One of my favorite snacks is flax crackers.

I add one pound of brown flax seeds, one pound of golden flax seeds, and one pound of ground golden flax seeds together in a bowl.

I then pour one cup of filtered water into the bowl for each pound of seeds, and stir the mixture until it turns into one big clump.

I divide the clump/ball into equal sized clumps/balls, one for each of my dehydrator trays, and then add seasonings.

I’ve recently been experimenting with various seasoning combinations. I add no more than 2T of Celtic sea salt to any tray. Sometimes I’ll add 1/4c agave and 1T of cinnamon, or 2T of basil and 1T of red pepper flakes. The key here is to experiment with the seasonings you like and see how it turns out. Have fun!

Once the seasonings are rolled throughout the ball, I spread it across the sheet. You can use wax paper to start, if you don’t yet have Teflex sheets.

Place the trays in the dehydrator. You’ll want to turn the temp up HIGH for an hour, and then turn the crackers over onto mesh sheets, otherwise you can run in to problems with bacteria. Once they’re turned over, I turn the temp down to 105F.

The time it takes to dehydrate them completely will vary, depending on how thinly you rolled the dough, how much water you used, your local relative humidity, and how crisp you like your crackers to be. You’ll discover what’s right for you.

I’m big on smoothies, and have been falling in love with the Truly Raw Cacao I recently began using for my cacao smoothies.

Here’s the smoothie I just made myself for lunch:

1 banana
2 cups Raw Walnut Milk
1/4 cup Shredded Coconut
2 T Truly Raw Cacao
Ice Cubes

I blend the ingredients on the Beverages : XL Smoothie setting on my Blendtec blender. It’s always extra tasty!

I’ve been enjoying store-bought kombucha for years, ever since I started down the living food path. The number of brands and the variety of available flavors has increased a great deal since then, as has home brewing.

I received my first SCOBY (symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast) as a gift just a few weeks ago from my good friend, Rebecca Wood, and have been going to town ever since!

Before I started brewing, I completed the free 7-day course made available by Dave at my favorite kombucha supply store.

The course covers all of the bases and I’ve been a very happy home brewer as a result. The variety of supplies and support available from Dave and his team is amazing.

I’m currently on my fifth batch (two quarts every five days), and eventually would like to work my way up to two quarts per day or more. To learn how to brew your own kombucha at home, sign up for Dave’s free course. Watch for the popup, moments after you get to the site.

Happy brewing!

Before embarking on my raw/living food lifestyle journey, kim chee was merely an enjoyable part of a meal at a Korean restaurant. I did not buy prepared kim chee to eat at home, and had never considered making my own.

As I was learning how to ferment vegetables, I came across a simple recipe, that I have since made my own. I’ve enjoyed sharing with friends and family the many gallons of kim chee I’ve made using this recipe. It has never failed to please.

I have adjusted the spices to my own taste over the past couple of years. You can adjust to your own tastes as you, yourself, become addicted.

I use wide mouth 1/2 gallon Mason jars to ferment the kim chee. I’ve used quart and pint jars, too, but find the 1/2 gallon jars easier to fill.

This recipe should make about one gallon of kim chee.

Here are the ingredients:

3 lb. Napa cabbage – shredded (do not wash)
3 lb. daikon radish – washed and grated
6 carrots – washed and grated
15 green onions
1/2 cup + 1T Celtic sea salt
6 T finely minced fresh ginger
6 T finely minced fresh garlic
1 1/2 t cayenne pepper, ground
1 T red chile flakes

This is a 2-Step recipe

First step:
In a stainless steel pot, mix 1 gallon of water, and the 1/2 cup of Celtic sea salt until dissolved. Add the cabbage, daikon radish, and carrots. Weight them lightly with a plate to cover. Make sure that no air is touching the vegetables in the brine. Soak 12-24 hours at room temperature.

Second step:
Drain the vegetables, reserving the brine. Mix ginger, garlic, cayenne, chile flakes, scallions & remaining 1T salt in bowl, food processor or blender. Toss the vegetables with the spices. Place in quart or half-gallon jars (make sure your jars have lids) – Cover with the retained brine (you won’t use it all), leaving at least 1 inch of space at the top. Loosely cover with lid (after 24 hours tighten the lid) and ferment at room temperature for 3-7 days.

If you’d like something delicious to spread on your raw onion bread, my raw pumpkin seed pesto will do very nicely. I have a pint of pesto on hand at all times, a very tasty raw gourmet staple.

For thousands of years people have enjoyed combining basil leaves with all manner of oils, cheeses, seeds and spices. This raw pumpkin seed pesto is my variation on a timeless favorite.

This raw pesto is great on flax crackers, or it can be warmed in a dehydrator to be used on kelp noodles.

I’m sure you’ll find many ways to enjoy this pesto!

Here are the ingredients:

2 cups hulled raw pumpkin seeds
4 cloves of garlic, minced
1 cup fresh basil leaves
1 bunch fresh Italian (flat leaf) parsley
1 cup olive oil
1T Celtic sea salt
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice

When I first made this recipe, I used a food processor. When I got my Blendtec blender, I started using that exclusively, and find the finished product easier to spread.

Chop the basil leaves and stuff them into the measuring cup until you have one cup. Place them into the blender/processor. Then rinse and chop the parsley bunch and place it into the blender/processor. Put the rest of the ingredients, EXCEPT the pumpkin seeds, into the blender/processor. Pulse until you have a coarse basil parsley soup.

If you’re using a food processor, turn it up to high, and over the course of thirty seconds pour the pumpkin seeds in as it’s running. The processor will slow as the seeds get chopped up. Run it until the seeds are thoroughly whipped into the mixture. Be careful to not burn out your processor’s motor.

If you’re using a Blendtec blender, place the seeds on top of the liquid contents of the carafe, place the top on, and run the “Whole Foods : Sauces & Dips” program. Hold the blender down while running this program, as it may try to leave the counter.

If I’m not going to be using the pesto for a while, I refrigerate it. Even refrigerated, it’s still deliciously spreadable.

This recipe makes about 1 1/2 pints.

I have embarked on a journey that will know no end, or so I am told. Once one tastes raw onion bread, life is never the same.

Beware, this is a gi-normous recipe. I doubled a doubled recipe, as I have a five tray dehydrator, and wanted to utilize all five trays.

You should halve, third or quarter it, for your own dehydrator situation. This recipe makes 45 bread slices or 200+ crackers.

6 pounds of sweet onions
2 cups ground sunflower seeds
2 cups ground flax seeds
1 cup olive oil
3/4 cup tamari
3/4 cup raw agave

The sweeter the onion, the better, but you don’t have to use only “sweet” onions. I’ve tried this recipe with regular red onions, and it worked just fine.

Grind sunflower seeds on “grind grain” setting on your Blendtec blender, or you can use a food processor. If you need to grind your flax seeds as well, use the same process. Place the sunflower and flax seeds in a LARGE mixing bowl.

Dice/chop the onions and divide them into four equal mounds. Place 1/4 of the wet ingredients into the blender and then one mound of onions. Pulse using the “food processor : chop” setting on your Blendtec blender until all of the onions have visited the blade, or just pulse it in your food processor. Don’t make it too soupy.

Mix the blended onions into the dry ingredients in the mixing bowl using a large spoon. Repeat this sequence three more times. I allow the batter to chill and set up in the refrigerator for a few hours, which makes it easier to portion.

Portion out the batter equally onto the Teflex sheets. If you don’t have Teflex sheets, you can use wax paper.

Spread the batter out until it forms a square, roughly the size of the dehydrator sheet. Make sure that the batter is as thin and even as possible across the whole sheet. Uneven bread will dehydrate unevenly, and can cause problems with bacteria.

Place the sheets into the dehydrator and set it for 140 degrees. This high heat seals the outside of bread, and allows for you to turn it over in an hour.

After an hour, pull the sheets out and turn the bread over onto plastic grated sheets, removing the Teflex/was paper. This will allow the bread to dehydrate on both sides. Turn the temperature down to 105 degrees. The bread should take another 23 or so hours.

After twelve hours separate the slices, and turn them over on the trays. You’ll also want to swap the top trays with the bottom trays and turn them around, to make sure that the slices dehydrate evenly.

I ran out of walnuts the other day, but had some raw pumpkin seeds handy, so I thought I’d try to make some raw pumpkin seed milk.

I measured one cup of hulled raw pumpkin seeds and sprouted them for a day after soaking them overnight. I then proceeded to use the walnut milk recipe. It’s tasty, but not as tasty as the walnut milk. I’ll play with the recipe and re-submit it to you after it’s been perfected.

In the mean time, here’s the recipe (makes almost one-half gallon):

Ingredients:
1 cup of raw nuts/seeds (soaked & sprouted)
3 cups filtered water
2 T of raw agave (or 4 dates)
1T of vanilla extract
1t Celtic or Tibetan sea salt

Equipment:
Blender
1/2 gallon pitcher

Put walnuts into the blender.
Add water until the water reaches the 4 cup (32oz / 1qt) mark.
Add the agave, salt and vanilla.

Blend on high for one minute.
Pour the milk into the pitcher.
There’s no need to strain the milk, as the walnuts blend in completely.
Soaking the walnuts overnight will make them blend more evenly.

I drink walnut milk by the glass. It’s a tasty treat, especially when ice cold. I also use it on cereal, and as a creamer in iced coffee or iced tea. Here’s the recipe:

Walnut Milk Recipe (makes almost one-half gallon)

Ingredients:
1 cup of raw walnuts
3 cups filtered water
2 T of raw agave (or 4 dates)
1T of vanilla extract
1t Celtic sea salt

Equipment:
blender
1/2 gallon pitcher

Put walnuts into the blender.
Add water until the water reaches the 4 cup (32oz / 1qt) mark.
Add the raw agave, salt and vanilla.

Blend on high for one minute.
Pour the milk into the pitcher.
There’s no need to strain the milk, as the walnuts blend in completely.
Soaking the walnuts overnight will make them blend more evenly.

It has been forever since I made a green smoothie for myself. This one I am drinking right now is yummy, but I think I’ll use parsley next time, rather than cilantro. I used two types of kale, the water and meat of one fresh young coconut, half a bunch of cilantro, one, bartlett pear, one small haas avocado, and two tablespoons of raw agave.

The coconut had been in the fridge, so the smoothie was cold. I will have to make some ice for my next smoothie.

Getting back into the groove!

It has been WAY too long since my last post. I will do what I can to post here more often as I get back into my raw living groove.

I am a very BIG fan of Angela and Matt Monarch, and I love their daily video blog. Several days ago they posted about fermenting vegetables. I’ve had great success with fermenting my own kim chi, but had never fermented anything else.

In the video, Wendy mentions that fermented onions and garlics can make bases for raw dressings and mayo, and I thought I’d try out their system. Below is the Angela and Matt video I watched. I’ll report back with the results from my test kitchen.

Enjoy!