photo by Scott

Hello? Are you still there? I want to apologize for not posting like I promised. This has been a hectic week and I'm just coming out of the fog.

Well, not really but I'm coming out enough to tell you about an exciting website from my friend Scott of Raw Denver.

Scott has started The Raw Dessert, a site that features well, raw desserts.

He has posted a recipe for the most heavenly raw truffles. I've eaten them straight from the man, so I know. They are rich, creamy and simply yummy. Visit his site for the recipe. You will not be disappointed.

He had a wonderful idea to put caramel in them so I'm passing along the recipe. This is what I used for the Legally Raw Bars . I think it will be a wonderful addition.

Caramel Sauce

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

1 Soak dates in the water and lemon juice for an hour. Reserve soaking water.

2 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.

*not a raw product

EpPECANS

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, soaked

1 tablespoon maple syrup*

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1/8 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.

Terilynn, you got some splain' to do

Where are all the daily recipes from The Daily Raw Cafe? With the holidays, hanging with the expanded family and a couple of other projects in the works, I've been kind of busy. No worries, there will still be tasty raw recipes posted, just not everyday.

I do have some exciting news I will post later in the month, so at the very least you have to stay tuned for that.

Here is the fruitcake I promised a couple of weeks back. This is the one my (very picker eater) eldest daughter was willing to go raw for if she could only eat this. When I told her no, she nixed the whole idea of raw foods.

Raw Fruitcake
serves 4-6

Dried Fruit
1/4 cup agave nectar
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup dried apricots, chopped into small pieces
1/4 cup dried pineapples, chopped into small pieces
1/4 cup dried cherries
1/4 cup golden raisins

Cake
4 cups walnuts
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1 cup dates

In a large bowl, whisk agave nectar and water together. Add all of dried fruit into bowl. Let set for one-two hours or until the fruit softens.

In a food processor, combine walnuts, seasonings and sea salt. Add dates and continue to mix until you achieve a sticky dough.

Transfer the walnut dough to a large bowl. Fold in the soaked fruit until distributed throughout the dough.

Shape the fruitcake in a 5-inch round or square or however you choose. Have fun with it!

Chocolate and Orange Panna Cotta

Chocolate and Orange Panna Cotta
2 cups cashews, soaked until soft
¼ cup fresh-squeezed orange juice
1 teaspoon ground flax seeds
½ cup chocolate glaze (recipe below)
¼ teaspoon orange zest

1 Blend cashews and flax seeds, gradually add orange juice one tablespoon at a time until cashews are smooth and well blended.

2 Add chocolate glaze and orange zest until smooth.

3 Pour mixture into two chilled 4-inch springform pans. Let set in freezer for 2 hours.

4 Carefully remove molds from panna cottas. Leave it on the saucer plates and put in the refrigerator overnight. Let stand at room temperature 5 minutes to soften slightly. Serve panna cottas with candied oranges.
Kitchen notes
Chocolate Glaze
½ cup cocoa powder
½ cup maple syrup (not a raw product)
2 tablespoons coconut butter
2 tablespoon water

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

Servings: 2

Candied Oranges
½ cup agave nectar
½ cup water
1 small navel orange, sliced
1/8 teaspoon sea salt

1 In a bowl, whisk agave nectar and water to create a simple syrup. Dip orange slices into the simple syrup until well coated. Sprinkle sea salt on slices.

2 Place orange slices on Teflex sheet and dehydrate at 100 degrees for 3 hours.

Please note: I used mason jar lids for the molds instead of the springform pans.

Oh My Darling

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

Cool and simple

These are great on their own, but if you can serve them together you won't be disappointed. The flavors compliment each other very well.

Chocolate Granita
2 cups water
¼ cup cocoa powder
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
¼ cup agave nectar
½ teaspoon sea salt

1 Combine water, cocoa powder, vanilla extract, agave nectar and sea salt in a blender.

2 Pour mixture into a 13 x 9 inch baking dish. Freeze overnight.

3 Scrape the frozen mixture with a fork until all the frozen pieces are broken into small shavings.

Servings: 4

Lemon Granita
2 cups water
1 cup lemon juice (about 6 medium lemons)
½ cup agave nectar
½ teaspoon sea salt

1 Combine water, lemon juice, agave nectar and sea salt in a blender.

2 Pour mixture into a 13 x 9 inch baking dish. Freeze overnight.

3 Scrape the frozen mixture with a fork until all the frozen pieces are broken into small shavings.

Servings: 4


Mint Granita
2 cups coconut water (approximately 2 coconuts)
1 cup (lightly packed) fresh mint leaves
¼ cup agave nectar
½ teaspoon sea salt

1 Place mint leaves on Teflex sheet and dehydrate at 100 degrees for an hour.

2 Combine coconut water, dehydrated mint leaves, agave nectar and sea salt in a blender.

3 Pour mixture into a 13 x 9 inch baking dish. Freeze overnight.

4 Scrape the frozen mixture with a fork until all the frozen pieces are broken into small shavings.

Servings: 4

Happy Halloween!

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.

Life by Chocolate

I created this recipe but I wish I could take credit for the idea. That honor goes to Mercedes at the blog Desert Candy. Her recipe for Chocolate-Peanut Butter Mousse Tarts inspired me so, that I asked her if she mind if I adapted it for The Daily Raw Cafe.
She graciously gave her consent.

This is for all the chocolate lovers out there. I promise you will not be disappointed.

Thank you Mercedes!

Viva Raw Foods!

Terilynn

Chocolate-Almond Butter Torte

CHOCOLATE CRUST
2 cups walnuts, unsoaked
6 Medjool dates, pitted, unsoaked
¼ cup cocoa powder
¼ teaspoon sea salt

CHOCOLATE LAYER
2 avocados, diced
½ cup agave nectar
¼ cup cocoa powder
¼ cup water
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 tablespoons coconut butter

ALMOND BUTTER LAYER
¼ cup almond butter
½ cup cashews, unsoaked
½ cup agave nectar
2 tablespoons coconut butter
½ cup water

CHOCOLATE GLAZE
¼ cup water
¼ cup maple syrup (not a raw product)
½ cup cocoa powder
2 tablespoons coconut butter

1 In a food processor, combine walnuts, sea salt and dates until walnuts become crumbs. Add cocoa powder and mix well. Press crust into a 8 x 2-5/8 springform pan. Place in the freezer.

2 For the chocolate layer, combine avocados, agave nectar, coconut butter, water and vanilla extract in the blender. Blend until smooth and creamy. Remove the springform pan from the freezer. Pour the chocolate mousse over the crust and place back in the freezer.

3 For the almond butter layer, add the cashews and agave nectar to the blender until cashews break down a bit. Add almond butter and coconut butter. The mixture will become thick very quickly, have the water on hand to stream in the running blender, using additional water if necessary. Pour the mousse into the springform. Return to freezer for at least 4 hours to set.

4 In the blender, combine water, maple syrup, cocoa powder and coconut butter until well combined.

5 Once the torte is ready, pour the chocolate glaze over the torte, place in the torte in the freezer for an hour or until the glaze hardens.

Servings: 8

The torte can be stored in the freezer.

The Legally Raw Bar

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

Sweet Treat to Wrap up HerbDay celebration

Honey-Basil Sorbet with Chocolate-covered Basil

This week has been all about basil in celebration of HerbDay this Saturday. The Daily Raw Cafe has posted raw food recipes for a beverage, appetizer, soup, a main dish, so I guess that leaves....dessert!

This is a scrumptious sorbet and so very simple to make. The chocolate-covered basil leaf adds a bit of the "WOW" factor to this dessert.

Viva Raw Foods!

Honey Basil Sorbet
1½ cups honey
1 cup water
juice of one lime
1 cup basil leaves, chopped coarsely

1 In a blender, puree chopped basil leaves, lime juice, honey and water.

2 Transfer mixture to a stainless steel bowl, cover with plastic wrap and freeze until firm, 3-4 hours.

3 Remove the sorbet from freezer, puree again, cover and freeze an addition 3 hours.

4 With an ice cream scooper, place sorbet balls in a serving dish and garnish with chocolate-covered basil leaves.

Chocolate covered basil leaves

6 basil leaves, washed and dried
½ cup chocolate sauce (recipe below)

1 Dip each leaf in the chocolate and place on waxed paper to harden. Hardening occurs best by placing in the freezer.

Chocolate Sauce
1 cup cocoa powder
1 cup maple syrup*
½ cup coconut oil
¼ cup water

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

*Note: not a raw product

Chocolate Cupcakes with Coconut Icing

I would like to thank Anne at Raw Yogi Journal II for today's post. If it weren't for her, I wouldn't have thought of raw cupcakes.

We've never corresponded or been formally introduced (Hi Anne, I'm Teri) but I enjoy reading her blog. The first time I read it, she had a post on cupcakes.

She set a project for herself to find a way to make raw cupcakes that looked as pretty as the ones she had posted but didn't use nuts (which I understand why).

Even though I have a lot of recipes utilizing nuts, I don't eat them much on a day-to-day basis.

In my recipes I try to use the bare minimum of nuts without sacrificing the dish. I enjoy using nuts, they give you so many options of creating raw food.

As I was preparing the cupcakes, I was humored by the fact that I used walnuts to make a meatloaf and now I'm making cupcakes. I thought that was kind of funny. And those same walnuts can be used to create nut milk, flour, bread, a quick snack the list could go on and on and I'm only limited by my imagination.

Anne, I tried to avoid the nut issue but I think by making the cupcakes miniatures you can achieve the best of both worlds. And plus they're so darn cute. ;)

Recipe Notes:
1 To save time, I went to a juice bar to get my beet juice (I was thirsty) but, you can grate a small piece of beet and extract the juice from that.

2 The photo for the chocolate icing is not represented.

3 You can adjust the amount of agave nectar used in the coconut icing from 1/2 to 1/4 cup depending on how sweet you like your icing.

4 I put liquid chlorophyll in my coconut water everyday so I have it on hand. You should be able to find it in any health food store.

1 cup walnuts, unsoaked
5 Medjool dates, unsoaked, pitted
1/8 cup raw or unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon coconut oil, liquid form
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ teaspoon almond extract
¼ teaspoon sea salt

COCONUT ICING
1 cup coconut pulp

2 tablespoons coconut oil
½ cup agave nectar
¼ cup coconut water
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
dash of sea salt

PINK ICING
1 tablespoon coconut icing
¼ teaspoon beet juice

LIGHT GREEN ICING
1 tablespoon coconut icing
¼ teaspoon liquid chlorophyll

CHOCOLATE ICING
1 tablespoon coconut icing
½ teaspoon unsweetened cocoa powder
¼ teaspoon maple syrup

¼ tablespoon unsweetened coconut flakes, for garnish

1 Puree coconut pulp, coconut oil, agave nectar and coconut water in the blender until you achieve a smooth consistency. Add vanilla extract and sea salt.

2 In three small bowls, place 1 tablespoon each of the coconut icing.

3 In the first bowl add the beet juice and mix until the icing turns pink. In the second bowl, add the chlorophyll to the icing and mix until the icing turn light green. In the third bowl, add the cocoa powder and maple syrup to the icing, stir until it turns a dark brown.

4 Pour the remaining coconut icing in a glass bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Place all the icing in the freezer while you make the cupcakes.

5 Process walnut and dates in a food processor until mixture sticks together. Add sea salt, vanilla extract and almond extract.

6 Roll small eight balls out of the mixture and place each one in 1 ¼-inch baking cups. Mold the sides of the baking cups around the balls and form into a cupcake shape.

7 Frost the cupcakes with the coconut icing.

Apple Galette

Galette is a French term signifying a flat round cake that can be either sweet or savory. The term also applies to tarts.

I like this dish for a couple of reasons. One, it's easy to make and with the exception of the freezer and frig time, it doesn't take any time to prepare.

The second reason is each component taste great separately but, when you place them together and it has that "WOW" factor.

6 McIntosh apples
3 teaspoons ground cinnamon, divided
juice of one lemon, divided
1/4 cup honey (or agave nectar)
1/2 teaspoon sea salt, divided

WALNUT CRUST
1 cup walnuts, unsoaked
6 dates, unsoaked
1/4 teaspoon sea salt

1 Peel and core 3 apples. Cut into 1/8-inch wedges and place in a bowl. Toss in the juice of one half lemon, 2 teaspoon cinnamon and 1/4 teaspoon sea salt. Set aside.

2 Peel, core and chopped the remaining three apples. Place apple in blender with honey and juice of the remaining lemon half. Pulse until you achieve a chunky applesauce consistency. Add in 1 teaspoon cinnamon and 1/4 teaspoon sea salt. Set aside.

3 To make the walnut crust, process walnuts and sea salt in a food processor, until the walnuts are coarse crumbs. Add dates, process until well combined.

4 Place two 4-inch springform pans on two small plates or one big platter.

5 Divide walnut crust between the two springform pans. Press down until you have a flat, thin, layer. Top with apple sauce mixture, leaving a 1/2-inch border.

6 Arrange the apple slices over the applesauce in a spiral pattern, slightly overlapping each piece. Chill in freezer for 20 minutes to set. Remove from the freezer and place in the refrigerator for an hour.

7 Carefully remove the springform pan. Let stand five minutes at room temperature before serving.

Oatmeal Cookie Biscotti

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, divided
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 half of 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.

OATMEAL SHORTCAKES WITH SPICED PLUMS

Plums are a good source of vitamin C, assisting with absorption of iron.

SHORTCAKES

1 cup oat groats, soaked overnight

1 cup walnuts, unsoaked

5 pitted Medjool dates, unsoaked

1 vanilla bean, scraped or 2-3 teaspoon organic vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon sea salt

1 In a food processor, process walnut into a "flour". Remove from processor. Place oat groats, dates and vanilla in the processor and pulse until an oatmeal consistency.

2 Put oatmeal mixture in a large bowl, add walnut flour and sea salt. Combine well. Form dough into eight 2 1/2-inch diameter biscuits.

3 Place on teflex sheets. Dehydrate at 110 degrees for 2 hours. Flip over and dehydrate another one hour.

FRUIT

6 ripes plums, halved, pitted, sliced

Juice of one half lemon

1/4 cup agave nectar

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon sea salt

1 Place plums, lemon juice, agave nectar and spices in a plastic container or Ziploc bag and marinate for at least an hour. Drain juice.

PINE NUT CREAM

1 cup pine nuts, soaked

1/4 cup honey

1/4 cup water

1/8 teaspoon sea salt

1 Blend ingredients until smooth and creamy. Set aside.

To assemble:

1 Place a shortcake biscuit on a plate.

2 Spoon plum mixture over biscuit.

3 Spoon pine nut cream atop plum mixture. Spoon plum mixture atop pine nut cream.

4 Place biscuit top over plum mixture. Top with a dollop of pine cream and serve immediately.

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

1 c soaked and sprouted oat groats

1 c raisins

1/2 c almonds, ground into flour

1/4 c agave nectar

1 t vanilla extract

1/2 t ground cinnamon

1/8 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.

Chocolate Pudding

I'm continuing the Labor Day theme throughout the week by showcasing "labor less" dishes. These recipes are super simple, uses six ingredients or less and or are lightning quick. I know I have a winning dish when the two little ones fight over it.

Chocolate Pudding

1 avocado, diced

1/2 c agave nectar

1/4 c cocoa powder

1/4 c water

2 T vanilla extract

1/4 t sea salt

Place avocado, agave nectar, cocoa powder, vanilla extract and sea salt in a blender. Gradually add 1 tablespoon of water at a time to achieve a creamy consistency.

Want another avocado recipe that's "labor less"? Try Avocado slices with lemon.

Peach Crumble

Crumble Filling
6 fresh peaches, cleaned, peeled and sliced
1/4 cup raw agave nectar
2 tablespoon coconut oil, liquid
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon sea salt

Toss peach slices in a bowl with agave nectar, coconut oil, cinnamon, nutmeg and sea salt. Place mixture in a 8" x 8" x 2" square pan. Set aside.

Crumble Crust
3 cups pecans, dry
5 pitted Medjool dates
1 vanilla bean, scraped or 2-3 teaspoon organic vanilla extract

In a food processor, chop pecans and vanilla bean into crumbs. Add dates and process until mixed well. Loosely place mixture on top of peach filling.

Oh. My. Goodness. Does this dish taste soooooooooo good. And it very easy to make. The crumble crust reminds me of a pecan pie.

Frozen Treats

Watermelon Slushy (above)

Cantaloupe Granita (middle)

Watermelon Sorbet (below)

My 16-year-old daughter starts school tomorrow and my 7-year-old starts soon after. Summer's almost over! What happen? It seemed like yesterday that summer break began. Any-who. These frozen treats are my way of keeping summer around a bit longer and have something fun for the kids to snack on after school.

Cantaloupe Granita

2 c chopped cantaloupe, approx. 1/2 melon, seeded

1 c ice cubes

1/4 cup agave nectar

Juice of one half lemon juice

Purée ingredients in a blender until smooth, then pour into a metal pan and freeze until mixture becomes a firm slush, at least 1 hour. Scrape with a fork and serve in chilled glasses.

I originally tried putting this recipe in the ice cream maker to create a smoother texture but the ice cream maker wasn't having it. So I let the blender do the grunt work instead. The same ingredients are used for the slushy and sorbet. It's just various freezing processes that make the differences in the two frozen treats.

Watermelon Slushy/Sorbet
4 1/2 c diced watermelon, seeds removed

1/2 cup agave nectar

Juice of one half lemon

1/8 t sea salt

Puree watermelon, agave nectar, lemon juice and sea salt in a blender. Pour mixture into metal container and place in the freezer for about 40 minutes. When it is semi-solid (with liquid beneath the surface), mash it up with a fork. Pour in a chilled glass for a Slushy drink.

To create the sorbet, Instead of pouring into a glass, take the mixture and refreeze again. When frozen, place in a blender and process until smooth. Refreeze until serving time.

RAW NEWS YOU CAN USE- Ode to Raw Almonds

Okay it pays to read you email before you blog. I just got this "Raw News You can Use" sent to thedailyraw@yahoo.com

This is from PRNewswire-USNewswire

The pasteurization of raw almonds have been postponed until March 1, 2008. Follow the link to the story "Controversial Almond Treatment Faces Delay" http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/08-06-2007/0004639546&EDATE=

"Calif. Almond Growers Seek Delay of Rule"
By Garance Burket, The Associated Press

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/07/AR2007080700330.html

I came across one of the original articles about the raw almond contamination in 2004. The article is by Gary Gentile for The Associated Press. Have a look see. http://www.marlerclark.com/news/almonds7.htm

Ode to the Almond- Sour Cream Blueberry Pie

A lot of the times I create these dishes one or two weeks ahead of time before they're posted, so I forget what I want to talk about. And this recipe is one case. I had those blueberries I needed to use and I was scanning the net to find interesting ways to use them put incorporate almonds in the mix and the sour cream pie was what I found. I thought it was a strange concept a sour cream pie. So I figured out a way to make a raw version. My sous chef D (and tester) was taken aback when she took a bite (she was expecting something sweet) but once she got past the puckering she enjoyed the pie.

Sour Cream Blueberry Pie

4 c blueberries, divided
1 c cashew
¼ c agave nectar
juice of two lemons
3 T water, more if needed
1 T coconut oil
¼ t sea salt
1 Almond Crust

Almond Crust recipe

2 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 press mixture into a 9-inch pie pan.

For Sour Cream Blueberry filling
In a blender, puree cashews, agave nectar, lemon juice, water, coconut and sea salt, until smooth and creamy. Pour into a large bowl. Fold in 2 cups blueberries. Pour mixture into almond crust and top pie with remaining 2 cups of blueberries. Chill for 2 hours.

Ode to the Raw Almond - Basic Almond Crust

This is a good recipe to have for almost any pie or cobbler.

2 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 press mixture into a 9-inch pie pan.

NOTE: To make a savory crust, replace the vanilla extract with any herb of your choice. Replace the dates with soaked sun-dried tomatoes. Don't forget to save the sun-dried tomato water, it adds more flavor to the dish. (05)

What's in Season in August
Apples
Asparagus
Avocados
Basil
Green Beans
Beets
Broccoli
Cabbage
Carrots
Cauliflower
Celery
Chili Pepper
Citrus
Collards
Corn
Cucumber
Eggplant
Figs
Grapes
Kale
Lettuce
Melons
Mushroom
Nectarines
Okra
Green Onion
Passion Fruit
Peaches
Pears
Asian Pears
Peppers
Persimmons
Plums
Raspberries
Spinach
Summer and Winter Squash
Strawberries
Tomatillos
Tomatoes
Turnips

What's Growin' on in Colorado

Sweet Corn
Tomatoes
Peaches
Onions
Peppers
Squash
Lettuce
Raspberries
Basil
Cucumbers
Green Beans
Eggplant
Garlic
Watermelon
Cantaloupe