Okay, I know we are all very busy and have very little free/extra time. But I find it very satisfying physically and mentally to make my own snacks. I set aside some time on the weekend or a week night and make items I like to eat or snack on. These snacks have a long shelf life of 4-6 weeks, but are usually devoured well before that. Why I like to do this? I know that the snacks I make are more nutritious and taste better. Why taste better? Because I can tweek the final product so that it suits my taste not the mass consumer. That is why I can say it tastes better. I can make it hotter, spicier and use different spices and sweeteners that I like. So in the end I enjoy what I am eating.
Here are a few things I like to make myself:
Raw crackers- Are so good and fun to make. Who knew you could take a red pepper, some onion, garlic, celery, sundried tomatoes and blend them in a high speed blender. Add this to some ground flax seed and seasonings, spread onto a teflex sheet and dehydrate for 24 hours. Et viola c’est fait – you have crackers. Here I have pizza flax crackers spread out on a teflex sheet ready to go in the dehydrator.
Raw Pizza Crackers spread out on a teflex lined tray.
I used a recipe from “Transitioning to Living Cuisine” by Rene Oswald.
Crackers being slid into the dehydrator.
You don’t need a dehydrator, you can use a cookie sheet and an oven. I use the dehydrator to get the added nutrition by eating the unbaked cracker.
Raw Granola – Another fave of mine is to make granola. I have posted about making raw granola before and you can read about it here. I made this one using a recipe from Rene Oswald’s recipe book- Raw Apple Granola. It has lots of apples, buckwheat , almonds, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds and coconut. This granola is great by itself or paired with your favorite nutmilk (which is very easy to make yourself ) 
or non-dairy milk.
Raw Cookies – I have a favorite I make from Kristen’s Raw, her chocolate crunch hazelnut macaroons – recipe here. I like to eat these right out of the freezer. They are soooo goood!
Here are the chocolate beauties. Heaven on a plate.
Here is another cookie I make walnut chocolate chip cookie from Rene’s recipe book I mentioned above.
These are really simple to make. They are sweetened with apple and dates, and you get a great crunch from the buckwheat, walnuts and of course cacao nibs. I like these crunchy, but they are just as good as a soft cookie.
I saw a recipe in Chef Frank Giglio’s new recipe book “Raw for All” for a raw biscotti. I love biscotti and now I can have my raw and biscotti too! This book has so many recipes I want to try. The chai tea, sprouted grain pancakes, beet and celery root slaw, quinoa tabbouleh, the sunflower herb hummus, beet pesto and the list goes on. I will give you a review coming up in one of my posts. For now here is a demo of one of his recipes for you to watch and try out from the Renegade Health Show, brought to you by Kevin and Annmarie Gianni. I am definitely going to try make this recipe! Enjoy!
Enjoy cooking and the food you create!
Have some fun with your animals friends!
