Raw Vegan Nut-Free Taco Filling, Pico de Gallo and Green Baja Sauce

Pico de Gallo, Nut-Free Taco Filling, Green Baja Sauce - Raw and Vegan

For those who like or need to keep their meals nut-free, I altered my Walnut Mushroom Filling to accommodate you.  I like to keep most of our meals either nut-free or at least enjoy them sparingly.

This version I tweaked ever so slightly and replaced the walnuts with raw sunflower seeds.  It has a nice texture and same great flavor as my original recipe.  Perfect replacement for the walnuts.  I'm also working on another one, which I've made before but want to tweak it a bit more before posting it.

I also created another new sauce to go with our raw tacos tonight.  Mark loves my hemp cheeses, but I wanted something different and was thinking of a Baja sauce.  It came out fresh and bursting with flavor!

My pico de gallo is a staple here, we eat this regularly and it was funny to actually measure it.  I change this up frequently, so go with your taste buds.  Oh and yes, there was guacamole with our raw tacos.  Can't eat Mexican food without guacamole!  Any meal for that matter.

Nut-Free Taco Filling - Sunflower Seeds

1 heaping cup raw sunflower seeds

2 1/2 cups quartered baby portobellos (8oz package)

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp onion powder

1/2 tsp ancho chili powder (I typically use more)

1 tsp smoked cumin powder

2 tsp Braggs liquid aminos (or Tamari)

 

Put sunflower seeds into food processor and process until you have small bits.  Add in remaining ingredients and pulse process until it resembles taco meat.  Don't over process or you will end up with pate - unless you want pate.  This will be light in color, but will darken after a little while. 

 

Store in fridge for a couple hours to let the ingredients mingle or eat immediately.  This is best when eaten fresh, but will last in the fridge one extra day.

 

Note: Feel free to adjust the spices to your to your taste buds - I do that all the time.

 

Green Baja Sauce

1/2 yellow bell pepper
1 small pepper for heat of choice - or use more yellow bell
1/4 cup roughly chopped onion
1 clove garlic
1/3 cup roughly chopped cilantro
juice of 1 lime
1/2 cup hemp heart seeds
water as needed

Put all ingredients in blender and just a tiny bit of water to help get it going.  Blend until smooth and creamy.  Add a little more water at a time to thin it out as desired.

Store in fridge for up to 3 days.


Pico de Gallo

3 medium tomatoes roughly chopped (about 2 1/2 cups)
1/4 cup cilantro (small handful)
1/2 cup roughly chopped green onion
1/2 cup roughly chopped white or red onion (I use a mix of both)
2 cloves garlic - *minced (or see below for easy way to mince)
juice of 1 lime
jalepeno of desired amount or other pepper for heat
pinch or two of sea salt

Put all ingredients into food processor and pulse process until broken down into chunky little pieces.  Or, process until your desired consistency.  I like to put mine in mesh strainer and let most of the juice strain out so it doesn't make our tacos soppy wet.  Your choice.

*TIP: to mince garlic the easy way, turn food processor on and with it running toss in the garlic cloves and voila'! minced garlic!  Scrape down the sides and then add in the rest of the ingredients.

Hope you enjoy the recipes and have fun creating!

Peace☮
Rocki

Raw Vegan Puerto Rican Rice

Cauliflower Rice - Raw Vegan Puerto Rican II

 

One thing I love to do in the kitchen is turn traditional food raw - especially what I call "old school" favorites. While this raw version isn't actually old school, it is an old favorite that we used to have quite frequently at our friends house long ago.

 

The above version of my Puerto Rican Rice is a spinoff of the first one that I made, which is below.  There isn't too much of a difference recipe wise, but was enough to give it a bit more flavor so am posting both recipes. 

 

Raw Vegan Puerto Rican Rice II

 

1 small head cauliflower

3/4 cup roughly chopped onion

1/2 cup heaping sundried tomatoes - soaked and drained well

1/4 cup chopped cilantro

1/8 tsp cayenne pepper

1 tsp cumin

1/8 tsp Saffron

1/8 tsp turmeric

1 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp sea salt

3/4 cup peas

 

Cut cauliflower into chunks, put into food processor and pulse several times until you have rice like pieces - don't over process or you'll have mush.  Scrape sides as needed.  Depending on size of your processor, you may need to do this part in 2 batches.  Put "rice" into large bowl and set aside. *don't clean the processor*

 

Add the following to the food processor:

 

roughly chopped onion

sundried tomatoes

Process until you have semi-small bits.

 

Add in the chopped cilantro and pulse process a few times. Add this mixture to the rice bowl and stir in the following spices only and combine well:

 

cayenne pepper

cumin

Saffron

turmeric

garlic powder

sea salt

 

Gently stir in the peas.

 

Serve immediately or put in fridge to chill.  Store in fridge for up to approximately 3 days.  Remember, this is fresh food so it's best to eat it sooner than later. 

 

 

Raw Vegan Puerto Rican Rice Dish

 

This is my first recipe and again, while there's not much difference in ingredients, there was a definite overall taste in flavor.  Both scored two thumbs up from my official taste tester. 

 

Raw Vegan Puerto Rican Rice

 

1 small head cauliflower

1/2 cup roughly chopped onion

1/3 cup sundried tomatoes

1/2 Serrano pepper - seeded

1/4 cup chopped cilantro

1/8 tsp cayenne pepper

1/2 tsp cumin

1/4 tsp turmeric

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/8 tsp sea salt

3/4 cup peas

 

Cut cauliflower into chunks, put into food processor and pulse several times until you have rice like pieces - don't over process or you'll have mush.  Scrape sides as needed.  Depending on size of your processor, you may need to do this part in 2 batches.  Put "rice" into large bowl and set aside. *don't clean the processor*

 

Add the following to the food processor:

 

roughly chopped onion

sundried tomatoes

serrano pepper - seeded

Process until you have semi-small bits.

 

Add in the chopped cilantro and pulse process a few times. Add this mixture to the rice bowl and stir in the following spices only and combine well:

 

cayenne pepper

cumin

turmeric

garlic powder

sea salt

 

Gently stir in the peas.

 

I served this rice with avocado slices and sliced bananas sprinkled with Saigon cinnamon.  Both version are delicious room temp or chilled.

 

Peace☮

Rocki

 

Raw Vegan Spicy Hemp Cheese Sauce - Nut-Free

Cheese Sauce - Raw, Vegan and Nut-Free

This is a recipe from my old blog that I've transferred here.

Today was such a beautiful day all around.  We got some needed work done around the house in the morning, prepared veggies for Mark's lunch for tomorrow, played barber and cut Mark's hair, went for an awesome bicycle ride and now relaxing on the couch until it's time to create dinner. 

Oh wait, I forgot one little detail... made a batch of my hemp cheese.  Yum yum yum!

We sat down to have lunch and dug right into our veggies and cheese sauce.  I dunked my zucchini into the bowl of deliciousness, took a bite and looked at my cheesy zucchini - it looked like a half moon.  Mark's exact words were: "Well, they say the moon is made of cheese."  He always makes me laugh!

Not only is this cheese sauce gluten, dairy and nut-free, but it is super healthy and guilt-free!  Okay, on with my recipe as I'm wanting to dig back into the cheesy goodness.

Raw Vegan Hemp Cheese Sauce

1/4 cup water
1 red bell pepper
1 large garlic clove
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp sea salt (or to taste)
3 TBS nutritional yeast (heaping)
1/8 tsp turmeric
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
2 TBS raw apple cider vinegar
1 Serrano chili pepper, seeds removed (or pepper of choice)
1 cup hemp heart seeds

Put everything into your blender and blend until smooth and creamy.  You can add more water if you want a thinner consistency.  Sometimes I add a little tahini for added creaminess.

Living in the southwest we tend to love heat, especially in our food.  Well, actually it took Mark a long time to realize that ketchup was NOT salsa (silly boy).  Now he loves heat in his food too :)  But no worries if you don't as you can change the flavor of the cheese by omitting both peppers and enjoy as is or add herbs and spices of your choice.  You can also use a yellow bell pepper instead of the red.  So many choices.

Time to eat.  Chow for now.

Peace☮
Rocki