Putting your Personal Touch on Raw Vegan Recipies

Whether you have been playing with raw food recipes for awhile now, or are just getting started, it can be very empowering to put your personal touch on a recipe.  As you gain more experience with this way of preparing food, you will notice that you need recipes less and less and creating your own delicious meals will happen naturally.  The fresh, live food begins to inspire you and and and your creative side seems to soar.    

We live in a society where manyof us rely on others to make our food and it may seem intimidating at first to know how to make things for yourself. Like anything new, it takes a bit of trial and error to come up with raw vegan meals that keep you interested.  In general, I have found that I eat pretty simple these days, but I do enjoy creating more gourmet raw vegan meals on the weekends or when I have people over for dinner. 

When I first got into making raw vegan food dishes, I was not quite sure what to do and I felt really discouraged.  That was when the recipe books and on-line recipes really helped me out.  I’ll never forget the sense of awe I had when I made chocolate pudding with an avocado, and a cheese cake with macadamia nuts!   As I  added and/or deleted ingredients from the recipes, I began to develop my own style of raw food prepping.  I really encourage you to do the same.  Give it some time and realize that some dishes don’t taste as good as you hoped.  It’s all apart of the learning curve.

Recipes are also a great way to start learning about some of the ingredients you may not have known about prior to doing raw food preparation.  Things like agave, himalayan salt, nama shoyu, chia seeds, may be new to you.  Raw recipe books can also give you ideas on how to make alternative breads, crackers, desserts, main dishes, snacks, etc.  At first,  I tended to follow the recipes very precisely as I was not as confident as I am now.  Years later, I find myself looking at recipes from time-to-time for new ideas but I mostly experiment and play with my own ideas.  My kitchen is so much!  Sometimes you may not have all of the ingredients on hand and find that your substitutes work even better.  Or you may not like an ingredient listed and omit it or just add your own flair.  Most raw recipes are hard to “mess” up.    They are forgiving and really lend themselves to your personal touch.  As you gain confidence and trust your judgement more, you will know what I am talking about. 

I love all of the amazing free raw recipes available on line for us to get ideas from.  The raw community seems to be very generous in this way as most of us just want to help others find ways to prepare and enjoy raw foods.  When we first started rawpeople.com, we knew we had to offer recipes as that is a big part of the raw food lifestyle.  It was a challenge for me to post the recipes at first because at that point, I had stopped measuring and just intuitively put foods together.  I have now disciplined myself to measure and be a bit more precise so I can get my food ideas out to you all.  I think that most raw food chefs will share a similar experience.  So you see, the recipes are really there for ideas and making them your own is what they are designed for.  At least that is my perspective.

Below is a recipe I adapted over the weekend.  It is wonderful and I had fun putting my own “Katy Joy” touch to it.  Have fun with your food prepping and don’t give up!

Cheddar Cheesy Broccoli

 The recipe was inspired by a recipe I saw posted on www.goneraw.com.  Kellysfacesmells.blogspot.com posted a recipe similar to this that was originally created by Julie Morris (www.juliemorris.net).  Just goes to show you how we can all adapt recipes to suit our own tastes!  Here is my version of Cheesy Broccoli.  It is rich and creamy and delicious!  Enjoy

 Ingredients: 

The broccoli – I really like broccolini for this recipe

Note:  Broccolini, known in Europe as asparation and in the United States as baby broccoli, is a trademark of the Mann Produce Company, which developed the hybrid between broccoli and Gai Lan, also known as Chinese chard. The unique vegetable resembles broccoli or asparagusin physical appearance, with long stalks topped by delicate buds. Broccolini took off in gourmet cuisine in the 1990s and became widespread in supermarkets shortly thereafter. (Definition taken from www.wisegeek.com)
For the Broccoli

• 1 head of broccolini, washed and chopped – can use traditional broccoli as well
• olive oil – enough to coat the broccoli
• lemon juice – enough for marinade (squeeze of 1-2  lemons is good, depends on your preference)
• salt – just a few sprinkles for the marinade – you can always add more later

Cheesy Sauce

• 1/3c tahini
• 1 tsp nama shoyu
• 1/4 tsp sea salt
• Juice of 2 small lemons or 1 larger
• 2-3 tbsp nutritional yeast (the more you add, the “cheesier” it tastes)
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 3 tbsp water
• Dash of cayenne pepper
• 1-2 tsp light raw agave

Directions: 

The broccoli
Rub the broccoli florets with a bit of olive oil, lemon juice and salt like marinade. This will help to soften the broccoli a bit. Cover and set aside to sit in the marinade for at least 1 hour.  I put in fridge, but can be left in cool place on a counter top.  

Cheesy Sauce
Blend everything together or whisk it together in a bowl. Pour over your marinated broccoli, mix well and enjoy!

Note:  If you have a dehydrator, you can put this in a glass bowl and place on the bottom of your dehydrator on 105 degrees for about an hour or so.  Stir, then enjoy right away.  This really makes it taste like a cooked dish but all the enzymes are still preserved!

Blessings to you all,

Katy Joy