Smokey BBQ Sauce

I gotta say-I like this BETTER than SAD (Standard American Diet) type BBQ!

240 Ml(1 Cup) Chopped Tomatoes or Cherry tomatoes
9 Sundried Tomatoes
7-8 Dried Pitted Dates
2 Tbsp Sunflower Oil
1 Large Clove Garlic
1/2 Tbsp Water
1/4 Tbsp Agave Nectar
1/4 Tsp Unfiltered Apple Cider Vinegar
1 tsp Chipotle Powder
1 tsp Mixed Herbs; or Thyme
1 tsp Nutritional Yeast
1/2 tsp Salt
1/4 tsp Cayenne Powder
1/4 tsp Ground Mustard Seed
Pinch of Cumin (optional)
Pinch of Onion Powder/granules (optional)

Everything goes in the blender @ high speed until well mixed. This may take a while. This recipe will be easier if you double it, however I didn't have enough ingredients on hand to make a larger batch.

Double Chocolate Ice Cream with Fudge Sauce

As far as decadent goes this takes the cake. YUM. This is not entirely raw so if you are a very strict raw foodist you may wish to omit this recipe. However; this is gluten and sugar free goodness with lots of rawness. Mmmmm!

For the ice cream; you will need...

240 Ml (1 cup) Corn Flour
60 Ml (1/4 Cup) Cacao Powder
60 Ml (1/4 Cup) Rice Milk (or breast milk or almond milk, whatever)
3 Tbsp Maple Syrup
2 Tbsp Organic, Local Honey
3-4 Dried, Pitted Dates
1/2 of A Sun Dried Vanilla Bean Pod (I am sure you could substitute with a teaspoon or so of vanilla extract if needed)
6-8 Pecans (OPTIONAL, if you have nut allergies avoid this)

Blend all dry ingredients (incl dates & vanilla) except the pecans in a food processor until well mixed. Now transfer to a bowl and stir in the liquid ingredients...or you may do as I did and do it in the food processor BUT be forewarned it will require plenty of stirring and creates a hard to clean food processor if you do it this way. Now chop some pecans, stir them in, and let freeze for an hour (create your fudge sauce in the mean time).

Fudge sauce:

240 Ml (1 Cup) Dates
120 Ml (1/2 Cup) Rice Milk
80 Ml (1/3 Cup) Cacao Powder
60 Ml (1/4 Cup) Water
4 Tbsp (Virgin, Cold-Pressed) Coconut Oil (AKA Coconut Butter)
1-3 Tbsp (depending how sweet you want it) Maple Syrup or Honey ect
1 Tbsp Cornflour or Arrowroot, to thicken
1-2 Cashews, optional, to thicken

Everything goes on a blender at high speed-you will need t scrape the sides a few times, and give this at least a few minutes of nonstop high speed blending to really get the consistency right. This fudge sauce tastes just like the real thing.

After the ice cream has frozen for about an hour, drizzle in fudge sauce and serve. Serves 2-3 (or 1 if you love chocolate, ha ha) you will probably find you have some fudge sauce left over, feel free to refridgerate this and use as a dip for fruits or a frosting for something else.

Aubergine Jerky

-REQUIRES A DEHYDRATOR-
This is based off of how I learned to make eggplant "bacon"; but I think it tastes more like jerky. It's quite nice.

2 Aubergines (eggplants)
1/4 ripe Avocado
2 Tbsp Olive Oil
2-4 Tbsp Maple Syrup (depending on how sweet you want it)
2 Tbsp Unfiltered Apple Cider Vinegar
1 Tbsp Nutritional Yeast (optional)
1/2 Tsp (or more) Fleur De Sel or sea salt
1/4 Tsp Cayenne or Chilli Powder
A few pinches of black pepper
Pinch of Thyme

Throw all ingredients except the aubergine into the blender and create a marinade by mixing on high speed, stirring regularly as needed. Slice the purpley goodness into thin strips, coat it with the glaze (I just tossed it all in a bowl with my hands then laid it out...but I am lazy) and allow to marinade for an hour or so. Dehydrate at 40 degrees C-this may take up to 2 full days (do NOT leave the dehydrator on while you sleep) but it is worth it.

Above is a "BLT" type sandwich I made using the aubergine jerky, spinach leaves, chopped cherry tomatoes, Basic Cashew Cheeze, and nutritional yeast on top of some (not raw) rye bread. mmmmm...

Dark Chilli-Chocolate Balls

2 Heapin' handfuls of Desiccated Coconut
3 Handfuls of Dates (if I had to guess I would say 240 ml/1 Cup)-Dried & Pitted
5 Pecans (you may omit this if you are allergic but I think they make it much nicer)
2 Tbsp Wholenut Peanut Butter (regular will do in a pinch, but whole nut is less sweet so if you use smooth ect reduce the sweeteners that you add)
2 1/2 Tbsp Cocoa Powder (I prefer cacao as it is raw, but we are broke and cocoa powder is cheaper.)
2 Pinches Date Sugar
2 Pinches of Chilli Powder(or about 1/8 to 1/4 Teaspoons)
3/4 Tbsp Maple Syrup

Everything goes in the food processor. Add dates & coconut first, grind them on hi-speed, then rinse the pecans to remove the enzyme inhibitors and then add them...and then everything else, one by one blending each time you add an ingredient. I used 1/2 Tbsp to scoop it into balls but any size spoon will do. Yumm! I missed chilli chocolate-not anymore!

Vanilla Cheesecake

Crust:
1 Cup + 2 Tbsp Nuts (of your choice-I used mixed nuts as they arte CHEAP!)
Large handful of Dates
Pinch salt

Grind it in a food processor and line a cake/pie pan...you may put down desiccated coconut or corn meal down before hand if you are worried about it sticking to the bottom.

Filling:
3 Cups Cashews
1/2 Vanilla Bean
3/4 of a Fresh Lemon (The Whole Lemon may be used if you wish it to be more "zesty")
3 1/4 Tbsp Maple Syrup
1/4 Cup Rice Milk
2 Dates, Dried + Pitted
1/4 tsp Arrowroot

Soak the Cashews for 3-4 hours (to sofetn and remove enzyme inhibitors). Add all ingredients except the ricemilk & arrowroot to a food processor and blend on high speed. Mix the ricemilk & arrowroot in a seperate bowl, stirring until well blended. Add this too, to the food processor and mix well. Spoon the cheesecake mixture on top of the crust and refridgerate or freeze while you make the topping (the coldness will help the arrowroot to "set" and harden the cheesecake.

Topping:
3 Handfuls Frozen Blueberries (Or Other Berry of Choice)
1 Handful Dates
1 Tbsp Agave Syrup

Everything goes in the blender at high speed. You may need to use a spoon to stir up the dates. Drizzle atop your cheesecake and spread around with a spatula or the back of a spoon.

...And enjoy! Will serve 4-8 (depends how hungry you are...)

How beautiful is this?

The Ginger Mother's Frosting

Here is some frosting calling for the very healthiest ingredient in all of human kind-HUMAN mother's milk (breastmilk). This is nutrient packed and great for toddlers-and adults too.

115-120 Ml (1/2 Cup) Expressed Mothers' Milk
180 Ml (3/4 Cup) Cashews
2 Large Handfuls of Dried, Pitted Dates
60 Ml (1/4 Cup) Water
4 tsp Agave Nectar
4 tsp Cold Pressed Virgin Coconut Oil (AKA Coconut Butter)
1 tsp Organic Locally-Harvested Honey (Commercial bees are kept and treated in a manner that is inhumane and definitely inconsistent to veganism)
1/8 to 1/4 tsp Dried Ground Ginger(not raw)-depending how strong you want it to taste-optional

Everything goes in the blender at high speed, you must scrape the sides repeatedly and continuously burst air pockets with a spatula when blending to ensure everything gets thoroughly blended. Blend for several minutes, until smooth and velvety-it will have the consistency of a thick yoghurt (if you need it thicker, add more Cashews as needed). This would go great with my "Honey Butter" Cakes, the frosting for which I made was more fruity and caroby. This would also taste great as a dip with banana slices or berries. 

A footnote; don't worry if you don't produce enough milk to whip out  this much breastmilk all at once. Eat some organic apricots (known to increase breastmilk production) and accumulate it in the fridge one pumping at a time if you must. I pumped (expressed) breastmilk twice, one in each day, to get this much simply because I am breastfeeding a 1 year old which as I'm sure you can imagine, requires a LOT of milk. This recipe is well, well, worth it but make sure you keep the breastmilk in the fridge and do not leave it in the refrigerator for more than a total of a week, after which it will go bad.

Cheezy "pasta" sauce

240 Ml(1 Cup) Cashews
150 Ml(5/8 Cup) Sunflower Oil
120 Ml (1/2 Cup) Water
4 Tbsp Nutritional Yeast
2 Cloves Garlic
1/4 Tsp Ground Mustardseed
1/4 Tsp Black Pepper
1/4 Tsp Fleur De Sel (or sea salt)
1/8 Tsp Onion Granules

Blend on high speed for a few minutes...
Serve over grated butternut squash as I have done in the photo (which taste like noodles with this sauce) or quinoa with chopped tomatoes & basil.

Frosted Honey Butter Cakes...mmm

Delicious! This is easily one of our new favourites, my husband the honey bear just LOVES it.

1 Cup Pitted Dried Dates
1/2 Cup Cashews
1/2 Cup Brazil Nuts
1 Tablespoon Honey
1 Tablespoon Desiccated Coconut
A couple pinches of Fleur De Sel (or sea salt)
1/4 Teaspoon Allspice
Dash of Cinnamon
Dash of Nutmeg

Process in a food processor, starting with the nuts and salt (you want the salt to mix in evenly, this is integral-and add them in slowly. Slowly add in the dates, then everything else. Use measuring cups (of any size you like) to form round cakes. Frost (if you want):

180 Ml (3/4 Cup) Dates (dried & pitted)
60 Ml  (1/4 Cup) Dried Mangoes
120 Ml (1/2 Cup) Rice Milk
60 Ml (1/4 Cup) Water
60 Ml (1/4 Cup) raw Carob Powder
4 Tbsp Virgin Coconut Oil
1/2 Tsp Honey or Agave Nectar

Blend on high speed in your blender for several minutes, poking at the top of the mixture with a spatula repeatedly to make air pockets so that the entire mixture gets down to the blades. This takes a while to blend thoroughly but it is very worth it. Once it has a smooth, velvety consistency, frost those cakes...and enjoy! This also would taste great with bananas or strawberries. Mmmm.

Garlic Spinach Soup

MORE SOUP!? Yes. Great, unusual way to get your greens...

3 Big Handfuls of Spinach or Baby Spinach
6 Cherry Tomatoes
4 Cloves of Organic (or small cloves of regular) Garlic
1 Cube (vegan, yeast & gluten free, organic) Vegetable Stock
1 3/4 Cups Warm Water
3 Tbsp Nutritional Yeast
2 Tbsp Basic Cashew Cheeze
1 Tbsp Sunflower Oil
1 Tsp Black Pepper
1/4 Tsp Onion Granules (or you may use fresh Onion)
A couple squeezes of Fresh Lemon
Pinch of Salt

Blend on high speed until smooth & enjoy!

Make Your Own Mini Green-za's!

NOTE: THIS RECIPE REQUIRES A DEHYDRATOR.

This is just plain old FUN! I like inspiring people to try healthier, raw options, and I know for me that was an issue of convenience for a long time. For a lot of you, an issue is that you have older kids who are not vegan/raw and convincing them to switch to a diet like this might be hard. So you might need some yummy, fun to eat finger-foods for the family. I've got one for you right here! A wonderful, truly green pizza. Now, this takes a while, so you're gonna have to put in some prep work beforehand...

Crust:
480 Ml (2 Cups) Milled Flax Seed
360 Ml (1 1/2 Cups) Ground Almonds
240 Ml +  1 Tsp Water
2 Tbsp Olive Oil
1 Tbsp Mixed Herbs (Or just equal parts Thyme and Oregano will do)
1 Tbsp Basil
1 Tbsp Nutritional Yeast
1/2 Tbsp Rosemary
1/4 Tbsp Local, Organic Honey
A Couple Pinches of Salt

Stir all ingredients in a bowl or, better yet, use your hands! Roll out into golf balls, smack in your hands to flatten to a little less than a quarter-inch thick and pop onto the dehydrator trays-dehydrate on 40 degrees C for about 7 hours. This is a lovely GF Italian herb bread and you can use it for anything, sandwiches too, whatever you like.

Green Cheeze (This is for you Ali-an easy Cheezy for my nut-allergic friend!):

240 Ml (1 Cup) Pumpkin Seeds
2 Tbsp Pine Nuts
2 Tbsp Sunflower Oil
1 Tbsp Rejuvelac (I make quinoa rejuvelac because it is gluten free)
1 Clove Garlic
1/4 to 1/2 tsp Fleur De Sel (or sea salt)
Pinch of white or black pepper
Pinch of ground mustardseed (optional)

Soak the Pumpkin Seeds for about 4 hours or so. Drain and put in a food processor or a blender (but the food processor will work much better) and mix with all the other ingredients, stopping and stirring continuously until you have it well blended.

Once your crusts and cheeze are ready, put the cheeze in a bowl and the crusts on a plate. Slice up some organic cherry tomatoes onto another plate and you're ready to serve your make-your-own mini pizzas! These are AWESOME with My Rawkin' Raw Ranch Dip. Pizza + Ranch, and it's all healthy and raw?! I must be joking, right? Nope. Give it a try for yourself. Out of this world, and tons of fun! I finished it off with some raw carob brownies, but those are for another time...

Bold n' Spicy Veggie Soup

I know. ANOTHER SOUP! Sorry. but I love them! They are low-cal, rich in flavour, cheap, easy and PACKED with veggie goodness and, SO flavourful. I'll let you in on a little secret...I...don't even like vegetables on their own! OK, I do, but not so much. It's boring. My taste buds have been ruined by the horrible standard of eating I once had. I long to be this forager who eats single ingredient meals, and just stuff my face full of naked spinach and broccoli, no dressings required day in and day out. However until that day comes, I shall blend my beautiful, precious vegetables into soups, smoothies, and so forth-and get their raw goodness in any form I can get it. I did something a little different for this soup, however, than my "routine"soup base and I am impressed with the results.

2 Large Organic Carrots (Use 2 Small to Regular Size "Normal" Carrots if Organic Absolutely Cannot Be Obtained)
1 Large Organic Parsnip (Or 1 Small to Medium Size "Normal" Parsnip)
2 Organic Celery Stalks
2 Cups Vegetable Stock (You can make your own raw stock by googling how or you can just buy some organic, yeast & gluten free in the store and mix  it with 1 1/2 cups of water like I did. Lazy, I know.)
1 Big ripe Tomato
2 Tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
2 1/2 Tbsp Nutritional Yeast
3 Cloves raw garlic
1 Tsp Black Pepper
1/2 Tsp Fleur De Sel (or sea salt)
1/4 Tsp Dill
A few sprigs of fresh basil (optional)
Pinch of ground mustard seed (optional)

Toss everything in the blender and...blend. Garnish with pine nuts if you like-they are delicious and like crutons in a savoury soup. Mm, mm mmm

Rawkin' Raw Ranch Dip

JUST like the real thing! I got the inspiration for this fromThe Rawtarian's Raw Ranch Dressing Recipe, but I made it my own because I prefer my ranch a little bit thicker, peppery and less "tart"/sour (or more sweet, whatever). So here is my version, which I hope you will like:

300 ml (1 1/4 cup) Cashews
180 ml (About 3/4 Cup) Water
2 1/2-3 Tbsp Lemon Juice
40 ml (1/6 Cup) Unfiltered Apple Cider Vinegar
80 ml (1/3 Cup) EVOO
3 Tbsp Agave nectar
3 Large Cloves Garlic
3 Tsp Onion Granules
1 Tsp Dill
1 Tsp Fleur De Sel
1/2 Tsp Black Pepperhh

Throw it all in the blender & mix on high speed. Add a little more water if you want it to be more of a salad dressing and less of a dip. Keep in the fridge in old syrup containers or hummous tubs (ect)-tastes fantastic with fresh veggies...cherry tomatoes & carrots...mmmm

HOLY DONUTS!

MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I think this may be my new favourite food. Maybe. I don't know, but. DROOOL!
Chocolatey raw donut holes. Oh. Absolutely. AMAZING. and EASY!! I like easy.

100g (or about 7/8 cups I think) Brazil Nuts
240 ml (1 cup) Dried pitted Dates
1/2 Tbsp Virgin (cold-pressed) Coconut Oil
1/2 Tbsp Agave Syrup
----
Coating:
3/4 Tbsp raw Carob Powder
pinch of Cinnamon

In a food processor (or a blender if you do not have one), put one ingredient in at a time starting with the nuts and blend.
Put the Carob Powder & Cinnamon in a bowl. Take the donut mixture and scoop out with a Tablespoon. (pack it into the tablespoon with your fingers, then press it so it gently slides out and you have a half-ball shape. That's at least, how I find the easiest way to do this.) Take the half-balls and roll them, with the round side facing down, in the carob mix-shake off the excess. Will make about 13 donut holes if I remember correctly. Mmmmm.

Hot & Earthy Carrot Basil Soup

I make a lot of soups, the majority of which I do not post the recipe to (sorry) because they are just spur of the moment things I do not bother to measure out. I love raw soups because they are so cheap, easy, delicious, healthy, and did I mention easy? I like that. A lot. I think this is one is tied with my Creamy Spiced Corn Chowder for my favourite soup recipe.

Hot & Earthy Carrot Basil Soup:

4 Organic Carrots
1 Stick of Celery
4 Sun Dried Tomatoes
Large Handful of Fresh Basil
A Few sprigs of Fresh Parsley
360 ml (1 1/2 cups) Warm Water
2 Tbsp Sunflower Oil
2-3 Tbsp Basic Cashew Cheeze, optional
1 tsp Black Pepper
A few grinds of Mustard Seed, optional
A pinch of Fleur De Sel, optional

Blend all ingredients together in a blender. Garnish with nutritional yeast if you like (as I did). Mmmm! Serves 2.

Good-bye gluten, hello-a Quinoa!

My dear old Daddio reccomended I try this fantastic stuff called quinoa (thanks Dad, this is FAB!) to replace whole-wheat pasta, since that was one of the few things I was cooking and the only thing I was still eating containing gluten, an inflammatory agent found in wheat and other grains. I decided to do a bit of research online and make the quinoa the raw way, and YUM, it is absolutely FANTASTIC stuff. I FAR prefer this to pasta!

I decided to make a salad that's reminiscent of pasta-but I like this much better.

Quinoa Pasta Salad

150g uncooked Quinoa (you can buy this in the health food section at Tesco's, or I'd imagine anywhere else you do your shopping seeing as how Tesco's is a "commercial" grocery store!)
1 Large Aromatic Vine Ripened Tomato
2 Medium Greens Leafs (A large handful of spinach leafs would substitute fine, I'd imagine.)
1 Tbsp Pine Nut Pesto, optional
Ground "Feef" for meatballs
Nutritional yeast
White Pepper

Soak the quinoa in a bowl of water-leave it overnight, for between 12-18 hours. The Quinoa will soak up the water, soften and sprout a bit. Drain the excess water and divide between two bowls. Chop the tomatoes and Greens and divide them, spread them over the bowls....use a half-teaspoon to make mini meatballs to put in (I used 6 meatballs per bowl. spread out a little bit of pesto if you like, and use nutritional yeast in place of parmesan cheese. Nutritional yeast is fantastic because it is loaded with rich B vitamins and is deactivated so you needn't worry about candida. Sprinkle the salad with white pepper to taste and serve. Serves 2, of course, but you can easily double, triple, or quadruple this recipe if you are uncooking for a larger crowd. This is very quick and easy to make-took me less than 10 minutes to throw everything together after the sprouts had been soaked. Easy healthy dinner!

All-purpouse Ground "Feef"

Admission; MY guilty pleasure, the thing keeping me from going vegan for a time was ground beef. I love love love the taste. I've been missing it for a long time. So I had to recreate it. I think I've done a pretty decent job, because this really hits the spot.

Raw Feef (Fake Ground Beef):
3 Organic Carrots
480 ml/2 cups Walnut halves/chopped Walnuts
24 Sundried tomatoes
2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
2 Tbsp Sesame Seeds
3 Cloves Garlic (remove the green bits in the middle if raw garlic tends to give you indigestion)
1 tsp Ground Black Pepper
1/3 tsp Fleur De Sel
1/4 tsp Cayenne Pepper
Pinch of ground mustardseed (optional)
Pinch of basil (optional)

Pulse, stir, pulse stir ect until you have a gritty, paste-y texture. You can make meatballs(as I have done in the photo above by scooping with a tablespoon!), form burgers (which are great on a bun of greens with mustard), use as taco meat, ect. Pile on some Basic Cashew Cheeze to a meatball and this is out of this world. Yum!

All Hallows' Eve Special-Pumpkin Pie! Yum...

Wow, this turned out so, so good. Minus the filling being a bit more sloppy than the baked kind, it's pretty spot-on I'd say. This makes A LOT of pie, so half this recipe if need be, but serve it in a small pie pan if you're gonna do so. It will keep well in the fridge or freezer with some tin foil over it though.

For a Basic Pie Crust, you do something similar to my (un)cookies. This is really easy and doesn't take much work.
1 1/2 cups Cashews
2 Cups Dried, Pitted Dates
1/2 tsp Cinnamon

Pulse this in your blender/food processor until it's blended up nicely. It's gonna be chunky, but you want it to be well mixed. It won't take more than a minute'r two.

Now take this, and press it with the back of a spoon and your fingers into a large pie pan. The crust is sticky so this part is a little difficult, but it's not that bad. Stick it in the fridge while you make the filling.

Filling:
(I halved this and did each half at a time since I only have a cheap blender. If you have a food processor you can do this all at once and save yourself a lot of time, however.)

Approximately 1420 ml/6 Cups chopped pumpkin (small pieces)
240 ml/1 cup Ground Almonds
2 Tbsp Desiccated Coconut
4 Tbsp Maple Syrup
2 1/2 Tbsp Organic, Local Honey (Otherwise the Bees are treated in a manner that is very cruel and grotesque...eugh...)
2 Tbsp Provamel (or other rice milk/milk substitute)
1 1/2 Tsp Allspice
1 Tsp Cinnamon

This is tough work in a cheap blender, and might take some time, but pulse, stir, pulse, stir, ect until you get it well blended.

Topped With A Walnut, Just Because I Thought It Was Cute.

Fill your pie crust with your filling and smooth out the top with the back of a spoon. Refrigerate for 30 min to an hour and serve. Yum, yum, yum!