Raw mini cheesecakes with spiced raspberry & cherry sauce

These mini cheesecakes are delightful! So cute, fun to make, and perfectly delicious. They are raw, vegan, gluten-free, and nut-free. Notes of cinnamon, nutmeg, and cardamom infuse them with a holiday spirit and they're a great dessert to add to your friendsgiving and thanksgiving spread. The recipe was inspired by Elenore Bendel Zahn of the Earthsprout blog.

Raw Mini Cheesecakes

makes seven minis

Fig Crust:

• scant cup of dried figs
• 1/2 C. pepitas, preferably soaked and dried
• 1/4 C. sunflower seeds, preferably soaked and dried
• 1 Tb. ground flax seed
• pinch good quality salt
• 1-3 ts. water, as needed

Remove the tough stems from the dried figs and give them a rough chop. Place in a food processor and grind into a paste. Add the pepitas, sunflower seeds, flax, and salt and pulse until a dough forms, adding water only as necessary. Place dough between two sheets of parchment paper and roll out in to a square of 1/4 inch thickness. Cut into seven long strips. Roll them up, pressing the ends together to form cylinders. Refrigerate while making the filling and sauce.

Lemon Cardamom filling:

• 2 small ripe bananas
• juice + zest of half a lemon
• 1/8 C. coconut oil, melted
• 1/8 C. coconut butter, softened
• 1 ts. ground cardamom

Place all ingredients in a food processor and blend until well combined. Put the filling in the freezer to firm up while making the sauce.

Spiced Raspberry & Cherry Sauce :

• 1/8 C. dried tart cherries, soaked in water for 10 minutes 
• 3/4 C. raspberries (thawed if using frozen)
• 3 medjool dates
• juice of 1 orange + 1 Tb zest
• 1/2 ts. ground cinnamon
• pinch nutmeg, freshly grated
• 2 Tb. ground flax
• 2 ts. psyllium husk

 Place all ingredients in a food processor or blender and blend until well combined. Let sit for a few minutes to allow the flax and psyllium to thicken the sauce, adding more if it is still too runny.  

Assembly:

Spoon some of the lemon cardamom cream into each of the little cheesecake crusts. Top with a dollop of the raspberry sauce and drizzle a bit on the side. Garnish with more dried cherries and a few goji berries for color. Enjoy!

Collard wraps with roasted red pepper dipping sauce

Collard wraps are the perfect summer food. Light yet filling, easy to make in a flash with whatever you have on hand, fun to eat, and totally gorgeous. Another dish with its own edible packaging, these wraps make a perfect picnic food and are special enough to serve for company. They can be made gluten-free, vegan, and/or raw as you like.

I use fresh, raw collards for my rolls because I love their bright color, crunch and delicious flavor. Collards greens are a cruciferous vegetable in the brassica family and are wonderfully nutritious. They are a great source of four core antioxidants: vitamin C, beta-carotene, manganese, and vitamin E, plus numerous phytonutrients that aid in relieving oxidative stress in the cells. They are rich in vitamin K (supporting the blood and bones), vitamin A and omega-3 fatty acids which have anti-inflammatory effects, high in soluble and insoluble fiber, and minerals including iron, calcium, copper, manganese, selenium and zinc. Their abundant chlorophyll purifies the liver and stops the spread of bacteria, fungi, and other microorganisms while promoting the growth of beneficial intestinal flora.

To make the wraps slice out the center stem and use each of the resulting halves for rolling, so one leaf makes two wraps. Lay one half down flat, place fillings in the center, roll it up firmly, and place on a plate seam side down (hold closed with a toothpick if desired). If you prefer, the greens may be blanched before rolling. Dunk them briefly (about 20 seconds) in boiling water then plunge into ice water to stop the cooking and maintain their bright color.

There are infinite flavor combinations to play with as far as fillings and sauces go. I vary the fillings pretty much every time I make them. Some of my go to's for collard wraps are

• rice or bean thread noodles
• tempeh (steamed, sauteed, or baked)
• steamed yam or squash
• bell pepper slices
• grated carrot or beet
• veggies chopped into matchsticks: radish, cucumber, beet
• green beans, snap peas
• saurkraut or kimchi
• chopped lettuce/spinach/greens
• fresh herbs: basil, cilantro, italian parsley
• nut spreads
• pesto
• sun dried tomatoes
• sauteed mushrooms
• hummus or other bean spread
• sprouted nuts/seeds
• microgreens or sprouts

Here are a few that I've made in the past couple days. I served both of these with a delicious roasted red pepper dipping sauce and I've included the recipe below.

cumin kraut

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black rice noodles

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tempeh

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lettuce and cilantro

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kabocha squash

sungold tomatoes

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almond hummus & black sesame seeds

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green beans
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flat-leaf parsley

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bean thread noodles

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sauteed shiitakes

Roasted red pepper dipping sauce

 

This versatile sauce is practically addictive. Use it thick as a spread for crackers and toast or a dip for veggies. Thin, it tastes splendid over rice pasta or zucchini noodles, as a dressing for salads, and as a dipping sauce for your collard wraps!

 

• 1 green onion
• 1/4 cup fresh herbs of choice (I used a bit of everything I had in my garden: basil, oregano, sage, rosemary, parsley, and thyme)
• 1 cup roasted red peppers (roast your own or use jarred peppers)
• 3 sun dried tomatoes packed in olive oil
• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 2 Tb. tahini
• 1 Tb. red miso
• 1 Tb. maple syrup
• zest and juice of 1/2 a lemon
• 1 ts. ground cumin
• 1/2 ts. ground turmeric
• 1/4 cup water (or to desired consistency)
• salt and black pepper to taste

Place ingredients except salt and water in the food processor beginning with the onion and herbs, followed by the peppers and wet ingredients, and finally the spices.  Mix until well blended between each addition. Salt to taste and thin with water to desired consistency: thick to use as a spread, thin for a dressing or dipping sauce.

Life changing loaf of bread

Do y'all know about the life changing loaf of bread? Sarah Britton posted it on her blog My New Roots in February and since then it has become wildly popular, for good reason! I salivated over her pictures in India while I longed to be back in a kitchen and could hardly wait to try it out when I got home. The results have lived up to all my expectations.

This bread really is amazing. Studded with nuts and seeds, gluten-free, vegan, and absolutely delicious, it is versatile enough to work with both savory and sweet toppings. Use it for sandwiches, dipped in hummus or pesto, or as a treat topped with honey or jam. It is so so simple to make and you don't have to be an experienced bread baker to whip up a loaf to delight yourself and your loved ones.

Bread and spreads: life changing loaf

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chickpea miso

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coconut butter

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home canned blackberry jam with lemon & thyme from last summer in Olympia

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homegrown arugula and pea shoots

Head on over to My New Roots to check out her gorgeous photos of the life changing loaf and read about its many health benefits. And just in case you wanna stay put, below are Sarah Britton's instructions word-for-word. I made a few changes to the loaf I baked. Most notably, I used sunflower seeds and almonds that I sprouted and dehydrated to make them more digestible. Also, I don't have a silicon loaf pan so I used a regular loaf pan lined with parchment paper.


The Life-Changing Loaf of Bread
Makes 1 loaf

Ingredients:
1 cup / 135g sunflower seeds
½ cup / 90g flax seeds
½ cup / 65g hazelnuts or almonds
1 ½ cups / 145g rolled oats
2 Tbsp. chia seeds
4 Tbsp. psyllium seed husks (3 Tbsp. if using psyllium husk powder)
1 tsp. fine grain sea salt (add ½ tsp. if using coarse salt)
1 Tbsp. maple syrup (for sugar-free diets, use a pinch of stevia)
3 Tbsp. melted coconut oil or ghee
1 ½ cups / 350ml water

Directions:
1. In a flexible, silicon loaf pan combine all dry ingredients, stirring well. Whisk maple syrup, oil and water together in a measuring cup. Add this to the dry ingredients and mix very well until everything is completely soaked and dough becomes very thick (if the dough is too thick to stir, add one or two teaspoons of water until the dough is manageable). Smooth out the top with the back of a spoon. Let sit out on the counter for at least 2 hours, or all day or overnight. To ensure the dough is ready, it should retain its shape even when you pull the sides of the loaf pan away from it it.
2. Preheat oven to 350°F / 175°C.
3. Place loaf pan in the oven on the middle rack, and bake for 20 minutes. Remove bread from loaf pan, place it upside down directly on the rack and bake for another 30-40 minutes. Bread is done when it sounds hollow when tapped. Let cool completely before slicing (difficult, but important).
4. Store bread in a tightly sealed container for up to five days. Freezes well too – slice before freezing for quick and easy toast!

Butter lettuce rawvioli with carrot almond sauce

I love food that comes in packages. Not the plastic kind, mind you, but the kind you can eat. Spring rolls, collard wraps, raw raviolis! There's something so special about the making of these foods, a magic in wrapping and sealing up something delightful, like a secret. Only to release it again as the flavors unfold on the tongue.

Here is a second version of Rawvioli for the jewel house blog. This one features butter lettuce, a creamy walnut red pepper and oregano filling, and a delectable carrot almond sauce. It is really very simple to make, though it helps to have a food processor and a juicer for the carrots to make the sauce. You can use store-bought carrot juice if you must.

Butter Lettuce Rawviolis with Carrot Almond Sauce

adapted from The Raw Food Primer  by Suzanne Alex Ferrara

For the sauce

• 1 cup carrot juice
• 4 Tb. almond butter
• 1/2 a ripe avocado
• 2 Tb. shoyu (unpasteurized soy sauce) or tamari
• 1 Tb. miso
• 1 clove garlic
• 1 Tb. maple syrup (not raw) or raw honey
• 1/2 ts. turmeric powder

Place all ingredients in a food processor or blender. Blend until smooth, scraping down the sides and adding water to thin to desired consistency


For the rawvioli

• 1 cup walnuts, soaked in water 8 hours (or use sprouted walnuts)
• 1 cup chopped zucchini (about 1 medium)
• 1 Tb. miso
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 Tb. fresh oregano
• 1 Tb fresh rosemary
• 1 Tb. nutritional yeast

• 1/2 cup minced red bell pepper 
• 1/2 cup minced celery
• salt and cracked black pepper

• wilted butter lettuce leaves
• basil, thinly sliced

Leave the butter lettuce leaves out of the refrigerator long enough to wilt. This gives them a slightly elastic quality that keeps them from tearing as you wrap the rawviolis.

Put the walnuts, zucchini, miso, garlic, herbs, and yeast in a food processor and blend until creamy.  Place the mixture in a bowl and stir in the finely chopped bell pepper and celery. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Remove the heavy center vein from each leaf. Place about a tablespoon of filling on a leaf and roll up into a little package. Serve atop the carrot almond sauce and flecked with basil ribbons.

Peach chia porridge

I've been making this chia-oat porridge lately in place of the cooked oat porridge I enjoy when the weather is cooler. It is easy to make and tastes fabulous! 

Chia seeds are an amazing food to include regularly in your diet. These wondrous seeds originated in South America have been a staple in native american diets for centuries. They are one of the richest plant-based sources of omega-3 fatty acids which reduce inflammation in the body, improve brain function, and reduce high cholesterol. They are a great source of fiber, helping to regulate the bowels and promote good digestion. Chia is rich in antioxidants that protect the body from free radicals and carcinogens, and contains minerals including calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, and manganese. Chia's combination of protein and fiber, and their gelling action gives a long lasting feeling of satiety, reducing food cravings between meals.

Basic chia porridge recipe

• 3/8 cup oats (or just a little less than 1/2 a cup)
• 3 Tb. chia seeds
• 1 cup almond milk (more on how to make your own in a future post) 

Place oats and chia in a bowl and stir in the almond milk. In just minutes the chia will have soaked up much of the liquid! Let sit for a minimum of 30 minutes or overnight to fully hydrate. I like to set mine out the night before so it's all set when I'm hungry for breakfast.

 

From there, the possibilities for toppings and flavors are endless! Sweeten to taste with fresh and dried fruits and/or a nourishing sweetener like maple syrup, honey, coconut palm sugar, or stevia. Add a little something for texture and your favorite spices.

For this bowl I used:

• 1 ripe peach, sliced
• 1 Tb. dried goji berries
• pinch cardamom powder
• a sprinkling of hemp seeds
• a couple drops of liquid stevia
• Teensy bit of sea salt

This porridge makes a fabulous to-go breakfast too! Here's a snapshot of my post-yoga/pre-work breakfast this morning

In this bowl I added

• dried figs
• dried coconut
• 1 ts. Maple syrup
• Sea salt
• Pinch of cinnamon
• and a fresh red plum

Other flavor ideas: 

Banana + sprouted almonds + cinnamon

Coconut butter + fresh fig + vanilla bean

Dates + hempseed+ lemon zest

Dried apricot + orange zest/fruit + grated nutmeg

Fresh mango + cashews + goji berries

Cherries + Cacao nibs + cardamom

Warm salads and fabulous treats

Cabbage parsley slaw
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miso seasoned tempeh
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ginger brown rice noodles
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 kabocha squash
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lemon tahini dressing

 Cumin massaged kale with avocado and hemp

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tamari tricolor quinoa

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kabocha squash

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homemade kraut

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avocado and cilantro

This is what my lunches have looked like lately. My friend Marianne calls them "warm salads." Basically they are a blend of raw and cooked foods in a single bowl and they are so good. My body is loving the balance of textures, colors, and flavors and the infinite possibilities for variations. I start out with leafy greens, add some steamed root veggies, maybe some whole grains, rice noodles or cooked beans, lots of fresh herbs, and I top it off with a magnificent dressing or something simple like avocado and tamari.

Do you want recipes? Or are the photos inspiration enough? Lemme know will ya?
Speaking of inspiration, check out the gorgeous salads over at salad pride. 



And I also made...

Dark Chocolate Almond Butter Cups

with maple and mesquite

They are vegan, organic, gluten-free, healthfully sweetened, and absolutely decadent. I made raw sprouted** almond butter for the filling which also features raw mesquite powder.

  

Mesquite is a traditional food among native South and North American peoples that serves as a low sugar sweetener with the added benefits of nearly all essential amino acids, calcium, magnesium, potassium, iron and zinc. It balances blood sugar because it does not require insulin to digest or metabolize, and its dietary fiber slows the absorption of other sugars into the bloodstream (Navitas Naturals).

The mesquite I used was gifted to me by a sweet stranger who made my day with this little token of abundance. Its smokey caramel flavor tastes amazing paired with the almonds, maple syrup, and raw chocolate!

I want to share these gorgeous treats with y'all! I have a vision of having my delicious healthy foods for sale in some super cute shops around town, and catered for parties and events. I'd like to start out small and informal since so far I'm using a home (not a commercial) kitchen and don't have all the required certifications. So I'm calling in opportunities and advice!

 **Lastly, do you know about soaking your nuts, seeds and grains? Its a simple way to hugely increase their available nutrients and the body's ability to utilize them.

Learn more about soaking and sprouting here and here.