Rooibos Tea and Date Ice Cream - Revisited

Dates contain nutrients such as fiber and potassium and are rich in vitamins A1, B1, B2, B3 and B5! Rooibos tea is caffeine-free and rich with minerals such as iron, calcium, potassium, copper, fluoride, manganese, zinc and magnesium and antioxidants! For healthy dairy free ice cream, try out my recipe that includes Rooibos tea and dates. This recipe does not require an ice cream maker to create. Enjoy!

Click here for recipe.

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Living Foods - Banana Nut Muffins (dehydrated and live with enzymes)

Living foods are raw foods (vegan) that contains enzymes, vitamins, and minerals that the body needs to heal and maintain optimal health. The 2 types of enzymes in our bodies are digestive and metabolic enzymes. Digestive enzymes digest food and metabolic enzymes carry out our body's functions. The digestive and metabolic enzymes in our bodies are in competition with each other. When we eat more raw food (live with enzymes), the digestive enzyme potential in our bodies does not have to be used for digesting, and so allows the metabolic enzymes, that run our body and keeps all organs and tissues working properly, to rebuild new and healthy cells. On the other hand, when we eat cooked foods, digestive enzymes are needed to digest these dead foods, which also accumulate in the body for years and become acidic causing disease. The constant use of digestive enzymes slows down the use of metabolic enzymes which in turn, slow down our healing/regenerating process that prevents us from maintaining optimal health.
We love our dehydrator and have recently come up with a recipe for 'Living Banana Nut Muffins'. All the ingredients used contain enzymes and have not been cooked. Our nuts were sprouted and we used fresh shredded coconut along with dried dates for added sweetness. We also topped them off with some raw cacao nibs. We absolutely loved the results and felt they tasted just like baked banana nut muffins! See recipe below.

Below: Before and after photos of our living muffins made in our dehydrator.

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Cacao Dipped Coconut Donut Holes

Coconut flour is a great choice for baking! Although we don't bake much, we do have the occasional baked good made with organic coconut flour. It is a gluten free flour that is not grain based, so it doesn't need to be pre-soaked for 24-48 hours. Check out our recipe below for 'Cacao Dipped Coconut Donut Holes' made with coconut flour. We glazed our donut holes in honey and then rolled them in homemade shredded coconut. When you glaze food with honey, it helps in pre-digestion.  We also dipped them in raw cacao syrup made with coconut oil. Very healthy and tasty! Enjoy!

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Gluten Free Gingerbread Men

'Tis the season for homemade gluten free gingerbread cookies. Our simple cookie recipe is made with freshly ground ginger! Ginger boosts immunity and has anti-inflammatory compounds called gingerols. It can reduce muscle pains and soreness due to these anti-inflammatory benefits. It can help with digestion and improve brain function through the use of it's antioxidants and bioactive compounds. We included the spices nutmeg and cinnamon. Cinnamon has anti-fungal, antibacterial and anti-parasitic properties! We also pre-soaked our flour for 24 hours prior to baking in order to release the enzyme inhibitors in processed flour. Enjoy!

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Ice Cream 'Cannoli' - Raw

For our latest raw dessert, we made Ice Cream 'Cannoli' topped with a 'caramel' sauce made of raw organic honey. Raw honey predigests food! It has a significant amount of plant amyalse which does not come from the bee, but from the pollen of the flowers. You can predigest food when you eat raw honey, and the more you chew, the more digestion takes place. Check out our recipe below for the 'cannoli' shell and assembly process. Enjoy!

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Lemon Hemp Seed Cookies

Hemp seeds are very healthy and can be incorporated into baking. They contain many nutrients such as iron, calcium and vitamin D. Lemons have unique phytonutrient properties and are an excellent source of vitamin C. For our latest cookie recipe, we baked Lemon Hemp Seed Cookies that were made with a blend of pre-soaked gluten free flours. The cookies were tasty and slightly fluffy in the center - check out our simple recipe below. Enjoy!

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Rooibos Tea and Date Ice Cream

The benefits of Rooibos tea includes minerals and antioxidants! For our latest dairy free ice cream recipe, we created a 'Rooibos and Date Ice Cream' that is not only healthy but also sweet and refreshing. Dates contain nutrients and are rich in vitamins A1, B1, B2, B3 and B5! (Recipe is below.) Does not require an ice cream maker to create recipe. Enjoy!

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Simple Date Tarts - Nut free

Dates are naturally sweetened and healthy for you. They contain nutrients such as calcium, fiber, amino acids, sulfur, iron, manganese, magnesium, phosphorous, copper and potassium. They are also a good source of dietary fiber and are rich in vitamins A1, B1, B2, B3 and B5. We love the flavor in butter tarts and noticed that our dried dates tasted similar to butter and sugar, so we decided to make some simple date tarts that consist of only 4 ingredients! The date filling is raw and nut free so it is a good choice for those who presently have nut allergies. The tart crust is gluten free and grain free so they are very healthy! See recipe below. Enjoy!

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Red Beet And Carrot Cookies

Juicing is healthy. After making some beet and carrot juice we decided to use the leftover pulp to make some cookies! We use a Breville juicer for our vegetables and save the pulp because it still contains about 20% of the juice after juicing. We followed most of our Beet Carrot Cacao Mini Muffins recipe but we added more beet and carrot and didn't add the cacao powder. The cookies are gluten free and dairy free so they are healthy and tasty! See recipe below. Enjoy!

TIP: Shape these cookies into hearts, using a heart shaped cookie cutter, for your love ones on Valentines Day!

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Gluten Free Coconut Donut Holes

Heating cooking oil changes its chemistry - oils that are healthy at room temperature can become unhealthy when heated above certain temperatures. However, Coconut oil is heat stable, so it is suitable for cooking at high temperatures. Coconut oil contains lauric acid which turns into monolaurin when digested. Monolaurin is an antibacterial and antiviral substance and has been used to fight viruses, bacteria, yeast and fungi. Coconut oil is predominantly medium-chain fatty acid (MCFA). The liver and gall bladder do not need to digest and emulsify MCFA, so consuming coconut oil results in energy, increased metabolic rate and increased circulation.
Our latest gluten free recipe is 'Coconut Donut Holes' made with coconut oil, coconut flour, shredded coconut and coconut palm powder/nectar. We pan fried the donut holes with organic coconut oil so they are healthy to eat! See recipe below. We also made a 'hard chocolate sauce' using cacao and coconut oil instead of butter. Very healthy and tasty!

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Cauliflower Rice With Lentils and Shiitake Mushrooms

Cauliflower has excellent health benefits and is often used for detoxification because of the antioxidants and anti-inflammatory nutrients it provides! Since we're adding more raw foods to our diet, but enjoy eating rice, we created a cauliflower rice dish to test out as an alternative to rice. We want a wide range of options if we go 100% raw so we are going to be putting everything to the test. We added a small amount of cooked French green lentils and lightly fried our shiitake mushrooms, onions and garlic with some coconut oil. We waited for the lentils and mushrooms to cool down before adding them to our raw dish. We also had a side of our delicious Avocado Soup so we could incorporate more raw food to our dinner. And for dessert, a yummy homemade ice cream sundae topped with pumpkin seeds. It was a tasty and energizing meal! We are definitely going to be making cauliflower rice again and possibly replacing our brown rice with it. See 'rice' recipe below. Enjoy!

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Homemade Fudgesicles With Pumpkin Seeds

The best raw dessert we have tried so far is homemade ice cream. It's organic, dairy-free and sugar free! It contains enzymes, nutrients and antioxidants! There is a variety of flavors that we choose from including strawberry, vanilla, cacao, and green tea. Over the weekend, we purchased some IKEA Popsicle Makers for only $1.99! We used our ice cream recipe and tried it out on the popsicle makers. The result was tasty fudgesicles! See recipe below. We also made some fresh cacao syrup that we dipped our fudgesicles in, once they were frozen. And then we topped it all of with chopped organic pumpkin seeds... yummy!

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Beet Carrot Cacao Mini Muffins

For a while now, we've been wanting to bake something with the left over pulp from our carrot and beet juices. We always save the left over shredded coconut and frequently use it for baking so we thought it was about time we do the same when we juice beets and carrots. We have a generic muffin recipe that we created to use when we make muffins. The recipe is similar to our 'Apple Cinnamon Oats Muffins' recipe except instead of using shredded coconut, we replaced it with the beet and carrot pulp, and instead of cinnamon we added cacao (see recipe below). We also don't bake with raw honey any more but instead drizzle it on our baked goods once they have been baked and cooled off, this way we get the nutrients and enzymes that honey provides. Enjoy!

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Mini Cacao Zucchini 'Flat' Cakes

We love cacao because it tastes just like chocolate, but is a healthier alternative because it contains antioxidants. We're still baking with pre-soaked gluten free flours until we decide to go 100% raw. We are still experimenting with raw foods and are at least incorporating it in our diet 80% of the time.

Below: Mini Cacao Zucchini 'Flat' Cakes made two ways - one with a scoop of homemade dairy free cacao ice cream and the other sprinkled with shredded coconut and nuts. See recipe below. Enjoy!

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Dinner And Dessert

For a week now, we have been incorporating raw foods in our diet! Whether we eat 100 % raw all day or 70% raw, we are finding it to be beneficial. There is energy in raw foods that energize you after a meal instead of making you feel tired. We love green curry rice and decided to experiment with a raw version of green curry milk over a bed of pre-soaked (cooked) gluten free brown rice. The results were amazing! The rice was pre-soaked for 24 hours and then cooked. We did the green curry paste separate and added homemade coconut milk* to it. The garlic and onions were soaking in water for 15 minutes and then added to create the curry paste. Once the rice was cooked, we let it sit until it got to about 100°. We then poured the green curry with coconut milk in the rice and stirred for 2-3  minutes. The subtle warmness helped the green curry milk mix well with the rice and it tasted really good! We topped it off with some fresh guacamole and cilantro. We also made some Green Tea Ice Cream (see recipe below). Give it a try!

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Double Dose Of Oats

In earlier posts we mentioned the importance of pre-soaking grains, seeds, nuts and even flour! When you pre-soak grains, nuts and seeds, you are releasing nutrients and enzymes that allow you to digest food more easily. We pre-soaked some oats for 24 hours and created a new recipe for muffins, using coconut flour. Unlike other flours, coconut flour does not need to be soaked because it is neither a grain or nut. We were inspired by BakerStreet to create 'Apple Cinnamon Crumb Muffins'. We don't use most of the ingredients the recipe called for so we had to do our own rendition with coconut flour (see recipe below). We also baked a new version of our Oats and Shredded Coconut Cookies made with pre-soaked brown rice flour (recipe coming soon). Enjoy!

Below: NEW Oats and Shredded Coconut Cookies and Apple Cinnamon Oats Muffins'.

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A Raw Menu

Over the weekend, we decided to eat strictly raw meals! So far, the only issue we seem to have with raw foods is tolerating the strength of raw onions, raw garlic and raw ginger. We created recipes that would create a milder taste (from the power of raw onions) by incorporating plenty of vegetables and coconut cream. The food tasted amazing! It consisted of appetizers, a main course and double desserts (recipe for ice-cream is available at the bottom of the post, Gazpacho recipe coming soon...). Enjoy!

Below: A Raw Menu - Appetizers (Cucumber Rolls with veggies), Main course (Gazpacho Soup with corn, avocado and coconut cream) and Desserts (Homemade Cacao Ice cream and a Watermelon Bowl topped with fresh honey).

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'We're all spiritual, electrical, unlimited beings.'

Quote By: Lou Corona

Fresh, raw foods and cultured/fermented foods have energy in them! According to Lou Corona, when food is cooked at 105 degrees, the enzymes (energy) begin to die. Once food is cooked past 118°, the life energy is gone! Once the life energy of food is gone, we can still gain some nutrition but we have to use more of our own energy to digest the food, which in turn drains our life source - the enzymes in our body! So basically, we can gain energy from raw foods instead of wasting energy trying to digest stubborn foods! We've decided to eat more raw foods to experiment and find out if we need to go completely raw.
Other than our ice-cream recipes (coming soon), we haven't prepared much raw desserts so we got inspired by this Cherry Tart recipe. There is also a similar recipe here. Both look amazing! We slightly modified the original recipe and created our own 'Nut- free Cherry Tart' recipe! You definitely feel energized after eating raw foods, which includes smoothies and vegetable juices. Our recipe is a good choice for people who presently have nut allergies. Enjoy!

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Homemade Ice Cream

The weather has finally called for ice cream! We've been making it almost every day now, in three different flavors (peanut butter, strawberry and chocolate). Our homemade ice-cream is dairy free and easy to make - without the use of an ice cream machine! Recipe is coming soon...

Below: Peanut Butter Ice Cream and Cacao Ice-Cream topped with pistachios. A healthy treat packed with enzymes and antioxidants!

Ice-cream recipe can be found here. Enjoy!

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Homemade Cacao Chunks

When we stopped eating chocolate, but wanted to have some chocolate chips, we discovered the closest thing to it was carob chips. Carob chips taste just like chocolate but are highly nutritious. Unfortunately we have not been able to find any organic carob chips so we haven't had any for quite some time. We were inspired to make double chocolate chunk cookies but were trying to figure out how we could make cacao chunks from cacao powder. With some imagination, we created our own homemade raw cacao chips. (see recipe below)

Below: Organic double cacao chunk cookies and oatmeal cacao chunk cookies made with homemade rice milk and gluten free flours. Yummy!

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