Ready for Raw Living?

Ready for raw living?

The raw food lifestyle requires prep time, but not like you might think. What you save in cooking time may be spent in soaking time. You have to plan ahead in some cases, such as the 8-hour sunflower seed soak time for veggie spread spring rolls or the 20 hours dehydration time required for ginger snaps. David Coet and Mathieu Gallant just might convince you to switch off your oven for good through their new book, “Raw Essence: 180 Delicious Recipes for Raw Living.

Mushroom cannelloni, crepes Florentine and spinach pie sound good as main dishes. Save room for Dark Desire Cake or Sugar Pie with Coco-Pecan Crust.

In this world,  BLT means eggplant bacon on almond bread with caper aioli.

I’ve met raw food folks in Southeast Texas and I know they’d love the recipes and photos in this book. Here’s an easy one for newbies to play with:

Hummus Sun Spread

Try this as a dip with raw vegetables, in a salad, on crackers or as a sandwich, either wrapped in lettuce or spread on raw bread.

2/3 cup unpeeled almonds

2 cups coarsely chopped peeled zucchini

¾ cup tahii

1 clove garlic

6 tablespoons freshly-squeezed lemon juice

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 teaspoons cumin

1 ½ teaspoons sea salt

¼ teaspoon ground black pepper

1.   Soaking: In a bowl, soak unpeeled almonds in water to cover for 8 hours. Rinse thoroughly and discard soaking water.

2.   In blender, combine all ingredients including soaked almonds and reduce to a smooth, creamy paste

Not  your mother’s molcajete

Some of today’s Cajun women use roux from a jar and, with one Mexican-American comparison being mole in a jar. Who can grind all those flavors anymore? I just spent some time over IMUSA’s granite molcajete fashioning a guacamole that got rave reviews. I didn’t spend extra time and ended up with one less bowl to wash. You’ll want to serve your masterpiece in this little footed beauty. Even if you don’t  know this word, you know the sight of this mortar and pestle used to crush and grind spices for salsas and guacamole. The heavy, solid granite is not porous, so all your flavor stays in the food. I crushed fresh oregano leaves before adding all my other goodies and felt in close contact with nature. IMUSA products, great for Cinco de Mayo celebrations, are available through Target, say makers who have quite a range of tools. I tried their manual citrus juicer that is a press on a yellow base that looks like it came from Grandmother’s kitchen. It’s just the thing for entrepreneurial lemonade mixologists. It’s way fun for adults, too. Billed as a leader in Hispanic cookware, IMUSA offers a cast iron skillet with a wood base for charring fajitas and a paella pan, perforated for even heat distribution.

GiGi’s Cupcakes update

These cupcakes have kept coming into my life since a salted caramel epiphany. I have since sampled Mojito, Kentucky Bourbon,  and some chocolate and cheesecake wonders. Just a bite will do you. My mother picked up a box for sampling and it came with a catalogue. Be aware, the colorful spread noted dates your selections are available. For instances, Southern Comfort is made on Wednesdays; Wedding Cake is made daily. All this tasting and I haven’t been inside the shop at 3050 Dowlen Road in Beaumont.

Kidz Zone

Brightly-colored bags and water bottles and flavors like yellow cupcake and caramel crunch hook children into the Kidz Zone ZonePerfect kit. What’s not to love about a clear pouch hooked onto your pocket, showing your treat? Children raised with a little knowledge and control to choose don’t have to be tricked into eating better. This line features 23 vitamins and minerals, five grams of protein and three grams of fiber.  I loved the taste of these and children will love that it’s all geared toward them.

ddoiron@panews.com