Recipe: Garlic Roasted Eggplant Salad & Reboot Summary

Today was a really interesting day! And pretty great. My tummy is having some hassles adjusting it seems, so I ended up starting the day with a juice anyway (just didn't want anything else) and even though I had a fairly small amount to eat, really wasn't hungry for dinner either.

Day 8 Summary:
Food:
Breakfast: Juice of 2 x pink lady and 2 x granny smith apples
Lunch & Afternoon Tea: Garlic Roasted Eggplant Salad

This was super delicious, and the recipe is below. After two serves of this - yes I came back for seconds for afternoon tea  ;) - I was feeling really full! My tummy was pretty rumbly and a bit sore in the afternoon also, I think maybe just the adjustment to the little bit of garlic, oil and salt in this recipe might have been to blame.
Dinner: Green smoothie with 2 bunches english spinach, 2 large bananas, 1 tsp cacao and 1/2 tsp maca

Exercise: 
I did fit in a brisk 30 minute walk with the children this afternoon, it was really lovely to be out in the beautiful fresh air. Thoroughly enjoyed by all.

Gratitude: Some of you may have seen on facebook, my gratitude for today was for my "mistakes" for helping me learn and grow and become the person I am today :).

Recipe: Garlic Roasted Eggplant Salad (Vegan):
* Serves 1 person as a main meal.
* This recipe IS a little fiddly but its WELL worth the effort! :D
Ingredients:
2 M-L Shiitake Mushrooms, sliced
1 TBSP Chopped Parsley
1 TBSP Tamari/Noma Shoyu/GF Soy Sauce/Liquid Aminos

1/2 a large eggplant, sliced in 1/2 cm slices (8-10 slices)
2 cloves garlic
1 small pickling onion or 1/4 large brown onion
Sea Salt
Cracked Black Pepper
2 TBSP Olive Oil

1-2 tomatoes, sliced in 1/2 cm slices
8-10 leaves fresh basil

Method:
1. First preheat your oven to 160-180ºC. Then set the mushrooms to marinate: slice mushrooms and dice parsley, and place in a small bowl, pour Tamari over and set aside to marinate.

2. Prep the eggplant: Lay out the slices of eggplant on a cutting board or tray, and sprinkle each slice with a little salt, rub the salt into the slices. Leave to sit for approx 15 minutes, then flip over the slices and repeat on the other side. Leave to sit for a further 15 minutes. Then rinse the slices of eggplant and dry between sheets of paper towel. *This breaks down the eggplant a little so you don't get that rubbery texture, you should notice the slices are softer and floppier after doing this.

 3. In your TMX or food processor, finely mince the garlic and onion for 5 seconds on speed 7. Put this into a small bowl  or ramekin and add olive oil, mix.

4. Lay the slices of eggplant on baking paper on a cookie tray. Using a teaspoon, spoon a small amount of garlic, onion and oil mixture onto each slice of eggplant, spread evenly over each slice using the back of the spoon. Sprinkle with a little good quality salt and cracked black pepper.

5. Bake eggplant in oven at 160-180ºC for approximately 20-30 minutes or until you see the onion and garlic browning, and eggplant goes nice and soft.

6. Arrange slices of eggplant around a round plate, place a slice of tomato and a leaf of basil on top of each piece of eggplant, and place marinated mushrooms in the centre of the plate. Serve and enjoy! :D

I hope you all had a lovely day! Looking forward to hearing from you soon. Maybe pop by my FB page and let me know what YOU'RE grateful for?

Love and Health,
B xxx

Creamy Raw "Risotto" with Dill & Bacon and Spinach Quinoa Pilaf

I've been finding it hard the last couple of weeks to feel motivated to come up with some interesting things to say, recipes and pics for you. I've had this vicious cold which seems to be going around and it really knocked me about - time for me to get high-raw again methinks - and its hard to feel energetic about anything when your head feels like its full of cotton-wool, your nose won't stop running, and your cough could be mistaken for a vicious dog barking!

HOWEVER! I did manage to snap a pic of those Kale Chips I made a while back, so here's the final product: (They were so yummy I'm amazed they lasted me two days - what restraint I showed! hehehe)

They are a PERFECT on-the-go snack for raw foodies - I just threw these in a ziploc bag and there you go, instant delicious and healthy snack to take with you! (The recipe is here btw)

I also made my very first attempt at a mock rice/rissotto type dish, which I've been wanting to try out for a while - I've seen a few recipes around and had a think about how I'd do it in the TMX and it turned out pretty well.

Creamy Raw "Rissotto" with Dill (Raw Vegan, Dairy-Free)

1. First make the "Dilled Sour Cream": Soak 3/4 cup of sunflower seeds in water at room temperature for 2-4 hours. Rinse then drain. Add seeds to TMX along with small handful of fresh dill, (or 1-2TBSP dried dill), 1-2 tsp sea salt, 1/2 TBSP Apple Cider Vinegar, 10g Cold Pressed Extra Virgin Olive Oil, and 100g water. Blend all ingredients for 1 minute on Speed 9. Scrape down the sides of bowl and blend for a further 1-2 minutes on Speed 9 or until a smooth, creamy texture is reached.

2. Quarter two medium carrots and chop in TMX for 5 seconds on Speed 5.


3. Add 1/2 a head of cauliflower (broken into florets) and 1/8 red onion (optional) and chop for 10 seconds on Speed 4. This should result in a rice-like consistency.

4. Add the Dilled Sour Cream (should be approx 220-250g) and blend for 15 seconds on reverse and Speed 3, scrape down sides of bowl and blend another 10secs if needed. Serves 1-2 ppl.

The use of the sunflower seeds to make the sour cream, and the carrot makes this a really affordable dish, and it tasted pretty great too! :D

I've also been whipping up some fabulous Green Smoothie's (as per usual, for me the day isn't off to a good start until I've had my green smoothie!). Recently I've been enjoying a lot of watermelon in mine, and I've also added two organic raw powders that I alternate between - one is a green powder of Spirulina, Chlorella, Wheat Grass and Barley Grass, the other is a power berry one (pomegranate, acai berries, goji berries etc). I just add a tsp of one of these to my smoothies for the extra nutrients, and the green powder especially seems to make a big difference to my energy! Here's Jon after enjoying some of my Kale/Pineapple/Fresh Mint/Green Powder smoothie which was breakfast yesterday: (Aren't they just the bluest eyes you've ever seen??? Perhaps I'm biased......so sue me! :P)

Another experiment I had which turned out to be delicious was also Risotto-related - I wanted to make a savoury dinner risotto type dish which was gluten free. I'm a HUGE fan of risotto in general - its always so delicious and super easy in the TMX, but regular risotto can often leave me feeling bloated and heavy in the tummy, whereas a gluten free version doesn't give you that heavy feeling. So I made a pilaf using Quinoa instead of rice, which came out just great:


Bacon & Spinach Quinoa Pilaf:


1. Cut 50g parmesan or pecorino cheese into small cubes and grate in TMX for 10 seconds on Speed 9. Remove from bowl and set aside.

2. Rinse TMX bowl, then weigh 200g of Quinoa into the rice basket, sit into TMX and pour 1200g of water over. Cook for 17 minutes  on 100°C on Speed 3. Remove rice basket using spatula and set aside the cooked quinoa in your Thermoserver or other bowl.

3. In TMX bowl dice 2 shallots, 2 cloves of garlic, and a handful of parsley for 3 seconds on Speed 7. Add 150g chopped silverbeet (including stalks) or spinach, 150g bacon pieces, and 30g Extra Virgin Olive Oil. Saute at 100°C for 5 minutes on Reverse & Speed 1 with MC Off (to allow it to sweat).

4. Return Quinoa to TMX bowl, add 1tsp-1dssp TM Vegetable Stock Concentrate (depending on how salty you want it) and 150g boiling water and cook for 4 minutes at 100°C on Reverse & Speed 1½.

5. Pour pilaf into Thermoserver and stir through most of the Parmesan/pecorino cheese leaving some aside. Serve out and garnish each bowl with a little parmesan and chopped parsley like so:

* For a vegetarian or vegan option, I would substitute some mushrooms instead of the bacon, and perhaps use Nutritional Yeast Flakes (2-3tbsp) instead of the cheese. You would also need to increase the stock to compensate for the saltiness of the bacon.

This recipe makes enough for 3 main serves or 6 side-serves.

I hope you enjoy the recipes, and as usual, if you have any feedback or questions, please don't hesitate to leave a comment here or on my Facebook Page.

Love and Health, B xxx

3 Day All Raw Vegan Challenge with Prizes! ;)

Hello Everyone! I'm so excited to be offering another challenge! :D

I was so inspired and energised by my self-challenge to do 3 days all raw vegan that I ended up doing 4 days in a row all raw vegan and it was really fantastic!

As promised here is a breakdown of my 3 Days All Raw Vegan:

Day 1:
On Waking:  1 large glass of water
Breakfast: Watermelon, Strawberry and Pineapple Green Smoothie
Morning Tea: Banana, Strawberry and Almond Green Smoothie
Lunch: Macadamia Pesto Zoodles with Tomato and Olives
Afternoon Tea: Banana and Cashew Green Smoothie
Dinner: Salad of Lambs Lettuce and Watercress with Capsicum and Semi-dried Tomato Dressing
Throughout the day I drank approximately 3 litres of water and tried to do a lot of incidental activity.

Day 2:
Waking: Large glass of water with fresh lemon juice.
Breakfast: Watermelon, Pineapple & Orange Green Smoothie.
Morning Tea: Banana, Berry & Cashew Green Smoothie
Lunch: Crudites with Pesto Sauce and Semi-dried Tomato and Capsicum Dip.
Afternoon Tea: Large Banana, Cashew and Date Green Smoothie
Dinner: No dinner this night as I was at a Demo until really late.
Throughout the day I drank about 2 Litres of water and stayed nice and active.

Day 3:
Waking: Large glass of water with lemon juice.
Breakfast: Pineapple, Orange and Mint Green Smoothie
Morning Tea: Banana, Berry and Choc Green Smoothie
Lunch: TMX Beetroot Salad and Celery Sticks with Semi-dried Tomato and Capsicum Dip.
Dinner: Asian style salad with Sesame Soy Dressing
Dessert: Choc, Banana, Cashew & Date Smoothie
Throughout the day I drank approximately 2.5L of water and tried to be active around the house.

So now the FUN PART! Because I found this challenge to be reasonably easy to achieve and I felt SOOOOOO fantastic as a result, I've decided to extend the challenge to my readers! :D

So I'm challenging you to try 3 DAYS ALL RAW VEGAN! I will post recipes for EVERYTHING I ate for the 3 days I did this, so you can simply follow those (I'm including modifications) or do what YOU like! The only rules are NOTHING COOKED, and NO ANIMAL PRODUCTS for the entire 3 days! :D Just wholesome delicious fresh fruits, vegetables, salads, nuts and seeds.

I'm giving you all until Easter to try this, so you have from now until the end of Thursday the 5th of April to enter into the draw (I'll make the cutoff 8pm Australian Eastern Standard Time). To qualify to enter you need to at least ATTEMPT to go 3 days all raw vegan. If you do all three days you can enter to win the DVD "Hungry For Change" - have a look at this website for further information: Hungry for Change. This is a remarkable and amazing film which is truly eye-opening and inspiring, you'll LOVE having this at home to inspire you to healthy eating any time you're feeling a little challenged (of course I'm getting myself a copy too!). You'll also be automatically entered to win a copy of my ebook "Chookie's Cookin' Great Green Smoothies" full of delicious Green Smoothie Recipes (one for every day of the week) plus tips and tricks to make green smoothies work for ANYONE! For those of you who may try the challenge but only last one or two days, don't worry, you'll be eligible to enter to win my ebook also, but not the DVD.

So to clarify: Go three days all raw and LET ME KNOW and you'll go in the draw to win the DVD "Hungry for Change" AND a copy of my ebook "Chookie's Cookin' Great Green Smoothies", and if you only go one or two days all raw and LET ME KNOW, you'll be entered to win a copy of my ebook.

Later today I will post all the recipes for my three days, as well as a shopping list to help you get organised!

Let me know if you're going to join this challenge and if you need any more information! I'm super excited to see how energised and fabulous you feel after doing this! :D

Love and Health! B xxxx

"Creamy" Herb and Garlic Dip, Pesto & More! ;)

I've been meaning to get a post up for days and days now, and I've just been busy with kids, study, Thermomix, and of course cooking (and uncooking too!)! So here's a few things I've been making and thinking about the past week or so!

Firstly I put up a picture of my dinner the other night - Quirky Jo's delicious gluten free foccacia style pizza base (recipe here) topped with Mushroom and Onion and with a little pesto, and of course the Pink Paradise Smuice I had with it! 

With the pizzas I made up the recipe from Quirky Cooking, and after rising I just sprinkled some finely sliced onion and mushroom on it, then baked it. I just had this broken up with a little of my homemade macadamia pesto and it was just divine! 

I also felt like something sweet and energising with dinner that night so I had this beautiful Pink Paradise Smuice (Smoothie-Juice ;))

Pink Paradise Smuice

150g frozen watermelon cut into chunks approx 2 inches in size

2 oranges skinned and halved

1 round of pineapple cut into large chunks

1/2 a tray of ice

Simply throw all ingredients in the TMX or blender then blend up for 1 minute on speed 9.

Sit back and relax and enjoy your delicious and pretty pink smuice! :D (Or you could throw some greens in it for some extra oomph and voila its a scrummy green smoothie!)

I also made up a few salads to have on hand in my fridge so that I wouldn't go looking for easy UNhealthy snacks. I find if I have a few really great crunchy healthy salads with a couple of different dressings in the fridge ready to go, I can eat those until I'm busting and know that I'm nourishing my body instead of hurting it with excess fat, sugar etc. So I made up the salads, and I made a lemon basil vinaigrette and then thought I'd see if I could make a Japanese recipe I have for Sesame Soy dressing. I didn't actually have all the necessary ingredients for the authentic recipe (such as rice wine vinegar and sesame oil to name a couple) but I thought I could get close to how it should taste, and it turned out way better than I expected! Just like the real thing!

Japanese Sesame Soy Dressing:

Ingredients:

1/2 med brown or white onion

60g sesame seeds

60g vinegar

60g grape seed oil (or other lightly flavoured oil)

20g soy sauce or tamari

20g sugar or other sweetener

Method:

Grind the sesame seeds in TMX for 1 minute on speed 10.

Add onion and mince for 10 seconds on speed 6.

Add all other ingredients and blend for 1 minute on speed 9.

Mix into your favourite salad and enjoy - this goes particularly well with a chinese style salad of wombok, finely sliced red capsicum, bean sprouts etc. Also with daikon but good luck finding quality ones here in the Far North! Those of you down south, if you can get hold of daikon you want to shred it either in your tmx on speed 5 for about 10 seconds or grate it and have just that with this dressing - sounds strange but its delicious, and that's the way they eat it in Japan!

Then today I went a bit crazy with dips - I made a trio of dips! One was to practise for my Varoma Demos with the TMX which is a red capsicum, sundried tomato and cashew dip. The other two were my own creations and both turned out so well I simply have to share them!

The first one I made was because at our demos we make the Creamy Herb and Garlic Dip from the Everyday Cookbook and its always a huge hit. So that got me thinking, I wish I could have that dip without suffering from hayfever for a couple of days afterwards (as the original recipe has cream cheese in it and dairy makes my hayfever go crazy)! I had heard of and seen and tasted creams made from cashews before so I thought if I just made a "cream cheese" from cashews, then added the rest of the ingredients, that should work, and it turned out pretty well!

Creamy Dairy Free Herb & Garlic Dip (foreground of above picture)
Ingredients:
200g Cashews
60g warm water
1tsp salt
1-2 cloves garlic with the centre removed (this takes the bitterness out of the raw garlic, but leaves all the great garlic flavour, you don't have to do this if you don't want to, it tastes fine with using whole garlic cloves!)
2 Shallots quartered
Handful fresh parsley

Method:
First make the cashew cream "cheese": First mill the cashews for 10 seconds on speed 9 to make a fairly fine powder.
Add water and salt and blend for 1-2 minutes on speed 8 or until a cream cheese type texture is reached.
Remove this cashew cream cheese and set aside.
In your clean bowl, mince garlic, parsley and shallots for 3 seconds on speed 7.
Add your cashew cream cheese mixture back into the bowl and blend for 5 seconds on speed 7.
Enjoy with some rice crackers or my fave - veggie sticks - especially zucchini and carrots! :)

The final item for tonight (and then I have to get to bed, urgh!) is my Raw Vegan Macadamia Pesto (pictured at the back of the above picture). I have been tweaking and tweaking and tweaking this for weeks now, so if you've seen the other incarnations on my blog sorry but this one really is the BEST! I'm finally happy with it, and we had 3 others taste test at our TMX meeting tonight and everyone really loved it (EVEN Jo! :P) so here it is:

Raw Vegan Macadamia Pesto:
Ingredients:
1-2 cloves garlic
Leaves from 2 x 50g packs of basil (approx 40-50g of basil leaves)
100g raw macadamia nuts
Handful of parsley
Handful of baby spinach
1 tsp salt
1 TBSP Apple Cider Vinegar
40g Cold Pressed Olive Oil

Method:
First mince garlic for 3 seconds on speed 7.
Add all remaining ingredients and pulse on Turbo for 3-5 pulses.
Scrape down sides of bowl and pulse a few more times until the desired texture is reached (some people like it chunkier, I like mine medium).

That's it from me tonight as its WAAAAYYY past my bedtime and I'm about to fall asleep at the keyboard!

Over the next couple of days I'm going to do a series of posts on my top "secrets" for weight loss and increased energy! I've also still been thinking of running another challenge, so stay tuned for details!

Love and Health, B xxx

30-in-30 Extension and PRIZE!!!!

Hi All!

So we're currently up to 25 people who have joined me (officially) on this green smoothie challenge - which is to have a green smoothie for breakfast every day for 30 days! My goal was to get 30 people to join my by tomorrow, EEP! Seeing as though we are SOOOOO close to my goal, I've decided a couple of things: 1) I'm going to extend it until this Friday and 2) I'm going to giveaway a prize if we reach our target by Friday.

So here's what to do: Tell your friends, family, colleagues, anyone about what you are doing and ask them to join us! Also, if you've already been doing this but haven't told me OFFICIALLY by commenting on the blog or on facebook saying something like "I'm in!", please do so, so I can make sure you're counted!

My smoothie this morning: two oranges, a green apple, a big bunch of baby spinach, a big handful of ice, yum! So refreshing! I was bouncing off the walls after this :D

If you're new to all of this, please read the first post 30-in-30 and also this one, which has a shopping list for beginners, then read on in date order forward from there to now! ;)

Last but not least, comment at the bottom of this post, or on this post's link on my Facebook page, to be counted to go in the draw to win a copy of Harvey Diamond's book "Fit for Life, Not Fat for Life" which is the book that got me started on this whole journey in the first place and is a sensational read, period. I'll draw this by random selection on Friday evening by 9pm Brisbane QLD time. YOU HAVE TO COMMENT TO ENTER PEOPLE!!!

Baby food, sterilising bottles, etc all coming up in my next post later today or tomorrow!

Love and Health, B xxx

Where are you at the moment?

Hi All! So I know, I know, I've been terribly slack with the blog the past few days! Apologies! I've just been really busy with....well....LIFE! LOL!

Of course I've still been having my green smoothies to start my day (and for morning tea most days as well) . My combos over the past few days have been pineapple/grape/baby spinach, banana/berry/nuts/baby spinach, orange/baby spinach, orange/pineapple/baby spinach, and pineapple/fresh mint/baby spinach. Yes I do notice a recurring theme is the pineapple - that's because they were on special at my local shop for $1 each! So I bought a few cause I just LOVE them! In addition to my smoothies I also made some more Macadamia Pesto on Friday and enjoyed it on fresh homemade pizza with a salad of rocket and fresh tomatoes, Om Nom Nom - I'm a little addicted to fresh Pesto at the moment!

As promised here is a picture of the Yoghurt and Berry Popsicles from the Everyday Cooking for Every Family TMX cookbook (pg 167) that Saana and I made, and a picture of Saana enjoying one! These were a big hit, we'll have to make another batch tomorrow I'd say!

Today I'm really wanting to hear from YOU! Not just how you're going on this green smoothie challenge, but in relation to your eating and lifestyle habits at the moment in general. What I'd like to know is where are you RIGHT NOW on this journey of diet/exercise/lifestyle? Are you a Vegetarian? Vegan? Raw Foodist? Fruitarian? Paleo? 80/10/10-er? Regular Meat and Veg? Other? How much exercise, fresh air and sunshine do you get? How much do you move your body just in incidental activity during the day? What choices are YOU making, AT THE MOMENT, to be a healthier you? The reason I'm asking this is since embarking on this whole healthier eating journey (and NO I'm not willing to label myself at the moment!) I'm discovering that there are a HUGE variety of philosophies just within the Raw Food Movement ALONE! Let alone the many other food and lifestyle choices that are out there, that are not the typical western diet of meats, starchy carbs and a smattering of fruits and veggies! I'm just having such fun reading and learning about all the different options there are out there! And also trying to figure out which one might be best for me personally! So I'd love to hear from you, and hear what you're doing, and what its doing for you!

Another reason this is pertinent to me at the moment, is because when I first started having green smoothies and just eating more fresh fruits and vegetables in general, I experienced an AMAZING surge in my energy levels and general awareness and feeling of being AWAKE to everything that was going on around me. In addition to that my Asthma, Pancreatitis and my Hayfever (a daily torment for me for YEARS) DISSAPEARED! WOW I thought, how amazing is this - I changed what I'm putting into my body, and my body is now THRIVING! And most days I do still have that to a certain extent. HOWEVER, my hayfever has since returned, and is now back to being a daily thing - every morning for at least a couple/few hours I suffer from sneezing, itching nose and eyes, runny nose and weepy eyes! Its just awful! In addition to this I have plateaued with my weight loss and I think I've even put a little back on!

The past few days to a week I've been putting a lot of thought into why this has happened and what I could be doing to improve the situation. I do still have cooked food most evenings, and if I feel like it sometimes during the day as well. One difference is that since I started I've begun to branch out and make (slightly) more complicated raw food recipes using a lot of nuts and seeds and oils. Funnily enough I'm starting to wonder if I was better off when I was LESS educated about raw food and simply had my green smoothies JUST using fruit and baby spinach, and a lot of raw vegetables and salads!?!?! So over the next few days I'm going to try going back to that simpler way of eating - green smoothies still for breakfast and morning tea, but avoiding nuts or added special ingredients (at least not having those extras every day!), and having nice big crunchy salads and raw veggies as my lunch and afternoon snacks. Then I'll have a cooked meal most nights with my family, OR some raw noodles with some sort of raw sauce on them if I feel like it. In addition to this I have been having the odd bit of dairy most days - a bit of parmesan cheese here, a little bit of custard there! So I'm going to try to really clamp down on that again and see if that helps the hayfever!

The other change I'm aiming for is that I'm DETERMINED to get outside and MOVE! Friday morning Saana and I went for a 2km power walk/jog and I felt sooo much more energetic Friday and some of Saturday as a result! I think this is so critical and so easily neglected these days, and I'll be the first to admit I'm the worst culprit! The last thing I want to do is get up even 1/2 an hour earlier to get out and go for a walk, but I KNOW if I find the motivation to do so, my body will reward me for it INSTANTLY! Yet I STILL procrastinate, CRAZY!!!!!

So in honour of simplifying, here's how I started my day today: Green smoothie of baby spinach, banana, frozen blackberries, ice, water and a little cacao (for a sunday morning indulgence!)

And I've just finished polishing off a lovely crisp morning tea of celery and carrot sticks with homemade TMX hommus - delish!

What shall I have for lunch? Maybe some Zoodles with some Mushroom Pate on top? We'll see!

So please comment here or post on my Wall on Facebook (top right of this page to LIKE my FB page!) and tell me where YOU are, what's working for YOU right now? What has worked for you in the past? What are YOUR goals in regards to your food and  health? I'd really really love to hear from all of you! Also please remember to spread the love! We just need 9 more people to join us to make the 30-in-30 challenge goal I set! So tell your friends and family to get with the green too! :D If this challenge works out and there's some positive feedback, I'll have to think up some more challenges in future - and possibly prizes! (there are ideas floating around in this head, for sure! :D)

Love and Health! B xxxx

I'm so Proud of ME!

I just quickly wanted to share with you all a picture that I just found of myself from two years ago (January 21st, 2010 to be exact), and one of me taken by my daughter today........

 

WOW! Just WOW! Go me! I'm so proud of myself!!! I've lost 36kgs (that's about 80lbs for those of you in the UK and the States) over the past two years through small sensible changes over a long period of time - the biggest ones being simply eating more fresh fruit and fresh raw vegetables and doing some light exercise! There's no going back from here, I'm just going to continue getting healthier and slimmer until I reach my ideal weight (I'll know it when I get there!)!!

So apart from that little shout-out to myself (LOL), I just wanted to share with you a few things about my day: Firstly today was my first 100% raw day ever! It feels really good!

Secondly I managed to do my walk this morning so another pat on the back to me for acheiving that small goal. :D

Thirdly I have a quick recipe to share and a pic of my daughter enjoying our Cashew Milk "Warm" Chocolate!

So here are some Raw Vegan Choc Malt Bliss Balls that I made today:

Ingredients:

350g Raw Walnuts

300g Fresh Dates - Pitted

80g Raw Cacao Powder

40-60g Rapadura 

1 and 1/2 tsp fine sea salt

1 and 1/2 Tbsp Vanilla Extract

2 tsp Maca

(Rapadura is to taste - I know this is not raw but I don't have Agave syrup or other truly raw sweetener yet and Rapadura is minimally processed so I figure its not so bad!)

*If using Agave Syrup or other liquid sweetener, reduce Dates by 50-80g or this will be too moist.

* If you don't have Maca you can just leave it out and they'll be plain choc instead of choc-malt flavour.

Method:

1. Put Walnuts, Cacao and Rapadura into your TMX bowl and combine on Speed 6 for approximately 1 minute or until really fine.

2. Add remaining ingredients and process on Speed 6 for about 30 seconds, then increase to Speed 7-8 for a further Minute or so - until it all sticks together into a kind of smooth but stiff paste - it will be quite oily, don't worry that's just the oil from the nuts and the cacao.

3. Pinch small amounts (about the size of a large grape) and roll them into balls, store in the fridge for a few days or in the freezer for up to about a month.

*This recipe makes a huge batch so feel free to halve the ingredients and reduce the processing time by about 20% if you don't want that many!

*Originally these were from Quirky Cooking's recipe found here.

Saana and I also enjoyed a late afternoon Cashew Milk "Warm" Chocolate (I only heated it to 37 C so it was still raw) made with Cashews, Rapadura and Raw Cacao powder:

I have to get to bed now as I have another big day planned tomorrow! Happiness and Health to you all, til next time! XXX