Adventures in Raw Food

This recipe for a raw fruit crisp (or raw fruit crumble) is absolutely fabulous! And it’s very easy to make!

Fabulous Raw Fruit Crisp or Fruit Crumble Recipe

Topping:

1 cup organic walnuts
1 cup organic pecans
1/4 cup uncooked quick oats
1/2 cup organic shredded coconut
4 medjool or other moist organic dates, pitted
1 Tablespoon agave nectar

Filling:

1 small container strawberries (mine are 8.8 ounces or 250 grams)
1 small container blueberries (6 ounces or 170 grams)
1 small container raspberries (4.4 ounces or 125 grams)
1 Tablespoon agave nectar

Directions:

Place all topping ingredients in bowl of food processor with the ‘s’ blade (the curved cutting blade). Pulse until all ingredients are uniformly processed and crumbly, with crumbs no larger than pea-sized.

Empty topping out of food processor into another bowl and set aside.

Put food processor bowl back together (do not rinse or clean) with the ‘s’ blade.

Rinse all of the berries and let drain well. Keep each type of berry separate.

Remove any leaves and stems from the strawberries. Cut the strawberries in half (if they are very large cut them in quarters).

Put the strawberries in the food processor and pulse them just a little, until they are chopped, but not too finely.

Now add the blueberries to the food processor and pulse again, just enough to chop the blueberries up a bit.

Finally, add the raspberries and the agave nectar, and pulse again to get all of the berries finely chopped and well mixed and the agave nectar well incorporated.

Spread the filling evenly in the bottom of an 8×8 pan. I use a square 8×8 plastic container (such as Rubbermaid or Tupperware) although you could use a cake pan.

Spread the topping on top of the filling, spreading it evenly all over.

Put the pan in the dehydrator, near the middle, at 115 degrees, for 2 to 4 hours. You can eat it any time after about 2 hours, but 4 hours is best.

This is so scrumptious! You can also try other berry combinations (such as blackberries and raspberries).

Here are some pictures:

In the dehydrator:

Just out of the dehydrator:

With a little corner cut out so you can see the filling:

Enjoy!

Oh man oh man, this raw butternut squash recipe is so easy and so good! And if you’re lucky enough to live near a store that sells prepackaged cubed organic butternut squash, you have it made! We discovered it at Whole Foods. But you can of course use a whole butternut squash and cube it up.

Pureed Raw Butternut Squash with Agave, Allspice and Cayenne

16 ounces cubed butternut squash
Salt
Pepper
Agave nectar
Ground allspice
Ground cayenne (red pepper)
1/4 cup water

Put the cubed raw butternut squash in the food processor with the “s” blade (the chopping blade that looks like an “s”). Add about 1/4 cup of water (ideally use filtered water).

Process (if your food processor has speeds, use high speed) the squash and water until completely pureed and smooth. It will take a few minutes and you will need to stop the processor a few times and scrape the sides.

When the squash is completely pureed and smooth, add salt and pepper to taste.

Spoon the squash into serving bowls. Drizzle just a small drizzle of agave nectar in a swirl in the center of the bowl on top of the squash puree. On top, sprinkle just a dash of ground allspice, and on top of that just a dash of cayenne (red) pepper.

This is so delicious!

Serves 2.

You know that most cheese is made with rennet, right? And you know where rennet comes from, right? If you don’t, well, brace yourself.

Rennet is derived from the enzymes in a newborn baby calf’s stomach. That’s right, nearly as soon as the baby is born, they slaughter it to get those enzymes so that they can make the cheese from the milk that its mother will no longer be able to feed it. (Heartbreaking, isn’t it?)

But it is possible to make cheese without using animal rennet. In fact, any cheese that is marked “Kosher”, by definition cannot have a product derived from a dead animal mixed in with the dairy, so it will not have animal rennet.

Unfortunately, a lot of Kosher cheese (not all, but a lot) is also rather, well, bland (to be kind).

Other than that, it’s hard to find cheese that you can know does not use animal rennet. For some reason, many cheese producers simply list in the ingredients, instead of rennet, the word “enzymes”. And enzymes can mean either animal rennet, or non-animal rennet. And I certainly don’t want to chance it, do you?

But here’s something interesting – there are cheese producers who make really good cheese, and who don’t use animal rennet. Why they don’t shout this from the rooftops is beyond me. They are missing a big market.

One example is Tillamook, a cheese that is sold in many supermarkets across the United States. If you look at their ingredient list, you’ll find that it clearly says “We do not use animal rennet.” But you have to really look. All Tillamook cheese is safe for vegetarians – and free from animal rennet – except for their special 2 year reserve cheddar, which I’ve only seen a few times anywhere. (I know all this because we toured the Tillamook factory, up on Oregon, and they are very proud of the fact that they use no animal rennet, and they warned us about that special 2 year reserve cheddar.)

We particularly go through a lot of Tillamook’s medium cheddar, which we buy in 2 lb. loaves, and my husband and I also love their sharp cheddar, but they also make other standards, such as Monterey Jack, Colby Jack, and pepper Jack.

A brand with which you may be less familiar, but which is well-known in California, and also rennet free, and organic to boot, is Horizon.

Horizon is awesome because in addition to being organic and rennet free, they sell a lot of pre-shredded cheese, which is awesome for making pizza, Mexican food, etc.. And they sell several varieties, for example they sell a shredded mozzarella, a shredded cheddar, and a shredded Monterey Jack. They even sell a blend of shredded cheddar, colby and jack!

The most recent example of really good cheese that is vegetarian, but you’d never know it without asking, is the cheese from the Marin French Cheese Company. They make, among other yummy cheeses, the wonderful Rouge et Noir Triple Creme Brie. Now, nowhere on the package will you find them telling you that it’s vegetarian and rennet-free. They use that horribly ambiguous word “enzymes” in the ingredients list. But I happened to be at Whole Foods one day, and they had a Marin French Cheese Company rep there handing out samples, and he was telling the world that it was vegetarian. “Are you sure?” I asked. “Absolutely,” he responded, “you can even look it up on our website.” And so I could, and you can too – you can read about how all of their cheeses are rennet-free here.

You can buy their Rouge et Noir Triple Creme Brie here.

It’s wonderful served with some fresh pears. And it’s fantastic with the top skin sliced off, and warmed apricot preserves poured on top.

So there you have it. If cheese is part of your diet, now you can have delicious cheese that you know to be vegetarian.