Raw Vegan Ceasar Salad

Wash and chop fresh organic romaine lettuce leaves into a large salad bowl.  Pour a generous amount of dressing over the lettuce in the bowl.  Toss vigorously!  Then, to serve, add whatever salad vegetables you would like to the top--avocado, tomato, fresh corn cut off the cob, shaved fennel (as is in the picture) and/or sprouts.  Enjoy the succulent texture and flavor of this delicious salad!  I sure did!!! Yum!!! 

Raw, Vegan Caesar Salad Dressing (makes about 1 1/4 cups)

1/2 c cashews
1/4 c hemp (if you can’t afford or don’t have hemp seeds, all cashews is fine, too)
1/4 c nutritional yeast
1/4 tsp salt
2 lemons juice
black pepper
3 pitted dates
1 tsp kelp granules (optional, but good for recreating the anchovy taste)
3/4 c water
2 large stalks celery

Blend all ingredients together in a high speed blender, or, if you haven’t got one, soak the nuts first and put it all in a regular blender. Serve over romaine lettuce and any other veggies you like. I, for one, kicked up traditional Caesar (which is basically romaine, and nothing more) with some cherry tomatoes, fennel, avocado, and celery. It rocked my world:

From:
http://www.choosingraw.com

Autumn Harvest Salad

Autumn Harvest Salad 

4 medium carrots
4 medium beets
2 medium apples (or 3 small)                                             

Dressing:

1/4 tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp cumin
Celtic sea salt to taste

3 Tbsp. cold-pressed olive oil

Juice from 1 lemon

Mix the dressing ingredients together in a small bowl.  (I just whisked it together with a fork.)   Run your carrots, apples, and beets through a food processor to create small match sticks and add them to a large bowl.  Toss with your dressing.   When serving, garnish with another drizzle of olive oil over the top and salt if desired.

From:  Charmaine Vierra, www.modernmanna.org

Raw Un-Brownies

Un-Brownies

1½ cups raw walnuts

10-15 pitted dates

1/3 cup carob powder

½ tsp vanilla or cherry extract

2 tsp water

¼ cup chopped dried cherries

dash Celtic sea salt

Chop ¼ cup walnuts and set aside.  Place remaining walnuts in food processor and process until finely ground.  Add dates then process.  Add remaining ingredients then process.  Pack firmly into a square container and top with chopped walnuts.  Store in Refrigerator.

From: Charmaine Vierra, www.modernmanna.org

Lazy-Raw Lasagna

Lazy-Raw Lasagna 

Sliced Tomato

Wilted Spinach
2 cups Spinach
1-2 Tbsp. Cold-Pressed Olive oil
1-2 tsp. Celtic sea salt

Wash and chop spinach.  Toss with olive oil (a bit, like 1-2 Tbsp for 2 cups) and sea salt (about 1-2 tsp for the same amount).  Set aside while preparing the other ingredients.

Zucchini Noodles
If using organic, or you have a good pesticide wash, use the skin – it’s delicious and adds color.  With a peeler, slice thinly.  If it's a long zucchini, cut it in half width-wise first.  Also, it helps to take off a layer on one side so it's flat and then put that side down and slice from other side - so it's not all rolling about.

Tomato Sauce
In a blender, combine 2 large chopped tomatoes, 1-2Tbsp olive oil, 1-2 cloves de-rooted garlic, sundried tomatoes, and some de-stemmed basil (optional).  Blend well.  Let it sit for a bit so the sundried tomatoes can absorb the liquid.  Then blend a bit more.

Cheezy Sauce
1cup raw macadamia nuts, soaked, drained, and well rinsed
3 Tbsp nutritional yeast  (ESSENTIAL INGREDIENT.  Do not ever try and make any sort of raw or vegan cheese without it.  If you're worried about getting enough B12 in your daily life, use the one with the extra B12 in it.  It's more expensive, but still reasonable.)
1-2 Tbsp cold-pressed olive oil
¼ cup water
1/2 -1 Tbsp fresh squeezed lemon juice
¼ tsp Celtic sea salt
Food process all ingredients until you've achieved a creamy texture. You might need to add a BIT more water to keep it moving.  Add very little at a time otherwise it'll be runny.

Assembly
Make one layer of zucchini pieces, put a slice of tomato, cover in cheese, wilted spinach, tomato sauce; put a layer of zucchini going the other way (like if the first layer they were facing north-south, 2nd layer is facing east-west), repeat other steps; one more layer of noodles (back to north-south), tomato sauce and cheese and top with a tiny piece of tomato or basil or however else you would like to make it look pretty.

From:  Charmaine Vierra, www.modernmanna.org

Live Carob Mousse

Carob Mousse  (yield 2 cups)  (food processor or blender)

2 ripe avocados

1-2 Tbsp. vanilla extract to taste

10-20 soaked and pitted dates (soak for 2 hours-if using Medjool then don’t need to soak)

¼ cup raw agave nectar (optional)

¼ cup raw carob powder

½ tsp. cinnamon

1 Tbsp. raw coconut oil (optional - this makes it really creamy with a slight coconut flavor, but you can also leave it out)  PUT JAR IN WARM WATER TO MELT

Strawberries, sliced, for garnish

Water from soaked dated as needed

Combine the avocados, vanilla extract, dates, and agave in your food processor or blender.  A food processor works better, but I have used my blender.  As it mixes, slowly add the carob powder, and add water to achieve desired consistency.  Then add the coconut oil, if using.  It will probably take awhile to blend so be patient.  You will need a spatula to scrape down the sides and make sure that it mixes completely.  You don't want any green avocado chunks!  Chill, top with sliced strawberries, and enjoy!


Please Note:  The first time I made this, I used 20 dates and added the agave.  It was way too sweet for me!!! So the next time, I left the agave out and used less dates.  It was much better that way.  Now, if you are using it as an icing for a raw cake, then you would probably want it to be sweeter so you would use more dates and/or agave.  Make it how you like it :-)  ES

From:  Charmaine Vierra, www.modernmanna.org

Live Mock Salmon

Mock Salmon  (yield 1 ½ cups)

1 -1 ½ cups Mac Cream (see Live Pizza-par excellence for this recipe)

½ cup red onion, minced

2 tsp minced garlic

1/3 cup dill chopped (no stems)

1 ½ cups carrot pulp 

1/8 tsp. Dulse

1/3 tsp. Kelp

2 tsp. grated ginger

Mix all ingredients together in a bowl.  Best if allowed to sit in refrigerator overnight.  Spread on flax seed crackers, wrap in a lettuce leaf, place scoop on salad, etc.

From:  Charmaine Vierra, www.modernmanna.org

Raw Living Pizza

Live Pizza Crust  (yield 1 crust)  (food processor)

1 ½ cups sprouted buckwheat groats

1 clove garlic

Celtic sea salt, spices, and herbs to taste – i.e. italian seasoning, garlic powder, onion powder, basil, parsley, oregano

2/3 cup flax seeds, soaked 1 hr.

1/4 cup cold-pressed olive oil

2/3 cup carrot pulp

Combine all ingredients in food processor and process for 1 minute, scraping bowl once.  Spread onto a solid dehydrator sheet using an offset spatula.  Dehydrate at 105 degrees ~5-6 hours or until top is dry. Transfer to a mesh dehydrating sheet and dehydrate for another 5-6 hours until dry.  Top with ¾-1cup Mac Cream, ~½ cup Bar B’Que sauce, and veggies of choice.  Veggie examples:  diced green onions, cauliflower pulsed in food processor w/#5 blade, butternut squash w/fine shredding disk in food processor, diced red pepper, zucchini (cut in half lengthwise) and sliced in food processor, sliced cherry tomatoes, sliced olives, basil chiffonade.  (Flax Crackers can also be used as pizza crust)

Sprouting Buckwheat Groats

Place 1 cup raw organic buckwheat groat seeds into a bowl or sprouter. Add 2-3 times as much cool, purified water.  Swish seeds around to ensure even water contact for all.  Allow seeds to soak overnight.  Drain off the soak water.  Rinse thoroughly with cool, purified water.  Groats create very starchy water; it’s very thick!  They won’t sprout well unless rinsed well, so rinse until the water runs clear.  Drain thoroughly.  You can add to your sprouter at this time or simply put the sprouts in a colander and cover with a tea towel.  Set out of direct sunlight at room temperature (70 degrees is optimal - if it’s too cold they won’t sprout). Rinse and drain again in 4-8 hours.  Groats will have 1/8-1/4 inch tails. 

1 cup raw groats yields approximately 1 ½ cups sprouted groats.

Mac Cream  (yield 2 cups)  (food processor or blender)

1 cup raw macadamia nuts - soaked, drained, and rinsed (purified water)

1/2 cup fresh-squeezed lemon juice

1 Tbsp. chopped garlic

1 cup raw cashews - soaked, drained, and rinsed (purified water)

1 ½ tsp. Celtic sea salt (to taste)

¼ -½ cup purified water if needed

Blend until creamy.

Bar B’Que Sauce  (yield 1 ¼ cups)  (blender)

1 cup tomatoes – de-seeded and coarse chopped

½ cup sundried tomatoes (packed in oil) – chopped

¾ tsp. minced jalapeño

½ cup dates pitted (soak if needed)

1 tsp. Celtic sea salt

¼ cup chopped onion

½ tsp. minced garlic

4 fresh de-stemmed basil leaves

Combine all ingredients except sundried tomatoes and dates.  Blend until smooth or leave chunky (your preference)  Add sundried tomatoes and dates and blend until smooth or leave chunky.


From: www.bellavegan.com by Charmaine Vierra

Zucchini Noodles with Pesto

Pesto  (yield 1 cup)  (food processor)

2 cups de-stemmed basil

1/2 cup raw walnuts

2 cloves garlic

1/3 cup cold-pressed olive oil

Celtic sea salt and a pinch cayenne to taste - optional

Combine the basil, nuts, and garlic in a food processor and process until it forms a course paste.  Slowly add the olive oil in a steady drizzle and continue to process until it becomes a smooth texture.  Optional:  season with salt and cayenne to taste.  Mix with raw zucchini noodles.

From:  Charmaine Vierra, www.modernmanna.org

Zucchini Noodles with Live Marinara

Live Marinara  (yield 1 ¼ cups)  (blender)
 

½ cup sundried tomatoes (I use Bella Sun Luci brand without oil and then add the olive oil--they are very moist and flavorful-ES)

3 medium tomatoes - deseeded and quartered

1 lg. clove garlic

Small handful fresh de-stemmed basil leaves

2 Tbsp. cold-pressed olive oil (can reduce amount if using sundried tomatoes in oil)

1 Tbsp. nutritional yeast - Vitamin B12 fortified preferred

2 Tbsp. raw cashews - soaked, drained and rinsed (purified water)

¼ cup purified water

Combine half the fresh tomatoes along with the sundried tomatoes, garlic, cashews, olive oil, nutritional yeast and water.  Blend until smooth.  Add the remaining fresh tomatoes and basil and just pulse, leaving a chunky consistency.  Serve over raw zucchini noodles (using Paderno Spirooli Slicer).

From: Charmaine Vierra, www.modernmanna.org

Totally Lit Smoothie

Totally Lit Smoothie

Apple (core included) – 1 large, quartered

Strawberries - 6

Blueberries – ¼ to ½ cup

Bananas – 2 sliced (avg size)

Oranges – 1, peeled & separated

Kiwi – 1 to 2, peeled & sliced

Flaxseed oil – 2 to 4 Tbsp

Flaxseed – 1 Tbsp

Pumpkin seeds – ¼ cup

Almonds – ¼ cup

Sunflower seeds – ¼ cup

Kale – large handful torn leaves

Organic Whole Apple Juice-1 cup or more as needed

SuperManna – 2 scoops

Ice to chill – ~½ cup

Blend all ingredients until smooth. This recipe is Danny Vierra's (of Bella Vita Lifestyle Center) morning smoothie recipe.  He drinks this as his breakfast every morning. When I make it, I use all organic ingredients and fresh squeezed apple juice.  It's very energizing!  Enjoy!

From: Charmaine Vierra, www.modernmanna.org