only to find two half used bags of mostly spoiled cilantro. *Long deep sigh*

I could have easily just blended the ingredients I had and added some basil instead but that’s not what I was wanting. My body needed cilantro! My husband was so sweet to drive me to the store so I could run in and grab some. Thank you giant grocery store on the corner for having a decent size organic section with plenty of fresh cilantro bunches!

Here’s what I came up with for the dressing…

Ingredients:

1/2 cup mango
1 TBLS plus 2 tsp Raw Organic Apple Cider Vinegar
1 small garlic clove
1 tsp minced fresh ginger
2 TBLS hemp seed
1 TBLS fresh lime juice
1/2 cup fresh cilantro
* 1 or 2 tsp of 100% pure maple syrup (optional if you’re like me and you like a sweeter dressing)
* pinch of salt (optional)
* chopped green onion or chives for garnish (optional)

Directions:

In a blender like a Vitamix, blend mango, vinegar, garlic, ginger, hemp seed, lime juice, maple syrup and salt until smooth. Add chopped cilantro and stir it into the dressing. 

Pour over your favorite greens and add green onion or chives for garnish. You can also top your salad with another tablespoon of hemp seeds.

For my salad, I used romaine lettuce, cucumber noodles, mango chunks, fresh tomatoes and a handful of thinly sliced purple cabbage. 

Enjoy!

Zucchini Noodles with Avocado Mango Sauce

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zucchini noodles avo mango sauce

Sometimes you just want something different. That was me last week at dinner time. Standing in front of the refrigerator, staring blankly at its contents, I knew I wanted a savory noodle dish of some sort but I wasn’t sure what. I had part of an incredible Reed avocado that I needed to use up and I searched the fridge for additional ingredients to throw together. This avocado mango sauce is what I came up with. 

It was super creamy and a little tangy and it hit the spot.

Ingredients:

16 oz zucchini spiralized or julienned into noodles
1/2 cup green cabbage
1/2 cup purple cabbage
1 1/4 cups red bell pepper cut into thin, 1 inch strips
1/4 cup of fresh cilantro, more if you love cilantro like I do
5 medium basil leaves chopped or cut into thin strips
1/3 cup avocado
1 cup sweet, ripe mango like a kent, haden or keitt
1/2 cup chopped celery
1 TBLS fresh lime juice
*2 tsp tamari or coconut aminos (optional)

Directions:

Spiralize or Julienne zucchini into noodles and place in a large bowl. Add cabbage, bell pepper, cilantro and basil

Blend avocado, mango, celery, lime and optional tamari and pour over noodles. Gently mix noodles and sauce together

Can be garnished with fresh chives for additional flavor

Many blessings!

Sweet Lo Mein Noodles

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Lo Mein Noodles

Chinese food was always a favorite of mine before following a raw food diet, so I was super excited to find this incredible dish from The Raw Caterer, which I purchase often at my local farmers market. It’s so delicious! It’s definitely one for those who like SWEET, savory meals. I keep begging them to release a recipe book because their food is SO GOOD! Hopefully someday soon, they will. Until then, they were so kind to share the ingredients used in this recipe. However, I don’t know their exact measurements and because I’m making much smaller batches, I had to modify the ingredients a little to be able to blend it properly.

This is reminiscent of the sweet dishes you might find at PF Changs or other Asian restaurants.  

Ingredients:

16 oz. zucchini (spiralized or julienned into noodles)
1 medium red bell pepper cut into thin, 1 inch strips
1 cup green or purple cabbage thinly sliced
1 or 2 button mushrooms or your favorite mushrooms thinly sliced *see additional mushroom options below
1 cup of raisins
1/4 cup of mango or if you’re allergic to mango you could substitute celery
1 TBLS Tamari or Coconut Aminos
1 small clove of garlic
1 thin slice of jalapeño, add more if you like more heat
1 tsp of finely diced fresh ginger

* For the mushrooms, I actually prefer the flavor and texture of dried mushrooms. I like to dry shiitake mushrooms in the dehydrator and then slice them and mix them in with the noodles and sauce. They taste more mild and I like the consistency better. I also slice and then dry portobello mushrooms too. I’ll break them up and put a small handful in the dish instead of shiitake. Button mushrooms will also work great if you decide to go this route. If you like fresh mushrooms, no need to dry them, just slice and add them to the dish. You can also slice and marinate fresh mushrooms in tamari, or coconut aminos, for 20 minutes before adding them to the noodles for enhanced flavor.

Directions:

Combine zucchini noodles, cabbage, bell pepper and mushrooms in a large bowl. I sometimes like to add thinly sliced celery to this dish for added flavor.

For the sauce, using a small blender like a Nutri Bullet or Smart stick, blend raisins, mango, tamari, garlic, jalapeño and ginger until smooth or almost smooth. Pour over noodles and mix gently until all ingredients are combined well. 

Sauce will be thick but once properly mixed with zucchini noodles, it will thin out and cover noodles well. 

Hǎo wèikǒu
好胃口
That’s enjoy your meal in Chinese!

Raw Savory Vegetable “Rice”

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Vegetable rice

When you’re in the mood for something a little more dense, filling and savory, instead of reaching for cooked carbs, try a raw vegan, savory vegetable “rice” dish. This recipe can be a delicious and filling meal on its own, or paired with a salad, used as a filling to stuff peppers or tomatoes, and would even be great stuffed into lettuce leaves for a yummy wrap! This was often my go-to meal when I was really needing something other than my usual salad.

Savory Vegetable “Rice” Ingredients:

1 medium or small romanesque cauliflower or regular cauliflower (2 1/2 cups of cauliflower pieces before processed)
1 small kohlrabi peeled and cut (*optional)
1 large, ripe, red bell pepper approximately a 6 oz. sized pepper stemmed and seeded (half cut up in pieces, the other half set aside for sauce)
2 persian cucumbers or 6 oz. (or 1 small regular cucumber peeled) julienned into 1 inch noodles (zucchini can be substituted)
3 1/2 cups of cherry or vine ripened tomatoes (2 cups for sauce and 1 1/2 cups cut up for rice)
4 large stalks of celery approximately 11 oz. (6-7 oz. roughly chopped for the sauce and 3-4 oz. finely chopped for rice)
1/2 cup of fine carrot peelings
1/2 cup of pre-soaked sun dried tomatoes (soaked in warm water, preferably for an hour or more depending on thickness) a few pieces for the sauce and the rest for the rice
1 1/2 medjool dates (pitted) OR for better food combining – a 1/2 cup or so of a sweet tasting mango or apple 
15-20 medium sized sweet basil leaves (10 or so for sauce, and the left over for garnish)
1/2 cup of fresh blueberries for garnish (*optional)

Directions:

For rice
Break apart the romanesque or cauliflower and put the pieces along with the peeled & cut stem into the Vitamix or food processor
Add the peeled and cut kohlrabi and blend, or process, both until it becomes a small rice sized consistency

Pour into a large bowl
Add your cut up bell pepper pieces, cucumber (or zucchini) noodles, finely diced celery, chopped tomatoes, fine carrot peelings, and your cut up, soaked sun dried tomatoes

For sauce
In a blender like the Vitamix, blend 2 cups of cherry tomatoes, 1/2 of your red bell pepper, 3 stalks of celery roughly chopped, 1 1/2 pitted medjool dates OR ( you can substitute the dates with a sub-acid fruit like 1/2 cup of mango or sweet apple like a Fuji.)

Blend until all ingredients are mixed well but not too smooth

Add chopped basil to the sauce and stir, or pulse in basil leaves. Be careful not to blend basil because it can become bitter and the basil flavor can get lost in the sauce.

Pour sauce over rice and mix together

Garnish with fresh sweet basil and optional blueberries

You can also add fresh organic corn, chives, cilantro and a pinch of cumin for a Mexican style rice dish!

Raw Savory Vegetable “Rice” Recipe Video

Celery Powder Is A Flavor Dynamo!

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celery powder 10 in

Celery powder can be a delicious & healthy addition to just about any dish for a nice boost of flavor. It’s naturally salty and brings out the flavor of pretty much everything you sprinkle it on.

One of my favorite foods to shake this delightful green powder over is freshly sliced, organic, vine ripened summer tomatoes! Holy moly…the flavor is Amazing! My husband puts a healthy dose on every one of his savory, cooked vegan meals and loves it.

It’s pretty easy to make, especially if you have a dehydrator. You can also make it in your oven, the oven directions are at the end of the instructions below. If you’d like to get a dehydrator, you can buy one here and receive FREE Shipping! 

Directions:

Wash, trim and dry one or two full bunches of celery.

Cut them into 1/4 inch slices and place them evenly on your dehydrator trays. If you have an Excalibur, it doesn’t need to be placed evenly. You can just put a sizable layer of celery on the mesh sheets or non-stick sheets. I like and use these non stick sheets which work great. By the way – Prep time can be cut in half by using a food processor to cut your celery.

Turn the dehydrator on to 105° or 110° F and let celery dry completely, it may take up to 18 hours or more. You want to make sure they’re completely dry. If there’s any moisture left in them, the powder will be clumpy and it will quickly become moldy.

When they’re done, grind them into a powder in a coffee grinder or high powered blender like a Vitamix.

Store in a tightly sealed container or an old spice jar.

To Dry or Dehydrate Celery in an Oven
(directions from http://www.ehow.com/how_4589078_dry-dehydrate-celery.html)

[Preheat your stove to 140° F.

Place the celery pieces onto a wire mesh tray. Place the wire mesh in the center rack of the stove.

Insert a wood stick or hot pad between the stove and the stove door. Keep the stove door open about 1 inch. Moisture needs to escape the stove.

Check the temperature of the stove using a thermometer. The internal temperature should remain 140° F.

Place a metal fan facing the inside of the oven. Blow air into the stove to increase air circulation.

Stir the celery every 30 minutes with a spatula. All surfaces of the celery need equal drying. Drying takes approximately 4 to 12 hours. Remove the celery when it is dry.

Place the dried celery into a glass Mason jar. Store the celery for future use.]

See my video below for step by step visual instructions on making celery powder in a dehydrator. 

P.S. You can also use these instructions with beet green stems and chard stems for a unique salty flavor and vibrant splashes of color on your savory meals!

Decadent Peach Dessert – Nut & Fat Free!

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Peach Dessert

A simple yet decadent fat free, raw vegan summer dessert that will melt in your mouth and taste like peach heaven! It’s also properly combined so it will digest with ease.

A single medium serving for one, OR it can be shared as two small servings.

Ingredients for base:
7 or 8 Medjool dates pitted (or 1 cup of your favorite dates)
1/2 of a small to medium yellow nectarine, pit removed
*optional – 7 or 8 drops of Medicine Flower Vanilla extract & Peanut extract
(You can use several drops of regular vanilla extract instead)
Blend until smooth or almost smooth and spread onto a plate or into a dessert ramekin

Variation options for base:
You can use a peach instead of nectarine for blending
OR you can omit the nectarine, add a handful of extra dates and blend in 2-4 TBLS of fresh young thai coconut water

Garnish date base with:
1 large ripe juicy yellow peach cut into slices (or enough peaches to cover the surface)
a dusting of cinnamon on top
* optional – a small handful of plump blackberries or blueberries

Organic Raw Vegan Flavor Extracts can be found here:
http://medicineflower.com/flavorextracts.html

Decadent Peach Dessert Video

Raw Vegan Dreamy Coco Date “Latte”

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Coco Date Latte

This is the most dreamy, delicious, healthy beverage – warm or cold. It will make you swoon! It reminds me of a really sweet cafe latte or a Starbucks frappuccino, depending on how you make it. So it’s very helpful for those trying to get away from designer coffee beverages. It’s calorically dense, not too big, super satisfying and tastes Ahhhh-mazing!

Ingredients:
8 oz. of your favorite fresh dates (pitted) I love halawy, khadrawy, barhi or medjool dates
16 oz. of fresh coconut water from a young thai coconut
a pinch of vanilla (powder, extract or fresh vanilla bean)
*optional 5-10 drops of raw vegan organic coffee extract from medicineflower.com
The coffee extract is not necessary for this recipe and is really for those who want a coffee flavor. This drink is so great without it too!

*Increase the ingredients accordingly based on your personal needs*

Directions:
Blend all ingredients until smooth, pour into your favorite mug and enjoy! If you use a blender like the Vitamix, you can actually blend this drink until warm or hot on a chilly day for a more cozy “coco” or “coffee” experience.

Can also be poured over ice for a cold drink or blended in a Vitamix with ice, or frozen coconut water ice cubes, for a frappuccino-like, refreshing blended drink.

Dreamy, Delicious Raw Coco Date “Latte” Recipe Video

Delicious Fat Free Kale Chips

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These yummy chips are actually good for you, easy to make, delightfully crunchy and Fat Free!

Ingredients:
1 large bunch of Kale washed, stems removed & cut into approximately 2×4 inch pieces (I used Lacinato Kale in this batch)
1/4 cup lemon juice
2 cups largely chopped celery
1/2 large red bell pepper, seeds removed
1/2 cup of sugar plum or your choice tomatoes
a handful of dilantro (you can use other herbs of your choice such as chives, basil, parsley etc.)

Directions:
Blend lemon juice, celery, bell pepper and tomatoes in a blender until smooth. Add cilantro and blend or pulse gently until herbs are cut up but not pureed. Place kale in a large bowl and pour mixture over kale and massage it in so mixture covers all parts of the kale leaves. Place kale on dehydrator trays evenly spaced apart for proper drying and dehydrate at 105 degrees F for 8-12 hours. Be sure to check kale from time to time for crispness.

Store in an air tight container, if you don’t eat them all as you’re removing them from the dehydrator. ;0)

Need a dehydrator? Get the best one HERE with FREE Shipping!

If you don’t have a dehydrator and want to bake them in the oven for a non-raw chip, you can bake them at 225° F for 7-10 minutes. Just be careful not to burn them.

Incredible Date Dip Recipe – Like Mock Peanut Butter – No Nuts

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This is one of my favorite fall/winter recipes when dates and persimmons are at their peak of perfection. It often reminds me of peanut butter even though there are no nuts and it’s basically fat free. With the added flavor of vanilla and the fluffy texture, this recipe also reminds me of frosting. It’s so good, you feel like you’re eating something incredibly decadent. 

Ingredients:
1 large Fuji apple cored and sliced. Set aside and used for dipping.
27 Halawy dates or a little over 7 oz. or 200 grams of your favorite juicy dates (pitted)
1 small ripe, semi soft fuyu persimmon, approximately 3 oz., or 80 grams (peeled & make sure there are no seeds) If you’re not familiar with persimmons, be sure to check out my persimmon video. Using an unripe hachiya persimmon will ruin your recipe. 
2-3 Tbls fresh coconut water (I love young thai coconuts for their sweet, coconut flavor)
a dash of vanilla powder or approx. 3 drops of vanilla extract

Directions:
With a stick blender, blend dates, persimmon, coconut water and vanilla extract into a creamy consistency. Transfer to a small bowl or ramekin. Dip your apple slices and enjoy as a meal, snack or dessert! You can use a blender if you have a smaller container and you use a tamper, or just use a larger blender like a Vitamix and double the recipe. It will certainly keep for several days in the refrigerator. 

You can use your favorite apple for dipping. I love Fuji apples because they’re sweet, crisp and delicious.

Tomato Basil Soup

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This is a great summer recipe to prepare when it’s hot outside and you have loads of vine ripe tomatoes bursting with flavor!

Ingredients:
4 cups of tomatoes (2 1/2 cups for blending and 1 1/2 cups chopped for garnish)
1/2 cup of fresh squeezed orange juice
1 heaping cup of celery
1 medium ripe, red bell pepper, seeds and stem removed (I like to leave my bell peppers on the counter for a few weeks until they get soft and wrinkly. This makes them much sweeter and more flavorful.)
2 or 3 small persian cucumbers made into noodles. I cut my noodles into small one inch pieces for easier eating.
A handfull of fresh basil (2 large leaves or 4-5 small leaves finely chopped)

Directions:
Blend 2 1/2 cups of tomatoes with orange juice, celery and bell pepper until creamy. If making this on a cold day you can blend until slightly warm in a high powered blender like a Vitmaix. (Not hot or steaming if you want your soup to remain raw – Keep it below 118 degrees F) The Vitamix is great for gently warming soups like this. Just don’t let it run too long or it will start to boil, unless of course, that’s what you want.

Pour into a bowl and garnish with 1 1/2 cups chopped tomatoes, cucumber noodles and fresh chopped basil. 
It likely won’t need it but feel free to season to taste with salt and pepper.

Bon Appetit!