We want raw

Leftovers at our house.... Open Face Handroll

2011-01-27T02:16:00Z

Damon has brought on a whole new meaning to "leftovers". You would never believe that this is what he makes our leftovers look like.

The dish was simply leftover organic brown rice with peas, a slice of bbq'd albacore, avocado, raw nori and a ball of wasabi. The red sauce is Damon's answer to Rooster sauce aka: SRIRACHA HOT CHILI SAUCE Korean ketchup. Everything was leftovers or found in our fridge.

We called it an Open Face Handroll. Once the fish was broken down, we rolled it up and ate it like a sushi roll.

His creativity in the kitchen is amazing! Are you the creative one? I am not, but I can be on occasion. Damon continues to teach me the simple things you can do with a plate to make meals more appealing.

Looking at others blogs is a good way to learn. Keep checking back here, once I get into the swing of working at home, I need to start blogging more.....

Keep searching for the site that keeps you interested in food. Food is the one thing that isn't going anywhere... We all need to eat, why not make it nutritious and interesting at the same time?

FoodTraining U class January 6th, Macro Bowls and more!

2011-01-06T00:49:00Z

Did you make a New Year's resolution concerning your Health?
Weight Loss? Eating Better? Detoxing?

Come to our class!! We will show you how to add more fresh fruits and vegetables into your daily diet that look and taste fantastic!

When: January 6th
Where: Juice Jungle, Redway (Evergreen Business Park)
Time: 5:30 - 7:30
$20 admission per person
Price includes food samples, recipes, door prizes and raffle (extra cost)

We will be showing everyone a quick and easy Macrobiotic dish! If you've never heard of it, you'll be surprised how easy and healthy it is!!

We hope to see you there!

Toni & Damon

New Year Salad recipe & Healthy holiday wishes.

2010-12-24T22:05:00Z

Happy Healthy Holidays!!!
From Toni & Damon, aka: FoodTraining U.

We wish everyone health and happiness this coming year.

Thank you for your support in the last year, on our blog and our food classes.

Here's a quick recipe to warm your holiday. I know it's a little late to include it in your menu plans, but it's good anytime of the year!

New Year Salad by Damon & Toni
     One head of napa cabbage, rough cut - massage with sesame oil, salt and agave
     1 1/2 cups kale, ribbon cut - massage with extra virgin olive oil, salt, lemon juice
     1 cup dried cranberries
     1/2 cup seaweed - soaked until soft (we used hijiki and/or sea palm)
     1/2 cup dried almonds - can be seasoned (ours were soaked in palm sugar, nama shoyu and salt then dehydrated)
     1/2 cup fresh red bell pepper, chopped
     1 Tbsp of Nama shoyu
     Fresh ground black pepper to taste

Put everything in a large mixing bowl and stir. Add extra agave if necessary. This recipe is very versatile, add what you have on hand. It's meant to be sweet and tangy.

We called it a New Year's Salad, but it was inspired by a local health food store, their salad is called "Cha Cha" totally raw and vegan.

We served it as a side dish, but it stands on it's own very well. I will post the raw stuffing and gravy recipe in the future. If you have been to our class before, you have the recipe .

Stay tuned for information on our January 6th class .......

Michael Pollan in Arcata, Fresh Pumpkin Pie recipe

2010-12-16T03:32:00Z

We were very fortunate to see Michael Pollan speak in Arcata on December 1st. The best part was Alison (Damon's 14 year old daughter) also attended. You have heard me say that Ali "tests" us regularly about our "diet", so when she showed interest in coming to see Michael with us I was ecstatic! The evening was as wonderful as we imagined! Michael is an excellent speaker and portrays the mind set that we all need.

We vote for our food choices with our food purchases. That makes sense right? If we continue to purchase processed foods, the processed food companies will continue to produce them. If we purchase fresh organic fruits and vegetables, markets will make them more available.

Shop on the outside isles of the market, that's where the fresh products are. Michael calls them "silent" foods. They don't scream at you with their labels that promise better nutritional choices like: "LOW CALORIE" "TRANS FAT FREE" "LOW SODIUM" "SUGAR FREE" . Fresh fruits and vegetables are silent. They don't have millions of dollars backing the marketing for their sale. If farmers had the resources these foods would scream of their nutritional content, or would they? Currently, packaging is small to nothing (honestly even the little labels bug me) if they are packaged in plastic I tend not to purchase them. I like the silence of the food. I notice the amount of trash I throw out on a weekly basis. My compost bucket is almost as big as my waste basket. That's a good indication that our food intake is mostly fresh food.

Today was the best day yet. One of my general agent insurance companies Claremont Insurance Agency sent a gift to their agents/associates that do business with them. It was a box of fresh fruit that they purchased from a local family run business in the bay area. They didn't know that I would be the most appreciative of all the agents that work with them for this awesome gift. Not only was it fresh, they made sure that they purchased local, seasonal fruit. What a wonderful message to convey for the need to include more fresh/local produce into our daily diet. Thank you!

I would also like to thank all who attended our FoodTraining U class on December 8th. We were so happy to see some new faces and hope to see you and others next month. We attempt to make our classes informative and exciting, fun and tasty. We put countless hours into research and recipes that we present at each class. We appreciate the support.

The recipe attached is from last year, I want to remind you how easy it is to include fresh food into your life during the holiday season. Once you taste a recipe like this you'll never go back to the old recipe!

Happy Healthy Holidays to all!

Raw Vegan Pumpkin pie recipe by Damon Siska inspired by Susan Powers of Rawmzing.com
Note: double the crust or 1/2 the filling......

Crust:

2 cup almond pulp (dried in dehydrator approx ½ hr)

5 dates (soaked until soft)

½ teaspoon cinnamon

1 ½ teaspoons agave (or more, to reach sticky consistency)

Pinch salt

Put almond pulp in food processor with date. Process until well ground. Press into 8” pie plate, cover and refrigerate.

Filling:

1 medium sugar pumpkin

½ lbs dried mangos (or other dried fruit)

2 cups water

½ cup plus 1 tablespoon agave

½ cup coconut butter

½ cp cashews (soaked for at least 4 hours)

2 tsp garam masala

1 tsp fresh ground ginger

½ teaspoon mesquite powder

Pinch salt

1” vanilla bean

Start preparing the pumpkin the day before. Peel the pumpkin and slice in half. Slice into 1 inch slices, then into 1/8 thick slices. The slices should be 1 “ x 1/8” thick. Place on dehydrator screens and dehydrate at t 116 for about 3-4 hours. Make sure you remove them before they are hard!

Place dehydrated pumpkin in a bowl. Cover with 2 cups of water and pinch of salt. Let sit for about 3 hours. You can do this the night before or just put it in the refrigerator and leave it. Soak the cashew and dates at the same time.

To make the filling:

In the food processor, place all ingredients expect the remaining 1 cup water and cashews. Process until it becomes a mash. Add the cashews and process until well mixed. Transfer ½ the mixture to the vitamix. Add 1.2 cup water ½” vanilla bean and blend until smooth. Place mixture in large mixing bowl. Mix other ½ of the mixture ½ cup of water ½ “ vanilla bean. Mix the two batches together and pour into prepared crust. Refrigerate 3 to 4 hours (or overnight). For best results dehydrate for 3 hours, then proof in freezer for approx 30 minutes. If more time is needed before serving refrigerate. The finished product looks like its been baked and tastes wonder! We topped with Cashew cream cheese frosting.

Soak the raw pumpkin and dehydrate.

Soak in 2 cups water for approx 3 hours.

Get that "Baked" look by dehydrating for 3 hours.

We topped with some cashew cream cheese frosting. It topped it off and taste great!

Was your pumpkin pie made from scratch? If not, try it, this is tasty! Happy Healthy Holidays to you!!

December 8th Food Training U Class

2010-12-08T02:03:00Z

Come one, come all to the FREE FoodTraining U class/Open house. We hope to see you there!

Have you been told by your physician to
change your diet?

Gluten or Dairy Intolerant? Allergies?
Want to lose weight?

We have some fresh new recipes for you!

We advocate living foods, and show you how to

prepare delicious meals for any dietary need.

•

Come to our classes to glean from our 1000’s of hours

of research and personal experience:

FEEL BETTER!!! GAIN ENERGY!!!

LOSE WEIGHT NATURALLY!!!

Nothing to purchase!!! No Memberships!!!

Join us at:

Juice Jungle

(in The Meadows business park)

1881 Barnett #6, Redway (next to the gym)

December 8^th - 5:30 to 7:30 pm

Regular price: $20 per person (starting again in January)

We will be showing and tasting:

Healthy Holiday meal preparation and ideas for what to make

or bring to holiday gatherings. Enjoy living foods this holiday season!

Our holiday gift to you….

December’s class is FREE!

Please RSVP by Dec. 6th - Call Toni @ 845-7336

Who are we? Toni Genaro & Damon Siska -
We are passionate about teaching healthy eating habits

for current and future generations.
We are long time residents of Humboldt,
shop local and live what we preach.

See our recipes and other daily living tips HERE at: http://blog.wewantraw.com

Zucchini Burger recipe

2010-12-05T22:51:00Z

Burgers are a staple on the raw food diet. They are usually full of multiple vegetables and last at least a week in the fridge. I like to make large batches so we have lunch items all week.

I threw together these burgers to use up some dehydrated zucchini from last year. The zucchini had been shredded and dehydrated then stored in a jar that was vacuum sealed. I soaked the dehydrated zucchini in a water bath for an hour or so to add the water back in.

Ingredients:
Approx 7 cups re-hydrated zucchini (any kind, or fresh)
Approx 1 cup Button mushrooms (any kind)
1/2 cup Walnuts (previously soaked and dehydrated)
1/2 cup Sun dried tomatoes (soaked for approx 1/2 hour to soften)
1/4 cup Dried onions (or fresh onion)
2 Tbs. Nama Shoyu (soy sauce)
1 clove Garlic
Jalapeno (optional)

Remove most of the water from zucchini, by squeezing it out by hand. Mix all ingredients in food processor until desired consistency. Form into patties and put on dehydrator/teflex sheet. Dehydrate at 118 degrees for approx 3-5 hours, turning 1/2 way through cook time. You know they are done when they are no longer sticky, slightly bendable and dry on the outside.

My recipes are pretty simple. Feel free to add other veggies you have lying around or that need to be eaten. You can't go wrong, veggie burgers are easy. Mastering how much they shrink in the dehydrator is another story!

Here's what happens when you forget the burgers in the dehydrator overnight! OOPS!

No, we didn't toss them. We put them in the fridge in a container with a carrot. You could use any veggie that has a high water content like celery, radish, some lettuce or cabbage, etc. After a couple of days the veggie re-hydrated the burgers so they were edible.

I learned my lesson, the solution? Set a timer!! Our dehydrator is in a spot we don't hear it, so it's very easy to forget that we have food in it. It hasn't happened alot, but it happens. If we don't learn from our mistakes how else would we learn?

Happy Healthy Holidays to all!!

some Garden Cleaning and local mushrooms

2010-11-19T02:20:00Z

I had some time to clean the garden (part of it) last weekend. The massive leaves of the squash are piled and ready for composting.

You never know what you'll find when you clean up. Check you the size of the zucchini that I couldn't see!

I know, it's kind of ghetto, but it's home .

We pickled the small zuccetta's (not the official name) and the diakon radishes. The plant on the left is mint. It's drying for use in teas and other recipes.

We also had a chance to go mushroom hunting near our home. This is a shot of all the mushrooms we found. We have no idea what they are, anyone know?

Today it's raining, but the next chance we get we will be hunting for more mushrooms and cleaning more garden. Happy Fall to all!

Thanks and Update for FoodTraining U!

2010-11-15T02:04:00Z

Thank you to everyone who attended November's FoodTraining U class.
We had a wonderful time and enjoyed some great recipes like:
Damon's Apple Cobbler Smoothie
Stuffing, Mushroom gravy and Green beans Almondine
And a fresh apple pie!
Thanksgiving is on the way!!

For our December class we are offering FREE admission.
It's our holiday gift to all of you!

We're planning an informative 2 hours, raffles, door prizes and lots of great food.
Please join us December 8th, 5:30 - 7:30 pm at Juice Jungle in Redway, CA.
(The Meadows business park)

So if you've been thinking about coming but didn't want to pay the fees,
now's your chance to come and see what we are up to free of charge!

Coming in January - we will be discussing Detoxification - Why? How? & When?
AND - Admission to all classes will be $20.00 per person.

If you are local and would like to get on my email reminder list please send me your email address and I will send you a reminder a couple days in advance of the classes.
You can request to stop the emails at anytime.

Health and Happiness to everyone this holiday season. - Toni & Damon

FoodTraining U class next week, November 10th

2010-11-06T17:43:00Z

It's time for the monthly FoodTraining U class, November 10th!

Please join us for:
FoodTraining U
Wednesday,November 10th
5:30 - 7:30 pm
at Juice Jungle
in the Meadows business park, Redway.

We will be sharing how to include living foods
into our diets this holiday season.

You'll learn how to make healthy holiday
"favorites" easy and tasty as ever!

Print out this coupon for $20 off
admission to your first class!
Regular price $40 pp or $35 pp if you carpool.

December's class is scheduled for
Wednesday, December 8th
same place, same time.
Thank you Lisa.

Fun with video

2010-10-30T04:49:00Z

Our cat Cleo when she was young... she WAS cute.

Have a great Halloween Weekend!!

Spending time away from home with a little cooking

2010-10-21T23:43:00Z

My last seven days have been spent away from home.

My Mother needs full time care and I am the back up caregiver for my older sister who lives with her full time. To give my sister some much deserved time off I have spent the last 7 days living with my Mom who lives 50 miles away from me. She is not a raw foodist. She doesn't have much of an opinion about the food she eats, so it's pretty easy to feed her the things that I like and not get any complaints. For me, it was a challenge to try to include items that #1 were available and #2 that she could manage. Whole nuts and seeds are out of the question for her abilities. Salads are a push. And without a good blender I could not include as much of these items into our diet as I would like. So I modified things as much as I could to keep her system (and mine) from going into shock and or detox.

For breakfast we always had fresh fruit. Without a blender I couldn't make smoothies, so whole fresh fruit was the basis. She gets yogurt, (Yoplait is NOT yogurt) one of the brands we purchase for her is Brown Cow.

Luckily we both love seafood. And since her home is in Eureka California, there is an abundance of great seafood available. Over 7 days we had Halibut, shrimp salads, shrimp sandwiches, salmon, fish tacos, tuna sandwiches and tuna salads. Everything was always complimented with fresh vegetables and very little if any bread. For the salads I just had to modify the size of the spinach and lettuce. By cutting everything into 1/2 inch bite size pieces Mom was able to pick them up with a spoon. Fresh green beans were easy to poke with a fork. Mashed potatoes were easy to eat with a spoon.

I had planned on doing more raw items, but again, not having a blender, I had to make do with items that were easy to eat and readily available. I left feeling great, although I am excited about adding nuts and seeds back into my own diet.

I didn't die eating more cooked food. I still tried to eat at least 70% raw, the one item that was cooked was the fish. I tried to eat most of my vegetables raw or lightly steamed. I don't wish to continue eating that much cooked food in the future, mostly because of all the extra work. If you think raw is hard, you've never tried it. Cooking is WAY more work!

For the most part I would like to share with all the "newbies" trying raw that you don't have to be a fanatic. Yes, we were when we started. Look at our blog title! We have learned over the year and a half that we have been doing this that it is almost impossible to keep 100% raw (or even 90%). Adding small amounts of cooked items can actually be good for you. We do include organic brown rice in our diet very often now and we are still feeling and looking great. Everybody.... and, every body is different. But none of us require preservatives, additives or chemicals in our food, we're not chemically deficient! That's the important issue to keep in mind. We need to get back to the basics, making our food at home from fresh grains and produce. We know everyone lives in a house with a kitchen (hopefully) so we would like you to use it. That's what our food classes are about. We are not trying to make everyone go raw vegan. Although we always base our recipes on those premises. We demonstrate raw and vegan recipes to show how easy and tasty those dishes can be. We recommend that you add more fresh uncooked items into your diet. If you think about it, everything is really a salad...so add a fun raw dish to any plate and you shouldn't get any complaints.

Come Join us for FoodTraining U class October 13th!

2010-10-11T03:00:00Z

Please join us at....
FoodTraining U
October 13th 5:30 to 7:30 pm
at Juice Jungle
in the Meadows business park, Redway.

Come enjoy great food and fun while we discuss the benefits of fresh living foods.

We are encouraging healthy eating to transform lives, lose weight and feel great.

This month's class we will be making and teaching easy nutritious smoothies, party dishes and desserts. We will also be discussing how to transform you kitchen for successful eating.

Print this blog post and receive $20.00 admission to your first class!
Choose Oct 13, Nov 10th or Dec 8th!!!!
Regular class price is $40 pp or $35 pp if you carpool.

We will be giving away door prizes, have raffles and a book lending library is available. We give so much information about so many things you'll never remember it all!! (We do provide you with recipes and information in writing in our class flyer ).

We look forward to seeing you and giving you great recipe ideas for everyday living.

Our Organic Garden

2010-10-04T00:48:00Z

I haven't discussed my garden much this year, but I should have. It has been a wonderful resource of food for us all summer. Yes, it has taken time to water and weed, but for the most part it has given more than it has taken! I finally took the time this weekend to catalog the final stages before most of it is torn down. Here's a slide show so you can see how much we have packed into our small spaces.

The song is dedicated to Alison. Thanks for the inspiration! xoxoxoxo.
How does your garden grow?

Our organic garden. October 2010

Got garlic? Make fresh raw garlic powder!

2010-09-19T04:33:00Z

Do you have an abundance of Garlic? This year I have had several people giving away garlic because they planted too much last season. I am always happy to add the garlic to our pantry, we do use a good amount in our food preparation. We use so much garlic I don't think we have to worry about vampires!

To help preserve the garlic for later use, I decided to use it to make fresh powder. It was so easy I want to share it with everyone. It only takes five easy steps to have fresh homemade garlic powder!!

Step one: Cut off dry stalks and root end. Remove any dirt from bulb, and leave outer skins on (as long as they are clean).
Step two: Place full bulbs into Vitamix blender and blend until a mash texture (no chunks can be detected).
Step three: Spread garlic mash onto teflex sheets and dehydrate on 115 degrees for approx 24 hours (times may vary) or until dry.
Step four: Place dry garlic sheets back into Vitamix and blend into powder
Step five: Place into jars and use in all your recipes!

The color may vary, but it will always taste wonderful. It will be the best garlic powder you will ever use!
P.S. Add some salt and you have garlic salt .

Do you know the benefits of garlic (besides avoiding vampires?) Read about it here: Wiki Allicin

I am going to plant extra garlic this year so next year I will have more for processing into powder. I shared mine with friends, and now I'm out! Got Garlic?

How to open a young thai coconut and FoodTraining U notes

2010-09-09T22:17:00Z

We had a great time at our official Class #1 of FoodTraining U. We had several people in attendance that learned all about coconuts. We also shared some great recipes (all of which had coconut as an ingredient). We are talking about fresh young Thai coconuts. There's only one coconut, it is just sold in many different forms (young, water, milk, dried, oil, syrup, vinegar, flour, amino acids, sugar) I'm probably forgetting something else, but you get the point.

When a coconut is on the tree it looks like this.

Fresh young Thai coconuts can be purchased at most health food stores or Asian markets. Unfortunately it is expensive to ship them to yourself if they are unavailable to you. Try asking the produce manager at your local market to find them if they are not regularly stocked. Young coconuts have less meat and more water. You don't want the older dark dry shell coconuts, unless specified in a recipe. The water and the meat in the young coconuts are much sweeter. When you purchase young coconuts they look like this:

If you want to lose weight, eat coconut! If you are fighting an illness (diabetes, infections, dry scalp, just to name a few), eat coconut! If your skin is dry, put coconut oil on it! Get the point? For years coconut was thought to be bad because it is so high in saturated fat. Research has showed that yes, coconut is high in saturated fat, BUT it is also one of the few oils that is composed of Medium Chain Fatty Acids (MCFA's) The longer the chain the worse the oil. All vegetable oils (Corn, canola, sunflower, safflower, etc.) are composed of Long Chain Fatty Acids (LCFA's). Those are the facts in a nut (coconut) shell . If you want to look into fatty acids more, go here: Fats, Fish Oil and Omega-3-Fatty Acids . These facts make Coconut oil a much better choice for consumption. If you replace all other oils in your kitchen with this ONE oil, you will be healthier, lose weight and feel great! Use it in ALL of your recipes!!! I also use the oil as a suncreen. It is said to have an SPF of 15. The only time I burned this year was because I was out too long and didn't reapply the oil. It makes my skin very smooth and smells good too!
Bruce Fife is an expert in Coconut nutrition and has written several books on the subject (even a cookbook). Please do your own research, but believe me, this nut is amazing!

Since eating a healthier diet we have been consuming major amounts of coconut oil. I was unaware that this IS one of the reasons I was losing weight and keeping it off. While doing my research for our FoodTraining U class, I found multiple sources that confirm that coconut oil is the best alternative. I read 3 of Bruce Fife's books this weekend and he also confirmed, it's true. Coconut in almost any form is a healthy addition to any diet. We purchase our coconut oil by the GALLON! Can you believe that? Who buys a gallon of oil? We've used almost 3 gallons in the past year. That's a lot of oil! And we are losing weight? Not only is the oil good, but we like the water and the meat also. We have a great health food store in town that regularly carries young Thai coconuts. If we order them by the case we receive a 10% discount!

Have you ever opened a young Thai coconut? It took me along time to get comfortable. Damon is much better than I am, so I only have to open them when he is busy. Luckily.

Here's a video of Damon opening a young Thai coconut. If you look up other videos everyone has their own style. We find the following style to be very effective.

As you can see the water went flying! We all laughed and quickly cleaned the camera. That was a raw food blooper! Luckily at our first FoodTraining U class the coconut water did not go flying, nor hit any unsuspecting cameras or persons in the audience.
Most nuts are full of wonderful water. If you are dehydrated, drink it to bring up your electrolytes. We tend to stay away from packaged coconut waters and milks. After learning that nearly all cans contain BPA, we simply don't purchase them anymore. If you only need the water for a recipe, scrape the meat from the inside with a soft spatula and save it in the freezer for later use. Though we do not like the fact that coconuts have such a high carbon footprint being an imported product, we are currently researching what we can do to reduce that. If you are lucky enough to live on the east coast you can purchase or order coconuts from Florida, shipping rates prevent us from that so we use Thai coconuts for the time being. Does anyone have an idea for localizing the amazing coconut?

Watch our blog for recipes using coconut. We use it whenever possible!

Living Light Chef Showcase

2010-08-28T01:52:00Z

Last year about this time was our introduction to the Living Light Institute in Fort Bragg, CA and the Expo that they held each year. Being our first year at the expo (after going raw only 4 months earlier), we enjoyed every aspect. They had several things going on at once so we could choose to watch a chef, or listen to an expert talk about any aspect of the raw food diet in several locations close to the institute. We enjoyed ourselves and gleaned knowledge and enthusiasm for our new raw food journey. Our previous blog about the conference last year can be seen here . We will always remember rubbing elbows with our peers and feeling like we belonged.

This year the Living Light Institute in Fort Bragg is holding a conference specializing in raw food chefs and recipe techniques in the kitchen and available in person or to watch by live streaming video. Today was day one of three and was very informative and inspiring.

Look it up here: Living Light Chef Showcase. You can probably still sign up for the video streaming. One ticket includes a 6 month pass to view the videos at your leisure. The video option is a wonderful way to feel like you're there, but not have to spend all the time traveling.

If you are interested in the raw food diet or just wondering how to change to healthy eating habits check it out!!

Homemade Fruit Leather 101 in 2010

2010-08-13T23:39:00Z

Got fruit? We recently went Blackberry picking and easily bagged 1-1/2 gallons of fresh blackberries. What a blessing it is to live in a place that there is a plentiful supply of these wonderful morsels for the taking. It's first come first serve on the roads that house the wild brambles. We were not the first to pick the ripe fruit from the thorn riddled branches, but we still went home with plenty. It's a wonderful year in our county for wild berry picking. We had plenty of rain early this year which has aided in berry production. We still have plenty of time to go pick more.

When I have too much fruit, my first thought is always fresh Fruit Leather! The dehydrator has been a wonderful addition to my kitchen. If you have one, have you used it lately? I try to keep mine going constantly (hopefully you have noticed from my previous posts). In fact as I sit and write this I have corn chips dehydrating right now!

This was my first try at blackberry fruit leather. Knowing the fruit can be a little tart, I did add a little sugar and stevia to the mix, I do not normally add sugar to my leather recipes. Blackberries can be a little extra work also because of the seeds. But they are worth it!

After the blackberries were picked I rinsed and soaked them in filtered water over night in the fridge. I emptied the water through a strainer, boiled to remove any contaminants and what I got was a wonderful deep purple blackberry fruit juice base that I saved for the kids tea base.

Here's what I did with the fruit.

First I took the berries and ran them through the Vita-Mix. Then I removed the seeds by squeezing the fruit through a filter bag. (sorry I didn't take photos, it was messy!)

Next I added 2 apples (cored) 1/2 cup organic sugar and approx 4 cups of berries back in the Vita-Mix.

Blend until smooth. Use a spatula to spread the fruit mixture evenly on Teflex sheets. As thick as you can. Make sure you don't try to get too close to the edge, the mixture is quite thin and does tend to ooze to the side! I left approx 2 inches all the way around. The color was beautiful!

The next photo shows what it looked like when it was done. It took approx 8 hours. You know when it's done by the fact it doesn't stick to your finger when you touch it . This sheet was moved to a piece of parchment and is ready to roll.

The following photo shows the finished product.

I store all the fruit leather in an easy to open container to promote snacking by the kids. It's these great snacks that I want them to choose!

Can you imagine anything easier? The fruit you use does not need to be beautiful to do this. Have any fruit that's being passed up because it's a little bruised or over ripe? Make Fruit Leather!!!!!

Raw Cookie Dough Recipe

2010-08-05T19:22:00Z

When I was a kid my Mom always had the ingredients for Nestle Toll House cookies in the house. So naturally we made them, it seemed like we always had them around. I know that can't be true, but it sure is nice to remember it that way. As I got older my Mom let me make them with her, then of course I was trusted to make them myself. That old tried and true recipe is still on the back of the chocolate chip bag! (I think it has changed a little from what they previously taste like, could have been the butter or fat we used, or my memory). Yes, I remember tasting the cookie dough raw. There was usually some comment about "Don't eat too much or you'll get a belly ache" so of course while Mom was looking, I only took small bites. I remember at least once eating a little too much. Yes, a belly ache followed. And I also got scorned for the amount of cookie batter left to bake. Sorry Mom! As you can see I have fond memories of baking. While trying to adhere to our raw/living food diet, I am still trying to keep the kids happy with some sugary treats in the house while keeping them healthy and tasty. This raw cookie dough recipe is one of those recipes. They are even vegan (if you don't use honey)!

I used a recipe from Angela Liddon's blog "Oh she glows " and modified it a little bit for sweetness. Thanks for the recipe Angela!

This is what was left after a couple days of samples to neighbors and snacking. I had to make the kids wait for a taste until I took a photo. They were very patient.

Raw cookie Dough recipe modified version by Toni Genaro

Dough

1 ¾ C raw cashews

¾ C raw whole oats

2 dates soaked for 30 mins to soften

¼ C agave or honey

2 tsp vanilla extract

¼ C virgin coconut oil

½ tsp Himalayan salt

Process the cashews and oats in the food processor with the S blade until pieces are small. Place all other ingredients in processor and blend. Mix until a smooth dough forms. Make large ball and place in refrigerator in medium mixing bowl. Note: some oil will separate from the dough, wipe the excess off and discard.

Chocolate:

½ C carob powder

½ C cacao powder

4 Tbs agave or honey

3 Tbs Maple syrup

2 tsp vanilla extract

½ tsp Himalayan salt

2 Tbs Dandy Blend (optional)

2 Tbs virgin coconut oil (melted)

Place all ingredients into medium mixing bowl except coconut oil. Melt coconut oil in double boiler on stove and add to bowl, stir until smooth. Place between two sheets of parchment or teflex sheets and use rolling pin until approx ¼ inch thick. Place in freezer to harden, approx 30 minutes.

Cut chocolate into squares and mix into cookie dough by hand. Prepare 2 logs and store in refrigerator in a covered container or wrapped in parchment, cut cookies off as desired. Or roll into ¼ inch+ sheets and use cookie cutters, keep on parchment paper. Note: I used the roll method because they last longer. If you used the cookie cutter method you need to separate them with parchment paper and place in covered container in the fridge. The rolls were easier to store

The Dandy Blend adds a coffee flavor to the chocolate. If you have some fresh coffee beans on hand you could grind a couple until very fine and add to the chocolate mix as a substitute. Dandy blend is used for a coffee substitute and to break a coffee habit. It can be added to cold or hot drinks, smoothies, ice cream etc. Check it out!

The kids said they tasted like oatmeal with chocolate chips. I think I'll try some raisins in the next batch. Of course this batch is long gone!

Quick nuts and seeds "meat" substitute recipe

2010-07-31T06:33:00Z

Our new favorite quick meal. We call it nut seed meat. You use any combination of any kind of nuts and seeds, in the food processor along with some spices and you have Toni and Damon's nut seed meat!

Our inspiration started with the seed pate recipes in the Cafe Gratitude recipe book . This nut seed meat can be combined with seasonings to mimic Italian sausage, Hamburger, taco meat, or anything else you are craving. With the addition of the lecithin you get the "greasy" feeling that is hard to imagine in a raw dish. With all of the nuts and seeds that we now keep on hand it's a quick and easy meal. We ususally have lots of left overs also, they are always fun to toss on a couple of slices of sprouted bread, in a green salad or just on some flax chips or crackers for snacks. I posted a previous entry about the "meat" that I made from Cafe Gratitude, this time I came up with my own sausage flavored nut seed meat. It tasted just like Italian sausage!! We used some left over raw spaghetti sauce for the topping .

Raw Italian Nut Seed "Meat" Sausages by Toni Genaro
1/2 Cup pumpkin seed (soaked, sprouted and dehydrated)
1/4 Cup Brazil nuts (soaked for at least 2 hours if you have time)
1/4 Cup pine nuts
1/4 Cup sunflower seeds
1/2 Cup fresh mushrooms (button or mini crimini)
2 Tbs Bragg's amino acid
1 tsp Sunflower Lecithin
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp Cayenne pepper (optional)
1 tsp fresh oregano, finely chopped
1 tsp fresh thyme, finely chopped
1 tsp fresh parsley, finely chopped
2 tsp fresh basil, finely chopped
1/4 tsp dill seed (ground) fresh if available
1/8 tsp fennel seed (ground) fresh if available

Place all ingredients in food processor with S blade and process until mixed, chunky and not too smooth. Serve immediately or place in dehydrator to warm. Keeps in fridge for up to 5 days. The leaves we used for "casing" wraps were Radicchio that we are growing in our garden. I will take current photos for a later (sooner than later hopefully) post.

Note: Most seeds can be eaten raw. Most nuts should be fully soaked, sprouted and dehydrated to help in digestion and absorption. If they don't have a hard dark skin like almonds or walnuts, soak them for at least 2 hours before adding to recipes. We do not stick by this religiously, but we do notice that soaking works. Renee Oswald is a wonderful coach for making seed stash. She recommends purchasing in quantity, soaking, sprouting and dehydrating in large batches so you always have "seed stash" available for recipes. She's right, it takes the several days of preparation for lots of raw recipes down to only minutes.

We continue to experiment in the kitchen with all of our fresh ingredients. What have you been up to lately? I would love to hear what you do with all of the wonderful summer foods that are now available. Please share!

Raw Chocolate Brownies ... with recipe!

2010-06-19T04:35:00Z

Everyone enjoys sweets. They are the delight of our taste buds. What if you could make sweet foods and desserts that didn't contain "bad for you" ingredients. That's what raw desserts are.

I became a vegetarian 9 years ago. Since then I have not consumed or desired sweets on a regular basis. Yes, I would eat an occasional piece of cake or tasty treat out of the Halloween candy bowl but only periodically. Baking was only for parties or gatherings with friends. So making raw desserts has not been on my list as a high priority. Be aware: by the time you price all the ingredients, raw desserts can get expensive.

In her recipe book The Raw Transformation, Wendy Rudell gives easy to read instructions for some great snacks and main dishes. Yes, some recipes are more difficult but the following Chocolate Brownie recipe was delightful and easy.

Chocolate Brownies by Wendy Rudell

2 Cups almond meal (leftover pulp from almond milk)
1 Cup dates, soaked 2 hours to soften
1 Banana
1 Cup pine nuts, soaked overnight
1/3 Cup Cacao powder or carob powder
1 tsp vanilla
2 Tbs agave syrup or honey
1 Cup chopped walnuts (optional)
Fudge Sauce (optional)
In a food processor combine nuts, dates, banana, cacao, vanilla and agave syrup. Add almond meal and process all ingredients until mixed thoroughly. Fold in chopped nuts and place on teflex sheet, forming batter into a large square not more than 1-1/2 inches thick. Score into bite-size pieces with a knife and dehydrate 4 6 hours on one side: flip over and dehydrate 4 - 6 hours on the underside. Frost with Fudge Sauce and serve.

Additional notes: The brownies themselves were not too sweet, had a slight banana flavor and needed lots more time in the dehydrator, but were excellent with the hard chocolate that I chose. After the 6 hours on each side in the dehydrator I separated the brownies at each score point into individual pieces and dehydrated for another 6 (approx) hours. This made the "creamy" center turn more like a "cake" texture. I also wanted a hard dipped chocolate coating. It was more expensive to make than the brownies! But worth every bite!!!

Hard dipping chocolate recipe posted by rawererin on Raw Freedom Community
1/2 Cup coconut oil
1/2 Cup cacao powder
1/2 Cup maple syrup (the more I use this the more I have found that it really compliments chocolate so well!)
1 tsp Vanilla extract
Mix all ingredients in Vita-Mix until smooth, take out immediately to keep warm, dip brownie bites and place on waxed paper. Place in refrigerator to harden.

Enjoy!!!! By the time I realized I hadn't taken any photos there were only 4 left! (pictured above). This is the first time I've dipped anything but strawberries in chocolate, they didn't look the greatest, but they tasted great!