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I had to laugh; when I brought this raw dip (the second raw dip I’ve ever made) to a pool party last week, a raw foodie friend exclaimed, “Your dips are so much tastier than mine!” Like I was some kind of expert raw dip maker… SHE’s the expert. If she only knew how little I know about raw food… I think it was just a typical case of enjoying new flavors and novelty of things that other people make (I know I always do). Bella preferred the first dip I made with sunflower seeds and almonds.

This recipe is super-simple; it basically requires a half dozen ingredients thrown into the blender. The only pre-prep thing is soaking the raw walnuts in advance. I soak them in a mesh strainer in a glass bowl overnight in the fridge. If I hadn’t gotten to it that day I would’ve rinsed them and let them keep soaking.

The recipe is from the same book I borrowed from my s-i-l, Corrina, and it’s called Raw Food Made Easy by Jennifer Cornbleet. (Although now I have my eye on another cookbook I saw at my other s-i-l’s house, Vegan with a Vengeance – I hear it has a fabulous carrot cake recipe…)

Walnut Pâté

1 cup soaked raw walnuts

1 T fresh lemon juice (I didn’t have lemons on hand, so I used rice vinegar to go with the tamari flavor)

1 tsp Tamari

1/4 tsp garlic powder (roasted garlic would be good here)

Salt to taste

1 T minced fresh parsley

1 T minced onion (didn’t have any, so I skipped this)

Blend everything in a food processor. Taste and adjust seasonings.

Serve with crudité or crackers. Can also be used as a sandwich filling.

It started when another La Leche League mom, Karen, shared her smoothie recipe with me:

“Two handfuls fresh spinach
1 medium orange
1 medium to large banana
2 tbsp. ground flax (this does affect the texture so you would probably want to add less)
1/4 to 1/2 cup hemp milk (or cow’s milk, rice milk, etc. I use vanilla.)
Five ice cubes.
Blend until smooth. If the ratios are right it basically tastes like banana, although it will be green!”

I was astonished to learn that she was peeling the oranges and throwing them into her blender whole. I don’t buy spinach much anymore because I get so many other kinds of leafy greens in my CSA basket; so instead of spinach, I throw in a few leaves of chard or kale and I find this recipe still works well. I find this to be a good daily smoothie, and I know that Karen (and others of my friends) drink regularly drink smoothies like this for breakfast.

To accommodate Bella, I make the fruit smoothie first, pour her a glassful and then add the ground flax seed meal and greens. Christian likes it that way just fine.

I used to use another smoothie recipe, which was passed on to me by somebody who ran a mobile smoothie stand at long cross-country bike races. His recipe was a banana, canned pineapple, frozen strawberries, and pineapple-coconut juice. This makes a delicious smoothie, but one that tastes more like dessert (like Jamba Juice); and pineapple-coconut juice tends to be expensive, so we don’t make it often.

Now that I’ve learned that my blender can handle solid leaves of chard and whole (peeled) oranges, I’m glad that I didn’t buy the Vita-mix I wanted so badly last winter.

Besides which, after I’d posted about wanting the Vita-mix, a friend tracked down a juicer, cleaned it, and mailed it to me that same week! So if I want a carrot juice, I also have a juice extractor that can handle such things. (Thank you Kimetha!!)