Pumpkin is very hard to use raw.  I hate battling through the tough skin only to be confronted with the thick, solid flesh.  I also don't think that eating raw pumpkin is the best choice for digestion, so I turn to carrots - great raw, easy to work with, orange, mild and pre-sweetened.  Since the defining flavors of a good pumpkin pie are sweet and spice, and not pumpkin, carrots are a perfect choice.  

Ingredients:
4 cups chopped carrots
1 cup coconut cream (creamed whole coconut, not just the mylk)
3 teaspoons cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ginger
4 teaspoons vanilla extract
8 drops stevia

Crust:
1/2 cup sprouted, dried buckwheat groats
1/2 cup sprouted, dried almonds
6 large dates, chopped
3 Tablespoons raw cacao powder
2 dashes sea salt

Directions:
Chop the carrots in a food processor until they are as smooth and creamy as you can get them.  Add the remaining ingredients and continue to process until smooth.   Set aside.
To make the crust, process the buckwheat and almonds in a food processor until the pieces are mostly powder with some small chunks.  Add the remaining ingredients and process until uniform and slightly sticky.  
Press the crust mixture into two  4" square ring mould and top with the pumpkin pie filling.  Press down and smooth out the top.  Refrigerate for an hour and then carefully remove from the mould, slice and garnish with whipped cream.  

Growing up, we ate granola.  We recycled.  We loved trees enough to occasionally hug them.  
As I got older, kids at school called me a "crunchy granola girl" or "tree hugger".  I didn't realize they were teasing me, I just thought they were stating the obvious.  (I guess they were doing both.)  It's funny because granola is seen by many as some super healthy magic food.  But it's not too different from other cereals.  Yes, it does have whole grains, and generally fewer nonsense ingredients, but it still has a lot of sugar and oil, often contains gluten and dairy and is very high in fat.  Fat itself isn't bad, it just depends on the quality of fat.  Most commercially produced granolas have bad fat.  
Here's a recipe that is not too sweet, full of sprouted grains, good fat, fruits and veggies.  Don't be scared by the high vegetable content, you'd never know by tasting it.  It's great with coconut yogurt, almond mylk or a bowl of fruit.  I've been snacking on it all by itself all morning, too.

Ingredients:2 1/2 cups chopped sweet apple (I like Fuji)
2 cups shredded zucchini
1 1/2 cups raw, hulled buckwheat groats, sprouted for 2 - 3 days and rinsed
1 1/2 cups shredded carrots
2 1/2 ripe bananas

1 cup raw almonds, soaked overnight and rinsed, then chopped
1 cup pumpkin seeds, soaked overnight and rinsed
1 cup shredded coconut
1 cup purified water
1 cup cashews, soaked
1 Tablespoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon sea salt
8 drops liquid stevia

Directions:
Combine zucchini, carrots, buckwheat, coconut, almonds and 1/2 of the chopped pumpkin seeds in a big bowl and mix well.  Combine apples, bananas, water, cashews, cinnamon, salt, stevia and the other half of the pumpkin seeds in a blender and blend until smooth.  Pour the apple sauce over the zucchini nut mixture and mix really well.  Spread the mixture over Teflex or parchment paper.  (The granola mixture should be spread in a way that makes it easy to break into small pieces after it dries.  I like to spread it and then scored it with a spatula.)  Dehydrate at 104 degrees for 4 hours or until dry enough to flip.  Dry for an additional 2 hours or until fully dry.  When it is fully fried, break into smaller pieces and store in an airtight container.  

Makes 10 cups of granola.

Sometimes simplicity is the key.  I woke up a few days ago and had three events to go to - and all three were potlucks.  I had a few bags of broccoli crackers, but I wanted to bring something to eat with them.  I had some zucchini and some carrots and went from there, and it was so popular that I had to promise to post the recipe when I got home - so here it is.  Enjoy!

Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups chopped zucchini
2 cups chopped carrots
1 cup raw cashew pieces 
2 1/2 Tablespoons raw apple cider vinegar
2 1/2 Tablespoon Cajun seasonings
1 teaspoon cumin
sea salt to taste


Directions:
Process the cashews alone in a food processor with an S-blade.  When they are buttery and smooth, add the remaining ingredients and process into a uniform consistency.  Enjoy with crackers, crudites or on sandwiches.


Makes about 6 cups

Rawvioli is so good.  There are so many ways to do it, but the basic idea is to take a veggie that can be thinly sliced (zucchini, beet, turnip, jicama) and put a dollop of "cheese" inside, making a delicious little pocket.  Basic raw cheese recipes are usually a blend of creamy nuts (macadamia, cashew or pine) with sea salt, lemon juice and sometimes herbs, nutritional yeast or probiotics*.  Add a basic marinara and you have a creamy, delicious, meal, reminiscent of the old Italian classic.  But it is also very heavy and full of nuts.  If you want to cut the nut content, you have to replace it with something...  How about asparagus, spinach and fennel?

Ingredients:
2 medium-large zucchini, sliced into paper-thin rounds with a mandolin slicer
10-12 Asparagus, trimmed and chopped
1 c. fennel bulb, chopped
1 c. packed spinach
1 large clove garlic
1/2 c. hemp seeds
1/3 c. cashews
1/3 c. purified water
1/2 t. sea salt

Directions:
Blend the cashews, water and sea salt in a high speed blender.  Add the remaining ingredients and blend until almost smooth, leaving small chunks of asparagus and spinach.  (Alternatively, blend until completely smooth for a creamier texture.)

Place a small spoonful of the asparagus mixture on one zucchini round, then cover with another piece of zucchini.  You can stop here, but if you have access to a dehydrator, try dehydrating the little rawviolis for about four hours at 104 degrees.  This will give the zucchini more of a pasta-like texture and warm the rawviolis to a nice temperature for serving, without disturbing any nutrients or enzymes.

You can make a traditional marinara, but I wanted something different, so I made a rich miso- mushroom ragout to serve with these little treats:

Ingredients:
2 c. chopped cremini mushrooms (roughly eight mushrooms)
1/4 c. evoo
1 T. chickpea miso (or substitute the miso you have/love, but start with 1/2 T as some miso is very strong)
1 T. miso tamari (or regular tamari or Nama Shoyu)
1/8 c. purified water
3 T. chopped parsley

Directions:
Blend all ingredients in a high speed blender until smooth.

To serve:  I like the idea of serving on a big white plate (as the canvas) with the gravy artfully drizzled onto the plate and the rawvioli place in over the gravy, then garnished with parsley, but you can do whatever you like.  ;)

*If you choose to add probiotics and let the cheese culture, the health benefits increase, as the "good bacteria" that is found in cultured foods is so good for the digestive and immune systems.  Just be aware that the culturing will continue until the cheese is gone!  Refrigerating will help to slow the process, but will not stop it completely.  More on cultured nut mylks, yogurts and cheeses later...

So, what I learned from Spain is that our biggest challenge was that we were not alone.  Being part of the group (and not making time to go to the markets, etc.) were some of the biggest hindrances to our staying happily fed during our time in Spain.  However, it was a choice we made, and I don't think either of us would have given up the time with our friends in order to have more spinach and apples for those ten days.  But perhaps had we been a bit more prepared, planned ahead a tiny bit more...

Looking back, there were definitely times when we could have popped into a grocery store for a few minutes.  I am sure the rest would have been happy come along or wait, had we just asked.  We were just sooooooo aware (as many vegans are, I think) of not making our lifestyle choice into their problem.  Maybe a little too aware.  Five minutes in a grocery wouldn't have had any major repercussions on our plans.  Of course, without kitchens, or knives, bowls, plates, etc, we were limited in what we could do, but that is the beauty of raw - it can be complicated, or it can be as simple as wash'n'eat.

We did go to an awesome market in Barcelona, a huge fresh market called the "Boqueria" right off Las Ramblas.  We found spinach there.  We bought two bunches, and ate the first one right away, though it was REALLY covered in dirt and the only sinks we had for washing them were in the hotel bathrooms, so that was a little problematic.  Without refrigeration, the second bunch didn't last long.  We could have made more time to prep and enjoy the spinach, but, again, there was a schedule to keep, so much of the second bunch ended up *sigh* in the trash.  (We did make spinach and lentil sprout sandwiches one afternoon, with hot sauce and mustard, and they were pretty amazing.)

Bringing the dried fruit and greens bars and nuts and protein powder was heavy (literally, it all weighed a lot) but definitely worth it, and helped a lot, especially for Mac and his desire to "beet up."  There was a lot of what they called dried fruit in Spain, but it was usually a sort of candied fruit, covered in crystallized sugar, candied pears and kiwi and such.  Having unsulfured, unsweetened, dried fruit was great.  Greens bars and nuts, too.  We may have gone overboard with two full packages of the protein powder (and greens powder), but we drank it every day, and the little glass shaker thing worked really well.

I had planned to bring sprouting bags and get some sproutable seeds once we landed, but I did neither.  I think that if we'd made a few more trips to the store, brought the sprouting bags, and taken a little (just a little!) more time to prepare a few meals, we would have been much better off.  All good lessons for next time...

If you have any tips for vegan travel, please share!  We'd love to get more ideas for how to do better next time...

It is a beautiful world. Things are mostly easy. I go to work and make good food, I come home and make good food. In between I think about good food. :)

I might sound a little obsessed. In all fairness, I probably am. Here's how it all started:

I loved veggies and fruits right from the start. I didn't love cheese or meat. When I got to high school I was introduced to vending machine donuts and McDonald's fries. I began to crave steak and chips and all sorts of fatty, salty, processed junk. I was very healthy, played lots of sports, did well in school, but I was tired all the time. I was so tired that I went to the doctor several times to find a cause.  None was found, and, looking back, I realize that he never asked me about my diet.  (Not once.  I mean, really!)

In college I discovered coffee and the wonder of borrowed energy! I could stay up all night, for days, and just keep drinking the stuff. I liked it thick and black and cold and bitter, a few days old was even better.  That was also around the time that Red Bull and other "energy" drinks came out.  I got so much studying done!! (I have a neuropsychologist friend who insists that I must have inflicted mild brain damage by missing so much sleep for so long.)

Around that time I became more interested in health, but I was misguided about what was "healthy." I thought "low-fat" and "whole grain" were the main factors. I thought that chicken was better than beef, that margarine was better than butter, and that candy was okay as long as I brushed after.  I remember eating a lot of frozen broccoli covered in low-fat cheese, microwaved, of course, with Twix for dessert.  (I'm shuddering at the thought of it...)  This continued for several years, and while my diet improved - more frozen, microwaved veggies is still better than no veggies- I had only a very basic concept of what was good for me, and no real connection between my mind and body.

When I was 23 I found out that the beef industry produces a startling amount of greenhouse gases and that much of the rain forest destruction we heard so much about was to make room for cattle farms. I gave up beef. Chicken soon became less appealing, though I continued to eat it.

Around this time I was living in Florida, working as a carpenter at a non-profit community theatre.  My back was so messed up from years of improper exercise and acidic diet, I would wake up in the mornings crying.  One such morning I realized, "I'm 22.  I should not be in this much pain from sleeping."  I started doing yoga, which helped a lot, but was also very expensive.  I decided to go to school to learn to teach yoga so that I could offer reasonable classes for others who needed it, and so I would be able to do it on my own.

We were asked to give up meat (along with many other things including caffeine, music, newspapers and spice) for the duration of the program, and I was so convinced that I would be miserable without meat that I almost didn't go through with the classes.  ("No cheeseburgers, chicken sandwiches, fresh fish or even omelets for how long?!  What will I eat??")  There were different reasons for each thing we were to give up, but all with the same general purpose: to create a monastic environment in which we could quiet our minds and cleanse our bodies.  ("Blah, blah, I just want to get a good stretch and go home...")  Meat is generally not a part of a yogic diet for a few reasons, the first of which is part of the philosophy, a principle called ahimsa, or non-violence.  I remember the moment when I fully realized that I can live a completely happy, healthy life without ever causing harm to another living creature.  It was an amazing realization.  Though I had never felt badly about eating meat, about the fact that animals were killed for my dinner, this understanding of non-violence created a sense of peace for me that was completely unexpected.  (And that whole "quieting of the mind and cleansing the body" thing turned out to be pretty amazing, too.)

We were also required to read John Robbins' Food Revolution.  I could not put it down.  I would be curled up under the covers, reading about all these scientific studies and anecdotes about why a plant-based diet is so important.  To be honest, the book was scary.  Maybe the scariest book I ever read.  (My boyfriend at the time would come home from work and I would be crying - not a little teary-eyed, but actually crying, with big tears and ragged breath and all -  so afraid that we were killing ourselves - and our planet - with our food.  Needless to say, he thought I was totally nuts.)  But I was so relieved to be reading it, to know all these facts and figures and to have a better way laid out for me.

After a few weeks, my body was so happy.  I was sleeping better, I had more energy, my digestion was amazing, my whole body was changing shape - for the better.  Aches and pains that I, at 22, had accepted as facts of life, went away.  My mind was clearer, my skin was clearer, and I felt like a huge weight had been lifted - one that I hadn't even been aware of carrying with me.

Very soon after that I started experimenting with raw veganism.  It was like learning a new language, or a new artistic medium.  It was a little frustrating at first, not knowing how it worked or how to do it, but quickly it became my own little wonderland, learning how to make awesome food without that little nagging thought that I was cooking all the goodness out of it.  It just made life a little bit better, a little bit more fun and interesting, and it made my body feel even better than it already had.  I started craving greens, leafy greens like kale and bok choy, more than I had ever craved chocolate or chips.

Soon my acupuncturist was asking me to make a little extra for him.  We started trading food for acupuncture and massage.  He started recommending raw food to his patients, and asking me to make it for them.  Within a few months I had several clients and a small catering business.  I was still learning raw, but it was fun and I was helping people; everyone said they felt better when they ate this way.

Small grew to large, large became a restaurant, then another.  I learned so much, so fast, especially from all of my customers, with so many questions that they wanted answered!  ("Why does raw chard make my throat hurt?  What foods are best for my low iron?  If I soak my oat groats for too long, what will happen?")  And, they had quite a few answers, too.