Weird Food Science - It's my Creation

In experimenting with recipes, I've come up with a couple complete originals from the predicament that shows itself in any household - I've got X,Y,Z vegetables that need to be eaten, what in the world will I make with it!

BEET DOGS
-Now this is a fun and colorful recipe that make children adore and appreciate beets.

WARNING:  Wear an apron when making for any splash, and if you don't want your hands lightly stained for a day, use gloves or a spoon when shaping...the kids do enjoy using their hands though!

2 medium sized beets
2 large leaves of kale
1.5 c. raw, shelled pistachios
1 large, peeled carrot
1 thin slice of white onion (0.5 - 1 cm thick)
1 garlic clove
1 tsp cumin
small squirt of fresh lemon juice

Makes about 4 beet dogs

Quarter your root veggies and toss all vegetables in the food processor.  Let process for about 1 minute to get a course consistency.  Don't over process, you don't want soup.  You want a fluffy consistency that will mold to itself.  Add the pistachios.  You can add them a 1/2 cup at a time to play with the taste and texture that you prefer.  Finish with your cumin and lemon juice.  You want the veggies to absorb most of the liquid, so don't add too much lemon.  Here is also a good time to add any other herbs you might want to try.  You could do a rosemary/thyme for thanksgiving, or a spicy dog with jalapenos and cayenne pepper.  Pulse enough to mix in the seasonings, and get the final texture you desire.  You want to be able to pick up the mixture with your hand, and squeeze it tightly in your fist and have it stick together pretty well, but if it falls apart a little bit, it's okay, is still tasty!

 

JICIMA FRIES
-I couldn't very well make a beet dog without "fries" to go with it, and I luckily had a jicima lying around.

1 small jicima or 1/2 large jicima (you'll be surprised at the yield of fries you can get out of a jicima!)
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper (optional)
1 tsp extra virgin olive oil (optional)
dash of salt (helps to take out some of the moisture)

You could do this by hand, I suppose, but I used the handy, dandy, slicing, chopping extraoidinaire machine, the mandoline to get this shape.  My $30, online, no brand name purchase (mentioned in my Getting Started post) has 8 attachments, and one of them does a thick julienne to make fries.  The machine itself has an adjustment for thickness so you can make a variety, depending what you're in the mood for.

Lightly toss your julienned jicima with the seasonings and oil of choice (if any). After the "fries" are lightly coated, toss them in a salad spinner to remove excess moisture, and make them more fry-like.  If you don't have a salad spinner, just put them in a plastic pasta colander, and toss them around gently so you don't have wet "fries".

I really wanted to make my beet dog look real, so I used Udi's gluten-free hot dog buns (ahem, plus they were in the freezer).  Using the gluten-free bun gave this meal a 70/30 raw to not-raw ratio.  Making beet wraps or cones is also good, they just don't get the "dog" look.  I also wanted a nice fatty, accompaniment that would complement the beet dog, and the avocado slices really worked out well.  To round out this meal I went with a raw classic, a salad.  This salad was just leftovers of spring greens, yellow pepper, Shimeji brown beech mushrooms, walnuts raisins and homemade raw chevre (recipe below) tossed in a homemade lemon tahini dressing (tahini, lemon, oil and black pepper), but I really thought a Waldorf salad would have gone better with this meal.  The dijon in the Waldorf salad dressing, the cumin in the beet dog, and the cayenne on the fries culminates beautifully on the tastebuds.  

Total meals serves 3-4 people.

 HOMEMADE GARLIC AND BASIL RAW CHEVRE
-Okay, I didn't invent this recipe, but I did feel extremely cool making cheese for the first time at home, and I was able to do it raw.  I don't recommend you use unpasteurized goats milk unless you know where your milk is coming from.  The goat milk I acquired personally from a friend's Nigerian pygmy goats.  This breed of goat yields less milk, but with a higher fat content, so the cheese comes out very rich and creamy.

64 ounces raw goat milk
2 lemons, juice of
1 t. minced basil
2 cloves of garlic

Chop up and prepare the herbs you want to use, and set aside. Choose a large, stainless steel pot to make the cheese in.  You will want something that is non-reactive so the metals do not leach into the milk.  Pour in your milk, and heat it to 110 degrees Fahrenheit.  Once the milk starts to steam, add the lemon juice and stir continuously for a few minutes.   Cover and remove from heat, and let sit for 15 minutes to let the milk curdle.    

Place cheese cloth over a strainer, with a bowl beneath it to catch the liquid.  The cheese cloth catches the curds, and the bowl holds the whey.  Once your curdled milk has cooled enough to handle, pour it into the colander as shown above.

You can hang it over a bowl to remove the moisture, or, if you're impatient like me, you can squeeze the moisture out.

It worked out pretty well.

Then, crumble your cheese and add your herbs.  Mix lightly with a fork.

Form it into a ball.

I got 2.35 ounces, and used it on 5 different family salads, and as accents for a few breakfast meals.

STRAWBERRY SPINACH SALAD

2 large hand-fulls of spinach greens
5 strawberries, diced and soaked in lemon juice
1/2 English cucumber peeled, de-seeded and diced
1/2 avocado, diced
3/4 c. walnuts, pre-soaked (sliced almonds go well too)
2 T. raw chevre (optional)
2-3 T. Annies light red raspberry vinaigrette (optional; Coming Soon: homemade raspberry dressing recipe)
1 small handful of diced cilantro, stems removed (optional)
Black pepper to taste

Start by dicing the strawberries and letting them marinate in a small bowl of freshly squeezed lemon juice (about 1/2 of a lemon worth) and set aside while you prepare all of the other ingredients.  Take spinach, chop up avocado and cucumber and combine in a large bowl.  Toss in walnuts, crumble chevre, sprinkle pepper, add dressing and toss all together. 

This salad feels very hearty, but does not weigh you down.  The combination of tart strawberries, creamy avocado, and mineral-rich spinach offers both a well-rounded flavor and texture concoction, as well as a diverse nutrient value.  The flavored chevre and hint of sweet raspberry really give the detail to this salad to take it from good to great.  It's one of my family favorites, and I hope you enjoy it too.