The Sunny Raw Kitchen: 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*