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.

Exactly One week ago, my little sister turned 22! Birthdays have always been a big deal in my family and the cake was no exception. Luckily for my sister and I (and dad), mum always made the most amazing deserts and since going Raw, that did not change.

What did change is the fact that now, these deserts became even more amazing, even more colourful, more exciting and more delicious! And the best part is they are also sugar free, gluten free, wheat free, soy free and dairy free! The worst part- my family are currently living in Canada and I did not get a single bite :(

What I did get though are the photos and the ingredients and lucky for you, you get them too:



THE BASE:
1 x C Cashews
2 x Tbs Agave Nectar
2 x Lemon Juice
1/4 x C Coconut Butter (or oil- same thing, just depends on the country you are in)
2 x Tbsp Vanilla Extract
1/4 x tsp Salt

THE BOTTOM LAYER:
1.5 x C Cashews
1 x C Macadamias
1 x Coconut Cream
1/4 x C Honey
1/2 x C Coconut Butter
2 x Tbsp Lemon Juice
1/4 x tsp Salt

THE TOP LAYER:
2 x C Strawberries
1 x C Raspberries
1 x Banana
1.5 x C Cashews
1/2 C + 2 Tbsp x Coconut Butter
1/4 x C Honey
2 x Vanilla Extract
4 x Dates
5 x Tbsp Agave Nectar

THE FRUIT:
Figs, strawberries, raspberries or any kind you like



THE BASE:
Process cashews to a flour consistency, add remaining ingredients and process some more. Press into the bottom of a 9 inch pan, preferably a tart pan/ flan tin with a loose bottom to allow for easy removal of contents. Place in the fridge while preparing the filling.

THE BOTTOM LAYER:
Process firstly the nuts in a food processor, then add the remaining ingredients and keep processing to a very smooth consistency. Pour a thin layer over the crust, then layer with sliced figs or fruit of your choice, pour the mixture remainder and return to the fridge for 1-2 hours, or a freezer for 30 minutes - 1 hour.

THE TOP LAYER:
When the Bottom Layer is firm, follow the same procedure to process the Top Layer filling and then pour it over the cake. Return to the fridge and leave to set for a few hours, preferably overnight.

Go crazy decorating with your favourite fruits. To slice the cake nicely, dip the knife after each slice.

The Raw Potluck I attended on Sunday was a Delicious Success. I have now been to a few of these gatherings since I arrived in London and the Barnett Meetup was by far the best organised of the lot.

It is not always an easy thing to do turning up somewhere as a complete stranger, so I make sure to Always have a back up plan that Always happens to be more important and I Always have to be at exactly 2 hours after the start of the gathering. But after meeting some of the nicest people and trying some of the most incredible dishes, I was suddenly ashamed of considering a get away before I even arrived, however I must've also forgotten about any such ideas pretty early on because I ended up staying the entire Five hours!

The photos unfortunately don't do the dishes any justice, especially since most of the best ones are still in their containers, but here is an idea of what a group of 35 people brought to the table:

THE FRUIT


THE SAVOURY


THE SWEET


My personal favourite, brought by Dina and her little angel Lydia is a recipe from Russell James's Raw Thai recipes ebook. It may have been a matter of only an hour after seeing Dina's email with this recipe pop up in my mail box, that I was at the shops for a couple of spices I was missing to make these myself. Here is what mine turned out like and the recipe too:


THAI NORI BITES

4 x raw nori sheets
2 x C sunflower seeds,soaked for 4 hours
1/2 x C fresh coriander(cilantro)
1 x Tbsp fresh basil
2 x Tbsp lime juice
1 x Tbsp agave nectar
2 x Tbsp tamari soy sauce
1/2 x tsp cayenne
1/2 x tsp chilli powder (I used mild)
3 x tsp cumin
3 x tsp onion powder (I used flakes)
2 x tsp garlic powder
2g x Kaffir lime leaves(I used 1g or 10 leaves)
1 x tsp ground ginger
1 x tsp turmeric
1 x tsp oregano
1/2 x tsp salt


1. Grind all ingredients except nori to a paste in a food processor

2. Spread paste approximately 3mm thick evenly to each edge of a nori sheet

3. Place another nori sheet on top of the paste to make a ''sandwich''

4. Cut into 2cm squares with a sharp knife

5. Dehydrate squares for 4 hours.

Note: The original R. James version had 1/2 cup water added to the paste and dehydrating was 8 hrs. Dina didn't use water and neither did I.

You can also make these without the nori sheets, which I worked out when I had some paste left over. I did however dehydrate the 'crackers' for an extra 4 hours to make them crispy:



Jill Swyers from the Hippocrates Health Institute was also there providing a talk with lots of interesting and valuable tips. I was particularly excited discovering that she personally knows Victoria Boutenko. Victoria, afterall 3 years ago was the introduction and the inspiration for my entire family to this wonderful world of Raw Living Foods.