Raw Falafel (Curry)

After many requests, here it is: the raw falafel recipe:

It's a simple flax, sunflower seed mixture, 1:1, ground up completely and put into a bowl; I used a cup and a half of each. Mix in your dry spices; in this case I used: 1 1/2 Tbsp turmeric root powder, 1 tsp. whole cumin seeds, 2 tsp. paprika, 1 Tbsp. red pepper flakes, 1 tsp cayenne powder, 2 tsp. dry terragon leaves and 2 tsp ground mustard seed. After mixing those together I began to add my wet ingredients: 2 Tbsp. respectively Bragg's or Tamari (or Nama Shoyu for purism) and cold-pressed olive-oil and finally 1/2 C of water to make a solid batter-like consistancy. I pattied it out into falafels and put it in the dehydrator for 3 hours. Flipped them for another 3 hours.

Finally I spread the hummus recipe from below on top of them with another side of the same hummus, red, green and gold salad and cucumber and carrots.

Serves 4-5 easily! I was able to make 6 falafels out of the above ingredients.

Much Loves, and enjoy!
Xam Devesh


Be sure to tell me how it turned out, leave comments and also, if you haven't started already, follow my blog!

Raw Hummus Recipe (no zucchini!!!)

So here's the local favorite: Xam's raw hummus! It's all seed/nut based, check it out:

First you take 1 1/2C sunflower seeds and 1 1/2C cashews (1:1) and grind them up like so:

Then you throw them in the blender along with 2 Tbsp nama shoyu (or bragg's/tamari for the less expensive, non-raw version), 1 Tbsp Turmeric Root Powder, 1 tsp. Cayenne, 2 Tbsp. Nutritional Yeast (optional), 1 tsp. Terragon, 1 tsp cumin seeds, 1 clove garlic, 1 Tbsp. Cold-pressed Olive Oil, and about a cup and a half of water like so:

Add water until you achieve a smooth consistancy, be careful though - too much will make it more liquid than creamy. If you go overboard on the water, it's all right, it makes a fine salad dressing.

Your consistency should look like this when it's done:

And just to be cute and perfectionist like the Virgo Rising that I am, I put it in a little hummus container like this:

Enjoy with Carrots, Celery or on Kale wraps! Anything you can think of!



Much Loves everybody,
Xam Devesh

Our first fruit cake...

So the other day Lena and I made our first raw fruit cake together...Check it out:

There it is, in all its glory. We had a lot of fun making this one.

 Raw "Baked" goods are generally denser than conventional baked goods. So something like this we would charge around $35 dollars for the whole thing. If you'd like one, we can customize it or make this one which was pineapple, pecan, cherry, raisin, carrot and fig (traditional + carrot), turned out fabulous but contact me or Lena at 828-284-6149 or foolindarain@gmail.com



There's lovely Lena!!

Mashed Ca-taters and Seed "Tuna"

So here's what we had for dinner last night...

You want to start this one early - I started preparing a seed loaf the morning before...and this is what I did:

I took 1c flax seeds to 1c sunflower seeds and finely ground them, threw them in a dish and added my dry-ish spices: 2 tsp. cumin seeds, 1 1/2 tsp. terragon (or 1/4 bunch), 1/2 tsp. cayenne, 1 tsp paprika, 2 tsp. red pepper flakes, some mustard powder (optional) and mixed it all up together. I'll warn you, this combination of spices was very tasty and potent. Finally I added my liquid ingredients 2-3 Tbsp. Bragg's or Nama Shoyu and 1 1/2 Tbsp. Cold-Pressed Olive Oil then just continue to add water until it's thick but cohesive.

Left it in the dehydrator for 3-4 hours, flipped them and let them go for another 2-3 hours (feel it and judge for yourself what consistency you'd like - get to know your dehydrator and the temperature it operates at). This totals to about 5-8 hours.

Now for the Mashed Ca-taters:
I took 3/4 head of Cauliflower, chopped it down pretty gud so it'd go in the food processor and added about 1/4 lbs of cashews.  For Garlic Mashed Ca-taters all you have to do is add a 1/2 clove of garlic. Either way, be sure to add 2-3 tsp of salt (or to taste). Process on high for about 7 minutes (stop to scoop down the sides and cool the food processor down a little bit to reduce enzyme loss. After it's done and creamy-potato-y looking you can scoop it into a bowl, add a little rosemary or whatever (I sprinkled paprika on top) and serve!

Take the Seed Loaf out of the dehydrator, place on a leaf of Kale, squeeze some lemon on top and voila! Fish Dinner!

Much Loves,
Xam Devesh

For questions please feel free to comment or find me on facebook!

Healthy, Raw, Holiday Pies & Treats by Lena & Xam

Lena and Xam are offering Healthy Raw Pies and cookies for the Holidays and ther occasions. Our desserts are always organic and un-cooked. They are wheat-free, refined sugar free, gluten-free, and best of all guilt free. Made with whole ingredients such as an assortment of nuts, dates, coconuts, fruits, spices, and Love! Raw pies and cookies are ready to eat right away with more nutrition than a meal!

Raw Chocolate Banana Cray-xy Pie

Fun Fact: Raw Chocolate (a.k.a. Cacao) is one of the richest foods in antioxidants in the world! On top of that it's packed full of enzymes and a chemical called "theobromine," which is the true stimulant in real chocolate that makes you "high." Much higher than the sugar rush of a candy bar or conventionally cooked pie!

This Holiday Seasons we're offering:

Chocolate / Fruit and/or Plain Cheeze Cakes and delicious Fruit Tarts
Run of the mill fruit pies: Apple Spice, Prosperity Pear
Pumpkin or Sweet Potato and Pecan Pie
The Un-baked goodies from the Xammin' Bakery
And Special orders on request

Call or contact Lena Weisman to order and for pricing information - prices always fair! 828-284-6149 or email goinggreenlen@yahoo.com

We're currently only serving the Asheville, Burnsville, Boone and Hendersonville area. Some of you may have to drive up to Asheville to get your pies! Well worth it though!!!!

What is raw food?
It is un-cooked, un-processed, organic food. In this form, the body receives all the nutrients, minerals, and enzymes that are usually lost by cooking food. This way, the body can utilize the food and turn it into pure energy! And it tastes
EXQUISITE!!!!!!

Our first pie of the year:

Redixulously Easy Salad Dressing...

No time on your hands? Well, do you have a lime, some olive oil and nama shoyu or bragg's? Throw it on your salad and mix it up!

Xammin' Rawdvice #1 - Pasta Alternatives

So I was asked today by a vegetarian woman in NYC who's mission it is to go 90-100% raw by 2010 for some emergency holiday help!

First thing I said was "Don't beat yourself up if you eat some cooked food. It just makes things worse. You'll go back to raw after eating some cooked food because you know it feels so much better anyway."

Then I told her "As long as you're not eating one of the bad 4: processed starch, refined sugars, dairy or animal proteins, and you're at least 75% raw you're doing better than 95% of the public."

Well, she confessed to me her weakness: Pasta. Oh yes, pasta, I've known you as a foe before as well. I told her about my story getting into health foods and how it all started with eliminating gluten from my diet. I told her how when I quit gluten for 3 weeks and ate a TINY (and I mean tiny) piece of bread to test it out that it hit my stomach, exploded and then coalesced into a ball 4x the size it was to begin with! Now if that happens with bread (wheat flour and other ingredients) what do you think would happen with pasta?! (highly concentrated wheat flour).

I said "I know how you feel when you eat pasta, you feel bloated like you can barely put your seatbelt on and you start to burp and fart and when you burp it feels like you're going to throw up!"

She's a vegetarian, remember, so I told her to associate pasta with meat. It's equally disgusting and almost as karmically bad when you think about what wheat farming is doing to the environment and the health of the world population. I said, "Whenever you see pasta in front of you, and you're getting that temptation, just close your eyes and say 'No thank you!' It's like any other addiction." It really helped her to associate it with meat.

Now, I don't normally advocate scaring people away from certain foods, but I'd much rather take the positive approach of turning people on to the good stuff. She said "Thank you!!!" and went on her merry way. But you know what I forgot? To give her some pasta alternatives!!! So here you are, Chica!

Instead of pasta, trying laying some zucchini or yellow squash, julienned into noodles in olive oil and spices/herbs like rosemary, oregano, fresh garlic etc. for about 30 minutes. Then dehydrate them for another hour. Heck, you can even skip the dehydration step if you want. How about some alfredo sauce for that squash fettucini? Get some cashews and sunflower seeds and grind 'em real good in a coffee grinder (or a dry blender if you don't have a coffee grinder). Throw it in the blender with about a tbsp. of olive oil, 2 tsp. salt, 2 cloves of garlic, some rosemary, oregano and enough water to make it smooth. Yum!

Squash fettucini not good enough? Get some kelp noodles from the store - delicious, nutritious sea veggies! Tomato sauce? Easy, get some carrots and tomatoes - that's your base. Blend it up and add anything else to that you want and Whamm-o you got yourself some yummy rawlicious pasta sauce. Try adding some sunflower seeds to thicken it. Or some parsley to give it some taste. Don't forget the olive oil and sea salt!

Much Loves everybody
This concludes Rawdvice #1 with Xam Devesh

Raw Chocolate "Maple" Syrup

Here's the recipe for the raw chocolate "maple" syrup that I put on top of that yummilicious Xammin' Pancake.

Ingredients:
1 hass avocado or half of a large avocado
1/4 C Raw Cacao powder
1 Tbsp. Maca Root Powder
1 Tbsp. Cinnamon
1/4 C Raw Honey or Agave
1/2 C Water

Recipe: Mix all ingredients in the food processor until it becomes somewhat-pudding like and there's no chunks of avocado left. This should take about 4-5 minutes. Taste it and add more sweetener if necessary.

After I made this, I put it in a dispenser and dispensed it onto my Xammin' Pancake:

Then I smoothed out the "Maple" syrup and sprinkled cinnamon on top:

And then I cut it into 3 parts and served it to me and my roommates!!! Yum!!

Raw Xammin' Pancakes!

Ingredients:
1/2 C Dates (pitted)
1/2 C Raisins
1/2 C Walnuts
1/2 C Rolled Oats
2 Tbsp. Honey or Agave




Recipe: Throw the dates in the food processor and let it go until they're nice little balls/chunks. Then throw the raisins in there with them and go until the raisins lose their structure a little bit. Add the walnuts until they've broken down to little chunks then add the oats and go until it makes a fine looking batter as shown above. Add the honey to get a little more stickiness-factor in there and make a 1/2" thick patty the size of your pancake.

Comfortably serves 4

And if you want to add a lil' somethin' to it...check out the chocolate "maple" syrup I made for it...

Raw Thai-licious Curry Soup Recipe!

Here's the recipe for my roommate Story and I's lunch...

Ingredients:
1/4 of a cucumber*
1/2 an onion*
1 bulb of potent local garlic*
1 tbsp ginger*
1 tomato*
1/2 a carrot*
1 large florida avocado (or 2 hass avocados)*
1 stick of celery*
1/2 a red pepper*
1/2 a lime*
handful of parsley
Few sprigs of fresh basil
1 1/2 Tbsp turmeric*
1 tbsp cayenne*
1 Tbsp. Cold-pressed Olive oil *
2 tsp. curry powder
1 Tbsp salt*
1/2 C cococnut water

Kelp Noodles
Broccoli
Parsley
Chili-Lime Dried Mango
Cashews

*Essential ingredients

Recipe: Throw the top ingredients in the blender together (squeeze the lime) and cut up everything real small so it fits!

After everything is smooth, add the bottom ingredients to it in bite-sized chucks. A little parsley for garnish and voila! Beautiful Thai Curry Soup! Serves 4

This morning's White Smoothie

I'm starting to like these white smoothies...recipe?

1 Grapefruit
1 Banana
1 Tangerine
5 Yellow Beans
5 Kale Stems
1 Tbsp RevitaPhi
1 Tbsp. Maca Powder
2 Tsp. Spirulina
1/2 C Natural Spring Water from my partner's house

Peel everything (except for the beans and kale stems!) and throw all ingredients in the blender!

Enjoy!
Much Loves,
Xam Devesh

Raw Oatmeal Cookies!

Those cookies in the dehydrator? Yeah, here's the recipe:

3c Soaked Almond Pulp (that we used for making almond milk)
2c Soaked Oats
1c raisins
1c apricots
3 Tbsp. Raw Local Honey
3 Tbsp. Cinnamon
2 Tbsp. Carob powder
2 Tbsp. Maca root powder

Throw the raisins by themselves in the food processor on high until they break down a little bit. Then throw in the apricots until they break down as well. Take the pulped almonds and oats and put them in a bowl and add the dried fruit. Mix it up real good. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix it up some more real good. Make small (thinish) patties and put it into the dehydrator @ 105 degrees for 8 hours or until dry.

Much Loves!!
Xam Devesh

Collard Wraps!

Tonight we made collard wraps and now we're waiting on the oatmeal cookies are in the dehydrator.

Collard Wrap recipe? Simple ingredients - intermediate preperation - those leaves can be tricky!

We used:
Fresh Collards
Zucchini
Carrot
Celery
Red Pepper
Kelp Noodles
Corn
Ginger
Nama Shoyu
And my own variant of Tonya's Seed Cheese

Julienne (long thing slices) all the veggies except the collards, corn and ginger. Mince the ginger, and slice the corn off the cob. Take a collard leaf and lay it on your plate so that the dark green is on the bottom. Add a healthy layer of the seed cheese on it long-ways and directly on top of that the corn & ginger (it will stick in the seed cheese and not fall out). Then add kelp noodles followed by the rest of the ingredients with nama shoyu being last. Then wrap it!

This Morning's To-Go Fruit Smoothie...Yum!!

So this was my to-go smoothie this morning to take on the road:

1 grapefruit
1 big leaf of local kale stem and all
1 pear
1 banana
1 handful sprouted mung beans
~15 local yellow beans pod and all
1/2 a lime's juice
1 Tbsp Raw local honey
Local Natural Spring Water

Scoop the grapefruit in there - flesh and all, cut up the pear, take the stems off the yellow beans, squeeze the lime and add all the rest of the ingredients in the blender and voila! You have a beautiful-looking, delicious white-ish smoothie!

This Morning's Cacao Smoothie

Hey Everybody, I was Xammin' this morning and in a BIG hurry to get out the door, but I made sure I had enough time for 2 smoothies!

First one was a variant of my sweetheart's smoothie:
Raw Cacao
Local Spring Water at 16ppm (parts per million)
1 Banana
1/4 c Raw Local Honey
1 tbsp Spirulina
1 tsp MSM

Throw it all in the blender and GO!

The Cacao Smoothie That Got Me High...

So this morning my sweetie made
a raw chocolate smoothie
that got me feeling groovie.

Recipe? As always, very simple and easy:

Ing:
Natural Spring Water
Raw Chocolate Powder
Kelp
Acai
Hemp Protein Powder
1 Apple
Raw Local Honey

Throw it all in the blender and blend until smooth!

The Acai with all the antioxidants and vitamin C couple together well with the endorphin releasing Cacao with Theobromine. Top it off with the low-glycemic local honey from a farmer that is completely natural - no antibiotics, doesn't feed the bees sugar in the winter, and cuts with a cold knife - give it that sweet taste and the hemp powder gives the natural protein your body needs. Top that off with the wondrous kelp from the sea and you're feeling GREAT!

So easy, so good for you, makes you HIGH!!!

Much Loves,
Xam Devesh

Tonya's Seed Cheese Recipe

My partner's roommate Tonya made a seed cheese today - a kind of multi-purpose dip/spread/dressing to do a variety of things with. We put them on some onion flax bread and leaves of kale to make nice little wraps. I've also used this type of thing as a salad dressing (if you add more water) and as a hummus substitute! Anyway, here's the recipe from today's!

Ingredients:
1 1/2 c sunflower seeds
1/4 c nama shoyu
3 lemons
3 cloves of garlic
2 tsps cayenne powder (or 1/2 a cayenne pepper)
Water to consistancy

Recipe:
Blend or grind the sunflower seeds by themselves until they're a coarse powder.

In the blender, put in the nama shoyu, squeeze the lemons, add the garlic and cayenne. On top of all that add the sunflower seed powder and blend (and add water) until you've achieved a hummus-like consistancy. If using for a dressing add more water until you've reached the consistancy you'd like!

Enjoy this very verstile recipe!!

Much Loves,
Xam Devesh

Collard Wrap from Greenlife

I'm real impressed with the collard wrap I got today at the local organic grocery store - Greenlife. The chef of the Living Foods department there, Misty Northam is great! She makes this sauce for the wraps, I'm not sure what exactly it is but it must have an ume base with some nama shoyu, ginger and lemon. I'll figure this one out for you guys - some variation of it anyhow and post it up!

Much Loves,
Xam Devesh

Smoothie 11/12/09 9:00am

So here's my recipe for this morning's raw fruit and vegetable smoothie!

I used:
2 bananas
1 gala apple
3 leaves of lacinto kale
3 kale stems
1 celery heart (leaves and all)
Good dose of cacao
RevitaPhi
ImmuneDetox
Spirulina
Dash of Cayenne
Honey
MSM
Water

And blended it all up! Deliciously nutritious!

Much Loves,
Xam Devesh

Raw Chocolate Banana Cray-xy Pie

Recipe for Chocolate Banana Cray-xy Pie:

Raw Crust:
1 cup of dates pitted
1 cup of walnuts
Dash of Cinnamon
Splash of Honey (or Agave of you're a strict V)

Throw the dates into the food processor by themselves first. Or chop them. Let them grind into little balls then throw the walnuts and cinnamon in there. Process for about 45 seconds and add the honey. I used about 1 1/2 tablespoons? At this point everything should stick together pretty nicely and you should be able to form the batter any way you wish. Some people would stop here and just eat the crust 'cause it's so good. But I promise, if you keep going it gets better. Fit the crust to whatever pan you're using. Be sure to go up the sides, 'cause that's the best part.

Raw Chocolate Filling:
1 ripe large avocado (or a couple ripe hass avocados, you know, the regular ones)
Mmmm, around 1/4c of cacao? This varies depending on how dark you want it
Honey to taste - this varies depending on how sweet you want it

Put the Avocado in the food processer and blend on a low speed for a good bit - about 2 minutes until it makes a smooth creamy consistancy. Then add the cacao and honey and process a li'l more. I also threw in a pinch of cayenne powder. That's completely optional. Add the filling to the crust and smooth it out nicely.

Banana Ice Cream Topping:
2-3 frozen bananas
1 tbsp of cacao nibs

Throw the bananas in the food processor for a good bit....5-8 minutes? It'll get creamy a fluffy. You'll know what I'm talkin' about. Scrape down the sides as needed. Add the cacao nibs after it's reached that consistancy and process for another few seconds to mix them in. Then add it to the top.

Put the pie in the freezer after throwing a nice little garnish on top - I used apple slices. Let it cool for 10-15 minutes and enjoy! Comfortably serves 4.

Remember to get creative and play around! This is YOUR dessert!

Much Loves,
Xam