Eating In The Raw

Posted on May 31, 2013 by We The Eaters

AMY: I am secretly obsessed with raw food.

It started when I was seeing a natural health coach in Washington, D.C. He suggested more living, green foods. That started as spinach in my smoothies and morphed into juicing green veggies (see Sarah’s awesome post from earlier this month!) I started reading a few raw food blogs online, discovered Ani Phyo, and began to collect raw food cookbooks.

I realized I was hooked last month when a friend pointed out how many raw cookbooks I have. They far outnumber anything else in my collection. I bought four on a recent trip to Portland, Ore., alone. I mean, Powell’s – come on! They had, like, six rows of cookbooks, and six shelves devoted strictly to raw. I actually started crying … it was that beautiful.

SARAH: I can attest to Amy’s raw obsession. I have seen her cookbooks. I have been her sidekick at a raw cooking class. And guess who picked this topic for May? Neither April nor I would suggest such a thing. But it fit the spring eating month perfectly. That’s what it’s all about!

Proponents of the raw food movement say that, by cooking food, you lose many vital nutrients and enzymes. Enzymes in food begin to break down around 104-120 degrees Fahrenheit. Furthermore, cooking at high temperatures may introduce carcinogens, toxins and free radicals. All of this can lead to cancer, diabetes, heart disease and other illnesses, raw proponents say.

So how do you make raw food? It takes a lot of planning and new tricks, tools and techniques.

APRIL: I have to admit, when this idea came up, I can’t say Amy’s obvious enthusiasm was contagious.

SARAH: Agreed!

APRIL: I love cooked food! Cooked veggies! Whole grain pasta and rice! Chickpeas! Fish! Soup! LAMB!

SARAH: Sing it sister! And what about baking, for heaven’s sake?!

AMY: You two are ridiculous.

APRIL: So when the idea of trying a raw menu came up … I was a bit dubious.

Don’t get me wrong. People should be free to adhere to follow whatever food regimen they choose without being pestered or judged. But, frankly, I’m just not big on any particular food philosophy, other than eating balanced, mostly vegetarian meals in modest portions at a slow speed. I love vegetables and eat several servings each day, while eating very little junk/fried/fast food and preparing almost everything I eat from scratch. This approach seems to have served my cholesterol, blood pressure, weight and energy levels well, and it’s simple to follow.

AMY: I agree, and definitely like a good steak now and … now. My problem is moderation (clearly). With veggies, I don’t have to worry about that, and thankfully, I’ve always loved vegetables. Given that, a diet based primarily in raw veggies seems a no-brainer. The hurdle for me has been time: preparing raw foods is time consuming. Don’t freak out … it just requires a little planning. Your body will really thank you for it. I’m doing a juicing cleanse with Sarah right now, mixed with raw, and my skin is glowing!

SARAH: Yes, it’s true. Again, with the right tools and a little prep, juicing has been so easy. Our skin, our tummies, our whole bodies are much happier and more glowier than ever. I’m finding juices to be good tools to mix into my weekday eating routine. Even my husband, Mr. Texan-Lover-of-Meat, has been doing the juice with me! And his skin is also glowing.

APRIL: Amy’s enthusiasm aside, I did freak out! The one thing I thought raw food would have going for it was simplicity. What could be easier than eating raw food, for heaven’s sake?

Ha! Rookie mistake. There’s definitely a learning curve with this raw business. Combining certain foods (and not others) to maximize nutrient absorption. Preparing many assembled foods, like loafs or tarts, a day in advance. And when Amy told me I had to soak and/or sprout my raw nuts for them to be considered raw (say what?), I was ready to throw this entire idea into the compost bin.

But I forged ahead, because I said I would (and because Amy called to talk me down …). Aside from the soaking of the nuts (and unnecessarily drying them, then soaking them again), everything in the coconut curry dish I chose came together fairly quickly.

SARAH: I am with you on this one, April! I also had to talk with Amy during a mild break down in the baking aisle. Note to self, the baking aisle is not the aisle to buy raw ingredients. Raw cocoa powder? Who knew cocoa powder wasn’t already raw?

All told, though I had a similar experience to April’s, my brownies were a cinch to whip up in the food processor.

AMY: And they were both AMAZING! The great part is, once your taste buds get acclimated to not having all the sugary, processed foods, there are so many yummy treats you can eat (like everything, in moderation!) Sarah’s brownies totally proved that point for me — and that moderation will still be a challenge. They were so, so good. I make raw “cookies” as well, which are delish!

APRIL: No, I wasn’t particularly enthusiastic about this experiment. But here’s the thing: Much to my surprise, Amy is right on — everything we prepared was delicious. Those brownies! So tasty! And the coconut cashew curry was every bit as good as the cooked curries I prepare frequently. Added bonus: In the process, I rediscovered young coconut, which I loved while living in India but have enjoyed very infrequently in recent years (plus, it’s fun to hack away at the things to open them).

SARAH: I will admit to being more excited than April was. Maybe it was the fact that I had sat through a raw cooking class and the food we made was good! Or maybe it was Amy’s infectious optimism. I can be a sucker for it and am frequently pulled into trying new things. Whatever it was, it worked! I loved the whole meal. And would make it all again.

APRIL: I love cooked foods far too much to consider “going raw,” but I was pleasantly surprised by what we tried and can certainly imagine integrating some raw entrees into my diet from time to time. (Little evil secret: I poured our leftover raw curry sauce over cooked rice for lunch the next day. Delicious! Don’t tell Amy!)

I also get the sense that, once one does a significant amount of studying up, it would eventually become much easier to follow a raw diet. But you really do need to invest in that homework. While frantically trying to figure out what on earth I was going to make, I read plenty of horror stories of people who jumped right in and ended up in gastric distress.

SARAH: Yikes, no one wants a hurty tummy! Definitely do your research. It could even be a tool to use here and there in your diet, if not 100 percent of the time, whether you want to detox your body or take a little break from the usual. The wiki article on raw foodism is a good introduction to the benefits and definitions. When in doubt … wiki it!

AMY: <Ha ha – two more down! My evil plan to covert the world, one raw foodist at a time, is off to a fabulous start, says Amy, with a sinister grin!>

Here are some great tips to get you started!

Raw Sunflower & Red Pepper Hummus

Adapted from Ani Phyo’s book, “Ani’s Raw Food Essentials.”

1/2 cup sunflower seeds
2 cloves garlic
1 teaspoon sea salt
2 cups red bell pepper, diced
1/3 cup tahini
1/4 cup lemon juice, fresh squeezed
1/2 teaspoon cumin

If you have a Vitamix with a dry container for shopping nuts, ground your sesame seeds into powder. If not, a food processor or good blender will do. It may be a bit chunkier, but that’s okay. Add garlic, pre-chopped a bit if you like, and salt. Blend. Add diced red pepper, tahini, lemon juice and cumin. Blend until smooth.

Serve with a homemade raw cracker, or cheat (like I did) and get some premade. Just make sure the package indicates they are raw if you are trying to be militant!

This makes 2 cups, but if you like it as much as I did … take my advice and double it. Though the original recipe suggests it only keeps two days in the fridge, we enjoyed it for about a week.

Thai Coconut Curry

Serves 4, but we had lots of delicious curry sauce left over.

Adapted from ‘Ani’s Gone Raw’. I couldn’t find raw peanuts, so used cashews, which need to soak only a few hours. Fresh young coconut is not the hard-shelled brown kind you may be familiar with. You can find them in the produce section of big markets like Whole Foods, trimmed into a white cylinder with a pointy top and wrapped in cling wrap. Cute SteffySue can show you how to extract the meat and water here. It takes a little practice, but it’s fun!

1 1/2-inch piece ginger
1 cup soaked cashews, drained
1 cup finely chopped coconut meat from a fresh, young coconut
1/2 cup coconut water (from your fresh coconut)
1 tablespoon raw almond butter
2 teaspoons Bragg Liquid Aminos
1 pressed/finely chopped garlic clove
1 teaspoon tumeric
1 teaspoon curry powder
Juice of 1 large orange
1 Thai chile (optional — I didn’t use one)
1/4 head cauliflower, chopped into small chunks
1 small carrot shredded/grated
1/4 head red cabbage, shredded
1/2 cucumber, cut into thin-sliced half-moons
cilantro for garnish (or basil leaves and mung bean sprouts)

For the sauce, first extract your ginger juice by grating it on a Microplane and pressing the juice out. It’s good to do this over a small bowl. Then throw the juice and all the ingredients through the orange juice in a blender and blend, blend blend. You want this nice and smooth — it will be grainy, but you don’t want any veggie bits. Add your chile a little at a time for taste.

Toss your shredded raw veggies and cucumber together in a large bowl. You can pour all the sauce over it and dish it up from there, or you can portion the veggies into individual servings and pour on as much sauce as you’d like. Top off with your garnishes.

Dark Chocolate Ginger Non-Brownies

I found great inspiration from this blog’s recipe for these brownies. I needed all the help I can get! Anyway, these were a hit. And if you like Lara Bars, you’ll dig these.

Brownie Base
2 1/2 cups raw walnuts
3/4 cup raw cacao powder
1/2 cup raw shredded coconut
1 teaspoon grated, fresh ginger
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Pinch of sea salt
1 cup pitted dates, well-packed
2 tablespoons cold-pressed coconut oil

Topping
3 tablespoons raw agave nectar
1/2 teaspoon grated fresh ginger
1 cup finely chopped walnuts
1/4 cup raw cacao nibs

To make the brownie base, add the walnuts to a food processor and finely chop. Add the cacao powder, coconut, ginger, vanilla and salt. Process again to combine all ingredients. Separate the dates from each other and place them, along with the coconut oil, into the processor. Pulse to slowly combine the dates. After incorporated (a few pulses), run the processor until all ingredients are combined and a sticky dough has formed. Scrape the dough out into an 8-inch baking pan. Press the dough evenly and firmly into the pan.

To make the topping, whisk the ginger and agave nectar together in a bowl. Mix in the nuts and cacao nibs. Pour topping over the brownie and spread evenly on top of the brownie base. Put the brownies into the freezer to set, about an hour to firm.

Tagged with: appetizer, brownies, cabbage, carrot, cashews, cauliflower, Chocolate, coconut, coconut water, curry, dates, Dessert, Dip, ginger, gluten free, healthy, Hummus, main course, nuts, raw, red pepper, sunflower seeds, tahini, vegan, vegetatian, young coconut
Posted in We The Eaters

Stretching A Food-Stamp Budget Takes Time And Strategy

Posted on April 26, 2013 by We The Eaters

: The first food stamp program was created in 1939 to help Americans weather the Great Depression.Photo Credit: National Archives and Records Administration

AMY: It’s been a little more than seven decades since the food stamp program was enacted in an effort to help America through the Depression. The program ended in the early 1940s, only to be resurrected again in the ’60s and bolstered heavily in the 90s. Today, a record number of Americans — more than 47 million — rely on food stamps, otherwise known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program or SNAP.

Like many entitlement programs, SNAP has critics and supporters. I can’t tell you who’s right, but I can tell you this: I once received food stamps. I was putting myself through school and, and though working full time, was still struggling to make ends meet.

At the time, I felt humiliated because of the stigma attached to “welfare.” Years later, I’m now almost embarrassed to admit that I typically spend in two weeks what the average recipient receives for a whole month – about $133, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.

When was the last time you tried to buy three meals a day on less than $4.50?

APRIL: As anyone who does so weekly can tell you, it’s not easy. One reason is that the best strategies for stretching a small food budget to the limit are also extremely time-consuming.

First, there’s comparing stores’ weekly mailers for deals. Before you shop, you’ll want to plan meals that get you the most for your buck. Clipping coupons takes time, particularly if you’re matching them up with weekly in-store promotions. Then there’s money spent traveling to different locations to get those super-sales. Once you’re in the store, if you’re being really savvy, you need to compare unit prices (per pound or ounce) to get the best value.

Then there’s cooking from scratch — one of the best ways to squeeze multiple meals out of a tight budget. Add in a full-time job (or more than one) and taking care of a family, and staying within that daily $4.50 per person budget can be even harder than it already sounds.

But, as Amy has noted, millions of Americans do this regularly. I’ve been fortunate enough to have never had to walk this balancing act, but I have loved ones who have, and do. It can take just one lost job, one health setback or another stroke of bad luck to find yourself in need of assistance.

: Clipping coupons can help save money, but it also takes time.Photo Credit: ‘StockMonkeys.com’

Again, we’re not experts — nor do we pretend to be — but there are resources to help with strategizing and supplementing food stamps.

AMY: Three places come to mind immediately for folks trying to supplement a tiny food budget: food banks, churches and charitable organizations. Finding these might take a little digging, but I found a few in our area (Washington, D.C.) by searching”free food DC” on Google. This resource, Food Harvest, looked promising, as did this food bank locator. Calling local churches and checking with social service organizations would be another good place to start.

I think the simplest and healthiest thing one could do, if you have space for it, is to grow your own. SNAP benefits can be used to purchase food-producing seeds and plants. Investing just a few dollars in a tomato plant can provide unbelievable bounty (check out some great resources at the nonprofit SNAP Gardens). Clean waterways nearby? Go fishing. Foraging is another option.

APRIL: Back to meal planning, where another good strategy is buying not just inexpensive foods, but ones that leave you satisfied. Luckily, there are a quite a few good staples that fit the bill, so to speak: brown rice, dried beans, eggs, oatmeal, yogurt, cabbage and other greens to name a few.

Cooking from scratch is more time-consuming than eating pre-packaged foods, of course. But cooking large amounts of staples at once, like beans and brown rice, can cut down on prep time through the week, as does storing portions of prepared foods in the freezer.

While many good staples are relatively inexpensive, eating a variety of fresh fruit on a food-stamp diet can be a challenge. Bananas are cheap, but add in apples, oranges and grapes, and your costs rise quickly. This is where monitoring store specials and buying in volume can help. Purchasing a 3-pound bag of apples can drop the bill from around 1.50 per pound to about 75 cents, for example.

SARAH: Ok, we’ve done our research. Combed through advertisements. Figured out ways to supplement. Run the numbers. But we still need to figure out what to do with these hearty, cheap staples.

Simplifying your meal plan by distilling down to basics that are hearty and filling will help greatly. This will also help save time in preparation and shopping; you’ll know which items to look for every week.

You should also choose meals that are flexible and forgiving with their ingredients, meaning you can swap one veggie or starch for another, depending on what’s on sale. This also breaks the monotony of making the same meals again and again. There are a ton of great recipes that fit the bill on all of these counts:

Most cultures have some take on hash — a mixture of meat, potatoes and spices. The dish’s inherent diversity makes it easy to swap out ingredients and flavors. Whether you make the Irish corned beef hash or the Latin American picadillo or even a meatless hash, your plate will be filling and flavorful.
Casseroles lend themselves extremely well to simple meals made with cheaper, hearty staples. Typically, they call for a wide variety of ingredients within our price point, like starches such as rice, beans, lentils and pasta. Veggies, either fresh, frozen or canned, depending on what’s on sale. Proteins like canned tuna or bone-in chicken (legs and cut-up chickens are often super-sale items at the grocery).
Quiches are another simple dish with many ingredient permutations. Made without crust, it becomes even easier. Mix nearly any green along with cheese or meat with eggs and milk and bake. So simple and works for breakfast, lunch or dinner.
Fried rice, made with cooked rice (day-old is best) and nearly anything else chopped small and thrown in, is yet another great meal that meets our needs. Whether you throw in veggies, meat, eggs or even leftovers from a previous meal, it’s quite simple to compose a hearty one-dish meal.

AMY: Living on any kind of budget is difficult, but living on food stamps can be a particular challenge – and one many of us can’t fully appreciate. Our goal here was not to pretend we could, but to offer some options for those that can use them.

We’re open to your ideas, too. Whether you’re on SNAP or just stretching a small budget, what do you do to make ends meet and still end the day with food in your belly?

Tagged with: beans, budget, food stamps, hash, Lentils, quiche, rice, snap
Posted in We The Eaters

A New Home For Pizza — On The Grill

Posted on August 17, 2012 by We The Eaters

AMY: My mom first told me about grilling pizza a year ago. Apparently, her boyfriend (we’ll call him “Bob” … because that’s his name) — does it all the time. Now, gun-slinging Captain Bob is already a total character. But this whole idea just struck me as really out there. I just couldn’t figure out the logistics. I mean, doesn’t the dough drip right through the grate? Does the sauce make it soggy? What about getting the cheese all ooey, gooey bubbly and browned on top?

Sounded like a challenge best met as a team. One reason we started this little venture was the discovery that we work well together … at the table. We all love to eat, are beer connoisseurs and insist on sharing whatever we’re enjoying. With nary a picky palate among us, we’re a feasting threesome made in heaven. Dining out is a fun team sport.

Cooking should be the same, in my opinion. There’s nothing worse than old-school “entertaining,” stuck in the kitchen while everyone else schmoozes. Now, cooking is the social activity. And We The Eaters was born.

So, here we are. Welcome to our first communal post.

APRIL: This may come as no surprise, but I was dubious about this grilled pizza idea myself. But somehow, it emerged as all the rage this year. Or maybe the frenzy goes way back among Eaters-in-the-know, and I’m just late to the party.

SARAH: I had heard of the elusive grilled pizza. In fact, my dad and stepmom began experimenting with the idea last summer. After being regaled with their tales (and wiping the drool from my mouth), I selfishly gave my dad pizza accessories for his smoker, thinking I would soon be rewarded with crusty, cheesy deliciousness. Unfortunately, not much has come from this gift — I have yet to get a slice! So, I was eager to give this a whirl, with or without Dad’s Big Green Egg.

APRIL: Either way, as it turns out, Amy and Sarah’s parents were onto something. Because when it came down to finally tackling this little summer experiment, there were plenty of resources to draw from online.

Many of those are offered up by the hardcore: purists who insist it’s easy-peasy to throw together your own pizza dough. And of course they’re right. Water, flour, yeast, a little salt, a little sugar — no mysterious kitchen alchemy there. But the simplicity of dough ingredients belies the most important element: time. Getting three far-flung ladies in one place with a grill on a dry day, all while one of us was moving house … well, that was challenge enough. Tacking on another couple of hours for kneading rising, punching, re-rising? Nope. Wasn’t gonna happen.

So we did what any self-respecting food lovers on a schedule would do: took a trip to Whole Foods, baby!

SARAH: Turns out, you can buy pre-made dough in a little bag. Don’t even have to sell your first born for it. It’s chilled, not frozen, so all ready for a little rising. Just pop it out of the fridge and let it sit for about 20 minutes or so. To give the dough our own flavor, we added minced garlic and basil during the kneading process. Which was an adventure, in and of itself!

APRIL: Because there’s one thing about this endeavor many recipes fail to tell you: it’s not so easy to force your dough into that perfect, rustic ovaly-shape you may have in mind. This actually took some serious work (and a wine bottle).

AMY: Bob actually suggests putting the dough between two well-oiled pieces of parchment before rolling it out. I think that would have saved a little time … and a big floury mess.

APRIL: And one more thing on dough — many recipes recommend using a pizza peel to get your stretched dough from the kitchen onto the grill. ‘Pshaw!’ said we!

AMY: I mean, really – what the heck is a pizza peel?

APRIL: Well, that probably would have been worth investigating. Because holding stretchy, oozy pizza dough in your hands as your fellow Eater desperately tries to finish oiling the grill doesn’t work so well.

SARAH: Some of us had to put our beers down to help. Sadly, we have not perfected the art of oiling grills and carrying pizza dough while also drinking cold beverages.

APRIL: Yes, we got it on there just in time, but it was a close one. So, do yourselves a favor: if you don’t have a pizza peel, slide that dough off your cutting board, or a cookie sheet, or something. Anything. Just don’t go thinking you can just slap that baby on the grill with your bare hands. It may decide it would rather ooze its way onto your patio pavers.

AMY: And don’t forget to clean and oil the grill grates well before throwing it on. It will make flipping the half-cooked crust so much easier.

We used a gas grill, but I think charcoal and some wood briquettes would lend to a nice, smoky flavor. It doesn’t take very long on one side before you’re ready to turn the dough — maybe a minute or so, depending on thickness. We left the grill open and watched to ensure it didn’t burn. When it feels firm enough to flip, it’s ready to go over. Then it’s time for the cheese.

SARAH: Wait, wait, wait. Timeout. Cheese first? ‘Like hell,’ you say! ‘What about the sauce?’

AMY: Once the cheese is melted together, spread the sauce on top of the cheese.

SARAH: Oh … thank goodness.

AMY: This is the magic step that keeps the dough from getting soggy. Apparently, Bob doesn’t use sauce at all. And that’s sad, ’cause the sauce I make is killer (if I do say so myself). After taking a trip to Italy last year, with an amazing stop in Naples for real Italian pie, I’ve sworn off any kind of commercial tomato sauce. I make my own from whole tomatoes. My pizza has never tasted better.

What’s funny is, I always thought I hated pizza. I didn’t. I hated the sauce.

SARAH: I cannot argue with this. I have never had a commercial sauce that could even come close to the quick one Amy whipped up. She’s either been making it a lot recently or has some sort of magic sauce wand. It was done in mere seconds. Fresh, vibrant and so flavorful. We had to stop ourselves from eating heaping spoonfuls of it, remembering it had a home on the grill waiting.

This cheese-first business was not the only magic step to grilling pizza. Since it cooks so quickly on the grill, the toppings need to be pre-cooked, depending on what you’re using. We chose simple vegetables: Shitake mushrooms, red bell peppers and green onions. I sauteed them on the stovetop with a little olive oil, salt and pepper. Nothing fancy, just wanted to take the crispy edge off of them. And atop the sauce they went.

AMY: Then it’s more cheese. One, because we like cheese, and two, because it just feels weird to have nothing over the toppings holding it all together.

Now, close the lid … and wait a few minutes. I know it’s hard, but you can do it!

SARAH: When it was pronounced done, we all gathered around the grill, giddy as school children to dig right in. But wait! Not so fast! How were we going to cut this thing? Frankly, it was pretty big. It took up the whole grill.

Scissors appeared, crunching through the crisp crust and melty cheese right there on the grill. It made for oddly shaped slices, but it didn’t matter. Squares, oblongs, rectangles — it was all we could do to not burn our mouths as we gobbled it up.

APRIL: Scissors are the only way to cut pizza. Learned that from Mom. Forget the pizza cutter! Good old scissors, that’s what you need!

AMY: It was everything Mom and Bob had promised. So, Mom … drumroll, please … you were right. Or Bob was right. Whatever — this scores two “yums” up from me.

SARAH: Me too! This one is definitely a keeper. Once you learn the secrets, it’s really simple to make. And like any pizza, the topping possibilities are endless. Personally, I would love to try adding a little spicy sausage to it next time. And this sauce is seriously killer.

APRIL: Me three! But … I know this is blasphemous, because Amy’s sauce is superb. But I’m with Bob. Pizza doesn’t always need sauce. Some delicious cheese, some olive oil, maybe some cured meats, some arugula and fresh herbs? Yeah, that’s good.

AMY: As a white pizza lover, I’ll concede. There are so many delicious options. I’d like to experiment with fig, carmelized onions, a gorgonzola-esque cheese and maybe some prosciutto. The point is, pizza is great — because anything goes. Be creative and have fun with it.

Until we grill again … adieu.

Grilled Pizza

Pre-made dough, or better yet — make your own
Toppings of your choice, sautee any veggies slightly (a little swirl in a pan for something like fig wouldn’t hurt, either)

Amy’s Tomato Sauce

4-5 roma tomatoes
2 cloves fresh garlic
A dash of olive oil
A few leaves fresh basil
Salt and pepper
Balsamic vinegar, if desired

Halve and scrape seeds out of tomatoes. I’m a fan of whole foods, so I use the whole tomato without removing the skins (you won’t even be able to tell it’s there.) Toss into a food processor or use a blender, adding tomatoes a few at a time. Microplane the garlic into the tomatoes. You can also mince it fine and scrape it against cutting board with your knife to form a paste. Add olive oil, basil leaves, salt and pepper. The sauce will look really pink — I mean, like watermelon sauce. You can darken it up a little by adding some balsamic, which gives it a more complex flavor, anyway.

There is absolutely no need to cook this sauce. It even tastes great with the grilled pita we talked about last week. I have cooked it down a bit to use with pasta, which, with a little fresh shaved Parmesan, was magical. And cooking does boost tomato’s cancer-fighting abilities, so have at it. Bon appetit!

Tagged with: Amy, April, Cheese, Dough, Eaters, Grill, Pizza, Sarah, Sauce, Tomato, We The Eaters
Posted in Featured, We The Eaters