Yum Truffles (Raw, GF, Vegan)

Such a simple recipe, but really really good! The soaking of the almonds makes it so that the rolls are softer. I make these 2 different ways, one rolled in coconut flakes & the other rolled in carob powder. I never really consumed dates much until noticed that just about every fruit & nut bar at the grocery store used dates in them. I started making these, and now adore using dates.

1 C raw almonds, soaked 24-48 hours
*1/2 C packed, dates, pitted
1 tsp vanilla
2-4 Tbs carob powder (or unsweetened cocoa powder)
unsweetened coconut flakes OR additional carob powder

Put soaked almonds into a food processor for about 1 minute. Then add dates in about 3 different groupings mixing well between. Now add in vanilla and carob (or cocoa) powder.
If an enjoyable change, add another extract to the mix, just 1 tsp. Ex: Orange extract (orange and chocolate go great together), coconut extract (esp if you roll the balls in coconut), cherry, lemon, mint or almond extract.
Roll into 1-2 in balls and roll in coconut flakes or carob powder.
I keep mine in the fridge, but that's because I like it when they are cold and semi-firm. You can do whatever you'd like.


*I suggest buying dates with the pits in, because they stay soft MUCH longer that way. I know it's a bit of a pain pulling out the pits, but it's turns out to be a better product when you do.

Pestocado Sandwich (Alkaline, GF, Raw, Vegan)

using Onion Flat Bread pt 2, and alfalfa sprouts. Kale chips on the side

using Onion Flat Bread pt 2

Makes 1 sandwich

1/2 roma tomato, sliced
1/2 small or 1/4 large avocado, thinly sliced
1/4 C preferred greens
1-2 Tbs Pesto (Whatever kind you prefer, but it's great w/Pumpkin Seed Pesto or Spinach-Sundried Tomato Pesto)
1/4 C sprouts (I used sunflower in the pic, but often use alfalfa or broccoli)
2 onion flat bread OR onion flat bread pt 2 pieces

Put pesto onto the onion bread pieces, then stack other ingredients on as desired. Top with other onion bread piece and enjoy!!

Onion flat bread/crackers (Alkaline, GF, Raw, Vegan)

These go SOOOO well with hummus! They also make a great raw sandwich. When they are complete they will be hard more like a chip or cracker, but if you make them a little thicker than "paper thin" and use them for sandwiches, you will be pleased. Any wet ingredients get soaked up by the bread, and it holds the moisture in, making the bread soft, but it doesn't fall apart.

great for dipping in hummus

Used in a pestocado sandwich

Makes 3 1/2 to 4 dehydrator trays full

1 zucchini
2 carrots
2 medium sweet onions, medium chopped
1 tsp garlic powder
2 Tbs raw tahini
2 Tbs olive oil
2 Tbs Bragg Liquid Aminos (or Soy Sauce or Nama Shoyu)
1/2 C water
2/3 C flax meal/ground flax seed
1/3 C flax seed (whole)
1 C raw sunflower seeds, soaked 4-6 hours

In a food processor grind sunflower seeds. Then combine zucchini, carrots, onion and garlic.

Add ingredients up to flax meal and mix. Now add in all the flax. Mix well.

Spread onto a teflex sheet (or I just use parchment paper over my dehydrator trays, it's cheaper) score into sizes & shapes that you want and dehydrate for 14-16 hours.

If you spread it really thin, you will get crackers, make it just a bit ticker and you will get flat bread. If you make flat bread, you may need to flip them over & continue dehydrating.

Quinoa Pudding (GF, Vegan)

I enjoy rice pudding, but it's generally a far cry from vegan, and loaded with sugar. This version isn't, and instead of rice, I used quinoa. So it ends up being somewhat a cross between tapioca & rice pudding, because of the texture.

Makes 5 cups

1 C Quinoa, rinsed
2 1/2 C Vanilla Almond Milk
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp Almond Butter
3 TBS Agave (or Honey)
*1/2 TBS Agar Agar flakes
1 TBS Vanilla
1 1/2 tsp Cinnamon & 1/2 tsp Nutmeg OR 2 tsp Pumpkin Pie Spice
Optional 1/2 C raisins or dried currants

In a medium to large pot, combine rinsed quinoa with almond milk. Bring to boil and then cover & reduce heat to lowest setting and cook for 20 min.

Add in the agave & almond butter, mix well.

Next add in the Agar Agar flakes. Note: Agar Agar flakes will make the mixture become more solid when it has cooled down.

*If you don't have Agar Agar flakes, you can use 2 tablespoons kudzu OR 2 tablespoons arrowroot, dissolved in 2 tablespoons cold water

Finally add in the vanilla, spices and optional raisins/currants.

If using agar agar, allow to sit for 25-30 min to cool down some and set up.

Stir-Fry with Almond Sauce (Alkaline, GF, Vegan)

Makes 6 servings

2 1/2 Tbs garlic, minced or crushed
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp ground corriander
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1-2 Tbs olive oil
2 c broccoli florets
1 onion, chopped
1 can sliced water chestnuts
1 red bell pepper, sliced
1 zucchini, sliced in half moons
1 large carrot, chopped however you like
1 celery stalk, chopped however you like
1 c bean sprouts, or sprouted lentils (I had sprouted lentils in my fridge)
1 c diced cabbage (I used purple, because that's what I had)
1/3 c coconut milk
1/3 c almond milk
4 Tbs almond butter
1 Tbs Bragg liquid aminos/soy sauce/nama shoyu
2 tsp lemon or lime juice
1 tsp salt
sesame seeds

In small bowl or cup, combine garlic, cumin, coriander & cayenne. In a large pan or wok heat olive oil. Add garlic mixture and stir until fragrant, then add onion. Cook until onion is translucent, then add the other vegetables up to the bean sprouts (don't put in the sprouts yet) and cook for a few minutes. Add milks, almond butter, soy sauce & lemon/lime juice. Stir until sauce is blended well. Cook with the lid on for about 10 min, then add cabbage, sprouts & salt. Cook for another 5 minutes. Sprinkle sesame seeds over the top.

Papaya Pudding (GF, Raw, Vegan)

I like to think of this as digestion pudding. I'm thinking of those Activia commercials now, haha. The combo of papaya, chia seed and coconut water is going to be a happy time for your digestive tract! Not to mention it tastes good!  I like to know reasons that things are good for me, so here is a bit of education on Papaya, Chia Seeds & Coconut Water.

Papaya

Papaya has a high amount of proteolytic enzymes, which is the enzyme that enables the digestion of protein. Many health practitioners today are advising patients to take proteolytic enzymes to help with everything from inflammation and autoimmune conditions to heart disease and plaque. Papaya also contains natural fiber, carotene, vitamin C and essential minerals. Some other benefits include:

-Contains a high amount of potassium and the flesh of papaya is very high in Vitamin A. 

-Helps prevent constipation and also aid in digestion. Papaya contains the protein called papain which is a digestive enzyme that helps in natural digestion process. 

-Juice helps in alleviating infections of the colon by clearing away the infection, pus and mucus. Regular consumption will help in improving the problem.

-The skin of papaya is excellent for treating skin wounds and places that do not heal quickly.

-Low in calories and high in nutritive value hence it is an excellent food for those on a diet.

-Regularly consuming papaya helps to relieve morning sickness and nausea.

-Has anti-inflammatory properties and anti-cancerous properties. The anti-inflammatory properties in papaya will help reduce pain for those suffering from arthritis, edema and osteoporosis.

-Cleans the stomach and studies have shown that papaya alone eaten for 3 to 4 days has a highly beneficial tonic effect upon the stomach and intestines.

Chia Seed

Yeah, I know you are thinking of the silly chia pet, and yep, those are the seeds. But long before they were used to grow green hair on terra cotta animals, they were used as a staple food by the Indians of the south west and Mexico. When it's combined with water, or any liquid, the seeds get a gel like coating on them, so you can use them to make things (in food) stay together, like an egg would. That gel like coating actually makes it so chia seeds can hold 12x's their weight in water, which helps a lot for digestion. It's digested as a protein very easily and is the richest vegetable source for Omega 3 fatty acids, but has no cholesterol (unlike fish). Chia has about three to ten times the oil concentrations of most grains and one and a half to two times the protein concentrations of other grains.

There are many benefits of chia seeds, you may want to look into them.

Coconut Water

It's one of the best drinks to hydrate the body because it's naturally isotonic with the same electrolyte balance we have in our blood. It helps remove toxins from the body, aids in digestion plus has anti-viral, anti-fungal and anti-microbial properties that help it cure diseases. Unlike coconut milk, coconut water has almost no fat in it, and isn't very high in calories (around 45 for one cup).

fresh cut papaya

Makes a bit over 2 cups

Apprx 1 1/2 C Papaya
1/2 to 3/4 C Coconut Water
1/4 C Chia Seeds
12 drops Vanilla Stevia
3 pitted Dates, medjool preferably (dates used as an additional sweetener, if you don't have any, you can use 3 Tbs agave nectar or raw honey instead)
1 Tbs unsweetened coconut
1 tsp maca, optional

Spoon out seeds from the papaya, and then remove flesh from the outer skin. Put all ingredients into a high powered blender and blend until smooth. Allow it to be at least 45 seconds so that the chia seeds will break up a little bit and start making the gel more quickly. Put in the fridge for at least 15 min for it to set and to cool off.  The unsweetened coconut you can put on over the top of the pudding or mix it in, or both!

Luau Salad (GF, Raw, Vegan)

Still going strong on my 100% raw diet, a little less than a week to go.  I'm feeling great, lots of energy and my insides feel good. Not that I was feeling bad at all before, this is just what I have been noticing. I'm thinking it's a combo of the 100% raw cleanse that I'm doing and considerable amounts of structured water I have been drinking.
This is seriously such a great salad, and so colorful too! The dressing is a sweet citrus dressing, almost a creamy vinaigrette. I was so excited to sit down and eat it, and I wasn't the least bit disappointed. I don't think you will be either. ENJOY!!

easiest way to cube mango, cut into a grid & then flip inside out & cut apart from the skin

 

Serves A LOT, maybe 10

1 head Red Leaf Lettuce, rough chopped
1 1/2 C Spinach, rough chopped
1 cucumber, diced
1 red bell pepper, chopped
4 stalks celery, diced
5 green onions, thinly sliced
1 mango, cut into cubes
1/3 C Pineapple, chopped
1/3 C macadamia nuts, soaked for 20 min rinsed thoroughly & medium chopped
2 Tbs unsweetened coconut
1 Mandarin Orange, peeled and segemented

Optional Garnish
2 Tbs unsweetened coconut
2 Tbs Sunflower Seeds

Dressing
Juice of 2 Mandarin Oranges/Clementines
1/3 C Olive Oil
1/3 C Raw Agave Nectar
1/3 C Lime Juice
1 Tbs Raw Almond Butter
1 tsp Ground Coriander
1/2 tsp Orange Flavor/Extract (I used Simply Organic's Orange Flavor)
1/2 tsp RealSalt (Sea Salt or Himalayan Salt works also)
1/2 tsp Red Pepper Flakes
1/2 tsp Ground Ginger
1/2 tsp Onion Powder
1 tsp Sesame Seeds
dash of Ground Cardamom


Combine all salad ingredients in large salad bowl and mix. If you are going for presentation, reserve 1/4 of the mango and 1-2 Tbs of the macadamia nuts to place on the top of the salad along with the optional garnish. To make the dressing, just put all ingredients into a small bowl and stir together really well. I also had it in a container with a lid and shook it up to make sure everything was mixed well. You can toss the salad with the dressing, although I have found that it is nice to just have the dressing in a separate container for individuals to add as they please. Plus, it allows the salad to keep longer if it isn't devoured in one sitting.

Collard Wraps (Alkaline, GF, Raw, Vegan)

Looking for more ways to get greens in your diet? But don't want it to be salads or funky tasting smoothies? Like wraps, but don't want to calories from the tortilla? Ever thought about using a collard green instead? It works quite well actually, it's just smaller than a tortilla, so you will have to make a few of them. Kind of like a taco. You don't taste the collard too much, and collards are more sturdy than lettuce is, so it won't tear apart while you are eating it quite so easily. Plus, as we all know, collards have a lot more nutrients in them than a lettuce leaf does.

I generally start with some type of spread on the collard, like pesto, hummus, cheese sauce or tahini. From there I just put things that I like on it. Changes each time. On these ones I made some of the cheese from the Kale Chips and dehydrated just that to use as a (dairy free, nonprocessed, raw) cheese crumble on salads and wraps. Some of the ingredients I frequently use and all taste good together are:

allfalfa sprouts
spinach
tomatoes
sundried tomatoes
bell peppers
carrots
avocado
Bragg sprinkle
RealSalt
hemp seeds
cucumber
zucchini

Kale Chips (Alkaline, GF, Raw, Vegan)

These kale chips are so great! Something resembling a healthy version of Doritos or other cheese flavored crunchy thing. They are usually gone in about 30 hrs or less around here, and there are only 2 of us eating them. We went to the local farmer's market today and there was someone selling kale chips there for $9 for a small bag, probably a bit bigger than a sandwich bag. But, they weren't even alkaline (used cashews for the base & had nutritional yeast in the mix) nor did they taste nearly as good.

The topping for the kale, the 'cheese', can be also dehydrated without the kale and used as a crumbly cheese-tasting topping for salads or wraps, or if you love the taste of cheese like I do, just to throw in your mouth from time to time.

1 large bunch of kale, washed & torn into 4-6 inch pieces

Cheese Topping
1 C pumpkin seeds, soaked 4-6 hrs, rinsed well
2 Tbs tahini
juice of 1 lemon
1 tsp RealSalt
1 red bell pepper
2 Tbs Bragg liquid aminos (or Nama Shoyu)
1 Tbs hemp seeds
1 1/2 tsp. Onion Powder
1/2 tsp. Agave syrup (optional)

Put all ingredients for the cheese into a food processor and blend until smooth. Combine with torn kale leaves, making sure each leaf is covered. Place on dehydrator try and dehydrate for about 6 hours. You can tell by looking at them if the cheese is dried all the way. The dried cheese will be lighter in color. Some dark spots are fine since it's not going to be a perfectly even coating.

Yam Chips (Alkaline, GF, Raw, Vegan)

I am doing a cleanse for 2 weeks and it says to eat all fruits and vegetables raw, so, that's what I'm doing, which in turn makes it so that my recipes one here are going to be all raw ones. These yam chips are just slightly sweet, and remind me subtly of a cinnamon sugar bagel (only MUCH lighter in taste). You can peel them before you slice them, but I like having the peel on, gives 'em character, more fiber & more nutrients.

1 medium sized yam (or sweet potato)
1/2 Tbs pumpkin pie spice
1/2 Tbs cinnamon
1 Tbs Coconut sugar (optional, just makes them a little sweeter)
1 Tbs melted coconut oil

Slice yam very thinly on a mandolin so that all slices are the same thickness. It helps them dehydrate better when they are all the same width. Put sliced yams in a large zip lock back, or bowl then put spices & sugar in and mix around so each slice has brown specks on it. Then add the coconut oil and toss to coat. Place slices on dehydrator tray and allow to dehydrate for about 6 hours.

Creamy Roasted Squash Soup (Alkaline, GF, Vegan)

Like I've said before, I LOVE delicata squash, and it's still in season. I decided tonight that I wanted to try and make a squash soup, but no recipes online or in any of my books were doin it for me. So, I roasted the squash and just started putting things in. Turned out really good to me! The boyfriend was a fan as well.

If you don't have delicata, you can easily use butternut or another preferred squash instead. It would probably be 1-1 1/2 large butternut squash OR 3 small acorn squash.

Makes 5 cups

4 Delicata squash, roasted 
1 cup coconut milk
1/2 cup vanilla almond milk
1/2 cup (low sodium) vegetable broth
1 sweet onion
1 Tbs olive oil (extra virgin, of course!)
3 tsp garam masala
2 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp curry powder
dash ground cardamom
1 Tbs roasted garlic, minced
1/2 tsp RealSalt
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
fresh ground black pepper, garnish (optional)
pumpkin seeds, for garnish (optional)

Heat oven to 350 F.
Cut squash in half lengthwise and remove seeds & 'innards". Rinse off & place cut side up on a cookie sheet, then sprinkle with RealSalt and then with 2 pkgs stevia. Put 1/4 cup water on cookie sheet and turn all squash to be cut side down. Bake for 30 min. Allow to cool for about 10 min. Then put halves into a food processor (skin/rinds still on) and process until smooth. If you want a bit of a chunkier soup, save one of the halves and cut it up into pieces to add at the end. I did that, and saved some of the rinds and put them across the top, just for color.

Fine chop onion the onion. Heat oil in a medium size pot and add onion. Saute for about 5 min. Add garam masala, ginger, curry & cardamom to onions and mix. Then add pureed squash and mix again. Once mixed, add in roasted garlic, coconut milk, almond milk and vegetable broth. Stir on medium heat for about 3 min. Lastly add the pepper flakes and salt, turn off heat, stir and allow to sit for about 5 min.
Garnish with fresh ground black pepper & pumpkin seeds.

Sweet Teriyaki Veggie Crisps (Alkaline, GF, Raw, Vegan)

This is a dehydrator recipe, makes some good veggie crisps. You can use any greens that you want, I happen to have collard greens around and wanted to use them in a little different way than the typical greens recipes. Can't we all use some more greens in our diets? Especially the really green ones like kale, collards, or mustard greens. I used eggplant as well, it makes good crisps after being marinated and dehydrated. The two don't need to marinate together, I actually did them at 2 separate times, there is plenty of marinade to go around.

Dehydrated veggies aren't the prettiest things, but they sure do taste good!

Eggplant in marinade

eggplant crisps

collard crisps

1 eggplant sliced in 1/4 - 1/2 inch rounds
1 bundle fresh collards
Teriyaki marinade

Teriyaki Marinade
 1/4 c Bragg liquid aminos
1/3 c water
1 Tbs Ginger, peeled and minced (or match sticks)
1 1/2 Tbs raw agave nectar
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp olive oil

In a large ziplock bag, place all ingredients for the marinade, then the eggplant and collards. Put it in the fridge to marinade overnight.
Place on dehydrator trays, sprinkle with RealSalt & dehydrate collards for 2 hours and eggplant for 5 hours.