Spread recipes with little or no nuts/seeds

[Carmella]

Hi,
It seems that all the spread recipes I encounter always have a nut or seed base. I'd love to have some alternatives (other than guac) for those times when I feel like eating something lighter. Any suggestions?

Thanks,
Carmella

[rawpriestess]

YEP, zucchini, or any squash, pumpkin, crook net, butternut, hubbard,
corn
sprouted grains
coconuts
cucumber
tomatoes
celery
apple
carrot
parsnips
turnips
rhutabaga
onion

or a mixture

if you don't mind sweet, you could use
banana
or any other fruit
strawberries
peaches
nectarines
mango
papaya
etc.

I often use these in spreads that I want to be sweeter

anything you like

[carolg]

RP,
Haven't figured out the greatest way to use hard squashes raw--like cutting them up or even hammering them away. If it's appeared, I need a refresher course on how to best break them hard squashes up. I have in my cold garage: squash, pumpkin, butternut, hubbard. The hubbard is huge to the max so looks like a "cookie" could be in the making with raisins and cashews ground to the flour consistency in coffee grinder or bananas or something else. Right now, enjoying my flax crackers that I made last week. Thanks.
carolg

[Carmella]

Thanks RP,
Now I just have to wait for that creative spark to kick in. It seems like all I have the energy to do these days is follow others' recipes... and then improvise from there. I guess it's that a lot is so new to me since deciding to go fully raw, I must first find my bearings before feeling confident enough to let it rip... :D

[rawpriestess]

the best thing to do, if you aren't feeling too confident is to find a recipe that sounds good, by that I mean, you like all the ingredients,


I remember giving someone a recipe for cucumber avocado soup, and they hated it, turned out they didn't like cucumber or avocados, HUMMM, now why didn't she tell me. LOL

anyway, so if you like coconut, the use coconut instead of the almonds, walnuts or cashews etc, in a nut based spread, if you wish to try zucchini, then realize it has alot of water content, so hold back on the liquid in the recipe, if you wish to use a squash, you can put in a zip lock baggy grated squash, and then dehydrate, it will melt the squash into more manageable texture, or you can freeze it, both warming or freezing breaks down the cell wall membrains, as the liquid in the food expands, and it will render the texture much more soft and easy to work with.

just a few hints for you.

but please have fun with your food, and food preparation.

[Sharon in Colorado]

bananas or mangoes - fruit spread! :)

[Carmella]

RP,
Thanks for the tips, especially about softening up squash! That will certainly come in handy.

And yes, I agree that the important thing is to keep the fun part of the experimentation and not take ourselves too seriously. Actually, come to think of it, I must admit that there has been very few recipes that I've made that turned out as "culinary disasters". That's the beauty with raw food I find, you can just keep tweaking the recipe until it is just right...

Sharon,
Thanks...I have been wondering lately about what to put on the Apple Cinnamon Bread I made earlier this week.

[Joyful Mary]

Zucchini hummus is delicious as a spread, just do a search for recipes on this site. Hope you like it!