{Recipe} Raw Sprouted Herb Cookies

If there's one thing I love to have during tea time, it's cookies.

But if there is something I wish the rawtarian's space had more of is savoury cookies. I mean, when you peruse the shelves for raw treats and snacks, unless they are chips or crackers, they're SWEET.

I don't know about you, but I tire pretty easily of sugar. Commercial raw treats tend to be cloyingly sweet... Coconut sugar or low GI sugar or whatever-have-yous, it still doesn't change the fact that it's sweet. And sweet is sugar; and sugar is trouble. For why, click HERE.

In the name of sugar-free and savoury, I'd like to invite you to enjoy my 5-minute Raw Sprouted Herb Cookies. It's savoury, naturally gluten-free and delicious.

RAW SPROUTED HERB COOKIES

Ingredients:

1 cup            Sprouted buckwheat flour

1/2 cup         Raw cashew butter

1/4 cup         Chia jelly (a.k.a chia seeds soaked overnight in water)

1 1/2 tbsp     Anything But Salads' Stoneground Living Almond Butter

1/4 tsp          Nutritional Yeast

1 1/2 tsp       Dried herbs of choice (I used rosemary, thyme and basil)

1 tsp             Garlic powder

1 tsp             Onion powder

1/4 tsp          Paprika

1/2 tsp          Celtic sea salt

Water, to adjust

Activated Cashew Nut Halves, to decorate (optional)

Method:

• Combine all ingredients in food processor. Blend.
• Add water to adjust consistency. You should aim to get a smooth paste - like a very wet dough.
• Taste dough. Adjust seasoning as you like.
• Spoon dough out onto a large sheet of cling film. Roll into a long tube.
• Freeze for at least 2 hours. 4 hours is ideal.
• Unwrap cookie dough from cling film. Slice into 1/4 inch thickness.
• Place on dehydrator teflex sheets. Top each cookie with a cashew nut half.
• Dehydrate at 46 deg Celsius for about 5-6 hours. Remove teflex sheet. Return to dehydrator to dry completely (about another 6-8 hours, depending on humidity and type of dehydrator used - I use an Excalibur)
• Enjoy!

Notes: Cookies will keep for up to 3 months if stored in an air tight container in a cool, dry place.

Tip: For a nut-free version, swap the cashew nut butter for more chia jelly (adjust water content accordingly) and flaxmeal. 

Have fun and tell me how it goes!

{Recipe} Raw Dark Chocolate Pudding

• I'm in the mood for chocolate. So.... What now? Well.... For starters..... I have a blender. I have an avocado (yes, just one), raw cacao powder and some raw buckwheat honey. PERFECT.
• This is what I indulged in. Sinlessly too, mind you. Not only is this baby filled with magnesium goodness, it has healthy fats from avocado and antioxidants from raw honey. 
• So good you'll be making this a staple in your repertoire.

Without further ado.... *drum roll*

RAW SUPERFOOD DARK CHOCOLATE PUDDING

Serves 1 or 2 (depending on how generous you are feeling)

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 ripe Avocado
• 1/4 cup Raw Cacao Powder (+ 2 tbsp if you want a richer dark chocolate taste)
• 1/4 tsp Red Maca Powder
• 1 sachet FSF Instant Reishi 
• 1/8 cup Raw honey (I highly recommend Raw Buckwheat Honey)
• 1/4 cup Raw Almond Milk (see below for a quick and easy way of making nut milks)
• 1 pod Madagascar Vanilla Bean (seeds scraped)
• Dash of Ceylon Cinnamon (optional)
• Crushed Anything But Salads Raw Chocolate Kale Crisps (optional)
• 1 or 2 blackberries

METHOD:

1) Make nut milk:

- Soak 1 cup of raw almonds in filtered water for at least 8 hours or overnight.

- Drain and rinse.

- Place soaked almonds into high powered blender.

- Add 3 cups of filtered water 

- Blend on high.

- Strain milk through cheese cloth. Voila!

TIP:

- Dehydrate the almond pulp for use as flour in tart bases.

- Ratio of water to nuts is always 3:1

2) Place all ingredients into high-powered blender. Blend until smooth

3) Dig IN!

RECIPE VARIATIONS:

1) Mexican Chocolate Pudding: Add cinnamon, allspice and a hint of chilli powder.

2) Sprinkle Bee Pollen on top just before serving for some added crunch.

3) Berry-My-Love Chocolate Pudding: Add frozen berry powders to blender with other ingredients and BLEND! or fold in fresh berries just before serving. Otherwise, make a raw berry sauce by blending frozen/fresh berries in the blender with some raw honey/maple syrup and drizzle over chocolate pudding! YUM!

4) Green Power Chocolate Pudding: Add 1 tbsp of Spirulina or your favourite green powder mix to the blender with all other ingredients. (tip: Adding some Mint extract or orange zest really makes this ZING!) Blend till smooth. Drizzle with some raw honey to finish. So delish! Take your taste buds on a trip (pun intended. ;P)

5) Otherwise, feel free to add some other medicinal mushrooms to your pudding. You can find the full range here: http://www.anythingbutsalads.com/collections/fsf

Bon Apetit!

{Recipe} Raw Breakfast Crepes

Waking up is always an interesting experience for me.

Some times, I choose to roll around in bed. Other times, I bounce right off and annoy the hell out of anyone who has the misfortune of living with me. And then there are times where I wake with one thought in mind:

FOOD.

Today, it was "Mmmmm..... BANANAS."

I blame it on episode 2 of season 1 of Psych. The premise: A murder at the regional Spelling Bee, and Shaun was filling in as Spell Master when he decided that "BANANAS" was a word suitable for the competition. Needless to say, the hysterics that ensued and the subsequent debilitating effect it had on my psyche persisted until morning. 

So today, BANANAS it is.

The wonderful thing about local bananas in Thailand is that they are wonderfully sweet and fragrant. So you really need no added sweetener to achieve the perfect raw banana breakfast crepe.

Like so.

Raw banana crepes with spiced buckwheat crispies, raisins, tropical fruit and coconut flower syrup.

This was just so wonderfully and un-sinfully decadent (woo! oxymoron) that I had to share how easy it is to make.

There's no need for any specific measurement of amount added. Just add to taste/liking. Essentially, this is how the recipe goes:

RAW BANANA CREPES (raw, vegan, gluten-free)

Ripe bananas

Ground cinnamon

Sweetener of choice e.g. Maple syrup, Raw honey, Date paste, Coconut Flower Syrup etc etc (optional)

1) Blend bananas + cinnamon in food processor or blender until smooth, thick & luscious.

2) If using sweetener, add sweetener to taste.

3) Blend well.

4) Pour about 1 cup of batter onto Paraflexx sheet. Using an offset spatula or the back of a large spoon, spread batter out into desired thickness and size.

5) Dehydrate at 115 deg F for 6 - 8 hours. Don't worry if you leave it in there for more than the specified time. Bananas remain pliable when dehydrated.

6) Carefully peel crepes off the Paraflexx sheets. 

7) Serve with choice of cream, fruits or maple syrup/raw honey.

That's it. 

How easy is that?

Now to make a really delicious cream (who needs dairy?!):

RAW VANILLA KREAM (raw, vegan, gluten-free)

2 cups Raw Organic Cashews, soaked at least 2 hours in filtered water. Rinse before use.

1 cup Young coconut meat 

1/4 cup - 1/2 cup Filtered water, add to desired consistency

1/4 cup Sweetener of choice

1 pod Vanilla seeds (or 1 tsp Vanilla extract)

1) In a high powered blender, blend cashews + coconut meat + 1/4 cup water + sweetener + vanilla.

2) Add more water if desired.

3) Blend until smooth & creamy.

TIP: You may make the cream entirely with cashews or coconut meat. Just adjust sweetener and water to achieve desired result. Will keep for 2 - 3 days in the fridge.

TIP 2: Freeze mixture to get raw ice cream!

Time to dig in.

Bon appetit!