100% FRUIT SORBET

I've been making these fruit sorbets for years and they are a wonderful alternative to the sugar laden sherbets and sorbets found on the market.  They are nutritionally superior, taste better and are far less expensive than anything organic you can purchase at the health food store. You are getting the whole fruit.  Freezing only affects the enzymes and nutrients a small degree compared to cooked foods. To make the sorbet all you do is freeze any fruit of your choice, berries, mango, peaches, whatever you like. When frozen run these frozen fruits through a champion juicer with the blank attachment instead of the screen. When you use the screen the juices come out the screen, when you use the blank nothing comes out there. So everything comes out the end  from which the leftover juice fibers usually fall. So you end up with a creamy frozen mass. You could try to make it in a blender, but you would have to add liquid and keep turning off the blender to stir it around with a chop stick.  Sweet peaches and strawberries in season make really great tasting sorbet. I just made one with organic frozen strawberries, frozen papaya and organic ripe frozen bananas. Bananas are a terrific way to naturally sweeten sorbets. If some type of sweetner must be added, I generally avoid adding honey since it tends to freeze up and not distribute evenly. Raw sugar is good. Liquid stevia is an option. There are some really good tasting liquid stevias out there and some really bad tasting ones. I avoid the powdered kind and opt for the liquid from companies I can trust to deliver taste and quality.

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PINE NUT MILK

Pine nuts are high in iron, magnesium, potassium and protein. They are unique in that they are the only source of pinoleic acid which helps stimulate hormones that suppress the appetite. They are also high in oleic acid which helps protect the heart. Pine nuts produce a lovely white creamy milk. Adding 2 tablespoons of honey will offset the slight bitter taste. Some of the best loved foods are bitter, like chocolate for instance and may require a bit more sweetner in order to be appreciated.  It is fun experiencing all different types of flavors.

PINE NUT MILK RECIPE

½ cup pine nuts

3 cups pure water

2 heaping tablespoons of honey

Put the nuts and water in a blender and blend well. Pour the milk into a nut bag and squeeze out all the liquid and oil. Pour liquid back into blender, add the honey and blend well. Transfer to a quart jar and refrigerate. It will keep about two days in the refrigerator.

There was only a tablespoon of the pine nut leftovers. Not wanting to waste it,  I added a good pinch of sea salt, a pinch of nutritional yeast, dash onion powder, about ¼ teaspoon quality olive oil and about ¼ teaspoon of balsamic vinegar to make a sort of cheese like spread.

HEMP MILK RECIPE

Hemp milk is easy to make and delicious. It is high in protein, minerals and contains 3,6 and 9 omega oils. The seeds are higher in omega 3 than walnuts. Hemp seeds contain no THC or any other psychoactive compounds.

Hemp Milk

1 cup hemp seeds

3 cups pure water

pinch salt

raw honey

Put the seeds and water in a blender and blend well to produce a white liquid. Pour the liquid in a nut bag which has been placed over a quart size measuring cup. Squeeze out all the the liquid until you have a dry pulp. Save the pulp. Return the milk to the blender. Add 1 tablespoon of raw honey and a pinch of Himalayan or Utah Red salt and blend until well mixed.  Pour into quart glass jar and store in the refrigerator.  Use as you would any milk.   

OMEGA 3,6,9 COOKIES

It seems that we only hear about the benefits of omega 3 oils.  Perhaps the standard American diet may weigh too heavily on the 6 and 9 omegas, but if you are like me and you do not consume a great deal of the other oils in the form of baked goods and salad dressings, then this does not apply. Consuming only omega 3's did not help me eliminate my health problems. It wasn't until I added a balance of 3,6,9 omegas that I noticed an improvement in my skin, energy level and general feeling of well-being. I find it best to consume these oils in their natural state in fresh foods since oils tend to become rancid very quickly.  Here is a delicious raw cookie recipe which contains all omegas. 

3,6,9 COOKIES

Put 1 cup of raw walnuts and 1 cup of raw cashews in a food processor and grind to a flour. Take out and place in a bowl. Put 6 big medjool dates in the processor and add back the nut flour along with a pinch of high mineral salt and about two teaspoons of pure vanilla extract. Take out the sticky cookie dough and form into small pressed rounds. Refrigerate and eat as is or dehydrate them overnight. You can form them into balls and then roll them in raw grated coconut or raw cacoa if you wish.

For more omega 3, you can add more walnuts and or flaxseed.

Melon Juice Anyone?

Most people don't think about juicing watermelon, cantaloupe or honeydews but their high water content make them the perfect fruit to juice. You can't find a more satisfying, refreshing summer beverage.  Melons are a valuable source of vitamins, carotenoids, carbohydrates, minerals and enzymes. They have antioxidant and free-radical scavenging benefits and they flush out toxins from the body. So break out you juicer this summer and make your own natural electrolyte thirst quenching drinks by juicing melons.

Chocolate Coconut Milk

Since coconuts are being irradiated and I do not have time for the laborious process of preparing a whole coconut anyway,  I make my coconut milk out of organic shredded coconut.  No need to soak the coconut overnight.  You simply put 1 cup of unsweetened shredded coconut in a blender with 3 cups of pure water. Blend for a minute, let sit a couple of minutes and blend another minute.  Pour the liquid in a nut bag that has been placed over a jar or quart sized measuring cup.  Squeeze the bag tight to get out all the liquid and coconut cream. Put the milk back in the blender, add a pinch or two of high mineral salt, 2 teaspoons vanilla extract, 2 tablespoons of raw honey, 1 to 2 tablespoons of raw cacao powder and blend a few seconds to mix well. Pour into a jar and refrigerate.  The cream will rise to the top.  You can gently break it up with the tines of a fork.  Save the leftover coconut to make delicious raw cookies.  You can substitute carob in the place of cacao if you prefer.
The benefits of coconut are almost endless.  Coconut kills viruses, bacteria,  parasites and fights candida while cleansing the intestines and colon. Coconut is rich in lauric acid a medium chain fatty acid also found in human breast milk.  Lauric acid is a natural saturated fat easily utilized by the body to boost energy and protect the heart by reducing bad LDL cholesterol and increasing good HDL cholesterol.                            
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Nutritious, high fiber cookie

I wanted a raw cookie, made out of leftover almond pulp, that tastes like the traditional peanut butter cookie and came up with this quick and easy recipe.  I dried the almond pulp in a dehydrator.  If you do not have a dehydrator, you can dry it in an oven overnight with the oven light on.  This cookie recipe is not all raw, but you can substitute a raw nut butter, like raw almond butter or raw walnut butter, to make it all raw.  We wanted peanut butter cookies, so I used peanut butter.  Peanut is a legume and, unless you are allergic to them, can be eaten raw.  However, since they are difficult to digest, I used lightly roasted peanuts for this recipe. Everyone likes it and kids love it!

SEMI-RAW PEANUT BUTTER COOKIES
1 1/2 cups dried almond flour (this is dried leftover pulp after making almond milk)
1/2 teaspoon high quality, high mineral salt like Utah Red or Himalayan salt
1/2 c. freshly made peanut butter (some grocery stores offer peanut butter freshly ground in machines while you wait)
1/4 c. raw honey
Mix together the almond flour and salt.  Add the peanut butter and honey and mix really well.  Form into balls and then pat out into little cookie sized patties.  Dip a fork in a little pure vanilla extract and press cookies to further flatten them.  Dry them in a dehydrator at the lowest temperature or put them in the oven with the oven light on.  Drying times vary depending on the weather.  In the summer, it takes about an hour in my dehydrator.  Anything cooked over 115 degrees is considered a cooked food. My dehydrator has a very low setting beginning at 85 degrees.  I avoid going beyond 95 degrees.

We had a fourth bottle of organic red wine leftover from dinner several nights ago, so I decided to turn it into an iron tonic.  I juiced 4 medium sized beets which yielded approximately ½ c. beet juice and added it to the wine. An ounce with dinner not only purifies and builds blood but is also good for the digestion. Wine aids digestion and beets contain betaine hydrochloride which helps digest food as well. Red wine is high in antioxidants including resveratrol. Red beets contain a wealth of beautifying minerals and vitamins. 

Almond milk doesn't last long around here so we have plenty of leftover almond pulp to use up.  Here is a raw cookie recipe I threw together today.  Everyone seems to like it. I dried the pulp by spreading it out on a parchment lined tray and dehydrating it at 110 degrees until dry. If you don't have a dehydrator, you can do the same thing in an oven by spreading the pulp out on a cookie sheet with the oven light on.  It only took a couple of hours and then I left it overnight without the dehydrator on.

Raw Almond Cookies
1 3/4 c. leftover almond pulp
8-15 pitted diced dates (if you use medjool dates it will take less since they are bigger and sweeter)
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
1 or 2 pinches of Utah Red or Himalayan salt
3-4 tablespoons raw almond butter
Place in a food processor and mix to form dough.  If you do not have a FP, you can use a blender. You will have to stop the blender every now and then to move around the mixture that forms around the blades. A chop stick is a handy kitchen tool for going around the edges of the blades when the blender is off.  When mixed enough, transfer to a bowl and mix again if necessary.  Roll into balls and flatten.  You can eat them as is or you can dehydrate them overnight at 110 degrees.  They don't last long enough to dehydrate around here!  You can vary the recipe any way that you like according to preference.  Instead of flattening them, you could roll them in chopped nuts, coconut or cacoa.  You could dip them in chocolate.  You can do all kinds of things.

I made a raw filling for lettuce wraps using some leftover almond pulp.  Here is the recipe:
In a food processor put:
1/2 cup walnuts
1 large, diced Portabella mushroom cap
1 chopped garlic clove
2 teaspoons miso
a squirt of Bragg's Liquid Aminos
Process until the mixture forms a paste.
Put mixture in a bowl and add:
1/2 cup leftover almond pulp
3 tablespoons minced onion
1/4 c. finely chopped red pepper
1/4 c. finely chopped green pepper
a dash of cayenne
1/2 teaspoon cumin powder
Mix well.  Fill lettuce leaves with the mixture.

You can use your leftover almond pulp to create delicious recipes. I made this batch of cookies yesterday out of what I had on hand.

RAW CACOA COOKIES
Place your leftover almond pulp in a food processor.  Add 1/2 c. raw cacoa powder. Sprinkle a pinch of quality sea salt over the mixture. Add 1 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract and 3 tablespoons of melted coconut oil.  (Coconut oil is easy to melt if you place it in a small jar and put the jar in a bowl of hot water.) Add 1 cup of raisins or chopped dates.  Process to mix.  Form into balls and freeze until set. These are loaded minerals and fiber. If you are anemic, use raisins instead of dates and you will have a highly absorbable iron food. You can substitute and add anything you like.  It's fun to experiment!

Making a creamy, delicious almond milk is easy.  All you do is soak 1 cup of raw almonds overnight by putting them in a bowl and covering them with water.  In the morning, drain off the water.  Put the nuts in a blender with 3 cups pure, filtered water.  Blend very well until it turns white like milk.  Place a nut bag or washed, clean (never been used for paint) paint strainer bag over a quart size measuring cup or quart jar.  Cheesecloth also works, but not as well as the bags.  Squeeze the liquid out of the bag until the contents are dry.  Use whatever method works best for you. I usually start at the top of the bag and work down to milk out the almond milk making sure to squeeze out the oil as well which forms the cream.  Save the almond solids to use in a raw recipe.  Pour the liquid back into the blender and add 2 pinches of quality sea salt, 1 or 2 tablespoons of raw honey, 1 vanilla pod or 2 teaspoons of pure vanilla extract.  If you want it extra creamy, you can add a pinch of zanathan powder.
Note:  You can freeze leftover almond pulp for future use or place on dehydrator sheet and dehydrate it at 100 degrees until dry to use in raw recipes.  It could also be used as a skin exfoliant when you bathe or shower.