Chocolate Chia Crackers

I am so excited about this little recipe.   What a treat, chocolate crackers that are high in protein, iron, calcium, and omega 3s. In my opinion, they have a taste like an Oreo cookie. I couldn't believe it when I read the recipe over and realized it was dehydrated pudding.  I couldn't wait to see how they would turn out.  I liked them so much, I immediately made another batch. I took a bag of crackers over to share with Rachel and her first words were "This would be great for a pie crust." What an awesome idea.  For our Thanksgiving dessert I used them as a pie crust for a raw strawberry pie.  The crust was tender, but not so moist you didn't know it was crust.  The next time I make this recipe with the idea of using it as a crust, I'll make it a little thicker.

This recipe calls for making hazelnut milk to use in the mix, but you can substitute with cashews, almonds, or macadamia nuts or any non dairy milk.  I used some millet milk and almond milk in my second batch and it worked out just fine.  Organic cocoa powder works well if cacao powder isn't available.

Chocolate Chia Crackers
   Fills 2 Dehydrator trays

Ingredients 

 - 1 cup chia seeds, depending on how thick you like your puddings
- ½ cup raw cacao powder
- 3 T + ½ cup agave nectar
- 1 cup raw hazelnuts, almonds, cashews, or macadamia nuts
- 1 ½ t pure vanilla extract
- 2 T raw coconut oil
- Celtic sea salt

Directions
- Blend the hazelnuts with 3 cups water and 3 T agave. Strain the liquid through a nut milk bag or cheesecloth to remove the fiber. (I don't strain if I use cashews or macadamia nuts)

Mix 2 cups of hazelnut milk with the chia seeds. Let stand, stirring occasionally.

- Blend the remaining 1 cup of hazelnut milk with the cacao powder, agave nectar, vanilla extract and coconut oil, along with a dash of sea salt. Mix in the soaked chia seeds, and refrigerate for about 30 minutes.

- Spread the pudding onto 2 lined dehydrator sheets, and dehydrate for about 4 hours, or until you can flip the crackers on a mesh tray. If desired, score the crackers into small pieces. Dehydrate overnight, and keep the crackers in a sealed bag in the fridge. They will stay fresh for a couple of weeks.

Here's a look at what I did with them for Thanksgiving.  The crust isn't quite even as I didn't plan on using them as a crust.  But, when Rachel mentioned it, it sounded so right.  Next time I'll not score the crackers and make it a little thicker for a raw pie crust.  The crackers softened a bit under the pie, but were still firm enough to slice like a crust.

 Raw Strawberry Macadamia Creme Pie with Chocolate Chia Cracker Crust

Raw Vanilla Bean Cupcakes with Blueberry Coconut Frosting

I came across this easy recipe on Facebook.  These cupcakes spend a little time in the freezer and a little time in the dehydrator making them crispy on the outside and cake like on the inside.  They were a huge hit at the potluck.  Luckily I held out a couple at home so we could enjoy them.

The recipe calls for almond pulp from fresh almond milk. I don't use a juicer, but I do have a very good high speed blender. Whipped these up in my Blendtec and used cheesecloth to separate the fresh almond milk from the pulp. 

Vanilla Bean Cupcakes with Blueberry Coconut Cream Frosting

 - by Priscilla Soligo, founder of Rawthentic Food

This heavenly raw cupcake recipe by Chef Priscilla can be created easily at home.  All you need to get your hands on is one of those flexible silicon cup cake trays so you can pop out the base with ease.  That’s really the key to getting raw cupcakes to look this gorgeous!  Take note of Priscilla’s detailed instructions for creating the cupcake frosting with a firm yet creamy texture.

Ingredients

Cupcake Base:

• 2 (258g) Cups Almond Pulp , (defrosted and excess water squeezed out.  Almond pulp is the left over almond after almond milk has been made with water in a blender and strained.
• 1 (87g) Cup Dessicated Coconut Flakes
• 1/4 Cup Coconut Nectar
• 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
• 1/8 tsp Pink Himalayan Crystal Salt (I used a Celtic Sea Salt, worked just fine)
  

Blueberry Coconut Frosting:

• 2 1/2  Cups Coconut Butter Melted, (271g unmelted measurement)
• 1 1/2 (190g) Cups Blueberries
• 1 (60g) Cup Macadamia Nuts, (or cashews, pre-soaked 2 hours)
• 1/2 Cup Raw Organic Honey, (or coconut nectar for lower glycemic sweetener)
• 1 Cup Filtered Water

Method

For the cupcake base

In a food processor, process all ingredients together and place cupcake dough into a large bowl.

Using 14 mini silicon cupcake molds, press the dough firmly into each one making sure the top is flat.  Place in the freezer for 2 hours for the cupcakes to get up.  This will make molds easier to remove.  During this time, commence making the frosting.

Remove from the freezer and here you have two options.

Dehydrator Option 1:  Remove cupcakes from silicone molds.  Place cupcake bases onto a mesh lined dehydrator tray (not teflex sheet) and dehydrate at 115 for 6 hours.  Remove from dehydrator and allow to cool all the way through completely before icing.

No-Dehydrator Option 2:  Remove cupcakes from silicon molds.  You are ready to ice your cupcake! 

Using a knife, gently place frosting on top of the cupcake and garnish with a blueberry.

Storage:  The dehydrated cupcake bases keep well frozen for up to two months in an airtight sealed container.  The non-dehydrated cupcake bases will keep for up to a month, or so in the freezer in an airtight sealed container.  The frosting will keep in the fridge for up to two weeks in an airtight glass sealed container.

Variation: Replace the blueberries with other berries such as, raspberries, blackberries, or strawberries, or a ‘very berry’ combination.

 For the Frosting

In a high speed blender, place in all ingredients except blueberries and blend until smooth and well incorporated.  Pour into a large mixing bowl and set aside.

In a separate bowl, mash the blueberries with a fork.   

Fold in gently (don’t over mix) blueberry mixture with frosting mixture so you can see two tones showing through.

Refrigerate frosting overnight, or for at least 8 hours before frosting the cupcakes.  For a faster set up try freezing and then stirring gently hourly for 3 – 4 hours to keep the temperature consistent.  This is a ‘cream’ frosting and won’t set stiff.

Almond Pulp and Almond Milk

 Almond Milk

• 3 Cups Raw Almonds (pre-soaked 8 hours, or overnight, rinsed and drained)
• 6 Cups Filtered Water

Vegan Meal Plan ~ Start with Basics

A woman I've come to know through our local Vegan/Vegetarian potluck asked me to help her get started in her efforts to change her eating habits.  She wants to eat more plant based meals, but doesn't know how to get started and encourage her husband, who is not so willing to try new foods, to try the vegan meals she's cooking up.

My first thought when answering her question, "Where do I start?", was make a pot of beans.  That's how I start out each weekend.  I start with the basics, protein (beans), grains, and greens. This is what I did this morning.  I do this kind of preparation every weekend.

I put on a pot of black beans that I soaked overnight, 2 cups beans to 6 cups water. Very simple, sauteed an onion and some garlic, threw in a few spices: ground pepper, cinnamon, a little curry, and a dash of oregano. 45 minutes to 1 hour cooking.

I put on a pot of quinoa and black rice, 1 cup each. 20 - 30 minutes cooking time

With those things cooked I can make a variety of meals. I combined the rice and quinoa and added a simple citrus-pumpkin vinaigrette. I can eat it by itself or mix with veggies during the weekend.

I also put the ingredients to soak for trail mix cookies, raw almonds, Brazil nuts, sunflower seeds,  pumpkin seeds, and some dried plums. (Plums from my friends tree that I dried myself.)

I usually add a very large salad to the menu, with at least ten vegetables in it. For a dressing I cut up avocado very small, (that makes the oil), and the juice of one whole lemon or orange.  If I want to change it up, I'll add some balsamic vinegar or sometimes nuts and seeds or dried fruit.

Since we are doing mostly green smoothies this week, that's about all I'll cook for this weekend.   But with those things made, I have a good base for any simple meal.  Greens, grains, and protein, that's the basics for a vegan meal. The cookies make a great satisfying snack with no added sugar.  There is food already made so when that urge to eat hits, the healthy stuff is handy.

Black Rice and Red Quinoa with Citrus Pumpkin Dressing

Trail Mix Cookies - Ready Tomorrow

Raw Chocolate Layer Cake

There was a really pretty post by someone on Facebook of some chocolate layer cakes with a link to the recipe, Chocolate Layer Cake with Black Cherry.  I just had to try it out, I had the ingredients on hand.  It's a delightful cake.  Very dense and made with flax seeds and cashews, it's very nutritious too.  Rachel came over for lunch and that's what we had.  I'll be making this again.

My modifications: I used fresh blackberries for the creme frosting. I didn't have almond butter so I whipped some almonds in the blender and made my own, I used agave for sweetener.  I don't have access to maca powder or lucuma powder and I don't think Longview ever will, so I omitted those. For the yogurt creme I omitted the Bio-k acidophilus and the sunflower lectithin because I just didn't have them and didn't think it would affect the taste or texture.  It worked out just fine.

Chocolate Layer Cakes with Black Cherry and Orange
    from a blog called  Golubka - Food That Takes Love


Chocolate layers

3 cups nut or coconut milk
6 tablespoons cacao powder
4 tablespoons cocoa nibs
2 tablespoons vanilla extract
2 tablespoons coconut flakes
1/2 cup coconut oil
1 cup sprouted pecan butter or almond butter
3/4 cup sweetener of your choice (I used Jerusalem artichoke syrup)
1/2 cup almond flour
1 1/2 cups ground flax seeds
3 tablespoons maca powder (optional)
2 tablespoons lucuma powder (optional)

In a high speed blender, combine all the ingredients until smooth. Spread evenly on 5 Teflex lined dehydrator trays. Dehydrate at 115F for about 6-8 hours, or overnight. Flip and peel the Teflex sheet away, then continue to dehydrate on screens only until completely dry. Cut each cracker into 4 pieces, you should end up with 20 total.

Yogurt Cream
1 cup macadamia nuts- soaked overnight
1 cup cashews - soaked overnight
2 tablespoons light agave syrup
1/2 cup water
2 tablespoons vanilla extract
2 tablespoons raw honey
zest of 2 lemons
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon nutritional yeast
pinch of salt
8 tablespoons Bio-k acidophilus
1 cup coconut oil
2 tablespoons sunflower lecithin (optional) - really good for you

In a high speed blender, combine all of the ingredients until smooth and creamy.

Orange Cream
1/2 of the amount of yogurt cream
zest of 3 oranges
1 orange - peeled and cut into chunks

In a high speed blender, combine all the ingredients until smooth. Refrigerate for 1-2 hours before spreading.

Berry Cream
half of yogurt cream
any berries of your choice - add until you achieve the desired color

If using raspberries or blackberries, puree them first, then run through a fine mesh sieve to remove the seeds.
In a high speed blender, combine all the ingredients until smooth. Refrigerate for 1-2 hours before spreading.

Assembly
Spread a thin layer of the cream on chocolate crackers layer by layer, sprinkling with cocoa nibs on top of each layer. You can use all 10 pieces to make a 10 layer high cake each - orange and berry. Or you can make 8 layer cakes, like we did, and eat the remaining crackers for a snack.
Refrigerate the prepared cakes for 1-2 hours until set and ready to be cut. Cut each cake into 4 even pieces with a sharp knife. Decorate with cocoa nibs, orange slices and berries. Keep refrigerated until ready to serve.