Raw Grape Chocolate Crusted Cheesecake

I think the title says it all...LOL
Our family grows concord grapes. We normally juice them and freeze them into cubes for smoothies or whatever we need them for in a recipe. These dark grapes or so sweet and build blood seriously. I love that in this recipe they are not cooked or boiled so you get all the benefits of the living enzymes in them. I look for new ways to use them and came up with this recipe. It's original.

Crust: Process all ingredients
1 3/4 c dry almonds
5 TBSP raw cocoa powder (If you don't like chocolate leave this out)
3.5 c date paste
1 tsp vanilla
1/8 tsp sea salt
Pinch of stevia

Put some parchment paper in a deep dish pie plate or you can use whatever you have. (I use spring forms for this too) Just line the bottom and press the almond mixture in it and freeze it for an hour until hard.

Then for the filling put in the blender:
3 c soaked cashews (at least 3 hours or more to soften them)
2.5 c grape juice (Go out and find concord grapes and juice them)
3/4 c agave with a pinch of stevia
1 Tbsp vanilla
1/4 tsp sea salt
Mix this up first until smooth...then add
3 TBSP lecithin
3/4 c coconut butter
Mix even more until creamy smooth.
Pour it on the chocolate crust. Let it set in the freezer for 2 or 3 hours. Then you can keep it in the refrigerator for 3 or 4 days. I like to freeze it in portion sizes and eat it as I want.
As you can see from the picture I made a double portion and freeze them into bars.
The parchment paper makes it easy to lift it out and put it on a cutting board for cutting it up and freezing it. But you don't have to.

Rhubarb Sour Patches

This is candy with all the vitamin C and sweetness you could want for.

1 bag of frozen cut up chunks of Rhubarb. (I get them in the frozen fruit section of Shoprite) better would be fresh cut up rhubarb but we are already out of season.

1 cup of freshly juiced concord grapes or organic grape juice you can purchase
1 cup of freshly juiced apple or Organic Apple juice
a scant 1/4 c of agave

Now put the frozen rhubarb in a bowl and let it soak up the juices for 3 days in the refrigerator.
After put it in the dehydrator at 110 for a day or two as you like.
They are sweet and tart and amazingly candy like with no refined sugar.

Oatmeal Raisin Flax Cookie

This is such a good cookie with a lot of nutrition. I decided to make the exception to my usual raw recipes because these are very very good. I make the 52 cookies and freeze them into snack bags and take them out as needed. They come out soft. Let me know what you think!

April’s Oatmeal raisin Flax cookies

Ingredients:
Serves: 52 large cookies
Cookies
• 1 cup smart balance lite non dairy butter
• 3/4 cup brown rice syrup
• ¼ c barley malt syrup
• ¾ c honey
• Pinch of stevia
• 4 tablespoons flax seed meal
• 8 tablespoons water
• 1/4 cup flax seed meal
• ¼ c whole flax seeds
• 1 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
• ¾ c buckwheat flour
• ¾ c brown rice flour
• 2 cups rolled oats
• 1 heaping Tbsp maca powder
• 1Tbsp wheat germ
• 1 Tbsp lecithin
• 4 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 1/2 c raisins (soak them in hot water first to soften them)
• ¾ c chopped Walnuts
Directions:
Prep Time: 15 mins
Total Time: 30 mins? … when you put your finger on it and it springs back.
1. Preheat the oven to 325°F.
2. Mix together the margarine and sweeteners until creamy. (I use a stand up mixer)
3. In a separate bowl, whisk together 4 Tablespoons flax seed meal with 8 Tablespoons of water. Add to mixer.
4. Add in remaining dry ingredients: Mix in oats then raisins on low.
5. Measure about 1 heaping Tbsp. of cookie dough per cookie onto un-greased cookie sheets. Cookies do not spread much so you can have them pretty close together in pan. Leave a quarter inch space.

Quick Pear Pomegranate Walnut Coleslaw

For something to bring to a party that's different, easy and tasty:

2 14oz bags of coleslaw (Shop rite has them)
with 1 can of chick peas
4 pears skinned and chopped up
1/2 c walnuts chopped
1 red onion cut up and mixed in all together

Now put in the blender
1/4 c red wine vinegar
1/2 c grape seed oil
1/4 c 100% pomegranate juice
1 skinned DE-seeded pear
1 large TBSP of Dijon mustard
Sea salt to taste

Blend until smooth and mix with the salad.
It was a hit :)

The Boutique Event by the Women's center in Linwood NJ

I was part of the boutique event and got to talk to and share my raw goodies with people including Monica the meteorologist on Channel 40! She was concerned that the camera man would record her eating my goodies and I re-assured her that my goodies don't make anyone fat! In fact if you eat enough good fat...it takes the bad fat out of you! It was fun. Good healthy food is so misunderstood. It just kills me when people say things like avocados are fattening! They speak badly about nuts and food that actually build you up while cheating on truly dead foods that do exactly what they accuse the good living foods of doing! I understand it's hard in this world to know what to do with living foods...but that's why I'm here to help. I love it too.

Raw Rhubard Compote

I know...how could rhubarb taste good raw? I found a way...this is so delicious you can eat it alone or put it over your soy yogurt.
4 large stalks of rhubarb...leaves removed and stems peeled with a peeler.
15-20 dried apricots diced
4 rings of dried pineapple diced
1 c walnuts chopped fine (I throw them in the processor)
1/4 c chopped mint...fine
Now take 1/2 c of honey and mix with the juice of 2 oranges
Pour on top. Wait a few hours...maybe overnight. Something happens to the rhubarb...it gets sweet instead of sour and soft too.
How wonderful!

Berry Banana Nut Cream

This is easy and good. The only equipment needed is a blender.

Blend until creamy smooth:
3 C Strawberries
2 Tbsp honey or stevia (I put a little of both)
1 cup Pignolias or pine nuts (you can substitute cashews)

Slice 1 banana and put it in the bottom of a cup or bowl
Put the blended berry mixture on top of bananas then a hand full of raspberries on top.

Simple and refreshing.