Did something a little different today for the salad dressing (oh, ok, not that different).

• 2 avocados
• 1 soaked sun dried tomato
• handful of fresh coriander
• small piece of cucumber
• some chili
• a shaking of dried basil
• a bit of lemongrass

I got a whole stalk of lemongrass, never actually bought it like that before. It was still dried, but seemed a lot fresher than when you buy it in a packet.

Anyway, back the recipe. As usual, shove all the ingredients into the blender with some of the soak water from the tomatoes and blend.

Funky Raw issue 6 is finished now and is at the printers, should be with us early next week. Some good stuff – Aranya’s experience with his Ejuva cleanse, running vehicles on used vegetable oil, reports of experiences of taking ayahuasca and of course a good selection of recipes.

Which leads on to the curry I made for dinner:

• 2 sundried tomatoes (soaked)
• 4 tomatoes
• 1 carrot
• handful fresh coriander
• 1 wild garlic leaf (you can of course use shop bought garlic if you prefer!)
• 1/2 tsp dried coriander
• 1/2 tsp cumin
• 1/4 tsp fenugreek
• 1/2 tsp turmeric
• 1/2 tsp garam masala

Put all ingredients into your blender and turn it on.

We had this over a salad of cucumber, tomato, grated carrot, grated sweet potato and broccoli with wild pennywort, wild garlic and watercress.

No posts for a while as I’ve been very busy producing the next issue of the Funky Raw magazine. I really need to get it finished by tonight so I’ll be quick. We had a raw food gathering here last night and here are a couple of recipes I made:

Avocado and Carrot Sauce

• 1 avocado
• 1 carrot
• 2 sun dried tomatoes, soaked
• 3 tablespoons of seaweed flakes
• fresh chili to taste
• 1 tablespoon flax oil
• water (as much as you need to get it to blend properly)

Put everything in the blender, including some (or all) of the soak water from the tomatoes and blend.

I’ve started to use flax oil as I read a bit about Omega 3 and Omega 6 fatty acids and their importance to our health. We need a balance of the two, but most nuts and seeds have way more omega 6 so we need some flax oil which has more omega 3. Hemp seeds have a good balance of both.

Carrot and Beetroot salad

• 2 carrots
• 1/2 beetroot
• juice of 1 orange

Grate the carrots and beetroot into a bowl and pour over the orange juice. Leave to marinate for a while, stirring occasionally.

Everyone who came brough delicious food, my favourite being Charlie’s Carob Pie (and of course Holly’s Golden Cream Pie).

Just got back this evening, we did a raw food preparation workshop in Manchester which went really well and then popped over to York to see my parents.

I was missing my chocolate puddings so made a nice desert based on the chocolate pudding recipe:

Hemp milk

• 300g hemp seeds, soaked overnight
• 2 oranges
• soak water from dried figs and apricots

The pudding

• 2 bananas
• 1 pear
• 1/2 tsp maca
• 3 tsp raw chocolate powder
• 1 tsp coconut oil
• 1/4 tsp bee pollen
• 2 tablespoons raw cacao nibs
• 1 or 2 tsp dried mint
• a bit of orange zest

Make hemp milk by blending the hemp seeds up with the oranges and soak water. Strain through a muslin bag then put the hemp milk back into the blender with the other ingredients and blend.

First, make hemp milk:

• 200g hemp seeds, soaked for 4 hours or more
• 1 orange
• soak water from dried figs and apricots (see next part)

Place all ingredients in a blender and blend until all the hemp seeds have been broken down. Strain through a muslin bag (or tea towel or old t-shirt).

Next:

• 1 banana
• 100g sesame seeds, soaked
• 4 figs, 2 apricots and a handful of goji berries, soaked
• 1 tablespoon cacao nibs
• 2 tsp raw chcolate powder
• a bit of orange rind

Place these ingredients in the blender along with the hemp milk and blend. Mmmm delicious.

Had to post a chocolate recipe today!

• one cup of soaked walnuts
• one cup of soaked pumpkin seeds
• handful soaked hazelnuts
• 6 large fresh dates
• 2 soaked figs
• handful goji berries
• 1 tablespoon coconut oil
• 1 tablespoon raw chocolate powder
• 1 tablespoon cacao nibs
• some fresh coconut meat
• 1 tsp cacao butter (this stuff is amazing, it’s like raw white chocolate!)

Put everything in a food processor and process until a nice consistency. Roll into balls or whatever shape you want.

So, 90% of my recipes contain avocado, I hope you like them as much as me!

Ingredients

• 1 orange
• 3 tablespoons seaweed flakes
• 1 1/2 sun dried tomatoes, soaked
• 2 avocados
• 1 red pepper
• 1/4 tsp maca
• 1/4 tsp hemp leaf powder

Squeeze the orange and soak the seaweed in the juice for about 1/2 an hour. Put everything, including the orange juice with the seaweed and some of the tomato soak water, into the Vitamix and blend.

I made this for lunch. It filled me up so much, didn’t eat another thing until salad in the evening and even then I struggled with that!

As ever, all measurements are approximate. Soaked ingredients were soaked for about 3 hours, a bit longer than this is probably good. There quantities were just for myself (although it might serve 2 if you’re not quite as greedy as me!)

Soaked ingredients:

• 150g hemp seeds
• 50g sesame seeds
• 20g pumpkin seeds
• 20g hazelnuts
• 3 dried figs
• 3 dried apricots
• handful currants

Fresh/dry ingredients

• 1 banana
• 2 sharon fruit (persimmons)
• piece of fresh coconut meat
• 1 tsp coconut oil
• 1/4 tsp maca powder
• 1/4 tsp hemp leaf powder
• 1 heaped tsp raw chocolate powder
• 1 tablespoon cacao nibs
• 1 tablespon of flax seeds (I’m sure it would have been better to soak these but I forgot)

Put everything, including the soak water from the dried fruit into a blender and blend. I might have added a bit of water, I can’t remember. I didn’t make it completely smooth, it was crunchy and I liked it like that. I think to make it smooth would need a fair bit of water.

Now, on the surface it might look a bit like the chocolate pudding recipe, but the main difference is that you don’t make hemp milk, the whole hemp seeds go into the blend and this is what makes it particularly filling.

Hope you like it! Rob

The dressing I made for tonight’s salad was quite similar to one I’ve posted before but we both thought it was particularly good and it’s fairly simple so here goes:

• 1 avocado
• 1 red pepper
• 1 1/2 sun dried tomatoes, soaked
• handful of seaweed flakes
• 1/2 tsp hemp leaf powder
• 1/2 tsp maca
• bit of chili

Put everything in the Vitamix, including the soak water, and blend. Delicious.