Clean Eats Culinary Substitutions

So, I get that you may not necessarily to go all raw-vegan or do a complete overhaul of your kitchen but, we can all stand to add a little more nutrient-dense, enzyme-rich, raw foods to our diet. 

This list is offered so you can see many creative exchanges you can use to add elevate most any meal.

Over the years, I have found many of these very helpful and hope you do as well.  

Meat

Pork meat with herbs and spices
  • Marinated mushrooms & some other produce
  • Ground nuts, seeds, vegetables and seasoning processed and dehydrated

Dairy Cheese

Camembert cheese. Round brie or camambert cheese. Selective focus
  • Nuts and/or seeds blended with probiotics to create fermented cheeses
  • Nuts and/or seeds blended with lemon juice and/or vinegar to create a cheesy “tang”
  • Nutritional yeast (not raw) and salt blended or processed into recipes to create a cheesy flavor usually reminiscent to parmesan

Milk, Cream & Eggs

Cheese platter with brie and camembert, wooden tray with nuts. French Dairy products.
  • Nut, seed or coconut milks
  • For creams: nut, seed or coconut milks made thicker by limiting water content
  • Buttermilk Alternative (sub for buttermilk; mix 1 cup nut milk + 1 tbsp Apple Cider Vinegar and let sit 5 minutes before using in raw and cooked recipes)
  • Avocado
  • Nut/coconut cream
  • Psyllium powder
  • Ground flax (1 tbsp ground flax+2 tbsp water)

Ice Cream

Selection of different ice cream scoops
  • Frozen nut or coconut cream
  • Bananas & other fruits. You can also make raw ice creams in an ice cream maker as you would normal ice creams.

Chocolate

Chocolate with Anise Star
  • Carob
  • Raw Cacao Nibs or Powder
  • Raw Chocolates made with cacao butter and cacao powder or nibs
  • Butter & nibs.

S.A.D. Sweeteners

Sugar
  • Agave
  • Dates
  • Dried fruits
  • Honey
  • Raw stevia

Butter or Shortening

Farm Butter, organic dairy products. White wooden background.Top view. Copy space
  • Coconut oil (I use this in its solid state in place of butter and shortening in all recipes, raw and cooked)
  • Coconut butter
  • Avocado
  • Nut butter & cacao butter

Cooked Vegetables

Chopped fresh vegetables in saucepan. Cooking vegetables
  • Marinated trimmed vegetables and/or ones which have been warmed/tenderized in a dehydrator
  • Cooked Onion & Garlic
  • Onion or garlic powder (not raw)
  • Dried or fresh onion or garlic. Just remember:  fresher is stronger so start small when using these raw

Cooked Tomatoes

Tomatoes in their own juice, sliced, tomato sauce, tomatoes, in a cup, top view, close-up,
  • Raw version use: soaked or ground sun-dried tomatoes
  • Fresh seeded tomatoes

Mayonnaise

mayonnaise
  • Avocado
  • Blended young coconut
  • R.V. Mayo recipe found in this book (my favorite of the lot of these!)

Bouillon, Broth & Stock

Bone meat chicken broth in a plate. Gray background. Top view
  • Miso
  • Tamari
  • Shitake mushroom powder
  • Vegetable juice
  • Vinegar
  • Bragg’s apple cider vinegar
  • Citrus juice
  • Berries
  • Pineapples
  • Coconut vinegar

Flour

Flour background. Flour on a plate with a rolling pin.
  • Ground nuts
  • Ground Seeds
  • Dried vegetable matter
  • Groats or buckwheat, soaked, dried and processed
  • Pulp reserved from making nut milk (often dehydrated then processed)

Breads

Chopped fresh vegetables in saucepan. Cooking vegetables
  • Psyllium-vegetable or flax-vegetable blends shaped into loaves or thick sheets and either dried or allowed a time to set up
  • Chips & Crackers
  • Dehydrated breads
  • Crackers made from flax, chia, vegetable pulp or sprouted grains.
  • Roasted Nuts & Seeds
  • Raw nuts or seeds, soaked & dehydrated

Pasta or Rice

Condiments for cooking italian pasta
  • Spiralized or sliced zucchini, squash, parsnips or carrots (see my instructions for various “pastas”
  • Finely chopped cauliflower or parsnips (easiest made in a food processor using the “pulse” option)

Crepes, Tortillas & Wraps

Tortillas and nachos
  • Dehydrated fruit and vegetable leathers
  • Psyllium-vegetable or flax-vegetable blends shaped into thin rounds and dehydrated
  • Lettuce (Collards or cabbage leaves)

Binders, Thickeners & Emulsifiers

Flax seeds
  • Psyllium husk powder
  • Flax
  • Chia seeds
  • Irish moss
  • Agar agar
  • Coconut meal
  • Nut butter
  • Nut cheese
  • Avocado
  • Bananas
  • Dates
  • Dried Fruits (soaked or unsoaked depending on use)
  • Lecithin

Level Up Your Life

Knowledge is power.  Be sure to check out the Defiance blog where I share some of my favorite tips, tools and info for helping you on your journey to win in your health and win at life. 

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