I am yet to figure out why it is that if Raw Food is so much better and healthier and tastier, than its’ cooked opposite, we still try to make it look the same as cooked in appearance? Why do we still call it ‘cheese’, when it’s clearly not made from dairy? Why do we call it ‘pasta’, when it’s not made of anything remotely similar? Why ‘bread’, when baking is not in the Raw Food vocabulary?

I ask myself these questions often and yet when my [non Raw] friend and fellow blogger Roz comes to stay with us in London, I can’t help but organise a [Raw] meal that I am sure she will identify with. There it is! I have just answered my own question!!

So if we have really become so adverse to change even in this fast evolving world of technology and need something familiar to identify with, I am certain that my Spaghetti ‘Meat’ Balls will give you all the comforting homely feeling you are after...



For the Essentials
-Food Processer
-Dehydrator
-Blender (optional, I prefer the bolognaise sauce to be slightly chunky, so only used the Processer)
-Spiralizer (grater will do the job too)


For the 'Meat' Balls 
6 Portabella Mushrooms (peeled, chopped)
1 Cup Walnuts (soaked 1 hour)
2+ Tbsp Hulled Flaxseeds
1/4 Cup Chopped Fresh Basil
2 Tbsp Raw Apple Cider Vinegar
2 Tbsp Tamari Soy Sauce
2 Cloves Garlic (minced)
1 Tbsp Mixed Italian Spices (I used a combination of Parsley, Rosemary, Coriander, Basil and Oregano)
1/2 tsp Cracked Pepper

-Pour the Apple Cider Vinegar and Tamari over the chopped mushrooms, add garlic and basil leaves, stir through and leave to marinate for a minimum of 2 hours. (note if you only have little time, slice the mushrooms really thinly)

-Rince out the water from soaked walnuts, place them with the mushrooms into a food processer with an S Blade, pulse so they are chopped fine and mixed in, but still slightly chunky

-Depending on how long you marinated the mushrooms for, you will end up with a different amount of marinade liquid. If there is only a small amount, only add 2 Tbsp of Hulled Flaxseeds, but if your mushrooms are drowning in water, only then add 4 Tbsp of flax.

-Also add all the spices and pulse a couple of times to let everything mix in, then let the mixture sit for half an hour for the flax to soak up the liquid.

- Roll into any size 'Meat' Balls you like, but note that the larger it is, the longer it will take to dehydrate.
-Place on Mesh tray of your dehydrator and dehydrate at 110degrees F for 4-6 hours


For the Bolognaise Sauce
3 Medium Tomatoes (chopped)
1 Red/Orange Bell Pepper (chopped)
1 Lemon (juiced)
1 Cup Fresh Chopped Basil
10 Sundried Tomato Halves (soaked min 1 hour)
7 Dates (soaked min 1 hour)
2 Cloves Garlic (minces)
1 Tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 Tbsp Mixed Italian Spices

-Pop all the ingredients (accept Olive Oil and Lemon Juice) into a Food Processer and process to a sauce.

-Add The Olive Oil and Lemon Juice and process some more. (Transfer to a blender only if you desire a smoother sauce consistency)


For the Pasta
2 Large Zucchinis/Courgettes

-I used a Spiralizer, but you can also either slice the zucchini as thinly as possible lengthwise and then slice again into thinner strips lengthwise to resemble noodles or you can use a grater


-To assemble, you can either place the noodles first, followed by sauce, then nut balls, like in the below picture, or start with the sauce, like in the top picture

-Garnish with fresh Basil leaves

I can’t remember if I always have been or if it is something I’ve learned to enjoy, but either way I am very much a morning person and just love getting up early(ish) and being really productive(ish).

This Saturday was no different, accept maybe for the fact that I pretty much flew out of bed even before the alarm. My very first Royal Ascot Racecourse experience and I wasn’t about to jeopardise the luxury of time to enjoy the most fabulous dress up procedure.

I had to stop myself from skipping on the way to the station, as I walked there linking arms with the most handsome man. Even those not attending seemed to know the races were on, wishing us to have a lovely day. I felt like a million dollars.

That price tag feeling managed to decrease by a few thousand when we arrived in Ascot and saw some truly spectacular outfits, hats and fascinators and I instantaneously began to plan for next year’s event!

But for now we enjoyed an amazing day with a beautiful picnic to which one of my contributions was “Stuffed Collards and Raw Mayo”. The below picture is actually from previous night’s dinner, which I made for Elliot. Since there was so much left over, the collards seemed like a perfect picnic idea and they went, well, like hot cakes...




For the Stuffing
1 head chopped cauliflower
1 Cup Sunflower seeds
1/2 Cup Quinoa (sprouted 12-24 hours)
1/2 cup pine nuts
1/4 Cup Raisins (soaked 1 hour)
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp cinnamon

-To sprout Quinoa, simply wash it and soak in water for 12-24 hours. Then drain water
-Process all ingredients in a food processor fitted with an S blade, till it’s finely diced and resembles rice

For the Wraps
8 Collard leaves (aka british greens in the supermarket)


-To assemble the wraps, cut each collard leaf in half and remove the thickest part of the stem. Place 2-3 tbsp rice mixture about one inch from the bottom of the leaf
-Roll the wrap up (similar to sushi or burritos) and place it on a serving platter with the seam side down (I just had these rolled up in a tupperware container, ready to grab and dip into the Mayo, but for dinner I sliced each roll on an angle, as pictured above)

For Raw Mayonnaise
1/2 cup cashew nuts (soaked in water for 1 hour)
1/2 cup water
3 Tbsp Olive oil
3 Tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp Dijon mustard
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp paprika

-Put all the ingredients except the oil in a blender. Blend on the lowest speed. This may take a few minutes, as the nuts break down and become creamy
-Gradually - one drop at a time - add the oil until the mixture starts to thicken. Continue blending until thickened and smooth

For the Salsa
(I didn't include this with the picnic, as salsa can get a little messy, but it is a beautiful dinner addition)
1 Cup Cheery Tomatoes
1 Avocado
1/4 red onion
1/2 Red pepper, deseeded and minced
1/2 Cup chopped fresh coriander
1 lime, juiced
1/2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp ground pepper
1/8 tsp cayenne

-Chop all veges into small pieces
-Mix all ingredients in a bowl

Wednesday 28th April 2010- A date to remember! My born and bred heavy meat eating boyfriend had his first ever - not just vegetarian, not even vegan, but a Raw Vegan Day of his life!

He made it quite clear early on in the relationship that he is not prepared to live a day without meat, so as disappointing as the statement was to me (being totally happy to live off my favourite tomato + cucumber + avocado salad), I found myself cooking meat especially for him every night of the week.

Ofcause there hasn’t been a time he didn’t look forward to trying all the new raw recipes I’ve been coming up with and he already religiously drinks his green smoothies each day and has his salads with dinner, but I am sure he is not the only one out there that struggles to overcome the mentality of dead animal consumption.

So for some time now, I’ve been thinking up a pitch, considering every aspect of an upcoming debate and a strong negotiation point to propose a ‘one day a week’ Raw Regime for Elliot. Going in for the win, I even got stage fright speaking and I can’t even remember at what point he agreed, but I’m sure I still carried on talking, unable to believe my own ears that it took no convincing, no debating and no persuading what so ever. I guess there was a bit of influencing, but that has been 2,5 years in the making.

With the toughest challenge now over, the next challenge was not necessary to make something tasty (I knew I was capable), but something of a ‘Real Man’ type that does not scream out ‘Happy Hippy’ on his plate. And so the answer was simple:




Having a great recipe for the pizza base and sauce already (see previous post), the 2 pizzas I decided to create were:
1. Mushroom and Basil Pesto
2. Broccoli and Tangy Tahini

I found its best for the toppings of both of these pizzas to be left marinating overnight, so prepare the night before you are planning on eating them, or early in the morning so the marination is complete by the time you get home from work:

Essentials:
1.Prep the night before
2.Food processor for basil pesto
3.Blender for Cashew Cream- optional
4.Dehydrator- if not available, then the below recipes are just as amazing as salads


ALL RAW BROCCOLI AND TANGY TAHINI PIZZA



Broccoli:
1 broccoli head chopped small without stems
3 x Tbsp Lemon juice
3 x Tbsp Olive Oil
2 x Tbsp Tamari soy sauce

1. Mix all ingredients in large bowl and massage with your hands until the broccoli becomes softer, then cover and leave to stand out of the fridge overnight.

2. The juices may have settled on the bottom of bowl by the morning, so mix all ingredients again and leave to marinate until lunch/dinner out of the fridge.

3. Arrange the broccoli onto the pizza base (from previous post) and dehydrate for 2 hours at 41 degrees C. You may find it useful to pour the Tangy Tahini sauce and cut into pizza slices half way through the dehydration process, so that you can serve straight out of the dehydrator while pizza is still warm.



Tangy Tahini sauce:
1/4 x Cup Tahini
3 x Tbsp lemon juice
1 x Tbsp Agave Nectar
3 x Tbsp Raw Apple Cider vinegar
2 x Tbsp tamari
1 x garlic clove or ½ tsp garlic powder
1/2 x tsp mild chilli powder
1/2 x tsp ginger root powder

1. Mix all ingredients in a small bowl
2. Pour over dehydrated broccoli pizza. I used an icing syringe for even spread and ease.


ALL RAW MUSHROOM AND BASIL PESTO PIZZA



MUSHROOMS
7 x medium portabella mushrooms
½ x Red pepper
7 x fresh basil leaves chopped
2 x garlic cloves
3 x Tbsp Olive Oil
½ x lemon juiced
3 x Tbsp Raw Apple cider vinegar
Pinch salt

-Follow the same preparation process as Broccoli pizza

[Mushrooms freshly chopped, ready for marination process]

BASIL PESTO
1 x Cup pine nuts
2 x Cups fresh basil
2 x garlic cloves
1 x lemon juiced
3 x Tbsp Olive Oil
1 x tsp salt

-Chop up basil in the food processor, then add nuts and then the rest of ingredients. The consistency will not be runny, so spoon small amounts over the pizza in blobs.



CASHEW CREAM (Optional)
½ x Cup cashews
½ x Cup water

1. Blend until smooth in a blender. If the ingredients do not cover the blades and you struggle to blend well, just double the ingredients and use left over Cashew Cream in another recipe later (will last in fridge for 7 days)
2. Splatter over pizza

It was so so good.