Blueberry Banana Oatmeal

1/2 cup dehydrated bananas (48 hours)
1/4 cup blueberries
1/2 cup rolled oats
pinch salt
raw agave, to taste
1 Tablespoon canola oil
2 Tablespoons raw hemp seeds
sprinkle of vanilla extract, optional
1/2 cup almond milk or filtered water

Warmed Satay Soup

1/4-1/2 cup almond butter or peanut butter
1-2 Tablespoons nama shoyu or braggs
1/4 teaspoon ginger
1-2 garlic cloves, pressed or minced
1/2 cup hot tap water, filtered

Blend all in blender. Pour over:

1 package raw kelp noodles, rinsed
1-2 carrots, grated
1/4 cup red onion, minced
1/2 cup peas, optional

Oatmeal Breakfast Smoothie

1 cup oats (gluten free)
2 apples, chopped
2-6 Tablespoons agave
1-2 teaspoon cinnamon
pinch salt
1 teaspoon vanilla, optional
Water, as desired

Powder the oats in a dry blender container. Add remaining ingredients. Taste for sweetness. (This will depend on the type of apple you use, as well as your personal preference for sweetness.) Add water for the desired consistency; thick or thin.

Raw Nori Roll Up #2

1 cup raw sauerkraut
3-4 sheets nori

Place kraut at one side of nori sheet. Roll up. Repeat with remain ingredients. Serve with wasabi paste.

I made a little one with red cabbage and rolled it. Then prepared one with white cabbage and rolled the first inside of the second.

Corn and Spinach Salad

Use your favorite raw dressing or try this sour honey mustard:
2 teaspoons mustard
2 teaspoon honey or agave, or to taste
1-2 teaspoons vinegar
1/4 cup olive oil
sea salt and pepper to taste

Blend well. Check seasoning. Pour over:

3 ears raw corn, stripped of kernels
2 large handfuls spinach
1/2 red onion, thinly sliced
1 cup cherry tomatoes
1 cucumber sliced

Sturdy Thai Salad

Inspired from Matthew Kenneys Everyday Raw.

1/2 cup virgin sesame oil
1/2 cup braggs or nama shoyu
1/4 olive oil, optional
juice of one lime
2 tablespoons maple syrup or agave
1-3 teaspoons red chili flakes
dash curry powder, to taste
1 teaspoon sea salt, or to taste

Blend all well. Pour over:

2 cups romain or other mixed greens
1/2 cup finely diced pineapple
1/2 cup cherry tomatoes (or sundried)
1 avocado, diced
1/2 orange pepper, diced
1/4 cup dried coconut (or 1/2 cup young coconut meat, sliced in strips)
1/4 cup macadamias or cashews

Apple Stuffed Tomatoes with Sweet Mustard Marinade

granny smith apple, julienned
carrot, julienned or shaved into long strips
cucumber, julienned
jicima, julienned
2-4 beefsteak tomatoes
1 tablespoon mustard
1 tablespoon honey (or agave)
salt and pepper to taste

Mix mustard and honey together in bowl. Check seasonings. Add all remaining ingredients except for tomatoes and toss to coat. Cut off stem tops of tomatoes. Hollow them out with a spoon, discarding innards (or use elsewhere.) Spoon mixture into the tomatoes and serve room temp or chilled.

Fresh Radish Dip in Lettuce Boats

3-4 raw radishes
1-2 garlic cloves
1/2 cup cashew butter (or macadamia)
1/2 teaspoon salt

Finely chop radishes and garlic cloves in food processor. Add cashew butter and salt and mix until combined. Scoop in to lettuce boat. Top with desired optional ingredients.

Optional:
sliced tomato
lettuce leaves
grated carrot
sprouts
minced red onion

This could be served as a veggie dip, or as a dressing (add a little water to thin.) You could add a little nutritional yeast to the radish dip for a cheesier flavor.
I would love to eat this as a sandwich between two slices of raw onion bread, arugula lettuce leaves, brandywine tomato slice, grated carrot and sprouts. Yum!

Raw Mongolian Veggies with Northern Sauce

Northern Sauce:

4 Tablespoons bragg's (or nama shoyu)
2 Tablespoons almond butter
1 Tablespoon agave nectar, or more to taste
1 teaspoon raw apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon raw coconut water vinegar (or apple cider vinegar)
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 cup virgin canola oil
1 Tablespoon red pepper flakes, or to taste
hot sauce, to taste

Blend all in blender or food processor until combine. Adjust seasonings.

Pour over Veggies:
4 stalks celery, sliced
1 cup mung bean sprouts
1 small onion, sliced (or 3 green onions, sliced)
2 medium carrots, sliced
1/2 cup mushrooms, sliced
1 cup pea pods

Optional (but not pictured:)
1/2 cup fresh baby corn
1/4 cup fresh water chestnut
1/2 cup cabbage, sliced thinly
1/2 cup bell peppers, any colors
2 cups raw kelp noodles (or chopped raw prepared irish moss)

You may need to double the sauce if using more than one of the optional veggies.

Eat this dish right after making, let marinate for a few hours, or dehydrate a few. Enjoy!

Maple-Cacoa Fudge Roll Up

meat of 1 young coconut
2 tablespoons maple syrup (or agave)
2 tablespoons almond butter
1/2 tablespoon raw cacoa powder
dash of sea salt

Blend coconut meat in Vitamix until smooth. (You may want to make more than one or two of these.) Pour evenly on teflex lined dehydrator sheet. Dehydrate until dry, but pliable.

Mix maple syrup, almond butter, cocoa and salt until combined. Spread onto coconut meat wrapper and roll up. Stick some banana or strawberries in there if you like. Eat!

Raw Foods; Life-force Energy Children

In my perfect world the statement, “Life Force Energy
Children” would be redundant. Children would be
walking, talking Life Force Energy and if anyone wanted
to express the definition of “Life Force Energy,” they
could just point to any one of the children on our
planet.

Modernity has produced innumerable marvels, yet as the
external world develops at a rapid rate and technology
seems to know no bounds, the same cannot be said for
the advancement of our children’s health and spirits.
In fact, the opposite seems to be true; the more
“wired” we become, the sicker, lonelier and sadder our
children become. Worst of all, when a child acts out
from their state of imbalance they are either scolded,
made to feel bad about themselves or pigeon-holed as
“troubled,” scaring them deeply. All this and
meanwhile they also have to deal with the confusion of
the convoluted surroundings they are doomed to live
among in their parent’s misguided world.

With two children in elementary school in New York
City, I’m privy to a first-hand view of a wide range of
modern parenting approaches spanning all demographics
and backgrounds. Even in our very enlightened city, I
am astounded by the number of children who are left to
consume cafeteria food for breakfast and lunch. Who
knows what goes on at home but you can be sure there is
junk TV, video and computer games and the like – it’s a
life of distraction and stimulation.

I ask myself how it is that parents can send their kids
off to consume indecent quantities of unfit foods:
antibiotic and hormone laden milk, cheap cereal,
frozen, dead, gluey foods from the school cafeteria
five days a week and not realize that that food is
setting them up for disease and emotional/mental
imbalances in the short and long term.

Granted, parents are trying to get to work on time and
may have very little support at home, but how much time
does it actually take to give your child some fruit and
a whole grain sandwich? Well, I’ve timed it (I do it
every morning) and can put a healthy “kid-friendly”
breakfast and lunch together in seven minutes flat.
Seven minutes. How much time is wasted on needless
text messages, junk television, energy-leaching
personal dramas? Certainly SEVEN MINUTES can be spared
in the morning (or to prep the night before) to give
our children the gift of a clean inner body!

With all the pressure put on young people to excel,
consider what cheap, low quality food does to their
little bodies and their futures?

What is the fight for the top school, the hours of
extra-curricular classes, international vacations and
refinement all for when the kids wake up years later to
admit that their life is so dissatisfying they don’t
really see why they should be grateful for life. In
fact, many of them are so distraught they don’t have a
will to live. It is what I hear every week from the
young people I work with. They cannot find any joy so
they gravitate towards things that numb them – food,
drugs, sex, alcohol, aggressive behavior.

I wish I could say that creating a clean physical body
is all that needs to take place for that would be so
much easier in many ways. Yes, it will make a
tremendous impact, but it’s only by addressing both the
diet and the psychological healing together that a
child will grow up empowered by its true nature.

These are a child’s most basic needs. In addition to
shelter, water, clothing and food, a child needs to
connect with his essence and have the experience of
clean cells. For without these two things he or she
will forever be unplugged from the vital source of
energy that sustains man and all life.

In order to survive in the jungle an animal needs all
of its tools – its claws, its instincts, its night
vision, its swiftness. Well, children need all of their
tools to survive and evolve to. You cannot place them
in a world where they were designed to have clean cells
and all the power that comes with that and then take
that away without dangerously compromising their
ability to survive. What we see are children who have
this core tool taken away and they do not survive. They
do not cope. They crumble emotionally and
psychologically and they wear down physically
prematurely.

Internal cleanliness (meaning clean cells, intestines,
pathways, organs, etc.) is one of the most basic needs,
not a luxury. Somehow modern parenting spotlights loads
of unnecessary wants and perceived needs yet skimps
where it matters: namely on their kids vitality and
soul food (quality time and heart connection). Why is
this? It’s simply a case of parents not knowing any
better because those needs were withheld from them by
their parents. The modern man lives a life of
distraction and perpetual stimulation. He is not driven
by wisdom but by what’s in vogue, common and
commercial. This is one of the biggest obstacles to
getting life right. You have to be able to see the
folly around you and go in a direction of truth even if
you are the only one going there. The others will
eventually either follow you or die off because their
method is not life generating and will therefore
eventually crater.

So the predicament of the state of modern children is
rooted in communal folly which pivots on the motives of
commercial enterprise, financial gain and the warped
perspective we are raised to revere without question.
Thank goodness some of our children (like some of us
adults) are rising up in revolt against it. If your
child is “acting out” don’t be too quick to reprimand
him/her as he/she is just providing a mirror of all
that is not harmonious with life so that the pain will
be loud enough for someone to pay attention and make
the necessary changes.

In most cases parents will accept a “professional’s”
concern or diagnosis that the child is imbalanced and
be given some diagnosis like ADHD, ADD, chemically
imbalanced, etc. Yes, the child is imbalanced – his
whole world is imbalanced. Most of you reading this are
familiar with the folly of treating a symptom while
ignoring the root cause of that symptom. Well this is
precisely what is going on: the symptom is the child’s
behavior but it is resulting from the root cause of an
imbalanced community. The community is sick at its core
but all the parent and doctor acknowledge is the
child’s behavior.

The child is not to blame and treating his imbalance in
a vacuum just labels him unfairly and taints his own
opinion of himself. Meanwhile he is not the problem,
he is simply a mirror of the problem.

It’s heartbreaking really that our children need to
take on the imbalances of the world they came into just
to give their world perception that they do not readily
see. Worse, they then have to move through life with
the stigma of their imbalance like wearing the Scarlett
letter.

A child’s erratic or challenging behavior indicates
that he or she is highly sensitive and perceptive to
what is out of alignment in their environment (locally
and globally).

In almost every case, When I work with a “troubled”
child or “rebellious” teen what I discover is that
instead of being untamed, they are simply rebelling
against being defined by a world that has nothing much
to offer them in its castrated, plastic state. The
children are simply “switched on” enough to perceive
all the nonsense they are living amongst and are simply
trying to manage their distaste of it and their
profound intuition that the adult world is misguided
(this, by the way, is also at the root of most eating
disorders in young people).

Create a life-generating world around them and these
kids become instantly lovely and joyful. They are quick
to revile what’s wrong but also quick to harmonize with
what’s right. In the latter environment they truly do
respond in miraculous ways.

Don’t you find it sadly curious that it is no longer
considered unusual to have a physically or emotionally
imbalanced child. Instead, it is pretty much the norm.
Most children are either being treated for or suffer
from ADHD, asthma, depression, weight imbalances,
chronic ear infections, childhood cancers and the as
yet unrealized precursors of adult cancers-to-be.
On the one hand, while the culprits (the Internet,
television and video game addictions, impossibly unfit
foods, inharmonious home environments, deep sadness and
a lack of adequate parental attention and community
connection) and the solution are obvious, adults seem
paralyzed to make the necessary changes.

Parents don’t always know where to start and they tend
to lack confidence in their ability to execute the
necessary changes at home (not to mention they have
very little knowledge about what actually constitutes
ideal living and eating themselves.)

So many adults spend their lives cursing their bodies,
their weight, their health and their food addictions.
Parents, you know how debilitating this is! Chances are
you too are suffering from your own set of physical or
emotional handicaps. If you knew there was a way to
shield your children from health and weight burdens
forever, surely you would do it immediately. Well, I’m
here to shout from the mountain tops that there is!
Just because you may have suffered does not mean that
your child should have to.

One of the issues that comes up is the financial
implications of change: It’s a common misconception
that eating higher-quality-foods equates to greater
expense and less convenience. But perhaps the biggest
obstacle of all is that parents don’t always want to
make the changes themselves because that requires
addressing their own ways of eating and living; it
opens up a Pandora’s Box of subconscious and physical
relationships to food-lifestyle patterns and body image
issues that they have themselves. Lasting change which
is the only way to create lasting health requires
parents raising their consciousness around their bodies
along with their children so that the whole household
will corporately be comfortable and unanimous in
embracing enlightened eating.

I know it can be scary. So much of a family’s dietlifestyle
mishaps are due merely to habits and fear of
change. It’s human nature: when we are used to
something (even if it does not actually provide
pleasure or satisfaction), we tend to cling to it
because it is at least predictable. Not knowing what to
expect is not something humans welcome. It’s
intimidating to contemplate changing our most deeply
engrained habits. Yet, our ability to change in this
way is exactly what we are called to do as parents
today in order to make the right turn at this critical
juncture for the future generation. Don’t be nervous
and don’t underestimate yourself or your kids as it
really is easier and more fun than either of you
realize!

There have been a handful of critical junctures in
history when we have applauded the men and women who
have challenged the thoughts of the day and because of
their revolutionary spirit and vision, they changed the
course of the future for the better. This is one of
those times. Parents are the only ones who can effect
meaningful change in the next generation. Parents,
without you standing arm-in-arm with truth the future
cannot be very promising for your kids. When we are off
the “axis of truth” we cannot expect health and harmony
but rather further imbalances which become more dire
illnesses – physically, emotionally and behaviorally.
Who is going to govern and guide your children in this
time when everyone is mistreating their bodies and
minds? We cannot depend on anyone else to help our
kids blossom. The government is not looking out for our
children; most schools are not in line with healthy
living and with the exception of very few high minded
doctors, they cannot be leaned on for guidance either.
Religious institutions have their own agendas and
businesses certainly have theirs. The buck stops with
you.

Our children fully depend on us in every way. Are we to
serve them up a bunch of lies in the form of food,
environment and social programming because it’s easy
and lucrative for large corporations and our pride or
convenience? Or are we going to serve them the truth? I
cannot serve my children anything but the truth. Will
you join me? We can only do this by giving them all
they deserve – the most light and life-enhancing
nourishment from pure food, clear, untainted
information, deep affection and complete appreciation
for all that they are.

Your children can all radiate their unique brand of
luminous, indwelling life. “Life Force Energy” and
“Children” can be synonymous again! Enjoy the recipes
in celebration of family healing and wholeness!

Natalia Rose
December 12, 2007
New York City

Raw Thai: Tom Rhaw Soup

I just came up with this super quick, super easy raw soup. It's so good and the blender warms it, so you can have a warm raw soup! I used raw coconut in a jar, because it was in the shelf and is easier to keep on hand than fresh coconut. Enjoy!

½ c. organic raw coconut in jar or fresh
1 c. water
1 T. green curry paste
small chunk of ginger, peeled
juice of ½ lemon or 1 t lemongrass
2 teaspoons liquid aminos

Blend in high-speed until warm. Pour warm broth over spiralized zucchini noodles and carrots, chopped mushrooms and tomatoes, if desired.

Ecopolitan Mission Statement

I visited the Ecopolitan website this morning and found their mission statement inspiring:

Eating should make sense and be simple.

It should bring health and wellness to your mind, body, spirit, and community.

No matter how discouraging conditions may appear, believe that things can change.

Believe that people can change and improve their conditions in life.

Be gentle with yourself and those around you.

Commit to making a difference, even if it's only a small one to begin with.

Trust the process as you learn the truth about your food, your health and your environment.

We can build a world where people listen, love and laugh a lot more often.

A world where people believe in their own abilities and in each other.

A world where people are free to thrive and prosper.

Raw Harvest Tart

This is kind of like pumpkin pie. You could use pumpkin in place of the cashews and carrot juice... I've never tried that, but sure it would work! Enjoy!


HARVEST TART
2 cups almond flour (ground almonds)
2 tablespoons dates, pitted (soaked ½ hour if firm)
¾ cup maple syrup powder or raw agave nectar
¾ cup coconut butter
Pinch of salt

For the crust, mix in processor. Press into pie plate. Refrigerate until firm.

1 cup raw cashews, soaked 1 hour, drained
1 cup carrot juice
¾ cup raw agave nectar
¾ cup coconut butter
1 tablespoon vanilla extract or fresh seeds
1 tablespoon cinnamon
2 teaspoons ginger
½ teaspoons ground nutmeg
¼ teaspoon ground cloves
¾ teaspoon sea salt

Blend in high speed blender (or food processor) until completely smooth. Fill the prepared pie crust (while filling is still at room temp) Refrigerate 1 hour or more until it sets. (Extra filling can be eaten like pudding.)

Raw & Local Produce Class at the Whole Foods Co-op in Duluth, MN

Did you miss the Raw & Local Produce Class at the Whole Foods Co-op in Duluth, MN? Shame on you! Well, because I'm so generous, I'm going to share the recipes from that night! We prepared: Emily's Rawasagne, Melon Gazpacho, Thai Wrap With Satay Sauce, Raw Pumpkin Latte & Raw Mashed “Potatoes” with Spinach Pesto and Peas. Enjoy!

Emily's Rawasagne

Marinara:
1 cup dried tomatoes
4 Roma-style fresh tomatoes
12 cherry tomatoes
4-6 cloves fresh garlic
1 Tbsp nama shoyu (soy sauce)
1/2 onion
2 Tbsp olive oil
2 Tbsp raw agave nectar (or maple syrup)
juice of one lemon
4 Tbsp fresh basil
2 Tbsp mixed Italian seasonings (rosemary, thyme, oregano, etc)

Mix all in food processor. Set aside.

Mushrooms:
3 cups sliced mushrooms, any mixture
1/2 package spinach
1/4 cup nama shoyu
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1/4 cup olive oil
salt & pepper to taste

Mix in bowl. Set aside.

Herb Cheese:
1 cup raw cashew butter
1 Tbsp onion
1/2 lemon juice
1 1/2 Tbsp nutritional yeast (optional)
1/2 tsp sea salt
3 Tbsp mixed Italian seasonings (basil, rosemary, thyme, oregano, etc)

Mix in food processor. Add water as needed to create a stiff, yet pourable "cheese."

1 cup sweet corn kernels (cut from the cob)
4 zucchini, sliced into long, thin strips (with box cutter or vegetable peeler)

Assembly:
Line a 9X9 cake pan with plastic wrap, allowing and overhand on the sides. Arrange a layer of zucchini "noodles", covering the entire bottom. Layer on top, in the following order: layer of half of mushrooms & spinach, half of the herb cheese, half marinara sauce, half of the corn kernels. Repeat. Top with final layer of zucchini noodles. Refrigerate at least one hour to solidify and allow flavors to mingle. (I know I already have a Lasagna listed on this blog. The same recipe in fact! However, since we made it that night, I thought I'd list it here as well.)

Melon Gazpacho

4 cups watermelon OR cantaloupe, pureed
1 cup watermelon OR cantaloupe, finely diced
2 cups tomato, finely diced
1 cucumber, finely diced
1 carrot
Green pepper, finely diced
2 limes, juiced
1 teaspoon ginger, minced
1 garlic clove, minced
¼ cup cilantro, finely chopped
2 green onions, minced
1 jalapeno, finely diced (optional)
1 teaspoon salt (to taste)
Pepper to taste

Puree melon. Peel entire carrot into long thin strips, then finely chop strips. Combine the remaining ingredients. Add jalapeno if using. Mix by hand. Season to taste. Serve room temp or chilled. (For the class, we used ONLY watermelon. We used brandywine heirloom tomatoes, and omitted the jalapeno.We also used a purple "green" pepper, for looks.)

Thai Wrap With Satay Sauce

Satay Sauce:
¼ cashew butter
2 teaspoons ginger, minced
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 lemon, juiced
1 jalapeno, minced (if desired)
2 tablespoons raw agave nectar or maple syrup
1 tablespoon nama shoyu (or to taste)
Water to thin
Combine all. Add water until creamy.

Filling:
1 beet
1 cup cabbage
1 parsnip
1 carrot
1 zucchini
1 apple
1 bunch basil
½ cup currants (halved)
Chard leaves or collard greens

Julienne all except chard or collard leaves, which are your “wraps.” Place prepared ingredients in a bowl. Toss with:

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon nama shoyu

Place a spoonful inside a leaf and wrap egg roll style. Serve with satay dipping sauce. (In the class we used beet, red cabbage, zucchini, apple and basil. We poured the satay sauce over the top of the veggies and just tossed it lightly. We wrapped it in rainbow chard leaves.)

Raw Pumpkin Latte

½ cup almond milk (see below)
½ cup pumpkin, juiced
¼ cup raw agave nectar (or to taste)
½ teaspoon EACH cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, ginger and allspice

Combine and serve. Add to black tea or coffee!

For Raw Almond Milk:
1 cup raw almonds, soaked 4 hours
½ cup agave nectar, optional
Pinch of sea salt

Process nuts and water in blender until smooth. Strain through nut bag or multiple layers of cheesecloth, reserving the milk. Wring out the cloth. Rinse out blender cup, and place reserved milk along with remaining ingredients. Combine. Taste for sweetness.

Raw Mashed “Potatoes” with Spinach Pesto and Peas

1 cup cauliflower, pureed
1 cup brazil nuts, powdered in spice grinder
¼ cup olive oil
1 teaspoon sea salt
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 cup basil, minced
1 cup spinach, chopped
1 cup fresh peas
Salt and pepper to taste

Blend cauliflower, nut powder, olive oil, salt, garlic and basil in high speed blender or food processor. Add water if necessary to get it to turn over. Season to taste. Fold in chopped spinach and top with fresh peas. (I will admit - this was a bit of a flop at the class. I forgot my nut/spice grinder. Therefore, the texture was totally lost! We also didn't have fresh, local spinach, so I used mixed greens instead. It ended up being too bitter. I realize that we needed less cauliflower as well. The nut and cauliflower ratio should be equal, if not less cauliflower. Also, feel free to add more garlic and basil!)

All in all, a really great class! Thank you guys!

Raw Falafel

3/4 cup raw almonds, finely ground
¾ cup raw sunflower seeds, finely ground
¼ yellow onion
¼ cup olive oil
½ fresh lemon, juiced
1/3 cup nama shoyu
2-3 garlic cloves, peeled
2 tablespoons curry powder
1 tablespoon cumin

Combine all in a food processor and mix thouroughly. Spread onto teflex dehydrator sheets in patties or scoop into balls. Dehydrate 105 degrees for 24 hours or until outside is dry. May eat as a dip/spread too without dehydrating!

Serve in lettuce leaf with a few cucumber slices and nut yogurt!

Raw Cheesecake

2 cups cashews, finely chopped
½ cup Medjool Dates, pitted (soaked ½ hour if firm, drained)
¼ cup Dried Coconut
3 cups Cashews, soaked & drained or 1 jar prepared raw cashew butter
Fresh squeezed juice of 1 lemon
¾ cup raw agave nectar (or honey)
¾ cup Coconut Oil (gently warmed)
1 teaspoon Vanilla
1 pinch Sea Salt, optional
½ cup Water
Fresh berries (optional)

For the crust, mix in processor 2 c raw cashews, dates, dried coconut. Press into pie plate.

For the cheese, 3c cashew (soaked 1 hour,drained) OR add 1 jar raw cashew butter; Blend with 3/4 c lemon juice, 3/4 c agave, 3/4 c coconut oil, 1 tsp vanilla pinch salt to form a smooth consistency. Add water if necessary to turn over.
Pour mixture onto crust, remove air bubbles by tapping the pan on a table, place in freezer till firm. Serve frozen or defrost slightly in fridge. Top with fresh berries if desired.

Raw Cinnamon Rolls!

1¼ cups almond meal
1¼ cups ground flaxseed
1 dash cayenne pepper
1½ tablespoons cinnamon
1 pinch sea salt
1 cup soft pitted dates , or soaked
¼ cup water
1 teaspoon vanilla
⅛ cup olive oil
⅛ cup agave nectar
¼ cup raisins, plus a little extra
¼ cup chopped nuts

Combine the almond meal, ground flaxseed, cayenne, 1/2 Tbsp. cinnamon and pinch sea salt in a bowl and set aside.
In a food processor or blender, process dates, water and vanilla into a paste. Remove half of the date paste and add it to the dry ingredients, along with the olive oil and agave. Mix until it forms a dough. You may need to add a little water and/or agave if it is too dry.
Spread the dough out on a piece of parchment paper, and flatten/shape it into a 1/4-inch thick square.

Add 1/4 cup raisins and 1 Tbsp. of cinnamon to the rest of the date paste left in your food processor or blender. Process until smooth. Then, spread a thin layer of the paste onto the dough square, making sure to cover the whole surface, and top with a sprinkle of extra raisins and the chopped walnuts.

Using the parchment paper to help hold everything together, carefully/tightly roll the square into a log. Chill in the refrigerator, and then slice into about 1-inch thick rounds.
These cinnamon rolls can be eaten right out of the refrigerator or warmed on a dehydrator. I top mine with a generous icing of raw almond butter mixed with agave, vanilla and sea salt. Yum-O!

Raw Recipe Recource

Here's an awesome place to get raw recipes. Check out my page and browse the entire site.

Raw Chocolate Chip Cookie Doughs

My “baby” – raw chocolate chip cookies! Freeze smaller bits and add to vanilla ice cream for cookie dough ice cream. http://emilysrawfoods.blogspot.com/2008/08/raw-vanilla-ice-cream.html

Ingredients
6 ounces raw chocolate chips (I use Ghirardelli extra dark chips, if I'm in a pinch, though not raw)
1 cup raw cashews, powdered
2 tablespoons coconut oil
4 tablespoons agave nectar
2 teaspoons vanilla or vanilla seeds
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 cup pecans &/or walnuts, chopped

Preparation
Coarsely chop chocolate and 1 cup pecans and/or walnuts. Set aside. Mix remaining ingredients until forms a dough. Add reserved chocolate and nuts by hand. Drop by tablespoon onto dehydrator sheet. Dehydrate 8 hours 105 degrees or overnight.