With my friends Omar and Meg’s upcoming nuptials, I’ve been finding myself more involved with wedding fever than I ever thought possible. We’ve been doing a lot of the food prep in advance and freezing it before we travel down to Florida for the ceremony. In this post I will discuss just one of the many fun vegetarian and vegan foods we are creating for the special occasion.

Raw vegan kraut is an easy and delicious recipe. All you need are your kraut ingredients (whatever you want depending on the kind you’re making), a glass container with a top and sea salt. It is very important that no metal objects or utensils come near this dish while you’re creating it. I recommend using glass storage jars and wooden spoons to make your kraut.

We made one jar with just cabbage and a few cardamon seeds and another with cabbage, carrots, onion, hot red pepper (from the garden) and fresh ginger.  To start our kraut, we cut 22 pounds of cabbage into thin strips and set them in glass bowls. You want 3 tablespoons of sea salt for every 5 pounds of cabbage. You may want to use a kitchen scale; if you do not have a kitchen scale, do like we did and remember how much cabbage you purchased and then measure out your sea salt separately and use accordingly. For every thin layer of cabbage you put down in the jar, sprinkle some sea salt and mix well using your wooden spoon. Then put down another layer of cabbage and repeat until all your cabbage is used or your jar is full. The cabbage will work itself down in a matter of minutes during and after the process is completed.  The sea salt works all of the water out of the cabbage creating a natural brine.  You are going to let your cabbage sit for about 2 weeks in the jar and trust me, it gets better every single day it sits in that jar. You are going to want to try it and I encourage that! It’s interesting to see the way the flavor changes over time.

We did the second jar with more ingredients the same way. We put a little of each ingredient in, sprinkled the salt and stirred. It’s fun to try different flavors with different ingredients. I think this kraut will be a hit at our night before the wedding BBQ.

My crust is my flax cracker recipe (flax seed, sun dried tomato, red pepper, yellow onion, garlic, lemon juice, Italian seasoning, fresh rosemary, red pepper flakes, splash of water, fresh ground black pepper, dash of sea salt) spread out into a circle on a ParaFlexx sheet. I dehydrate it at 115 degrees for 24 hours (flipping it over after the first 5).

The sauce was made from sun dried tomatoes, fresh tomatoes, garlic, the juice from 1/2 a lemon, broccoli, sweet onion, green pepper, fresh rosemary, red pepper flakes and a dash of sea salt all processed in a food processor (process the fresh tomatoes last so they remain in tact). I don’t keep exact measurements for this. When you’re eating raw, the foods you’re making are still meant to resemble their cooked brethren. The reason I use sun dried tomatoes and broccoli in my sauce recipe is to add texture and thickness to it; the other ingredients are for flavor. Use as many or as few of these ingredients as you’d like, just keep it thick so the flax crust doesn’t absorb a bunch of liquid and turn to mush.

My cheese was my macadamia nut ricotta recipe. I added fresh rosemary and the jucie of 1/2 a lemon to it to keep everything taste aligned.

I used a soft spatula to spread the sauce and the cheese onto the flax crust and then I put it back into the dehydrator for another 15-20 minutes at 115 degrees. You can keep it in longer or not at all if you’re starving.

For our side, Loren went out into the garden and grabbed a bowl of leafy greens.

Recipe coming soon…..

i know…i siked you out. i’ll put the recipe up soon and notify you via Twitter once i do. if you’re not following us on Twitter already, do so here!

…are incredible.  I’m obsessed with peanut butter and jelly sandwiches at the moment. Of course, you have to be careful when you’re buying these two things at the grocery store.  Beware of chemicals, additives, HFCS and other non necessary ingredients.  ALWAYS READ YOUR LABELS! Raw foodies–use almond butter and make your own jelly.  Simply smash your fruit together using a potato masher (you can add some agave nectar if you like it really sweet).

As many of you know from my enthusiastic tweets, I got a dehydrator for my birthday.  As soon as the Paraflexx sheets arrived (a week later), I began uncooking! The first things I made were Matt Amsden’s “cheese sticks” from RAWvolution and some flax seed crackers based on Karen Knowler’s recipe.  I planned on dehydrating on Tuesday and knew we were leaving town Friday so I made two items I knew would travel well with us on our road trip.  I also brought along an avocado and the little package of soy sauce and dollop of wasabi you get in your grocery store veggie sushi containers. Using those ingredients, I made a quick car friendly version of guacamole to dip our flax crackers in.  This turned out to be the perfect ‘Atlanta-traffic-is-so-bad-you’ve-been-in-the-car-for-45-minutes-and-haven’t-even-made-it-to-the-interstate-yet” snack.

“Cheese sticks” are really, really good.  They are quite salty because of the soy sauce you use in the recipe but worth it.  I found that I had about 1 1/2 cups of leftover ground up sunflower seeds after I finished.  No biggie–I put them in an air tight container and will sprinkle them on top of some salads.  Oh…I also ground up all the sunflower seeds the recipe calls for instead of what the recipe actually says (maybe that’s why I had so much extra?).

Matt Amsden’s Cheese Sticks

• 4 3/4 c raw sunflower seeds
• 1/2 c fresh squeezed lemon juice
• 1/2 c Nama Shoyu
• 4 cloves of garlic peeled

Grind 2 3/4 c sunflower seeds in the food processor.

Spread out 2 cups of the ground sunflower seeds onto a plate.

In a high speed blender (or a food processor which is what I always use), combine the rest of the sunflower seeds and the other ingredients and blend until smooth.  Transfer this mixture into a pastry bag (or a large ziplock bag cutting the corner off of one side so you can push the mixture out in the same way).  Squeeze the mixture out in 3/4 inch long sticks onto the plate of ground up sunflower seeds.  Roll the sticks around in the ground up seeds so they are coated completely.  Spread them out on your Paraflexx sheets and dehydrate for 18-24 hours at 100 degrees.  Serve with a raw marinara sauce, raw salsa or just eat them plain.  Store them in an air tight container.

I wanted to make more than enough flax crackers so I doubled parts of Karen’s recipe and added some of my own tricks.

Flax Seed Crackers

• 4 c raw flax seeds
• 1 c raw sun dried tomatoes
• the juice of 1 lemon
• 1/2 c cherry tomatoes
• 1 clove of garlic (or 2 depending on the size)
• 2 T Italian seasoning
• water

In the bowl of a food processor I put all of these ingredients making the flax seeds last so everything else would have a chance to grind up.  I waited on putting water in until after everything had a chance to mix and then just poured a little, mixed, poured a little more, mixed and so forth until it was the consistency that I wanted.  You want the seeds and everything to be stuck together in almost a paste so you can spread it out over the Paraflexx sheets.  Careful not to add too much water though–keep your eye on your amounts.

When you spread the mixture out onto a Paraflexx sheet you want to make sure its evenly spread along the sheet (making sure parts aren’t too thick or too thin).  I split the mixture in half and did half on one tray and half on another. After it’s spread, score it so you can easily break your crackers apart.  If you are unsure about this process, check out Karen’s video.

Dehydrate your crackers at 115-120 degrees overnight. Flip the crackers over after about 5 hours so both sides dry. I started my crackers at 4 pm, flipped them at 9 pm and then took them out around 8 am.  Break them apart and let them cool for about 5 minutes before putting them in an air tight container.

Because I dehydrated my “cheese sticks” and crackers together, I kept the dehydrator at 115 degrees for the first 5 hours and then flipped it down to 110 degrees for the rest of the time.

**UPDATE : I have been creating new recipes for flax seed crackers these days.  The 2nd shot I had at them I used: 2 garlic cloves, juice of 2 lemons, 4 c flax seed, 1 cup sun dried tomatoes, 1 red bell pepper, a little water, 1 t Italian seasoning, 1 t onion powder, 1/8 c chopped onion. Those turned out stellar. I liked using less Italian seasoning than the first go round because I found it too overwhelming.

On my 3rd attempt at making them I used: 4 c flax seed, juice of 2 lemons, 1 cup sun dried tomatoes, 1 cup shredded carrot, 1 large garlic clove, a little water, 1 t onion powder and 1 t Italian seasoning. These are also excellent.

It’s fun being able to play around with recipes until you have them catering specifically to what you want them to be. I’m going to keep going with my flax crackers to see what other taste combinations I can come up with. These are delicious with peanut butter and jelly on, dipped in hummus and guac.

Friends, listen up because this is serious business.  My dear friend @Rawliving (<– Twitter name or her website can be found here) let me in on a BIG secret.  Banana ice cream made from….just bananas!!

My mother always freezes her bananas when they get really ripe because she makes banana bread out of them.  Like her, I do that but I also use my frozen bananas for smoothies. Now I can add ice cream to that list of reasons as to why there are bananas in my freezer (everyone ALWAYS asks).

In the bowl of a food processor, put 1 frozen ripe banana (per serving) and the smallest tiniest dash of vanilla extract or almond extract (I like almond extract).  Process for 4-5 minutes until the banana ice cream is completely smooth.  That’s it…that’s all you do.

All of my raw foodies can make a chocolate syrup to put on top out of agave nectar and raw cacao powder (just whip the two ingredients together).

Tomorrow is my father’s birthday and I plan on making this for him for dessert. Being a diabetic, he doesn’t eat sweets so this is the perfect ice cream dessert for him. I can’t wait for him to tell me how good it is!

Green smoothies are the perfect way to start your day.  Not only are they super energizing but they are filling and very good for you too.

In your blender (per smoothie) put: 1 banana, handful of blueberries, 2 cups spinach, ice cubes, 1/2 T coconut oil (optional). Hit go on the blender and let run until everything is ground up and mixed together.  You can also add peach or frozen berries if you’d like. The spinach taste comes through but isn’t too powerful; the sweetness of the fruits help to balance out the taste.  The result is a super delicious, healthy and slight earthy tasting treat!

Rainbow Natural Foods is a grocery store in Decatur that is very similar to Sevananda.  Rainbow has a hot and cold bar and even a little room where you can sit and eat once you’ve purchased your items.  It has mostly vegan food and the selection is outstanding (I saw Tofurkey jerky!)! There are prepared raw meals in the deli section (even raw granola bars!), as well as vegan and vegetarian ones.  It’s a small place and is very organic and natural.  If you use your debit card you should try to purchase at least $10.  They get charged more from the third party when the purchase is under $10–they’ll still run but they will let you know for next time. Anyone who is in Decatur should check it out!

Finding the perfect raw applesauce recipe has been fun.  I can finally put the Rustin seal of approval on this one.

If you’re like me and you buy apples every week, sometimes you have one or two sitting around from past weeks that are a little too soft in spots for your liking (I like my apples cold and crisp!).  My solution is to make raw applesauce with those apples.

(This recipe will yield 3 servings) In the bowl of a food processor combine 3 apples (washed, cored and chopped), 1 cup water, 1 T cinnamon, 1 t nutmeg, 2 T raisins and a medium sized handful of raw almonds. Hit go on the FP, stopping every once in awhile to move the bits down from the edges.  Keeping going until you get the consistency you’d like.

My 3 Herb Pesto Lentil Salad is a really good summer salad.  The combination of the greens, lemon juice and pesto really make this salad the perfect meal after a long day at the beach or at the pool.  This salad can be made raw by sprouting your lentils but if you would rather cook them, do it to it! Unlike raw beans, lentils don’t need the pre-cooking soak so they are quick and easy to cook.

First things first! Put your lentils in a pot to boil (follow the instructions on the bag.  Be sure to rinse them off very well and inspect them).  Next get your food processor (or high speed blender) ready to make your pesto! I went out into my garden and picked some basil, Italian parsley and rosemary for my pesto.  Depending on how many you’re trying to feed, the amount varies (always use less rosemary than the other two herbs…basil and parsley are the main herbs for this pesto).  Honestly, I couldn’t tell you my exact measurements.  When it comes to pesto, it’s such a simple recipe that I just put all the ingredients into the food processor, hit go and then add more to get the amount necessary.  Remember, a little pesto goes a long way especially when you’re putting it on top of hot food (the heat helps to extend the pesto).  In the food processor I put the herbs from my garden, some raw pine nuts, some veggie parmesan cheese, a clove of garlic, juice of 1/2 a large lemon, a dash of sea salt and fresh ground pepper and hit go.  While its mixing, lightly pour some extra virgin olive oil down the food processor shaft until your mixture starts to cream. It will happen quickly so pay attention!

For the base of the salad I laid down some spinach and raw sun dried tomatoes.  Once the lentils completed cooking, I mixed them with the pesto and spooned them on top of the salad.  I finished it off with the juice from the other 1/2 of lemon and some fresh mint from my garden.