A day of Raw Creations

Every couple of weeks, Michael will spend 3 days away on camp working out of town. Instead of choosing to eat the unlimited smorgasbord of cooked meals provided on site for the workers, he prefers to pack a home prepared raw feast. That's quite a big compliment, when a hard working man decides he would prefer to eat a lunch box of raw snacks over being served up a huge plate of eggs and bacon! He has certainly caused some raised eyebrows from his co-workers on his choice of food, but he has been eating an extremely high raw vegan diet now for over 6 months and is experiencing the benefits of raw food intake and knows the ill side effects to eating dead animal, fat laden, artificial cooked foods, so to him, the choice is a simple one.    

As he is leaving in the early hours of the morning, I have been busy making food today for his trip and to experiment on a few new raw recipes.

First up for breakfast, I wanted to expand on our regular chia pudding breakfast, so decided to make it more like a porridge. With some expert advise from a raw foodie Friend, I came up with this creation.

I soaked half a cup of chia seeds in some water overnight in the fridge. I have discovered that the longer the chia seeds soak, the more the nutrients become easily accessible to the body. They will last for up to 3 weeks in the fridge in a gel like form so a large batch can be made in advance and then used as you need over that time.
In a blender, I added the chia seeds which had now expanded to about 2 cups which was even too much for the four of us for breakfast. With the chia gel I blended in 2 bananas, 4 dates, some vanilla powder, cinnamon, honey, coconut pulp - only because I had some available and the last of the almond milk - about 1/2 cup. I blended until the mixture became creamy and slightly warmed.
I served this warm chia porridge in bowls topped with fresh banana, apple cubes, shredded coconut and currants.  Starzi was really impressed and ate the entire bowl even though it was filled with 'little bits'. It was definitely a nice change to our usual chia pudding breakfast.


Next I made these lovely little broccoli mounds drizzled in miso gravy. I needed a new broccoli recipe as Michael had reminded me a few too many times that I had served up the same broccoli recipe too often, so here is a new one and it was rather nice. It would make a lovely complement to other dishes as a side serve.

Its basically made by blending in the food processor one head of broccoli, a cup of brazil nuts, a garlic clove, black pepper and some salt until a crumble texture. I scooped a couple of mounds onto a plate and served with a simple recipe of miso gravy.
The gravy was made by blending until creamy 2 tablespoon of miso, 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar, 1 garlic clove, 1/2 an orange peeled and seeded, 1/4 olive oil and 2 dates. Water can be added to make a thinner gravy.



After that I made this delicious creation of sweet and sour raw vegetable with raw sesame nuggets. 

   
Michael announced after one mouthful - 'This is so tasty! This would have to be my favourite meal so far', so I think he really liked it. Lucky because I made a large batch of 'nugets' for him to pack along with a dish of left over vegetables.

I found these were also tasty served on a simple bed of greens with a side of fresh tomato. 

Recipe:
Raw Nuggets:
This makes for many little nuggets -
2 cups of soaked sunflower seeds
2 cups of soaked walnuts
1 cup of soaked sundried tomatoes
1 cup of fresh orange juice
2 garlic cloves
5 fresh sage leaves
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp turmeric
1 Tblsp miso
Blend in food processor and add an extra cup of activated ground sunflower seeds to firm mixture to enable balls to be rolled and formed.
dehydrate for about 8 hours and then make up the sweet and sour sauce

Sweet and sour sauce recipe:
1/2 cup Nama Shoyu
1/2 cup honey
2 cloves garlic
1 cm cube of fresh ginger
2 Tbls sesame oil
optional chilli flakes

Dip each nugget into the sauce and place on dehydrator tray and sprinkle with sesame seeds. Dehydrate for a further 4 or more hours. 
Left over sauce can be poured over a selection of vegetable strips and warmed before serving. 
  


So then it was time to create something sweet for dessert. Michael sure does have a sweet tooth, so I like to ensure he has a sweet treat to take away with him, so I made this simple blueberry pie. I usually make desserts based around chocolate as we are both a big fan of it, but this time I wanted to try something different.



The base was a simple mix of macadamia nuts, brazil nuts and dates. This was blended in the food processor until the texture was crumbly and could hold shape. 
I pressed this base into a spring sided cake pan and left to firm in the fridge while I made the centre.
In the food processor again, I blended 2 cups of blueberries with the pulp of 2 young coconuts, a tablespoon of honey and 2 tablespoons of coconut oil until creamy. I poured this into the pie base and let set in the freezer before serving. 
This pie is a refreshing change to the usual chocolate based desserts I usually make. 

Not leaving out the chocolate completely though, I finally ended the day by making this simple walnut fudge.  After soaking about 1 cup of walnuts for a couple of hours, I blended them in the food processor until crumbled. I added about 10 or more dates and a good pouring of carob powder and blended until smooth. A sprinkle of vanilla can be included and 1 tablespoon of cacao powder if you want a more chocolate flavour or some honey for extra sweetness. I generally just experiment as I create. The final product will depend on my craving on that day. 

I also made a large batch of carrot and tomato crackers which Michael likes to spread with avocado and tomato for an easy on site lunch.

To make the crackers, I used about 2 cups of left over almond pulp from making almond milk, and blended this with 2 carrots and 3 fresh tomatos. I also added some seasoned salt for flavour.

I transfered this blended mix to a large bowl and stired in about one cup of linseeds that had been soaking in a little water to form a gel. This was then spread evenly over 3 teflex trays and dehydrated overnight, flipping once.

....And here is my lunch, yummy samples from todays great recipes.

I have also packed Michael with a couple of containers of pre-made raw rolled oats for his breakfast so he needs to only add water the night before, plus a huge bowl of salad, sprouts and olives, ready to add the dressing.

I'm sure Michael will be well fed for the next 3 days on camp.