The Raw Food Nerd 21

Don't worry, this survey is not an attempt to avoid writing a blog post due to a severe case of malaise and utter laziness (well, sort of.) I've been meaning to post this survey since I started this darn blog. I guess it would have been more pertinent back then, so that you could get to know me better [food wise], but it's here now! So, this is it, a sliver of me in a raw-oriented survey.

21 Questions

1. Favorite Raw Vegan milk? Most definitely Cashew Milk; it's so creamy and rich, I love it.

2. What are the top 3 recipes you are planning to make? Well, last night I made coconut yogurt which I have been meaning to make for like two weeks. I'm going to eat it over pineapple just like they make at Bonobo's in NYC. Sooo yummy. Also, Jicama 'Potato' Salad and Mini-Quiches. We shall see how they turn out.

3. Most disastrous recipe/meal failure? The first raw recipe I ever tried to make was Ani Phyo's Sun Burgers. All I had was an Oster blender, so I attempted to make the 'burger' meat in the blender. At the time I was unaware of flax seeds gelatinous nature when combined with water. So, in an effort to assist my blender I added water...and more water..and my flax got more and more gelatinous...The result was this goopety goop of flax seeds, veggies, and sunflower seeds. It was a disaster! And, I didn't have a dehydrator at the time so there was absolutely no way I could redeem myself. I wound up eating the slop stuffed inside red bell peppers for like two weeks. It tasted fine, but it was far from even being considered 'burger material.

4. How do you organize your recipes? For as much as a perfectionist as I am, my recipes have no organization whatsoever. They are literally stuffed in a drawer in my kitchen - written on napkins, stray pieces of paper, receipts...it's terrible. The best I have been able to do is get them all inside a folder, but since I am always adding to the pile the folder just keeps expanding and overflowing. Shame on me.

5. Compost, trash, or garbage disposal? I put all food scraps into a separate recycle bag or down the garbage disposal. I need to learn how to compost...we tried once and did it completely wrong...

6. If you were stranded on an island and could only bring 3 foods...what would they be? Avocados, Cucumber, and Vitamineral Greens. I'm assuming that since this is an island I better have access to coconut water, pineapples, and bananas!

7. Fondest food memory from your childhood? Ah, le sigh, Great Meadows --my grandparents making me late night snacks served on fancy china of wheat thins with cream cheese and tea...  I swear, my childhood heart remains there. And I am nearly positive that when I pass on someday, my reincarnated soul will drift back to that place.

8. Favorite raw ice cream? Well, if I didn't have to think about price, then definitely Sarma's Cookies N'Cream Ice Cream, hands down. However, I really don't have $18 dollars to spend on a pint of ice cream, so, while not 'raw' Coconut Bliss is surely my ice cream of choice. I just wish their Mint Chocolate Chip didn't have evaporated cane juice because that would be my favourite...

9. Most loved kitchen appliance? It's a tie between the food processor and the Vitamix. I couldn't live without either...

10. Spice/herb you can't be without? The holy grail of herbs, cilantro.

11. Recipe (Cook) book you have owned for the longest time? Always been surrounded by lots of cookbooks. My favourite non-raw is tri-tie between Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking since you can actually sit down and read it like a book, Anthony Bourdain's Les Halles cookbook filled with classic French recipes from the restaurant, and I am hopelessly in love with all things Thomas Keller -- he's just so creative. As far as raw foods go, that one is easy, Ani Phyo and Alissa Cohen.

12. Favorite flavor of jam/jelly? Raspberry w/ the seeds. When we lived in Great Meadows we used to make our own homemade Raspberry Jam. It's still my favorite.

13. Favorite raw (vegan) recipe to serve to an omni-friend? My Chocolate Cheesecake with Walnut Crust. I made this for Kev's birthday like two years ago and my very skeptical future father-in-law all but stopped teasing us about food after he had some...and if I couldn't make anything I would enlist my future mother-in-law to make her coconut date balls. They are literally the BEST. I don't know how or what she does, but I've never had anything comparable.
14. Favorite meal to make? Oh, it's a sloppy mess of deliciousness that I would never serve to anyone else because they would probably gag at the sight of it. I mash avocado with lime and nutritional yeast and cumin and mix it into shredded zucchini and cilantro. It's to die for.

15. Name 3 items in your freezer without looking. Nuts galore, hemp protein powder, frozen organic strawberries.

16. Favorite grocery store? Westerly in NYC.

17. Food blog you read the most. Green and Crunchy. I really admire the way she feeds and raises her kids, truly inspiring blog.

18. What is one ingredient that you've become familiar with that you can't imagine you ever lived without? Oh, duh, Coconut Butter for sure. That stuff is like raw food crack.
19. Most coveted condiment? Whole grain mustard.

20. Best food smell? Sauteed garlic and onions or the smell of a health food store. It's so granola, I love it...like a mix of fresh veggies and fruits coupled with incense.

21. Best cooked food memory that you'd like to re-create raw? Ah, my absolute favourite and the only thing I miss to the core -- Everything bagels with cream cheese and butter. ::drools::

You didn't think I would just post a survey and then just leave you hanging without some serious raw food goodness did you? Geeze, I'm not that lazy this week. I've still been taking pictures...in fact, I have a back log. I made lots of food this week..Veggie Loafs w/ Raw/Vegan BBQ Sauce HELL-O!

Heirloom Tomato Basil Soup

Ok, ready for the ingredients? ....

Heirloom tomatoes, a dash of Himalayan sea salt, and a chiffonade of basil...THAT'S IT! Then I just popped it into the D. for maybe, two hours, and let all the natural flavors melt together. Amazing, sweet, savory, peppery - so simple, rustic, tasty.

Why so little ingredients you ask? I know what you're thinking, "I thought you were Italian!? Where's the garlic?!" 

Ah, but you see heirloom tomatoes are so amazing in and of themselves that tampering with them would almost be blasphemous! All they need is a wee bit of sea salt to round out their flavors and the pepper sweetness of basil to compliment.

Trust me, give it a try. You will not be disappointed.

 I'm very excited because my copy of If you have to cry, go outside; and other things your mother never told you by Kelly Cutrone is finally ready for pick up at the library! Right in time because I am nearly finished reading Breaking Dawn (to read something besides Twilight! Shocking! I've been reading these books for months now...it's going to be strange not reading about vampires and werewolves!)

Have a splendid weekend everyone!