Fruit and Almond Cluster Granola Recipe

Fruit and Almond Cluster Granola
Makes: approx. 10 cups / Prep time: 35 minutes / Dehydration time: 12 hours

5 1/2 cups almond flour (dehydrated pulp leftover from almond milk, run briefly through a food processor to make it like course flour)
1 cup maple syrup
2 apples, sliced thin
2 pears, sliced thin
3 bananas, thinly sliced
2 mangos, peeled and thinly sliced
½ -1 pineapple, sliced thin
½ cup raisins
½ cup dried cranberries
½ cup raw sunflower seeds
½ cup raw pumpkin seeds
¼ cup raw flax seed
2 cups graham crackers, crumbled (optional, see recipe)

Slice all fruit thin then lay out on dehydrator trays. Dehydrate for 12-14 hours at 115.

To make almond clusters, stir together the almond flour with the maple syrup until it is just damp and sticks together. It should be fairly dry. Place on a food dehydrator solid sheet and dehydrate for about 12-14 hours at 115 degrees. When done, crumble into a bowl and add dehydrated fruit and seeds. Serve with raw milk and fresh fruit.

Vegetable Alfredo Pizza Recipe

Vegetable Alfredo Pizza (From The Diet Rebel's Cookbook)
Makes 1 large pizza / Prep time: 50 minutes / Bake time: 14 minutes

Sourdough Crust:
2 ½ cups freshly ground, non-sprouted spelt/kamut flour
¾ cup water, enough to make a stiff ball of dough
1½ teaspoons apple cider vinegar, whey, or fresh squeezed lemon juice
½ teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon olive oil
cornmeal for sprinkling on pizza pan

Sauce:
4 tablespoons butter, melted
4 ounces cream cheese
2 tablespoons milk
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 teaspoons parsley

Toppings:
1 14 ounce can artichoke hearts, drained and chopped
5-6 medium mushrooms, sliced
1/3 red onion, quartered and sliced thin
1 cup fresh spinach, washed and torn
1 medium zucchini, sliced thin like pepperoni
1-2 tomatoes, chopped
1 bell pepper, chopped (optional)
1 cup sliced olives
1½ -2 cups raw cheese

For the crust, stir together water and vinegar, whey, or lemon juice. Mix with flour in a glass bowl until it forms a very stiff ball of dough that just picks up all the flour. Cover bowl with a damp cloth and leave in a warm place for 12-24 hours. The dough should have bubbles and be about doubled in size after this time. Add remaining ingredients and kneed them into the dough for about 5 minutes. Roll onto an oiled surface, and transfer to pizza pan dusted with cornmeal, stretching the dough as you go to reach the edges of the pan. Bake for 8 minutes at 425 before adding toppings.

For the sauce, melt butter and cream cheese in a pan. Mix well. Add milk, garlic, and parsley, and stir with a fork. Spread onto pre-baked pizza crust, then top with prepared vegetables. Bake for 13 minutes at 425, remove from oven and sprinkle cheese over top. Stick back into the oven for a minute or two to allow cheese to melt.

Apple Almond Wrap

Almond-Apple Wrap
Serves: 6 / Prep time: 20 minutes

2 apples, diced
4 stalks celery and leaves, finely diced
1 can olives, drained and chopped- optional
1 green bell pepper, seeded and diced
½ cup soaked almonds, chopped
½ cup fresh spinach, finely shredded
¼ of a medium red onion, diced
1/3 cup mayonnaise (I use Vegenaise made with grape seed oil)
¼ teaspoon sea salt
sprouted wheat bread or sprouted wheat tortillas

In a bowl, mix remaining ingredients. Add Vegenaise and mix well. Spoon into tortilla shells.

Caramel Apple Crisp Recipe

Caramel Apple Crisp -
Prep time: 20 minutes /Bake time: 40 minutes at 350 /Makes: 9x13 pan

Ingredients:

•7-8 medium apples cored and sliced (keep skins on if you can, Fugi and Gala work well for this.)
•1/4 cup agave (a liquid, low glycemic, natural sweetener available in most health food stores)
•1/2 tsp cinnamon
•2 Tbsp sprouted wheat flour

Directions:

Place sliced apples in a bowl. Stir in agave, cinnamon, and sprouted flour. Pour into the bottom of a 9x13 pan. Set aside.

Crust:
Ingredients:

•1 cup sprouted wheat flour (sprouting wheat partially digests gluten and starch, increases nutrients and digestibility, and creates a lighter texture*.)
•1 cup chopped almonds (soaked and dehydrated almonds taste best**.)
•1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
•1/2 cup dehydrated cane juice (natural sweetener containing micro-nutrients with a slight molasses flavor. Brand names include Rapadura and SuCaNat.)
•1/2 cup butter (melted)

Directions:

In a bowl, stir together sprouted flour, chopped almonds, cinnamon, and cane juice. Pour in melted butter and mix until crumbly. Sprinkle over the top of apples and bake for 40 minutes at 350 degrees. While cooking, prepare caramel and whipped cream.

Caramel Topping:
Ingredients:

•1/4 cup butter
•1/4 cup pure maple syrup (natural maple syrup with micro-nutrients)
•1/4 cup agave
•1/2 cup dehydrated cane juice

Directions:

Pour ingredients into a sauce pan and turn to medium low heat. Stir occasionally until dehydrated cane juice has completely dissolved. Bring to a boil then remove from heat. Drizzle 1/2 - 3/4 cup over apple crisp when it is done baking.

Whipped Cream:
Ingredients:

•2 cups heavy whipping cream
•1/4 cup agave or pure maple syrup
•1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Directions:
Whip cream until soft peaks form. Mix in agave and vanilla. Serve over top of apple crisp.

** Soaking almonds neutralizes enzyme inhibitors and increases nutrients, nutrient availability, and digestion. Soak 2 cups almonds in filtered water with 1/4 teaspoon of sea salt for 8-12 hours. Rinse and dehydrate for 24 hours at 145 degrees. Soaking expands the almonds and dehydrating them leaves them crisp and hollow so they pop in your mouth.

All natural sweeteners may be purchased at most health food stores.

See how to make this recipe on YouTube.

Pistachio Ice Cream Recipe

Homemade Pistachio Ice Cream
Makes about 5 1/2 cups

Ingredients:

2 cups whipping cream (from healthy pasture fed cows)
2 egg yolks (yolks from healthy free range, bug eating hens. Yolks should be orange. Also, wash eggs thoroughly before separating.)
1/3 cup agave
1/2 tsp pure vanilla
1/2 tsp almond extract
1/2 cup chopped organic pistachios (without the shells or it would be way too crunchy)
1/4 tsp liquid chlorophyll (this is for a green-ish hue and added nutrients, but is optional)

Directions for ice cream maker:

Mix egg yolks in with whipping cream, then add agave, vanilla, liquid chlorophyll, and pistachios. Place in an ice cream maker and make according to directions.

Directions if you don't have an ice cream maker: (Or if the one you have is from 1932 and uses a hand crank so no one wants to crank it, and your arm muscles are buff enough from doing other things so you feel you don't need the extra exertion.)

Pour whipping cream into a mixer (like Kitchen Aide with the whipper attachment) and add egg yolks. Whip on medium until it thickens slightly. Then add agave, vanilla, almond extract, and chlorophyll, and whip more until the mixture is a little thicker but can still barely pour. (You really want to get it to the consistency between being able to pour and having to scoop it out of the bowl.)

Remove bowl from mixer and stir in pistachios. Pour into a 5 lb tub or other freezer safe container. Cover and set in freezer. Depending on how cold your freezer is, stir every 30 minutes to an hour until set. (My freezer takes about 2 hours, but maybe that's just because the little knobby that controls the temperature bounces back from what I'm trying to tell it to do, so my freezer is especially cold.)

Directions for eating: Get a bowl and a spoon and eat. Or just a spoon and the open container. Just don't tell anyone. :)

How to Sprout Grain

Sprouting grain really is simple once you get the hang of it.



Step 1. Fill a glass bowl with wheat, spelt, or kamut and cover with filtered water. Let it sit for 8-10 hours.












Step 2. Dump it into a stainless steel colander, cover with a damp cloth, and set in a warm place.













Step 3. Rinse once a day, and in a day or two, you should see cute, little tails growing.











How simple is that? Once you get the hang of it, you can make large batches at a time. The sprouted grain can then be dehydrated for preservation, and then run through your wheat grinder to use in place of other flours in your cooking as needed.

Introduction

Growing up, I heard the phrase, "You are what you eat." I never gave it much thought, though. I probably would have just avoided Dum Dums, Ding Dongs, and suckers, and stuck to Smarties and Angel Food cakes instead, all while hoping to meet a Big Hunk someday. (I did, by the way. I even married him.)

It wasn't until my health crashed in my early thirties that I realized how true the statement was. I had eaten a lot of junk, and that is exactly how I felt. I was tired and grouchy all the time, I had a lot of the symptoms of diabetes, and I had a yellow/orange hue to my skin that had me looking like a tanning lotion application gone wrong.

Eventually, I found that I had hypothyroidism, anemia, blood sugar stabilization problems, hormone imbalances, and gluten, starch, and other food intolerances. At first, I felt very sorry for myself and cried a lot. In fact, I thought I was pregnant because I cried so much, even at the end of Mulan when her dad said she had honored him by saving China. (Sorry to those of you who haven't seen the end and I just blew it.) But I wasn't pregnant, and there would be no joy of holding a new little one in my arms after months of pregnant-like symptoms.

Then I decided to take action. I was going to feel better even if it killed me, and I knew that improving my diet was the first place to start. I delved into understanding how people have eaten for generations on this planet, a time before food was refined and processed, a time where civilizations lived completely off the land, and a time before diseases like hypothyroidism, cancer, diabetes, heart disease, autoimmune disease, and obesity existed. I discovered that our ancient ancestors were remarkably healthy, living for years longer than we do now, and didn't have these diseases. What they ate and how they prepared it determined their health, and I could apply this knowledge to my own cooking.

So I started having fun making healthy, whole foods based on these principles and found that my body could easily digest and assimilate them, even gluten containing foods because I applied the lost preparation techniques. I wasn't surprised that my health improved, but I was surprised that cooking this way made the food taste so awesome.

I couldn't keep these secrets to myself, so I began sharing my creations. The next thing I knew, I was teaching classes about true nutrition, selling my desserts, making a tasty berry cream pie on live TV, catering, and writing and compiling this cookbook with the culinary talents of Michelle Stewart, whose own health story, beliefs, and cooking experiences are quite similar to mine.

This cookbook is made of more than 300 delicious recipes based on the forgotten food preparation techniques. Not only do the recipes taste wonderful, but they are easier to digest, help stabilize blood sugars, teach how to eat wheat when gluten intolerant, and how to properly use grains, beans, and nuts so you can increase nutrients and decrease gas. But most of all, you really are what you eat, and using this cookbook can make it wonderful.