March 9, 2012
Raw Soup
De-mystifying kale chips
Favorite raw food sites
Raw soup
is another hurdle I crossed with caution and skepticism.
I had mastered juicing, smoothies, and salads and was looking for something new. Juices, smoothies
and salads can get REALLY boring, REALLY fast. I had the same reaction to raw soups as I initially had to the “avocado in the pudding” concept.
Raw soups are handy to have in your repertoire because they are QUICK and EASY to make, and… gasp, they taste GREAT!
It’s important to remember that eating raw means we don’t heat our food over “about”105 – 115 degrees, in order to preserve all enzymes, nutrients, etc. Raw soup does not
have to be cold or even room temp; it can be GENTLY and sparingly warmed. I use my dehydrator or my Vitamix blender, which will gently heat the soup if I run the blender for a few minutes. In order to enjoy raw
soup, you HAVE to leave the “piping, hot bowl of soup” concept behind.
The recipe link below is my favorite “gold standard” for raw soup. I use it as a base for whatever else I happen to have on hand.
This soup also is high in GOOD fats, as we discussed last week. A LITTLE bit is very satisfying. This is another difference between traditional cooked and raw soups.
Raw soups are usually fat-based, and nutrient and fiber dense, so you are satisfied with much less. One cup
of the soup below is very, very filling!
My experience has been that I am satisfied with half as much raw soup, as a cooked soup.
http://www.hacres.com/recipes/cards/caroles-white-christmas-soup
The other raw soup flavor grouping I regularly make is a curry with an orange vegetable.
http://www.hacres.com/recipes/cards/curried-butternut-squash-soup
Use the above recipes as guidelines!
One thing I LOVE about raw food uncooking is that once you understand basic taste and texture components, you can get really creative, using whatever
you have on hand.
Raw soup tips: soaked nuts make the soup creamy and rich, lean heavily on seasoning, think fat – add some high quality olive oil or a tablespoon or two of coconut oil in a curry type soup, do NOT heat these –
gently warmed is what you’re after, adding a can or cor also thickens the soup and adds some sweetness, I nearly always add 1 T raw sugar to the recipe, compose soup recipes by color. For example: tomatoes, red pepper, garlic, basil. Or butternut squash, sweet potato,
orange pepper, or spinach, fresh herbs and soaked
cashews.
I use raw soups primarily for dinner, with a salad and some raw crackers. This is food that is easily digested, has staying power, and doesn’t lay heavily on my stomach overnight.
**********
Onto KALE CHIPS!
Prior to eating raw, all I knew about kale was that it was those weirdly colored, curly leaf things that wound up on my plate as garnish at a restaurant. Then I found out that kale is in the cabbage family, which made me even more
reticent to try it. I also read it had a strong taste, and I was SO done with thinking about this vegetable. Months passed, and someone offered me a salad of raw shredded kale, golden raisins and cashews with a dressing of olive
oil, orange juice and honey. WOW! I wound up eating nearly the entire bowlful, and have been eating/juicing
kale ever since.
Kale chips sounds like one of those weird “things” health nut hippies eat, people who are just not “normal” about food. Perhaps this is true, but I assure you, that kale chips are delicious and EASY EASY EASY to make! I’ve given
you YouTube video link because there’s a little bit of an art to stripping the green leaves off the stem. Use
the video to watch THAT part of the preparation. The second link is for Rawmazing, my
favorite recipe site. She gives
offers 9 kale chip recipe variations.
For what’s worth, here is my standard
recipe:
5 bunches kale, leaves stripped and into pieces (BIG pieces, otherwise you wind up with kale “flakes.”)
4 T good olive oil
At LEAST one half cup nutritional yeast (I love that stuff,
gives everything a cheese taste)
Coarse salt, pepper, a good shot of Mrs. Dash salt-free
garlic/herb seasoning.
The technique video will instruct you to “bake” them at 350 degrees in the oven. NO NO NO NO,
don’t do that! I set my oven on the lowest possible setting, and start checking them for crispiness in an hour. I
do turn mine over once to crisp up the underside.
Leave them in til they are crispy.
Store in a plastic container, I’ve kept mine for over a week, they’re still good.
Kale is very high in calcium and fiber. Who doesn’t need more of that?
Technique link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTXXGDISnOg
Recipes:
http://www.rawmazing.com/raw-food-kale-chips-9-ways/
Here are links to my favorite raw food sites.
There are hundreds out there, you’ll probably find you own but these have
consistently produced great recipes, information and
products.
http://www.rawmazing.com
http://www.rawmazing.com
http://www.hacres.com/recipes
http://www.therawtarian.com/category/recipes
http://goneraw.com
