Feb 1st, 2010
by admin.
202 views
The following recipe for a basic raw vegan basil pesto goes well on spiralized veggie noddles (e.g., zucchini, carrots, turnips, yam-style sweet potatoes) and on raw broccoli or cauliflower and combinations of those types of vegetables (for more on how to better enjoy raw broccoli, check out my earlier post entitled Raw Organic Broccoli – It’s All About The Sauce!). For example, for dinner this evening I had the pesto over a combination of cut cauliflower florets and broccolini (a cross between broccoli and kai-lan). The evening before I had the pesto served over spiralized organic turnips and yam-style sweet potato. The following is an adaptation of the basil pesto recipe you can find in Rainbow Green Live-Food Cuisine by Gabriel Cousens and the Tree of Life Café Chefs (available on Amazon.com
and Amazon.ca
). I’ve cut the volume in half so that it’s more appropriate if you’re making the pesto for 1 or 2 people.
Special Equipment
- Food processor or blender. A mini-prep food processor or small blender works great for the volume.
Ingredients
- 1/2 -3/4 cup organic raw pine nuts
- 1/4 cup fresh de-stemmed organic fresh basil
- 2 Tbsp organic unfiltered cold-pressed extra virgin olive oil
- 1-2 Tbsp organic lemon juice
- 1-2 cloves of organic garlic
- 1 tsp Celtic sea salt or Himalayan salt.
- 1/4 cup filtered water, reserved.
Directions
- Add all the ingredients to the food-processor or blender. Pulse the mixture in food-processor or blender, adding 1 Tbsp of water at a time to help facilitate blending and in order to reach the desired consistency for the sauce.
- Serve & Enjoy
The pesto should keep for about 2-3 days sealed in the fridge. As mentioned earlier, the pesto makes a nice dressing for spiralized vegetables noodles. Here in Vancouver, you can purchase spiralizers at OrganicLives, Gorilla Food, Eternal Abundance, and from various other places and people (e.g., Katherine Marion aka the Rawsome Chef).
Some other notes:
- If you plan on serving this pesto with a dish that you’ll bring to a potluck, consider de-veining the garlic. Some people find raw garlic too intense. By de-veinging the garlic, they’ll enjoy your dish a lot more. When making the pesto for myself, I usually don’t remove the garlic vein as raw garlic doesn’t give me any problems.
- You can get organic raw pine nuts, organic unfiltered cold-pressed extra virgin olive oil, and Himalayan salt from OrganicLives.
Please share your modifications and improvements to the recipe in the comments section of this post.
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Posted in: Recipe, dressing, equipment, sauce.
Tagged: basil · blender · brocolli · dressing · food processor · garlic · lemon juice · olive oil · pesto · pine nuts · Recipe · sauce · spiralizer
Jan 27th, 2010
by admin.
143 views
For the past couple of weeks, I’ve been using a simplification of a raw vegan Caesar salad dressing recipe. This past Friday, I had a chance to go to a very unique raw food potluck. I brought a “Caesar Salad” with raw vegan croutons that I purchased from OrganicLives. My friend M. asked for the recipe for the dressing, so here it is
Equipment
- Mini-prep Food Processor or Blender (small blender is best)
Ingredients
- 1 cup raw organic pine nuts
- juice of 1/2-1 medium or large organic lemon
- 1 medium or large clove of garlic
- 1 tsp kelp powder
- 1 tsp salt (sea salt or Himalayan salt is best)
- 1 Tbsp cold-pressed organic extra virgin unfiltered olive oil
- 1/4 cup filtered water (reserved)
- 1 date (e.g., Medjool or Hunza dates)
- organic black pepper (to taste)
Directions
- Add all the ingredients except the reserved water and black pepper to your mini-prep or blender.
- Blend all the ingredients, adding 1 Tbsp at a time of reserved water until you reach the desired consistency
- Mix in ground black organic black pepper at this point, or later after tossing with Romain lettuce greens, etc.
- Enjoy!
The dressing should keep for a few days sealed & refrigerated, but it’s always best to use it up fast. Toss with Romain lettuce greens for a “Caesar Salad”. If you have raw vegan croutons available, add them as well as it will take your raw vegan Caesar salad to the next level. I’ve also used the Brutus dressing on spiralized root vegetables and on a kelp noodles salad.
Some other notes:
- Regarding the kelp powder, you can purchase ground kelp powder, but you may have better results by grinding your own sun-dried kelp strips.
- If you are going to be serving the dressing with a dish that you will share with people who may find raw garlic too intense, consider de-veining the garlic clove. I usually de-vein garlic for any dishes I bring to potlucks.
- If you make a very thick dressing, it can be used as a Caesar-like veggie dip
- The dressing will thicken in the refrigerator. Add a little freshly squeezed lemon juice or filtered water to thin if desired.
- You can purchase raw organic pine nuts, dates, Himalayan salt, Peruvian raw organic olive oil, etc., from OrganicLives (1829 Quebec Street, Vancouver, BC, Canada).
I hope you have some success with the Brutus dressing recipe. Please share your modifications/improvements in the comments section of this post.
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Posted in: Recipe, Uncategorized, dressing, salad.
Tagged: black pepper · blender · Caesar salad · croutons · dates · dressing · food processor · garlic · kelp powder · lemon juice · olive oil · pine nuts · Recipe · salad dressing · salt
Jan 24th, 2010
by admin.
130 views
There will be a free screening of the movie Earthlings on Saturday, January 30, 2010 at the downtown branch of the Vancouver Public Library (350 W. Georgia Street) in the Alma VanDusen Room (lower level). Doors open at 2:00PM and the film will start at 2:30PM. If you would like, you can download the event flier from the organizer’s website. Note that the event is being organized by a group called Liberation BC that has supported single-issue and welfare campaigns. As an vegan that endorses the abolitionist approach to animal rights, I don’t support this type of activism. As a starter about why someone might not want to support such campaigns, please read Gary L. Fancoine’s short essay The Four Problems of Animal Welfare: In a Nutshell. All this said, Liberation BC is doing the community a service by organizing this film screening — an example of basic education that I can endorse. If you still consume & use animal products, I encourage you and your friends to attend this event so that you can truly start to see & understand what you are choosing to participate in when you consume and use such products.
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Posted in: Vancouver, events.
Tagged: Earthlings · event · film screening · free · Liberation BC · movie · single-issue campaigns · Vancouver Public Library · welfare campaings
Jan 15th, 2010
by admin.
132 views
“Wheatgrass refers to the young grass of the common wheat plant, Triticum aestivum, that is freshly juiced or dried into powder for animal and human consumption. Both provide chlorophyll, amino acids, minerals, vitamins, and enzymes. Claims about wheatgrass’ health benefits range from providing supplemental nutrition to having unique curative properties.”1
The photograph above is of a shot of freshly squeezed veganically grown wheatgrass juice available from OrganicLives Enterprises (1829 Quebec Street, Vancouver, BC, Canada). The fresh wheatgrass is provided by Salt Spring Island Wheatgrass.
References
- Wheatgrass http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wheatgrass Accessed January 14, 2010.
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Posted in: Vancouver, business, drink, photos, restaurant.
Tagged: Food Photo · juice · organic · OrganicLives · photograph · Salt Spring Island · Superfood · veganic · wheatgrass
Jan 14th, 2010
by admin.
86 views
Kombucha Tea Concoctions by Patricia Ganswind
“Kombucha is a living health drink made by fermenting green or/and black tea and sugar with the kombucha culture. The result can taste like something between sparkling apple cider and champagne, depending on what kind of tea you use. It’s not what you’d imagine fermented tea to taste like. You can buy Kombucha at the health food stores, but usually it’s about 4 dollars or so for a tiny bottle. Home brewing is easy and very economical. Why not learn how to make it?”
DATE: Wednesday, January 20, 2010.
TIME: 7:30pm.
LOCATION: Commercial Drive area, Vancouver, BC, Canada (contact the organizer via e-mail at gennyktea@gmail.com or RSVP on Meetup.com for the address).
SUBJECTS: Kombucha tea, fermentation, where to find supplies, special teas and combinations.
DURATION: Approximately 1-1.5hrs
FEE: $20 cash, including a Kombucha culture plus detailed written instructions.
For more information, please visit the organizer’s description of the Kombucha tea making workshop on her website (which includes other posts that talk more about Kombucha).
Photograph courtesy of Geoff Peters www.photosvancouver.com, Released under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic License.
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Posted in: Vancouver, class, events.
Tagged: BC · Canada · class · fermented · kombucha · living food · tea · Vancouver
