This is a childhood favorite of mine. Creamy, sweet, and a little salty its a perfect summer time treat. I haven't made it for a while as one of the main ingredients was Mayo. After scoring big on 20 pound of carrots this recipe came to mind and I had to come up with a raw version. The Aioli in this recipe is amazing on raw salads and sandwiches or oadded to dips.
Raw Vegan Garlic Aioli
3 tbs extra virgin olive oil 2 tsps lemon juice 1 clove small/medium garlic, crushed 1/2 tsp lemon zest 1/2 tsp Agave or 1 date 1/2 tsp Dijon mustard seed Freshly ground sea salt and black pepper, to taste
iBlend all ngredients above except olive oil. Once combined with your blender on drizzle in the olive oil and blend on low until smooth and cream and the color hast lightened.
Carrot Raisin Salad with Aioli
2 cups grated carrots
1/3 cup raw raisins
Aioli (Recipe Above)
Pepper to taste
Some seriously good eats all for only $2.15 a serving! Kid you not! After our bountiful trip to Kodiak Fresh Produce I knew I had to whip up something amazing with all this fresh and fruity bounty we pillaged bought. While I am not advocating counting calories, I will post the calories so you have an idea what your getting.
Raw Soup and Salad
Salad
Mixed Salad mix
Sliced baby bell pepper
TBS of Hemp Hearts
1/2 sliced Mango
Cold pressed Olive Oil
Total Calories 303
Total Cost $1.33 per serving
Soup
Makes 4 Servings (freeze extra portions and defrost by placing in the fridge the night before you want to use)
10 Roma Tomatoes
1 Large Red Bell Pepper
1/3 Sweet Onion
1 TBS Hemp Seeds
1/4 tsp fresh rosemary ( I plucked mine from my plant for free)
In order to eat Raw on a budget you need to make every penny count. While I love Whole Foods, there is a reason why it's jokingly referred to as "Whole Paycheck" It is really easy to walk in there with a budget and blow it up like the coyote when he's trying to catch the road runner with a stick of dynamite.
So when you save money when you shop you eat better, because you have more food.
Today, just for my awesome fans I packed up my crew and we headed out to Kodiak Fresh Produce in Phoenix,AZ. Now wait you say, I don't live in Phoenix!
Arnold says it best...
This can be done pretty much anywhere. What I did is I googled my local produce wholesalers and I found one that is more than happy to sell fresh yummy organic produce to me and the rest of you! So open up google and search! You should be able to find one in your area! Or even ask your local grocery store where they buy your produce, if you make friends with them, they might just tell you.
As a raw fooder, we eat tons of fresh produce, so buying in bulk is nothing when we polish off pounds in one sitting. But those pounds can get expensive, buying in bulk solves that problem!
Kodiak Fresh Produce sits right off the 17, so it's pretty easy to find and it's centrally located so it's not too far of a drive for most of us in the Valley of the Sun.
Kodiak Produce is located just off I-17 and 7th St. in Phoenix.
1033 E. Maricopa Freeway Phoenix, AZ 85034
We visited in the early afternoon, which is the best time of day to visit for a couple reasons.
1. No traffic, come on do you really want to sit through rush hour?
2. They are less busy. With morning deliveries heading out its a bad time to drop in. Come by after noon and you get the awesome help of the staff at Kodiak!
When you head in you make your way to the window where you sign in and your given a price list. While you may be tempted to order all the deliciousness on the list, take a second to ask about any special prices they might have going on.
They had some great deals the day we went in!
A tower of strawberry goodness! Yes those are all strawberries! I died and went to strawberry heaven!
Strawberries ripe and ready to freeze and juice, for $2 for a flat!!! 8 pounds of yummy strawberries for smoothies and what ever your little heart desires! Umm yes please! I bought 24 pounds for $6!
I scored big on all my produce today! Feeling like a pirate raiding a ship for treasure, I almost felt guilty as I walked out with nearly 120 pounds of fruits and veggies for just over $65
I now have enough strawberries for smoothies, tomatoes for soups, dressings, sun dried yumminess, oranges to eat and juice for a month. (yes those are beagles, not all my family is raw)
Yes you can freeze tomatoes or sun dry them too!
If your still worried about your abilities to consume all this food, have no fear! Kodiak has a farmers market each Saturday when you can stop by between 6-12 in the morning and buy all sorts of yummy things. Oh and they will special order too, just email them for a price list! I'm placing an order for some young coconuts today!
It's Mango season raw people! I got 15 mangoes today for .33 cents each! $4.95 people! They aren't quite ripe, but never pass up a good deal! When blessed with great abundance freeze and dehydrate what you can't use right away! It's all about eating what is in season! .. Oh and yes, I know three are missing, I ate the ripe ones already, LOL!
May people are frustrated by the high cost food items that are pushed by many raw gurus out there. I know I was! i almost gave up my raw vegan diet because I simply could not afford to spend nearly $6000 a month on my family that was recommended on one site.
Well your health is more important than money they say, well yes it is. But what about for those of us who can not afford to spend $40 a day or more on food? Well join me next week as I show you how you can eat a fully raw vegan diet on less than $10 a day!
A couple weeks ago I ordered these super cool silicone freezer pop maker things on Amazon. Not that's not actually what they are called. They are made by FoodWorksand I think I may have a new favorite toy for treats for the kids this summer.
I had some fresh organic pears sitting around from Trader Joe's so I decided that they needed to become Ice Pops! I try to keep my recipes simple and quick, because time is not something I have a lot of and these babies fit that bill with only 4 simple ingredients! Bonus prize for today is that this makes exactly just enough to fill all six of these!
Raw Pear Carmel Pops
2 Pears cored and roughly chopped.
6 Raw Medjool Dates (remove pits)
1 1/1 Cups of Coconut Milk
1/2 tsp of Vanilla.
Dash of Sea Salt
Dump it all in the blender and blend until smooth, easy as pie Popsicles!
Fill each silicone container leaving about an inch at the top for expansion and room for the lid.
Pop in your freezer, I found that sticking these between the wires on my fridge shelf worked perfectly!
~Enjoy!~
Strawberry RawColada
I love this little imperfect slightly sunburned strawberry my toddler brought me from our garden patch. I couldn't resist adding it as a garnish to my morning smoothie today! I make my smoothies in huge batches that fill myVitamix to its abundant brim, so if you want less just cut the recipe in half.
3 Cups Coconut Water
1/4 Cup Raw Shredded Coconut
1 Banana
3 cups of Frozen Strawberries
Add ingredients to your Vitamix and blend until smooth! Its that simple to make a refreshing smoothie that's perfect energy for your morning! Now me, I'm going to use my Raw energy to take a swim in the pool with my kids! What are you going to do with your day?
My morning ritual starts with dropping off 6 of my 7 children off at school. This starts with the countdown. We are leaving in ten minutes! Which usually means we will be out of the driveway in 20. My kids go to three different schools with in about a 5 mile radius. Its a bit crazy but at the end theres a peaceful 10 minutes with my oldest son.
He goes to a charter school that has taken up residence in an old shopping mall movie theater. I never noticed until yesterday that the parking lot is brimming with olive trees that are packed with big fat black olives!
Well I am totally in love with olives and not one to let a good olive go to waste I got permission to pick. My to my children's horror I perched myself on top of our mini van with a plastic bucket left over from Halloween emblazoned with Frankenstein and got to picking!
There was some whining with the typical phrase, "Are you done yet?" Yet only my 8 year old, who loves to climb up into trees, was eager to help. So we picked and picked until I came away with 3 gallons of olives! Yeay me!
The first thing your going to want to do is wash your olives. Put them in a big bowl and cover them with clod water. Gently run your fingers through them and stir them up. The leaves and stems will rise to the top and you can scoop those out.
Salt Cured Olives
This is the easiest and best way to cure ripe olives! They are a very robust flavored olive with a fruity taste.
You will need equal amounts of sea salt and olives and an open bin or wooden crate. Start with a layer of salt and then a layer of olives until you have added all your olives and then cover with a final layer of salt.
I had ten pounds of olives so I used that much salt. Don't freak out about the sale, because very little remains at the end. When your salt is a purple color it's a good indicator that they are done. Wash one off and give it a taste. If it's still bitter let the sit another week. The whole process takes about 6 weeks. Where ever you store these will smell so wonderful, of fresh olives. Don't for get to save the salt when your done. We blend with garlic and fresh herbs and give it as gifts. Its amazing flavor profile!
Once we have determined they are ready we will rinse them with boiling water . Yeah ok not totally raw, but it's a quick dip, a couple seconds.
Now we will pack them in jars with herbs and spices and cover with a good olive oil.
Enjoy now or store in your fridge for up to a year! We enjoy these chopped on top of raw pizza!
When starting out raw, craving for SAD foods are really hard. They can almost be a deal breaker for some. Quite often raw recipes meant to be like the real thing are a poor substitute.
That's why I love Jicama Chips! Easy to make and thin, crispy, and a little bit greasy. They make a perfect substitute for the fried version!
Spicy Jicama Chips
1 Large Jicama
1/2 cup olive oil
1 tbs Organic taco Seasoning
2 TBS of your favorite hot sauce
Peal your jicama and slice thinly. This is not a job for a knife. I used the 1/16 setting on my mandolin and they turned out amazing. You want big thin pieces because these shrink up a lot. If you slice too thickly they will be chewy.
In a bowel whisk together the remaining ingredients. Put sliced jicama in a bowl and pour your spice and oil mix over hem to coat. Toss gently.
Dehydrate until crispy. I make these at night and by morning they are ready to eat.
When you are first getting started out with eatingRaw Foods, it can be quite daunting. Especially the amount of equipment you supposedly need. For the first part of my raw journey I used and Oster Beehive Blender. Honestly I loved it. It did most everything I needed, Occasionally I would have to stop and scrape the sides with a spatula, and it was no biggie.
As every Raw Vegan aspired to have I coveted a Vitamix. I simply had to have one. SO last month I bought one, $299 refurbished by the factory with a new jar was a great deal.
I have tried it out and I must say its a pretty awesome blender. Of course its a bit better than my Oster Beehive, but honestly not by a huge amount. I would say if your doing raw on a budget, get the Oster Beehive and you will be just fine with it.
So I have been playing with my newly acquired Vitamix and I have discovered a new Favorite Smoothie. Its really a must share and is an almost exact match to the SAD version. My son thought that the picture needed a car in it, so enjoy!
Raw Orange Julius Knock Off Smoothie
2 Navel Oranges (peeled)
2 Ripe Bananas (peeled)
Handful of Almonds about 1/4 cup
1 1/2 cup of ice
1 cup coconut water
1 tsp vanilla
Optional Stevia to sweeten to taste
Its pretty easy toss it all in your blender and whirl it up until smooth. Share with a friend or keep to your self, its that good!
