Plate of raw, Mexi goodness

Lordy lordy, it has been insanely, scorchingly, ozone-ladenly hot in CLT for about a week now.

Blech.

There will be no ovens turned on. There will be no burners and frying pans. There will be the raucous sound of blenders blending and food processors processing, the fake-warming in a barely-toasty oven, however.

I've been reading about and toying with the idea of eating more raw stuff lately, inspired by my natural instinct to gravitate towards the raw section of any salad bar - I don't go for the predressed stuff, it's always everything, jicama, beets, brocolli, cabbage, celery, zucchini, whatever's on there and fresh, get ye on my plate. Now. Results in a teetering tower almost every time, and some well-mannered Biddy's always giving me the "you're a pig" eye. Whatever, girl.

So I found this recipe for cauliflower rice - and it sounded texturally rad, but I didn't like the idear of fresh tomatoes - so I changed it up a bit. Maybe you like.

Raw Mexican Rice
serves 4

1 medium head cauliflower, leaves and stem removed
4 cloves garlic, minced
11/2 tsp turmeric
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp ground ancho chili 
1 tablespoon cold-pressed olive oil
Dash Coco Aminos or Himalayan Sea Salt
Dash sea salt
2 tablespoons sun-dried tomatoes in oil, minced 
Safflower threads, a pinch
2 tablespoons each finely minced cilantro and scallions 


Easy peasy. In tow batches, process your cauliflower with the "s" blade until it resembles coarse breadcrumbs. Remove to a large bowl.


Toss remaining ingredients and let marinate on the counter for 30 mins - 1 hour, to let flavors blend.

There's a lot going on up there, so let me tell ya how I put ours together.


From bottom to top:


Lettuce, chopped
1 cup cauli rice
1 cup marinated veggies (zucchini, mushroom, asparagus, some coco aminos, some garlic, some lime juice, little raw agave)
minced tomato
Cashew Sour Cream (below)
Avocado-Lime puree (basically guacamole without the 'maters)
Raw Hot Sauce (also below)
and more minced cilantro. 


Filling and super yum, I felt all KINDS of energized after eating this.

Cashew sour cream is simple - I cultured mine, since I already had a batch of cashew cheese going - 


1 cup cashews, soaked for 6-8 hours
2 cloves garlic
Juice of 1/2 lemon
Water
Himalayan Sea Salt (this stuff is awesome, and pink, to boot! Beware, tho - a lot of raw foodists consider pure salts un-raw, but as for me, I gotta have it)


In a blender, puree all your ingredients for a few minutes until smooth. You'll probably add anywhere between 1/2 cup and 1 full cup of water to get a creamy, pourable texture.

You guys KNOW I had to have me some hot sauce.

Raw Hot Sauce


1-11/2 jalapeno (sniff your peppers - you'll get a bit of a burn in the nostril if your jalapenos are hot hot hot, in which case you'll only need one)
1/4 cup water
Dash cold-pressed olive oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
Juice of 1/2 lime
2-3 springs cilantro
Dash Coco Aminos or awesomepinksalt


Blend away. Make sure you warsh your paws afterwards - this stuff is potent.

Enjoy darlings!