Raw Food Porn: Apples & Almond Choco Butter

Here's another for the raw food porn series. Which for those who aren't keen, is a series of incredibly mouth watering eye candy minus the recipe.  
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...however, can be found in my upcoming (eco-friendly) digital no-cook book (my first of which can be found here.) The point of the Raw Food Porn series is to spread raw, raw vegan, gluten-free awareness and maybe inspire some creativity. Nothing should be too hard to deconstruct with a bit of imagination. I've been fondest of the simpler sides of raw foodery these days.

So here you go, for your eyes only.
-K

Apples & Almond Choco Butter

w/ Cacao Nibs, Raisins & Yacon Syrup

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Raw Food Recipe: Grapefruit & Chia Salad

A simple raw, vegan and gluten-free salad for a rainy Monday snack. I had some cucumber that was reaching it's mush phases and a sack of grapefruit so this is what I have invented; Grapefruit can be an acquired taste. So I wouldn't go making a triple sized recipe if you are not sure about how your taste buds feel about this bittersweet delicacy.

Love and light,

Keela

Grapefruit & Chia Salad 

with Cucumber and Lucuma

 

Ingredients

1 Grapefruit

1/3 Cucumber

4t. Chia Seeds

1 T. Lucuma powder

Directions

Peel and dice the grapefruit. Slice the cucumber paper thin or as close as you can get. Toss with chia seeds and lucuma powder and let sit for at least seven minutes. Enjoy!

Raw Food Recipe: Hearty Mushroom Salad

Hearty Mushroom Salad

Marinated Mushrooms;

3/4 C. Dried Mushrooms

1/4 C. Oil & Vinegar Dressing

2 T. Worcestershire Sauce

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Instruction i: 

Toss mushrooms and liquids in a bowl and add to a small plastic bag. When bagged, continue to coat and massage the liquids into the mushrooms through the bag. Roll the air out, seal and let sit for at least and hour and a half.

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Salad Veggies;

1/2 A large tomato (diced)

1 medium bell pepper (diced)

2 C. Romain Lettuce (chopped)

1 1/2 C. Leafy green salad mix.

Dressing;

1/4 C. Oil & Vinegar Dressing (italian etc.)

1 T. Nutritional Yeast

1 t. Nutmeg

1 t. Worcestershire Sauce

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Instruction ii (sauce);

Whisk and ready!

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Instruction iii;

Layer lettuces to your liking and toss with your salad vegetables and marinated mushrooms. Or you can plate it like I did above for aesthetic appeal when serving for a lunch or potluck.

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Raw Food Recipe: Apple Pi

Raw Vegan Dessert time, but who are we kidding? This could easily be raw breakfast. Low fat and ready in minutes I'll guarantee satisfied customers whenever there's a pan full (which is never very long).

- Keela

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Inside;

3 1/4 Apples (eat the other 3/4's for a snack, maybe with some nut butter.)

1/2 C. Dried Currants (any fairly soft, dried berry would do and fresh would be best)

Instructions i: Add apples and currants to a large bowl. Set aside.

Glaze;

3 T. Water

1 1/2 T. Flax Meal

1 T. Agave, honey or maple syrup

1 1/2 t. Cinnamon

1/4 t. Nutmeg

Instructions ii: whisk together glaze ingredients and pour over fruit. With a spatula, thoroughly coat fruit in glaze turning over and over. Let stand for at least ten minutes.

Crust;

1 C. Macadamia Nuts 

4 Large Dates (pitted)

1/2 C. Coconut (shredded)

Instructions iii: Add nuts to food processor and using the metal S blade and pulse until nuts are very coarsely chopped. Now add in the dates and coconut and blend until mixture is comprised of very small pieces of each component, the size of large rice or oatmeal.

Instructions iv: 

Fill the bottom of a shallow glass/earthen dish with the marinated fruit. I like to use a glass pie pan. Pack the fruit down a little. Sprinkle the crust mixture evenly over the fruit...

Note:... and if you like you can use something with a flat bottom to pack the crust down. This makes it easier to cut and serve slices if the pie is going to be refrigerated  I also like to serve individual cups that use layering rather than the pie form. 

Smoothie Wednesday: Spiced Tart

My favorite smoothies are those with a good amount of fresh squeezed lemon juice. My body just loves it. Time for today's raw food recipe. 

Here is a tart lemon smoothie for you;

Bits of pollen on top (optional).

Spiced Tart Smoothie
2 Large Ripe Bananas
The juice of 1/2 a lemon
2 Big Handfuls of Spinach
1 Apple (diced)
1 T. Pumpkin Pie Spice
or
A dash each of cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and clove
2 C.+ Water or Nut Mylk (varies for desired consistency)

Add to blender and give it a whirl!
Enjoy.
-Keela

I prefer to skin a lemon with a good boning or paring knife and use the entire inside (membranes and seeds). You could use a whole lemon if you like things extra tart.

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Did you know that our bodies change some acidic matter, like lemons. This change results in lemon taking on an alkaline condition in our saliva and urine.

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Raw Food Porn: Living Porridge & Sesame Kale Salad

 

Raw Food Porn:

Tuesday March 5th

Here I am with two living food (raw food) recipes. Time and taste tested, these are two very typical recipes in my day to day life. Ready in minutes and easy on the pallet, I am never hungry or weak after a generous serving of a good kale salad or big bowl of living porridge. May your bellies be full and minds open.

Enjoy and Bon Apetit!

-Keela

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Living Porridge w/

Bananas and Cacao Nibs

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The Porridge;

• 1/4 C. Chia Seeds
• 1/4 C. Flax Meal
• 1/4 C. Shredded Coconut
• 3 T. Psyllium Husk
• 1 1/2 C. Mylk
• Sweetener

The Fixins;

• 1/2-1 Banana  (diced)
• More mylk.
• Sprinkling of cacao nibs.
• Pumpkin pie spice.

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Sesame Kale Salad w/

Hemp Seeds and Avocado

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• 6 C. Chopped Kale (appropriately stemmed)
• 2 C. Salad Mix type Lettuces
• 2 Large Carrots (shredded)
• 1 1/2 C. Purple Cabbage (shredded)
• 3/4 C. Dried or Fresh Berries
• I used a mixture of; Maqui, Goldenberry & Mulberry
•  1/4 C. Shelled Hemp Seeds
• 2 T. Sesame Seeds

Sesame Dressing (blend/mortar n' pestle)

• 2 Cloves of Garlic (minced)
• 3 t. Ginger Root (minced)
• 5 T. Oil
• 1/4 C. Rice Vinegar
• 3 T. Nama Shoyu/Coconut Aminos etc.
• 4 T. Agave, honey (sweetener) 

Now: toss all salad parts together and drizzle blended dressing on top. Massage dressing into greens for at least a full minute. Serve immediately or even a day later for a softer salad with marinated veggies.

Raw Food Recipe: Simple Coconut Curry (with video!)

This is my most popular video by far with over 3,000 views on my YouTube channel. It's hard to find a young thai coconut this time of year especially here in Oregon. I've started buying the dried coconut from Costco and re-hydrating it. It's AMAZING. I've used it to make coconut yogurt and raw whipped cream. I hope you enjoy. Stay tuned for my next post for the incredible benefits of the coconut.

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Raw Spiced Persimmon Cheeze-Cake

Serves: 10+

Ingredients:
Cheeze:
1 1/4 C. Macadamia Nuts (soaked for 3-7 hours)
2 Medium Ripe Bananas
1/2 C. Melted Raw Cocoa Butter
1 Vanilla Bean’s worth of Vanilla Granules
1+ C. Water
Persimmon Layer:
5 Ripe Persimmons
2 t. Pumpkin Pie Spice
Crust:
2 C. Raw Pecans
7 Large pitted Dates
1/2 t. Salt
2 T. Raw Cacao
Directions:
1. Soak the dates for the crust at least three hours ahead of time. Set aside.
2. Blend the nuts, bananas and cocoa butter adding just enough water to properly blend. You want the end result smooth and free of chunks and grainy bits. Fold in the vanilla granules and set aside.
3. Blend persimmons and spices in a high speed blender until persimmons are the texture and shininess of yogurt. Set in the fridge to cool. The mixture may settle like gel but is easy to break up with a whisk or wooden spoon later.
4. In your blender (preferably a smaller blender) or using mortar and pestle, blend the soaked dates and cacao powder until you form a nice paste.
5. In a food processor, pulse your pecans until a majority of the pieces are no smaller than half a pea. Fairly course.
5. Mix cacao paste into pecans.
6. Line a spring form pan with saran wrap or some kind of baking paper. Line both the sides and bottom.
7. Press crust mixture evenly in the bottom and sides of the pan. I like to use something flat like the bottom of a measuring cup to pack the crust and even it out as well. I like to make the sides at least two inches high.
8. Start with half of the cheeze mixture, spreading it evenly as one layer, using the back of a spoon to even out the batter. Next half the persimmon gelee. Again, the rest of the cheeze and lastly the rest of the persimmon gelee.
9. To be safe, I would let it set in the fridge for six to ten hours. You could also freeze it, remove from spring form, plate, thaw and then serve.
Bon apetit!

Raw Vegan Cheesecake with Raspberry Sauce

From TheVeggieGal

Lately I have been learning more about the RAW food diet and decided for my son’s 3rd birthday I would make a RAW-Vegan Cheesecake. I also made a non raw vegan chocolate cake since chocolate is his FAVORITE thing. He had a piece of both cakes along with some vegan chocolate ice cream. He was spinning around with quite a sugar high after that.

I have to say this is not my own recipe it is the standard one that is all over the Internet and who knows who the originator of it was. I did make my own little adjustments to it so I will just post it exactly as I made it since it turned out AMAZING!

I had a couple of pieces left over so my daughter took them over to her friends house and they all loved it so much they made it for their daughter’s birthday the next week!

As anyone who was researched raw foods knows that raw food recipes can be full of fat because of the nuts and the use of oils. I am usual one to keep the oils to a minimum in my recipes but I did not follow that rule here at all.

This cheesecake is fresh, amazingly tasty and full of fat but some would say it is the “good” fat, you decide that for yourself or just forget about it and enjoy an amazing piece of RAW-Vegan Cheesecake!

I am going to post some of his birthday party pictures below and some of them are blurry but I HAD to share anyway. My camera died after the cheesecake pics so I had to use grandma’s and it would not work well for me (I’m sure user error-duh!).

The official birthday cake was a chocolate cake (the recipe is not posted here-was one I found on vegweb) so everyone had two choices. I hand made the frosting and used a all natural food coloring and it did not turn out the color I wanted. I was supposed to be a red and blue but ended up pink and purple but he did not even notice.

RAW-Vegan Cheesecake with Raspberry Sauce
Makes 1 pie tin

Crust:
2 cups raw nuts of your choice (I used a combo of pecans, macadamia and cashews)
1/2 cup dates, pitted
1/4 cup shredded, dried coconut

Filling:
3 cups raw cashews (I only had 2 1/2 cups so I used 1/2 cup macadamia and yummy), soaked overnight or a couple hours minimum if you don’t have a Vitamix  

1/2 cup agave nectar
1/4 water
1/4 cup lemon juice (could use lime too)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup coconut oil, melted (set in a warm bowl-do not heat if keeping it really RAW)
Shake or two of sea salt

Raspberry Sauce:
1/2 bag frozen raspberries
4-6 dates to taste
1/4 cup agave or more to taste and thickness desired (supposed to be runny enough to drip over cheesecake)

Start with making the crust first by blending the nuts and dates in a food processor or vita-mix until well broken down and you can squeeze it together between your fingers.  Add the shredded, dried coconut and blend for a second or two more.   Press into a 9 inch pie tin, making sure to press up the sides to the top.  Set aside.

Drain the nuts from the soaking water then blend them along with the agave, water, lemon juice, vanilla, melted coconut oil, and salt until very smooth.  You can adjust the flavor as needed here.

Pour filling into prepared crust, tap on the counter to remove bubbles and smooth the top.

Place into the freezer for a minimum of 3 hours or until very firm or even slightly frozen.  This cheesecake is best taken from the freezer 10-15 minutes before serving so it is still cold and firm.  If it is left out too long it has a key lime pie consistency, which some like but I don’t so you decide.

Next make the raspberry sauce by blending the raspberries, dates, and agave together until very smooth.  Chill in the refrigerator until you are ready to eat the cheesecake.

When ready to serve you can cut it easily with a knife because it is frozen.  Place each piece onto a plate and top with desired amount of raspberry sauce.  ENJOY!

Garden Nori With Coconut Lemongrass Sauce

Sometimes you just want it all but don't necessarily  want to deal with it all. Why not take it all and wrap it in a nori sheet! 

That's what I did today for a late lunch. 

• Raw Nori Sheet
• Parsnip/Turnip/Rutabaga Rice
• Carrot
• Spicy Sprouts
• Marinated Mushrooms

And for a delicious dipping sauce I whipped up this invention:

• 1/4C. Coconut Water
• 1 T. Nama Shoyu
• 1 t. Lemongrass Paste 
• 1 t. Nut Butter

Nori Panacea

• Nori Sheet
• Spinach
• Handful of red grapes
• Cucumber
• Walnuts, chopped
• Cracked Pepper
• Raw Mozzarella

Inspired by Greece and named after the goddess of healing, this invention was a lovely crisp meal on a sunny day. I dipped it in nama shoyu/vinegar/fig puree.

Pad Thai - Raw Food Recipe

I have the good fortune of a wonderful job on a beautiful river, off the grid. They lodge me, feed me and entertain me for free, actually I get paid! And my wonderful boss orders delicious raw foods just for me. Food delivery day is the best. I arrived at the boat dock early, anticipating fresh mushrooms, cucumber and onions. Here is what I came up with.

Kelp Noodles
Purple Cabbage
Button Mushrooms
Cucumber
Purple Onion
Green Onion
Bee Pollen

Raw Thai Peanut Sauce

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(Recipe Found in my eBook Rendered Raw: Plant Based Food Guide)