Fresh Mexican Food

How about a super fresh Mexican dish - raw vegan style?! For years I've been making these fabulous raw veggie fajitas by my rad friend, Jozzie. A few months ago this entree made an appearance at my and Anya's raw dinner party in Australia and people raved. Two weeks ago it was featured on my local catering menu (which I recently started up again). This recipe is simple and over-the-top delicious. The great thing is that they can be served after just a few hours of marinating, for super crunchy veggies - OR they can be marinated and then dehydrated for a few hours giving them a "cooked" feel, which is what I did this time. Your friends and family won't know these are raw - and with the meaty portobello mushrooms they won't miss the meat. Dress 'em down or dress 'em up as much as you want. I like to serve them with guacamole, salsa, sour kream, and cheddar sauce.

Want some more ideas? Check out my past Mexican food class! 

Raw Veggie Fajitas

Throw these together just a few hours before eating, or allow the veggies to marinate 8-12 hours. I prefer 12 hours to let the flavors mingle and the veggies to soften. I also like to add a little acidity in the form of apple cider vinegar to the marinade. Make them as spicy or mild as you like - I do best with 1/8 teaspoon of cayenne since I'm a wimp when it comes to spice! 

2 large portobello mushrooms

3 bell peppers, sliced into strips

1 zucchini, sliced into sticks

1 sweet or red onion, thinly sliced

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/4 cup nama shoyu or tamari

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

2 tablespoons chili powder

1 teaspoon cumin

1/8 - 1/4 teaspoon cayenne 

1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar

Toss all ingredients together in a big bowl. 

Marinate for a minimum of 2 hours or up to 12 hours. 

Optional: dehydrate for a few hours after marinating. 

Serve in romaine lettuce leaves with sauces and salsa. 

Sour Kream

This is cool, refreshing, and goes perfectly with the fajitas. I also like to use half apple cider vinegar, half lemon juice. Play around. 

3/4 cup raw cashews

3/4 cup young coconut pulp

1/2 cup water

1- 3 tablespoons lemon juice

1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon himalayan or sea salt

Blend all ingredients until smooth and creamy in a high speed blender. 

Chill for a few hours. 

Salsa

This is an easy recipe that I never measure. It's easy to adapt it to your own taste. Sometimes I add red onion, sometimes I add jalapeno. Lemon or lime juice depending on my mood... lots of options! Simply chop the ingredients in a food processor, season, taste, and reseason. Voila!

Tomatoes, bell peppers, cilantro, jalapeno pepper (optional), himalayan salt, lemon juice. 

Cheddar Sauce

The famous raw cheezy sauce. Great on fajitas and as a veggie/cracker dip. 

1 large red bell pepper

2-3 tablespoons water

1 cup cashews

3 tablespoons nutritional yeast

1 tablespoon tahini

2 teaspoon onion powder

1 1/4 teaspoon sea salt

1 large clove garlic

2 tablespoons lemon juice

Blend all ingredients until smooth and creamy. Chill. 

I served up some fajitas to my mom for the first time and she loved them!

You know I can't get through a post without mentioning something sweet! Here's another recent menu item. Blueberry cheesecake. Same recipe as my strawberry cheesecake. 

What refreshing summer eats are you enjoying?!

On another note, I'm excited to share that I was featured in Fitness Magazine online this week as a "Fit Blogger We Love" - not sure how they found me, but I was thrilled to do a little interview and share my fruit crumble recipe. 

Raw Fruit Crumble

Fruit crumble has been my treat of choice lately. It's light, sweet, and works well with any fruit. Last week I made an Apple Strawberry Peach Crumble using the topping from the Mango Berry Crumble I made last summer. I turned leftovers into yummy ice cream sundaes which made ideal lunches in the heat of summer.

Apple Strawberry Peach Crumble

Fruit:

3- 4 cups cored, peeled, thinly sliced apples

2 medium peaches, peeled and sliced

2 cups diced strawberries

Extra handful strawberries

Blend the handful of strawberries until smooth.

Toss all ingredients together.

Spread the fruit into the bottom of a 9"x 9" pan.

Crumble:

1 cup walnuts

1/2 cup pitted, packed dates

1/2 cup shredded coconut

1/3 cup ground oat groats

1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Pinch of salt

In a food processor, grind all ingredients together into a crumbly, yet moist texture.

If you want the mixture to press together a bit better, add 1-2 teaspoons of water.

Evenly spread the crumble over the fruit.

Serve immediately, chill for a few hours, or dehydrate for a few hours until warm.

For a Banana Ice Cream Crumble, I simply blended frozen bananas in my vita mix (you can use a food processor) until smooth and layered with the crumble. I topped it all off with delicious wild dwarf raspberries. They taste exactly like the raspberry gummy candies I loved as a kid!

Or how about a Blueberry Ice Cream Crumble? Blend 75% frozen bananas with 25% frozen blueberries for creamy berry ice cream.

Yummmm!

Tutti Fruity Raw Summer Sweets

The summer sun has me craving cold fruity treats. I've been chowing down on lots of watermelon, stone fruits, banana ice cream, and sipping on watermelon lemonade. Soon the wild blueberries will be out and I'll be in tenth heaven.

Yesterday I whipped up this frosty smoothie for an outdoor lunch on my dock. It was a scorcher outside so this was just the drink to cool me down. Substitute your favorite fruits for the peaches and mango if you like.

Frosty Fruity Smoothie

1 - 1 1/2 cups almond milk
1 large frozen banana
1/2 cup chopped frozen mango
1/2 cup chopped peaches
1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla
Stevia, to taste

Blend all ingredients until smooth and frosty.

This Strawberry Cheesecake with Glazed Mango Strawberry Topping went to a friend the other day. You can find the recipe HERE, with the addition of shredded coconut to the trust and chopped mango/strawberry tossed with berry sauce.

A Banana Chia Pudding Parfait was my Sunday Brunch recently. It's a basic chia pudding layered with banana vanilla soft serve (frozen bananas and pure vanilla extract blended until smooth), goji berries, frozen/thawed wild blueberries, and coconut vanilla crunch granola. I like how the blueberry juice bleeds into the ice cream. It was light and cooling in the heat.

It's a basic chia pudding layered with banana vanilla soft serve (frozen bananas and pure vanilla extract blended until smooth), goji berries, frozen/thawed wild blueberries, and coconut vanilla crunch granola. I like how the blueberry juice bleeds into the ice cream. It was light and cooling in the heat.

Oh, and I can't forget the Carob Pudding I enjoyed for dessert last week. Carob is such an amazing food - hence the reason I devoted a whole recipe book to it, lol. Anyway, during my regular breaks from cacao, carob does the trick in curing my cravings. The carob nut cups are still my favorite though. If you haven't tried them, you ought to!

On the note of summer, friends and I took a trip to the park last weekend. We enjoyed a picnic and had heaps of fun lounging on the beach, in the water, horsing around, and walking through the woods.

I hope you're having a fun summer too!