Cauliflower is the New Chickpea

My raw eating efforts have been few and far between lately, but I'm still trying to eat as many fruits and vegetables as possible and I've still been experimenting in the kitchen to keep myself entertained!

In fact, I made up a new hummus recipe and it was really good! And, it just happens to be raw... :)

I got the idea from the raw zucchini hummus. I had bought a whole head of
cauliflower because I wanted to try and make the raw mock mashed potato recipe, but then I
decided that sounded kind of gross. So, I decided to try and find a more creative way to use it.

It's way better than both the raw chickpea and zucchini hummuses I made recently.

Here's how I did it:

Raw Cauliflower Hummus
3 cups chopped cauliflower
1/2 cup olive oil
1/4 cup raw tahini
2 cloves garlic
1/4 cup lemon juice
few grinds of sea salt
light sprinkle of ground red pepper

Put it everything but the red pepper in the food processor and pulse until creamy. If it's too thick you can add a little water to thin it out. Then sprinkle the red pepper on top.

My friend Laura tried it and she liked it, though I could tell she thought I was weird for eating it with cut up cauliflower... Too much of a good thing? :)

I think this worked better than the zucchini, because it's a less watery vegetable and a little more chickpea-like in texture.

So, why use cauliflower instead of chickpeas? Well, for one thing, you either have to cook chickpeas or get them from a can. The raw cauliflower probably has more nutrients in its raw state. Also - if you happen to have a giant head of cauliflower in your fridge and don't know what to do with it - problem solved!

Getting creative with CSA greens and citrus
I've found some new uses for all the crazy greens that come in my CSA box. I've been chopping up kale, putting it in a ziplock bag, freezing it and then adding it to my smoothies. I've also been sauteing it with olive oil and chopped onions. I've actually had that for breakfast for the past two days. Sounds weird, but I just woke up craving something really healthy, and savory.

Another fun thing I've been doing is making fresh orange/grapefruit juice with the citrus from my CSA box. I don't have an electric juicer, so I've been using the hand squeezer. That worked fine for the oranges, but it was a pain for the grapefruit because I had to cut them up into like 8 pieces. Yesterday, I got a cool slicer/dicer contraption from my friend Tiffany (thanks Tiff!) so I used that and it was much easier. It's so tangy and delicious! Plus - I read in the raw book that grapefruit helps get rid of cellulite. Sweet!

I'm off to Vegas for the next few days, so I'm sure to have some fun food adventures to report back on.

Have a great week!