Kozmic Kale Chips

Kale Chip Recipe by Sara Kozminske

Kozmic Kale Chips (spicy)

6 bunches of kale
1/2 Cup lemon juice                                                                              
1/2 Cup olive oil
1/3 Cup tamari (wheat/gluten-free)
1 1/2 T chili powder
2 T cumin
1 1/2 t oregano
1 T raw agave
1/2 Cup nutritional yeast
1 small clove minced or crushed garlic
1/4 t cayenne
1/4 t. fresh ground black pepper
Wash, dry, and de-stem kale. Set aside. Stir all ingredients except kale into a large bowl. Mix well. Tear kale into the mixture, massaging in the dressing by hand. Spread onto dehydrator sheets evenly and dry 6-10 hours. If you don’t have a dehydrator, use your oven at it’s lowest setting. Bake for 30 minutes, flip the chips, and bake for another 30 minutes, leaving the oven door open a crack. 
There are many variations, depending on how simple you like it, and what flavor you’re looking for. For example, add sea salt, pepper, olive oil & apple cider vinegar to the kale for salt and vinegar chips. You can  do tomato, cashew, lemon or lime, salt, pepper, garlic and nutritional yeast for cheesy kale chips.  You can substitute tahini (sesame seeds) or olive oil for cashews as well.  If you do use raw cashews, soaking them for an hour or two will up the level of cheesyness.  You will need a blender, grinder, or food processor for the cashews. You can also add 1-2 more tablespoons of nutritional yeast for some extra cheesy goodness instead of, or along with the cashews.  Add some curry and fresh ginger for a little heat, especially in the winter months. Enjoy!

Raw Living Foods 101

Raw or living food is simple nutrition which still contains it's vital life force, offering you more living potential. Once food is heated to a temperature higher than 110 degrees, it's enzymes start to diminish, and so does 50-80% of the nutritional value. In doing so, cooked food uses up the body's energy to process and use what little may be left. Eventually the body becomes depleted of it's enzyme stores and the aging process speeds up.

This process can be reversed by moving toward an 75-100% Raw Food Diet. Living food is intact with all the enzymes available to make digestion a much simpler task. Raw fruits and vegetables also have a much higher water content than their cooked counterparts, meaning not only do they nourish the body, they also hydrate it.

Raw food is a general term used to describe any fruit, vegetable, nut, grain, seed, seaweed or superfood that has not been cooked or heated higher than 110 degrees (generally speaking). To take it a step further, many raw food nutritionists promote the soaking and sprouting of organic nuts, beans, grains and seeds. This deems them much more nutritious and highly bio-available to the body.  Here's an example: a raw almond is a highly concentrated food that's potentially not so easy to digest.  Once soaked in water and the sprouting process has begun, the water content increases as well as the nutritional value (50% increase in protein bioavailability, 100% increase in minerals and antioxidants, and 200-300% increase in vitamins).  You can think of it this way; a toasted almond placed in the ground and covered with soil will just rot.  Now take a raw almond; soak it in water overnight and plant.  That almond now has so much nutrition and life energy that it will grow to become a beautiful tree filled with almonds.      

The living foods diet can be as simple or complex as each individual prefers. Some raw foodists eat simply whole foods; fruits and vegetables, including plenty of greens as a staple in their diet. Even distance runners and health nutritionists! The fruits provide enough calories (for energy boosts) while the greens contain the full spectrum of minerals and all the essential amino acids that build protein. Superfoods cater to those of us who are constantly on the go, need to jump start their day, or seek to achieve the best results ever!