fat free banana crepe with berries

Eating raw vegan is a challenge. Eating low fat raw vegan and making gourmet -style food? a huge challenge. Less fat for me means higher insulin sensitivity. That's good for me.

I came up with this recipe to find an alternative to the high fat desserts and breakfasts I eat which can wreak havoc on my blood sugars. These crepes and berries are very sweet - no agave needed! Also, the combination of textures is really nice. The crepes are chewy, the berries are crisp and juicy, and the mellowness of the banana creme just holds it all together.

This recipe is a great breakfast, brunch or dessert idea. It requires a dehydrator, but if you don't have one you can make the crepes using an oven trick.

There are only three ingredients, which keeps things very simple. Here in Northern California, we are seeing the first real strawberries of Spring coming into the stores. Frozen can work too if you live in the north. I like how simple the recipe is and how easy it can come together. There are lots of variations on this same theme if you feel adventurous and want to try different fruits to include.

Ingredients:

4 bananas (one frozen)
1 cup blueberries
1 pint of strawberries


Crepes:
In a high speed blender, mix together two bananas with 1/4 cup cold filtered water. Blend until smooth. Spread into 4 circles about 6 inches in diameter on a teflex sheet for your dehydrator. Dehydrate for 4 hours. remove when still pliable. If they get too dry or crisp up you can soften them by dabbling a bit of water on top and smooth it in with your finger.

**if you don't have a dehydrator, you can use your oven. Turn it up to 200 and then right back off when it reaches full temperature. Using parchment paper or  a silpat, spread out your crepes and place in oven for 4 hours or until mostly dry.

Filling:
2 bananas (one frozen in chunks) and one room temperature.
blueberries and strawberries


Slice the strawberries and mix with blueberries.
Blend the bananas until you have a thick and creamy texture.

Assembly:

Pile the berries in the middle of the crepe and make a line. Then spread some of the banana cream on one side of the crepe and more on top of the berries. Roll the sides up and fold one over the other. you can use the banana cream as a glue so have fun and get creative! Like I said, there are many alternatives to just these berries. You can use kiwi, grapes, apple slices, figs! you name it.

In health,

.

Hawaii

We are in Hawaii for the week.
It's one of my favorite vacation places. Especially in the cold winter months, coming here is like taking a deep breath after holding it for too long. I am spending my days with my family soaking up the sun and learning to make things like ribbon leis.

Eating raw is relatively easy here as well. I eat simply: lots of fruit, greens, and island grown tomatoes. I found these great lychees at the grocery store we walk to most mornings for breakfast.

Of course there are the local bananas which are nice. A little tart even. Unusual for me since the bananas that come in the Bay Area come from Guatemala and they are less sweet.

I like knowing I am eating foods that are grown locally- from the greens to the tomatoes, bananas and morning coffee! (Kona is 30 minutes from here)

Being on vacation I don't expect to stay 100% raw so I eat edamame and bites of some cooked foods. Tonight for dinner I ate a caesar salad-and ate roasted macadamias which felt strange but tasted great. It's times like this that I remember I am only human and need to enjoy myself and not worry so much. Perhaps it's the island taking hold of my spirit a bit and mushing my brain, but it's all good ;)

Living for a week in a warm climate reminds me to eat less focused on fats as well at home. I have been focusing so much on the dehydrated granolas and energy bars at home and forgetting to eat simple greens with fresh oranges or eating bananas for snacks instead of nuts and seeds all the time. I can already feel my digestion is moving so much smoother and even more efficiently since I have been here.

I have a raw macaroon recipe coming when I get back.A favorite customer of mine requested me to try some out,so I have research to do and I'll share it with you.

 Until then, Aloha and Mahalo.

confidence in the kitchen

I am really starting to have more confidence in myself and my skills in the kitchen. I am experimenting more. I am thinking of adding or taking away ingredients as I make recipes. I am losing the feeling of structure and anxiety I had when I started cooking raw. 

I admit, when I was hit with a truffle order I thought to myself- is this the BEST truffle I know? what's out there I don't know yet?

Between my cookbooks and websites and blogs, I found a good combination of ideas and ingredients that gave me a truffle I think will be a big hit.

It came from the blog Golubka which, if you haven't seen is a must read daily- this woman is truly awe inspiring. her photos alone make me want to jump right into them. She writes about raw food, and also her family, her experience and her hits and misses- very well done.

Her truffle, mixed with Cafe Gratitude's raw chocolate Ganache recipe and my own tweaks here and there brought out a truffle I can be proud of. It's here now... TRUFFLES 

I also went out in the garden today and planted lettuce in pots. I have wanted to do this for a LONG time now- I love picking my own greens for salads.

I went to my local nursery and bought 8 cell packs of lettuce. I planted those in pots I had at home. I also asked for plastic pots at the nursery for growing seedlings. I bought some soil and brought home 9 pots to re-use and transfer my sprouted basil and lettuce I have in my kitchen. Even thought it's just February and most of the country is freezing, I am enjoying 60 degree weather right now and feel like spring is already beginning. 

So check out Golubka and her beautiful blog. If you don't want to hunt and gather for Maca, Mesquite and Cacao, I'll make some truffles for ya-

my granola

claire's granola

I am a  type 1 diabetic and require insulin to live.

My days are spent monitoring my blood sugars at least 8 times a day and carefully counting and measuring my food so I can adjust my insulin to mimic what my body would need if I were normal.

Foods like granola are very tricky. They are usually packed with sweet and sticky and chewy with little nuggets of even sweeter and stickier. Granola tastes great but I have avoided the "regular" kind for a long long time thinking I couldn't ever get my insulin needs to match up with it.

The raw way of eating has allowed my food choices to include things I had previously excluded. Eating raw I can tolerate carbohydrates much more efficiently than before. I need less insulin, which creates a smaller margin of error. That is a good thing. I find myself eating raw desserts and other sweet treats with the confidence that I am not only eating healthy, but I am also giving my whole digestive and endocrine system a break so I don't have to fight as hard. Eating sweet things. I think that is really cool for a diabetic.

In my epicurean adventures with raw foods, I tried making a granola recipe that turned out really well. It tastes sweet but not too sweet, and has a hint of salty. It is crunchy and chewy. It is also raw so I can eat it and deal with my insulin needs easier- much easier than if I ate conventional granola.

What I like about this recipe  is that it is complex, like most, but it is deeper than most. I think adding in coconut oil brings to it a richness that I don't find in others I have tried. 

Here goes:

Mix together in these amounts:

2 cups soaked almonds

1 cup soaked sunflower seeds

1 cup soaked buckwheat ( keep it to 30 minutes and rinse well!)

1 cup coconut shreds

1/2 cup coconut oil

1 tsp Himalayan sea salt

2 tsp vanilla powder

1/4 cup raw honey

1/2 cup raw agave

all ingredients should be raw and organic if you can manage it.

dehydrate at 108 degrees at least 12 hours but more like 18 for crunchy. I start it on teflex and then flip it over 12 hours into it.

my new favorite meal

I had the pleasure of eating at Cafe Gratitude today for lunch with a dear friend. I was looking forward to eating there for weeks. When I got to the counter to order I blanked. Couldn't remember what to get. What's my favorite? I love the pizza. But I can make that. I love the nachos. I love the basic salad.
I wound up ordering the nachos to go and ate the cafe salad there at lunch. The Tahini dressing is what makes this a truly spectacular salad.  Luckily, the recipe is in their cookbook and so what do I do? I make it at home for dinner and eat another huge salad with it. - Minus the Tamari almonds, Brazil nut topping and general awesomeness that they always add in. I think that's why I don't even blink at paying what I do for their food. It's that good.
I like that I have the ingredients now at home where I can whip up a recipe, so I can re-live the moment. Again and again. And then tomorrow. And then the day after.

Yep , new favorite.
I Am Grateful: Recipes and Lifestyle of Cafe Gratitude

kale chips

I inhale these. 

They are the bread and butter of raw snacks.

To make these you really need an Excalibur dehydrator. I had one of the round plastic kind when I first started raw a couple years ago, and it just can't compete with the Excalibur. First off, the temps stay controlled from top to bottom, and when I have the dehydrator fully loaded and my hear is set on all me recipes drying perfectly, I like knowing temps are consistent. The round one (I read) is not nearly as efficient or controlled, and when we go through all the work of soaking and drying, we want  a good end result right?

My recipe for kale chips is the standard one, although I don't really even use measuring spoons anymore. I eyeball it but then, I've seen Martha Stewart eyeball stuff on tv so I don't feel so bad! In fact, it's like a right of passage. I just know instinctively and I have made this enough times to know how much of what to use.

I use:

• 1-2 bunches of kale torn into palm sized pieces and remove thick stem. (use enough so that each piece gets a good coating)
• 1 red bell pepper
• 1 tsp raw agave
• 1 t nutritional yeast
• juice from a lemon or about 2T
• 1 tsp himalayan salt
• 1 cup soaked raw cashews ( at least 3 hours)

Using the S blade, process in food processor for about a minute. 

Toss mixture with kale in a big bowl and coat evenly. Put kale on trays and dehydrate at 115 degrees for at least 6 hours. Overnight is best. The longer the crisper! 

Keep in an airtight container if you don't eat them all as soon as they are done...

From a mom's perspective, and a wife as well! I can tell you the smell alone drives my family crazy nuts- they get so excited and want to eat them all. It can be first thing in the morning and my 8 year old would rather eat kale chips than her pancakes. Cool huh.

now for the links if you want to shop....