Naraya Cooking Health Recipe

• 1 head romaine, sliced
• 1 small head cabbage, or 1/2 head large, sliced
• 1/4 head red cabbage, sliced
• 1/2 red bell pepper, sliced
• 1/2 yellow bell pepper, sliced
• 2 scallions, sliced
• 1/2 cup cilantro, roughly chopped
• 1 avocado, sliced, to serve
• black sesame seeds, to serve
• slivered almonds, to serve

Spicy Mango Dressing

• 1 ripe mango, peeled and seed removed
• 3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
• 3 tablespoons water, or more vinegar if you like
• 1 clove garlic
• 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• pinch of pink salt

RAW VEGAN CARROT CAKE with CREAMY CASHEW LEMON FROSTING 

Cashew lemon frosting:
1 1/2 cups cashews
Juice from 1 lemon 
2 tablespoons liquid coconut oil
2 tablespoons coconut nectar 
1 teaspoon vanilla powder
Water, as needed 

Carrot cake:
3 large carrots, peeled and chopped into small chunks 
1 1/2 cups oats 
2 cups dates
1/2 cup dried coconut 
1 teaspoon cinnamon 
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg 

To make the frosting: blend all ingredients in your high speed blender until smooth, adding water as needed. Taste it - mmm. Put in the fridge. 

To make the cake: process the oats into flour in your food processor then throw the rest of the ingredients in the food processor and process until it all begins to stick together. 

Assembly: press half the cake mixture into a small spring form pan (mine is about 4 inches). Gently take this out and put on a plate, then put in the freezer until it's solid. Do the same to the remaining half of the cake mixture. Spread about 1/3 of the frosting onto the top of one of the cake layers. Put it in the freezer until the layer of frosting is hard. Place on the other cake layer and frost the entire thing, I let it set in the fridge overnight. 

• 1 small head green, savoy or napa cabbage, sliced
• 1 head romaine lettuce, sliced
• 1/3 head red cabbage, sliced
• 1/2 red bell pepper, julienned
• 1/2 yellow bell pepper, julienned
• 2 Persian cucumbers or 1 small cucumber, halved and thinly sliced
• 2 stalks of celery, thinly sliced 
• 1/2 cup chopped cilantro, loosely packed
• 2 tablespoons black sesame seeds, garnish
• small handful slivered almonds, garnish
• 8 oz. plain or grilled firm or extra firm tofu, cubed (optional)

• 1/2 cup apple cider or rice wine vinegar
• 3 tablespoons natural peanut or almond butter
• 1 tablespoon pure maple syrup (2 if using raw almond butter)
• 2 teaspoons sesame or toasted sesame oil
• 1/2 inch knob ginger, grated or minced
• 1 teaspoon sriracha, optional
• pinch of pink salt or splash of tamari

In a small bowl, mix your dressing and set aside letting the flavors develop. Taste before serving adding anything you feel it needs.

Prepare your vegetables, place in a large bowl. Here you can either add the dressing and toss to coat then serve in individual dishes. OR, you can toss and serve adding a drizzle of dressing over top once plated. Top with tofu, sesame seeds and slivered almonds.

Serves 4.

Notes:

Use whatever ingredients you like here. There is plenty so if you don't have access to a few of the items you can sub in something else or omit it all together. Make this a rainbow salad by adding in some julienned or grated carrots. You may like to add in some small broccoli florets, sliced scallions or zucchini too.

If you don't care for vinegar, I would suggest replacing the 1/3 cup of  vinegar with water or unsweetened almond milk and maybe a splash of vinegar for the extra zest it gives. This dressing is meant to be somewhat on the thin side. If you prefer it thicker add a bit more nut butter, to thin add a tad more of the liquids.

For the tofu, you can use uncooked or grilled. I lightly cooked mine using sesame seed oil and a cast iron griddle, about 6 minutes on each side. But it is perfectly fine with tofu from the package, just press if needed and cube it. If you're looking to use cooked tofu here is tutorial from Olives for Dinner that you can reference: 15-Minute Quick and Easy Tofu

A rather long title compared to most of my other posts, but I think every word is needed. I wanted to get your attention with a clever name, a short description and the most important part of this recipe, the fact that you don’t need any fancy equipment! That means zero dishes too! Hallelujah, baby. I made this tart on my family’s recent annual vacay to Tofino on Vancouver Island. It’s the ultimate west coast experience and in the waves and trees of this wise, old landscape lies my heart. This is my home.

The whole point of this recipe is that you can make it anywhere and you don’t have to use any equipment (besides a bowl and spoon). Share it with a friend, lover or yourself. It’s a delicious snack that takes only minutes to prepare and tastes *flipping gooooood*. If you have a tart tin handy, go ahead and use that for the crust, but of course I did not; because we stay in these little cabins (no, we do not own them, tragically) that are equipped with like two forks and a colander. Okay, I’m being a little harsh – they’re fairly well outfitted, just not compared to what I am used to. But I can deal! And I did. Check it. Save money, time, and dishes without skimping on big, healthy flavour! Ehh… I feel like that was an advertisement for microwave stir-fry. Nooo don’t eat that. Eat this.

Here’s the thing. The ingredients in this recipe are no different than what I use in all my other desserts: stuff like nuts, dates, fruit and cacao. The only difference is that instead of whipping them up in high-tech equipment to form them into different shapes (like a pie crust or cream cake), I’m simply leaving the foods *totally whole* and then – like with my other recipes – layering/presenting them in a pretty way. Get it? Have I been talking about this for too long? I guess it IS kinda obvious and most of you understood without even beginning to read these paragraphs. I’ll stop now. But better safe than sorry! Okay I will really stop now.


TRAVELER'S TART with DATE CRUST, CACAO-COCO DRIZZLE, BANANA SLICES & WALNUTS: NO EQUIPMENT NEEDED 

Crust:
8 Medjool dates

Tart toppings:
1 banana
8 walnut halves 
1 teaspoon hemp seeds
1 teaspoon cacao nibs

Cacao-coco drizzle:
1 tablespoon Artisana coconut butter
1 teaspoon cacao powder

To make the crust: pit the dates and then rip them in half. Press them into a tart tin or simply into a circle on a plate. I know; almost TOO simple, right? 

To make the drizzle: melt the coconut butter in a warm oven or dehydrator then stir it together with the cacao power. Top off the crust with the toppings and drizzle with the… drizzle. 

Duuuuude, now I wanna make this again. 

I know. They sound amazing. They look orgasmic. But guess what - they taste EVEN BETTER. Plus: gifs. I was having a busy afternoon in the kitchen a couple days, whipping up a raw vegan cake (which will be coming soon, don't ya worry babe), and I ended up with an extra container of raw vegan chocolate "butter cream". I don't usually like calling my recipes after their non-vegan conventional counterparts BUT in this case, this recipe ACTUALLY tastes just like chocolate butter cream... but of course it's vastly superior because it's cruelty-free and HEALTHY. So much caps lock today. What's goin' on.

Hey, guys. Back to the story, you're getting me off topic. I ended up with all this extra chocolate frosting - not the worst problem in the world (in fact, it's probably the greatest) but I still had to figure out what to do with it. I also promised my lover that I'd bring them some kind of chocolate delight when I saw them the next day. I decided to make inside-out Reeses cups. Yeah, man. It's happening. It HAPPENED.

RAW VEGAN PEANUT BUTTER & CHOCOLATE BUTTER CREAM CUPS  

Filling:
This chocolate butter cream recipe.

Outside:
3 tablespoons coconut oil
3 tablespoon peanut butter 
3 tablespoons tahini 

Note: you can use whatever nut/seed butter(s) you want. Also: try to be patient and let the butter cream sit in the fridge overnight, it becomes exactly 1 million times more amazing.

Stir the outside layer ingredients together in a bowl over steaming water until melted and combined. Pour 1/3 of this into the bottoms of cupcake papers and try to get some around the sides. Freeze until solid. Pour a little more around the sides and freeze until solid again. Fill with the butter cream then cover with the remaining nut/seed butter mixture. Freeze for 10-30 minutes then GOBBLE. 

To marinate the zucchini and tomatoes: slice the zuke into thin strips on a mandolin, and chop the tomatoes. Rub them in oil and spices and put in the dehydrator for 1-3 hours, or in the oven at the lowest temperature. 

To make the cheese: blend everything until smooth and very thick. 

To assemble: layer slices of tomato, zucchini and spinach with cheese. Sprinkle with cilantro and coriander. Chomp.