Hungry?

Here's a photo of a wonderful, inexpensive cheese and tomato dream sandwich. Makes your mouth water doesn't it?

By lunchtime today, I was "starving"! As I sat down to enjoy my lunch, I read this article by Mark Bittman in the New York Times, which changed my perspective. The House budget bill (H.R.1) is proposing huge cuts in the Women, Infants and Children program (WIC), Food Stamps, and International Funding for Food and Health Aid (Check out the World Food Program's call to action at Take Action.) Hungry people don't have much of a voice in our political system. Let's raise our voice for them.

I encourage you to write to your representatives and oppose these cuts in support of all the hungry people. No need to fast, but, if you can, donate some food to your local food bank and feed some hungry people. Thank you.

Creamy Vegan Coleslaw with Nut "Mayo"

This recipe is adapted from a new raw cookbook, Rawlicious: Delicious Raw Recipes for Radiant Health by Peter & Beryn Daniel. The book has lots of great photos, tasty sounding recipes, and excellent introductory information on the benefits of raw food, how to be successful with raw and encouragement on growing your own food.

I was especially excited by all the flavorful and varied sauces, pestos, and pates so the first recipe I chose was "Mock Mayo", a nut-based mayo that can be used watered down and used as mayo or left thicker as a delicious dip for fresh veggies (or crackers, if, like me, your main interest is adding raw food to your diet vs. going raw). Some other wonderful sounding recipes include garlic white sauce, almond gravy, Thai sauce, and Indian Korma Sauce. The cookbook also has some delicious looking recipes for tortillas, quiches and pizza, but they require a dehydrator. They look so good, I'm considering the purchase!

The authors recommend a power blender for the sauces, but I made the mayo in my mini-prep. If you use a mini-prep, add the liquids slowly.

Here's the adapted recipe for the mayo:
1/2 cup cashews
1/2 cup macadamias
1/2 cup water
1/2 TBS apple cider vinegar
3 TBS olive oil
1 TBS tamari
1 TBS lemon juice
1 large garlic clove
Himalayan pink salt to taste.

Place all the ingredients in a power blender and blend to desired consistency. This recipe produced a fairly thick texture. Add water to produce a more mayo-like consistency.

The recipe also called for 3 pitted dates, but I did not include them and I loved the result. The garlic flavor is really wonderful.

My recipe for the coleslaw is for one generous serving:

1/2 cup grated red cabbage
1/2 cup grated green cabage
1/3 cup grated carrot
4 spring onions, white area and a little of the green, chopped
2 tsp apple cider vinegar
Himalayan pink salt to taste
2 TBS nut mayo
water to desired mayo consistency

Toss together all the vegetables and vinegar. Water down the nut mayo to a watery consistency. Salt as desired.

This was really delicious and super healthy!

Enjoy!

Indian Cauliflower, Potato & Pea Soup

The Indian dish Aloo Gobi was the inspiration for this deliciously warming soup of cauliflower, potatoes, peas and Indian spices. Although Aloo Gobi is a dry curry dish, the magnificent organic cauliflower I had, and the rainy weather, made me think these flavours would make an excellent lighter soup dish. I couldn't have been happier with the end result! I added some garbanzo beans for protein.

Indian Cauliflower, Potato & Pea Soup:

2 TBS grapeseed or vegetable oil
1/2 large onion, finely diced
pinch of cumin seeds
pinch of coriander seeds
1 large clove of garlic, pressed
1 inch fresh ginger, peeled and very finely diced
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp cumin powder
1/3 tsp coriander powder
pinch or chili powder
sea salt
1 russet potato, peeled and finely diced
1/2 large head cauliflower, cut into small florettes
32 fl oz vegetable stock
3/4 cup frozen peas
1/3 cup cooked garbanzo beans, drained

Heat the oil in a heavy bottomed soup pot. Add the onions and cook for 3-4 minutes. Add the garlic, ginger, cumin seeds and coriander seeds. Cook 2 minutes. Add the turmeric, cumin powder, coriander powder and chili and stir well for 30 seconds. Add some salt. Add the potato, stir well to mix, cover and cook for 3 minutes. Add the cauliflower florettes, stir well to mix, cover and cook for 3 minutes. Add the vegetable stock and cover. Bring stock to a boil, then turn down to a simmer for 8 minutes. Add the frozen peas and garbanzo beans. Cook 3 minutes. Taste and adjust the salt as needed.

Garnish with fresh chopped cilantro if desired.