This raw strawberry milk recipe is divine. Trust me. The texture is wonderful. Sirova, the recipe’s originator, compares the taste to standard strawberry milk–that thick, syrupy smooth sweetness. Yum! This recipe really does take me back to my childhood.

Warning:

Do not attempt unless you have a Vitamix, a Blendtec, or another high-powered blender! Chia seeds won’t blend well in a regular blender.

Also, be sure to use frozen strawberries, not fresh ones. That way this raw strawberry milk recipe will stay nice and cold while you blend.

This recipe is perfect for a Summer evening. And great for kids, they’ll love it.

True to Rawtarian fashion, it only has just a few ingredients. When it comes to this raw strawberry milk recipe, simpler really is better.

Let’s get to that recipe, shall we?

Raw strawberry milk recipe

Recipe from Sirova

2 cups of frozen strawberries
2 tablespoons of chia seeds
2 cups of water
3 tablespoons of agave nectar or honey

Blend in a high-powered blender until very nice and smooth. Drink immediately.

Photo credit: Strawberry smoothie

I’ve heard these crackers described ad raw foods’ alternative to the “Ritz Cracker.” Well, perhaps they don’t taste exactly like raw Ritz Crackers, but they sure are savory, buttery and they melt in your mouth. Pure raw cracker bliss!

Mmm, serve with thinly sliced tomato and/or avocado… TO DIE FOR!

This raw cracker recipe requires a dehydrator.

Raw cracker recipe – Buttery walnut zucchini crackers
Recipe inspired by Mindi Mattson and family

2 1/2 cups of walnuts (soaked  for at least two hours then rinsed)
2 1/2 cups of cubed zuccini
1/2 cup ground flax seed (also known as flax seed meal)
1/4 cup hemp seed (also known as hemp hearts)
2 teaspoons of sea salt

1. Fully immerse walnuts in a bowl. Let sit for two hours. Discard soak water.  Quickly rinse the walnuts again.

2. Place walnuts in a food processor. Process them until they are in very small uniform pieces (Mindi suggests that they should resemble cous cous.). Transfer the ground walnuts to a bowl.

3. Place chopped zucchini in a food processor.

Process the zucchini until it’s in very small pieces. Add the processed zucchini into the bowl that already has the walnuts in it.

4. Add ground flax, hemp seeds and salt.

5. Stir well until fully mixed. Add enough water to make spreadable dough ( 1/2 to 1 cup)

6. Spread the batter onto two dehydrator trays.

7. Dehydrate at 115 degrees for the first hour, then lower to 105 degrees for the remaining time. Once they start to stay together very nicely (after a couple of hours in the dehydrator), remove them from the dehydrator. Take a knife and “cut” where you want your cracker lines to be. Once they’re done (I dehydrate these for approximately 12 hours in total, because I eat them so fast that I like to leave a tiny bit of moisture still in them. You may need to leave them in longer depending on your batter and the moisture in the air), you’ll be able to simply snap them along the lines that you made in the dough.

8. You’ll know that they’re done when they look and taste like delicious crackers and snap easily. If they’re still kind of wet or doughy, they are not done.

9. Serve with thinly sliced tomatoes, avocado, sprouts, etc. They’re crackers, so do whatever you like with them! Store them in a tightly sealed container.

Here is my favourite raw food tuna salad recipe.

I like to eat it with a crisp apple, or this mock tuna pate is great as a salad topper, too. Or how about eating it in a nori roll? The possibilities are endless for this mock raw tuna salad.

I make this raw tuna recipe at least once a week. If you need something to take to work for lunch, try packing some raw crackers, a little tupperware of this tuna spread, and a knife. You’ll be good to go. If you want, you can leave the garlic out if you want this to be more breath-friendly. (But it really is better with the garlic.)

Raw Tuna Salad Recipe

Tuna Paste/Pate

2 cups sunflower seeds (soaked for at least two hours) or you could use walnuts instead (or a combination of them both)
1 tablespoon dulse (seaweed)
1 clove garlic
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon thyme
1/2 teaspoon sea salt

Add in
Chopped celery
Chopped onions
Chopped parsley
Raw pickles
Chopped apples

1. Soak the nuts. Rinse them well and discard all water.
2. Process all of the paste ingredients in a food processor on high until the mixture resembles a very smooth paste. You should not see any nut bits at all. You may need to stop and start and get in there with a spatula.

3. Eat right away or refrigerate to eat later. I prefer to keep the pate separate and I don’t add any chunks (onions, celery, etc) until I’m ready to eat.
4. When you’re ready to eat, serve your portion in a bowl. Then add some chopped onions, parsley, raw pickles or apples to suit your taste.
5. Enjoy on crackers, on top of a salad, in a nori roll, or more…

Here is a raw food substitution list that you may find comes in handy.

It’s preferable to have everything on your raw food diet shopping list before you attempt to make a recipe. But of course sometimes substitutions are necessary because you might not have all the right raw food ingredients on hand.

I almost always substitute cashews for macadamia nuts (and vice versa) depending on what’s on sale at my local health food store. For example, I’ve made raw alfredo sauce and raw mayonnaise with both cashews or macadamia nuts because both nuts are very creamy and oily.

Please let me know if you have any substitution tips.

Raw food substitution list

1 tablespoon agave nectar = 1 tablespoon honey (not vegan) = 1 tablespoon medjool dates
1 tablespoon hemp oil = 1 tablespoon cold pressed olive oil
1 tablespoon coconut oil = 1 tablespoon coconut butter
1 vanilla bean = 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon cocoa = 1 teaspoon carob powder
1 cup walnuts = 1 cup pecans
1 cup cashews = 1 cup macadamia nuts
1 tablespoon Nama Shoyu = 1 tablespoon Braggs Liquid = 1 tablespoon soy sauce (not raw)
1 tablespoon black sesame seeds = 1 tablespoon white sesame seeds
1 tablespoon fresh herbs = 1/2 tablespoon dried herbs

I hope you have found these raw food substitutions useful. Please add comments below and I’ll update this list periodically.

Photo credit: Spice substitutions

Here is my standby basic raw cracker recipe, which I use on a regular basis. Feel free to modify to suit your fancy. For example, you could make a sweeter cracker by omitting the savoury spices and vegetables, and substituting with cinnamon and chopped apricots, for example.

This recipe makes enough for two dehydrator trays’ worth of raw crackers. Try it as is once to make sure that you’ll like it. Then, forever more, double or triple the recipe! These crackers store very very well.

Basic raw cracker recipe
Inspired by Ani Phyo’s recipes in Ani’s Raw Food Kitchen (My fav. raw recipe book lately)

• 2 cups ground flax seeds
• 2/3 cup whole flax seeds
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 2 tablespoons red pepper (chopped very small)
• 2 tablespoons parsley (chopped very small)
  
• 1 teaspoon Italian spices (or your favourite savoury spice)
• 2 and 2/3 cups of water
• 1 and 1/3 cups of sunflower seeds
• 1/2 cup black sesame seeds (or regular white sesame seeds will do fine)

1. Mix everything together in a mixing bowl.

2. Spread batter on parchment paper or a teflex sheet. FYI: Do not use regular waxed paper. The crackers will stick to the paper and be difficult to remove. Buy parchment paper or teflex sheets (which can be purchased from dehydrator sellers).

Remember that the above recipe should make two dehydrator sheets worth of crackers. Spread the batter out evenly. Using the back of a spoon works well.

3. Start dehydrating the crackers. I generally dehydrate everything at 120 degrees for the first hour, then I reduce the temperature to 105 degrees for the remainder of the cooking time.

4. Score the crackers. Once the crackers are starting to harden up (four hours later?), use a knife to score the crackers along wherever you want the crackers to separate. This will make them easier to break later on.

5. Remove paper or teflex. Once the crackers are holding their shape together very well (8 hours in the dehydrator?), break them apart along the score lines. Remove the parchment or teflex sheets and place the crackers directly on the dehydrator tray.

6. Finish dehydrating. Some people like their crackers a bit moist. I like them to be very dry. If you plan on keeping them for a few weeks or more in storage, then you must ensure that there is no moisture left.

A good way to make sure that they are really dry and dehydrated is to pinch them hard. If all of the moisture is gone, you should not be able to feel any movement. If you pinch a cracker and it gives a little, it needs to be dehydrated longer.

I dehydrate my crackers for a long time. Perhaps even 20 hours or so! That might be overkill, but it’s what I do.

7. Eat and enjoy! I love avocado, sprouts, and tomato on raw crackers. Mmm!

]]> http://therawtarian.com/basic-raw-cracker-recipe/feed/ 0 http://therawtarian.com/raw-food-eggnog-recipe/ http://therawtarian.com/raw-food-eggnog-recipe/#comments Mon, 21 Dec 2009 00:17:28 +0000 Laura-Jane http://therawtarian.com/?p=466 This is my first raw Christmas.

One of the most important Christmas food traditions in my household is eggnog, so I knew I had to find a suitable SAD eggnog substitute.

Here is a wonderful raw food eggnog recipe.

Note: This recipe does NOT keep well! It should be consumed right away. If you refrigerate it, it becomes jelly-like or pudding-like, which still tastes fine, but is not eggnoggy.

Think of this as an instant eggnog recipe. It’s very rich and festive. Enjoy!

Raw food eggnog recipe

• 5 ripe bananas
• 1 cup cold water
• 1 tablespoon agave nectar
• 1 tablespoon coconut oil or coconut butter
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/8 teaspoon cloves
• 1/8 teaspoon allspice
  
• 1 pinch of sea salt

Blend until smooth. Taste. Add more cinnamon, cloves or allspice to taste. Consume immediately. If refrigerated, the texture will change and become more of a pudding, so consume this raw food eggnog recipe immediately.

Photo credit: Eggnog

I can honestly say that I like this alfredo sauce more than SAD (standard American diet) alfredo sauce. HONEST!

If you’ve tried my raw mayonnaise recipe the taste is quite similar, although this alfredo sauce is quite garlicky, whereas the raw mayo does not contain any garlic. Enjoy this absolutely delicious alfredo sauce recipe.

This recipe is quite large, and it actually keeps in the fridge really nicely.

This recipe works best with zucchini “noodles” (see below for more info).

Raw alfredo sauce recipe
Source unknown, found on an old forum post that is now defunct

• 2 cups unsoaked cashews (or macadamia nuts)
• 1/2 cup pine nuts
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1 1/2 cups water
• 1 tablespoon thyme spice
• 1 teaspoon sea salt

Throw it all in the blender and blend ’til it gets alfredoey! It’ll get really nice and creamy, so keep blending… And you’re done!

Serve over “noodles!”

Raw Noodles

Of course, you know that raw “noodles” are simply spiralized zucchini or squash.

If you don’t have a fancy spiralizer, just do what I do: peel the vegetable and discard the peelings. Once all of the tough peel has been removed, just use your vegetable peeler to make “noodles” out of the remainder of the vegetable. I usually discard the really seedy core though. Zucchini makes the best noodles.

In the picture above, I used mostly zucchini noodles, but I added butternut squash noodles for the orange color. Beets also work well as an additional noodle. But again, for your first time I’d recommend zucchini. They have the best texture and their test is quite bland and it takes on the sauce’s flavour very nicely. But for the love of God don’t use cucumber for the noodles! Cucumbers are too wet; avoid cucumber noodles.

Toppings

Sometimes I top my alfredo sauce and noodles with vegetables, as seen in the picture. Your taste-buds will let you know what topping you might like to try on your pasta.

My husband prefers broccoli and red pepper. I love parsley, mushrooms, tomatoes, and olives. To each his or her own!

But for your first time just try it simple: raw alfredo noodles and sauce.

I really like this raw vegan ketchup recipe, from Ani’s Raw Food Kitchen, which is my new favourite book.

Once again, it’s pretty easy and can be made instantly without any soaking or prepping. All you need is a blender.

Of course, you can serve this raw ketchup recipe on raw burgers or any other raw meal that calls for ketchup! The texture is really perfect, the first time I made it it turned out perfectly without any tweaking. After I refrigerated my leftover ketchup for a day, there was a little bit of oil separation, which I drained off. Other than that, I have no improvements to suggest. Grab your blender and start making ketchup already!

Raw ketchup recipe
From Ani’s Raw Food Kitchen

• 1 1/2 cups of diced tomatoes
• 3 tablespoons dates (do not soak)
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
• 1/2 cup sun dried tomatoes (do not soak)

Blend everything in the blender except the sun dried tomatatoes. Add the sun dried tomatoes in last and blend until you get a ketchupy consistency.

Ketchup is complete!

Serve on veggie burgers. And don’t forget your raw mayonnaise (yummy)!!

Am I one of those weird, irritating people that just loves fruits and vegetables? Well, I am now, but I wasn’t always this way. I used to hate vegetables!

Before I went raw, I absolutely loved chips and candy. I ate processed foods and loved them! I craved chips (All Dressed and Salt and Vinegar, mmm), donuts (apple fritters, mmm), muffins (lemon poppyseed or buttery blueberry, mmm), pasta (cheese please), candy (sour keys, Nibs, chocolates, mmm), and white bread products (doughy pizza bun, be still my heart).

But once I commited to going raw, I just gave everything up. Was it hard? Yes! Was it worth it, oh yes……… Because after a month of going 100% raw my tastebuds changed and I began to appreciate raw foods and vegetables.

You see, back when I wasn’t raw and I ate all those very delicious (but kind of disgusting when you think about them) products, my tastebuds were used to all that processed food. I craved processed food, and food like fruit and vegetables just tasted bland, boring, and bitter to me.

Enter raw foods…

My journey into raw foods didn’t happen overnight. I was vegetarian already, but, as you can tell, I ate lots of junk food. But one March I challenged myself to go 80% raw. I did it.  But then for the next five months I only ate about 50% raw, but I didn’t think about food too much. Then one day I just decided that I felt like crap and I would go 100% raw, and I did.

When I was 80% raw, I was sort in a detox-state, and I didn’t really know what was going on. Fruits and vegetables tasted alright, I guess. I didn’t get excited about them though.

When I went down to 50% raw, eating fruits–and especially vegetables–seemed like a chore. I did it anyway, but I wasn’t happy about it. I certainly didn’t ever enjoy eating a salad.

When I went 100% raw (with absolutely no cheating) after about one month I realized that I actually liked–no, LOVED–some vegetables. That a tomato or an avocado with some sea salt on it was freakin’ delicious. I realized that my tastebuds were changing. I was starting to get excited about the salads that I had for lunch. After my first month 100% raw I was actually craving salads.

Things I’ve learned:

• Eating SAD (standard American diet) foods screws up your palate and tastebuds. Don’t cheat and eat SAD foods! You are only shooting yourself in the foot. You have to give your tastebuds time to adjust and to forget the old SAD foods. If you keep eating SAD food you are making it harder on yourself.
• You don’t have to love eating raw fruits and vegetables. You won’t love vegetables overnight. But you will discover them eventually. Trust me.
• It’s all about flavour combining. Do I love to eat carrot sticks? NO! BORING! Do I love to eat a salad with shredded carrots, olives, fresh romaine lettuce, flavourful tomatoes, a delicious raw salad dressing and slices of avocado? HELL YES! See the difference? It’s about combining foods to make them tasty.
• You’ve got to bring raw food with you whenever you go out. Make sure you have some trail mix or easy to eat fruit (bananas or apples) with you, because hunger strikes anywhere. Temptation is the worst for me when I’m out of my house.
• Yes, temptation still exists. But it’s not worth it! And don’t forget that.

The #1 reason why I don’t cheat and eat SAD foods is because I don’t want to screw up my palate. I see my going 100% raw as an investment, and I don’t want to throw it down the tubes for a bag of chips.

Photo credit: Mouth suicide

This recipe does require a number of ingredients and overnight soaking, unlike this simple lemon cookie recipe. But I think it’s worth it, because sometimes you just need that chocolatey fix.

I especially recommend dipping into the dehydrator while they’re still drying. The insides are gooey and fudgey while the outside is kind of crispy. It’s a perfect fix if you’re missing the flavour of fudge!

If you’re looking to really replicate a delicious, fatty-tasting cookie, make sure to add the coconut oil (also known as coconut butter). It really makes or breaks this raw chocolate fudge cookie.

Best raw chocolate fudge cookies
Recipe inspired by Renee Underkoffler
1 cup almonds
1 1/2 cups cashews
1 cup dates
2 tablespoons agave nectar
1 tablespoon coconut butter (also known as coconut oil)
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup cocoa
Pinch of seasalt

Soak almonds overnight. You’ve gotta do it because the almonds need to be soft. Drain and rinse.

Soak cashews for an hour. Drain and rinse.

Soak dates for about an hour. Drain and rinse. (Note: Date soak water is sweet! Throw it in your next green smoothie or something. I never throw it away.)

Process almonds and cashews in a food processor until they (almost) resemble flour. Add dates, agave nectar, coconut butter and vanilla. Process until well mixed and doughlike.

Add the cocoa powder and sea salt and process again.

Form cookies. Dehydrate for ten hours or even up to a full day if you want them to be crispy. I like them quite soft, myself.

Enjoy this chocolatey goodness!