Recipes from Raw on $10 a Day (or Less!)

For dinner one night this past week, I made three all-RAW recipes from Lisa's Raw on $10 a Day (or Less!) blog. I stumbled upon this site a few weeks ago and have really been enjoying trying out her recipes. She is so creative and her photography makes everything look SO good! (My photos pale in comparison to her works of arts, so be sure to follow the links and check out her site!)

From Lisa's website, we tried the Banana Salad, Creamy Cucumber Soup, and Apple Cinnamon Cookies.

For once, I followed the recipes to a "T"...with the only exception being that for the Creamy Cucumber Soup, I used a red onion instead of a "regular" onion (although she didn't specify a type) and I also added some of the diced red onion on top of the soup as well.

Here were our thoughts on each dish, along with some photos:

*Banana Salad -- We loved the presentation of this salad (especially the coconut flakes!), but didn't think the dressing really melded well with the ingredients. We would definitely try it again, but would go with a different type of dressing...not sure what though...hmmm....





*Creamy Cucumber Soup -- We both LOVED this! It tasted incredibly fresh and light. It would make a great summer soup on a hot day because it tastes so cool and refreshing. DH liked the chopped cucumber and onion on top and actually wished there were more of it; he prefers chunky soups, and I have to say I agreed. We were pleasantly surprised by how much we liked this recipe! It turned out a beautiful light green color, and looked quite fancy, even though it took less than 5 minutes to whip together!





*Apple Cinnamon Cookies -- I had a little bit of difficulty making these in my Blendtec. I think it was just because the amount I was making was pretty small and I was using the big 3qt jar, so most of what needed to be blended kept getting stuck under the blade. A food processor probably would have done a better job, but with continued scraping down of the sides, and some patience, I was able to get a sticky dough which rolled nicely into cookies. These were absolutely delicious, but a bit thick (think peanut butter), so I'd recommend a nice glass of your favorite milk (cow's, coconut, almond, etc.) to wash these down with! The spices in these cookies are absolutely perfect; you won't believe they're raw! Yum! (Unfortunately, I didn't get a photo taken of these before we devoured them! Oops!)

You are a foodie, aren't you??

foodie: a person who has an ardent or refined interest in food

Today, for the first time in my life, I was labeled as a foodie. I took it as a great compliment. I am very interested in food, especially since I've been reading and researching about eating RAW foods and increasing my family's fruit and veggie intake while reducing processed foods and all the icky things that go along with them.

So, here's what this "foodie" had for dinner. :)

I made a huge amount of homemade hummus (from dried chickpeas) a couple of weeks ago, and after tiring of eating the hummus as a dip, I winged a hummus salad. Well, DH raved about it so that I decided to make it again.

First, I made the hummus. I normally soak my chickpeas for about 24 hours, then slow cook them in my crock pot or on the stove until soft, but since I didn't plan ahead, I dove into the pantry for a huge can of organic chickpeas DH had bought as a "backup" plan. I poured most of the liquid out of the can, and then dumped the chickpeas and remaining liquid into my Blendtec. Next I threw in every yummy thing I could think of and blended it until smooth: some roasted garlic cloves (from Just Tomatoes, ordered through a coop), some Just Onions (from Just Tomatoes, ordered through a coop), several whole sprigs of fresh cilantro, a chunk of jalapeno pepper, a sprinkle of red pepper flakes, some raw sesame seeds, freshly ground peppercorns, and pink Himalayan salt. I added and tasted and added some more until it tasted the way I wanted.

Then I made the salad. I put organic mixed baby greens onto our plates. Then I topped them with slivers of organic red onion and organic celery, and grated organic carrots. I sprinkled raw sunflower seeds over all of it, and then gave us each a big glob of the freshly made hummus right in the center.

Right before serving, I swirled olive oil over the entire plate, including the hummus and then drizzled balsamic vinegar over the greens (avoiding the hummus). Sorry, I didn't get any post-drizzling pics...I'll do better next time! ;)

DH loves this and I think it is great, too!


As a side, I made fresh apple sauce. I simply washed, cored, and sliced 3 apples using my handy dandy apple gadget


(I love how quick and easy this is. You can also have the gadget peel the apple if you desire. It does it at the same time it's coring and slicing. We eat apples raw as snacks a lot thanks to this gadget, and I've just found that it makes dehydrating the apples a cinch since it cuts really uniform slices.)

I threw the apples into my Blendtec and added a few ounces of coconut water and around a cup of water. I like to squeeze in as much healthiness as possible, so I threw in a couple of handfuls of greens as well; these could be omitted for a standard apple sauce, but we like it GREEN. I also threw in just a bit of cinnamon.

I blended until smooth (not long in this baby!)...

and served it up! Normally when I make this, I add spinach and the color is a much prettier green. This time, I used the same mixed greens as I used in our salads since that's what we had on hand, and it came out much darker, I think because there were some purple-y greens in the mix. It still tasted great, but looks much prettier when using spinach. DH ate two bowls!

After dinner, I was still craving something...something sweet...dessert! I had read Sheri's post about her version of Larabars on the Green and Crunchy blog, but had never even tried a Larabar myself. Earlier in the day though, I had been talking to another mama on one of the Diaperswappers' threads who was trying to eat more raw, and she had experimented with Sheri's recipe. So, I thought, why not??

I put a cup of raw cashews into the Blendtec. Most people do this in a food processor I think, but I don't have one, so I tried it out in my 3 quart Blendtec jar. I pulsed the cashews until they were roughly chopped (just a few seconds). Then I pitted and roughly chopped about a cup of Medjool dates. I added a few at a time and pulsed until things started to combine. I scraped the container down once to be sure all the nuts were getting mixed well. I also added some organic flax meal, organic chia seeds, and vanilla. I pulsed the blender until the mixture began to stick together like dough. Then I dumped it into a bowl with a flat bottom and pressed it down so it was even. I noticed the mix was a bit "damp" to the touch (Did I use too many dates??), so I threw some raw dehydrated coconut chips and more flax meal into the blender and pulsed until it was roughly mixed and chopped. I sprinkled the coconut flax flakes on top of the cashew bars, put a lid on the bowl, and stuck it in the freezer for about an hour. When we were ready to eat it, I pulled it out and cut it into fourths...

...and served us up a slice!

I was surprised how nicely the Vanilla Coconut Cashew bars came out of the bowl and how the pieces stayed together so well...very bar-like!

The taste was pretty darn yummy, too! These definitely hit the spot!

I'm looking forward to trying various combinations for these bars--using different nuts, trying different additions. I think my next version will have some raw cacao. Yum!

What do you think a fun combination would be?

Persimmon and Coconut Cream Parfait

I saw a recipe for a raw persimmon and whipped cream parfait the other day, and search though I might, I cannot find the link for it. If anyone knows where it is, please let me know and I'd be happy to give credit where credit is due.

The beautiful photos of the parfaits reminded me that I had several freezer bags full of pureed raw persimmons from my uncle. I first had persimmon last year when my son was still eating baby food. My uncle had given them to us and so I read about them online and decided to puree them for him. Well, DS loved them, but I found out that so did I! So this past fall, I mentioned to my uncle that we'd love to have more of his persimmons. Finding this recipe for a RAW parfait got my persimmon tastebuds churning!

I defrosted my frozen persimmons by placing them in a bowl of water. It didn't take long before I was able to dump them out of the freezer bags. I put them into the Blendtec for a quick spin to ensure no icy chunks were left. We wanted SMOOTH puree.

Then I searched swagbucks for a raw whipped cream recipe and found one that I modified to fit my needs and on hand ingredients.

Coconut Whipped Cream
*1 cup nuts (the recipe called for cashews; I only had walnuts, so that's what I used, though I'm sure cashews soaked for at least an hour would have made it much creamier)
*1 cup light coconut milk (canned from Trader Joe's)
*1/8-1/4 cup of honey
*1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
*splash of vanilla
*pinch of himalayan pink salt
*coconut oil (a good bit)

My cream turned out flat and runny, but tasted divine! For a thicker cream, you could try adding some thickeners: chia seeds, flax seed meal, etc. Or, it might also help to refrigerate or freeze the cream before serving.

To serve, simply put the pureed persimmon and the coconut cream in alternating layers in a pretty glass or serving bowl. You could also create a topping of ground goji berries or nuts to sprinkle on if you wanted, but we just ate ours plain. Yum, yum!

My New Favorite Dessert

Mexican Chocolate Shakes...completely RAW and ultra-delicious! You won't believe there's no dairy in this because it is SO creamy!

I put these into my 3 quart Blendtec (the best blender in the whole world!) jar:

3 frozen bananas
a hefty pinch of cinnamon
a scoop of raw cacao powder (Navitas Naturals brand purchased from Amazon)
handful of organic, raw walnuts (from bulk bins at Whole Foods)
a big scoop of homemade almond butter (probably 2-3 tablespoons)
water (probably around 2+ cups)

I also added these mix-ins for extra nutrition and thickness:
chia seeds
flax seed meal (freshly ground is best)

Just a note in case you couldn't tell...I am a bit of an "un-chef" in the kitchen. I don't usually measure things. I just throw things in and taste, taste, taste, so be sure you do the same to get it to your liking!

I blended everything up on the "Whole Juice" setting on the Blendtec. I usually run it twice just to get it as fine as possible.

This made two servings. DH and I drank it in tall clear glasses (3/4 full) with our new Glass Dharma straws which are my favorite thing ever! Seriously...every drink in our house now has to have one of these straws. They are just so pretty and they're fun! Not to mention, they are very sturdy and they're NOT made of plastic! Yay!

Ok, but back to the shake. The cinnamon is what makes this so special to me. I first fell in love with cinnamon mixed with chocolate at Locopops in Durham. So, I figured why not in shakes, too! I love it. Now if you like things really sweet, you may need to add your choice of sweetener to this recipe: agave, honey, pitted dates, etc. but both DH and I liked this just like it was, so we didn't mess with it.

Hope you enjoy as much as we did. YUM!