Raw Vegan Dinner at the McGovern’s by Mr. Rawmano

Barb McGovern hosted a lovely raw vegan dinner last night!  With Living Light Raw Vegan Culinary Institute’s graduate Chef Sam Romano back home for the holidays, he made a delightful array of dishes that had everyone in awe!  The airy herb chevre on the crisp flax crackers, the exotically sweet sushi, spicey bbq mushroom burgers over a toasty warm raw onion rye bun, the sweet teriyaki pineapple and papaya…. so divine.

Appetizers

Veggie Flax Crackers and Almond Tomato Basil Chevre

Flax Crackers – Adapted from the Organic Garden Cafe

7 tray batch

• 4 cups dry flax seeds plus 2 cups water to soak flax
• water
• 4 cups vegetable pulp from juicer
• 1/4 cup onion powder
• 1/4 cup garlic powder
• 1 Tbs mustard powder
• 1 Tbs tumeric
• 2 Tbs salt
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/2 cup lemon juice

1. Soak flax seeds first.  By the time everything else is mixed the flax should be a good consistency to form the crackers. Mix all ingredients well by hand.  Add water as needed. 
2. Two cups of veggie flax cracker mixture per teflex sheet.  Spread evenly to cover the square teflex sheet.  Using a round pizza slicer, slice lightly through the middle to form two halves.  Slice each half into thirds forming 6 rows.  Turn the tray and slice down the middle again and slice each half into thirds again.  This should make 36 crackers per tray.
3. Dehydrate at 125 degrees overnight, 14 hours.
   

Almond Tomato Basil Chevre – adapted from Living Light Culinary Institute and The Organic Garden Cafe

• 2 cups blanched almonds
• 1 or more cups purified water
• 1/4 teaspoon probiotic powder (we didn’t have this and it came out just fine!)
• 2 Tbs lemon juice
• 1/4 onion, minced
• 4 cups basil measured whole lightly packed, then minced
• 1/4 olive oil
• 2-3 tsp salt
• 2-3 tsp pepper
• 2 Tbs nutritional yeast
• 1/4 cup sun-dried tomato measured whole, then minced

1. Blend the almonds, water, and probiotic powder in a high-powered blender, adding more water if necessary to achieve a smooth, creamy texture.
2. Select a pint-size (or larger) strainer (a plastic berry basket works great) and line it with cheesecloth, allowing several inches of the cloth to drape down around the sides.  Set the strainer on top of a shallow baking dish and pour the nut batter into the cheesecloth.  The baking dish will catch the liquid as it drains from the cheese.  Fold the excess cheesecloth over the top of the cheese and place it in a warm (not hot) location to ferment for 8 to 12 hours.  (Less fermentation time is required in warmer weather).
3. After about 2 hours of fermenting, place a weight on top of the cheese to help press out more of the excess liquid.  (An ideal weight is a cup of grains or seeds.)
4. Before eating the cheese, mix in all of the seasonings.  Season or sweeten as desired!
5. After the cheese has fermented to suit your tastes, it may be stored n a sealed glass container in the refrigerator for up to one week.

Veggie Sushi

BBQ Portobello Burger Sliders

Entrees

BBQ Portobello Burgers

Onion Rye Bun, adapted from the Organic Garden Cafe

• 4 cups sunflower seeds, soaked, or just add enough water
• 4 Tbs caraway seeds (2 whole in food processor, 2 ground in blender)
• 1 onion, minced
• 2 cups flax seeds, ground
• 1/2 cup dates, pitted

1. Grind flax and 2 Tbs caraway in blender
2. In food processor blend sunflower seeds with 2 Tbs caraway seed, dates, and enough water to make a nice thick sunflower seed pate
3. put that in bowl with onion and flax meal, and mix well by hand
4. Appx 1/4 cup each bun, 3 x 3 on teflex sheet
5. Dehydrate for 2 hours on 125 degrees, flip the burgers and peel off teflex and dehydrate at 115 degrees for about 7 hours

BBQ Sauce

• 3/4 cup coconut nectar
• 2 1/2 cup dates (soaked if not soft)
• 2 cups sundried tomato (s0aked)
• 1 cup fresh tomato
• 2 1/2 cup water (sundried tomato water)
• 1/2 Tbs garlic
• 1/2 tsp mustard
• 1/2 tsp mustard
• 1/2 tsp chili powder
• 1/2 tsp cumin
• 1/8 cup onion powder
• 1 1/2 Tbs salt
• 1 Tbs chipotle powder

Blend in a high speed blender until smooth.

Portobello Burgurs

• 4 cup sunflower seeds, soaked
• 2 1/2 zucchini
• 4 cups mushroom
• 2 stalks of celery, minced
• 1/2 an onion, minced
• 1/2 cup fresh parsley, minced in food processor
• 2 Tbs tarragon
• 4 garlic cloves
• 1/4 cup tamari
• all purpose seasoning (or seasoning of choice)
• 1 Tbs fresh sage, minced
• 1/2 Tbs salt
• 4 reishi capsules
• 1 T truffle oil (or olive oil)

1. Make sunflower pate with sunflower seeds and all your herbs, garlic, oil, tamari, reishi, in the food processor, put in separate bowl so you can pulse the veggies
2. Pulse in food processor: zucchini, mushroom, celery, onion, parsley until course/ minced, pour in bowl with sunflower seed herb mix
3. Mix well by hand. Using about 1/4 cup, depending how big you want them, lay out 3 x 3 burgers on a teflex sheet and dehydrate at 125 degrees 2 hours.  After 2 hours, flip the burgers, removing teflex sheets and dehydrate at 115 degrees for 4 hours, or until desired dryness. I like them mushy 🙂 some people like them dry.

Teriyaki Pineapple Papaya Skewers

Teriyaki Sauce, from Living Light Culinary Institute

Yield 1 1/2 cups

• 1/2 cup tamari
• 1/2 cup coconut oil
• 1/4 cup evaporated cane juice
• 3 tablespoons lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons onion powder
• 2 teaspoons fresh ginger, grated
• 1/2 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 6 cloves garlic, crushed

1. Combine all ingredients in a blender and pulse to blend, (don’t overblend, this will incorporate too much air)
2. Pour over cubed pineapple and papaya, and let marinate for 4 hours.
3. Make skewers and dehydrate at 125 degrees for 2 hours.

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French Toast Kale Chips

These are SUCH tasty twist! French toast, meet kale chip! So good. So. Good.

Ingredients

• 1 cup fresh apple (or dried apples, soaked & drained, just add 1/4 cup more water)
• 1 cup cashews, soaked & drained
• 3/4 cup distilled water
• 3/4 cup maple syrup
• 1 Tbsp cinnamon
• 2 tsp lemon juice
• 2 tsp vanilla
• Sea salt to taste
• 1 bunch kale, washed, trimmed & stemmed

Directions

1. Combine all ingredients except kale into a blender.
2. Blend until smooth; add sea salt to taste.
3. Massage kale with the apple mixture until coated
4. Place on Excalibur ParrFlex sheet and dehydrate for 8 to 10 hours or until desired consistency is reached.

Gourmet Vegan Flatbread

Enjoy and indulge this holiday season, slow down, and savor

Mother makes this dough using her bread machine but she recommends this recipe.  And she uses Jack Tar’s Maple Balsamic Dressing for the pizza sauce, and there are always different veggies on top.  My personal favorite is mushroom onion, but everything is good!  Try broccoli, cauliflower, tomato, sweet potato, I even love throwing spinach on top once it comes out of the oven. Oh man and fresh herbs like basil, delish!

Vegan Sushi !

The easiest beautifully savory and filling high carb vegan crowd pleaser out there:

These can be individualized to your liking!  Throw anything you like in these nori rolls!  This is what Samwise put in these beautiful babes: Did I mention they’re non-fat?!

• organic nori sheets
• organic sushi rice
• cooked beets
• carrot
• zucchini
• bell pepper
• fresh mint leaves
• purple cabbage
• mixed baby greens
• love

Here’s how they’re made:

Make sure the lines of the nori are going vertically, those are to help you cut the sushi in the end.

Top 5 Finals Fitness Tips

Don’t even think about gaining the finals 5 pounds!  These 5 finals fitness tips will keep you moving and stress free for the challenges ahead.  You will stay focused, fit, and fresh for whatever college course tries to crush your cool.

1. Every Hour Power: With every hour of studying, set an alarm to take a break.  This alarm should be set hourly, and heed to its call!  Every hour, get up, go outside, and briskly walk around the building you’re in.  Or, walk up a few flights of stairs.  Knowing that you have these breaks will not only keep you more focused in between breaks, but it will also help to increase your physical activity during long days of sedentary studying.
2. Nature Calls Challenge: Staying hydrated is very important!  With staying hydrated, comes frequent bathroom breaks.  With frequent bathroom breaks, comes an opportunity for fitness!  After every flush of the toilet, try to do 25 squats.  Chest up, core engaged, legs a little further than shoulder width apart, weight in the heels, try to get low enough to get under a 90 degree angle in the knees.  Squats are a great allover workout, working the largest muscle groups of the legs and glutes as well as the core for balance.  When you get sick of squats, try push-ups instead!
3. The Cardio Cram:  Bring your notes to the gym and set them in front of you as you cycle or walk on the treadmill.  This is a fantastic way to focus.  Increasing heart rate and blood flow will help engage your thoughts for effective remember and recall.  Reading over notes can be really boring and tedious.  Multi-tasking will increase your physical activity and teach you a thing or two for your finals.
4. Fruit For The Win: The brain and nervous system run exclusively on glucose.  Study hard, carb up!!  Snacking on fruit is a great way to keep you satisfied so you can focus, giving your brain the sugars it needs, and the fiber and high water content to make you feel full naturally while cleansing the body and keeping you hydrated!  Always have an apple or a banana in your backpack!
5. Flexibility Focus:  Try reading your books while doing static stretches on the floor.  Sit in a split and stretch while you read.  Relaxing into your muscles with long, deep breaths.  Stretching while studying helps to calm you down, warm up your muscles, and increase your flexibility.

The stress of finals can mix up our priorities.  It is important to remember, without good health, how can we focus on finals/ LIVE!?  Don’t let finals take control of your health and happiness.

The Vegan Burritos that BLEW MY MIND

The Vegan Burritos that BLEW MY MIND.