Showing posts with label condiments. Show all posts
Showing posts with label condiments. Show all posts

Tuesday, November 22, 2016

Raw Cranberry Sauce ~ So Easy! (vegan, sugar-free)


If you are looking for an extremely easy and super nutritious cranberry sauce recipe then I have just the thing! I've been making this raw cranberry sauce recipe for a few years and have shared it on Instagram and Facebook but never seem to get around to getting it up on my blog....until now!

Serve this tart and tangy cranberry sauce with your holiday turkey, baked salmon, or winter squash and bean casserole. It's also delicious on top of pumpkin pie! I know, I know. Try it and you'll see!

Did you know that cranberries are one of the most concentrated sources of ellagic acid, a potent anti-oxidant and anti-cancer compound? Ellagic Acid is a phytochemical that is found in significant amounts in cranberries, raspberries, wild strawberries, blackberries, pomegranates, pecans, walnuts, and other plant foods. For the most part, think bright red plant foods that make your mouth pucker! Ellagic acid is destroyed by cooking, so eating cranberries in a raw recipe like this is most beneficial!

Findings from a 2016 study "cast a beam of light on the potential therapeutic use of ellagic acid in obesity-related colon carcinogenesis" (colon cancer). A 2015 study found that ellagic acid inhibits the proliferation of MCF-7 breast cancer cells and that its use could be a "novel therapeutic approach for the treatment of patients with breast cancer." Another 2015 study found that ellagic acid from pomegranates suppressed prostate cancer cells!

Food is medicine! You can use this to your advantage during the holidays and enjoy medicinal recipes like this raw cranberry sauce.

Wednesday, September 14, 2016

Fire-Roasted Tomato Salsa Recipe


It's tomato season and I bet many of you are searching for more ways to preserve the tomato harvest! Last year I had a bumper crop of roma tomatoes so I created this really easy fire-roasted tomato salsa recipe as a way to preserve the harvest. I had my freezer stocked full of salsa in various sized jars that we enjoyed through the winter months. I'm really happy to finally be sharing my recipe with you. It's a mix of roasted tomatoes and other raw ingredients, creating a nutrient-packed condiment!

Roasting tomatoes under the broiler brings out a stunning, sweet caramelized flavor, which adds depth and complexity to your salsa. It also releases some of the liquid in the tomatoes so your salsa does't end up too watery.

If you are looking for other ways to preserve your tomato harvest then you might want to try my Homemade Tomato Basil Marinara Sauce recipe, or simply freeze your tomatoes whole (stems removed). I like to take whole frozen roma tomatoes and soak them in hot water for a few minutes. This allows their skins to slip right off. Then I chop them up and add them to soups and stews in the wintertime.

Enjoy this flavorful salsa recipe with homemade gluten-free Brown Rice Flour Tortillas, cooked beans or meat, guacamole, and thinly sliced fresh greens.

Friday, August 19, 2016

Homemade Herbed Sea Salt Recipe (Herbamare)


If you have not already noticed, I absolutely love Herbamare! It is a fantastic replacement for salt or bouillon in savory recipes because it adds flavor without adding as much sodium. By replacing some of the salt with savory herbs and vegetables, you can naturally reduce the sodium while increasing the depth of flavors in your meals. Additionally, the kelp, herbs, and vegetables add important trace minerals, beneficial plant compounds, and pre-biotic fibers that feed the good bacteria in your gut.

Last year I began making my own homemade herbed sea salt recipe to mimic Herbamare. This helps save money and, if you have a garden, helps preserve some of your herb and vegetable harvest! It is so incredibly easy to make once you gather up all of the ingredients. You will just need a food processor or high-powered blender. And, if you don't have all of the ingredients don't worry! This recipe is very forgiving. Experiment with different dried herbs to get the flavor you like best. You can even make a spicy sea salt by including some dried chilies and black pepper!

This homemade herbed sea salt is one of the new recipes I added to the revised edition of my Nourishing Meals book. Use it in soups and stews, on top of scrambled eggs, sprinkled over mashed avocado on toast, use it to make roasted chicken taste amazing, and in any other savory recipe.

Thursday, September 10, 2015

Homemade Sriracha Hot Sauce Recipe (sugar-free)



After a long blogging break, I'm back with an amazing hot sauce recipe for you to make and enjoy for many months. I grew a lot of hot peppers in my garden this year, in fact my garden has been extremely bountiful this year! Up until recently, I've sort of taken my garden for granted. I had no idea how healing gardening could be….until it was all I could do. You see, on June 2nd, just after returning from a functional medicine conference and after two years of non-stop work, I suffered an adrenal crash. Taking care of five young children, updating and publishing a book, developing an online program, co-authoring a new book, and being in charge of the development of a new website and book launch proved to be too much.

Two things that have helped tremendously with the healing process (other than totally slowing down, going to bed early, taking certain supplements, diet, and Epsom salt baths) are gardening and staying off the computer. Being in the fresh air, having the sun beat down on my skin, feeling my bare feet in the soil, and eating nutrient-dense raw vegetables and fruits everyday straight from the garden (your adrenals need a lot of vitamin C to function properly) has been extremely therapeutic for me. In fact, it would be wonderful therapy for anyone suffering from adrenal fatigue or adrenal burnout. The little bit of energy I put in, I got back tenfold in edible bounty. Gardening has helped to reset my cortisol rhythm and nourish me, whereas too much computer time (especially at night) along with too many stressors has led to a dysfunctional cortisol-melatonin cycle. To help heal and regain balance, I’ve also spent a lot of time with my children outside all summer …at the lake, river, ocean, and mountain. Nature is powerful medicine. I encourage those of you who are dealing with a chronic illness to get outside for a walk in the woods, spend time at a beach every week, and take some time to be in your garden everyday (you can start a garden this fall if you don’t have one already).

I just love going into my garden and harvesting the abundance of vegetables growing there, and then preserving them so we can enjoy their flavors, colors, and nutrients all winter long. If you have too many hot peppers, then consider making this hot sauce recipe. It's a perfect way to preserve them! If you don't grow your own hot peppers, then check out your local Farmer's Market; they are usually brimming with all kinds of peppers this time of year!

According to this resource, sriracha sauce is named after the coastal city, Si Racha, in eastern Thailand. Sriracha is used as a dipping sauce in Thai cuisine, and is also used frequently in Vietnamese cuisine as a condiment for pho, noodle dishes, and spring rolls. Of course, we use it on everything! Traditional sriracha sauce uses sugar in its ingredients. Instead, I use sweet red peppers to cut the spiciness of the hot peppers. The sweet peppers also add body and flavor to the sauce.

Wednesday, September 17, 2014

Cucumber Noodles with a Raw Pumpkin Seed Pesto Sauce (dairy-free, nut-free, grain-free)



If you are looking for more ways to use up the last of the lovely basil growing in your garden this season, then try making a pesto sauce! It can be frozen and then thawed in the wintertime for a taste of summer. We've been using this sauce tossed with raw cucumber noodles, cooked quinoa noodles, or to top baked wild salmon!

To make cucumber noodles, you will need a spiralizer. This handy kitchen tool makes noodles out of vegetables....zucchini, carrots, kohlrabi, sweet potatoes, beets, cucumbers! You can watch this short video I posted to Instagram a few weeks ago of me making noodles from yellow summer squash. You can order one here. If you don't have a spiralizer, then just enjoy this sauce tossed with cooked noodles, drizzled over baked chicken or cooked winter squash...or? Leave a comment below with more ways you are using it!

Friday, August 22, 2014

Egg-Free Mayonnaise Recipe (soy-free, vegan)



I love the thick and creamy richness of mayonnaise, especially tossed with steamed potatoes and chopped pickles, or thinly sliced cabbage for a summer picnic salad. Although we eat eggs, I prefer the flavor of egg-free mayo better. This recipe uses soaked cashews along with a few other ingredients. It has such an amazing consistency and flavor. I think it will remind you of traditional mayonnaise! I've been making a lot of cabbage and veggie slaws with it lately. You can also use it to make chicken salad or spread it onto gluten-free bread for a sandwich.

Cashews are a fabulous source of antioxidants and monounsaturated fats! I think they might be my favorite nut. I find them easier to digest compared to other nuts. Cashews are also a good source of magnesium, a mineral that easily gets depleted when we are under stress....and who isn't experiencing some level of stress these days!

Thursday, July 3, 2014

Mustard Green-Lime Pesto (dairy-free, vegan)



If you've been shopping at your local Farmer's Market lately you might have noticed some beautiful purplish-green leafy vegetables for sale called mustard greens. My bet is that you've also wondered what you could do with them if you were to purchase them! Mustard greens are spicy and slightly bitter. I like to add them to soups and stir-fries. They are part of the lovely cruciferous vegetable familythe types of vegetables we highly recommend getting into your diet everyday in order to boost your body's own detoxification abilities. Read more about that in this post.

I grow mustard greens in my garden, and this summer I've had more than we can eat! I pondered for a week or so how I could preserve them, other than lacto-fermentation (as in a mustard green kim chi), and came up with this pesto recipe (which can be frozen). While I was figuring out how to preserve them, they began to bolt. This means that they send up flowers so the plant can bear seeds. When a plant bolts, the greens start to become bitter. I did not want to waste them so I used them anyway. I would suggest looking for tender young mustard greens to use in this raw pesto recipe, though it's still delicious if your greens have begun to bolt!

Saturday, June 21, 2014

Simple Strawberry Vinaigrette Recipe



We've been picking strawberries lately. A lot of strawberries. Organic of course. Perfectly sweet, juicy, and ripe. So naturally, we've been eating a lot of strawberries, the way fresh strawberries ought to be eaten….not shipped halfway across the country in little plastic cartons grown in massive mono-cropped fields. These berries were grown in nutrient-rich soil from a small organic farm not too far from our house. Our children count the days till strawberry picking time each year. It's one of their favorite activities. Undoubtedly, they are picking more per minute now than I do. Yes! We have a dream team of 5 little berry pickers (okay maybe just 4 as our toddler really likes to just graze instead of fill her bucket). I tell them if they want to eat frozen fruit and make smoothies, then they need to help in the harvesting. It's fun! They love it.

At home, seeing all of these boxes filled with fresh berries, my mind begins to spin into recipe creation mode. Raw strawberry pie, strawberry-cream popsicles, strawberry salsa, strawberry salmon, strawberry vinaigrette! Since our garden is brimming with fresh organic lettuce, arugula, and mustard greens right now I decided that the strawberry vinaigrette recipe would be a good place to start. We'll see how many more recipe ideas I can get to while the berry season lasts! I think you're really going to enjoy this simple, healthy salad dressing recipe! 

In other news....have you listened to Tom's interview on The Health Bridge Show yet? He talks about protecting your microbiome! Fascinating information on childbirth, breastfeeding, digestive issues, and more! You can download it for free on iTunes and listen to it (released 6/12/14). It's also available on YouTube!

Thursday, January 9, 2014

Homemade Dairy-Free Sour Cream (nut-free, soy-free, vegan)



Do you ever crave that rich, creamy taste of sour cream but are sensitive to dairy products? I created a very simple replacement for sour cream that can be dolloped over baked potatoes or yams, spooned over beans and rice, added to tacos, used to make a layered taco salad, or used to make no-bake "cheesecakes"!! Seriously, where can't you add a spoonful of this rich dairy-free sour cream?

This recipe can actually be found in my brand new, completely revised Whole Life Nutrition Cookbook. I created a whole new chapter entitled "Get Cultured!" full of healthy cultured foods like this one. Think Live Hot Pepper Relish, Pickled Basil Beets, Kombucha (with flavor variations), Coconut Milk Yogurt, and so much more! I just couldn't wait to share this recipe with you so I decided to post it today. If you are interested, the new book releases on April 29th, 2014, and is available for preorder now!

Monday, August 13, 2012

Nightshade-Free Salsa



The other week I was picking my daughter up from art camp and another mother came up to me to let me know the changes in her health that came about after following our Elimination Diet years ago. She said that she looks and feels so different now and is not the person she used to be....in a good way. She was beautiful and her skin was glowing! One of the things she discovered through the elimination diet process was a severe sensitivity to nightshade vegetables. You know what those are, right? Tomatoes, tomatillos, potatoes, eggplant, spicy peppers (including cayenne pepper), sweet peppers (including paprika), pimentos, tobacco, as well as goji berries and golden berries.

Symptoms of a nightshade sensitivity include:
  • joint pain
  • rashes
  • GI upset
  • fatigue
  • headaches
  • migraines
  • inflammation
All nightshade plants, including those growing in the wild, contain toxic alkaloid compounds. In foods, like tomatoes and peppers, these compounds are only found in small amounts so most people can process and remove them from the body and no harm is done. In wild plants, these compounds are found in a much higher concentration, sometimes causing death if ingested.

In people that cannot process these alkaloids very well, (and since many people consume nightshade vegetables on a daily basis) these compounds can build up in the body, which can contribute to certain health issues. Of course not all people are sensitive to nightshades so don't get too concerned here that you need to eliminate yet another food from your diet! If you suspect that your body might not be tolerating nightshades then do a simple elimination diet and keep them completely out of your diet (yes, that means 100%) for 3 weeks and then add them back in, noting how you feel.

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

How to Make Gluten-Free Gravy



Making gluten-free gravy is so simple. No need to add butter and make a roux. I have a few tips for creating rich, flavorful pan juices from cooking a bird, whether it be a turkey or chicken. These photos use a local, pastured, organic chicken, but I cook a whole turkey the same way using a larger stainless steel roasting pan. And if you want nothing to do with cooking a turkey this year then check out my recipe for this vegetarian main dish: Butternut Squash Casserole with Sage and Shallots.

To create rich pan juices, place your rinsed bird in a glass baking pan (9 x 13-inch for chicken or 10 x 14-inch for turkey). Chop up a large onion and a few stalks of celery. Toss them with a few teaspoons of Herbamare. Fill the cavity of the chicken with the celery and onions. If you are cooking a turkey you can use your favorite gluten-free stuffing recipe. I use my Wild Rice Stuffing.

Place the remainder of the celery and onions around the bird in the bottom of the pan. Add plenty of sprigs of fresh herbs, such as rosemary, thyme, sage, and marjoram. Add a few chopped carrots and a whole head of garlic, cut in half cross-wise.

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Raw Caramel Dip for Apples

Happy Autumnal Equinox! As the evenings become as crisp as the apples, darkness begins to triumph over light. Today we celebrate the closure of summer, the dying of the light, and prepare ourselves for a new season. Autumn. As the trees shed their leaves and the plants die back, shedding old beliefs or thought patterns and going inward to feel our roots, our connection with the earth, can be quite powerful at this time.

Last night I was part of an equinox celebration (albeit a day early). The night was crisp and the sky crystal clear with the moon almost full. A warm fire, songs, and good food shared amongst friends composed most of our celebration. One friend brought a delectable raw caramel dip and sliced fresh apples. It was so tasty that I tried to recreate it today. Success! It tastes very close to her version (thanks Janet). Enjoy!

Saturday, August 7, 2010

Spicy Peach Chutney Recipe


One of my favorite things to cook is Indian food. We recently had a large family reunion with over 60 people. Each night a family hosted a dinner with a different theme. Our night was Indian night. Along with the contributions of a few of my cousins, we made Indian Chicken Curry, Lentil Spinach Dal, Saag Paneer, Rice with Potatoes and Saffron, Raw Cilantro Lime Chutney, and this very spicy and easy Peach Chutney; all to feed 60 people. Other family members brought some incredible side dishes and appetizers such as Chicken Satay and Chicken simmered with Onions, Spinach, and Tomatoes.

This chutney recipe was a last minute addition of mine and we all thought it was so delicious that it deserved to be photographed and added to this blog!

The trick to removing the peach skin easily is to drop the peaches into boiling water for about 30 seconds. Remove the peaches with a slotted spoon and place them into an ice water bath. The skin will easily slip off with little effort. If your peaches are on the firmer side you may be able to simply remove the skin with a paring knife and skip the boiling water altogether.

Thursday, April 15, 2010

Dairy-Free Nacho Cheese Sauce

I am really excited to share with you today an amazing Dairy-Free Cookbook and Guidebook, Go Dairy Free, by Alisa Fleming! The fantastic nacho sauce recipe below comes from this book. I am also giving away a copy of the book, which will be sent to you directly from the author. Details at the bottom of the post.

This book is perfect for those of you looking for natural alternatives to your favorite dairy products, such as cheese, ice cream, milk, sour cream, and more. Go Dairy Free contains different recipes for each of those foods plus simple substitution ideas for practically all dairy products imaginable. From "Dairy-Free Fetta-ish to "Sunflower Seed Cheese to "Cashew Yogurt" to "Whipped Coconut Buttery Spread" to "Cashew Chai Frosting" this book has it all!

The book is about half recipes and half information on dairy. It starts out with "What is Dairy?" then moves into pasteurization and homogenization and the potential risks of these practices, and then on to evidence-based connections with dairy consumption and health issues which range from acne to cancer. Finally, if you are asking the question: "Where am I to get my calcium?" Alisa delves into non-dairy calcium-rich foods and other surprising secrets to strong bones. There are also chapters dedicated to dairy addiction, infants and food allergies, dining out, and reading food labels.

Go Dairy Free is a wonderful cookbook with so many great recipes. Most of the baking recipes contain gluten but the cheese alternatives are all gluten-free. I made macaroni and cheese today using the Orange Cheesy Sauce recipe from the book and Tinkyada rice noodles. My kids devoured it! Glad I got a photo before it was all gone!

The Five-Minute Nachos were equally delicious though my kids were not as fond of them. They did eat some though. Nachos are a funny thing for me because I have had them maybe only a handful of times during the course of my life. I just wasn't raised on highly processed foods. I was so happy to find this recipe in Alisa's book because it is made from healthy ingredients, all of which I had on hand. Well, except for roasted red bell peppers. I did have a few fresh ones in the fridge I so quickly roasted one in the oven. This ingredient is key! I initially made the sauce without it and it was so awful I had to compost it. Then I remade the sauce, added my freshly roasted pepper (after removing the skin), and voila - absolutely amazing dairy-free cheese sauce! Seriously, this sauce is addicting in a good way. My advice: follow her recipes exactly!

Dairy-Free Nacho Cheese Sauce adapted from the book, Go Dairy Free, by Alisa Fleming

You'll love this nutritious "cheese" sauce recipe! It is very quick to prepare and can be made into a meal when topped with black beans or shredded chicken, chopped cabbage, and sauteed vegetables. The tortilla chips in these photos are homemade. I use sprouted corn tortillas and slice them into quarters using a pizza cutter then toss them in avocado oil, garlic powder, smoked paprika, and Herbamare. I spread them into one layer on a cookie sheet and bake in the oven at 375 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes. You'll want to turn them with a spatula one or two times during baking. Let them cool completely before using.

1/4 cup raw cashews
1 cup unsweetened non-dairy milk (cashew, soy, or hemp)
2 tablespoons grapeseed oil or olive oil
2 ounces roasted red bell peppers
2 tablespoons arrowroot powder
2 tablespoons nutritional yeast flakes
2 to 3 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
3/4 teaspoon Herbamare or sea salt

Optional Toppings:
sliced black olives
salsa
avocado
black beans
chopped cabbage
cilantro

Place all ingredients into a blender fitted with a sharp blade or a Vita-Mix. Blend until super creamy. Pour into a small saucepan and whisk over medium heat until thickened, about 3 to 5 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool slightly before pouring using. The sauce will thicken as it cools. Pour over a plate of corn chips and top with your favorite toppings. Serve immediately. You could also stir into the sauce a can of diced green chiles if desired (the original recipe call for this).

**Note: To roast red bell peppers, place them into a baking dish or onto a cookie sheet. Roast in a preheated oven on "broil" until the skin is charred, about 8 to 10 minutes. Remove from oven and place into a bowl, cover with a plate, and let cool. Once cooled, the skin slides off easily and you can cut them in half and remove the seeds and stem. *One very small pepper is about 2 ounces, which is what is needed for this recipe.

Other resources by this author include the very popular Go Dairy Free website, her personal blog, One Frugal Foodie, and her new blog Dairy-Free Fitness.



Win a copy of Go Dairy Free!

To be entered in this drawing, please leave a comment below. Be sure to use your initials or some way of identifying yourself amongst everyone else. Anonymous comments need to be initialed please! And please only enter if you plan on checking back to see if you won. I will announce the winner here and in my next post. Drawing will be open until Monday, April 19th, 2010 at 9pm PST.

To enter more than once:
  • Tweet this post on Twitter and come back and leave another comment mentioning you did.
  • Share this post on Facebook and come back and leave a second or third comment mentioning you did.
Note: All comments are in moderation to avoid showing nasty spam comments with links to viagra and stuff like that. Your comment will be published when either Tom or I are at the computer and click "publish." Thanks for understanding! :)

This drawing is now CLOSED!

Update: And the WINNER is....Comment #126, drawn using random.org.

Here is the comment:
Lynn V. said...
"I was so excited to see this book that I sat at the bookseller for more than an hour writing down recipes (limited income). My grandson loves ice cream; it is difficult for both of us when I take him to dairy queen. Your cookbook is wonderfully helpful and I'm waiting for the new one. I love the generous way you share recipes and resources."
April 17, 2010 7:19 PM

Lynn V., could you please email me your mailing address? Thanks everyone for entering your comments into this great giveaway!

To answer the comments about yeast containing glutamates: Yes, yeast does contain glutamates. In fact, most foods rich in proteins do. Glutamic Acid (Glutamate) is an amino acid. Sequences of amino acids make up proteins. Therefore, foods that are rich in proteins such as meats, poultry, fish, eggs, yeasts, kombu, and dairy products are rich in glutamates.



Thursday, March 25, 2010

Fresh Papaya Salsa

While we were in Hawaii we lived off of papayas. Papayas with lime for breakfast, papayas in green smoothies, and fresh papaya salsa. We packed rice, quinoa, and pink beans with us. I found it very easy to make a large pot of pink beans, cooked with cumin and onions, to have on hand for quick lunches and dinners.

The sublime flavor of ripe papayas was delicious. I took full advantage of their juiciness and made several large batches of salsa to put over our beans and rice or fish and rice. The salsa even doubled as a "salad dressing" when tossed with fresh greens.

The papaya photos you see here were not taken in Hawaii (except for the market shot above). The papayas I found here were not as ripe, dark, juicy, or as full of flavor compared to those in Hawaii (well, of course!). Still though, they made excellent salsa!

Fresh Papaya Salsa

Even if you don't live in a tropical place and want to try a papaya, you can find them at some health food stores or Hispanic markets. When we were in Hawaii, I made this salsa with halved local cherry tomatoes. I didn't add them to the salsa in these photos but you can. Remember to score your unripe papayas gently with a knife (shallow, lengthwise slits) to help let out some of the sap. The salsa will keep in the fridge in an airtight container for up to 4 days.

3 cups diced fresh papaya
2 cups cherry tomatoes, halved (optional)
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
3 to 4 green onions, thinly sliced into rounds
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and finely diced
1 to 2 limes, juiced
dash extra virgin olive oil
1/2 teaspoon Herbamare or sea salt

Toss all ingredients together in a bowl. Let sit for about 10 minutes before serving to let the flavors mingle. Serve over mixed greens, beans and rice, or grilled fish. Source: www.NourishingMeals.com

Other raw recipes you might like:

The Winners of the Cookbook Giveaway have been posted! We brought Cumin with us as our only spice! We also brought Herbamare but I didn't consider this a spice. Since I wasn't clear, we picked a name from both the cumin group and the Herbamare group! Chaos and Love, who guessed cumin won as did Shanda who guessed Herbamare! Please email me your shipping addresses. Thanks everyone for participating!

Anybody have a favorite, unusual Salsa Recipe to share? If so, leave the recipe in the comment section below so we can all enjoy it! Happy Spring! -Ali :)

Sunday, February 28, 2010

Pepper-Mint Dressing & Marinade


Today I thought I would share something simple. A salad dressing recipe made from fresh spearmint and black peppercorns. Hence the name, Pepper-Mint (not to be confused with peppermint). Use it on your favorite salad or use it to marinate chicken or fish. This dressing is vinegar-free and fits right into our guidelines for Phase 3 of the Elimination Diet.

Fresh spearmint can be found at your local food co-op or health food store (or growing wild in your garden if you didn't contain the roots like me)! We pulled most of the mint out of our garden last year because it was taking over. Though I do have a few plants creeping up in the herb garden right now.

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Spicy Dairy-Free Tahini Dip


I thought you might enjoy this thick and creamy dairy-free dip recipe for your upcoming holiday gatherings. It would make a great appetizer! In this recipe I use a fresh jalapeño pepper and cayenne pepper for a very spicy dip, but below the recipe I have a variation for a non-spicy herbed version.

This recipe is a slightly altered version of one found in a very lovely cookbook entitled, I Am Grateful, Recipes and Lifestyle of Cafe Gratitude. This cookbook is primarily a raw foods cookbook (or uncookbook I should say). In addition to the wonderful recipes with color photos, the book permeates warmth and love. Each recipe is an affirmation. I Am Flowing for a veggie noodle dish, or I Am Light for a dairy-free Tzatziki recipe, or how about I Am Cherished for a Cashew Lemon Cheesecake? They all sound so inviting, don't they?

I can feel the loving energy that was put forth to create this book on each and every page and this is why I want to share it with you. I have other raw food books, but I like this one because of how approachable it is. Enjoy!

Friday, July 31, 2009

Raw Cilantro Lime Chutney


We had a cooler evening yesterday, perfect for Indian food I thought. I made up a double batch of the Lentil and Spinach Dal recipe from my cookbook along with two different curries. One was a potato chickpea curry and the other was a patty pan squash curry. We served everything over brown basmati rice. With all of the cooked food I like to serve something raw that will help digest the meal.

I began making this raw cilantro lime chutney a year or two ago. The flavors were inspired from a chutney served at this wonderful Indian restaurant adjacent to the Kirkland PCC (Seattle area). Tom and I used to occasionally dine there years ago while we were attending Bastyr University.

My children don't eat the chutney, it's just too spicy for them, though they always love the dal and curries I serve it with! We hope you enjoy this too!


Raw Cilantro Lime Chutney

Serve this chutney with a spicy lentil dal or curried vegetable dish. You can use my measurements below or just toss the ingredients into the food processor with wild abandon and see what comes of it. Most likely it will be delicious, this is how I do it anyways! :)

2 large jalapeño peppers, seeded 
2-inch piece of peeled ginger
4 large cloves of garlic
zest from 1 large lime
1/2 teaspoon sea salt

2 large bunches cilantro (stems and leaves)
juice from 1 large lime
1/2 cup shredded coconut

Place the jalapeño peppers, ginger, garlic, lime zest, and salt into a food processor fitted with the "s" blade and process until minced. Add the remaining ingredients and pulse until combined. Store in your refrigerator for up to a week. 

Other raw recipes you might enjoy: