Adventures in Raw Food

Raw Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

Annie — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 05:08:01 +0000

This recipe for raw oatmeal raisin cookies follows on the heels of the success of our Raw Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies.

These Raw Oatmeal Raisin Cookies are very easy to make (one bowl!) and take only a bit over an hour to ‘cook’ in the dehydrator!

Raw Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

4 Tablespoons almond butter
4 Tablespoons honey
4 Tablespoons filtered water
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 1/2 cup organic quick oatmeal
1/4 cup raisins

Whisk almond butter, honey, water and vanilla together until smooth. Stir in cinnamon.

Add oatmeal to honey mixture, one-half cup at a time, mixing thoroughly after each addition.

Mix in raisins.

Take a teaspoon (the kind you set your table with, not a measuring spoon), scoop up a spoonful of cookie dough, and using another spoon, slide the dough off the spoon onto a Teflex sheet on a dehydrator tray.

Repeat with rest of dough until all of the cookies are on the Teflex sheet.

Place in dehydrator set to 115 degrees, for about an hour, or until the outside of the cookies feel dry (and not sticky) to the touch. Flip the cookies over on their ‘backs’ and let the bottoms dry.

Remove from dehydrator and enjoy!

Raw Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies

Annie — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 01:53:09 +0000

Yum yum yum… these raw cookies really are like those nobake chocolate oatmeal cookies you had as a kid, only so much better for you! And this raw cookie recipe not only is good for you, but is very quick to make!

Raw Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies

2 Tablespoons raw almond butter
2 Tablespoons agave nectar
2 Tablespoons raw cacao powder
3/4 cup organic fast cooking oatmeal

Mix first 3 ingredients; blend in oatmeal until well-mixed.

Drop walnut-sized balls (use two spoons to do this) onto dehydrator rack covered with a Teflex sheet, and dehydrate at 115 degrees for only one to one-and-a-half hours, depending on how dry you like them.

Eat up! Yum!

How to Make Raw Popcorn

Annie — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 16:10:19 +0000

This really does taste like raw popcorn, even though there is neither popping nor corn involved! In fact, for those who are trying to avoid corn, or who are allergic to it, it’s a perfect snack (not to mention being raw)! And it is so darned easy to make, you won’t believe it!

Raw Popcorn

1 or more heads cauliflower, cut into bite-sized pieces
2 to 3 Tablespoons nutritional yeast per head of cauliflower

Combine the cauliflower pieces and the nutritional yeast until the pieces are entirely coated. The easiest way to do this is to put it all into a big Tupperware container, put the lid on tight, and then shake the bejeezus out of it (or I supposed you could also put it into a big Ziploc bag and shake it, ala Shake and Bake).

Lay the coated cauliflower pieces on your dehydrator trays and dehydrate at 115 until they are crunchy (expect this to take overnight or longer).

Done! See, I told you it was easy! And yummy!

How to Make Those Yummy Raw Cheesy Kale Chips - Raw Cheez-Its®!

Annie — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 19:56:34 +0000

Last week my daughter, of FAB Shows fame, turned me on to those awesome raw cheesy kale chips that are the equivalent of raw Cheez-Its® or, as some would say, “cheezy kale chips”. (Some even say “chreesy kale chips”, after that vegan, non-dairy cheese substitute called Chreese that is made and marketed by Edwards & Son, and whose main ingredients are wheat flour and nutritional yeast.) In any event, while “kale and fake cheese” may not sound very appetizing, trust me, these are the raw equivalent of Cheez-Its®! They are delicious! In fact, after she made them for us, we had to make more for ourselves just a few days later, we were so jonesing for them!

The recipe is really quite simple - the most time-consuming part is getting the kale into bite-sized pieces, and that is made much easier by cutting it (most recipes suggest tearing it), and then putting the chips onto your dehydrator trays.

Raw Cheesy Kale Chips - Raw Cheez-Its®

1 cup cashews, soaked in water for two hours
1 red pepper, seeded and diced
1 Tablespoon nutritional yeast (available in most health food stores)
1/2 teaspoon Himalayan pink crystal salt
Juice of 1 lemon

2 bunches green kale - either dino or lactino

Put all ingredients except the kale into a Vitamix or food processor, and blend until completely smooth.

Tear the spine out of each kale leaf, keeping each half of the leaf as intact as you can (as this will make cutting it into chips much easier).

Stack a bunch of the leafs together, and then cut them into bite sized pieces, using either kitchen shears or a sharp knife.

Dump all of the kale chips into a large bowl, add the sauce, and then mix it well with your hands, gently squeezing and massaging the sauce into the kale chips until all of the chips are well coated.

Lay the chips out in single layers - without the chips touching - on
Teflex sheets on your dehydrator trays, and dehydrate them at 105 overnight.

In the morning take the trays out, and transfer the chips onto dehydrator screens (i.e. on trays without the Teflex sheets).

This is every easy to do if you simply take an empy dehydrator tray with screen, and lay it on top of one of the full trays of chips (that are on the Teflex), like this:

..and then flip it over and peel the Teflex sheet back off the chips, leaving the chips on the tray with the screen:

Put the chips back in the dehydrator and continue drying them until they are very crispy. You want all moisture removed from them so that they don’t get soggy when you store them.*

Eat!

*Ok, who are we kidding? These barely make it out of the dehydrator before we’ve eaten them all up, let alone to the point of getting stored!

Cranberry Apple Crisp Smoothie

Annie — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 19:51:40 +0000

Playing with my new Tribest Personal Blender, I ended up making this delicious Cranberry Apple Crisp Smoothie, perfect for the holiday season!

Raw Cranberry Apple Crisp Smoothie

This recipe is for one serving - how much fruit you use depends on how much smoothie you want.

Take equal parts fresh cranberries and chopped apple, and put in your blender container.

Add coconut water until it just covers the top of the fruit.

For each serving of smoothie, add one tablespoon of raw almond butter.

For each serving of smoothie add one teaspoon of maple syrup.

Blend until smooth.

YUM!

My Nifty New Personal Blender

Annie — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 19:23:55 +0000

After reading Ani Phyo’s rave reviews of the Tribest Personal Blender I just had to try it. So I ordered one from Amazon. And WOW am I glad that I did!

The Tribest Personal Blender quickly replaced my Cuisinart personal food processor, and that’s saying a lot, because Cuisinart makes an excellent product!

The Personal Blender is one of those breed of food choppers / grinders / blenders that has blending containers onto which you screw the blade base as if it were the top of the container, and then you invert it and set it into the motor base.

What makes the Tribest Personal Blender really cool is not just its power (a’plenty) and versatility (ditto), but the great accessories that were clearly developed by someone who was a power user themselves. For example, the blender comes with a commuter cup lid (like a sippy cup) so that you can blend up a single serving smoothie, swap the commuter lid for the blade base, and take it with you. In fact, that’s just what we do most mornings now - throw some fruit in the container, cover with coconut water - sometimes add some chia powder or almond butter - and blend for a few moments - done! So yummy, and so good for you!

[Try my Cranberry Apple Crisp Smoothie that I made in my Tribest Personal Blender!]

But Tribest didn’t stop with their nifty commuter lid - oh no - they also have a grinding blade base (so you can grind your own nuts, coffee, spices, grains, what-have-you) and there is a mason jar adapter, so that you can blend directly in the mason jar and then store what you’ve blended or ground!

They even have a carrying case, so that you can truly put the “personal” in Personal Blender, taking it with you wherever you go so that you can live the raw lifestyle on the go! In fact, that’s one of the things that Ani Phyo raves about - she really does take her Personal Blender with her!

I got the full set (you can buy it with just the blending base and containers, or with the grinder base and containers include - it’s only $10.00 more to get both the blending and grinding base) and I’m so glad that I did!

You can buy the Tribest Personal Blender here at Amazon, where it is eligible for free Prime shipping.

And you can check out Ani Phyo’s awesome raw food books here.

Warm Honeyed Sesame Date Gems

Annie — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 08:15:43 +0000

One of the beauties of raw food is that, while many recipes can seem complex and time-consuming, many others are so simple and so delicious. And this is one of those. These honeyed sesame date gems, served warm from the dehydrator, are melt-in-your mouth wonderful, and so very good for you!

Take as many nice, moist organic dates as you want to make. Pit them by making a slit on one side of the date and spreading it open, removing the pit.

Keeping the dates spread open, place the dates on a dehydrator tray on a Teflex sheet or a sheet of waxed paper.

Sprinkle the dates gently with some high-quality cinnamon.

Next sprinkle sesame seeds along the inside of the dates.

Drizzle with honey, and warm in the dehydrator, at 115 degrees or slighly less, for 15 to 20 minutes.

Pop one of these in your mouth as soon as they come out of the dehydrator, and you will swoon - I promise.

Easy Gourmet Raw Chocolates

Annie — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 17:29:04 +0000

You will absolutely love this deep, dark raw chocolate candy. It’s easily as good as the best high-end dark chocolate candies, and it’s far better for you. In fact, this is chocolate at its antioxidant best - with pure raw ingredients that you can feel good about eating. It’s good, and good for you!

And it’s deceptively simple to make!

Just follow the 4:2:1 formula.

4 parts Organic Cacao Butter
2 parts Raw Chocolate Powder (Organic Cacao Powder)
1 part Organic Agave

Chop the cocoa butter into pieces, and put the cocoa butter pieces (only) into a plastic measuring cup - the kind that looks like a little pitcher and that has the incremental measurements on the side - I use one like this one.

It doesn’t matter how much cocoa butter you use - you will always adjust the other ingredients based on the amount of cocoa butter.

Set the measuring cup with the cocoa butter pieces in it into your dehydrator, and warm it at 115 degrees until the cocoa butter has melted.

Take the measuring cup with the melted cocoa butter out of the dehydrator when the cocoa butter is all melted, and take note of how much melted cocoa butter you have, by looking at the measuring marks on the side of the cup. Determine what half of that amount is - this is how much raw cacao powder you will add. Now determine what one-quarter of the volume of the cocoa butter would be. This is how much agave you will add.

Example:

If you have 1/2 cup of cocoa butter, you will add 1/4 cup of raw cacao powder, and 1/8 cup of agave.

Whisk the raw cacao powder and the agave into the cocoa butter (do this right in the measuring cup!)

Pour the chocolate mixture into small silicon ice-cube molds (see below). I use the hearts and the shells, but now that I see they have penguins, I may get some of those, too!

After the chocolates harden, pop them out of the molds and share them with someone you love.

You can make all kinds of variations on this recipe. I recently mixed in a little bit of cinnamon and red (cayenne) pepper. Yum! You can also put a piece of raw walnut in the mold before you pour in the chocolate, or drop it in after. Or mix in a little chopped fresh (well-dried!) mint!

These are the molds I use. You can click on any one of them to get the ordering information for them from Amazon!

Raw Fudge Brownie Recipe

Annie — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 01:50:00 +0000

If you are craving the taste of fudgey brownies, this recipe for raw fudge brownies is just the ticket! And so good for you!

Raw Fudge Brownies

1 cup raw organic walnuts
1 cup raw organic shredded coconut
1/2 cup organic powdered raw cacao
4 tablespoons organic agave nectar

Frosting:

1/2 cup organic powdered raw cacao
organic agave nectar as needed

Brownies:

Combine walnuts, coconut, cacao powder, and agave nectar in food processor for several minutes until a smooth dough-like paste forms.

Pat evenly into lightweight glass or plastic 4×4 or similarly-sized container. Set aside.

Frosting:

Into the raw cacao powder for the frosting mix enough agave syrup to create the consistency of frosting. Spread evenly over brownie dough.

Cure in dehydrator set at 115 degrees for 6 hours.

Cool, cut, and enjoy!

Raw Recipe for Vegan Raw Fake Tuna Fish Salad - Yum, It’s SO Good!

Annie — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 18:31:15 +0000

This raw recipe for vegetarian fake tuna salad is so delicious, and to make it vegan all you have to do is use vegan mayonnaise! You’ll be astonished at just how much it really tastes like tuna!

First, I have to give props to my dear friend and ‘daughter’, Kelly, over at The Spunky Coconut. I originally got this recipe from her, and have changed it only a little bit (primarily by not blanching the almonds, making it both easier, and completely raw).

Ok, here you go - this recipe for raw fake tuna is truly amazing. I ended up eating most of it right out of the bowl! Have I mentioned that you’ll be astonished at just how much it really tastes like tuna?

Raw Fake Tuna Fish Salad

First, take:

1 cup raw almonds
1/2 cup raw sunflower seeds

“Sprout” the almonds and sunflower seeds by soaking them overnight in filtered water (it’s called “sprouting” them, but they don’t actually sprout - what the soaking does is activates their sprouting mechanism, bringing out all the wonderful nutritious enzymes and other goodies)

The next day, when you are ready to make your raw fake tuna salad, drain the almonds and sunflower seeds, and throw them into the bowl of your food processor with the ‘S’ blade.

Pulse them until they are chopped fairly finely. Then add into the food processor bowl:

1 to 2 ribs of celery (depending on how much you like celery in your tuna), chopped
1 half onion, chopped
1/3 cup pickle relish (not sweet - get the dill variety)
2 Tablespoons lemon juice
2 teaspoons dill (fresh or dried - fresh is nicer and most stores now have it in the produce section)

Pulse until blended and then until as finely chopped as you want.

Turn into bowl and blend in:

1/3 to 1/2 cup mayonnaise, to taste
sea salt, to taste
fresh ground pepper, to taste

Enjoy on a sandwich, on crackers, wrapped in lettuce leaves, in celery, or just straight out of the bowl!