Raw Apple Pie ... The Quickest, Yummiest Pie!

In addition to the Raw Cheesecake, we've got a new favorite raw dessert that takes even less time to prepare and is super yummy.

This apple pie works best with Granny Smith Apples since their tartness balances out the very sweet sauce.  I also love that the pie looks baked with the extra-special crumbly topping.  Oh, and if you want it even quicker, try it without the crust - it's just as good and yummy.




Crust Ingredients
1 Cup Walnuts (or pecans) - not soaked!
1/8 tsp Sun Fire Salt
1 tsp Vanilla extract
1/2 Cup Dates (soaked and pitted)


Blend the nuts and salt in your food processor (ideal) or Vitamix blender until crumbly.  Add the dates and vanilla and process until a dough is formed. (Note, if you're doing this in a Vitamix, you may want to process the dates and vanilla on their own and then hand mix the nuts and date mix together).

In a pie pan (at least 9 inches), press the crust into the bottom until evenly distributed.  Put this in the fridge or freezer until ready to add the apples.

Filling Ingredients
3 Granny Smith Apples (med-large size)
1 Tbsp Lemon juice
2 tsp cinnamon
1 Cup Dates (soaked and pitted)
1/2 Cup Vanilla Agave Nectar
1/8 tsp Sun Fire Salt

Quarter and core the apples and thinly slice (the food processor slicer works great for this).  Put sliced apples in a mixing bowl and sprinkle the lemon juice on top, mixing so that the apple slices are well covered.  Add 1 tsp of cinnamon to the apples, mix and set aside.

Blend in your food processor or Vitamix blender the remaining 1 tsp of cinnamon, dates, agave and salt.  You may choose to add a little water to this mixture to make it smooth - less than 1/4 cup.  Pour date mixture over apples and toss until evenly distributed.

Pour the apple mixture into your pie pan on top of the crust and spread evenly.

Topping Ingredients
1/2 Cup Walnuts
1/4 Cup Coconut flakes / Shredded Coconut

Chop the walnut and mix with the shredded coconut.  Sprinkle this mixture evenly on top of the apple pie.  This gives the pie that "baked" look and adds extra texture and flavor.

Slice and enjoy the pie immediately or refrigerate for up to 1 week.  Note that when you let the pie sit for a while the juicy filling will accumulate at the bottom of the pie pan.  Personally, I think this makes it taste even better.  If for some reason you don't like the juiciness, make the pie without the crust or eat it all as soon as it is made. :)

Enjoy!

Raw Pad Thai

I love pad thai so I've been searching for a good raw version of this favorite comfort food.  I found lots of versions, but none of them seemed to completely match my taste cravings, so I decided to combine my favorite parts into my own raw pad thai recipe.

Pad thai is all about having the right balance of sweet, salty, tangy and spicy.  So I went back to the cooked version recipes to see what the basic ingredients are in order to start my raw version with good proportions.  Here's what I've come up with:

1/2 Cup Coconut Milk (or water)
1.5 Tbsp Apple Cider Vinegar (or you can use rice vinegar or the original flavor of Tamarind though the latter takes more work since you have to soak the tamarind paste)
3 Tbsp Nama Shoyu (the raw version of soy sauce)
1/8 tsp cayenne (or 1 fresh red chili pepper minced ... though I'd add this to taste)
4 Tbsp raw sweetener ... I used Maple syrup, but dates or agave would work well
2 Tbsp lime juice
1 Tbsp sesame oil
1 tsp Fiesta Mole powder (for garlic and other spicy thai seasonings)
6 sun dried tomatoes (gives it even more tangy taste and a thicker consistency)
1/4 Cup cashews (for a creamier, thicker sauce)

Blend all of the above in your Vitamix until smooth.  Then spiralize your favorite noodles - I really like jicama and/or zuccini for this.  Put some sauce on your plate, put the noodles on top, then top with more veggies - like pea pods, julienned red bell pepper, julienned carrots, sliced mushrooms and bean sprouts.  Top with more sauce.

For extra garnish I like ground up cashews (1/2 Cup) mixed with sesame oil (1 Tbsp) and sun fire salt (1/2 tsp) ... it tastes like the traditional peanuts on top of the pad thai.  You could also garnish with cilantro, basil and lime wedges.  Though I have to say, I often skip the garnish and go right for the pad thai it's so darn yummy!

Oh, and the sauce recipe above should make enough for 4 servings of Pad Thai unless you like it really saucy.  I suggest you try it with this smaller amount of sauce though because part of the pleasure of eating raw is that you get to taste the freshness of all the ingredients ... don't drown your food. :)

Thai Vegetable Wraps - the Raw Version of Eggrolls

I love Asian food and I often crave greasy fried eggrolls ... until I eat them and feel sluggish afterwards.  Thanks to my friend Lisa Erwin, I have a new, yummy raw substitute for these cravings ... and a great way to get some seriously bitter greens into my diet without making ugly faces. :)

I like this Thai Veggie Wrap recipe also because you can store it in the fridge and live off of it for a week.  You can change up what's going in the wrap for a different flavor, though I've had the same wrap for lunch twice now and I'm still quite happy with the flavorful mouth sensations.

OK, so here's the recipe ... there's several parts to it, but all easy to make and store in the fridge:

Cabbage Filling
1/4 Cup Maple Syrup
1/2 Cup Lemon Juice
2 Tbsp Ginger chopped
1 Tbsp Dried Red Chili Peppes
1.5 Tbsp Nama shoyu (raw soy sauce)
1 Cup Raw Almond Butter (make your own by blending 1 Cup almonds in your vitamix or food processor until creamy)
1/2 head Savoy or Napa Cabbage (it's got softer, wrinkly leaves)

1. Make the almond butter in  your Vitamix or food processor.  Then add the remaining ingredients and puree until smooth.
2. Shred the cabbage (a shredding disc on the food processor makes this quick work).  You should have about 5 cups or more of cabbage
3. In a large mixing bowl, mix the shredded cabbage with the sauce - works best if you use your hands and put some love into it.  Set this aside (can be stored for about a week in your fridge)

Dipping Sauce
1 Cup Tamarind Pulp soaked and strained (get seedless Tamarind paste at your Asian grocery store)
3 Tbsp Maple Syrup
1 Tbsp Nama Shoyu
1 Tbsp Olive Oil
Sun Fire Salt to taste

Blend all ingredients in your Vitamix until smooth.  Place in a separate bowl and set aside.  (can be stored in the fridge or freezer)

Nut Topping
1/2 Cup Cashews chopped
1 Tbsp Sesame Oil
1/2 tsp Sun Fire Salt

Mix chopped cashews with oil and salt.  Set aside. (can be stored in the fridge or freezer)

Wraps
Large Collard Greens or Kale Leaves or Swiss Chard or Large Lettuce Leaves
1 Carrot cut into matchstick size pieces
1 mango cut into strips about 1/4 inch thick
1 Cup bean sprouts
1 handful cilantro leaves
1 handful basil leaves

1. Wash leaves.  For Collard, Kale and Swiss Chard cut out the center rib of the leaf, dividing the leaf in half.  This is your wrapper.

2. Place a spoonful of the Cabbage Filling in the center of your leaf.

3. Top with carrot, mango, cilantro, basil, bean sprouts, Dipping Sauce and Nut Topping.  (Careful not to fill it too full or it won't be easy to wrap.

4. Roll the wrap from one end of the leaf to the other - like a burrito. 

You can also dip your wrap in the dipping sauce, but once I got my wrap together, I preferred to concentrate on eating it before it falls apart.  That's why I suggest you put the sauce on the inside.

Enjoy!

Oh, and Dan liked it too ... he's good at making smaller wraps which are much more manageable, even though he rolled his "vertically" instead of "horizontally". However you get it in your mouth and enjoy it is right for you!

Warming and Raw Celery Sunflower Soup

My friend Laura concocted this soup and I find it's a very warming and filling raw soup.  Plus it's a great way to get more greens (always good!) without feeling like you're eating a bunch of, well, greens.

Here's the very simple recipe...

Blend the following items until smooth:
1/2 Cup Sunflower Seeds  
(if you don't have a Vitamix that can handle pulverizing these, grind them in a food processor or coffee grinder first)
3 Cups Water
2 Tbsp Sun Dried Tomatoes or Tomato Concentrate Powder
2 Tbsp Fiesta Mole powder
1/4 tsp Curry powder
1/4 tsp Chipotle powder
4 stalks celery
1/2 tsp Sun Fire Salt
1/2 tsp Blue Green Algae
1/2 tsp Vitamineral Green
2 Tbsp Olive Oil, Flax Seed Oil or Hemp Oil

When you serve this straight from the blender it's already a little warm.  You can refrigerate it for about 3-4 days.  I found that even eating it cold there was a warming effect on my body, probably because of all the spices in there.

Enjoy!

The Yummiest Kale Salad Ever

Kale is really good for you, but if you eat it straight it can taste really bitter.  You can disguise it in a green smoothie and you can make this super yummy kale salad.  WARNING: you must let this marinate in the fridge overnight for it to be yummy ... don't eat those kale leaves straight. ew.

Ingredients:
1 large bunch of Kale chopped
2 Cups Carrots shredded
1 pint grape tomatoes (or other sweet tomato like cherry tomatoes)
1/2 Cup Pine Nuts
1 Cup Red Onion cut into thin half rings
1/4 Cup Lemon Juice (or juice one lemon)
1/4 Cup Olive Oil (cold pressed)
Crushed Garlic to taste
Sun Fire Salt to taste
Cayenne to taste

If you've never chopped Kale before, the trick is to fold the leaves together and then cut along the thick spine to free them from all that roughage.  Compost the spine and chop up the leaves.

The rest of the recipe should be pretty easy for you - just mix all the ingredients together well and let it sit in the fridge overnight before eating.  The lemon juice and olive oil help break down the kale leaves so they are easier to digest and make the whole salad really yummy.

Enjoy!

Growing Sunflower Seed Greens Indoors

In the wintertime I start to get the gardening blues ... I don't get nearly the amount of time playing in the dirt that I crave.  That's one more reason I love growing my own Sunflower Seed Greens in my kitchen window.  I get to play in the dirt and I have my own organically grown nutritious greens to add into salads and green smoothies at my whim. YAY!

If you want to grow your own, here's the low-down on how to do it ... (this also works great with Buckwheat greens which are a little thinner stem and equally as yummy ... and wheat berries for wheat grass though I haven't done that one just yet). 

1. Get some seeds.  I got my sunflower and buckwheat seeds from my favorite nut and seed place: Sun Organic Farm.  If you get them anywhere else, here's what you need to look for:

• seeds in shells (they won't grow if they are hulled)
• raw seeds (they won't grow if they are roasted)
• organic seeds (why add chemicals if you don't have to?)

Now you have your seeds.  Store whatever you aren't using in an airtight container.  I keep mine in the fridge to make sure they last well.

2. Get a pot of dirt.  I have this lovely little yellow pot I love to use since it's so cheery.  I fill it with garden-quality dirt I bought from the store, but if you have your own compost dirt, that would be even better.

3. Soak your seeds.  Get a handful of seeds - enough that will cover the top of your pot but not so many that you can't have every seed touching the dirt.  Soak that handful of seeds in pure water (filtered so there isn't any chlorine in it is best) for at least 8 hours.  I soak mine at room temperature overnight.

4. Drain the seeds in a colander.  Some say to drain the seeds for 8 hours (just let them sit in the colander) however I've had just as much success (or more) without this step ... just drain them and move on.

5. Water the soil in your pot, then put the drained seeds on top so they are a thick carpet with every seed touching the soil.

6. Cover the pot with saran, but don't tighten this over the pot. Just drape the saran over the edge of the pot without making it cling.  This will keep the moisture in while giving the seeds air to grow.  I put the pot in a warm darker corner of my counter top (frankly it's the back of my stove since I don't use it so much).

7. After 4 days, remove the saran and give your seeds their first dose of water.  Move the pot to a sunny location and water the greens once a day. 

8. About 3 days later you should have greens worth harvesting.  Buckwheat and Sunflower greens will be about 5-7 inches tall and wheat grass about 7-8 inches tall.  When you harvest your greens cut them as close to the base as possible since this is where the majority of the vitamins are stored.

I put my greens into green smoothies and on top of salads and sometimes I just eat them straight up.  What a delightful treat!

9. When you're done with the greens you can compost the used soil and start a fresh batch with already composted or store-bought soil.

Enjoy!