Well it was sushi night again at the Rustin house so we grabbed our favorite raw sushi ingredients:

Cucumber
Avocado
Shredded Carrot
Sliced Almonds
Raw Hummus
Crumbled Raw Pecans and Walnuts
Raw Almond Butter
Spinach
Asparagus
Shredded Broccoli

And for the dessert roll:

Banana
Shredded Unsweetened Coconut
Cinnamon
Carob Chips (for decoration)

I get a bit of a break during sushi night. All I do is cut up the veggies and do the dishes; my partner does all the rolling for me. He’s a lot better at it than I and he enjoys doing it so I don’t stop him! Loren = the Sushi King

Since it’s already in the 60’s here in Atlanta, I thought I’d make a salad that reflects the warm weather. The Spring Salad goes perfectly with the soft, warm air.

To make 2 salads you will need:

2 cups spinach
3 cobs of corn (cut the corn right off the cob)
1/2 green pepper, diced
1/2 cucumber, diced
1 tomato, diced
1/2 cup red onion, diced
1/3 cup cilantro, diced
3/4 cup shredded carrots
3 cremini mushrooms (sliced)
1/2 a lime cut into 2 wedges
3/4 cup of zucchini hummus

Separate the ingredients into two bowls. Squeeze 1/4 lime on each salad and then top with 1/2 of the zucchini hummus.

Woot! Fruit smoothies are the perfect way to start your day. It was so good I can’t wait until tomorrow to have another one!

You will need:
2 bananas
1/2 cup strawberrys
8 raw walnuts (soaked)
some water (about 1/4 cup?)

Mix all the above ingredients into your high speed blender and hit go!

Thanks to RawGoRaw for this awesome recipe! If you’re on Twitter, follow her! You won’t be disappointed!

So I hit a snag in my chickpea sprouting. The snag is, I don’t trust I’m doing it right without seeing someone else go through the process first/seeing the finished product. My chickpeas weren’t organic and they had a VERY toxic smell coming off of then when they began sprouting. I gave up and have just decided that when I want sprouted chickpea hummus, I’ll go to R. Thomas.

OR I can make zucchini hummus!! Zummus!

I found following Matt Amsden’s recipe resulted in a watery hummus instead of a thick one. After it sat for awhile it firmed up but I’d still like to see it be firm the first time around. The recipe called for 2 zucchinis (peeled and chopped into 4ths), 3/4 cup raw tahini, 1/2 cup fresh lemon juice, 3 garlic cloves (peeled), 1/4 cup raw olive oil, 1 1/2 teaspoons sea salt and 1/2 teaspoon cumin. Put all ingredients into a high speed blender (I used my food processor) and hit go.

I had 5 small zucchinis to start with so I used 3 instead of 2. It was like soup so I added 1 more. Still soupy so I threw in the last 2. I don’t know if zucchinis are juicy vegetables and that’s the reason it was so watery but adding the last 2 definitely helped. The zummus stuck to the veggies we dipped in it so it was still really enjoyable.

I served my zummus with carrot sticks, cucumber slices and celery.

Hooray! I can eat ice cream and be a raw foodie!

So it’s gonna sound a little weird but I promise it works. I suggest you eat it asap but it makes a lot. The freezing of it once it’s packaged after its run in the ice cream maker takes a lot of the fun out of it. It’s kind of crumbly and it loses it’s ice cream like texture. But it’s cold and delicious so I’ll eat it!

1/2 cup raw cashews
4 dates (pitted and chopped)
1 tablespoon agave nectar
1 pint of water
2 tablespoons carob powder or cacao powder

Mix the above ingredients in a high speed blender. Transfer this mixture to your ice cream maker and hit go! You’ll know when it’s ready. Keep checking in on it every 5 minutes or so.

I put some coconut on mine because I like to put coconut on everything.

No one can argue the deliciousness of pies! Raw pies are just as tasty as the cooked kind.

Last night I made two different mini pies. One from Matt Amsden’s book, RAWvolution and the other was something I made from the fruit in my fridge.

To make the pie crust use 2 cups of finely ground raw almonds and 1/3 cup of raw agave nectar. Mix well (you may want to add more agave nectar to get a crust forming consistency). Using tiny pie pans (or glass bowls), form the almond mixture into them. This was enough for both of my pies, but you may want to do more or less depending on the size of your pie pans.  Mine served 2 people each. Loren and I ate about a 1/4 of each pie and now we snack on them as they sit in the freezer.

For the filling of the Sweet Virginia Pecan pie:
1/4 cup raw pecans
1/2 cup raisins
1/3 cup Thai coconut water

Mix the above ingredients in a high speed blender. Pour into the pie crust, garnish the top with some raw pecans and chill.

For the Fruity Rustin pie filling:
Grab a couple of sliced strawberries, blueberries and blackberries and mix with a little agave nectar. Not enough to coat but enough to flavor and slightly stick together. Pour into the pie crust and sprinkle some cinnamon and shredded unsweetened coconut on top.

Mmmm. Even my non-raw friends couldn’t deny the deliciousness of these little guys.

To make the truffles you will need 2 cups of raw almonds finely ground in a food processor, 1 cup of shredded unsweetened coconut, 3/4 cup raw agave nectar, and 1/2 cup of raw carob powder.  I couldn’t find carob powder so I got some carob chips and pounded them with my tenderizer until they turned into a powder.

In a large mixing bowl, mix all of the ingredients together and form ping pong size balls.  Cover and freeze until cold.

Raw sunflower “cheese” is a good spread for raw ‘breads’ and crackers or good to use as a dip with flax chips, cucumbers and carrots.

To make sunflower “cheese” you will need 2 3/4 cups raw sunflower seeds (finely ground in a food processor), 1/2 cup lemon juice, 1/4 cup Nama Shoyu and 2 large garlic cloves (peeled).  I imagine you could go without the Nama Shoyu.  The recipe called for a 1/2 a cup of it but I use it sparingly.  Its really salty as its packed full of sodium.

Combine all of the ingredients into the food processor and process until it’s a smooth spreadable cheese-like texture.

I love my new sprouting jar! First thing I did was sprout some lentils!

Before you begin, I highly suggest you get yourself a sprouting jar either online or from your local health food or gardening store.

Put 1/2 cup of dry lentils in the jar and fill it with 3 times as much water. Let it soak over night (8-12 hours). In the morning, drain the lentils, rinse and drain again. Set the jar at a 70 degree angle in a bowl so the rest of the water can drain out. Repeat this 2 or 3 times a day until you see 1 inch sprouts coming from each lentil (like in the photo). It should only take 1 or 2 days for the sprouts to show themselves.