Apricot and Plum Breakfast Biscotti with Lavender and Cardamom

As much as we love our chocolate granola, the time came to try something new for breakfast. Here continues our quest for adventurous, summer flavours. Taking advantage of wonderful seasonal fruit, plums and apricots, we decided to make two kinds of hearty breakfast biscotti. Cardamom adds just enough allure to the taste of dark, sour plums. Lavender does not only work well in teas and soaps, but pairs beautifully with ripe apricots (pairing idea from Roost). And the pumpkin seeds supply the bars with warm, homey colour and countless health benefits. Both versions are interesting and completely unexpected in flavour. The biscotti also makes for a fine snack, so I've been nesting a couple in Paloma's lunchbox on daycare days.









Plum - left, apricot - right.








Sprouting instructions here.

Apricot Biscotti:
2 1/2 cups buckwheat sprouts
2 1/2 cups sunflower sprouts
10-12 apricots - pitted
5 dates - pitted
1 tablespoon dry lavender flowers plus some for sprinkle
1 tablespoon mesquite powder
1 tablespoon maca powder
2 tablespoons raw honey
2 tablespoons light agave nectar
1/4 cup coconut oil
1/2 cup raisins
2 handfuls pumpkin seeds
1 tablespoon poppy seeds plus some for sprinkle
1/8 teaspoon ground ginger

Cut 5 or more apricots into small chunks, place in a large bowl. In a food processor, pulse the remaining apricots together with the pitted dates to make a chunky puree, and add to the bowl along with the rest of the ingredients. Mix thoroughly using a wooden spoon, and spread thickly and evenly on Teflex sheets. Sprinkle with poppy seeds and lavender. Dehydrate at 115 F for about 20 hours. Remove from the dehydrator, and cut into individual bars of desired shape. With the Teflex sheet removed, place back on the screen and dehydrate for another 20 hours for crunchy biscotti, or less if you prefer a more chewy consistency.

Plum Biscotti:
2 1/2 cups buckwheat sprouts
2 1/2 cups sunflower sprouts
12-14 plums - pitted
5 dates - pitted
1 tablespoon mesquite powder
1 tablespoon maca powder
2 tablespoons raw honey
2 tablespoons dark agave nectar
1/4 cup coconut oil
1/2 cup raisins
2 handfuls pumpkin seeds plus more for sprinkle
1 tablespoons poppy seeds
1/8 teaspoon ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
dash of cayenne pepper

Cut 6 or more plums into small chunks, place in a large bowl. In the food processor, pulse the remaining plums together with the pitted dates into a chunky puree, and add to the bowl along with the rest of ingredients. Mix thoroughly using a wooden spoon, and spread thickly and evenly on Teflex sheets. Sprinkle with pumpkin seeds. Dehydrate at 115 F for about 20 hours. Remove from dehydrator, and cut into individual bars of desired shape. With the Teflex sheet removed, place back on the screens and dehydrate for another 20 hours for crunchy biscotti, or less if you prefer a more chewy consistency.

You can make these bars as sweet or as spicy as you like - just add more agave syrup or cardamon and cayenne.

Cucumber Feast

During the summers at our Russian dacha, meals were always accompanied by small, curiously shaped cucumbers that we picked from the garden that very day. Sometimes they were so perfectly sweet, that we would simply cut them in half and sprinkle with a bit of salt. Other times, we would toss a basic cucumber and tomato salad. Either way, this vegetable served as a cooling, hydrating, and nutritional companion to any summer meal. Cucumbers are at their best from May to July, and while we are at the peak of their season, here are two undemanding cucumber salads. One is a deserved favourite, and the other - a new addition. They are simple in preparation, and work well as side dishes or as snacks, on top of crackers.









I've always liked to pair cucumbers with dill, but came across the idea of combining them with apple cider vinegar in Carol Alt's book.

Cucumber and Dill Salad (an old favourite):
5 large, or 10 small pickling cucumbers - peeled and thinly sliced
2 tablespoons of each sea salt, apple cider vinegar, and cold-pressed olive oil
1 bunch fresh dill - chopped
1/2 onion (optional) - chopped

Gently mix the cucumbers with salt in a large bowl, cover with a plate and put a jar full of water on top. Leave to press for 2 hours, or more. Drain the pressed liquid, then squeeze more by hand to discard most of the juice. Mix the cucumbers with the rest of ingredients and enjoy.

Ginger Cucumber Pickles (a Japanese salad):
3 medium cucumbers
1/2 cup cabbage - finely shredded
1/4 inch piece fresh ginger - peeled, and cut very thinly into strips, or grated
1 teaspoon sea salt
sesame seeds for garnish
sesame oil for drizzling (optional)

Mix all the ingredients in a bowl and repeat the same pressing method, as in the Cucumber and Dill Salad. Garnish with sesame seeds, drizzle with sesame oil.

Mint and Tomatillo Gazpacho

In the midst of summer heat, time seems to become lazy - it stretches and yawns, while the white sun works after-hours and hangs high on the horizon until late in the evening. All of a sudden, we grow a need for afternoon naps, bottles of sunscreen, and glasses upon glasses of chilled rooibos. Summer appetites also differ from colder weather cravings - we want less comfort food, and more fresh, adventurous flavours. This soup is undoubtedly the dish for such heat. It's incredibly refreshing and full of taste. I'm always on the lookout for different ideas for gazpacho, and mint is what makes the flavours in this one especially interesting and layered. I also like to make raw Spicy Herb Crackers to accompany the soup.

This recipe (from an old issue of Food&Wine) calls for green zebra tomatoes - a beautiful variety of heirloom tomatoes. Unfortunately I've never encountered them here in Florida. Instead, I chose to use organic plum tomatoes and tomatillos, which make a great pair.

2 lb tomatoes (half and half plum tomatoes and tomatillos) - coarsely chopped, plus 1 tomato for garnish
1 unpeeled seedless cucumber - coarsely chopped, and some for garnish
1 medium sweet onion - coarsely chopped
1 Hass avocado - peeled and pitted
1 small jalapeno - seeded
2 garlic cloves
2 tbsp freshly squeezed lime juice
1 cup purified water
a small handful of mint leaves (plus some for garnish)

a small handful of cilantro
1/4 cup olive oil (plus some for drizzling)
Salt and pepper to taste

Using a food processor, combine half each of the tomatoes-tomatillos, cucumber, and onion with the avocado, jalapeno, garlic, lime juice, and 1 cup purified water. Blend until smooth and transfer to a bowl. Put the remaining tomatoes-tomatillos, cucumber, and onion into a food processor, along with the mint, cilantro, and olive oil and pulse to make a chunky puree. Add the puree to the blended mass, salt and pepper to taste, and stir. Refrigerate until chilled. Garnish the gazpacho with mint leaves, a drizzle of olive oil, and any other ingredients you put away for dollup.
Enjoy on a hot summer day!

Spicy herb cracker recipe here.

Peach and Cherry Napoleons

Napoleon is one of the most beloved desserts in Russia. That version consists of layers upon layers of rich and moist cream and dough that practically melt in your mouth. Usually, it doesn't involve fruit, although recently all kinds of variations have been popping up in bakeries. Here, we've decided to make a much healthier version of an old favourite.

I created the crust for our raw Napoleons through experimentation, basing the list of ingredients on the recipes of raw peach cobbler and one of my favourite crackers. The final result is somewhere between fruit leather and a cracker. I was surprised how well the taste and consistency fit the purpose.

Crust:
1 cup sunflower seeds - soaked for 2 hours
1/2 cup almonds - soaked overnight
handful of pecans
5-6 dates - pitted
2 tablespoons of raw honey, or more - to taste
3 fresh peaches - pitted
1/4 cup walnut, or other nut oil
a pinch sea salt - optional
1 1/2 cup flax seeds - ground
purified water for thinning

Blend all the ingredients except flax seeds and water in a food processor until smooth. Add flax seeds and water, mix well. Spread crust mixture very thinly on teflex sheets. Dehydrate at 115F for approximately 6 hours, flip over and carefuly remove teflex sheets. Dehydrate for another 2-4 hours until the crust is no longer sticky, but still pliable. Cut into uniformed rectangular pieces, dehydrate until completely dry and crispy.

Raspberry Sauce:
1 1/2 cups fresh raspberries
raw honey to taste

In a strainer, mash the raspberries with a wooden spoon, pushing the raspberry puree through the strainer, leaving the seeds behind. Mix in the honey.
Slice the peaches for the filling thinly, arrange them on teflex sheets, spread the raspberry sauce on top. Dehydrate at 115F for about 2 hours, or until the peaches look and taste lightly baked. The dehydration is optional.

Vanilla cream (from Raw Food/Real World):
1 cup fresh coconut meat
1 cup cashews - soaked for 4 hours
1/2 cup coconut butter
1/2 cup agave nectar
1/2 cup purified water
seeds from 1 vanilla been, or 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Blend all ingredients in high speed blender until smooth. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours before using.

For the assembly, spread the coconut cream on each layer of crust using a piping bag or spatula. Top with peach slices or pitted and halved cherries. (The trick for pitting fresh cherry is using a bobby pin to twist out the pit). Repeat, layering the finished crusts on top of each other. Make as many layers as you like, decorate the upper layer with cream, fruit and/or fresh mint leaves. These Napoleons taste just as delicious immediately after assembly as they do after some time in the refrigerator, when they become soft and moist, with the cream absorbed into the crust.