Life, Gluten Free

Avocado, A Staple in Our Diet

In my house, we eat a lot of avocados. So much so that I am surprised we haven't turned green yet, though thankful we haven't. Avocado is an awesome superfood. I don't usually approve of the term "superfood" because it seems like hype when in reality, all vegetables and fruits are super in their own way because they contain essential vitamins and nutrients. Avocado packs a punch with essential fatty acids, folate, magnesium, potassium and carotenoids.

If you avoid avocado because it is a fattening food, think again. Avocado contains healthy fats, which are actually a proponent in healthy weight loss. Too often do people shy away from natural foods that they think are fattening (avocado, coconut) and go for highly processed foods that they think are better because of low calories or low fat. The body needs healthy fats, this is essential for proper brain health, skin health, organ health and so on.

Since I can only have blended foods, we've been having a lot of avocado pies. They are so pretty and so tasty. Full of fiber, essential fatty acids, amino acids and vitamins. Our pies have a crust of coconut and hemp and the list of ingredients for the pie include avocado, banana, coconut, hemp, dried fruit, raw honey.
Top with shredded coconut cream for decoration!

For those toddlers and adults alike who are fans of natural sprinkles, they add a colorful brightness to the pie.

Given our daughter's many allergies, we always say thank goodness she can eat

• hemp
• coconut
• avocado

A pound of hemp seed would provide all the protein, essential fatty acids, and dietary fiber necessary for human survival for two weeks. For this reason it is used in many parts of the world for treating malnourishment.

A found that during my research on hemp. We can all benefit from many different sources of protein in our diet. And just to clarify, the plant that produces hemp is not the same plant that produces marijuana. Hemp is a wonderful addition to the diet and should be respected as a great source of amino acids and essential fatty acids, among other nutrients.

Do you include hemp in your diet? How do you use it?

Dehydrated Banana Chips

I've been meaning to post these for a while. They make a great snack and are easy to make!

Ingredients:

Ripe bananas

Lemon Juice

Cinnamon

Preparation:

Slice bananas thinly. Place them in a bowl with some lemon juice - just enough to coat them lightly. Mix well and then place the banana slices on a dehydrator sheet.

Place your dehydrator on 118 degrees for 12 hours (or until they are pliable and not mushy).

The lemon juice is optional, as we have made them without with good results. You also don't have to sprinkle with cinnamon, but it's a nice addition :)

These are a great gluten-free snack and we really enjoy them. I hope you try them! We use an Excalibur dehydrator and are very happy with it.

-heather

Where do I buy my hemp seeds?

We use a lot of hemp seeds because they taste good and are very healthy, see my posts:

• Popcorn with hemp oil
• Hemp: How it's healthy and hypoallergenic  

Recently, we've been ordering organic hemp seeds in 5lb bags from this web site, The Raw Food World. I've also ordered chia seeds from there as well.

Coming up soon, I will also be speaking about Raw Kelp Noodles. Sound good? Well, they may or may not sound good to you but I assure you they are actually quite awesome. They taste good and are nutritious. I can't wait to talk about them more!

-heather

Boo-Nannas: A Halloween Treat!

I wish I could say this was my ingenious idea but alas it was not. I scored this recipe from this blog: The happy raw kitchen. I did do something differently though because the coconut was not sticking for me.

I used finely shredded coconut but since it wasn't sticking, I decided to put some in a small blender and grind it further. After that, it stuck very well. I didn't use a ziplock bag. After dousing the banana in orange juice (fresh squeezed), I rolled it in coconut and stuck the raisin eyes in before slipping a popsicle stick in the banana.

I decided to freeze them because I thought kids would like it frozen. I also made it the night before the party, so I wanted to be sure they would keep.

Here is my adapted recipe, mostly the same with a few changes:

Ingredients:

peeled banana, cut in half, each banana makes 2
fresh squeezed orange juice
dried shredded coconut
raisins
popsicle sticks

Preparation:

1. Sprinkle banana with orange juice

2. Roll in coconut *I found it worked best to blend the shredded coconut to a finer shred, because the finer it is the better it will stick!

3. Gently press in the raisin eyes

4. Place on popsicle stick

5. Freeze in individual wax paper bags (or refigerate if you don't want it frozen!)

They are so cute and also very tasty. I had fun making them and displaying them.

They were a hit at the party and really, they look so darn cute. I hope you try them!

Here's a short video clip that I recorded of Sophie enjoying one of the boo-nannas:

Have a wonderfully spooky Halloween!

-heather

Champagne Cucumber Delight

1 pound organic champagne grapes
3 tablespoons golden balsamic vinegar
4 cucumbers, peeled
1 tablespoons raw honey
2 tablespoons lemon juice

Remove the grapes from the stems and place in a bowl.
Dice the cucumber and mix with the grapes.
Whisk the lemon juice, raw honey and golden balsamic vinegar together in a separate bowl.
Add to the cucumber and grapes and mix together.
Serve in individual bowls or along with a meal.

This is my mom's recipe. She put her creative mind to work and "engineered" this delicious recipe with cucumbers and grapes. To be honest, I was skeptical at first. The combination, however, proved to be fantastic. It's a perfect summer salad!

This recipe makes a lot, it's perfect to take to a picnic and share with others. If you want to make less, just trim the recipe down. You can use red or green grapes as well but you will need to chop them into small pieces. Enjoy!

-heather

Collard Roll Canapes - Go Ahead Honey It's Gluten Free!

For this month's Go Ahead Honey, Naomi at Straight Into Bed Cakefree and Dried chose Canapes as the theme. We were instructed to create something bite-size that would thrill and excite people. Well, at least be somewhat appealing. I struggled with it for a while, perhaps because I don't usually create meals that are intended to be eaten in one bite. 

What I created turned out to be really "two-bite" size, at least for me. My husband, on the other hand, could accommodate these rolls in one bite or technically, one rather stuffed mouth full.

Collard Roll Canapes with Honey Mustard Sauce

NO: gluten, nuts, eggs, dairy, soy

Sauce:

1 tablespoon mustard (of your choice)

1 1/2 tablespoon honey

3 tablespoons water

1 teaspoon onion powder

pinch of sea salt

2 teaspoons dried chives

Mix the sauce well.

Rolls:

Collard Leaves

1 Avocado

1 Carrot

Scallions

Olives

Wash and dry raw collard leaves. 

Cut the leaves into two by removing the stem.

Cut the avocado, carrot, olives and scallions into long thin slices.

Place the ingredients in the leaves and roll them up. 

Cut long slices out of another collard leaf and secure the rolls as you would with a ribbon.

If you want a quick easy way to secure the rolls, use a tooth pick.

Drizzle sauce on top and serve!

-heather

Sunflower Seed Milk

Sunflower Seed Milk

NO: gluten, dairy, nuts, eggs

Ingredients:

1 cup soaked sunflower seeds

2-3 tablespoons raw honey

1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract 

water

Preparation:

Soak 1 cup of raw sunflower seeds overnight.

Rinse sunflower seeds and add to Vitamix or other high-powered blender.

Fill blender container with water approximately 1/2 full.

Add raw honey and vanilla extract.

Blend until contents are liquified.

Since I didn't measure the water and every blender is different, you may have to add more depending on your blender.

The Vitamix does a very good job of liquifying the ingredients, so there is hardly any pulp.

You can strain the pulp if you wish, but I don't.

Sunflower seeds contain linoleic acid, an essential fatty acid. The seeds are also good sources of dietary fiber, protein, vitamin E, B Vitamins, and minerals such as potassium, magnesium, iron, calcium and zinc. If that isn't enough, they are also rich in cholesterol-lowering phyotosterols (phytochemicals naturally occuring in plants).

The best way to eat sunflower seeds is raw, not roasted. Raw sunflower seeds have not been heated or treated with salt. You can find raw hulled sunflower seeds at your local natural foods market.

Absolutely great as a drink by itself, added to cereal or smoothies, or simply topped with spices (cinammon, cardamom and nutmeg) and devoured along with some pumpkin spice bread. 

How much protein? 

Sunflower seeds contain 8grams of protein per 1/4 cup.

A great addition to anyone's diet!

How else can I use it? 

Sunflower seed milk can also be used in recipes that otherwise call for dairy or soy milk. We even used it to make potatoes au gratin!

-heather

Chocolate Holiday Rounds

This would be an amazing treat for any holiday party. They are easy to eat and healthy too.

1 cup raw sunflower seeds, soaked

1/2 cup raw pumpkin seeds, soaked

12 dates, unsoaked

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 tablespoon raw honey

1/3 cup cocoa powder

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

2 teaspoons water

Process until smooth, scraping the edges well. Mold teaspoon size drops with your hand. Roll in coconut if desired (or cinnamon).

If you like this dish, my flour-less chocolate fudge cake is similar. 

enjoy!

-heather

Flourless Chocolate Fudge Cake (nut-free, egg-free, dairy-free)

1 1/2 cups raw sunflower seeds, soaked

10 small dates, unsoaked

1 tablespoon raw honey

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/3 cup cocoa powder

2-4 teaspoons water

Process in a food processor. Add the teaspoons of water for desired thickness and consistency.

Use a spatula to scrape the filling into a pie or cake dish. Use unbleached parchment paper greased with coconut oil to line the dish with before adding the filling (optional). Sprinkle with shredded coconut or top with berries of choice. Refrigerate and serve!

This was so amazing. Anyone who loves chocolate will love this. Let me know if you try it out. It's incredibly easy to make too. You can substitute the sunflower seeds for nuts if you are able to eat nuts. 

enjoy!

-heather

Raw Dill Cucumbers

Making dill pickles from cucumbers that you get from your local organic farmer's market is a great thing indeed. The guy I bought them from said they are called Oriental Pickling Cucumbers.

They were so good, I could have just eaten slices of them raw by themselves. But instead, I decided to make pickles.

The above picture is of the pickles basking in their salt bath, which is the first step in making the pickles.

4 - 6 organic pickling cucumbers 

Slice thinly and add to a glass container.

Layer the slices, lightly sprinkling celtic salt on each layer

Let sit for a couple of hours

Drain the water that collected. 

Add:

1/4 cup diced onion

1/4 cup apple cider vinegar

1/2 tsp. brown mustard seed

1 tbs. dill

Pinch of dill seed

Mix together. You can keep it in a glass container or transfer to a glass jar. Let sit overnight for optimal flavor. 

Since the cucumbers are raw, you will need to eat them within a week or two. Enjoy!

-heather