Raw-Vegan Chef@ The Business Of Eating Healthy

Raw Grape Chocolate Crusted Cheesecake

2010-09-13T08:50:00.000-07:00

I think the title says it all...LOL
Our family grows concord grapes. We normally juice them and freeze them into cubes for smoothies or whatever we need them for in a recipe. These dark grapes or so sweet and build blood seriously. I love that in this recipe they are not cooked or boiled so you get all the benefits of the living enzymes in them. I look for new ways to use them and came up with this recipe. It's original.

Crust: Process all ingredients
1 3/4 c dry almonds
5 TBSP raw cocoa powder (If you don't like chocolate leave this out)
3.5 c date paste
1 tsp vanilla
1/8 tsp sea salt
Pinch of stevia

Put some parchment paper in a deep dish pie plate or you can use whatever you have. (I use spring forms for this too) Just line the bottom and press the almond mixture in it and freeze it for an hour until hard.

Then for the filling put in the blender:
3 c soaked cashews (at least 3 hours or more to soften them)
2.5 c grape juice (Go out and find concord grapes and juice them)
3/4 c agave with a pinch of stevia
1 Tbsp vanilla
1/4 tsp sea salt
Mix this up first until smooth...then add
3 TBSP lecithin
3/4 c coconut butter
Mix even more until creamy smooth.
Pour it on the chocolate crust. Let it set in the freezer for 2 or 3 hours. Then you can keep it in the refrigerator for 3 or 4 days. I like to freeze it in portion sizes and eat it as I want.
As you can see from the picture I made a double portion and freeze them into bars.
The parchment paper makes it easy to lift it out and put it on a cutting board for cutting it up and freezing it. But you don't have to.

Rhubarb Sour Patches

2010-09-09T14:00:00.000-07:00

This is candy with all the vitamin C and sweetness you could want for.

1 bag of frozen cut up chunks of Rhubarb. (I get them in the frozen fruit section of Shoprite) better would be fresh cut up rhubarb but we are already out of season.

1 cup of freshly juiced concord grapes or organic grape juice you can purchase
1 cup of freshly juiced apple or Organic Apple juice
a scant 1/4 c of agave

Now put the frozen rhubarb in a bowl and let it soak up the juices for 3 days in the refrigerator.
After put it in the dehydrator at 110 for a day or two as you like.
They are sweet and tart and amazingly candy like with no refined sugar.

Oatmeal Raisin Flax Cookie

2010-08-18T09:20:00.000-07:00

This is such a good cookie with a lot of nutrition. I decided to make the exception to my usual raw recipes because these are very very good. I make the 52 cookies and freeze them into snack bags and take them out as needed. They come out soft. Let me know what you think!

April’s Oatmeal raisin Flax cookies

Ingredients:
Serves: 52 large cookies
Cookies
• 1 cup smart balance lite non dairy butter
• 3/4 cup brown rice syrup
• ¼ c barley malt syrup
• ¾ c honey
• Pinch of stevia
• 4 tablespoons flax seed meal
• 8 tablespoons water
• 1/4 cup flax seed meal
• ¼ c whole flax seeds
• 1 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
• ¾ c buckwheat flour
• ¾ c brown rice flour
• 2 cups rolled oats
• 1 heaping Tbsp maca powder
• 1Tbsp wheat germ
• 1 Tbsp lecithin
• 4 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 1/2 c raisins (soak them in hot water first to soften them)
• ¾ c chopped Walnuts
Directions:
Prep Time: 15 mins
Total Time: 30 mins? … when you put your finger on it and it springs back.
1. Preheat the oven to 325°F.
2. Mix together the margarine and sweeteners until creamy. (I use a stand up mixer)
3. In a separate bowl, whisk together 4 Tablespoons flax seed meal with 8 Tablespoons of water. Add to mixer.
4. Add in remaining dry ingredients: Mix in oats then raisins on low.
5. Measure about 1 heaping Tbsp. of cookie dough per cookie onto un-greased cookie sheets. Cookies do not spread much so you can have them pretty close together in pan. Leave a quarter inch space.

Quick Pear Pomegranate Walnut Coleslaw

2010-07-10T15:23:00.000-07:00

For something to bring to a party that's different, easy and tasty:

2 14oz bags of coleslaw (Shop rite has them)
with 1 can of chick peas
4 pears skinned and chopped up
1/2 c walnuts chopped
1 red onion cut up and mixed in all together

Now put in the blender
1/4 c red wine vinegar
1/2 c grape seed oil
1/4 c 100% pomegranate juice
1 skinned DE-seeded pear
1 large TBSP of Dijon mustard
Sea salt to taste

Blend until smooth and mix with the salad.
It was a hit :)

The Boutique Event by the Women's center in Linwood NJ

2010-06-20T11:49:00.000-07:00

I was part of the boutique event and got to talk to and share my raw goodies with people including Monica the meteorologist on Channel 40! She was concerned that the camera man would record her eating my goodies and I re-assured her that my goodies don't make anyone fat! In fact if you eat enough good fat...it takes the bad fat out of you! It was fun. Good healthy food is so misunderstood. It just kills me when people say things like avocados are fattening! They speak badly about nuts and food that actually build you up while cheating on truly dead foods that do exactly what they accuse the good living foods of doing! I understand it's hard in this world to know what to do with living foods...but that's why I'm here to help. I love it too.

Raw Rhubard Compote

2010-06-19T15:25:00.000-07:00

I know...how could rhubarb taste good raw? I found a way...this is so delicious you can eat it alone or put it over your soy yogurt.
4 large stalks of rhubarb...leaves removed and stems peeled with a peeler.
15-20 dried apricots diced
4 rings of dried pineapple diced
1 c walnuts chopped fine (I throw them in the processor)
1/4 c chopped mint...fine
Now take 1/2 c of honey and mix with the juice of 2 oranges
Pour on top. Wait a few hours...maybe overnight. Something happens to the rhubarb...it gets sweet instead of sour and soft too.
How wonderful!

Berry Banana Nut Cream

2010-06-14T12:07:00.000-07:00

This is easy and good. The only equipment needed is a blender.

Blend until creamy smooth:
3 C Strawberries
2 Tbsp honey or stevia (I put a little of both)
1 cup Pignolias or pine nuts (you can substitute cashews)

Slice 1 banana and put it in the bottom of a cup or bowl
Put the blended berry mixture on top of bananas then a hand full of raspberries on top.

Simple and refreshing.

Peppermint Patty Pop

2010-06-02T15:29:00.000-07:00

I was thinking about how much I liked to eat Peppermint Patties in the past and after some thought, came up with this all raw version that was amazingly good. Yes...the inside is green instead of white, but what do you expect? I actually used mint leaves!

Equipment: Lollipop molds and sticks. I got mine at AC Moore very reasonably
Or...you can use the mini cup cake paper holders if you want to.

Chocolate first:

3/4 c agave
1 C melted cocoa butter (Get a hot bowl of water and put it in a smaller bowl inside)
1/4 C melted coconut oil
1/2 vanilla bean scraped or vanilla extract
1/2 c raw cocoa powder (You can find it online)
1/4 tsp sea salt to bring out the sweetness
Now blend it until smooth

Mint filling:

1 Frozen 1lb package of young Coconut meat (I get it at the Asian markets frozen like that)Or if you can't find it frozen use 1 lb of fresh young Thai coconut meat
1/2 c agave
1/4 c mint leaves
1/2 tsp peppermint extract
1/4 c coconut oil melted

Mix this up in a blender. Now you are ready to assemble.

Put plastic wrap on top of your mold or you will have problems getting it out. Trust me...I learned the hard way. With the plastic, you can just lift it out of the mold with no sticking.

Put a dab of chocolate then freeze it for 10 minutes.
After it is a little hard, put a dab of the filling and freeze a little.
Then put your lollipop stick in there with the rest of the chocolate on top.

I let it freeze for several hours.

My son says it tastes like a peppermint patty ice cream pop...

I am proud of this one! :)

Health Fair at Music Pier in Ocean City May 21-22 2010

2010-05-25T13:54:00.000-07:00

My helper, Kamerin, was such a good 'PR'(Pubic Relations) person. He spoke with more people about his favorites and I am sure I sold more stuff because of him! What a helper! I was glad to have him. I was so happy to see people walking around with my healthy goodies in their hand raving about the taste. They were doing more to promote my raw treats then I ever could. So Thank you Monique the host of this event...

2010-05-15T12:42:00.000-07:00

I had such a wonderful time talking with people and sharing my raw goodies at this fair!I had 10 wonderful healthy but deceptively naughty tasting treats.
You can order any of these things by email or phone and if you are in Galloway, I'd even consider delivering them to your door.
Here is the line up:
Chocolate Almond Butter Cups (They are better tasting then Reese's peanut butter cups!)
Chocolate Coconut Allen Bars (I have to say these are wickedly good)
Twix-like Bars (Cookie Carmel and Chocolate)
Pineapple Almond Cookies
Raisin Almond Cookies
Blueberry Almond Cookies
Strawberry Cheesecake
Coconut Lime Cheesecake
Chocolate Chai Cheesecake
Banana Cheesecake

All these things have no refined sugar, no bad fats, are full of enzymes, vitamins and minerals that have not been destroyed by cooking.

Even if you were not health conscious these are just plain yum!

So give me a call or email me and I'll make you some too!

2010-04-19T07:04:00.000-07:00

Wild Strawberry Fruit Salad

Slice up the following:

4 C Wild Strawberry Leaves found outside...yes I want you to search for them!
1 C Fresh Strawberries
1 Banana
1 Pear
1 Apple peeled
1 cucumber peeled DE-seeded
1 peach
1 handful of fresh mint
Juice of half a lime
1 handful of walnuts or pine nuts
A favorite sweetener like honey or agave

Mix it up and voila!

Wild Strawberries have 3 serrated leaves and a white flower. It's all edible even the flowers. Make sure you eat it fresh and not wilted or old. It's rich in A,C and K and Potassium, Calcium and Iron. Good for Liver and Kidneys and more. Don't be afraid...go wild strawberry hunting! It's fun!

2010-04-18T16:20:00.000-07:00

Almond Banana and Blueberry Cookies
26 Cookies

Mix in Processor:
1 Banana
1/2 c Almond Butter
2.5 C Almond Flour
2 tsp Vanilla
1/8 C Dried Blueberries
1/2 C Agave
1/8 tsp Sea Salt
Extra sprinkle of Stevia if you like it sweeter. (I think it's fine without it)

Dehydrate for 2 days at 105 Degrees

You can make your own almond butter by putting almonds in the processor with a little salt and almond oil. Olive oil works if you have no choice.

You also can make your own almond flour by freezing the almonds then processing
them. It turns to flour but be careful not to over process it as it turns into dry almond butter after a while.

I have the urge to use the chocolate in my almond butter cup recipe and dip these in it! Oh just the thought! :)

2010-04-08T07:20:00.000-07:00

Kale Strawberry Smoothie

All you need is a blender

Clean kale Or buy 1 lb at BJs wholesale for $1.49 and shove loosely to the top of the blender...that much
3 Organic Carrots washed and chopped Or peeled if it's not organic
1 frozen banana
2 c frozen strawberries
2 c rejuvelac...or water but I want you to get the enzymes in the rejuvelac
2 c Coconut milk (You can get the so delicious unsweetened coconut milk in a carton at Shoprite...I know it's not 100% raw but the best thing is to get a young Thai coconut and get the meat out of it...yum.)
Stevia to taste
I put a tbsp bee pollen
2 Tbsp or a squirt of flax oil
If you have Spirilina you can put a scoop in too. I like the nut berry flavor.

Now blend blend blend. If you have a high speed blender it will do it in a jiffy. But if not...blend 3 or 4 minutes but check to add ice as you do not want this drink to heat up and it will if you blend it too long killing all the enzymes and the enzymes are your friends.

I can not say enough about starting your day with a green smoothie. You get up to 15 servings of vegetables and fruits in one 16 oz glass and the RDA says we need 5 servings a day. By the way Dr. Amen said that 91% of Americans actually do NOT get 5 servings of fruits and vegetables...I think green smoothie drinkers are the 9% who do!

If you make extra you can snack on this during the day with other living foods. Put it in a thermos and carry it with you. It still has nutritional value over the period of a day but as is commonly known...it diminishes over time. You're good for a day.

Carrot Salad with Granola and Avocado Mayo Recipe

2010-04-07T14:42:00.000-07:00

These are separate recipes; Carrot salad and also the granola I make to snack on during the week. Warning: I don't have measurements for this recipe. It depends on our appetite at the time. I know once you try this you will make bigger batches.
Lets start with the granola.

Granola
Get any container and start layering these ingredients.
Pumpkin seeds
Sunflower seeds
Chia seeds
Hemp seeds
Coconut
Dried pineapple
Raisins
Almonds
Cashews
Walnuts
Raw Chocolate nibs

You can go to Bon Terra for the hemp seeds and get the non-dairy mayonnaise called Nayonaise or Nasoya here also. Go to Nutsonline.com for the chia seeds and raw chocolate nibs and the Indian market called DJs on NJ Ave in Absecon for nuts that are raw and reasonable. Don't forget Santori's and M&S on the Black Horse Pike.

Now put that in a container

I get nice Organic carrots from BJ's wholesale club.
You can put them in the processor to shred. Any amount that suits your family.

Now add the Nayonaise and granola. I make big batches as it is a sweet, protein filled meal.

If Nayonaise bothers you because it is not raw you can make your own mayo out of avocado.

Avocado Mayo

Blend 1 small avocado
1/2 c rejuvelac or you can use water, tomato juice or carrot juice as a substitute.
1 c of cashews (soaked overnight)
1 Tbsp honey or stevia or agave

It should have a mayo consistency.
It makes about 1.5 cups.

Pineapple Nut Cream

2010-04-07T14:24:00.001-07:00

There are two simple parts to this all you need is a processor and blender

The Crust
Process 1 C Cashews and 1 C Almonds until fine crumbs without doing it so long that it turns into butter...you want crumbs, not butter.
Add 1 Tbsp Vanilla
1 Tsp of powdered vanilla (You can order this online or skip it)
2 Tbsp agave or use stevia

Now split this in half and push down half in a loaf pan. Save the other half back.

Make the cream
In a blender
1.1/2 c pecans
1/3 c agave
1/4 c coconut oil
1/4 c water or slowly put in more to make it very creamy.

Now stir in it 2 1/2 c of chopped ripe pineapple. Chop them evenly and small.

Stir the pineapple in the cream and put on top of layer you made in loaf pan.

Now cover it with the other half of crust. Push it down and freeze it for two hours. After that you can store it in the refrigerator.

The key is to let the pineapple ripen...it's just divine.

Garden Wrap

2010-04-04T15:22:00.000-07:00

This is very tasty despite the fact that most people would never dream to eat collard green leaves raw. I promise this will surprise you and it’s pretty easy to fix. You just need a processor and blender.
I start by making a walnut salad dressing and use a couple of table spoons of this in with the garden pate mixture. So let’s start with the walnut salad dressing. You will have extra. Just put it in a container and use it on your next salad.

Walnut dressing:
Mix in a blender:
½ c walnuts,
½ c olive oil
1 clove of garlic
1 c of water
salt, pepper
and a handful of parsley.

Garden Pate
1 c dry almonds …process into a fine powder and empty into a bowl.
Now in the processor;

1tbsp ginger
3 carrots
1 zuchini
½ red onion
¼ c cilantro
½ c raisins
½ lime
½ tsp sea salt
3-4 tbsps of the walnut dressing

Process until chunky add the almond flour and pulse until just mixed.

Now clean nice leaves of the collard and put the pate in the collard with a generous pinch of alfalfa sprouts. Wrap those babies like a fat little roll.

This wrapping tight is a skill to be developed so don’t get discouraged if the first few are loose. Happily this doesn’t get soggy the next day either.

2010-03-30T11:42:00.000-07:00

Rejuvelac

This is a drink made from grains...most typically wheat berries but you can also make it from millet, rye, oat, barley and more.
The benefits are a lot of enzymes, friendly bacteria or probiotics, filled with B- complex which is more and more difficult to get enough of in today's world, it has vitamin C and E. It also reduces the oxidation process when you use it with other fruits and vegetables so it's great to make smoothies with and will make them even healthier. Ann Wigmore is the mother of this drink.
So here are the directions.
I have a plastic measuring cup for 4 cups and fill it 1/4 and add filtered water to the top of this cup. Then I let it soak over night. For the next two days you put it back in the measuring cup with no water and rubberband a lid of cloth so it can breath. Set it on a 45 degree angle so it drains in the sink and rinse them off about 3 times a day...do this for 2 days. Then give it a final rinse and put it in a gallon jar with the wheat berries in it. Cover it with a cloth and rubberband. Let it ferment in anywhere from 68-80 degrees for 2 days. Then filter it with a cloth and save those wheat berries dry in a glass jar. Put it in the refrigerator as this will be 2 more batches. After that, feed it to the birds. Now you have the cloudy lemony juice. You can drink it room temperature but if it starts to smell bad...it's bad. I keep mine in the refrigerator. I do put this in my smoothies but for optimum digestion, drink it before or in between meals.

Veggie/Herb Crackers

2010-03-29T18:11:00.000-07:00

Makes 4 trays. This is another dehydrator recipe.
Soak 1 c flax seed in 2 cups of water 10 hours
Soak 2 c Almonds 10 hours
Red Bell pepper, zucchini, spinach all together about 2 cups
3 Tbsps each of Oregano, garlic powder, cumin
1/4c fresh cilantro
1 tsp himalayan salt

Directions: mix flax until smooth then put in a large bowl. Do the same with the almonds and put in the same bowl. Then pulse the vegetables until small and chunky but not mush. Then add everything in the bowl and hand mix.

Spread on paraflexx sheets with rubber spatula until even and about 1/4". Score it with the rubber spatula and dehydrate at 105 for 14 hours. Flip it half way threw for even cracker results. This is very tasty. Normally I think of what to put on crackers but these are so good...we just pig out.

Almond butter cups

2010-03-27T10:54:00.000-07:00

This is very good chocolate lovers!

2/3 c agave syrup (Shop rite carries it now)
4 oz melted raw cocoa butter (I order it from nutsonline.com...worth it also you melt it by putting it in a bowl and that bowl into another with hot water...it will take about 30 minutes.)
1/4 c melted raw coconut oil (Bon terra market...make sure you get the unrefined one. I ordered a gallon online recently because I go through it too fast.)
1/2 vanilla bean scraped or use extract
1/2 c cocoa powder
1/4 tsp coarse sea salt (I hate to use salt but it does bring out the sweetness)

Now you can either mix room temperature almonds up until they release their oils and become almond butter or go to shop rite and buy almond butter, smooth, for $5.99

Mix it up in a bowl

Get those little paper cup cake holders and put a dollop of chocolate.
Then a dollop of almond butter
Then another dollop of chocolate
And if you love the dark sweet frozen cherries they have at shop rite...put one of them on top.

Put them in a platter and in the freezer. In a little while...they are ready.

I have never tasted better and these don't have unrefined sugar either.
Even health conscious people have to be naughty on occasion :)

Chick Pea Burger

2010-03-25T12:16:00.000-07:00

These are just yummy. Each time I make them I find something else to put in that makes them better. They have a spicy Indian vibe without the heat. They are really tasty. It's not 100% Raw but close.

1 Can of chick Peas
1/4 Red onion minced
1 red pepper minced
1 heaping TBSP of 'better then bouillon' It comes in a jar at Shop rite
1 tsp minced garlic
1/4 c chopped cilantro or Parsley or basil depending on which you like.
1/4 package of Nacho flavored cheese, Heart to Heart soy cheese at Bon Terra market on Fire Rd.

Pulse chick peas and onion in food processor...then the rest of the ingredients. Leave it chunky. Don't over process or you'll get mush.

Make them into patties, roll them in bread crumbs and dehydrate them for 4 hours at 114 degrees.
If you don't have a dehydrator you can bake them or worse fry them but you are putting distance between them and healthy if you do that.

Chili

2010-03-25T11:43:00.000-07:00

I want to occasionally share good raw recipes from some books I have that are exceptionally good. This one is from Matthew Kenny's everyday raw.
These are good with chips...I make a mean raw corn chip that goes wonderfully with this. There is no reason this should taste as good as it does. When you read the ingredients you just don't expect chili...but there it is!

1 Portobello Mushroom
1/2 c minced celery
1/2 chopped red onion
1 red pepper finely chopped
1 c almonds soaked 4-6 hrs
1 c carrots
1.5 c sun-dried tomatoes soaked
2 c water from the sun dried tomatoes
1 TBSP olive oil
1/4 c nama shoyu
1 clove of garlic
2 TBSP fresh oregano (It's 99 cents at shop rite)
1 TBSP dried oregano
2 tsp chili powder
1 TBSP Cumin
1 TBSP apple cider vinegar
1 TBSP agave
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

Place mushrooms, celery, onion and bell pepper in a large bowl. Pulse almonds and carrots in food processor until a chunky consistency is achieved; add to bowl. blend remaining ingredients in Mixer (Vita Mix is best)until smooth. Add to bowl and mix all ingredients until well combined.
Strangely good :)

Kale Chips

2010-03-23T10:12:00.000-07:00

This is outstandingly delicious and full of protein!
Kale has 27.2 grams of protein per pound according to the BLENDING BOOK by Ann Wigmore...we are using 1/2 lb for this recipe but you could easily increase it to a pound. That with the tahini and you just about have all the protein you need in a day. (Some nutritionist say we need 25-35 grams of protein and the FDA says around 50) Nutrition aside...this is just addictive. The nutritional yeast gives it a real cheesy flavor while the lime gives it that extra umphf. We LOVE this.I want to mention that there is no added salt which is nice. I hope you enjoy it as much as we do.

1. Go to Bjs and get a 1lb bag of Kale already chopped and ready for $1.49 (Crazy Cheap)
2. Blend the following ingredients: 1/4c.Tahini, 1/8c. Tamari, 1/8c Water, 1heaping TBSP Nutritional Yeast,1/2 big lime or 1 whole little lime
3. Now pour over Kale in big bowl and massage leaves so it is well coated. It should be just the right amounts so you won't have extra.

Dehydrate at 105* for 4 hours.

Pear/Apple leather

2010-03-22T16:27:00.000-07:00

Hi Friends!

I am going to post and collect original and tried and tested great raw recipes. I thought you'd appreciate it so I am sharing them with you. Is that ok? If not just send me an email and I'll respect your wishes.

Today I did a pear/apple roll up recipe that was really good.
You need a dehydrator, preferably an Excalibur to get the best results and a good mixer. (sorry Laureen:) Hands down I think the Vita Mix is the best of all...

Pear/apple leather

Mix until smooth:
3 pears, 2 apples, (No skins) 4 dates, 1/4 tsp cinnamon, 1/8 tsp nutmeg, 1/8 tsp cardamom, 1/2 tsp vanilla.

Pour on trays and put at 95 degrees for 15 hours.

Tell me what you think?

April