Raw Chocolate

Raw chocolate is so easy, delicious and actually healthful... You can whip up a batch in 3 minutes or less and use it so many ways. Heated up to liquification it's a delicious chocolate sauce to drizzle over ice cream or berries, etc.

I like to keep a jar on hand at all times and use in my raw goat milk cappuccinos every morning. 

It's delicious in raw milk- including raw nut milk, heated up and made into a frothy, creamy and healthy, hot cocoa. 

I like to soak a handful of raw cashews and two medjool dates, blend them up in the soak water and enough extra to make 3 cups in my VitaMix with a big spoonful of my raw chocolate (already made up and kept in a jar.) and blend on high until warm and frothy and creamy. Decadent and loaded with nutrients but no chemicals or other nasty and unwanted junk. Try it and let me know what you think!

Eating healthy can be so simple if we have good stuff on hand. 

I mix however much of each ingredient to taste in a jar. Stir it all together while the jar sits in a pan of hot water until blended well and liquified. Approximate measurements:

1 cup high quality coconut oil.

1/4 cup raw local honey

1/3 tsp. Pink himalayan salt or other good sea salt

1/2 cup raw cocoa powder

My Favorite Raw Goat Milk Kefir Smoothie

My favorite smoothie is with raw goat milk kefir and plenty of it.

For my own self, I use about 2 1/2 cups of finished (and double cultured) raw goat milk kefir.

You can see the picture below is a quart of finished kefir. After 24-48 hours, depending on the temperature I strain the grains off the kefir and then I put them back in their jar with more fresh milk. The kefir I strained off I put into another jar and leave out for another 12-24 hours depending again on the temperature. I like mine fizzy and strong, that's why I "double culture" it.

 

 

These are my go-to add ins for my smoothies. I freeze it all- including the huge bag of greens. I buy it from Costco and then when I get home I throw the bag in my freezer. Don't you get annoyed when the big bag goes mushy and stinky before you could possibly use it all? I just showed you how to solve that problem. They will only be good for smoothies of cooking now, FYI.

 

The bag of berries is fantastic, but in July I use the cherries we pick, and fresh picked peaches.

I love Costco and it's where I get most of these ingredients. I also use bananas for sweetness, and keep peeled, frozen bananas in the freezer at all times.

In place of the berry combination I sometimes use frozen blueberries or strawberries.

 

 

I like to add chia and hemp seeds as well as some good coconut oil.

 



 

Add it all into the trusty VitaMix and blend until smooth. When I'm making a larger quantity because my husband drinks over a quart by himself- I add the greens to the kefir and blend first to make sure I don't have chunks of green in my smoothie.

 

Enjoy it! If you have left overs or want to make extra for later, just pour the excess in a mason jar and leave it in the refridgerator for a day or maybe two but no longer.

I also freeze extra into the kid's popsicle molds in the summer. They get a delicious cold treat and don't realize they are getting super power food with probiotics.

 

I'm Inspired

to make cheese again...sigh. If I only had extra time and milk.

This year I only have two does fresh because I knew I wouldn't have the time I needed to devote to a lot of kids and milking. In a month or two however, I will bring a nice little Miniature Nubian buck in from a friend for some new blood lines and get my yearlings bred.

We are driving to Oregon in a week or two to get a very nice Nubian buck kid with nice Remuda lines from a farm that carries those lines as well as SAND-BUR-KIDS, which I'm pleased to bring back in. Humfleet Nubians.

 

I'm really dreaming of having this place spruced up and having classes and tours here a few times a year. I love this place and the critters, soaps, and cheeses, and I'd love to share it all.

THis summer I am going to practice this cheese, a nice raw aged chevre' with a bloomy rind.

 

The photos below are from several  years ago...nostalgia setting in. *U*

 

Sprouted Mini Loaves

These are from pages 422-423 of Trim healthy Mama. I follow this book pretty loosely and closer to Serene's purist style. I love The Maker's Diet and Nourishing Traditions. Those books are tried and true real food eating. I can't deny all the results people are getting from THM, but those sugar alcohols and stevia and non dairy substitutes for raw honey and raw milk make me feel sick. 

Here's one of my favorite recipes from THM that is completely sensible and high powered nutrition: Chewy sprouted Mini Loaves

I have to warn you: these smell so good as they are "baking" that my mouth waters. My family wanders through the kitchen a dozen times a day remarking about the smell. 

I shape these little darlings into the perfect little  English muffin type shapes so I can toast them and slather them with butter. Maybe a little raw honey too. Or I use them to make an open faced sandwich. 

First I have to sprout the grain. It's super easy. Here's how I got started:

2  2 quart jars half filled with soft white wheat berries. That's what I have on hand but my favorite is spelt. Rinse them well and fill the jar with non chlorinated water and let sit a few hours. I soaked mine overnight. These little plastic sprouting lids are genius. 🐝 strain that water out and fill the jars back up and dump it again so the berries are rinsed. Do this twice day in the winter and more often in hotter weather. It took two days to get very long tails on my berries.

*my pictures aren't in perfect order. I am blogging off an app on my iPhone-

 

Put the sprouted berries in a food processor with a couple of pinches of good sea salt and blend until smooth. Do this in batches.

 

 

I had so much extra I decided to dehydrate over half of the sprouts for grinding later- thus I will have a nice stash of sprouted grain flour to put in the freezer. When it's that convenient there's no excuse for using devitalized flour.

The photo below for some freaky reason will not leave. I have tried repeatedly to delete it and it won't go. SO...you get to see it twice. Sorry.

I just have a little dehydrator. I will dehydrate these grains in about 112 for 48 hours or so. Maybe 36? I'll just have to keep my eye on them. No biggie, it's not like they're going to burn. 😘

  For the grains in the processor just blend until it looks doughy- something like the picture below.

If you've sprouted correctly this mess should smell "grassy" and fresh. Because I'm baking on parchment paper I'm adding a tablespoon or so of coconut oil to the dough. Just because I want to. I have done it without the oil with delightful results. I always like to mix it up a bit.

 

Because I had plenty of dough I decided to dehydrate a few loaves. I know in my little machine it will take days, but hey, it's winter and I got nothin' but time baby.

The little loaves I dehydrated tasted rancid. Not like a "sourdough" but really like they went bad. Not edible. Not sure what happened but maybe I was "baking" them at too low a temp.

 

The photo below shows one of the loaves toasted (a little too brown maybe) and slathered with melted butter. Delicious!

Raw Peach Cobbler

So today I was craving peach cobbler. Whenever I can I try to do raw food, besides its too hot to bake. So...I came up with this since my dehydrator was going with tomatoes anyway.

Washed peaches cut in half

Dollop of butter (optional) in the middle

Sprinkle with a mixture of nuts, oatmeal, cinnamon, and a pinch of sea salt. ( I used pecans, walnuts and almonds whirred up fine in a mini processor)

Drizzle with raw honey and dehydrate for a few hours.

Green/purple Smoothie

Super easy nutrition and a filling and refreshing meal in itself- 

Throw these goodies in your blender (I use a Vita Mix)

Water

Raw carrots

A handful of almonds or some almond butter

Baby kale

A bit if flat lead parsley

Frozen bananas

Frozen blueberries

(You could use any frozen fruit, I have a picture of last year's Rainer Cherries we picked, pitted, and froze)

Blend until smooth.

If you like a sweeter and or creamier smoothie add some raw honey, more bananas or some raw milk yogurt.

Raw Kefir Smoothie

My husband, 3 year old son and I drink this green/purple probiotic smoothie several times a week.

I take about a quart of finished raw goat milk kefir I make myself daily as long as my dairy goats are in milk.

The kefir goes into the Vita-Mix and then I add:

A couple tablespoons of flax seeds

Two large handfuls of baby kale and or baby spinach.

1 1/2 frozen bananas (add more if you like a sweeter flavor. Bananas hide the taste of the greens)

About a cup of either frozen mixed berries or blueberries. I also use frozen strawberries or cherries if I have them.

Blend until smooth.

Now this is an amazingly yummy way to get your probiotics, antioxidants, calcium, protein, potassium, vitalism C, K, and a host of other vitamins and minerals. Not to mention enzymes.

Sometimes I also sneak in a carrot-

Raw Iced Brownies

Okay my disclaimer here- this whole post was done with and on my iPhone. I'm so busy these days this is the only way I can blog. 

These were so delicious, so rich and decadent I almost felt guilty...

They are fudgey and taste just like a baked brownie.

The measurements are approximate and all fit into a round baking pan. Because that's what I had, that's why.

Brownies:

2 1/2 cups Almond flour

1/2 tsp. Pink Himalayan salt (or any sea salt)

3/4 cup Unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 cup Raw honey

1/4 cup or a little less Coconut oil

1 tsp. Almond extract

( some almond butter in the middle of two layers would take this to a whole new level! I added cashew cream once but it wasn't thick enough)

Icing:

1/4 cup coconut oil

2 TBS. Raw honey

3 TBS. Unsweetened cocoa powder

Dash of sea salt

1/2 tap.

Almond extract

Sprinkle with crushed raw almonds

My almond flour is stored in the freezer so I let it thaw before I started. I realize now that this really works best when all the ingredients are mixed in a warm room- all room temperature but hot summer day- type.

Local raw honey is best. I'm just about out of honey from our own bees so I buy from other local bee keepers.

Obviously you can use raw cocoa powder but I don't have that kind of money. I love this stuff. There are also organic brands that are even better.

Mix the brownie ingredients in the kitchen Aide and then press into a pan. A square one is obviously a better choice for brownies.

Mix up the icing and pour it over the top of the brownie. Sprinkle the nuts over the top and then put it in the fridge to set for at least an hour. More time is better here. When it's set up cut into small squares. These are super rich so small works.