Rockin’ Raw Recipe: Pumpkin Seed Cheese and Strawberry Cooler

Pumpkin Seed Cheese over Strawberry Salad and a Strawberry Cooler

Raw cuisine offers a plethora of healthful benefits, and it’s perfect for hot summer days when the last thing you want to do is sweat over the stove in the kitchen. Still though, the thought of making a raw, yet satisfying, tasty and not to mention easy, meal may sound daunting or even impossible to many.

Rockin’ Raw, SpaRahRah’s first featured restaurant in the debut of the Chef’s Table Edition (you still have time to buy!), and the first organic, raw and vegan restaurant in Brooklyn, New York, has shared with us two incredibly easy and tasty raw vegan recipes that will invigorate your taste buds like you never thought possible and keep you refreshed and satisfied on the hottest of summer days. The Pumpkin Seed Cheese is more of a dip or a spread, and doesn’t contain any cheese at all, and the ginger in the Strawberry Cooler will have you wondering why you never thought to put ginger in your smoothies yourself!

Tere Fox, co-owner of the New Orleans-style and Peruvian-influenced restaurant, also makes vegan raw pastries and cakes to order which you won’t believe are actually raw and, get this, made with only five ingredients or less!

Pumpkin Seed Cheese (Makes 2 cups)

2 cups soaked pumpkin seeds (see instructions)
1 tsp nutritional yeast
1 tbsp olive oil
3 tbsp agave or maple syrup
½ tsp cayenne pepper
1 tbsp turmeric
⅛ tsp sea salt
2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
2 tbsp water After you have soaked the pumpkin seeds in water for 1-2 hours, drain water then add all ingredients to a blender and blend thoroughly. Enjoy 2 tbsp over your favorite salad or with fresh veggies.

Strawberry Cooler (Serves 2)

1 cup of fresh strawberries
½ cup water
1-inch piece ginger
1 tbsp agave
Pinch of salt
Ice Combine all ingredients in a blender and blend until well-blended. Serve and enjoy. This recipe will create two 8-oz. cups of pure refreshment.