Berry Buckwheat Muffins

So part of our raw food kick has been using more raw buckwheat, which is Gluten Free!  And as you might have guessed, this recipe is not "raw" because I don't have a dehydrator.  To tell you the truth, I'm not all that certain I really want one.  I'm convinced that owning one of those contraptions creates a sort of obsession with raw food.  Yes you can make raw pancakes, raw breads, raw muffins, crackers, wraps, etc.  But you have to use a lot of nuts, seeds, and oils in most of those recipes, making them high in fat and not all that healthy.  And when you consume anything dehydrated, your body has to rehydrate those foods for digestion.

Of course, I'll make things raw when I can but as long as I'm using organic whole food ingredients in my recipes, I have no problem at all with cooked food!

These Blueberry Buckwheat Muffins are from "Get It Ripe" by Jae Steele.

Berry Buckwheat Muffins
Ingredients 1 3/4

1 3/4 cups whole raw buckwheat
2 cups filtered room temperature water
1/2 cup maple syrup
1/3 cup organic Unsweetened Soy Milk or Almond Milk
1/3 cup flax seeeds
1/4 cup coconut oil
2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
zest of 1 organic lemon (2 tsp lightly packed)
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp anise seeds, ground (optional)
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 cups frozen (not thawed) mixed berries

Rinse buckwheat, then combine it in a bowl with the room temperature filtered water and soak overnight (or combine with the just-boiled water and soak for 1 hour)

Preheat oven to 375F. Prepare a muffin tray with paper liners.  You'll need 16 cups instead of 12.

Pour soaked buckwheat (along with any unabsorbed water) into food processor or blender, add the syrup, milk, flax seeds, oil, lemon juice, zest, anise and salt, and give it a whirl for about 1 minute, until the buckwheat kernels are blended down.  Add the baking powder and soda, and blend again for 10 seconds to combine.

Pour the batter into a large bowl and fold in the blueberries with a silicone spatula.

Portion batter into muffin cups, filling them to the top, and bake for 25 minutes, until the tops are domed and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Stores in an airtight container for up to 2 days, or in fridge for up to a week.
 

Super Quick: Steamed Kale with Cashew Gravy and Brown Rice Spaghetti

"How can we make Kale delicious so we can eat more of it?"  That's my daily Mantra for 2011! 

This recipe comes from Jae Steele's "Get it Ripe: A Fresh Take on Vegan Cooking and Living".  It was a total hit at my house, especially for my husband who went back for heaping seconds of just kale and gravy after he said "don't put so much kale on my plate" :)

And BONUS, this recipe is Gluten Free!
Ingredients
1 bunch of fresh organic green kale, washed
1 bag of Tinkyada brown rice spaghetti (best price is on Vitacost.com!)
2 tbsp olive oil (I omited this)
1 lrg or 2 medium cloves garlic, crushed or grated
1/ cup cashews ground to a powder, not paste
1/2 tsp celery seeds (optional)
1 1/2 cups filtered water
2-3 tbsp tamari, or to taste (I used 1 1/2)
2 tbsp arrowroot powder or cornstarch, dissolved in an additional 1/2 cup water
freshly ground pepper to taste

Jae says to cook the garlic in the olive oil, but I just threw all of the ingredients from the garlic down to the pepper into the Vitamix!  I steamed the kale in a steamer basked while cooking the noodles.  Then I poured the sauce from the Vitamix into a pan to warm and assembled everything when the noodles were done.   So, it all took about 17 minutes total, maybe 20 if you count waiting for the water to boil for the noodles.  I have a quick boil setting on my stove top.

Try this one out and let me know how your kids and/or significant other like it!

Estimated Eat for Health MANDI Score per serving: 12.2
10 for the Kale
1.0 for the Cashew Gravy
1.2 for the Brown Rice Pasta

COST: Not counting condiments and seasonings, the total cost of the meal was $6.28!
Kale- $2.37/large bundle at Hoover's Essential Health Market

Raw Cashew Pieces- $4.29/lb (estimated .75 for 1/2 cup)

Tinkyada Brown Rice Pasta- $3.16 at Vitacost (and I bought during a free shipping deal last month!)

 

Cashew Cream Tomato Soup

We have so many tomatoes coming out of our garden that I have trouble using them up before they go bad!  Well, this recipe was one of the best uses of garden tomatoes.  So easy to make and so delicious!  

The recipe comes from Jae Steele's book "Get It Ripe: A Fresh Take on Vegan Cooking and Living".  Serves 5-6.

Ingredients

1 cup raw cashews, soaked in filtered water for 4-8 hours then rinsed and drained

1 1/2 cups filtered water or veg stock

1 tbsp olive oil (I used two tbsp broth instead)

1 large or 2 medium onions (about 3 cups)

3 cups diced fresh tomatoes or 28 oz crushed tomatoes in juice

3 large cloves garlic

2 tbsp minced fresh basil leaves or 2 tsp fresh dill weed

2 tsp maple syrup or other natural sweetener

1 tsp sea salt

1/8 tsp cayenne pepper

2 medium-sized ripe tomatoes, diced

Process the soaked cashews and water in a food processor or blender for about 1 min until very smooth, and set aside.

Heat broth on medium high heat. Add the onions and sautee until onions soften and begin to turn translucent. Add the 3 cups tomatoes, garlic, basil or dill, syrup, salt and cayenne, and stir to combine.

Increase heat to bring to a boil. Once boiling, reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 20-30 minutes (the longer the better), stirring occasionally.

Remove from heat. Puree soup with a hand blender (be careful of hot liquid) while slowly adding cashew milk (otherwise transfer to a food processor or blender to puree and add cashew milk then return to pot) for about 30 seconds or until smooth.

Stir in the 2 diced tomatoes for finishing and re-heat for another 5 minutes.

Books We're Cooking From: Get It Ripe

I found out about Jae Steele's "Get it Ripe: A Fresh Take on Vegan Cooking and Living" through the North American Vegetarian Society's quarterly magazine, Vegetarian Voice.  The small description about the book really peeked my interest because it mentioned she was a Holistic Health Counselor.  It's not often that I find books on Vegan nutrition that are written by someone with this kind of educational background, so I had to get the book!

Jae's book is more than a cookbook, it is guide to organic whole foods vegan nutrition.  She covers topics like digestion, warming and cooling foods, and a small chapter on cleansing. 


Her mission is to "encourage a positive food movement that supports DIY cooking with whole foods...food that really nourishes us, that we can build a community around".  She also believes that we should strive to get our vitamins and minerals from our food instead of supplements.

Well, I've only tried six recipes so far and out of those I've really enjoyed

• Cashew Cream Tomato Soup
• Sesame Kale Soba
• Cashew Gravy
• Green Tahini Dressing
• Sesame Miso Dressing

I'll be posting the recipes to some of these, probably the Kale recipe first since I'm behind on my goal of getting one kale recipe up every week!