vegan, gluten-free, easy, paleo, fruit-sweetened, no-bake, snacks, sweet · August 31, 2016

Grain-Free Rawnola (2 ways!)

The nut-free, grain-free topping you will want to sprinkle on everything. This Grain-Free Rawnola recipe is chewy and sweet, with 2 options: easy or easier!

Hi friends, it feels wonderful to be back! Nothing like a week in Who Knows Where, New York to make me appreciate the little normal-life things again.

Things like a freshly blended bowl of banana ice cream, my dog snoring and sleep-twitching in the middle of the night, and the pesky playfulness of late afternoon sun when I am trying so hard to squeeze in a photoshoot before dark. Are the days getting shorter or is it just my fear of fall playing mind games on me? Summer don’t leave us!!

If you saw my Instagram post, then you know that I didn’t just internet-disappear for no reason, but that I spent all of last week at The Woodstock Fruit Festival. And wow what an amazing time!

The Woodstock Fruit Festival

Every day left me with that wonderfully content feeling of exhaustion. You know the walked up so many hills, talked to so many people, learned so many things kind of exhausted. That sweet in-nature, off-line feeling.

The Food

The fruit selection was fantastic, of course. I tried…
–Jackfruit. Ehhh not for me…it smells better than it tastes. And those sticky fingers! I felt like I was in preschool art class again with a glue stick. (Okay let’s be real, I still got glue-y fingers in like the 7th grade)
–Mamey sapote. Wow, and I thought mangoes were sweet. This stuff is amazing! It literally tastes like someone injected extra sugar into it or something.
–Pink pitaya (not frozen) -> Tastes just like the white ones to me, and I like it. What I liked even more was watching small children eat this and turn themselves pink…adorable!
–Strawberry papayas. I came to the festival a papaya hater, but they grew on me throughout the week. And hello good digestion!
–Durian. Nope, still not a fan. It looks all fluffy and delicious, but it tastes too much like it smells. Too sulfur-y (<- very technical term).
–Longans. Like eyeballs but in a good way. A sweet way.
–Mangosteen. A lot of skin for a little bit of fruit, but very sweet and delicious. Although one of my cabin mates reeeeeeally loved them so I gave her most of mine to save more stomach space for mangoes!

I think those were all the weird fruits I tried. There were of course the usuals like apples, tangerines, mangoes, grapes, and figs too. I must say, not having to shop or chop or prep anything was pretty great too.

Besides mangoes, one of my favorite parts was the young thai coconuts. Freshly coco-jacked open, sweet water sloshing, just waiting for a straw to sip it all up! And you better believe I dug in for that fresh coconut meat too.

One of my other favorite parts was the banana date cinnamon rolls. Oh man those things were the best! I’m pretty sure I ate 5 the last day there. I will be making those at home as soon as I learn how to slice a banana lengthwise without it breaking. Perhaps I’ll put my own spin on them and make an oven version or something…we’ll see!

And there were plenty of delicious dressings and savory raw dishes too like chili, tacos with thinly sliced jicama for a shell, zoodles galore, hemp seed ranch dressing, cauliflower tabouleh, and more!

The Non Food Part

I went to a few really lovely outdoor yoga classes, took a hip hop dance class, and hiked a short but steep trail every day to a beautiful view. I went to lots of talks on all sorts of topics–authenticity, natural/diy beauty products, raw food (duh), moving to Hawaii, running an online business, veganism in social situations, and many more.

And best of all I met some truly amazing people. My entire cabin was filled with inspiring ladies and we had wonderful chats about anything and everything.

Grain-Free Rawnola Recipe

So inspired by all the raw food from last week, I have a raw recipe to share today. It’s an actually raw version of rawnola. My previous rawnola recipes all use oats, which are delicious but not technically raw. However, this grain-free rawnola recipe is oat-free!

There are 2 versions. The first is made with hemp seeds and coconut as the dry ingredients (pictured on the light pink nicecream). The second uses dried mulberries, so it is 100% fruity (pictured on the bright pink nicecream).

A food processor works best for this grain-free rawnola recipe to achieve optimal clumpiness. Depending on the moisture content of your dates and/or mulberries, it might turn out a little stickier than desired. If that is the case, refrigerate it overnight uncovered in a shallow container and then it should be perfect!

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