Oh Lordy, where has this simple recipe been all my life? Warming, comforting, mellow, meaty, juicy, enlivening, nose-runningly spicy without an uncomfortable “burn”… it was just what I needed on this day where the Jersey mountain temps are already, in mid-afternoon, beginning to make their trek down to freezing.

Using “macaroni noodles” cut from fresh, peeled baby zucchini, cut thin and short, the tomato-less “sauce” to this “chili” is a combination of organic button mushrooms, chopped raw pecans, chopped jumbo medjool dates, fresh garlic, olive oil, lemon and chili & cayenne seasonings. And everything blends to perfectly pair some zesty fire with the mellow bland undertones that make pasta so comforting.

A “warm live raw pasta” is when you expose your live all-vedge ingredients to heat, but just enough to take it past tepid. The food is still filled with all it’s living viable-ness and isn’t remotely “cooked”. In fact, I didn’t even get down to the degree of warmth I was after, and still this dish was everything I wanted — warming and belly-filling in that please-sir-can-i-have-some-more way one can get on a cold night.

And the wee bit of sweet morsels of medjool paired with the earthiness of the mushroom? Brilliant. This is definitely a new favorite of mine to which I know I”ll be turning quite often through the cold months!

(This recipe would also be brilliant for non-raw types — they could could this further to create a wonderful side dish, which would be excellent with potatoes of any kind.

In fact… note to self: For next rawish meal, enjoy with Yukon gold potatoes swathed in grass-fed butter!)

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This evening I made a batch of my beloved Savoy Cabbage-Tomato-Almond Butter Chopped Salad and decided to make a kissing cousin with Kale. And between the two of them, I gorged my fill, with nothing but a fork as a side dish. No chips, no Ezekiel bread, just the two salads, a big bowl of the cabbage salad and a small dish of this wonderfully rich Kale-Red Pepper-Almond Butter salad. I was in heaven.

And honestly, these salads are so flavorful and filling, you can’t over-eat them. They just satisfy so thoroughly.

This salad, like all my other savory chopped salads, will be great as a “salsa” or dip to go with chips, or as a filling for a raw wrap or a “rawish” salad sandwich. And, again like the Savoy cabbage salad, the kale is structured enough that you can make a nice large batch and still be able to enjoy it the day after tomorrow without it degenerating into a wilted, sloppy mess! To me, this is a huge virtue because you can keep good things in your fridge that you can reach for when you’re starving and have been too on-the-go to keep up with kitchen duty.

Make both of these lovelies… frequently… for yourself or for guests or parties… and enjoy!

Suggested options:

Add chopped raw mushrooms, of any kind (YUM).

Add chopped raw pecans, either as a garnish on the top (hello, raw potluck!) or to mix in. (Mushrooms AND pecans would be spectacular!)

Add chopped grape or cherry tomatoes.

And would be wonderful as a “sushi” filling for nori seaweed rolls!

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Heavens to Betsy, did I enjoy this! For those of my readers who, like me, find salvation in savory, meaty-tasting raw/living food dishes, add this one to your list! Like this other meaty, super-satisfying mushroom recipe, which was life-changing for me and for a few others who were greatly helped by its steak-like flavor, this Mushroom-Pecan “Salsa” has got some kick-butt, rib-sticking flavor.

And as great as it is the day you make it, it’s even better the next day! How many raw food recipes can you say that about? I can’t tell you how much I appreciate being able to hit lunchtime the next day and to open the fridge and there was a great meal just waiting for me, which I enjoyed with organic tortilla chips and a side salad.

It’s made with raw almond butter and cold-pressed olive oil, can be made with any kind of mushroom (though it was just awesome with simple organic white buttons), and with the raw pecans, has nice crunch and real “chew”. The taste is mellow, soothing, savory, delicious as a dip for raw chips or organic tortilla chips, and would be a great quick “rawish” feast with toasted Ezekiel bread. And could make for a sensational “raw burger” in a lettuce wrap for hard-core raw foodies.

I included some serrano chiles, and the dish allows the flavor of the chile to come to the forefront, so you can play with that using your favorite peppers. Use sweet peppers, jalapenos, chipotles… whatever you have on hand.

This batch went quickly because I wasn’t the only one dipping into it… my nearly-70 mom loved it.

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One of my readers, Sue, mentioned that she frequently turns to this Banana with Hempseed Milk recipe (quick & easy, no straining required), and it reminded me of one of my all-time favorite recipes, this Vanilla, Macadamia, Hemp Seed Topping, which would be fabulous on top of those bananas… or any other kind of fruit… or the raw oatmeal which I just posted!

This topping is easy to make ahead of time and keep in the fridge, too, so… it’ll be there when you need it, another layer to the convenience that’s required in order to make a high-raw lifestyle workable.

This topping is just so good, I have never had any leftovers unless I make a large batch, because if I don’t scarf it all down, the kids will.

Between the fact that I just used my last young coconut and I haven’t bought raw macadamias in months… I think I feel another trip to Whole Foods coming on!

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This Fruit Topping is wonderful, nutritious, addictive, quick-to-make, and hard to keep on hand because everybody wants some!

The recipe portions are small because I used to make it in one of those mini-food processors, but I’ve since realized that I should at least double (or quadruple) the portion and use a larger machine… otherwise I’m liable to try to bogart the whole batch!

You could just sprinkle on sliced or chopped fruit and go, but the way I normally eat it is to sprinkle it on fruit in a bowl, pour some fresh pecan or almond milk over it (or other fresh nut or seed milk), sprinkle with hemp seeds, and then dig in. Exactly as it looks in the photo:

Try Different Kinds of Honey

It’s fun to experiment with the type of honey you use because different honeys lend different nuances of taste. One of my fave honeys for this recipe is the organic Hawaiian Lehua honey by Garden of Life – it’s one of the tastiest I’ve tried. Quite floral… delicious with vanilla.

Try Different Kinds of Nut and Seed Milks

Most people quickly become familiar with how to make fresh Almond Milk when they begin exploring a raw foods lifestyle, but there are other kinds of nut and seed milks which are wonderful!

I love Pecan Milk (shown in the picture above). It’s rich, warm, and nutty tasting, it’s full of healthy zinc (great for men and their prostates and for pregnant women… and well, everyone needs zinc for healthy growth, cell development, and DNA synthesis).

Also, in my house Sunflower Seed milk rules because you get a tremendous nutritional bang for your hard-earned buck! Much cheaper than almonds or any of the other nuts, you can buy a huge bag of them and not break the bank. And they are high in fiber, protein, essential fatty acids, vitamins A, B complex, C, potassium, and magnesium! They’re also GREEN, and make a very pretty creamy-green milk. So… bring on the Sunflower Seeds, I say!

Vanilla-Macadamia-Hempseed Fruit Topping Recipe

• 1/4 C. raw Macadamia nuts
• 1 t. raw Honey
• dash “Himmy” salt (Himalayan Crystal Salt)
• 2 T. Hemp seeds
• 1/8 t. Vanilla extract (or a snippet of Vanilla Bean if you have some on hand)

Blend in small food processor, or just chop the nuts & mix by hand.
Serve on fresh fruit with fresh nut milk. Sprinkle with extra hemp seeds, if you like.

This is an excellent breakfast recipe, but I’ve also had it as a snack, and for a light dinner many times. It really satisfies on a number of levels — sweet, crunchy, creamy, tart, and belly-filling!

If the last recipe I posted, an amazingly juicy & satisfying ”meat substitute” out of Mushrooms, is the “Meat” in your living-foods equation, this dish is the “potatoes”… a comforting, filling, satisfying starch dish that will leave you feeling grounded and full.

I love fresh, just-picked corn off the cob in recipes because it has so much substance and texture, but quirts  juicy sweetness in your mouth with every bite. And here, it pairs so remarkably with raw almond butter, garlic, green onion, and a bit of lemon juice.

You can serve this molded as a pate to enjoy with raw chips or organic tortilla chips (for a “rawish” meal or snack), or you can sprinkle it in salads, or serve it in a wrap or a Salad Sandwich.

And it would make for an impressive feast when paired with the meaty Mushroom dish above!

My 70-ish parents (marginally raw at best) loved it. And ya gotta luv when the non-raw contingency has good things to say about a living-foods recipe!

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This is a potential life-changing, culture-changing recipe, one I wish I knew how to make back in April 2005 when I first embarked on a journey of discovery with raw and living foods.

You could be a meat-eater and eat this instead of meat, and be satisfied. That is not only my own sentiment, but the conclusion of my 70-something marginally raw parents, who were quite impressed when I put this on the table. My mom went crazy over it, and my dad, who is not much into this whole living foods business, really had his eyes opened, I think.

I set out to make a meaty-tasting “salsa” type recipe with 100% raw mushrooms plus seasonings, without other vegetables. And in this case, I left out the olive oil and added only raw almond butter and a bit of lemon juice as a binder, with some fresh garlic, green onions, and generous fresh black pepper… and of course the ever-present “himmy” salt.

If I’d had socks on, this dish woulda knocked them off. For all it’s simplicity, this is the recipe I am most proud of and most pleased with on this whole site. Because it’s the savory, meaty, deeply grounding kind of food that I crave, and the sort of thing a family could make almost every single day, to offset whatever else they might put on the table.

It will play off of whatever else you are eating. Shoot, I ate this Mushroom dish for dinner with organic tortilla chips and 2 sliced bananas and was in heaven. Heaven, I tell you. And fully sated afterwards. But I could’ve had it with any salad, any warm live soup (what a great cold-weather meal!), or a bit of Ezekiel bread (what an amazing salad sandwich or wrap filling this would make!), or just some different fresh fruit, and it would complement any of it equally.

This is a dish to server to your non-raw friends and family, and would make for a killer buffet or raw pot luck dish. You could serve this as part of a “rawish” meal with Yukon Gold potatoes or brown rice (am swooning at just the thought). You could have it with toast for breakfast. Or you could add this to a miso broth with fresh greens.

I’m just getting started. I bet I could serve this a different way for a raw or rawish meal every day of this month. Might be an interesting blog project!

Anyway… make this. And tell me what you did with it!

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Ho ho ho, this is great. If you are like me and crave rich, satisfying, savory, even “meaty” meals (tho they be raw and enlivening), things you can eat with a fork and not need anything else to round out the meal, this is it.

Similar to yesterday’s recipe, another “Caesar” salad concoction, this one is also made with raw almond butter. Add to that some finely diced mushrooms with some garlic, lemon juice, olive oil, and scallions… and plenty of fresh black pepper… this is a hearty delicious meal that satisfies all by itself.

Also would make a great salsa-type dip or a Wrap or Salad Sandwich filling. Would be a serious winner at the buffet table or at a raw pot luck.

And although I used simple, Utterly Pedestrian organic button mushrooms, you could use portabellas, reishis, maitakes, shitakes… whatever your favorites are.

Oh, God bless the humble mushroom and the versatility of raw almond butter!

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Yah, okay… so there’s no egg in this. And no parm. And no anchovy. And there’s tomato in it.

But believe me when I tell you, if you love Caesar Salads, you’ll love *this* salad. And you’ll understand why it’s a “Caesar” when you take your first bite. Exactly how the ingredients of raw almond butter, olive oil, garlic, tomato, and lemon juice combine to give a parmy, anchovy kinda hit, with a damn-near unctuously yummy dressing coating each crunch of romaine the same way that a good Caesar does… well, I don’t know and I don’t care.

All I know, this recipe is a keeper and a staple, the kind you’re gonna wanna make once a week, provided there’s raw almond butter in the house. This also makes an excellent salsa-type dip, and is wonderful as a filling for a salad sandwich. Will keep well overnight in the fridge.

Why Raw Almond Butter Is So Expensive

I did go and splurge nearly 18 bucks on a jar of raw almond butter. Just scandalous how expensive it is. But you can thank those who allowed the law to pass in California requiring all raw almonds to, actually, no longer be raw… they must now (for nearly a couple years, actually) be pasteurized in some manner, denaturing them, allegedly to protect the masses from lurking salmonella.

So, without stepping too high on my soap box…just remember that when we allow the gov to force the denaturing and pasteurization of our food in the name of “safety”, it’s A) denatured (ewww) and B) it’s Just That Expensive. Eighteen bucks for a little jar of something that grows abudantly all over the world. Cray-zee.

However… raw almond butter is several celestial dimensions above peanut butter, in my book. And it makes some of the best salad dressings. To wit, this one… still one of my favorite things on my entire website.

So… if you can manage to afford this precious stuff, GET SOME TODAY. I promise to add several more really wonderful recipes to the library here using the heavenly stuff.

And as for the fat content… no, this is NOT low-fat. But come on, into every diet a bit of good fat must fall, and this is the good stuff! Enjoy…

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I LOVE this dish. At the whole thing, with a fork, no chips, no nothin’ on the side, just this straight-up for my main meal of the day, and it just rocked. Didn’t share a morsel with anyone!

I’m famous for needing crunchy side things to feel satisfied when I’m eating very high-raw, but I have been recently dedicated to creating recipes that don’t require that. And this one delivered! I had a “pesto” theme in mind, to use some of the wee-leaved potted basil growing here on the lanai, but instead I gave basil a far more supporting — rather than dominant — role. Add some fresh lemon, garlic, green onion, and earthy almost-potato-i-ness of the mushrooms paired with the juicy & refreshing crunch of the cukes, and this dish really delivers on a bunch of levels.

You can use any kind of mushroom you want, but I used simple Utterly Pedestrian button mushrooms. And With one tablespoon of olive oil for a very large salad, this could be argued as low-fat… or you could just reduce it to 1 teaspoon for your weight-watching purposes.

On a hot day (95 & humid here in the Florida heat at the moment), this was great. But it would also be excellent on a cold day… just substitute some baby zucchini for the cucumber and expose your bowl to the lowest temp of your oven for a little bit, to raise the temp by a few still-comfortable-against-your-skin degrees. It will be true comfort food… without the deadening effect of real pasta.

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Some of my favorite moments are when I try something completely new and find it to be so tasty and satisfying that I wish I’d been eating since I was a kid. This is one of those recipes.

Don’t let the monochromatic appearance fool you… this is wonderful.

Traditional Greek-style seasonings — garlic, fresh mint, cumin, olive oil, fresh lemon juice — combine with the mellow meatiness of fresh chopped mushrooms and the crunchy-juicy sweetness of fresh corn cut off the cob to create a super-juicy, full-flavored-but-still-comforting taste in that mellow way that only comfort food can be.

The filling is gently warmed in the oven at the lowest temperature to slightly sweat the juices out of the mushrooms… but honestly, the mixture was still cool to my touch when I took it out, so “warmed” isn’t precise. “Exposed to heat without damaging the un-denatured aspect of the food” is a better way of putting it. But certainly you could leave it exposed to heat long enough to bring it up the point where it’s slightly warm to your touch… and taste buds. Would be an excellent cold-weather recipe in that regard.

I put these guys into little iceberg lettuce cups because I’m endeavoring to bring a little more respect toward iceberg’s way… and what a perfect match!  But this could be used as a filling for any sort of wrap, and it would make for an excellent salad sandwich filling. Or… just plain as a sidedish. Make a large batch for a buffet… no doubt your guests will go crazy over it!

This recipe feeds one as a meal, and it satisfied. I know because I had it for dinner, without nothing else. And I was quite full afterwards… though I was sorry the yummy experience was over!

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