Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Raw Food In 30 Minutes or Less

So many raw dishes take forever to prepare. The night before a Raw Food Tuesday (the first Tuesday of each month), I spend hours in the kitchen — chopping, dicing, processing, blending, and then washing all those dishes. Ugh. I couldn't do it every day. Once a month is enough for me. But this Raw Food Tuesday's prep went a little quicker thanks to a few easy-peasy dishes.

For starters, I made the Live Cinnamon Rolls from 30 Minute Vegan:

Don't let the fancy presentation fool you. These tasty raw buckwheat-based treats only took about 20 minutes to prepare. All you need is a food processor and a few ingredients. The light brown part is made from processed raw buckwheat, dates, and agave. That's spread with a cinnamon-raisin mixture and walnuts. But the best part? The frosting!

The roll's frosting has a coconut butter-orange base, which meant I had to break down and shell out $12 for a jar of Artisana coconut butter. I've been eye-ing this stuff for ages at Whole Foods (ever since I read about it's awesomeness on Chocolate Covered Katie's blog), but I'm cheap. I needed to have an excuse to allow myself to buy it, so I made plans to make cinnamon rolls. Now I can't imagine why I've waited so long. Coconut butter is amazing!! Totally worth $12.

Mid-morning, I snacked on some Raw Veggies with a Quick Cheesy Sauce:

The cheese sauce is just 1/4 cup of nutritional yeast mixed with a little water, salt, and pepper. Perfect for veggie dippin'.

Lunch was another 30 Minute Vegan recipe — Live Mango Gazpacho:

Again, this was super-easy to make. I would say it took 10 minutes from start to finish, and it tasted wonderful. The sweetness of the mangos was the perfect balance to summer tomatoes, jalepenos, and red onion. I had a small garden salad on the side.

I snacked on more veggies and cheese dip, as well as half an orange (leftover from the cinnamon roll's frosting) before dinner.

I chose one of the quickest sauces from Ani's Raw Food Kitchen to top my zucchini pasta — Garlic Cashew Aioli:

Ani suggests using this sauce to top raw pasta for "fettucine alfredo" and though I've had a better raw alfredo (Gena's sauce from the Choosing Raw blog), this one was damn tasty atop my locally-grown zucchini.

I served my pasta with a slice of Raw Flax Foccacia from Living in the Raw Gourmet:

Okay, I'll admit. This raw bread took a little longer to prepare because it had to dehydrate for 14 hours. But it was a cinch to mix up and spread on a Teflex sheet. The Excalibur took care of the rest. The "bread" contained a base of summer tomato and basil, as well as ground almond and flax seed. A bit like a flax cracker but softer. Perfect for scoopin' up extra cashew aioli sauce.

After dinner, I went to my friend Shara's house for O.C. Night (yes, we watch all the old episodes of The O.C. on DVD). I took the extra cinnamon rolls, and everyone — all omnis, mind you — actually liked them.

By the way, I totally forgot to ask you guys to check out my guest post on Lindsay's Cook. Vegan. Lover blog. It went up on Friday, and it contains a few of my favorite vegan tofu-eggy recipes. Thanks Lindsay for letting me guest post!

17 comments:

Jenni (aka Vegyogini) said...

Wow, those cinnamon rolls look AMAZING! So does everything else, for that matter. :)

I saw your guest post and guess what I had for dinner tonight? Your Cheeze Eggs! I even posted about it tonight. Thanks for the inspiration!

Jackie (Peaces of Earth) said...

Ahh, those cinny rolls look so so good!!! I love that frosting idea. I've made raw cinnamon rolls before and they were quite the labor of love. They definitely lacked a frosting though. This would've been perfect!

The Health Sensei said...

1. coconut butter is heaven on earth, especially Artisana's ;)

2. i want all those recipes and/or the foods!!!!!!!!!

foodfeud said...

I am so lazy about preparing raw foods but they really are perfect for this summer heat.
That mango gazpacho looks amazing! I love onion, too, so I jussst may try that one...a blender's only one appliance to wash, I guess.

Chocolate-Covered Katie said...

Wow. You were not kidding about those cinnamon rolls. They look absolutely stunning. Now I think I'll DEFINITELY have to look out for that cookbook. I think I've seen it at my Barnes-n-Nobles, so when I get back to Texas...!!!
At least I have a piece of raw carrot cake to hold me over while I wait. I found it at a health food store yesterday and thought of you and your cinnamon rolls when I bought it :).

P.S. I'll send you an email soon!

P.P.S. LOVED your guest post! The tofu deviled eggs are so much fun!

Anonymous said...

Those cinnamon rolls look delicious! The fact that they took 20 minutes to make and don't involve yeast make them even more appealing. Nice post on the Cook Vegan Lover blog. I can't wait to try your deviled "eggs."

Andrea said...

Thanks for posting about the recipes from 30 minute Vegan. I've got a copy but haven't really done much with it. Now I have to make the cinnamon rolls and the soup!

The Voracious Vegan said...

Those cinnamon rolls look AMAZING! Oh my gosh, I need about 50 right now!

And that garlic cashew aioli, I've got to make that. Raw pasta is my favorite.

I agree, raw food can be off putting when you hear people starting to prepare for their meals a day or two in advance. You make it look quick, easy, and out of this world delicious.

Keri - I Eat Trees said...

The cinnamon rolls look insanely good. I love coconut butter, but I'm stingy with it since it's so expensive!
We were just talking about the Excalibur dehydrators on Twitter and I want one!

Dianne said...

Those are two recipes from 30 Minute Vegan that I've been thinking about making. Thanks for showing them!

Sarah S. said...

I am way impressed by those cinnamon rolls. Coconut butter frosting?? Man.. speaking of, you need to put coconut butter on a baked sweet potato, pronto! It will change your life ;)

Eric said...

those live cinnamon rolls... :D

Erin said...

Looks like a great raw day! The cinnamon rolls look especially tasty, and I can't believe they're that quick to make.

jessy said...

i saw your guest post and it totally reminded me to make your deviled tofu "eggs". i still need to get off my lazy ass and find some black salt so i can make it happen. ah ha ha! the raw cinnamon rolls look scrumptious - that kicks booty that other peeps enjoyed 'em, too. superw00t! raw foodz do seem to take a while to prepare. when i was do'n the ACT Cleanse last year i remember spending a lot of time in the kitchen, fo 'sho. i love all the quick raw meals, Bianca - especially the aoili and that gazpacho! raw yummies are absolutely perfect for summer. mmmmmmm!

River - The Crafty Kook said...

Those rolls are so pretty! And they sound totally doable, which is nice. I hear you about the prepping and washing-upping - ugh!

I would love to start eating more raw foods, so you are a big inspiration. I could never give up my traditional cinnamon rolls, but I really need to eat more live foods. Off to check out your guest post...

Anonymous said...

I know, it sucks how expensive CB is, but it's impossssibleeeee to regret purchasing!

Ricki said...

I've really been enjoying raw foods lately, too! The cinnamon rolls look great. I recently tried the coconut butter for the first time, too, and wasn't that crazy about it (and the cost here is more like $16!!). I've been combining it with almond butter for a great treat (and it firms up the almond butter nicely). :)