It’s nice to have something you can just bite into any time you get hungry, especially when you’re nowhere near a raw vegan restaurant or a fresh produce market. Keeping raw food snack bars in your purse or in a small cooler in your car (or maybe even in your pocket) is quite handy. (Just don’t store them in there for too long, of course!)

If you live in a metropolitan area and you get stuck in traffic a lot, the wait can get frustrating. If you’re a student cramming for your exams and don’t really have the luxury of time to plan which cafeteria to go to for healthy snacks, chances are you might end up with junk in a foil bag. Or if you just finished your daily workout, usually you’d want something quick and satisfying to nibble on.

We can all agree that being able to bring your favorite raw food in a snack bar is an awesome idea, yes? Then let me share a few of my raw food recipes that can travel and satisfy your craving in a snap.

Raw sesame seed bars

This is one of my favorites, its flavor is sweet but not too sweet, and it's very filling. The tahini is the secret ingredient in this recipe. You don’t need any equipment to prepare this recipe.

Simply mix all the ingredients starting with the dry ones: sesame seeds, raisins, dried shredded coconut, flaxseed meal, and sea salt. Then add tahini, coconut oil, maple syrup and vanilla extract. Once the mixture is well combined, place it in a large dish and press down firmly. Cover it and put inside the freezer for at least an hour. This raw sesame seed bar recipe is best served chilled, but it’s also a great raw food snack bar on the go. So if there’s no freezer or fridge wherever you’re going and if you decide to snack on it at a later time, keep it in a cooler or a freezer bag otherwise it will crumble.

Raw granola bars

Raw granola bars are perfect snack bars to go. They’re compact energy boosters, and this recipe is simply delicious!  Before you begin, let me tell you this: Don’t be intimidated by all the ingredients you see on this recipe. It’s not at all as complicated as it may seem.

Just briefly process your pre-soaked almonds and dates in a food processor and transfer the chunky mixture into a bowl. Next, add all the remaining ingredients and mix well before pressing the mixture into a glass dish. And you’re done! For traditional crunchy granola bars, you may optionally want to dehydrate some or all of them as well.

Raw carrot refrigerator cake slices

Snack bite slices of this raw carrot refrigerator cake recipe can transform this dish into an awesome snack bar. It also keeps well, which makes it great for travelling. Just take a few minutes to plan and prepare this raw food snack bar ahead and you’re good to go.

To make the cake, simply process your carrots briefly into little chunks. Add all the remaining cake ingredients into the food processor and process again briefly. Make sure you don’t over-process. The perfect texture must still have little chunks of carrots, nuts, etc. visible. Transfer the cake mixture into a dish and press down firmly and set aside. Meanwhile, blend all the icing ingredients in a high-speed blender until nice and smooth. Top the cake with your icing and refrigerate for two hours or so. Once the raw carrot refrigerator cake hardens, you can slice it into snack bar sizes. This recipe is also best kept in a cooler if there’s no fridge where you’re going.

Take your bars on the road

Healthy snacking can be challenging most especially when you’re not in the comfort of your home. But it takes only a few minutes to plan ahead so you’ll always have something ready in your fridge or cooler for sudden cravings. Preparing these raw food snack bars is quite simple and very easy, so don’t hesitate to try and make them yourself. Can you think of other tasty raw food recipes you can snack out on?

We all know the health benefits of peanuts (and most of us love the taste!), but what about the down-side?

How could raw peanuts possibly be unhealthy for you?

And should you eat raw peanuts?

The good thing about peanuts...

Peanuts are good for you, right?. As far as nuts go (and peanuts are actually a legume!), peanuts are an excellent source of protein. They are also provide fiber, certain vitamins/minerals, and fat. And they make really good peanut butter! But should you eat them raw?

Raw peanuts are not poisonous

Raw peanuts are not poisonous to eat. They are a crop that have to be dried, and the drying process is where contamination can occur. If peanuts are not dried correctly, they are prone to growing molds, particularly one called aflatoxin. Aflatoxin primarily affects the liver: chronic exposure can lead to cancer, hepatitis, or cirrhosis.

What does the government say?

The U.S. FDA does provide guidelines for its own peanut crops. However, Canada has stricter guidelines, and has been known to return shipments of U.S. peanuts that exceed their own safety requirements. Raw peanuts and raw peanut products from other countries may not be subject to such standards. Even if your favorite raw peanut butter is made in the U.S.A., the peanuts themselves may have come from another country.

So you still want to eat raw peanuts…

If you choose to eat raw peanuts or raw peanut products, ask a few questions: what country do the peanuts originate from? How fresh are they? Make sure to toss peanuts that are old, or look moldy, shriveled, or discolored.  Don’t over-indulge in them. Long-term exposure increases the risk of ingesting toxic levels of aflatoxin. Keep in mind that children are more susceptible to aflatoxin than adults. Jungle and Valencia peanuts are apparently safer to eat than ‘regular’ peanuts, though I’ve not researched this. Also, stick with well-known, name brands.

Do I eat raw peanuts?

I do not advocate eating raw peanuts, and I don't eat them. The risks outweighs the benefits, especially when there are other raw nuts you could substitute for peanuts. Do your own research - you will read many articles that say raw peanuts are safe to eat, and other articles that say they are not. It’s up to you to make the right decision for yourself.

For more information:

• Cornell University
• Food Safety Watch 
• Nut & Seed Comparison Chart

I love almond butter. Nothing makes a better snack than raw crackers topped with scrummy almond butter. I can't eat an apple without slathering each slice in the stuff . And while store-bought is pretty good, home-made almond butter is that much better. Now you've probably heard stories about making almond butter: how long it takes, the difficulty... But it isn't that hard, truly!

Really, the key factors to making excellent almond butter at home are high quality almonds, a food processor (yes, you heard right), and a little bit of extra time.

You need almonds (of course!), plus some honey and salt. That's it. And you need that food processor. So, are you ready? Then let's do it!

Toss the almonds into your food processor. Start processing. Continually scrape the sides. And that's it! Process and scrape. Process and scrape. Do this for about 10 minutes (time will vary depending on strength of your food processor).

The mixture will be powdery at first, but that is normal. Keep processing and scraping. It will turn into almond butter, so don't lose your patience!

Oh, and on the topic of almonds: do not pre-soak your almonds. Use dry almonds or this recipe will not work!

When it does reach the consistency that you like, mix in the honey and sea salt by hand. Grab a spoon and taste your butter. Isn't it divine?

Making almond butter isn't difficult nor should it be traumatic. Make sure to use high-quality dry almonds for the best butter, use your food processor, and don't hurry the process. The end result is totally worth it!

For the first three years of my raw food journey, I was 100% raw vegan.  I did not cheat.

Was I one of those weird, irritating people that just loves fruits and vegetables? Well, I am now, but I wasn't always this way. I used to hate vegetables!

Before I went raw, I absolutely loved chips and candy. I ate processed foods and loved them! I craved chips (All Dressed and Salt and Vinegar, mmm), donuts (apple fritters, mmm), muffins (lemon poppyseed or buttery blueberry, mmm), pasta (cheese please), candy (sour keys, Nibs, chocolates, mmm), and white bread products (doughy pizza bun, be still my heart).

But once I commited to going raw, I just gave everything up. Was it hard? Yes! Was it worth it, oh yes.........Because after a month of going 100% raw my tastebuds changed and I began to appreciate raw foods and vegetables.

You see, back when I wasn't raw and I ate all those very delicious (but kind of disgusting when you think about them) products, my tastebuds were used to all that processed food. I craved processed food, and food like fruit and vegetables just tasted bland, boring, and bitter to me.

Enter raw foods...

My journey into raw foods didn't happen overnight. I was vegetarian already, but, as you can tell, I ate lots of junk food. But one March I challenged myself to go 80% raw. I did it.  But then for the next five months I only ate about 50% raw, but I didn't think about food too much. Then one day I just decided that I felt like crap and I would go 100% raw, and I did.

When I was 80% raw, I was sort in a detox-state, and I didn't really know what was going on. Fruits and vegetables tasted alright, I guess. I didn't get excited about them though.

When I went down to 50% raw, eating fruits--and especially vegetables--seemed like a chore. I did it anyway, but I wasn't happy about it. I certainly didn't ever enjoy eating a salad.

When I went 100% raw (with absolutely no cheating) after about one month I realized that I actually liked--no, LOVED--some vegetables. That a tomato or an avocado with some sea salt on it was freakin' delicious. I realized that my tastebuds were changing. I was starting to get excited about the salads that I had for lunch. After my first month 100% raw I was actually craving salads.

Things I've learned:

• Eating SAD (standard American diet) foods screws up your palate and tastebuds. Don't cheat and eat SAD foods! You are only shooting yourself in the foot. You have to give your tastebuds time to adjust and to forget the old SAD foods. If you keep eating SAD food you are making it harder on yourself.
• You don't have to love eating raw fruits and vegetables. You won't love vegetables overnight. But you will discover them eventually. Trust me.
• It's all about flavour combining. Do I love to eat carrot sticks? NO! BORING! Do I love to eat a salad with shredded carrots, olives, fresh romaine lettuce, flavourful tomatoes, a delicious raw salad dressing and slices of avocado? HELL YES! See the difference? It's about combining foods to make them tasty.
• You've got to bring raw food with you whenever you go out. Make sure you have some trail mix or easy to eat fruit (bananas or apples) with you, because hunger strikes anywhere. Temptation is the worst for me when I'm out of my house.
• Yes, temptation still exists. But it's not worth it! And don't forget that.

The #1 reason why I don't cheat and eat SAD foods is because I don't want to screw up my palate. I see my going 100% raw as an investment, and I don't want to throw it down the tubes for a bag of chips.

When making raw dishes that use a dehydrator, I usually make savory recipes way more than sweet recipes. This is because  dehydrator recipes take many, many hours to dehydrate! But when making sweet recipes, there are many quicker and easier ways to make raw desserts without having to use a dehydrator. But if you don’t use a dehydrator when making these dehydrator recipes, it would be impossible to achieve that satisfying texture of raw breads and crackers.

So here’s my list of easy raw food dehydrator recipes that you can make in your dehydrator. I know you'll be delighted with the results. I promise you'll find the long hours worth the wait after you've tasted these healthy and savory treats.

Raw pizza crust recipe

Most of the raw pizza crust recipes out there have too many ingredients and too many steps to follow. But in this dehydrator recipe, I came up with a very easy to make raw crust for your pizza.

In this raw pizza crust recipe, the first and most important step of all is you have to process the almonds until they become as fine as flour. Put the almond meal in a bowl and mix it with the rest of the ingredients to make your pizza dough. Then you can shape your crusts into circles or triangles, put them on parchment paper or Teflex sheets in your dehydrator and dehydrate them on high for 1 ½ hours. After reducing the temperature to 105 degrees, dehydrate for another 7-10 hours, making sure to remove the parchment/Teflex and flip the crusts over halfway through the dehydrating process. Once they’re all dry, store the crusts in a Ziploc bag and put them in the freezer. Now you have raw crusts ready anytime you want to make raw pizza!

Raw veggie burger recipe

You would probably wonder how a veggie burger could taste so savory and tasty. Well, this simple raw food dehydrator recipe will surprise you with its flavorful and moist raw patty. Except for hemp hearts and chopped veggies, just mix all of the ingredients together in a food processor and transfer it into a bowl, where you can add the rest of the ingredients. When the mixture is thoroughly combined, form the patties and place them on the dehydrator trays lined with parchment paper, and make sure they don’t touch each other. Set the dehydrator on high for 1 ½ hours then reduce the heat and dehydrate for 5 more hours. You can remove the parchment paper when the patties are firmly holding together. Continue dehydrating until they reach your desired consistency. Pair the veggie burgers with your favorite bread or cracker, and there you have your delicious raw veggie burger!

Raw onion bread recipe

Now here’s a raw food dehydrator recipe that doesn’t need too many ingredients, but can make enough for three Excalibur trays. Start by processing the sunflower seeds into a fine meal, set aside, then process the peeled onions in a food processor, but make sure they don’t turn mushy. Using a spoon, mix the onions with all of the other ingredients in a large bowl and spread them onto parchment-lined dehydrator trays. For the first hour, dehydrate the bread at 120 degrees before reducing the heat to 105 degrees for the next 6 hours. Remove the parchment at some point before it finishes dehydrating and flip the bread over. You can dehydrate it for another 4 hours or longer if you want it to be crispier. It’s really all up to you how you want your savory raw onion bread recipe to turn out, so go ahead and try them!

Raw flax cracker recipe

Yes, it's yet another raw flax cracker recipe. But hold on! It’s quite different I should say, because not only does it taste awesome, it’s also really easy to make with just a few ingredients. All you need to do is process all of the ingredients in a food processor, and when it becomes well blended but still chunky, spread the mixture onto two dehydrator trays lined with parchment/Teflex. Put them in the dehydrator at 115 degrees, and after an hour score the crackers with a knife, then reduce the heat to 105 degrees. After dehydrating for another 6 hours, flip the crackers, remove the parchment/Teflex, and dehydrate for another hour until they become cracker-like. I know it's tempting to nibble, but try to wait until they're done so you can enjoy your tasty raw flax crackers!

Start dehydrating now

These are just a few of my raw food dehydrator recipes that you can try out if you are new to using a dehydrator. They are quite simple yet very savory, and I’m sure you'll try making these recipes over and over when you get the hang of using your dehydrator.

Need a dehydrator? Check out The Rawtarian's recommended appliances here.

The subject of diatomaceous earth has been gaining popularity, and I’ve received a few emails about it lately. It seems to be pretty trendy! But what is diatomaceous earth exactly? What does it do? How does it work? How does it relate to raw food? Well, to those who are wondering what the buzz surrounding it is all about, I’m going to try to address all the questions I’ve received (and maybe more) in as simple and understandable way as possible.

Diatomaceous Earth

Let’s start by getting to know it. Diatomaceous earth (DE) is an off-white powder consisting of fossilized remains or silica shells of tiny aquatic organisms called diatoms (a type of algae). In short, it’s made of long dead algae. It’s also known as fossil shell flour. On a microscopic level, the particles of DE appear to look like cylindrical honeycombs with sharp edges. Even though DE doesn’t look or feel like it to the touch, apparently its particles are pretty hard like tiny shards of glass. DE is also a drying agent because of its absorbent qualities. 

Food Grade DE and Filter Grade DE

There are several varieties of diatomaceous earth, but the most commonly used are what we call food grade DE and filter grade DE. Food grade DE is not exactly food per se. Basically, it’s used in grains as anti-caking agent, in animal feeds for deworming, and in pesticides/insecticides. They are very effective in eliminating exoskeleton parasites like worms and insects because food grade DE dehydrates their oils and fats until they die. Food grade DE’s hard, honeycomb-like particles with its sharp edges also “scrub” the walls of intestines removing toxins and heavy metals.

Filter grade (or pool grade) DE, on the other hand, is mostly used for filtering water in swimming pools and is not safe for consumption because of its high crystal silica content (read poison).

What Food Grade DE Users Say

Although food grade DE is registered for use in grain storage, animal feeds and pesticides, and the usage of product intake in humans is met with doubts and criticisms among skeptics, there are people who use it as a detoxifying agent by mixing a tablespoon or two with their food or drink. Testimonials from believers of the “cleansing and healing effects” of food grade diatomaceous earth say they felt  much better after using it. They claim it flushes out toxins, parasitic organisms (which could cause sudden food intolerance), and heavy metals our body cannot process.

Silica is also one component of diatomaceous earth that is noteworthy, because it is a very important trace element in human bodies. It aids in mineral absorption, regulates calcium levels and promotes collagen production in bones. Apparently, food grade DE contains 80%-90% amorphous silica (harmless) and only less than 2% crystal silica (harmful), which makes food grade diatomaceous earth a natural organic source of silica. Although food grade DE mostly just passes through our body and only very little of its silica is absorbed into the blood stream, many users also claim that consuming diatomaceous earth has helped relieve their arthritis and sore joints, lowered their high blood pressure and high cholesterol levels, cleared up their skin, toughened up their nails and strengthened their hair, among many other benefits.

Diatomaceous Earth and Raw Food

Many users consume about a tablespoon a day by either mixing it with their juice or water. Others use it only very minimally.

I have not yet found any foolproof findings based on scientific research regarding the benefits of food grade DE in human consumption. But this type of DE is basically raw (like raw flour) since it is unheated and naturally organic, unlike filter grade DE that is treated with high heat (which crystalizes silica and makes it highly toxic).

If you ever plan to use diatomaceous earth, it is very important to remember to get FOOD GRADE, and never filter/pool grade!

There are also no absolute guarantees in consuming food grade diatomaceous earth, but some people do seem to be eating FOOD GRADE DE in small quantities. And since DE is a drying agent, just be careful not to get any powder in your eyes. Also, if you have asthma or lung issues, be careful not to inhale it because it may cause breathing problems (just like any other dust would).

And with that said, food grade diatomaceous earth is the type of DE you would want to buy if you ever plan to include it in your raw food recipes. Make sure you are well informed about the product before getting into using it. It’s also advisable to consult an expert regarding what its effects are going to be on your body prior to trying it out.

What are your thoughts on diatomaceous earth?