Welcome to my blog about my LOVE for God's Raw Living food. Please join me on my journey towards health and wellness. I truly believe that pure natural raw living food is the doorway to a healthy body, mind, and spirit.
Today is my 10th Anniversary. I have been married to my best friend and the most amazing man I know. I knew only after a month of dating him that we would be married. He is loyal, faithful, loving, kind, and he is always there for me and always encouraging me. Thank you Jason my favorite man on this entire planet:)
I was going to make a beautiful dessert for our anniversary but next weekend we will be celebrating our anniversary so I will make something for next weekend. Tonight Jason picked Sweet Miso Dressing. It reminds me of a peanut sauce. It would be so fantastic with collard wraps, I might make some tomorrow with yellow peppers and tomatoes. I think this has a sweet peanut flavor. I used the vitamix but the recipe says that you can make it in a bowl. I would like it more if it had chipotle pepper in it, or cayenne. Something to give it a kick. I like spicy. It would then have all the flavors I like sweet, spicy, salty and SATISFYING. Tomorrow we are celebrating Sebastian’s 8th Birthday. He turned 8 today. Yes he shares our Anniversary. He was a special gift to both of us. I will make up a veggie tray tomorrow and use this as a dip. I think everyone will like it. I’m sure people will be dipping more than just veggies in it. I’m sure pretzels will probably make their way to the bowl, too. I will make sure to keep some on the side for me and my collards:)
Recipe has tahini, agave, lemon juice, water and white miso.
Posted 16 years, 1 month ago at 7:33 pm. Add a comment
This cheesecake is absolutely the best I have tried to date:) I make pies and cakes all the time at the store. This by far is the best! It really reminds me of my mom’s cheesecakes that she would make when I was young. This Lemon Cheesecake is supposed to resemble lemon meringue pie. Matthew Kenney says in his book that his grandfather’s favorite pie was lemon meringue. I agree with Mr. Kenney, the flavors “are all here.” The pie filling ingredients are: cashews, lemon juice, agave, coconut oil, water, vanilla extract, nutritional yeast, sea salt, vanilla bean, and lemon zest. The filling only took about 5 minutes to make. I had to soak the cashews for at least an hour. The texture is creamy and light. I couldn’t wait for the freezing of the cake, so I had some. The dehydrated crust was chewy and the coconut flavor in the crust mixed perfectly with the filling. I will have some tomorrow, for my mid afternoon sweet fix;) I hope you all will try to make this tartlet if you have his book, it is well worth the time (which is not many minutes minus the dehydration). I believe, if you took this to a party nobody would suspect this is healthy, or vegan. It is DIVINE!
Posted 16 years, 1 month ago at 7:30 pm. Add a comment
Day #11. I was very tired tonight. I have been studying all day after I got out of work. Jason was hungry after he got home from work, so it was motivation for me to complete the potato salad. This potato salad is made with jicama as a replacement for the potatoes. Many recipes for raw potato salads have jicama as the replacement for potatoes. Before I discovered raw food, I never had jicama, I just knew what they looked like. I think the flavor is bland and the inside texture is very similar to an apple. The outer peel was difficult to peel, but once the jicama was peeled it was easy to cut into it. When I first decided to “go raw” I made another potato salad recipe. Unfortunately it was not so good:( I actually ended up throwing it out. I was hesitant to make this one because of the last episode. This was actually Jason’s choice. I am glad he wanted it because it actually is good. It reminds me of a mexican dish, similar to guacamole but with crunchy jicama. The ingredients are jicama, yellow pepper, celery, rosemary, green olives (I omitted these), avocado, and red onion with the potato salad dressing that I made yesterday. I was pleasantly surprised by the flavors. They taste lovely together. I stuffed celery with the potato salad. It was so delicious, I will make it for my lunch tomorrow. THIS RECIPE WILL NOT GET THROWN OUT, I AM POSITIVE!
Posted 16 years, 1 month ago at 7:01 pm. Add a comment
Today has been a very long day. I started my day at 5am. I had to turn in my homework for Economics. Only one week left:) Woo Hoo. I am almost done, then I start Anatomy and Chemistry. The fun classes:) I worked for 6 hours at Rutabaga’s. I made 6 raw vegan yummy pies (2 white chocolate, 2 chocolate, and 2 strawberry cheesecakes). I love my job. Then I went to a friends house to learn to make a new bracelet. She was so sweet to invite me over and teach me a flat peyote “hump” bracelet. I will post pictures when I make one myself. She spent several hours with me. I told her we will barter. I will make her a raw keylime pie. She always buys them at the store when I make them. We haven’t had any ripe avocados so I haven’t made any. Jason bought avocados tonight for the potato salad, so I will use one for her pie.
Unfortunately, the avos are not ripe anywhere. I wanted to make the potato salad tonight, but had to settle for just the dressing. I need to find ripe avocados, so I will make the salad tomorrow. The dressing is very good. I think it will taste great with carrot sticks. Yummy!! It is a tahini base. Unfortunately, the tahini is not raw. We haven’t been able to order any raw for a long time. Maranatha and Arrowhead Mills discontinued it. Possibly from salmonella poisoning. That may be rumor, I really want to email the company. In order for me to have truly raw tahini I will have to make it or order it online.
The ingredients include: tahini, lemon juice, cumin, water, fresh parsley, nama shoyu (I replaced with braggs liquid aminos), agave, salt and of course chili powder. I am beginning to think that Matthew Kenney should have his face on all chili powder bottles. He uses chili powder in almost all the recipes I have made so far. He is really making me appreciate chili powder. I really never used it that much, but I have a feeling that I will be using it alot more for the next year. I was thinking today…”Does he use chili powder in his desserts?” I bet there are a few of them. He is a genius, I am no way putting his recipes down, like I said, I really appreciate chili powder now. I am going away next weekend to St. Augustine, so I will be going downtown to the Old Florida Spice Trader to buy chili powder:) I hope there are different varieties available. This was a very simple recipe. Only took 5 minutes.
Posted 16 years, 1 month ago at 6:45 pm. Add a comment
Just got home from the gym. I had to hurry and make this crust. I can’t believe I haven’t made a yummy raw dessert. I love to make desserts. I make them at work and I figured Monday would be the best day to start making this delicious crust. It has shredded coconut, cashew flour, sea salt, maple syrup (I used agave), coconut oil, and date paste. The cashew flour was just ground cashews in the food processor. It actually worked better in the food processor than in the Vitamix. I have never been able to make cashew flour like I do with almond flour. Almond flour is the pulp that is left over after making raw almond milk. Sarah and I tried to make cashew milk and strain the cashew pulp for one of our classes. We didn’t have any pulp left. I mixed all of the ingredients in the bowl, I normally mix all ingredients in the food processor, but I tried to follow instructions accordingly. I still haven’t bought any maple syrup. I just can’t bring myself to buy it. I am going to purchase some tomorrow. Also, I didn’t have a tartlet pan, which I will be purchasing soon. I was supposed to line the pan with plastic, but instead I used a glass pie plate. The directions call for dehydration for 24-48 hours, I didn’t want my yummy crust sitting on plastic at 115 degrees. I want the recipes to come out just like they are supposed to, but there are some exceptions. Jason tried it and he said it was the best raw macaroon crust he has ever had. He was kidding, he has never had raw macaroon crust. Nevertheless, he loved it. Can’t wait to eat the tartlet on Thursday.
Posted 16 years, 1 month ago at 6:31 pm. Add a comment
On the way to church today I let the kids thumb through my two books. I told them to pick out anything they would agree to eat tonight. I wanted to have an all raw family dinner. I want my boys to be included in this project as well. I know it’s going to work. It’s been so exciting, they are actually going into the dehydrator on their own and eating the granola, blueberry pancakes and bar-b-que crisps. They were actually fighting over the last 2 bar-b-que crisps. I don’t want them fighting but it’s great to see they like them that much. It caused Christian to make the crisps again. He made the almonds, oats, and flax into flour. He mixed all of the ingredients for the crackers. Now we will do the sauce next.
The boys both picked out baked macaroni and cheese. I am so grateful that I had all of the ingredients that I needed to make this wonderful and filling meal. This is what I call comfort food.
The recipe calls for:
cashews, lemon juice, water, olive oil, sea salt, nutritional yeast flakes, shallot, chili powder, cayenne and turmeric. The noodles are yellow squash.
The dressing was very easy to make. I put all ingredients into the vita mix and 10 seconds later I had a divine cheese. Jason helped me with the noodles. We were going to use the saladacco but we decided to use the shredder of the food processor. We used about 10 cups of yellow squash and poured the cheese on top. I mixed it all together and it had a gooey consistency much like Velveeta Macaroni and Cheese. The kind where you squeeze the fake cheese out of the silver bag. It was tasty when it was fresh, but after 1 1/2 hours in the dehydrator the flavors mingled well and it tasted more comforting for my children. I will make this meal again. Next time I will make a raw ketchup for Sabby. He loves his mac-n-cheese with ketchup. I mentioned it at dinner and he wanted me to make it then or let him use Annie’s Ketchup. I told him no we have to stick with our goal of at least 3 raw meals a week:) So if any of you know a great no fail kid recipe for raw ketchup send it my way:)
We are all picking out what we want this week. I will have to do my shopping trip tomorrow. I am excited. I am doing week 2! This is truly an amazing experience for myself and my family. I know we will all learn so much from it.
Posted 16 years, 1 month ago at 6:05 pm. 2 comments
These pancakes are sooooo delicious. They really taste like Aunt Jemima’s pancake batter, but 1000x better. No guilt in eating these at all:) It is late but I decided to eat some of the batter. Jason and I couldn’t believe it. I know all of the recipes have been to LIVE for, but this one hits that warm feeling in my heart. Before I went vegan I used to have pancakes every morning. I thought when I went vegan I would miss them. I would make them with egg whites, and oatmeal. I would put blueberries on top. It was really a ritual for me. I would place my fork on the right side of my plate and my knife on the left side of my plate. I would have 2 pancakes and cut them up and take small bites. I would practice conscious eating even though I had never heard of Gabriel Cousens. I guess I just felt like I didn’t want it to end. Now I have found a replacement. It should only take 24-48 hours to make them perfect to eat. I am sure I will try my ritual again. I am sure this will not be the last time I make them. I can’t wait for the boys to try them and of course my friends.
Ingredients: fresh blueberries, bananas, pine nuts, pecans, water, agave, maple syrup, vanilla bean(scraped), sea salt.
Posted 16 years, 1 month ago at 7:09 pm. Add a comment
When I first received everyday raw in the mail I briefly thumbed through it and decided that one of the first recipes I would make would be bar-b-que crisps. After work today I decided to soak the sun-dried tomatoes and chipotle peppers. The recipe’s soaking time for the chipotle peppers is 2 hours and sun-dried tomatoes is at least 3 hours. Destiny came over tonight and hung out. We chatted about Raw Food and Healthy Living. We both have so much in common and I’m very grateful for all I learn from her. We both tried the vanilla granola. It is almost crispy. She loved it more than the buckwheat granolas. It is not too sweet, just sweet enough. I really would love to add more raspberries next time. The dehydrated raspberries are delicious. I would also love to make a cacao bar and shave it on top of the granola. YUMMY!! Everyday that goes on I appreciate the chef Matthew Kenney is. It amazes me how someone can make up these recipes. The bar-b-crisps have so many ingredients and they blend so nicely together. It tastes savory and sweet. Jason and I kept eating the batter. I made myself stop. I made a mistake when I made the batter though:( I am so used to following my own rules I didn’t see how to mix the bar-b-que sauce with the bar-b-que chips (flour). According to the directions, I am supposed to mix the dry ingredients together and then lay that out on a teflex sheet, then pour sauce over it. I mixed the sauce with the flour. I did make it work by spreading it out just like I normally do for flax crackers and onion bread. I am still reading the directions and wondering how Matthew does this. It seems like it wouldn’t work. I think I’m going to write him an email and ask how he does it for sure. No matter what, the recipe is RAWESOME!! I bet the crisps will be gone in 2 days after their dehydration time of 2 days.
Ingredients
sun-dried tomatoes, almond flour
maple syrup, oat flour
apple cider vinegar, flax meal
shallots, nutritional yeast flakes
garlic, olive oil
chipotle peppers,
chili powder
sea salt
sumac
Posted 16 years, 2 months ago at 7:25 pm. 1 comment
Today was the Raw Food Gathering, so I decided that I would do the raspberry vanilla-almond granola as a demonstration in the presence of my friends at the potluck. I soaked the nuts (almonds and pecans) and sunflower seeds last night before bed and soaked them for 12 hours. I am finding out that I also need to do any preparation before I go to bed the night before my next project. I bought fresh raspberries from Rutabaga’s. They are so fresh and delicious. I went to the gym and my Bible study with Sarah this morning. After I returned from Sarah’s I strained the nuts and seeds and rinsed them. I put them in the refrigerator until tonight. I did the demonstration in front of my friends at the potluck. The recipe calls for fresh raspberries, sunflower seeds, pecans, almonds, maple syrup (I replaced with agave), date paste, pears, vanilla extract and vanilla bean scraped, almond extract, sea salt, ginger juice (I left this out because my son will not eat it then) and lime zest. I decided to cut the measurements in half, which I will do with many of the recipes when possible. The prep time only took 5 minutes after soaking the nuts and seeds. The lime zest was a pain because I didn’t bring my zester to the potluck. My sister, Cathy, helped me with the zest. Everyone watched me make it, which to me was a special time. Everyone tried it and thought it was great. Joanne said she has tried many Granolas and this recipe is the BEST! I was so excited to share this time with my friends. Thank you all who came to the demo:) I consider myself very blessed to have all of you in my life!
This granola is so delicious. I am dehydrating it now. I am guessing that it will taste more like raspberries after it is dehydrated. I am going to make some yummy almond milk on Saturday or Sunday and have some.
Posted 16 years, 2 months ago at 8:20 pm. 1 comment
Today is the final day of my preparation for the avocado tartare with tamarind-glazed cherry tomatoes, black sesame pappadam, and curry froth. I went to the Indian Spice Shop today that is next door to Rutabagas. I was hoping to find Tamarind. I walked in the shop and two ladies were there and with their friendly smiles they greeted me and asked me if I needed help. I asked them if they had tamarind and sure enough, they said “Yes!” The owner of the shop walked me to all of the spices. She had dry tamarind, tamarind concentrate and tamarind candy. I was so excited I jumped up and down and told her how she saved my day. I explained to her what I am doing for my project and told her my recipe called for tamarind and I had never tried it before. I told her that I didn’t know of anyone in Inverness that had tamarind. She was so friendly and was smiling from all my excitement. I am very excitable when things go my way:) She explained to me that it is a sour fruit. I couldn’t wait to try it. I looked around the store and was so amazed by all the authentic Indian foods. She even had real pappadam. The package looked like a tortilla package. I never have heard of any of these foods until delving into this project. I looked at all the foods. She even had red lentils, and something called moth beans. The prices were great too! I learned about alum. I asked her if she ever heard of tartare and she said it is alum. I don’t think it is exactly what I was looking for, but I did learn something new. I looked up tartare and it is a preparation of finely chopped raw meat or fish optionally with seasonings and sauces. Instead of meat in this dish Matthew Kenney substituted avocado. I think that maybe I could use mushrooms as a replacement for meat with this dish. I bought the tamarind and told the owner that I would bring her a sample of my meal for her to try on Saturday. I hope she likes it.
I couldn’t wait to try the tamarind. It reminded me of dry cherries. It was sweet but sour. I wouldn’t mind eating just the fruit. In the dry tamarind there are seeds. I am going to make a necklace out of them. They are a pretty reddish-brown color. I will try to dehydrate them first, then make the necklace. I am having more fun than I imagined doing this project!
Jason was home tonight to help me with the meal. The avocado tartare calls for avocados, lime juice, lime zest, macadamia nut oil, salt, black pepper, chopped cilantro, crushed coriander seed, jalapeno. I had all the ingredients except macadamia nut oil. We found out that many people substitute mac nut oil for olive oil. So I used olive oil. I bet it would taste better with the mac nut oil. Next time I make this meal I will use macadamia nut oil. I chopped up all the ingredients and placed them in a bowl to be stirred. They are supposed to be placed in souffle’ cups but I only have tart cups. They worked fine for us. We lined the tart cups with saran wrap so they were easy to slip onto the pappadam.
Jason helped me with the tamarind-glaze. We soaked the tamarind in water for 30 minutes and it became very mushy. He used our fine mesh strainer to make the pulp. He placed all of the soaked tamarind into the strainer and used a spoon to push the pulp through. I made the rest of the sauce with agave, chili powder, cayenne, lime juice, and sesame oil in the Vitamix and added the pulp. The sauce is sweet but tangy. We mixed a few tomatoes with a small amount of the sauce. We decorated the plate similar to the picture in Matthew Kenney’s book. It was so beautiful, I didn’t want to eat it too fast. It took me 3 days to prepare this meal. It was worth the time and effort to obtain all of the ingredients that I needed. The meal is divine. I am looking forward to letting my friends try it. I love the tamarind sauce and the curry sauce. I am not much of an avocado lover, but the tartare was good too. I will definitely use the curry sauce for salad and dressing for zucchini spaghetti. I absolutely love the curry sauce. I discovered curry within the last 2 years and I can’t believe that I lived this long without it.
Posted 16 years, 2 months ago at 5:33 pm. 1 comment
Living Rawesome 
