Raw Chocolate Superfood Energy Balls

Raw Chocolate Superfood Energy Balls

Adorable, good-looking, delicious and healthy: What's not to love about Raw Chocolate Superfood Energy Balls?

Back when winter seemed like a fun-fresh idea, I brought these little gems to a New Year's Day gathering. They were a big hit, and I've been meaning to post the recipe ever since.

Ahem.

Daylight savings time started today and according to my calendar, it's almost Spring. Whoopsie!

I hope you'll agree this is a recipe worth waiting for, and better late than never...

Raw Chocolate Superfood Energy Balls

Ingredients
1.5 cups organic raw almonds
1/4 cup hemp protein powder (or pea protein)
3 Tbs raw cacao powder
2 tsp spirulina powder
1.5 tsp ground cinnamon
1 Tbs Chia seeds
18 Medjool dates, pitted
1 tsp vanilla powder or extract
a few tablespoons of cold water

+ your choice of coating: shredded coconut, cacao nibs, hemp seeds, chopped goji berries (Tip: If using gojis, chop them in your clean food processor before you start making the energy balls!)

Directions
Add almonds, hemp protein powder, raw cacao, spirulina, cinnamon and chia seeds to food processor and pulse repeatedly until well combined. Add vanilla and pitted dates and pulse-process again until mixture starts to bind together. Add cold water by the tablespoon and continue processing until mixture pulls together and you have what looks like a firm, soft ball of dough.

Transfer dough into a clean bowl. In separate smaller bowls, pour out about a half cup each of your chosen coating ingredients. (I used shredded coconut and goji berries.)

Using your fingers or a spoon, pull off a tablespoon-sized chunk of dough and form it into a ball. Roll or toss ball in coating of choice until well-covered; then set aside on a plate. Repeat until all the dough is used up.

Chill finished energy balls in an airtight container in the refrigerator for at least one hour or until firm.

This recipe makes about 16 energy balls. They can be frozen or stored in the fridge for several weeks. For best flavor, eat at room temperature.

NOTE: You can also use this recipe to make energy BARS instead of energy BALLS. To make bars, simply press your dough into a Pyrex baking dish until desired thickness is achieved. About a half-inch thick is ideal. (Don't try to make the bars fill the entire Pyrex dish—getting the thickness you like is what matters, so expect there to be some empty space in the dish! Just square it off as best you can.)

Use the back of a spatula to get the top flat. Then, gently press your shredded coconut or coating of choice into the surface, cover entire dish with plastic wrap (or use a clean, dry produce bag) and refrigerate as above. When firm, slice into bars and, if desired, individually wrap each one using saran wrap, waxed paper or parchment.

Chewy Pumpkin Oat Squares

Chewy Pumpkin Oat Squares - yummy, nutritious, vegan, gluten-free :)

These delicious, chewy oat squares—loaded with fruits, nuts and gluten-free whole grains—do equal service as a hearty breakfast (think muffin minus the cup) or a wholesome dessert cake. Pumpkin puree plus freshly grated honeycrisp apple makes the squares moist; currants and walnuts add a bright burst of flavor to every bite.

Chewy Pumpkin Oat Squares

Dry Ingredients
2 cups whole oats (not instant)
1/4 cup cornmeal
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1.5 teaspoons baking soda
1 Tbs ground flaxseed or chia seed
pinch of salt (optional)

Wet Ingredients
1 cup unsweetened pumpkin puree
1/2 cup almond butter
1/2 cup liquid natural sweetener (honey, maple syrup or agave)
1/2 cup grated apple (packed)
1 Tbs melted coconut oil (optional)

Fold-Ins
1/2 cup currants (or raisins)
1/4 cup finely chopped walnuts

Directions: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease an 8X8 Pyrex baking dish with coconut oil or line it with two sheets of parchment paper. In separate mixing bowls, mix wet ingredients and dry ingredients separately. Add wet to dry, combine well and fold in currants and walnuts. Pour batter into pan and bake for 35-40 minutes, until top begins to brown and cracks have formed over the surface. Allow cake to cool before slicing into squares. Depending on how you cut it, each pan makes 9, 12 or 16 healthy servings.

Pumpkin Spice Chia Pudding (Vegan & Gluten-Free!)

Pumpkin Spice Chia Pudding

Wish you could eat pumpkin pie every day but don't want all that fat and sugar? Try this delicious, healthy pumpkin pudding instead! It's made with organic canned pumpkin puree, naturally sweet dates, plain coconut milk and plenty of fragrant, warming pumpkin pie spice. Chia seeds make it thick without eggs or dairy while adding protein, fiber, calcium, iron and a good dose of anti-inflammatory omega-3 fatty acids. 

Enjoy Pumpkin Spice Chia Pudding for breakfast or dessert. Perfect just as is, or add sliced bananas, currants and pecans -- on top, stirred in or layered for an elegant holiday parfait. Yum!

This recipe makes about four cups of pudding. Double it if you have a crowd to feed, or simply want more on hand for you. Keeps well for several days in the fridge since antioxidant-rich chia seeds act as a preservative. 

Pumpkin Spice Chia Pudding

2 cups liquid unsweetened coconut milk (the kind in a carton, not the thicker canned kind)

1 cup organic canned pumpkin (that's half an average can)

6-8 medjool dates

2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

pinch Himalayan pink salt

1/2 cup chia seeds (I used white)

Directions: Put all ingredients except chia seeds in the Vita-Mix and blend on medium to high speed, until creamy. Stir in chia seeds, wait five minutes, stir again, wait another five minutes, stir again, wait another five minutes (!) and then give a final stir and pour pudding into two glass pint mason jars or any serving bowl of choice. Cover and chill in refrigerator until firm, about two hours, for best texture. 

Look how thick it gets!

Paleo Pear Crumble

Paleo Pear Crumble ~ grain-free, gluten-free goodness.

If you adore fruit crisps and crumbles but are avoiding gluten, flour or grains of any type, this recipe is for you. I humbly submit the crumble topping unveiled below is the best I have ever tasted...and it's completely grain-free!

My original crumble recipe uses ground almonds and hemp seeds instead of flour or oats for the dry component, and sweet pastured butter for the fat. (Butter is most honest and delectable, but substitute coconut oil if you're off dairy.) For sugar, I went with raw organic turbinado but feel free to try any other organic crystallized sugar such as sucanat, coconut or date palm. Just don't go getting involved with honey or maple syrup. I love them to pieces, but the texture won't be right.

The filling for my Paleo Pear Crumble features the last of my very own homegrown honey-sweet Seckle pears but any ripe pear will do. You could also mix things up and use another fruit or fruit combo—apples, peaches or berries would all be divine.

Rule of thumb: You can never go wrong with crumble.

Paleo Pear Crumble

filling:
7 cups bite-size-diced pears (large mixing bowl-full)
1 Tablespoon each cinnamon, ginger powder
2 teaspoons lemon juice

crumble:
2 cups raw almonds
1/2 cup hulled hemp seeds
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 cup raw turbinado sugar
2/3 - 3/4 cup organic/raw/pastured butter

directions:
Preheat oven to 350º

To prepare the filling: put lemon juice in a large mixing bowl and begin dicing pears into small pieces. Add them to the bowl as you go and stir periodically to coat with lemon juice and thus prevent browning. When all the pears are diced and lemoned up, add cinnamon and ginger, stir gently and thoroughly, and set aside.

Coat diced pears with lemon juice to prevent browning.

Spices + sliced pears ready for a gentle toss.

To prepare the crumble topping: add raw almonds to a food processor fitted with the S-blade and pulse-process into a coarse meal. Next, pulse in hemp seeds, cinnamon, salt and sugar. Cut the butter into small pieces and pulse them into the dry mix until a crumbly dough forms that sticks together upon pinching.

Don't be afraid of a little butter!

The Pinch Test: crumble dough, doing what it's s'posed to.

To assemble: Butter two pie pans, two casserole dishes (like me) or one 8X11 Pyrex baking dish. Press filling into the bottom of your baking pan (or pans.) Distribute crumble dough evenly on top (or tops if you are making two, like I did.)

Double crumble casseroles, ready for baking.

Bake at 350º F for 30-35 minutes. When you can hear the pear juice bubbling and the crumble top begins to brown, remove from oven.

Just baked.

Eat warm or cold. Enjoy!

Mmmmm...!

Lemon Coconut Buttercream-Stuffed Medjool Dates

Medjool Dates stuffed with raw, vegan Lemon Coconut Buttercream.

As I write this post with Summer Solstice just a week away, the pretty violets photographed above have given way to buttercups and roses... Still, it's not too late to share a spring-born recipe.

I invented these Lemon Coconut Buttercream-Stuffed Medjool Dates last month as part of my ongoing quest to deliver delicious, digestible, low-sugar sweets to my mouth and yours. Raw, vegan, gluten-free and out of this world scrumptious, this recipe can be made either SCD/GAPS-friendly with raw honey, or low FODMAPS-friendly with maple syrup to sweeten. (I don't know how it would be with detox-friendly stevia, but if I ever dare try it, I'll make a note in the comments below. And please let me know if you do!)

My Lemon Coconut Buttercream is made with raw coconut butter, a naturally sweet, nutrient dense nut butter produced by grinding whole, mature coconut into a smooth paste. Don't confuse coconut butter with coconut oil. Coconut butter is to coconut oil as peanut butter is to peanut oil—totally different!

My number one favorite brand of coconut butter is Sacred Foods. Their low-temperature, super slow stone grinding method creates the silkiest and best-tasting coconut butter I've ever tried, by far. Sacred Coconut Butter is a gourmet product with a premium price ($21.95 for a 16 oz jar) but I highly recommend it if you can manage. Amazing just on the spoon, and in recipes like this one.

Lemon Coconut Buttercream

1 c coconut butter
1 Tbs coconut oil
3-4 Tbs maple syrup or raw honey
2 Tbs lemon juice
1/2 tsp powdered ginger
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp Himalayan pink salt

Make sure coconut butter and oil are at room temperature to begin. Add all ingredients to a food processer fitted with the S-blade and process until smooth, using the pulse function. Add more lemon juice or sweetener to taste.

In an 8X8 Pyrex dish, press buttercream into a half-inch thick "loaf". (The loaf will not fill the entire area of dish! But pyrex is a good, non-reactive holder.) Chill for about one hour to firm up, for easy handling.

Stuffed Medjool Dates

1 batch of Lemon Coconut Buttercream
12 or more plump, soft Medjool dates

To stuff dates, gently remove and discard pits. Slice off a rectangular portion of buttercream, about the size of the date middle, and nestle it into the center of the pitted date. Press and shape to fit as needed (buttercream will soften in your fingers and become very easy to mold). Proceed until you have as many stuffed dates as you want. This recipe will stuff at least two dozen dates at a time, but unless you're feeding a crowd, it's nice to work in smaller batches, and the buttercream keeps very nicely in the fridge for several days (although it's hard to keep it around that long ;-).

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?

Raw Almond Milk, French Press Style

For years I've shied away from making my own almond milk. For one thing, I'm not much of a milk (of any kind) user, but it's the straining step in particular that always seemed like too much trouble.

Okay, full disclosure. The "nut mylk bag" thing really turns me off. You know what I'm talking about: the reusable fine mesh bag, made of nylon or hemp cloth, that you have to suspend over some type of receptacle, pour your blended almonds into, and squeeze with your hands, again and again?

Not that I mind milking things. I've milked a few cows and goats in my time, for instance, and quite enjoyed it. But the cumbersomeness of the nut mylk bag, the slimy factor, the questionable hygiene, the clean up? No thanks. I do own a nut mylk bag. But truth be told, I've never used it. Not even once!

I've always loved the idea of making my own fresh almond milk, though. And lately I've been dreaming of an almond milk green smoothie, say, with bananas, dates, and comfrey added - yum! I know I could use boxed almond milk, but that doesn't really appeal to me either: too dead and processed.

So, it was with great excitement that I learned, from fabulous N.Y.C. Food Coach Dana James, of a new, bag-free option for homemade almond milk production: the French Press method.

Mais oui - but of course! Why didn't I think of that?

Using a French Press instead of a nut mylk bag to strain the pulp from your blended almonds-and-water mixture is as straightforward and easy as it sounds. I tried it for the first time last night, and I'm sold. You will be, too. Here's the basic recipe:

Raw Almond Milk, French Press Style

1/2 cup raw, organic almonds
water to soak
3 cups fresh, cold water
pinch of sea salt
1 teaspoon honey, maple syrup or agave

Soak almonds eight hours or overnight. Drain and rinse, then add to high speed blender with 3 cups water, sea salt and sweetener. Blend on high for one to two minutes. Pour into French Press, cover and depress plunger verrry slowly. This will take some effort and patience, but go slowly; liquid may gush out if you plunge too hard or fast. Pour fully-pressed almond milk into a clean glass jar and try to use within a few days for maximum freshness: this is a raw and living food!*

All mixed up and ready to go - love that foam!

Post-plunging. Observe strained almond pulp at base:

Serving Suggestion (I had this for dessert, but could be breakfast, too):

Hail Merry Grawnola, Holy Crap Cereal and Jungle Peanuts topped with Fresh-Pressed Almond Milk

* The Sad Truth About "Raw" Almonds
It's been a challenge to find really raw almonds since the almond pasteurization laws went into effect in 2007. Almost all storebought organic almonds are now "pasteurized" with steam, while non-organic raw almonds may be treated with surface chemicals or radiation (scary). It is still possible to purchase unpasteurized, truly raw almonds, however. Californians can buy direct from farmer in quantities of less than 100 pounds, and some online vendors carry them, but the cost is often high. I offer economically priced, really raw almonds through my Community Superfoods shop. Local readers, please email me if you're interested and I'll hook you up!

Lemon-Ginger Granita

Here's a simple, lively and refreshing drink/dessert made with just four ingredients: lemon, ginger, agave and ice. The Granita is, according to Wikipedia, a traditional Sicilian sweet, whose influence is apparent in the three S's of my childhood fruit-ice experience (Slushie, Sno-Cone, Sorbet).

The thing about the Granita is, it's fresh. Very fresh. As in one whole peeled lemon fresh. Per serving.

I'm totally improvising with this recipe, but with temperatures going up into the 90's tomorrow, I thought it best to be prepared, and I know I'm on to something. Bottom line: nothing cools a body down like like ice. Even dogs know that.


Lemon-Ginger Granita
serves one

1 whole, organic lemon, peeled, pitted and quartered
1 tsp minced, peeled ginger
6 ice cubes
generous splash (1-3 tsp) clear agave nectar, or sweetener of choice
splash of ice water

Put all ingredients into high speed blender and buzz on high about one minute, or until ice is well-chopped and contents are frothy. Taste and adjust for sweetness. Pour granita into an 8-ounce glass and eat with a spoon until ice chips pass the melting point of no return... then enter your favorite straw, sip, and pucker away, happily, till done.

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! ♥

Hot Dates

When it comes to candy, I have just two words in my vocabulary: “chocolate” and “dates.” I’ve written many times before about dark chocolate, my go-to dessert of choice (beloved in part for the fact that it combines equally well with a starch or a protein meal). And I’ve blogged often about raw cacao, one of my favorite ingredients for making decadent power smoothies and delectable raw desserts. (Click here and here for recipes.)

But as much as I love cacao, I have to admit I’m a fool for fresh dates – often sold as Medjool dates. You know, the big, soft sticky kind that simply ooze sweet lusciousness from every moist fiber in their plump little bodies? Those ones.

So, imagine a place where these exact soft, chewy dates fall from the trees in such abundance that they litter the sidewalks, causing a nuisance for shopkeepers and passersby.

That place exists, and it is Treasure Island. I know this because I’m here for a weekend Reiki intensive that started last night. I’ve never been to this side of Florida before and I’m in love with the deep gulf coast beach. Think acres of clean, silky white sand. Tiny pink seashells the size of your fingerprint. Warm calm waters skimmed at sunrise by glider-winged pelicans, scanning for breakfast. Graceful dolphins swimming parallel to the shoreline, curved backs slicing through the sea like glossy dark serpents. And that was just this morning.

But I digress. I was talking about dates.

Besides being delicious dates are a rich source of nutrition. Dates are very high in minerals. A quarter cup of these succulent jewels supplies eight percent of your daily potassium needs and six percent of manganese requirements, along with zinc and copper, iron, selenium, calcium and magnesium.

Dates are also an excellent source of fiber. They are very low in moisture compared to most other fruits, but although dates seem like a dried fruit, they actually are not! I now know this firsthand, having found and tasted several freshly fallen, “dried” dates this morning on my stroll through town.

You could say that as a tropical fruit, dates are naturally dehydrated by the sun. Being native to hot and desert-like environments has influenced the evolution of dates and caused them to contain high levels of antioxidant polyphenols. In dates, olives and other plant foods, polyphenols protect fruits and seeds from turning bad before they ripen to maturity. Plant polyphenols also act as antioxidants in humans. Date polyphenols have been shown to inhibit the oxidation of LDL cholesterol, making them a good choice for heart and blood vessel health. [Hughes JS, Ganthavorn C. Role of Antioxidants in Asian Vegetables and California Dates. Acta Hort. (ISHS) 837:59-64]

Better yet, polyphenols aren't just good for your ticker. In fact, these free radical-quenching compounds help to fight inflammation and slow the aging process throughout the body. And according to the USDA and the California Date Commission, dates are higher in antioxidant polyphenols than any of the most commonly consumed fruits and veggies. Who knew?

Clearly, dates are one of the healthiest natural sweets in the world. So skip the Snickers and enjoy a few Medjool dates as a between meal pick-me-up! Or, eat some dates for dessert. They make an ideal finish to the new standby healthy comfort meal (made famous by Natalia Rose), avocado salad and baked sweet potatoes... or any well-combined starch-based or nut-based meal.

Personally, I love to eat dates with bananas and organic yogurt, or with nuts. Dates are especially tasty when paired with whole raw almonds or walnuts. You may also stuff them with raw almond butter or dip in sesame tahini. Either of these dreamy treats will digest best if eaten after a salad or along with some raw veggies like celery, carrots or romaine lettuce to help escort the dense fruit-nut combo through your body.

Of course, if you live around Treasure Island you can always just take a walk outside your door, do some wild food gathering and make a breakfast out of freshly dropped dates, plain and simple. Back home this time of year, it's leaves that are dropping from trees ablaze with the warm colors of fall foliage but here in Florida, it’s date season and the picking is fine.

The Rose Cleanse - Days 6 + 7 - and Carob-Maca Swirl Banana Soft Serve

My cleanse ended on Sunday, pretty much the way it started: juice all day, and a light, well-combined dinner.

In this case, dinner was a fresh beet slaw and field greens salad followed by organic buckwheat soba noodles tossed with raw marinated portabello mushrooms. Followed by...dessert.

OK, I know. I should have waited until Monday to make frozen banana soft serve. But since when was I a stickler for food rules? And besides, I just completed a seven day cleanse. I earned it.

Enter the trusty Omega 8005 juicer. All washed up from earlier-in-the-day's Pure Veg Green Juice (cucumber-celery-lemon-kale), the Omega was primed and ready to handle a frozen banana with The Blank. (The Blank is a mesh-free attachment that comes with single gear juicers to produce nut butter or soft serve from the end where, normally, pulp is ejected.)

And so, I present to you my Carob-Maca Swirl Frozen Banana Soft Serve. With Blueberries! Ahhh, bliss.

Carob-Maca Swirl Banana Soft Serve

1 large frozen banana
1 scant teaspoon maca powder
1 heaping teaspoon raw carob powder
1-2 handfuls fresh blueberries (optional)

Break the banana into four pieces. With the juicer off and the blank installed, put one piece of banana in the feed tube, followed by one third the maca and carob. Repeat, turning the juicer on when the feed tube is filled and finishing with banana. Run everything through to make soft serve. Mash-stir with fork to combine and swirl, then mix in fresh blueberries or other fruit if desired.

NOTE: If you don't have a single gear juicer [Omega 8005, 8006 or Champion style], you can make frozen banana soft serve in a blender. Be prepared to turn it on and off frequently, however, as you will need press the ingredients down with a wooden spoon between whizzes until it all catches and swirls together.

Sacred Maple Mounds

It all started with a hankering for something sweet. Then, the loose talk on Facebook about coconut haystacks started up. That directed my mission: to create a natural, high raw and improved version of the old familiar Mounds Bar experience. You know what I mean? That thing that happens inside your mouth after you’ve given your bite of Mounds a few good chews and all the flavors and textures start to meld together on your tongue for a fleeting moment of crunchy-chewy-smooth-chocolatey-coconutty bliss... before you have to start swallowing?!

Well, working off of Matt Amsden’s Carob Coconut Haystacks recipe (from his Rawvolution cookbook) I got what I was looking for. Mounds…but better. WAY better.

The chocolate in my Sacred Maple Mounds is provided in the form of raw cacao powder. The sweetener is pure maple syrup. The main ingredient is organic shredded coconut, macaroon cut. (I get mine from Ultimate Superfoods - sold conveniently at my Community Superfoods discount store!) And the secret ingredient is…. Coconut Butter. Not coconut oil (which sometimes mistakenly is referred to as coconut butter) but REAL, stone ground, raw coconut butter, made from hunks of whole mature coconut. (If you’re not sure what coconut butter is compared to coconut oil, think of the difference between almond butter vs almond oil. Almond butter has all the bits of the original nut, just ground into a paste; almond oil is simply the fatty oil, extracted out. Same thing with coconut, except that coconut oil, rich in healthy saturated fats, is solid at room temperature, like dairy butter.)

My Maple Mounds are Sacred because I make them with Sacred Foods Coconut Butter, an awesome product you can read more about here. Raw, organic, stone ground Sacred Coconut Butter is one of my favorite food indulgences – it’s seriously SO yummy you can’t believe it! And more good news is this: as a nutrient dense whole food, a little Sacred Coconut Butter goes a long way. In other words, yes, I’ll enjoy a teaspoon of this tasty treat plain, on the spoon, as a snack or dessert, but I never feel drawn to eat spoonfull after spoonfull, if you catch my drift ;-).

As for feeling drawn to eat Sacred Maple Mound after mound…well, that’s why we make them bite-sized. Enjoy!


Sacred Maple Mounds

1 ½ cups organic raw shredded coconut, macaroon cut
¼ cup raw cacao powder
1/3 cup Sacred Coconut Butter, softened
¼ cup real maple syrup
pinch Himalayan crystal salt

Ideally in an electric mixing bowl (but use a fork in a pinch!), combine shredded coconut, cacao powder and salt. Add Sacred Coconut Butter and beat on low until well combined - no chunks. Add maple syrup and blend in.

Using clean hands, make tablespoon sized balls and press into your palms to form mounded discs. Place each Mound directly on mesh dehydrator tray. Dry at 105 degrees for six hours and store in an airtight container at room temperature.

If you don’t have a dehydrator, enjoy Sacred Maple Mounds wet. Simply freeze or chill molded mounds and eat cold. “Wet” Maple Mounds – a slightly cruder, fudgier and still one hundred percent delectable – version of the elegant dried Sacred Maple Mound must be stored in your fridge or freezer.