Are you looking for some great raw food recipes for a side-dish on your Thanksgiving table? This super easy Pear Squash Purée is perfect! Super simple to make, great flavor combinations and refreshingly raw! We already know how healthy and tasty raw squash is. The addition of the ripe pear gives it a little natural sweetness and rounds out the flavor. Give it a try! You can find more wonderful Thanksgiving Recipes here: Rawmazing Holidays .

The 2012 Calendar is at the printer! 12 fantastic recipes, all raw, no dehydrator needed, packaged in a jewel case that works as a stand! Watch for it later this week!!

This week at the farmer’s market, cucumbers were everywhere! Big bushels, full to the brim with the refreshing little green cukes, beconing the market goers to take them home.  I couldn’t resist the little beauties and have been having fun with them in the kitchen.

History: Belonging to the same family as watermelon, zucchini, pumpkin and other types of squash, Cucumbers originating in India over 3,000 years ago. They were listed among the foods of ancient UR and even got a mention in the legend of Gilgamesh.

Health Benefits: Cucumbers have a dark, green flesh that is high in vitamin C and also contains caffeic acid. Both help soothe skin irritations and reduce swelling. Cucumbers also contain the minerals potassium, magnesium and silica which is essential for healthy ligaments and healthy skin! Since they are also high in fiber and very hydrating. Most of the nutritional benefits are in the skin, so buy organic, wash them well and leave that skin on.

Types: Cucumbers come in 3 different types. Slicing, pickling and burpless. Slicers are the dark green ones that we are traditionally used to seeing. Pickling (pictured) cucumbers have more bumps on the skin, tend to be more uniform in length. They are usually shorter and thicker. Burpless…well the name pretty much tells it all.

Since I love bread and butter pickles, I decided to take a stab at a raw food recipe for them. Traditional recipes are based on vinegar and a lot of sugar. I substituted raw cider vinegar and agave. You can try this recipe with other sweeteners, too. Just add the sweetener to the vinegar a little at a time until it tastes balanced.

While pickles can be made from any cucumbers, I did use the pickling cucumbers for this recipe. It can be easily doubled.

Almond flour is one of the staples used when creating a lot of raw food recipes, and gluten free recipes, especially desserts! But, how do you make it, which one do you use and is there a less expensive alternative to the the packaged type. If you want it to be a lighter color, is that possible?

Since I use a lot of almond flour in my recipes, and there are always questions about it, I thought I would do a comprehensive post on it today. Let’s start with a few basics.

First of all, you want to try to find truly raw almonds. In 2007, a law was passed in the US requiring all almonds to be pasteurized. Unfortunately, this is often done with the use of proplyene oxide which is a toxic substance that was originally used as racing fuel. Other almonds are pasteurized with steam. If you are interested in truly raw almonds, you can find them. We have them in our local coops…imported from Spain. But a quick search on google will provide you with many mail order resources.

That said, almonds are one of the nuts that have enzyme inhibitors to protect them from sprouting before it is time. A 12-24 hour soak in the fridge will release that enzyme and also start the germination process, which activates even more nutrients! I always soak my almonds when I first get them. Out of the grocery bag, into the water then a trip to the dehydrator. Once that is done, I put them in a glass container and store them in the fridge. It is a great habit to get into so you always have almonds ready.

Nutritionally almonds are little power houses! Actually the seed of the almond tree, almonds are full of manganese, vitamin E and magnesium. They are high in monounsaturated fat, the good fat that is associated with a lower risk of heart disease and also decreasing your LDL (the bad) cholesterol. It has even been shown that the healthy fat in almonds may help you lose weight! For a more in-depth nutritional analysis of almonds, click here: Almonds.

Almond Flour

There are a few different ways that you can obtain almond flour. The first is to just put your almonds in the food processor and process until just before they start to hold together. You don’t want to go to far or you will start getting almond butter! If you use almonds that have been soaked and dried, you can actually get a pretty fine flour.

Almond Flour from Soaked, Dehydrated Almonds

Another great way to make almond flour and use up the pulp from your almond milk is to dehydrate the strained pulp and take it for a spin in the food processor or high speed blender.

You start with the pulp from the almond milk and dehydrate it.

Dehydrated pulp from almond milk

Almond Flour!

If you want a light flour, you can slip the skins off of the almonds after you have soaked them. Dehydrate and process in the food processor or high speed blender to get your flour.

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Raw Food: Know your Nuts

Raw Food: Soaking Nuts and Seeds

Making nut butters can be a little tricky. I used to think that I had to do them in my Vitamix, which would drive me batty with all the scraping down that was required. Other times, I would have a fail, only because I quit too early. I didn’t realize how much time it takes, and the process that the nuts have to go through. But if you have a little patience, you can make nut butters that are fabulous. You will never want to buy them again!

I used my Kitchen Aid 12 cup food processor. It is a strong processor. The bottom warms up a little bit but if you are using an older processor, or a processor with a much weaker motor, common sense needs to prevail.

This is Stella. My apple tree. Ok, I get that not everyone names their trees but Stella deserves a name. She has been here for a very long time. Stella is the biggest apple tree I have ever seen. With a trunk of over 9 feet around, she just might be over 100 years old assuming that she was planted when the house was built. Showing signs of her age, some of her largest branches have been dying off. I have been keeping a watchful eye.

Stella surprised me this year. She produced a bumper crop of beautiful, healthy apples. I don’t spray my trees so the apples can get pretty wormy by the time they hit the ground. But this year, not a worm to be found. Just healthy, tasty apples. Lots of healthy, tasty apples. Stella is one heck of a productive senior citizen.

In honor of her huge harvest this year I bring you Stella’s Apple Sauce. Believe me, there will be more apple recipes to come. I have to keep up with the old gal! This will freeze well so take advantage of the season and make extra! I also use this in many of my cookies and cakes..recipes to come.

Stella’s Apple Sauce

6 Apples (cored but not peeled)

1 t. Cinnamon

1/4 – 1/2 C. Agave

pinch Salt (optional)

Core and quarter apples. Place in food processor with 1/4 C agave. Process to applesauce consistency. Add more agave to taste.