Delightfully Raw in Utah: Part II

The drive from Eagle Mountain to St-George was a breeze. It was pretty much just a straight shot down I-15 S. The forecast was predicting rain but it only started about 20 miles from our destination. No biggie.

Visiting Friends in St-George
It had also been two years since our last visit with Barbara and Duane, so we were glad to get a chance to spend a bit of time together. As you may recall, Barbara is the president of VSU, the Vegetarian Society of Utah, and has done SO much to spread the good word about the benefits of eating healthily in her community. Barbara & Duane have been following a whole food plant based vegan no-oil diet for the last five years and are lovin' it! It has helped Barbara in overcoming several health issues, including obesity. Now at 68 years young she's like an energy bunny and her enthusiasm is contagious!

Just a short two months before we got there Barbara had back surgery done. Thanks to her surprisingly good health it couldn't have gone smoother (they were able to operate from the front). In fact, her doctor says he's never seen anyone recover so quickly from such a major surgery! ;-)

B&D really get into the Holiday spirit; they are notorious for putting up sometimes as many as 7 Christmas trees around their home! But this year, with Barbara's surgery and their new feline daughter Chai, they decided to stick mostly to lights and little festive decorations.

Raw Potluck
The day after our arrival VSU held a raw potluck at B&D's lovely home. They were a wonderful bunch and I had lots of fun demoing two of our staple recipes: my Strawberry Banana Shake and Sweet Pea Soup.

My little elves getting the samplers ready.

Once again VSU members really outdid themselves and got very creative with their dish contributions, even though raw is very new to many of them.

Kevin Kirkland, a gentleman who is just opening a smoothie bar in St-George called TruBerry, brought a couple of samples of his concoctions for us to try.

Tru Green Smoothie
Apple juice
Banana
Acai berries
Blueberries
Strawberries

Tru Berry Red
Apple juice
Banana
Acai berries
Blueberries
Strawberries
Raspberries


A beautiful salad with the colors of the season made from kiwi, pomegranate, cilantro, avocado, onions and peppers.

Golden Onion Morsels

Golden Onion Morsels
From Joel Fuhrman's Super Immunity

Makes 30-40 balls

1 1/2 cups raw cashews
1 cup raw almonds
1 med. Golden Delicious apple, peeled, cored and sliced
1 tbs nutritional yeast
1 tsp ground chia seeds
1 tbs onion powder
Toasted seame seeds - for coating
Minced chives - for coating

Grind cashews and almonds into a powder in high power blender.

Add apples, nutritional yeast, chia seeds, onion powder and blend again.

Form into small balls and roll each ball in sesame seeds and chives.

Savory Oat Rice

Posted by Jinjee on Gone Raw

We have finally found a way to make raw rice! The secret is not to use rice at all, but raw, soaked oat groats. You can buy the raw oat groats in bulk or in bagged packaging. They look just like brown rice. Soak them for 24 hours and follow the recipe! It is amazing how much this tastes like a rice dish, and satisfies just like rice too. However, the germinated oats give you a ton of energy, which of course cooked rice does not. The men in my family love this recipe, as it is high in protein!

1 c oat groats
1 c button mushrooms, diced
3 tbs olive oil
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1/4 tsp sea salt
Savory herbs (thyme, marjoram, sage, or oregano, etc..)
1 Hass avocado

1. Soak oat groats for as little as 24 hours and up to 48 hours. The grains become softer the longer you soak them.

2. Marinate mushrooms for 24 hours in garlic and 2 tbs. olive oil

3. Drain oats, rinse, place in bowl, and add the marinated mushrooms

4. Add 1/4 tsp Celtic sea salt, 1 tsp olive oil and savory herbs

5. Let sit for 1 to 3 hours

6. Add 1 Hass avocado, cubed

7. Stir and serve

Guacamole and raw crackers

This was a yummy cheezey spread made with cashews, nutritional yeast, lemon juice, turmeric, red chili, miso, turmeric and green peas.

Another lovely salad: kale, cabbage, zucchini, tomato, bell pepper and pomegranate. It was served with a ranch type dressing made from cashews, garlic, lemon juice, dates, vinegar, onion, basil and salt.

Barbara had made Carrot Crackers and one of my variations from the wonderful vegan cheeze that she introduced me to during our last visit.

Carrot Crackers
Published in VegNews Magazine 12/11 issue

Makes about 35 crackers

1 cup raw sunflower seeds

2 1/2 cups grated carrots (approx. 10 organic carrots)

4 tablespoons flaxseed meal

1 teaspoon salt

Freshly ground black pepper to taste

1 tablespoon minced ginger

1/2 to 1 cup water

1.  In a food processor, grind sunflower seeds into a fine powder.  Add carrots, flaxseed meal, salt, pepper, and ginger.  Pulse a few times to combine.  With processor running, add water in a thin stream.  Stop processing when mixture is thick, but moist enough to spread.

2.  In a dehydrator on two parchment-lined dehydrator sheets, spread mixture until 1/4 inch thick.  With a knife or pizza cutter, score into cracker shapes.  Dehydrate at 115 degrees for about 6 hours.  Flip dry dough and dehydrate on the other side for another 4 hours.

3.  For a non-dehydrator option, preheat oven to 350 degrees.   On two parchment-lined baking sheets, spread dough 1/4 inch thick.  With a knife or pizza cutter, score into cracker shapes.  Bake for 40 minutes or until dry and crispy.
 

Tarragon Mustard Vegan Cheeze

She also whipped up a batch of this awesome Tropical Chutney that she discovered when she attended the 40th IVU International Vegetarian Congress in San Francisco last October.

Tropical Chutney
By Shanta Nimbark Sacharoff
Recipe posted here

Makes 4-5 half-pint jars
 
You can use any combination of mangoes, papayas, pineapples, peaches and/or apricots along with sultanas (yellow raisins).
 
1 cup dried and chopped tropical fruits
1 cup warm or hot water
1 cup yellow raisins
2 tablespoon fresh, grated ginger root
Juice of one large lemon or lime
1/2 teaspoon cayenne
1 teaspoon salt
Additional water as needed

Place the dried fruit in the warm or hot water and set aside for ½ hour or longer to soften.

Then place all ingredients, including the water in which the fruit pieces are soaking, in the jar of a blender or a food processor. Puree the mixture, adding more water as needed to yield a fine-grained pudding-like consistency.

Allow the chutney to stand for a few minutes before transferring it to a serving bowl for storage, or to clean glass jars for gifts.

This chutney will keep for several weeks if refrigerated.


And on the sweet side...

There's an older gentleman named Frank who has been a member of VSU for years. At every potluck he proudly brings his very own creation: a raw pie made from almonds, dates, blackberries, raspberries and blueberries.

Chocolate Nut Balls made from walnuts, almonds, cranberries, raisins and cacao powder.

This was my personal favorite brought by a lovely lady named Hazna. It started off as a raw apple pie that she got from a lady named April Fazini. She then modified it by adding mango, pineapple and persimmon folded into a yummy cream made with cashews, almond milk creme sauce and sweet potato. Decadent! In fact I even had 2 servings! ;-)

There was also a delicious Chocolate Pudding but I didn't get a chance to take a pic as the dish arrived while I was doing the demo. BUT you can see it at the bottom right corner of Don's plate. It was made with coconut meat, agave, maple syrup, raw cacao powder, carob, vanilla and a pinch of salt. Gina served it with fresh raspberries. Yum!

Let's munch! Yay!

This was my serving. I'm such a foodie; I had a hard time not trying a little of every dish. As a result I momentarily forgot that it had been less than a week since I was eating solid foods again. I later had to pay the price, as my belly complained about this mistreatment. As good as it tasted this feast ended up sending me on a downward spiral in terms of digestion. In the end I had to go back to liquid foods to give my body a chance to recover. In fact, I'm still not totally back to normal yet. *sigh*

A few of us stayed quite late after the meal as we were all caught up in interesting conversations. 

Greg and Mark, two super nice men I had met at the last raw potluck that Barbara held here.

Donnie caught Pu and I the next morning while we slept in. ;-)

Before we left we had a little photo shoot with Barbara and Duane. ;-)

Barbara had the idea to get some family shots with Miss Puss.

I hope you too had a wonderful Holiday Season filled with joy, radiance and beautiful people!

Delightfully Raw Near Walla Walla: Part III

This is turning into a veritable marathon! All together I'll be writing something like 10 different posts about our time near Walla Walla! Definitely a record! ;-)

Alrighty, this is the last of my general posts about our adventures with Matt & Dawnen.

Raw Potluck

Every 4th Tuesday of the month their Church's health group likes to get together in order to share a raw potluck and exchange ideas and tips. Often times Matt does a little food demo but since we were in town I was given the honor.

Matt telling them a little about Don and I before passing the torch over to me.

 

My favorite thing to demonstrate are raw soups, as these are such a big staple in our diet. They're so simple and nutritious yet surprisingly few people are into them. It's also a good opportunity to pass on the info about the Omni blender, a great alternative to the more common Vitamix and Blendtec at a much more affordable price.

Notice Mr. Bean next to Donnie?

I could hardly believe the turn out; one of the largest potlucks we've attended! They were a wonderful group, so keenly interested and attentive.

 

Beanie was such a good boy. 

Brian made sure to keep him company and well entertained.

The potluck spread was both beautiful and bountiful!

You know how it is... Gotta document it all! ;-)

A yummy dish made with sprouted wild rice and marinated squash

Matt had brought his latest creation: a salad with a warm curry dressing. This photo was taken before he added the latter though, something he does just before serving.

Our contribution: Nacho Cheeze

Kale chips

Stuffed peppers

We were blessed with a few scrumptious desserts too!

 

Feasting away

Once our bellies were full we had some good conversations with several members of the group.

I was also asked to sign a few books. ;-)

Last Supper

For our last evening in Oregon we went over to Matt & Dawnen's trailer for dinner. He prepared lovely and original appetizers for us.

On a slice of tomato he placed a generous scoop of Tomato Reduction (see recipe below), followed by Coconut Yogurt (how-to coming up in another day or two.) He then finished off with a couple of pieces of Eggplant Bacon. Yum!

How To Make Tomato Reduction:
Place roughly chopped tomatoes in a blender container.

Add raw sweetener such as honey or agave, a little cold pressed olive oil, Celtic sea salt and a big handful of dried basil.

Blend on low using the tamper; you want to leave the mixture chunky, similar to salsa.

Pour mixture in a large Pyrex dish.

Add 2 cups of finely cubed onion and mix well.

Place dish in dehydrator on high heat for a while, stirring as soon as the top dries out. No worries, it won't cook the tomatoes as it will take a while for the actual temperature of the food to climb up due to the high water content.

When reduction gets to around 118 degrees (this is when an infrared thermometer comes in handy!), turn the dial down.

Continue reducing until the desired consistency is reached.

Matt's Notes:

~ You may need to use a metal scraper to mix the dried chunks back into the reduction and break it up into small pieces.

~ If you wish, you can stop the dehydration sooner and have a tomato spread or spaghetti sauce.

~ The sauce version freezes really well; simply warm up in the dehydrator.

Matt showed me how he makes yet another of his specialties - Veggie Stew (yep, I'll also be sharing his technique in an upcoming post) - which we enjoyed as the main course.

"Smile Carmi!" Don't know if you can tell, but I wasn't feeling too well that day as I was recovering from doing a liver flush.

Brian also joined us for the evening. As usual the animals were all over him.

Beanie's Back!
Mr. Bean had sooo much energy the last 3 or 4 days of our stay. It was nice to see him feeling better and his leg injuries healing.

Matt left the little guy with me one afternoon while he and Don went shopping. It was the first time that Beanie and Puss got to spend time together. He was like an energy bunny and kept wanting to play with her, something she wasn't sure what to make of. When he finally decided to settle down he of course took her favorite spot (on my stretched legs.) That didn't deter Puss though; she eventually made her way to my feet so that she could stretch from the other end. he he At some point their paws were nearly touching; it was such a sweet moment!
 

Time to Continue Our Journey
In the end we stayed parked on Matt and Dawnen's lawn for 4 weeks or so. Wow! I know it sounds like a long time, but it flew by so very quickly! Since we lived in our respective trailers it was as though we were neighbors for these few weeks. What a blessing to get a chance to be part of their lives for a short while and partake in the abundance of their garden and Matt's vast knowledge! It was an opportunity for us to expand our horizons on so many levels!

One last photo before we go...

Until next time, Matt Man!

Utah here we come!