Planet of the Ood

If you’re not a fan of Doctor Who, you won’t know what I’m talking about, but if you are… you’ll know what I mean when I tell you that the humble Celeriac is know as an “Ood” in our house! They just look like them, don’t they? And “Ood” is so easy to say.

We’ve had an Ood in our veg box every week this month so I have needed to be creative in coming up with things to do with them.

Here are three ideas… or is that Ood-eas… (sorry!)

 

OODLES

Ingredients

1 Ood (Celeriac)

Olive oil

Soy sauce/ Tamari/ Miso

Nutritional Yeast

Seaweed sprinkle

Method

Cut the Ood into manageable pieces and spiralize into a large bowl.

Marinate with the rest of the ingredients to taste.

Best served about an hour after making so all the flavours have mingled.

Ooh… lovely! =)

 

MASHED OOD

We compromise here sometimes by partially cooking part of a meal.

Here, I’ve gently steamed the Ood in the process of creating a soft mash.

Method

Chop your Ood and place in the food processor with the S-blade. Process until it is kibbled into small pieces.

Transfer the kibbled Ood into a sieve and place over a pan of boiling water for a few minutes with a plate over the top.

Stir regularly. The steam will escape around the top of the sieve and gently steam the Ood.

Transfer the steamed Ood to a bowl. Mash with a potato masher and season to taste.

This warm dish is a great complement to the rest of the meal, especially on a really cold night.

 

OOD SOUP

Another warm dish for the winter months

Ingredients

1/2 Ood (Celeriac)

3 carrots

2 Sweet Potatoes

Olive oil

Liquid (nut milk/ water, stock) as required

Seasonings

Method

Chop the vegetables and then kibble in a food processor (omit this step if you have a high-speed blender)

Transfer to a blender and add the rest of the ingredients.

Blend until the mixture is as smooth as possible.

Warm in a pan over a low heat unit blood temperature is reached.

Serve immediately.

I like to sprinkle dried seaweed, dried leek and nutritional yeast on mine!

Brownies’ Honour

Honestly, these brownies taste divine! And they are a snip to make!

CHOCOLATE BROWNIES

Ingredients

1 cup dates

1 cup walnuts

1/2 cup raw cacao powder

1 dsp/tbs honey

1 tsp cinnamon

1 pinch sea salt

Method

Mix everything together in a food processor (with S-blade) until a fairly smooth (with a few nutty lumps) texture is reached.

Spread out in a silicone square cake pan and dehydrate for 1 hour.

Turn out, cut into 6 “fingers” and dehydrate a further 2-3 hours to create a crispy outside, leaving the centre soft and creamy.

Alternatively, try freezing the mixture in the pan, scoring the bars first and enjoy after a few hours’ firming in the cold.

 

Related articles

• Raw Chocolate Brownies (cucinaceri.com)
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Flour Power

I do have a bit of an issue with “all purpose” things – how can something be good for everything?

Well, I have developed a type of raw “flour” that I can use for most things – generally in place of flaxseed (which I’m not terribly fond of) in cakes, crackers, granola etc.

Here’s my recipe for Most-Purpose Flour and two recipes using it.

MOST-PURPOSE FLOUR

Ingredients

Almond pulp (from making almond milk)

Oats

Maca powder

Baobab powder

Optional sweetener

Method

Dry the almond pulp on the dehydrator until it is really dry.

Place in the almond in the food processor, with the S-blade. Add some oats, a spoon of maca and a spoon of baobab.

Process until the mixture it a uniform texture and store in a sealed jar until use.

Quantities are vague for this recipe because it really depends on how much you have. I used about half-and-half almond and oats and a tablespoon of each of the superfoods.

For variation, try using other nut pulp, seed pulp, alternative superfood powders, etc…

Now for the recipes:

MACANOLA

Ingredients

Dried fruit (I used apricots, figs, cranberries, pineapple, plum and mango) soaked until nice and squishy

Most-purpose flour

Mixed seeds, soaked overnight or for several hours.

Method

Place the soaked seeds and fruit in a bowl and add sufficient flour to coat everything. Hang on to the fruit soak water for other recipes, but discard the seed soak water.

Spread the mixture over non-stick dehydrator sheets and place on rack in dehydrator on 115℉ overnight.

In the morning you with have a lovely crunchy granola which can be eaten as-is or as a cereal with milk.

Store in a sealed jar or box for up to a week.

CREPES D’AMANDE

These are like crispy, slightly wholemeal crepes.

They’re not light and fluffy as pancakes should be, but serve a similar purpose.

Ingredients for each crepe:

1 Banana

4 dsp/tsp Most -Purpose Flour

A drop of water, fruit juice or fruit soak water

(multiply quantities to as many crepes as you want to make)

Method

Chop the banana and place in food processor

Add the flour and process with S-blade

Add liquid if required to form a smooth, just-pourable consistency/

Spread into a circle on a non-stick dehydrator c=sheet and dehydrate for 4 hours.

Flip and dehydrate for a further 2-4 hours until the right consistency is reached.

The crepe should hold together and roll around a filling without breaking.

Serve with your favourite filling.

I ate mine with cashew cream and fresh raspberries. They were absolutely divine!

Related articles

• Homemade Almond Flour (unblanched) and Cacao & Spiced Almond Milk (sprinklesandallergies.wordpress.com)
• Homemade Almond Milk with Cinnamon (sprinklesandallergies.wordpress.com)
• Easy, Basic Crepes (whiskandwhimsy.com)

Cashew Cream

I like to mix up a batch of this and keep it in a box in the fridge.

I use it in smoothies, sweet recipes and as a creamy side dish with fruit and sweet treats.

CASHEW CREAM

Ingredients:

1 Cup Cashew nuts, soaked and rinsed

1 Banana

1 dsp/tbs Baobab Powder (this is optional – I use a lot of baobab!)

1 dsp/tbs Honey or Agave syrup (again optional, but gives a lovey taste)

Fruit juice/ Water or Fruit-Soak Water as required.

A pinch of Vanilla Powder or a bit of chopped Vanilla Bean

Method

Blend or process everything until really smooth. Use  little liquid if required.

The consistency should be that of a thick cream, but make it thinner if you want to pour it.

Keeps for about a week in the fridge.

 

Related articles

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Decadent Valentine’s Treat

Raw Chocolate Coated Strawberries.

I’m sure no explanation or preamble is required.

Ingredients:

8-10 ripe strawberries

2 dsp coconut oil

1 dsp manuka honey

3 dsp raw cacao powder

 

Method:

Melt the oil and honey in a bain-marie

Add the cacao powder and stir in until a rich chocolate is reached. Use a whisk if you have lumps.

Dip strawberries into the chocolate.

Place on a plate and put in freezer for 10-15 minutes to harden.

Enjoy with a loved one on the night of love. ♥

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I Just Can’t Get Enough (of that raw fermented stuff…)

So, I’ve done Kimchi, Sauerkraut and Water Kefir. I’ve bought live probiotic powder and turned my hand to raw cheese; what’s next?

Yogurt, of course! This is something I will find very useful in my raw dishes. (Especially at breakfast, where I’m trying out things-that-are-not-smoothies!)

I’ve been doing my research and decided that first I will try Oat Yogurt. I’ve not done this before, so it will be a 24 hour experiment. I will let you know how it turns out!

Here’s what I’ve done:

In a ceramic bowl, I mixed:

2 cups wholegrain oats (I only had rolled oats but whole oats would be preferable as they’ve not been processed.)

3 cups water

the contents of 2 probiotic capsules

I’ve stirred the mixture together and covered it. Now I need to leave it  to stand at room temperature for 24 hours.

Tomorrow night I will take a look and see whether the mixture needs blending to make it smooth and creamy, or whether it is fine as it is.

I’ll blog my results of this experiment tomorrow!

UPDATE: 24 Hours later.

I uncovered my oat mixture and to be honest it just looked like uncooked porridge. I tasted it and there was none of the sourness I have been led to expect.

I decided to blend the whole mixture and add a couple more probiotic capsules (the powder from the inside) and leave it in the bowl for another 24 hours.

So, a bit disappointing really, but tomorrow might yield better results. Patience Poli, patience…

 

UPDATE 2: Another 24 hours later.

The yogurt looks a lot more like yogurt now and is rather sour to taste – more like I was hoping for.

I gave it a good stir and it looked right, so I added some frozen strawberries, soaked cashews and dried cranberries.

I now have a lovely yogurty breakfast, which I will have in the morning.

 

UPDATE 3: The following morning.

Yum! This is delicious!

Now I know how to do it, here’s the recipe:

 

Fruity Breakfast Yogurt.

Equipment: bowl, blender

Ingredients:

2 cups Oats

3 cups Water

4 Probiotic capsules

Strawberries

Cranberries

Cashew nuts

Agave Nectar

Method:

Soak the oats in the water. Add the contents of the probiotic capsules.

Cover the oats and leave for 24 – 48 hours at room temperature. This depends on the temperature of your home. It will take longer in Winter.

Soak the cashew nuts for several hours or overnight.

Blend the oat/water mixture and pour into a bowl.

Add the cashew nuts, strawberries and cranberries (these are to taste so no precise amounts are given.)

Add a little agave nectar to sweeten if required.

Serves 4 – 6.

Related articles

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How To Make Water Kefir

I’ve been asked about water kefir, so I thought I’d write a post about it.

A lot of people have heard of milk kefir, but I confess I had never heard of either until a few months ago.

So what is kefir and what do you do with it?

Image via Wikipedia

 

Water Kefir, also known as Tibicos, Tibi, Japanese water crystals or California Bees is a culture of bacteria and yeast held in a polysaccharide matrix created by the bacteria. Sounds yummy, doesn’t it?

Actually, it doesn’t taste of anything much on its own and looks like a load of little white granules, but by making a Water Kefir drink, it becomes a delicious sweet, sometimes fizzy, probiotic drink, packed with nutrients. Sounds yummier now, eh?

If you want to know more about the substance itself, have a look here.

If you want to know what to do with it, keep reading:

To make Water Kefir:

Take a Mason or Kilner jar and clean it thoroughly (I like to sterilize mine too, just to be on the safe side)

Spoon 2 teaspoons of Kefir grains into the jar and fill with clean water (filtered or spring if you can get it.)

Add 2 teaspoons of sugar, or a substitute*

Mix it up and close the jar. Leave for a few days, “feeding” the kefir some more sugar each day.

The more you “feed” the grains (don’t overdo it – a teaspoonful a day is enough!) the stronger it gets. After several days it can become fizzy, which is a nice alternative to carbonated drinks. It will even become very mildly alcoholic, eventually, but don’t get too excited, 2% is about as strong as you’ll manage!

This is not an exact science. Taste the water to determine whether you want to drink it. It should not be overly sweet. It can take time to make it just how you like it, but you can enjoy drinking all the experiments.

To drink, simply drain all the water out into a sieve or muslin and use the grains again.

They will multiply and before you know it, you’ll have several jars on the go and you’ll be begging friends to take them off you! You can eat excess grains if you prefer!

 

*Sugar. Obviously, not everyone wants to use refined sugar, even though it is the kefir “eating” it and not you, but some alternatives are:

fruit (just throw some dried fruit it – they love it!)

maple syrup (more expensive, but definitely worth it!)

less refined brown sugar (turns the grains brown, but doesn’t harm them)

you can culture the kefir in fruit juice.

Related articles

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Raw Cashew “Cheese”

I haven’t eaten actual cheese for decades and don’t miss it at all, but as a vegan I have sometimes enjoyed a dairy-free alternative to cheese. It’s certainly a useful thing to have in the fridge, turning a simple salad into something a bit more interesting and nutritious and providing a great filling for a raw (or even almost-raw) sandwich.

I have adapted a recipe originally shared by Russell James (the Raw Food Chef) here.

Russell’s recipe uses macadamia nuts, which I absolutely adore, but they are a little expensive so, finances being how they I used cashews instead.

Here is my version, but I urge you to check out Russell’s (and his other recipes too – they are superb and always work out perfectly!)

Cashew Cheese

Equipment:

Blender/Liquidizer, Sieve, Bowl, Muslin (or Nut Milk Bag), Dehydrator (or fan oven – use fan only,) Ring Mould

Ingredients:

2 cups cashew nuts

1 cup water

2 probiotic capsules

pinch salt

2 teaspoons nutritional yeast (or 1 teaspoon Marmite (yeast extract) if you don’t mind a non-raw condiment!)

Squeeze of lemon juice

Method:

Blend the nuts and water together until you have a smooth paste.

Add the powder from the probiotic capsules and mix in thoroughly.

Pour the mixture into a nut milk bag or a piece of muslin and place in a sieve, over a bowl. Place a plate on the top and a weight to squeeze the excess liquid out. I used a fairly full jar of coconut oil which seemed heavy enough.

Leave at room temperature for 24-48 hours. It’s a good idea to place a cloth over the whole thing so that no dust or unwelcome flying insects get in.

After 24-48 hours, unwrap the mixture and place it into a clean bowl. Add the salt, yeast and lemon juice and stir everything in.

Now pour the mixture into a ring mould. I put mine on top of a non-stick dehydrator sheet (on a DH tray) and placed it in the dehydrator for 24 hours to dry out a little and get a crust. Then I placed it in the fridge, where it lives whilst it is being eaten.

You can just put it straight into the fridge without dehydrating if you are in a hurry or don’t want a crust.

It’s delicious and can be customised with herbs, onion, garlic… the list is limitless!

I think this should last about a week, but ours won’t. Nom nom… =)

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Onion Bread To Cry For

Sometimes something is required upon which one can pile leafy salads, home-made nut cheeses and pates, kimchi and olives.

Some way needs to be found to construct an open sandwich… something bread-y.

When such occasions arise, I solve my dilemma by making this delicious light onion bread:

Onion Bread

Equipment:

Food processor (optional) Dehydrator (or fan oven)

Ingredients:

2 small onions/ 1 medium

1 cup sunflower seeds

1 cup water

4 dsp olive oil

2 dsp sprouted flax seed powder/ milled chia seed

Method:

Soak the sunflower seeds for a few hours to soften them and release the enzymes.

Chop the onion into tiny pieces. You can use the food processor for this if you prefer. Place the onion in a bowl and set aside.

Blend the sunflower seeds with water and oil to a smooth puree.

Add the sunflower puree to the onion and mix in well.

Add the chia or flax seeds and stir in thoroughly.

Pour the mixture onto a dehydrator sheet (non-stick) and spread it out to about 1/2 inch or 1 cm thickness.

Score into slices (I use a pizza cutter) and dehydrate on 115 degrees Fahrenheit, turning the slices off the non-stick sheet when they are firm enough and continue drying until the onion bread is the right texture (approx 24 hours.)

I usually cut my bread into triangles and get 8 slices out of this mixture. You can scale the ingredients up or down to vary the quantity.

 

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Quick Delicious Shake

I’ve run out of spinach!

Luckily, Mr H should be able to pick me some up at work tonight, but meanwhile… what can I put in my green smoothie? (I’ve taken to making sure I get a couple of pints of green smoothie every day because I feel better on it.)

Well, disaster averted because I have some standby Wheatgrass Powder; not as good as the fresh stuff, but not a bad substitute.

Wheatgrass powder is 21% protein, 22% carbohydrate and only 2% fat. It has lots of fibre and also contains plenty of magnesium and zinc, as well as a bit of sodium.

I made this delicious quick smoothie (which didn’t even need straining)

2 pints Water Kefir (I always have some of this avaiable!)

1 handful Blueberries (I used frozen)

1 dsp Wheatgrass powder

2 tsp Baobab powder

2 dsp Purple Corn flour

1 Banana

1 tsp Coconut oil

Agave nectar to taste

Blend everything together and enjoy

It’s a lovely dark purple colour, so my crown chakra is buzzing now!

Related articles

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