By Guest Blogger on June 1, 2009
by Latham Thomas
-7 cups milk (brazil nut, hemp seed, or cashew)
-1 cup chia seed
-2 tablespoon vanilla extract
-1 vanilla bean
-2 tablespoon cinnamon
-1/3 cup agave nectar
-pinch of sea salt
Place chia seeds in a large bowl.
Blend all ingredients together minus the chia seed; pulse in a high-speed blender.
Pour mixture over the chia seeds and begin to whisk. Keep whisking periodically to be sure the tapioca does not clump.
It takes about 1 1/2 hours for the tapioca to set. You can adjust the sweetness.
Great for a quick and healthy omega-rich dessert or a kids snack.
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By Guest Blogger on May 18, 2009
1. What has been your inspiration for becoming a raw foods chef?
Lately, it’s our kids. With obesity, heart disease, diabetes, and other health issues on the rise in the USA, I feel it’s important to start kids on a healthy track from a young age. All of my recipes are designed to be fast, simple, and easy enough for a child to create in the kitchen. I encourage everyone to invite kids into your kitchen. Have them help you make my recipes. This is real play food, and it’s fun for kids to use their hands to mix and form uniquely shaped cookies and treats. Kids begin to learn how to prepare foods, while learning about healthy ingredients. They’ll also love eating the food they’ve helped create.
2. What are the essential tools that you would suggest for someone just starting to experiment with a raw food recipes?
A food processor is not necessary, but will make your processing time a snap. If you don’t have a food processor, you can always chop by hand with a knife, but it will take you much longer. A high speed blender is also a great investment. A food processor chops and processes dry ingredients into a powder or pudding texture, while a blender mixes ingredients together with more water than a food processor to form a cream or liquid.
3. If you were making a dessert for someone unfamiliar with raw food dishes (and maybe a little skeptical), which recipe would you suggest to knock their socks off?
All of them, but if I had to choose, the Raspberry Ganache Fudge Cake. The frosting tastes like any you’d buy in the cake mix isle of the grocery store. But it’s made from avocado and dates. It’s delicious and beautiful too.
4. Summer seems like the perfect time to take advantage of fresh produce for your dessert recipes from Ani’s Raw Food Desserts! How does eating raw food desserts compare to baked goods and dairy desserts when it comes to our waistlines and our health?
Let’s take my Raspberry Ganache Fudge Cake as an example. The cake is made with walnuts, considered a superfood by the FDA for it’s high levels of omega-3. Walnuts provide amino acids, vitamins E, A, calcium, iron, and have been found to keep our blood cholesterol levels in check. Walnuts are mixed with raw cacao powder, which is defined as a superfood by the FDA for it’s high levels or antioxidants, which fight free radical damage, premature aging and illness. I use dates, a whole food fruit, to sweeten and to bind together the nuts and cacao powder into a flourless cake texture. Dates are full of fiber, potassium, vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants. All of the ingredients in my cake are good for you superfoods.
On the other hand, the baked version uses bleached white flour that’s been stripped of any nutrient value. It’s sweetened with refined white sugar and empty calories, and uses eggs and butter, which contribute to high cholesterol levels. The baked version doesn’t offer much nutritional value.
You can actually enjoy my desserts as a whole food meal on their own because they’re super healthy and nutritious. By substituting more of my delicious desserts for traditional baked versions, you’ll loose weight and feel healthier on the inside, which will translate on the outside as healthy, radiant skin, and a healthy glow.
5. Any other new projects that you would like to share with our readers?
I’m currently writing my next book, which will have over 200 recipes including chapters on dehydration and pickling, due out in spring 2010. I’m also about to launch a new product line of Ready Mixes, which should be ready for order in about 1 week. Please visit my website, AniPhyo.com, for more info. The first Ready Mixes will enable folks to make their own superfood gourmet chocolate truffles and also their own Raspberry Ganache Fudge Cake. The kits contain pre-measured ingredients to make shopping easy, while avoiding spending lots of money to buy mass quantities of ingredients.
6. Channeling the genius of James Lipton from Inside The Actor’s Studio, we would like to ask you a few of his famous interview questions.
What is your favorite word? Compassion
What is your least favorite word? Can’t
What sound or noise do you love? The sound of leaves rustling in the wind, and birds chirping
What sound or noise do you hate? Early morning beeping and clanking of the garbage trucks on garbage day
What turns you on creatively, spiritually or emotionally? Helping and inspiring people
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By Guest Blogger on May 5, 2009
by Jessica Stone, April Contest WINNER!
Yields: 12 squares
-2 cups almond meal from almond milk
-1 cup Lucuma powder
-2 cups pitted dates
-1/4 cup agave nectar
-1 vanilla bean
-1/4 teaspoon sea salt
-1/4 cup coconut oil
Put everything in a high-speed blender or food processor and blend until smooth, scraping the mixture down with a spatula as needed.
Spread into a 9-inch x 9-inch pan and place in the freezer for at least two hours.
Cut into squares.
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By Guest Blogger on April 5, 2009
RECIPE CONTEST WINNER!
-2 cups almonds blended to almond flour
-1/4 cup or 3 tablespoons maple syrup (or whatever amount/sweetener you prefer)
-1/2 bag of Sunsweet vegan carob chips
-3 big mashed bananas (ready to peel, but not brown-ripe)
-dash of vanilla extract
Mush the bananas in a large mixing bowl.
Mix in the maple syrup and the dash of vanilla extract. Combine this with the 2 cups of fresh almond flour.
Mix in 1/2 (+) bag of Sunsweet vegan carob chips. The mixture should be moist, but shouldn’t be runny.
Place spoonfuls of mix onto dehydrator trays lined with teflex sheets. Flatten to about 1/2 inch tall, round “cookie shape.”
Dehydrate at 100 F for about 8-12 hours* or until the cookies can be peeled off the sheets and maintain their form. They will be moist and gooey and are super yummy straight out of the dehydrator.
Store in the fridge.
*It may take less time with an Excalibur dehydrator. I have a Nesco and it takes 10-12 hours.
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By Guest Blogger on March 17, 2009
by Colleen Patrick-Goudreau
Crust:
-2 cups raw almonds or pecans
-3/4 cup pitted dates, preferably Medjool
Filling:
-5 cups sliced ripe strawberries
-5 pitted dates, soaked 10 minutes in warm water and drained
-2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
-dark chocolate chunks, preferably from a good, organic, fair-trade bar (optional)
Place the nuts in a food processor and grind until they’re a coarse meal. Add the 3/4 cup of dates (for the crust) and process until thoroughly combined. Press the mixture into a non-stick or very lightly oiled pie plate or springform pan.
Arrange 4 cups of the sliced strawberries on top of the crust and set aside.
In a food processor or blender, combine the remaining 1 cup of strawberries with the 5 soaked dates and lemon juice. Puree until smooth. Pour the sauce mixture over strawberries.
Arrange the chocolate chunks on the top of the sauce (optional), and refrigerate the pie for 1 hour before serving. This will help the pie set and will be perfect for slicing.
Copyright © 2009 Compassionate Cooks, LLC The Joy of Vegan Baking – All rights reserved
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