Here are the ingredients I used to create my recipes for The Daily Raw Blog Recipe Challenge
1. Red Grapes 2. Cashews 3. Almonds 4. Garlic 5. Red Pepper 6. Lemon 7. Tomatoes
Focaccia with Grapes Yield: 12 slices
2 cups flax seeds, ground into flour 1 cup almonds, ground into flour ¼ cup olive oil, plus more for drizzling 2 teaspoons agave nectar 1 garlic clove, minced 1 tablespoon chopped onions 2 tablespoons Italian seasonings 2 teaspoon sea salt 1/2 cup red grapes, sliced
1 Combine flax and almond flours in a large bowl. Add olive oil, agave nectar, garlic, onion, rosemary and sea salt. Mix well.
2 Fold in grapes.
3 Spread Focaccia dough on two Teflex-sheets, making them about 1/4-inch thick. Drizzle with olive oil. Place in dehydrator at 140 degrees for 4-6 hours or until Focaccia is dry on the top.
4 Flip over and remove Teflex sheets. With a pizza cutter, score the Focaccia into six large rectangles. You should have 12 slices of Focaccia bread. Drizzle with olive oil. Dehydrate at 110 degrees for an additional 8-12 hours or until the Focaccia is dry and semi-hard on the outside but soft and somewhat moist on the inside.
The Daily Raw Blog Kitchen Tip: From time to time I use a thermometer to check the temperature of the foods I dehydrate. Particularly when I raise the temperature of the dehydrator. I just like to make sure the temperature of my food doesn't rise also.
My 1, 2 and 8-year old children are used to mom's raw food creations. For better or worse, they have acquired a taste for fresh fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds. Kevin, my 14 year-old stepson is the new kid on the block and has come from a bag-of-candy-a-day habit. Now, when I create dishes, he is the gauge I use to determine if my recipes are up to par. I am pleased to say that he has asked me to make this recipe twice since it's conception.
Red Pepper Aioli 1 cup cashews, soaked for an hour ¼ cup water 2 garlic cloves, minced juice one one lemon ½ red bell pepper, seeded and chopped 2 tablespoons olive oil 2 teaspoons sea salt
1 Combine cashews, water, lemon juice and garlic in a blender. Blend until cashew becomes a thick, smooth mayonnaise. Add more water one tablespoon at a time until you cashews break down and you achieve desired consistency.
2 Add in the red peppers, olive oil and sea salt. Briefly process until peppers are smooth. 3 Serve with bread, cucumbers, mushrooms and tomatoes.
It's not too late to submit a recipe for February's challenge. Next week, I'll post the recipe for Radicchio and Fennel Coleslaw.
Tuna Salad Pate served with Herb Essene bread Tuna fish sandwiches were a staple in my childhood. This recipe is actually my mom's minus the tuna and other elements (I believe she used white onion, eggs and Miracle Whip and of course no dulse flakes). No disrespect to mom's, but I like my raw version better, sorry mommy.
Tuna Salad Pate
2 cup sunflower seeds, soaked for two hours 1 tablespoon dulse flakes juice of one half lemon 2 tablespoons dill pickle juice ½ cup diced celery ¼ cup diced red onion ½ dill pickle, finely diced ½ teaspoon sea salt
1 In a food processor, combine sunflower seeds, dulse flakes, lemon and pickle juice. Process until seeds are a pate consistency. Transfer to a large bowl.
2 Fold in celery, red onion and diced pickle. Sprinkle in the sea salt.
Cranberry-Raisin Essene Bread Soft wheat berries were my first. Hard wheat berries are more for the yeast breads. Oat groats are not really in the same league. Rye never entered the picture. Like my husband, once the Durum wheat’s distant Egyptian relative sprouted into me life, there were no others.
Essene the grain at the end of the tunnel and its name was Kamut. I’m certain I’m committing a bit of blasphemy. Casually, chatting on the subject of an ingredient used in the Bible’s Essene Bread. If I am, I beg the powers that be… please forgive.
But really, how can you blame me? It was a close race. Both grains are economical, easily sprout and work well in Essene Bread. But my Kamut is one high protein, vitamin E, magnesium, zinc-packed grain.
Kamut has a much richer and buttery flavor than the sweet wheat berries, which could explain it’s somewhat higher fatty acid content. Oh well, I ramble.
Not that wheat berry is the re-bound boyfriend. It has qualities that make it appealing in its own right. For instance, sprouting wheat berries increases its vitamin C content by 400 percent- not too shabby. Low in calories – works for me. And wheat berries did grind to flour (in my coffee grinder) a bit better than my dear Kamut, which left me with a grainier texture compared to wheat’s fine quality.
No matter which grain you prefer, it’s all good.
Back in the biblical day the sprouted-grain breads were probably baked on hot rocks under the blazing sun. Now, depending on where you live, the sun could be an option, but I’d try a dehydrator first and see how you like that.
There are many good versions of Essene breads on the internet, with the most basic recipe having only one ingredient, sprouted grain.
1 In a food processor, grind the grains well. If your processor doesn’t have a powerful motor, use ¼ cup of water to get things going. Stop every so often to scrape the sides of the food processor. Blend the mixture until it forms sticky dough.
2 Divide the mixture in half and spread each half on a two Teflex sheets, forming 8 x 8 squares.
3 Dehydrate at 110 degrees for 4 hours, flip over and with a pizza cutter, score into nine slices. Dehydrate an additional 6-8 hours or until the bread is crispy on the outside and moist on the inside. Alternatively, you can form into small loaves, no more than 1 ½ inches thick. The dehydrating time should be increased by a few hours.
I didn’t have much success with making loaves. The outside was perfect but the inside fermented a bit before completely drying but It had a sour dough taste to it. You would think the dry Colorado air would help a girl out, but I guess you have to live in the deserts of Nevada to get some love. Once you are comfortable with the basic recipe, you can add ingredients to suit your fancy.
Herb Essene Bread 4 cups sprouted grains, Kamut, wheat berries, rye, etc. 1 cup almond flour 2 tablespoon olive oil 2 tablespoon Herb Blend* 1 teaspoon sea salt
1 In a food processor, grind the grains well. If your processor doesn’t have a powerful motor, use ¼ cup of water to get things going. Stop every so often to scrape the sides of the food processor. Blend the mixture until it forms a sticky dough.
2 Place dough in a large bowl and add almond flour, olive oil, herb blend and sea salt. Combine well.
3 Divide the mixture in half and spread each half on a two Teflex sheets, forming 8 x 8 squares.
4 Dehydrate at 110 degrees for 6 hours, flip over and with a pizza cutter, score into nine slices. Dehydrate an additional 6-8 hours or until the bread is crispy on the outside and moist on the inside.
Combine seasonings in a coffee grinder and grind until fine.
Pizza Bread 4 cups sprouted grains, Kamut, wheat berries, rye, etc. 1 cup almond flour ½ cup soaked Sun-dried tomatoes ½ cup sliced Kalamata olives ½ garlic clove, minced 2 tablespoons olive oil ½ teaspoon sea salt
1 In a food processor, grind the grains well. If your processor doesn’t have a powerful motor, use ¼ cup of water to get things going. Stop every so often to scrape the sides of the food processor. Blend the mixture until it forms a sticky dough. Remove from processor and place in a large bowl.
2 Add sun-dried tomatoes, garlic and olive to processor. Briefly process to make a thick paste.** 3 Place dough in a large bowl and add almond flour, sun-dried tomato paste, olives and sea salt. Combine well.
4 Divide the mixture in half and spread each half on a two Teflex sheets, forming 8 x 8 squares.
5 Dehydrate at 110 degrees for 6 hours, flip over and with a pizza cutter, score into nine slices. Dehydrate an additional 6-8 hours or until the bread is crispy on the outside and moist on the inside.
**You may also add the ingredients to the dough without processing into a paste. The paste option produces a tomato-red colored bread.
Raisin Bread 4 cups sprouted grains, Kamut, wheat berries, rye, etc. 1 cup almond flour ½ cup soaked golden raisins ½ cup soaked Thompson raisins ¼ cup agave nectar ¼ teaspoon sea salt
1 In a food processor, grind the grains well. If your processor doesn’t have a powerful motor, use ¼ cup of water to get things going. Stop every so often to scrape the sides of the food processor. Blend the mixture until it forms a sticky dough.
2 Place dough in a large bowl and add almond flour, raisins, agave nectar and sea salt. Combine well.
3 Divide the mixture in half and spread each half on a two Teflex sheets, forming 8 x 8 squares.
4 Dehydrate at 110 degrees for 6 hours, flip over and with a pizza cutter, score into nine slices. Dehydrate an additional 6-8 hours or until the bread is crispy on the outside and moist on the inside.
5 Serve with honey butter (recipe below).
Cranberry-Raisin Bread 4 cups sprouted grains, Kamut, wheat berries, rye, etc. 1 cup almond flour ½ cup fresh cranberries ½ cup soaked raisins ¼ cup agave nectar ¼ teaspoon sea salt
1 In a food processor, grind the grains well. If your processor doesn’t have a powerful motor, use ¼ cup of water to get things going. Stop every so often to scrape the sides of the food processor. Blend the mixture until it forms a sticky dough.
2 Place dough in a large bowl and add almond flour, cranberries, raisins, agave nectar and sea salt. Combine well.
3 Divide the mixture in half and spread each half on a two Teflex sheets, forming 8 x 8 squares.
4 Dehydrate at 110 degrees for 6 hours, flip over and with a pizza cutter, score into nine slices. Dehydrate an additional 6-8 hours or until the bread is crispy on the outside and moist on the inside.
Final notes: Please keep in mind, the more wet ingredients you add to the basic bread recipe the longer it will take to dehydrate. Also, other factors come into play. The type of dehydrate you have, where you live, your preferences, etc. Use your best judgment on determining the tastes and textures of your bread.
John wrote me last month and asked if I could work on a bread for his family. Essence breads had been in the back of my mind for awhile, but his request jump-started the process. Many thanks to John. Essene you later! Terilynn
Flax Bread 2 cup brown flax seeds, soaked for 2 hours 2 cup golden flax seeds, ground into flour 1/4 cup olive oil 1 tomato, chopped 1 tablespoon oregano 1 tablespoon sea salt In a food processor, combine brown flax, olive and tomato. Remove from food processor and place in a large bowl. Fold in golden flax flour and seasonings. Spread mixture on two Teflex sheets making a 8 x 8-inch square on each. Dehydrate at 115 degrees for 24-36 hours. Flip bread over after 8 hours. With a pizza cutter, score the bread into a tic-tac-toe pattern. You should have 9 slices per Teflex sheet (18 slices). Making the slider hamburger bun: Take a small piece of the flax bread dough and form it into a miniature burger top, take a second piece and form into the burger bottom.
Jalapeno Burgers 1 jalapeno pepper, finely chopped 1/2 onion, finely chopped 1 cup walnuts, soaked for 4 hours 1/4 cup sun-dried tomatoes, soaked until very soft, reserve 1/8 cup soaking water 1 tablespoon Nama Shoyu 1 teaspoon Hamburger seasonings 1 teaspoon sea salt 1/2 teaspoon black pepper In a food processor, combine walnuts, sun-dried tomatoes and soaking water until you achieve a meat consistency. Remove from processor.
In a mixing bowl, lightly mix together walnut meat, onions, jalapeno peppers, Nama Shoyu, salt and pepper. Shape into 6 patties. Serve. Optional: Dehydrate at 115 degrees for 1 hour.
Sun-dried Tomato Ketchup
1 cup sun-dried tomato, soaked, 1/4 c reserved water1/4 cup raisins, soaked1 T Italian Seasonings 1/4 tablespoon chopped onion 1 clove garlic, minced Combine ingredients in a blender until mixture is slightly chunky.
Jicama Fries1 medium jicama, peeled 2 tablespoon olive oil 1/2 teaspoon paprika 1/2 teaspoon sea salt 1/2 teaspoon pepper Slice the jicama, as you would a potato to make chips. Stack a few slices at a time and cut them all into french fry-sized pieces. Place the seasonings in a plastic bag. Lightly coat jicama fries with oil, then place fries in bag and shake until well coated.
Want more miniatures? Try SP Miniatures, they carry non-edible mini fruit and vegetables.
A friend of mine suggested that I post the recipes gone "wrong" along with the ones that hit the mark. Here is one of those that went so wrong but didn't turn out half bad.
My first idea was to create a Peach Pie to celebrate National Peach Month, but that would be too easy. So I thought to create an almond biscotti with peach jam. Sounds tasty. And what you see is actually very tasty but an almond biscotti it ain't and the peach jam is more of a compote.
I used the recipe for a basic almond crust to make the biscotti and I rolled out the crust as thin as possible (but still keep some thickness for a biscotti) in hopes of it drying crispy in the dehydrator. Well 24 hours later at 110 degrees, I still have a chewy almond crust. I decided not to go past the 24 hour mark in the dehydrator, I figured if it wasn't happening in a day then for this recipe it wasn't happening.
So that is the tale how a crisp almond biscotti remained a chewy almond bar.As far as the Peach Jam goes. It started out thick like a jam but the longer the fruit sits in a bit of sea salt and lemon juice the more peach juice it creates. It still tasted very good and I had no problem enjoying this recipe gone awry.Almond Bars2 c almonds, soaked for 6-8 hours 1 c dates, pitted and soaked for an hour, reserve soaking water 4 T reserved date water 1 T organic vanilla extract Pinch of sea salt In a food processor, process almonds, dates, date water, vanilla extract and sea salt until well combined. Remove and with a rolling pin spread mixture onto a teflex sheet. Dehydrate at 100 degrees overnight or 6-8 hours. Flip over and score into bars about 4 hours into the dehydrating time. Peach Compote5 c diced fresh peachesJuice of one half lemon1/4 c agave nectar1/2 t cinnamon1 pinch sea saltIn a bowl, toss ingredients together.
I adapted this from Ani Phyo’s Black Sesame Sunflower Bread. Use this bread to make smashed avocado and alfalfa sprouts sandwiches.
Ingredients 1 cup sun-dried tomatoes, soaked until soft; save water 1 cup walnuts, soaked 1 cup flax seeds, ground ⅓ cup flax seeds, whole, unsoaked ¼ cup black sesame seeds 1 clove garlic, minced ¼ teaspoon sea salt 1⅓ cups sun-dried tomato water, saved from soaked sun-dried tomatoes
1. In food processor, mix flax seeds, salt, garlic and sun-dried tomatoes and soaking water. Add walnuts and sesame seeds.
2. Divide the mixture into two and spread them on two dehydrator trays about 1/4-inch high.
3. Dehydrate at 110 degrees for 4 hours. Flip and score (use a pizza cutter) the bread into 9 slices. Dehydrate another 4-6 hours.
photo by fotosearch Renee at The Gluten-Free Vegan blog posted Raw Buckwheat & Flax Flatbread. Buckwheat can be a good substitute for wheat, oats, rye and barley since it is gluten-free. It is also a good source of manganese, magnesium and dietary fiber. The protein in buckwheat contains all eight essential amino acids.
.jpg)
