Vegan, Raw Mac N Cheese

 

I had no idea that making something like was a possibilty before, or I would have done it a long time ago. This is vegan, raw macaroni and cheese. No soy, no tapioca, no fillers, just healthy and delicious. And the "cheese" sauce tastes great on other things that you would put a cheese sauce on like nachos, veggies, veggie burgers, etc. I got the recipe for this from Mimi Kirk's Live Raw Cookbook. The "pasta" is slices of zucchini and the cheese is made from cashews, nutritional yeast, olive oil, lemon juice, water, and some spices and garlic and onion and miso. YUUUUMMMM!! I highly recommend this cookbook!

Cashew Thumbprint Cookies

 

Delicious, nutritious, and easy cookies! I got the original recipe for these from the Fresh Cookbook by Sergei and Valya Boutenko, but I didn't have any dried apples, so I modified them. I simply used for the cookies - 2 cups of raw cashews, 1/3 cup dried figs, and 1/3 cup dried apricots, ground up together with a little bit of water in the food processor. Then, for the filling, one mango, 1/2 tsp of vanilla extract, and one banana blended until smoothe in the blender with a little bit of water. Roll cookies in a ball, and make an indentation with thumb and fill with yummy fruit filling! That's it! I think that he cookie part is also great by itself formed into a bar like a Larabar. Tastes delicious!

Raw Goodness

 

Something new for breakfast this morning! I based it off of a recipe in Mimi Kirk's, Live Raw book for pancakes. I didn't want to spend the time dehydrating it, though, and I didn't add any extra sweetner. But, it was incredibly delicious like this!!
Ingredients:
One ripe banana - smushed with a fork
Handful of blueberries
Handful of soaked and dehydrated pecans, chopped
Spoonful of flax meal
Sprinkle of cinammon
Combine in a bowl and enjoy! So simple, so nutritional, so delicious!

 

My blender broke, and as I've been awaiting my new one's arrival, I've been juicing my green drinks. This one is apple, spinach, carrot, and raspberries. Delicious!!

Almond Milk

 

Making almond milk is so easy! And it tastes so much better than the kind you can buy at the store, which has so many added ingredients. I followed the recipe in the book, Fresh, by Sergei and Valya Boutenko. This book is incredible and I would recommed it to anyone, especially if you have kids. My son loved this milk! And the fun part is that you have almond pulp left over afterward that you can make into cookies or crackers or pate or cakes. There are recipes for them in the book, too. Here is all you need to do to make this delicious drink (from the book Fresh, page 151):
Soak three cups of almonds overnight
Drain the water from the almonds in the morning
Take half and put into blender along with 4 cups of distilled water (I used spring water). Blend for 3 mins or until smooth. Strain the mixture (I used a nut milk bag, totally worth the 8 bucks I spent on it). Pour the strained nut milk back into the blender and add 3 dates and 1/2 tsp of sea salt. Blend again until smooth.
Pour into a pitcher. Then, do the whole process again for the other half of the almonds along with the same amounts of other ingredients. If you have a giant blender, I supposed you could do the whole thing at once, but I had to break it up into two groups.
This is delicious room temperature or cold. I could drink the entire pitcher right up. You could use raw honey for the dates if preferred. I love it with the dates! Sweet and creamy and delish! My son ate it with some raw oats and thought it was great.
You can use almond milk in anyway you would use any other kind of milk.

Raw Almond Pate and Veggie Crackers

 

After making almond milk, here are some delicious and fun things to do with the almond pulp that is left over. I found these recipes in the wonderful cookbook, Fresh, by Sergei and Valya Boutenko. The pate is on page 92, called Better Than Real Burritos. It is simply, almond pulp, green onion, fresh dill, olive oil, lemon juice, and sea salt.
The crackers are on page 171 and are called "chips". They are simply almond pulp, golden flaxseeds, tomato, lemon, garlic, cilantro, and sea salt. So simple, so healthy, and so delicious. I love raw foods!

Rawtella

 

Oh, my goodness, we have found the most delicious treat! It's called Rawtella, and is a raw food version of Nutella. The ingredients are simply organic raw hazelnuts, organic raw cacao nibs, and organic coconut sugar. I melted some and poured it over organic cherries and pecans. Absolutely heavenly! My son loved it, too!

Raw Candy Bar

 

Sometimes it's just nice to have a treat. This was absolutely delicious and my son loved it, too. I love eating raw treats because I know that it's not only delicious, but that there is actual nutrition in it, too.

Raw Cashew Dip

 

YUM!!! This is so simple and sooo delicious! It's kind of like hummus, but sweeter because of the cashews and no tahini. This is great as a dip with crackers or any veggies. I found the recipe here and and I made it without the pepper: http://easyveggie.blogspot.com/2009/04/cashew-dip.html
Here it is from the wonderful Oraphan's website:
Ingredients:
2 cups raw cashews
4 tbsp lemon juice
3 cloves garlic
1/2 tsp sea salt & black pepper
1/4 cup water
Process cashews, lemon juice, garlic, salt & pepper until smooth, adding only enough water as needed. Will keep 4 days in fridge.

Raw Mango Pie

 

I think that mangoes are my favorite food! This awesome and super easy pie was a new way for me to enjoy eating them! The mango flavor blended so beautifully with nutty, sweet crust! I found the recipe here: http://www.squidoo.com/EasyRawFoodRecipesforKids#module67357651

I made a few changes. First, I used fresh mangoes.
2 mangoes - place into blender with a little bit of water and puree until smoothe.
Because mine weren't all the way ripe and I love sweetness, I added just a little bit of raw coconut sugar to the puree.

For the crust - 3/4 cup raw walnuts, 3/4 cup raw almonds, 3/4 cup dates (you can add a little coconut sugar here, too, if you want it sweeter.
Place into blender or food processor and chop until they are in small pieces.
Press the nut/date mixture into a pie or cake pan.
Add the mango puree on top.
Refrigerate and and enjoy for a wonderful, summer, delicious dessert!

Cashew Vanilla Ice Cream

 

If you can't have dairy, but can have sweeteners, do not despair because you can still enjoy delicious ice cream! Made from cashews, vanilla, and agave (or whatever sweetener you want, really), it is easy, protein packed, and delicious!
Ingredients:
tsp of vanilla extract - use two vanilla beans to make it RAW
2 cups raw cashews or pieces
2 cups purified water
1/2 cup maple syrup or agave - add the amount of sweetener to your liking

Directions:
Simply, combine ingredients in a blender.
Pour into an ice cream maker and freeze according to instructions. Or, if you are like me and don't have an ice cream maker, just stick it all in a container and put it in the freezer. Take it out and give it time to defrost a little before you eat it, or run it through the blender again to make it creamy.

Gluten Free Coconut Flour Bread

 

Here is a great gluten and casein free coconut flour bread! I found several versions of it on different websites. I didn't have enough coconut oil, so I cut the recipe in half. It still turned out great! Here is my version with notes of how you can modify:

Ingredients:
6 eggs
1/2 cups coconut oil, either expeller pressed or unrefined (for dairy can use ghee or butter)
5 drops of vanilla stevia (recipe calls for 1-2 tablespoon honey, depending on taste)
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 cup coconut flour

Preheat your oven to 350. Mix all ingredients and blend until lumps are gone. Grease a bread pan with butter or coconut oil or line with parchment paper, and place batter inside. Bake for 40 minutes.

My son, who usually will not eat anything made with coconut flour really enjoyed this bread!

Grain Free Cheese Bread

 

I was originally trying to make a pizza for my son, but it turned into a delicious cheesy bread instead. He was going to a social event where pizza would be served to the other children. One of the other mothers there kept commenting on how good his pizza bread smelled and how she wished she had some of it, too. :)
The ingredients I used were:
2 cups of blanched almond flour
parmesean cheese - anywhere from 1/4 to 1/2 cup
1/2 tsp baking soda
enough almond milk to make a dough consistency
dash of salt
organic cheddar/monterrey jack cheese for topping

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees.
Mix the first 5 ingredients together in a bowl. Don't add too much almond milk, just enough to make it stick together and be doughy.
Spread the dough out on a parchment lined baking sheet as evenly as you can. You can use a rolling pin if you cover the top with another piece of parchment paper to avoid sticking.
Bake in the oven until it is no longer wet feeling and slightly firm. Basically until it seems just about finished baking.
Add shredded cheese of your choice on top and melt in the oven for a few more minutes.

Cut into pieces and serve! You can store leftovers in the refrigerator if there are any. :)

GFCF Lasagna

 

This was absolutely delicious! It turned out even more tasty than I thought it was going to when I set out to make it. My son and I gobbled it up!
Ingredients:
organic brown rice lasagna noodles
1 package mozarella Daiya "cheese"
1 jar organic pasta sauce (I used Whole Foods 365 Fat Free Pasta Sauce because it has no sugar or oil added)
organic garlic powder, oregano, basil

This is just like making regular lasagna.
Preheat the oven to 350.
Boil 9 noodles for 14 minutes.
While boiling, put sauce in a pan and add some garlic, oregano and basil. Let it simmer.
Drain and rinse with cold water.
Put 1/3 of sauce on bottom of baking pan.
Add layer of three noodles on top.
Add another layer of sauce.
Add 1/3 of Daiya on top of that.
Add layer of noodles, top with sauce and another 1/3 of cheese.
Add layer of noodles and top with rest of the cheese.
Bake in the oven until bubbly on the sides.

 

We had these beautiful organic berries along with it, and some organic cashews for some extra protein. What a fun dinner!

Gluten Free, Sugar Free Peanut Butter Granola Bars

 

Here's something I put together the other day that was a big hit with my son!
Ingredients:
organic peanut butter (just plain, nothing added)
one ripe organic banana
gluten free oats

I was in a hurry and not sure how they'd turn out, so I didn't write down measurements, but basically just take some oats in a bowl, then add some peanut butter, enough so that they are coated and will really stick together. Smash a banana and add to the mixture. This will add sweetness without having to add any more sweetner to it. You could add a few drops of stevia if you want them sweeter. My son isn't big on sweet flavors. You could also add raisins or dates to them to make them more sweet.
Form into bar or circle shapes and either bake in the oven until just browning or put in a dehydrator on 105 for a few hours.
I had no idea how simple it was to make granola bars until I did it.