My name is Jennifer Cornbread, but sometimes when I'm cooking, my alter-ego - 'Saucy Susan' - takes over. You see, I love the sauces do taste and texture of a recipe, and I'm always looking for ways to sauce up a meal or snack.
The problem is that I do not like what the ingredients in traditional sauces make for my waistline or my arteries. Therefore it was important for me to re-think sauces in both of my raw cookbooks, Raw Food Made Easy for 1 or 2 persons and Raw for dessert.
You may be wondering what kind of sauce recipes will be useful to a dessert cookbook. Raw food sauce recipes, like their traditional counterparts, can be sweet or savory. Some of my favorite raw food sauces serve as a 'crown' on ice cream sundaes.
So in this article I would like to invite everyone to "get sauced" the healthy way ... with some delicious raw food sauce recipes you can whip up in no time.
The sauce, Silly
Do you know where a lot of flavor in a dish? That's right! In sauce. After all, not just fettuccine pasta until you spoon in Alfredo sauce? Isn’t vegetable spring roll just "bunny food" until you give it a whole new personality of drizzle in a spicy, flavorful Thai-style peanut sauce?
Imagine ice without hot fudge sauce. Or think about how a certain fast food giant would be today if it served two all-beef Patti, lettuce, cheese, pickles and onions on a sesame seed without a 'special sauce?.
It's easy to see that to get more flavor in each bite, the secret is in the sauce. What is less easy to see is that the ingredients that go into typical sauces - such as butter, cream, high fructose corn syrup, hydrogenated oils, refined sugar, etc - are not healthy.
For example, there are 850 calories in a single portion Fettuccine Alfredo from Olive Garden and 432 of those calories come from fat. As for Big Mac, it's around 560 calories ... with nearly 100 of them coming from sauce, which is made of salad dressing, pickles and brown sugar.
Dessert sauces are the biggest culprits when it comes to sneaking in fat and calories. A two-tablespoon serving of a commercial hot fudge sauce made of Smacker, for example, 4.5 grams fat and 18 grams of sugar. It does not sound so bad if you can limit yourself to just two tablespoons ... but I know that I can not!
There are other problems with traditional sauces also arise because of processed foods used to make them. The recent problem with commercial peanut butter underlines how much healthier it is to use ingredients that come straight from the garden ... or your local farmer.
The whole theory behind the raw food movement: use fresh, local ingredients to create delicious meals and snacks. So I've found ways to make Alfredo without cream ... peanut sauce without treatment ... and lip-smacking dessert sauces without a hint of refined sugar.
Care to join me for a dip in the sauces?
Raw Food Sauce Recipes Ideas
Raw food sauces (you've heard this phrase before) delicious and nutritious. For example. My recipe for raw food Fettuccine Alfredo dresses translucent ribbon of pale green zucchini with a sauce made of soaked cashews and a savory spice mixture Believe me, you will not miss the cream or butter (or fat and calories).
If you like your sauces green instead of white, try my raw food Pesto. Like the original, calls my recipes for basil leaves, olive oil, garlic, salt and pine nuts. The only difference is that the pine nuts are raw instead of roasted.
One of my favorite raw food sauce recipes are Mock Peanut Sauce that I made for Raw Food Made Easy for 1 or 2 persons. Traditionally, this sauce requires roasted peanuts, but I use raw almond butter instead. All retain more nutrients, I think raw almond butter actually tastes better in the recipe.
You can make your own almond butter or purchase it in stores. Just be sure to select raw almond butter.
Mock Peanut Sauce
• 1 / 2 cup raw almond butter
• 1 / 4 cup water
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons pure maple syrup
• 2 teaspoons tamari
• 1 / 2 teaspoon crushed garlic
• 1 / 4 teaspoon grated fresh ginger
• Dash cayenne
• Dash salt
• Place all ingredients in a blender and process until smooth
This simple raw food sauce can be stored for up to five days in the refrigerator. Drizzle it over your favorite veggies for lunch or dinner or use it as a dipping sauce to add Asian flair to your crudités serve at your next party.
Each day is Sundae
I created my raw food Chocolate Panache Fudge Sauce for all chocoholics I know (including me) but I never miss a chance to introduce people to my rich, nutty caramel sauce. Instead of butter and sugar in a traditional caramel. This nutty brown sauce call for dates, cashews, vanilla ... and dark agave syrup
Agave syrup (also known as nectar) is a natural sweetener made from the juice of the agave plant. I use the dark version of this recipe to give a deep caramel, molasses-like flavor and color.
Raw Food Caramel Sauce Recipe
• 1 / 2 cup raw cashew butter
• 1 / 2 cup dark agave syrup
• 1 / 2 cup Date Paste (see below)
• 2 tablespoons vanilla extra
• 1 / 8 teaspoon salt
• Place all ingredients in a blender and process until smooth.
Date Paste is made by soaking Midol dates in the filtered water and then processed fruit along with soaking water to a paste-y texture.
The caramel sauce is a "natural" when it comes to topping off a raw food ice cream sundae, which replaces the nut milk dairy variety. It's also great on top of the cake, or in between the layers.
For a truly decadent dessert, you can drizzle caramel sauce and chocolate sauce over ice and top with crushed raw nuts and dried fruit. Amazing!
When you want to Warm Up After Cool Down
Like tasty raw food Mock Peanut Sauce above, sweet raw food caramel sauce can be stored in the refrigerator. To take the "chill off" before serving, follow this simple process:
• Put 2 inches of water in a saucepan and bring to a boil.
• Turn off the heat.
• Put a small bowl of sauce in the warm water (the sides of the bowl should be large enough to allow water from the pan can not flow into the sauce)
• Let sit for 20 minutes
• Stir to achieve proper consistency.
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