Pumpkin Mungbean Daal

If you follow food blogs at all, you're sure to have noticed the recent abundance of pumpkin recipes! With Halloween just around the corner I get why, but despite the fact that sugar pumpkins are a traditional harvest food, pumpkin itself is far from a short-season vegetable. In fact, there are many varieties of pumpkin to be had virtually year-round, hiding in plain sight under the admittedly unsexy and very general nom de plume: Winter SQUASH.

I love winter squashes and pumpkins for their sweet taste, velvety smooth texture and meaty bite. These water-rich carbohydrate sources are high in antioxidant carotenoids like beta carotene that help boost immune function and promote eye health. Winter squash and pumpkin are easier to digest than whole grains, and filling without being heavy.

Some of my favorite varieties are the very dark green Buttercup squash (which resembles a bumpy, flat acorn squash), it's orange cousin Kabocha squash, and the beautiful jewel-toned Japanese pumpkin.

The other night I baked a Buttercup and had enough left over to add into the thick, delicious and satisfying protein-rich daal pictured at the top of this post.

If you don't have any roasted pumpkin on hand, it's easy enough to make. Remove the stem and halve your whole, unpeeled pumpkin or squash through the north-south axis. After scooping out the seeds with a spoon, place cut face down in a pyrex baking dish with about a half inch of water added to help keep squash moist while baking. Cover with aluminum foil and bake at 450 degrees for 30 to 60 minutes, depending on the size of the pumpkin—just keep checking. When a butter knife slides easily into the side, it's done.

Pumpkin Mungbean Daal

4 cups vegetable stock
1 cup dry mung beans
3 slices ginger root, peeled and chopped
1 heaping teaspoon curry powder
2 thin slices fresh jalapeno or red chili pepper, or cayenne to taste

1 medium carrot, sliced
2 cups peeled and chopped roasted pumpkin or buttercup squash
sea salt to taste
red pepper flakes, fresh chopped cilantro or other green herb (optional)

Simmer vegetable stock, mung beans, ginger, curry, jalapeno and lemon for an hour until beans are very soft. Add carrot and pumpkin and simmer another 20-30 minutes. Add salt to taste.

Serve as a soup, or over a bed of fresh chopped spinach to add a little crunch and freshness. Top with red pepper flakes, sprouts or any freshly chopped herb, such as chives or cilantro, if desired.

Bon appetit!

Chunkalicious Split Pea Soup

Chunkalicious Split Pea Soup - 100% Plant-Based

I've made a lot of split pea soup in my time but this one came out extra chunky and delicious, thanks to that sad yellow head of wilted celery in my refrigerator. I pretty much had to do something with it this weekend, or else. A handful of fresh bolted oregano, rescued from my leggy herb garden, also made a winning contribution. Not to mention those last three, slightly hairy carrots at the bottom of the bin.

Sometimes it's hard to keep up with things...and you start to feel overwhelmed... but then inspiration strikes! Proving once again that necessity is the mother of fine cooking.

Chunkalicious Split Pea Soup

1/2 tsp coconut oil (you could also use olive oil, but coconut is more heat stable)
1/2 medium red onion, sliced thick
2-4 small cloves garlic, peeled and cut in half
1 head celery, washed and chopped in 1-inch pieces
3 carrots, scrubbed and chopped in chunky rounds
1&1/2 cups dry split peas, rinsed
5 cups water
2 tsp Seitenbacher's Vegetable Broth Powder
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
2 Tbs minced fresh oregano, or 2 tsp dried
sea salt to taste (optional)

Melt coconut oil in a soup pot on medium heat. Add onion and saute for about 3 minutes, stirring to prevent sticking. Add garlic, celery and carrots, reduce heat and saute veggies for about 5 minutes, stirring regularly. Add split peas, water, Seitenbacher's, cayenne and oregano. Bring to just below boiling on high heat, cover, reduce heat and simmer on low for one and a half to two hours, until peas are very soft. (Check soup every 45 minutes or so and add more water if needed - you want this to come out thick but still brothy.) When peas are cooked, taste and add additional salt if desired. Bon appetit!

Sweet Potato Bowl

If you have an oven, you can bake a sweet potato. If you can bake a sweet potato, you can make a sweet potato bowl. It's that easy. 

What else (besides sweet potato) is in the bowl pictured up above? Um...dare I say: leftovers?! (In case you did not know, I have long been known in certain circles as The Leftover Queen.)

It's a fact that over the years, leftovers have provided me with some of the tastiest meals ever. My secret is to always add in something fresh—more often than not, a green something. Take today for example. I had leftover Cabbage Soup and leftover Spiced Black Beans in the fridge. So I heated them up in a pot and stirred in several gigantic handfuls of baby mizuna, a tender green not unlike spinach, which shrank and wilted in seconds. To this, I generously sprinkled some nutritional yeast. Stirred it all together and poured the blend into my bowl, alongside a freshly baked Japanese sweet potato (yellow flesh, super sweet).

I won't bother giving you the soup or beans recipes here, considering they were leftovers, and all. I'm just giving you a simple idea that is sure to serve you forever in good stead:

Got leftovers? Have a bowl!

Ginger-Lime Soup with Scallops, Spinach & Carrots

A splash of fresh lime juice in this gingery seafood soup adds a welcome bright note.

What follows is a recipe for a very delicious Ginger-Lime Soup with Scallops, Spinach & Carrots. While anyone may enjoy it, this soup also has a special target audience in that it is appropriate for people following the GAPS Stage 1 Diet. 

GAPS, which stands for Gut and Psychology Syndrome, is a grain-free, anti-inflammatory, gut-healing nutritional program developed by Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride that I currently am experimenting with to address IBS concerns. The GAPS protocol is also recommended for the treatment other conditions, including Autistic Spectrum Disorder. (Read more about GAPS here on Dr. Natasha's website.)

Stage 1 on GAPS consists of a very plain menu: bone broth (fish or meat stock), and soups made with bone broth, to which one may add well-cooked non-starchy vegetables, and fish or meat.

Fortunately, I love soup. I made this one using a cup of the 8 quarts (!) of homemade bone broth I made yesterday in a clearly productive, all-day endeavor. (You could say I was stocking up, yuck yuck.) Fish, chicken or meat stock made with bones is a major component of all stages of the GAPS diet, but only in the early stages does it completely dominate the menu.

You can learn about the numerous reasons for consuming bone broth (plus recipes) here, but to sum it up, the take-home message is this: Bone broth is abundantly rich in essential amino acids, essential fatty acids, glycosaminoglycans (cartilage building blocks) and collagen components, including gelatin. These elements are necessary for the healing and repair of any protein-based tissue in the body, such as an inflamed or "leaky" gut lining. So to heal the gut, heal inflamed or damaged joints, heal a wound, heal after surgery, etc, bone broth can be an extremely beneficial food.

This is why I have been recommending bone broth to my non-vegetarian clients for more than ten years. But I will admit that having spent the past year as a strict vegetarian (after following a high raw pescatarian diet since 2005), it took a lot of deep, painful self-searching and self-questioning for me to decide to start eating bone broth myself, and to decide to introduce seafood into my diet—not to mention chicken, an animal of whom I am quite fond. (A shout out to Mary Vance, west coast holistic nutritionist, who kindly shared with me her wise thoughts about considering the use of bone broth as a gateway food for recovering vegetarians.) This is my first post since evolving my nutrition in the GAPS direction, and I expect to write more about it in future, as well as to share further discussions on apostate vegetarianism and evolving one's own personal, nutritional diet-lifestyle over time, in accordance with one's needs vs beliefs (not always easy).

For now, let's talk soup. I used plump, sweet, wild-caught scallops in this recipe. Wild scallops are a shellfish species that passes the Monterey Bay Aquarium's Seafood Watch sustainability test but, surprisingly, the consumer awareness group gives farmed scallops an even higher score. Good to remember that although wild-caught is generally the preference for most edible sea species (think salmon), sometimes farmed fish is the better choice.

Ginger-Lime Soup with Scallops, Spinach & Carrots

Serves one.

3 thin slices of ginger, chopped

½ to 1 teaspoon coconut oil or butter

2 smallish carrots, thinly sliced (about ½ cup)

1 cup broth (chicken, fish or, if non-GAPS, vegetable), preferably homemade

1 cup packed, roughly chopped spinach leaves, stems removed

6 scallops, rinsed in cold water

1 scallion, greens only*, minced

juice of 1/2 fresh lime (about a Tablespoon)

pinch of sea salt and black pepper to taste

Heat oil or butter on medium heat and sauté ginger for about a minute, then add carrots, stir, and continue to cook for two or three minutes. Add broth to sauteed ginger carrots, bring mixture to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for three to five minutes, until carrots are soft. Add scallops, spinach, salt and pepper and simmer for five minutes. Check scallops for doneness and simmer longer if necessary, but be careful not to overcook! (Center should be tender, white and almost flaky, not translucent or rubbery.) Add scallion greens last and cook until soft, another minute or so. Transfer to soup bowl, add fresh lime juice and a finishing sprinkle of black pepper. Stir and enjoy!

*It's fine to use the whole scallion if you can eat onions, in which case separate the white from the green, and add the white into the soup at the same time as you add the scallops and spinach. I'm avoiding onions due to FODMAPS (another story!), so I just used the greens.

Blended Soup Basics

Creamy Celeriac Soup with Fresh Spinach

Blended soups are a quick, economical and delicious way to increase your daily intake of alkalinizing, mineral-rich veggies. Blended soups are also handy for cleaning out your fridge of slightly wilted produce, or using up leftovers from another meal.

For instance, try blending leftover baked sweet potatoes or winter squash (skin removed) with pre-made vegetable stock, a pinch of sea salt, and curry paste or powder. Once blended, transfer to a pot and heat, adding cayenne pepper, cinnamon or more curry to taste. Serve with a squeeze of fresh lime juice and top with chopped cilantro to liven things up. Easy!

It's almost as easy to make fresh blended vegetable soup from scratch. You can use any vegetables you have on hand—roots, broccoli, whatever. The basic process is to saute some onions first (I like to use coconut oil, which is heat stable and richly flavorful), along with garlic and ginger if desired. Next, stir in your veggies of choice, stir in your herbs, stir in salt and seasonings, and then add enough water to cover.

Once you bring soup to a boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer until veggies cook through. (This doesn't take long. Root vegetables cut into medium-sized chunks cook in about 20 minutes, tops. Softer veggies like zucchini, broccoli or cauliflower are done in half that time.) Don't overcook—just simmer until veggies are fork-tender. Then transfer contents of pot to blender, and work in batches as necessary to puree. Adjust salt and flavorings at the end, and if you like, pulse in leafy herbs or greens as a final step.

I made today's beautiful blended soup with a base of celeriac, carrot and celery. It's green because at the end of the blending phase, I pulsed in a bunch of fresh, raw spinach. (Thanks to detoxilicious Ana Zaharia for suggesting that brilliant tip!)

Creamy Celeriac Soup with Fresh Spinach

1 small onion, chopped
1 Tbs coconut oil
4 cloves fresh garlic, peeled
1 large carrot, chopped
1 celeriac root, chopped
1 small head celery, chopped
1/2 teaspoon Celtic sea salt
1/2 teaspoon each tarragon, oregano, thyme
water to cover
1 bunch fresh spinach
Herbamare and fresh ground black pepper to taste

Over medium heat, saute the onion in coconut oil for a few minutes, then stir in remaining vegetables (except spinach) and sea salt. Saute for a few more minutes, add herbs, stir again and let things heat up for a minute or so. Pour in enough fresh water to cover everything in the pot, increase heat until boiling point is reached, then reduce heat, put the lid on and simmer for about 20 minutes until roots are fork tender.

Remove soup from heat and allow to cool slightly. Transfer contents to blender and puree. When done, add fresh spinach and briefly pulse-blend it into the soup, leaving the leaves slightly intact if possible. Season with Herbamare (an blend of sea salt, herbs and kelp powder) and fresh ground black pepper to taste. If necessary, reheat the soup but try to keep it from boiling again, which would cook the spinach. Instead, aim for pinkie-test hot (about 100 degrees). :~) Bon appetit!

Curried Cream of Cauliflower Soup

Did you know how easy it is to make delicious, satisfying cream of vegetable soup? All you need is THREE basic ingredients: 1) vegetables, 2) seasonings, and 3) broth or water. Oh - and a blender, of course.

You may have noticed from the above list that what you don't need is cream. As long as you have a good blender and get your proportions and seasonings right, there is absolutely no need to add any dairy or dairy substitutes in order to create a rich, creamy soup.

The best vegetables for cream-of soups are those which are either starchy (think carrots, parsnips, green peas) or "meaty" (think zucchini, cauliflower, broccoli, mushrooms).

Cauliflower fits the bill most perfectly because it cooks quickly, has a beautiful texture when pureed, and provides an inherently mild canvas of color and flavor that offers extreme versatility. In its classic pairing with curry, a cauliflower base yields gorgeous, warm orange-gold tones and deep earthy spice. Love it!

One of the nicest things about making your own cream of vegetable soups is how quickly you'll be eating them. Truthfully, it doesn't take much longer to prepare this soup than it does to open a can of something that was made in a factory. Canned soups have their place in my pantry, and I will use them from time to time, but in terms of freshness and life force, there's no comparison.

To prepare this soup, begin by braising two cups of chopped cauliflower (half a medium sized head) in a cup of vegetable stock. Don't worry about making homemade stock - an organic packaged stock, such as the one from Imagine Foods, pictured above, works beautifully. (Alternatively, stir a teaspoon of powdered veggie broth or a bouillon cube into a cup of hot water).

Braising means, quite simply, "steaming in broth." It is one of my favorite, low-fat cooking techniques for both speed and yum factors. The only trick is to have all your pieces touching the liquid—no stacking!

Use a wide enough saucepan to allow for this arrangement, bring liquid to a boil and add the cauliflower. When the steam is rising again, cover the pan and reduce heat to low.

After braising for five minutes, the cauliflower will have reached its peak nutritional value and be soft enough to blend, so remove from heat and transfer to blender, liquid and all. (Research suggests that the anti-cancer compounds in cruciferous vegetables such as broccoli and cauliflower become the most bioavailable to the human body following five minutes of steaming, after which values start to decrease.)

You might want to let the cauliflower-stock mixture cool down slightly before you begin blending, to avoid sputtering, but basically, the soup is ready to be prepped now. Just add a teaspoon of mild curry paste, and use a low to medium blender setting to achieve the desired level of creaminess. If the soup seems too thick, or you are having trouble getting the blending started, add more stock, straight from the box.

Once you have a suitable puree, taste soup and adjust seasonings as needed. You might like a pinch of salt, a pinch of cayenne or more curry paste. A squeeze of fresh lime or lemon juice will brighten everything up, so feel free to add that, too, if you have it.

Pour soup directly from the blender into your serving bowl, or reheat gently first. Top with chopped green onions or cilantro for a touch of green, and enjoy!

Creamy Green Pea Soup with Dill

"There is nothing so innocent, so confiding in its expression, as the small green face of the freshly shelled spring pea." —William Wallace Irwin, Garrulous Gourmet

The author of the above quote was a man after my own heart. How do I love peas? Let me count the ways.

1) darling little spherical shape
2) cheerful, bright green color
3) cute and sustainable natural packaging (they nestle together in tidy rows like vegetable pearls, snugly tucked into tenderly crisp pods)
4) vines have adorable curly tendrils
5) plant is both delicate and strong: tenaciously clings and boldly climbs
6) softly patterned leaves of graceful round shape are very pretty
7) great raw texture: fresh, firm and crunchy
8) great cooked texture: soft and firmly squishy
9) delicious! (Yes best of all, I love how peas taste! So sweet!)

Sadly, not everyone has experienced the pleasure of eating fresh shell peas. The fairly recent invention of the scrumptious, edible pod Sugar Snap pea has led to a decline in the availability of English (shell) peas, which is a shame since scraping peas off the pod with your teeth and munching down on the resulting mouthful of roly-poly sugary greenness is one of the all time great summertime joys.

Did someone say summer? Sigh. Writing from the dead of winter could be why I've recently found myself craving the bright, fresh lively taste of peas. So when I saw a recipe for fresh pea soup on the delightful raw food blog Raw on $10 a Day or Less, I was inspired.

My version of this Practically Raw soup uses fresh dill, a kiss of lemon juice and frozen, thawed organic baby peas. Frozen peas, like most if not all frozen vegetables, are blanched in boiling water prior to being flash frozen. Blanching yields a "practically raw" pea that is neither cooked nor raw. You can read more about how peas are frozen here.

Dillis a nutritious and medicinal culinary herb whose fresh pungent flavor superbly complements the sweetness of green peas. Flavorful, alkalinizing green herbs are our natural healers, so I always have at least one bunch in my refrigerator at all times, alternating between dill, cilantro and parsley. Creamy avocado lends a rich, velvety smoothness to this quick-to-prepare potage.


Creamy Green Pea Soup with Dill

2 cups baby peas
1 1/2 cups warm water
1 small avocado
1/4 cup chopped fresh dill leaves, and their stems, also chopped
1 or 2 Tablespoons lemon juice (1/2 lemon's worth)
1 Tablespoon nutritional yeast
1/4 teaspoon Himalayan pink salt
a few grinds of black pepper

If using frozen peas, allow to thaw completely at room temperature; then drain in a colander or strainer. Set aside 1/2 cup of peas and about 2 Tablespoons of chopped dill leaves. Add everything else to blender and blend until creamy smooth. Use hotter water for a warmer soup. Taste and adjust seasonings if desired. Divide soup into two bowls and top with reserved peas and chopped dill. (Note: Soup may be gently heated further on stovetop to desired temperature before serving; I like it just medium warm, as it comes out of the blender.)

Ginger Beet Borscht

Mmmm good: spicy ginger & sweet beets united as one!

Isn't it true that as the temperature outside gets colder and colder (a measly 2 degrees here this morning)... warm, comforting soups become more and more appealing? And what could be more appealing than an easy to prepare, thick and creamy blended soup?

Lately, I've been whipping up all manner of delicious bisques, purees and potages simply by combining leftover cooked veggies with either their own saved cooking liquid or some vegetable broth, and adding additional raw veggies and/or seasonings as inspiration moves me.

This tasty borscht is made with leftover roasted beets. I'll often roast a few days worth of beets at a time to eat with avocado or goat cheese salads and other meals throughout the week. Blending up roasted beets into a smooth, warming soup is something I hadn't tried before, and I was most pleased with the results.

The irresistibly sweet, succulent beet is a light yet hearty root vegetable, rich in health-promoting betaine, a red pigment that helps boost liver detox and support heart health.


Fresh ginger, a premier inflammation buster, is a perfect flavor complement to the beet and makes this soup extra warming and satisfying. Raw garlic adds some zing while boosting the immune system with cancer fighting allicins.


Tender baby spinach, brimming with green life force, is high in bone-building calcium and blood-building iron.


Seitenbacher's vegetable broth powder is one of my favorite instant flavorizers—love it!


To make Ginger Beet Borscht, just pop all of the above in your blender and go! Feel free to add water or broth as needed to achieve desired consistency. I started with one cup of water and increased to about two and a half cups before finding the right balance of liquid to thickness.


Total yield: about 4 cups or 2 large bowls of sweet, ruby deep nourishment!


Ginger Beet Borscht

Ingredients
3 medium roasted beets
1 cup packed fresh, raw baby spinach
1 clove garlic
1 chunk of ginger, a little smaller than your thumb
1-2 cups of warm vegetable broth or warm water (if using water, add 1 teaspoon powdered veggie broth, or to taste)

garnish:
freshly ground black pepper
hemp seeds or crumbled, savory Kale Krisps

Directions
To roast beets, scrub well and remove tops and tails. Put a little olive oil in your palm and take each beet into your hand, one at a time, to lightly coat with oil. Put beets into a cast iron frying pan or pyrex baking dish and cover loosely with foil, or wrap each beet individually in foil. Roast at 400 degrees for about 2 hours until fork tender. Remove from oven and allow to cool. At this point, you may pop the inner beet out of the skin or keep the skin on if you prefer. The earthy taste of beet skins is a bit too strong for some palates, but skins may be eaten with no ill effects if they appeal.

To make soup, put roasted beets, garlic, ginger, spinach and water or broth into your high speed blender and blend until smooth. The soup will be warm at this point, but if desired, warm further to about 100 degrees on stove top. As long as the temperature remains below 118 degrees, the enzyme and life force activity of raw ingredients will remain intact.

Divide into bowls and top with freshly ground black pepper plus a sprinkle of hemp seeds (photo above) or crumbled Kale Krisps (photo below). Kale Krisps are a scrumptious dehydrated raw kale treat. Purchase at Whole Foods (or, if you are a local reader, from me, for less! Community Superfoods price: just $6.50 per 3 ounce package!)

Chilled Cream of Corn and Cucumber Bisque with Fresh Thyme

No one can say we didn't get a real summer this year. Unlike last year's Summer That Never Was (one of the wettest on record), the summer of 2010 has been hot, hot, hot! And sunny, sunny, sunny! I'm all about heat and sun, but I admit the urge to spend time in the kitchen prepping food is strongly diminished by uncomfortable levels of humidity.

Once again, thank goodness for blenders! In this weather, the Vita-Mix has to be my top used kitchen tool. Not only can it whip up a colorful and refreshing smoothie - also known as "breakfast of champions" - in record time, it's unbeatable for creating quick and easy raw blended soups that really hit the spot when you're hungry and hot.

Here’s a delicious, sun-golden summertime soup that makes a perfect light lunch or a sweet prelude to dinner on even the steamiest of days.

The recipe owes its ultra-creamy taste and texture to a special addition: Kristen Suzanne’s Cheezy Hemp Nacho Sauce, one of my favorite all-time delicacies. (link below) I happened to have some left over from a previous meal, (cheezy spiralized zucchini & summer squash noodles). Here, it supplies a savory cream base to a sweet chilled soup. Juicy cucumber provides the liquid and fresh thyme adds unexpected depth with a peppery bite. I hope you like it!

Chilled Cream of Corn and Cucumber Bisque with Fresh Thyme
Makes two appetizer bowls or one meal-sized bowl of soup.

Ingredients
1-2 large organic cucumbers, peeled and diced - yielding 2 1/2 cups
1 ear organic sweet corn, kernels removed
½ cup Cheezy Hemp Nacho Sauce (click here for recipe)
1 Tablespoon fresh thyme leaves (or 1 teaspoon dried thyme)
cayenne pepper to taste (optional)

Directions
Add cucumbers, Cheezy Hemp Nacho Sauce and corn kernels to a high speed blender and puree on high speed. Add thyme and repeat briefly. Transfer soup into serving bowls and sprinkle with cayenne, if desired. Bon appetit!

Living in the Raw

On August 17th I started a little raw food experiment, upping my raw food intake from high raw to very high raw. Very very very high.

For those who don't know, the "raw food diet" is defined as a diet that contains eighty percent or more raw food. Not necessarily exclusively raw, just 80%. This will come as a relief to many people who are drawn to raw food nutrition but hesitate to give up all cooked food, the option of going out to dinner with friends, etc.

There's a significant degree of confusion or, in some cases, competition in some circles around the whole issue of "how raw" a person is. For many people, there are times or situations when one wants or needs to commit to being strictly 100% raw. Karen Knowler, the UK's exuberant Raw Food Coach, calls this "going through the eye of the needle." I respect people who choose this path, for however long. I've walked on it myself and there's a lot to be said for adhering to that kind of discipline while remaining soft in one's heart.

The current experiment going on here is a step down from 100% rigidity, although exceptions are pretty much limited to things like miso and other condiments (prepared mustard, curry paste, organic soup broth powder) plus some restaurant-friendly items like goat cheese* or olives that make it possible for me to be relaxed when going out to eat with "normal" people. (This happened today.)

Speaking of normal people, many do wonder what on earth a raw fooder actually eats, anyway? Is it just a lot of salad and fruit? Isn't that boring?! I thought I'd answer that question by sharing a few days of my raw food diet-lifestyle, just to show how varied it is, and how delicious!

Let's start with today, Tuesday. FYI, the tostada shells at dinner are a version of a Wild Rice Flatbread from Living Cuisine, Renée Loux-Underkoffler's magnificent un-cookbook. I made these with red rice instead of wild rice and they are fantastic. The soup was gently warmed to 100 degrees, just steaming, to preserve life force & enzymes intact.


BREAKFAST
water. herb tea. Green Juice (celery, kale, carrot, apple, lemon, ginger)

LUNCH
Greek Salad (From Panera restaurant. Feta cheese and olives not raw.)
Apple

SNACK
Sacred Chocolate (69% dark chocolate; 1/3 bar)
2 Seckle pears (from my tree - delicious!)
tea with raw honey

DINNER
big slice of Manchego raw sheep cheese (appetizer)
Raw Blended Soup (Cream of Sweet Corn and Zucchini Dill)
Guacamole Tostadas (Cilantro-Lime Guacamole, Purple Cherokee Tomatoes, Butter Lettuce, Manitok Wild Rice Flatbread)

EXERCISE
AM - 20 minutes rebounding, yoga
PM - 20 minute dog and cat walk (Bonnie, the one-year old kitten accompanied Stella and I. Her brother Clyde stayed home this time.)

* Note: raw fooders are often vegan, but not always. I admire and aspire to an animal-free diet but as a Protein Type O, do well at this point with some goat cheese and even sushi in my raw diet.

Cream of Sweet Corn, Dill & Zucchini Soup

The August 2009 raw blended soup extravaganza continues with this knock-out recipe -- an elegant, pale jade soup of smooth, thick consistency sprinkled with freshly chopped dill. Makes two bowls. Pairs delightfully with crispy Rainy Day Crackers.

Cream of Sweet Corn & Zucchini Soup with Fresh Dill

Ingredients
1 Tablespoon chia seed
2/3 cup water
1 ear sweet corn
1 med. zucchini (same size as corn cob)
1/2 avocado
1 lemon's juice
1/3 cup fresh chopped dill
2 Tablespoons nutritional yeast
1 Tablespoon miso
sea salt and black pepper to taste

Directions
Put water and chia seeds in blender to soak while you cut sweet corn kernels off cob and prepare other ingredients. Add everything to blender except about two teaspoons of fresh dill, for garnishing bowls. Blend and taste, add more lemon, salt, pepper or water if desired. Warm soup in a small saucepan on medium-low heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon until temperature reaches 100 degrees. Pour into two bowls and garnish with one teaspoon reserved dill each. Bon appetit!

The Joys of Being a High Raw Pescatarian and Paradise Found Thai Red Curry, Tomato & Mushroom Bisque

I like to describe my diet as High Raw Pescatarian, a term I humbly admit I coined myself. The term "pescatarian" is defined as "vegetarian plus fish," with vegetarian meaning plant foods, dairy foods & eggs but no corpses (mammal, insect, fish or bird).

In short, being High Raw Pescatarian means I eat primarily Raw Plant Foods and some Cooked Plant Foods plus a few Raw (and sometimes Cooked) Animal Foods. The main animal foods I enjoy are raw cheeses made with goat or sheep milk. (I feel so fortunate to live in the Pioneer Valley where local dairies like Hillman Farm, Blue Ledge Farm, Consider Bardwell Farm and Vermont Shepherd are creating the most delicious gourmet artisinal goat and sheep cheeses on the planet.) In addition to raw goat and sheep cheese, from time to time I may also partake of fresh sushi, cooked seafood and free-range/organic eggs.

These are the basic ingredients of the High Raw Pescatarian diet. And then there are the "extras," also known as the spice of life–from Himalayan Pink Salt to freshly ground black pepper and beyond. Some of these extras are raw and some are not but for me, all are essential. I know anything is possible... but what natural food chef would choose to be without miso (a living, probiotic-rich fermented food)? Not to mention countless other tasty condiments such as Dijon mustard, curry paste, organic powdered soup broth and Spike, Gayelord Hauser's famed vegetable salt blend that’s been around for decades. (Hauser, nutritionist to Hollywood screen stars of the 1930's and '40's, was one of the first Health Nuts of the modern era.) These treasures are part of my stealth flavor arsenal and, when called upon to serve, add marvelous complexity to the taste of my otherwise simple food.

The pleasure of pure, natural tastes and the excitement of complex flavorings coexist joyfully on my path of progress towards a clean-celled body humming with life force energy. Sometimes, all I crave is the creamy sweetness of plain, unadorned avocado, eaten right out of the shell, like a melon. Other times, I must take my mouth for a ride by sprinkling the avocado halves with Spike or Herbamare before digging in with my spoon. Truly, I find that a little pinch of condimental surprise makes the raw journey so much fun that my kitchen almonst feels like an adventure playground!

Well, last night when I entered the playground, inspiration struck. It all started with a package of organic white button mushrooms. I had planned to serve these pillowy orbs thickly sliced on a bed of watercress and mixed greens, dressed perhaps with a lemon-basil vinaigrette. That would have been good. But I’ve been experimenting a lot with making raw blended soups for supper, and suppertime it was. The mushroom salad was not to be.

Often when making raw blended vegetable soups, I’ll add about a quarter cup of raw cashews for creaminess. However, depending on how much density I’m in the mood for or what else I am having with respect to food combining, I may not want to use nuts. Other thickening options include avocado, chia seeds and chia gel (my upcoming book on this fabulous superfood supplies plenty of chia details and recipes–stay tuned for updates on the release date).

Finding myself fresh out of chia gel, it was to my trusty avocado I turned last night when concocting (no doubt with the assistance of divine forces) the thick, nut-free curried tomato and mushroom bisque you’ll find below. I must share it with you. You must try it. You will thank me. I promise.


Paradise Found Thai Red Curry, Tomato & Mushroom Bisque

This soup is indescribably delicious. Just one spoonful will send your taste buds into paroxysms of euphoria. I’m not kidding. Prepare to be transfixed. Warning: If you generally prefer sitting down to eat, get settled at table before tasting or you may never make it! I finished my bowl standing up, it was that good.

Makes 2 Bowls

1 8-ounce package white mushrooms
1 cup cherry tomatoes (or roughly chopped fresh tomato)
½ cup roughly chopped red onion
½ avocado
¼ cup minced cilantro, set aside
1 Tablespoon lemon juice or lime juice
1 Tablespoon raw coconut oil
1 teaspoon minced ginger or galangal root
1 teaspoon red curry paste (I use Mae Ploy brand)
1 Tablespoon nama shoyu or wheat free tamari
1 Tablespoon fish sauce (optional; replace with 2 Tablespoons nutritional yeast or 1 teaspoon Marmite if vegetarian)
1 cup warm water (<118˚ F)
chopped fresh basil or cilantro leaves, for garnish

Set aside 2 large mushrooms, minced cilantro and garnish. Add everything else to blender and blend until smooth. Finely chop reserved mushrooms and stir into bisque, along with minced cilantro. If desired, warm gently to about 105˚ on stovetop, using a thermometer and stirring constantly with a wooden spoon till desired temperature reached. Pour bisque into two bowls, garnish with a sprinkle of chopped basil or cilantro and serve.

Practically Raw in Winter

Hey baby, it’s (still) cold outside! Here in Western Massachusetts, late February marks the beginning of the end of the iciest two months of the year. For me, by this point in time the cold has seeped so far down into my bones it’s hard to really, truly warm up. Often, the only way to dispel the deep chill is to submerge myself in a hot bath or hop on the mini-tramp for a vigorous rebounding session. These methods both work wonders, provided the timing is right. When it isn’t, there’s always soup.

Everybody knows a steaming bowl of hot, savory soup is quintessential warming winter fare…especially when garlic and onions are involved. In fact, the idea of going without basic warming foods like soup has dampened many an earnest health seeker’s desire to consider giving the raw food detox lifestyle a try.

This is why it’s so important to understand that “being raw” is not the goal of cleansing! The goal is to enjoy the highest states of physical health and alert, energized awareness. Such states can only be achieved when we cleanse and nourish the body with the highest quality, high vibration foods.

Eating heavy, dense foods (animal flesh, cooked beans, nuts, etc.) requires a lot of work, sometimes for several days, on the part of the entire digestive system – from gut to liver to colon. This work slows us down, interferes with the natural flow of energy in our bodies and creates waste that must be eliminated or stored. Conversely, eating light, water-rich plant foods cause no such interference, supports the release of old stored waste from body cells and tissues and enables us to vibrate at our naturally high energetic level.

In other words, a cleansing diet based on fresh, whole raw foods can help us to clear out the food waste and toxins stored in cells and tissues over a lifetime, opening up our bio-electric channels to the free flow of life force energy. Raw foods are critical in this pursuit, but for most of us, especially those new to cleansing, it is equally important to consume high quality cooked foods.

When too many toxins are released into the system due to the overzealous consumption of raw foods, the body can become overwhelmed with poisons. Without giving the body sufficient time and opportunity to eliminate these wastes from the organism, “cleansing” can turn into “autointoxication” and become counterproductive.

Eating cooked vegetables (and fruits) helps to slow down the cleansing stimulated by raw foods without adding to the overall body burden. This allows the eliminative pathways to remove the wastes that are released into the bloodstream as a result of dietary cleansing.

Remember, the cleanest and most detox-stimulating foods are raw fruits, raw veggies and their freshly pressed juices. The next cleanest foods are whole, simply cooked vegetables – prepared by steaming, braising or baking. Rather than a stimulating effect, simply cooked vegetables have a somewhat neutral effect on the body. They pass through the digestive tract quickly and leave no waste behind, providing comfort, satisfaction and nourishment while allowing the body to attend to other needs such as assimilation, repair and elimination of wastes.

When it comes to a long-term cleansing lifestyle, clean food is more important than raw food. With this in mind, let’s talk about warming winter fare. Humans would not have ventured into cold climates without the accompaniment of fire and cooking. Today we live in heated homes with refrigerators and have grocery systems that allow us to enjoy fresh raw food year-round. But that doesn’t mean we want to eat nothing but cold salads all winter, nor should we force ourselves to do so.

If you love soup in winter, take heart! Get comfortable with being practically raw and you can have your soup and eat it too.


Practically Raw Miso Soup

This quick and flexible recipe can be made with whatever you have on hand for veggies. Because the vegetables are added to hot broth and essentially warmed through rather than cooked for any length of time (hence Practically Raw), their high nutrient and enzyme content is maintained. Just be sure to slice everything thinly so that veggies will warm through enough to soften when added to the hot broth.

NOTE: One of my favorite hobbies is to visit Asian food markets and pick up unusual (to me) ingredients: jars of curry pastes and seasonings, packages of seaweeds, fresh young coconuts and other exotic items. On one such visit I was fortunate to find a Thai seasoning called “Instant Seafoods Clear Soup Paste.” This secret ingredient contains chili, lemon grass, lemon juice, shallot, sweet basil leaves, sugar, salt and citric acid and adds a complex and intriguing taste to any soup – no seafood required!

Makes 2 gigantic or 4 average sized bowls of delicious, savory soup.

½ large onion, diced
1 large carrot, thinly sliced
1 celery rib, thinly sliced
½ package of baby bella (or other) mushrooms, chopped
1 medium zucchini, spiralized into noodles
½ red bell pepper, diced
2 cloves of garlic, minced
½ inch ginger, peeled and grated (optional)
1 Tablespoon miso (barley is nice)
1 teaspoon powdered vegetable broth
1 teaspoon “Instant Seafoods Clear Soup Paste” (optional)
black pepper or cayenne pepper to taste, if more hotness desired

Simmer onion in 2 cups of water for about 15 minutes. While the onion is simmering, prepare vegetables and set aside in a large bowl. (It’s a good idea to start with room temperature veggies if possible, since this is meant to be a warming meal from the prep to the eating.) If you don’t have a spiral slicer for the zucchini, you can use a vegetable peeler to make fettuccini-like strands or simply slice into long thin strips.

Once veggies are chopped and broth is done simmering, remove pan from heat. In a small dish, make a paste with miso, “Instant Seafoods Clear Soup Paste” (if using) and a little warm broth. Add paste back into pot of broth along with bouillon powder and stir to combine. To this seasoned broth, add all the sliced veggies and pepper if using. Stir to mix and allow to sit for a minute or two while veggies warm up and absorb flavors of broth. Taste, adjust seasonings if needed, ladle soup into bowls and enjoy!