Raw Strawberry-Chia Swirl

Ingredients:

2/3 cup chia seeds

2 cups raw almond milk

4 Tbl. maple syrup pr raw agave

1 mashed banana

2 tsp real vanilla

Mix alll ingredients in a bowl. Let sit for 15 minutes. Stir again

Strawberry layer

1 cup fresh strawberries

2 Tbl Maple Syrup

blend in food processor

Coconut Cream

meat from 4 young coconuts

1/4 Cup coconut oil

Juice from 1/2 lemon

Blend in Vitamix Blender

Layer chia pudding with strawberry puree in tall glass.

Top with coconut cream and enjoy!

Raw Plum Soup

This simple, little dessert soup is as beautiful as it is delicious! I have never come across Prune Plums before, and when I saw them, I filled the bad, excited to go home and try some new raw recipes! My children loved this and they added their own raw topping, such as crushed pecans and coconut. It is also delicious with coconut cream mixed in!

Ingredients

2 bananas
1/2 cup mixed berries
1 Tbl real maple syrup
3 peeled oranges

Blend all ingredients together

Chop and cube plums, (discarding pits.)

Mix into soup and enjoy!

Announcing my newest adventure!
My dear friend, Christina Cretella and I have started a raw food catering, instruction and personal chef business! Last night we had our premier event! It was a smashing success and we loved every minute of is.

Chrstina and I are both passionate women making a difference in the world in our own way. 

We wanted to spend our time together as friends bringing awareness, health and happiness to others! 

Our dream came true last night and it is the beginning of amazing new opportunities for both of us!

I am very exicted about the future of Rawk Starz!

Here we are preparing delicious raw foods for our group last night!

Here is just one of the appetizers we put our for our class last night
These are Raw Walnut and Zucchini Crackers with Raw Pub Cheese and Raw Dill Cheese. SO delicious! Everyone loved it!

If you live in New England and have an event you need catered with the healthiest, most high-vibe food on Earth, contact us! www.RawkStarz.com

Kickin' Key Lime Pie!

I created this recipe because of my incredible love for limes! 
I did a blog entry a few years ago about my search for Lime Starburst candy. They used to be part of the selection when I was a kid, but they got rid of them in 1978. Here is the blog entry that I wrote when I was pregnant with my son, Orion.


I have since had them gifted and mailed to me from all over the country. 
This pie totally gives me my lime fix. It is tart, creamy and delicious! I know it will rock your world too

Ingredients:

1 and 1/2 cups soaked cashews

1/2 cup raw honey

1/2 cup coconut oil

2 tsp. organic vanilla extract

Juice from 6 -7 key limes

Mix in VItamix blender until creamy and smooth!

I did grate a little bit of lime zest into the batter after it was blended to give it a little color. The texture is like coconut, so if you don't like that, you can leave it out.

Crust:

1 1/2 cup raw pecans

6 pitted medjool dates 

process in food processor and push into bottom of pie plate.

Pour Key Lime filling over crust

Set in freezer for two hours, then move to refrigerator. 

Prepare to be rawked! 

Side note: I made this trivet after an epic fail at making a bowl in pottery class. I never knew how much I'd use it! Sometimes what you think is a failure is a gift.

Sexy, Raw Lasagna

I love making raw recipes with my friends. It is so much fun to all get together and while our kids play we create and enjoy delicious raw meals together. There is a circle of us who are all on the raw path and we all support one another and share tips and ideas. I love being together as women and connecting in this way.

This week my friend Josha brought over a raw lasagna recipe that we all tweaked to make it our own. 

The result was simply amazing! This was by far one of the best raw dishes that I have ever tasted. It was good the next day too, but not as good as when it was fresh.

We served this with a salad with my friend Jen's Raw Chipotle salad dressing. So delish!!

Ingredients
Lemon-Cashew “Ricotta”
2 cups raw cashews, soaked in water for at least 1 hour
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons nutritional yeast (optional; available in health food stores)
1 teaspoon sea salt

Tomato Sauce
2 cups good-quality sun-dried tomatoes (dry-packed), soaked in water for at least 2 hours
1 medium ripe tomato, diced
1⁄4 small onion, chopped
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1⁄4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
4 teaspoons maple syrup
2 teaspoons sea salt
Pinch hot-pepper flakes

Basil-Walnut Pesto
2 cups packed basil leaves
1⁄2 cup raw walnuts
6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon sea salt, or to taste
Pinch freshly ground black pepper

Lasagna
3 medium zucchini, ends trimmed
3 medium tomatoes
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh oregano
1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves
Garnish: whole basil leaves

UnCooking Instructions
Lemon-Cashew “Ricotta”

Place the cashews, lemon juice, nutritional yeast, and salt in a food processor, and pulse a few times, until thoroughly combined. Gradually add 6 tablespoons water, and pulse until the texture becomes fluffy, like ricotta. Place in a bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and set aside.

Tomato Sauce
Place all ingredients in a blender, and process until smooth.

Basil-Walnut Pesto
Place all ingredients in a blender, and process until smooth.

Lasagne
Using a mandoline or vegetable peeler, shave zucchini lengthwise into very thin slices, then cut in half crosswise. Cut the tomatoes in half, and each half into thin slices. Line the bottom of a 9-by-13-inch baking dish with two layers of zucchini slices. Brush the zucchini lightly with olive oil, spread 1⁄3 of the tomato sauce over it, and top with small dollops of “ricotta” and pesto, using 1⁄3 of each. Layer on 1⁄3 of the tomato slices, and sprinkle with 1⁄3 of the oregano and thyme. Add another double layer of zucchini and repeat twice more with the tomato sauce, pesto, ricotta, tomato slices, and herbs. Serve immediately, or cover with plastic and let sit at room temperature for a few hours. Garnish with basil.

Josha and Jen building the lasagna

Bonding with friends with our combined passion for raw food is one of my favorite things to do, especially if the recipe is intensive like this one is. Enjoy time with your loved ones too and rawk your way to health and happiness together!!

Raw Pad Thai with Cilantro Corn Salad

If you haven't bought a spiralizer yet, get on it! It completely changes the texture of zucchini and carrots from soggy shreds to delicious, crisp vessels for amazing raw sauces! 
Spiralizers are affordable and fun to use!

Raw Pad Thai and Cilantro Corn Salad

Dayna's Raw Pad Thai

2 large Zuke - spiralized!

1/4 cup Vermont Raw Peanut Butter

1 Tbl tahini

2 Tbl  Bragg's liquid aminos (natural soy sauce)

1/4 cup lemon juice

1/4 cup lime juice

2 Tbl. olive oil

1 Tbl. raw agave

1 cup water

Blend all ingredients in your Vitamix or high speed blender. Pour over zuke noodles, toss and enjoy!

Corn and Cilantro Salad

2 Cups corn, cut from the cob

1/4 cup cilantro chopped

1/2 cup celery chopped small

1/2 cup zuke chopped small

1/2 cup tomato chopped small

1/2 cup red onion finely chopped

Dressing

2 Tbl olive oil

1 Tbl. raw honey

1/4 cup lime juice

1/4 tsp. mustard seed ground in coffee mill

pink salt and pepper

1/4 cashews

water to enable it to blend together

Blend well and pour over salad and toss.

Enjoy these two recipes together for a perfect Rawkin' meal!

Rawkin' the World!

I recently visited London and while I was there, I just had to check out two of the hottest raw restaurants in the city! For lunch I visited the InSpiral Cafe. It was AMAZING! The prices were fair and the food was plentiful. It was nice to experience the Raw Culture abroad. 

As I shift to new opportunities as a raw food coach and personal chef, it was important for me to learn about and taste raw foods from around the world. I gained so much insight and joy from the places I visited and the people that I met. I know it aided me well on this journey to help others.

The second Raw restaurant that I was able to experience was the one and only SAF! It wasn't as good as InSpiral and the prices were very high - I am assuming because of the atmosphere - which was very upscale. I wasn't impressed with the employees who knew nothing about raw food, whereas at InSpiral, the employees were very passionate about what they were serving. 

Here I am with my Mom, Darlene, who is also a Raw Vegan. It was so nice to spend time with her in her home in England and create Raw meals together. It was a visit that I will never forget. I am so grateful to have parents who are on a similar path that I am with health and happiness.

~Dayna

Raw Italian Sandwiches!

Recently, my friend Kim and Jen came over for a visit.  I have a new kitchen island, and I was excited to use it with company over! I l love to entertain and share good food! This island adds so much to the kitchen. It is a central focal and gathering point, which I love. Anyway, Kim and Jen are eating more raw foods and are interested in learning all that they can from those of us eating high-raw. I was going to serve this awesome bread with a salad, but as I started cutting up the bread, I had a new idea.

I cut the bread rectangularly and spread these with cashew mayonnaise. I then topped them with shredded Romaine and avocado that was tossed in olive oil and apple cider vinegar. I added sliced tomato and some yummy raw garlic dill pickles, fresh dill  and then finished it off with some pink salt and pepper.

As I prepared everything, I was chatting with my friends who were watching this new creation unfold. One thing that I have learned from shifting to a raw lifestyle is, never be attached to the recipe you thought you were going to make... Just go with the flow and inspiration in all that you are creating. Many times, my new creations become part of my regular rotation of raw favorites. These are definitely something I will be making often. It's pure and simple and I couldn't believe how much they reminded me of the Italian Subs that I used to like from our local sub shop.

Zucchini Orion Bread

1 1/2 cups chopped zucchini
1/2 cup chopped sweet onion
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 tsp pink Himalayan salt
1 cup ground almonds (I use a coffee bean mill)
1 cup ground golden flax seeds

Place the zuke, onion and oil is a food processor and puree. Remove and in a bowl add zuke puree, salt, almond meal and flax meal. Spread evenly on an Excalibur Dehydrator teflex sheet. Dehydrate on 104 degrees for 4 hours, then flip for 6 more hours.

Raw Cashew Mayo

1/2 cup soaked cashews
2 Tbl nutritional yeast
2 Tbl olive oil
1 Tbl of Organic Tahini
2 tsp fresh lomon juice
1/2 cup water

Blend all ingredients in your amazing Vitamix or other blender. Will keep for 5 days in the fridge. You can make a double batch, then make a raw mock-tuna recipe the next day and use this mayo!

You can then add whatever you'd like to this basic recipe. I've added garlic and fresh herbs to mine before. I added Italian Seasoning when I made this recipe.

Raw Iron Chef!

Last week was the second annual Life Rocks! Radical Unschooling Conference. It is a conference that I  produce in North Conway, NH. This year I decided to have a Raw Iron Chef competition as part of the event, inspired by my love for living foods, the Iron Chef show and also my beautiful friend Christina. Christina and each had a team - Team Martin and Team Cretella. We decided to playfully compete, yet the event itself was more serious than either of us realized it would be. We loved it though and  we both agree that it was an experience that we will never forget. 

Judges for the Life Rocks! Raw Iron Chef competition: Josha Grant, Roderick Russell and Steve Sainsbury!

Here I am praying for the win, once I got a taste for competing!

Competing against a best friend is fun and wonderful, because I had no attachment to winning. I wanted Christina to win and I knew I would take such joy in seeing her take home the trophy! Well, as the competition went on my desire to win was sparked because I worked so hard and I felt the intensely serious nature of the event. It felt so good to compete and be timed in doing so. It was more exhilarating than I ever imagined!!

Having Jamie as a partner gave me an edge because he has an awesome "stage presence" and also got really creative with the presentation. I loved that! 

Goji Berries were the secret ingredient and we had to incorporate them into every course.

I created the recipes and Jamie helped me execute them.

Our main entree was my

Raw Taco with Goji Berry Salsa (recipe here)

This is Jamie and I putting the raspberry-goji berry sauce into the squeeze bottle.

For dessert I created a

 Raw Chocolate Silk Pie with Raspberry and Goji Sauce (recipe here)

I am pleased to say that we won 1st place!! It was such an incredible experience! 

photos by Joe Martin and Xavia Vincete

How to be Rawsome: Upgrade Your Life With Living Foods!

Rock Your Life! Teleseries

This week's teleseries session is:

How to be Rawsome: 
Upgrade Your Life With Living Foods!

Join Dayna LIVE this Sunday where she discuss her leap to a raw food lifestyle ten months ago. Dayna went from the standard American diet to 100% Raw, almost overnight! Her life changed dramatically in only a couple of weeks from making the shift and she is inspired to support others in making the change themselves.
Learn about the tools to make raw foods easier and how you can slowly stock your pantry with living food ingredients to help you become a better YOU!
Learn how to make the transition to living, raw foods easy and fun and gain the confidence necessary to make the shift to better your life in every aspect!

 Read more about Dayna’s Raw Journey here.

This session has limited space, so sign up quickly as this is sure to be one of Dayna’s most popular discussions. To learn more about past teleseries session for purchase, click here.
Get ready to upgrade your life!!

This Sunday, April 15th, at 7pm EST

$4.95

You will be emailed a call in number and unique code to enter the call. I look forward to having you part of the discussion and to answer your questions!