Monthly Archives: July 2011

almond butter & strawberry jam sandwich

Posted on by Hannah

I finally did it! I made bread. Not flat bread or tortillas, but bread bread. After experimenting, I made a recipe that is versatile with all kinds of “flour”. From buckwheat flour to sunflower flour, every loaf has turned out. I hope to continue this bread making adventure and develop endless recipes.

Once again, having on hand presoaked and dehydrated nuts and seeds makes this recipe much easier. If I’m in the bread making mood, I just grab the ingredients I need, make the flour, and add the wet ingredients. Super easy.

Bread
dry ingredients:
1 c sunflower seeds (soaked and dehydrated)
1 c oat groats (soaked and dehydrated)
1 c psyllium husks
1/2 c flax seeds
1/2 c hemp seeds
1 t saltwet ingredients:
2 c water
1/4 c olive oil
1/4 c Irish moss gel (will share how-to soon)
1 T honey
juice from 1 lemon

Grind dry ingredients into a flour. Blend wet ingredients. In a food processor, slowly pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients. Knead and mold into a loaf. Dehydrate for 6 hours (or overnight). Slice and continue dehydrating until it reaches desired consistency.

A good peanut butter and jelly sandwich always sounds good. Not so good on the body, but wow were they tasty! Making fresh almond butter and jam was a reminder of how good sandwiches are. So many times with raw food, instead of trying to replicate “normal” food, you just make new kinds of food. However, a good sandwich can be duplicated.

Strawberry Jam
1 1/2 c thawed frozen strawberries
1 c Irish moss gel
3 T honey
juice from 1/2 a lemonAlmond Butter
3 c almonds (soaked and dehydrated)
1/2 -1 t salt

For the jam, just blend everything and let set in refrigerator. As for the almond butter, it’s quite the process, literally. After pulsing the almonds (and salt) in a food processor, it’s a slow process of breaking down the flour-like almonds until the oil separates into a creamy butter. It is worth the wait! I tried to let the food processor take a break here and there, as to not overheat, but it takes even longer. Either way, it is much cheaper (and more fresh) to make at home.

Next week: Pizza. spicy cheese kale chips.

mint chocolate chip creamsicles

Posted on by Hannah

Just a couple of more weeks and I am off to Wisconsin! My family and I have made the trip up North the past three years, and I am looking forward to this year’s trip more than ever. I love the outdoors but sadly I haven’t been out much this summer :/ However, the Wisconsin trip means I will be outdoors every day for an entire week! Minus driving there and back and stopping in Chicago for a yummy meal at our favorite raw food restaurant, I will make a point to spend every waking moment in the beautiful outdoors. God’s creation is meant to be enjoyed and to keep us in awe of Him. Maybe that’s why I wouldn’t mind living in the outdoors for a year.

In previous years we tended to stick around the city, and even though Madison (the capitol for anyone who didn’t know) is smack dab in the middle of two huge lakes, I’m hoping to venture out into the wild…well not really the wild, but a state park would work! I really want to go rock climbing, but from what I’ve heard you’re on your own as far as equipment goes. That’s where I run into some problems. First, I live in one flat state, so outdoor rock climbing is not something people do around here. Secondly, I don’t have any money to buy rock climbing gear. Anyway, one day I will climb a genuine God-made rock. Until then, my brother and I are planning to go to the local indoor climbing facility to get some practice.


On to the recipe! Don’t those just look deeevine?! I won’t go into too many details quite yet, but I’ve been on a feasting fast (I made it up) for the past five days. So these cool creamsicles look pretty tastey right about now. Like the strawberry ice cream, these perfect-for-summer treats are very easy to make and guilt free. I’ll say with just about any raw food dessert, I could eat this for breakfast and not feel bad (guilty/sick). For anyone who is not a huge fan of coconut, no fear, the mint extract masks the coconut flavor.

Mint Chocolate Chip Creamsicles
3 c coconut milk fat
1/2 c honey
3 t mint extract
1/4 t spirulina
1/2 c cacao nibs

Scrape the fat off the top of three refrigerated cans of coconut milk. Blend all ingredients together except for the cacao nibs. Then add the cacao nibs and pulse a few times. Freeze in popsicle molds or shot glasses. I used my great grandmother’s silverware instead of popsicle sticks. I think the silverware is my favorite styling prop!

Next week: almond butter and strawberry jam sandwich.

raspberry breakfast bites

Posted on by Hannah


Oat groats would make my list for essential raw food ingredients. To have on hand presoaked and dehydrated nuts, seeds, and groats helps cut back on the time it takes to prepare raw food recipes. Twice this week I made blueberry cobbler in about 5 minutes, because I had presoaked and dehydrated oat groats ready for use. I’ll share the cobbler recipe soon : ) Oat groats are a great source of fiber, protein, B vitamins, folic acid, calcium, and iron. (Raw Food Real World 268)


For this recipe I wanted to demonstrate how versatile raw food can be. I took the porridge recipe, added a couple extra ingredients, and dehydrated it. These did not last long around my family! Instead of using soaked oat groats, you can go ahead and make an oat flour with dehydrated oat groats. Just make the oat flour and add water to the recipe. A coffee grinder or high speed blender work great to make flour.

Raspberry Breakfast Bites
Porridge
1 c coursely chopped Brazil nuts
1 banana

Combine ingredients in a food processor. Dollop onto parchment paper. Top with raspberries. Dehydrate overnight on 105〫F.

Next week: mint chocolate chip creamsicles

coriander almond granola

Posted on by Hannah

I must say that these last few weeks have been rough. I have great intentions for writing in detail about my vision for this blog and how to prepare raw food, but to be honest, I am all written out! I am about halfway through a rigorous accelerated online writing class. Part of the reason I signed up for the class was to improve my writing habits, learn to better communicate, and to practice.  I suppose the jam packed intensity will improve how fast I am able to write, which I’m sure I will look back on as a blessing. I have the tendency to get anxious about these sort of things, so I’ve felt like my life has been on hold for the past three and a half weeks. I’m looking forward to getting back in the kitchen and sharing more raw food with you all! I love learning and have endless things I want to know more about, but all this studying has me weary and contemplating verses like this:

“Of making many books there is no end, and much study is wearisome to the flesh.
Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter:
Fear God and keep His commandments, For this is man’s all.”
(Ecclesiastes 12:12b-13)

Coriander Almond Granola
4 c soaked buckwheat
1 c ground buckwheat (soaked and dehydrated)
1 c coarsely chopped almonds (soaked and dehydrated)
1/2 c maple syrup
2 T coriander
1 t salt

Hemp Seed Milk
1 c hemp seeds
2 c water

In a large mixing bowl combine all ingredients for the granola. Spread unevenly, but not too thickly, over a couple paraflexx sheets and dehydrate at 105〫 for 8 hours (or overnight). After the 8 hours is up, flip the granola onto a new tray without the paraflexx and continue dehydrating until crunchy.

For the hemp seed milk, just blend both ingredients thoroughly in a blender and strain through a nut milk bag.



Next week: raspberry breakfast bites