Simply…Must…Have…Meat!

After staying up late last night looking at amazing raw food recipe photos (aka, “raw food porn”), I woke up absolutely famished for something hearty, zesty, spicy, and meaty-tasting! Although 10 am isn’t typically the time that someone eats such food, I was on a mission and utterly driven to achieve it… and I ended up concocting exactly what I was after. I’ve dabbled with trying to make “raw taco meat” before, but it never panned out. Today’s effort, however, worked brilliantly.

Made from a single portabella mushroom cap and some walnuts, with various secret ingredients which I shall reveal forthwith, it is truly delicious, and gave me the taste-bud tingling meaty “hit” that I so craved.

Minimum Effort for Maximum Pleasure!

As I am both lazy and busy, as well as a long-time “foodie” who has always been seriously motivated by all things delicious, my endeavors in the kitchen pretty much follow the dictates of “I want what I want, I want it now, I don’t want it to be complicated, and I want it to be great!” A bit demanding but… meh… that’s the way it is. The benefit is that any recipe that impresses me is bound to work for many other people. I need recipes to be simple, easy, fast, and wonderful. Unless I’m paying someone else to do it… then knock yourself out in the most rarefied manner, pleez.

In any event, I am a homey chef in the Nigella Lawson “minimum effort for maximum pleasure” mold, and have only a minimal tolerance for fiddliness when I’m hungry.

Raw Vegan Taco “Meat” You Can Actually Make To Eat NOW… Not 10 hours From Now, or Tomorrow

Having said that, raw foods recipes for “meaty” things commonly use the dehydrator and often take 2 or even 10 hours to achieve, sometimes even longer if sprouting is involved. Not my cuppa tea. In addition, they sometimes use some ingredients meant to trick your taste buds, such as nutritional yeast, which I don’t care for. I prefer simple whole foods without tricks.

The recipe that follows can be made start-to-finish in less time than it takes to make the actual carnivorous version! Also, even though I used my dehydrator to achieve the effect, if someone has a very low “warm” setting on their oven, it could just as well be used because one only needs to put the raw “meat” ingredients in a warm place to “meld” whilst making the other layers. There’s no actual “low-heat dehydration” required. And the ingredients are all available at your local grocery store…provided you have raw cacao powder on hand, as I usually do.

One word of warning — this is garlic-intense. But…oh-so-worth-it. Just, maybe… not the best thing to make before a big date or a night of dancing!

Genuinely Meaty Raw-Vegan Taco “Meat”…With Chunky Guacamole and Fresh Cherry Tomato-Jalapeno Salsa

Finding raw foods that are truly “meaty” and satisfying in a savory way can be challenging, without a lot of sprouting/dehydration hoopla in the kitchen. I created this recipe for an on-the-fly meal anyone could make with common ingredients you can find in your local grocery store. The ingredients are exactly what I put into my carnivorous homemade taco-meat recipe — down to the cacao. Granted, in a cooked food recipe I’d use processed cocoa powder, and for this one you’ll need some raw cacao on hand. But that should be a staple in your raw kitchen anyway.

Do not leave the cacao out. The use of cacao in meaty mexican dishes goes way back in time, and I’ve used it in my chiles and tacos for years. It’s an integral part of a mole sauce and does something just wonderful to bring everything together.

The Taco Meat

• 1 Portabella mushroom cap, rinsed and chopped medium-fine (nearly 2 cups finished)
• 1/2 cup raw walnuts, chopped (not too fine… leave some texture)
• 1 clove garlic
• 1 tablespoon cold-pressed olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon raw apple cider vinegar (ACV)
• 1 tablespoon raw cacao powder
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon raw cane sugar (rapadura) or some other raw sweetener
• squirt fresh lemon juice (about 1/4 teaspoon)
• quality natural salt & fresh pepper to taste (I use Himalayan Crystal Salt)

Mix all ingredients well and check for taste. Should not be under-salted. 

Spread on dehydrator sheet and bung into the dehydrator on “almost high” — no worries, you’re not cooking it. It’s only coming to roomish-temperature while you fix the remaining ingredients, then it’s coming out. You could also put on plate and stick in the oven on “warm”, just to the point of releasing some of the mushroom’s moisture so they darken a bit.

Chunky Guacamole

• 1 avocado
• 1/2 long cucumber, cut in quarter lengthwise, then sliced fine
• 1 clove garlic
• 1/2 cup pine nuts
• 1 cup chopped fresh cilantro
• 1/2 teaspoon fresh lime or lemon juice to taste
• 1/4 teaspoon ACV
• quality natural salt & fresh pepper to taste

Mix all ingredients well. Correct seasonings for S & P. Make sure the overall effect is “zesty”, not bland & creamy.

Fresh Cherry Tomato-Jalapeno Salsa

• 1 cup cherry or “grape” tomatoes, chopped medium-fine
• 1 glove garlic
• 1 tablespoon jalapeno pepper, chopped fine
• 1 heaping tablespoon minced red onion
• 1 tablespoon cold-pressed olive oil
• squirt (1/4)  teaspoon fresh lemon juice
• quality natural salt & fresh pepper to taste

Mix all ingredients well. Correct seasonings to taste. This recipe doesn’t have super-heat. If you want that, add more jalapeno and some cayenne!

Layer the Final Dish

Take the “Taco Meat” out of the dehydrator and spread on plate.

Mound all of the Chunky Guacamole on top, and cover the whole bit with the Fresh Cherry Tomato-Jalapeno Salsa.

You can eat right away as-is, by itself. Or you can mound it into fresh white cabbage leaves to make “Raw Nachos” or roll up into larger ones to make “Raw Tacos”.

You can also leave it out at room temperature to eat later — the flavors come together and intensify, and become even more delicious, so this recipe is perfect for a Raw Food Pot Luck or dinner for company! Just bring a bag or lay out a bowl with the raw cabbage leaves and your guests can create their own tacos on the fly!

Would love your comments if you make the recipe!

Buon appetito!

Warm Live "Spicy Cabbage & Sweet Potato" Soup

Earthy, hearty, spicy, grounding, comforting, fast, and cheap, this soup recipe uses leftovers of white cabbage with a couple pieces of sweet potato, combined with sweet paprika and hot cayenne chili powder to both warm you up and calm you down.

Literally prepare and clean up after this soup within just a few minutes. A warm and satisfying raw-foods meal could hardly be much easier… And the ingredients used are basic staples of a good raw foods kitchen — nothing weird or exotic.

Warm Live “Spicy Cabbage & Sweet Potato” Soup Recipe

makes one large serving

• 1-1/2 cups loosely packed  white cabbage leaves
• roughly 1/3 cup raw sweet potato pieces
• 1/4 cup hemp seeds
• 1 small clove garlic
• 1/2 teaspoon sweet paprika
• 1/8-1/4 teaspoon cayenne (chili powder), to taste
• 1 tablespoon cold-pressed olive oil (optional — the soup is quite rich without oil)
• quality salt to taste (such as Himalayan Crystal  salt or Celtic Sea salt)
• fresh-ground black pepper
• 2 cups hot water

Put all ingredients except water in blender.

Add hot water (not boiling… just get the steam going — if you’re heating up in a pan, you could still be able to put your hand in the water without cooking it off).

Leave corner of blender lid open to allow steam to escape and blend on low setting. Suggestion: Know before-hand how your blender will behave with this open lid situation, so that you don’t end up experiencing “cabbage rain”.

(Alternatively, you could put all ingredients in a tall bowl and blend with a hand-blender.)

Eat right away (it cools off quickly!), either as is or garnish with fresh greens, scallions, pine nuts, or chopped pistachios! Fresh corn off the cob would also be excellent in this soup, with a bit of cilantro!

If you’re not doing “all raw”, crunch up some organic tortilla chips and mix into the soup for added texture, flavor, and “weight” to the meal. My favorite with this soup is the “chili-lime” flavor by Kettle brand.

Bon apetit!

[Note about salt: Don't under-salt, but at the same time be aware that salt, garlic, and onions in warm live soups -- as in all raw foods -- "go further" than in cooked food recipes. Their taste tends to come through much more prominently!]

Warm Live "Spicy Cabbage & Sweet Potato" Soup

Warm Live "Cream of Tomato" Soup

A delicious, simple, quick, warm, raw, comforting vegan soup recipe full of living enyzmes, protein-building amino acids, and the health-giving properties of essential fatty acids, beta carotene & lycopene.

Literally prepare and clean up after this soup within just a few minutes. A warm and satisfying raw-foods meal could hardly be much easier… And the ingredients used are basic staples of a good raw foods kitchen — nothing weird or exotic.

Be sure to check out my other recipe for Fresh Cream of Tomato Soup (A Creamy, Warm Live, Vegan Recipe for Anyone), made deliciously creamy with fresh almond milk!

Warm Live “Cream of Tomato” Soup Recipe

makes one large serving

• 1 cup cherry tomatoes (or equivalent in another tomato, chopped to measure)
• 1/4 cup hemp seeds
• 1 very small clove garlic
• 1 tablespoon cold-pressed olive oil
• quality salt to taste (such as Himalayan Crystal  salt or Celtic Sea salt)
• a few good dashes of cayenne (chili powder) to taste
• fresh-ground black pepper
• 2 cups hot water

Put all ingredients except water in blender.

Add hot water (not boiling… just get the steam going — if you’re heating up in a pan, you could still be able to put your hand in the water without cooking it off).

Leave corner of blender lid open to allow steam to escape and blend on low setting. Suggestion: Know before-hand how your blender will behave with this open lid situation, so that you don’t end up experiencing “tomato rain”.

(Alternatively, you could put all ingredients in a tall bowl and blend with a hand-blender.)

Eat right away (it cools off quickly!), either as is or garnish with fresh greens, scallions, pine nuts, chopped pistachios, or chopped fresh tomato and cilantro!

If you’re not doing “all raw”, crunch up some organic tortilla chips and mix into the soup for added texture, flavor, and “weight” to the meal.

Bon apetit!

[Note about salt: Don't under-salt, but at the same time be aware that salt, garlic, and onions in warm live soups -- as in all raw foods -- "go further" than in cooked food recipes. Their taste tends to come through much more prominently!]

Warm Live "Cream of Tomato" Soup

Angela’s “Super-Chocolate”

Raw Chocolate Truffle-Bar Recipe

The Best Dark Chocolate Ever!

A Rich Raw-Chocolate Truffle-Bar,

Chock-full of Pecans, Pine Nuts, and Goji Berries… with a dash of Chili!

You want the perfect energy bar? The perfect chocolate dessert? The most explosively flavorful chocolate you’ve ever had? This is it, baby…

Make this Raw Chocolate Bar, cut it into pieces and store in a jar in the fridge, and grab a delicious morsel whenever the mood strikes!

The most delicious way to enjoy superfoods, ever!

I’ve fiddled with various raw chocolate concoctions over the past few years, but this weekend I took my first stab at making a raw chocolate bar… and hit pay dirt with a great recipe! Feedback has been so positive that expletives have usually been involved, so I can’t quote what’s been said.

Exploding With Flavor…

I made the recipe again and tweaked it to make it “smoother”, and I’m posting the recipe below. This is chocolate that utterly explodes in your mouth with flavor! I’ve made it with a combination of pecans & pine nuts, but you can use whichever nut combinations you would like: use any combination of raw peanuts (”jungle peanuts”), walnuts, pecans, macadamia nuts, brazil nuts, pine nuts, pistachios… and anything else I may have left out.

Don’t Leave Out The Goji Berries!

The recipe also has goji berries in it. If you can help it, don’t leave these out. It is true that the goji berry and raw chocolate are together absolutely a marriage made in heaven — two of the greatest superfoods on the planet right there in one delicious mouthful.

In this recipe, I’m using two different fats — raw cacao butter and raw coconut oil. This recipe is rather “soft”, rather truffle-like, even fudgy, not hard and brittle. If you would like it firmer, use less coconut oil and more cacao butter, which is extremely hard when it cools.

Add Some Chili For Heat…and Your Heart!

Did you know that cayenne powder has saved people from heart attacks? Add a little cayenne to your teas, your smoothies… and your chocolate… for better heart health! I’ve included cayenne (chili powder) in the recipe below — not much, but it’s there as a layer of flavor contributing to the amazing “zing” of flavor that will fill up your mouth when you taste it! You can add more if you want more heat, that’s for sure, but the small amount in this recipe will not burn your mouth.

Raw Honey and Rapadura

I’ve also used two different sweeteners — raw honey and rapadura, which is whole, unprocessed cane sugar (cane juice that has been dehydrated, retaining all natural minerals in the cane).  In this natural state, I’m not phobic about sugar any more than I am phobic about the good fats that your body needs. The sugar feels (and functions) completely differently in your body compared to processed white sugar, similarly to how processed table salt is toxic while natural sea and crystal salts are nutritious and therapeutic.

I will eventually experiment with recipes using other raw sweeteners, such as agave and yakon, but for now these are the two sweeteners I’ve started with. I like the balance used below — the raw honey gives a creaminess to offset the graininess of the rapadura.

Super Nutrition, Superfoods, Super Flavor, Super Fun!

Every component of this recipe has something nutritional to offer. You could live on this stuff, no kidding. But the flavor and nutrition is so intense, it’s not the sort of thing you’re going to “gorge” on. It will just give you intense flavor, intense energy, intense mineralization, and intense pleasure, happiness, and satisfaction (hey… eat it and tell me if it doesn’t… ). And who doesn’t want more of that?

I think in today’s culture so many of us are looking for that pleasure/happiness/satisfaction in our food, but end up feeling so guilty because we’ve been guilt-tripped to believe that healthy food is supposed to be boring and dull!

Well, this recipe’s gonna change your mind pretty quick on that account. There is simply no reason to feel guilt or deprivation when you’re eating healthy! This recipe is rich in the nutrition most people’s bodies are absolutely craving. So make it and enjoy… guilt-free!

Warning: If you like very mild milked-out chocolate, this is probably not gonna be your cuppa tea. But if you’re like that, let me know… I’ll see if I can come up with a recipe more for your taste buds. In the meantime, give this one a try!

Vanilla Bean — Add It If You Got It…

The only thing missing from this in my opinion is vanilla bean… only because I didn’t have any. But if you have some handy, slice a 1-2″ piece open and scrape the beans into the recipe. It’ll add another great layer of awesome flavor!

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If You Prefer Milk Chocolate…

…be sure you check out this recipe for Cashew-Almond “Milk Chocolate” Bars, made with raw cacao! It’s a milder, chewier chocolate bar when you don’t want something so intense.

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Angela’s “Super-Chocolate” Raw Chocolate Truffle-Bar Recipe

Amazing Raw Chocolate Truffle Bar with Goji Berries, Nuts, and Chili

• 1 cup raw nuts (I used 1/2 chopped pecans, 1/2 pine nuts…use whatever combination you like)
• 1/3 cup Goji Berries
• 1/4 teaspoon chili powder (cayenne)
• 1/3 cup cold-pressed coconut oil (best quality you can find or afford — it does make a difference in taste & texture)
• 1/2 cup raw Cacao butter (I slice off about an inch length of a brick of the Navitas Naturals cacao butter and that hits the measurement closely)
• 1-1/2 cups raw Cacao powder
• 1/2 cup raw honey (heaping)
• 1/2 cup Rapadura sugar (whole, unprocessed cane sugar from the dehydrated juice)
• a good dash of quality salt (I use “himmy” salt — Himalayan Crystal Salt — but there are other good salts, such as Celtic Sea salt)

Measure the nuts and chili powder into a bowl and mix.

Gently melt the coconut oil. Unlike the cacao butter, it’s generally soft enough to measure first. When melting the fats, just get it melting good and then remove from the heat. We are not raising the temperature to cook it — we only want to liquify it. Pour the coconut oil back into the 1/3 cup container.

Gently melt the cacao butter the same way. It reveals a lovely sunny golden color as it melts, like butter. Remove from heat to finish the melting — we only want to liquify the fat, not cook it. Now we’re done with the heat. Turn if off and work somewhere cool.

Add the coconut oil into the pan. Add the nuts. Add the raw honey. Add the rapadura sugar. Add a few shakes of the salt. Add the vanilla bean if you have it. And mix it well.

I then pour the chocolate out into a ceramic dish — it’s oval but roughly 8X8. A glass one would work well. Avoid non-stick chemically treated pans. Just pour into a shallow medium-sized glass or ceramic container that will allow it to set with a thickness about 3/4-1″. Don’t sweat the dish… you can’t screw this recipe up.

Pop it into the fridge. It sets pretty quickly. Then cut into small pieces and slip out of the container with a metal spatula. If you’re a bit sloppy with the cutting process, no worries — just mold the leftover chocolate bits into little bite-size truffles! I store the chocolate in a large glass jar between layers of waxed or parchment paper and keep it in the fridge (just for firmness, not to prevent spoilage…this stuff is not going to spoil on you. You’re going to eat it years before it would ever go rancid!).

And there you go! I’d love to hear your comments if you make the recipe!

Update 12-April-2009: I made this recipe with raw Macadamia Nuts… Wow!

I *love* the texture of the macadamia crunch! Don’t leave the nut chunks too big, as the macadamias are quite hard. Delicious!!!!

Happy choco-vibing, folks!

Nothing like some raw chocolate to put a smile on people’s faces…

Hello, there… I’m Angela Leeds.

I’ve been looking, looking, looking for the right Wordpress “theme” for the site, and I finally found one that had the elements I needed, with the contemporary “magazine” styling that I like.

This one was designed for Smashing Magazine and has the modern edge that I wanted… with the 3-column layout, the double right-hand sidebar, and clearer navigation. I hope everyone enjoys it and finds it easier to see what’s in the site.

Note: In the handy color-of-live-smoothies green Search window, you can choose to see 1) Latest Posts, 2) Latest Comments, or 3) the Tags that have been assigned to site articles!

The site will be going through some streamlining over the next week, in conjunction with the release of my Ultimate Superfoods Resource Center.