The following recipes come from Orchid and Terces Engelhart's wonderful cookbook "I Am Grateful."
"For what can you acknowledge your community?"
I Am Luscious, a healthy raw chocolate smoothie
(makes 16 ounces)
9 ounces Brazil nut milk (see below, I Am Youthful)
3 soaked Black Mission figs (presoak for 2 hours)
3 tablespoons chopped dates
2 heaping tablespoons raw cacao powder
½ teaspoon vanilla
a tiny pinch of salt
Blend all ingredients together and pour into a frosty glass.
"What is sacred about food?"
I Am Youthful, live nut and seed milks
(makes 6 cups)
You can use almonds, Brazil nuts hazelnuts or hemp seeds. Presoak almonds in fresh water for 12 hours; drain, rinse, and re-cover with fresh water at least once. You do not need to soak hazelnuts or Brazil nuts, as they do not contain any enzyme inhibitors.
For almond milk, 2½ cups soaked almonds
For hazelnut milk, 2½ cups hazelnuts
For Brazil nut milk, 2½ cups Brazil nuts
For hemp seed milk, 2 cups hemp seed
Making nut milk is super-easy and very satisfying. If you drink soy milk or another boxed milk product, you’ll never go back after making one of these delicious fresh nut or seed milks.
Always rinse and drain your nuts after soaking. Now place your chosen nuts or seeds into the carafe of your blender. Add 6 cups of filtered water and a pinch of salt. Blend on high until the nuts are completely broken down. Be careful not to blend too long, as the friction from the blender will create heat.
Next pour your milk through a nut milk bag and squeeze as much of the moisture out as possible. You now have a delicious fresh nut milk to enjoy on its own, with live granola, or in one of our smoothie recipes.
If you like a sweeter milk, add a little agave or a few dates and/or vanilla. Yum!
Note: Reserve your nut pulp to use in a cake or bread recipe. This will freeze well until you have enough saved to use it.
“Where could you lighten up?”
I Am Sprightly, marinated daikon salad
(makes 1½ cups)
For the marinade
¼ teaspoon very finely chopped jalapeño
¼ teaspoon very finely chopped garlic
¼ teaspoon very finely chopped ginger
¼ cup fresh water
¼ cup naturally brewed soy sauce
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
2 teaspoons agave nectar
3 drops toasted sesame oil
For the veggies
1½ cups julienne-cut daikon
¼ cup finely diced red sweet pepper
1 scallion finely sliced on the bias
1 large date, chopped
For the garnish
Black sesame seeds
2 tablespoons shredded purple cabbage
Place the chopped ingredients for the marinade in a medium bowl and add the liquid ingredients.
Prepare all the veggies and toss into the marinade. Let sit for at least 1 hour.
To serve, you can either leave the veggies in the marinade or drain. Either way a small rice bowl may be best. Sprinkle with the cabbage and black sesame. Enjoy.
From I Am Grateful: recipes and lifestyle of Café Gratitude by Terces Engelhart with Orchid, North Atlantic Books, Berkeley, 2007, ISBN-13: 978-1-55643-647-5.
Orchid has studied food and cooking in such exotic places as Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore, Australia, Central America and Mexico. For some years a steward of the Short Mountain Sanctuary in Tennessee, Orchid now lives in San Francisco.
