High Raw - Vegan Quinoa Collard Wraps with Special Sauce

High Raw Vegan Quinoa Wraps 

Occasionally I do eat cooked foods, but not very often.  When I do, I typically incorporate it with mainly raw foods.  One of the cooked foods I truly love is quinoa. 

In short, quinoa is a nutritious gluten-free seed that is a great source of complete protein and fiber.  Quinoa is used like a grain - you can use it in both savory and sweet recipes.  If you've never had it before, give it a try!

For this recipe I used cooked quinoa as the base along with a lightly steamed sweet potato (not yam) with raw veggies and my Raw Vegan Special Sauce.  My tummy isn't able to handle uncooked sweet potatoes, so I simply lightly steam them to satisfy my sensitive tummy. 

This is a very flavorful and filling meal - easily prepared with just a few basic ingredients.  I did not measure the ingredients I put into the quinoa mixture as I just went with what looked and tasted good to me.  Feel free to add or omit any of them.  However, I am including my Special Sauce recipe as that is what really makes this dish flavorful.


High Raw Vegan Quinoa Collard Wraps
approximately 8-10 wraps

Collard Leaves or other wrap of choice

cooked and cooled quinoa (1 cup dry cooked in 2 cups water as per package directions)
1 lightly steamed sweet potato - diced (not yam)
couple handfuls baby spinach - chopped
onion - thinly sliced (as much or little as you like)
avocado - sliced thin

Put all ingredients *except sliced avocado* into a large bowl and gently combine.  Set aside and make the Special Sauce.

Raw Vegan Special Sauce

1 yellow bell pepper
1/2 cup hemp heart seeds
1 banana pepper (or pepper of choice)
juice of 1 lime
small handful cilantro
1/4 tsp ancho chili powder (or to your liking)
pinch of sea salt

Blend all ingredients until smooth and creamy.  Pour sauce into the quinoa mixture bowl and gently combine.

Note about the collard leaves:  I use very large leaves that I cut along both sides of the stem, which gives me 2 leaves.  But you can do this however you like.

For each wrap: place the collard leaf on a cutting board, add a scoop of the quinoa mixture and a couple slices of avocado then roll up like a burrito.  Serve immediately and enjoy!

Peace☮
Rocki

Sweet Potato Fudge Cookies - Semi-Raw and Vegan

Sweet Potato Fudge Cookies

I'm quite pleased with how this experiment turned out!  Delicious, chewy, fudgy, healthy and guilt-free cookies that are vegan, gluten-free and semi-raw. 

I like to keep most of what I eat nut-free, but of course I do enjoy the occasional nut loaded food.  Instead of using any type of nut or seed, I decided to try a sweet potato to create a yummy raw cookie.  Well, short version... raw sweet potatoes do not agree with my digestion, plus there are some things that are simply not meant to be eaten raw, in my humble opinion. 

Anyway, to satisfy my curiosity and tummy, I steamed the sweet potato.  Voila'!  That worked out much better.  Even though the sweet potato is lightly steamed, with everything else involved I consider this recipe to be semi-raw.

These cookies are dehydrated, but no worries as there's other options in case you don't have one or feel like waiting a few hours until they are done.

Before I get to the recipe for these super yummy cookies, I just want to make note that the dough is very thick when processing.  So if you do not have a good heavy duty food processor, you'll probably want to split it in half and finish processing it that way.  I'll explain in the recipe when to split the batch.


Sweet Potato Fudge Cookies
Semi-Raw and Vegan

2 cups roughly chopped steamed sweet potato (not yams)
1 1/2 cups semi-packed medjool dates (if dates are hard, soften them up a bit in water)

Put the above ingredients in food processor and process just enough to break down a bit.  Leave the mixture in the processor and add in the following:

1/4 cup cacao powder
1/4 oat flour (I make my own from gluten-free oats)
1 Tbs agave (or more to desired sweetness)
1/2 tsp vanilla
pinch of sea salt
fresh water

Start processing until everything is well combined.  If mixture seems too dry, start adding water 1 TBS at time.  At this point, if your processor cannot handle the dough mixture, remove about half of it to a bowl and continue processing until well combined and then do the same for the mixture in the bowl.

Form into cookies and place on mesh tray.  Dehydrate at 115° F for approximately 7-10 hours.  Time frame will vary due to location, weather, humidity, dehydrator, wetness, thickness, etc.

No dehydrator?  No problem.  Simply roll the cookie dough into bite size balls and if so desired, roll the balls into shredded coconut, hemp seeds, etc. then pop them in the freezer.

Or... if you're not raw, pop them in the oven at a low temp for about 30 minutes or until desired doneness. 

Store in freezer or fridge. 

Peace☮
Rocki