The Live Green Smoothie Diet

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!