Raw Lasagna - Marinated Portobello with Vegan Herb "Cheese"

Raw Vegan Lasagna

Raw Lasagna - YUM!  As you can probably tell I love making raw lasagna.  It's one of Mark's favorites, besides my raw tacos, burritos, etc.  It's so easy too.  Of course there is some food prep depending on what you have in the fridge and how you want to make it, but for the most part it is so easy it's crazy.

Marinated Portobello with Vegan Herb "Cheese" Raw Lasagna

This one I made a little heartier by using Portobello mushrooms which I marinated for extra flavor and to soften them up a bit.  I also dehydrated them, but no worries if you do not have a dehydrator as you don't have to do that step.  It just gives them a more "cooked" like texture and appearance.  

Raw Vegan Lasagna - Yum!

The "cheese" is a variation of many of my other hemp "cheese" recipes.  I don't always have fresh herbs on hand, which are always the best, so I use dried in those cases - use whatever you like though.  For the red sauce... well I change it up here and there all the time, but here's this version.  Feel free to change it up to your taste buds.  That's the beauty of raw foods!


Raw Lasagna - Marinated Portobello
with Vegan Herb "Cheese"
this made 2 huge platefuls

Marinated Portobello Mushrooms
2-3 Portobello's, degilled and sliced thick (I used 2 large)
1 Tbs apple cider vinegar (I use a raw gluten-free version)
1 Tbs Braggs or Tamari
1 Tbs EVO (extra virgin olive oil)
1/2 Tbs Agave
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/4 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp garlic powder

Combine the marinade ingredients in a small bowl.  Place the sliced portobellos into a Ziploc bag or other container and pour the marinade into the bag.  Try to coat each one as well as you can.  It may seem as if there is not enough marinade, but the shrooms will develop juice while marinating.  Marinate in fridge for at least 6-8 hours - the longer the better.  Every so often I gently turned the bag over a few times to coat.  When ready to layer, simply remove the shrooms from the bag and let rest to drain onto a paper towel lined plate or cutting board. Or...

*optional* After marinating, place on lined dehydrator tray and dehydrate at 115° F for approximately 1-2 hours, or longer if you wish.

Tomato Sauce
1/4 cup heaping sundried tomatoes - soaked until softened, then drain
2 medium tomatoes - roughly chopped
1/4 heaping cup onion - roughly chopped
1 medjool date
1 large clove garlic - minced
5-6 basil leaves - chopped
1 long sprig rosemary
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp paprika
black pepper - few turns or to taste
pinch sea salt

Process in food processor.  Mixture will be thick.  I don't like my lasagna wet and soppy, so I strain my sauce.  Put the tomato mixture into a fine to medium mesh strainer placed over a bowl and set aside to drain while you prepare the rest of the lasagna ingredients.

Hemp Herb "Cheese"
1 yellow bell pepper, seeded and roughly chopped
1 large garlic clove
1 cup hemp heart seeds
small handful fresh basil
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp thyme
juice from 1/2 lemon
1/4 tsp sea salt
water as needed

Blend all ingredients until smooth and creamy.  I like this "cheese" to be a little on the thick side as it works best for spreading on the zucchini layers.  If it is too thick, thin it out with water, a little at a time, until desired consistency.

Spinach Layer
Fresh baby spinach - roughly chopped or torn
amount will vary, use as much or as little as you want

Zucchini noodles
I used 3 zucchinis - sizes vary so use however many you need

I made the noodles with my mandolin - a bit thicker than usual due to the amount of veggies that I was using.  They soften up like noodles while in the fridge for a couple hours and are so yummy!  Anyway, you can also slice them with a knife if you don't have a mandolin.

Let the layering begin!  I used 2 zucchini noodles for each layer that I partially overlapped to make a hearty lasagna serving.  I put a good layer of the herb "cheese" on both sides of the zucchini noodle layers so that it would hold in the veggie layers all nice and snuggly - except when I layered with the red sauce.  You can see how I layered mine, but feel free to layer in any order you wish. 

This can be served immediately, or put in the fridge for 1-2 hours to let the flavors mingle and the zucchini noodles soften.  Enjoy!

Peace☮
Rocki

Herb Smoked Lasagna - Raw Vegan

Raw Vegan Herb Smoked Lasagna

I love creating raw lasagna.  And eating it.  You really can't go wrong as there are a ton of ways to make raw lasagna.  I think that's part of the fun actually.  And eating it.

In this version I created a nut-free herb cashew "cheese" along with smoky tomatoes and onions in place of a sauce.  On each side of the zucchini noodles I put plenty of the "cheese" to hold all the fresh veggies in, and of course for the yumminess factor.  You can use any veggies you like, but here's the layers for this version from bottom up: shredded red cabbage, sliced avocado, double stacked mushrooms with "cheese" in between, and the tomato onion mixture.

Now that you're hungry, here's the recipe that made two huge stacks.

Herb Smoked Lasagna - Raw Vegan

2 large zucchinis - sliced thin or as desired
plenty of veggies of your choice

Cashew Herb Hemp "Cheese"
1/2 cup raw cashews - soaked at least 4 hours.  Rinse well and drain.
2 cloves garlic
1 1/2 Tbs nutritional yeast,
1/4 cup hemp heart seeds,
1 Tbs apple cider vinegar (or lemon juice)
1/2 tsp Mediterranean Marjoram
1 tsp Mediterranean Basil,
Pinch of sea salt
1/4 cup + 2 Tbs water

Blend all ingredients.  You may need to stop the blender and scrape down sides a few times.  Mixture will be somewhat thick, but if too thick add more water to your liking.

Smoky Tomato & Onions
2 cups cherub/cherry tomatoes
1/3 cup heaping onions, roughly chopped
1/2 tsp smoked paprika
1/2 tsp garlic powder

Put all ingredients in food processor and pulse several times until it resembles chunky salsa.  Put in strainer over a bowl and let drain - otherwise the lasagna will be soppy wet. After draining, put mixture in a small bowl and sprinkle a few times with more smoked paprika.

I used 2 slices of zucchini noodles for each layer, slightly overlapping them.  Spread some "cheese" on each side of the zucchini noodles then layer with veggies as you wish and enjoy!

Peace☮
Rocki

Raw Lemon Lime Coconut Cheesecake - Vegan and Gluten-Free

Raw Vegan Lemon Lime Coconut Cheesecake

I won't get long winded on this post... don't hold me to that though.

First off, the photos truly do not give a great representation of how good this was, but since I won't be making another one for a while I figured I might as well post them.  The Arizona sun is just really harsh right now unless you get out there at a certain time without it melting everything.  And indoors, well I just can't seem to get a decent pic.  Anyway, lets move on.

Mark loves lemons and limes, but not cheesecake... at least not traditional cheesecake.  He surely doesn't seem to have a problem eating every last crumb of any of my raw vegan cheesecakes ;)  So I decided to make a double layer of his favorites - one of lemon and the other, you guessed it, lime.  Even though we rarely eat these types of desserts at home, I still like to create them for a splurge and then we share the rest with others.

Speaking of... I sent some with Mark to his work and it was a bigger hit than I expected.  That really made my day!  I sliced up the rest of it and he took it to work this morning. 

Raw Vegan Cheesecake - Lemon Lime Coconut

I really hesitated on posting the above pic, but just imagine taking a bite... taste the freshness of the lemon lime creamy filling and then the coconut nut-free crust... mmmmm.  So good! 


Raw Lemon Lime Coconut Cheesecake
Vegan and Gluten-Free

Crust:
1 1/2 cups dried unsweetened coconut (I used shreds)
1/2 cup flax meal
1 cup medjool dates
pinch of sea salt

In food processor, process a few minutes until well combined.  Mixture will be semi-crumbly.  Put into an 8" springform pan and press down firmly.  Place uncovered in fridge while making the fillings.

Lime Filling:
2 1/4 cups ripe avocados (I used 2 huge jumbo avocados)
Coconut meat from 1 Young Thai Coconut (approximately 1 cup)
Juice from 3 limes
Zest from 2 limes
1/3 cup agave
2 Tbs coconut oil (liquid)
Coconut water as needed

Put all ingredients *except the coconut water* into high speed blender and blend until smooth and creamy.  You'll probably need to use a tamper and work it down or stop the blender and scrape the sides, etc.  The mixture will be thick, but if it seems too thick to blend, add in a small amount of coconut water a little at time. You don't want to thin out the mixture, just enough water to help it blend.

Pour the mixture into the springform pan and place uncovered in the freezer for at least 60-90 minutes.

Lemon Filling:
1 1/2 cups cashews (soaked 6 or more hours, rinse & drain)
Juice and zest from 1 1/2 lemons
3 1/2 Tbs coconut oil (liquid)
*1/2 cup almond milk (or milk of choice)
1/3 cup agave
pinch of sea salt

Add in all ingredients, but start with *1/4 cup of the milk.  Blend until smooth and creamy.  As with the lime mixture, you'll need to tamper down the ingredients.  If needed, add the remaining almond milk.  Mixture will be thick but creamy.

Slowly spoon the mixture on top of the semi-frozen lime mixture and carefully spread it around.  I saved a little of the lime mixture and sort of mixed it in with a little of the lemon mixture on top, but is not necessary. 

Place uncovered in the freezer at least several hours or overnight.  To serve, remove from freezer at least 60 minutes to slice, then let it sit at room temp or in fridge until defrosted.  Time frame varies due to multiple factors.

Enjoy!

Peace☮
Rocki

Raw Vegan Veggie Lasagna Stack

Raw Vegan Veggie Lasagna Stack

There are so many ways to make raw vegan lasagna and this is another one of mine.  It is super easy to make and you can change it up to your own liking.  In fact, this is so simple that a recipe really isn't needed, but I have provided it at the end.

Raw Lasagna loaded with veggies

I didn't know where I was going with this one, so I just grabbed a bunch of veggies and went with it.  There are 3 huge layers plus the top, but a couple of them are double stuffed.  Just look at all that raw goodness!

Raw Vegan Meals are far from boring

I text Mark a picture of what I made for dinner (I know, I'm such a tease!) and could hardly wait for him to get home so we could eat.  It was very difficult to not dig into it before he got home.  Okay, so I had a little bite... I had to make sure it was edible, right?

Well, let me just say that the lasagna was our entire dinner.  That is how huge and filling they were.  So if anyone ever tells you that a raw vegan lifestyle is boring... need I say more?

Raw Vegan Veggie Lasagna Stack

This is truly very simple, but here are the basics for my sauce recipe and avocado mash.  The rest of the ingredients I'll list, but there are no measurements as I pretty much winged this one.

Tomato Sauce
1/4 cup sundried tomatoes - soaked until softened then drain
2 medium tomatoes - roughly chopped
1 medjool date
5-6 basil leaves - chopped
1 long sprig rosemary
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
black pepper - few turns or to taste
pinch sea salt

Process well in food processor.  Mixture will be thick.  I don't like my lasagna wet and soppy, so I strain my sauce.  Put the tomato mixture into a fine to medium mesh strainer, place over bowl and set aside to drain while you prepare the rest of the lasagna ingredients.  You can see how I did it in my other lasagna recipe here.

Avocado Mash
1 avocado
squeeze or two of fresh lemon juice
1/2 tsp onion powder
black pepper - couple turns
pinch of sea salt

Just like it says - mash the avocado along with all the ingredients.

Zucchini noodles
I used 3 zucchinis - sizes vary so use however many you need

I made the noodles with my mandolin - a bit thicker than usual due to the amount of veggies that I was using.  They soften up like noodles while in the fridge for a couple hours and are so yummy!  Anyway, you can also slice them with a knife if you don't have a mandolin.

Use whatever veggies you would like in your lasagna, but here's what I used in this one from bottom up:

zucchini noodles
sauce
chopped yellow bell pepper
zucchini noodles
sauce
peeled carrots
zucchini noodles (I put a little avocado on it first then put it on top of the carrots to hold in place)
avocado mash
chopped onion
corn
zucchini noodles (I put a little tomato sauce on it first then put it on top to hold veggies in place)
tomato sauce

Serve immediately or at least within a 2-3 hours and enjoy!

Peace☮
Rocki

Raw Vegan Sloppy Joes

Raw Vegan Sloppy Joes

So the other night we were watching a movie and in one scene they were eating Sloppy Joes.  My mind suddenly went to food and I blurted out I NEED TO CREATE A RAW VEGAN SLOPPY JOE!  Mark didn't miss a beat and said "YES!!"

Let me back up.  When I was a kid I loved Sloppy Joes!  But not the meat part, just the sauce.  While my mom was making the packaged sauce (I don't know how I ate that crap), I would sneak in and taste it by the spoonful before she added the meat.  So fast forward to the other night.  As soon as I seen them eating SJ's my taste buds went off - big time. The next day I put on my Raw Vegan Mad Scientist Coat (apron) and into the garden (kitchen) I went to turn another old school dish into a healthy raw & vegan one.

I've included sort of a step by step photos and at the end is the recipe.  I'll admit that it was very difficult to take a decent photo of the SJ's without it looking like meat, which it's not, but trust me when I say that the flavor will burst in your mouth!

Walnut and Mushroom Mixture

I used walnuts and baby portobello mushrooms for the base mix and pulse processed to semi little bits.

Fresh Tomato Paste Mixture

The tomato mixture is processed until it resembles tomato paste, but tastes much better!

Tomato Paste Mixture with added Veggies

Little bits of veggies were then added.  The flavor was absolutely bursting in my mouth!


Both mixes combined

After adding the tomato veggie mixture to the walnut shroom mix, I scooped a big spoonful and took a bite.  BAM!  Oh yes, it is seriously that good! 

Veggie Joes!

I happened to have made a new flatbread recipe a few days ago, so I served my raw vegan SJ's on my new bread.  Perfect!  I haven't had time to post the recipe for my new flatbread and while I could have done that first, I was just too super excited about my SJ's! 

Speaking of my SJ'S, lets move on to the recipe.  Just to note that I'm writing it out in steps, so all the ingredients are in each step of this simple recipe.

Raw Vegan Sloppy Joes
This makes a big batch - I'll measure next time.

Step 1
1/2 cup sundried tomatoes
2 medjool dates (or dates of choice)

Soak in fresh water together for approximately 20-30 minutes.  Set aside - these will be used in Step 3.

Step 2
2 1/2 cups baby portobellos - roughly chopped
1 cup walnuts (soaked & dehydrated, but not necessary)
1 tsp Braggs or Tamari
1/8 tsp chili powder

In food processor, pulse process to semi-bits - but not too small as you don't want this mushy.  Put in large bowl and set aside.

Step 3
2 medium size tomatoes - quartered
1 garlic clove - chopped
1/4 cup green bell pepper - roughly chopped
1/4 cup celery - roughly chopped
sundried tomatoes & medjool dates from Step 1 - drained

Put in food processor and process well, until it resembles tomato paste.  Leave in the processor and follow next step.

Step 4
1/4 tsp chili pepper flakes
1/4 tsp heaping ancho chili powder
1/2 tsp dry mustard powder

Add to the tomato paste mix in food processor and pulse a few times to combine.

Step 5
1/3 cup diced celery
1/3 cup diced onion
1/4 cup diced green bell pepper
1 large garlic clove - minced

Add veggies to the tomato mix and pulse process briefly just to combine.

Step 6
Add the tomato veggie mix to the walnut shroom bowl and stir to combine. 

Serve on bread or buns of your choice.  For lunch I had leftovers on romaine lettuce - delish!  Store in fridge.  Best enjoyed the day of making it and will keep for one extra day.

Enjoy!

Peace☮
Rocki

Raw Vegan Single Serve Nut Fudge Brownie

Raw Vegan Fudge Brownie - Single Serve

Single serve nut fudge brownie. Because sometimes you need to satisfy that "GOTTA HAVE CHOCOLATE NOW!" fix in a jiffy.

While this raw vegan brownie does contain nuts, it's still healthy and guilt-free - and quick to make in a single bowl.

Single Serve Nut Fudge Brownie

1/3 cup walnuts
1/2 Tbs dried coconut shreds (or hemp heart seeds)
1/2 Tbs cacao powder
1/2 Tbs agave (or liquid sweetener of choice)
1/2 Tbs almond butter or other nut butter

Grind the walnuts in a coffee grinder or for a quick, barbaric dishes-free way: put them in an unsealed baggie and smash them with a heavy utensil, but don't pulverize them to smithereens.  With a fork, combine all ingredients in a small bowl. Form into a brownie or any shape you wish. Eat this warm ooey gooey fudgy nutty brownie immediately or put in fridge for at least 30-60 minutes and it will taste even better! 

That's it.  Simple and quick. Your chocolate fix is now cured. 

Peace☮
Rocki

Raw Vegan Oatmeal Raisin Cookies and Cookie Dough Bliss Balls

Raw Vegan Oatmeal Cookies

 

This is another recipe that I transferred from my old blog



My grandma made the best oatmeal molasses raisin cookies.  In fact, I can still smell them!  Lots of fun was spent in the kitchen at my grandparents house.  Sweet memories.

My Raw Vegan Oatmeal Raisin Cookies are guilt-free, gluten-free, healthy and very tasty.  They go pretty quick too, so next time I'll make a double batch... maybe even triple. 

The aroma of these cookies in the dehydrator is like pure bliss!

No worries if you do not have a dehydrator as you can eat these cookies completely raw!  You can form them into cookie shapes or Bliss Balls (see below) - they taste like oatmeal cookie dough! 

Raw Vegan Cookie Dough Bliss Balls

For this batch I did a little of both, and Mark took them to work to share.  I rolled some in hemp heart seeds, some in coconut sugar and the rest I left plain.  Shredded coconut would be a nice topping too... so many choices.

Here's my simple recipe for a yummy healthy treat.

Raw Vegan Oatmeal Raisin Cookies and Bliss Balls

1 heaping cup of soaked steel cut gluten-free oats (rinsed and drained) - or regular oats
1 cup flax meal
1/2 cup walnuts (soaked and dehydrated - optional)
2 Tbs hemp heart seeds
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 tsp Roasted Saigon Cinnamon (or regular)
1/4 tsp sea salt

Put into food processor and pulse to combine.

Add in:
1/2 cup packed medjool dates (or dates of choice), process until well combined and can hold it's shape when rolled into a ball.

Add in 1/4 cup full of golden raisins and pulse just a few times to mix in.  You can leave the raisins out if you like.

For dehydrated cookies:

Form into balls, sprinkle with a tiny bit of coconut sugar (or sugar of choice) and flatten.  Put onto mesh dehydrator sheet and dehydrate at 115 degrees for approximately 4-6 hours or until desired doneness.  Time will vary due to weather, location, dehydrator, etc.

For bliss balls:

Form into round balls and if desired, roll into coconut shreds, hemp seeds, coconut sugar... or leave plain.  I love them plain.

Store them in the fridge or freezer - if they last that long. 

Peace☮
Rocki