Warm Raw Food in the Winter: Chia Nut Milk Recipe

One of the misconceptions about the raw/living foods diet is that you have to eat cold food, which for many is especially unappealing in the winter time. You can heat food up to 115 - 118° Fahrenheit (46 - 48° Celsius) without killing the vital enzymes, which is quite warm to the palate, while keeping the food regenerative rather than degenerative, as with dead, cooked food. Vegetables used in recipes or salads can be warmed by soaking in warm water for a few minutes before preparing, or warmed in a dehydrator. One of my tricks to have warm live food in the winter is to cut up my favorite veggies, put them in a sauce or broth or marinade, and dehydrate them for about 10 to 20 minutes to warm them and give them the taste and texture of cooked food. Dehydration concentrates flavors and wilts veggies so they taste like they’re cooked.

For example, I can cut up Chinese Napa cabbage with onions, and then put them in a nice terriyaki sauce made from Kikkoman Organic Soy Sauce (fermented, not brewed) and a little organic maple syrup. The onions become like carmelized onions, and the cabbage wilts and is soft and warm after only 10 or 15 minutes. You can wilt many greens this way in your favorite sauce. I make warm (<118 degrees) miso soup and add wilted veggies from the dehydrator to make a delicious and warming live soup. You can do the same with low sodium boullion (I like Organic Gourmet brand), or make a blended vegetable soup and warm it by either blending for about 5 minutes in a high speed commercial grade blender, or putting it in a sealed container in a sink with warm water for a few minutes. I do this a lot in my high speed blender because it’s fast, easy, tastes great, and is very filling.

I rarely eat breakfast in the morning since the body is still detoxing from the previous night for a couple of hours after we get up, but if I’m hungry in the morning, I will sometimes make a warm chia nut milk that is not only warm and delicious, but also very filling and high in protein and omega fatty acids. Here is my recipe for chia nut milk. Note, you can reduce the amount of nut milk and increase the amount of chia to make a warm breakfast pudding.

Chia Nut Milk

2 cups homemade nut milk
1 tbsp chia
optional: 1/2 to 1 tsp cinnamon powder
10 to 12 drops (or to taste) of Omica brand organic vanilla flavored liquid stevia

Place all ingredients in a glass jar, shake well, and continue to shake it every few minutes to prevent the chia from lumping. Place the jar in a dehydrator or sink with warm water to warm up to no more 118F for 15-30 minutes. Continue to shake occasionally during the warming process until thick. No need to measure the water temperature, if you can leave your hand in the warm water without discomfort it’s not too hot.

Note also, do not mix nuts with sweeteners other than stevia, or fruits, the combination of fast digesting sweeteners with slow digesting proteins and fats in the nuts will create fermentation in the gut, poor digestion, and will feed parasites and pathogens in the body.

If you don’t have any nut milk made, you can use Sun Warrior protein powder in a pinch, see the video below.

Ken Rohla Shares His Tips for Making Nutrient-Dense Supplements Using Effective Microorganisms (EM)

Ken Rohla share his tips for making your own homemade nutrient-dense, probiotic, antioxidant, high ORMUS nutritional supplements for pennies, using Dr. Teruo Higa's "Effective Microorganisms" (EM) bacteria culture mixed with water, organic molasses, and other ingredients. Save yourself a boatload of money on vitamin, mineral, probiotic, and antioxidant supplements by fermenting them yourself.

You can download detailed brewing instructions at:
http://downloads.freshandalive.com

You can see more details on EM and purchase it here:
http://www.freshandalive.com/fresh-and-alive-content/products-teraganix-em1-microbial-inoculant.htm

Raw Recipe: Western Omelet Crackers

Got tired of the raw cracker recipes I've been using of late, so I created a new one. This tastes a bit like a western omelet (as I remember them), hence the name. As always, use raw organic ingredients whenever possible. I use an Excalibur ED2900 9-Tray Dehydrator to make these. Enjoy!

—Ken Rohla

Western Omelet Crackers
(Makes 8 or 9 15”x15” dehydrator trays)
1-1/2 cups golden flax
2 cups buckwheat groats, soaked about 8 hours and drained
2 cups truly raw organic almonds, soaked about 8 hours and drained
9 cups water
4 to 6 Anaheim chilies (mild green), seeds removed and finely chopped
1 med yellow onion, finely chopped
4 red bell peppers, finely chopped
2 tbsp onion powder
2 tbsp garlic powder
2 tbsp Celtic or other unrefined salt

This tastes a bit like a Western Omelets, hence the name. Powder dry flax in a blender until a fine flour. Mix well with 6 cups of water in a large bowl or pot and let sit to thicken. Blend buckwheat groats with 1 cup of water in a food processor until creamy, and pour in a large bowl or pot. Blend almonds with 1 cup of water in a food processor until creamy and add to buckwheat. Beware, most almonds from California now are irradiated, so get truly raw organic almonds. Cut chilies in half lengthwise, remove seeds and stems, and chop finely. Peel onion and chop finely. Remove seeds and stems from red bells and chop finely. You can put all items to be diced/chopped into a food processor and pulse chop. Mix all ingredients including flax and veggies into buckwheat and almond mixture. Add 1 cup of water or so to make a thick batter.

Spread on dehydrator Teflon sheets (Paraflex, aka Teflex) with a spatula to about 3/16-inch thick. Dehydrate at 145 degrees F for about two hours until firm, then flip the crackers onto a regular screen and peel away Paraflex to expose wet side. Dehydrate at 105-110 F on regular dehydrator screen for about another 13 hours until crisp. Break up into smaller pieces to serve.

Raw Recipe: Country Club Italian Dressing

I was in the kitchen wanting a nice restaurant-style raw vegan Italian dressing for an incredibly fresh sunflower sprout salad, so I whipped this up and wrote it down to share. Enjoy! -Ken Rohla

Country Club Italian Dressing

1/2 cup fresh squeezed orgainc lemon juice
1/4 cup Bragg's raw apple cider vinegar
1 clove of organic garlic
2/3 cup pure water
2/3 cup organic first cold-pressed sunflower or safllower oil
1-1/2 tsp Celtic, Himalayan or other unrefined, unheated whole salt
3 tsp Italian seasoning (I prefer Mountain Rose Herbs or Frontier brands)

Blend everything except Italian seasoning until smooth. Add seasoning and blend for just a few seconds to mix. Best if left for a few hours or overnight to infuse herbs into dressing. Makes about 2 cups.