Simply Raw Snacks

Whoa! That's got to be the longest I've gone without blogging! There I was, thinking that things would slow down a little once "The Best Of The Sunny Raw Kitchen" got published, but Life had different ideas. Within a few days of the release of the ebook, our forum, Raw Freedom Community, experienced a major burst in membership; over 70 new registrations in a single week!

So with all that's going on, I haven't had much energy to be creative in the kitchen lately. As I often think during such intense periods, "Thank God for freezers!" lol At least it allows us to enjoy raw 'fast food'. Don and I have replaced all the gourmet stuff with mostly simple, quickly prepared meals.

In that light, I thought it would be appropriate to begin the 'Simply Raw' Series with snacks; goodies that fit the bill perfectly whether you feel like going to the beach, having a quiet little picnic, or just enjoying a 'no-brainer' lunch or supper.

You'll notice that several of the following recipes require dehydration. However, once you take the time to prepare these, you'll be stocked up with snacks that you can take along with you at a moment's notice.

Old Favorites Revisited
When you get serious about health, chips are one of those things that just have to go. When you think of all the transfats and additives that regular chips contain, your body will thank you for it! With the help of a dehydrator, you can transform a number of veggies into delicious raw chips: zucchini, butternut squash, sweet potato and even kale! You can also use good ol' potatoes, of course, although we've found that they seem to retain a certain 'starchiness' that we don't particularly care for.

To make the chips, simply toss your thinly sliced veggies into a marinade of oil, salt/Braggs and your favorite seasonings, spread these on teflex sheets, and dehydrate until crisp. Voila! Healthy chips 'a la raw'!


Sweet Potato Chips
2 sweet potatoes, peeled
1 tbs olive oil
1 tsp salt
Seasonings of choice

Thinly slice the sweet potatoes with a mandoline or veggie peeler. Prepare a marinade with the rest of the ingredients and toss the potatoes in it.

Spread the slices on a teflex sheet and dehydrate until crisp. You may want to turn them over to help dehydration.

For BBQ Chips: Use Chili, cayenne, cumin, paprika, onion powder and a little honey.

For Cheezy Chips: Use 2 tbs nutritional yeast

Carmella's Notes:
- If you find that your chips don't turn out very crispy, try slicing them thinner or using less oil.

- You can dehydrate the chips directly on the mesh, but in my experience, it's a lot of work cleaning these up afterwards.


Kale also makes wonderful chips, reminding me a little of the 'fried spinach' I used to eat way back when. Instead of a simple oil-based marinade, in the following 'Goddess Chips' recipe, the kale is tossed with a dressing made with tahini. Unbelievably yummy!


Chrissy's Goddess Chips
Posted by Chrissy on Raw Food Talk

2 bunches kale, broken into large pieces by hand (preferably dino kale)

Dressing:
¾ cups sesame tahini
¼ cup nama shoyu
½ cup apple cider vinegar
½ cup water ~ more if needed
2 scallion
1 clove garlic
1 lemon, juiced
¼ t. sea salt
¼ cup fresh parsley

Place kale in a large mixing bowl. Combine all 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.

Place kale onto a Teflex sheet, on top of a mesh dehydrator screen, and dehydrate for 4 hours @ 110 degrees. You'll need to use two trays. Rotate kale occasionally to dry uniformly.

The first time I made these I stood over the dehydrator and ate the chips right from the Teflex sheet. Enjoy!


How about raw renditions of other favorite SAD snacks? If you find yourself missing garlic bread and fries, you might want to give the next two recipes a try!

These are sooooooooo good! We rarely can get our hands on jicama here, but when we do, I invariably make a batch of these delectable garlicky toasts. As incredible as this may sound, their flavor is really reminiscent of their cooked cousins.

Chewy Crunchy Garlicky Toasts
Posted by Tropigal on Raw Food Talk

1 jicama
1 red Bell pepper
1 med tomato
6-8 cloves of garlic
1 teaspoon sea salt
1/3 cup olive oil (I find that 1/4 cup is plenty!)
Basil, fresh chopped or dried (optional)

Slice jicama using mandolin no more than 1/4" thick....the thinner the better. Set aside.

Process tomato in processor to a very fine chop. Strain the juice out so you are just left with the pulp.

Process red pepper & garlic the same way to a very fine chop (or you can hand chop the garlic separately). Squeeze out the moisture from the peppers also as you don't want the veggies to be wet.

Stir all the ingredients together except jicama.

Spoon a SMALL amount of topping onto each jicama slice & dehydrate for approx 7-10 hours until chewy. (Remember that these will shrink quite a bit!)

Please note you DO need a lot of oil for this recipe.. I did make it once with a generous 1/4 cup and it was fine.

You want to make sure the veggies are spread thinly...if you can avoid the edges they will come out a bit crunchy.

This is one of the best dehydrator recipes I have ever made!!!

Carmella's Note: I wouldn't recommend slicing the jicama any thinner than 1/4 ".



Avocado "Fries"
Posted by Peggy and Curtis on their blog, Raw Inspiration

Here is a simple and satisfying treat for when the fried food craving hits!

- Slice up some avocado into 1/4-1/2 inch strips.

Tip: After slicing the avo in half, score the flesh while it is still in the rind and then scoop out the meat and it will already be in strips.

- Roll the avocado in a flax breading that is made up of:
1/2 cup ground flax seeds
1-2 tsp. garlic minced or powder
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. oregano
1 Tbs. nutritional yeast

After breading the avocado slices you can dehydrate them for about an hour. This warms them up as well as allows some of the oils of the avocado to soak into the breading. You could just eat them right away too.

The spices can be varied and your imagination is the only limitation. I once made spicy chili fries and they rocked! Be well.

Carmella's Note: These don't keep so well so I suggest making just enough for one meal. For the two of us, we used 1 1/2 large avocado and half of the breading recipe and it was plenty!!! In fact, we even ate more than we normally would.


Crackers 'n Spreads
How could we talk about snacks without mentioning crackers and spreads? This is pretty much what we've been living on lately. I have already shared with you two of our staples: onion bread and almond bread, along with a delicious zucchini cracker recipe I discovered recently. Here are a couple of other great cracker recipes you might want to experiment with.

Remember orange and cheesy Ritz Crackers? You'll be amazed at how much these taste like the 'real' thing.

Just Like Ritz Crackers
Posted by mindi on RFT

2 ½ c. walnuts soaked 1 hr. or more
2 ½ c. cubed zucchini
½ c. ground golden flax seed
¼ c. hemp seed
2 teaspoons sea salt

Grind walnut in FP until they are in very small uniform pieces (couscous looking) - transfer to bowl.

Grind zucchini in FP until they are in very small uniform pieces - add to bowl.

Add ground flax, hemp and salt. Blend well. Add enough water to make spreadable dough ( 1/2 to 1 cup).

Spread between 2 trays lined with teflex.

Dehydrate - Flip - until crisp.

Cut in to chips - flat bread or desired sizes.


And here's a modified version of Kelly's Super Flax Crax published in Carol Alt's new book "The Raw 50". These have got to be one of the prettiest and most original crackers I've come upon! I've altered the recipe slightly and divided it by half as the original one yielded close to 6 dehydrator trays!

Kelly's Super Flax Crax - Modified
From Carol Alt's "The Raw 50"

3/4 cup flax seeds, soaked for a few hours and drained
3/4 cup flax seeds, ground
1/2 cup pumpkin seeds, soaked for 4-6 hours and drained
1/2 cup raw pistachio, soaked for 4-6 hours and drained
1/8 cup lemon juice
1/2 cup red, yellow or orange bell pepper, roughly chopped
1/2 cup red onion, roughly chopped
1 garlic clove, crushed
1 tbs cumin
2 tbs dulse flakes
2 tbs Tamari
1 1/4 cup water (or more)
1/2 cup fresh parsley, chopped

- Drain the soaked flax seeds and transfer to a large bowl.

- Grind the rest of the flax seeds in coffee grinder, add to bowl and set aside.

- In food processor, combine pumpkin seeds, pistachios, lemon juice, bell pepper, onion, garlic, cumin, dulse, and Braggs. Process until smooth and add to the bowl.

- Add water to the mixture, and stir in the parsley.

- Let stand for at least 30 mins. The batter should be thick and spreadable. If necessary, add more water until spreadable consistency is reached.

- Spread about 1/8 " thick on teflex sheets. (It should fill 2 to 3 sheets.) Score and dehydrate for a few hours, until dry to the touch.

- Flip and transfer over to mesh. Continue to dehydrate until fully dry and crispy. (I left them overnight.)


So now that we've got our crackers, let's have a look at a few yummy ideas as to what to eat them with. As I was putting together this post, I noticed a recurring theme; the following all mimic popular cooked sandwich fillings. I didn't really intend it that way, but hey, what can I say?


Bacon
Posted by Erica of School of RAWk

1 large eggplant peeled and thinly sliced lengthwise. (You can use a wide veggie-peeler or a mandoline for this.)

Marinade:
3 Tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon black pepper
2 Tablespoons maple syrup
3 Tablespoons Ume Plum vinegar
2 Tablespoons Apple cider vinegar
2 Tablespoons cider
1 Tablespoon liquid smoke

Marinate for 2 or more hours. . . I like 6 or so.

Spread them out on the teflex and dehydrate for 8 hours and then turn the "bacon" and dry another 8 hours.

Carmella's Notes:
- Liquid Smoke can be found in the 'sauce' section of most grocery stores. It apparently 'makes' the recipe but I tried it without and the bacon still turned out delicious!

- Enjoy on bread/cracker of your choice, with mayo, tomato slices and lettuce. Yum! Yum! BLT's never tasted so good!


This recipe was featured in Raw Food, Right Now!s Thanksgiving ebook and is absolutely incredible! With Heidi and Justin's kind permission, I now get to share it with you.

I swear it DOES taste exactly like the deviled eggs my mom used to make on special occasions. For a wonderful egg salad, simply fold in some finely chopped celery, green onion and red pepper.


Raw Deviled Egg-less "Egg" Spread
By Heidi and Justin of Raw Food, Right Now!

Serves 4-6

½ cup pure water (I prefer to start with less and add more water if needed)
Juice from one small lemon
1 clove garlic, peeled
1 ½ teaspoons sea salt (or to taste!!!)
1 ½ cups raw cashews
½ teaspoon dry mustard
1 Tablespoon apple cider vinegar
Turmeric, as needed for color (approx. ½ teaspoon)

1. Place the water, lemon juice, garlic, sea salt and cashews in the high speed blender, and blend until very smooth.

2. With a spatula, take the mixture from the blender and place in a medium sized mixing bowl.

3. Slowly stir in the mustard, white vinegar, and turmeric until it reaches the color and flavor you desire.

4. Serve on top of flax seed crackers, celery sticks, or add a bit of water to make a creamy salad dressing.

Shelf Life: Keeps up to 5 days in the fridge if sealed in a tight container. You can make this ahead of time!

Carmella's Notes:
- I usually make this spread using part cashews and part macs.

- For an awesome cream cheese, just omit the mustard and turmeric.


Mock Salmon Pate
From Alissa Cohen's Book, Living on Live Foods
Posted by Raw Vegan Mama on Raw Freedom Community

2 cups raw walnuts
2 stalks celery
1 large red sweet pepper
1 large scallion
1/2 - 1 teaspoon sea salt

Combine all ingredients in a food processor and blend until smooth.

Serving suggestions: This can be served on a plate as is, over a salad, rolled up in a green leaf, or spread on crackers.

RVM's Note: This is pretty, a nice pink "salmon" color. I used this as a filling with green boston lettuce. It tasted great! My husband even likes it. I used two green onions, and it was a bit too onion-y, not terrible, just a bit much. This reminds me of roasted red pepper hummus. Going to try some garlic in it next time.

Finally, Anna of TheRawTable.com, also has a delicious Mock Chicken Salad recipe available on her site:

Burgers Anyone?
I was debating whether to include these in this post and thought "Why not!?" These mushroom burgers are so easy to whip up, and although they don't really qualify as 'portable', they still make a great snack just the same!

Stuffed Portobello Mushroom Caps or 'Burgers'

For the Mushroom Caps:

Carefully remove the stems from Portobello mushrooms.

Make a marinade of oil, tamari/salt and garlic. Then either brush the Portobello caps with it or just dip them in it. (Careful not to use too much salt; the taste does get stronger with the dehydration as the mushrooms shrink!)

Put caps on teflex sheet and dehydrate at 110 for a couple of hours. They will turn a beautiful dark color and you would never guess these are still raw!

Carmella's Note: I like to chop up the unused stems and toss them in the left-over marinade. They are great, dehydrated or not, to put on top of pasta or in sammies or whatever.

Toppings:
These particular Portobello 'burgers' were topped with a sort of cross between a mayonnaise, ketchup and mustard sauce. I got the idea from my friend Chantale, but haven't got the exact amounts figured out yet. Basically some soaked cashews, soaked yellow mustard seeds (I used too many at first and it was wayyyyy too strong! ), a little avocado, tomato, salt, and ACV or lemon. Then water until the desired consistency is reached.

I finished off with some Guacamole, as somehow avocado goes really well with the mushrooms. There are all kinds of variations, but one of my favorites is Anna's of TheRawTable.

Don was pointing out to me the other day how you could experiment with different toppings for these. My spinach quiche fillings, for instance, would be really super!


This is just a small sample of the raw snacks that are great to have on hand and are easy to prepare. Many of these recipes could have endless variations. Lots and lots of possibilities to play with here! Oh, and let's not forget the Zucchini Roll-ups and Savory Nori Snacks that I've mentioned in previous posts.

Hope these help you enjoy the rest of the summer!