Here is the menu – and the recipes – I created and served for the 3-day Delicious Soul Retreat with Susan Greene, M.A. Psychology and certified SoulCollage Facilitator, in West Marin this past June.

Click here to see what her (our) weekend entailed.

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The 3-day menu ↓↓↓

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Friday dinner: Thai

1st course:

• Tom Kha soup

2nd course:

• Lettuce salad w/lime sesame dressing
• Pad Thai w/almond Thai sauce and veggie noodles

3rd course, dessert:

• Spiced apples and pluots

Saturday breakfast bar

Green Drink: apple, celery, kale, cucumber

Almond Milk

Hard boiled eggs

Yogurt

Breakfast bar:  soaked steel-cut oats and almond milk

Served with a variety of toppings, such as ….

• soaked buckwheat kernels
• nuts
• seeds
• dried fruit (dates, goji berries)
• honey
• molasses
• nutritional yeast
• brewers yeast
• lecithin

Saturday lunch buffet: Salad bar, soup and crackers

• Soup – Avocado, cuc, cilantro, lime, smoked salt
• Salad – mixed greens, veggies
• Raw flax crackers
• nut hummus
• olive/fig tapenade
• almond cream cheese

Saturday dinner: pizza and salad

1st course:

• Tomato basil arugula salad

2nd course:

• Build your own pizzas
• Start with a pineapple slice for the crust
• Add the tomato sauce
• Add the ricotta cheese
• Add veggies
• Add sausage

3rd course: Chocolate pudding

Sunday breakfast bar

Green Juice: Dr. Oz Green Drink
Breakfast bar…. same as Saturday

Sunday lunch buffet: Asian

• Kale Salad w/ginger dressing
• Sesame ‘Chicken’ and sweet/sour dipping sauce
• Greens w/creamy Caesar dressing
• Coconut cashew ice cream

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The recipes ↓↓↓

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Friday dinner: Thai

Chilled Tom Kha Soup

Serves 2 – 3

1) Mix in blender or processor and chill for an hour or overnight:

• 1 cup water (or Thai Young coconut water)
• 2 cups coconut milk (1 can, not raw)  (or Thai Young coconut meat)
• 1 lime, zest and juice
• 1 tbls red curry paste, or equal parts of garlic, ginger, lemongrass, hot pepper
• 1 tsp sea salt

2) Garnish with:

• spiralized carrots
• chopped red bell pepper
• chopped green onion
• chopped basil

Tip:

If soup thickens beyond desired consistency while chilling, slowly stir in a bit more water to thin.

Source:  Joni Sare, adapted from: http://makeeverydayraw.blogspot.com/2007/07/tom-kha-soup_26.html

Pad Thai Sauce

Makes 1 1/2 cups sauce

Mix in blender or processor, then refrigerate for a least 1 hour:

• 1 cup coconut milk (1/2 can)
• 1 tbls date pieces, or 2 medjool dates
• 1/2 cup almond butter
• 2 tbls red miso
• 1 tbls minced ginger
• 1 tbls green curry paste (or 1 tsp minced jalapeño)
• 1 lime, zest and juice
• 1 bunch basil, thinly sliced, for garnish

Pad Thai Noodles

1) Spiralize and soak in salted water for a least one hour:

• Zucchini
• Carrot

Tip:

I soaked the spiralized veggies over night in separate ziplock baggies, with a 1/4 cup water to 2 tsp sea salt, and tossed and turned the baggie every now and then.

Optional toppings:

• Spiralized daikon
• Spiralized yam, parsnip
• Sliced bell pepper
• Mung bean sprouts
• Coconut flakes
• Thinly sliced kale, collard, chard, cabbage (any variety)

To serve…

3) Drain and squeeze the veggies, retain water for later use.
4) Mix sauce and noodles, and serve with garnish.

Garnish options:

• Chopped cilantro
• Thinly sliced green onions
• Pine nuts, almonds or peanuts

Spiced apple and pluots

Mix all together well and let sit for a least 1/2 hour, tossing occasionally.

• Sliced Gala apples
• Chopped pluots
• Juice of one orange
• Juice of one lemon
• 1 tsp. cumin
• Fresh ground nutmeg

Saturday breakfast bar

Green drink

This recipe is for 2 servings.

I have a Breville Juice Machine, and love it. It’s the best machine – since 1990 – that I have had and I probably have had about a half dozen juicers (see my “Products” page, coming soon).

• 4 leaves kale, and the stems
• 4 stalks celery
• 1 cucumber
• 1 apple
• 1 lime

Almond milk

• 2 cups almonds
• 4 cups water
• 3 medjool dates
• 1 tsp salt

1) Soak the almonds overnight in enough water so that there’s a cup of water above the almonds.
2) In blender, mix all ingredients well (drain and rinse the almonds).
3) Pour the contents into a nutmilk bag (see Tip, below, if you do not have a nutmilk bag) and squeeze the liquid into a serving pitcher. Retain the almond pulp for other uses.

Tips:

I use 2 cups of almonds to 4 cups of water b/c I like a more full-body milk. Many people use 1 cup almonds to 4 cups water. Also, water can be Thai young coconut water, or other fruit/veggie juice.

Alternatives to a nutmilk bag are:  sprout bag, triple-layered cheesecloth, thinly woven fabric, fine-mesh screen

Raw steel-cut oats

1) The night before… rinse and drain the oats a couple of times and fill with water until the oats are covered with at least a half inch of water. Soak for two nights if you want softer oats, and/or add a teaspoon of salt to the soaking water.

2) Drain the soaking liquid before serving.

3) Top with nut milk, nuts, berries, dried fruit, booster foods:

• soaked buckwheat kernels (soak the same as the oats)
• cashews
• almonds
• brazil nuts
• pumpkin seeds
• sesame seeds
• sunflower seeds
• fresh fruit
• dried fruit (dates, goji berries)
• honey
• molasses
• nutritional yeast
• brewers yeast
• lecithin

Saturday lunch buffet: Salad bar, soup and crackers

Avocado Cucumber Soup w/smoked salt

Mix all ingredients well in blender, top with smoked salt.  Add more or less water to desired consistency.

• 1 avocado
• 1 cucumber
• 1 bunch cilantro
• 1 lime, zest and juice
• 1 cup water
• Smoked salt, garnish

OLIVE FIG TAPENADE

1) Combine all ingredients, except tomatoes, in food processor and blend until thick and uniform.

• 2 cups pitted Sun Dried Black Olives
• 2 Cups dried Mission Figs
• 1/2 Cup Olive Oil
• 1/2 lemon
• 1 Tbs red miso
• 1 T umeboshi plum paste
• Enough water to encourage mixing
• 20 sun dried tomatoes, soaked and diced

2) Stir in tomatoes and allow to sit (refrigerated) for a couple of hours or overnight.

Source: Joni Sare, adapted from Sam Lippman, Google Raw Chef

Almond Cheese

• 2 cups almonds
• 1/2 c kombucha
• 1 tsp sea salt

1) Soak the almonds overnight in enough water to have the water level well above the almonds. The next day, drain the almond, discard the water.

2) Blend all ingredients well.

Tips:

For a very creamy texture use a high-speed blender (such as a VitaMix or Blendtec).

Elaina Love uses Rejuvalac instead of the Kombucha. I think the Rejuvalac gives a more pungent taste, similar to blue cheese, which is very good tasting, too.

Source:  Joni Sare, adapted from Elaina Love

Raw Hummus

Combine all ingredients together in a blender or food processor until smooth and creamy. Adjust seasonings, to taste.

• 1 zucchini, chopped
• 1/3 cup cold-pressed olive oil (or another neutral oil, such as flax oil)
• 1/3 cup raw tahini
• 3 cloves garlic
• 3 tbsp lemon or lime juice
• 1/4 tsp sea salt

Source: Sam Lippman, Google Raw Chef

FLAX SEED CRACKERS

• 2 cups whole flax seeds
• 2 cups filter water, or more if needed, see first Tip, below
• 1/4 cup tamari (I use Tamari b/c it is wheat-free, and I recently heard they sell an unpasteurized version. Other raw products to choose from are: Braggs Liquid Aminos, Nama Shoyu raw soy sauce or Coconut Aminos)
• 1 tsp sea salt, or to taste

1) In a medium sized bowl, cover the flax seeds with the water and allow to soak for at least 1 1/2 hours. The water will turn to a gelatinous goo. Check the mixture often, and add more water if needed, see Tip, below.

Tip:

The seeds will soak up the water and reach their saturation point fairly quickly. Keep an eye on them to be sure all the seeds are submerged in water, if not the mixture will be thick and the seeds on the top will be dry. You want the mixture to be runny and gooey, but not too thin, and not too thick.

2) Stir in the tamari, sea salt and fresh herbs. You can also get creative and add some extra flavors – fresh herbs, a quirt of lime juice, minced ginger, minced garlic, chili powder, cayenne pepper, pizza spice blend, Italian Seasoning blend, etc.

3) Spread the mixture about 1/8 inch thick on your dehydrator’s paraflexx or teflex sheets.

4) Set your dehydrator to 150°, and dehydrate for 1 -2 hours, or until the top of the mixture is dry. Then turn down the heat to 110° for 2 hours.

Tip:

At this point you can score the mixture into the size and shape of the crackers that you want.

5) Turn the mixture over, and dehydrate another 3 – 4 hours. If you like a crispy and crunchy cracker, dehydrate a bit longer. I like my flaxseed crackers a bit chewier, so I dehydrate them a bit less and make them a bit thicker than 1/8-inch thick. Break or slice your crackers into pieces when finished dehydrating.

Source: Joni Sare, adapted from ….. http://vegetarian.about.com/od/beverage1/r/rawflaxcrackers.htm

Onion Flat Bread

• 3 large onions (white is best)
• 1 cup flax seeds, ground
• 1 cup sunflower seeds, ground
• 1/2 cup Tamari (see note above in the Flax Seed recipe about Tamari and other products to choose from)
• 1/2 cup cold pressed olive oil

1) Peel and cut the onions so they fit through the tubing of the food processor (or slice the onions very thinly by hand, a mandolin or in the food processor with the slicing blade)

2) Process the onions in the food processor using the medium-sized shredder disc.

3) In large mixing bowl, blend together the shredded onions (include any liquid) with the rest of the ingredients. Mix well, I find it’s best to use the hands.
4) Spread half the mixture evenly on a spill-proof sheet (parchment paper, Paraflex or Teflex dehydrator sheet. Repeat on second sheet.
5) Dehydrate at 145° for 2 hours, flip over and turn down the temperature to 115° for 8 hours, or longer if you want dry crispy bread.
6) Cut into bread-size pieces, or bite-size pieces for crackers.

Tip:

Here are tips to minimize eye irritation while cutting onions.

First, don’t let the onion weep ….

> Use a sharp knife – the more blunt cuts the more damage you’ll do to the cell walls causing more weep-age.

> Refrigerate the onions – cold onions have a stronger cell wall, thus it will weep less when it’s cut.

> Soak the onions in an ice bath – this will allow the outer skins to be removed more easily, and see tip just above.

Second, you want to protect yourself …

> Remove the cut onion and any debris off of – and away from – the cutting board. Keep it at somewhat of a distance from your immediate area, and put the cut side down.

> Be in a well ventilated and open space and/or have a fan pointed at you, and/or – as I did for our housemate, Dan, the other night (when he was chopping shallots for a second round of Chicken Piccata) I grabbed a dinner plate and waved it vigorously … fanning it … forcing the vapors away from his face. He smiled very appreciatively.

> Wear contact lenses – In my chef class at Bauman College it was quite evident that those who wore contacts were not affected by the onion vapors. I can attest to this, too, it works!

Source: Joni Sare, 2009, adapted from: Raw Onion Bread, by Matt Amsden, RAWVolution

Saturday dinner: pizza and salad

Pineapple Pizzettes

Veggie toppings: sliced zucchini, tomatoes, diced onion, bell peppers

Sun-dried Tomato Marinara RAW Sauce

Combine all ingredients, including tomato soaking water, into food processor and puree until very thick and uniformly smooth.

• 1 cup sun-dried tomato, soaked in 2cups water for 1+ hour
• 1 fresh tomato
• 1/2 red bell pepper
• 2 cloves fresh garlic
• 1 tsp onion powder
• 6 dates
• 1 tbs dry Italian seasoning
• 1/4 tsp cayenne powder or chili flakes
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1 tbs balsamic or apple cider vinegar

Source:  Sam Lippman, Google Raw Chef

Ricotta Cheese

Makes 3 cups

• 1 c coconut water
• 2 c walnuts, soaked 4 – 8 hours
• 1 c pine nuts
• 1/2 c parsley
• 1/4 c black miso
• 1 T garlic
• 3 T lemon juice
• 1/2 t peppercorns
• 1 T Nama Shoyu (see TIP, below)

1) Soak walnuts and pine nuts in water for 4 to 8 hours.
2) Drain nuts and place them in a blender with the parsley, miso, garlic, lemon juice, peppercorns, and Nama Shoyu (Tamari).
3) Blend, adding only enough liquid (coconut water, Seaweed Water, vegetable broth, filtered water, or orange juice) to allow the mixture to turn over; use a rubber scraper to scrape the sides and keep the cheese turning over while blending.

The cheese keeps 1 to 2 days in the refrigerator.

Juliano: To make this cheese you can use any single nut or a combination of your favorites. I find soaked walnuts and un-soaked pine nuts make the creamiest texture.

Tip:

I used tamari, a wheat-free soy sauce, however, I will not use this in the future b/c it turned the color of the ‘cheese’ toooo brown, toooo dark, so, I’ll try white or yellow miso or umeboshi plum paste next time for the same salty sourness.

Source:  Juliano’s RAW The UnCookbook

Raw Nut Sausage

• 3/4 cup pecans
• 1/4 cup apple
• 1/8 cup oil
• 1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds
• 3/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 tablespoon sage
• 1/2 teaspoon thyme
• 1 teaspoon cayenenne
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• 1 teaspoon salt

Pulse all ingredients until a paste forms. Pinch off little chunks and place on mesh tray. Place in dehydrator at 145 degrees for 2 hours, if they still are gooey in the middle then turn down the temp to 90 and heat for 1 to 2 more hours.

Tip:

> I was very excited to find this recipe online b/c I’ve been thinking about a ‘raw sausage.’ It looks like sausage and tastes like sausage, and feels like sausage with just the right amount of processing. I found that there’s a fine line between being too nutty and getting to the right mouth-feel of ground beef. Pulse the processor, taste often, until you get just the right mouth feel.
> The sausage pieces ought to be chewy, to resemble cooked meat, so keep an eye on’m – check them often – to avoid dehydrating them too much.

Adapted from: http://vegweb.com/index.php?topic=26915.0

Chocolate pudding

Place all ingredients in blender and process until smooth, refrigerate if desired:

• 2 large avocados
• 2 Tbs vanilla  (I used 1 tbls)
• 1/4 tsp sea salt (I used 1/2 tsp)
• 1/2 cup cocao powder (or 3/4 cup carob powder)
• 1/2 cup Rapadura or Sucanat  (I used 5 mejool dates)

Place all ingredients in blender and process until smooth.

Adapted from:  Elaina Love, adapted from Matt Samuelson

SUNDAY BREAKFAST

Breakfast bar same as Saturday

Green Drink #2:  Dr. Oz Green Drink

(Modifications made by Heidi Ohlander, RawFoodRightNow.com)

Serves 1-2
Put everything in a blender and blend until smooth:

• 1 Cup Spinach
• 4 Celery Stalks
• 1 Cucumber
• 1 Large Apple (cored and peeled)
• 1 Lemon (juiced in a citrus juicer or by hand)
• 1 Lime (juiced in a citrus juicer or by hand)
• 1/2 Inch Piece of fresh Ginger (peeled)
• (small handful of parsley)
• water, to blend

Options: Add ice cubes before or after blending.

Tips:

First, this recipe says to peel ginger. I never peel ginger, I only trim away the icky parts. If you are using a regular blender it’s probably best to roughly chop the parsley and last – but not least – chop the celery into one inch-long pieces…. do this in order to eliminate long threads wrapping around the blade. Also – mince the ginger, a regular blender might not chop it up into small enough pieces.

SUNDAY LUNCH

Snowdrop’s Sesame Chicken, posted on Raw Freedom Community

Chicken nuggets

• 2 c walnuts, soaked 4-6 hrs or overnite
• 2 c sunflower seeds, soaked 4-6 hrs or overnite
• 1 c sunflower seeds, soaked 4-6 hrs or overnite and then dehydrated (I used unsoaked seeds)
• 1 c sundried tomatoes soaked 4-6 hrs or overnite in:
• 1 c orange juice

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• 1 onion
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1/4 yellow pepper (or red)
• 10 fresh sage leaves or 1 T dried herb
• 1 t cumin
• 1/2 t turmeric
• 1 t garlic powder
• 1 t onion powder
• 1 T dark miso
• 1 T Braggs or soy sauce of choice
• 1 T liquid lecithin* (to be stirred into batter by hand at the end)  (I used powedered lecithin)
• Sesame seeds (to sprinkle on top of the nuggets)

* Liquid lecithin can be found at your local health food store

Directions:
1) Food process the tomatoes in their liquid and blend until a paste.
2) Add onion & garlic, blend.
3) Add herbs spices blend.
4) Add nuts, process till smooth (I did it in 2 batches).
5) Put into a bowl & stir in the lecithin.
6) With a coffee grinder, powder the dehydrated sunflower seeds. Stir into batter till blended.
7) Spoon onto teflex sheets (I used 3 trays) by the tablespoon.
Dehydrate 6-8 hr at 105-115 degrees.
9) Flip half way thru drying time.

Make sweet & sour sauce (see below).
Dip your chicken nuggets into the sauce and sprinkle with sesame seeds and continue to dehydrate another 4-6 hrs.

Carmella’s Note: I forgot to soak and dehydrate the 1 cup of sunseeds so I used them dry.

Source: Snowdrop, posted on http://thesunnyrawkitchen.blogspot.com/

Sweet & Sour Sesame Sauce

• 3/4 c nama shoyu (or soy sauce of choice)
• 3/4 c honey (or agave)  (I used 7 mejool dates)
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 pc ginger as big as your thumb (equal to the amount of garlic approx)
• 2 T sesame seeds
• 2 T coconut oil
• 1 t sesame oil
• 2 t red pepper flakes

Chop the garlic & ginger so it doesn t jam under your blades, and put all into the food processor and blend till the veggies are well pureed. The seeds will float up with the oils when left standing, that’s ok, just stir when using.

Source: Snowdrop, posted on http://thesunnyrawkitchen.blogspot.com/

Creamy Caesar Salad dressing

Mix all ingredients in food processor or blender until smooth and creamy:

• 1-2 garlic cloves
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 2 tbs lemon juice
• 1 tsp mustard powder (or 2 tsp Dijon mustard)
• 1/2 cup almond cream cheese (see recipe, Saturday’s lunch)
• 1-2 tbs maple syrup (I used 3 mejool dates)

Source: Elaina Love, www.purejoylivingfoods.com

Coconut Ice Cream

Blend all in high-speed mixer until smooth, then place in freezer for at least 4 hours, stir often:

• 1 cup coconut meat
• 1 cup almond milk
• 1 cup cashews, soaked for 4 hours in:  1 cup coconut water   (do not drain)
• 8 mejool dates
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 tsp sea salt

Source: Joni Sare

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