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Recipes Raw Food Class Dec 2015

Raw Food Recipes – Tacos with Rice and Nacho Sauce, Sweet Potato Salad, Raw Pecan Pie, Raw Almond Chocolate Goji Berry  Protein Fudge, Goji Berry Tahini Truffles etc.

Spanish Rice (20 Min) in a bowl serves 4

1 head cauliflower grated in food processor

4 green onion, diced

2 tomatoes diced

1 orange or red bell pepper

Jalapeno pepper, diced (optional)

2 tbs lemon juice

1/3 cilantro diced

1 avocado (mashed in)

1 ts paprika

1 ts sea salt

¼ cup olive oil

 

Taco Meat (10 min at least 4 hours to soak walnuts)

In a food processor add:

2 cups soaked walnuts

1 tbs cumin

1 tbs coriander powder

1-2 tbs raw soy sauce

¼ cup fresh cilantro

1/2cup fresh corn optional

In a food processor, pulse about 15 sec, ( you may have to stop machine and mix it upto keep “meat texture”

Serve on Romaine, Swiss chard, cabbage leaf or flax seed taco shell

 

Macho Nacho Sauce (10min)

 

In blender add:

½ water

½ red bell pepper

½ pine nuts

½ sunflower seeds

1 Tbs Miso(fermented say, full of enzymes, Spouts carries it)

1 clove garlic

1 tbs fresh lemon juice

1 Fresno pepper (red Jalapeno)

1 ts seal salt

Blend on high until creamy, serve on top of tacos or as a dip for “chips”

 

Guacamole

 

In a bowl, combine:

5 avocados, pitted (set aside 3 pitts)

1Tbs lime juice or to taste

½ cup cilantro, finely chopped

1 tomato diced

1 jalapeno pepper, minced

½ ts sea salt

Mash together, add 3 avocado pits to prevent browning.

 

Salsa (15 min)

2 large tomatos, finely chopped

½ small red onion, finely chopped

1tbl lemon juice

1 clove garlic, minced

1 cup fresh cilantro, chopped

1 serrano pepper

1/2tsp sea salt

 

Sweet Potato Salad

  • 3 cups sweet potatoes, peeled and shredded
  • 1 medium sweet apple, peeled and chopped fine
  • 1 cup pineapple tidbits
  • 1/2 cup pecans, chopped
  • 1/4 cup organic raisins or chopped dates
  • 1/2 cup Orange Sunset Dressing
  1. In a large bowl, combine sweet potatoes, apple, pineapple, raisins or dates, pecans, and Orange Sunset Dressing or Holiday Sauce
  2. Mix well, cover, and chill before serving.

Orange creamy Dressing

  • 1/2 cup fresh orange juice
  • 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
  • 1/4 cup sunflower seeds, soaked overnight and drained
  • 1/4 cup raw unfiltered honey or other sweetener
  • 1/2 tsp unrefined sea salt
  • Pinch of cayenne pepper (optional)
  1. Place all ingredients in Vitamix or other powerful blender and process until creamy.
  2. Pour over salad and serve immediately. For a savory flavor, add 1 garlic clove, peeled and minced.

Holiday Sauce

1 cup pecans soaked

1 tbsp honey

½ ts Himalayan salt

½ ts cinnamon

Pinch of cloves or nutmeg

Water to blend

Blend in Vitamix or other powerful blender, add water as necessary for desired consistency. Serve over grated yams or squash, serves 4

Pecan or Almond Cream Pie

Crust: 4-5 bananas and 2 mango. Sliced and spread over pie plate, mangos on top, more bananas on top and press down

In a blender:

1 cup pecans or almonds

About 10 dates or raw honey or honey or raw agave syrup

3/4 cup distilled water

Pinch of sea salt

1 tsp Psyllium to thicken (Optional)

Blend until creamy spread over bananas

Into bowl add little water, ½ cup pecans, 2 tbs raw honey, pinch of salt and stir. Put glazed pecans over pie and chill. 

Almond – Goji Superfood Protein Fudge

Raw version:

½ cup coconut oil

4 oz raw chocolate butter

1 cup caw chocolate powder

4 Tbsp. almond butter or any other nut butter or almond meal

1 scoop 25 g of protein powder of your choice

2 Tbsp Goji berries chopped

2 Tbsp of chia seeds

2 Tbsp of whole oats

½ ts vanilla

Raw honey (1/4 cup depends how sweet you like it)

Add coconut oil, chocolate butter and melt over very low heat (no more than 110 F), add raw cacao powder ans stir until smooth. Next add nut butter (or almond meal) and vanilla, stir until smooth and add all other ingredients. Mix well and keep in mind that fudge will get harder in fridge. Spread the mixture in a lined pan and transfer to the fridge and v=chill for 2 hours. Cut into squares and store in fridge. Enjoy those healthy yummy treats.

EASY Melted chocolate version:

¾ cup coconut cream or ½ coconut oil

4 oz bakers chocolate or dark chocolate chips melted

4 Tbsp. almond butter or any other nut butter or almond meal

1 scoop 25 g of protein powder of your choice

2 Tbsp Goji berries chopped

2 Tbsp of chia seeds

2 Tbsp of whole oats

½ ts vanilla

Raw honey (1/4 cup depends how sweet you like it) or 10 drops of liquid stevia 9 some people do not like stevia taste

Add coconut cream or oil and chocolate and melt over very low heat. Add nut butter (or almond meal), vanilla stir until smooth and add all other ingredients. Mix well and keep in mind that fudge will get harder in fridge. Spread the mixture in a lined pan and transfer to the fridge and v=chill for 2 hours. Cut into squares and store in fridge. Enjoy those healthy yummy treats.

Goji Berry Tahini Truffles

2 cups pitted dates (process a little in processor to get them started)

1 jar raw Tahini

¼ ts cardamom

1 ts vanilla

Pinch of Himalayan salt

¾ cup of raw cacao (if desired)

Option: raw coconut flakes or hemp seeds to roll the truffles.

Process until you have a soft pliable dough. Take about 11/2 ts of dough and add 3 dried goji berries and form a ball and roll in coconut flakes, hemp seeds or chopped nuts.

Raw Pumpkin Pie with Avocados

  • 1 avocado, peeled and seeded
  • ½ cup raw honey
  • 4 dates soaked in 1 cup filtered water
  • 2 tsp vanilla
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • ¼ tsp ground nutmeg
  • ½ tsp ginger powder
  • 1 tsp sea salt
  • 1 cup raw macadamias soaked 8 hours and drained
  • 4 cups raw pumpkin, peeled and seeded
  • 1 cup organic raisins
  • 1 tsp psyllium, I used soaked Irish Moss (a thickener and very healthy)
  • 1 Nut and Date Pie Crust  (dates and walnut or almonds or pecans made in food processor)
  1. Place macadamias along with dates and their soak water into blender and blend until smooth.
  2. Add avocado, honey, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, salt and pumpkin and blend until very smooth.
  3. Add psyllium and blend well. Let this mixture sit for 1-2 minutes and blend well again.
  4. Fold in raisins.
  5. Pour into piecrust

Option, I use a pumpkin spice mix from the Good apple instead of the spices in the recipe

 

 

 

What is Quinoa – grain or vegetable?

What is Quinoa and Benefits of Quinoa

Often mistaken as a gluten-free grain, quinoa is actually a highly nutritious vegetable seed rather than a grain. Quinoa is a vegetable related to beets and spinach that delivers a very rare vegetable-sourced complete protein with all 9 essential amino acids. (1)

We think of rice and beans being a complete protein because only when eaten together do they deliver all 9 essential amino acids. Most grains lack the amino acids lysine and isoleucine, and require to be eaten with a legume to become “complete.” Quinoa, which has been a staple in South America for 4000 years, is a low-fat, high-fiber, super high-protein, low-glycemic index, vitamin-, mineral-, and nutrient-packed seed. (2-4)

Even though quinoa is technically not a grain, it has been called “chisaya mama,” or “the mother of all grains.” It is considered sacred perhaps because it thrives during a long hot summer and, during drought conditions when other plants weaken, the quinoa harvest doubles. (1) As nature always answers the call, this high-protein food is harvested just before the cold winter months when more protein and fats are needed. (1)

While still considered a low-fat protein source, quinoa is much higher in fat than wheat and other grasses. It has a significant amount of oleic acid, which is a heart-healthy monounsaturated fat found in olive oil and has some (ALA) alpha-linolenic acid, which is a heart-healthy omega-3 fatty acid. Surprisingly, these good fats stay stable or do not become oxidized from cooking, which happens with most other fats. (5)

Researchers believe that this is due to the high levels of antioxidants found in quinoa. It is high in the alpha, beta and gamma forms of vitamin E, polyphenols, and flavonoids like quercetin that lengthen its shelf life while protecting the seed from rancidity when heated. (5)

In addition to being a high-protein grain alternative, perhaps quinoa’s most current claim to fame is its effect on blood sugar. (6) As a low-glycemic food, it exerts little blood sugar stress on the body, but its high fiber content helps to slow the absorption of other sugars from the digestive tract into the bloodstream. (7) In one study, it outperformed 10 other Peruvian grains for its effects on weight and blood sugar. (6)

Interestingly, even though quinoa maintained healthy low blood sugar levels, it provided more satisfaction, satiety and fullness after the meal compared to wheat or rice, according to the Satiating Efficiency Index (SEI). (8) It also has a very high magnesium content that supports healthy blood sugar (9) and healthy blood pressure levels. (9)

As a natural antioxidant, anti-inflammation food that is just loaded with vitamins, minerals, fiber, heart-healthy fats, and a vegetarian “complete protein,” quinoa must be considered as a staple in the diet this fall and winter, as the need for healthy high-protein foods goes up

From Dr. Douillard www.lifespa.com

References

Weight loss – what can I eat at night?

it’s not necessary to avoid eating in the evening hours to lose flab.  In fact, the right night-time meal can often positively affect your fat-burning results.  The trick, as always, is choosing the RIGHT foods before bed, and knowing which foods those are.  Here are some simple “rules” to creating the ultimate pre-bed meal:

1. Avoid carbs and insulin.  Because consuming carbohydrates will result in a significant insulin release (which will in turn put the breaks on fat-burning), carbs are ill-advised for a pre-bed meal.  Carbs are also much more easily stored as fat in the evening hours when metabolism is naturally slowing in preparation for sleep.  Besides, you have very little opportunity to burn off that energy when consuming carbs at night — sleep isn’t a very calorically expensive activity!

In addition to carbs, certain animal proteins have been shown to yield a significant insulin response as well, such as red meat and certain fish.  While these protein foods are OK for a pre-bed meal, there are better choices, like those mentioned below.

2. Choose slow digesting proteins.  Slow digesting proteins, like white meat proteins such as turkey and chicken, are great night-time meal choices as they digest slowly and fail to produce a significant insulin response.

Another great choice is the milk protein casein, found in our premium protein blend, BioTrust Low Carb, and also in cottage cheese.  Casein coats the stomach, digests slowly, and provides quality nutrition to your muscles over several hours…very ideal as a pre-bedtime protein source!

3. Add fat.  Quality, healthy fats such as nuts, oils, and nut butters are great additions to a pre-bedtime meal as they will help to further slow gastric emptying and digestion while increasing fullness and satiety so you don’t wind up snacking all night long.

Just follow these 3 simple rules for night-time snacking (slow digesting protein, low carb, add fat) and you’ll be snacking good while losing belly flab..

Superfood Chia – Many Ways to use Chia seeds

Superfood Chia – Many Ways to use Chia seeds 

Chia, pumpkin and flaxseeds, for example, all contain anti-inflammatory magnesium and healthy omega-3 fatty acids. Two tablespoons of chia seeds contain 18 percent of the DRI for calcium, 35 percent for phosphorus, 24 percent for magnesium and about 50 percent for manganese. (1 ounce of chia seeds has more calcium than half a glass of milk!)

Fiber is associated with reducing inflammation, lowering cholesterol and regulating bowel function. Chia seeds are an excellent source of fiber, with a whopping 10 grams in only 2 tablespoons. 

 

1. Substitute for eggs (1 ground tbs of Chia with 3 tbs water for one egg) in recipes

2. Thicken up Soups or Gravy – Add 1 ts of seed at a time until you reach the desired thickness. It needs a few minutes to thicken

3. Sprout Chia seeds for salads

4. Add them to  Brownies or truffles to increase protein and fiber

5. Add chia seed to coconut water, especially if you are an athlete for an energy mineral dring

6. Use in slow cooler to thicken sauce

7. Add chia seeds to beaten egg, soak for 10 min and make omelette.

8. Make Crackers – Make thin batter of chia seeds and milk and cook in slow oven or dehydrator to make crackers, you may want to add cinnamon, or vanilla stevia for sweet crakers or salt and herbs for salty crackers.

9. Make a Cinnamon Nut Butter – Add ground chia seeds to nut butters, or add to butter with some cinnamon,,

10. Make Healthy Pudding  – Add ½ cup of chia seeds to 11/2 cups of almond or milk of your choice. You can add cinnamon, stevia or any other natural stevia. Can be served with fresh fruit.

11. Add to smoothies – I love to add chia seeds to my smoothies, it makes them richer and thicker and the smoothie will keep me full longer.

Growth Hormone Release with Super Slow Weight training

Growth Hormone Release with Super Slow Weight training

By slowing your movements down, you’re actually turning them into high intensity exercise. The super-slow movement allows your muscle, at the microscopic level, to access the maximum number of cross-bridges between the protein filaments that produce movement in the muscle. You can perform the super-slow technique with many of the strength training exercises, such as hand weights, resistance machines, bodyweight exercises, or resistance bands.

You only need about 12 to 15 minutes of super-slow strength training once a week to achieve the same HGH production as you would from 20 minutes of sprints on the bike, treadmill, or bike.

The key to making this work for you is intensity, which needs to be high enough that you reach muscle fatigue. If you’ve selected the appropriate weight for your strength and fitness level, your goal is to have enough weight that you cannot do more than 12 reps but at least 6 repetitions.

As a guideline, when you start out, allow your body at least two days to rest, recover and repair between high-intensity sessions, and do not exercise the same muscle groups each time.

How to Perform the Super-Slow Technique

It is recommend using four or five basic compound movements for your super-slow (high intensity) exercise set. Compound movements are movements that require the coordination of several muscle groups—for example, squats, chest presses, pull downs, push press, and rows.

  1. Begin by lifting the weight as slowly and gradually as you can. One version is to do a four-second positive and a four-second negative, meaning it takes four seconds to bring the weight up, and another four seconds to lower it.
  2. Repeat until exhaustion, which should be around 6 to 12 reps. Once you reach exhaustion, don’t try to heave or jerk the weight to get one last repetition in. Instead, just keep trying to produce the movement, even if it’s not “going” anywhere, for another five seconds or so. If you’re using the appropriate amount of weight or resistance, you’ll be able to perform four to eight reps
  3. Immediately switch to the next exercise for the next target muscle group.

High fructose consumption causes extensive liver damage

High fructose consumption causes rapid, extensive liver damage even without weight gain

Living in USA, we are exposed to high fructose corn syrup everywhere. Why do all soft drinks, most cereals, breads, cookies, cakes, ice cream the list goes on… contain so much high fructose corn syrup instead of sugar? It is cheaper and companies make more money but what effect has so much concentrated high fructose corn syrup on the body?

The medical profession has overlooked some major pathological effects of fructose consumption and its effects on liver function. Regardless of whether or not a person gains weight from it, consuming fructose was recently shown by researchers from Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center in North Carolina to cause hepatic steatosis, a non-alcoholic form of fatty liver disease that in some patients can lead to cirrhosis.
Published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (AJCN), their study found that, by itself, fructose can trigger rapid liver damage even when all other factors remain equal. In other words, a relatively skinny person can sustain extensive liver damage from fructose consumption, even if he or she doesn’t become obese from it. Fructose consumers also have an exceptional propensity toward developing diabetes, according to the data.

In one study, scientists gave two groups of monkeys an all-you-can-eat buffet for seven years. The target group was given access to low-fat foods with added fructose, while the control group was given access only to low-fat, low-fructose foods. All other factors remained equal, and the animals were given equal access to whatever quantities of food they desired.

During the evaluative period, monkeys in the fructose group were observed to gain about 50 percent more weight than the control group. They also developed diabetes at three times the rate of the control group as well as severe cases of hepatic steatosis that were clearly unique to fructose consumption.

Fructose shown to damage intestinal flora, cause gut leakage

In order to verify that fructose itself, and not some combination of fructose and weight gain, was responsible for the high rates of liver damage, the researchers took 10 middle-aged, normal-weight monkeys who had never before consumed fructose and divided them into two comparable groups.

For a course of six weeks, one group was fed a calorie-controlled diet containing 24 percent fructose while the other group was fed a calorie-controlled diet containing a negligible amount of fructose, or about 0.5 percent. Both groups were given an equal amount of fat, carbohydrates and protein, but from varying sources.

What they found is that not only did fructose directly harm the monkeys’ livers, but it also altered the bacterial composition of their guts. In essence, fructose was found to cause intestinal microflora to leak from the intestines, enter the bloodstream and damage the liver — and at a rate of up to 30 percent higher compared to the monkeys that consumed almost no fructose.

“High added sugars caused bacteria to exit the intestines, go into the blood stream and damage the liver,” wrote the authors. “The liver damage began even in the absence of weight gain. This could have clinical implications because most doctors and scientists have thought that it was the fat in and around tissues in the body that caused the health problems.”

In order to avoid high fructose consumption start reading labels,  avoid any foods which contain high fructose corn syrup or fructose and trust me its in almost all processed foods.  Try cooking from scratch and if you need to use a sweetener try using raw honey, coconut sugar, stevia, erythritol, or xylitol.

Sources for this article include:

http://www.wakehealth.edu

http://ajcn.nutrition.org

http://www.health.harvard.edu

http://science.naturalnews.com

 

Raw Blueberry cheesecake

Raw Blueberry cheesecake

IMAG1853

Crust

  • 1 cup walnuts
  • 1 cup pine nuts
  • ½ cup pitted dates
  • ½ cup unsweetened coconut

Filling

  • 3 ½ cups cashews (soaked 2 hours and drained)
  • 2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries
  • ¾ cup fresh lemon juice
  • ¾ cup raw unfiltered honey
  • ¾ cup raw coconut butter
  • ¼ vanilla bean or 1teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • ½ teaspoon Celtic or Himalayan salt

Directions

We have made this dairyless cheesecake with blueberries, but I see no reason you couldn’t make it using strawberries, or raspberries, or mango, or possibly some other fruit.

Making the Crust

Place all crust ingredients except coconut in food processor with “S” blade and process until crumbly. Sprinkle coconut onto the base of a spring form pan, pie plate, or 8×8 square Pyrex (coconut keeps dough from sticking). Press mix evenly into pan to form a crust.

Prepare the Filling

Place all filling ingredients in a powerful blender like a Vita-Mix (Most regular blenders won’t be able to process this filling. You could use a food processor, but it won’t make it as creamy.) Blend until smooth and creamy.

Pour onto crust, tapping to remove bubbles, and make sure pie plate is filled evenly.

Cover and place in freezer until firm.

When firm, if using a spring-form pan, remove and place on a serving plate before cutting slices and return leftover to freezer.

Coconut Dark chocolate Fudge

Coconut Dark chocolate Fudge

chocolate-fudge-blog-shot-2

1.   Easy Non Raw Version

1 can of extra thick coconut cream (I use trader Joes 13.5 oz), ½ cup of sugar (I like to use coconut Sugar), ¼ coconut oil, 2 (12 oz) packages of semisweet chocolate chips.

Place coconut cream, coconut oil and sugar in Sauce pan and simmer over medium heat. Take of the burner and add in chocolate chips and stir until everything is melted. Use an electric blender on med high for 3 min to mix it all up.  Pour in pan (line with parchment paper or aluminum foil for easy removal of fudge) and sprinkle with toasted coconut flakes. Refrigerate until firm or at least for 8 hours and cut into 36 small pieces (mine are big pieces so it’s more like 18)

2.   Healthiest Raw Version

I am passionate to make desert as healthy as I can make them without losing the amazing taste,  So instead of using the chocolate chips, I melt raw cacao butter and mix it with raw cacao powder and raw agave and vanilla extract or powder.  I think the fudge  tastier and much higher in antioxidants…

Peanut or Almond Butter Variation

Add a layer of Peanut butter or almond butter between the fudge

I used peanut butter, raw cashews, and raw honey and a little of water and made it creamy in Vitamix.

Raw Tiramisu cake

Raw Tiramisu cake

IMAG0107

1.5 cups almonds (soaked overnight, or for a minimum of 3 hours)
2 cups of cashews (soaked overnight, or for a minimum of 3hours)
Vanilla extract
1/2 cup of dates (soaked for 1 hours min)
2 Ts coconut oil
coconut meat (I used soaked shredded coconut)
husk or lecithin (optional)
raw cacao powder
raw carob or some instant coffee
himalayan salt

First you need to make Cashew Milk: in a blender, put 1 cup of soaked cashews and 3 cups of water, add a good ts of vanilla extract, a pinch of salt. Blend and then pour in a sieve over a bowl so you can get the milk. Set aside.

Then you need to make the cake, and you will need to use your food processor for this: put 1/2 cup of soaked dates, 1 cup of soaked cashews and 1.5 cup of soaked almonds, 1 Ts of coconut oil, 2Ts Raw cacao powder and 1Ts carob powder, 2 Ts maple syrup (it’s not raw but together with the carob powder it gives a little bit of a coffee taste, I used some organic instant coffee), 1 ts vanilla. Process until it forms a sticky paste. Then, make the cream! In the Blender, pour 2 cups of cashew milk and 1 cup of coconut meat. As I didn’t have a real coconut, I soaked shredded coconut in water for about 1 hour and that was my coconut meat! I also add about 1 cup of soaked cashews, 1 Ts of raw honey and 1Ts coconut oil. As an option, depending on how firm you want the cream, you can add some husk or lecithin to the mixture. Blend and set aside.

Finally you need to make layers in a cake pan: put one layer of cake… top it with one layer of cream. Put in the freezer until it’s hard. Then you can spread another layer of cake followed by the rest of the cream. Put a bit of cacao powder or carob powder on top and put the whole in your fridge for 2 hours or so (until the 2 bottom layers soften).

Raw Chocolate Macaroons

Raw Chocolate Macaroons

macaroons

  • 1 cup almond flour (or ½ cup raw almonds)
  • 2 cups dried organic unsweetened coconut flakes
  • 1 1/4 cups raw cacao powder (or carob powder if you don’t want to use cacao)
  • 1 cup maple syrup, agave or raw honey
  • 1/3 cup coconut butter (you can substitute with coconut oil or I have left it out before too)
  • 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
  • Pinch of sea salt

If you are using raw almonds instead of almond flour, place them in the bowl of a food processor and grind them until they are very finely chopped. Or if you make your own almond milk you can dehydrate the left over almond.
Add the coconut to the ground almonds or almond flour, along coconut butter, maple syrup (or your choice of sweetener, vanilla extract and pinch of salt. Process until the mixture is well blended but still has plenty of texture.

Form mixture into balls and place the macaroons on a cooling rack and dehydrate for a few hours – depending on your preferred texture.  You can also refrigerate them until they are firm.

Raw Chocolate Covering

Melt raw cacao butter in double boiler (not over 112 F), add raw agave, maple syrup, or sweetener of your choice and raw Cacao powder and stir until everything is melted and mixed. Pour over the coconut macaroons and refrigerate and ENJOY!  (If you don’t have much time or have no raw ingredients, you can melt dark chocolate chips, add a little coconut cream to it and use that as the chocolate cover)
Variations: 
For Chocolate Orange Macaroons: add 2 teaspoons of finely grated orange zest.
For lemon or orange scented macaroons: add 1 ½ teaspoons grated lemon or orange zest to the mixture.