There I was, enjoying a passover seder with lovely people at my table, and as we were chatting, I found myself waving a green bean to make my point. A real green bean. Oy! Hopefully no one caught this moment on camera - the rabbi using a green bean as though it were a pointer. Of course, it could be better than the photo shots of me, the rabbi, lifting a bottle of Manichevitz instead of a glass. Never good.
My meal was lovely. I brought it from home and plated it as my table mates went through the buffet line for a meal of chicken, brisket, sweet potatoes and the like. I had steamed green beans, raw carrots, and the raw walnut pate I made earlier in the day (recipe below).
There were questions about my "diet" -- did I have health issues that "made" me have to eat like this? Do I feel deprived? Do I look forward to eating "normal" again?
Here is were those of us who have chosen a vegan/raw/healthy or similar lifestyle have to be careful not to wave the proverbial green bean in an evangelical way. (Actually, I look at it as "having been chosen" because I can't imagine me, the junk food junkie, chosing this myself, and yet it fits as naturally as worn bedroom slippers.)
I try to keep my choices to myself and not proselytize, in the way a non-smoker might, or one who newly discovers a religion or restaurant: "you gotta try it!" And yet, there is the balance of sharing information with folks who are truly interested and looking for healthful suggestions to improve their lives versus the evangelical bean waving.
Somewhere between providing guidance and experience (hence this blog as one example) and standing up and waving my green bean in everyone's face with "eat this or die!" printed on my T-shirt, is the balance or middle ground.
The longer I am on this journey -- and as of today, it is just shy of three months (so I am still a virtual newbie) - the more I feel changes in my body, my tastebuds, my energy levels.
Even today as I heated up a veggie burger -- my favorite lunch item during those first three months, I swear, I could smell the "processing." I no longer had the taste for this burger that formerly I considered healthy. Compared to a hamburger, yes, a veggie burger is healthy. But a commercially packaged and frozen veggie burger is still processed, and hardly compares to a freshly made veggie burger.
As food writer Michael Pollan writes: If a third grader cannot read and pronounce the ingredient list, it is NOT food. My commercial veggie burger did not pass this test.
Hopefully, as I write this blog, and share friendship and dinners with many of you, I will not feel the urge to proselitize. If I ever do -- just tell me to stop waving the damn Green Bean!
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Raw Recipe One
Today is the day of my first raw recipe.
I know, I know -- I have a friend whose raw recipe for banana walnut bread is:
Take one bite of banana and one handful of walnuts and chew slowly, enjoy.
But as usual, I want more!
In anticipation of this day, I took a cup of raw walnuts and soaked them in water in a specially purchased.....drum roll....Mason Jar. Now I grant you, any container, including a glass bowl and saran wrap would have worked, but it felt oh-so-authentic to use a Mason jar. Even when I was purchasing the Mason jars at the local hardware store (an authentic local hardware store, by the way), several folks gathered around to see what I was "putting up."
I slept later than I wanted today. Actually, I awoke at 8 full of vigor to start my first raw creation, and then thought, "well, I will just do a "tester" and see if I am really awake." (A tester, for those of you who do not know my penchant for making up words, is testing to see if you are really awake, by laying down again and closing your eyes. If you fall asleep -- you were not awake in the first place; and if after a few minutes of stirring, you don't -- then voila! the day begins.)
Well, the tester indicated I needed more sleep. I re-emerged at 11 a.m., and in my pajamas, and with coffee in one hand, I gathered the dusty food processor from the top shelf of the pantry and began my new life as.....
A RAW FOOD CHEF
modest and humble though I try to be.
My first recipe was walnut pate. It called for fresh parsley, but the baby squirrels who delight in eating from my garden, topped all of the herbs except the baby basil (oh please dear young playful squirrels, leave it for me) and the mature rosemary which they must not like. So I used a little dried parsley and topped one pate with lots of chopped fresh cilantro which I purchased at the store yesterday.
Taste test: A+ if I do say so. It had a nice onion and garlic kick; I think this same recipe could be made with cinnamon for a breakfast or sweet spread. Or with some chipolte for a kicker spread.
Ease of preparation: Embarrassingly easy. Probably 5 minutes plus clean up of the food processor. Once the nuts were soaked -- everything was bing, bang, bam -- eat! I was still sipping my first hit of coffee when it was ready.
The Gordon Test: He grudgingly took a teaspoonful and said, "I can see where you would like this." I said: "what's the hold up here: you like walnuts, you like lemon, you like onion." And he said, "yes, but it is blended and raw." The fact that he took some into his mouth and swallowed -- MAJOR.
Remember, my beloved does not even like the smell of a vegetable and when I cook veggies, I do it when he is not home and turn on the fan and open the doors so the smell will leave before he returns.
Into a food processor (dusted from lack of prior use) I added:
1 cup of rinsed, previously soaked walnuts (I soaked overnight for convenience)
1 tablespoon of fresh squeezed lemon juice
1 tsp of Nama Shoyu
1 tsp virgin olive oil
1/4 tsp of garlic powder
hit of kosher or sea salt
I pulsed it with the S blade into a paste, using a spatula to smooth it down.
When it was almost done - I added 1 tablespoon of minced onion and sprinkled it with dried parsley. (If you have an herb garden and no squirrels or rabbits, fresh is better)
I removed the paste from the food processor and put it in cute little ramekins (but of course). I garnished one with fresh cilantro, and left the other plain for tasting purposed (although it was screaming for a garnish of fresh red bell peppers, or chopped green olives, or a sprinkle of chipolte, or, or.....
Remember --
for a sweet treat, leave out the savory things and add a little agave and cinnamon, maybe some dates or raisins.
I wrapped my creations in saran wrap and put in the refrigerator where they will keep for a few days, if not devoured sooner.
Since I am conscious of reducing my caloric intake, I must warn that this recipe has more calories than a leaf of lettuce, so use as a garnish unless you are twiggy.
I know, I know -- I have a friend whose raw recipe for banana walnut bread is:
Take one bite of banana and one handful of walnuts and chew slowly, enjoy.
But as usual, I want more!
In anticipation of this day, I took a cup of raw walnuts and soaked them in water in a specially purchased.....drum roll....Mason Jar. Now I grant you, any container, including a glass bowl and saran wrap would have worked, but it felt oh-so-authentic to use a Mason jar. Even when I was purchasing the Mason jars at the local hardware store (an authentic local hardware store, by the way), several folks gathered around to see what I was "putting up."
I slept later than I wanted today. Actually, I awoke at 8 full of vigor to start my first raw creation, and then thought, "well, I will just do a "tester" and see if I am really awake." (A tester, for those of you who do not know my penchant for making up words, is testing to see if you are really awake, by laying down again and closing your eyes. If you fall asleep -- you were not awake in the first place; and if after a few minutes of stirring, you don't -- then voila! the day begins.)
Well, the tester indicated I needed more sleep. I re-emerged at 11 a.m., and in my pajamas, and with coffee in one hand, I gathered the dusty food processor from the top shelf of the pantry and began my new life as.....
A RAW FOOD CHEF
modest and humble though I try to be.
My first recipe was walnut pate. It called for fresh parsley, but the baby squirrels who delight in eating from my garden, topped all of the herbs except the baby basil (oh please dear young playful squirrels, leave it for me) and the mature rosemary which they must not like. So I used a little dried parsley and topped one pate with lots of chopped fresh cilantro which I purchased at the store yesterday.
Taste test: A+ if I do say so. It had a nice onion and garlic kick; I think this same recipe could be made with cinnamon for a breakfast or sweet spread. Or with some chipolte for a kicker spread.
Ease of preparation: Embarrassingly easy. Probably 5 minutes plus clean up of the food processor. Once the nuts were soaked -- everything was bing, bang, bam -- eat! I was still sipping my first hit of coffee when it was ready.
The Gordon Test: He grudgingly took a teaspoonful and said, "I can see where you would like this." I said: "what's the hold up here: you like walnuts, you like lemon, you like onion." And he said, "yes, but it is blended and raw." The fact that he took some into his mouth and swallowed -- MAJOR.
Remember, my beloved does not even like the smell of a vegetable and when I cook veggies, I do it when he is not home and turn on the fan and open the doors so the smell will leave before he returns.
RECIPE
Into a food processor (dusted from lack of prior use) I added:
1 cup of rinsed, previously soaked walnuts (I soaked overnight for convenience)
1 tablespoon of fresh squeezed lemon juice
1 tsp of Nama Shoyu
1 tsp virgin olive oil
1/4 tsp of garlic powder
hit of kosher or sea salt
I pulsed it with the S blade into a paste, using a spatula to smooth it down.
When it was almost done - I added 1 tablespoon of minced onion and sprinkled it with dried parsley. (If you have an herb garden and no squirrels or rabbits, fresh is better)
I removed the paste from the food processor and put it in cute little ramekins (but of course). I garnished one with fresh cilantro, and left the other plain for tasting purposed (although it was screaming for a garnish of fresh red bell peppers, or chopped green olives, or a sprinkle of chipolte, or, or.....
Remember --
for a sweet treat, leave out the savory things and add a little agave and cinnamon, maybe some dates or raisins.
I wrapped my creations in saran wrap and put in the refrigerator where they will keep for a few days, if not devoured sooner.
Since I am conscious of reducing my caloric intake, I must warn that this recipe has more calories than a leaf of lettuce, so use as a garnish unless you are twiggy.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
