Wakame Miso Nut Crumble – a perfect salad tune-up!

Posted on March 21, 2013 by vibrantearth

Another day with the same salad? Healthy snacks nowhere to find?
There is help! If you have a dehydrator or kind-of-modern oven this recipe will brighten your day!

Wakame Miso Nut Crumble
Makes about 4-5 dehydrator trays

400g Almonds, soaked over night
300g Pumpkin seeds, soaked over night
300g Sunflower seeds, soaked over night
300g Sesame seeds, soaked over night
½ c chia seeds
25g dried Wakame sea weed (1 bag), crushed and soaked for 2 hours
3 T Tamari sauce
4 T Brown Rice Miso
1 T Honey or coconut flower nectar
3 cloves of Garlic, minced (Microplane)
2 t natural sea salt
½ t mild chili powder
1 lemon, juice
1 lime, juice

Rinse the soaked nuts and seeds. In a food processor pulse the almonds and pumpkin seeds into a coarse crumbly texture.
Combine everything in a large mixing bowl and stir well. Let it sit for a while for the seaweed and chia seeds to soak up some of the moisture of the mix. That will help sticking things together when dry.
Spread loosely onto Teflex sheets so that enough air can flow through the clusters and the wet mix does not touch the tray above.
Start dehydrating at around 145°F, turn down gradually to 115°F and eventually to 105°F. If you have an Excalibur dehydrator make sure to rotate the trays horizontally from time to time and also rotate from the centre out to the top and bottom rack.
Should the oven be your only gadget, set the temperature on low: 50°C, turn the fan on, leave the door slightly ajar and go for it! Yes, a few baking trays will do.
Dehydrate till crisp and completely dry.
Enjoy as crumble over your salads or as individual snack.

Miso is one of the few soy-based foods I would actually use. Tamari is the run-off/whey from the Miso production.

Enjoy!
René
🙂

Apple Spice Granola Recipe – a staple in our house

Posted on October 19, 2012 by vibrantearth

Ever been suspicious of what these supermarket breakfast cereals contain? Often less nutrition than the cardboard boxes they come in.

Here is a time proven raw granola recipe I was introduced to years ago by my good friend and mentor Chad Sarno. Not much tweaking needed to happen since. Some creations are just perfect. Saying that, especially this basic granola recipe is almost crying for some playful changes or addition of ingredients like Maca powder, chia seeds, cacao nibs, Sacha Inchi powder, freeze dried fruit slices etc.. Knock yourself out! 😉

Don’t be afraid to substitute or add other nuts and seeds like pumpkin seeds, coconut chips or brazil nuts. Just adjust the amount of date paste to obtain the desired sweetness.

I often use sprouted buckwheat for this recipe as it is a reasonably priced alternative to lot of highly priced nuts, like pecans or walnuts. Buckwheat also dehydrates beautifully into a crispy crunch. I believe the thick ‘slimy’ run-off from the sprouting grains also helps to bind the granola clusters together – similarly to what happens with flax and chia seeds when you soak them.

This brings us to another great little secret wit this recipe. By soaking and sprouting the nuts and seeds and then mixing the wet ingredients with date paste, apples and whatever spices and superfood powders you want to add, you achieve a natural clustered crunchy granola after dehydration. Adding wet and dry ingredients to nuts and seeds before dehydration and then dry the lot together in clusters, bars or any shape, will nicely attach the flavours and hold all other components together.

Now just pop your granola clusters into a bowl, add some banana slices and pour your freshly made almond milk or raw organic Jersey cow’s cream over it and enjoy!

You are still waiting for the actual recipe, right?!
Here it is:

Apple Spice Granola
Makes 4 cups

1 c pecans or walnut pieces, soaked10-12 hours
1 c almonds, soaked 10-12 hours
1 c sunflower seeds, soaked 10-12 hours
1 c hulled buckwheat, sprouted for 1-2 days
1-2 c date paste
1/2 t vanilla extract

2 T chia seeds
3 apples, diced small
2 T cinnamon, ground
1 T maca powder
t natural sea salt
1/2 t lemon juice

Keep the sprouted buckwheat aside. Using the food processor, pulse all other nuts and seeds until coarsely ground. Add in a large bowl to the sprouted buckwheat.
Also using the food processor blend the dates with a small amount of water until it becomes a smooth paste. Dry dates will require soaking over night.
Toss the paste along with the diced apples, chia seeds, maca powder, cinnamon, vanilla extract and salt with the nut mixture. Hand mix well. Adjust flavour with lemon juice.
Continue by crumbling the ‘wet’ granola onto Teflex dehydrator sheets and dehydrate at 145 F for 2 hours. Over the next hours turn the temperature gradually down to 115 F. Turn trays periodically. After 6-8hours flip over and remove Teflex sheets. Dehydrate at 105 F for 12 more hours or until crisp.

This process is important to stop the granola from fermenting during the dehydration process. Not that it would be bad for you, yet the flavour would be slightly different 😉 It would definitely clear up any phytic acid remnants after the soaking and sprouting.

Notice the space between the clusters when wet!
Store in sealed glass jars.

Enjoy!
René
🙂

Almond Lime Cookie recipe – a versatile sweet raw treat

Posted on July 8, 2012 by vibrantearth

You would never think these little darlings are raw, would you?!
Trust me, they are 🙂

Among the White and Dark Chocolate Raspberry Tart and Amy Levin’s Candied Hazelnut Cupcakes with Chocolate Frosting they almost disappeared at last week’s Divine Desserts class. Yet… try them! The flavour and texture is pretty close to marzipan, well worth the effort of hot-soaking, peeling, soaking, dehydrating… Double the batch and have your family help you peel the almonds. They might get a cookie for it 😉

And here is how:

Almond Lime Cookies

Makes about 60 cookies

3 c almonds, hot-soaked, peeled, soaked for 6-8 hours, dehydrated until crisp
4 T agave nectar or light honey like clover
1/4 t natural sea salt or to taste
1 T lime juice
1 t lime zest
2 t vanilla extract

Process all of the almonds in a food processor until coarsely ground.
Add the other ingredients and process into a firm dough.
Form dough into a ball and flatten between two teflex sheets into 0.5cm thickness. With a cookie cutter cut out heart-shaped cookies and place on dehydrator sheet.
Dehydrate at 42° C for 8-12 hours or until crisp.

Enjoy!

René
🙂

Chocolate Müsli Slice – a glutenfree and vegan Power Snack

Posted on June 30, 2012 by vibrantearth

Be warned, this one will be a staple in your power snack repertoire. A thoroughly nourishing and satisfying chocolate treat. The basic recipe below is not fully raw as presented here, due to the use of 72% dark chocolate. I like to use the vegan Whittaker’s’Dark Ghana’. ‘Green & Blacks’ works as well. By all means, go ahead and make your own raw chocolate topping!
Oh, have I not posted that recipe yet?! Hang in there, it will pop up shortly 😉

When I am making this Chocolate Müsli slice I always make more of the dry crust mix than I will need for one standard baking tray. I store it in a sealed container till the next batch is due. That way I only have to add date paste, mix it thoroughly, press it into a paper lined tray and pour the chocolate.

And yes, the recipe below is not suggesting for the nuts and seeds to be soaked and dehydrated. For better digestion and utilization of all nutrients feel free to soak and dehydrate the sunflower- and pumpkin seeds as well as the almonds.
It is ESSENTIAL to dehydrate the nuts and seeds completely dry after soaking them over night. The base of the Müsli slice is held together by the moisture being evenly distributed throughout the crust.

And here is the recipe. Enjoy!

Chocolate Müsli Slice

Makes approx. three standard baking trays with 64 pieces each

7c sunflower seeds, ground into coarse meal
5c pumpkin seeds, ground into coarse meal
10c dried finely shredded coconut
4c almonds, ground into coarse meal
2c cashew pieces, ground into a coarse meal
4c chia seed flour
3c cranberries
2c sultanas
3-6c smooth date paste, depending on moisture level
9 x 250g bars of Whittaker’s 72% Dark Ghana chocolate (750g per tray)

In a large tub hand-mix all dry ingredients well.
Put a pot with 1-2cups of water to the boil, place a stainless steel bowl on the rim of the pot so it completely covers it. Break 3 bars (750g) of the dark chocolate into the bowl. Turn the heat down to a minimum once the water boils. Stir the chocolate occasionally until it is completely melted.
While the chocolate is melting take 12c of the dry müsli mixture and hand-mix 1-2 cups of date paste in until everything sticks well together and is evenly moist and covered with date paste.
Line a standard baking tray (approx. 2cm deep) with one sheet of baking paper. Now press the moist müsli mixture evenly into the tray.
When the chocolate is completely melted pour it over the compacted müsli in the baking tray. Make sure you dry off the bowl underneath beforehand to avoid water dripping into your molten chocolate! Tap the tray lightly on the work bench to distribute the chocolate evenly and to make the surface level. Use a cranked spatula to help spread the chocolate, if necessary.
Can you smell the freshly poured chocolate?!
Place the tray in the fridge (walk-in coolers are handy here! ;-)) to let the chocolate solidify. Check frequently for the chocolate surface to turn matt. Do not wait till the chocolate is thoroughly chilled through. It will be too brittle to cut. A very sharp and thin (Asian) chef’s knife helps!
Once the chocolate surface has turned evenly matt and is sufficiently solid to cut, carefully, while holding on to the paper, slide the chocolate-covered müsli block onto a large cutting board. Cut into 64 equal pieces and stack them into a tight-sealing container with baking paper between the layers.

Return to chiller overnight. The chocolate will solidify and the moisture in the müsli mix will spread evenly through all ingredients, making them hold together better.

Caution!

Do not touch the chocolate surface after it is poured!!! Your fingerprints will remain visible.
From the time of cutting into individual pieces till serving the individual müsli slices should stay refrigerated. Alterations in temperature will cause moisture in the air to condense on the chocolate coating. This ultimately leads to bright brown spots on it and makes it look unsightly and old.

Enjoy!

René
🙂

PS: Yes, this might be one of the recipes featured at one of my next demo classes!

Almond Sauerkraut Bread – a convenient way to use almond pulp

Posted on June 17, 2012 by vibrantearth

Ever wondered what to do with all these bags of frozen almond pulp from making almond milk? I have. Last week I decided to clean our freezer only to find a truck load of almond pulp waiting to be used for something at some point in the distant future. I decided that the future starts now and went ahead creating this lovely nut bread.

As made at our last Raw Chef Training, September 2013.

Buckle up, this stuff is amazing! It will definitely be one of the staples in our pantry (unless sold prior ;-)).

Almond Sauerkraut Bread

1 c golden flax seeds, coarsely ground
3 c of almond pulp from milk
1 c sauerkraut, finely chopped
1/2 c soaked almonds, coarsely chopped
enough water to make dough consistency
2 T olive oil
2 t natural sea salt
2 t Italian herbs
1 small clove garlic, crushed
1 sprig rosemary to garnish

Process the almond pulp in a food processor with the “S” blade until finely broken down. Add olive oil, garlic, natural sea salt, and water
Combine all the ingredients in a mixing bowl, add the sauerkraut ,chopped almonds, natural sea salt and mix well.
Form into round loaves about Ø3cm and slice into 1cm wide slices.
Dehydrate for 2-3 hours at 145°F and then at 115°F for another 2 hours or until the desired moisture is obtained. For long term storage dehydrate until crisp at 105°F.

Enjoy with your favourite dip or soup!

René 🙂

Dry it, you will like it! A comprehensive class on dehydrated raw foods.

Posted on April 3, 2012 by vibrantearth

Yes, we are teaching a

Dehydrated Foods Class
Wednesday, April 11th, 7 – 9.30pm,
Wise Cicada Cafe, 23 Crowhurst Street, Newmarket
Auckland, New Zealand

Join us and come along!

The investment is $60/person including all samples (I’m working on them :-)) and a comprehensive recipe booklet.

Our menu for the night will include a basic flaxseed cracker recipe, breakfast granola and a lovely raw porridge, spiced nuts and seeds (great savoury snacks this time!), pizza crusts, wraps and an idea for trail bars. And what do you do with all that pulp from making almond milk??? Precisely! We’ll deal with that one too 😉

If you have a dehydrator and you want to use it more come along!

If you are thinking of getting one come along too! René will share some advice on what to look for in a good dehydrator.

Either way, you will come out of this class with more confidence and knowledge around dehydrated raw foods.

Spaces are limited to 20 people and bookings are essential.
Book your space today!

You can contact us directly to book your place, either by clicking here and leaving us a note or by ringing René directly on 0275551622.

We are looking forward to having some good fun together!

Happy Easter,

René

🙂

PS: More classes are coming up. Please see our Teaching page!

Flax seed cracker recipe – one that works

Posted on April 3, 2012 by vibrantearth

Yes, yes, yes! Another one of our favourite recipes and a staple in our pantry (top shelf, second jar from the left, right beside the chocolate walnuts – yum!, Maca/apple spice granola, buckwheat pizza bread, and the almond bread croutons).

This recipe came about after a bit of trial and error. Nothing fancy but it works – as long as you keep the ratios approximately in proportion. I encourage you to experiment with other ingredients too. Try other nuts or seeds instead of sunflower seeds, or some other vegies that are in season when you make these crackers. Zucchini or bell peppers will be fine.

As you can see in the pictures that follow, we are using the good old Excalibur dehydrator. This recipe will work equally well with any other dehydrator. The linseeds don’t have to be golden if you can’t get them. The brown ones will do just fine.

I use the terms ‘flax seeds’ and ‘linseeds’ alternatively. They are the same.

Here we go:

Golden Linseed Crackers

Makes 8 trays or 288 crackers

4 c golden linseeds, soaked in 6-8 c filtered water for 12 hours
2 c sunflower seeds, soaked for 6-8hours
1 c golden linseed meal
3 tomatoes, chopped
3 cloves of garlic, pureed
3 T fresh chives, minced
2 t lemon juice
2 ½ t natural sea salt
¼ t cayenne pepper

Set the soaked linseeds, linseed meal, and chives aside. In a food processor, combine the other ingredients and process until smooth.
In a bowl combine with chives, linseed meal, and soaked linseeds. Hand mix well.
Using an offset spatula, spread the mixture onto Teflex dehydrator sheets, forming eight 25cm squares about 0.5cm high.
If your batter mix is thick enough score the tray into individual crackers with your spatula now or dehydrate at 145° F for 1 hour, then with a pizza wheel or carefully with a big knife score into crackers of equal size.
Rotate the trays regularly both horizontically and between the different slots in your dehydrator (Excalibur). Turn down the temperature gradually to 115° F as the crackers dry.
After 4-6 hours flip the cracker sheets and remove the Teflex sheets. Continue to dehydrate at 105°F for about 12 hours or until crisp.
Store in sealed glass jars (see picture above).

And here is the whole story in pictures. Enjoy!

4c of flaxseeds turning into 8c when soaked, 2c sunflower seeds require more space too

The remaining ingredients apart from your natural salt

A thick and moist mix.

about 2c of batter per tray, get yourself one of these cranked spatulas!

all evenly spread out, with straight edges

If the batter is thick enough score the crackers before dehydration. These are the default break lines. 24 crackers/tray. Use your spatula, preferably not a knife. Your Teflex sheets will thank you 😉

This tray is dry enough to flip onto another mesh tray.

Place a mesh dehydrator tray on top of your pre-dried cracker tray. Hold both trays together and turn over. You see the previous bottom tray now on top here. Teflex sheet is pointing up.

Now carefully peel off the Teflex sheet and put the tray back into the dehydrator to finish drying for approximately another 8 hours on 115-105 degrees F.
If batter still sticks to Teflex sheet. Reverse the last steps and dehydrate longer on the Teflex sheet.

Pictures of the finished product is coming tomorrow morning. They are still drying.

Here is a finished tray. Just break them apart and store in a sealed glass jar.

Voila! The final product after 24hours!
Pass the guacamole!

Enjoy!

René

🙂

Raw Snack Recipe – Chocolate Walnuts

Posted on October 3, 2011 by vibrantearth

With our “Dry it, you will like it!” class coming up here a little teaser and one of my favourite raw snack recipes. Should you prefer pecans over walnuts use them! For a different twist try sunflower seeds. They have a lighter yet nutty base flavour and dry in handy clusters. See the yummy picture below!

Chocolate Walnuts

Makes 1+ dehydrator tray

3 c soaked walnut halves
4 T date paste
2 T agave nectar
6 T organic whole fat cocoa powder, raw if you choose
½ t cinnamon
1 t vanilla essence
3 drops butterscotch flavour or maple essence
pinch natural sea salt
¼ t lime juice (I always add a few drops of citrus juice to chocolate – as it balances the flavours nicely)

Method

Mix everything thoroughly in a big bowl.
Spread on Teflex sheet.
Dehydrate at 105F for 12 hours. Turn over and remove Teflex sheet. Dehydrate for another 12 hours or until crisp. Turn trays by 90° periodically.
Store in sealed glass jars (what’s leftover from snacking during dehydrating :-))

Enjoy!

René

Dry it, you will like it!

Posted on September 27, 2011 by vibrantearth

Here it is, a raw food class fully dedicated to dehydrated foods!

The menu for the night contains a lot. I will make many things in advance so you can taste everything. As the dehydration process takes more than 12 hours we will not be able to sample what we make in the class. Yet we are going to prepare most of the dishes until they go into the dehydrator so you get a feel for the process and the flavours before dehydration.

Here is the menu:

Apple Spice Granola with Almond Milk
Chocolate Walnuts
Golden Linseed Crackers
Chilli Sunnies
Lydia’s Focaccio Bread
Buckwheaties
Zoom Burgers with condiments and caramelised onions
Almond Butter Cookies
Pizza Alive
Wraps and Turnovers

Phew! That will keep us busy and happily fed 🙂

We are truly looking forward to it. Why not join us?! There are still about 4 places left in this class. Get in touch with us to secure your space!
(Yes, check out the testimonials first! ;-))

We are going to play with our Excalibur dehydrator. They truly are the best on the market. They are available here in New Zealand from Pure Wellbeing. Of course, you can use what you have or what you can easily get.
Years ago when living in Norway I built one of these beauties: http://www.dryit.com/
Check it out!!! They work. I recommend you get the book and the heating element from them – in case you are planning on building your own dehydrator.

Here is a picture of the one I created in 2003

My home made dehydrator to the left

René

René Archner Workshops, Food & More

Real Food for Real People

Category Archives: Dehydrated Foods

Wakame Miso Nut Crumble – a perfect salad tune-up!

Apple Spice Granola Recipe – a staple in our house

Chocolate Müsli Slice – a glutenfree and vegan Power Snack

Almond Sauerkraut Bread – a convenient way to use almond pulp

Dry it, you will like it! A comprehensive class on dehydrated raw foods.

Flax seed cracker recipe – one that works

Raw Snack Recipe – Chocolate Walnuts

Chocolate Walnuts

Dry it, you will like it!