Mom's Raw Slaw

Mom came up with a delicious raw salad the other day - so I thought I would share it.  I am sorry I have no pictures.

Cabbage, shredded
Kale, diced small
Carrots, shredded
Raw Pecans, coarsely chopped
Pineapple, diced
Coconut, Shredded (unsweetened, sorry - not raw) - optional but recommended :-)

Sauce:
1 part Kefir (raw, plain)
1 part Sour Cream (raw)
Cinnamon to taste (We like a generous amount.)

1. Toss all your shredded veggies and fruit together in a large bowl.
2.  In a separate bowl, mix together sauce.    Drizzle over top and toss well to coat.

(If you sauce is too tangy for your tastes - add more cinnamon or a little honey.)

Green Goodness Smoothies

This Smoothie was inspired by a recipe in Shelly Null's, book Healthy Cooking for Kids.

This recipe makes 3-4 servings

4 large apples, cored and quartered (skins intact)
1 pint of water (2C)
2 medium frozen bananas
1/4C flaxseed oil
1/4C raw sunflower seeds, soaked overnight and rinsed
1T + 1tsp spiralina
1/4 tsp gr cinnamon

Put all the ingrediants in a heavy duty blender (like a Vitamix) and blend until smooth. Pour into glasses and serve. Enjoy!

*Variation* Substitute 4C pinapple chunks for the apple. (Yummy!)

Rawdiculous Collard Salad

I have come to love collards! So I am always looking for ways to use them saw. This is a delicious salad that you can very for subtly different flavors. I recommend cutting your collards into small 1/4 inch wide by 1-2" long ribbons. Or if you have something that will shred it, you might consider that. It is a hardy green, so the smaller the pieces, the easier it is to chew. (My picture shows wider ribbons, which is fine if you re a die-hard collard fan...but most will prefer it thinner/smaller.) This recipe makes roughly 2 main servings or 4-6 sides.

1 inch of fresh ginger, peeled and grated
1 clove of garlic minced
approx. 1T raw honey
approx. 1T xv pressed olive oil, flax oil or coconut oil
about 1/4 tsp black pepper(fresh ground is wonderful!)
1/4 tsp + of sea salt, herbal seas salt or 1T Braggs Liquid Aminos or Nama Shoyu

1 bunch of collard greens, rib removed and cut into strips or shred
1 red bell pepper, diced
1 small cucumber, chopped small (peeled if waxed)
(Sweet pea sprouts optional)

1. In a large bowl make the dressing.
2. Put the collard strips in the bowl and toss well to coat.(I like to use my hands or tongs). I like to rub it against the sides to get all the goodies.
3. Add veggies and toss lightly just one or twice.

This salad can be made ahead or it can be make to order and eaten right away.

ENJOY!

If you would like a little bit more of a kick, add a pinch of crushed red pepper to your dressing, or increase your garlic. :-)

The Laughing Gorilla

I used to think that Smoothies were always yogurt or kefir based, (which are still yummy mind you!). However, my eyes have been opened to vegan smoothies of all sorts, that are packed with good things! I am going to share with you the combinations that we discover and like. :-) This one is a recipe from Valya Boutenko.

The Laughing Gorilla
1 half of Romain Lettuce (I used 1 Romain Heart)
2 ripe frozen bananas, peeled
2 oranges, peeled and seeded
1 mango
2C water

Makes 2 Quarts

Put is all in the Vitamix and blend until smooth. It takes a minute to break down the lettuce until it is nie and smooth - so be sure to let it do that or you will have to hew your smoothy. :-0

This is drink is light and refreshing. Drink your salad! :-)

My Favorite Kale Chips / Kale Salad

These kale chips are so amazing! My favorite recipe to date. This recipe fills one 9 tray Excalibur. In our house we make a double or quadruple batch at a time if we have the kale! We have 2 dehydrators and this makes an excellent tossed fresh salad too! It is very hard not to snack half the batch away while putting onto the trays! (You have been warned.) It is neat how the flavors changed once it has been dried too. This recipes is like 2 for 1!

3/4C Sesame Seeds (or prepared tahini)
1/4C Tamari Sauce (we use Braggs Liquid Aminos) Or Noma Shoyu if you can get it
1/2C Apple Cider Vinegar (raw is best!)
1/2C Pure Water
1 Green Onion
1/4 tsp Sea Salt
1/4C Fresh Parsley
2 large bunches of Kale, washed with ribs removed

1. In a high power blender, mix all the ingredients together except the kale. If you don't have a high powered blender, you sesame seeds might not get crushed well into the sauce. I would put the seeds and a little water in first to make a paste, then add the remaining ingredients. If it gives you trouble you could buy tahini instead of using seeds.

2. Put the washed, ribbed kale in a large bowl. Drizzle sauce and mix well to coat than lay out on onto your dehydrator sheets. Dry in your dehydrator on 105 until crisp. Time varies based on humidity and type of kale used. Its about 8 hours + -

If you turned up your heat it would go faster, but it would take some enzymes with it and would no longer be raw. No dehydrator or time? If you don't mind loosing the raw benefits, you can make these in the oven on a moderate temp (around 325-350) for about 10 minutes or until crisp. Similar to backing crackers. So you could enjoy this amazing recipe even if you don't have a dehydrator. For my fellow homesteaders, who want to do it off grid - put a rack above your wood stove or but them in a solar oven until crisp, and enjoy!

***A note on using this as a dressing. We absolutely LOVE it..but Little goes a long way. So you might consider reduein the dressing in half or doubling the kale. (We like to double the kale to 4 bunches!) :-)

Breaking my Juice Fast

This is the third day of breaking my Juice Feast and all is going well. I started with soaked prunes as directed and juicing for my first two days. I am passing my new solids well, so I moved forward and started eating fresh juicy fruit and kalamata olives. ( I think I was suppose to wait until today for the olives though...but they just sounded so good!) Now I am going to have salads, fruit and olives today. I have also had a couple things that weren't protocal. Lst night I had some homemade tomato soup and this morning I had some collard greens sauteed with garlic. Things seem to be going well. But it does seem weird to to really feel the food go through my body! It is interesting how it is has made me more sensitive to the inner working of my body (and I thought I WAS in tune with it). So that is just another benefit that I am thankful for, in my juice fast. :-)

Hailey's Favorite Cheezy Kale Chips / Kale Salad

I also think this recipe is delicious! Likewise it makes a yummy tossed salad when made fresh. This recipe fills one 9 tray Excaliber.

3/4C sesame seeds or premade tahini
1/4C Braggs Liquid Aminos
1/4C Apple Cider Vinegar
1/4C Water
1 clove of Garlic
juice of one Lemon
1/4C Nutritional Yeast

2 bunches of Kale, stemmed

1. In a high power blender, mix all the ingredients together except the kale. If you don't have a high powered blender, you sesame seeds might not get crushed well into the sauce. I would put the seeds and a little water in first to make a paste, then add the remaining ingredients. If it gives you trouble you could buy tahini instead of using seeds.

2. Put the washed, ribbed kale in a large bowl. Drizzle sauce and mix well to coat than lay out on onto your dehydrator sheets. Dry in your dehydrator on 105 until crisp. Time varies based on humidity and type of kale used. Its about 8 hours + -

If you turned up your heat it would go faster, but it would take some enzymes with it and would no longer be raw. No dehydrator or time? If you don't mind loosing the raw benefits, you can make these in the oven on a moderate temp (around 325-350) for about 10 minutes or until crisp. Similar to backing crackers. So you could enjoy this amazing recipe even if you don't have a dehydrator. For my fellow homesteaders, who want to do it off grid - put a rack above your wood stove or but them in a solar oven until crisp, and enjoy!

***A note on using this as a dressing. We absolutely LOVE it..but Little goes a long way. So you might consider reduein the dressing in half or doubling the kale. (We like to double the kale to 4 bunches!) :-)