Raw Vegan Poppyseed Pastry from Brigitte Mars's "Rawsome" Book

Raw Poppy seeds.  You don't want to pick these up from your supermarket, most likely because they don't sell them in bulk.  You need one cup just to make one recipe, so order them in bulk from somewhere!  I use Mountain Rose.

Sometimes I have a book that I know is awesome, ha ha, like Rawsome by Brigitte Mars, & I "forget" to use it for awhile.  And then I keep browsing through the pages & realize that the recipes are super easy & don't call for crazy stuff & make a list of ingredients I mean to pick up when I go to the store.  Then I lose the list, sometimes in the store.  Etc....Well,  there were SO few ingredients in this amazing dish, that I couldn't mess up too badly.  Oddly enough, I actually had a pound of poppy seeds that had gotten through Mountain Rose Herbs.  

Poppy seeds remind me of childhood because one of the cakes my mom made most often was the Lemon-Poppyseed Bundt cake.  Thick, dense, with a touch of sweetness.  Perfect with a strong black tea or coffee.  Then there were the kolaches.  Bohemian flour cookies with centers of cream cheese, jams, or poppyseeds.  Of course we used the "Solo" brand of "poppyseed mixture" most times.  Filled with stuff I consider icky now.  But I haven't really been able to enjoy those desserts since I really have sworn off sugar, gluten, & "junk".  So I have been "eyeing" this "Poppyseed Pastry Recipe" for some time now.

Raisins.  Soaked.  I buy organic because Raisins are really grapes, and grapes are really sprayed.  But I buy the purple box at Whole Foods, which is marketed for kids I think!  The raisins in the "Produce" Section in the cylindrical containers are much pricier!  

A 3 ingredient crust.  This is EASIER than the Bundt cake that I remember from my childhood!

You are supposed to soak & dehydrate the walnuts.  I actually did!  It leaves this "airiness" in the middle.  It's a step though, that I often skip with raw recipes.  Sometimes I just grind the raw nuts, without having soaked them.  I guess I am just kind of an enzymatically imperfect kind of girl.

You have your soaked dates & orange rind.  I don't always buy Oranges organic, but for "Orange Rind", yes, I bought one organic oranges.  

Food Processor.  In a few seconds you have a crust.

I don't think the recipe mentioned a pie plate size, but I went with 8 inches.
There's a joke in there somewhere.

And the size was perfect.

You spread the Poppyseed/Raisin Mixture over crust (This goes in food processor also).

Honestly I was kind of "concerned" at first because the filling is ONLY poppyseeds & raisins!  And it seemed awfully "seedy" and I tried not to use the entire amount of raisins.  It seemed like it wasn't really "sticking together" properly.  But it did taste great.

Somehow I managed the discipline to put the pie in the fridge and let it "set".  

I was totally blown away by this pastry!!  It managed to "set" beautifully and it seemed the filling has transformed into something a little less strange & seedy to a filling that was held together beautifully.  The orange rind made the crust taste amazing to me.  Super fresh!  

I ate the entire recipe in 2 days!!  My hubby did get a few little bites, but he had some "junk" food of his own that he was "working on".  I don't know if other "non-raw" peeps would love this pie as much as I did!  It was still "seedy", but for me, it was perfect.  It was always the fillings in the Kolaches that made me crazy for them.  So I was in heaven eating a "poppyseed" mixture.  Just super easy to make as well.  I will definitely be making this one again!!

This video is of Brigitte preparing 6 super easy raw dishes.  Staples like almond milk, Kale Salad, Jicama Fries, Zuchinni Pasta, Flax Crackers & Cacao Nibs Dessert (these days the Agave might be replaced by something less controversial).  I love Brigitte because she is kind of a "Nature Girl" Herbalist who carries herself with such a simple elegance & grace.  She has lots of books and one that really like as well is her  "Beauty as Nature" book that has lots of homemade recipes for mouthwashes, body oils, toothpastes, etc.....You might know her daughter "Rainbeau" from her yoga videos.




Allen Ginsberg.  "Father Death Blues".

Does anyone have any "Raw Vegan Kolache" recipes??  I might try to "recreate" my favorite "Kolache", but don't know if the "walnut" base is too thick & heavy.  Buckwheat imparts kind of  a strong flavor.  Maybe a raw ground Quinoa flours??  Let me know if you have recreated my favorite Bohemian treats "Raw Style"!  My mom has perfected the "Vegan Kolache" but it has flour & sugar....I know I am a difficult daughter, as I keep making her recipe "evolve"!

Rock on With Hanuman and Raw Food

Zucchini Pasta.
A raw food staple.  Every household needs a Spirooli!

I was so happy to finally make it to a Raw Gathering.  It seems I never actually get something made or get swallowed up by my house during the get togethers.  Got my fix of some amazing feminine energy meeting some beautiful new women!  Yogis and Triathletes!  People flirt with the Raw Food lifestyle for lots of reasons.  While I believe in the Raw Food lifestyle 100%, I have a tendency to want to have fun with it.  I  still am unable to demonize cooked beans and I still don't think that you must go in for butt cleanings bi-weekly.  Or at least I want a little balance, a semi-clean butt and I don't want to feel like the Antichrist (what does that mean to someone like me anyway?) if I eat cooked food.  

Aren't the colors amazing?

Collard Wraps with Pine Nut Hummus and veggies inside.

Oranges.

"Spanish Rice" ( Cauliflower being the rice)

Sprouted & Dehydrated Nuts.  Pomegranate Seeds.

Almonds soaked in Coconut Aminos and Dehydrated.

Red Peppers.
Who needs photoshop when you have colors like this?

Dill Coleslaw from David Jubb's "Lifefood" Book.

Avocados waiting to be put in their Lettuce Tortillas.

Lettuce Tortilla.

Nuts, Berries, Seeds, Cabbage, Peppers.
Snacker's Delight.

Rainbow.

Nuts & Berries.

Nuts, Seeds, Cauliflower, Greens, Cabbage.

Modern Art.

Of course it was the start of a New Year so we each took a few moments to say something we had done recently to spiritually or physically better ourselves.  I was not in a "spiritually bettering" kind of place, so I went with running as that's new to me.  A lot of the people had just been to a sweat lodge the day before.  I was probably eating vegan junk food and watching bad tv the day before, but they had enough good energy for all of us!  In all seriousness, I am very grateful that I got to meet some wonderful new people and reconnect with others. It's funny because everyone brought healthy food!. Sometimes everyone brings desserts!  But maybe it was a New Year's thing to start out super green.
Perhaps raw cheezecakes will rule by February?

Veggie Pasta.

Kale Chips.  (Dehydrated)
My Ultimate Favorite Junk Food.
Except it's not junk!
If only the Government would subsidze Kale instead of Casein.

What's Hanuman got to do with it?  I got this M.C. Yogi Cd after hearing about how Ganesh got his "Elephant Head" and "Fat Belly" while perusing books at the East West bookstore in New York. They were playing it in the store and I immediately bought a copy.  The album has guest appearances from Krishna Das, Sharon Gannon, and Bhagavan Das.  Great for running or driving around town.  The best part is the songs tell stories (albeit very condensed) about Shiva, Hanuman, Ganesh, Krishna, and a wonderful song about the life of Gandhi.  This is Hanuman's time to rock.