The Raw Project

The journey of adopting a raw vegan diet.

Posts Tagged ‘brazil nuts’

Brazil Nut Parmesan

December 29th, 2009

Well, back to the grind this week to what should be a quiet week, but isn’t … people out sick and on vacation while servers blow up is not good. Californians got good news this week though, California is banning restaurants from using trans fat starting Jan. 1. Not a huge deal for me as we rarely eat out anymore or consume processed foods that have them, but according to this, we’re a rarity, the average American has 200 carry-out/sit-down meals a year, yikes! But, no trans fat is good news for those that rely more heavily on convenience food.

I’ve been reading I Am Grateful, the Cafe Gratitude book I got for Christmas and enjoyed the Terces Engelhart’s back story, her history with eating disorders and trauma makes what I’ve gone through pale in comparison! Plus some interesting points about listening to your inner voice and understanding food cravings. I’ve already flagged so many recipes in it I want to try such as the nut cheese varieties and spinach tortillas, but it makes me want an Excalibur dehydrator even more. Again, that’s a great goal for 2010. I’m also looking forward to getting to one of the Cafe Gratitude locations which I can hopefully do on an upcoming San Francisco trip.

This week has been challenging to keep raw because the weather is wet, cold, overcast and rainy. And it’s the type of to-the-bone cold that makes me crave hot foods, soups, stews, squash, etc. I caved last night with a cooked veggie dish after a grueling day at work. But it got me thinking about about the book because the author did raw for 30 days as an experiment and loved how if made her and her husband feel so much they stayed raw and focused their restaurants around it and how much I’d like to do a 30 days experiment, but I’m not totally ready yet, I have a bit more research to do and would like a bigger dehydrator. So I’m thinking February/March for that, giving me more warm up/practice time.

Also, on the back of I Am Grateful, Michael Franti is quoted talking about how much he enjoys raw foods and makes a point of going to Cafe Gratitude whenever he has an opportunity. Interesting because I just got and have been enjoying his latest album on my iPod, cool to know he’s a raw food enthusiast also. I wish I could make it to the yoga event January 29th he’ll be at in San Francisco … damn limited vacation time!

Anyway, I am a fan of cheeses and garlic, not having Parmesan cheese on my dishes has been a challenge, but I Am Grateful book has a Brazil nut recipe that was a great excuse to test the dry blade container on my Vita-Mix.

I did my own version with more garlic and salt:

1 cup Brazil Nuts
1 clove garlic
2 tsp. pink salt

Blend ingredients in blender or food processor using the S blade and sprinkle over dishes like a cheese topping.

Not exactly like Parmesan cheese, but close and great with a strong garlic taste. According to the book, this is one of the most requested toppings at Cafe Gratitude and super easy to make and store in the fridge. It’s great with Jennifer Cornbleet’s marinara sauce and spiralized veggies.

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Posted in Dressings, Recipes

Tags: brazil nuts garlic

TV & Nut Sauce

November 5th, 2009

I don’t watch that much TV, in fact I have a nasty habit of setting the DVR to grab shows that look interesting and never getting to them. Last night I got to one of those shows finally – an episode of The Biggest Loser where one of the teams went to Washington DC to speak to congress about health and weight issues in America today which was very interesting. Particularly when some of the younger teammates got emotional talking about what they went through growing up in school and the lack of physical and health education requirements that would have been beneficial. Then Jillian Michaels discussed the lack of nutrition information in many foods and the discrepancies in what food companies can advertise as healthy. Which apparently has gotten so bad parents can’t let their kids watch TV commercials or believe health claims of processed foods apparently, just scary! Disturbing news like this drives me more to a whole food based diet, eating more foods close to their natural form and not preserved or processed. A great quote I caught from Dr. Oz awhile back while doing a bit on trans fats went something like, “Unfortunately most of what is done to preserve or extend the life of food has the opposite effect on human life”, and it’s so true.

On a lighter note, I put a heavy amount of kale in my smoothie this morning instead of spinach and found it a bit gritty and bitter I guess because many of the kale peices had stalks. It was not bad, but not as good as with spinach and I should have added more berries and/or fruit to up the sweetness. For lunch, I had to run errands today and stopped by Whole Foods to concoct a beautiful salad. I could eat there everyday if I could afford it, I love the selection at the salad bar and getting an actual bowl and utensils instead of flimsy, wasteful plastic for about the same price or less than traditional drive thru offerings. Plus this location has great outdoor seating and today’s weather was perfect to enjoy that.

wfsalad

For dinner I tried a version of Gena’s Turnip Pasta with Creamy Brazil Nut Sauce and really enjoyed it, though spiraling turnips for the first time was challenging, the plastic spikes on the spiral slicer had a hard time staying in the smaller turnips I used. For the nut sauce, I used half a cup of soaked Brazil nuts and the Vita-Mix had no problems handling … which I didn’t think it would. I’m really glad I got the 32 oz. container with the Vita-Mix because I’ve been using that one the most with dressings and single serving smoothies. Anyway, the sauce coated the salad nicely and did not get watery, it seems like it’d make great leftovers for next day lunches.