Raw Recipes - Cauliflower and Parsnip Pilaf

1 large head of cauliflower - I pick the heads with no brown spots
3 medium parsnips
1/4 c raw pine nuts
1/8 c olive oil
1 tsp salt*
2 tsp rosemary

Chop the cauliflower and parsnips into large pieces. Pulse in the food processor a little so that it is still very coarsely chopped. Add the rest of the ingredients and chop until about the size of rice grains.
Empty into a serving bowl.

Always adjust recipes to suit you.  Ingredients like olive oil, salt, spices can be adjusted if you like less or more.  This salad is surprisingly filling, so don’t skimp on the olive oil or pine nuts, because they are the “meat” of the meal.  More recipes to complement and make full meals coming soon.

*Himalayan pink salt is supposed to be the purest salt available.
A more affordable option is Real Salt finely ground salt powder which dissolves easily. I have also used the regular Real Salt with no problems. It can be found at health food stores and Whole Foods.

Veggie Love

We all hear that we must eat more vegetables, but most of us find them a boring prospect. For a long time now I have also heard that it is not good to eat heated oil. I ignored this possibility, blissfully enjoying my sauteed greens. I have cooked for years with oil, but am now finding ways to avoid doing so. I found a way to cook yummy veggies without heating oil (I was never big on plain old steamed veggies):

You can use a steamer, but I prefer the following method:

I use a large (12 inch is good) cast iron skillet. These are perfect for some kinds of high heat cooking, quick cooking, and beginner cooks, because they are very durable in high heat. (thorough info about cast iron pans I found a random lid that fit well.
For kale, broccoli, zucchini, green beans, sweet peas 1/4 onion sliced very thin adds a nice flavor.
For consistent results, I have found that it is best not to overfill the pan.

I get the empty pan good and hot, but not too hot where it starts smoking. Then I transfer all veg quickly into the hot pan. It appears to me that the pan cools a little from the addition of the veggies. After pouring a mere 2 tbsp water over the vegetables I quickly close the lid. The idea is to steam the veggies quickly. The pan needs to be hot enough that a small amount of water should turn to steam.

After about 1 minute, I open the pan, stir and add another tbsp water, close again and wait one more minute.

At this point the veggies are still bright green, but cooked enough to eat, and I transfer them to a large bowl, toss with olive oil and a good quality salt a little ground pepper, and serve.

I made up this method in my insular little kitchen world — would love to hear feedback from readers.

Chocolate Chocolate Chocolate

The word of the day is that chocolate has anti-oxidants and good for you stuff. We also know it has some not so good for you stuff.
After doing extensive reading on the subject, I concluded that if you use your raw chocolate in moderation, it should be fine. This seems to me to be common sense:
For instance after eating one candy bar (not that I recommend it, due to the presence of sugars, processing, and possibly trans-fat) most people feel that pleasant chocolate happy feeling. After eating 10 candy bars, most people feel pretty bad.

Here is a web page with a lot of easy to read information about chocolate:
http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/choco.html

You can grind your own raw cacao beans or raw cacao chocolate nibs in a spice grinder or coffee grinder, or you can purchase the finely ground powder (widely available on raw food online stores and health food stores).

Add raw chocolate to breakfast shakes, almond milk banana smoothies. I like pouring out a handful of cacao nibs onto a small plate with some raw cashew pieces or raw almonds and nibbling while I catch up on emails, check out cool videos on youtube, drink tea, read the news, etc. The bitter nibs mix well with the natural sweetness of the nuts.
If you don’t have a health food store handy, you can order from any number of online sources. Two I have used to buy raw food products are:
http://www.livingtreecommunity.com
http://www.alissacohen.com