Here it is: Putting it all together. Here you’ll see what we use for our taco shells and how we build up our taco. Quite often, we also make a raw sour creme using cashew nuts and lemon juice. But, for these tacos, it’ll just be meat, salsa, and guac. Enjoy!

Taco Assembly

Use Romaine leaves for your taco shells or, as Wendi says, do a search for making other kinds of taco shells. (A good place to search out raw recipes is the All Raw Directory.) Top with:

• Shredded lettuce
• Taco meat (see previous recipe)
• Guacamole (see previous recipe)
• Salsa (see previous recipe)
• Optional: Raw Vegan Sour Cream (search our blog or the All Raw Directory)

There you go: Celebrate TACO WEEK by making your own tacos!

(And, by the way, we’re celebrating something special today, too:  KDcat turns 15 today!!! )

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Here’s the next component in our raw taco recipe — the guacamole. This is Wendi’s favorite component! Enjoy!!!

Raw Guacamole Recipe

• 3 avocados
• juice of 1 lemon
• 1/2 cup lightly packed fresh cilantro
• 3/4 tsp salt
• optional: 1 med. tomato, scallion

Pulse in food processor until “meaty” consistency is obtained. Set aside in a serving bowl for the taco dinner!

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COntinuing with our Taco Week, here’s a quick and easy (and delicious) salsa recipe. You can really have a lot of fun with salsa, and can get highly experimental if you like. Almost anything tastes great in salsa. This one is fairly basic, so feel free to spruce it up with some of your favorite ingredients. Let us know in the comments section some of your favorite variations so you may inspire others!

Raw Salsa Recipe

• 4 med tomatoes, chopped
• 1 Tbsp. lemon juice
• 1/2 cup lightly packed fresh cilantro
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. ground coriander
• 1/2 tsp. ground cumin
• 2 scallions
• optional: fresh garlic, onion, chilis, cayenne, etc.

Pulse in food processor until “meaty” consistency is obtained. Set aside in a serving bowl for the taco dinner!

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EVERYONE LOVES RAW TACOS!!! So, this week, we’re going to show you FOUR “Makin’ It Monday” videos instead of just one. These were filmed in Berkeley, CA, at our dear friend Carolyn’s apartment. We hope you love these recipes. We actually eat raw tacos quite regularly — especially when tomatoes are in season.

Taco “Meat” Recipe

• 1/2 cup walnuts
• 1/4 cup Brazil nuts (or more walnuts)
• 1 tsp. ground coriander
• 1 tsp. ground cumin
• dash garlic powder
• 1 1/4 Tbsp. Tamari or Nama Shoyu

Pulse in food processor until “meaty” consistency is obtained. Set aside in a serving bowl for the taco dinner!

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You’re in for a treat with this recipe. Our Guest Raw Chef this week is Shivie Kaur, half of “The Cook and Butler” duo of TeamRaw. Wendi shot this video a few weeks back in San Francisco during Pure Jeevan’s recent cross-country tour! While there, Shivie and her partner Cemaaj created and served a delicious gourmet meal for Wendi and KDcat. The blog post from that visit was here. So, here’s Shivie sharing with you how to make an easy and delicious raw salad dressing!

Orange Asian Pear Ginger Salad Dressing

• 1/2 cup of orange juice
• flesh of 1/2 orange
• 1/4 cup raw cashews
• 1 asian pear
• 1 Tbsp. gresh ginger
• splash apple cider vinegar (optional)
• 1 Tbsp. agave nectar (or other raw sweetener)

Process in a high-speed blender until smooth and creamy.  Enjoy!

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Today we welcome Shea Lynn Baird from Monday Night Live. As you may recall from a few weeks ago, Wendi and KDcat visited with Shea and her husband Stephen during their 2010 Trip. While there, they all attended a raw food meetup, and Shea brought a wonderful Thai salad. She shared this delicious creation with all of you in this special guest raw chef edition of Makin’ It Monday, below:

Recipe

• 1/2 jar raw almond butter
• 2 large jalepeno peppers
• 3 large cloves of garlic
• about a 1-2″ piece of ginger
• juice of 3 large limes (or lemon)
• 1+ Tbsp. tamari
• dash of sweetener (maple syrup shown in vid)
• water as needed for consistency

Blend this dressing in a Vitamix and serve over a large salad of parsley, tomatoes, cilantro, romaine, cabbage, and avocado.

As always, we’d love to feature YOU on a Makin’ It Monday Guest Raw Chef Edition. For details on that, click here.

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It’s time for a little Phun Phriday Philosophy. (I hope you don’t mind a little levity as we end this glorious week?) It just occurred to me that philosophers and self-development gurus commonly admonish against ”attachments.” Isn’t that true? We’re attached to our egos, our possessions, our relationships. All attachments are bad, it is said. I believe one of the primary tenets (Noble Truths) of Buddhism centers on this very thing — that our attachments cause suffering.

Well, all of that may be food for thought. But, when it comes to food for your body, I’m here to tell you that attachments are GOOD – especially, when we’re talking about the shredder attachment for your food processor!  Oh, don’t lie to me, fellow raw foodie (or raw aspirant, as the case may be): You know you’ve neglected this wonderful tool, haven’t you? — relegated it to some unimportant place in the back of a kitchen drawer somewhere, right?! Well, it’s time to rediscover the shredder blade! Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to reconnect with this delightful food processor attachment.

I started thinking about this when one reader, Gary (an archaeologist!), asked me if I might unearth (get it?) a decent raw applesauce recipe for him. I immediately thought of this attachment because, even though the recipe I thought of wasn’t a real saucy applesauce, it’s still a similar, highly tasty dish. Basically, all you need to do is:

• core / deseed a couple of apples (if you have a few different kinds, that would be super)
• chop them minimally, just enough to be able to feed them into the food processor
• run them through the shredder blade
• also run a couple of handfuls of walnuts through, for extra texture.

From here, you can get creative. Here are some things you can do with this mixture:

• I would definitely recommend sprinkling some cinnamon and a little bit of salt into it, no matter what you do. (Also consider other “apple-pie” flavors like nutmeg, clove, and cardamom.)
• You can spoon it into a bowl and (optionally) drizzle agave nectar (or a sweetener of your choice) over it (or process further with agave or some soft/soaked dates).
• You can process all or some of it further using the standard S-blade — pulsing a few times to make it a bit mushier (more applesauce-like than just the shreds).
• You can use this (appropriately spiced-up) as an apple pie filling — for example, using a raw date-almond blend or something similar for a crust.

This is just one great use of the shredder blade. We’ve posted many demos in the past that show us using this for salads, wraps, and more. Anyone else have a great use for the shredder attachment? Come on… who else is attached to this attachment?! Have a great weekend, everyone!

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Here’s a video demonstrating a technique for making super-fast, vibrantly beautiful, tasty salads! If you frequently find yourself in a rush, but also want a healthy meal, definitely check out this mandoline technique.  (Further commentary below, after the video…)

We love our mandoline slicers. But, the inexpensive one (the hand-held one shown in the video) seems to be our favorite appliance lately. It’s so easy to create and eat a delicious salad when you have one of these handy tools. When we slice the cucumber into tiny rounds with this slicer, the flavor really permeates the dish — and is so delicious.

We looked online for a mandoline slicer similar to ours and found an even better hand-held model for a great price over at Natural Zing — http://tinyurl.com/NaturalZing.  (Search for “mandoline.”) The ceramic blade stays sharp longer than metal blades. And, the slicer Natural Zing is selling has four settings to create different thicknesses in your slices. For this recipe, we recommend the finest/thinnest slice possible.

Another great quality of these hand-held models is the clean-up. Just rinse them quickly under running water, and you’re done. Takes only a few seconds! If you have a mandoline and would like to share a video recipe with the rest of the Pure Jeevan family, just let us know! Here’s a link to guidelines for submitting a “Makin’ It Monday Guest Raw Chef” feature video here on Pure Jeevan.

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Hi Everyone.  It’s Friday… Let’s have some fun!  For today’s blog entry, I thought I’d post my submission to the recent video contest held by the Vita-Mix company. They were looking for a new spokesperson, and offered a $10,000 prize for the best video. I didn’t make the final cut, but did have a good deal of fun making this short video. Hope you like it:

On this blog, I’ve featured smoothie recipes similar to the one shown in that video, so I won’t post a special recipe here. I really just needed a very easy, yet tasty, recipe for the purposes of the vid. But, simple smoothies like this are very delicious, so definitely try it!

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Last night, Jim ate the first warm food he’s had in over a year! I created a dinner that was placed in the dehydrator for about an hour before it was served. This dish is delicious at room temperature, also, but I thought it might be more special if I served it a bit warm. Jim thought it was a nice change to the colder temperatures of the smoothies he’s been practically living on!

Here’s the recipe, if you think you’d like to try it.

Boiled Pierogies with Sauteed Spinach and Steamed Peppers

“Sauteed” Spinach
3 oz. fresh spinach
Drizzle olive oil
Sprinkle salt

Place ingredients into a dish, toss well and set aside.

“Steamed” Peppers
1/3 large red pepper

Thinly slice and put aside.

“Boiled” Pierogies
1 small turnip, peeled
Drizzle olive oil
Sprinkle salt
Squeeze lemon

Thinly slice peeled turnip into rounds using a mandoline slicer, or a very sharp knife. Place rounds in bowl with some olive oil, salt, and lemon. Coat well and let sit (this softens the turnip).

Pierogie “Cheese”
1 cup Macadamia nuts
Fresh lemon juice (about 1/2 lemon)
1/3 red pepper
Drizzle olive oil
salt (adjust to taste)
2 teaspoons dried rosemary
Few dashes cayenne pepper
Water (enough to create a mashed potato-like consistency)

Place ingredients into food processor and process until you achieve a mashed potato-like consistency. Note: You’ll have extra cheese to eat as a dip for another meal.

Garnish
1/3 red pepper, finely chopped
1 Tablespoon ground rosemary

Assembly and “Cooking” (Serves 2-3)
To create pierogies, place some turnip rounds on a plate, top with small amount of “cheese” and cover with another turnip round. Place some of the pierogies you’ve created on top of a portion of the sauteed spinach. Garnish with chopped peppers and ground rosemary.

Add a portion of steamed peppers to the plate, garnish with ground rosemary.

“Cook” in a dehydrator set at 105 degrees for about one hour (this “cooking” is optional).

Enjoy!

This meal was followed by leftover “cake” from Jim’s birthday party. It’s not a filling meal, so be sure to either eat a salad beforehand or include a dessert to complete the dinner!

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It’s time for another “Makin’ It Monday” installment!  This time, Pittsburgh raw foodies Joe Prostko and Tracey Anne Miller (along with videographer Heather) demonstrate their “Turbo Tornado Superfood Solution,” which has (as you’ll see) a *ton* of superfood ingredients. Take a look:

Wow, that looked awesome. Here’s the recipe, along with a few options, such as making this without honey.

Turbo Tornado Superfood Solution

• 1/2 tsp. Astragalus Root Powder
• 1 tsp. Bee Pollen (optional)
• 27 Cacao Beans (or 3 tbs. nibs)
• 1/2 tsp. Camu Camu Powder
• 1 tsp. Chlorella
• 2 tbsp. Coconut Meat
• 1 tbsp. Coconut Oil (melted)
• 1/2 cup Coconut Water or Spring Water
• 1 tsp. Cordyceps
• 2 tbsp. Goji berries
• 2 tbsp. Hemp Seeds
• 4 tsp. Raw Honey (or 1 tbsp. Agave Nectar)
• 1 tbsp. Red Maca
• 2 tbsp. Lucuma or Tocotrienols (optional)*
• 1/2 tbsp. Mucuna Pruriens (optional)
• 1 tbsp. Mesquite Pod Meal Powder
• 1 tbsp. Revitaphi
• 1 pinch Celtic Sea Salt
• 1 tsp. Spirulina
• 2 dropperfuls Sweetleaf Vanilla Creme Liquid Stevia
• 1 tsp. Vanilla Powder

* Joe notes that they forgot to add the tocotrienols that Tracey had while making the recipe. Adding that or the Lucuma gives a creamier texture and adds some sweetness.

Among the sources for some of these superfoods, both Joe and Tracey are reps with Elements for Life:

• Joe’s link:  RawLifeProducts.com
• Tracey’s link:  www.rawafrolic.com

And of course anything you need from Natural Zing can be found at http://tinyurl.com/NaturalZing. As always, we’d love to feature YOU on a Makin’ It Monday Guest Raw Chef Edition. For details on that, click here.

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