Ingredients:
Almond Milk
1 cup almonds soaked overnight, drained & rinsed of soak water
6 cups water
6-8 dates, chopped (to insure no pits)
1 teaspoon vanilla
Strawberry I-scream
4 cups fresh picked strawberries, tops removed
1/4 to 1/3 cup raw honey, maple or agave (to taste)

Start by making a batch of almond milk.  Blend soaked almonds, dates and vanilla in the Vita-Mix until smooth.  Strain through a nut milk bag.  Reserve nut pulp to make almond flour.  Put the milk back into the Vita-Mix with half the strawberries and sweetener of your choice.   Once the mixture is creamy, add the remaining strawberries and blend briefly so some small chunks of berry remain.  Fill two ice cube trays with the strawberry cream and freeze.  Refrigerate the remaining mixture.  When the ice trays are frozen you are ready to make the ice cream.  Put one tray of frozen strawberry cream in the Vita-Mix with half the refrigerated cream and blend.  The ice cream will be a soft-serve texture.  You can repeat to make the remaining cubes and cream into more ice cream or save that mixture for tomorrow.  A half batch serves four, a full batch serves 8.  Top with fresh fruit and enjoy.

Tomorrow…Raw Strawberry Jam!

More fast, easy raw food recipes are featured in the raw food detox diet, Rocking Body Raw Food. Take a tour of this weight loss detox program and you’ll see that this 14 day course is guided by your raw food video chef, Joy Houston and includes hundreds of video tutorials, menu plan, shopping lists, and recipes as well as comprehensive training videos and education on the science behind raw food nutrition.  If you are ready for a weight loss detox diet that works, tastes great, and involves eating delicious foods and no starvation then this is the weight loss detox for you.  What will you look like in your Rocking Body?

I Scream (raw, DAiry-Free Ice Cream)

Ingredients:
seeds from one vanilla bean
juice from one young coconut (need 1 cup)
meat from one young coconut (need at least ¾ cup)
1 cup almond milk (see video here)
2 tablespoons coconut oil
? cup chopped dates (be sure NO PITS)
¼ to ½ cup maple syrup (taste to adjust sweetness)

Put all ingredients in the Vita-Mix and blend on high until creamy smooth.  Pour half the mixture into an ice cube tray, refrigerate the remaining half.  Once the cubes are frozen, add then back to the unfrozen mixture in the blender.  Blend to a soft-serve consistency and enjoy!

That said, I had a box of organic berries that I didn’t want to waste despite my impatience for ripe strawberries.  So here is my fix-it recipe.  I share it with you her in case any of you are  lured in by bright berries with lackluster flavor.

STRAWBERRY ALMOND MILK (or MILKSHAKES)

one batch fresh almond milk (click here to see recipe w/video)
16 ounces fresh strawberries (tops removed)
1-2 teaspoons of raw honey (to taste)

Blend all ingredients in the Vita-Mix until creamy smooth.  Serve over ice to enjoy as strawberry milk.  Or, to make a shake, fill an ice cube tray with the strawberry milk and freeze.  And frozen cubes back to the blender with the remaining strawberry milk and blend to form a shake.  NOTE: you can also make strawberry ice cream by replacing the honey with 3/4 cup chopped dates.  Blend well and put in an ice cream maker.  Follow the manufacturers directions.

I have fallen in LUST with my new raw dessert creations.  They satisfy and delight with each small, decadent serving. They are dairy free, gluten free, and have no refined sugars, flours or preservatives.  Ripe, juicy, organic oranges sweeten the creamy topping while raw cacao provides a rich base.  These little babies got rave reviews from my testers.  Not only has everyone who tried them loved this Orange Cream Cacao Bark, but they are in total disbelief that they are a guilt-free raw dessert.  I did not have the patience to wait for the soaked and dehydrated spiced pecans I was scheming when this recipe came to me.  Instead, I topped the bars with additional orange zest and a very light sprinkling of organic dried coconut. Which completed the symphony of flavors amazingly well.  I’d post the recipe, but this one only goes out to my subscribers!

Thanks for tuning in guys!

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GRAPEFRUIT SLUSHY

1 large pink grapefruit, juiced
2 tangerines or oranges, juiced
1 cup ice
1 cup water
agave to taste

Combine ingredients in the Vita-Mix and blend until smooth.  Enjoy immediately for a delicious blast of vitamin C and lycopene.

Why give an ass-expanding box of typical holiday chocolates when you could empower your favorite chocoholics to indulge in healthy, delicious ways.  Raw chocolate contains the same beneficial fats as olive oil and more antioxidants than green tea.  It contains fiber, iron, vitamin C and more!  The only thing that makes chocolate a dietary downfall is all the unhealthy fats and added ingredients that some companies use in their products. Consider giving your loved one’s a gift basket with all the yummy healthy ingredients they need to make delicious chocolate treats like raw chocolate mint brownies, chocolate chip cookies, chocolate pistachio crisps, or raw caramel coconut brownies.   Use a recipe here or find others online and put all the ingredients into a pretty basket along with the printed recipe.  One bag of raw cocoa powder will make far more treats than a box of chocolates, be a much healthier choice, and even involve some quality time together as you whip up your treats.

Organic Raw Cacoa Powder

My search for a tasty coconut oil available in eco-friendly glass jars has come to a happy end thanks to the far reaching customer service hand of Whole Foods.  I sent an inquiring tweet and got a prompt answer back; try Spectrum brand. They explained that availability might vary between store locations but that the rep believed they provided coconut oil in glass jars.  Sure enough they did, I tried it and YUM.  It’s delicious.  Happy me and happy planet!

If you don’t have a Whole Foods near you (so sorry),  you can try ordering Spectrum brand Coconut Oil through Amazon.   Today it is $5.99, but their prices change all the time so check first before you order.

The Godizilla that tramples my healthy eating during the holiday season is my mother-in-law’s Lemon Bars.  They are tangy and sweet with just enough tartness that they border on, but do not cause the sour pucker or that tinge of jaw pain that accompanies a bite into a lemon.  (Yes I do that,  it’s a hurts-so-good kind thang.) Did I mention the bars have a flaky, pie-crust-like bottom?  This angel of a woman hides dietary Satan horns that pop out when the oven starts pre-heating.  Her lemon bars ooze citrus-sweet goodness. The smell of them baking calls to me like crack to the corner junkie.

These tantalizing bars are full of processed, bleached flour, refined sugars, eggs and butter.  The only nutritionally beneficial thing about lemon bars is the fresh lemon juice and even that has its enzymes baked to death at 350 degrees for 35 to 40 minutes.  YIKES!  What’s a girl to do??  I’ve suffered through a few tummy aches by caving in and enjoying one or ten of the delicious bars before it came to me: I could spin it!  I’ve a knack for putting a healthy spin on everything from mac & cheese to pizza to peanut butter pie (another heavenly dish she makes that would melt the strongest dietary resolve).  Why not reinvent the lemon bar in a healthy style that allows me to indulge without stomach pain or mood swings that make Cruela DeVille look like a PETA advocate. As luck would have it, this thought popped into my head while I was on a two week living foods cleanse.  I love the way the universe drops challenges into my lap.
I did it!  I’ve never been more proud of a dish than when I served a dainty little Living Lemon Bar to the Goddess of Lemon Bars and she said “Wow, I think I like these better!”.  Even factoring in the fact that my husband and I gave her the cutest grand-son of all time, which undoubtedly skewed her response in my favor, I was thrilled.  Not only did they satisfy the lemon bar void for the duration of the Living Foods Cleanse , they are also a much healthier alternative to the “real things” that I can enjoy guilt-free while keeping holiday ass-expansion to a minimum.  I loved the challenge that kept my internal-chef-self mentally spinning recipe ideas until a healthy, great tasting alternative was found.  Now I’m jonesing for a new challenge.

Do you have a holiday favorite that you LOVE to indulge in but you value your current pant size to such a degree that you know you should pass??

I’ll do my best to make sure you can have your cake and eat it too.  Send me the recipe that most challenges your dietary resolve and I’ll do my best to spin you a healthier version. Email me directly joyhouston@gmail.com or comment here on the blog.

Here’s to healthy holiday eating!

Another raw cuisine experiment with happy results.  For raw to-go baby food I usually use avocados, but I wanted to add a raw granola bar to our to-go menu. This raw granola bar with cranberries is what I came up with.  Maverick, who turns 10 months old today- HAPPY BIRTHDAY little man!- loves these things.  Try them out and send me your tips, tricks and ideas for improvement.

MAVERICK BARS

1 cup oat groats, soaked overnight
1 cup sunflower seeds, soaked overnight
1 cup cashews, soaked overnight
2 cups cranberries, soaked 1 hour
1 cup chopped dates
1 tablespoon coconut oil
1/4 to 1/2 cup maple as needed
3/4 cup flax meal (fresh ground)
1/2 cup flax seeds
1/2 cup sesame seeds

Process groats in the food processor until reduced in size by about half.  Add sunflower seeds and cashews cashews to groats in the food processor and pulse for 30 seconds.  Empty contents into a large mixing bowl.  Add soaked, drained cranberries, flax seeds and sesame seeds to the mixing bowl and stir to combine.  Put dates, coconut oil, flax meal and maple (starting with 1/4 cup) in the food processor and process to a thick, creamy, caramel-like consistency.  Pour the caramel mixture into the mixing bowl.  Stir well to combine.  Transfer to two dehydrator trays with teflex sheets, forming two roughly 8′x8′ squares.  Dehydrate 1-2 hours or until dry enough to flip.  After flipping dehydrate another 2-3 hours.  Cut them into bars and dehydrate the bars another 3-5 hours for chewy bars, longer if you prefer a crunchier bar.  Store in an airtight container in the fridge.