January 31, 2010

Breakfast
Chocolate Shake
serves 1 ~ $.65 per serving

ingredients

3 ripe bananas ($.45)
2 tablespoons cacao or cocoa powder (>20)
pinch salt
10 – 12 ice cubes
1 cup water

This is my current addiction. Chocolate shakes. Like most all raw foods, it’s super simple to make, too.

In a blender, puree all ingredients until smooth and icy.

calories: 362
fat: 0 gr
carbs: 93 gr
protein: 3 gr
Lunch

Tomato Soup
serves 2 ~ $1.00 per serving

ingredients

4 ripe tomatoes* ($1.50)
2 cloves garlic, pressed ($.10)
1 medium onion ($.15)
1/4 cup olive oil ($.25)
1 teaspoon basil ($.10)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

Penni Shelton is a wonderful raw food inspiration. She started and continues to run Raw Food Rehab, an online raw community. The original group, of which I was a part, served as research for her brand new book, Raw Food Cleanse. As part of her “Foodie Friday” video series, Penni made a spicy tomato soup. I’ve been craving tomato soup all winter and that video put me over the edge … especially when I remembered I had frozen tomatoes from the garden in my freezer. Yes, they’re raw. A few things, like broccoli and corn, need to be blanched before freezing, but tomatoes and fruit and a whole list of things don’t need to be blanched. So, I actually have lots of tomatoes that are suitable for raw soups … I didn’t have all of the ingredients Penni used, but it was nice tasting some real tomatoes. Fresh tomatoes are as much as $3 each right now, and I don’t use them much. *So, I’ve just figured the cost of what we sell our tomatoes for in the summer.

In a blender, puree the tomatoes, garlic, half the onion, basil, salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes until very smooth. I used 1/4 cup oil, but 1/2 cup does make a creamier soup. Divide between bowls and garnish with chopped onion, a sprinkle of basil, and a bit more red pepper flakes.

calories: 327
fat: 54 gr
carbs: 21 gr
protein: 5 gr

Dinner
Garden Salad with Sweet Onion Dressing
serves 2 ~ $2.13 per serving

ingredients

1/2 head romaine ($.95)
1/2 bunch (or bag) spinach ($1.50)
12 radishes ($1.00)
2 medium onions ($.30)
2 cloves garlic, pressed
2 tablespoons olive oil ($.20)
3 tablespoons agave or agave ($.30)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper

The spiciness continues. There was an onion dressing I remember using a long time ago and I thought maybe I’d try to replicate it to go with this salad of greens, radishes and onions. It was perfect.

For the dressing, puree 1/2 onion, the garlic, agave, olive oil, salt, black pepper and a sprinkle of crushed red pepper. It can be hard to make this in such a small batch because the blender just doesn’t work on such small amounts. I get around that by using a pint sized canning jar attached to the blade part of my blender. But, you could easily double or triple the amount and it should store in the fridge for at least a few days.

The salad is just the romaine and spinach tossed with thinly slices radishes and onions and topped with the onion dressing and some more red pepper flakes.

calories: 280
fat: 15 gr
carbs: 38 gr
protein: 5 gr

Jalapeno Poppers
10 poppers ~ $.24 per popper

ingredients

5 jalapeno peppers ($.49)
1 medium onion, minced ($.15)
1 tablespoon olive oil ($.10)
crushed red pepper flakes

Basic Nut Cheez

1 cup nuts, soaked and dehydrated ($1.60)
juice of 1 lemon
1 tablespoon agave ($.10)
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon nutritional yeast
1 tablespoon onion powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 cup water for blending

My son was trying to entice me the other day with some jalapeno poppers. I admit they did look good, but I knew I could make a raw and dairy free version that would just as yummy. AND I had a whole bag full of jalapenos in the fridge.

I started by making a batch of nut cheez. I used soaked and dehydrated walnuts here, but I imagine that some macadamia nuts would be good as well. In a blender, puree the nuts and all other nut cheez ingredients for a few minutes, until smooth and very creamy. Wrap in cheese cloth and let drain over a colander. Set a plate on top of the cheez and weight it with something. I used a can of coffee. Let drain overnight.

Slice the jalapenos in half, remove the seeds and ribs, and very lightly toss with olive oil. Dehydrate for a few hours until slightly softened (I actually liked them both ways, dehydrated as well as just fresh). Then fill with nut cheez and garnish with minced onion and crushed red pepper flakes. Put in the dehydrator for another few hours to warm, if desired.

calories: 89
fat: 4 gr
carbs: 4 gr
protein: 3 gr

Dessert
Pasteli
makes 12 pieces ~ $.21 per piece

ingredients

1 cup sesame seeds ($.75)
1/2 cup agave ($.80)
1 lemon, juice and zest ($1.00)
pinch salt

Pasteli is a Greek dessert candy that is traditionally made of honey and sesame seeds. The candy is soft and a bit sticky. More modern pasteli is made with refined and boiled sugar, which makes it quite hard, like nut brittles. I like this version better, where I’ve substituted agave for the honey … coconut nectar or other liquid sweeteners would probably work as well.

Stir ingredients together until well blended. Spread about 1/4 inch thick onto plastic dehydrator sheets. Dehydrate for 4 hours and then place the dehydrator sheets in the refrigerator until chilled, about 20 minutes. This firms up the candy for easier flipping. Flip out onto another lined dehydrator tray (it’s important that it be lined, otherwise the warm mixture will sag through just a bit) and dehydrate for another several hours or overnight.

This is slightly soft when warm. Score the candy and then chill before breaking into pieces and then store in the refrigerator.

calories: 112
fat: 6 gr
carbs: 15 gr
protein: 3 gr