Spicy Peanut Sauce

This sauce was suggested as a topping for kelp noodles and vegetables. I thought the proportions in the recipe were WAY off, so I am not reprinting the whole thing here, but the sauce was good enough I wanted to share it. It would be great on noodles, chicken, veggies, all sorts of things I think!

Spicy Peanut Sauce

2/3 cup creamy peanut butter
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1/3 cup rice or red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon red chile flakes
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon coarse ground coriander
2 tablespoons naturally brewed soy sauce
1/2 cup canola oil

In a bowl, whisk together the peanut butter, sesame oil, vinegar, chile, sugar, Dijon, coriander and soy sauce until smooth. Whisk in the canola oil and check for seasoning.

Almond Cookies

So.... hmm... I wasn't sure about including this recipe as I originally only wanted to put things on here I thought were really good. I didn't think these were bad, but they weren't great either. Mainly, they had a sort of bitter taste I am not sure about. My husband swears xylitol has an aftertaste. I have never noticed it but am wondering if that was what I was picking up on in these. Or maybe too much almond extract? Not sure.... If you make them with sugar, and they are great, let me know. :)

Almond Cookies

Ingredients

* 2 cups almond flour
* 1/2 cup sugar or xylitol or Splenda if you are doing low carb
* 1/2 cup softened butter flavor Earth Balance
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
* 1 teaspoon almond extract
* 1 egg

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 300°F.
2. Using and electric mixer blend softened butter for a minute. Add remaining ingredients and mix together.
3. Form dough into walnut sized balls and place onto ungreased cookie sheet. The oil from the butter and almond flour grease the sheet as the cookie bakes.
4. Bake for 5 minutes. Press down lightly with fork, then continue to bake another 18 minutes. The cookies do not brown.
5. Let cool on sheet for 5 minutes before removing.

Raw "Burgers"

Another wow! One of my favorite raw dishes I have made so far. And endless possible variations! One note: although it was called a burger, it wasn't like something you could pick up. You could for sure wrap it in lettuce or something like that though.

Live Garden Burger

Ingredients

* 1 cup walnuts (or your favorite nuts)
* 2 carrots, chopped
* 1/2 medium sweet onion, chopped
* 1/2 tablespoon raisins (I used sultanas but they also suggest honey or very ripe bananas)
* 1/2 tablespoon oil
* 1/2 tablespoon Old Bay spice mix
* paprika for garnish, optional

Directions

1. Grind the nuts in a food processor.
2. Add the rest of the ingredients and grind it up.
3. Form into balls, cutlets, or fillets and sprinkle with a little paprika if desired
before serving.
4. If the mixture is not firm, you can also add something like ground flax seeds, chia seeds or nutritional yeast.

Raw Crackers

NOTE: Requires a dehydrator.

Wow, my first attempt at raw crackers, and I couldn't be more pleased. This makes me really wish I had a nice, square dehydrator! I had a hard time spreading them or getting them into any regular shapes from a circle! I had no luck with the scoring, so I am wondering if they were not thin enough, but just leaving them on one side the whole time worked out fine! The original recipe said they taste kindof like Cheese Itz, and I was thinking no way! But they do. I even had a friend try them, and the first thing she said was, "Do these have cheese in them?" Also, I am moving away from using flax seed, so I plan to try it with chia next time.


Raw Crackers

Ingredients

* 1 cup sunflower seed
* 1 cup brazil nut
* 1 cup almonds
* 1 tomato
* 1 cup red pepper, diced
* 1/4 cup flax seed, ground
* 1/4 ts cumin
* 2 teaspoons salt

Directions

1. Soak sunflower seeds, brazil nuts, and almonds for 4 hours.
2. Add all ingredients to food processor and process until as smooth as desired.
3. Spread out on teflex sheet, fruit roll up tray, or waxed paper and dehydrate for about 24 hours. After approximately 8 hours you can cut the crackers to desired size and flip.

Raw "Meatballs"

Before and after dehydrating:

I was skeptical about these, but wow, they were great! The most amazing thing was that my husband, who hates bell peppers, said he even liked them! My only issue was they were too salty for my taste, so I think they will reduce the salt next time. They were quite moist right out of the food processor, so I had trouble forming them into balls, but they held together perfectly when done. Still, for practical purposes, I think I will try adding something, probably chia seeds, to help hold them together better in the beginning.

NOTE: This recipe requires a dehydrator, but if you are not a raw foodie, I am sure you could just cook them on the lowest setting of your oven until they look like the "after" photo.

Raw "Meatballs"

Ingredients

12 ounces mushrooms
3/4 cup walnuts
1 tablespoon italian seasoning
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 red pepper, chopped
1 tomato, chopped

Directions

1. Add ingredients in food processor and process until desired consistency.
2. Drop in half inch or so balls onto a teflex sheet, fruit roll up tray, or waxed paper and dehydrate about 12 hours.

Raw Carmelized Pecans

These were sooooooo good, and I couldn't believe how crunchy they ended up! They also smelled divine while in the dehydrator. Mmmm, house aromatherapy. :)

Caramelized Pecans (Raw Foods)

Ingredients

* 1 cup pecans
* 1 tablespoon honey
* 1/2 tablespoon vanilla extract
* 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
* 1 pinch nutmeg
* 1 pinch sea salt

Directions

1. Soak pecans overnight in 2 cups of water (6-12 hours).
2. Drain and rinse.
3. Spread the pecans on a dry towel and blot them dry.
4. Toss with honey, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, and sea salt.
5. Marinate 30-60 minutes.
6. Spread on dehydrator trays and dehydrate 12-20 hours or until dry.
7. Store in an air-tight container in a cool, dry place.

Coconut Macaroons

Not in following with my recent raw kick, but oh my are these good. They are a little bit hard to handle before cooking, but if you make sure your honey is nice and runny, and use a light touch when stirring the ingredients together, you should be OK!

Coconut Macaroons

Ingredients

* 1 cup unsweetened dried shredded coconut
* 1 egg white
* 2 tablespoons honey

Directions

1. Beat egg white until soft peaks form. Stir in coconut and honey.
2. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto a greased cookie sheet.
3. Bake at 325 degrees for 12 minutes.
4. Cool, eat, and enjoy.
5. Note: you could also dip these into chocolate for an extra yummy treat!