Once the weather began cooling down a few weeks ago, I went into full-on nesting mode. I’ve been staying home even more than usual lately so that I can get things done around the house, watch movies, and engage in some non-stop baking. Roasting veggies, making casseroles, and baking cookies, cakes, and muffins–you name it and I’ve done it in the past few weeks. At this point, my poor oven seriously needs a break.
And my body needs a break, too. As much as I love eating warm baked goodies, I’ll be the first to admit that I’ve gone a bit overboard (especially since “cool” here in Dallas is still pretty warm). Unfortunately, heating foods at high temperatures kills off many of the natural health-promoting enzymes in fresh fruits, veggies, nuts, and seeds. While warming foods are actually good for us when the weather cools down (which is why we crave them), we have to be sure that not everything we eat this time of year is baked, roasted, or sautéed beyond recognition. It’s still important to incorporate fresh, uncooked fruits and veggies into our diets, preferably at every meal.
So, last night I decided to make my favorite Raw Macadamia Nut Pate to mix things up and enjoy a raw meal for a change. This pate is amazingly delicious and quite filling. Not to mention, macadamia nuts are a great source of omega-3 fatty acids, B vitamins, vitamin E, and palmitoleic acid, which helps to lower cholesterol. As if that’s not enough of a reason to eat them, they taste flippin’ awesome!! I happened to have some portobello mushrooms in my fridge, so I decided to marinate them and stuff them with the macadamia nut pate.
I’m so glad that I did because this was SO GOOD! I heated the stuffed mushrooms for about an hour in my dehydrator so that everything would be warm when I was ready for dinner. I had made enough to have leftovers and (as usual) I ate everything!!
If you’re not in the mood for mushrooms or simply don’t like mushrooms, fear not, the macadamia nut pate is also amazing on its own, served over a bed of lettuce, or wrapped up in collard greens or Romaine leaves.
- 2 large or 4 small portobello mushrooms
- 2 Tbs. olive oil
- 1 Tbs. Bragg’s Liquid Aminos
- 1 cup macadamia nuts, soaked for at least 2 hours and drained
- 2 Tbs. lemon juice
- 1 Tbs. filtered water
- ⅓ cup sun-dried tomatoes (soaked, if necessary), chopped
- 1 Tbs. nutritional yeast
- 1 clove garlic
- ¼ tsp. sea salt
- ground pepper, to taste
- ¼ cup chopped parsley
- 1 cup chopped spinach
- Clean the portobello mushrooms with a damp towel. Pat dry, place in a shallow bowl or dish, and drizzle with olive oil and Bragg’s. Allow the mushrooms to marinate for at least 30 minutes, stirring and flipping often to ensure that they’re evenly coated with the marinade.
- While the mushrooms are marinating, blend the soaked and drained macadamia nuts in your food processor along with the lemon juice and water, scraping down the sides as necessary. The mixture will remain a little chunky, and that’s OK.
- Add the chopped sun-dried tomatoes, nutritional yeast, garlic, sea salt, and pepper and blend again until fully incorporated.
- Finally, add the chopped parsley and spinach and pulse a few times (just until blended).
- Distribute the mixture evenly among the portobello mushroom caps.
- There are two “cooking” options: 1) Place the stuffed mushrooms on a plate and warm in your dehydrator for an hour on 105 degrees. OR 2) Place the stuffed mushrooms on a baking sheet and warm in your oven (set on the lowest possible temperature) for an hour, with the oven door slightly ajar.
- Once the mushrooms have heated and darkened a bit, serve and enjoy!
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Do you recommend powdered nutritional yeast or the flakes for this recipe? apparently they taste different. Also do you know of a natural alternative to the Bragg’s aminos?
Thanks in advance for your help.
I buy the flakes from the bulk section of my grocery, but they’re basically powdered with very few actual “flakes.” For the Bragg’s aminos, you could sub coconut amines, soy sauce (which contains gluten), or tamari (gluten-free soy sauce)…I hope this helps!