Blueberry White Chocolate Cheesecake

If that title doesn't have you salivating yet, how about this photo?

Yeah, this recipe is a stunner. I'm not going to bother with too much chatter here, because I think it really speaks for itself. Let's just say I had two dinner guests last night, and I served them a main course of salad because I didn't want to detract any attention (or room in their tummies) from these blue babies.

Credit where credit is due: the inspiration for this dish came from Vanessa Sherwood over at G Living. I opted for blueberries in my version because they are absolutely perfect and abundant right now in Victoria. I also cheated a little and used cashew butter instead of whole cashews because I don't have a Vitamix yet (I'm saving up).

So use my version, or use Vanessa's, or come up with your own creative variation. Go forth and make cheesecake!

Blueberry White Chocolate Cheesecake

Crust
1/2 cup brazil nuts, soaked 4-6 hours and drained
1/2 cup shredded dried coconut
1 heaped Tbsp cacao powder
1/2 vanilla bean, or 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
pinch of salt
1 generous Tbsp raw honey/agave
1 Tbsp cacao nibs

In a food processor, combine brazil nuts, coconut, cacao powder, vanilla and salt. Pulse until you achieve a fine, crumbly consistency.

Add honey or agave and cacao nibs. Continue to pulse until the mixture comes together into a crumbly dough. If necessary, add more honey/agave.

Press the dough into the bottom of either a small (9 inch or smaller) springform cake pan, or six cupcake molds. Put into freezer to chill while you make the filling.

Filling
1 punnet blueberries
2/3 cup cashew butter, or 1 cup soaked cashews
2 Tbsp melted cacao butter
1/4 cup honey or agave
juice of 1/2 lemon
pinch of salt

Blend all of the filling ingredients in a vitamix or food processor until smooth. Fill your cake or cupcake molds with the filling, then lick every last yummy morsel (I like to give this last job to my dog - he waits so patiently at my feet throughout the whole process, sweet little thing)!

Place in fridge to set at least one hour. Can be frozen, just take it out 15 minutes before serving.

Embracing the Journey

Sometimes I feel like the whole world is vibrating on my frequency.

Okay, that's a bit of an overstatement. But I can't help but notice that as my raw food journey continues, and my thoughts regarding this process evolve, that people with similar views and ideas just seem to pop into my life. Is this synchronicity, or is it simply a natural instinct within me seeking out the likeminded?

I refer specifically to a recent blog post by the awesome Raw Diva Tera, announcing "The 90-Day Don’t Be So Obsessed About What You Eat Detox." Wow, has she been reading my mind? And on the same day, I discovered the group A.C.E. (Accepting Conscious Eaters) on the bangin' forum Give It To Me Raw. What these guys are suggesting is that maybe there are many ways to eat healthy. And maybe it's more important to relax a bit about what we're eating and put our energy towards various creative endeavors. I, personally, have come to this same conclusion, but would like to take it a step further and suggest that we actually embrace the confusion, the difficulties, the ups-and-downs of the journey as we move along our personal raw (and general life) paths.

Part of my personal raw journey is this insatiable appetite for knowledge. I visit all of the forums, read blogs, check out books, try recipes. I try to keep an open mind, but sometimes this learning can be frustrating. Just as in the non-raw nutrition world, there are so many conflicting ideas out there! Is cacao good or bad? How much? What about supplements? Superfoods, or green smoothies? Avocados and coconut oil, or 80-10-10? And suddenly, instead of loving my food and feeling 100% confident that what I'm eating is good for me, I'm feeling stressed out. A little voice in my head is saying, "Oh no, you're eating too much cacao, too much fat, gotta go on a juice feast." And yet I don't desire to fast at the moment. And I feel unsatisfied without the fats. Am I doing something wrong?

This is when a little voice in my head starts to tell me to relax. Anxiety over food choices is causing all this stress, which is about the most harmful thing I can do for my health! So here's my answer:

Enjoy the journey.

The thing about transitioning to raw foods is that it involves undoing not only my own lifetime of less-than-ideal eating patterns, but also those imprinted in me by my parents, their parents, and 4 or 5 more generations who grew up eating largely processed diets. This is going to take time! It's unrealistic to expect that after just over a year of raw eating, I'm going to feel perfectly healthy and satisfied living off of greens and fruits. Yeah, in an ideal world, I'd eat like a chimp. But chimps didn't grow up eating mashed potatoes, pasta, and -gasp- hamburgers. So, a bit of patience as my body catches up to my high-minded ideals, please.

This doesn't mean I'm going back to cooked foods. But it does mean that I'm giving myself time - as much time as it takes. Probably a number of years, though I'm not putting a number on it because I just don't know how my journey is going to progress. What I have decided is to stick to an entirely vegan diet (except for honey, which I have particular reasons for eating, more on that in the future), because I feel that the stress on my body of the occasional meat, fish or dairy is too great. I have also noticed that in general, my body naturally prefers raw food. Even eating out at a vegan restaurant, I feel heavy and sluggish the next day after consuming rice and tofu. I don't really WANT to eat cooked meals, but I also don't want to put pressure on myself in social situations. So, for now, a few cooked vegan dishes here and there is a decision that I can feel comfortable with.

The next decision is to be okay with my relatively high fat diet. Long term, yeah, I want to cut back. But I just don't feel ready. What I can do, though, is make sure the fats I'm eating are lovely raw fats, like avocados (miracle food), coconuts, olives, flaxseed oil, etc. I wonder if, in time, I will begin to desire fewer fats. I have already noticed that I crave greens like crazy, and I eat salads and green smoothies or juices every day. So perhaps the abatement of my love for fats is something that will happen naturally as well.

About that juice feast - this is something I do highly desire to accomplish within the next year. But again, it doesn't feel like the right time. Sometime soon it will be. No rush.

Realizing that transitioning from a cooked, omnivorous diet to a raw one is a long process is a huge relief to me. I am, by nature, a perfectionist, and this realization allows me to see that what I'm eating now is exactly perfect for where I am now! Everything I consume is intended to nourish me on some level, and therefore it does. What a wonderful gift to give myself. And to whatever forces in the universe or within myself brought these great people with similar ideas into my life at precisely the crucial moment, thank you!

Sprouted Wheat Salad with Tangy Tamarind Dressing

Ayurvedic beauty: a balance of flavors and nutritional elements

I've been playing around with soaking and sprouting a lot lately, and I am tickled pink with the results. Here's the deal: nuts, seeds and grains are fantastically rich sources of nutrients, particularly for those of the raw and/or vegan persuasion, but all of their goodness is locked away in dried up little packages. Luckily, the key to releasing all that nutritional bounty is one that, for most of the lucky folks who are able to read this blog, is readily available and even free! I'm talking about water, basic H2O. To turn a dry little nut, seed or grain into a yummy source of living nutrition, all you have to do is soak it (preferably in filtered water, please!).

Why bother sprouting? Well, I'll give you a little perspective from one of my raw food heroes. In her book 12 Steps to Raw Foods, raw foods pioneer and educator Victoria Boutenko relates an anecdote about her family's quirky preparation for the Y2K scare. While her neighbors were busy hoarding canned goods, Victoria went to a health food store and bought only thing: a giant bag of wheat grains. This may seem like an odd purchase for a raw family. Dry, hard wheat grains (also known as wheat berries) are not very appetizing or easily digested, and she surely wasn't going to pound the grains into flour by hand and bake bread. So what on earth was she planning to do with a massive bagful of inedible grains that would allow her family to survive a potential global crisis?

Sprout them, of course. Sprouts are a miracle of the raw food diet, and would actually be a highly beneficial addition to any type of diet. Through sprouting, a hard, dry kernel becomes a tiny living plant the delivers a powerful punch of nutrients. Just think about it: a grain, nut or seed is a blueprint for a grown-up plant. All of the nutrition that the plant needs to grow is stored inside a tight, tidy little package. And it will keep indefinately, just waiting for the right conditions to germinate and grow.

People attempting a raw or vegan lifestyle in cold climates often have a really hard time accessing fresh, organic greens. In fact, unless you happen to live on your own organic property (lucky you!), buying fresh organic produce can be difficult and expensive. Sprouting is a such a simple way to get fresh greens into your diet on a daily basis for very little cost. The beauty of sprouting is that it can be done easily in a home kitchen, in any climate, at any time of year, for minimal cost. With the tiniest bit of effort, anyone can have fresh, organic sprouts year-round.

It really is essential to germinate your nuts, seeds and grains, because this process releases enzyme inhibitors and allows the body to access the plant's nutrition. Sprouts are one of the best sources of raw vegan protein around, too - in fact, they are a much easier protein for your body to absorb than ANY animal protein. In fact, I would go so far as to call sprouts superfoods! So go ahead and give it a try - they are really so addictive once you get started. You can crunch a handful as a snack, sprinkle them over a green salad, or make them into a main dish, as I've done here.

Sprouting 101

First off, you gotta soak your grains, nuts and seeds. Give them a good rinse in filtered water, then place them in a nice big glass jar and cover them with plenty of the same. If you're worried about bugs or dust etc. entering your sprouts, cover the top with cheesecloth or screen and secure it with a rubber band.

Wheat berries after soaking overnight and 1 day of sprouting - see the cute little tails?

In Carol Alt's book The Raw 50, she's included a really useful chart on germinating and sprouting times which I have bookmarked and refer to constantly. Find such a chart on the internet, buy her book, or write one yourself, but I guarantee you it will be useful thing to have in your kitchen.

Once you've soaked your babies for the required amount of time - for the wheat berries in the recipe below I just soaked them overnight, but according to Carol they need 7 hours soaking to germinate - drain the water and rinse them again. Place the jar upside down so that air can still flow through the jar - what I do is actually stand the jar upside down ontop of a fine mesh strainer suspended over a bowl. There are lots of ways to rig this up, so again have a good look on the internet/books and I'm sure you'll find one that will work for your kitchen and with materials you have on hand.

Your nuts, seeds or grains are germinated now and ready to eat. But for many things, they are tastier and more nutritious if you give them time to sprout. For example, the wheat in the following recipe was sprouted for two days. I rinsed them twice a day, then left the suspended jar sitting around. That's it. By the third day, I had gorgeous long tails on my sprouts, so I stored them in a tupperware container in the fridge. The wheat sprouts taste lovely and sweet on their own, and I'll admit I crunched a few handfuls before I got around to making this salad.

Tada - wheat sprouts!

The salad I've created with my sprouted wheat is all about balance. Not only have I included a variety of nutritional elements, but I've also given a lot of thought to flavors and textures that will complement and challenge each other. I started with the sweet wheat sprouts, then added raisins to play up the sweet note even more and cashews for creamy crunch. Tamarind and lemon in the dressing add tartness and a bit of astringency, while coconut oil and a full palette of spices conjure up Indian imagery. A fresh burst of coriander and a hint of celery's salty crunch finish the dish. I couldn't resist a bit more green goodness on my plate, hence the cos and avocado (what can I say, I'm green-food obsessed). Harmony and dissonance in every bite - an ayervedic symphony.

Sprouted Wheat Salad with Tangy Tamarind Dressing

Salad:
1 cup sprouted wheat
1 stalk celery
1/4 cup fresh coriander/cilantro
1/4 cup raisins
1/4 cup cashews
6 cos lettuce leaves or 2 small handfuls of mixed greens
1/2 avocado

Dressing:
1 Tbsp coconut oil, softened
1 Tbsp tamarind puree
1/2 tsp curry powder
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground cardamom
1/4 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp dried thyme
juice of 1/2 lemon

For the salad: Thinly slice celery stalk on the diagonal and roughly chop the coriander. Combine sprouted wheat, sliced celery, chopped coriander, raisins and cashews in a bowl.

For the dressing: In a small bowl, combine softened coconut oil, tamarind puree, spices and lemon juice. Mix vigorously to form a thick dressing.

Assembly: Pour dressing over salad and toss well to achieve uniform coating. Prepare two serving bowls or plates, each with either three cos lettuce leaves torn in half or with a small handful of mixed greens. Top each plate with half the salad mixture. Thinly slice the avocado half on the diagonal, and garnish each plate with 1/4 of the avocado.

Variations:
-Replace half or all of the raisins with goji berries or chopped dried apricots.
-Replace the sprouted wheat with sprouted brown rice or any other grain of your choice.
-Replace cashews with sunflower seeds or pumpkin seeds.

Durian Appreciation 101

The durian is a bit of an enigma. Just look at the thing. Weighing in at 2-4 kg and covered with precarious spikes, it's not exactly screaming "eat me!" Yet here I am, eagerly watching as Sufiyo breaks into the precious commodity. All I can think is, how did I get here?

Peaches and apricots adopt lovely orange and pink hues to encourage consumption, leading one to rightly assume that the flesh will be soft and sweet. Berries shine in the sun and tempt with obvious juiciness, while mangoes and other tropicals emit tantalizing aromas. But the durian plays no such tricks. Its color is a dull brown, the countless spikes are actually quite sharp, and a fresh one smells like old gym socks (I kid you not). Why on earth does anyone eat this thing?

The fact is, the durian is a sort of raw food holy grail. If you like durian, you're a true raw foodie. Now I was having my first taste with veteran raw foodies and durian obsessees, so I must admit I felt a lot of pressure to actually enjoy this strange fruit. And strange it was. Ours had been frozen, which is, unfortunately, the only way they are available in Melbourne. So it didn't give off much of its infamous odor, which was probably a good thing for my first time. As I listened to Sufiyo explain how to choose a good durian (make sure it gives only slightly to touch, peel away the spikes a bit while the shop owner isn't looking and inspect the texture of the flesh), I felt a mixture of excitement and revulsion. But when she cracked the thing, I thought that the large, custard-colored pods looked rather inviting. So I went for it.

The taste is really something indescribable, but since I'm a writer, I'll give it a shot. My first observation was texture - creamy, smooth, custard-like. The initial flavor impression that I got was mildly sweet, sort of vanilla with a hint of almond, but slowly something that didn't seem to belong crept up. I can only describe it as fried onions. Not offensive, but really strange and hard to get used to.

"It tastes...strange."

Between four of us we polished off about 1 1/2 durians. I don't know if I could have eaten as much if it hadn't been for Sufiyo's amazing cacao sauce. She actually used Loving Earth's coconut cacao butter as a base, adding some agave and melting it in warm water, but it would be easy to make a homemade version with coconut oil, cacao powder, and agave. Dipping the durian flesh in the cacao sauce was like heaven, and took some of the oniony edge off of the fruit's flavor.

Durian + cacao = tryptophan heaven

About ten minutes into gorging ourselves I started to feel really giddy, giggly and silly. This was followed by waves of calmness. I can only attribute this to the high tryptophan content of the fruit (tryptophan is a seratonin precursor, as well as an essential amino acid). In fact, cacao is also relatively rich in tryptophan. So not only does this stuff taste good (well, interesting, at the very least), it also makes you feel good. Raw food is amazing.

So was it worth it? Well, I'm glad that I went with my animal instinct and had a chomp of this forbidding fruit. My experience was closest to that of the British naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace, who described the fruit in 1856 as, "A rich custard highly flavoured with almonds...but there are occasional wafts of flavour that call to mind cream-cheese, onion-sauce, sherry-wine, and other incongruous dishes," but I must admit I do understand why chef Andrew Zimmern thinks it tastes like "completely rotten, mushy onions." I'm not rushing out to buy anothe durian tomorrow, but I am eager to taste one fresh off the tree next time I can make it to tropical paradise. In the meantime, I'll let myself be lured by the fruits that flaunt their flavor. Excuse me while I go have a mango.

Neomania (and some really great chana masala and saag)

Raw Chana Masala and Amaranth Saag

I have an insatiable appetite for the new. When I come across a food I've never tried before, all of my senses come to focused attention like a puppy at a banquet waiting for the crumbs to drop. Nevermind what I came to the shop for, I must immediately purchase and take home this rare treasure. Then comes the fun of taking little nibbles to assess its culinary properties and doing copious research on the internet to come up with an exciting preparation. Some of my experiments may be disasters, but truth be told I'm more excited by the process than the results. And every so often, my creativity may just lead to something inspired (she says modestly).

The philosopher Roland Barthes calls my penchant for novelty "neomania." In his view, a neomaniac was not a particularly flattering thing to be called, as it suggests a lack of contentment with what we already have. I suppose this is a fair enough assessment when we're talking about consumers and the need to buy more more more. But come on, a little joy over a new vegetable at the farmer's market? Far better to exhibit neomania than neophobia.

The neomaniac in me did a little jig when I stumbed across a gorgeous bunch of amaranth at my local market recently. I'm familiar with amaranth grain - it seems to be in every health food shop these days in flour or breakfast cereal form - but I've never seen the leaves for sale here in Australia. However, I've heard that they're used in northern Indian cooking in the same way as spinach or mustard greens. A nice creamy saag popped into my head instantly. I ran home and got some chickpeas soaking to make an chana masala as well, and soon a lovely little Indian spread was in the works.

A lovely green tangle of amaranth leaves

One of the drawbacks of raw cuisine is the need for patience. I had to wait three days for the chickpeas to soak and sprout. Sprout faster, little chickpeas! But my patience paid off big time. Since I've studied Indian cookery in some depth, I had an idea of the flavors I wanted to bring out in these dishes and the ingredients that might combine appropriately.

I think the chana masala was one of my best raw dishes to date, and non-raw partner J raved. The key was mimicking the creaminess of a cream-based sauce with avocado, creating the complexity of flavors in a cooked curry with raw ingridents, and balancing the spices properly. The complexity problem was solved by using sundried tomatoes as well as fresh tomatoes and red onions to up the sweetness factor, and adding fresh ginger for a real kick. I played around with the spices until I had the balance of flavors that I was looking for - using a special blended curry powder made for me by an Indian friend didn't hurt either. There are lots of good commercial curry powder blends out there in a variety of flavors and spiciness, so find one that you really love. The star of the curry was the crunchy sprouted chickpeas, which both J and I actually preferred to mushy cooked chana. They're also such a filling, nutritious ingredient for a raw foodist. So much more lifeforce in these babies than their sad, starchy cooked counterparts.

The saag was lovely as well - creamy, tangy and slightly bitter. Turns out amaranth tastes like a slightly less sweet, slightly less juicy spinach. The key ingredient here is a good mustard - I have a fantastic stoneground variety that is made with apple cider vinegar. If you can't find such a mustard, substitute some ground mustard seed and a bit of ACV. Creamy tahini and olive oil balance with tangy lemon juice, pungent scallion, and a handful of spices to create a really memorable saag. I recommend making these two dishes together, as the colors and flavors combine for a really complete meal.

With these two successes under my belt, I'm looking foward to exploring the flavors of the subcontinent in more depth. For some other inspiring raw Indian recipes, check out the creativity happening at Roshi's Raw Lifestyle.

Chana Masala

1 cup sprouted chickpeas
1/4 very ripe avocado
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 red onion
1 fresh tomato
1-inch piece of fresh ginger
1/4 cup sundried tomato (soaked if hard)
1 Tbsp curry powder
1 tsp cumin powder
2 tsp coriander powder
salt and pepper, to taste

To sprout chickpeas: Place chickpeas in a glass jar and cover with plenty of filtered water. Soak overnight. In the morning, drain and rinse the chickpeas. Attach a piece of cheesecloth or screen to the top of the jar with a rubber band and turn the jar upside down over a bowl. Or stand the jar over a fine-mesh colander over a bowl. Rinse the chickpeas twice/day until little tails appear. You can let the chickpeas sprout as much as you like. When they're ready they'll taste crunchy and slightly sweet.

To make masala sauce:
Place avocado, olive oil, onion, tomato, ginger, curry powder, cumin, and coriander in a food processor. Whir until smooth. Mix the sauce with the sprouted chickpeas.


Amaranth "Saag"

1 1/2 cups tightly packed amaranth leaves (or spinach)
1 large scallion/spring onion
juice of 1/2 lemon
3 Tbsp olive oil
2 Tbsp tahini
1 Tbsp good quality mustard
1 tsp cumin powder
1/2 tsp coriander powder
1 tsp coarsely ground black pepper

Combine all ingredients in food processor and whir until smooth.

All-Green Meal

Inspired by a) Raw Epicurean's Green Leafy Recipe Contest, b) a lot of spinach I needed to use up before going on holiday for a week, and c) having a few friends over for dinner, I decided to concoct an all-green dinner. I felt a bit the next Iron Chef: Iron Chef Raw. And the theme ingredient is...spinach! Allez cuisine!

For starters, I whipped up a cheezy spinach dip and a classic bowl of guacamole with lots of crudite. Then a bit of finger food: nori rolls stuffed with a ginger-sesame cauliflower rice and lots of spinach and veggies. Finally, my newest creation was coconut-spinach rice, using more cauliflower of course. This last dish combined some interesting flavors that I would not normally put together, but happened to have on hand - coconut and spinach, for example, turned out to be a sumptuous match.

Coconut Spinach "Rice"

Meat of 1 young coconut
1 Tbsp coconut water (or plain water)
1 tsp grated fresh ginger
1 small clover garlic, minced
1/4 head of cauliflower
1/4 red onion, minced
pinch of himalayan/sea salt
1 tightly packed cup finely chopped spinach

Puree coconut meat with coconut water in food processor until you form a thick coconut cream. Add ginger and garlic and whir for another 10 seconds.

Break cauliflower into florets and add to food processor. Pulse slowly until cauliflower achieves a rice-like texture.

Remove coconut-cauliflower mixture to a bowl. Stir in minced onion, salt, and chopped spinach. Place in dehydrator to warm for several hours (either place entire bowl in dehydrator or spread over teflex sheet), or simply let the mixture marinate at room temperature for several hours for the flavors to mingle.

Unbaked

Before going raw, I always found a lot of joy in bread. I love picking out an artisanal loaf, or baking a special recipe myself. Most of all, I loved the simple pleasure of a sandwich, slathered with mustard and stuffed with salad.

Good new for raw foodies - bread is back! I guess it was never really gone, but my dehydrator was out of commission for a while, so I've been sadly sandwichless. Now that my dehydrator is sitting happily on my kitchen bench, plugged in and humming softly (a constant background noise that I've grown to love), I'm unbaking up a storm.

The first recipe I tried was the Sweet Onion & Thyme Bread from the RawforLife Blog. Wow, was this delicious, and easy to boot! I didn't have thyme on hand so I simply left it out. As soon as it was done, I made a little open-faced sandwich for lunch (see the photo at the top of the page). It was so satisfying that I'll admit I went back for seconds.

With my first unbaking success under my belt, I decided it was time to get a little more creative. I borrowed Debbie's base concept - sunflower seeds, flax seeds, olive oil, and water - and experimented with some other flavors. Recalling the lovely marriage of flavors that was 101Cookbook's Roasted Pumpkin and Onion Salad, which I made for my Vegan Thanksgiving feast, I opted to combine similar ingredients into a bread. Pumpkin, red onion, and coriander all manage to balance sweet and savory elements so perfectly. This bread took a lot longer in the dehydrator, as the pumpkin was quite moist, but the result was a really soft-textured bread that was amazing spread with some ripe avocado and topped with a few sprouts. Or divine j ust on its own.

And what fun would baking be without a little sweet treat thrown in there? Since I had the dehydrator going anyway, I whipped up some oatmeal cookies with ingredients that I had on hand and popped them in. A couple of these make a lovely, satisfying afternoon snack, jam-packed with energy.

All of these goodies, and not a drop of flour on my clothing! I think this is just the beginning of my adventures in unbaking.


Sweet & Savory Pumpkin, Onion and Coriander Bread
1 1/2 cups pumpkin, chopped
1/2 cup flaxseed, ground in coffee/spice grinder
1/2 cups sunflower seeds, ground in coffee/spice grinder
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup fresh coriander
1 small red onion
juice of 1/2 large lemon
1 1/4 tsp salt

Whir pumpkin in food processor until it is very finely chopped (2-3 minutes). Add ground flaxseed, sunflower seeds, olive oil, water, lemon juice and salt, and blend until smooth and uniform. Add coriander and blend for another 20-30 seconds until well mixed. Remove to a large bowl.

Cut the onion in half. Leaving the stem-end in tact, cut it in half again (so quarters, but still connected at the stem end for easy chopping). Slice the onion as thinly as you possibly can. Mix the onion into the pumpkin mixture by hand. You will have a very wet dough.

Spread your aromatic dough thickly over one dehydrator sheet. Dehydrate at 41-45 degrees C for about 12 hours. Invert your bread onto another tray and, if possible, peel off the sheet (I found that I had to leave the sheet on for another few hours). Dehydrate on the other side another 12 hours. If still too soft, flip and dehydrate a few more hours. At 41 degrees, the whole process took about 25 hours for me, and the bread was still quite soft but held together fine.

Enjoy plain or topped with some ripe avocado, tomato, and sprouts.


Jess's Oatmeal Cookies
1/2 cup dates, soaked in water for 1/2 hour and drained
1/2 cup almonds, soaked overnight if you like*
1/2 cup walnuts, soaked overnight if you like*
1/4 cup flaxseed, ground in coffee/spice grinder to powder
2 Tbsp raw honey
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup raw rolled oats
3/4 cup water

In food processor, combine dates, almonds, walnuts, flaxseed meal, honey, cinnamon and vanilla, adding water as necessary. Remove to a bowl and stir in oats.

With wet hands so the dough doesn't stick, form dough into cookie shape (I use a soup spoon to get a uniform size). Place on lined dehydrator tray and dehydrate at 41 degrees C for 8 hours, or until the cookies are relatively firm (but still yield slightly to the touch). Eat them warm from the dehydrator, or store in a sealed container at room temperature.

*I don't always soak my nuts becomes sometimes I forget to do it in advance, but if you have time it is best to do this because soaking deactivates the enzyme inhibitors in nuts and makes their nutrients more readily available. Soaked nuts = greater nutrition.