Collard Wraps, Berries with Vegan Cashew Yoghurt

When you're eating a primarily raw diet--especially if you don't have a dehydrator--it can be challenging to look for presentations beyond salads, blended soups, and food processor mush. One way to change it up is to serve food wrapped in other food.  You've probably eaten stuffed grape leaves, spring rolls and burritos. But unless you're familiar with raw cuisine, you've probably never tried collard wraps.

My first attempt at making collard wraps--okay, my first couple of attempts--were disappointing. The leaves would tear; the filling would leak out. It wasn't the kind of thing you'd want to eat on a date. But then I learned to shave down the thick stem so the leaf was more pliable.

The collard leaves I had today were on the small side, so I used two for each wrap, overlapping them slightly. I filled them with a raw hummus I made yesterday from sprouted garbanzos, some alfalfa sprouts, and a little bit of apricot. (I wanted something sweet to contrast with my spicy hummus.)

Mind you, you can throw anything in a collard wrap.  Any kind of nut or seed spread, greens, julienned  vegetables like carrots or peppers, fresh herbs, or avocado would all be good choices.

I make my collard wraps using a burrito technique, first folding in the sides, then rolling everything away from me, keeping the sides tucked in. The end result is pretty, I think. I especially love the look of   the leaf's veins.

But another method for making collard wraps is to keep one side open. This way makes for messier eating. On the other hand, it allows you to see the filling's colors and textures.  You can learn this technique here:

I don't want to overload this post with too much disparate information, so I won't talk about my flax crackers until next post. Instead I'll leave you with this image of the mixed berry/cashew yoghurt dessert I made for Jake and me.

Of course that isn't really yoghurt. It's a raw cashew/banana/lemon concoction that took about one minute to throw together. I found the recipe on Raw on Ten Dollars a Day.  Delicious, and much lighter than the usual all cashew, no banana creamy sauces I'm used to.

Yeah, I picked those raspberries. I love that I can find wild raspberries in my urban environment.

Today's Chow:
Smoothie with strawberries, apricots and spinach. No fat; I was starving in a couple of hours, which led to an emergency raw chocolate/walnut snack mid morning.
Collard Wraps for lunch.
Snacked on my dehydrating crackers!
Green salad.
Berries with cashew yoghurt.