Wheatgrass Juice

Wheatgrass juice is this crazy amazing super packed nutrient dense uberfood (the word superfood just doesn't do it justice). Here are a few of my favorite points from a list of 40 benefits of wheatgrass juice - click here to see all 40

• Farmers in the Midwest who have sterile cows and bulls put them on wheatgrass to restore fertility. (The high magnesium content in chlorophyll builds enzymes that restore the sex hormones.)
• Wheatgrass Juice is a superior detoxification agent compared to carrot juice and other fruits and vegetables. Dr Earp-Thomas, associate of Ann Wigmore, says that 15 pounds of Wheatgrass is the equivalent of 350 pounds of carrot, lettuce, celery, and so forth.
• In the American Journal of Surgery (1940), Benjamin Gruskin, M.D. recommends chlorophyll for its antiseptic benefits. The article suggests the following clinical uses for chlorophyll: to clear up foul smelling odors, neutralize Strep infections, heal wounds, hasten skin grafting, cure chronic sinusitis, overcome chronic inner-ear inflammation and infection, reduce varicose veins and heal leg ulcers, eliminate impetigo and other scabby eruptions, heal rectal sores, successfully treat inflammation of the uterine cervix, get rid of parasitic vaginal infections, reduce typhoid fever, and cure advanced pyorrhea in many cases.
• Wheatgrass Juice cures acne and even help to remove scars after it has been ingested for seven to eight months. The diet must be improved at the same time.
• And one of my own: wheatgrass is easy and cheap to grow at home! Consider the dollars saved by juicing wheatgrass instead of pounds and pounds of vegetables! Eat your veggies to fill up your tummy - juice wheatgrass to get all those nutrients! Check out this post by Anthony Anderson (Raw Model) to learn how to grow wheatgrass without soil!

I have one quick warning about wheatgrass juice. It's a seriously powerful antioxidant. You don't need much. One ounce is enough to kick me in the butt so go easy to start out. When I have it I feel and instant zing and often get nauseous if I take too much. I recommend adding it to a whole food smoothie to help minimize that type of effect. So now enjoy a short video of my 3 1/2 year old daughter helping me juice some wheatgrass.

Triple Berry Cake

My dear friend Heather invited me to a women's retreat this weekend and for the occasion I wanted to make something really special to share with the other women. I've made this cake in the past but didn't remember to take photos before devouring it, so this time I made sure to get pics to post with the recipe that I got from Raw Goddess Heathy. I'm pleased to report that everyone I heard comment on it was wowed at it's delicious flavor and texture but also in awe that it was actually raw!


Triple Berry Cake

This cake is a berry inspired version of Café Gratitude’s mud pie – same concept, but with different flavours.

Crust:
Make a nut crust of your choice.Press into the bottom of a 6” spring form pan, or into a pie plate. (I used 1 cup soaked Brazil nuts and 1 cup pitted dates mixed together in a food processor and also used an 8" pan instead of 6")

Filling:
1 ¼ cup almond milk
1 ½ cups cashews
1/3 cup agave
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
¼ cup melted cacao butter
1 tbs lecithin2 cups mixed berries (raspberries, blackberries, blueberries), set aside

Blend the first four ingredients until completely smooth. Add the cacao butter and lecithin. Continue blending until incorporated. Transfer 1 cup of this mixture into a bowl. Add the berries to the remaining cream in the blender and pulse the berries until they start to break down, keeping some texture. Transfer the berry mixture into a bowl. Pour half of one cream onto the crust. Pour the other half on top. Continue, pouring the first cream on top, followed by the second. Now, with a knife, swirl the two creams together into a pretty pattern. Chill the cake for a few hours, or until firm.

Fruit Salad

I love pomegranate season. As much as I want to try to eat more locally, I can not resist these gorgeous, wonderful, tasty jewels. I was craving a fruit salad and this is what I came up with, all ingredients purchased from my local co-op and very simple.
What's in it:

• grapes
• pomegranate seeds
• banana
• oranges
• kiwi
• pears
• apples (the only locally grown ingredient!)

This salad hit the spot and provided the color celebration I so needed to visually please my palate.

Successes and Failures

The past week and a half has been pretty challenging in raw world for me. My birthday was Oct 18 and rather than trying to plan a raw birthday I opted to throw caution to the wind and enjoy whatever the day had in store for me, cooked food or not. Up until then, I'd been doing quite well with my raw food experiment and I was ready for a break.

As I witnessed with my husband, once you get a taste of eating cooked foods again it's hard to get back on track with raw. Especially now with the autumn weather cooling off, cold salads are no longer refreshing but rather chilling and I'm struggling to find "warm" foods that satisfy my palate and my body's desire to be warm.

That said, I've spent the past week and a half trying to find balance. What I've landed at is eating raw foods all day while I'm at work and allowing myself a cooked meal at dinner time. I also drink lots of hot tea and a daily coffee at work. This makes me feel sane.

So I'm scrambling to find raw breads and such to make my belly feel full while I'm at work. I have my trusty granola recipe which I eat almost daily but I needed some bread. I tried to make some Essene bread and despite the amazing looking photo below of what I made, it was an utter failure.
Raw Essene bread making appears to be an art of sorts. My understanding is that the outside should be crisp and crusty but the inside should be soft. The photos I saw online were of Essene loaves, so that's how I did mine. It looks amazing, but when I cracked it open the inside was an unpleasant, gooey gross inedible glop. If I ever try Essene bread again it will be flat like all of my other breads or I'll just bake it!
So now, for my success. I saw a tasty looking recipe on my fave site www.goneraw.com for Awesome Pizza Bread. The recipe called for a ridiculous amount of tomatoes - 16 lbs! So I had to make some pretty big changes and as you can see from the photo what I ended up with was so tasty I broke off a chunk to eat before I remembered to get a photo of it!

Pizza Bread

5 cups tomatoes, diced or processed in food processor
1 cup flax seeds, ground
1 cup pumpkin seeds, ground
1 cup almonds, ground
1/4 cup chia seeds, whole
1/4 cup olive oil
1 Tbsp oregano
1 Tbsp basil
1 tsp Herbamare

Process all ingredients in food processor to mix. Spread on Paraflexx sheets and dehydrate at 110 for 3-4 hours then flip and remove sheet and dehydrate additional 6-10 hours. Shorter time will keep it pliable for bread or go longer for a crispy cracker. This recipe made 3 trays.

BMI

So I recently calculated my Body Mass Index (BMI) and "Ideal Weight" using an online calculator. I had thought that I was out of the red zone (my definition of red zone is having a BMI that indicated I am medically coined "overweight") but according to the calculator I'm not quite there. I currently have a BMI of 25.1 - 25 and over is considered overweight.

In so many ways I resist looking at this kind of thing, but ultimately when it comes right down to it, this calculator takes a lot of things into consideration. Height, weight, age, gender. And it doesn't attempt to proclaim that given these factors one must be a precise weight. There's a broad range. For me, the medically recommended weight is between 125 and 164. That is a range of almost 40 lbs!

So what am I going to do with this info? Well, I have not set a weight loss goal because I am doing this raw food challenge to improve my health - the weight loss has just been icing on the cake and I like it that way. But I like having a better idea of where my weight should be - somewhere within that broad range and it feels like once I'm in that range, I'll have a little something to celebrate!

Today is day 70. Just 30 days to go on the challenge. Then what? I'll keep eating a high raw diet, I'll just include a cooked meal here and there, as weird as that may feel, I think I'll really appreciate the cooked foods I do choose to include in my diet all the more.

Trusty Raw Granola

Wake Me Up Granola (Original Recipe on Goneraw.com)

I've been making this recipe a lot lately and modify it almost every time depending on what I have. Most recently I replaced the apples with peaches and then replaced the pineapple with apples. The result was really wonderful and super crispy. Here's the base recipe I use which is slightly modified from the original which you can see linked above.

Ingredients
Preparation
Part 1: Soak

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups almonds (or nuts of choice)
1 cup buckwheat
6 pieces of dried pineapple (I used 1 cup fresh)

Part 1: Soak (optional)
Soak almonds, pineapple and buckwheat overnight. Buckwheat will have some gel like consistency in the morning, relax, it's normal. Just drain and rinse out seed, nut and pineapple the following morning.

Part 2: Granola

Ingredients
Soaked nuts, seed and pineapple
1 cup raw pumpkin seeds, unsoaked (sunflower or combo is nice too)
4 apples
4 dates
1/2 cup dried unsweetened coconut flakes
1/4 - 1/2 cup agave nectar or honey
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp salt
1 cup raisins or other dried fruit

Place soaked nuts, seed and pineapple in a food processor. Pulse until desired texture or granola texture for the nuts and seed. Remove to a big bowl enough to mix. Place the pumpkin seed in the food processor and pulse where it is still chunky. Remove and add to the bowl with the seed, nuts and pineapple. Place apples in the food processor and pulse until chunky. Do not over process apples leave it in small chunks. Remove then add to bowl. Place dates and agave nectar in the food processor, process until smooth. Add to the bowl and the rest of the ingredients. Mix well.

Part 3: Dehydrate

Spread the granola mix in paraflexx sheets, score into squared pieces if desired and dehydrate at 110 degrees overnight. The next day, flip the granola around then dehydrate until dry. Enjoy with fresh home made almond milk or coconut yogurt and fresh fruits like blueberries or bananas.

Caramel Apple

It all started when I saw the first caramel apples appear in the grocery store and I couldn't resist telling Adi how those were my FAVORITE fall-time treat when I was a kid growing up. Hearing this, she naturally insisted that I buy one for her. I did. And I salivated as I cut it up for her to eat (too hard for a 3 year old to figure out the art of eating a caramel apple).

That's when I started scheming to create a raw caramel apple recipe. So without further ado - here it is:

Caramel Apple

1 beautiful apple

5-10 dates (depending on size of dates and size of apple, Medjool dates are bigger so use fewer but ultimately use your own judgement)

1/4 cup chopped nuts of choice (I used almonds)

sprinkle of sea salt

Wash your apple really well and dry. I'm sure you can find the sticks at a craft store but I just stole the one out of Adi's caramel apple! Put apple on the stick. Next use the blank plate on an agar style juicer (Champion, Sampson, etc.) to create date paste. You could also just use a mortar and pestle to grind the dates into a paste if you don't have one of these types of juicers. A rolling pin might work as well, use your imagination. Spread the date paste over the apple and roll in chopped nuts. Sprinkle with sea salt if desired (totally made all the difference for me) and enjoy!!!

Chocolate "Cheese" Cake

I made this recipe for a women's retreat our church had and I was really surprised by how well it turned out) and how well it was received! I made this recipe up all by myself :)

Chocolate "Cheese" Cake

Crust
1 cup nuts or seeds of choice (I use Brazil nuts)
1 cup dates
dash or two of sea salt

Filling
5 avocados
1/2 cup coconut oil
1 tbsp lecithin
1/2 cup agave or honey
2/3 cup cacao powder
1/8 tsp sea salt

Process nuts/seeds and dates in food processor until chopped and chunky - careful not to over-process. Press in the bottom of a spring form pan (or pie pan) and place in freezer while you prepare the filling.
Place all filling ingredients in food processor and process until smooth. Taste for sweetness and add more agave/honey if desired. Remember, it will taste different after it sets! Place in fridge to set for at least 2 hours before serving.

For a really wonderful fall treat I added some pommegranites to the cake. I just love them, they look like little jewels and as Adi would describe them they are, "crunchy and delicious sweet!"

Eggplant "Bacon"

Another original coming from goneraw.com with some modifications.

Ingredients
1 large eggplant
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/4 teaspoon cayenne
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
2 tablespoons agave nectar (or raw honey)
4 tablespoons Apple Cider Vinegar
Salt to taste (optional)

Preparation
Thinly slice your eggplant, lengthwise (think about how bacon strips look). I use a mandolin slicer. You could probably accomplish this with a vegetable peeler too. Alternately, you could make ‘round’ bacon by slicing the other way.

Remaining ingredients make up the marinade. Mix up these to make the marinade. Marinate eggplant strips for 2 hours.

Place on dehydrator sheets. Salt bacon (optional) and dehydrate for 9 hours. Turn bacon over and dehydrate another 9 hours. Around 110 degrees or to desired crispness.

Broccoli Salad

The original recipe came from goneraw.com but I modified it a little bit.

Broccoli Salad

Ingredients
5 cups broccoli, chopped
1 cup walnuts (or nuts/seeds of choice)
1/4 cup onion, chopped
1/2 cup raisins

Dressing
1 cup cashews
3 tablespoons agave nectar or honey
2 tablespoons raw apple cider vinegar
1/4 teaspoon sea salt (or more to taste)
1/3 cup water

Preparation
Blend the dressing ingredients until smooth. Then pour over the broccoli, onion, nuts/seeds and raisins. Mix well.

I top mine with Eggplant "Bacon".

Zucchini Hummus

I fully credit Deborah on RawFu as she posted the original recipe on her blog Rawvelations

The original recipe was posted to Raw Fu and accredited to Jennifer Cornbleet’s raw food made easy.

I (Stacey) made a few changes and this is what I ended up with:

2 zucchini, peeled and grated. Roll the grated zucchini in paper towels or clean towel and press hard to remove excess moisture or just squish it in your hands in snowball-sized batches)
4 tbs raw tahini
4 tbs fresh lemon juice
1 clove garlic
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp cayenne
3/4 tsp salt
1 tbsp of olive oil

Take all ingredients except the zucchini and toss them into the food processor with the ’s’ blade and blend together. Add zucchini and process until desired consistency.

This was so so so good! Better than regular hummus, in my opinion. I took this to a pot luck and everyone who tried it loved it (as far as I know!) This will definitely be a staple in my house.

Take Out Salad

Cam has been suffering from a nasty cold for the last few days - he seems to get this every single year in the fall without fail - he's really wishing he had stuck to the raw food challenge longer but he needed a break and I fully supported that. Any way, he always feels like Thai food helps out quite a bit whenever he gets sick - particularly lemongrass, so he decided to order from our favorite Thai restaurant, Thai Flavors. When I say this is our favorite Thai restaurant, what I really mean is that this is our favorite restaurant in Iowa City. It's so amazing! I felt like I couldn't let him order without getting a little something for myself as well. So this is what I chose: Mixed Vegetables Salad with Special Peanut Dressing. This was not 100% raw (I'd say more like 90%), as you can see there are some little fried onions on there and the peanut dressing certainly wasn't raw either but I ate it with glee. It was wonderful. I wish I had the recipe for the dressing so I could make a raw version. Maybe if I'm really nice...

I'm finding myself being much more lenient over the past week since Cam started getting sick. I realize that from the beginning of this challenge I never intended to be 100% raw so I'm giving myself a bit more space when it comes to things like hot tea and decaf coffee. Probably not the healthiest thing in the world to drink but I'm pretty sure it won't kill me either. As the weather cools off I long for a warm belly.

Another indulgence has been a 1/4 cup serving of some strawberry popcorn that we grew in our garden. I was so excited to have successfully grown popcorn in the first place that I just had to give it a try. And honestly, 1/4 cup was enough for me. I savored every tiny morsel and it was enough. I realized after listening to Cam eat some potatoes and onions that he cooked up on the first morning of his "break" with all of his "mmmmm's" and "ohhh's" with a few "oh that's soooo goooooood's" that one thing that eating mostly raw does is make eating some cooked food so much more pleasurable. I got mad at Cam at first because I thought he was just rubbing in my face that he was eating cooked food, but in reality he was simply delighting in the food! Sure, it helps that we grew those potatoes and onions in our own garden, but it's nice to have developed a whole new appreciation for God's creation and provision.

I feel like I'm definitely growing closer to God through this experience. My spiritual journey has already seen many ups and downs and I'm grateful to come out of each twist and turn stronger than I was before. It's amazing how exposed I feel when eating raw. I just can't shove my stuff down any more. I feel like God kind of likes that. I thank God for blessing this raw food challenge!

40 Days Raw

The last time I challenged myself to raw food eating was a 21 day faith experiment in which I actually fasted from cooked food (same difference from an eating perspective but from a mental, emotional and spiritual perspective it was something completely different). I went through a tumultuous 3 weeks of eating only raw food, even on Thanksgiving Day! It was hard, even maddening at times, but I grew so much spiritually during those 21 days and I felt physically amazing. It was a huge challenge, though and by the end I was so ready to eat cooked food again. I didn't have that complete synchronization between mind, body and spirit in which all three agreed on raw food.

I couldn't deny the benefits, however, and when the Boston Vineyard (which has observed the Lent season with 40 days of faith over sevearl years) chose to celebrate lent with a more traditional Lenten season I was horribly disappointed, to the point of not celebrating lent at all! I was so hoping to take the next step onward to a 40 day faith experiment in which I would again fast from cooked food. The lack of a commitment like that sent me on a path of, "I just want to eat whatever is NOT raw". So for several months I neglected - even abused my body with much unhealthy cooked food.

Now I don't want to imply that all cooked food is unhealthy, because I don't believe that to be true at all! In fact I believe there are many cooked foods that are alkalizing to the body and ultimately I feel like having an alkaline PH is more important than eating all raw food or whatever. A raw diet is a healing diet but I feel like there are many whole cooked foods that can be incorporated once the healing and synchronization have occurred. The unhealthy cooked food I'm referring to is vegetarian junk food. Organic chips, cookies, crackers, processed foods. Organic or not, still largely unhealthy.

So now, here I am on this 100 day raw food challenge and after 40 days, I really truly know that something has changed in me.

Physically, I don't crave cooked foods. I feel perfectly content eating uncooked food in it's natural state. A big salad is completely satisfying, and more recently I've noticed the simpler the meal, the better (I don't want to spend my whole life in the kitchen!)

Mentally, I don't think about food all the time. I do enjoy food, I just don't obsess about it. I find myself occassionally wondering what foods I will add after 100 days (I believe that for me about 80% raw is my long term goal - I'm currently between 95-99%).

Emotionally, oh crap did I ever have a huge fit last week. I realized just how severe my emotional eating was. But it was good. I hashed it out with God and came through it a stronger woman, and even more faithful believer. Praise Jesus for that!!!

Spiritually, I can't help but feel like 40 days really is a huge milestone. It's a very biblical number. Jesus was tempted for 40 days (and now many Christians honor that time during lent) as he prepared for his ministry. And after Jesus died on the cross and rose again he ministered for 40 days before ascending to heaven at the right hand of God and sending the Holy Spirit to earth to help the diciples. I'm sure there's more, but I haven't studied the bible enough to know. So 40 days for me is significant. It doesn't mark the end of my challenge, but I recognize it as a special time to note marked changes in my life - especially the change in my relationship with food.

Cheez-its

I've read rave reviews for these raw Cheez-it crackers and finally got around to trying them. Trust me, they are well worth the effort. I couldn't believe how tasty these are. I was too lazy to score mine as they were dehydrating so I just broke them into pieces which suits me just fine. I do have to warn that they are completely addicting!!

So here's the recipe that I got from www.goneraw.com

spicey cheezits

Ingredients

• 1 cup soaked and dehydrated, sunflower seeds
• 1 cup as above, brazil nuts
• 1 cup as above, almonds
• 1 big tomato
• 1 cup red pepper, diced
• ¼ ground flax
• 1 pinch cumin or to taste
• 2 teaspoons salt or a bit less to taste

Preparation

blend all ingredients and spread on teflex or parchment paper as thin as you like, after a few hours score with a pizza cutter and leave until dry on top( overnight for me) then flip and leave until crispy(all day!) then eat eat eat!!!

I ended up omitting the flax as I saw others who commented that they made the recipe without the flax to avoid the flavor of it. I sometimes have issues with digesting flax (usually just when whole seeds are used in breads or crackers) so I went ahead and left them out as well. The result was crispy, lovely, can't get enough crackers!

Chocolate Fix

I've been craving chocolate in a fierce way lately and these two goodies have really been satisfying. I found the recipe for Raisin Fudge on www.goneraw.com but I will post it here as well. I love these because the raisins give it this wonderful tang that I love... I've always been a fan of chocolate covered raisins. The fudge is MUCH better!

Raisin Fudge

Rich and satisfying, this is sure to curb your sweet tooth!

Ingredients
1½ cups Walnuts
1½ cups Raisins (sulphate-free)
½ cup Cacao powder
dash of cinnamon (I omitted this)
pinch of sea salt

Preparation
Combine all ingredients in a food processor and blend until smooth and balled up. Remove from bowl and press into square or round glass dish – alternatively you can shape into one large square with your hands. Freeze until firm, then slice. This may be kept refrigerated or frozen.
This recipe is originally from www.therawtable.com!


The next one was my own creation (I'm so proud!)

Chocolate Rose Silk Pie

Ingredients
Crust
1/2 cup nuts (I used Brazil nuts which were amazing in this recipe)
1/2 cup dates

Filling
1 cup cashews
2 tbsp coconut oil
3/4 cup water
1/2 cup cacao powder
1/4 cup agave nectar
1 tbsp lucuma powder (optional)
1 tbsp lecithin 1 tbsp rose water (I got mine in the Asian section of my co-op)
pinch of sea salt

Preparation
In food processor or blender combine nuts and dates to make crust. The consistency should be pretty chunky, I really enjoyed this crust and used it originally for my Key Lime Pie. For the filling: add all ingredients to a high speed blender and mix until smooth. I used small Pyrex dishes (1 cup size) and pressed the pie crust in the bottom of four dishes (you could use one larger dish or spring form pan if you like). Pour in the filling and refrigerate for at least 2 hours to set. You could put in the freezer to set faster, but I found that it set just fine in the fridge. You can remove pretty easily from the dish or just eat it strait out of it - it's up to you :)

This pie is so lovely. My mom tasted some and couldn't believe how good it was. Her eyes about popped out of her head. This one is a keeper for sure!

Raw Meals

Stuffed mushrooms with eggplant strips. Tomato tree with eggplant strip trunk, stuffed mushroom flowers and clementine hill.
Coconut "rice" sushi rolls with cucumber and banana pepper "nigiri".
Corn on the cob with herbed olive oil, eggplant "bacon" and herbed tomato slices.
The top two are my creations and the bottom two are Cam's. He reminds me that simple is great too. I tend to go for more complicated dishes (perhaps I have a more complicated pallet ;) Regardless, all of these meals were amazing and so satisfying!

Key Lime Pie

I have to give credit to Raw Model, Anthony Anderson for the basic recipe for this one! I doubled the recipe and made a couple of modifications.

Crust
1/2 cup nuts (I used Brazil nuts which were amazing in this recipe)
1/2 cup dates

Filling
2 avocados
1/3 cup of coconut oil,
1/4 cup lime juice (I used lemon and it was WONDERFUL - and alkalizing too!)
1 tbsp lecithin
1/4 cup agave
1/2 - 3/4 cups water
pinch sea salt

In food processor or blender combine nuts and dates to make crust. The consistency should be pretty chunky, I really enjoyed this crust. I divided the crust and pressed into four 3" metal biscuit cutters on a glass pie dish. You could also use mini spring form pans or make one larger pie.

Blend all ingredients for filling except water - adding gradually as needed to make it a cake batter consistency. Pour into pans and freeze for a couple of hours to set.

I froze mine overnight then used a sharp knife to separate the sides from the biscuit cutters and they popped right out. I then allowed them to thaw in the fridge for several hours before serving. They would, of course, thaw faster if you left them out on the counter.

Spaghetti and "Meatballs"

This is what Cam and I had for lunch. Sometimes the zucchini noodles can get a bit boring so this is what I did this time.

Spaghetti and "Meatballs"

Noodles
1 medium/large zucchini, spiral sliced (or use veggie peeler to make noodles)

"Meatballs"
1/2 cup walnuts
1 tsp sesame oil
1 roma tomato (I used heirloom green sausage tomato)
2 tbsp fresh basil
1/8 tsp onion powder
1/8 tsp chili powder
1/4 tsp sea salt

Sauce
2 roma tomatoes (again, I used heirloom green sausage tomatoes)
7 macadamia nuts
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/4 cup fresh basil
1/8 tsp garlic salt
1/8 tsp Italian seasoning
1 tsp extra virgin olive oil

Mushroom Topping
6 button mushrooms
1 tsp olive oil
1 tsp nama shoyu

"Parmesan" Topping
Equal parts nutritional yeast and cashews, blended in spice grinder

First make Mushroom Topping: Slice mushrooms and coat with olive oil and nama shoyu. Place in a glass bowl in dehydrator at 110 until ready to use.

Use a spiral slicer or veggie peeler to slice zucchini into noodles. Divide the noodles into two bowls for serving.

Make sauce: Blend all ingredients in a food processor or blender (again, I used the Magic Bullet - handy little thing). The sauce should be chunky with some bits of macadamias still visible.

Make "meatballs": blend all ingredients in food processor (I used my Magic Bullet and that was perfect for the size). Spoon out small amounts of mixture and roll into balls.

Assemble: pour sauce over noodles, then add "meatballs". Arrange mushrooms however you please and sprinkle with "Parmesan" topping. Place bowls in dehydrator for about 15-25 minutes until warm and enjoy!

Raw Pizza

Cam found this recipe on goneraw.com so here's a photo of ours. I couldn't have "sausage" pizza without mushrooms even though the recipe didn't call for them. I also left out the diced peppers and onions because it seemed so full! It was delicious. I can't believe I waited so long to try making raw pizza. Yummy!

Sausage and Pepper Pizza from goneraw.com
6 small

Ingredients
1 cup buckwheat, soaked
¾ cup sundried tomatoes, soaked
1 avocado
1 onion, minced
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 cup flaxmeal, ground
1 cup sundried tomatoes (sauce), soaked,
water saved
1 teaspoon oregano (sauce)
1 clove garlic (sauce), minced
½ teaspoon basil
2 Medjool dates (sausage), pitted
½ teaspoon fennel seed (sausage)
1 cup walnuts (sausage)
1 pinch crushed red pepper (sausage)
1 dash ground red pepper (sausage)
¼ teaspoon EACH salt, pepper, oregano, basil (sausage)
1 cup almonds (mossarella), soaked
2 teaspoons tahini (mozzarella)
1 tablespoon lemon juice (mozzarella)
½ teaspoon Nama Shoyu
green pepper, diced (optional)
onion, diced (optional)
raw-cured olives, optional

Preparation
Make the crust: Process the buckwheat, tomatoes, avocado, onion, and sea salt until smooth.Remove to a bowl and add the flaxmeal. Spread on two Teflexx sheets until about 1/8-1/4 inch thick. Score into slices and dehydrate for 3 hours. Flip the slices, turn heat to 95 degrees and dehydrate about another 10 hours.

Meanwhile, make the pizza sauce: Blend together tomatoes, oregano, garlic, and basil with just enough soakwater to make a thick sauce.

Make the sausage: Process the walnuts till chopped. Add dates, fennel, basil, oregano, salt and peppers and process until it comes together but still has texture.

Make the mozzarella: Blend together the almonds, tahini, lemon, and nama shoyu until smooth. Let sit in the fridge overnight.

To make the pizzas- Assemble: Crust, then: Tomato Sauce; Mozzarella; Sausage; Chopped onion; Chopped green pepper.Dehydrate at 110 degrees for about an hour or until warm.

Masman Mushroom Curry

Last night I made a very tasty curry. Here's what I did:

Masman Mushroom Curry

Serves 1

1/2 cup mushrooms, chopped (any kind - I used button)

1/4 cup celery, chopped

1/4 cup cashews, chopped

1 tsp Nama Shoyu

1 tsp extra virgin olive oil

1/2 cup coconut milk (see recipe below)

1 tsp masman curry powder (or your favorite variety)

Mix first five ingredients in a bowl and place in the dehydrator at 115 for about 30 minutes to marinate and warm. Blend coconut milk and curry powder and place in seperate bowl in dehydrator for 30 minutes to warm. After 30 minutes pour coconut curry mixture over veggie mixture and enjoy as a soup or with cauliflower "rice".

Thick Coconut Milk

I make this one a bit thicker than normal for use as a curry broth,

1 1/2 - 2 cups coconut meat

4 cups water (use coconut water if you have it, if not, use filtered water)

"Rice"

1 head cauliflower

Chop Cauliflower in a food processor until fine and “grain” like.

Two Weeks Down!

I really can't believe how well this raw challenge is going for me. It really helps to have the support network and inspiration of the folks at http://www.rawfu.com/ I'm having so much fun creating raw food goodness and I'm noticing some really big changes in a really short time.

The first week was full of raw emotions - my definition of this is when you eat raw food something different happens with the mind/body connection. Suddenly food is no longer a comfort (even though it's really friggin good) but instead becomes what it was meant to be: nourishment. The result is raw emotions. Stuff that can't be masked or comforted by the old familiar cooked food creeps up and doesn't go away until you deal with it. It's wild, and not very pleasant to be perfectly honest. But how beneficial! I think this will continue as the challenge goes on but hopefully with less intensity!

Second week also full of raw emotions but leveling out, or maybe it's just that I'm learning how to deal with stuff rather than just coping (prayer has been a huge help for me over the past couple of weeks - not about the food or staying on the "diet" but working through the emotional stuff).

So here's what I'm noticing:

• I feel clean, fresh and vibrant
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• I'm losing weight but that's not my motivation (and that feels good)
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• My clothes fit me better
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• I have more energy - really, I know everyone says that but it's totally true
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• I don't need naps anymore (even though I still want them - see raw emotions ;)
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• I don't need as much sleep - I can't go to sleep early even if I want to because my body isn't tired. It's weird.
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• I'm almost ready for intentional exercise (exercise is a dirty word in my book ;D )

• I'm not hungry. Seriously, I just don't have much of an appetite anymore. I'm perfectly happy eating Ants on a Log for dinner.

• I don't think about food. How can that be? I have to plan all of this food I'm making, right? Well, yeah. But I don't think about food between meals. Cam always asks me, "what's for lunch" and my answer is always, "Dunno, I haven't thought about it".

All of these things are amazing. I'm really impressed with this whole process. I highly recommend eating more raw in the summer, it makes all the difference in the world. I'll have to adjust to more warming foods like ginger and cayenne when the weather cools off but for now cold food is just what the alternative medicine practitioner ordered.

Plum Roll Ups

My friend Liz gave me a bag of plums that she picked from her apartment building. It was a perfect opportunity to make my first fruit leather! So, here is my best attempt at a recipe for what I did:

Plum Leathers

Ingredients

4 cups fresh fruit (I used approximately 30 small plums)

1/2 cup raw honey (or agave)

Preparation

Remove the pits from the plums and process in blender or food processor. Add honey; be sure to taste as some fruits are more tart than others. Add more honey if needed and process until smooth.

Pour out on paraflexx sheets and spread to edges of tray about 1/8 inch thick. I used 2 trays. Dehydrate at 115 overnight or for about 12 hours. The leathers should be firm but not crispy.

Cut a piece of parchment paper (or waxed paper) to fit the dehydrator tray (leave about an inch extra for the end of the wrap). I found it easier to pull the leather off of the paraflexx sheet first, then lay the leather on top of the parchment. Place the leather at the top and leave some space at the end (the extra inch) and roll it up.

Once you've made your giant fruit roll up, slice it into 1-2" sections and secure the extra paper at the end with tape or your favorite stickers :)

Oh the Joy of Raw! Seriously :)

OK, so this sandwich is on Olive Rosemary Bread with Garlic "Mayo", avocado, tomato, cucumber and Eggplant "Bacon". It was so amazing. The recipe for the coleslaw in the background is:

Coleslaw

1 small head cabbage - thinly sliced
1 cup almonds
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
1/2 tsp Herbamare (organic seasoned sea salt)
1/2 tsp celery salt
3/4 cup water

Blend all ingredients except cabbage in blender until smooth and creamy. Add more water if needed. Pour dressing over sliced cabbage and mix well. This is a recipe that I've found actually gets better the second or third day as all the flavors sink in to the cabbage :)

Next is a melon salad with Grawnola and hemp seeds. Mmmmm good!

This is a first time try for something a little different. Cam created this really pleasant soup.

Coconut Curry Clear Broth Soup
2 servings

coconut water from one young Thai coconut
meat from one young Thai coconut - cut into noodle like strips
2 tbsp dried wakame seaweed - soaked 5 minutes to rehydrate
1 tsp masman curry powder (we got this spice mix at our local Asian market)

Place equal amounts of coconut water in two separate bowls. Sprinkle the masman curry powder over each bowl. Place several pieces of wakame in the center and layer coconut noodles on top in a criss cross fashion. This was super simple, super fresh, and super refreshing!! Wonderful soup, honey! (I was sceptical!!)

Here's my Thai inspired tortilla before I rolled it up and gobbled it down.

And the grand finale of this post:

Banana Strawberry Crepe LOVE!
Banana Crepes
6 ripe bananas
1 apricot
1/8 tsp cardamom

Mix all ingredients in food processor until smooth. Pour on paraflexx sheets 1/8 inch thick (4 crepes per tray) and dehydrate at 105 overnight (about 10-12 hours). They should be soft and pliable, not crispy.

Creme Filling
1/2 cup cashews (soaked)
1/2 cup Brazil nuts (soaked)
Seeds from 1 vanilla bean
Juice of one lemon
1 tbsp agave
1/4 cup coconut water (or nutmilk of choice)

Blend in food processor or high speed blender until thick and creamy.

Strawberry Sauce

10 strawberries (about 1 1/2 cups)
2 tbsp agave

Blend in food processor or high speed blender to saucy consistency.

Assemble crepes, drizzle (or pour ;) strawberry sauce over top and garnish with a dollop of cream and strawberries.

Oh my, this has been the most wonderful sweet treat so far.

What We've Been Eating

So here are a few of the meals we've enjoyed over the last several days.

Raw Veggie Chile with Sweet Corn Relish and Lettuce Salad w/ Blueberry Dressing

Next was Veggie Nut Burgers on Sesame Bread with Walnut Mayo, Cauliflower, and Watermelon

Pecan/Cauliflower Rice Stuffed Green Sausage Tomatoes with Teriyaki Kale Chip Topping

Pecan/Cauliflower Rice Stuffed Green Sausage Tomatoes

1/2 head cauliflower
1 cup pecans
1/2 cup sundried tomatoes (soaked 10 minutes)
1/2 cup fresh cilantro
1/4 tsp sea salt
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
25-30 green sausage tomatoes (or any other variety) - seeds scooped out
1 cup Kale Chips (or any other green garnish)

First place cauliflower in food processor and process unto a rice like consistency. Add pecans, soaked sundried tomatoes, cilantro, sea salt, and vinegar and pulse to incorporate but keep the rice consistency.

Stuff the mixture into halved and hollowed tomatoes and top with Kale Chips or other tasty green garnish :)

Corn Polenta with Mushroom Gravy, "Fried" Onion Rings, Eggplant "Bacon" and cantaloupe.

Polenta with Mushroom Ragout (Ani Phyo's recipe)

Polenta
1 1/2 tsp sea salt (we didn't use this much - more like 3/4 tsp)
1 clove garlic
1/8 tsp ground black pepper
1 1/2 cup cashews, dry
2 cups corn kernels, fresh or frozen (we used fresh and found 1 ear yields 1 cup)
Juice of 1/2 lemon (about 1 tbsp)
1 1/2 tbsp yellow onion, chopped

Mushroom Gravy
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil (we only used 1/4 cup)
3/4 cup mushrooms, any kind (we used portabella)
1/3 cup water
1 1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 tsp salt (we only used 1/4 tsp)

Ragout
2 cups mushrooms, any kind, chopped
1/2 stalk celery, chopped
2 tsp fresh thyme

To make polenta process salt, garlic and black pepper first. Then add cashews and process. Place in a bowl. Next, pulse corn kernels with lemon juice. Place in blow with cashews and onion. Mix well. Set aside (or dehydrate for a few hours to firm it up a bit)

To make gravy, blend all ingredients in gravy list until smooth. Pour gravy into a bowl.

To make ragout, stir mushrooms, celery, and thyme into the gravy base.

To serve, use and ice cream scooper to scoop polenta onto four plates. Drizzle with ragout, and serve with a sprig of fresh rosemary as garnish.

Will keep for two days in fridge (or longer if you dehydrate a bit)

Dead Food List

My friend Heather was wondering about the "Dead Food List" that I mentioned in a previous post. So some folks put together a list of foods that are either completely dead or just controversial/questionable. I suppose people who are concerned about eating a 100% raw diet would take this list a lot more seriously than I do. For instance, if a manufacturer says that they produce their products at a temp below 118 or 115 or whatever I give them the benefit of the doubt. Agave is a good example. There are several manufacturers that claim their product to be raw. The same manufacturers usually sell a non-raw version that is generally less expensive as well. I always choose the raw version and trust that they produced the product in the way they claim. I have no way to prove otherwise.

To be honest, I wouldn't be able to do this whole experiment if I placed too many restrictions on myself. Isn't it enough to go from a diet of high cooked vegetarian foods to all uncooked vegan? If an ingredient here or there is not completely raw, I'm willing to bet I'll not only survive but I might even enjoy my food more and who knows? Maybe I'll actually get some nutrients from those foods as well ;) The point for me is to see how I change over the entire challenge... perhaps I'll come out feeling like I want a baked potato but there's a possibility that I'll feel more like eating fewer foods from the "Dead Food List". Only time will tell, friends.

Blueberry Pie

I got the original recipe from a book called Alive in 5 by Angela Elliot. I have a feeling I'm going to be using a lot of her quick and easy recipes over the next few months. Here's the original:

Makes 6 servings

1 cup raw walnuts
1/2 cup pitted dates
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon Himalayan salt
4 cups fresh blueberries
1 tablespoon raw agave nectar

Combine the walnuts, dates, vanilla, cinnamon, and salt in a food processor, and process until the mixture holds together and forms a dough. Press into a 9-inch glass pie pan. Rinse and dry the food processor. Place the blueberries and agave nectar into the food processor, and process until pureed. Our the puree into the prepared pie crust. Chill in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour before serving.


My notes:

In the book Angela recommends soaking nuts before using them (for at least and hour). I did this but now wish I hadn't. My crust seemed a bit soggy after the blueberry puree was poured in and it set up in the fridge for a while. Next time, I will NOT soak my walnuts first.

I used slightly different ingredients:

3/4 cup soaked raw walnuts
1/4 cup soaked raw almonds
1/2 cup pitted dates
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract (probably not raw)
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon (that's all I had left)
1/8 teaspoon sea salt
2 cups fresh blueberries
2 cups frozen blueberries
2 tablespoons raw agave nectar
1 teaspoon psyllium husk powder (to make sure the puree firmed up)

So the pie is completely delicious. The only thing I would change in the future is not soaking the nuts for the crust (or if I do soak them I would put them in the dehydrator for a bit before using them.) Even though the crust is pretty mushy it still tastes wonderful. It reminds me of oatmeal so the flavor ended up something like blueberry crisp without the crunch. Mmmmm good.

100 Day Raw Challenge Starts Tomorrow

Tomorrow is the big day. August 1st marks day one of my 100 day raw food challenge being put on by Bunny Berry and RawFu. The nice thing about this challenge is that I get to make up my own rules, set my own goals. My main goal is to eat a high raw diet for the duration of the challenge. By high raw, I mean 90% or more. I plan to use ingredients such as agave nectar and nutritional yeast that are consider "dead foods" but I feel add enough enjoyment to the raw recipes containing them to be worth it.

A while back I fasted from cooked food and completed 21 days on raw food only. I was less than graceful, but made it all 21 days. It was so HARD to do! As I recall, it was in late fall right around Thanksgiving. That was the hardest meal I've ever eaten. Seeing all the hot cooked food around me made my cold raw substitutes less than desirable but I did it. Oh yes, I made it through the torture that it was. But I was fasting. That's the difference. I chose to give up something I had grown completely dependent on and was forced to find new ways to cope. My emotions ran rampant and from a faith perspective God worked wonders in me over those 21 days.

This time around I'm choosing a challenge for health. Don't get me wrong, I feel like God is leading me in this direction and will bless this journey as much as, if not more than, my 21 days. But it feels like I'm more prepared this time and I'm going in with a different perspective. I have to, 100 days is a long time! And now thanks to Bunny and RawFu I have a community of people who are going to be doing it with me.

So I may post weekly updates on this blog or I may not. I'll most likely keep the nitty gritty of my experience on the forum blog and save this one for the fun recipes that sustain me.

Wish me luck, I think I'm going to need it ;)

ChocoMelt Cookies

I've been making lots of coconut milk and almond milk to feed my addiction to Superfood Coffee so what do I do with all the leftover pulp? Not one to waste, I came up with this recipe:

ChocoMelt Cookies

Dough
3/4 cup almond pulp - dehydrated and ground into flour
3/4 cup coconut pulp - dehydrated and ground into flour
1 cup oat groats - ground into flour
1/4 cup agave nectar
1/3 cup coconut oil
1 vanilla bean - seeds scraped

I actually dehydrate the leftover pulp right away after each batch of milk. It doesn't take long at all and this way I have a stash waiting for creations like this one. To make dough: grind almond & coconut pulp and oat groats into flour using a blender or coffee grinder. Add agave, vanilla seeds and oil in a food processor (or mix by hand). As a last minute addition I pulled some raw chocolate I had in the freezer...

Chocolate Chunks
1/2 cup cacao powder
1/4 cup coconut oil
1/4 cup agave nectar

I made the chocolate several days ago and decided it would be fun to throw some in. I didn't use all of it, just add however much you like. To make: mix all ingredients, pour into a container of choice greased with coconut oil and freeze until firm. If using a food processor for the dough you can just throw large chunks of chocolate in and they will get chopped up by pulsing or you can break into pieces before adding to dough if hand mixing.

Next, I used preformed biscuit cutters a friend gave us a while back. On a paraflex sheet scoop some dough in, press down, lift up cutter and repeat. Dehydrate at 105 for about 5 hours, or just eat as they are. That's how my 3 year old liked them!

Kale Chips

I found a recipe for Kale Chips on goneraw.com and I did enjoy the first batch but really wanted to try a couple of variations. I'm sure the variety of seasonings is endless. Here's what I did this time:

Ingredients
1 head fresh purple kale, wash and remove center stem/vien
1 head fresh green kale, wash and remove center stem/vien
1/2 teaspoon sea salt

Teriyaki Style
1 tsp raw honey
1 tsp Nama Shoyu (soy sauce)
1 tsp olive oil
1/4 tsp dried ginger

Simply Fresh
juice of 1/2 lemon
1 tsp olive oil
1/4 tsp salt

Preparation
Cut the pieces of kale into palm-sized segments. Place them all in large container and fill with water. Toss 1/2 tsp. sea salt into water. Massage the kale with your hands for about a minute. Allow to sit in salted water for about 30 minutes. Drain well. Divide into two batches. Toss each batch with different seasoning sauce. Lay the leaves on mesh dehydrator screens. Dehydrate at 115 degrees for about 5-8 hours.

Adi absolutely LOVES the Teriyaki Style chips. She gobbled down an adult size handful and wanted more but it was bedtime. She strongly prefers the green kale. She held up the green chips to the window and mimicking me said, "look at that beautiful color!" I have to agree with her, the green kale chips taste a bit better and are thinner making them more krispy. Purple kale is good too, just a slightly different texture. The simply fresh version is nice, but I really enjoy a bit of sweetness. Maybe I'll try it with a touch of honey next time. Honey and lemon are always a nice pair.

Raw Coffee

I'm getting better at this raw coffee thing. Here's my latest recipe:

Superfood Raw Coffee - Serves 2
2 cups Coconut Milk (recipe below - or use your favorite nut milk)
1 1/2 Tbsp Cacao Powder
1 1/2 Tbsp Lucuma Powder
1 Tbsp Maca
1 Tbsp Mesquite Powder
2 Tbsp Agave Nectar
1 3/4 cups Ice

Blend milk, powders and agave in high speed blender until smooth. Add ice and blend until slushy. Pour in mug or glass lined with chocolate syrup. Drizzle a bit of syrup on top.

Chocolate Syrup
2 Tbsp Agave Nectar
2 tsp Cacao Powder

Mix and use to line the mug and drizzle on top of coffee.

Coconut Milk
1/2 cup coconut meat
4 cups water (use coconut water if you have it, if not, use filtered water)

Blend ingredients in high speed blender until completely smooth. Strain out pulp using nut milk bag or reusable coffee filter. Dehydrate leftover pulp and grind into "flour" for use in other recipes :)