Coconut-Almond Crunch Balls

Ever since I was introduced to the concept of "low carbohydrate density" nutrition I've been on a mission. The goal: to create a low-carb, low-sugar, grain-free and, most importantly, delicious dessert.

The low-carbohydrate density diet aligns beautifully with the evolution-based diet that I recommend. It eliminates flour and sugar, includes but minimizes whole grains and fruits, and emphasizes vegetables, seeds, animal protein (not necessarily meat—think pastured eggs and raw goat cheese) and healthy fats like coconut oil. The benefits of avoiding refined grains and sugars include improved blood sugar balance, yeast control and intestinal comfort (i.e. reduced gas and bloating, a big bonus for IBS people like me). However, there isn't much to offer the sweet tooth contingent. Hence my mission.

I started off very simply: grated carrots (carrots are sweet, right?) mashed with nut butter and cinnamon. (I told you it was simple.) I know: not exactly blog-worthy—but it's darn good, trust me!

Anyway, in terms of a real recipe worth sharing, I am proud to present these adorable Coconut-Almond Crunch Balls. 

They're made with naturally sweet raw coconut butter, and naturally sweet raw almond butter, with only a hint of concentrated natural sweetener added. (I used agave, but maple syrup would be scrumptious, too.) The crunch comes from homemade Buckwheat Crunchies (soaked, sprouted dehydrated buckwheat groats), which I had on hand from a previous dehydrating day.

Buckwheat Crunchies are REALLY easy to make (instructions below). But if you don't have a dehydrator or the time, consider substituting finely chopped almonds. (Alternatively, forget the crunch aspect altogether and use this recipe, sans crunchies, to make creamy Coconut-Almond Truffles instead! Guaranteed they would be totally yummy, too.)

P.S. This dessert is gluten-free. I know buckwheat sounds like it must be related to wheat, the mother of all gluten-containing grains, but it isn't. In fact, buckwheat isn't even technically a grain. It's a fruit! Read more here.

Coconut-Almond Crunch Balls

1 cup raw coconut butter
1 Tablespoon raw coconut oil
1/4 cup raw almond butter
4 Tablespoons agave or maple syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon Himalayan pink salt or fine sea salt
1 cup buckwheat crunchies
shredded coconut for coating - about half a cup

In a food processor fitted with the S-blade, process coconut butter, coconut oil, almond butter, agave or maple syrup, vanilla and salt until a smooth dough is formed. Transfer to a medium bowl and use a soft spatula to gently mix in buckwheat crunchies.




Use a teaspoon or the spatula, and very clean fingers and hands, to separate out small chunks of dough. Roll and press them into little bite-sized balls, or medium-sized balls if you like more of a mouthful.

Roll each ball in shredded coconut and set aside until all the dough is used up. You'll get about two dozen balls or more, depending on their size.

If you prefer a flatter profile, that works, too.

I recommend eating Coconut-Almond Crunch Balls at room temperature for best flavor, but do store them in the refrigerator to keep firm and fresh. Miraculously, these balls hold their crunch for at least two weeks! (It wasn't easy to keep them around that long—hence the miracle—but I wanted to be sure my Crunch Balls lived up to their name over time, before going public with this recipe.) Enjoy!


Buckwheat Crunchies
To make these, you will need a dehydrator and a supply of raw buckwheat groats, which can be hard to find. I ordered a five-pound box directly from my local food coop.

To begin, soak two cups of buckwheat groats in four cups of water for eight hours or overnight.



Drain and rinse very well, several times, to thoroughly remove slippery foam. Allow soaked buckwheat to sprout in a strainer for 12-24 hours (as pictured below), rinsing at approximately six-hour intervals so that the soaked buckwheat doesn't dry out prematurely. (If sprouting overnight, you don't need to wake up to rinse your groats; just loosely cover strainer with a clean damp towel at bedtime.)

Spread sprouted buckwheat in a single layer on mesh dehydrator sheets and dehydrate at 110 degrees for 12 hours, or until very crisp.

Store crunchies in an airtight glass jar. Use in place of dry cereal (delicious with coconut milk!) or in recipes that call for crunch, such as my delectable Coconut-Almond Crunch Balls. ♥

Eat to Evolve! Raw Chocolate Brownies

These scrumptious brownies are raw, vegan and gluten free, 100% flourless and sweetened only with whole, soft, caramelicious medjool dates, a fruit about which I have previously waxed poetic, here.

Mouthwateringly rich and dense, Eat to Evolve! Raw Chocolate Brownies contain few ingredients but offer a deeply complex taste experience. Make them with your choice of walnuts or pecans; both are equally delicious. Either way, I recommend cutting them small, and chewing each bite slowly for full flavor enjoyment.

I made a batch of the walnut version to bring to a picnic yesterday (see above picture), and was lucky to have one, lone brownie left over to take home!

Here they are with pecans inside and on top, an elegant touch.

After receiving many requests to share the recipe, I am pleased to do so here and now. May you enjoy these sweet treats, body and soul.

Eat to Evolve! Raw Chocolate Brownies
Makes one 8" X 8" pan, or about 25 small brownies

3 cups raw walnuts or pecans
20 medjool dates, pitted, at room temperature
2/3 cups raw cacao powder
1/4 teaspoon Himalayan pink salt, or sea salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 teaspoons cold water

Set aside 1/4 cup of raw walnuts or pecans for topping, and add remaining nuts to food processor along with salt. Process nuts and salt together until finely ground. Add remaining ingredients and process until a consistent, well-mixed dough comes together in a ball. If necessary, sprinkle in more water to help mixing along, but careful not too much—you want it moist, not gooey.

Transfer brownie dough to an 8x8 Pyrex baking dish and with very clean hands, press it down until evenly distributed. Peer through the sides of the Pyrex to ensure a regular height all around. Then give a final pressing with the back of a stainless steel spatula, to create a smooth surface.

Chop the reserved 1/4 cup nuts, sprinkle over the top of the brownies and gently press them in with the spatula.* Or if you prefer, decorate the top with whole pecans, in which case, you may need a few more than the 1/4 cup reserved—think 20-25 total, laid out in neat rows so there will be one pecan atop of each individual brownie.

Cover the dish with waxed paper, put foil or plastic wrap over that, and chill brownies in the refrigerator until they firm up. Once they are firm and hard, you can slice them. I like to cut them small, in one-inch squares, or so. To do this, make four cuts on each side to yield 25 brownies per pan. Or, if you decorated with pecans, use the whole nuts as your slicing guide.

Keep brownies chilled until ready to eat. They taste better at room temperature, but store best in the fridge.

*If decorating the brownies with chopped nuts on top, you may wish to pulse-chop the reserved 1/4 cup of nuts in the food processor as a very first step, before you start making the brownies proper.

Everybody loves my Raw Chocolate Brownies! Won't you have one?

Brazil Nut Parmesan Spread with Cucumber Chips

When I was a little girl, my parents sometimes would host cocktail parties where, along with tinkly drinks, hors d'oeuvres would be served. In our house circa 1972, hors d'oeuvres meant yummy treats like Pigs in a Blanket (frozen miniature hot dogs wrapped in puffy dough that you'd heat in the oven, stab with toothpicks and dip in Gulden's Spicy Brown mustard), carrot and celery sticks, and assorted boxed crackers and cheeses served on a plate.

Once I was old enough, my mother put me in charge of arranging the raw veggie and cracker plates, and I used to really enjoy making an artistic display with all the different shapes and colors. Fast forward a few decades and things haven't changed much. Except now I'm the adult, the crackers are made of thinly sliced raw cucumbers, and the cheese is made of nuts!

I brought this platter of Cucumber Chips with Brazil Nut Parmesan Spread to my friend Emily's annual summer garden party extravaganza, and was pleased to see it greeted with as much delight as my Triscuit and Port Salud creations of yore. The whole spiral of tasty bites disappeared in minutes (the kids loved them, too!), and a good time was had by all.

Brazil Nut Parmesan Spread can be made in advance - it keeps beautifully for up to a week in the refrigerator. If serving with cucumber chips, it's best to slice the cukes at the last possible minute, though, to retain freshness and nutritional value.

I made this spread with freshly dried oregano from my herb garden. It would also be delicious with thyme, basil or any Italian Herb blend.

Brazil Nut Parmesan Spread
1 cup raw Brazil nuts
1 small clove garlic, peeled and minced
4 Tablespoons nutritional yeast
1 Tablespoon dried oregano (plus 1 tsp for garnish, optional)
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
4 Tablespoons lemon juice
4 Tablespoons cold water

Add the first five ingredients to a food processor fitted with the S-blade, and pulse process into a crumbly meal.

Add lemon juice and water and pulse until the cheese spread comes together in a ball. For a creamier spread, add more water.

To make Cucumber Chips, thinly slice 3 or 4 small cucumbers with a mandolin or very sharp knife.

Spread each cucumber chip with Brazil Nut Parmesan Spread and arrange on a plate, with additional oregano sprinkled over the top.

Bon appetit!

Solar Return Energy Smoothie

I made myself the most delicious green smoothie this morning for my solar return (i.e. birthday) breakfast! It's packed with fresh ingredients and superfoods, including organic banana, grapefruit, wild dandelion greens (aka "weeds"), maca, spirulina, chia, ginger-burdock tea and more. YUM!

One of the things I love best about drinking green smoothies is the instant energy boost they give me - brain and body both. One sip and my eyes just widen right up. Seriously! Talk about a wake up call.

Even the cats are interested. Here's Clyde, ever the smooth operator (pardon the pun), moving in to investigate the situation.

I confess, a cupboard full of superfoods and a Vita-Mix bring out the nutritional alchemist in me, hence, as you'll see from the recipe below, I ended up adding about a dozen synergistic health and energy-boosting ingredients to this drink... but please don't let that deter you! Following this recipe to the letter is hardly required. Just use it as a launching pad, as my friend Melissa likes to say, for making your own amazing, health-empowering green smoothie creations!

See my quick-reference glossary of superfoods and nutritional ingredients below the recipe to learn about their benefits, and become your own kitchen alchemist. ❤ Diana Banana & Co.

Raw Butternut Fettucini with Creamy Cilantro Nutfredo

I was born exactly 9 years to the day before the first moon walk, on which date the lunar surface was discovered to be covered with...rocks. Before that, people really had no idea what the moon was made of. Really. I remember one theory, quite popular when I was a child, that the moon was made of green cheese. Yes, people used to actually say this; I have no idea why. Not that I ever believed it, but in honor of tonight's new moon and annular eclipse of the sun, I felt inspired to make some Green Cheese of my own.

I had organic cilantro in the fridge, and a loose recipe for Cashew-Cilantro Paté swiped from an old vegan boyfriend of mine, but only a handful of raw cashews remaining in the nut jar. So, I improvised on the cheese, as I am wont to do. And then, inspiration struck! I remembered that I had a nice, big, smooth butternut squash in the pantry...and Raw Butternut Fettucini with Creamy Cilantro Nutfredo was born.

To create this dish, start by making a batch of Vegan Green Cheese as a base for the Creamy Cilantro Nutfredo. Measure out 1 1/2 cups of any combination of the following raw nuts and seeds: cashews, macadamia nuts, pumpkin seeds, pine nuts or brazil nuts. You can see I used about 2/3 raw pumpkin seeds, and 1/3 mixed cashews and macadamias.

Put your nut/seed combination in a bowl, cover by about an inch or two of fresh water, and soak for one hour. When time's up, drain soaked nuts/seeds and place in a food processor fitted with the S-blade. Add 2 Tbs virgin raw coconut oil and 1/4 tsp sea salt (I love the Himalayan pink salt, as you know, but any good quality sea salt will do).

Then pulse and process until contents attain the consistency of a coarse meal.

To this coarse meal, add the juice of 2 or 3 lemons; 1 tsp your choice coconut aminos, Bragg's liquid aminos or tamari; 2 Tbs nutritional yeast; 4 Tbs of water; and 2 large cloves garlic, minced. Process this all together for a while, until things start to get creamy (it may be necessary to add a bit more water to facilitate creaming). When the cheese has balled up and come together nicely, add 1/2 cup (packed) chopped cilantro,

and pulse that in. This is your Vegan Green Cheese.

Put Green Cheese into an airtight container and refrigerate while you make your noodles.

Butternut fettucini noodles are ridiculously easy to make. Start by cutting off the long neck of a good-sized butternut squash, and set the seed-filled bulbous portion aside. Use a vegetable peeler to remove the outer skin from the neck of the squash,

and then continue peeling off long, orange strips until you have enough for your dinner (and/or you get tired of peeling).

Your squash neck will turn into a beautiful sculpture, by the way,

which can be refrigerated and used another day in, for instance, a tasty squash curry, a creamy butternut soup, or even Raw Pumpkin Pie (butternut squash stands in beautifully for pumpkin in this recipe).

To "cook" the fettucini, it is necessary to marinate the butternut strips in a little oil to which has been added salt and an acid, just like we do for Massaged Kale. For today's marinade, I used 2 Tbs olive oil, 2 Tbs white balsamic vinegar, 1/4 tsp each of Himalayan pink salt and ground black pepper, and the last of some dried Thai basil I had kicking around, just to add a little extra flavor. I also added a teaspoon of Mirin (Japanese white cooking wine), just because I could, but that's totally optional. If you don't have white balsamic, use lemon juice and a splash of agave instead.

Stir marinade ingredients together in a large mixing bowl, then add the raw butternut noodles, and toss. Allow noodles to sit for at least half an hour in order to soften up, tossing from time to time to keep them all evenly coated.

When the noodles are done (al dente, naturally), it's time to assemble the Fettucini Nutfredo. Measure out about 3 Tbs of Vegan Green Cheese per serving, and place this in a medium sized bowl. Heat up some water on the stove; then little by little, use a fork to blend warm water into the cheese, gradually thinning and transforming it into a thick, creamy sauce of your preferred consistency. Voila! Creamy Cilantro Nutfredo!

Spoon Nutfredo sauce onto the marinated butternut fettucini. Toss gently and thoroughly until all your noodles are well coated with delectabe, saucy goodness.

Transfer to plate(s), and garnish with a sprinkle of any chopped green herb you prefer (I used fresh chives from my garden, along with their pretty purple flowers, but more cilantro would be lovely, too, as would parsley).

This meal takes far less time to prepare than the finished masterpiece would suggest, with plenty of leftover Vegan Green Cheese as a bonus. This will last for up to one week in the fridge, and can be used as a spread, a dip, a filling (for celery ribs, nori rolls, romaine wraps) - sky's the limit. Which reminds me. There's a Ring of Fire annular eclipse happening tonight. The oracle says this brings great opportunity for self-knowing and transformation. May it be so with you, and all your relations.

Cleansing on the Job: Raw Food, Brown Bag Lunch

If you're interested in stretching your hard-earned dollars a little further, try bringing your lunch to work! "Brown bagging" is a tried-and-true way to conserve your financial resources on the job, not to mention your number one insurance policy for staying on track with your cleansing diet-lifestyle.

If you care about what you put into your body, preparing your own food always gives you the maximum control. No need to worry if those salad greens are organic, or if your salad dressing is made with high quality oil. You made it yourself!

You can step up the fun factor by using food storage and carrying containers that make you smile. Every day feels like a picnic when I bring my lunch to work in a willow basket. Here's what I'm looking forward to enjoying today. The green juice is for morning. I'll probably drink it around 10:00, when I start feeling hungry, and then have my lunch a little after noon.

1 pint Ginger Green Juice (celery, cucumber, romaine, kale, apple, lemon ginger)

Avocado Salad with mesclun greens, drizzled with lemon juice and MCT oil

Rainy Day Crackers (made fresh yesterday!)

Raw Tahini & Garlic Red Pepper Miso medley (for crackers)

baby carrots, to nibble on later

Tell me, dear readers, what are you bringing to work for your lunch today?

xo Diana

Kale Around the Clock—Raw Fusion Style

Freshly harvested, tender spring kale has arrived in Western Massachusetts and I couldn’t be more thrilled! Kale is truly a superstar vegetable. It’s packed with nutrition, tastes great, comes in several colorful varieties and is incredibly versatile in the kitchen.

Kale is a member of the illustrious, cancer-fighting Brassica family and, like its cousins broccoli and daikon radish, has been researched extensively in recent years. Studies suggest that kale may help suppress tumor growth, promote detoxification at the genetic DNA level and support healthy cholesterol levels. Kale is packed with antioxidant flavonoids that fight inflammation and is notably high in lutein, a yellow carotenoid pigment required for healthy vision. It is an excellent source of vitamin A, vitamin C and vitamin K, a good source of manganese, calcium and other bone-building minerals and, best of all... it’s GREEN!

Green foods are beneficial for many reasons, including their exalted status of being the premier alkalizing foods on the planet. Alkaline nutrition is important because the pH of human blood must remain within a very tight, alkaline pH range (between 7.35 and 7.45) and the world we live in has become increasingly acidic, making it tough for the body to maintain. Processed foods, meats, sugars, white flour and most grains (i.e. the modern diet) along with chronic stress (i.e. the modern lifestyle) all promote acidity and threaten our alkaline balance. Ongoing low grade acidic conditions in the body are implicated in a Pandora’s box of health problems from bone loss and premature aging to arthritis, heart disease, cancer...you name it.

Promoting alkalinity is becoming increasingly recognized as critical to healthy physical and metabolic function, so the more alkalizing green vegetables you can eat, the better. Of course, salads and steamed greens are a great place to start. But why stop there? Some leafy greens like KALE are so versatile, they allow you to enjoy greens at every meal—even dessert!

To show you how, I’ll share three delicious and innovative recipes that I’ve adapted from Raw Fusion Recipes by LindaJoy Rose, PhD. LindaJoy is a leader in the field of hypnotherapy and an enthusiastic raw food educator. Her wonderful little recipe book, now in its second printing, is the companion volume to Raw Fusion, an introductory guide to incorporating raw/living foods into a healthy diet. (Visit rawfusionliving.com to order the books or learn more.)

And now…let’s have some fun with Kale Around the Clock!

morning...

Pineapple-Grapefruit Green Smoothie

To bathe your cells in alkalinity on a regular basis, I suggest starting each day with a tall glass of delicious green juice. (My revitalizing Ginger Green Juice is a favorite.) If you don’t have a juicer or simply find yourself in the mood for a more substantial meal, a blended green smoothie—which, unlike juice, retains the fiber of the fruits and veggies it contains—is a fine alternative. Experiment with different fresh leafy greens or green herbs—spinach, kale, parsley, dill—they’re all good. Cilantro really makes the flavors pop in this Pineapple-Grapefruit Green Smoothie. Enjoy for breakfast or lunch.

½ red grapefruit, peeled and pitted
1 cup chopped pineapple
½ lemon, peeled and pitted
4 leaves of kale, chopped
1 cup cilantro, leaves and stems
4 slices fresh ginger root
½ cup water or cooled lemon balm tea

Rough chop all ingredients, add to blender and blend on high until well combined. Add additional liquid or ice to reach desired temperature and consistency. Makes one pint.

Recipe inspired by Green Fairy’s Lemonade in Raw Fusion Recipes by LindaJoy Rose.


afternoon...

Lunar Kale Chips

When I was a kid, people used to say the moon was made of green cheese. These days, everyone knows the moon is made of rocks and dust, but we can still make our own green cheese using sprouted pumpkin seeds and seasonings. The classic approach to making pumpkin seed paté is tweaked here to create a savory Lunar Sauce for these out-of-this-world kale chips.

1 bunch Red Russian kale, or other flat leaf variety
½ cup raw pumpkin seeds, soaked 4 hours, drained and rinsed
1 lemon’s juice
½ cup water
1 clove garlic
½ tsp turmeric
½ tsp chipotle chili powder
¾ tsp Himalayan pink salt
2 Tbs. nutritional yeast

Rinse kale leaves well and remove stems. Save stems for juice and set leaves aside. To make sauce, put pumpkin seeds, lemon juice, water, and all seasonings except nutritional yeast into blender and blend on medium to high speed until well combined. Pour sauce into a large bowl, add a little more water to the blender and blend quickly to loosen the remaining sauce, then add this to what’s already in the bowl. Stir in the nutritional yeast by hand. Taste and adjust salt or seasonings if desired. Coat each kale leaf on both sides with the Lunar Sauce. Arrange leaves on dehydrator trays lined with Teflex sheets. Avoid overlapping leaves to permit air circulation. (My bunch of kale contained twelve leaves and I needed four trays to lay them all out.) Use up all the sauce—you should have just enough.

Dehydrate kale chips for one hour at 145 degrees, then reduce temperature to just under 110 degrees and continue dehydrating for about four hours. At this point, gently flip chips off of the Teflex and onto the mesh trays, dry sides down. Dehydrate another two to four hours or until desired crispiness is reached. Keeping them slightly moist and flexible is a fun option and keeps the kale a bit more lively, since a plant’s vitality is primarily contained in its water-containing portions.

If you don’t have a dehydrator, you could try making Lunar Kale Chips in a very low-temperature oven, perhaps with the door left slightly open. If using this method, use a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and keep an eye on the chips as they dry – they might be crisp within 20 to 30 minutes.

Recipe inspired by Cheezy Chili Chips in Raw Fusion Recipes by LindaJoy Rose.


evening...

Kale Fudge Torte

I was planning on making Kale Brownies with this adapted recipe, but I overdid it on the food processing and things got pretty sticky fast! Luckily, my mistake yielded outstanding results, and a Torte was born. There are two whole cups of chopped kale in this recipe but you really can’t taste them at all, as confirmed by my Sunday Yoga test group. (Maybe once you know it’s there you THINK you can taste the kale, but nobody guessed the secret ingredient.) In fact, this torte may be the most decadent way ever to “sneak” greens into the diet. Consider it a stealth health strategy for people like the mom I met last week at the Greenfield farmer’s market, whose son refuses to eat green veggies. Mom, your secret is safe with me!

1½ cup walnuts or pecans
½ teaspoon sea salt
10 Medjool dates, pitted and chopped
2 cups chopped kale leaves, loosely packed (stems removed!)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/3 cup raw cacao powder, plus 1 teaspoon
1 Tbs coconut butter (not coconut oil)
1 or 2 Tbs maple syrup

In a food processor, pulse nuts and sea salt until finely ground. Add remaining ingredients and process until dough comes together. You may add a tablespoon or two of water to facilitate things if necessary—the dough will be extremely thick.

Place dough on a piece of parchment paper laid flat on the counter and press into a square or round shape, one inch tall. The dough is VERY sticky so moisten your hands with water or use a second piece of parchment paper on top of the dough to help you press and shape the torte. When shaped, wrap in parchment paper and chill until firm, about one hour or longer. Before serving, sprinkle top with additional teaspoon of raw cacao powder by sifting through a fine mesh strainer, such as a tea strainer. (To sift, hold strainer over the torte and “stir” the cacao powder with a spoon or chopstick to sift the cacao onto the surface of the torte, covering the entire surface with fine powder.)

Store Kale Fudge Torte in the fridge and consume within three days—the raw, living kale in the recipe leads to a short shelf life. If you can’t or don’t want to finish the torte in only three days, I suggest freezing individual sized pieces, each tightly wrapped in parchment paper and sealed within a freezer bag. Then, when you feel like a treat, just take out a packet and let it warm up on the counter. Yum!

Recipe inspired by Family Favorite Flourless Chocolate Cake in Raw Fusion Recipes by LindaJoy Rose. Many thanks to LJ for sending me the books and for being so patient while I prepared this post! ♥

Blizzard Plate Special Salad with Parsley-Macadamia Nut-Pumpkin Seed Paté & Sprouted Seed Crackers

The first snowstorm of the season is blowing outside, windy, white and cold. When it comes to lunch, this means only one thing: a hearty salad plate.

My salads always start with a big, fluffy bed of greens. In this case, I used a blend of 50% chopped romaine, my favorite winter lettuce, and 50% baby mesclun greens. Chopped avocado, tomato and red (Bermuda) onion are added next, with a generous squeeze of fresh lime juice on top for the brightest and simplest of dressings.

On the side, you'll see a scoop of my delicious Parsley-Macadamia Nut-Pumpkin Seed Paté (recipe to follow) surrounded by two flavors of Sprouted Seed Crackers. I made these in the dehydrator with a dough formed from soaked and sprouted buckwheat, flax and sunflower seeds that I ground and combined with assorted seasonings. The exact recipe is top secret, but you can come close with my Rainy Day Crackers.

Even though it is cold outside, our bodies still crave fresh living foods. Use good strong greens, warming onions or garlic, and a topping of healthy fats and proteins (in this case from avocados and nuts/seeds... but you could also consider black beans or chickpeas, kalamata olives, sardines, etc) to make nourishing winter salads that both satisfy and appeal. Bon appetit!


Parsley-Macadamia Nut-Pumpkin Seed Paté

1 cup raw pumpkin seeds, soaked 2-4 hours and drained
1/2 cup raw macadamia nuts
1 clove garlic
1 1/2 teaspoons sea salt
1 lemon's juice (about 1/4 cup)
3 Tbs cold-pressed raw olive oil
1 tsp raw coconut oil
1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley (about 3 stalks)
black pepper to taste
about 1/4 cup water, more or less as needed

Directions
In a food processor, process pumpkin seeds, macadamia nuts and sea salt into a fine meal. Add lemon juice and oils and begin processing again, drizzling in water until the mass gets rolling. Continue processing for a few minutes, stopping as needed to spatula down the sides, and allow it to keep going until very creamy. At that point, add fresh black pepper and chopped parsley and pulse process for about half a minute or until well blended. Store paté in a covered glass jar or container in the refrigerator. Makes 2 cups (one pint) and keeps for up to a week. Or, divide into portions and freeze what you won't use in a week. This paté freezes really well by keeping its consistency after thawing, making it quite handy to grab and bring to a raw food pot luck in a pinch. (True story.)

♥

I Love My Lunch

My mother finds it very strange that I take pictures of my food. But I can't help it!

For me, creating beautiful dishes and loving how my food looks is one of the great pleasures of following a high-raw diet. So naturally, I want a record of each culinary masterpiece. Of course, photos (especially those taken with my old point & shoot) can only begin to capture a suggestion of the life force emanating from my living cuisine. Hopefully, you get the idea.

Today's delightful lunch features open-faced sandwiches made with Carrot-Coconut Flaxseed Crackers (see previous post for recipe). Each crisp, buttery cracker is spread with a mixture of raw tahini and sweet white miso (about half and half), then topped with sliced organic roma tomatoes, homegrown French lentil sprouts and a drizzle of my own raw apple cider vinegar-olive oil vinaigrette. The plate is garnished with a giant purple asparagus stalk, courtesy of Brook Bend Farm, where I have the good fortune of working this summer in exchange for farm-fresh organic produce.

Wish you could join me...bon appetit!

Practice Update: Montague Integrative Health – Grand Opening!

Dear Friends,

I am excited to announce that I have moved my practice from Greenfield to the lovely, centrally located village of Montague Center, where I am joining three other holistic practitioners to form Montague Integrative Health. Together, we look forward to providing high quality, comprehensive natural healthcare to the greater Pioneer Valley community. You can learn more about our group by visiting the "about me" page on my website, www.eat2evolve.com.

All local readers are warmly invited to attend our Open House tomorrow, Sunday November 9th from 2 to 5 PM at the offices of Montague Integrative Health, 432 Greenfield Road, Montague (adjacent to the Book Mill). Of course, we will be serving yummy raw, local and organic treats including my famous Raw Pumpkin Pie with Coconut-Date Pecan Crust, mulled cider from New Salem Preserves, Pierce Brothers coffee, assorted raw cheeses, Spicy Sunflower Chia Chips, Emily's fresh Eggplant Caponata, Nancy's Olive Oil Cookies and more!

Here's the recipe for my Chia Chips, which I developed as a way to use the pulp left over from juicing carrots. You probably could make this with any kind of juice pulp, provided it isn't too stringy (i.e. zucchini or cucumber as opposed to celery or kale). Feel free to substitue ground flax for chia, and mix up the seasonings as the spirit moves you – curry, pesto, jalapeno, whatever! I make this in a 9-tray Excalibur dehydrator. My beautiful, cobalt blue Kitchen Aid mixer does a super job of turning all the ingredients into a uniform dough. A big batch like this usually lasts a couple of weeks (unless it is being served at a grand opening celebration!)... Bon appetit!


SPICY SUNFLOWER CHIA CHIPS

INGREDIENTS

½ cup whole flaxseeds
1 ½ cups ground chia seed

½ large onion, minced
4 lg cloves garlic, minced
4 dried red chili peppers, minced
2 Tbs chipotle chili powder
2 Tbs dried basil
2 Tbs dried oregano
1 Tbs dried thyme
1 Tbs kelp powder
1 tsp sea salt

1 cup sunflower seeds
4 cups carrot pulp
4 Tbs wheat free tamari or nama shoyu (contains gluten)
1 cup minced fresh cilantro leaf and stem

DIRECTIONS

Combine flax and chia seeds in a large bowl. Cover with water and stir until as smooth as possible – it will clump up. Add more water to reach consistency of very thick paste. (Add more water if you want thinner chips, as the wetter dough will be easier to spread thin.) Stir well and allow to soak at least 15 minutes while you prepare other ingredients.

Combine minced onions, garlic and hot peppers. Add chili powder, basil, oregano, thyme, kelp powder and sea salt. Stir this mixture into the flax/chia seed paste and combine thoroughly. Add sunflower seeds, carrot pulp, tamari and cilantro, and combine thoroughly again. You can use a mixer if you like to help fully blend ingredients into a thick dough. Feel free to taste and adjust seasonings, but remember that all flavors–especially saltiness–will intensify as the crackers lose moisture and dry.

Line seven dehydrator trays with Paraflexx sheets or waxed paper. Divide dough evenly between the seven trays. One by one, spread each clump of dough into a flat square about 10 X 10 inches. Dampen your palms with water to facilitate spreading if needed. Once flat, I hold a chopstick against the sides and spread dough into edge to make a straight line. If you like, pre-score dough into chip shapes by lightly pressing a knife straight down into the flattened dough – for instance, 9 squares or 18 rectangles.

Put trays in dehydrator and dry at 105 degrees for 10-12 hours. Remove trays from dehydrator and one by one, place a mesh-lined tray on top of dry side of chip, flip trays upside down together, then peel off Paraflexx sheet to expose wet side. Return trays to dehydrator for another 10-12 hours or until chips are dry. Break along scores and store in airtight container; will keep for several weeks.

Food Combining Part One: An Introduction

Have you ever heard of food combining? Long ago or lately, it’s a seriously sensible idea whose time is always coming, but never yet quite here. Strange, considering the very real, and almost instantaneous results one gets from practicing this age-old art and science.

I first became aware of food combining principles when I was a high school student exploring vegetarianism and raw food nutrition. Today it may seem hard to imagine, but back in the 1970’s, these dietary approaches were considered extremely radical by most people, my loving parents included (“What, give up meat? Preposterous!”), so there wasn’t much in the way of support or information to be found. However, by having the good fortune to come in contact, at age fifteen, with Viktoras Kulvinskas’ extraordinary raw food bible Survival Into the 21st Century and, soon after, Herbert M. Shelton’s 1940 booklet Food Combining Made Easy, I was exposed early on to the nuts and bolts of food combining.

And what kinds of nuts and bolts are these, you ask? (Or nuts and fruits, as the case may be?) Well, there are more than a few, but the basics are pretty simple.

The science of food combining holds that, first of all - and in most cases - fruits are best eaten alone, to help avoid their fermentation in the gut.

Food combining also requires that starches and proteins be eaten at separate meals, due to the different digestive enzyme environments (acidic vs alkaline) that these two macronutrient categories require. (Individually, both starches and proteins combine excellently with salads and low-starch vegetables such as onions, broccoli and kale.)

A third important food combining rule states that after eating a properly combined meal from any given category (i.e. fruit, starch or protein), one should wait a designated amount of time before eating any additional food (i.e. thirty minutes after a fruit meal, three hours after a starch meal and four hours after a protein combo) in order to allow the meal to pass completely out of the stomach - again, in order to prevent fermentation, incomplete digestion, gastric upset and other unwanted results.

As a young student of nutrition, I studied these basic guidelines, along with reams of more esoteric details, and strived to follow all to the letter. This lasted a short period, as I soon grew tired of the effort. (I guess at my age, there understandably were already too many confusing rules and “shoulds” in my life.) However, I did naturally incorporate and maintain some of the broader tenets, such as eating fruit separately from veggies, and generally applied certain other rules, often expressed in catchy slogans such as, “Eat milk alone or let it alone!” and my favorite, “Desert the desserts!”

So, that was my introduction to the art & science of food combining. This concludes Part One of this blog topic, as I must now return to planning my upcoming talk on the subject, to be held next Wednesday, October 15th at Green Fields Market!

Until next time, may you be blessed with radiant health,
Diana

Click here to read Part Two of this article.

Practically Raw! Nutrition Talk Tidbits

Last Wednesday night I had the honor of speaking at Green Fields Market (my local food coop) on the topic of Practically Raw nutrition. We had a terrific turnout (24 enthusiastic, light-filled attendees) and it was so much fun to be together and talk about living the high raw lifestyle.

Following are a selection of Practically Raw ideas we covered in the talk. Try any that sound workable for you!

To begin, let's consider the phrase "Practically Raw!" As you may have guessed, it's intended as a triple entendre:
1) a diet that is made up in large part, but not necessarily entirely, of raw, living foods;
2) a practical approach to eating raw, living foods throughout the day; and
3) slightly cooked food (i.e. lightly steamed broccoli, which may retain a higher nutrient profile than boiled broccoli, as well as some live enzyme activity)

General Suggestions
• Consider eating "light to heavy" throughout the day, with the lightest food in the morning and the largest meal at dinner time. (Helps maintain energy and mental clarity during productive daylight hours; allows for relaxation and release later when needed. For most people, big breakfasts weigh you down!)
• Consider eating "raw till dinner" and have your soothing, cooked "comfort" foods at end of day (when you may need them most)
• Listen to your body! The goal of eating living foods is to optimize health, not get caught up in a food trip. Always be kind and non-judgmental with yourself (and others) around dietary choices.

Practically Raw Breakfast Ideas
• Make breakfast a living liquid meal: ginger-fruit smoothie, green smoothie or freshly pressed vegetable or veggie-fruit blend juice. (please email me for smoothie recipes!)
• During colder weather, eat an ounce or two or raw nuts with bananas and/or dried fruit in the AM to help warm and fulfill the body-mind-spirit complex (may enjoy this 30 minutes or more after juice)

Practically Raw Lunch Ideas
• Enjoy a large raw salad, topped with creamy avocado or a rich seed-based or nut-based cheese, paté or dressing.
• Have a large raw salad with EITHER a cooked protein (such as beans, hard-boiled eggs or sardines) or a cooked starch (such as brown rice or baked potato), or a yummy soup (raw blended veggie soup or cooked lentil, tomato-basil, pureed veggie, miso, etc.)
• Learn to make a great raw dressing using a base of approximately 3 parts extra virgin olive oil to 1 part lemon juice or Bragg's apple cider vinegar. Add garlic, herbs/spices, kelp powder, sea salt or miso, minced red onion, mustard powder, whatever you fancy!

Practically Raw Snack Ideas
• World's Healthiest Snack: raw veggies! Think baby carrots (great for the car and at work), celery, snow peas, etc. May sprinkle with Spike or Old Bay seasoning, or for a treat, enjoy with raw goat cheese.
• Sweet Treat: a piece or fresh fruit OR a few pieces of dried fruit with a handful raw nuts OR a handful of raw nuts with a cup of herbal tea (Suggestion: eat fresh fruit half hour before meals or several hours after, on an empty stomach.)
• Savory Snack: raw flaxseed crackers (like those from Foods Alive!, which were sampled at the talk - many delicious flavors to choose from) or make your own in the dehydrator. (Once you have a dehydrator, this becomes a very easy and practical thing to make.) May spread with raw nut butter or tahini.

Practically Raw Dinner Ideas
• Feeling adventuresome? Try making a delectable (but still practical!) raw dinner such as beet rawviolis with pine nut ricotta (see Euphoric Organics link at right for recipe). Or wrap anything in a nori sheet for instant sushi! Sea veggies are great for alkalizing your blood and supporting healthy thyroid function, lipid & blood sugar levels and smooth digestion.
• Whip up an easy raw dish such as vegetable spaghetti strands created in the spiralizer from fresh zucchini or sweet potato (this stuff is amazing!). Top with cooked or raw tomato sauce, fresh pesto or a creamy, blended nut-cheese sauce. Raw veggie pasta is a surprisingly easy and quick meal to prepare, and will be different every time depending on the sauce you create and the veggies you use for the pasta.
• Old Standby: Salad + large dish of lightly steamed veggies, topped with flaxseed oil and sea salt, or tomato sauce and raw goat cheese
• Comfort Meal: Baked sweet potatoes (I love Garnet Yams best) with green salad and lightly steamed veggies
• Fish Dinner: enjoy baked or pan-fried wild-caught fish or indoor-farmed fish (e.g. catfish or Australis barramundi) served with large raw salad and/or a generous serving of lightly steamed or roasted veggies, seasoned to taste

Practically Raw Dessert Ideas
• Raw Cacao! Try the whole bean, or make some homemade avocado-cacao pudding or raw chocolate with raw cacao powder + coconut butter + raw honey or agave. You can also purchase real, live raw chocolates (like the amazing hearts from Sacred Chocolate - 19 flavors to choose from!) - a fabulous treat.
• Brown rice cakes or Dr. Krackers (100% spelt crackers) spread with raw nut butter or tahini + raw honey
• 70%+ Dark Chocolate (Divine, Green & Black, etc.). Not raw, but easy enough to come by, and a fine finish to any meal!

Have fun experimenting, and please be in touch with any questions or comments! (P.S. Gourmet chefs: check out http://gliving.tv/greenchefs/recipes/category/raw/ for incredible recipes!)

Yours in health and joyful service,
Diana

Practically Raw!

Many people are attracted to the idea of following a raw food diet, but don't know where or how to begin. One may read a lot of books and study a lot of teachings but hesitate to take the next step of putting ideas into action because the ideals feel so extreme. This is why I am a big proponent of taking small steps when changing your diet. Go slowly and honor your personal needs and transition level by applying Practically Raw principles.

Plunging into a 100% raw lifestyle is not something I generally recommend, though there are some who experience success with this approach, at least for the short term. For most of us, a gentle transition to a high raw diet is a better idea for several reasons.

First of all, what is the purpose of eating raw foods? Is the goal to follow a rigid dogma, to live up to someone else's belief system about what you "should" eat or to be able to label yourself a raw foodist? Or is the goal to be healthy and happy?

For me, the goal of eating raw foods is simply to feel great - awake, alive, confident and productive! I don't want to be slowed down on a daily basis by dense food that takes hours to digest or, worse, knocks me out into a food coma. I want my body to be naturally lean and healthy, my mind to be clear and my energy to be bright – every day! I also want to feel connected to all beings, the natural world around me and the energy of life that permeates the universe – every day! A diet based on raw and living foods helps me to feel this way.

Please note, the words "based on" are very key in that last sentence. Personally, at my transition level I find it useful to eat non-raw foods on a regular basis, usually at dinner time. I am partial, for instance, to such cooked delicacies as velvety baked sweet potatoes with raw butter, and spicy-creamy Thai coconut curry (loaded with colorful chunks of just-tender vegetables and mounds of chopped fresh cilantro). Eating cooked foods like these helps me to feel grounded, connected and satisfied in ways that I deeply value. At other times, those needs are less and I prefer lighter fare. This entry, for example, is being blogged on my final day of a three-day juice fast, making me 100% raw presently, and feeling incredible. Meanwhile, I know at some point I will enjoy Thai coconut curry again.

So it’s all in a flow. In time and season, and depending on your life situation, the percentage of raw/cooked food in your diet may change in either direction. What matters most is finding the balance that works for you.

Physically, raw foods are very light and cleansing - fruits in particular. This is a fantastic thing, but too much cleansing all at once can overwhelm the body's ability to detoxify and eliminate the waste matter that is released. Cooked food helps slow down the cleansing process, protecting and respecting your body's reality in the moment.

Mentally, raw foods help to open and clear the mind, as they are packed with very high energy, solar vibrations that sharpen our thought and vivify our nervous system. But in the extreme, too much raw food can cause us to feel "spaced out" and ungrounded. It's wonderful and amazing to feel high on life, but we don’t want our thoughts to be merging with the cosmos while we are operating a car on the freeway with two kids in the back, right?

It's important to eat grounding foods while transitioning into a Practically Raw diet to help us function effectively on this earthly plane. My top picks for grounding foods are earthy root vegetables (foods that literally grow IN the ground - think baked sweet potatoes, grated parsnips or steamed turnips), squashes (which grow LOW TO the ground), and lightly cooked low-starch vegetables (cauliflower, broccoli, green beans, etc). Smaller amounts of cooked/sprouted whole grains (millet, quinoa, brown rice) and beans (if tolerated), and some animal foods (preferably the least dense animal foods, such as raw goat cheese, organic eggs or wild fish) may also be used to help us ground our energy.

Emotionally, we need to be honest with the fact that many of us are literally hooked on processed carbs, processed dairy and dense cooked foods, and going off them cold turkey without any bridging foods (such as sprouted grain bread to replace regular white bread, or raw goat cheese to replace pasteurized cow milk cheese) may backfire.

Socially, we may have systems in our lives that involve shared eating experiences. If we forego cooked food entirely or too suddenly, our inability to participate in these occasions may end up causing personal sorrow or interpersonal tension. It is important to take a stand for your beliefs and be true to yourself, but go easy. As Natalia Rose encourages, let "progress, not perfection," be your guide. Sometimes it is wisest to weigh the trade-offs and just do your best in a given situation.

Many devoted raw fooders guilt trip themselves for eating or craving cooked food, feel shame for caving in to craving, and in some cases even develop eating disorders such as orthorexia or binge-purge disorders all because they are trying to stick to a raw program that doesn't suit the truth of their actual situation, capabilities and needs. The stress this creates is not conducive to health and happiness, and isn’t that our primary goal?

Contrary to what some may preach, cooked food is not necessarily poison! Yes, raw foods are our original foods - there's no doubt about it. Raw foods provide optimum nourishment, life force energy, enzymes and nutrients. But the evidence is strong that humans have spent about 1.9 million years eating cooked foods, too. We are adapted to eating both. (What we are not, and will never be adapted to eating is junk food, processed food, white flour and sugar, artificial colors, synthetic fats, etc.) Furthermore, if we are used to eating lots of cooked food, its sudden absence can turn even the highest quality raw food into "poison" by virtue of its causing too many stored toxins to be liberated from our cells and tissues at once.

So let's be practical! Let's sensibly make it our goal to eat lots of living, raw foods every day, and to honor our own transition level by balancing these foods as required with healthy cooked foods. In this way, the Practically Raw lifestyle can help us meet our physical, mental, social and emotional needs around diet and nutrition with savor, joy and fulfillment.

Yours in the light of radiant health,
Diana

Play in the Kitchen!

Did anyone ever tell you not to play with your food? If so, you may share a commonly held belief that preparing natural, healthy and raw food is a lot of work. But is it? I am here to suggest otherwise!

Eleven amazing people attended my talk last week on the New Raw Food Diet. More than half the group were already following raw or high raw diets and had wonderful insights and experiences to share, while the remaining attendees, introduced for the first time to the exciting world of living foods, were so open to learning. It was an honor to facilitate this meeting of our growing raw food community and I hope we will develop and expand our connections through future meetings and workshops.

One concern voiced by the practicing raw fooders was the time factor involved in raw food preparation. It is endemic in our culture to feel pressed for time - to be always on the go, rushing from place to place and "grabbing a bite to eat" in the midst of the chaos. Of course nothing could be simpler than grabbing an apple, banana or bag of baby carrots and eating out of hand, but making raw pasta, sauces or patés may be perceived as too time consuming - especially when the preponderance of convenience foods, fast food outlets and advertising for these products and venues repeatedly reinforces the idea that there's not enough time in the day to prepare meals. Even if we don't eat fast food and packaged meals, we are subjected to the messages they convey.

I agree it is a fact that preparing food takes time. This means that unless you are in the position to eat out, order in or hire someone else to prepare all your wholesome fresh meals, you will have to slow down a couple of times a day to make wholesome, fresh food for yourself. By doing this, you get to take care of YOU. Love yourself in these moments, and pour your love into your creation. Taking care of yourself is a beautiful thing!

And how do you find the time? Here are a few pointers. Number One is to change your thoughts around time. WANT to have the time, BELIEVE you have the time, and start to regard your time in the kitchen as PLAY, not work. If you are having FUN in the kitchen, you will WANT to spend time there making yummy food!

Beyond that, it helps to think ahead. Think about what you want to eat for the coming day or week and be organized by making shopping lists, purchasing ingredients in advance, soaking nuts for cheeses or seeds for sprouts in time to make the dishes you want, etc. Also, try to choose a day or an afternoon that you're not working to prepare a few more complex items for the week ahead (Sunday works for me).

Another way to help save time (and increase the fun factor) is GADGETS! These are not necessary, but they do broaden the scope of culinary possibility. Not all gadgets are pricey - for instance, salad spinners are very modestly priced and well worth the small investment for the time they save washing greens (I use mine every day), not to mention the secret glee of spinning and braking the machine! A simple spiral slicer costs under $30 and makes the best zucchini spaghetti in the world, with a chewy bite like pasta, but with no gummy gooey slimy thing going on, no wheat to clog you up, and talk about fast food! Just cut a zuke in half, put it in the machine, turn the crank and out come perfect strands, like magic. Top with your choice of: pesto, raw alfredo, oil and tamari, or even organic bottled marinara sauce (remember, it's not necessarily about 100% raw) and you're in business!

It's easy to make kitchen time play time when you have toys to play with! I am having the most fun ever exploring the world of raw food cuisine now that I have a juicer, spiralizer and - last but not least - dehydrator (this WAS a big investment), which I finally bought after months of saving up and thoughtful deliberation over what kind to get (I went with a white, 9-tray Excalibur with timer - yes!). I made my first two trays of Maiden Bread on Sunday, with vidalia onions, veggie pulp, flaxseed and sunflower seed meal, based on Matt Amsden's Rawvolution recipe. Amazing!

Of course, I needed to create a spread for this savory creation, so I also made (on Sunday - told you it works for me) the most amazing Pumpkin Seed-Macadamia-Pine Nut Cheese with Fresh Garlic Scapes* you could dream of. It's so dreamy, I should call it Dream Cheese. I can't get over how super quick and easy it is to make DELICIOUS, CREAMY cheese out of seeds and nuts - non-dairy cheese that tastes as good if not WAY better than goat cheese or boursin. All you need is a food processor, and enough forethought to start soaking your seeds a few hours in advance. Look how beautiful:


This recipe is based on Cheese with Spring Onions, posted by Zoe on goneraw.com. (http://goneraw.com/recipes/1619-Cheese-with-Spring-Onions)

Pumpkin Seed-Macadamia-Pine Nut Cheese Balls with Garlic Scapes

2 cups pumpkin seeds (soaked for 2-4 hours and drained)
1/2 cup pine nuts
1/2 cup macadamia nuts
2 lemons' juice
1/3 cup olive oil
drizzle of black truffle oil (optional)
1/2 to 1 Tablespoon Himalayan pink salt
10 garlic scapes, chopped (plus additional minced scapes for rolling) (may substitute chives or green onions for scapes)

Directions: Put soaked seeds and nuts in food processor and pulse/process to fine meal texture. Add lemon juice and olive oil and process until smooth, stopping to scrape down sides with spatula as needed. Add truffle oil and 1/2 Tablespoon salt, and continue to process for a while (up to 10 minutes altogether). If it's not coming together, add a little water to obtain desired texture - it should be very thick yet creamy. Taste and adjust salt if you want. When cheese seems done, add in chopped garlic scapes and process briefly to break down and blend well. Refrigerate for 30 minutes, then remove, form balls and roll in minced garlic scapes (the balls, not you!). Or just store cheese in glass containers to use as spread. (I did both.) Keeps in fridge five days.


*Garlic scapes are the curly, upper sections of garlic plants. Scapes develop in mid to late June in my area, and sport a closed bud at their tip. If the scape is not removed, the bud will swell open into a round, edible flower and the garlic bulb will not develop. Scapes are trimmed away to help the plant send its energy down into the root instead of up into the flower, so that a nice, fat garlic bulb will grow for harvest later in the season. Garlic scapes are pungent, tender and tasty - a real Summer Solstice time, seasonal treat!