Chocolate-Hazelnut Stuffed Kumquats

While flipping through raw recipe books at Mirador, I caught a glimpse of a gorgeous and inspiring recipe in Naked Chocolate. After a quick stop for kumquats on the way home, a new dessert was born. Note for all my recipes: I seldom measure ingredients, but rather prepare foods instinctively and taste/adjust along the way.

Chocolate-Hazelnut Stuffed Kumquats

• 1/2 C raw hazelnuts
• 8 dates (maybe fewer – I used very moist & small barhi dates)
• 2 T raw cacao powder
• 1 T coconut oil
• 1/4 t salt
• splash of vanilla extract

Grind the hazelnuts into small bits in a food processor. Add the remaining ingredients and grind until well combined. Cut kumquats in half lengthwise and remove the pulp and seeds by hand. Fill with yummy chocolatey mixture. Enjoy!

Photo credit: The amazing Mark Colman

Raw Pad Thai, Thai Salad & Warm Fudge Brownie with Ice Cream!

Finally, I’m getting around to writing about the most amazing meal that I made for Valentine’s Day dinner. All these dishes are best described as culinary masterpieces …. not that I’m bragging 🙂

Raw Pad Thai

I consulted three raw books for Pad Thai recipes, but no single recipe sounded perfect for my taste. So I created my own version that combined my favorite elements from Raw, Raw Transformation and Raw Food Real World.

Equal amounts of the following for the “noodles”

• Flesh from one young Thai coconut, julienned
• Carrot, shredded or spiralized
• Zucchini, shredded or spiralized
• Red cabbage, shredded
• Red bell pepper, julienned

Sauce – blend the following

• 1/4 C almond butter
• 1T tahini
• 1T minced ginger
• 2T lime juice
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1/4 C coconut water, more as needed
• 1T tamarind paste
• 3 dates
• 1/2 jalapeno, more or less to taste (or red Thai chili)
• 1T nama shoyu

Garnish

• Cilantro
• Spicy cashews (soaked cashews cayenne salt agave)

Thai Salad (revised recipe from Everyday Raw)

• mixed baby salad greens
• red bell pepper
• tomato
• pineapple
• avocado
• cilantro

Dressing

• sesame oil
• cashews
• lime juice
• agave
• jalapeño or Thai chili
• salt

Warm Fudge Brownie with Cherry-Chocolate-Chip Ice Cream (revised recipe from Everyday Raw)

• cashew flour
• hazelnut flour
• cacao powder
• agave
• water
• salt
• vanilla
• cinnamon

Mix all ingredients by hand into a very thick batter. Pour and spread into glass baking dish lined with parchment paper and dehydrate at very low temperature overnight. Remove from dish, cut into squares, and dehydrate several hours more.

Cherry-Chip Ice Cream (revised recipe from Everyday Raw)

• cashews
• frozen banana
• frozen cherries
• water
• coconut oil
• agave
• cacao nibs
• vanilla
• salt

Blend all except for cacao nibs in BlendTec on “ice cream” setting until smooth. Stir in cacao nibs and pour into ice cream maker or freeze as is and stir frequently.

Enjoy!

Photo credit: The amazing Mark Colman

Blueberry-Cardamom Truffles

Chocolatey, spicy, sweet, perfectly balanced and, of course, raw. These truffles are too good to keep on hand. I mean, go ahead and make a double batch — just don’t expect them to stay around twice as long. I had a hell of a time getting a certain someone to wait until dessert!

Based on recipe from @tofu666 pictured here.

Blueberry-Cardamom Truffles

• 1/2 cup raw cacao
• 1/2 cup raw hazelnuts
• 1/3 cup blueberries (can be frozen)
• 1/3 cup raisins (soaked if not very moist)
• 1 T raw, dark agave (more if mixture is too dry)
• 1 T coconut oil
• 1/2 t cinnamon
• 1/2 t cardamom (maybe a smidgen more)
• 1/4 t cayenne
• 1/4 t vanilla powder
• Pinch of Himalayan crystal salt
• Coconut for rolling

Grind everything except the coconut in a food processor until fully combined and smooth, then refrigerate for a few hours. With wet hands, roll into 1-1/2″ balls, then roll in coconut. Enjoy!

Photo credit: The amazing Mark Colman

Superfood Breakfast Smoothie

My love and I have a superfood smoothie for breakfast every day, and enjoy it so much there’s no desire to partake of other raw breakfast options. This smoothie serves as the foundation of our health and raw success. It packs such a nutritional punch that one could eat less than optimally the remainder of the day, yet rest assured that an enormous variety vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, enzymes, etc. have been consumed.

This recipe is my own twist on a hybrid of Matt Amsden’s recipe in RAWvolution and David Wolfe’s video. I’ve added the E3Live, green powder, chia seeds, banana and lecithin for added nutrition and creaminess, while omitting the coconut water/meat to keep cost and effort to a minimum.

To purchase superfoods or learn more about their health benefits, follow the links below. You may also be able to locate many of these ingredients at your local coop or other natural foods grocery.

Superfood Breakfast Smoothie (serves two)

• 2 cups water
• 1 cup or more frozen cherries/berries (makes for frothy and cold smoothie!)
• 1 medium or large banana
• 1 handful goji berries
• 2 T E3Live
• 2 T coconut oil (aka, coconut butter)
• 1 T cacao powder
• 1 T hemp seeds or chia seeds
• 1 T bee pollen
• 2 t Vitamineral Green
• 2 t mesquite powder
• 2 t lucuma
• 2 t maca
• 2 t yacon powder
• 2 t dulse
• 1 t lecithin
• 2 pinches Himalayan crystal salt
• 1/4 t cayenne, or more if you can take it 😉

Unless you have a KTec or Vitamix blender, you will need to blend very well. Enjoy!

Photo credit: The amazing Mark Colman

Raw Middle-Eastern Feast: Falafel Wraps with Hummus & Tabbouleh

Middle-Eastern flavors are simply divine: lemony and garlicky with seductively aromatic spices. My long-time Lebanese favorites are hummus and tabbouleh, but I always found falafel too heavy. Maybe because it’s, well, deep fried? Conversely, this raw falafel recipe is sublime – light yet filling.

Raw Falafel Wraps with Hummus (courtesy of the very talented Russell James)

This recipe may seem a bit daunting to uninitiated raw chef, but it’s really quite simple to put together. If you don’t have a dehydrator, I suggest skipping the wrap and either serving the falafel sans drying or “baked” at the lowest possible oven temperature with the door slightly ajar. The falafel are lovely on a salad drizzled with hummus, or inside a romaine lettuce wrap.

Tabbouleh (modified recipe from RAWvolution)

• hemp seeds
• tomato
• parsley
• garlic
• lemon
• salt

Unnecessary directions: Chop it up, mix in bowl, eat!

Photo credit: The amazing Mark Colman