Easy & Amazing Thai Peanut Sauce, for One or Many

Spiralized zucchini noodles with raw Thai Peanut Sauce, on a spinach bed.

Here is a very simple recipe that takes the fuss out of Thai peanut sauce. Enjoy in traditional fashion over noodles of your choice for a satisfying, quick and healthy vegan dinner (spiralized raw zucchini noodles, cooked kelp noodles, and 100% buckwheat or millet soba noodles are my top noodle picks). Thai peanut noodles make a first-rate potluck dish, too—just increase quantities below. For a raw peanut sauce, replace peanut butter with raw almond butter, and use nama shoyu or coconut aminos instead of tamari.

Serve peanut noodles over a bed of raw spinach (as pictured here) or with a side of steamed broccoli or garlic green beans to complete the meal. A simple salad of grated carrots, chopped tomatoes and fresh parsley makes a delightful companion dish as well.

Beyond noodles, versatile Thai peanut sauce is delicious with grilled tempeh, on brown rice, or as a dip for baked sweet potato wedges, carrots and even celery sticks. Try it!

Easy & Amazing Thai Peanut Sauce

Amounts given below serve one or two, depending on appetite. Save any leftover sauce in the fridge and consume within one week.

Sauce Ingredients

3 Tbs organic peanut butter (or raw almond butter)

1.5 Tbs tamari, nama shoyu or coconut aminos

Juice of one lime or lemon (2 to 3 Tbs juice)

1 Tbs raw honey or agave, or 6 drops liquid stevia

1 small clove garlic, minced or finely grated

1 or 2 tsp minced or finely grated ginger root

1/4 tsp red pepper flakes

up to ¼ cup water, or as needed, for consistency

Garnishes (use any or all)

Chopped cilantro, chives or scallions, minced chili pepper, chopped peanuts, lime wedges.

Directions: Using a fork, briskly beat together all sauce ingredients in a medium bowl, adding the water slowly at the end until desired consistency is reached. Taste and adjust seasonings for salty, sweet, hot and sour. Pour over noodles, top with garnishes and dig in.

(I told you it was easy. Amazing, right?) ♥

Raw Butternut Fettucini with Creamy Cilantro Nutfredo

I was born exactly 9 years to the day before the first moon walk, on which date the lunar surface was discovered to be covered with...rocks. Before that, people really had no idea what the moon was made of. Really. I remember one theory, quite popular when I was a child, that the moon was made of green cheese. Yes, people used to actually say this; I have no idea why. Not that I ever believed it, but in honor of tonight's new moon and annular eclipse of the sun, I felt inspired to make some Green Cheese of my own.

I had organic cilantro in the fridge, and a loose recipe for Cashew-Cilantro Paté swiped from an old vegan boyfriend of mine, but only a handful of raw cashews remaining in the nut jar. So, I improvised on the cheese, as I am wont to do. And then, inspiration struck! I remembered that I had a nice, big, smooth butternut squash in the pantry...and Raw Butternut Fettucini with Creamy Cilantro Nutfredo was born.

To create this dish, start by making a batch of Vegan Green Cheese as a base for the Creamy Cilantro Nutfredo. Measure out 1 1/2 cups of any combination of the following raw nuts and seeds: cashews, macadamia nuts, pumpkin seeds, pine nuts or brazil nuts. You can see I used about 2/3 raw pumpkin seeds, and 1/3 mixed cashews and macadamias.

Put your nut/seed combination in a bowl, cover by about an inch or two of fresh water, and soak for one hour. When time's up, drain soaked nuts/seeds and place in a food processor fitted with the S-blade. Add 2 Tbs virgin raw coconut oil and 1/4 tsp sea salt (I love the Himalayan pink salt, as you know, but any good quality sea salt will do).

Then pulse and process until contents attain the consistency of a coarse meal.

To this coarse meal, add the juice of 2 or 3 lemons; 1 tsp your choice coconut aminos, Bragg's liquid aminos or tamari; 2 Tbs nutritional yeast; 4 Tbs of water; and 2 large cloves garlic, minced. Process this all together for a while, until things start to get creamy (it may be necessary to add a bit more water to facilitate creaming). When the cheese has balled up and come together nicely, add 1/2 cup (packed) chopped cilantro,

and pulse that in. This is your Vegan Green Cheese.

Put Green Cheese into an airtight container and refrigerate while you make your noodles.

Butternut fettucini noodles are ridiculously easy to make. Start by cutting off the long neck of a good-sized butternut squash, and set the seed-filled bulbous portion aside. Use a vegetable peeler to remove the outer skin from the neck of the squash,

and then continue peeling off long, orange strips until you have enough for your dinner (and/or you get tired of peeling).

Your squash neck will turn into a beautiful sculpture, by the way,

which can be refrigerated and used another day in, for instance, a tasty squash curry, a creamy butternut soup, or even Raw Pumpkin Pie (butternut squash stands in beautifully for pumpkin in this recipe).

To "cook" the fettucini, it is necessary to marinate the butternut strips in a little oil to which has been added salt and an acid, just like we do for Massaged Kale. For today's marinade, I used 2 Tbs olive oil, 2 Tbs white balsamic vinegar, 1/4 tsp each of Himalayan pink salt and ground black pepper, and the last of some dried Thai basil I had kicking around, just to add a little extra flavor. I also added a teaspoon of Mirin (Japanese white cooking wine), just because I could, but that's totally optional. If you don't have white balsamic, use lemon juice and a splash of agave instead.

Stir marinade ingredients together in a large mixing bowl, then add the raw butternut noodles, and toss. Allow noodles to sit for at least half an hour in order to soften up, tossing from time to time to keep them all evenly coated.

When the noodles are done (al dente, naturally), it's time to assemble the Fettucini Nutfredo. Measure out about 3 Tbs of Vegan Green Cheese per serving, and place this in a medium sized bowl. Heat up some water on the stove; then little by little, use a fork to blend warm water into the cheese, gradually thinning and transforming it into a thick, creamy sauce of your preferred consistency. Voila! Creamy Cilantro Nutfredo!

Spoon Nutfredo sauce onto the marinated butternut fettucini. Toss gently and thoroughly until all your noodles are well coated with delectabe, saucy goodness.

Transfer to plate(s), and garnish with a sprinkle of any chopped green herb you prefer (I used fresh chives from my garden, along with their pretty purple flowers, but more cilantro would be lovely, too, as would parsley).

This meal takes far less time to prepare than the finished masterpiece would suggest, with plenty of leftover Vegan Green Cheese as a bonus. This will last for up to one week in the fridge, and can be used as a spread, a dip, a filling (for celery ribs, nori rolls, romaine wraps) - sky's the limit. Which reminds me. There's a Ring of Fire annular eclipse happening tonight. The oracle says this brings great opportunity for self-knowing and transformation. May it be so with you, and all your relations.

Autumn Empress Salad with Currried Hemp Seed Dressing

It’s been more than a month since I posted my last blog from the beaches of Florida...and suddenly, its twenty degrees outside and Thanksgiving Day! How did that happen? And what better occasion to share a delicious harvest recipe featuring a cornucopial favorite: winter squash.

But first, a brief explanation for my absence. No—I didn’t run away with a pod of dolphins (sigh). I’ve been home in Western Massachusetts, witnessing the emergence of bare branches and absorbing, activating and working with Reiki, the healing energy system transmitted and taught to me in Florida last month by Reiki master, psychic healer and author Diane Stein. After intensive practice and further attunement, I am pleased to begin offering Reiki healings and energy balancing as an adjunct to nutritional counseling for my clients.

Of course during these many weeks of inner transformation, I have still been eating and preparing food! I’ve had a lot of new "raw materials" to work with as well, lol, brought to market by the wonderful organic farmers of the Pioneer Valley. I’m astounded at the variety of never-before-seen fruits and vegetables our farmers introduce to the locally-grown table each year… new and unusual shapes and colors of peppers, heirloom tomatoes, baby potatoes, squashes, apples, pears and more. Amazing!

My latest vegetable crush is on Orange Sunshine kabocha. This hefty baby is the red/orange-skinned version of my beloved "buttercup" squash, formerly the sweetest, most velvety winter squash I had tasted. That is to say, before my new squash crush changed things forever.

Orange Sunshine’s bumpy, scarlet-tinged outer skin hides richly hued, orange-gold flesh within. When baked at 400 degrees, cut side down in a pan of water, the flesh of this beauty becomes soft, smooth and sugary enough to give garnet yams a run for their money. Eaten raw, it is surprisingly crisp, juicy and, yes, super sweet! Who knew?

The raw winter squash raw-velation came to me while preparing my first Orange Sunshine for the oven. Once I started crunching on thin slivers of fresh squash and realized how DELICIOUS it was in its natural state, I couldn’t bring myself to bake the whole thing! Setting some hunks aside, snugly wrapped in a plastic bag in the fridge, I came up with this recipe the following day.

Combining gorgeous Orange Sunshine kabocha with royal Purple Cabbage creates a magnificent color combination, a visual feast fit for a queen. In my Autumn Empress Salad, this imperial vegetable duo is topped with an exotic savory dressing, spiced with curry and rich in protein and healthy omega-3 fatty acids from golden hemp and thickening chia seeds. For a hotter version, double the curry powder and add cayenne pepper to taste.

Enjoy Autumn Empress Salad as a main meal or simple side. For a regal presentation, spoon into pale green butter lettuce boats and imagine them as crunchy royal barges, floating straight down your plate in the direction of your happy mouth and belly. ☺


Autumn Empress Salad with Curried Hemp Seed Dressing

Salad Ingredients
1½ - 2 cups shredded purple cabbage
1½ - 2 cups grated Orange Sunshine kabocha squash

Dressing Ingredients
¼ cup hemp seeds
1 Tbs white chia seeds
½ lemon, peeled and pitted
1 lime’s juice
½ tsp sea salt
½ tsp each curry powder, turmeric powder
1 tsp raw honey or agave, or 3 drops liquid stevia extract
1 cup cold water

Serving Suggestion Ingredients
2 butter lettuce leaves per person
4 slices honeycrisp apple per plate

Directions
Shred or finely chop purple cabbage leaves after removing the thick inner stem. Grate kabocha squash in hunks, by first cutting off a slice and removing any seeds clinging to the center, then cutting a wedge that will grate easily. Hold the skin side of the squash towards your palm and grate only the inner flesh. The remaining strip of skin may be eaten by you, composted or given to the dog. (My dog is crazy for squash!) Place shredded cabbage and grated squash in a large bowl and toss gently to combine.

Add all dressing ingredients to a high speed blender and blend on high until creamy. Taste and adjust seasonings. Pour dressing over salad and toss to coat. Spoon into butter lettuce leaves if desired and garnish plates with crisp, sweet apple slices. Apples combine well with this beautiful raw salad, provided no starches, cooked veggies or animal proteins are eaten at the same meal.

Wishing you all a very Happy and Healthy Thanksgiving!
With grateful ♥, Diana

Raw Tostadas with Cheezy Hemp Nacho Sauce

As much as I love preparing raw food and delving into recipe books for inspiration, it’s rare that I follow a recipe to the letter. But there’s always that rare exception to the rule, and I humbly offer one here.

Kristen Suzanne’s Cheezy Hemp Nacho Sauce is, in a word, Perfect! I made it for the first time today and, truth be told, I found myself really, really wishing that I could unscrew the bottom of my Vita Mix to get every last drop into my greedy little mouth. MMM-MMM-Amazing is all I can say.

This sauce tastes a lot like a Mexican Salsa con Queso. But instead of goopy, mucusy cow cheese, it’s made with clean-burning, highly digestible hemp seeds!

Hemp seeds are one of my favorite vegetarian food protein sources. Besides tasting incredibly creamy and sweet and nutty all at the same time, hemp seeds are a whole food offering an ideal balance of beneficial essential omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids. They also boast a complete, well-rounded amino acid profile, providing 25% protein by weight. Additionally, tasty hemp seeds are rich in fiber, contain plenty of critical minerals like zinc, iron, calcium and magnesium and are a good source of antioxidant vitamins A and E.

Cheezy Hemp Nacho Sauce is not only nutritious and delicious but versatile, offering a variety of serving possibilities. It makes a great dip with raw veggies or raw chips, is sure to be incredible on top of zucchini noodles (I intend to prove this very soon!) and makes a superior nacho sauce, natch.

Come lunchtime today, I was fortunate to have some homemade chia tortilla shells in the fridge, along with a nice variety of fresh, bitter winter salad greens picked at the CSA last week. I warmed the shells in the toaster, chopped the greens, whipped up the sauce and voila! These delectable Raw Tostadas were born.

I made them two ways: 1) sauce on top of the greens (pictured on the red plate), and 2) sauce under the greens, with Herbamare-kissed avocado slices on top (plated on blue). Both were divine, as you might imagine from the photos.
No dehydrated tortillas on hand? Consider a simple wrap-style tostada instead, using nori sheets, romaine lettuce or collard greens to encase the sauce plus greens or any veggies of your choice. It's all good.

Kristen Suzanne’s
Cheezy Hemp Nacho Sauce

Add the following ingredients to high speed blender and blend until creamy.

1/3 cup water
1 clove garlic
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 chopped red bell pepper
1 cup hemp seeds
2 ½ Tbs nutritional yeast flakes
1 Tbs chili powder
2 tsps tamari
½ tsp Himalayan crystal salt
½ tsp garlic powder
½ tsp cayenne pepper
1/8 tsp turmeric powder

So easy! So tasty! Happy munching! And be sure to visit Kristin's blog for more yummy recipe ideas and high raw inspiration.