Raw Food Tested

I finally tested a "real" recipe from The Raw 50 by Carol Alt - the raw burger. I am not too strict about the degrees, so they didn't turn out stricly raw, though.

Also, I would like to share my favorite food gripe.

I haven't done burgers before, but I liked that the burger bun recipe in Carol's book is half almonds half sunflower seeds: it both lightens and "cheapens" the dish, so easier on the tummy, easier on the budget. I didn't do the entire bun-and-burger-thing, just the patties, and I made them smaller plus turned the oven heat up slightly more than dehydration so they where done in 2-3 hours. Woa! That's a new favorite right there. Crisp, with plenty of celery, no onion for me, just light brown around the edges but otherwise dry almost through and NOT tasting like they were baked. I love it.

On another more sour note, I want to share a food gripe - more sweet baking to follow afterwards.

I just made a sandwich for the bf, and I tend to use things that I would have liked to eat "back when" I could eat anything. So I made a sandwich from dark rye bread, crisp salad, German Emmenthaler cheese and that Spanish sausage with the white, moldy skin on it. And the sausage - it smells soooo good. I buy these types of Spanish and Italian meats for sandwiches and omelets because they taste so. much. better. than ordinary cold meats. I used to buy them because they have a LOT less additives as well. When i got into the label-reading business (I think all celiacs are fine-print experts) and I was looking for cold meats I was astonished at the number of additives, even in what should be quite simple products. I have always been fairly conscious of additives and healthy food, but still, it was an omg. OMG! type of moment. The truly astonishing thing is that most of the cold meats that are widely available here taste like very little, even the cured/smoked/sausage-y type of meats, whereas Spanish and Italian sausages and smoked meats usually taste like a lot even though their ingredient labels often read "meat, salt". I think that has to be my favorite food gripe. Well, I am not eating cold meats at the moment, so not a problem. But I think it goes for all food: the most concentrated tastes are in the salt, the fat, the smoke, the vinegar... and if you use quality goods a little goes a long way and you don't have to overload on the stuff that isn't so good for you.

I have to extend and extra-ordinary thank you to Elana from Elana's Pantry, I am now officially enrolled in the (I have no doubt it's huge) army of bakers that are indebted to her for amazing recipes. I baked Cabernet Cookies again - these are a seriously addictive treat! And I watched anxiously over the oven so as not to burn them like the last time. I turned down the oven drastically - not quite to dehydrator temperatures but almost, since the cookies have no eggs or anything, so I thought that little experiment would be okay - and it sure was! They didn't get crisp really, but I prefer it that way, I want to taste the ingredients, not the brown crust. Last time I forgot to mention it, but in the interest of full disclosure, I swapped the agave for honey to made them fully SCD compatible.