Mmmm.. 10 Min Raw Cookies (and soo easy)

I have been meaning to post these bad boys on here for a while. You wouldn't believe the amount of photos and recipes I have yet to post. I tell you... when your not that computer savvy it takes a while! Note to self...improve upon these skills!

One thing that made it so difficult for me to adapt to the raw lifestyle was my intense sweet tooth. My whole family has been hit by the sweet tooth pretty hard. I blame my parents for ALWAYS making yummy baked goods when I was a child. If it wasn't cookies, it was brownies or pineapple upside down cake or even strawberry Shortcake! Being Raw NOW and having so many naturally sweet things in my diet had decreased my sweet tooth a bit but it is still very much there. I certainly cant handle overly sweet things anymore. Just tastes to sugary!

So here is a recipe for the easiest cookies on earth to make. The great thing about this recipe is that it is so easy to play with. You can add or subtract anything and mold it to your particular tastes. Thats what I love!

Basic Dough Instructions:

• 1 Cup Almond Butter
• 1/2 Cup Agave Nectar or Raw Honey
• 1 Tbs. High Quality Culinary Vanilla Extract (without additives, preservatives and glycerin)
• Himalayan Sea Salt to Taste.
• Almond Meal for rolling! (In food processor or coffee grinder, grind Raw almonds until they are fine/semi fine... voila) 

Directions:

Throw it all together (except almond meal)and mix well! See how easy it is. From there you want to take spoonfuls of dough and roll them into the almond meal and cover all surface! Put on a plate lined with wax paper and put in freezer for approx 20 minutes until they hardened a bit. Enjoy!!!



Here is where you can get creative! You can go anywhere from here.

Alternatives:

• Add 1/2 Cup Raw Cocoa to make a bit chocolaty 
• Substitute Almond meal with Raw coconut shreds
• Substitute the almond meal with Raw Cocoa 
• Add a bit of lemon oil (cut back on Vanilla) to make lemon cookies.

Add Anything that strikes your fancy!




Almond Joy Drop Cookie Batter!


Feel free to add comments if you have any questions or would recommendations on further alternatives!

Cheers and good health!

Shuanna

Holy Mole Guacamole! (that means it was good!)

I am lying in bed after a very full belly of guacamole wraps. I had kind of been craving avocados now for a couple of days. I would pass some guacamole in the store and drool so figured it was time I made some. It is one of the easiest things to make but for some weird reason I overlook it all the time! I might be inclined to make it more if it were a little less fattening... not that I lead a low fat raw diet (which I am hoping to change). I do eat an ungodly amount of fat via nuts and seeds and I am in the process of shifting my diet towards a lower fat raw diet. Obviously.... it hasn't started yet so lets talk about these wraps!

I don't know if it was the fact that I had been craving guacamole or what but these were the best things I have put in my mouth (Thats what she said) in a while. I made Pico de gallo, Guacamole and zucchini pepper wraps (loosely based off The Raw Revolution Diet recipe). It was a mexican-ish style wrap I guess! Here are the following recipes!


Guacamole:

• 2 Avocados
• 2 Cloves of garlic
• 1 Shallot
• 1 Large Jalepeno pepper
• 1 Large Roma tomato
• Juice of 1 Lime
• Himalayan Sea Salt to taste

Directions:
Dice garlic, shallot, jalepeno pepper (leave seeds) and tomato finely and add to a large bowl. Proceed with two medium soft avocados and the lime juice and mash/mix together until it forms a consistency to your liking. Then add Sea salt and season to your tastes!
Prep time: 10 Min



Pico De Gallo:

• 2 1/2 cups tomatoes
• 1/3 cup yellow sweet onions
• 1 large Serrano Chili Pepper
• 1 Ear of Corn cut from the cob
• 2 tbl.Cilantro
• Juice of 1 Lemon
• Himalayan Sea salt to taste 

Directions:
Finely dice tomatoes, onions, Pepper, and Cilantro and toss in large bowl. Add the corn kernels and the juice of  the lemon and toss again! Add the Sea salt to your liking!
Prep time:10 Min.



Zucchini Pepper Wraps: Requires Dehydrator. Make the day prior to Guacamole!
This recipe will make around 10 disk sized wraps and they keep for months. I like to keep them around at all time! They make a great low fat snack food. Shove almost anything in them and they are great! They do require a day to make though. They are worth it... I promise!

• 6 chopped medium sized yellow peppers (orange works fine too, they are both nice and sweet)
• 6 chopped and peeled medium sized zucchini 
• 1/2 to 1 ripe avocado (helps bind it.... important)
• 1 1/2  tabl. nutritional yeast (supplies a boost of B vitamins including the hard to get B12)
• Dash of Sea Salt.

Directions:
Combine peppers and zucchini and blend until smooth. It will all blend nicely so be patient. DO NOT add water! Add the avocado and nutritional yeast and blend til smooth.
Pour 1/2 cup of batter on non stick teflex dehydrator sheets and spread evenly with a spatula.
Dehydrate for about 5 hours, or until they can be removed safely from the sheets and then placed on the regular dehydrator sheets. Proceed to dehydrate for another 4-5 hours.



I know recipes that need a dehydrator can be a pain but this will yield alot of wraps and can be stored for a long time! They are a great finger food! They have saved me more than a couple times! If you stock pile these things to and have a marathon 'wrap' session you can say good bye to the dehydrator for a while which is always nice. I am too much of a simpleton to deal with that stuff.

Cheers and good health!
Shuanna

MSM (Methy Sulfonyl Methane)

Approximately 1 month ago I started taking this supplement MSM for a variety of reasons. Many Raw enthusiasts recommend it due to its help in detoxifying the body, while others seem to be a bit more excited about its 'supposed' beauty benefits. Either way, my curiosity was peaked and decided to do a bit more research on this much talked about supplement.

I found some great information on MSM here as well as on this site. There are MANY more informational sites available but you will notice a lot of them go over the same concepts.

I myself am damn glad I found MSM and believe it is responsible for quit a few things! On the beauty front, my hair and nails are growing faster than usual. I feel like thats really saying something because even on a Raw diet alone, hair and nails seem to grow a bit quicker. I don't know if the MSM play a part of this but even the whites of my eyes are brighter. I  have worn contacts now for 15 years and my optometrist noticed some broken blood vessels roughly 2 months ago, during my last visit. I had wondered why my eyes always seemed a bit red! Now, they are gradually turning more white. I cant even notice the red anymore on the sides!

My skin is also reaping some pretty damn amazing benefits. I have always been blessed with freakishly great skin. If there were problems, it was only that it was on the slightly dry side. I never went through an acne faze and the only time I ever 'broke out' was three years ago when I went 100% raw. Overall, there was nothing a moisturizing lotion couldn't take care of. Over the past month I have used a moisturizing lotion maybe once a week and thats only because it is out of habit. David Wolfe describes MSM as  "producing a flame like tint in the skin and creating a subtle lustre as delicate as the halo around the full moon on a clear desert evening." I have never thought that my skin could use improving but seeing these results has changed my mind. 


After some research that I have done I saw that it is also great for repairing scar tissue. I am hoping this is the case but have yet to notice any results. I am using MSM as well as the Dry Brushing method to produce the results I am hoping for. I was not expecting immediate results in the scar tissue arena so I will keep you posted on the MSM and Dry Brushing combo!


The number one reason this supplement seemed so desirable to me were the claims that is helps with muscular pain and sever arthritis. Roughly 8 months ago I developed Hip bursitis in BOTH hips due to my previous job as a Coffee Roaster. I was limping for 4 months and in just plain pain for the other 4. My Doctor told me it was something that CAN go away but in many cases it can be something I may have to cope with for the rest of my life. I had to stop running which was the biggest let down. I was an avid runner (prior to my job, working 60-70 hrs a week) and ran 5-7 miles everyday. Running was the best part of my life for a very long time! I have since had to hang up my running shoes. 


Since I have taken MSM, I have noticed a significant drop in my hip and back pain. I refuse to be inactive so I still workout on a regular basis. Instead of running, it is now elliptical training and cycling. It's not nearly as fun or effective for me but I'll take what I can get. My boyfriend also rocks and does the elliptical with me! The fact that I am able to continue to work out 5 days a week and my pain is is at a mild to medium intensity is AMAZING! It has only been a month of taking this product so I am looking forward to the results I see further down the road.




I would highly recommend taking this supplement if your looking for a natural way to help relieve pain, looking for some beauty benefits or am looking for something to help with detox. If you are brand new to the Raw lifestyle it could be a greta supplement to help with the transition!


I'll keep you posted on the results I find down the road! 
Cheers and good health!

I'm offering a Kombucha Home brewing course!

How excited am I? I am in the process of making plans on teaching a home brewing course for Kombucha lovers. It is in the works for sometime in late November possibly early December.  I am just waiting to produce a couple more Scoby's (Symbiotic Colony of Bacteria and Yeast) so I can then make them part of the cost of the class. I have seen time and time again people and companies offering to just sell Scoby's and I would like to not only offer them the Scoby but a basic understanding and foundation for future successful brewing.

I am thinking the cost of the class will be around $30-$40 and it will include

• Scoby in the starter fluid
• Small class size of no more than 10 persons
• 1 hour lecture,conversation and Q and A
• Detailed literature on successful brewing and trouble shooting

Being how their personal batches will not be brewed during the class, as part of the deal, I am offering to travel to their homes and get them started if they are not feeling comfortable on their own with the brewing process. The only equipment that will not be supplied to them is their glass containers and the handkerchiefs to cover the brew. I have not decided but I may or may not offer those for an additional cost at the class. I know it can be a pain to find the perfect glass container!

I will include more details as they are known. 

I am so excited about this on so many levels. I am eager to get my start as an educator on Raw Foods and this will be a step in the right direction. I, more than anything, just want to get the word out on this amazing lifestyle and give people the resources to move forward or continue their journey to a better way of living. I know it may seem a bit far fetched but I believe that if more people lived a lifestyle of pure and whole foods then this world be more like a Utopia, free from so many of the things that plague us as humans... including violence and ignorance. We could be a world filled with compassion, understanding and love... for all beings. 

Cheers and Good health,

Shuanna