Going Nutty

Merry Friday Eve! And before a 3 day weekend! And one of those days is actually supposed to be sunny here for a change! I’m still skeptical, but am planning to get in a little outdoor time if said sunny day actually happens. Anyway, I’m also hoping to load the Excalibur with many new recipes including spinach tortillas, red pepper crackers and maybe some bread. But first I’ve got to get juicing for the pulp. There are a few recipes I want to try that use lots of carrot pulp, like nut pulp, more than I’ll typically create from juicing. So I needed to know my freezing options were for it, seems most recommend flattening it in plastic bags and freezing it. Something I will need to try, want to do a raw carrot cake recipe for my sister’s birthday next week, but it requires 5 cups of carrot pulp. My first raw cake, should be fun!

Anyway, since going heavily raw, one ingredient I’ve discovered that I really like is Brazil nuts and have enjoyed the few recipes I’ve done so far using them. Brazil nut “Parmesan” cheese is one of my favorite toppings and it’s so simple to make and keep in the fridge for a few days, I like it more than the pricey Parmesan cheese chunks I used to use. I’ve been flipping through Ani’s Raw Food Kitchen for recipe inspiration and have lukewarm feelings about many of the recipes because they’re very liberal with oil, some 4-serving recipes having up to 1 1/2 cups of oil. My view of fat in foods has definitely changed with going more raw and eating a lot of nuts, avocados and with higher, but good fat. However that’s a bit much for me. Also, many of the recipes require hard-to-find pricey ingredients liberally, making them more of a splurge in both calories and money, but they’re also beautiful and would probably be great to impress guests with. So far I flagged about 15 recipes I want to try in the near future. But for tonight I picked her Brazil nut-based Power Dressing for our salad because I actually have all the ingredients (and not much more, I need to go shopping this weekend!) and it allows me to try my newly purchased container of Nutiva Hemp Oil.

The dressing was amazingly good and strong. I had to add a bit more water to it because it was too thick, more like a cream sauce. Definitely not a low-cal dressing, but a little bit goes a looooong way. The Brazil nut flavor was a bit over powered by the hemp oil and garlic, but the texture was perfect for dipping. I will definitely make again.

I’m sure you’ve seen plenty of posts on the horror going on in Haiti, so all I’ll say is donate to the Red Cross. I did last night and plan to further budget in more donations, I can live without eating out this month and cut costs here and there if it means more survivors get decent meals and shelter.