Raw Buckwheat Biscuits

Buckwheat and flax biscuits, perfect for jam or pb&j.

These were a great snack to bring to work. Savory and a great base for almond butter and jam. Made from buckwheat which was sprouted and dehydrated and then ground into a flour.

I sprout buckwheat every week to make something out of them because it's a filling savory grain that has a lot of protein. You can make granola, bars, or these biscuits from it.

Recipe from Ani's Raw Food Essentials: Recipes and Techniques for Mastering the Art of Live Food, by Ani Phyo.

I modified the recipe by adding ground flax seed and replaced the water with coconut oil for a more buttery flavor.

Raw Lentil Chili

Sprouted lentil chili with onions and carrots

Tasty filling chili and pretty easy to make. Just soak lentils overnight and let sprout for one day. Recipe can be found here.

Raw Caramel Bars

Chocolate covered pecan caramel filling on a maple walnut crust

Luxurious and rich treat, I've bought these from One Lucky Duck and had to attempt making them for myself. Definitely need a dehydrator and a few days planning but the assembly itself is pretty easy.

Walnut Dough
4 cups walnuts
1/4 cup maple syrup
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp sea salt

Place the walnuts in a food processor and grind until they are in very small pieces. Add the remaining ingredients and process just enough to thoroughly combine into a dough. But be careful to not over process, as the nuts will become too oily.

Line 1/2 a sheet pan (or a cookie sheet with sides) with foil (and raise the foil on the open side to create a wall. Press the dough into the pan, creating an even layer. Place the pan in the bottom of a dehydrator (remove the bottom 2 or 3 trays to make room),  and dehydrate for 24 hours.

Caramel Filling
2 cups pecans
1 1/2 tbsp coconut butter/oil
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 cup + 1 tbsp agave
3/4 sup water

Place the pecans and the coconut butter/oil in a food processor and process until smooth. Then add the remaining ingredients and blend until very smooth.

Spread the caramel filling evenly over the dehydrated walnut dough and dehydrate for another 24 hours.

Refrigerate the bars until the surface is chilled. Prepare the chocolate oil.

Chocolate Oil
3/4 cup coconut butter/oil melted
1/2 cup + 1 tbsp raw cacao powder
2 tbsp maple syrup
pinch of sea salt

Blend all the ingredients in a blender or in a bowl with a whisk until thoroughly blended.

Pour the chocolate oil over the chilled bars and let it spread out evenly. Place back into the refrigerator to chill and harden. In about 5 minutes,  you can cut/score the mixture into bars before the chocolate hardens too much (it will crack if you wait too long). After cutting bars, you can place back into fridge to harden (about another 15 minutes).

Makes about 23 bars. Keep stored in fridge. Enjoy!

Recipe from Living Raw Food, by Sarma Melngailis, page 293, modified slightly.

Raw Granola

 Sprouted buckwheat groats, sesame seeds, flax seeds, pumpkin seeds, goji berries, and dates

Heading into the dehydrator

Simple and tasty recipe for raw granola, goes great with hemp milk. Full of protein, fiber, omega 3's and antioxidants. The sprouted buckwheat groats add a great crunch.

2 cups raw buckwheat groats, soaked over night, then sprouted for 1 day

3/4 cup raw sesame seeds

3/4 cup raw pumpkin seeds (pepitas)

3/4 cup raw goji berries

1 cup raw dates

2 tbsp coconut oil, melted

1 tsp cinnamon

In mixing bowl, add the sesame seeds, pumpkin seeds, and goji berries and fill bowl with water and soak for 30 minutes. In another bowl, soak the dates for 30 minutes as well. After 30 minutes, drain the first bowl and add to rinsed and sprouted buckwheat. Then strain and rinse the dates and mince into pieces. Add dates to main mixture along with the cinnamon and melted coconut oil and mix everything together.

Spread onto 2 dehydrator trays with teflex sheets on them and dehydrate for 6-8 hours at 104 degrees. Store in fridge, good for a couple weeks.

Curried Kale and Red Lentil Salad

 All raw

Soak the lentils overnight and let them sprout for 2 days before use.

SUPER GOOD and pretty easy to make if you plan ahead. Once you have sprouted the lentils a couple days ahead, you whip up a curry sauce and mix in with the lentils, chopped kale, tomatoes and green onions. Tasty and filling. Recipe found here.

Raw Chocolate for Molds

Raw chocolate bar

It's easy to make good tasting raw cacao sauce, but it's tricky to make raw cacao that will solidify into a nice even texture or hold the design of a mold.

I was resorting to using coconut oil and agave in my raw chocolate recipes but even though I was mixing the sauce evenly, it would never solidify completely. The agave remained a liquid after everything else solidified or the chocolate would melt instantly in my hand. Instead I decided to give cacao butter and powdered maple syrup a try.

Cacao butter (cold pressed oil of the cacao bean) is more dense and remains a solid better than coconut oil. The taste of it really lends to a deeper overall cacao flavor as well. The maple syrup powder is a great powdered sweetener that lends for a nice smooth solid chocolate bar and I like the flavor of it too. Other great options for powered sweeteners are stevia or xylitol, depending on your dietary needs or flavor preferences.

The recipe:
2 tbsp raw cacao butter, melted slowly
3-4 tbsp raw cacao powder
1 - 1 1/2 tbsp maple syrup powder
1/4 tsp vanilla
sprinkle sea salt

Melt the cacao butter slowly, place in a mixing bowl, add in everything else and mix well. Pour mixture into a chocolate mold or you can cover a plate with wax paper and pour on that. Place in fridge and wait for it to solidify. Chocolate should shrink a tad and separate from the mold and be easy to pop out. If you are just pouring on wax paper on a plate, just break up the chocolate into pieces. Makes around 2 chocolate bars using this mold. Keep chocolate stored in fridge.

This recipe is easy to multiply or add flavors to. Add 1/8 tsp of peppermint extract for mint chocolate or other extracts like orange or lavender  Other flavor additions could be shredded coconut, nuts, cacao nibs, coffee, ginger, dried fruit etc.

 Sea salt, mint, and coconut almond

HAVE FUN

Raw Almond Butter Mousse

Raw Almond Butter Mousse

CRAZY good. I used an online recipe found here and substituted in almond butter and agave for peanut butter and maple syrup. Takes a few fancy ingredients but it's so worth it. Throw on some raw cacao nibs and go to town. Makes 2-4 servings.

Raw Jicama Chili Cheese Fries

Raw Jicama Chili Cheese Fries

Fun and tasty recipe from Amanda Nicole Smith's raw blog. You can find the recipe here. I really like the chili and the cheese sauce. The jicama is a little tough to eat a lot of as it was so tender and chewy but I would make the beans and the sauce again just to put on salad.

Marinated jicama going into the dehydrator