Healthy Lifestyle Blog

Every month I demonstrate several raw dishes for the Creating Wellness Center of Commack. The purpose of these dinner demos is to introduce people to more enzyme rich foods that are easy to prepare.

I usually decide what to make by what is available. Of course, summer is wonderful for the abundance of fresh produce, and the peaches were particularly inviting, so I bought several pounds and decided to make a peach cobbler. After searching for recipes online, I came up with my own version.

Enjoy!

Crust and Topping

2 cups walnuts, soaked, drained and dehydrated
1/2 cup raisins or Medjool dates (or combination)
pinch salt
pinch cinnamon

1. Place all the ingredients in a food processor fitted with the S-blade.
2. Pulse until the nuts are coarsely chopped and the raisins and/or dates are mixed in. Texture should be crumbly. Remove about 1 cup of the mixture and set aside for topping.
3. Continue processing the remainder of the mixture until the texture is fine and it sticks together easily when pressed.
4. Pour into a 9-inch square pan and press firmly to form a crust on the bottom of the pan.

Peach Filling

7 thinly sliced peaches
2 Medjool dates
1 Tbs. honey or agave
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
pinch nutmeg
zest of one lemon
1 Tbs. psyllium husk powder (for thickening)

1. Set aide about half the sliced peaches in a large bowl.
2. Place the remaining ingredients in a food processor fitted with the S-blade and process thoroughly.
3. Taste for sweetness and add more sweetener if desired.
4. Pour mixture into the bowl with the sliced peaches and mix. (Note: you might want to reserve several slices to decorate the cobbler)
5. Pour mixture into pan with the crust.
6. Top with reserved crust crumble.

original recipe from A Taste of Light

3 plum tomatoes, seeded and chopped
1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes, soaked in water for 60 minutes and drained
1 Tbs. finely minced onion
1-2 cloves garlic, crushed
1/4 tsp. Himalayan or Celtic sea salt
1 1/2 tsp. dried Italian seasoning
Pinch freshly ground black pepper
1 Tbs. extra-virgin olive oil (optional)

1. Place the tomatoes in a colander and allow any liquid to drain. (Drink the juice or add it to another recipe.) When the tomatoes are thoroughly drained, transfer them to a food processor fitted with the S blade and pulse to process until slightly chunky.
2. Add the soaked and drained sun-dried tomatoes, minced onion, crushed garlic,Italian seasoning, salt and pepper. Pulse to combine.
3. Allow the sauce to sit for 10 minutes before serving to allow it to thicken. Drain off excess liquid, if any.
4. Stored in a tightly sealed glass jar in the refrigerator, Tomato Sauce will keep for up to 3 days.

 

 

Serve over spiral cut zucchini – you will need a spiral slicer for that, or create fettuccine style noodles with a vegetable slicer. Just keep rotating the zucchini to get narrow “noodles.” Delish!

On Friday, I hosted a Raw Vegan Dinner Party+ at my home in Glen Head, NY. I served an Italian menu that was very well received by the guests. The Dinner Party+ is a four-course dinner PLUS instruction in preparing all the courses. Guests enjoy a sit-down dinner and receive a packet of recipes and a gift. You may view comments from this dinner party and a recent tasting party at the LI Raw Vegan Meetup Site . You may also join the meetup and receive notifications of future meetup events there.

For the appetizer I served Marinated Mushrooms stuffed with Spinach Patè. Here is the recipe:

Spinach Stuffed Mushrooms
     Original recipe from ChefMarilyn

2 pounds fresh stuffing mushrooms

For the Marinade

½ cup extra virgin olive oil
1/3 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
2 Tbs. tamari
½ tsp. Himalayan or Celtic sea salt

1. Clean the mushrooms with a soft brush or paper towel.
2. Carefully remove the stems and set the caps aside.
3. Prepare marinade by placing all the ingredients in a bowl and whisk thoroughly to blend. Or blend in a blender.
4. Pour marinade over the mushrooms, and make sure all the mushrooms are coated. Set aside while you prepare the stuffing.

For the Stuffing

1 lb baby spinach
1 cup raw cashews, soaked in water for 4 hours
1 cup nut pulp (from making nut milk)*
1 large onion, minced
2 plum tomatoes, cut in large pieces
1 clove garlic, crushed
2 tsp. Himalayan or Celtic sea salt
1 Tbs. light miso

 * alternatively use almond meal or whole raw soaked almonds, finelyground in food processor

1. Drain the cashews and place in a food processor fitted with an S-blade. Process until finely ground. Transfer into a large bowl.
2. Place garlic in food processor and pulse to process. Add tomatoes and pulse again to process. Transfer to bowl with cashews.
3. Wash and spin dry spinach and place in food processor (in small batches). Pulse until spinach is cut in small pieces. Do not over process – spinach should be chopped finely, but not liquefied. Transfer spinach to bowl with nuts.
4. Add remaining ingredients to bowl and mix thoroughly.
5. To assemble, spoon the stuffing into the mushroom cap, creating a small mound.
6. Arrange the mushrooms in a 9 x 13 pan and place in a dehydrator set at 105° for about one hour. Alternatively, use a warm oven set on lowest temperature with door cracked open for less time.

Marilyn Chiarello, founder of
ATaste of Light, is a certified raw vegan chef, educator and
health coach. She offers a variety of services including health coaching, classes,
dinner parties, consultations and presentations. For more information,
visit aTasteofLight.com or contact her directly-Marilyn@aTasteofLight.com or
516-671-7037.

If you
would like to receive more recipes and a monthly newsletters including articles about health and the environment, event updates and more, please visit http://atasteoflight.com/. The sign-up
box is in the right sidebar.

After having a wonderful INTERdependence Day weekend, and a media holiday for 4 days, I am busy prepping for two events coming up this weekend. I highly recommend taking media holidays from time to time – it really helps to clear your head. I find myself giving too much attention to the negative energy that is so typical of media broadcasts. Spending a weekend learning about decentralizing the food production and bringing gardens to our own communities was so refreshing and inspiring. I only wish I had enough produce ready to harvest for this weekend’s events.

The first event is this Friday, July 9. I call it Raw Vegan Dinner Party+ because it is a dinner party PLUS a class in raw food preparation. I will be making a four course dinner, and demonstrating how to prepare all the courses. What’s on the menu? Stuffed mushroom appetizer, followed by “braised” spinach in a mustard lemon dressing. The entree is my version of raw lasagna, stuffed with basil pesto and cashew cheese. For dessert we will have a chocolate chia seed pudding parfait.

On Saturday, I am teaming up with Lorraine Aguilar, yoga teacher and physical therapist extraordinaire and founder of Yoga Flow Studio, at the monthly Cinema Night. This month, we will be screening Food Matters, and I will be doing a raw food demo and sampling.

It’s not too late to register for either event. Call me to reserve a spot.

Marilyn Chiarello, founder of A
Taste of Light, is a certified raw vegan chef, educator and health
coach. She offers a variety of services including health coaching, classes, dinner
parties,consultations and presentations. For more information, visit aTasteofLight.com or contact her directly-
Marilyn@aTasteofLight.com or 516-671-7037.

If
you would like to receive future articles about health and the
environment, along with recipes, event updates and more, please visit http://atasteoflight.com/.The
sign-up box is in the right sidebar.

What an inspiring weekend!

I just returned from 3 days at the Omega Institute in NY, where I attended a workshop called, “Grow Food Everywhere.” The workshop leaders, Deb Habib and Ricky Baruc, shared their love and passion for growing food, and touched the hearts of each of the 29 participants with their light. They are truly an model for living your truth and enlightening others. This coming weekend, July 9-11, 2010, they are offering a similar workshop, Earth and Spirit Retreat for Adults. For details of this and other events on their calendar, visit the Seeds of Solidarity website.

So what is INTERdependence Day? Well, for me, this weekend reinforced the fact that we are all connected and thus interdependent. Building community around creating a garden brought 29 individuals together in a way that was so powerful, and it will likely have a ripple effect in our communities.

We experience interdependence in many ways daily. Consider the effect of a well timed smile or kind remark when someone is having an angry outburst. Or consider the effects of introducing a non-native plant that produces a beautiful flower and has medicinal uses, but ends up being invasive and destructive to native plants. Or consider the global effect of encouraging consumption and debt to the point of economic collapse. Or consider the effect of our oil addiction, leading to risky offshore drilling practices that are affecting countless creatures and habitats.

These are just several examples of connectedness and interdependence. We all need be mindful of everything we do and how our actions may affect others, our environment, our lives.

“The whole idea of compassion is based on a keen awareness of the interdependence of all these living beings, which are all part of one another, and all involved in one another.” ~Thomas Merton

Marilyn Chiarello, founder of A Taste of Light, is a certified raw vegan chef, educator and health coach. She offers a variety of services including health coaching, classes, dinner parties,consultations and presentations. For more information, visit aTasteofLight.com or contact her directly- Marilyn@aTasteofLight.com or 516-671-7037.

If you would like to receive future articles about health and the environment, along with recipes, event updates and more, please visit http://atasteoflight.com/.The sign-up box is in the right sidebar.

Last night I had a wonderful group attend my class, Dehydrating Breads and Crackers. I had prepped all the recipes in advance, so we could have tastings throughout the evening, and served the breads and crackers with different toppings or spreads. For the tortilla, I decided to create a dessert crepe with a fruit filling, topped with a creamy lime custard. For the fruit filling mixed some of the lime custard with diced mango and pineapple. The custard takes minutes to make, and transforms any fruit dish, or can be eaten plain as a pudding.

Creamy Lime Custard

1 avocado
1/4 cup raw light agave or honey (or combination)
juice of one lime
1/8 tsp. vanilla extract
2 Tbs. water

Place the ingredients in the blender and blend until smooth. if necessary, add a little more water.

This is delicious alone or mixed with diced fruit. One delicious combination is pineapple, mango and papaya. Top with some shredded coconut for a real tropical treat.

Marilyn Chiarello, founder of ATaste of Light, is a certified raw vegan chef, educator and health coach. She offers a variety of services including health coaching, classes, dinner parties,consultations and presentations. For more information, visit aTasteofLight.com or contact her directly -Marilyn@aTasteofLight.com or 516-671-7037.

Ifyou would like to receive future articles about health and theenvironment, along with recipes, event updates and more, please visit http://atasteoflight.com/.The sign-up box is in the right sidebar.