1 Cup Soaked Almonds (Walnuts Would Also Work Well)

Raw Chili Recipe

Penni's Rawkin' Raw Chili

1 cup soaked almonds (walnuts would also work well)

1 cup carrots

1 med portabello mushroom (or 6 shiitake)

1/2 cup finely minced red bell pepper

1/3 cup finely minced red onion

1-2 finely minced jalapeno, without the seeds

1 cup sundried tomatoes, soaked (reserve 1 cup soak water)

1 cup cherry or grape tomatoes

1/3 cup soaked golden raisins

2 T fresh leeks (yellow or white onion would work)

3 T chili powder

2 cloves garlic

1 T olive oil

2 t Alder Smoked Sea Salt (Celtic is also fine)

2 t apple cider vinegar

2 t dried oregano

1 tsp. cumin

Optional toppings:

black olives

fresh cilantro

red onion

avocado

Put nuts and carrots into a food processor and run until well blended. This will be your "meat base," so don't over process. Once ground, place into a large bowl and set aside.

Either on a cutting board or in your food processor, chop the mushroom, red bell pepper, red onion, and jalapeno. Add this to the bowl.

In a high powered blender, such as a Vita Mix, add all of the remaining ingredients and blend until you have everything well combined and liquefied. Stir this mixture into the bowl with the existing ingredients to complete the chili.

I recommend placing this into a dehydrator set at 145 degrees for about one hour. Stirring the chili every 15 minutes will help to warm it evenly. Although your dehydrator will feel hot, the temperature of the food will not exceed 110 degrees in this amount of time.

Serve the chili warm and top with the fresh ingredients of your choice. Enjoy!

(Note: Last night's recipe also included 1/2 cup minced celery, but my dad and I agreed that it made it too crunchy. Although my dad was really impressed with the flavor, he says chili shouldn't be crunchy, so I've omitted the celery from my original recipe for that reason.)