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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Shown here with roast chicken added! Warm Live Soups are not just for raw food purists!

This is wonderful soup for when you want something comforting, soothing, grounding, and warming… but which will enliven and nourish you rather than put you to sleep and slow you down.

And although the recipe is “raw vegan”, it’s not just for raw food purists (which I am not)… there are many health-conscious raw food enthusiasts who do include lovingly raised animal products (even meats) in their diet. And this is a great quick base for a soup which can be further enhanced with some leftover roasted chicken, or even bits of raw liver, which has made a recent resurgence in some health-loving circles.

(To wit, my dear friend and former raw foodist Lauren Michelle Kinsey! Do check out her wonderful, sexy, inspiring blog!)

TCM “Food Therapy” For Treating  Candida

This mild, comforting Warm Live Soup is made with fresh parsnips, your mushrooms of choice, and a bit of garlic… all excellent foods for those under the care of a Traditional Chinese Medicine practitioner who has advised them to eat more of the foods which diminish “damp” and “damp heat” conditions. These conditions are said to promote yeast and mold in the body, often leading to “candida” symptoms. I have more than one client who is under this kind of care and seeking to decrease these symptoms.

The mushrooms recommended by David Wolfe to diminish candida symptoms are “medicinal” mushrooms, with shitake and maitake being the easiest to find in one’s local grocery store, in my experience. But portabellas and criminis (which are baby portabellas) make good grabs if shitakes can’t be found. And you can always add some dried Reishi or Chaga to this recipe for a particularly potent medicinal brew!

(As with all things, do your research and consult your respected healthcare professionals when making food-related choices to turn a health crisis around. My blogging banter is just for entertainment & informational purposes only… )

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This dressing is redolent — as they say — with garlic, and slightly sweet from medjool dates. And utterly scrumptious!

If there are dressings that can make restaurants famous… and if I were a restaurant… I suspect this dressing would make me famous. What a fun idea.

Ya simply gotta make it. Even if it does look a bit like bentonite clay. But, meh… definitely get over that one. Just add a few colorful slices of red pepper, some red onion, maybe some nice home-marinated, sun-cured black olives, and you’ll have a nicely turned-out salad.

And not only does it taste great, but it’s downright medicinal. With all the garlic and the mysterious magic of raw portabella mushrooms, you’ll feel invigorated afterwards. You’ll clear your head and give your immune system a boost. What a great benefit.

I served this to the marginally raw crowd in my house with some fresh garlic bread made with toasted Ezekiel bread, but you could make some with raw, dehydrated flatbread, or serve it with some organic tortilla chips for a rawish meal.

Fabulous. Can’t wait to make it again. *slurp*

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The mushroom recipe trend continues, as we’re in a cold snap here in the Northeast and mushrooms seem to hold a number of keys to enjoying savory, earthy, grounding, warming cold-weather foods.

This one is extremely versatile — I leave it to you to discover how many ways you can use it. But do make it and see what tasty benefits and comforts it brings you. And this recipe requires no dehydration — you can make it in just a couple minutes, which certainly jacks up its usability factor!

You can season this recipe with cacao powder, cumin, a splash of organic raw apple cider vinegar and a bit of raw cane sugar to create a delicious raw vegan taco meat.

Or you could use it instead of walnuts and mushrooms in my Greek Spaghetti or Creamy Bolognese sauces…

You can season it with thyme and add a few chopped apples to go in the direction of a holiday stuffing flavor. You can add it to sandwiches, sprinkle it over soups and salads, enjoy it on its own as a kind of “dry chutney”, as is not uncommon in Indian cuisine.

But if you endeavor to “stay raw” during the winter months, I suspect this basic recipe may serve you very well toward that end. You can even warm it gently in the oven, adding to the comforting appeal. Just keep the setting on the lowest possible and make sure you can handle the plate its on with bare hands!

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Wow… I’m utterly gob-smacked at the moment. Now this is a combination I’ve been looking for ever since I discovered the power of raw and living foods — a delicious, savory, make-and-enjoy-on-the-spot dish I know is going to become a staple in my kitchen. If you crave savory, cheesy, meaty, mellow, comforting foods and have had hopes of finding something that genuinely fits the bill in the raw and living food world, you simply must add this one to your stable of standard recipes. This is a recipe even a meat-eater could get addicted to, and relish enjoying with a glass of red wine.

Made from the leftover pulp of soaked almonds used to make fresh almond milk, with portabella mushrooms and a few other simple goodies, this dish fixes up in a couple minutes, requires no dehydration, no nutritional yeast, Nama Shoyu, or any other “tricks” for the taste buds… just good ol’ fresh, whole foods.

You could bring this to one of your holiday parties, or serve with cocktails if you have friends over later this month, and it will make a wonderful contribution to a raw pot luck table. You can use it to make raw or “rawish” sandwiches, you can enjoy it as a pate spread with raw flatbreads (or organic tortilla chips for a rawish treat). Add to a giant “Super Salad”. Enjoy with a Warm Live Soup for completely, satisfyingly cold-weather meal.

As for me… I just ate it plain, with a fork, drizzled with cold-pressed olive oil and a bit of Himalayan Crystal salt.

And again… wow. This recipe has made my weekend. I’ll be sure to give thanks to the culinary muses that frequently visit my kitchen for this one!

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Raw food enthusiasts are always asking how to “stay raw” or keep up their raw food intake during the winter months, when everyone craves warmth.

I’m one who thinks there’s a logic to desiring warm foods in cold seasons or locales, and therefore think that Warm Live Soups are just bloody brilliant. No need to eat everything cold, for crike’s sake!

If you’re a fan of mushrooms, and of cream of mushroom soup in particular, this is sure to warm your tum! Shoot, you don’t even have to be “raw” to enjoy it… just a lover of the rich earthy taste of fresh mushrooms! I made this one with portabella mushrooms, but I’ve made the same recipe with shitake (wow), and you could use for pretty much any mushroom you have on hand.

This soup is rich, very creamy, full of flavor, comforting, warm without being cooked, made in minutes… and oh-so-perfect on a cold winter’s day. Which is a good deal, since it’s snowing to beat the band as I write this.

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Like many raw food enthusiasts, I find that raw, savory comfort food can be a challenge to make on-the-spot, without the use of a dehydrator or nuts. I’ve got nothing against dehydrators and nuts, but my preference is to make savory, non-dehydrated food made fresh with high-water-content foods… meals I can make and eat right away. So when I discover a great combination that offers those qualities, I’m just beside myself with ticklish glee.

This salad is so satisfying, you don’t need anything else to make a meal, just a bowl and a spoon. The portabella gives a “steaky” flavor, and the dressing has a very mild sweetness to it. And while it’s got some “zing”… it still has the mellow, comfy undertone that is necessary in all comfort food. Your body will sing with a feeling of nourishment and lightness afterwards, rather than the lethargy commonly brought on by cooked comfort foods.

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Raw Almond Butter

You will need raw almond butter to make this. Alas, with the advent of required pasteurization for all raw almonds, as per legislation made the law of the land this past year, the cost of raw almond butter has sky-rocketed. I have a source for non-pasteurized truly-raw almonds from Spain, and have been intending to figure out how to use them to make raw almond butter at home with my Blendtec, to see how the cost compares, but as yet I have not. 

So I splurged the nearly $15 for a jar of almond butter that was on sale (if you can believe… normally $22 a jar!) at my local health food store. I plan on using it judiciously for some of my favorite salads, like this one and my beloved Savoy Cabbage Salsa to make some delicious meals. A shame that almond butter is on the leading edge of being impacted by our changing food laws. There just isn’t a substitute for its gentle mellow sweetness.

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Ways You Can Use This Recipe

This is a great dish for a raw pot luck, or to bring to a buffet, a picnic, or to add to some color and unusual variety to a holiday dinner! It would also make an excellent filling for a Salad Sandwich, whether wrapped in a Nori sheet to make a sushi-type roll, or paired with some toasted Ezekiel bread for a “rawish” meal.

I think this is also a good recipe for introducing to non-raw family and friends. It’s an eye-opener as to what’s possible with living foods!

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This Holiday Stuffing recipe has all the classic hallmarks of classic breaded Thanksgiving stuffing, flavored with apples, celery, onion, a bit of cranberry, and seasoned with thyme. And it’s warm, as well… or at the very least, you can easily take the chill off the fresh ingredients.

The difference here is, it’s juicy, there is no bread in it, and uses portabella mushroom as the main body of the dish. You can eat the entire recipe without finding yourself in a carbohydrate-induced coma afterwards! And it’s delicious enough to enjoy as your main course, as well.

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Raw Vegan Thanksgiving Menu for a Delicious Feast!

Looking for a resourceful raw vegan menu for Thanksgiving? Make this stuffing recipe with fresh raw Cranberry Sauce, a nice Cranberry Cocktail for refreshment, and my two favorite chopped salads (Kale/Portabella With Creamy Garlic Macadamia Dressing and Chopped Savoy Cabbage With Tomato and Almond Butter), and enjoy with a nice stack of raw dehydrated flatbreads, some toasted Ezekiel bread, or organic tortilla chips (for those enjoying a “rawish” feast).

Am telling you… that line-up will have you bowled over with flavor and satisfaction, and you certainly will not be missing the carb-fest of a regular Thanksgiving meal!

Thanksgiving feasting can be healthifying and energizing as well as wildly tasty and filling!

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