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Raw Lemon Terragon Dressing

Lemon Terragon Dressing
1 Tbsp Raw Honey
1/3 C Org. Lemon Juice
Fresh Ground Pepper, to taste
1 tsp Terragon
2/3 C E.V.O.O.

Raw Parmasan Nut Cheese

Raw Parmesan Nut Cheese


1/2 C Walnuts
1 tsp Italian Seasoning or Oregano
1 tsp Parsley 
1 tsp Sea Salt
1 tsp. Nutritional Yeast (opt)

Blend, food process, or chop with a food chopper, the walnuts and stir in seasonings.
This is great on top of salads, on zucchini pasta (picture shows) or in combination with the
Vegan Entree, Potatoes-Sour Cream- and Parmesan Nut Cheese.

It does have a similar consistency as that of Parmesan Cheese.

Raw Flax Crackers

Flax crackers
Flax Crackers
Bag of flax seeds
3-5 C water
2 tsp. sea salt
Mix and let sit 1-2 hrs. Then pour into dehydrating teflex or wax paper sheets. Flip a couple hours later and let dehydrate until crisp.
Serve with salsa or guacamole.
You can add any kind of seasoning you like. Great for a "chip."

"Mamma Kaye's Salsa"

Thanks to my friend Lydia's cooking blog I was able to find (and slightly modify) her mothers' wonderful salsa recipe!

Mamma Kaye's Salsa
1 Clove minced garlic
1/4 white onion, chopped
6+ Tomatoes
1/2 Bunch Cilantro
1/2 tsp Sea Salt
1/4 tsp seasoning sea salt
1 Jalepeno Pepper, chopped (I like to add 3-4 seeds for a little spice)
One Lime, juiced (abt. 1/4 C lime juice)
Dash of Garlic Salt
Combine all ingredients in a bowl, or put all in food processor and blend!
Enjoy with homeade chips or flax crackers!

Sweet Corn Guacamole Salad

Sweet Corn Guacamole Salad
1 Tomato, chopped
1 cucumber, chopped
3-4 C corn from cob or frozen corn
1 Red Bell Pepper chopped
1/2 Sweet Onion chopped
1 Clove Garlic minced
1 C "Sour Cream" (see below)
"Sour Cream"
In a blender
1 1/2 C cashews (That have been soaked a few hrs.to soften)
1 C water
1 Lemon juiced (about 1/4 C lemon juice)
1 Tbsp coconut oil (optional for salad)
Blend all. After smooth add:
2 avocados and blend briefly.

This is a great salad to bring to parties and gatherings. I got the recipe from my friend Lara who made this at our Aerobics Potluck one time.

Lettuce Wraps

Lettuce Wraps
Lettuce Cup(Part of the head of lettuce without breaking it.)
Avacodo
Red Bell Pepper
Salsa
Fresh Corn (from cob or thawed from freezer)
Cucumber
1 Tbsp Lime over the the whole thing.
Flax Crackers are a nice addition for crunch.
Wrap it all up and enjoy.
"They" say that if you can hit all 5 tastes: sweet, sour, salty, bitter, (and spicy) then it's a good meal. This did that for us!
(Even the kids liked this one! I think there were enough ingredient to choose from that they like :)

Lettuce Taco Wraps

"Tacos"
A lettuce cup or collard with the middle cut out. (Or sometimes just with flax crackers.)
Diced Tomatoes (or salsa)
Chopped up lettuce
"Bean Dip"
2 Tbsp E.V.O.O
1 tsp Org. Lemon Juice (or from lemon)
1/2 tsp Agave
1 tsp Chilli Powder
1/2 tsp Cumin Powder
1/8 tsp Paprika
1/2 tsp Sea Salt
1/2 C Warm water
1/3 C Dried Onions
1/3 C Kamut Flour (Ground from Kamut Grain. The grain I buy at the Health Food Store.)

Grind Kamut in the blender until it becomes flour or slightly grainy. Add in onions and other oil, juice, and spices. Pour into a glass bowl. When ready to serve pour in water and stir. Let sit a minute or two and stir again. Serve warm.

This recipe I bought from www.rawfoodart.com. I modified it slightly to my liking. You can add more onions if you want. It really does taste like taco meat or beans.
The Lady on the site calls it : Pinto Beans/Dip.

Lemon-Agave Dressing

This Dressing goes on any salad, sweetens the dullest and makes the sweet ones taste like candy!
Lemon/Agave Dressing
1/2 C Organic Lemon Juice
1/2 C Extra Virgin Olive Oil (E.V.O.O.)
1/3 C Agave Nectar

No-Bake Oatmeal Cookies

These are delicious no bake oatmeal cookies! They taste just like the ones I use to make and freeze as a youth.

4 Cups Organic Rolled Oats
1 C Raw Cocoa Powder
1/2 C raw organic Honey
1 C Organic Nut butter (can use fresh ground peanut butter, but not raw)
1 C Agave
1/4 tsp Sea Salt
1/8 C Melted Coconut Oil
1 tsp Pure Organic Vanilla
Mix together. Put spoonfuls onto wax paper on a plate and chill in the freezer until ready to eat. If they seem a bit runny, just add more oats.

Breakfast Ideas

Usual breakfasts (Luckily the kids have really picked up on these ones and they are not begging for food a while later because of empty calorie/sugar cereals! (Still adding in the lunch and dinner items though.)

  • 1/2 Grapefruit with a swirl of agave (kids fave)
  • Sliced up Strawberries and Bananas
  • Banana
  • Apple
  • Pears
  • Slice or two of Cantaloupe
  • Orange and Kiwi
  • Any fruits. Fruit is the best in the morning! Easily digestible and sweet.
  • Oatmeal in warm water with a swirl of agave
  • Homemade Granola with Almond Milk
Fruit or Green Smoothies: Frozen strawberries, banana, orange, kiwi, and pineapple.
My favorite: 2 oranges, 1 C spinach, 1 banana, 1 handful of ice. Maybe some lemon. yum.

Strawberrry Banana Pie

Strawberrry Banana Pie
Who knew that nuts and dates could make such a great pie crust?!
Ingredients:
1-1 ½ cups soaked almonds
½ cups dates
1 tsp. cinnamon
½ tsp. nutmeg
¼ cup orange juice
3 pints strawberries
4 bananas
1/8 Cup fresh shredded coconut
Instructions
1. Freeze 2 pints of the strawberries and 2 bananas
2. Blend almonds, dates, cinnamon, nutmeg and orange juice in a food processor or blender.
3. Form the blended mixture into a pie crust in a 9 inch pie dish.
4. Process the frozen fruit to a sorbet consistency in a blender or food processor.
5. Slice up the remaining strawberries and bananas.
6. Layer the sorbet and fruit slices over the pie crust.
7. Opt. (Decorate with coconut.)
Chill in freezer for a more solid pie, or eat right away.

Raw Dark Chocolate Fudge

Raw Dark Chocolate Fudge
By far one of my favorite desserts or treat and the one that has got me through the "craving a sweet" times is this fudge. It is found on http://www.rawfoodart.com/. When I first saw it I had no idea what agave was. Agave: is actually the natural sweet nectar from a cactus, and is a great "sugar substitute" because it is not processed.
This Raw Fudge contains: Agave, raw honey, sea salt, raw organic cocoa powder, coconut oil, and vanilla.
1 1/2 C Raw cocoa powder
1 C 1 TBSP Coconut Oil
1/2 C Raw Honey
1/2 C Agave
2 TBSP Vanilla
3/4 tsp sea salt
Mix all in blender until smooth. Put in 5x8 glass dish and store in fridge.
SO yummy!

Raw Veggie Enchiladas

A Vegetable Enchilada is a lot better than it sounds. The tortilla is the part that takes a little prep. time. Usually I make up a batch in the morning and put them in the dehydrator and they are done mid-afternoon and keep them until dinner.
Corn Tortilla
4 C organic corn (fresh or frozen, whichever is available to you)
1/3 C ground flax seeds
1/4 C ground sunflower seeds
1/4 C orange juice
1/4 C lime juice1/2 tsp. minced garlic
1/2 tsp. sea salt
Preparation: Place all ingredients in a food processor and blend until smooth. Pour out to about 1/8" thickness onto a non-stick dehydrator sheet (or wax paper) and place in a dehydrator for 3 hours. Carefully peel off wraps and flip onto mesh dehydrator screen and continue drying for one more hour. Cut into large squares and place veggie filling* in center.
Roll up, top with favorite salsa or guacamole and enjoy.
*The "recipe" for the filling can be any variety of minced or shredded veggies such as spinach, bell pepper, carrots, zucchini, onion, etc. and maybe even a raw cheese sauce.

Sweet Summer Fruit Salad

Sometimes I am just not in the mood for a veggie salad. So here is my favorite "sweet salad."
Baby Spinach topped with;
Chopped Strawberries
Mangoes
Pineapple.
Also a little of my homemade granola for a "crouton" effect. So sweet and crunchy I forget I am eating a salad!

The Basic Spinach Salad

The Basic Spinach Salad
This is the salad that we eat at least once a day. It consists of baby spinach, sliced cucumbers (with skin) , chopped tomatoes, and occasionally avacodo. We sometimes add extras such as carrots, celery, broccoli, cauliflower, and sunflower seeds, walnut topping, or cashews for some crunch. Top it off with Lemon/Agave dressing and call it lunch!

Word of Wisdom and our Raw/Fresh Food Journey

Here is how our new life began..
  April 1st, 2009 I went to an aerobics luncheon. There was an awesome friend of mine there, talking about how she had been on the "Raw" or Fresh Food Diet. Well, she had been talking about it for months on and off, and I thought, "that is SO weird, who can eat like that!" But that day for some reason was different. As she talked I started to feel like it was something that I maybe needed to try. After all, I believed in the scriptures and sorta remembered what the Word of Wisdom was all about. I did not really know where to begin, except that I needed to pray about it, because I knew from experience that I was entitled to my own revelation! As is everyone else!
  After praying and reading many scriptures, and including a whole outline of what I felt the Word of Wisdom was saying, I felt this was a good choice for me in my circumstances.

 My circumstances had been; for the last 8 months I have been told I had " rheumatoid arthritis" symptoms that just came on suddenly one sunny day last September and has been with me since. For the last 6 months I had been prescribed prednisone "with no other alternatives" even though all my blood tests came back negative...(?)
Well, slowly I have been weening myself off the drug and when food came as an answer to me, I really felt it would help.

I had always thought that losing a little weight would help too and I have been active in the past 2 years, going to Stake Aerobics (which includes 2 hrs. M/W/F of stretching, light wts., running, aerobic dancing, core training, tae-bo, and Yoga. The kids come with and it is so great!) So in January I began to run again on T-Th and from then until April I lost 10 lbs. I was proud of that, I had worked hard... But not gotten any better.
Once the decision was made that I needed to change my life completely, in the foods area, I got online to see what this whole "raw food" world was about. Pretty much just a bunch of people calling the Word of Wisdom something "modern." As I read, it just kept making sense for me, especially as I read about people "healing" through eating healthy, and I kept thinking, "Maybe that is where those "treasures of knowledge" come from. :)
So here is what I don't eat anymore, (but I don't care if others do, to each his own) meat, dairy, anything that has been cooked or processed, and eat organic as much as possible. So now people have started asking me, what do you eat? So I say, "fruits,vegetables, nuts, seeds, grains." And for some reason people cannot fathom this insane idea... Eat what? Healthy foods? ALL the time? Well, yes, and there are actually a lot of yummy things to make too! However, I think I am getting to the point where I don't really want to spend a lot of time on fixing foods and just want simpler things.

My kids are getting use to it and are good sports most of the time. Now they eat "fruit" snacks, instead of fruit-snacks and they even have a "little kids fridge" full of healthy snacks so they always know where they can go. I have felt for a long time I needed to get rid of the goldfish and pretzels, but did not know what else to do. Fortunately for them, they are young and will hopefully grow up eating a healthy diet.
Well, I have now, after about 1 and a 1/2 months eating ALL healthy foods, lost inches everywhere, 16 more lbs. feel good inside and feel better about myself.

I feel more in tune with the spirit, as our body and mind do work together! Also, with a lot of help from the Lord and many prayers and fasts from dear friends and family, I have now been drug free for 6 days and will stay that way. While I am still stiff and sore each morning, I truly feel the hand of the Lord in my life each day as He helps me to continue to exercise and eat right. I know that all things come from our Father in Heaven, and that I cannot heal myself, but through the Atonement I may be healed, if it be His will. I have faith and hope and though the winds of trial may blow hard, I will stand strong with my Savior Jesus Christ!