Raw Garlic Rosemary Sourdough Bread

We have a running joke in our family now. My husband says "what's for dinner?" and I respond, "I don't know but I can tell you what's for dinner in three days."

Between soaking, prep and dehydrating a meal can easily be 24 hours away. This is new for me. And it is definitely the case with the Garlic Rosemary Sourdough Bread I had planned to have with tonight's dinner. Except that I forgot to read the recipe thoroughly (don't skip this step with raw foods) and only at 7:30 in the morning did I see that the dough, made from nuts and berries soaked the night before, has to sit for 7-10 hours before going into the dehydrator for another 11 hours. Looks like another middle of the night trip to the dehydrator and oh joy - sourdough bread for breakfast!

I did wonder why it was called sourdough bread since a sourdough always has to sit and ferment but I figured this was another one of those, "let's call it sourdough so that raw food folks can feel like they are eating something they used to eat only really it tastes nothing like sourdough" recipes.

(Before I go any further I recognize that I had promised you a sauerkraut recipe and pics for that but it will have to wait just a little longer. We have guests sleeping in our basement - it's a beautiful basement actually - and I don't feel comfortable disrupting their sleep to snap photos of the sauerkraut. Fortunately they like sauerkraut and so don't seem to mind the smell - amazing!)

Here's another piece of advice about making raw foods. I don't recommend heading into the kitchen when you are still barely awake to put together ingredients for a recipe you have never made before and have no context for. Too sleepy to read carefully, I mixed the dough for quite a bit longer than directed so ...

And here's the thing, I have spent years baking homemade bread. I have always loved to make bread - from kneading to the smell of it rising to forming it into loaves and watching it cook to that wonderful taste when the steam is still coming off the loaf and the bread is warm as you slather butter all over it. But I'm raw now - so, as with everything raw, a whole new experience (i.e. I have no idea what I am doing).

How is the dough supposed to look? What is the texture supposed to be like? Is it 2 cups of oat groats after soaking or before soaking (by the way, if I ever write a cookbook - which I have no intention of doing - I will make that last point very clear in my directions)? So many questions. I write them here so that when I find the answers you won't have to ask the questions.

Since the dough has to sit all day I have just two pictures for now. The one above of the various seeds and nuts soaking (oat, almonds and kamut) and the one below of the dough sitting. If the bread actually becomes an edible bread I will even offer the recipe.



Stay tuned.

raw herbed cream cheese

I did a little more research into copyright laws because as I take this raw food journey, I want to share all of it with you, especially yummy recipes!

It turns out that as long as I reference the source of the recipe (which I always do), and be a little creative in my wording of the directions, which I enjoy, then I can share away. Woo hoo! So today you get herbed cream cheese.

This recipe comes from The Complete Book of Raw Food: Second Edition. It requires no soaking, no dehydrating and nothing unrecognizable (at least in my kitchen).

The ingredients are:
1 1/3 cups Brazil, macadamia or pine nuts, unsoaked
1/4 cup olive oil
3 T. lemon juice
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. freshly cracked peppercorns
2 T. fresh dill, minced
1 T. fresh sage, minced

A note on recipes - when trying a new raw recipe for the first time I always halve the ingredients. I have had too many, "I don't think this is how it is supposed to taste," debacles that I prefer to err on the side of caution (and my wallet). I recommend the same to you. Having said that, this recipe is fairly failure proof. I say "fairly" because I have known people to burn popcorn in an air popper, so anything is possible. 

I also omitted the peppercorns because I'm just not a big pepper person. You do what you want.

Take the first four ingredients, add 1/3 cup of water, and blend until smooth. If you have a high-powered blender, like a Vitamix, you will have a much easier time.

Then transfer the mixture to a bowl. Add the remaining ingredients. Mix together. Put in the fridge for 30 minutes and voila - herbed cream cheese. Really quite yummy.

Unless you have planned ahead and have some raw bread or crackers in the house, I find nori is a great substitute. I placed one beet leaf on a sheet of nori, spread the cream cheese and...

 

a nori sandwich. 

Simple, quick, nutritious and delicious. Ahh...this I can handle. 

Dr. Norm Shealy and Raw Corn Chips

What do Dr. Norm Shealy and Raw Corn Chips have in common? Absolutely nothing as far as I know. Except that I have something to say about both of them.

First Dr. Shealy. Last night I interviewed Norm as one of the guests in my Wisdom of Wellness Series. He shared his "Recipe for Everyday Health." I would like to offer it to you.

1. Get out of bed in the morning and bless the day and yourself for the sleep you just had.
2. Exercise – minimum of 30 minutes five days a week (can be at the end of the day but more effective at giving energy and maintaining weight if done at the beginning of the day)
3. Eat a healthy breakfast (as well as all other meals) – healthy means "real" food. Food with more than one or two ingredients is no longer real. Wide variety of fruits, vegetables, dairy and fish.
   
4. Go through the day expecting and programming things to be OK.
5. Finish the day with a little rest. Take some time to do some deep breathing, meditation, etc.
6. Go into sleep with mental programming of positive activities. Thank god and your soul for the benefits of the day.
7. Get 8 hours of sleep.

I would like to briefly add a few comments in response to #3 - eat a healthy breakfast. Norm recommended dairy and lots of fish. I personally choose to eat very little, if any, dairy because my body prefers not to have it. Many people are lactose intolerant and may need to watch their dairy intake. As for fish - we all know that fish can be very high in mercury. Please pay attention to the type of fish you eat. You can go to: http://budurl.com/bestseafood. Here you will find recommendations for the healthiest sea food and you can download a free guide.

If you would like to hear the entire interview with Dr. Shealy go to: http://series.supernutrientgal.com.

Now for the raw corn chips. Eating raw has been a very interesting journey. However, it just got a lot easier with our most recent purchase, The Excalibur dehydrator (warning - if you really want to eat raw there is a rather large up front investment).

The other day I made corn chips. Everyone in my family eats corn chips and I love them so I knew I needed an alternative. With everything raw, it never tastes quite like what you know. Pizza, chips, ice cream - they can all be delicious but... different.

These chips took about 20 minutes to prepare (very easy) and then about 16 hours in the dehydrator. I actually got up at about 2am to check on them - insane, I know. The recipe came from The Complete Book of Raw Food. The ingredients are: corn, olive oil, flax seed, cilantro, salt, honey and chili peppers. I can't divulge any more info (copyright laws) but at least you have a sense of the recipe.

Here is a picture of the "dough" going into the dehydrator:


And the finished product:


Quite yummy and they really hit the spot when snacking was what I wanted.

(A note on dehydrators - although they run for a long time they use very little electricity. I don't know the wattage but it costs about 3-6 cents/hour. )

Macadamia Pudding

One of the things about raw foods is that snacking and evening sweets can become a bit of a challenge. If you need 12 hours to dehydrate cookies, your either going to opt for the dreaded cooked version wondering what in God's name inspired you to take up such a ridiculous craze or relentlessly search for a satisfying recipe. Fortunately I have recently invested a small portion of my savings in raw food cookbooks. I recommend this highly.

The more cookbooks you have the more likely you are to find a recipe that can be made in under five minutes and requires no soaking, no dehydrating, no juicing and obviously, no cooking. Tonight, having just eaten a rather large salad with a nut feta, I wanted something sweet. And I found it: Macademia Pudding from The Complete Book of Raw Food. Yummmm!

I have had three failed attempts at making some sort of raw whipped cream (been really craving that with summer fruit) but this, although not so light, did the trick.

This pudding was created by Paul Nilson and uses just macadamia nuts, dates and water. I altered the recipe slightly because I didn't have enough macadamia nuts and so added cashews as well. I also added some blueberries.

Here is the final outcome:



The verdict (apart from the obvious that I am no food photographer) - thumbs up. My husband liked it as well although he first comment was, "how much did this cost to make? $84?" Raw food is not always inexpensive. He did, however, eat it all up!