Saturday, November 21, 2009

Sunny Almond Pâté

It's the holidays... a time to share our culinary treasures with family and friends. Sunny Almond Pâté is quick and easy to make and full of high quality nutrition. It's always a big hit at pot lucks, and during the holidays, serve as a prelude to your holiday meals!

Sunny Almond Pâté
Makes 3 cups

Sunny Almond Pâté takes about 5 minutes to make once the sunflower seeds and almonds have been soaked. It does take some planning as you will need to start soaking the nuts and seeds early (see ingredient list below). Soaking nuts and seeds is an important step as it makes their nutrients more bio-available. For a quick appetizer, spread Sunny Almond Pâté on ribs of celery. This pâté can also be served on whole grain crackers, rolled in leaves of lettuce, or for a quick meal, wrap-it-up in a warm sprouted wheat tortillas or a leaf of colards, add some salad and a dressing. I call this a garden salad wrap. It's that easy and delicious.

1 cup raw almonds, soaked 12 to 24 hours (see below)
1 cup raw sunflower seeds, soaked 6 to 12 hours
¼ cup filtered water
¼ cup fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon pink crystal salt or 2 tablespoons tamari (soy sauce)
1 to 2 cloves garlic
1 cup grated small carrot
1 cup chopped small fresh parsley leaves

In a food processor, with the S-shaped blade, put all the ingredients, except the grated carrot and chopped parsley, and process until smooth. Add more water as needed so mixture flows freely through the blade but not too much as you want your pâté to be thick. Stop the food processor, add the grated carrot and chopped parsley and stir-in by hand.

Store in a covered glass container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.


Why Soak Nuts & Seeds?


Why Soak Nuts & Seeds? White nuts and seeds, like pinenuts, cashews, white sesame seeds, do not need to be soak. For all other nuts and seeds, when a recipe calls for nuts and/or seeds to be soaked, it is not optional unless specified in the recipe. Soaking nuts and seeds changes their texture and taste, washes away enzyme inhibitors and natural pesticides, and starts the sprouting process. Sprouting causes the proteins to break down into amino acids, fats into fatty acids and starches into simple carbohydrates. In simpler words, soaking makes digesting nuts and seeds easier.
How & How Long To soak Nuts & Seeds: In a jar, put the amount of nuts and/or seeds you need and fill with filtered water. Let nuts soak at room temperature for 12 to 24 hours, depending on the size of the nut, and seeds for 6 to 12 hours. Discard the soaking water and rinse the nuts and/or seeds well. Store soaked nuts and seeds in fresh water in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. Change the water daily.

Monday, November 9, 2009

The best flax cracker recipe ever!

I've been playing around with making raw flax crackers lately and this is one of the best crackers I have ever had. Try them, you may like them too! The carrots can be grated by hand or with a food processor.

Carrot Black Sesame Crackers

In a high speed blender or food processor, put the following:
2 cups water
1 cup grated carrot
1/2 cup golden flax seeds, unsoaked (for food processor, grind first in coffee grinder)
1 teaspoon pink crystal salt or other high quality whole salt
1/3 cup fresh mixed chopped herbs of choice

Pour above mixture into a mixing bowl and add the following and stir:
5 cups grated small carrot
1/4 cup black sesame seeds, soaked 6 hours

Spread the cracker batter onto teflex sheets, about 1/8-inch thick. Put into dehydrator and dehydrate at 145 degrees for 1 hour. Turn dehydrator down to 115 degrees and dehydrate until done, between 6 and 10 hours. Dehydrator time depends on how wet your mixture is and how crisp you like your crackers. If you like your crackers with a lot of moisture and a tender texture, store them in zip lock bags in the refrigerator for up to a month. If you like a crisp cracker, this means you have dehydrated them until most of the water is out and they can be safely stores in a covered glass container in a cool part of your kitchen for 1 to 2 months.