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Kristen Helmstetter

(Brisa Starr)

chia seeds

Winner of My 18th Awesome Giveaway – CHIA SEEDS!

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Congratulations Kaysie! Your name was chosen as the winner of my 18th Awesome Giveaway. The prize: A 2-pound bag of chia seeds from Chia Seeds Direct. Simply email me with your address so I can get the chia seeds sent to you.


Here is what Kaysie had to say when asked, “If you win these chia seeds, what is the first thing you want to make with them?”

“I have often put chia seeds in my green smoothies but if I win I think I will make chia pudding. I have not made it before and have been seeing it a lot recently! Thanks!”

My next Awesome Giveaway is right around the corner on February 10, so check back for details!

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Kristen’s Raw 18th Awesome Giveaway – FREE CHIA SEEDS!

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It’s time for another awesome giveaway! The prize this time? CHIA SEEDS! WHOOHOO! I will be drawing the name of 1 winner, who will receive a 2-pound bag of chia seeds (courtesy of Chia Seeds Direct).

Chia seeds rock the house. Most of you already know I’m a big fan of these cute lil guys. Read my post about chia here, the “Dieter’s Dream Food.” Chia seeds are being praised for many things including their fantastic nutrient profile, which proudly boasts iron, boron, essential fatty acids, fiber, and more. Add to that the claims that they may improve heart health, reduce blood pressure, stabilize blood sugar, help people lose weight from giving them extra stamina, energy, and curbing hunger, and you might become a fan of these little guys, too. They’re superstars in my house and we consume them on a regular basis.


There are many wonderful ways to enjoy them, for example:

  • Plain, by the spoonful (be sure to carry dental floss… I’m speaking from experience – lol)
  • Roll a peeled banana in them
  • Add them to smoothies and Raw vegan nut/seed milks
  • Make chia crackers (like here) or chia bread (like here, this recipe doesn’t call for chia seeds specifically, but you can substitute the “twister” blend for ground chia)
  • Make raw jelly
  • And… drumroll please…. chia pudding (like Holiday Chia Pudding! Have you made this yet?) It’s the best!
Want the chance to win? It’s simple to participate! All you have to do is answer the following question in this post’s comment section. The contest will end Thursday night, February 4th @ 11:59pm. I’ll enter everyone’s name who answered the question into a drawing and announce the winner on my blog Friday, February 5th. *Please note: this month’s contest is only open to people living in the United States and Canada.

Question: If you win these chia seeds, what is the first thing you want to make with them?

Want another chance to win? Tweet a link to this blog post and come back to let me know in a separate comment. And… Want another chance to win? Facebook a link to this blog post and come back to let me know in a separate comment.

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Raw Vegan Recipe: Soft n’ Savory Hemp Onion Bread

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Yay! It’s recipe time! In today’s video, I’m showing you how to make an EASY yummy bread recipe, Soft n’ Savory Hemp Onion Bread. If you’re a fan of savory onions, then you’ll be one happy camper with a slice of this! Soft n’ Savory Hemp Onion Bread is delicious, pretty, and filled with nutrition… essential fatty acids, protein, antioxidants, vitamins, minerals, and fiber. Essential fatty acids are necessary fats that we basically cannot synthesize on our own, so we have to get them from our diet. Enter: hemp and chia! Not only that, but hemp foods are an excellent source of complete vegetarian protein. Personally, I consider hemp foods as superfoods because they are loaded with important nutrients and they make me feel great. As a pregnant gal, I’ve been upping my intake of them – great for my growing baby. So… back to the bread… It’s perfect for snacking on by itself, dipping in Raw hummus, and spreading with Raw hemp seed butter or guacamole. Depending on the size you cut, you can also use it as a nutrient rich bread for hearty Raw sandwiches. As I’m typing this post, it’s dehydrating in the kitchen and it smells soooooooo awesome!


In this video, I feature a few different kitchen tools, ingredients, and appliances. You can get your hot little hands on them buy purchasing from these links…


Soft n’ Savory Hemp Onion Bread
Recipe by Kristen Suzanne of KristensRaw.com
Yield approximately 20 – 32 pieces (depending on size you cut)

3/4 cup hemp seeds (lightly ground)
3/4 cup chia seeds
3 pounds red onions, chopped
2 medium tomatoes, chopped
1 cup spinach, packed
1/3 cup raw agave nectar
1/3 cup tamari, wheat-free
1/4 cup hemp protein powder

Place the ground hemp seeds and whole chia seeds in a large bowl and set aside. Process the onions, tomatoes and spinach in a food processor, fitted with the “S” blade, into small pieces – don’t let it get too mushy though. One thing that might help is to do this processing in two halves (half each of the onions, tomatoes, spinach in one processing, then do it with the other half) so that you can keep it a little on the chunkier side. If you process it too long, it can get too wet (as you’ll see in the video, I should’ve done mine in two processing batches, but I shoved it all in one – lol).

Add the onion mixture and the remaining ingredients to the bowl of seeds and stir well to mix. Let the batter sit for up to 5 minutes. If you find that the batter is too “wet” then add more chia seeds to soak it up (1 – 2 tablespoons at a time and wait a few minutes).

Use approximately 4 cups per tray and spread the batter onto 2 dehydrator trays, each lined with a Paraflexx sheet. Dehydrate at 130 – 140 degrees for one hour. You can score the bread into the desired size at this time, or you can wait to cut it after it’s done dehydrating.

Lower the temperature to 105 degrees and dehydrate another 8 hours. Flip the bread over onto another dehydrator tray and peel off the Paraflexx sheet. Dehydrate another 6 – 10 hours (until you reach your desired dryness – I like mine a little moist). Cut into 16 squares per tray. These are best stored in the refrigerator.

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Winners of My 14th Awesome Giveaway – Free Chia Seeds

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Congratulations Courtney and Finding True Serenity!!! Your names were chosen as the winners of my 14th Awesome Giveaway. The prize: You will each receive a 3 pound bag of chia seeds, courtesy of Chia Seeds Direct – YAY!!!!!! Simply email me the address you want your prize mailed to.

Here is what Courtney and Finding True Serenity had to say when asked, “If you could donate 1 million dollars to charity, which would you choose AND why?”

Courtney wrote, “That’s tough because there are so many that are deserving. I would donate to Ashoka, a non-profit dedicated to assisting social entrepreneurs. I love the organization because they work from the bottom up – finding individuals and small groups that are making a difference in their own communities – instead of from the top down (which rarely works!). This strategy great because the people that they fund are connected to their communities, know exactly what is needed, and are better able to figure out the best approach.”

Finding True Serenity wrote, “Wonderful question! I honesty would have to name my #1 choice as WWF (World Wildlife Fund).
I think we need to protect our natural home, and all of it’s inhabitants while promoting efficient and sustainable approaches to preserve and reverse the degradation of our planet so all of our needs are met in harmony with nature! 

I would love to win a bag of chia seeds! They sound quite universal! Thank you for the wonderful opportunity!”

My next Awesome Giveaway is in October, so check back for details!

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Kristen’s Raw 14th Awesome Giveaway – FREE CHIA SEEDS!

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It’s time for another awesome giveaway (here was last month’s). The prize for September? CHIA SEEDS!!!!!! WHOOHOO!!!!! I will be drawing the names of 2 winners, and each winner will receive a 3 pound bag of chia seeds (courtesy of Chia Seeds Direct). Cool, huh?


Chia rocks the house. Most of you know I’m a big fan of these cute lil guys. Read my post about chia here, the “Dieter’s Dream Food.” There are so many wonderful ways to enjoy them:

  • Plain, by the spoonful (be sure to carry dental floss, speaking from experience here)
  • Roll a peeled banana in them
  • Add them to smoothies and Raw vegan nut/seed milks
  • Make chia crackers (like here) or chia bread (like here, this recipe doesn’t call for chia seeds specifically, but you can substitute the “twister” blend for ground chia)
  • Make raw jelly
  • And… drumroll please…. chia pudding (like Holiday Chia Pudding!!!) This stuff is the best!

Want the chance to win? It’s simple to participate! All you have to do is answer the following question (be sure to answer both parts) in this post’s comment section. The contest will end Wednesday night, September 9th @ 11:59pm. I’ll enter everyone’s name who answered the question into a drawing and announce the winner on my blog Thursday, September 10th. *Please note: this month’s contest is only open to people living in the United States and Canada.

Question: If you could donate one million dollars to charity, which would you choose AND WHY?

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A Week of Kristen

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For the past week, I’ve been living up the Raw lifestyle big time (like usual I guess, haha, but more intense. I took out a bunch of my recipe books and I’m having a blast in the kitchen. Details below…

Here is a picture of my refrigerator loaded to the gills after we went to Whole Foods Market and the farmers’ market (where I’m a part of an awesome certified organic CSA). Most of the goodies are from the farmers’ market, but a few things I had to score from WFM such as kale, mustard greens, blueberries, raspberries, celery, cilantro, and parsley.


Here is my light reading of the week… a couple of great magazines. VegNews and Purely Delicious. I’m also reading a book by Deepak Chopra, M.D. My goal is to spend time away from the computer for a few days because my right eye has been twitching for a week. It feels the most irritated when I’m working on my computer or using my iPhone, which I do ALL the time. Those two things must be the culprits because 1) I get PLENTY of sleep and 2) My body is full of any and all vitamins that if there was a deficiency it would cause that. Some could offer the suggestion that it’s stress, but my life is pretty calm for the most part in spite of my fertility adventures (will update you on that this week). And, again, once I start working on my iMac or look at the iPhone, my eye feels strained.


We’ve been having 1-2 large green smoothies every day (I took a break from juicing this week – I like to change it up from time to time). Green smoothies (green shakes, green monsters – whatever you want to call them) are a staple in my life. They’re super easy to make and HELLO! they’re loaded with nutrition, fiber, and goodness. I topped this one with home grown sprouts for fun (see my video on how to grow your own sprouts here).






Saturday night we had a birthday party to attend and I figured the restaurant probably wouldn’t have anything really healthy, so we filled up on this dish before we left the house. I made Raw zucchini/vegetable pasta medley with Lemon Basil Cashew Cream. It was refreshing and deliciously unique. (You’ll notice the “clump” of sauce in the center. I hadn’t stirred it into the dish when I took the picture. With raw pasta dishes it’s OK – even preferable – to have thick sauces because the water from the veggies helps to dilute it after it’s stirred together).


I had chia seeds in my breakfasts a couple of days last week. More specifically, Sunny Morning Chia Porridge (no oats in this porridge though!). The mixture consisted of chia seeds, shredded unsweetened coconut, orange juice, cashews, stevia, almond extract, agave nectar, and cinnamon. It was just lightly sweet, making it ideal for my breakfast. And, full of energy of course!


For dessert all week, I’ve been making different variations of raw banana ice cream. My husband LOVES this stuff. Seriously. Every time I give him a dish of it, he swears… yes, literally swear words – like “Sh*t this rocks!” (he says other things, but I’ll keep this post “PG” rated), because he loves the stuff and is amazed at the texture and flavors. I like to make it in my food processor because it helps make it fluffy by incorporating more air (as opposed to making it in a blender or Green Star).


Banana Ice Cream Crumble: I made a crumble of walnuts, raisins, shredded unsweetened coconut, and a pinch of Himalayan crystal salt. I put some crumble in the bottom of two bowls. Then, I pureed frozen bananas. I put the banana ice cream in the bowls and then topped them with more crumble. Yum! The various textures were awesome – smooth raw vegan ice cream, crunchy nuts, and chewy raisins. Today I froze 3 bunches of bananas for more Raw Banana Ice Cream.


I also made a batch of my delicious soup, Kristen Suzanne’s Harvest Soup (Holiday Style with pumpkin spice added) – it’s fabulous, easy, and FULL of nutrients. Today’s batch was a tiny bit different than my original recipe. I didn’t have dates on hand so I used maple syrup. I could have used raw agave nectar, but opted for the maple syrup to support the holiday flavor theme of the soup.



Later this week I’m going to make my lasagna and hummus recipes (these recipes are always huge hits with family and friends). I’m also going to make some dishes of uber simplicity such as chopped (or spiralized) zucchini/cucumber topped with a drizzle of olive oil (or diced avocado), Himalayan crystal salt, pepper, and a squeeze of citrus. And, some huge salads are in order.

Raw Vegan Rocks!

**Update (it’s 4:39am, 9/1/09)

Well, I ended up having quite the chocolate craving tonight with nothing in the house stashed away for a rainy day. But, I didn’t wear a frown for long. I grabbed my Chocolate Recipe book and turned to the Chocolate Crunch Hazelnut Macaroons (recipe here) and in less than 15 minutes I was a smiling girl. Chocolate covered fingers and all.



Shortly after that… I was craving GREEN JUICE! So, I busted out my GreenStar (my favorite way to juice these days) and made about 10 cups of juice (I gave my husband 2 cups, I drank a quart, then we went on a 2 mile walk at 3:30 am and I’m now home updating this post while drinking the remaining quart of green juice). What was in it? So many good things. I’m calling it Army Green Juice (because the color was truly army green and gorgeous!). The recipe: 2 red bell peppers, 1/2 lemon, 1 orange peeled, 1 large cucumber, 1 medium cucumber, 1/3 bunch Italian parsley, 2 large heads of Romaine lettuce (my first time juicing Romaine, Mr. Monarch and Ms. Stokes-Monarch inspired me), 8 medium carrots, and 4 leaves of mustard greens. YUM!!! I’m full of RAW VITALITY!!!

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