Gluten-free Raw Granola

I made a variation on this granola and was quite pleased with the results.

Gluten Free Raw"Granola
2 cups almonds
1 cup cashews
1 cup pumpkin seeds
1 cup raisins
1/2 vanilla beans
½ tablespoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon celtic sea salt

Soak the nuts & seeds overnight. Soak the raisins & vanilla bean in a cup of water in a separate bowl.

Place the raisins, vanilla bean and their soaking water in a food processor and puree until smooth. Drain and rinse the nuts and seeds.

Add nuts and seeds to raisin/vanilla stuff in the food processor, as well as salt & cinnamon. Pulse until coarsely chopped (though my almonds stayed whole).

Spread on 2 Paraflexx sheets and load into the dehydrator. I dehydrated this on 125 for about 30 minutes, and then around 110 for 24 hours. It seemed done after about 10 hours but I figured I might as well leave it overnight to crisp it up some more. It would have made about 4 quarts of granola if Bear & I hadn't been snacking on it throughout the day while it dried :)

I ate this in the morning, topped with shredded dried coconut & a chopped banana, as well as raw pumpkin seed milk.

Mostly Raw Monday!

My kitchen counter: almond pulp (currently being used to make crackers) from making almond milk on the left, jar of almond milk, soaked pumpkin seeds (for salad dressing) and mung beans (for sprouting) on the right :)

What I've learned so far on my Mostly Raw Mondays that eating raw and well-rounded can require a lot of prep. I am blessed to have some of the main "tools of the trade": a Blendtec Total Blender, an Excalibur 4-Tray Dehydrator along with 4 ParaFlexx Drying Sheet, as well as a food processor. All of these things were gifts! But I don't have a juicer, or a fermenting crock, a sprouter or a nut butter machine (I'd really like one of these!). My "tools" do cut down food prep time considerably; I'm thankful for that. But there's no one but me to juice a lime, chop & wash lettuce, or dice veggies but me! It all of a sudden dawned on me - that's why quick, no-prep foods are called "convenience foods"! Yes, I can be slow :)

All that said, here's today's Food!
2 tablespoons Master Tonic (I'm almost out, but I have some more brewing that will be ready in 8 days)
1 pink grapefruit

Chia Pudding (basically this recipe with my own twist)
1/3 cup Chia Seeds (you can also get them from iHerb and get $5 off, but they are cheapest, with free shipping, if you do Amazon Subscribe & Save)
3/4 cup unsweetened raw almond milk
pinch of cinnamon
dash of salt
2 drops Vanilla Crème Stevia (they have it at iHerb, too - get $5 off!)

Mix it all in a bowl, but save about an ounce of "milk" for later. Let it sit for 30 minutes; it will become a big blob. Top with that ounce of milk. Hmm, hmm good!



1 date, 5 cashews & 5 almonds

Green leaf lettuce, beet greens & swiss chard, radishes, red pepper, cukes, carrots, and 1/4 of an avocado with Pumpkin Seed Ginger Dressing (except it calls for way too much salt -even 1 teaspoon is too much)

A Chocolate smoothie: 12 oz water, 8 oz unsweetened almond milk, 1 scoop Sun Warrior Raw Chocolate Protein, about half a 10 oz bag of spinach, and half a frozen banana

An apple and a bit of orange (my son ate 2 clementines and a cara, I had a bit of his)

Dinner was a chickpea and leek soup recipe I got off the side of this miso :)

Crockpotting, Dehydrating & Running

I started running again. I joined the community center that's about half a mile away. It has a simple fitness area (2 treadmills, 2 bikes, a small walking track, some weight machines & dumbbells), but I couldn't beat the location or the price: $50/year! I've only been back at it for a few weeks, but I am in better shape than I thought; I was able to run 3 miles on the treadmill on the first time back. And this morning, I ran 3.1 miles in 23:21! I would have run longer, but the building wasn't opened on time, and I had to get home.

I'm back into doing some minor meal-planning. Recently, I've made Sweet & Spicy Lentil Chili (from a church lunch - a big hit!) and Moroccan Lentil Crockpot Soup. I also made some pesto homefries with fresh organic basil that I got through my local buying club. I really scored on the organic produce this month: red chard, kale, collards, basil, cara oranges, gala apples, and as always, fair trade bananas.

Since I got so many bananas, I've been trying my hand at making banana chips in my new dehydrator that I got for Christmas. I knew that wouldn't taste much like the banana chips you buy in the store, since those are fried and sweetened with sugar, but these were even better! They were SO naturally sweet that if I hadn't made them myself, I would have sworn someone put sugar on them. Over night, I dehydrated some sprouted almonds, and today, I'm making more banana chips.

Next, I will try apple rings :)