Chewy gRAWnola

Here's a really healthy and tasty snack that everyone thinks is good! It is a variation of "Chewy Bolder Boulder Granola" taken from Kristen Suzanne's Easy Raw Vegan Dehydrating, which has been extremely helpful to me in exploring raw foods.

1. I used 2 1/2 cups of nuts and seeds - almonds, pecans, pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds, and sunflower seeds - but you can use whatever combination of nuts and seeds you have on hand.

Soak these seeds & nuts overnight in 4 or 5 cups of water for about 8 hours or overnight. Drain them, saving the water, and rinse.

2. In your blender, put about 20-25 medjool dates. Make sure you take the pits out of them! (I was able to find Medjool dates at Sam's Club. They are really soft and moist.) Add about a cup of the soak water, a pinch of Himalayan Crystal Salt, 1 Tbs. of Cinnamon, 1/4 tsp Nutmeg, or other spices you think might be good. Blend this into a paste.

3. Put the seeds/nuts and 1/2 cup each of the following in a large bowl: Coconut (shredded & unsweetened), dried Blueberries, Craisens, Golden Raisens, dried Mango chunks, or any other dried fruits. I also added 1/2 cup Hemp Seeds and 3 Tbs. of raw Cacao Nibs. Add the date paste and mix it all together.

4. Spread this batter about 1/4" thick onto a non stick sheet on your dehydrator tray. Dehydrate at 104 deg. for 8-10 hours. At this point you can flip it onto another tray, peeling off the non stick sheet. Continue to dehydrate for 16-24 hours, or until they are dry.

These can be cut into bars before they're put in the dehydrator or you can just break them into "bites" when they're dried. These have been the favorite raw snack we've made so far....