Raw Macaroons, Raw "Cheetos"

Hello! 


It's been quite a while since I have posted... I have been super busy with work, summer projects, Mackenzie being out of school and I guess just life in general. Next Tuesday Mackenzie and I are headed to Southern California for a 7 day vacation of hanging out Lake Arrowhead and then going to Disneyland... we are both very excited! I can't even remember the last time I took a seven day vacation or got to spend 7 relaxing days with my little girl!

I have been busy trying new recipes too. I stumbled upon these protein cakes on the site Foods of April after reading about the protein ice cream that Heather of Heather eats almond Butter makes.  These are both two of my new favorite recipes. The protein cakes are really good and easy to put your own twist on. What I used was...


1 and 1/2 scoops vanilla protein powder
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
2 egg whites
1 tablespoon apple sauce
1 to 2 teaspoons cinnamon
splash vanilla extract
sprinkle of stevia


Mix it up and microwave for a minute. They are so good cut in half and smothered with almond butter. They keep well in the fridge too. 


I also made Stacy Neely's  raw "cheetos" but used Kristen Suzanne's cheezy hemp sauce for the coating. Soooo good and easy! Here's how to make them...
Cut cauliflower into florets

Coat with sauce (use Kristen's Hemp sauce or Stacy's "cheeto" sauce {recipe follows})

Dehydrate until crisp... overnight for me.  

Enjoy! 

Stacy Neely Stower's Cheeto Sauce recipe is here...

"Stacy's Fabulouso Cheeto Puffs" and "Spicalisous Nori Nachos"

1 cup sunflower seeds soaked and sprouted
1 c raw soaked cashews soaked
1 c raw soaked almonds
1 big orange
1 cup red pepper diced
2 tsp salt
2 Tbsp taco seasoning
2-4 Tbsp of nutritional yeast

Process all ingredients and use this as a batter to coat small pieces of RAW CAULIFLOWER. dehydrate at 108 for 24 hours or until crunchy. ENJOY!

I use this same "batter" for the inside of my "Spicalisious Nori Nachos"....except I omit the nutritional yeast and I add cayenne pepper for the SPICALISOUSNESS! Spread batter between 2 layers of raw unroasted nori sheets and dehydrate at 108 for 24 hours or until crunchy. cut into triangles.

I know your family will looooove these!

I also decided to make raw macaroons since I ordered this huge bucket of coconut from Tropical Traditions...

I used...

2 cups shredded coconut from Tropical Traditions

3/4 cup ground cashews

1/4 cup maple syrup

1 tablespoon coconut oil from Tropical Traditions

small squirt of agave

1/3 cup ground flaxmeal

chocolate chip (to half the batch)

pop into dehydrator...

Then devour!

Hope everyone enjoys their weekend! 

Schools almost over! Favorite recipes...

Hello friends! 


I have not posted in a while because I have been so busy studying... yes... finals next week then I am done with my classes... yay! I can't wait to get back to devoting more time to creating yummy raw recipes, product reviews, and training for another half marathon. 
I will be signing up for the half marathon in Santa Rosa in August. 


I am curious... what are your favorite raw recipes? Are there any recipes that you love that you would like to be made raw? I know that I LOVE bread and have had fun creating different raw breads, like my cinnamon raisin bread, and this nut free raw bread recipe.

slathered with avo, yum!

I also love my spiced buckwheat crispy granola... have you made it yet?

perfect with fruit on top and nut milk!

I am on a mission to create some fabulous new raw dessert recipes. Anything you would like to see? Pie, cake, cookies???

Happy Monday, Raw Cinnamon Raisin Bread

Hello Friends, 


I hope everyone had a great weekend and are having a great start to the new week. 


My weekend was productive I guess. I ran my first "race" on Saturday, just a 5K, but it was fun. Since I have been training for my half marathon, which is this Saturday, I have been more focused on distance than speed, so running fast in the 5K was different for me. It was a small race (65 people or so) and the divisions were 19 and under, 20 to 59, and 60 and over. Well, I didn't win, but I had fun and want to work on my speed more when I am done with the half marathon. 


On Sunday I did a 10 mile run with my running group and later took a hike with my sister. I came home and cleaned (a little) watered the newly planted veggies, did crafts with Mackenzie, and just hung out. The weather was beautiful! Unfortunately, it is cloudy again today. 


As I usually do on the weekends I broke out the dehydrator to make some goodies. I made Averie's (Love Veggies and Yoga) Blondie  macaroons... YUMMY! and simple to make, as most of Averie's recipes are... which I love! 


I also made some raw cinnamon raisin bread which turned out really good. Here is my just winging it recipe... 

Raw Cinnamon Raisin Bread

1 cup buckwheat groats (soaked overnight)

1 apple (diced)

2 tablespoons cinnamon

dash of salt

1/4 plus 1/4 cup raisins

1/4 cup ground flax meal

1/8 cup flax seeds

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/4 cup agave (or to taste)

Blend everything except 1/4 cup raisins in a food processor until smooth. Stir in remaining raisins. Spread onto non-stick dehydrator sheet. Score into pieces with a knife. Dehydrate at 105 until it reached the desired dryness for you. I like mine a little soft. 


Enjoy!

Fajitas, Spicy Salsa & Spanish "rice"

Hello all! 


So glad it is Friday and the sun is shining! What are your plans for the weekend? I am going to do a 5K race on Saturday morning, a long run on Sunday and hopefully get some veggies planted. I also ordered Food, Inc. from my netflix and am looking forward to watching it. 


The other day I was checking out Heather's blog (Sweetly Raw) and she had a yummy recipe for fajitas. They looked so good, I got them started that day. I used sliced baby bella mushrooms, an orange bell pepper and a sweet yellow onion. I soaked them in Heather's marinade over night and the veggies softened just enough that I did not need to dehydrate them. They are so good. 

Alongside, I made some Spanish "rice" as I had cauliflower to use and it seemed perfect for the fajita meal. 

Spanish "Rice"

adapted from raw-food-diet-inspiration

1 head cauliflower 

1 bell pepper (I used orange)

handful cilantro

Onion (I used a leek)


Process cauliflower in food processor to make "rice"

process bell pepper and onion

add chopped bell pepper and cilantro to cauliflower mix

Mix above ingredients together and set aside. 


Combine...

1 avocado

cumin

coriander

chili powder juice of 1 lemon or lime

1/2 jalapeno pepper

1 teaspoon garlic

squirt agave

basil

Mash together in bowl. Add to cauliflower mix and lightly toss together. Enjoy! 

I ate some as a snack in endive leaves. Yum. 

I made a quick salsa to go along with the meal. 

Spicy Salsa

2 tomatoes

handful cilantro 

1/2 jalapeno pepper

salt 

onion

garlic

Blend together and enjoy. 


Hope everyone had a great weekend! :)

My try at the moon pie, Herb Marinated Veggies, The BEST raw bread ever!

Hello, 


Hope everyone is having a great week so far. The weather here has been drab and I am hoping for some sunshine soon. Yesterday I pulled out the dehydrator after finding a yummy looking raw bread recipe I wanted to try. I love bread and I have not had too much luck in finding a raw bread recipe that I really like.... until now! The recipe comes from the very talented Russell James and is on his blog here. I followed it exactly but cut it in half. Here it is...


Russell James's Nut Free Bread



Nut-free bread
Makes 18 ’slices’
1/2c olive oil
1 ½c sun dried tomatoes
3c sprouted buckwheat (2 ½c dry & unsprouted)
1 ½c flax meal
3 ½c peeled courgette, roughly chopped
2c apple, cored and roughly chopped
3T lemon juice
2 avocados
1 large onion
½c minced parsley
- Process the olive oil, sun dried toms, sprouted buckwheat, courgette, apple, lemon juice, avocados, onion and herbs until thoroughly mixed.
- Transfer to a large bowl and mix with the flax meal by hand. The reason you do this separately (not in the processor) is that you are likely to have too much mixture for the size if the processor at this point, and when you add the flax meal it will become quite heavy and sticky and overwork your machine.
- When mixed, process the whole batter in the machine again, but in small batches to achieve a light fluffy texture.
- Divide the mixture in half and place on Paraflexx sheets on dehydrator trays.
- Use a spatula to spread the mixture evenly to all 4 sides and corners of the Paraflexx sheet. If mixture is too sticky you can wet the spatula to make things easier. With a knife score the whole thing into 9 squares.
- Dehydrate for 2 hours and then remove the Paraflexx sheets by placing another dehydrator tray and mesh on top and invert so that your original sheet of bread is upside down. That will allow you to peel the Paralexx sheet off and continue to dehydrate the underside of the bread.
- Dehydrate for approx 8 hours more (do this overnight so you’re not tempted to eat it before it’s ready) or until bread feels light in your hand. If the pieces don’t fully come apart where you scored, use a knife to cut them.

Here is a piece of the batch I made slathered with avocado. 

I topped it with tomato and basil and ate it for lunch with a simple salad of shredded carrots, spiralized golden beet and some herb marinaded veggies I made. 

I topped the salad with Natalia Rose's Liquid Gold Elixir dressing. I also used the same dressing to marinate the veggies. 

I mixed mushrooms, cherry tomatoes,  cilantro, and some dressing..

tossed them on a dehydrator sheet

and two hours later, here they are...

Yum. 

After drooling over all the beautiful entries in Heather's Moonie pie contest, I had to order the book myself. I got busy making moon pies and I have to say, they are delicious! Mine are not as pretty as most I have seen on Heather's blog, but they are really tasty! 

In my defense, I was impatient and did not let the layers set up as long as directed to. I had fun trying and will have fun trying more flavors! BTW... Heather, you truly are a dessert Goddess! To buy Heather's Moonie Pie e-book, click here. Also, check out her Just Desserts e-book, which I reviewed in this post.

Enjoy your week!

11 week initiative, day 4.

This is going to be a short post because I am super tired. I went to Bikram yoga class this morning then came home had some breakfast and went for a 3 mile run and did a little lower body weights at the gym. I have got to step up my running again, my half marathon is May 1st! I can't wait!

Today I ate...

Green Smoothie with banana, strawberries, kale, romaine, chia seeds and a blood orange. 

Lunch was a green salad with bell pepper, tomato, carrots, some of the butternut squash rice recipe

I made a few days ago and some tofu. About an hour or so later I had a Lara bar. Apparently not all Lara bars are raw...Luckily Robyn over at Girl on Raw had a recent post about which ones are raw. Thanks for that Robyn!

For dinner I packed up some raw cauliflower, asparagus, carrots and a steamed sweet potato and ate it on break while I was at class. 

When I got home from class I had banana soft serve with vanilla, cinnamon and cocoa nibs. Yummy!

I hope everyone is having a great week. :)

11 week initiative, day 2. Chocolate Quinoa Cripsies, Rosemary Basil Crackers

Hello,

It is day two of the 11 week initiative at Raw Food Rehab. I ended the night last night with a banana topped with cinnamon and cocoa powder... just sweet enough to call dessert. I have always been a fan of cereals, as a child and as an adult. I guess I like the crunch. I have made my raw gingerbread granola a few times...

but wanted to try something new. I also like quinoa because it is packed with protein. This is the first time I have tried it raw. I sprouted the quinoa overnight, then made this simple but yummy recipe that will satisfy my craving for cereal or something crunchy. 

Chocolate Quinoa Crispies

1 cup quinoa, sprouted overnight

2 tablespoons cocoa powder

2 tablespoons carob powder (can use one or the other)

3 tablespoons agave

dash salt 

dash cinnamon

1 tablespoon vanilla

1 teaspoon stevia (optional)

Mix everything together...

spread onto a non-stick dehydrator sheet. 

Dehydrate at 105 overnight. Enjoy plain, with milk, or however you choose! Here is how it looks done...

I also made some raw crackers in the dehydrator. I started with the same base as the cheese crackers I made before which I am still enjoying, but flavored them different. 

Rosemary Basil Crackers

1 cup soaked almonds

1/2 cup ground flax 

sea salt

1/2 cup nutritional yeast

1 tablespoon dried rosemary 

1 handful fresh basil

 1/2 cup oat bran (this is optional)

Mix everything together in a food processor. Proccess until smooth, add water if you need to. You want it to be thick, but easily spreadable.

Spread onto teflex sheet... Start at 145 for a hour and drop down to 105. After 4 hours peel back non stick sheet and continue to dehydrate until dry. 

Here is one served with raw marinara and a leaf of basil...

What are your favorite things to make? I tend to do most cooking or "uncooking" on the weekends. Do you plan your families meals in advance? I will sometimes have an idea of something to make later in the week, but don't generally plan meals. 

Hope your weekend has been great!

11 week initiative, day 1. Dr. Junger Detox Program... Clean. Marinated Veggies and Butternut Squash Rice Recipe

Hello friends!

I hope everyone is enjoying their weekend so far. As I mentioned a couple days ago, today is the first day of the 11 week initiative on Raw Food Rehab. I woke up this morning and had a headache and felt kind of blah. I wanted to dive into a huge muffin but keeping my goals for week one in mind, I made a green lemonade instead. After that I went to the gym for a quick workout. I did some upper body weight lifting and only like 15 minutes on the treadmill. As I have mentioned before, I do not really like to go on the treadmill... I prefer to run outside, but it was raining and I was tired, so I just cut the workout short. I will save my energy for tomorrow's 15 mile run, which will be rain or shine.

The half marathon I am doing is quickly approaching... May 1st. When I signed up for it a few months ago I had never ran more than a few miles at one time. Now 13, 14+ miles is really no  problem. My original goal was just to complete the half marathon but now I am going to change that goal and set a time for it. Not sure what it will be yet...we'll see.

Breakfast today was my green lemonade. For lunch I had some avocado sushi rolls that I picked up at Trader Joe's yesterday.

For dinner I have started a medley of marinated veggies which I will top on a green salad (keeping with my goal!) I used...

Cauliflower

Carrots

Asparagus

Red Bell Pepper

Mushrooms

Marinated in ...

Nama Shoya

Olive Oil

Balsamic Vinegar

Ginger juice

Cayenne pepper

I placed the veggies in my dehydrator and will leave them in for about 4 hours to soften and warm. The cold weather has me wanting something warm to eat.

I ended up eating the marinated veggies along with some swiss chard and a garden burger on a piece of rye bread. I also snacked on a few pieces of tempeh. 

I ate the muffin I wanted so badly this morning for dessert. It was one of the bran muffins from Trader Joe's... I am in love with them! Vegan, no sugar added and just plain yummy!

A couple days ago I made a dish adapted from Ani Phyo's book.

Butternut Squash Rice with Walnuts and Raisins

1 small butternut squash, chopped, peeled and seeded
1/2 small yellow onion, chopped
1 tablespoon cumin powder 

1 tablespoon coriander
1/2 cup cilantro leaves, chopped
1 cup raisins (I used golden)
1 cup walnuts, crushed
dash salt
1 tablespoon sesame seeds

Process squash in food processor to rice consistency. Add remaining ingredients. Enjoy!

Have you heard of Dr. Junger? He is the author of the book, Clean, which I purchased last week and started reading yesterday. His program for detoxification is endorsed by Martha Stuart (click to watch a video of her experience with the cleanse) Gwyneth Paltrow, Donna Karen, and many others. After doing some research on his website and other people's websites, I decided that I really want to do this detox. I ordered his kit... it was pricey, but I feel the results will be well worth every penny. I am trying to decided when to start, as it requires a 21 day commitment. I am thinking of waiting until after May 1st, which is my half marathon day. When I do start I want to document my experience day by day and post a before and after picture. Seeing is believing, right?

My question for you... have you ever done any type of detox or cleansing program? Did you notice a change in how you felt when you were done? Was it hard to stick with it?

Averie has a giveaway right now for some custom chocolate bars.. check it out HERE!

Mock Mashed Potatoes, Heathy's Parfait, Pecan Pie, Creamy Corn & Avocado Soup and more...

Hello everyone, I hope you are all having a great weekend! I am bit sleepy as I worked until 10:30 last night and it was the first day of my new job. It is always hard to start new jobs but it feels great to be working as a Nurse after going back to school to become one. I am working again tonight but will have Sunday off. Which leads me to ask you... will you be celebrating Easter? My family will be spending the day together and I have been busy thinking of what yummy raw dishes I want to bring. I have decided on these for sure...

Mock Mashed Potatoes 
(adapted from the RAWvolution book)

2 1/2 cups cauliflower
1/4 cup cashew nuts
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon sea salt
small clove garlic
pepper

Blend everything together until fluffy and smooth. 

Sweet Potato Cassarole

Heathy's Coconut Creme and Fruit Parfait 

It looks fantastic, light and I have almost everything I need in the fridge already... always a plus!

Coconut Cream

Fresh strawberries, diced

Fresh mango, diced

Any other fruit of your choice
Coconut Cream
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups young coconut pulp
(my pulp was pretty firm)
1/3 cup coconut water
1/4 cup agave
2 Tablespoons agave powder (I don't have this so might substitute Lucuma)
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract


Combine all ingredients in a blender until smooth and creamy

Thanks for the recipe Heathy! If you have not checked out Heathy's Just Desserts E Book, you really should. It is filled with yummy desserts and is a great price. She also has a new e book on Moon Pies and a contest going on.... click here to check that out.  I would love to be a judge for that contest!

I am also going to make Pecan Pie from the new book I ordered RAWvolution. Great book by the way, really delicious and simple to make recipes. Here is the easy recipe...

Pecan Pie


For the crust:


2 cups raw almonds 
1/3 cup agave nectar


For the Filling:


1/3 cup coconut water
1/4 cup pecans
1/2 cup raisins


Mix together crust ingredients and press into pie plate/ tin. 
Mix filling ingredients and pour into crust. 
Garnish with pecans. 


How easy is that! Only 5 ingredients, that is my kind of recipe. Lots of the recipes from RAWvolution are like that. One of my new favorites books. 

Today after my workout I decided to make some soup. I had a couple ears of corn and avocado that needed to be used so I made this...

Creamy Corn and Avocado Soup

2 ears corn (shave corn from ears)

1 avocado

1 cup water

1 heaping tablespoon miso (optional)

1 tablespoon cumin

1 tablespoon coriander

dash cayenne pepper

dash sea salt

1 tomato

garlic (to taste)

Blend in Vita mix or food processor until smooth and creamy. Yummy!


Hope everyone has a happy weekend!