I’m not crazy about raw kale all by its lonesome, but I’ve got kale in my house almost all the time because I juice it, smoothify it, and make my beloved Chopped Kale-Portabella Mushroom Salad with Creamy Macadamia Dressing as often as possible.

But, I wondered, what about using kale for a simple salad? Could I make one I’d really enjoy sitting down to, without being put off by the green’s tough nature and strong flavor?

Success is at hand with this recipe. And it’s so lovely, to boot!

Chopped fine, paired with fresh pears, and perked up with fresh lime juice that will soften the kale even more as it sits, I don’t need to wait to eat and enjoy this salad. It’s refreshing, filling, loaded with flavor, has great texture and a bit of sweetness from the fruit… I couldn’t be happier.

This is a great salad to add to your repertoire, and to modify based on the soft sweet fruit you have in your kitchen. It would be wonderful with mango, peach, nectarine, papaya, watermelon… and probably many, many more! And the ingredients are all basic — nothing exotic whatsoever.

Make it for your next raw pot luck! 

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Recipe for: Kale Salad With Pears

(a Pretty & Refreshing Raw Vegan Recipe for Anyone)

• 2 cups finely chopped kale leaves (not the stems)
• 2 pears, cored and chopped into smallish pieces
• 2 tablespoons red onion, chopped medium-fine
• 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice (about 1 small lime)
• 1 clove garlic, chopped fine (about 1 teaspoon)
• 1/8 teaspoon quality natural salt, such as Himalayan Crystal salt

Combine all ingredients and toss well to coat the kale leaves with the seasonings. Eat straight-away, or let sit awhile to allow the flavors to meld and the kale leaves to tenderize in the lime juice.

For real… who knew? This unusual recipe is both creamy AND refreshing. For some reason these two flavors meld together into an extremely mild flavor, a deliciously drinkable antioxidant feast. The watermelon and the raw cacao don’t clash with each other at all, as one might think.

And with both these foods having some reputation for enhancing circulation and cardiovascular function, as well one’s amorous sensibilities…not a bad beverage to drink as a libido-enhancer.

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This is a seriously versatile recipe you can use many different ways, and it’s a nutritional, energetic powerhouse! Definitely add this to your repertoire, to create delicious quick snacks, a perky no-oil salad dressing, a fruit topping for perhaps any fruit under the sun, or a great dip for both fruit and vedge!

It’s fresh, fluffy, gorgeously orange, tastes not unlike Ginger Fruit Loops, has no added fat, will be a hit with both kids and raw pot luck munchers…and has the combined nutritional power of goji berries (without their raisiny flavor), the potent adaptogen raw maca powder (you will be hard-pressed to taste its strong flavor in this combo…), fresh ginger (great for digestion and a sore tum!), raw honey (anti-inflammatory to soothe the lungs), and fresh lime juice (vitamin C). In other words: Major Zing!

Takes minutes to make. If you’re into superfoods…and even if you’re not… this is a recipe you can make frequently and not get tired of!

Homemade Goji Powder...part of the recipe. :D

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This tasty tart has a smooth creamy banana filling made rich with raw cacao butter, and is topped with a drizzled glaze of explosively flavorful dark raw chocolate. Got quite a lot of Ooos and Aaaaahs until it was finally done and ready for sampling by the marginally raw, 20-something set roaming my kitchen…who noisily gave their whole-hearted approval and demolished the entire dessert.

Three minutes later…

The filling here is quite sweet, which is offset beautifully by the dark, slightly bitter chocolate. If you have a sweet tooth and enjoy both bananas and dark chocolate, you’re going to love this.

It’s neither hard nor time-consuming to make, although it does require two ingredients which are rather exotic to most kitchens: raw cacao butter and organic soy lecithin, both of which my health food store stocks as a matter of course. I use Navitas Naturals brand cacao butter.

With the soy lecithin, it’s a recent experiment in my own kitchen, as I normally don’t go anywhere near soy products, whether processed or natural. But I’ve been reading of certain health benefits it possesses, and I know of some respected raw food enthusiasts who use it regularly in small quantities, so I’ve decided for the time being to stock it in my kitchen and play with it. It’s a great emulsifier, allowing fats to incorporate smoothly and creamily into liquids, which is what it does in this case.

If you prefer not to use it, you can leave it out. The frozen banana filling will just be a bit more crystalline in texture and less creamy, which isn’t the end of the world. If you do use the soy lecithin, make sure you purchase an organic product, otherwise you’re pretty much guaranteed a product genetically  modified to withstand higher levels of pesticide…not a good thing.

In this recipe, there is more pie filling than the shell can accommodate, so you can freeze it in a bowl and drizzle some of the chocolate glaze over it to make a nice frozen raw ice cream treat. But if you’d like, you can double the tart shell recipe for a larger portion and use all the filling for a single dessert.

Needless to say…great for company!

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This is a plate of fresh, raw, tasty nibblies you can whip up in minutes with simple ingredients. Refreshing and flavorful. Crunchy, sweet, and savory. Little miniature serving sizes, great for a crowd at home or a raw pot luck. This is a good basic recipe to have in your repertoire.

You can also jazz it up with goji berries (or any other fresh berry) or your favorite nuts, or chop up some fresh herbs from your garden and at to the mix.

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Want a fabulous margarita without any of the additives found in mixes and liqueurs? There are no chemicals from bar mixes here! Just fresh fruit and great tequila!.Make it with peaches or nectarines, and make sure you pick up my favorite Black Medallion (Jose Cuervo) dark tequila!

There’s more than enough here for two batches, and they take practically seconds to whip up!

Commentary by guests upon first sips: “Oh, wow… awesome yumminess.”

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In the mood for carrot cake with dinner tonight? Want it sweet, moist, spicy, no-fuss… and filled with all fresh, raw ingredients?? Then this is it! Laden with the flavors of apple, cinnamon, nutmeg, walnut, and ginger, this cake offers a combination of tenderness and crunch wrapped in a creamy vanilla-macadamia frosting!

This recipe requires no dehydration and uses no dates, no cashews, and no flax seed. It requires three steps, but they don’t take long, and you can make this dish almost at the last minute for entertaining, snacking, and whenever you suddenly crave something light and sweet!

In fact, the cake is quite filling, and the piece you see here (with a delicious cappuccino made with fresh almond milk) was my dinner tonight.

The ingredients are all basic (provided you keep a stash of raw macadamias on hand most of the time, like I do), and it’s “just the right size” so your food doesn’t go to waste (it makes approximately a 5″x5″ cake).

This is a no-guilt dessert just loaded with nutrition and taste! A great snack to cozy up to at the end of a beautiful autumn day.

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This is a very special smoothie — the prettiest shade of bubble-gum pink, whipped up in minutes, and containing a massive array of healthful goodness, some of which is generally difficult to figure out how to consume without unpleasantness or a hassle.

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Aloe Vera - Superfood of the Egyptians

Aloe vera is, according to David Wolfe, a potent superfood that came to us from the Egyptians. The gel contains vitamins A, C, and E, the minerals sulfur (great for skin), magnesium, zinc, selenium, and chromium, and well as an abundance of antioxidants, fiber, amino acids, enzymes, sterols, lignins and…most importantly…polysacchrides.

These polysaccharides have a lubricating effect on the joints, nervous system, brain, and skin and are a “long-burning” carb that provide steady energy over time. There’s also much that’s been written about aloe vera’s assistance in weight loss, as well as the healing and rejuvenation of the skin.

Thing is… the gel of the aloe vera plant is pretty gross & gummy on its own. But paired here with whole pomegranate and a few other alchemically yummy ingredients, this drink goes down so easily you could knock off the whole batch without trying! And you very quickly start to feel its power working on you.

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An Exotic Smoothie For Everyday… For Health, Longevity, and Peak Athletic Performance

This smoothie has a delicate, exotic, floral taste to match it’s lovely color, and could easily become a daily favorite for anyone looking for the healing power of those polysaccharides. I know I plan on adding this to my daily anti-inflammatory regimen, to diminish soreness during my workouts!

When you get a few glasses of this smoothie into your system, you may come to think of it as a Super-Hero Elixir. I’m tellin’ ya…Wow!

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This recipe just explodes with flavor. I’ll remember to make a double-batch next time, because once the twenty-somethings came round, they were practically licking the bowl to get up every last drop. Almost felt bad I’d eaten so much of it for dinner. Uh…almost.

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Eggplant… Tricky For Some Sensitive Eaters

I’ve always had a problem with eggplant — although it’s delicious, the acid in eggplant is extremely irritating to my tongue and I can usually barely manage a few mouthfuls before the discomfort sets in. So I was wary when I had the idea of trying a raw eggplant dish.

But I saw just the cutest little miniature eggplants at the Indian market around the corner, and thought it was worth the risk, because if I could figure out  a way to prepare eggplant so that it didn’t hurt me, it could open up quite a few options for some great raw, living savory dishes. I was imagining Indian curries…Thai curries…Asian sweet “BBQ” eggplant…shoot, I bet I could even find a way to give it a smokey, “bacony” flavor.

Well, I’m glad I went for it, because this recipe has become an instant favorite of mine. I don’t remember ever tasting a Baba Ganoush recipe this yummy before (if I do say so myself), and you can’t tell that the eggplant is raw. Although I ate nearly half the recipe for my dinner, my tongue (though tingly!) wasn’t uncomfortably bothered. And the dip was both absolutely delicious and very satisfying… a major thumbs-up as far as raw dinners go.

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Extremely Versatile, Crowd-Pleasing Recipe

There is no sesame or tahini in this recipe. I’ve used raw macadamia nuts instead. And one thing I really like about the flavor in this dip is that you can’t taste “nuts” in any way…just the happily enthusiastic mediterranean flavors of lemon, garlic, cumin, and olive oil!

Serve with raw dehydrated chips or fresh vegetables for a raw meal, or with organic tortilla chips for a “rawish” meal. This would also make a killer Salad Sandwich filling — use some toasted Ezekiel bread, top with some delicate fresh greens or sprouts, and you’re good to go!

Great for raw pot lucks and when you’re having company over as well. The only drawback is that the eggplant is sliced and marinated overnight, to tenderize it and draw any irritating acids, so it’s not a recipe you can do at the last minute. But it’s certainly easy, and takes just a couple minutes to finish up the next day.

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Great Recipe For Peaches & Nectarines That Aren’t At Their Best…

After discovering I’d picked up some less-than-stellar nectarines, I figured it was a perfect opportunity to doctor them up in a great raw “milk” shake!

I find both peaches and nectarines to be the most frequently disappointing fruits, with either unripeness or a graininess to the flesh hiding below their gorgeous appearance. So if that ever happens to you, no worries… make a delicious raw smoothie out of them!

And of course, you can use perfectly sweet and juicy-luscious peaches for this recipe too! Just use less raw honey!

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Super-Easy, Super-Delicious For A Raw Pot Luck Meal!

The flavor of orange blossom water in this refreshing treat makes it extra cheerful and exotic. Would be an extremely easy addition to a raw pot luck, or a special refreshment if you have company visiting! If you have kids around, make a triple batch…they’re sure to suck these down in no time!

And of course, you could turn this into an adults-only beverage with the use of a little peach, mango, citron, or even vanilla flavored vodka!

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