8.24.2013

Flax Wraps

I am crazy about these flax wraps.  They are raw, vegan, low in calories, high in fiber and make a
delicious textured wrapper for all sorts of stuff. Use these to wrap up dehydrator sauteed vegetables, raw shredded vegetables, rice and beans, cheese or anything else you desire.  I love how easy it is to make a lunch or snack with these.  You can even use flax wraps in place of tortillas (regular or sprouted grain) for tacos.

Tools: you'll need a dehydrator and teflex sheets (whenever I've tried this kind of recipe in the oven it's a disaster).

Storage: the finished wraps last for probably a couple weeks in the fridge. I cut them into fourths and place in a ziplock bag.

Ingredient Note: use golden or regular flax meal. Remember that flax meal (ground/milled flax seeds) can go rancid so use it quickly and/or store it in the fridge.  Find it in bulk sections or at costco to avoid overpaying (I've seen a wide range of prices on flaxmeal).
The recipe can be scaled up or down. I sometimes make a double recipe to use up zucchini and to use all the trays in my dehydrator.

Zucchini Basil Wraps: 
Puree 2 cups zucchini, 1 cup water, 1 cup flaxmeal, large handful basil leaves and optional salt and garlic until homogenized.  The ratio is fairly flexible-- you want something spreadable but not too watery that it rolls off the tray (flax quickly thickens up so that's usually not a problem!)

Spread between several dehydrator trays. Pour then spread with a large spatula. You want it to be 1/8" thick so that it dries out.  I try to keep the edges a tiny bit thicker than the middle as the edges dry faster than the center (at least in my Excalibur dehydrator).

Place in the dehydrator. Dehydrate at 110- 115 F for 5-7 hours. Check a couple times to avoid overcooking (unlike dehydrated veggie chips, you want these to be pliable so don't let them dry all the way out). They are done when they are still flexible but don't have any wet mushy spots. If you have just one or two mushy spots, you can cut these out if the rest of the batch is done and you're impatient :)

When done, peel off the teflex sheets. Cut into whatever shape you desire and eat immediately or store in plastic ziplock bag in the fridge.


Variations:
  • Use any vegetable you wish: I bet tomatoes, carrot, or yellow summer squash would all work well instead of the zucchini.
  • Omit the basil. Add spices like salt, pepper, garlic, oregano, cumin etc
  • Press small nuts into the wraps such as sesame seeds or poppy seeds before dehydrating

Sweet crepe variation: sub out the zucchini for banana and make sweet flax crepes. The texture is between a crepe and fruit leather and it makes a good breakfast or dessert depending on what you put in it. I bet peanut butter would be great to spread in a banana flax crepe for a snack.

Raw Vegan Creamy Chipotle Sauce/ Salad Dressing

This is between a sauce and salad dressing, so I have been using for both!  Works great on top of rice and beans (obviously not raw), or on dehydrator-sauteed vegetables, especially if they are seasoned in a latin fashion (oregano, cumin etc.).  Or use this in wrap sandwiches to add some flavor, salt and gooey-ness.

If you want to be fancy, this would be beautiful piped out of a ketchup bottle or pastry bag.

SAUCE:
Yield approx 1 pint of sauce

Blend until smooth:
1/2 C nuts (almond, pine nut, sunflower seed)
1/4 C lemon juice
1/4 C olive oil
1/4 C water
1 tomato (or red bell pepper)
1/4 C cilantro
1 clove garlic
1/2 tsp agave
1/2 dried chipotle chile
1/2 tsp salt (or more to taste)

Refrigerate and use on veggies, salad or tacos.

Cucumbers with himalayan sea salt

Cucumbers are in season and with a couple cucumber plants producing wildly, I've got a lot on my hands!

My new favorite way to present and enjoy cucumbers is to mandolin slice them paper thin, spread on a plate and sprinkle himalayan sea salt over the top. Let it sit for 2 -3 minutes to get juicy and then enjoy.

If the skin is tough, first peel off shreds of peel with a potato peeler. Then slice. The result looks like poker chips.

Good quality salt is a perfect partner for cucumbers- you can taste the salt and the cucumber better by eating them together. This is a great snack with good mouthfeel but low calories.

Another way I'm enjoying cucumbers is to juice them with green apples. Yum!


8.22.2013

Raw Vegan "Roasted" Tomatoes

I"m a fan of roasted tomatoes. The roasting brings out their sweetness. But tending to the oven for more than 10 minutes in the summer? Blech.

So I tried an experiment and tossed these guys in the dehydrator. Result: not quite as caramelized as oven-roasted but still very good and cravable. And the best part is I can prep this in the morning and have lunch waiting for me.

Method:
Wash and slice tomatoes (preferably roma) in half
Place on telfex sheet on dehydrator tray
Drizzle with
olive oil and sea salt
Dehydrate at 110 or 115F for at least two hours.  (I did just 2 hours today but I wonder how much better they'd be at 4 hours?)




Better than sauteed zucchini (dehydrator sauteed)




I came across a raw vegan recipe for "marinated" vegetables.  You slice the veggies about 1/8" thin, toss with a dressing and then dehydrate on teflex sheets for 2 hours at 110 F.

It doesn't sound very revolutionary until you taste it. Watery vegetables that get a bad rap for having a rubbery texture, like zucchini and eggplant, are transformed. The result is not really like "marinated" raw vegetables at all. So I'm calling it  dehydrator-sauteed vegetables.  And apparently I really like them because I've made this recipe at least 4 times in the past couple weeks!

The water is wicked away, leaving warm, slightly chewy on the edges vegetables and lots of flavor. Compare this to cooking zucchini on the grill or stove where it starts to release some but not all of the water and gets soggy and flavorless.

I reduced the original recipe's massive amount of olive oil-- I'm finding that 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil and 1-2 tablespoons of lemon juice is just right. And you can go crazy with whatever spices you want- just make sure to add salt!

This is a great way to use up farmer's market vegetables that I don't typically eat raw (lettuce, cucumbers, carrots are easy to snack on out of the fridge; but eggplant, zucchini and mushrooms tend to languish in the fridge if I don't' feel like turning on the stove).

Easy Lunch/Dinner tip: these can sit out at room temp once prepped, so I like to cut the veggies, toss with the marinade and put in the dehydrator with a timer set to start later in the day. I use a lamp/applaiance timer which tells the dehydrator when to turn on (i.e. 2 hours prior to the meal). Then when I get home for lunch or dinner, it's ready.


INSTRUCITONS
Decide on your vegetable and marinade ingredients.

Veggie Combinations:
  • Bell pepper, corn, zucchini (latin theme)
  • Mushrooms, eggplant, yellow summer squash
  • Eggplant & garlic
  • Green beans are ok but they don't get as cooked (they taste more raw) 
Marinade:
1-2 TB lemon juice
1-2 TB of good quality olive oil
sprinkling of salt to taste
Optional Flavorings: black pepper, paprika, cumin, chipotle pepper, garlic, onion powder, finely chopped basil, oregano and/or cilantro

1. Wash vegetables.  Slice into 1/8" thick pieces (don't go paper thin unless you want it crispy)
2. Toss veggies with marinade. Make sure you get all the slices coated (sometimes zucchini likes to stick to itself).
3. Pour over teflex sheets on dehydrator trays.  I generally make enough for 1-2 people (i.e. 1 zuch and 1 corn cobb and a few mushrooms) and spread over two trays.
4. Dehydrate at 110 F for 2 hours
5. Gently scrape off the teflex sheets (I use a spoon)


Uses for dehydrator-sauteed veggies:
  • wrap into a flax wrap, ezekiel tortilla for a wrap sandwich (see photo at top).  Optionally add other veggies (lettuce), pickles and or dressings, such as raw vegan chipotle cream dressing
  • Top a green salad
  • Garnish rice and black bean bowls
  • eat warm out of the dehydrator or just as good chilled from the fridge