Raw Test Kitchen

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 Nuts

makes 4 cups

Juice of one lime

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 tablespoon agave nectar

1 tablespoon paprika

2 teaspoon cayenne

1 teaspoon sea salt

4 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.

Bishop's "My Cereal"

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 Seeds

Oat Groats, soaked

Raisins

Quinoa

Honey

Sunflower Seeds

Rolled Oats

Maple Syrup

Sea Salt

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.

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

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.

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

National School Lunch Week, October 15-19

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.

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.

Jalapeno Slider*

*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

1 cup sun-dried tomato, soaked, 1/4 c reserved water

1/4 cup raisins, soaked

1 T Italian Seasonings

1/4 tablespoon chopped onion

1 clove garlic, minced

Combine ingredients in a blender until mixture is slightly chunky.

Jicama Fries

1 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.

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.

Avocado slices with lemon

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.

Black and Blue Berry Compote

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 Compote

Ingredients

Blueberries

Blackberries

1 banana

honey

agave nectar

mint

Gently toss the berries, banana, honey and agave nectar. Garnish with mint.

Ani's "Dreaming About Donut Holes"

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 donuts

1/4 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!

Date Pecan Cookies (40 cookies)

2 c pecan, soaked for two hours

4 dates, soaked for an hour

1 t nutmeg

40 pecan pieces

1/8 t sea salt

honey

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.

Berry Parfait (8-10 servings)

Happy 4th of July!!!

Here's my contribution to the holiday.

1 pint blueberries

1 pint raspberries

COCONUT CREAM

2 cup coconut meat, from 2-3 young coconuts

2 T coconut water

1 T agave nectar

1/4 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.