Rockin' Raw Nori Rolls

Really this is a great appetizer or main meal to share with your friends and family who are interested in raw food. If you haven't tried raw food than this is for you. It is simple but packed with flavour. Just for the record...there is no raw fish here.

In my personal opinion this is an easy, fast, yummy dish! I remember when my sister tried this. She is also an avid foodie. She loved it and kept talking about it for about a week or more afterwards. It is really simple to do and of course as with most raw food it is GREAT for you. HINT...This is one time that you might want to double the ingredients.

This recipe is adapted from Cafe Gratitude. So let's get started. The first step is to go buy some organic pumpkin seeds. Pumpkin seeds are great for you and are a good source of protein and zinc. Soaking time varies from about 4-6 hours. I just put mind in water before I go to bed. Soaking nuts and seeds helps start the sprouting process and increase the nutritional value of it. As well it removes enzyme inhibitors present in nuts/seeds that keep the seed dormant. After you have soaked the seeds make sure to rinse them off and drain well before using in any recipe.



Put the pumpkin seeds in the processor with some ginger, scallions and tamari or Nama Shoyu. Add any Asian seasoning of your choice. I do love cilantro so I added a little to mine. I used just over one cup of pumpkin seeds. If you have a smaller amount it can be a little harder to get smooth in the food processor. I add about 1 tbs of water to mine to help it get nice and smooth.



Once processed it looks like this. Scrap out and put into a bowl.



Next take a Nori wrap and get started. You will notice that my nori wrap below is a black. This is actually a roasted wrap. Raw Nori are available on line and at some health food stores. Depending on where you live you may have to do a special online order. Today this is all I had at home so I used to. Start to put the pumpkin seeds mixture on the wrap, followed by the toppings of your choice. I put avocado, red pepper, shredded carrots and shredded lettuce. The sky is the limit.



Roll up and enjoy. You can make a dipping sauce if you like or add some hot peppers or wasabi depending on your taste buds. You could do a simple asian style sauce with a little lime and tamari or namu shoyu..



Dig in and enjoy.

Delish Raw Chocolate Cheesecake

Last night I made a Delish Chocolate Cheesecake. It is pretty easy to do. Don't get me wrong there are many versions of this raw desserts that are out there that are more complex. These day's I tend to go for easy. I have a four year old and a 2 year old with special needs, so my time is limited. So I tend to pick some easy recipes if I know that I am going to be in a rush.

This one includes the following ingredients:

Filling
3 cups Raw Cashews soaked overnight and rinsed
1/3 Lemon Juice
1/3 Coconut Oil (also called coconut butter)
2 tsp Vanilla Powder
Cacao Nibs (for sprinkling on top)
Pinch of Salt
Cacao Powder (depends on your craving for chocolate)
1/4 Agave Nectar (I always cut my sweetener, so you could add more)
1/4 Almond Milk

Crust
Walnuts crushed
Raw Coconut
Agave Nectar

First blend the cashews, lemon juice, coconut oil and vanilla in the food processor.



Depending on the flavor that you want you can either add in cacao powder as seen below or leave it plain. You could also do fruit. Everything from raspberries to mango works. Note if you want a 2 layered cake, let's say part white and part chocolate take out a little more than half of the white. Once it is taken out then add in your flavor choice.



Now you need a base. I usually use walnut and coconut for the base. This recipe I was in a rush so I used agave nectar and mixed together well and placed on the bottom of my glass dish. Make sure it is padded in well. It should look like this. For the best version pulse all the ingredients int0 the processor for a few minutes until it creates a ball. Then place in dish. I cheated a bit and just crushed it in the dish itself so that is why it is a bit thicker of a crust.




Then layer the first batch of cashews, which is the plain white mixture.



Then add on your second layer of the mixture, which is the chocolate mixture. Add your cacao nibs on top. If you are doing a different flavour you can add the fruit on top. Just make sure it is not one that is going to bleed all over the cake. If it is blueberries for example, I will leave the sauce separately until I am ready to serve it.



Stick in the freezer to settle and solidify a bit. I love mine a little bit frozen so I just keep it in the freezer until about 10-15 minutes before I want to eat it. For a fancy cake you can put this in a spring form pan or a round dish and decorate with a raw chocolate sauce.




Enjoy, this is a guilt free cheesecake!!!

Chocolate Blyss

I just love making these Chocolate Blyss Treats. My sister and I having been making these for the last couple of years. We always like to experiment with food and have many different variations of this over the years. My daughter's name is Blyss, hence the name and spelling. As luck would have it she was my little helper in the kitchen today.

These are a raw treat, but you can make them non raw if you choose. However I will tell you that if you are trying to do raw food this is one of the easiest things to do. Partly because I stick them in the freezer and the other part is that they always taste good. Here is a blueprint of what you can add. But almost anything goes with these. What ever taste you love you can add.

Grab a large bowl for mixing. Add a 1/4 cup of shredded coconut(non sweet, you want to add your own sweetener). Add some cacao nibs. I love these. They are bitter and give a good crunch. This is what they look like. You can buy them at your local health food store. They are great to have around and can be used in many raw dishes including smoothies. I added about a 1/4 cup again.

Cacao Nibs


Next I added some Organic coconut oil. COCONUT OIL is good for you. Go out and buy some. I just kind of poured this in maybe about a 1/4 of a cup or more. Then I added in a handful of sunflower seeds, goji berries,hemp seeds. Then a good sprinkle of ground flax seed. Lastly the key ingredient is cacao powder and lots of it.

Adding Goji Berries and Do Matcha Green Tea(sneaking some Matcha tea in because I love it)



Then mix and add your sweetener of choice either raw honey, agave syrup or stevia. Add more coconut oil if mixture is too dry and not all coated.

Mix it together.


Now time to get messy, don't worry you get to lick you hands after. Put your hands in it and roll into little balls. It will be oily but that is okay. If they don't stick that well you can add some nut butter or even more ground flax. It can help bind the mixture. They neat trick is that they don't have to be perfect or stick perfectly because you are going to pop them in the freezer.

Getting messy and rolling into balls


My little helper. I am thinking "Please don't touch the wall"


And Voila! Put them in a glass freezer safe dish and grab one when you are low on energy or have a craving. THEY ARE GOOD FOR YOU!!!


I eat them frozen, but you can slightly thaw them or keep them in the fridge. They seem to go faster in the fridge. For a party you can roll them in hemp seeds, sesame seeds or whatever you like to make them look all fancy. Enjoy.