It doesn’t really take much to put them together. You don’t necessarily need a dehydrator, which is what is commonly used in most “raw” food recipes. So if you don’t have one, the good news is that you can just use your home oven (on a low temperature of course!). But if you have already gone the length and purchased a wonderful Excalibur dehydrator, then you may as well make your kale chips in there - as a dehydrator will preserve all the nutrients and enzymes  and ensure they don’t get “overcooked”, especially if they are only done at 115 F. If the oven is your only option, then you will need to keep an extra eye on them so that they don’t burn or shrivel up and disappear on you. Kale is a very tender green leafy vegetable that carries with it so many amazing nutrients.

Kale truly is a superfood. Kale contains powerful minerals and vitamins that strengthen your bones, protect your eyes, cleanse your blood, prevent colon cancer and makes your skin glow (now who doesn’t want that!). This all because Kale is an exceptional source of chlorophyll, calcium, iron, magnesium, vitamin A and C.

So the next time you are perusing through the produce section, or at your local farmer’s market or in my backyard…then grab a bunch of kale and experiment with it at home. Making kale chips is one way and a great way. But also marinating it in a salad or steaming it with some olive oil are other delicious ways as well!

If kale  you want to get more familiar with kale in the kitchen, then you may want to check out my Green Goddess Cooking Class next Wednesday!

Zesty Kale Krisps

Ingredients:

1 bunch of kale, washed and torn
1/4 cup tahini
2-3 tablespoons tamari
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup water
1 clove garlic
1 juice of half a lemon
¼ teaspoon sea salt
2 tablespoons of nutritional yeast (can add more for a “cheesier” flavour!)

Procedure:

Place kale in a large mixing bowl. Combine the rest of the ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth to get a thick consistency. You may have to add more water. Pour over kale and mix thoroughly with your hands to coat the kale. You want this mixture to be really glued onto the kale.

In Dehydrator:
Place kale onto a Teflex sheet, and dehydrate for 4 hours @ 115 degrees. You’ll need to use two trays. Rotate kale occasionally to dry uniformly.

In Oven:

Place on parchment paper on a sheet tray, and bake on a low temperature for about 30 minutes. Keep and eye on them and turn them often to make sure they dry evenly.

You can use any variety of Kale for this recipe, however curly kale tends to taste and turn out the best!

Since consuming raw foods has amazing health benefits and I am on a bit of a raw kick myself, I figured I would experiment. So for my spaghetti noodles, I opted to use Kelp Noodles. These are noodles made from a seaweed called Kelp – but they do not taste like seaweed at all! Kelp noodles are pretty much odorless, tasteless and have no calories and the virtually take on any flavour that you marinate them in. They are also so simple to prepare as all they require is a bit of water to soak in for a few minutes or hours. If you want to soften them a bit, add a touch of lemon juice or vinegar to the water.

For a Marinara sauce – I concocted a blend of:
1-2 cups of “fresh from my garden: tomatoes (both cherry and regular)
1/4 cup olive oil,
2 cloves garlic
1-2 dates
1 1/2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
handful of fresh herbs (basil, oregano, thyme)
sea salt and pepper

Whirled that all up in my vitamix and there I had a sauce, all ready to go. If I left it in long enough it would have been warm!

Now as for the “meatballs”, here is where I got a bit creative. In a food processor I added:
1 cup soaked almond
1 cup soaked walnuts
2 stalks of celery
1 tbsp chopped fresh sage
5 mini onions or 1 leek
1/2 cup olive oil
1/4 cup water

Smooth together until you get a thick paste and roll into balls and place in a food dehydrator for 12 hours or in your oven on a low temp – (as low as it will go) for 1-2 hours. But keep an eye on them!

Then top it off, I added some marinated kale and broccoli which I just tossed with some olive oil and sea salt and added to the dehydrator for about an hour to soften up.

Oh and if you needed a little “cheesiness” on top – because what is pasta without cheese, then I would add some crunched up pinenuts, cashews or hemp seeds tossed with some sea salt and lemon juice for a zesty topping!

Now if that isn’t a hearty, satisfying and health promoting bowl of Spaghetti and Meatballs, then I don’t know what is!

Okay enough rambling and back to raw foods…I am by no means ” a raw foodie” or “100 % raw” in fact, I believe in a very balanced approach to food and raw food being a huge component! Especially this time of year, it is very easy to “prepare” most of my foods as opposed to cooking them. Eating a “gourmet” raw meal like we did tonight in the class – takes a bit more thought and planning than just a salad or smoothie but still easy enough that anyone can do it (even without fancy equipment).
However, once it’s complete and you have created a whole raw meal from zucchini noodles, fennel, carrot and beet slaw, cold avocado cucumber-coconut soup, almond basil pesto and the list goes on you will be feeling really proud of yourself and not to mention revived and alive!

It is common for most people to feel intimidated when it comes to raw food, and raw food prep. But the focus of tonight’s class was on how to make raw foods simple and a apart of your everyday life without too much time and effort. You can make anything from “pasta” made from zucchini noodles (in your food processor) with an almond pesto, to “pizza” made from sprouted (Ezekiel) crust with sun dried tomato paste and cashew ricotta cheese to, nori rolls to an apple pie that wasn’t even baked!

Have a look!

Yes, this may require a tad of planning. But all in all, preparing raw food can be simple, delicious and energizing!

Try this for starters….

Sun Seed Nori Rolls

Ingredients

1 cup sunflower seeds soaked 10-12 hours
1 cup almonds soaked 10-12 hours
1 ½ tablespoons dill, fresh and minced
1 tablespoon oregano fresh and minced
1 teaspoon sage, fresh and minced
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon tamari
1 tablespoon kelp or dulse granules
½ tablespoon Celtic sea salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
1/3 cup celery minced
1/3 cup red onion minced

Procedure:

Mix almonds and sunflower seeds, hand mix in remaining ingredients, mixing thoroughly. Serve by itself or wrapped in nori with veggies (cucumber, lettuce, carrots, sprouts) or with flatbread, raw crackers or on top of a salad!

Also have a look at some of these resources to read more about the benefits of Raw Food.
Raw Food Life
Raw Food Diet
Raw Food Research
Raw Food and Energy Gains
Raw Food vs. Cooked Food