Here is my obligatory raw chocolate post, because Easter. Cacao butter works better than just using coconut oil for these recipes because it has a higher melting point and the texture is more like regular chocolate. I usually melt mine by chopping or shaving it into a bowl I place over saucepan of water on very, very low heat and stirring until it’s liquid.
There were plans in my head to make a raw version of Top Deck for this post, but then I found some old IKEA ice cube trays in the shape of bottles that seemed kind of perfect for little white chocolate milk bottles. Cute, yes? So the chocolates remained separate and more of each kind of chocolate was made than originally intended, which is just fine by me.
RAW, VEGAN WHITE CHOCOLATE
1 CUP MELTED CACAO BUTTER 1/2 CUP MACADAMIA NUTS (or CASHEW NUTS) 1 DESSERTSPOON COCONUT OIL 2 TEASPOONS VANILLA EXTRACT 1/2 CUP LIGHT AGAVE NECTAR
PINCH OF SEA SALT FLAKES
Blend everything in a high speed blender or food processor until very smooth. Pour into chocolate molds and store in the freezer to keep their setting.
RAW, VEGAN DARK CHOCOLATE
1/2 CUP MELTED CACAO BUTTER 1/2 CUP COCONUT OIL 2/3 CUP RAW CACAO POWDER (or DUTCH PROCESS COCOA) 4 TABLESPOONS MAPLE SYRUP
PINCH OF SEA SALT FLAKES
Blend everything in a high speed blender or food processor until very smooth. Pour into chocolate molds and store in the freezer to keep their setting.
I’ve never tried broccoli in a smoothie before. It’s never occurred to me to put it into my drinks as I thought the texture might be a little odd. So when my friend Andrea from Zen Pilates sent me this recipe for a guest post, I was intrigued how it would both look and taste. I called this post The Green Smoothie in Disguise as the berries make it a pretty purple and the blended raw broccoli is cleverly hidden within their seedy texture.
Andrea is not only an awesome Pilates and Piloxing instructor at her Mt Lawley studio, but also a qualified Dietitian and one of the kindest people you’ll ever meet. She walks her talk more than anyone I know. I mean, look!
(photo by the amazing Alana Blowfield)
Hope you enjoy Andrea’s green smoothie recipe.
I was recently eating salad and my friend commented that I didn’t have any protein in my snack! Did you know Green Vegetables are rich in PROTEIN and jam packed high in micro-nutrients? My favourite Green Smoothie this summer is simple: a nutritious post-cardio exercise snack that will boost your protein intake and help to refuel glycogen levels in your muscles and liver. Or, simply enjoy as a way to boost the greens and micronutrient level in your diet.
SIMPLE GREEN SMOOTHIE
1 FROZEN BANANA 1/2 CUP FROZEN BERRIES 1/2 CUP SPINACH, (or kale or any green leafy vegetable) 1 CUP BROCCOLI FLORETS, CHOPPED 1 CUP COCONUT WATER
A FEW ICE CUBES
Mix in a blender and off you go!
Remember to NOURISH yourself every day. You can never eat too many greens!
Have a fabulous weekend everyone. Do something you enjoy!
x Andrea – Zen Pilates Perth
Mint Choc-Chip is my favourite ice cream flavour, ever, and I’ve been experimenting lately to make a worthy raw version that meets my high expectations (in case you’re wondering: the mint should sing as a clear flavour but not be toothpaste-like; the chocolate should be dark and bitter). The addition of kale or spinach juice to this ice cream makes me feel oh-so-vindicated of my ice cream obsession and as the ice cream is sandwiched between two delicious, raw, vegan brownie slices, this dessert is a super pretty one to serve to skeptics of healthy food.
The trick to getting these to look neat is to freeze everything in rectangular slabs and to make a template to cut them out with before assembling. It’s worth this extra fiddling about; freezing them together in layers won’t come out as good, (trust me).
RAW CHOCOLATE BROWNIE
1 CUP DRIED DATES, SEEDS REMOVED + CHOPPED 1/2 CUP ALMONDS 1/2 CUP PECANS 3/4 CUP RAW CACAO (or DUTCH PROCESSED COCOA, not raw)
1/4 CUP WATER (IF NEEDED)
Whizz all the ingredients in your food processor until combined. You may need to add a little water to make the mixture turn around but make sure it’s not too wet. Place in the refrigerator for 30 minutes to firm up a little. Then divide the mixture into two and roll each out separately with a rolling pin between two pieces of greaseproof paper to about 1cm (1/3 inch) thick. Leave them in between the papers and place on a flat tray in the freezer for a few hours to set.
RAW MINT CHOC-CHIP ICE CREAM
5 RIPE BANANAS, PEELED AND CHOPPED 2 DROPS EDIBLE SPEARMINT (OR MINT) ESSENTIAL OIL 1/3 CUP LIGHT AGAVE NECTAR 1/3 CUP FRESH SPINACH AND/OR KALE JUICE
1/3 CUP RAW CACAO NIBS
Whizz all the ingredients except the cacao nibs in your blender or food processor until really smooth. Place in a container into the freezer for an hour until the ice cream begins to thicken and set. Remove it before it hardens completely and stir through the cacao nibs (this way they won’t sink to the bottom as the ice cream is partially set). Now pour the ice cream mixture into a plastic-wrap lined rectangular tray or dish and freeze for at least 4 hours.
ASSEMBLY
Decide what shape you’d like to make your ice cream sandwiches (I did think about a hexagon, but then I couldn’t be bothered. There was ice cream: I wanted to eat it). Use a piece of paper as a template to cut your brownie slices out with a sharp knife and group into twos. Use the same process for cutting the ice cream, cutting one ice cream slab for every two brownie slices. Sandwich the ice cream between two brownies and you’re done! Store any extras in the freezer wrapped in greaseproof paper inside an airtight container.
You need a dehydrator for this recipe, which is not my usual modus operandi, but I promise it’s worth it. These cookies taste incredible – they remind me of a more chocolate-y Kingston biscuit. Because these are raw, they’re loaded with healthy nuts, coconut oil, dates, flax and cacao instead of not-so-healthy sugar, cream, butter and flour. Good, right?
CHOCOLATE COOKIES
1 CUP ALMONDS, SOAKED FOR A FEW HOURS 1/2 CUP CASHEWS, SOAKED FOR A FEW HOURS 1/4 CUP FLAX SEEDS, GROUND TO A POWDER IN A COFFEE GRINDER 3/4 CUP DATES 1 TABLESPOON AGAVE NECTAR PINCH OF SEA SALT
1/2 CUP CACAO POWDER
Drain the almonds and cashews and whizz them in a food processor with the ground flax seeds until they break down and combine. Add the dates, agave nectar, salt and cacao powder and process until a dough forms – you might need to add a tiny bit of water to make this happen. Roll the dough between two sheets of baking paper until an even 1cm thick. Cut out cookie shapes and place on dehydrator trays. Dehydrate overnight or 8 – 9 hours until dry. They won’t be rock hard, but that’s a good thing.
CHOCOLATE CREME FILLING
1/3 CUP COCONUT OIL 1/2 CUP CACAO POWDER 1/3 CUP AGAVE NECTAR
PINCH OF SEA SALT
Whizz all ingredients in a food processor until smooth. Place in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours to firm up before sandwiching in between two cookies. You can keep the sandwiched cookies in the fridge for about three days.
This is the juice I make again and again and again. Most mornings, in fact. I grab the ingredients on autopilot out of the fridge, stick them through Oscar The Juicer, pour it into a jar and head off to work.
Good stuff in this juice:
Apples hit you up with potassium, phosphorus, calcium, manganese, magnesium, iron and zinc (and makes all the green stuff in the juice more palatable).
Celery is alkalizing and provides vitamins A and K. It also contains a heap of sodium which is what makes it taste kind of salty. The good news is that natural plant sodium is soluble and organic and is essential for your body. Organic, or live salt lets your body use the other nutrients you’re consuming. It works like this: all the cells in our body are constantly bathed in a salt solution. If this gets out of balance, we get dehydrated. So celery juice is a winner in summer for staying hydrated. Nature’s sports drink, minus the bright blue colouring.
Lemon juice is full of vitamin C and boosts your immunity.
Kale looks after your blood and bones – it delivers masses of vitamins K, A and C.
Mint is sweet and cooling and provides a little vitamin A and manganese.
DAILY GREEN JUICE
2 GREEN APPLES 1/2 LEMON, PEELED 2 LEAVES KALE, WITH STALKS 2 STALKS CELERY, WITH LEAVES
2-3 SPRINGS OF FRESH MINT
Run all ingredients through a juicer, stir or shake before drinking. It’s good on ice, too.
Make it into something else: If you blend this juice with 1/2 an avocado, it makes a yummy raw soup for a light summer meal or snack.
My best friend told me last week that I absolutely must try this recipe for Raw Caramel Slice, sooner rather than later. A friend of hers from work brought it in to share and my dessert aficionado friend reported it as spectacular. I duly bought the ingredients and had them sitting in the pantry until yesterday when I finally had time to give it a try. As usual, she was right. These are good.
I made a few adjustments by adding extra salt and I made my chocolate topping with cacao butter rather than coconut oil, but otherwise this amazing recipe is originally by Rachel of In Spaces Between – Raw Choc Caramel Bites.
1 CUP MACADAMIA NUTS 1 CUP ALMONDS
1 CUP MEDJOOL DATES
CARAMEL FILLING
1 CUP MEDJOOL DATES 2 TABLESPOONS COCONUT OIL 1 TEASPOON VANILLA EXTRACT 1/3 CUP WATER
2 PINCHES FLAKED SEA SALT
CHOCOLATE TOPPING
1/2 CUP CACAO OR DUTCH PROCESS COCOA 2 TABLESPOONS DARK AGAVE NECTAR 3/4 CUP GENTLY MELTED CACAO BUTTER
SMALL PINCH OF FLAKED SEA SALT
Base Whizz all the base ingredients in a food processor until combined. You want to keep a little bit of the nutty texture in there. Press into a square or rectangular tin and set aside.
Caramel Blend all ingredients in the food processor until smooth, adding water slowly as you go. The coconut oil when refrigerated will thicken the mixture. Spread this on top of the base and place it in the freezer for 15 minutes.
Chocolate Topping Melt the Cacao Butter in a double saucepan on a very, very low heat and stir until liquid. Blend with the cocoa, agave and salt until very smooth. Pour and spread it over the caramel layer, freeze or refrigerate for an hour and you’re done!
Tastes best cut into small, bite-sized pieces.
This super yummy smoothie recipe is a guest post from my beautiful friend Gráinne who runs Karratha Yoga. If you’re up in the West Australian Pilbara region, be sure to check out her classes. Thanks for sharing your recipe, Gráinne! If you want to keep this smoothie raw, replace the soy milk with coconut water or almond milk.
When I was in my 20s I spent eighteen months living in one of the most famous green tea growing areas of Japan, Shizuoka. A rural area, home to Mount Fuji and only an hour or two from Tokyo, the region is proud of its traditional tea heritage and I came to appreciate the mellow lift and health benefits of a good cup of Japanese green tea.
So, unsurprisingly one of my favourite treats is the classic green tea ice cream. This smoothie re-creates that yummy, creamy flavour without the refined sugar or dairy. Add more agave if you have a sweet tooth, or perhaps omit it altogether if you’re having this as a breakfast smoothie.
xx Gráinne – www.karrathayoga.com
Matcha Green Tea Smoothie
1 FROZEN BANANA (nice and sweet and ripe before peeling, cutting in half and popping in the freezer) 1 HUGE HANDFUL OF BABY SPINACH 1 CUP SOY MILK 1/2 CUP WATER 2 TEASPOONS GREEN TEA POWDER (make sure it is powdered “matcha” style green tea – not fine tea leaves)
1 TABLESPOON AGAVE SYRUP
Blitz and enjoy!
Gráinne recommends this brand of matcha (pronounced ma-cha): Absolute Green Organic Tea Powder