Chai Spiced Pecans and Almonds (Raw, Vegan, Gluten-free)

I usually do not care for pecans, but if they are sweet, I love them. I completely understand pecan pie now - pecans on their own do nothing for me, but coat them in sugar and they are quite tasty. I made these for a playdate recently where the adults and the children ate them and really enjoyed them. These are sweet, spicy and salty and may make it into regular rotation for snacks in our home.

Ingredients:

1/4 cup pitted dates plus 1/4 cup water for soaking (reserved)

1/2 tsp sea salt

1/2 tsp chai tea

1/8 - 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper (depending on your taste for heat)

2 1/2 cups of nuts (I used about 2 cups of pecans and 1/2 cup almonds)

Directions:

1. Soak 1/4 cup of dates in 1/4 cup of water for about 20 minutes.
2. Place dates, reserved soaking liquid, salt, chai tea, and pepper in a highspeed blender and blend for 15 seconds until the mix is completely liquid and looks like a syrup.
3. Place nuts in a medium mixing bowl, pour syrup over them and mix to coat each nut.
4. Let sit for a few minutes and retoss - pecans seem to loose their syrup after the first mix.
5. Either eat and enjoy immediately, or you dehydrate until dry and sticky - about 8 hours at 105 degrees.
6. Keep dehydrated nuts for about 5 days in the refrigerator.

Raw Chocolate Kale Chips

The picture does not give these justice. I have tried 2 different chocolate sauces, and ultimately the one I like the best is a simple mix of dates, cacao and coconut oil. These were super saucy and the sauce that ran off the kale and onto the teflex sheets tasted like a raw Tootsie Roll (or what my memory of tootsie rolls taste like).

Ingredients:

1 large bunch kale, any type will do but I prefer the curly leaf stuff for chips - I just like the texture

1 cup dates, pitted

1/4 cup raw unrefined coconut oil, melted

1/4 cup cacao powder (or reg cocoa but then it wouldn't be a raw recipe)

3/4 to 1 cup of warm purified water - 3/4 is still sort of thick, 1 C makes a runnier ganache

1. Wash and destem the kale. Tear into bite size pieces and let dry (or spin in a salad spinner)
2. Set kale aside in a large bowl
3. Blend remaining ingredients in a highspeed blender until well incorporated. You may want to taste at this point - if you prefer sweet sauces, you can add a few more dates, or a little agave.
4. Pour about 1 1/2 cups of sauce over kale - you will likely have some leftover sauce that is wonderful as a topping on any dessert (raw or otherwise).
5. Massage the sauce into the kale. The kale should be coated but not overly wet with dressing.
6. Place a teflex sheet on your dehydrator tray and lay kale on one layer. Depending on how much kale you have in your bunch, this should fill 2 teflex sheets.
7. Dehydrate at 105 F for about 8 hours. They will likely still be soft. Take off the teflex sheets and place directly on the mesh liner. Dehydrate another 4 - 8 hours until crispy.

Raw Spaghetti with Marinara

It is summer time and a great time of year for raw food in our home. We all love spaghetti but I really have not found a pasta that I find to be healthful. Behold a spiralizer and zucchini!

In the past when I have made raw marinara, the sauce comes out very muddy looking from all the fresh herbs. This sauce came out very orange and was very tasty!

Ingredients:

Noodles:

2 large, long and straight zucchini

pinch of salt

1. Wash and dry your zucchini. If they are conventional, I would also peel them, but if they are organic, eat the peel! Leave on the ends
2. Center your zucchini on the spiralizer. I get best results if I put the blossom end into the cutting end, and the opposite end into the prongs. The straighter your zucchini, the easier it is to spiralize the entire zucchini without having to readjust.
3. Take your pile of angel hair zucchini and place in a colander. Toss with a pinch of salt and let sit in the colander. This will help release some of the water so your final product will not be watery.

Sauce:

2 ripe tomatoes

6 sun dried tomatoes, soaked for an hour

1 small onion

2 small sweet peppers (I chose red to help with the color)

1 date (optional)

2 TBLS cold pressed extra virgin olive oil

1 tsp dried basil

1 tsp dried oregano

1/2 tsp sea salt

1/4 tsp black pepper

Directions:

1. Place all of your marinara ingredients and blend until smooth. If you prefer a chunky sauce, then blend in pulses until you get the texture you like.
2. Transfer the zucchini to a large pasta bowl, pour the sauce over the top and toss.

This was definitely a kid friendly recipe in our home and my youngest ate an entire bowl, plus ate the 1/4 cup or so of left over sauce as soup.

Raw Black Sesame Sunflower Bread

This is a staple in our home that all of us enjoy as either crackers or sometimes less dehydrated and left as a pliable bread. Why black sesame seeds - well, the contrast is pretty, and black sesame is a nutritious food that is already known to contain lecithin, calcium, magnesium, phosphorous, and iron. Chinese wisdom mentions sesame to strengthen energy, and muscle growth, as well as maintaining soft skin. Chinese medicine also uses black sesame (hei zhi ma) to maintain kidney and liver function.

INGREDIENTS:

1 c ground flaxseed

1/3 c flax seed whole

½ t sea salt

1 clove garlic, minced

2 T onion, minced

1-1/3 c water

2/3 c sunflower seeds

¼ c black sesame seeds

DIRECTIONS:

In large bowl mix ground flax, whole flax seeds, salt, garlic, onion & water. Mix well.

Add sunflower & sesame seeds. Mix well.

Spread on 1 telfex tray smooth out into an even square., Dry at 105 degrees for 4 hours

Flip & score bread into 9 slices

Dehydrate another hour for softer bread (to use for a sandwich roll) Stores for up to 3 days in the refrigerator

or dehydrate another 3 - 6 hours for crispy crackers. Stores 1-2 months refrigerated.