From ruby red raspberries to earthy dumplings with a difference, raw vegan chef Ani Phyo shows small treats can have a big impact. Ani shares two of her favourite recipes with Diary of a Vegan from her new bestseller: Anis Raw Food Essentials (see book for full recipe details).

CUSTARD TARTLETS
MAKES ABOUT 6 TARTLETS

To make tartlets, which are traditionally small pastry crusts, divide and press Basic Piecrust into the compartments in a tartlet pan to make individual mini pies. These tiny pies are filled with Whipped Cashew Kream, and topped with a variety of fruits for a beautiful display.

1 recipe Basic Piecrust (page 263), made with almond meal

2 recipes Whipped Cashew Kream (page 266)

Your favorite small fruits for topping each tartlet, such as 1 blackberry, 3 blueberries, 1 raspberry, or cacao nibs

Line the compartments of a tartlet or multiple brioche pan with plastic wrap first, then press the piecrust firmly into the pan. Remove by gently lifting up the plastic wrap.

Next, spoon the whipped kream into each tartlet. Top each tartlet decoratively with one type of fruit or the cacao nibs.

Serve immediately, or keep in the fridge.

Will keep for 2 or 3 days in the fridge.

KOREAN DUMPLINGS
MAKES 4 SERVINGS

Traditionally, to make dumplings, a shredded vegetable filling is enclosed in a circular wrapper thats folded over the filling. Its easy to make, but making your filling, then stuffing all your wrappers, can take a bit of time. This is a fun thing to do with friends and kids, as extra sets of hands will speed up your process.

WRAPPERS

1 recipe Tomato Wrappers (page 173), dehydrated as directed, cut into 16 squares about 31?2 inches across

FILLING
MAKES ABOUT 2 CUPS

1?2 cup Green Cabbage Kimchi (page 131), squeezed dry and sliced finely

(if you dont have kimchi handy, see note below)

3?4 cup finely chopped lettuce, such as iceberg, bok choy, or romaine

11?4 cups finely chopped bean sprouts, or your favorite sprout

2 tablespoons finely chopped green onion (about 1 whole green onion)

1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil, for flavor, or raw if you prefer

Place all the filling ingredients in a mixing bowl and toss to mix well. Squeeze out all excess liquid completely before using. Make sure the filling is drained well, otherwise your wrapper will get soggy quickly.

Place a wrapper square in the palm of your hand, shiny side up. (The side that dehydrated against the Paraflexx liner needs to be facing upward.) Scoop 1 tablespoon of filling into the center of your wrapper, and fold and seal a pocket in the shape of a triangle. Then fold so that the two far edges of the triangle meet, and pinch together. See Mandu Making, page 238.

Serve with Soy Vinegar Dipping Sauce (page 239).

KIMCHI SUBSTITUTE: If you dont have kimchi on hand, use . cup of shredded napa cabbage tossed with . teaspoon of Nama Shoyu or Bragg Liquid Aminos, a pinch of cayenne (to taste), 1 teaspoon of minced garlic, and 1 teaspoon of grated ginger. Set aside to marinate and soften for at least 5 minutes before using. Be sure to squeeze out all excess liquid before using.

Mandu Making

TO MAKE YOUR mandu, follow these easy steps:

• Make sure your wrapper is shiny side up. The side that was against the Paraflexx liner should face upward.
• Squeeze all excess liquid from your filling, the drier the better. Any moisture will damage your wrappers.
• Spoon a tablespoon of filling into the center of your square wrapper.
• Fold the wrapper in half to form a triangle, sealing in the filling, and secure the edges closed by pressing firmly.
• Join the corners of your triangle and secure into a ring shape by squeezing together. A drop of water on the corners will help to hold it together if needed.

Alternatively, instead of using dehydrated wrappers, which can tend to get soggy when filled with moist fillings, use very thinly sliced daikon radish. Set out at room temperature for 30 minutes to wilt and soften, then fill and fold over into a stuffed semicircle.

Find out more at www.aniphyo.com. Buy your own copy of Anis Raw Food Essentials here.

You just have to browse the web or your nearest book store to see the world is obsessed with dieting. Yet if statistics are accurate, were not just tipping the scales, were on our way to breaking them. It has taken many of us years of restrictions and meal replacements to figure it out: diets dont work.

From calorie counting to cutting out carbs, a Pandoras Box awaits those who still dare to follow the latest diet craze. Yet achieving and maintaining your ideal figure is actually more simple than what weve been lead to believe-and it comes with a bonus: vibrant health.

There is one major requirement thats needed on this path to ultimate wellness and the body weve all dreamed of: taking full responsibility. Taking charge and becoming our own nutritionist and not relying on big business to deliver a magic bullet that is nothing more than body-disruptive chemicals dressed in drag.

Perhaps its an assumption to say most of us were taught the same stuff in school, none of which covered off real nutrition and how to actually apply it. Yet, the lesson of nutrition is one of the most important life lessons we can ever learn. We also werent taught that nourishing ourselves is actually fun and can lead us to a full, love-fueled life. A nourished, healthy body results in clear thinking, more energy and, for many, a channel to the divine. No pill could ever compete with that.

Enter Lars Gustafsson: author, speaker, life and nutrition guide. Born in India to Canadian parents, he grew up living an authentic mix of tribal and western life. “This upbringing,” he says “created a balance between the scientific passion of the west and the ancient wisdom of the Far East.”

For 23 years, Lars has explored nutrition, fitness and healthy lifestyles. As founder of the BodyMind Institute-a global enlightened school of learning-he teaches that nutrition is so much more than just the food we eat. Its the total way we nourish our mind and body.

“Over these years I found that I needed to personally experience something in order to accept it as fact. In the end I have found that it is only through personal experience in the application of any information can you make your own informed decisions. Your own level of personal truth will grow according to your willingness to experience more.”

In 2003, Lars introduced The BodyMind Nutrition Certification online programs to meet an emerging demand for true to life systems, formulas and programs, creating the opportunity for people everywhere to discover and pass on a nutrition and lifestyle process that creates a personal discovery of balance in body, mind and spirit.

“I believe in the scientific method, that there are natural laws that govern our physical universe … yet in these 23 years I have often found the ‘unexplainable’ happening all around me,” Lars says. “These have created questions which led me to find hard scientific data that hasn’t found it’s way into the mass media or awareness of the masses.”

“Over these years I found that I needed to personally experience something in order to accept it as fact. In the end I have found that it is only through personal experience in the application of any information can you make your own informed decisions. Your own level of personal truth will grow according to your willingness to experience more.”

Most recently, Lars has teamed up with raw food nutritionist and expert David €˜Avocado Wolfe to deliver a program in raw food nutrition-a course that shares more than 15 years of Davids sought-after knowledge. With this course and other programs including 90 Day BodyMind Renewal and Sports Nutrition, the BodyMind Institute is changing the way we look at real nutrition, forever.

As a student of the BodyMind Raw Nutrition, the 90 Day BodyMind Renewal and the Nutrition I certifications, I wanted to reach out to Lars, to hear first hand how these online courses are bringing real nutrition to people at their own pace, in their own time. What I discovered is a man with a passion that goes beyond simply developing courses. Lars Gustafsson is making a difference, one person at a time through life-enhancing education that literally changes lives.

So passionate is he about reaching those who share his dream to make a difference, that with David Wolfe, Lars is offering free entry to the BodyMind Institute Level I BodyMind Nutrition Certification for those who sign up for Davids Raw Nutrition Certification. Its a $1,500 gift, he explains, to reach those who also want to make a difference-to their own health, the health of others and the health of the planet.

“Lets bring about a stunning shift to our planet together,” Lars (pictured left) says.

We hope you enjoy part I of our interview with Lars (below), as he takes you behind the scenes of his passion that is giving back in a big way. Next Monday (May 17) we will share part II of this special interview.

To find out more about Lars and the BodyMind Institute, please click here.

The Body Mind Connection: The Key to Ultimate Health by Shanon Dunn. Main photo courtesy alicepopkorn

We were going to highlight some great blogs that are dedicated to raw chocolate in all its healthful glory. Perhaps there arent too many around or we just got too hungry during our search and gave up too soon. The latter is undeniably true.

We also wanted to write something about chocolate, but, to tell you the truth, all we can do think about is eating it. So, the best option is to share a recipe from one of our fave and oft-visited raw food blogs, The Raw Chef. Oh, and a great book from David Wolfe thats dedicated to this widely adored, yet sometimes misused, food: Naked Chocolate: The Astonishing Truth About the Worlds Greatest Food.

Enjoy!

Chocolate Torte with Whipped Cashew Cream

For the base

1/2 cup cashews

1/2 cup pecans
1 tablespoon coconut oil

1 tablespoon melted cacao butter
1 teaspoon agave
1 teaspoon lemon juice

- Pulse all ingredients in a food processor until they bind.

- Press into a 9″ springform cake pan and place in the fridge to set.

For the filling

1 cup Irish Moss paste*
1 cup cashews
1 1/2 cups cacao powder
3 cups grated or chopped cacao butter which has then been melted
1 cup agave nectar
1/2 cup water
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon tamari
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

- Blend all ingredients in a high-speed blender until smooth and pour on top of the base.

- Leave in the fridge to set.

*Irish Moss paste can be made by soaking 1 cup Irish Moss in water for 3 – 5 hours and rinsing THOROUGHLY until rinse water turns clear (therell be a lot of sand in the moss). Then blend the rinsed moss with 2 cups pure water in a Vita-Mix until completely smooth. Leave to set in the fridge if not using straight away.

Chefs tip: Add 1 drop of peppermint essential oil to the filling mixture for a mint chocolate variation.

For the cream topping

1 cup cashews, soaked for 2 hours or more
1/2 cup water
3 tablespoons Irish Moss paste
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup agave nectar
1 teaspoon lemon juice
Pinch salt
1 tablespoon macadamia oil (optional)

- Blend all ingredients in a high-speed blender until smooth.

- Serve with chocolate torte and fresh berries.

I don’t wear sunscreen and never will.

I stopped using sunblock the moment I stopped being a beauty editor a few years ago. A combination of gut feeling and research told me what I was being told to “protect” my skin with was little more than a poison (and poisonous it is).

You see, the sun is a life-giver. Without it, we’d be on our way out. The amount of sun we can tolerate depends on various factors from skin type to foods we include in our diet. But somewhere along the way, we’ve been told to fear the sun. Cover up and slather up the marketing hype tells us, and we’ll be doing a great job of protecting ourselves from that nasty cancer-causing ball or fire in the sky.

So why, was my question, had the skin cancer rates skyrocketed? Why were we being told to suddenly be scared of the very thing that gives life to the planet and everything on it? Dollars of course. Scare the masses and they’ll buy the product.

Here’s an excerpt from Natural News:

The idea that sunscreen prevents cancer is a myth. It’s a myth promoted by a profit-seeking tag-team effort between the cancer industry and the sunscreen industry. The sunscreen industry makes money by selling lotion products that actually contain cancer-causing chemicals. It then donates a portion of that money to the cancer industry through non-profit groups like the American Cancer Society which, in turn, run heart-breaking public service ads urging people to use sunscreen to “prevent cancer.”

With all of the chemicals that make up the hundreds of sunscreens on the market, it begs the question to be asked. What happens to all of those chemicals when you put them on your body’s largest organ, the skin? Well, not only are we told to put them on our skin, we’re told to wear them in the sun. So effectively, we’re baking ourselves with toxic, cancer-causing chemicals.

Another excerpt from Natural News:

The scientific evidence, however, shows quite clearly that sunscreen actually promotes cancer by blocking the body’s absorption of ultraviolet radiation, which produces vitamin D in the skin. Vitamin D, as recent studies have shown, prevents up to 77 of ALL cancers in women (breast cancer, colon cancer, cervical cancer, lung cancer, brain tumors, multiple myeloma… you name it). Meanwhile, the toxic chemical ingredients used in most sunscreen products are actually carcinogenic and have never been safety tested or safety approved by the FDA. They get absorbed right through the skin (a porous organ that absorbs most substances it comes into contact with) and enter the bloodstream.

We need the sun. The days of fearing it are long gone for me. So what happens if I’m going to be out in the sun for hours? Sure, I wear sensible clothing and a hat. I also regularly include foods in my diet that prevent sunburn such as spirulina. As per my past post, I apply extra virgin coconut oil to my skin daily which, as a bonus, works as a natural protector if I’m to spend many hours in the sun.

Sunburn only happens due to nutritional deficiencies. Since becoming vegan and eating (mostly raw) plant-based foods I rarely experience sunburn. Pretty neat, I reckon!

As Christmas day nears, I’ve been thinking about jolly ol’ Santa and his love for milk and cookies … how his turning vegan could be the biggest gift to vegan activists everywhere.

Imagine the influence he’d have. Children worldwide would be begging their parents for freshly-made almond milk with a side of raw vegan truffle balls, forget the cows, thank you very much.

So, without further adieu, here is my letter to Santa this year-10 reasons he should go vegan. I just hope he gets it on time…

1. Your cholesterol levels, Santa, would be back to normal. No more need for those pesky GP visits and poisonous pharmaceuticals;

2. Your energy levels would skyrocket, especially if you adopt a mostly raw diet. Raw, live foods are packed with enzymes, which are the givers of life. Kids everywhere want to see you around for a long time to come. Eating raw and vegan is healthy for you, animals and the planet.

3. Santa, I know you love animals. What bigger gift could you give to them than not eating or wearing them?

4. I don’t mean to be rude, Santa, but being overweight is a serious risk to your health. Did you know tummy fat raises your risk for high blood cholesterol by about 50 percent? A healthy vegan diet will have you at your optimal weight in no time.

5. Most cookies are laden with butter and processed sugar. Many of the mass-produced kind are even worse, with ingredients made up of numbers and boasting names impossible to pronounce. Santa, do you know where your cookies came from?

6. Drinking cows milk has been linked to all sorts of dis-eases, including asthma, osteoporosis, heart disease, diabetes and more. Making milk from nuts is a cinch and doesn’t require harming animals or using massive amounts of the earth’s energy.

7. I hate to be the one to break it to you Santa, but that big fur collar that keeps you warm as you deliver your presents once belonged to real, live animals – defenseless creatures who were tortured and skinned without a second thought. I’ve also been told that fur has formaldehyde in it, which has been known to cause cancers. I don’t want you getting sick, Santa.

8. I know eating on the run must be tempting to a busy man like you, Santa. But I think you should know that fast food meats have thousands of additives that are addictive and fattening. Much of the meat on menus today are also full of pesticides and hormones.

9. Bacon and pork may be tempting, but did you know that pigs are more intelligent than dogs? Word has it they are intelligent as a three year old. I know you’d never eat a three year old, would you, Santa?

10. Those fancy leather seats in your sleigh may be comfy Santa, but did you know how many cows died to make them? If you compare your ride to the average Mercedes Benz, my guess is around seven.

So Santa, if you’re reading this, I urge you to take the pledge. Go vegan in 2010. Imagine the energy you’d have delivering presents next year. Those rosy cheeks would have a truly healthy glow, Mrs Claus could learn new culinary skills, whipping up raw vegan recipes to share with the elves. I’m certain Rudolph would be grateful too, knowing for certain he won’t be re-named venison when it’s time for retirement.

And to PETA, I think I’m onto something. I’ll let you take it from here.

10 Reasons Santa Should Go Vegan from Diary of a Vegan

By Rhonda Lee

As a passionate raw foodist, I often teach workhops on this lifestyle that I love so much. One of these workshops is titled “Demystifying the Green Smoothie.” I love this one for many reasons. It’s fun and easy for people to realize how simple it is to incorporate healthy foods into their lifestyle with simple tools and techniques and very fast results!

1. You need a blender to make green smoothies. You dont have to go out and purchase a high dollar Vita-Mix or a Blendtec to get started. A basic blender will do. However, you can also use a personal blender, such as a Magic Bullet as well. These are really great if you travel a lot and want something small to take with you so that you can continue enjoying green smoothies wherever you are.

2. You need to have some type of liquid in your blend to start the blending process and keep your smoothie from being too thick. This can be anything from filtered/distilled water to juice to tea. Whatever you would like that you think would blend well. I typically used my own Roxtract filtered water, but will sometimes use juice depending on the kind of smoothie I want to make. I typically put about a cup of liquid in the blender first. Of course you can adapt this for a smaller or larger blender.

3. Assuming you will be making a sweet smoothie, you will need to have fruit of some sort for your smoothie. This can range anywhere from fresh organic apples to frozen organic fruits. I try to always make mine as organic as possible. I recommend using organic bananas for what I refer to as the “basic” green smoothie. Bananas just have the amazing ability to cancel out the taste of the greens if you are getting started so I strongly suggest using them for your first green smoothie. You want to use about two or three bananas. I always make the “basic” smoothie first in my classes just so individuals can experience a smoothie that is easy and tastes delicious. I am often told by my workshops participants that they would have never even tried the smoothie on their own once they knew they would be drinking kale or spinach. They cant believe that it tastes so good!

4. The most important part of the green smoothie is the GREEN! This is a great time to explore various types of fresh organic leafy greens. There are a variety of lettuces as well as kale, spinach, Swiss chard, parsley as well as collard greens and other hearty greens. Sticking with the basic smoothie recipe, I would recommend kale for its nutritional content as well as its ability to marry so well with banana. These two are just perfect together when starting out with green smoothies. Wash and place four or five kale leaves in your blender. Make sure that you de-stem them for a regular or personal blender as they are too fibrous for them to blend smoothly.

Goji, maca, noni, bee pollen — health has replaced hair dye as the cool thing to “do”, but a quick walk through the market can leave the well-intentioned health enthusiast feeling nutritionally confused and downright inadequate.

Planet Raw, Santa Monica, Los Angeles, U.S.A.

Review by Shannon Dunn

A NATURAL STATE If you hadnt heard of raw food aficionado Juliano and happened to stumble upon his restaurant in LAs famed seaside suburb of Santa Monica, youd be forgiven for wondering where the grills and ovens are. Here, words such as bake, boil, steam and barbeque are left at the door of the nearest fast food joint. At Planet Raw, its all about food preparation that keeps natures (organic) food in its natural state, with life-giving enzymes kept fully in tact to give you a boost that, quite simply, no other form of food preparation could. Yet, its important to know that carrots and beans on a plate its not. Food here is prepared with loving care, with many ingredients spending long, lazy hours in food dehydrators before being whipped up into gourmet works of art at the instruction of the “guru” himself, Juliano.

GOOD TIMES While optimal health through good eating is obviously important at Planet Raw, this is one must-visit restaurant that also knows how to have a good time. From organic espressos to the wine and elixir bar, a night (or day) out with Juliano is guaranteed to put a spring in your step.

MENU FAVORITES Whatever your pre-conceived ideas are about raw food, be prepared to leave them at the door. The Planet Raw menu is packed with incredible flavors in a menu that literally has a dish for every taste-from the “bacon” western double burger, with its side of more-ish zucchini fries to the green curry pasta (made from zucchini) dripping with a Thai nut curry kream and topped off with coco-noodles. Dessert (which Juliano suggests you eat at the beginning of your meal for your health’s sake) is also an experience to behold. The Green Dove suggests the chocolate parfait or the “best ever cheeze cake”.

THE LITTLE EXTRAS Planet Raw is more than just a restaurant with great food and friendly service. Here, you can sign up for Julianos raw food classes, his seven-day detox program and stock up on all sorts of healthy goodies from Kombucha (a cold Chinese tea packed with probiotics and natural vitamins) to the God of all food processors, the Vita-Mix, should you want to give raw food preparation at try at home. While you’re there, be sure to grab a copy of Julianos “un”cook book, simply titled RAW.

TIP For those who are serious about raw food, inquire about Julianos certified raw chef program, which is said to be the worlds best.

609 Broadway, Santa Monica, CA 90405, U.S.A
Phone (310) 576-3180
www.planetraw.net

Eating raw, live foods enliven cells and contribute to a better functioning body. As more people awaken to the incredible benefits of this natural way of eating, the global ecology also begins to flourish. But besides grabbing an apple, how can eating raw become convenient to keep up with a busy lifestyle?

While mastering dishes such as sun-baked pizzas, mock salmon sushi or gourmet tacos (such as the one pictured above, from Gourmet Vegan Chef) can undoubtedly take a little time, there are high quality options for raw foodies on the run.

Registered Nurse and Natural Foods Chef Alice Benedetto turned her passion into an organic raw-food product that gets The Green Dove seal of approval (we’re addicted, actually). Raw Revolution bars, available at various US retailers and on Amazon.com, are gluten free, vegan and free of wheat, corn, soy, trans-fat, cholesterol and refined sugar.

“When I made raw snacks for my son as an alternative to high sugar processed snacks, friends also loved the taste and suggested selling them. That seemed impossible. As a single mother of an active two year-old, working full time, how would I start a business?” Alice says on her website www.rawindulgence.com.

“Well, I found time to develop the Brownie, tested them out and got great response. Even the average person, not just a health food nut, loved the taste.”

Raspberry & Chocolate and Spirulina & Cashew are a must try, as much for the superb taste as for the health-boosting enzymes that are very much left in tact in this generous-sized bar.

Other Green Dove favorites?

Pure Bar – made with cold-processed fruits and nuts, these organic, vegan and kosher-certified bars were also created by a busy mother after her daughter decided to become a vegetarian at six. Available in the US at selected retailers and also from Amazon.com

LÄRABAR – is simply fruit and nuts. Each bar has no more than seven ingredients. There’s no added sugar, is gluten-free, dairy-free, soy-free, vegan and kosher. Available throughout the US, and internationally at
natural, conventional and specialty grocers.

Righteously Raw Maca Bar – Vegans everywhere, rejoice. This decadent, raw, organic food bar has no sugar, no dairy, and isn’t pasteurized or homogenized. With ingredients such as cacao butter, cacao powder, khadrawi dates, lucuma, coconut oil, agave nectar, vanilla bean and Himalayan pink alt, it’s little wonder The Health Ranger named it his favorite too.

A new film that follows six diabetics, shows beating the disease starts with what you put in your mouth.

Simply Raw: Reversing Diabetes in 30 Days follows the remarkable journeys of six diabetics (Type 1 and 2) for 30 days as they take a raw food challenge to reverse their disease naturally without prescription drugs by eating only organic, vegan, uncooked, raw foods-despite the American Medical Associations claim that “Diabetes is a chronic disease that has no cure.”

Their physiological and emotional transformations are powerful to watch, as each changes their diet and goes off insulin, within a matter of days. The documentary was set at The Tree of Life Rejuvenation Center in Arizona founded by Gabriel Cousens, M.D

“One of the most potent, pandemic diseases is Type 2 diabetes affecting 246 million people worldwide. We need to wake up to the possibility that simply changing our diet can significantly reverse and even cure this disease. The results of the participants in this documentary offer evidence of that,” says Dr. Cousens.

The Simply Raw film has inspired a movement www.rdnmovement.com to bring together people to reverse diabetes naturally through the spreading of educational resources on nutrition such as the Simply Raw film and “The Ultimate Encyclopedia of the Raw Food Lifestyle”.

Buy the DVD at www.simplyrawmovie.com or at www.amazon.com. See the trailer below:

Getting Ready for Raw

Preparing delicious raw food at home is easy once you have the tools. The first thing to check off your list? the Excalibur dehydrator, a raw food industry favorite.

The more energy you put into food preparation, the more energy you receive when you eat it. Foods in their natural state (raw) are packed with energy and enzymes, drawn from healthy soil and the sun. Cooking and mass producing foods kills any life-enhancing properties that are essential to optimal human function. Put simply, eating dead foods creates death; while eating live foods creates life.

Preparing life enhancing raw food is made easy (and fun) with an Excalibur dehydrator (pictured below)-a health industry favorite thanks to its ease of use, high quality and 26-hour timer. The Dove loves the nine-tray model, so the raw snacks never run out. For further information about Excalibur see excaliburdehydrator.com

The Green Dove is a huge fan of The Raw Chef. Head to the site for delicious, healthy recipes, such as the buckwheat bread (below).

“After discovering raw food and the benefits it can have on my health and the way I look and feel, my immediate desire was to bring it to as many people as possible,” The Raw Chef says. “I also have a desire to provide food and recipes that really showcase raw food and all the amazing textures and flavours that can be created. It really is the ultimate way of eating dairy free, gluten free, no refined sugars or salts and list goes on…”

Buckwheat Bread

Ingredients
o 1/2c olive oil
o 1 1/2c sun dried tomatoes
o 3c sprouted buckwheat (2 1/2c when dry & unsprouted)
o 1 1/2c flax meal*
o 3 1/2c peeled courgette
o roughly chopped
o 2c apple
o cored and roughly chopped
o 3T lemon juice
o 2 avocados
o 1 large onion
o 1/2c minced parsley

*Flax meal is simply flax seed (also known as linseed) ground in a high-speed blender or coffee grinder.

- Process the olive oil, sun dried toms, sprouted buckwheat, courgette, apple, lemon juice, avocados, onion and herbs until thoroughly mixed.

- Transfer to a large bowl and mix with the flax meal by hand. The reason you do this separately (not in the processor) is that you are likely to have too much mixture for the size if the processor at this point, and when you add the flax meal it will become quite heavy and sticky and overwork your machine.

- When mixed, process the whole batter in the machine again, but in small batches to achieve a light fluffy texture.

- Divide the mixture in half and place on Paraflexx sheets on dehydrator trays.

- Use a spatula to spread the mixture evenly to all 4 sides and corners of the Paraflexx sheet. If mixture is too sticky you can wet the spatula to make things easier. With a knife score the whole thing into 9 squares.

- Dehydrate for 2 hours and then remove the Paraflexx sheets by placing another dehydrator tray and mesh on top and invert so that your original sheet of bread is upside down. That will allow you to peel the Paralexx sheet off and continue to dehydrate the underside of the bread.

- Dehydrate for approx 8 hours more (do this overnight so youre not tempted to eat it before its ready) or until bread feels light in your hand. If the pieces dont fully come apart where you scored, use a knife to cut them.