The Live Green Smoothie Diet

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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And don’t miss checking out this recipe for a Mushroom “Caesar” Salad, one of the best recipes on this whole site, IMHO.

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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Okay, so this isn’t really a “pie” in the sense that there’s a crunchy or flaky crust filled with something… but this is a fresh version you can make on-the-spot, with zero dehydration, and it is all raw, all living… and absolutely scrumptious.

When I made this, I thought I was full and didn’t have room for more food. Buuuut… dang this sure went down easily!

The Vanilla-Walnut “crust” is like a thick, slightly salted pudding, and it offsets the juicy mango bits that have been coated lightly with a Vanilla-Honey glaze. Together… it tastes a bit like fresh mango and vanilla cake batter. I mean… for a vanilla whore like me… really. That’s just nuts.

Make for two for dessert… or just for yourself for breakfast, lunch, or dinner!

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This recipe is a basic one to enjoy as-is (it’s delicious and so easy!), or you can add whatever your favorite little extras you’d like, such as chopped sweet red pepper, fresh herbs, fresh corn off the cob, or jalapeno and cilantro.

It’s so versatile, very mellow and comforting, and when the weather is cold you can warm it slightly to jack up the “comfort food” factor, while still retaining the live-enzyme benefits. Something doesn’t have to be cooked and piping hot to convey “warmth”. You can expose this very briefly to a low-temp warm oven, take it out while it’s still comfortable to your bare hands, and it will be a very different experience than if you ate it cold.

You can also eat this by itself with a fork, you can use it as a salsa, use it as a topping (my family enjoyed some of this tonight over their salmon!), spoon it over some cooked & buttered Yukon Gold potatoes… there are so many uses for it, a kind of “live-food staple” you can add to your regular kitchen repertoire.

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Another recipe that reflects the exquisite simplicity when following nature’s natural measuring system: “one tomato, one avocado, one banana, on green onion…”

Banana Guacamole? Is anyone else doing this? Surely it must have been done before, I just never heard of it. Wish I had heard of it sooner. It’s delicious. And with the amount of fresh tomato and chunky, non-mushed, just-peeled banana folded into the guac, the result is a very high-water-content, juicy guacamole.

Aside from what my son pilfered, I ate the whole damn thing for lunch with some organic tortilla chips… and I only wanted more. Crikey it was yummy.

Chalk up yet another great recipe using Utterly Pedestrian ingredients!

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A tomato, a banana, a green onion… who knew these guys made such a great team?

But it’s not so surprising, really… Bananas have been used in all sorts of savory dishes around the world, and tomatoes are technically a fruit. The combo makes me think of fried sweet-banana cuban “maduros” with fresh salsa. But of course… without the calories, the heaviness, the toxicity of fried things.

This dish is quick, luscious, juicy, and I enjoyed the entire recipe myself for a filling meal without the benefit of crunchy side things, such as raw chips or organic tortilla chips. This was entirely satisfying on its own.

And, again… the theme of delicious food made from Utterly Pedestrian ingredients continues admirably. I am pleased.

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When I served this, the kids at the table loved it… “Looks like blood!”

Well, that’s not exactly how I’d put it, but.. yes… it sure is a striking dish.

Substitute several mangoes instead of the cantaloupe and you’ll have another gorgeously simple dessert or breakfast option. It’s absolutely company-perfect, and you could probably whip it up during a commercial break, that’s how quick it is.

Nature sure is amazing.

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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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Absolutely delicious and as savory and juicy as a buffalo burger… but entirely raw, living, and vegan. Not only that, it’s made from Utterly Pedestrian ingredients, which is currently becoming a theme for the Live Green Smoothie Diet site.

The more I “jack up the raw”, the more I crave non-sweet, non-chilled, very-savory dishes. And they can be a challenge in the culture of the raw food world.

But personally, I need them, and the kind that can be made now, this “because-I’m-hungry” moment, not after several hours (or days) of soaking-sprouting-dehydrating. So this genre of make-on-the-spot-savory-food-from-utterly-pedestrian-ingredients is becoming a bit of a personal specialty.

This dish, made from plain ol’ button mushrooms, tomatoes, scallions, olive oil, salt and fresh pepper, can also be amped up with a bit more exotic flavor — just use portabellas, shitakes, maitakes, fresh chaga, reishi… you name it, any of your favorite mushrooms.

But failing that, you can also make this for dinner with the commonest ingredients in your local produce section.

One aspect of this recipe is that, after all the ingredients are combined, the dish is heated very briefly in the oven, not to cook but just to sweat the mushrooms a wee bit. As you can see in the photos, this is not a cooked dish, and by the time you spoon the filling out onto your wrap material (red leaf lettuce leaves, here) the dish is entirely room temperature. But just a few moments of warmth allows all the flavors to meld so nicely!

I ate the entire dish for dinner, without anything else… nothing “rawish” added, just what you see here. It was smokin’ delicious. And so juicy it dripped all over the plate and my fingers… just like a good buffalo burger.

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