clean eating 101

So it occurred to me that some people are a little lost when it comes to nutrition.  I am always caught a bit off guard that things that I think are common sense are quite foreign to others.  

Of course, I don't think this is a negative, rather, it presents an opportunity to share ideas and knowledge.

And I don't mean that I am an expert, far from it to be honest, but there's nothing I love more, than sharing what I am passionate about, and that is healthy, delicious, nourishing, unaltered, clean food.

Ok, ok, so I'm not always such a clean eater, I do have a penchant for sorbets and such delicious treats but on a whole, I've found that my journey through food, has lead me to having less and less of the more 'naughty' foods.  

Maybe it's like with anything, once you develop a habit, it's hard to give it up.  Healthy eating is definitely one of these things for me. 

My advice to people is this: read everything.  Research what you are interested in and you will find answers.  Make sure you keep an open mind, and also, beware that there is a lot of crap and conflicting info out there.

If you want to get started on eating clean and eating well, here are five simple suggestions.

1.  Keep it simple.  This is my mantra.  The less you do with it, the better it will be for you.  Eating foods as close to their original form is without a doubt, the best way to get the maximum benefits.  For this reason, I eat mostly raw.

2.  Drink water.  Simple, yes, but easy to forget.  

3.  Eat when you're hungry.  I had to learn to do this.  Like I said, changing habits is hard and I've always been one for routine.  I had to unlearn and relearn new habits.  A challenge but so worth the time to get there.  At the end of the day, it came down to lifestyle change.

4.  Always eat a hell of a lot of greens.  They are so good for you, they provide so many vitamins and minerals and much needed fibre.  Amazing.

5.  Eat seasonal.  I know it's hard sometimes, but, eating what's in season is best for obvious reasons.  There's also the added bonus that seasonal fruits and veggies are also cheaper and at their best.  Of course if it's within your means, eat organic where possible.  I can't always do that so i make sure I wash my fruit and veggies really well.  

TIP:  Rinse your fruit and veggies, then fill your sink with water, add some apple cider vinegar, and let your produce soak in that for about 15-20 minutes.  Helps to remove all the pesticides and other nasties.

There you are, a few simple steps to get you started, now for the recipes!

A word of warning, the following recipes contain the use of zucchini, A LOT!  I just love them as they are really flavour neutral but are pretty, filling and have a wonderful texture.

zucchini pasta for days!!!

White asparagus, zucchini and mint salad

Serves 1

Ingredients

2 medium zuchhini
1/2 bunch white asparagus
1/4 cup fresh peas
1 cup baby rocket
1 cup of fresh mint leaves
1 orange peeled and segmented
1/2 lemon juiced
1 tsp himalayan pink salt
fresh cracked pepper
1/2 avocado to serve (optional)

Method

Wash all your veggies thoroughly, use a salad spinner for your rocket if you have one.
Slice zucchini using a potato peeler into thin ribbons and place in a large bowl, along with peas and rocket.
Cut half of the asparagus into bite sized pieces and with the other half, use the potato peeler to slice into ribbons.  Add to bowl.
Chop your mint leaves and mix in with your zucchini ribbons, rocket, peas and asparagus.
Add lemon juice, salt and pepper and mix thoroughly with your hands.

Place on your plate and arrange orange segments on top.
Serve with a side of avocado slices.

Japanese Seaweed & Enoki bowl

Serves 1

Ingredients

2 cups of baby spinach

1 zucchini peeled into ribbons/spiralized

1/2 bunch of enoki mushrooms

5 cherry tomatoes halved

80g japanese seaweed salad

1 TBS tamari

1/2 teaspoon sesame oil

1/4 nori sheet, cut into thin strips

pickled ginger (optional)

Method

Place all ingredients except ginger and nori, in a serving bowl and toss gently.

Arrange the pickled ginger around the sides and top with nori bits.

The following two recipes require the use of a spiralizer (handy little tool), see previous post.

However you can get away without one by using a potato peeler to cut into ribbons and then cut into thin strips with knife.

I first tried this pasta at a raw food workshop I did at Sadhana Kitchen.

I fell in love with it because of it's creamy texture and awesome flavour.....without the bloating that comes with eating pasta.  Better yet, it's so fast to prepare, I'm usually done making it in less than 20 minutes.  Perfecto :)

Zucchini Fettucine Alfredo

Serves 2

Ingredients

For Fettucine

2 medium zucchini

2 cups baby spinach

For Alfredo Sauce

1 cup raw activated cashews* 

1/2 clove of garlic

1/4 cup brown onion

3/4 cup water

1 tsp raw unpasteurized brown rice miso

1 tsp dried dill

2 TBSP cold pressed EVOO

2 TBS nutritional yeast

1 tsp Himalayan pink salt

Fresh cracked pepper to taste

Method

Pasta

User spiralizer to turn zucchini into fettucine.  Place in a large bowl with the washed and rinsed baby spinach.

Sauce

Place all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth.

Pour sauce over zucchini and spinach and use your hands to coat, serve.  

The most delicious thing EVER!!

* Activated cashews are just cashews that you soak.  i soak mine as required as I don't have a dehydrator and using the oven to dry them for 10 hours is just not that practical (or bearable) for me.

Carrot and Zucchini Spaghetti with a Coriander Pesto

Serves 1

Ingredients

For Pasta

1 medium carrot

1 medium zucchini

For Pesto

1 cup raw activated cashews

1 cup firmly packed coriander

1 clove of garlic

1/4 cup brown onion

3/4 cup water

1 tsp raw unpasteurized brown rice miso

2 TBSP cold pressed EVOO

2 TBS nutritional yeast

1 tsp Himalayan pink salt

Fresh cracked pepper to taste

Method

Spiralize zucchini and carrot and place in a large bowl.

Place sauce ingredients into blender and blend until smooth.

Pour sauce over pasta, coat well and serve with a little bit extra sauce on top.

Decorate with cherry tomatoes and sprigs of coriander if desired and serve with a side salad of greens.

Note:  Both of the above recipes will leave you with left over sauce.  I also use the sauce like mayo and pour it over veggies when I make raw wraps or as a dip for veggie sticks.

Citrus Berry salad with a Raspberry vinagrette

Serves 1

Ingredients

Salad

1 medium zucchini in ribbons

1/2 grapefruit, segmented

3/4 cup strawberry halves

1 cup of baby spinach leaves

Dressing 

1/2 cup raspberries (fresh or frozen)

1 tsp wholegrain mustard

3 TBS apple cider vinegar

3 TBS cold pressed EVOO

1 tsp Himalayan pink salt

Fresh cracked pepper to taste

Method

Place all salad ingredients in a large bowl

Add all your dressing ingredients into your blender and blend until creamy and smooth.

Pour dressing over your salad and serve.

Note: Makes about 3/4 cup of dressing and last for up to 5 days in the fridge in a glass container with a tight fitting lid.

so fresh and so clean

Ok, zucchini obsession over, here's a salad without.

Purple carrot, Mushrooms and Avocado Salad

Serves 1

Ingredients

1/2 bunch enoki mushrooms

1 cup button mushrooms sliced

2 cups baby spinach leaves

1/2 avocado cubes

1 medium purple carrot sliced on the diagonal

1/4 red capsicum, diced

1 TBS tamari

Method

Place all ingredients in a bowl, toss with tamari and serve.

It's clear to see from all of the above recipes why I love eating raw so much.  Apart from the food being bright and delicious, it really takes next to no time to prepare.  Seriously, the hardest thing is washing the veggies and cutting a few bits.  

So you can't blame a girl for having a little internal snicker when I hear people use the excuse of 'no time' in response to why they don't eat well.  I hope I can convert a few with my recipes, that's always the goal :)

Okay, so we've had lots of savoury recipes, what about some sweet little treats?

Being summer, we're lucky to have an abundance of fruit, and delicious tropical and exotic fruits at that. 

I've been making the most of that and making delicious fruit salads, or just gorging myself in the freshest I can find.

I always start the day with a green smoothie and here are some of my essentials. The only thing that I will change is the fruit (except banana and pear) to fit the season.

And when a chocolate craving hits, nothing beats a deliciously creamy and cold......

Chocolate Thickshake

Serves 1

Ingredients

200 mls unsweetened almond milk

2 medjool dates pitted

1/2 avocado

1 large ripe frozen banana

2 TBS raw cacao powder

Raw chocolate or cacao nibs (optional)

Method

Place all ingredients (except optionals) in a blender and blend until smooth and creamy.

Serve with optionals on top.

Slurp away :)

And whilst we're on the topic of chocolate, here's a pudding that you can make anytime, in fact, I had it for dinner the other day.  Hey, there's nothing wrong about having dessert for dinner when it's this delicious and clean.

Chocolate Pudding with Figs and Coconut

Serves 1

Ingredients

2 large frozen bananas

1/2 avocado

150 mls almond milk/coconut water mix

1/4 cup flesh from a young coconut

2 TBS raw cacao powder

2 medjool dates pitted

1 fresh fig

1 TBS cacao nibs

2 TBS desiccated coconut

Method

Blend bananas, almond milk/coconut water, coconut flesh, cacao powder and medjool dates until super smooth.  It will be thick, that's how you want it.

Pour into a bowl and decorate with fig slices.  Spread desiccated coconut around rim of bowl and sprinkle on cacao nibs.

Umm, I'm warning you, it's really yum.

And last but not least, I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream!!!  Raw, that is.

P.S there's is nothing simpler than making raw vegan ice cream.  Just take frozen fruit, add whatever flavours you want to mix with and process away.  Fool proof deliciousness for seriously lazy ice cream lovers.

Durian and Banana Gelato

Serves 1

Ingredients

1 medium frozen durian seed* (seeds removed)

1 medium ripe frozen banana

Method

Process separately until mixture starts to clump together in a delicious ice cream scoop.

Serve with fresh berries.

My clean eating, mainly raw food obsession continues, will keep you posted with more recipes and all things yum in coming weeks.

And I have a little surprise to share with you next week too.

Peas, love and mung beans

xxb

bake-a-thon, thon thon thon thon!!!

I wanted to post something before the end of the year, but the craziness of the silly season really did not let up!!
So, here's last year's post!

I thought I'd dedicate the last post of 2012 to cakes.  Yes, you know it, those delicious treats made of flour, sugar and what ever ingredients you want to throw at em'.
No secret, I love to bake.  But what I love the most is watching people eat and love the cakes I bake.  Nothing beats it.
Of course, there have been times when my creations have not warranted eating them at all.  
I clearly remember making a chocolate polenta cake a few years ago when I first gave veganism a try (albeit a dismal attempt).  Both my partner and sister politely told me it was nice, but, the dry retching sound could not be mistaken.  However, that did not quell my enthusiasm nor did it kill the little hungry beast in me that requires cake.  And the yummiest of all, vegan cakes :)

So here are two recipes that you can NOT live without.  I repeat, can NOT live without.
If you like making cakes, specially vegan cakes,then the following recipes are for you.
Fail proof, fool proof and best of all, don't contain all the artery clogging ingredients that conventional cakes do.
Of course, this doesn't mean that you would it cake everyday.  Ok, well, every second day then......

First out of the oven is chocolate cake.  Everyone loves chocolate cake.  But it's gotta be chocolatey, it's gotta be moist and it's gotta be finger licking delicious!
I have never had anything but oohs, ahhs, and nom nom noms from this cake.
It also got the seal of approval from my children's school friends and my fussy other half, who LOVES chocolate cake.  
I have also made this for my co-workers and none of them realised it was vegan.  Seriously.  It's that good.
I have posted this recipe before but I'll post it again for all y'all.
You won't need another recipe ever again. Promise.

Chocolate Cake
Serves 16

Ingredients

1 1/4 cup plain flour
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup raw cacao powder (or cocoa)
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp sea salt
1 TBSP coffee granules
1 cup warm water
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
1/3 cup sunflower oil
1 tsp vanilla extract

Method

Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees celsius.  Line a cake tin of your choice with baking paper and set aside.  I use square for easier cutting into portions but round is good also.
Mix together flour, sugar, cacao, baking soda and sea salt.  Make sure all the ingredients are incorporated before you add the wet ingredients.
Place coffee granules in cup of water and stir to dissolve, add this, along with the rest of the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix well until you get a smooth batter.
I use my kitchenaid for this and it does a great job.
Place batter into prepared cake tin and bake for approximately 30-35 minutes, or until skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean.
Now this next step is important.  
Let the cake cool in the tin for about 20 minutes, then let it cool completely before cutting or icing.
Yes, it will be hard, you can put it in the fridge if you want to speed things up.
You can cut it straight away but it may crumb and not cut cleanly.  

uh huh, yep, delicious.

I love to eat this cake just as it is, but if you want to dress it up with a chocolate glaze, you can't go past this one.

Chocolate Glaze

Enough for one cake

Ingredients

1/2 cup sugar

4 tbsp margarine (i used nuttelex)

2 tbsp soy milk

2 tbsp raw cacao powder or unsweetened cocoa powder

2 tsp vanilla extract

Method

in a small saucepan, bring sugar, margarine, milk, and cacao to a boil. Stir frequently; then reduce heat to a simmer for 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and stir for another minute or so.

Add vanilla, stir, and immediately pour onto cake. Glaze dries really quickly, so spread it immediately and add any sprinkles now. 

If you're going to add fruit, wait until it cools or else they will just slide off.

Again, I recommend you let the icing cool before you cut it otherwise it will be a sticky mess!

You could also make some chocolate avocado mousse and top it with that, or use that in the middle and then glaze on top for a super indulgent double chocolate hit!

All this chocolate is making me loopy, let's balance it out with some vanilla goodness.

Vanilla Cake

Serves 16

Ingredients

1 1/2 cup plain flour

1 cup sugar

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp sea salt

1 cup of water

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 TBS apple cider vinegar

1/4 cup sunflower oil

Method

Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees celsius.  Line a cake tin of your choice with baking paper and set aside.  

Mix together flour, sugar, baking soda and sea salt.  Make sure all the ingredients are incorporated before you add the wet ingredients.

Add wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix well until you get a smooth batter.

Place batter into prepared cake tin and bake for approximately 30-35 minutes, or until skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean.

Same rule of cooling applies

Now here is the best part.  Now that you have these cake recipes, you can make WHATEVER flavour your belly desires.  

I added some frozen berries to the top of my vanilla cake and got this:

I also mixed the chocolate and vanilla cake batters and made a marble cake.

And when I wanted to do something a little bit silly, I poured the vanilla batter on top of the chocolate batter and got a chocolate and vanilla pound cake.

And because not all of the vanilla batter fit into the cake pan and was at risk of overflowing, i made some mixed berry muffins with the left over batter.  No wasting here!

 Here are a few more variations to the vanilla cake.

Spiced Pear Cake:  Omit vanilla essence.  Add 1 tsp of cinnamon powder, 1 tsp of allspice, 1/2 tsp of cloves, 1/4 tsp of nutmeg.
Instead of water, use apple juice (optional).

Pour batter into prepared cake tin and place some thin pear slices on top.  Sprinkle with some cinnamon sugar.  Bake and cool as normal.

Banana cake:  Omit water, add 1 cup of mashed banana (about 2), use 2/3 cup of sugar and 1/4 cup unsweetened almond milk.  You could also add some 1/3 cup of nuts of your choice and further reduce sugar to 1/2 cup and add some raisins.  I also used a combination of wholemeal and white flour and it still came out moist and delicious.
Bake and cool as normal.  

And here's one of my favourite variations.  So tropicool :)

Upside down pineapple cake

Serves 16

Ingredients

1 1/4 cup plain flour

1/4 cup fine polenta (corn meal)

1 cup sugar

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp sea salt

1/2 cup of coconut milk

1/2 cup pineapple juice (from canned pineapple)

1 TBS apple cider vinegar

1/4 cup sunflower oil

1 can of pineapple pieces/thins/round (reserve juice)

2 TBS brown sugar

1 TBS non-dairy margarine (I use nuttelex)

Method

Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees celsius.  Line a cake tin of your choice with baking paper and set aside.  I use square for easier cutting into portions but round is good also.

Drain the pineapple pieces or whatever you are using and reserve the juice, you will need it for the wet ingredients and to caramelise pineapple.

Place margarine, brown sugar and 1/8 of a cup of reserved pineapple juice into a pan.  Heat on medium heat until sugar is dissolved and syrup starts to get a little colour.  Add your pineapple and continue to cook for about 4 minutes.  Syrup will be a little thicker.  Pour this on your prepared cake tin and arrange pineapple as you like.

In your mixer, or by hand, mix together flour, sugar,polenta, baking soda and sea salt.  Make sure all the ingredients are incorporated before you add the wet ingredients.

Add wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix well until you get a smooth batter.

Pour batter on top of pineapple and bake for approximately 35-40 minutes, or until skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean.

Now this next step is important.  

Let the cake cool completely in the tin before you inverted, it will crack otherwise.

Serve on it's own, or with a dollop of coconut ice cream (vegan of course).

Are you all caked out! So am I, so here's a recipe for something a little bit different but still on the sweet tip.

Chocolate and Raspberry Custard Tart

Serves 8

Ingredients

Crust

1 cup of mixed raw nuts of your choice (I used almonds and brazil nuts)

6 pitted medjool dates

2 TBS raw cacao powder

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 TBS shredded coconut

Custard

2 cups of unsweetened almond milk

1 cup of water

6 TBS sugar

4 TBS vanilla custard powder

2 TBS raw cacao powder (or more if you want it extra chocolatey)

1 punnet of fresh raspberries (you can use frozen if you can't get fresh ones, just let them defrost first)

Method

In a food processor, add all your crust ingredients except coconut. Process until it resembles crumbs, not too fine, and the mixture holds together when pressed into a ball.

Place mixture into a shallow pie tin and press down, making sure to cover the bottom and up the sides.  It might be a bit wet and stick to your fingers, that's ok, just spread as best you can and then sprinkle coconut on top, this will make it easier to spread and stop it sticking.  Place in fridge.

In a medium saucepan, add all your custard ingredients and use an electric whisk to mix it together well and there's no custard powder lumps left.  Once mixed, place on medium heat and stir continuously until mixture comes to the boil.  Turn heat to low and simmer for 2 minutes.  Mixture will become thick and delicious!

Pour custard mixture into prepared base and cover with plastic film.  Place in refrigerator until set.  About 2-3 hours.  Or you can cheat by putting it in the freezer for the first hour or so to speed things along.  Make sure you don't forget or else it will crystallise and be more of a parfait than a custard.

Once set, arrange your raspberries on top and serve.  Yummy yum yum.

There we have it, cakes and sweets for days!

I hope this satisfies your sweet tooh as my next few posts will be completely different.  I'm keeping away from all things naughty and taking on a clean eating challenge for the month of January.  Well and truly into it right now, so have some delicious and nutritious recipes for y'all.

2013 is all about healthy and clean eating.  I'm so excited, hope you are too.  BRING IT!

Peas, love and mung beans

xxb

done and dusted! now on to the next thing......

It's been a while, way more than 12 weeks......so it has.

The 12 week plant based/vegan diet challenge has come to a close.  A couple of weeks ago in fact.  But it's been a busy, busy time so I apologise for my tardiness, and I will also add that now that the challenge is over, I probably won't be posting as often.

So what have I made of this challenge?  First and foremost I have to say that it has made me more aware of what I put into my mouth.  I always thought I had a pretty good diet, and mostly I did.  But eliminating animal products and having to make most of your meals means that you become a little more knowledgeable of all the stuff that's added to our foods.  Some ingredients I can't even pronounce, yet I was eating them on a daily basis!!

If anything, this way of eating has taught me to be mindful, to be patient, to eat slowly, to eat cleanly and to be present.

All that from food, really?

It's also made me experiment with foods, try different approaches to eating and preparing them, and it has made me realise that saying you're going to do something can only go as far as you want it to go. 

Like my gluten free October challenge.  I wasn't very strict in the first two weeks, in fact, I sucked really bad at it.  Once I put my mind and made a wholehearted promise to myself that I would stick to it, I did.  However, it wasn't easy at first, and I had to disguise it in the way of making it a Raw Vegan Challenge rather than calling it what it was.  Sometimes life is just like that I guess.  But whatever gets you through and gets you to that goal is what matters, as long as you don't sacrifice yourself or others for it though!!

So Gluten-Free October, disguised as Raw Vegan has gone really well.  I've been gluten-free for 14 days now and I feel great!  No bloating, no excessive amounts of wind (*cringe), and generally feeling pretty awesome.  Maybe it coincides with the raw food, although I will admit, I find raw vegan living pretty tough.  And I'll be 100% honest with you, I have slipped at times.  There have been times, when I was feeling rather emotional, that I reached out for my frying pan and made myself some vegan chilli.  I just needed a little bit of Mexican to cheer me up.  A little fiesta never hurt anyone right?

This dish is super quick, no joke, 20 minutes tops.  This is what I make when I'm feeling tired, or time poor and I need something feeling and super tasty.  My family can it it too so that's a bonus.

Burritos
Serves 2

Chilli

Ingredients

1 400g can red kidney beans
1 400g can diced tomatoes
1/4 cup brown onion diced
2 cloves garlic crushed
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp smoky paprika
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp chilli flakes
1 TBS coconut oil
1/2 cup zucchini diced
1/2 cup capsicum diced
1/4 cup celery diced
1/2 cup carrot diced
1 TBS fresh coriander chopped
salt and pepper to taste

Method

In a large frying pan, heat your coconut oil and add your onion, garlic and spices.  Cook until translucent.  Add your tomatoes and vegetables, cook until the vegetables are tender, about 10 minutes.  Putting the lid on will speed up the process and prevent it from drying out.
Once veges are cooked, add your beans and cook uncovered for 3 minutes, or until the beans are heated through.  Turn of your heat and stir in coriander and seasoning if needed.
Whilst you wait for your veges to cook, make your......

Guacamole

Ingredients

2 avocados
1/8 cup red onion diced
1/8 cup red capsicum diced
juice of half a lemon
salt and pepper to taste

Method

Use a stick blender and process your avocado with lemon juice and seasoning.  Tasting as you go.  Alternatively, you can mash the avocado.  Whatever tickles your fancy :)
Add the rest of the ingredients to the avocado mixture and voila!

Salsa

Ingredients

1 tomato diced
1 cup cucumber cubes
juice of half a lemon 
salt and pepper to taste

Method

Mix all your ingredients together

Cos lettuce leaves to serve.

Now place your chilli mix into your lettuce and top with guacamole and salsa.
Enjoy!!

What I love the most about doing the raw thing, is the desserts. Now it's no secret that I'm a big sweet tooth, it's my crux.  That's why I'm doing No-sugar-Vember.  OMG, so scary!! Today is my last day of being able to eat sugar so I'm treating myself by doing the raw vegan workshop because I know that there will be some delicious raw vegan treats to try.  Although raw vegans don't use refined sugars, they do still use plenty of dried fruit which in all intents and purposes, is just sugar.  Sorry to say.
But let's not get down about it, we still have a few hours left until November hits, so with that in mind, let me introduce you to some pretty tasty little snacks that you can keep in your freezer and sneak out any time the sweet fairy pops in. 

Teenie tiny choc berry tarts

This recipe is a mixture of recipes put together to make these delicious little treats.

As you can see, they are still a little bit frozen as I just couldn't wait to dig in.

You can make as many as you like but I got about 8 using the same quantities for the chocolate mousse and coco berry gelato from a previous post.

Fruit and Nut Crust

Ingredients

1 cup raw almonds
1 cup raw brazil nuts
6 medjool dates
6 dried apricots
1/4 cup shredded coconut
1 TBS coconut oil
1 tsp vanilla essence

Method

Place all ingredients in the food processor and pulse until desired consistency is reached.  Should be crumbly and hold together when pressed.  If you need too add more dates/apricots if too dry, or some more nuts/coconut if too wet.

Now you just have to assemble them.

I used a muffin tray and pressed in the crust, filled it with chocolate mousse and topped it with the gelato.  Throw it in the freezer for a couple of hours.  This will make them easy to pop out of the tray.  Once frozen, I pop them all out and placed them in an airtight container back in the freezer.  I take mine out of the freezer about 30 minutes before I want to eat them.

If you have left over crust, roll them up into little balls and roll them in some dried coconut, or sesame seeds, or raw cacao powder and make some Protein Power Balls.

I store mine in the freezer also, and just take out a few to have on hand when I'm out and about.
They're also good as a pre-workout snack and the kids love them too.
You can experiment by adding some almond butter instead of coconut oil.
You may want to try adding chia seeds to them also.
The only boundary is your imagination really :)



One other dessert I'd like to share with you is a pudding I absolutely love and could eat everyday, no joke.

Chocolate Chia Pudding
Serves 1

Ingredients

1 banana
1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk
1/2 cup coconut water
1/8 cup coconut cream
1 TBS chia seeds
1 TBS raw cacao powder
1 tsp raw cacao nibs
1 tsp fruit and nut crust (optional)

Method

Place all ingredients in a blender except for cacao nibs and crust.  Blend until thick and creamy.
Pour into a cup or bowl of your choice, and top with cacao nibs and fruit and nut crust.
Place in the refrigerator for about 15-20 minutes to thicken.
Enjoy!

If I'm feeling extra crazy, I substitute the coconut water for coconut milk and 1 TBS of coconut cream.  It makes it super thick and creamy.  YUMMINESS on another level!

People who can't comprehend vegan/plant based diets always ask me what I eat.

Here's a snapshot of some of my meals whilst I've been on the raw tip.

So there you have it kids, a month in the raw.  It hasn't been easy, a few slip ups here and there but all in all, I think it was awesome.  The above and middle picture is actually a cauliflower 'rice'.  So good, just throw some raw cauliflower in your food processor with a tsp of salt and 1 tsp of garlic powder and pulse until you get the rice consistency.  So easy and  you can use it like rice.  LOVES IT!

And I just can't live without my nori rolls.  The best thing ever, and you can add whatever fillings you love the most.

And now one final thing.  Throughout the whole raw thing, I have been getting a lot of compliments on my skin.  Not sure if it's the raw thing, or the fact that I've now been vegan for over 3 months.  I always give a new thing the 3 month check so I'm thinking it could be a combo of the two.

Lesson learnt:  Keep it simple and clean, eat raw mostly, be gentle with yourself, don't sweat the small stuff. 

Peas, love and mungbeans

xxb