Raw Vegan Marinated Portobello Mushrooms

I absolutely love mushrooms cooked, but can’t stand them raw. So when I decided to start eating more raw food, I was missing my mushrooms! Or having to eat them cooked. I’ve tried a few different raw vegan recipes featuring mushrooms, like stuffed mushrooms, and while it was better than eating them plain (yuck), I still didn’t really love them. I figured my best chance for creating a raw mushroom dish that I loved was to use my dehydrator.

If you want to eat a raw vegan diet, but you still love the taste of cooked food, a dehydrator will save you. Keep the temperature setting at 115 degrees F or below, and you won’t destroy any of the important enzymes in raw food, but the warmth is enough to change the texture and taste of the food, similar to cooking at higher temperatures. In the case of mushrooms, these are every bit as delicious as sauteed mushrooms.

Ingredients:

200g portobello mushrooms
5 tbsp (100ml) virgin cold-pressed olive oil
1 small clove garlic
1 small lemon
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp rosemary (fresh if possible)
1/2 tsp ginger powder
1/4 tsp garam masala
1/4 tsp Himalayan sea salt (more or less to taste)

Instructions:

Brush any debris off the mushrooms and cut into slices about 1 cm (1/4 inch) thick. If you have a Pyrex baking dish that will fit in the tray slots of your dehydrator that works best, otherwise the teflex sheets will be fine, you just may need to add a bit more olive oil. Put the mushroom slices in the baking dish if you have one, otherwise put them into a bowl.

Crush or mince the garlic as fine as possible. Add to the bowl with mushrooms. Strip the rosemary leaves off if using fresh rosemary and chop as fine as possible. Add to the bowl with mushrooms, along with all the olive oil and other spices.

Using your fingers toss the mushroom slices in the oil and spices until the mushroom slices are  evenly coated. The portobello will absorb the olive oil, you may need to add more if you still have any ‘dry’ patches.

If you are using a baking dish, spread the mushrooms evenly over the bottom of the dish and insert it into the tray slots of your dehydrator. Otherwise, spread the mushrooms evenly over a teflex sheet and insert the tray into the dehydrator.

Mushrooms tossed in olive oil and spices before dehydrating

Turn on the dehydrator and set the temperature at 115 F (45C). Check on them occasionally, to mix and add more olive oil if they are getting too dried out.  In about 2-4 hours your mushrooms will be done and ready to eat. You’ll have to do some taste testing to see when they are right for you. When they are getting close to done, squeeze some fresh lemon juice over them.

Leftovers will keep in the fridge for a couple of days.

Serves 2-3

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Kale Chip

I honestly cannot get enough of these delicious kale chips. They more than satisfy that spot that potato chips once filled, only without the greasy food hangover and the guilt. Kale is a super food among vegetables. It’s a brassica, a member of the cabbage family and is probably the closest relative to the wild cabbage. As such it has the same antioxidant power and cancer-fighting phytochemicals of the other brassicas. In fact, kale is number one in the antioxidant ratings according to The 150 Healthiest Foods on Earth. If that’s not reason enough to indulge in my kale chip addiction, I don’t know what is!

Ingredients:

1-2 bunches of kale, wash, de-stem and tear into pieces
4 tablespoons extra virgin, organic olive oil
1 tablespoon nutritional yeast
1 teaspoon organic apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon raw organic agave syrup
1 teaspoon raw organic tahini
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon ground turmeric
1/4 teaspoon ground cardamon
1/2 teaspoon Himalayan or Celtic sea salt
dash of powdered ginger
dash of cayenne powder to taste

Instructions:

1. Rinse the kale under running water, remove stems and tear the leaf into pieces about the size of potato chips tossing them into a large mixing bowl.
2. In a smaller bowl or cup mix all the other ingredients together, beating with a fork until there are no more lumps of tahini and everything is blended together evenly. Drizzle the mixture over the kale pieces, then massage it evenly through the kale with clean hands.
3. Grab handfuls of the coated kale pieces and scatter onto dehydrator trays. If the mixture is quite oily and dripping off the leaves, use a Teflex or Paraflexx sheet on your dehydrator tray. Otherwise you can put the kale mixture directly onto the dehydrator sheets and they will be ready to eat a bit sooner. Try to break up any large clumps of kale, but you don’t need to take the time to lay every piece out individually, just make sure they are fairly evenly scattered over 3-4 trays.
   

   Kale Chips on dehydrator tray

4. Dehydrate at 95-105F degrees overnight. If you used the Teflex or Paraflexx sheets turn the kale chips out onto the regular dehydrator sheets the next day and dehydrate for a couple more hours until crunchy. Otherwise, test to see if the chips are crunchy. If they are you can eat them immediately, or store in a sealed glass jar for later.

More nutritional facts about kale:

Kale is also loaded with calcium, iron, and vitamins A, C, and bone-building vitamin K. It contains seven times the beta-carotene of broccoli and ten times as much lutein and zeazanthin, eye-protecting carotenoids known to help protect against macular degeneration. And 2 cups of the stuff contain about 4 g of protein and 3 g of fiber.
Source: The 150 Healthiest Foods on Earth: The Surprising, Unbiased Truth About What You Should Eat and Why

I can easily snack on 2 cups of kale in the form of kale chips, getting a nice dose of healthy, uncooked oils at the same time. Although it takes extreme self-control, I try to squirrel some of the kale chips away in a glass jar for later in the evening when I start getting the munchies, or junk food cravings. Funny enough I find they also satisfy the cravings for sweets I often get late at night.

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Kale Chip

Kale chips… the raw vegan alternative to potato chips. I’m addicted to them. I eat about a third of them before they even finish dehydrating. Even if I ate junk food, I’d choose kale chips over potato chips, or tortilla chips any day. Yes, they really are that good! And here’s the thing… kale is really, really good for you. Prepared this way it’s easy to eat a whole mixing bowl of kale in one sitting. My dogs adore them, I’m sure kids will too. They’re simple to make too, it’s easy to experiment, and it’s hard to go wrong with them. Here’s the most basic recipe for salted kale chips. So if you get the hankering for something salty, crunchy and oily instead of reaching for the potato chips, try some of these healthy, nutritious kale chips instead.

Ingredients:

2 bunches of kale, rinse and remove stem
3 tablespoon olive oil or hemp seed oil
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
Celtic or Himalyan sea salt to taste

Instructions:

1. Mix the oil, apple cider vinegar and salt in a large mixing bowl. It’s easy to add more salt later and adjust it to your taste.
2. Tear the kale leaves up into bite-sized pieces. Think potato chip size, they will shrink a bit once they are dehydrated. Toss the kale pieces into the bowl with the oil and vinegar.
3. Periodically mix the kale as you are adding it by tossing the kale in the oil and ACV mixture. Get your hands in there and massage the oil into the kale. You’re aiming to have the oil and ACV evenly coating all of the kale. It’s easier to do this if you add a bit of kale, toss and massage, add some more kale, toss and massage and repeat until you have used up all the kale.
   

   Making Kale Chips: Massaging the kale

4. Place a Teflex sheet on top of a dehydrator tray and drop a handful or two of the coated kale leaves onto it. Try to spread the kale around so it’s not all clumped together, but you don’t have to be too particular about placing each individual piece because it will shrink and separate a bit as it’s dehydrating.
   

   Kale chips spread on Teflex sheet

5. Dehydrate overnight at 105 degrees F.
6. In the morning, turn the kale onto a regular dehydrator tray to finish it off. Dehydrate for another 2-4 hours until crispy.
   

   Kale chips almost ready to eat

7. Eat fresh from the dehydrator or store in a tightly sealed glass jar to keep them crisp. I’m not sure how long they will keep because they never last for more than 2 days around me
   

   Store kale chips in a glass jar

Enjoy!

Variations:

I’ll be posting the recipes for more flavors soon, but once you get the idea from this basic recipe try experimenting with adding different spices.

• Want it a little hot and spicy? Try adding some cayenne.
• Craving a cheesy flavor? Just add some nutritional yeast or parmesan (if you eat dairy).

You get the idea. If you come up with some tasty variations be sure to share them in the comments.

Related posts:

1. Cheesy Vegan Kale Chips I honestly cannot get enough of these delicious kale chips. They more than satisfy that spot that potato chips once filled, only without the greasy food hangover and the guilt....