THOUSAND ISLAND DRESSING

This is a healthy twist on an old American favourite. To be honest, I've never tried (non-vegan) Thousand island dressing, but looking at the ingredients, this comes unbelievably close to what I imagine it would taste like! It's sort of like a tomato-ish mayonnaise. Like most raw dressings it's incredibly easy to make. Pour it on salads, zoodles, or other raw veggie dishes to create a creamy, crunchy, delicious raw meal!

Recipe
2 tomatoes
1 small carrot, peeled
2 tbs tahini
2 tbs chopped spring onion (green part only)
1 tsp sauerkraut (optional)
2 medjool dates
1 tsp paprika

- Blend all ingredients together and you're done! I sprinkled some dill & spring onion and juiced a bit of lime on top too.

CHILLI (non-carne)

Unfortunately for us, our families aren't vegan, so we try to encourage them to eat less animal products by making yummy vegan dishes :) While we both enjoy raw or predominantly raw diets, we love to cook for our families. Here is one very popular vegan-for-omnivores Mexican dish that is super delicious and very versatile. It is low fat, loaded with veggies and totally scrumptious! It is a good idea to make large batches of the chilli and freeze some to use in different dishes to keep meals interesting & more convenient to prepare! 

Recipe 

1/2 cup textured vegetable protein (TVP) (make sure it's organic!)

1 cup boiled water

1 onion, diced

4 cloves garlic, crushed

3 tsp paprika

2 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

2 carrots, grated

2 zucchinis, grated

1 capsicum, finely diced

500g cooked kidney beans

2 cans diced tomatoes 

1/2 cup sweet chilli sauce

Salt, to taste

Method

• Put the TVP in a bowl with the boiled water and let sit for at least 15 minutes. Strain the TVP and squeeze as much water out of it as possible. Add about 1/2 cup of water to a saucepan and bring to medium heat. Add the TVP and cook for 10 minutes, stirring. Once cooked, put aside in a bowl.
• Add another 1/2 cup of water to the saucepan and add the onion and garlic in. Stir until the onion is soft, about 10 minutes.
• Add the TVP back into the saucepan, along with the spices, carrot, zucchini, capsicum, tomatoes & kidney beans. Cook for 1 hour.
• Add in the sweet chilli sauce and salt. Finished! Serve with chopped coriander. 

Looking for ways to serve your chilli? Try these ideas...

- on rice (try turmeric-infused rice!)

- on pasta

- on a baked potato

- in tacos (with salsa & salad ingredients)

- in a burrito (with rice, salsa & guacamole)

- on nachos (with a cheesy sauce on top)

Raw Curry Sauce with Noodles!

Curry, the raw way! This is one raw dish you definitely MUST try! It is so incredibly delicious & satisfying! I've tried making raw curries many times since going raw, and this is by far the best one I've tasted :)

The mango makes it a little bit sweet, the tahini a little bit nutty and the herbs and spices pack in the flavour. It's also really thick & creamy- no watery business here! I topped mine with some dehydrated capsicum pieces, which gave it a slight smoky flavour too :) So. Dee. Lish.

Recipe

2 cups mango

1/2 cup dehydrated tomatoes

2 Handfuls coriander, chopped finely

1/4 capsicum, chopped finely

2 tomatoes, chopped finely

~30cm celery stick

Small piece of spring onion

1 tsp tahini

Pinch chilli powder

1/4 tsp cumin

4 zucchinis

- Blend mango, dehydrated tomatoes, celery, spring onion, tahini and spices until well combined.

- Add the chopped tomatoes, capsicum & celery to the sauce.

- Spiralize/peel the zucchinis to make noodles.

Enjoy!

Raw Polenta-Stuffed Capsicums

This recipe is as delicious as it is easy to make! The raw polenta is made from corn, so it has a texture and taste similar to cooked polenta. For a more intense flavour and chewier texture, you might like to dehydrate the capsicums before you fill them- I'll definitely be trying this next time!

Recipe
4 red capsicums

5 cobs of corn

1 spring onion

1/4 tsp of cumin

6 tomatoes, diced 

1/2 green capsicum, diced

Big handful of parsley, chopped

Big handful of coriander, chopped

1 tbs lime juice

- For the polenta, slice the kernels off of the corn and freeze for at least 4 hours. Once frozen, process until they have reached a fine consistency.

- For the salsa, combine the tomatoes, capsicum, herbs and lime juice in a bowl.

- Halve the capsicums and remove the seeds. Spoon the corn into them until they're almost filled. Spoon some out of the middle and fill it with salsa.

Enjoy!

Raw Bibimbap!

Wondering how on earth you would be able to make this classic Korean dish raw?! Here's how! It may not be served up sizzling away in a clay pot but it tastes mighty delicious! There are lots of different flavours in it and all of the different elements work really well together. In my non-vegan days I loved a big bowl of bibimbap with rice, meat and veggies, complete with an egg on top and some kimchi & chilli sauce on the side. This one includes all of those components... raw-ified! Plus, totally animal-friendly of course :)

Recipe

1 head of lettuce, chopped finely

1 cucumber, julienned

2 carrots, julienned

3 tbs Sauerkraut (I used a homemade raw one with beets, purple cabbage & ginger)

Cauliflower rice

1/2 cauliflower

1 stick celery, chopped

Mushroom meat

5 mushrooms

1/4 capsicum

1 pinky-sized piece spring onion

Tangy chilli tomato sauce

1 cup cherry tomatoes

1 pinky of spring onion

Handful coriander

1/2 tsp dried ground ginger 

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

Avo egg

1/2 avocado 

1/2 tsp turmeric

1/2 tsp lime juice

- Put the lettuce into a large bowl, leaving a handful behind. 

- For the rice, process the cauliflower and celery until it reaches a very fine rice consistency. Layer on top of the lettuce, leaving a handful behind.

- For the mushroom meat, process the ingredients until they reach a fine consistency. Optional: dehydrate for around 1 hour.

- For the sauce, blend the ingredients on high for around 1 minute. 

- For the egg, make a 1cm slice in the avo half, lengthways and parallel to the first slice (so it looks like the one pictured!). Mash up the outer portion with a fork and add the turmeric & lime juice.

- Arrange the cucumber, carrot, mushroom meat and leftover handfuls of lettuce & cauli rice on top of the rice and lettuce in the bowl. Put the sauerkraut on top of everything in the centre. Put the avo slice on top & fill the hole with the mashed avocado. 

...And you have bibimbap!

Zesty Pasta & Kale Salad

This pasta was a bit of an experiment- and it turned out to be delicious! Orange may seem like a very traditional breakfast food, but it works well in this savoury dish :) I kept the salad and pasta separate for the photo but they tasted goooood mixed together. The kale salad is one I make regularly- If you're like me and don't like the bitter taste of raw kale, this is a super easy way to get rid of the bitterness and make it tasty!

Kale Salad

Big bunch of curly kale (about 15-20 stalks)

1/2 an avocado

1 tsp lime juice

Zesty Pasta

3 zucchinis

1 punnet cherry tomatoes

1/2 an avocado

1 tsp lime juice

1/4 cup orange juice

1 tsp chopped spring onion

1/2 tsp chopped dill

Pinch of tumeric

For the salad, remove the stems from the kale leaves and rip or chop the leaves into small pieces. Using a fork, mash the avocado with the lime juice until smooth. Pour the dressing over the kale and massage with your hands for a few minutes or until the leaves have started to wilt.

For the pasta, spiralize or peel the zucchinis into thin strips. Thinly slice the tomatoes. Blend the rest of the ingredients until smooth. Combine the zucchini, tomatoes and sauce together.

This makes a biiiig serving, so you might want to share it... Maybe ;)

Raw Lasagne

I'm so glad I finally made a raw version of lasagne! I've seen a lot of good-looking ones floating around instagram. This one I came up with is absolutely, incredibly delish! You have to try it :)

Recipe...

Sauce
1 punnet cherry tomatoes
1/2 cup dehydrated tomatoes
Handful basil leaves
5 mushrooms

Cheese
10 raw macadamias
1 tbs raw pine nuts
1/2 cob of corn
1/2 peeled zucchini
1 tbs chopped spring onion

2 zucchinis

For the sauce, blend tomatoes and basil. Process the mushrooms until they're the consistency of rice and add into the sauce. For the cheese, blend all ingredients together. Slice the zucchinis lengthways using a mandolin (or a knife- make the slices about 2mm thick). To assemble the lasagne, start by lining a dish with a layer of zucchini going in one direction, then layer again in the other direction. This is your first zucchini layer. Follow this layering pattern:
1st- Zucchini, 1/3 sauce
2nd- Zucchini, 1/3 sauce, 1/2 cheese
3rd- Zucchini, 1/3 sauce
4th- Zucchini, 1/2 cheese

Top the cheese layer with sliced leftover cherry tomatoes and some baby basil leaves. Refrigerate to keep fresh but eat at room temperature :)

Hope you enjoy this recipe- Let us know if you tried it out!

Moroccan Salad

This noodle-icious salad has a beautiful combination of Moroccan flavours! It tastes best after a day or so when the flavours have had a chance to meld with each other

Recipe...

2 zucchinis

2 carrots

1 beetroot

1/2 red capsicum, sliced thinly

1/4 avocado, diced

1 tsp paprika

1/2 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp ground coriander seeds

1/2 tsp tumeric

Pinch of ground ginger

Handful of coriander leaves

Run the zucchini, carrot and beetroot through a spiralizer (or peel them for a similar effect). Combine the spiralized veggies in a bowl with the remaining ingredients. Serve with extra coriander and avocado on top.

Marinara Sauce with Zucchini Pasta & Veggieballs

This is definitely a recipe to try if you're after a raw, vegan, or maybe just healthy alternative to meatballs and pasta! It's super delicious & the 3 components work really well together :)

Recipe...

Marinara sauce

6 med tomatoes

6 dehydrated tomatoes

1 tbs chopped spring onion

1 tsp dried oregano

Big handful of basil leaves

3 Zucchinis

Veggieballs (see previous post!)

For the sauce, blend all ingredients until smooth. For the pasta, use a spiralizer* to cut the zucchini. Pour sauce over the pasta and top with veggieballs, leftover dehydrated tomatoes and basil leaves. That's it- so simple! If you've tried this, and if you have any additions/substitutions, please let us know how it went :)

*If you don't have a spiralizer, no worries! You can easily achieve a similar result just by peeling thin strips off of the zucchinis

Veggieballs

Kind of like meatballs- but without all the animal suffering & unhealthy parts (yup, nothin' but goodness packed into these!), these veggieballs are truly delicious and perfect with a zoodle + marinara sauce combo (recipe for that is coming soon!)

Here's how to make them...

4 mushrooms

1/4 red capsicum

3cm leek stalk*

1/3 cup chopped parsley

1 medium carrot

1/3 zucchini

1/2 cup dehydrated tomatoes

1 tsp paprika

1/2 tsp ground sage

1/2 tsp Chinese five spice

Pinch ground cumin

*Could sub with spring onions, but I didn't have any!

Put all ingredients into a food processor and process to a fine consistency (be careful not to over-process or it will go mushy!). Using a strainer or cheesecloth, squeeze the excess liquid from the mixture into a bowl. Grab about 1 tbs of the mixture at a time and roll it into a ball with your hands. Voila! Scrumptious veggieballs all for YOU :)