We've been getting some good batches of corn lately. I think you learn to appreciate good produce more when you only eat raw produce. Back in my cooking days I'd always add sugar to my cooking water for corn to help sweeten it up. A starchy ear of corn didn't taste quite so starchy that way. When you only eat raw corn, though, you really are grateful for those naturally sweet ears, and we don't enjoy the starchy ones too much. 
That being said, my favorite way to eat raw corn is in a recipe we made up to imitate a treat we got when we were sitting in our car waiting to get across the Mexico border into the US. The line was wrapped around the block several times, and apparently this is a common occurrence as there were several industrious vendors lined up right next to the cars offering last minute souvenirs and/or snack and lunch foods. One of the items for sale were elotes which turned out to be sweet corn with a spicy mayonnaise sauce. It was really good, and we wanted to replicate it when we started eating a living foods diet. Picante mayo was our secret: we just make a cashew based mayonnaise with cashews, lemon juice, some type of sweetener (I usually use agave nectar), salt, and a good dose of chili powder. Once this is made, we just mix the corn into it, and we love it. It is now one of our staples every week. We have found several ways to use it: piled into peeled avocado halves served on a bed of ensaladsa (shredded cabbage, lime juice, cilantro, and salt) or Mexican "rice" (cabbage chopped to look like grains of rice, minced onion, dehydrated and fresh chopped tomatoes, English peas dressed with cold-pressed olive oil, unrefined sea salt, chili powder, cumin, garlic). We also love to make "Super Nachos" with them: corny chips, elotes con crema, tomato salsa, guacamole, unfried no-beans, diced tomatoes, ensalada, on a bed of shredded romaine. Sometimes we mix crema and tomato salsa or harissa sauce for a dressing if we need one. (It's also good with the ranch or avo mayo though.) Do we live good or what?
Many people ask us where we got the name of our business (i Viva La Verde !). This means "Live Green" which is something we hear at every turn nowadays. We didn't mean for it be so cliche when we came up with it, and we apply it more to our plant-based diet than our environmental concerns. We, of course, do care about our earth and the waste of our resources, but our business was designed to help people live a greener life in terms of their eating choices.
We chose a Spanish name because of our love for the Latin people. Darius spent two years in Mexico on a mission for our Church where he fell in love with the culture there. We returned with him twice and were just as enamored as he was. We have tried to learn the language and as much about the cuisine and culture as we could.
Once we started eating a predominantly living foods diet, this presented a little bit of problem. While the Mexicans with which we had eaten used only fresh ingredients, usually they were cooked. (They think Americans eat only canned food and find that very distasteful. It is unimaginable to them that someone would eat a canned salsa or vegetable. Though a staple at every meal, salsa is made fresh (and often differently) each time.) You will notice in our catalog we have several items that help fill the void for us including our beloved elotes con crema. Crema is another food we love to use inspired by our experiences in Mexico. I'm not sure how it is made there, but it is similar to our sour cream except thinner. We culture it with cashews and hemp seed. (Hemp seed is NOT a source of THC, by the way, in case you were wondering. Here is a well-researched blog post on it if you're interested: http://www.thenourishinggourmet.com/2009/03/hemp-seed-nutritional-value-and-thoughts.html.) We use crema on top of all of our Mexican dishes, but we also use it in our lasagna. We like it any way we would normally use sour cream.
I was just thinking how much we enjoy our non-dairy foods that used to be made from cow's milk. I really wonder how dairy foods became popular. Nut-based mylks and creams and cheeses are so delicious that we really don't miss their dairy equivalents. A lot of it might be the convenience. We used to raise dairy goats and made all of our own cheese from their milk, so making nut-based cheeses is actually a lot easier. I suppose it is a matter of convenience though for those used to the plastic wrapped variety at the store.Another item we are pleased with that helps us with our little addiction to Mexican food is our new Harissa sauce. Quite accidently we stumbled upon it, and now it helps fill the void for all those little bottles Darius brought home from his mission. (No kidding, he had a whole suitcase full of them because he knew he couldn't get them here. I never knew there were that many varieties of hot sauce...)
Well, I'm in quite the mood for Mexican this week, so we'll get busy on that right away.
Ranch dressing
cucumber salad
Harissa sauce
everyday bread
Hawaiian granola
veggie chips
crunch meister
picante mayo
guacamole
corny chips
tomato salsa
crema
un-fried no beans
elotes con crema (to stuff avocados & for nachos)
queso verde (used this week to stuff peppers)
queso dulce (with celery sticks)
dessert items:crispy treats
pumpkin pie
chocolate mousse layer cake
skinny mints
vanilla yogurt sylk (on top of those lovely blueberries and strawberries)
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