Frugal Feeds | Raw Diet Day 10, Evening Update

Raw Diet Day 10:

For lunch I wanted another banana shake. Since I was out of almond milk I made a quick milk of 2 Tablespoons Cashew Butter to 2 cups of water. I then added 1 banana, 1 teaspoon of vanilla, 1 Tablespoon raw honey and 1 Tablespoon lecithin. It made 4 cups.

For the tamales I processed 5 cups defrosted corn kernels with 1/2 cup pinenuts, 1 1/2 cups cashews, 1/2 teaspoon cayenne, 1 teaspoon sea salt and 1 handful of cilantro. I mixed that with the dehydrated mushrooms I had started earlier in the day and the oil from the mushroom dehydrating tray and one more cup of defrosted corn kernels. I filled each corn husk with up to 1/2 of a cup of the tamale mixture, folded the bottom of the corn husk and folded over the sides and then tied it with a doubled 1/4 inch by 4 inch strip of  corn husk and set it to dehydrate at 105 for two hours. I had to put an empty tray above the tamales because some were a little fatter than fit properly in the tray. It made 8 tamales.

Next time I think I will make it into patties or something like that so that I don't have to go to the trouble of wrapping them in the corn husks. It was a nice presentation but in the end it didn't make it any better and did make it harder to eat because it doesn't form a solid dough like tamales normally do. The flavor was outstanding though, so I will make this again, and fairly often.

About 5 hours into dehydrating the spicy crackers I turned them over and scored the still damp side into rectangles of about 1 inch by 1 1/4 inch. I tasted one piece that seemed close to thoroughly dried and while it tasted good it seemed like it needed more salt so I lightly sprinkled salt over all of them before returning them to dehydrate for another two hours. I then broke them apart into crackers and placed them on the trays that are perforated and let them dehydrate another two hours. Spicy and delicious, crisp all the way through.

At the same time that I scored the crackers I set the corn husks into a casserole pan, filled it half way up with hot tap water and set a light weight on them to keep them submerged. I also tasted the mushrooms to see how they were coming along--yummy is how.

For the mole sauce I used the Raw Food/ Real World recipe on page 198. I made several modifications in order to use ingredients I had on hand. (my daughter thinks it needs more chocolate, if you thinks so also you could add extra tablespoons of cocoa)

I soaked 3 dried chiles, one of which was ancho, the other two were chiles from my garden last year that I had dried, although I don't know what kind they are, 3/4 cup raw sunflower seeds, 3/4 cup raisins and 1/2 teaspoon cumin in enough water to cover for two hours. I then processed all of it, including the water until it was a fine slurry. To that I added 4 Tablespoons cocoa powder, 1/8 cup pecan butter and 1/8 cup cashew butter, 2 Tablespoons hemp seed oil and 1 teaspoon sea salt. I had to process it on high for about five minutes. I don't know how your food processor will fare but mine splattered the mole sauce out the sides until I covered the lid with a towel and held that in place. This mole sauce was another winner from the Raw Food/ Real World cookbook, creamy and delicious!

I served the tamales with jicama, red bell pepper and celery sticks.

So far every recipe I have made from Raw Food/Real World has turned out excellently. The dishes are very, very tasty and well balanced even with the modifications. I will continue to use this book for awhile.