Raw Food Recipes:
snack

Today’s recipe started out as Shazzie’s Guacamole (p. 274) but spiraled into our own creation. I’m sure we aren’t doing anything new and spectacular with this recipe but it’s ours all the same. Or shall I say it belongs to Avery. She kind of took over the kitchen when avocados entered the picture. She should be called Baby Avocado, she eats them with a passion. Just takes a spoon and scoops the sweet flesh from its shell. She was very insistent when it came to preparing this recipe.

Guacamole
4 Hass Avocados, halved, pitted
2 tomatoes, seeded, chopped
1 red chile pepper, seeds and ribs removed, finely chopped*
2 garlic cloves, minced
Juice of two limes
1 ½ teaspoon sea salt, or more to taste

Scoop the flesh from the avocado halves into a large bowl, add the tomatoes, pepper, garlic, lime juice and sea salt. Smash all the ingredients together with a potato masher until you get a smooth, yet slightly chunky consistency.

*If a guacamole with more heat is what you seek, add the chile’s seeds to the mix.

Note: If the mood strikes you, add a handful of cilantro leaves and a tablespoon or two of chopped white onion . We were out, but I know for a fact they are welcome additions.

Ants in a Canoe by Stephen Arlin, p. 110
My daughter, Donavan, loved, loved, l-o-v-e-d, loved this snack. She could not get enough of the salty raw almond butter with the tart apples and sweet raisins. She did ask me why there was almond butter inside the canoe, I told her the hull had a hole and filled up with gooey, almond butter and the "ants" were hanging on for dear life, just like mommy.
I decided against making my own almond butter as the recipe called for. I understand back in the day, raw almond butter probably was not readily available in your local grocery store, so making it from scratch might have been required.

But why make this kid-friendly treat harder than it has to be?

I did go a bit further with the recipe and hollowed out the apple to add more almond butter. Donavan seemed to appreciate that.

Ants in a Canoe
Adapted from Stephen Arlin's recipe

2 large apples
¼ cup raw almond butter
¼ cup raisins

With a paring knife, cut the apples into quarters. Remove the core and seeds and carve the apple to create the tiny hull of the canoe.

Spoon the almond butter in the hull and top with raisins.

My husband, Mr. Epperson, is back in the kitchen while I'm juice feasting. Which is a good thing, he's a talented chef in his own right. This is recipe is his creation.

Sweet and Spicy Pecans

Pecans are a good source of protein and unsaturated fats. 2 cups pecans, soaked1 tablespoon maple syrup*1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper1/8 teaspoon sea salt
1 In a bowl, combine maple syrup, cayenne and sea salt.
2 Add pecans. Mix until well coated.
3 Spread pecans on Teflex sheets. Dehydrate at 100 degrees for 18-24 hours or until pecans are very crispy.
*Not a raw ingredient.

Image by Cool Text: Logo and Button Generator — Create Your Own Logo

12:30 p.m. Large salad (spinach, romaine, mixed greens, purple cabbage, carrots, cucumber and sprouts with Living Light's raw Dijon dressing) at my desk at work.

2:30 p.m. Kombucha at my desk at work.

6:45 p.m. Lettuce Wraps with Man in the Raw

This post is dedicated to Candace and my other Raw Buddies at Living Light. Candace and I had a nice discussion on what to put in lettuce wraps. I offered a few suggestions, sunflower pate, veggies, sprouts and such.

But it totally slipped my mind one of my favorite lettuce wraps. Avocado Ceviche. I call it a ceviche because it's not quite a guacamole. Although all the players are there (tomato, pepper, cilantro) it is not prepared like a guacamole would be. And the bonus was it was quick and easy to make.

Avocado Ceviche
serves 2

2 avocados, peeled and diced
1 Roma tomato, seeded and diced
1 Serrano pepper, diced
1/2 cup cilanto, chopped
1 tablespoon lemon juice
Sea Salt, to taste

Lightly toss avocado, tomato, pepper and cilantro in a large bowl. Toss in lemon juice and season with the sea salt.

Serve with 8-10 Romaine lettuce leaves (Red or Green leaf lettuce works great also) and your favorite fixings (we used cucumber and carrot strips, parsley and scallions)

At the Water Cooler
What are some of your favorite fixings for lettuce wraps? Leave your faves in the comment box.

Oh my darling, oh my darling,
Oh my darling, Clementine!
Thou art lost and gone forever
Dreadful sorry, Clementine

Food memories are funny. Don’t you think? How certain smells, tastes or textures stir memories. Recollections that were lost, found, mourned and replaced all because of something you ate.

photo by photodigs
Last week, I bought a “Cuties” box of clementines at my favorite Asian market, it only cost $3.99.

When I was a child, I would visit my Grandmama in Gary, Indiana for the summers. A neat woman back in the day. She would buy candy at Kmart or Wal*Mart or some other “mart” location that sold bags of candy two-for-a-dollar.

Circus Peanuts, Candy Corn, Red Licorice Bits, (not the whole sticks of licorice, just its bits) and especially Orange Slices helped Grandmama give the candy lady down the block a run for her money. It was a cluster of sugar.

If you were lucky, and you managed to get through the day without a whooping, you could fill the fancy ceramic bowls with the candy. Of course, popping a few of the Orange Slices into your mouth was customary.

These days I don’t eat much candy, sugar gives me a horrible headache. I don’t eat a lot of the foods that I grew up with. A lot of the foods that would cause me to remember the ghosts of childhood are hardly eaten. It’s not that I can’t eat them, I just choose not to. It’s a rare occasion that a food I eat now will remind me of being a child.

photo by TAHG
My kids and I sat at the table and peeled away the smooth, glossy exteriors of the clementines. We carefully removed the white pith and placed the sweet, tiny sections into a ceramic bowl and ate them like Orange Slices.

Clementine Slices

Chocolate Covered Granny Smith
4 Granny Smith Apples
4 Popsicle sticks

Remove the stem from an apple, push Popsicle stick where stem was. Repeat with remaining apples.

Chocolate Glaze
1 cup cocoa powder
½ cup maple syrup (not a raw product)
2 tablespoons coconut butter
2 tablespoon water
chopped raw walnuts (optional)

1 In the blender, combine water, maple syrup, cocoa powder and coconut butter until well combined. Pour into a bowl.

2 Dip apples into glaze, place on plate. Freeze for 15 minutes until chocolate sets.

For variety, sprinkle chopped walnuts on the apples before you freeze.

Date Candy
1 fresh date
1 teaspoon raw almond butter

Remove date pit and replace with almond butter.

Servings: 1 *

* I don't know about you, but I couldn't eat just one?
I used to eat dates with an almond in it, but Scott at Raw Denver hooked me up with this recipe and I'm hooked! If you really want to Rock the Casbah, try this recipe with Raw Pecan Butter. Oh, yeah.

I love challenges. My pal Bob of Legally Raw gave me a challenge. Make a raw Milky Way candy bar. Well, here you go Bob, the raw food recipe for the candy bar. Enjoy.
Viva Raw Foods!
Terilynn

The Legally Raw Bar
NOUGAT FILLING
1 cup almonds, unsoaked
1 cup cashews, unsoaked
3 tablespoons honey
1 tablespoon water, or more if needed

CARAMEL
1 cup dates
1/4 cup maple syrup*
juice of one half lemon
1 tablespoon coconut oil
¼ teaspoon sea salt
1 cup water

MILK CHOCOLATE
1 cup cocoa powder
1 cup maple syrup*
½ cup coconut oil
¼ cup water

1 Soak dates in the water and lemon juice for an hour. Reserve soaking water. Meanwhile, make nougats.

2 In a coffee grinder, grind cashews into a fine powder. Remove. Process the almonds into a fine powder.

3 Place nut powders in a large bowl. Add honey and water. Stir until mixture is a thick paste-like consistency.

4 Form nougat into miniature candy pieces. Place nougat pieces on a plate and put in the freezer for an hour.

5 To make the caramel, process soaked dates, coconut oil and sea salt in a blender.
Using soaking water one tablespoon at time, blend until you achieve a thick creamy mixture.

6 Spread caramel on top of nougat pieces and return the candy to the freezer while you make the chocolate.

7 In a large bowl, whisk cocoa powder, maple syrup, coconut butter and water together until smooth and creamy.

8 Pour chocolate over candy pieces and freeze an additional hour or until chocolate sets hard. Yield: 15-20 candy pieces

*not a raw product

NOT RAW

I'm sure you have heard of Lunchables. But did you know there is Lunchable Jr.? My husband dared bring one home for our 10-month old. So I did what any self-respecting raw food mom/blogger would do, I fed it to Cody the dog (Sorry, Cody) and created my own raw food lunchable.

RAW
Mango Salsa
1 diced mango
1/2 cup diced pineapple
1/4 cup diced red pepper
1 small bunch cilantro, chopped
juice of one half lime
salt, to taste
pepper, to taste

Toss mango, pineapple, red pepper, cilantro, lime juice and jalapeno in a large bowl. Season with salt and pepper.

For an adult version add 1 minced garlic clove, 1 tablespoon finely chopped onion and 1 seeded and minced jalapeno pepper.

A biscotti is a dry, crunchy Italian cookie used for dipping into coffee or red wine, but in my case a cup of tea.

2 cups almonds
1 cup oat groats, soaked
1/2 cup dried cranberries, soaked
1/4 cup agave nectar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon sea salt

1 In food processor, pulse almonds into a flour. Remove from processor.

2 Add oat groats to food processor and process until smooth. Place mixture in a bowl.

3 Combine oat groat mixture with almond flour, seasoning, agave nectar and cranberries.

4 Spread mixture on Teflex sheet. Dehydrate at 110 degrees overnight or 6-8 hours. Flip over and score into bars about 4 hours into the dehydrating time.

*A slider is a miniature hamburger.

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

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.

1 c soaked and sprouted oat groats1 c raisins1/2 c almonds, ground into flour1/4 c agave nectar1 t vanilla extract1/2 t ground cinnamon1/8 t sea salt
Place oat groats in a food processor and pulse until it's a oatmeal consistency. Put mixture into a large bowl, add almond flour, raisins, agave nectar, vanilla extract, ground cinnamon and sea salt. Mix well.
Form into cookies and place on the Teflex sheet. Dehydrate at 110 degrees for 4-6 hours. They should be firm yet soft and chewy.
Oats not only cleanse your intestinal tract but your blood as well. They also are an excellent food in lowering cholesterol and reducing the risk of heart disease. This recipe appeared on Raw Test Kitchen on Sept. 5.

Avocados are the quickest and easiest meals to prepare. My kids love it. My son eats it straight out of its skin and Taste Tester A prefers it cut up in chunks. Sous Chef D prefers her avocado with tomatoes.

I never really had avocados before I started a raw diet. And I didn't even think of the possibility of eating it by itself. I would eat guacamole, but that was once in a blue moon and only with Mexican food.

I'm so happy that I discovered for myself the joys of this smooth, creamy fruit. Yum!

Avocado slices with lemon
Serves 2

1 avocado
Juice of ½ lemon
1 teaspoon flax seeds
1 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon sea salt

Cut the avocado in half. In the shell cut avocado into slices. Place ½ avocado slices on a plate. Squeeze lemon juice over the slices. Sprinkle on ½ teaspoon flax seeds, pepper and sea salt. Garnish with a lemon wedge. Repeat with other half. Serves 2.

Updated 1-11-11

Diana says: I also want to mention one thing I learned from a few sources when reading about eating healthy and that is that you should grind flax seed. The outer layer is too hard for our system to break down, so to get the health benefits you should grind it.



Terilynn says: Diana is absolutely right.

The lovely young lady to the left is the chef for this recipe. Dad brought home berries. We've got strawberries, blueberries, raspberries and blackberries. While I was thinking about what to do with the strawberries (another strawberry cheesecake is out of the question), Raw Chef D. came up with this little number. She doesn't know the measurements (I would guess the honey and agave nectar are about 1 teaspoon a piece) but she does know the flavors. She even went to the garden for the mint garnish. Black and Blue Berry CompoteIngredientsBlueberriesBlackberries1 bananahoney agave nectarmintGently toss the berries, banana, honey and agave nectar. Garnish with mint.

This is a recipe from Ani's Raw Food Kitchen by Ani Phyo. I enjoy her book alot and these donut holes are one of the reasons.
They remind me of the little donut gems by Dolly Madison that come six to a package. But of course these are soooo much better. These donut holes are to die for!
Below is Ani's recipe for the coconut donut holes and right below that I added the modification for the coco powder donuts.
Also I didn't use an ice cream scooper, I made about 40 small bite-size holes. The original recipe should yield approximately 24 donuts.

1 3/4 cups almonds
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1 vanilla bean, scraped
2 cups dried pineapple, soaked until soft, chopped
2 cups pitted dates
1/3 cup plus 1/4 cup shredded coconut

In food processor, place almonds, salt and vanilla. Process into a fine powder first. Slowly add chopped pineapple and dates, mix well. Place in a large bowl. Mix in 1/3 cup shredded coconut.

To serve, use an ice cream scooper or spoon to form into donut holes. Roll holes in 1/4 cup shredded coconut.

Will keep for over a week in the fridge.
Coco Powder donuts1/4 cup raw cocoa powder
Follow the recipe above. After forming donuts, roll holes in the cocoa powder.
If you can get your hands on this Ani Phyo's book I would suggest it. It's fabulous!

2 c pecan, soaked for two hours4 dates, soaked for an hour1 t nutmeg40 pecan pieces1/8 t sea salthoney

In a food processor combine soaked pecans, dates and nutmeg. Form mixture into bite-size cookies. Place pecan pieces on each cookie, then drizzle honey on top. Dehydrate at 100 degrees for 5-6 hours until firm and chewy.

Happy 4th of July!!!Here's my contribution to the holiday.
1 pint blueberries1 pint raspberries
COCONUT CREAM2 cup coconut meat, from 2-3 young coconuts2 T coconut water 1 T agave nectar1/4 tsp sea salt
Whip coconut cream ingredients in blender until creamy. Add more coconut water 1 tablespoon at a time as needed. Let chill for an hour.
Put 5-6 blueberries in the bottom of a 6-oz parfait glass, place 1 tablespoon coconut cream on top of blue berries then place 5-6 raspberries on top of cream.

photo by Well-Seasoned Cook
This is a great snack to have on hand in case you get the munchies. You can use whatever nut floats your boat, cashews are my favorite. It has a rich buttery flavor that would off-set the spiciness. Pecans, crisp up nicely. If you use pecans, try it with maple syrup (not raw product), to add a different flavor.
Just don't eat all the nuts in one sitting, they are high in fat.
Sweet Chile Nutsmakes 4 cups
Juice of one lime1 tablespoon olive oil1 tablespoon agave nectar1 tablespoon paprika2 teaspoon cayenne1 teaspoon sea salt4 cups raw soaked nuts of your choice
1 Whisk together lime juice, oil, agave and seasonings. Add nuts to coat evenly.
2 Spread nuts on a Teflex sheet and dehydrate at 100 degrees for 8-12 hours or until dry, crisp and crunchy.

My husband came up with this granola that our son Bishop knows as "My Cereal". And since my husband developed this popular (at least in our household) recipe, I don't have any of the exacts. I was lucky one day to actually catch him playing with the ingredients. Most of the time he makes this when I'm not around. I don't understand why. ;)

He runs and hides when he sees me flying at him with a pad, pencil and camera demanding to capture the moment.
I know there is soaking, sprouting and dehydrating involved.

Which leaves Bishop's favorite cereal with a sweet and nutty flavor and crunchy texture that holds its own in almond milk.
Although, my boy prefers it dry. That's how I liked 'my cereal' when I was a kid. Now that I have the ingredients I will take some QT time and figure out the actually recipe. Maybe you can do the same.

Bishop's "My Cereal"Pumpkin SeedsOat Groats, soakedRaisinsQuinoaHoneySunflower SeedsRolled OatsMaple SyrupSea Salt