soft raw pretzels

What if we could make pretzels RAW and from whole foods???? We searched for recipes and found two basic recipes at numerous sites, one soft and one hard.

We are combining recipes. Thanks Courtney for your assistance and being our right-hand gal!!! The hubby LOVED these!!!!

Ingredients:
2 cup "crispie" sunflower seeds, ground to a flour
1 cup flax meal
almond pulp from 1 cup soaked almonds from almond milk
4 TBS liquid sweetener, we used nectar
1/4 tsp sea salt

Directions: 1. Grind the the sunflower seeds into a flour using coffee grinder.
2. Add all the ingredients to a food processor and process until it forms a dough ball. 
3. Using a 1/4 cup of dough
4. Roll each into a long strand,  ~ 1/2 inch in diameter.  
5. On parchment paper take the strand and make a U shape, bring the left strand down to connect to the bottom of the U and then cross over the right side. 
6. Gently press the center to the bottom and continue making the pretzel shapes with the remaining dough, making 10 large pretzels.

Coarse Sea Salt
7. Press each pretzel into the coarse sea salt
8. dehydrate at 105 for 12-24 hours, depending on the crispness desired

Recipes using sunflower seed

http://rawfoodrecipes.com/recipes/homemade-soft-pretzels/

http://www.love-fed.com/2014/01/27/game-day-soft-pretzels-raw-vegan/

Recipes using almond pulp
http://nouveauraw.com/raw-recipies/savory-treats/raw-pretzels-2/

http://www.tonyakay.com/journal/raw-vegan-gluten-free-pretzel-recipe-by-tonya-kay/

cucumber hummus

We are always looking for alkalizing recipes and from this one from http://www.veganfamilyrecipes.com/2015/01/cucumber-hummus.html
Thanks Courtney for assisting us making this today!!!

INGREDIENTS

• 2 cups Chickpeas or Garbanzo Beans (rinsed and drained from can or soaked and cooked dried chickpeas)
• 2 springs fresh Dill (washed, stems removed)
• ½ Cucumber (washed, skin on, roughly chopped)
• ½ teaspoon Salt
• 2 tablespoons Lemon Juice
• 1 tablespoon Olive Oil (or more , optional)
• 2 tablespoons Tahini (Sesame Paste)
• 1 small Garlic Clove

DIRECTIONS

1. Put all ingredients in a food processor or blender and pulse/blend until smooth, scraping down the sides if needed.
2. Scoop hummus into a bowl and drizzle with olive oil.
3. Serve with crackers, veggies or spread on bread

Does the color of food give one clues to life forces?

We were listening to David Wolfe discuss the food clues of color. We were fascinated. And then it appears in other places. The links are below.

These are my notes from David's podcast.

White = lungs
Yellow =  purification, tissue building and tissue repair, happy
http://www.longevitywarehouse.com/ourblog/hello-yellow-superfood-recipe/

Orange = increase energy, anti-inflammatory, happiness in action

Red = heart, blood, circulation, stimulating mind and body, energy of fire

Green = detoxify, neutralizer, liver cleanser

Black  = longevity, life and rebirth, bone marrow, kidney, adrenal
Brown = intestines, parasite
Purple   = healing of skin ailments, protector of nervous system of central and gut
Blue = imagination creativity, stem cell, bone marrow, thyroid, speaking

David just released a video describing the rainbow salad http://www.longevitywarehouse.com/ourblog/david-wolfes-rainbow-salad/

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/david-wolfes-official-podcast/id584553690?mt=2

http://www.forbes.com/sites/sap/2014/10/22/the-shocking-truth-about-the-influence-of-colors/?sr_source=lift_outbrain

http://thelogocompany.net/blog/infographics/psychology-color-logo-design/


Cosmic giggle in St John's Wort
http://www.longevitywarehouse.com/ourblog/can-food-increase-your-happiness/

This is an article about what your clothing color says about you.
 http://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-17697/what-your-clothing-color-choice-says-about-you.html

This is from Deanna Minich's color link

Here’s a quick snapshot of the associations with color:

RED represents the adrenal glands and instinct; 
ORANGE represents the reproductive glands and creativity; 
YELLOW represents the digestive system and transformation; 
GREEN represents the heart and love; 
BLUE-GREEN represents the thyroid gland and truth; 
INDIGO represents the pituitary gland and wisdom; 
LAVENDER represents the pineal gland and connection.

Sweet Potato Soup

Our local news TV station posted this soup recipe, we had all the ingredients in the kitchen, so we HAD to make it. We made it vegan by omitting the Italian sausage. Thanks Courtney for your assistance making this today!!!

Ingredients:
2 onions
2 carrots
2 celery stalks
2 cloves garlic
1 1/2 tsp curry powder
2-3 sweet potatoes
6 cups vegetable broth

After everything is cooked and soft, use an emulsion blend-stick to blend.

For the hubby, we halved the recipe and added 2 links of Italian sausage.

Top with raw croutons and rawmesan cheese (garlic and pine nuts minced) or Parmesan cheese for those eating dairy and croutons for the gluten lovers.

Raw Caramelized Onions

Cherie Soria published a free ebook Cherie's Favorite Holiday recipes. We have made several recipes from her books and ebooks, loving them all. Today we made her caramelized onions (p 8). They are so good, even the hubby likes them.

Avocado Hummus

Our friend Linda posted this on facebook. Thanks Linda!!!
This recipe is from http://www.cookingclassy.com/2014/05/avocado-hummus/

Ingredients

1 avocado

1 can chickpea

1 TBS cilantro

1 clove garlic

juice of 1 lime

1 1/2 TBS tahini

3 TBS olive oil

1/8 tsp cumin (we added 1/2 tsp cumin because we love it!)

red pepper flakes

salt 

pepper

Directions: place all the ingredients, but the avocado, in the food processor until smooth. Then process the avocado. Top with olive oil.

FullyRaw Apple Pie

We halved her original recipe because we only need to eat so much apple pie and so many dates in a day. This is in a 10-inch spring form pan. This is amazing!!! We weren't sure how it would be using figs instead of almonds.

FULLYRAW APPLE PIE!

Ingredients:5 apples of your choice (we used Honeycrisp)1-2  pounds of pitted dates1 cups Raw dried figs (fresh figs work as well)CinnamonNutmeg
In a food processor, combine the dried figs and approx. 1 lbs of dates until it reaches a cookie dough consistency. Press this crust into the bottom of your pie pan dish.
Blend 2 apples with approx 1/2 lb of dates, cinnamon, nutmeg, and a small bit of water until it reaches a thick, smooth, pie filling consistency.
Thinly slice your apples with a knife or with a mandolin and start layering your apple slices with your pie filling as shown in the video. I alternate between an apple layer with an apple pie filling spread layer. Layer up to the top, remove the hold, and slice yourself a little piece of heaven! Enjoy immensely and share with family and friends!

Directions for the crust:

For the apple pie filling:

For the layers:

http://tv.greenmedinfo.com/raw-apple-pie-5-ingredients/

raw onion garlic bagels

We modified the recipe from the http://heal-thy-self-cb.blogspot.com/2014/11/raw-cinnamon-raisin-bagels-with-honey.html to make these. These could easily be modified to make any bagels one wanted using the base recipe of almond pulp and flax meal.

Raw Onion Garlic Bagels
Ingredients:
almond pulp (leftovers from using 1 cups almonds to make almond milk, ~ 1 cup pulp)
1 cup flax meal
2 TBS minced onion
1 cloves garlic
1/2 tsp Celtic Sea salt
course salt to sprinkle on the top

Directions: process everything in the food processor. Using a 1/4 cup scoop out dough, roll, and push hole through the center. Sprinkle with course salt. Dehydrate for 8-12 hours. Makes 7 bagels.

Raw Hazelnut Caramel Clusters

We wanted some candy-type sweets and saw this recipe. Courtney assisted us in making these today.
This is from http://www.rawguru.com/raw-food-recipes/hazelnut-caramel-clusters-with-rawmio-chocolate-hazelnut-spread.html.html

For the caramel layer:

8 large organic medjool dates (pitted)

1/2 tablespoon cacao butter

2 tablespoons organic  lucuma powder

1/4 teaspoon organic vanilla extract

Prepare the caramel:1) Put all ingredients for the caramel (medjool dates, cacao butter, lucuma powder and vanilla extract) into a food processor and process until it is well combined.

For the nut layer:

1/2 cup organic raw hazelnuts (hand crushed)

Assembly:
1) Divide the caramel into 8 pieces, then roll into a ball shape in the palms of your hand.

Instructions:

For the hazelnut spread topping:

1/4 cup Raw Vegan Nutella * (we used more, about double this amount)

For the garnish:

2 tablespoons organic goji berries

Prepare the hazelnuts:

1) Using the flat surface of a butter knife, crush each hazelnut by hand into small pieces. Set aside.
Prepare the caramel layer

2) Flatten them out in the palm of your hand into a small disk shape.

3) Press down into the crushed hazelnuts, making sure it is completely covered in hazelnuts. Fill in any empty spaces by hand. 

4) With your fingers, press the hazelnuts firmly into the caramel disk to make sure they don't fall off and then put them on a piece of wax or parchment paper.

5) Put them into the freezer for approximately 15 - 30 minutes or until they have firmed up.

6) Take a small spoonful of the Raw nutella chocolate hazelnut spread and put it on the top of the cluster and spread gently until the entire top is covered.

7) Optional: Garnish with goji berries.

8) Put back into the freezer for approximately 15 - 30 minutes or until the Raw nutella has firmed up.

Store in the freezer until you are ready to serve because they will become soft and lose their shape if left out at room temperature.

* Raw vegan Nutella from http://www.food.com/recipe/raw-vegan-nutella-501828

1 cup raw hazelnuts

2 tsp vanilla extract

3 TBS raw cacao

4 TBS maple syrup  (we used 6 pitted medjool dates)

1/4 tsp salt (we reduced the salt to an 1/8 tsp)

1 TBS coconut oil  (we used cacao butter)

1/2 cup almond milk

blend nuts until forming a paste. Add cacao butter and continue blending until it stats to getting smooth. Add remaining ingredients and blend until creamy and spreadable.

Raw Sprouted Lentil Soup

Friday night is soup night in our home. The hubby is easy,  make a large pot of meat (he has reduced his meat consumption by half)
 and vegetables soup and freeze it in one-serving pint mason jars. For our son and i, cold raw soups in the winter don't seem that appealing, especially when the night time temperature is in the teens. We are so thankful that our Blendtec has a soup cycle that heats the meal, under 90 seconds and it can still be considered raw. This taste similar to a tomato bisque. We served it with onion crackers and a green salad.

Thanks Courtney for your assistance!!!

Tonight we made Hearty Lentil Soup from Juliano's book Raw the UNcook Book, page 22
This serves 2.
Ingredients:
1 cup almond milk (or filtered water)
2 TBS minced onion
1/4 cup red bell pepper
1/2 avocado
1/2 cup tomato
1 tsp minced garlic
2 TBS fresh dill or 1 tsp of dried dill
1 tsp Celtic Sea salt
1 tsp jalapeno (we omitted it)
1 cup sprouted lentils
dash of paprika

Directions:
Place all the ingredients, except the lentil sprouts, in a blender and puree well. Add the lentil sprouts and process for a couple of seconds. Pour into serving bowls and garnish with a dash of paprika.

Raw Apple Pie Bars

The original recipe is from the February Clean Eating and titled "Chewy Apple Pie Bars". We didn't have any dried apples, so we used fresh.

Ingredients:
1 cup pitted dates
2 cups diced, cored apples
1 cup nuts (we used almond for the higher alkalinity)
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

Directions:
Place all the ingredients in a food processor.
Process until it holds together.
Line a loaf pan with parchment paper.
Press dough into the lined loaf pan.
Cut into 12 bars and place the bar "dough" in the dehydrator until chewy but firm (8-12 hours)
Wrap bars individually and keep refrigerated.

As you can see someone ate a couple of these prior to being finished.

Avocado and Tomato Salad

We saw this recipe on facebook and thought we would give it a try. Thanks Tamsey for posting this!!! Thanks Courtney for making this for us!!!

Set Your Fat on Fire Fitness with Kaitlin Carol Ann Morgan-McComb and 4 others

Avocado and Tomato Salad
2 cups avocados, diced medium
1 cups grape tomatoes(we also used a yellow heirloom tomato)
1 cups cucumbers, peeled and diced medium
1/2 cup red onion, diced small
2 tablespoons fresh cilantro, chopped
1 teaspoons fresh garlic, minced
1 tablespoons lime juice
2 TBS olive oil (we changed this to 1 TBS flax oil and 1 TBS water, using reduced olive oil would have the same nutritional information)
salt
fresh black pepper
Lettuce (if you want)
Toss all ingredients in a bowl and top on a bed of lettuce (if desired)
Makes 4 servings

Calories 201.9 Total Fat 17.9 g Sodium 10.2 mg Total Carbohydrate 11.6 g Dietary Fiber 5.8 g Sugars 1.8 g

our nutritional information would be
Calories 180 Total Fat 14.3 g Sodium 10.2 mg Total Carbohydrate 11.6 g Dietary Fiber 5.7 g Sugars 1.8 g

Raw salted chocolate cookies for Donna E's Cookie Exchange

We needed to make 7 dozen cookies for a cookie exchange. After looking for "easy" raw recipes we decided to make these. There are many sites that have similar recipes, but this is what we did.

Ingredients:
3 cups of nut flours (we used almond and cashew)
1/2 cup cacao powder
2 TBS coconut oil
2 TBS liquid sweetener (we used maple syrup)
2 tsp vanilla
1 cup dates
course Celtic Sea Salt to grind over the top of each cookie

All the ingredients are placed in the food processor and processed until it rolls into a ball.
Using 1 TBS of dough for each cookie, we rolled it into a ball and flattened. We ground Celtic Sea Salt over each cookie and dehydrated for 12 hours. This made 40 cookies.

Raw verses Cooked Vegan diet

So is a raw vegan diet better than cooked?

Few sides have medical research to back up the claim of being "right"; however there is research making claims with certain foods.

We went to nutritionalfacts.org for answers. Dr Gregor uses research studies that are usually not funded by the people benefiting financially from the study's results.
He recommends the book Becoming Raw: The Essential Guide to Raw Vegan Diets by Davis feeling it has the most update information on a raw diet. This is from his video http://nutritionfacts.org/video/raw-food-diet-myths/ which only discusses one factor of broccoli.

Another videos discuss that there are no evidence that a raw diet is more healthy that a cooked vegan diet and for many foods cooked is beneficial. He recommends a combination of a raw and cooked vegan diet
http://nutritionfacts.org/video/raw-veggies-versus-cooked-for-heart-disease/

http://nutritionfacts.org/video/raw-food-nutrient-absorption-2/

http://nutritionfacts.org/video/raw-food-nutrient-absorption-3/

Here are videos concerning sprouts which he highly recommends.
http://nutritionfacts.org/video/antioxidants-sprouting-up/

http://nutritionfacts.org/video/biggest-nutrition-bang-for-your-buck/

Blog on sprouting
http://nutritionfacts.org/2013/05/02/are-microgreens-healthier/

Also Dr Fuhrman recommends at least a 50% raw diet obtaining his information from the China Study.

This link is from Dr. Oz http://www.doctoroz.com/slideshow/produce-prep-raw-or-cooked?gallery=true

Our goal is to eat at least 75% raw. When we go below 75% raw our urine and saliva pH drop below 6.5. For medical journals concerning medical benefits from an alkalizing diet search our blog for the medical journals posted in September 2013.

January 2015 potluck

This month's them was soup and salads. We had a wonderful assortments of dishes.

We had a raw tomato soup, an avocado and tomato salad, a mushroom dish, a leafy green salad, a super green salad, raw croutons and raw onion crackers.

The recipes are as follows:
Ruby’s Smokin' Hot Tomato Soup

Ingredients:
2 cups fresh tomatoes
1 1/2 cups sun-dried tomatoes, soaked (save the soak water, about 1+ cup)
1/3 cup olive oil
1/2 cup raw cashews, soaked for 1–2 hours
1 clove garlic
1/4 cup chopped shallot
1 Tablespoon red pepper flakes (these were omitted)
1 Tablespoon raw honey, coconut or agave nectar
1 teaspoon smoked sea salt (if you have it; otherwise substitute regular sea salt)
Fresh herbs for garnish

Directions: Blend all ingredients, including soak water from the sun-dried tomatoes, in your blender. Combine until the mixture reaches a creamy consistency.

Add pure water to thin as needed. If you want to reduce the spicy heat, use fewer red pepper flakes.

The Avocado and tomato salad:
Ingredients:

3 medium tomatoes

1 avocado

1 green pepper

1 red pepper

Dressing was:

Olive Oil

Lemon Juice

White pepper

Garlic

The marinaded mushrooms:

Servings: 4

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon agave nectar
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
• 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 dash cayenne
• 12 medium sliced mushrooms

Directions:

1. Directions:
2. 1. Place all ingredients except for the mushrooms in a container with a lid that can store the mushrooms.
3. 2 Stir well.
4. 3 the mushrooms, and stir to ensure all mushrooms are coated.
5. 4 Store in the fridge, turning the container often so that the mushrooms remain coated.
6. 5 Marinate for at least 4 hours. Keeps for up to a week.

The link is from http://www.food.com/recipe/raw-marinated-mushrooms-317988


The leafy green salad contained pomegranate seeds and other
diced vegetables with a ginger dressing.

The super green salad contained super greens, blueberries and diced vegetables. The dressing was the orange marinade from http://heal-thy-self-cb.blogspot.com/2014/11/raw-vegetable-antipasto.html
1/2 cup freshly juiced orange
1 1/2 TBS freshly squeezed lemon
2 TBS extra-virgin olive oil
2 TBS cold-pressed flax oil
1/2 tsp Italian seasonings
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 garlic clove crushed
1/2 tsp powdered mustard

The raw onion crackers are from http://heal-thy-self-cb.blogspot.com/2013/12/raw-onion-bread.html

The raw garlic-herb croutons are from Raw Foods for Dummies, p 153 (we doubled the recipe)
Ingredients:
2 cups almond pulp
1 cup ground flax
1 zucchini shredded

3 TBS olive oil
1 TBS nutritional yeast
1 tsp minced fresh basil
1 tsp minced fresh parsley
1 tsp minced fresh oregano
2 cloves of garlic crushed
1/2 tsp salt
directions: mix all the ingredients together. spread on a nonstick dehydrator sheet until 1/2 inch thick. Cut the batter into 1/2 inch cubes and place cubes on the mesh dehydrator sheet. Dehydrate at 105 degrees for 18-24 hours.

The February potluck with be February 7th. The theme is the dish contains a "RED" ingredient.