Sunny days...chocolate making

Finally felt a bit better today, saw my mate for a bit of shopping then made some chocolates.

Oh I got some lovely stainless steel Indian dishes ..I had to photograph the chocolate in them..sooo gorgeous!

It is so sunny, just want to flop on the sofa, exhausted!! So this will short and sweet posting!

Relaxing to melt and mix things!!

Lovely

Easy to prepare :

2.5 tablespoon coconut oil

1 spoon "Be the Change" Powder

1 spoon Maca

Raw honey to taste or Agave! or..put some date puree in

Put in some goji berries in the last batch

More a bit later on...off to enjoy the sun!

Playing catch up!..............................No Moo Mince Meat

Sorry I haven't been around much recently, have been nothing but sick for a few days. Been coming home from the office and sinking into the sofa, until bed time!!

Haven't been keeping much down but water!!

Thanks for all the sweet comments on my recipes...

Have a few more to add I have been working on these, made this for my friend earlier in the week, finally had time to type up properly!

I took inspiration from Chef Flandria"Spicy Thai Fried Rice", but mine is very simplified

http://www.rawfreedomcommunity.info/forum/showthread.php?t=2867

Created some Marinated Mushroom Mince "Meat" and Spicy Rice

I combined the two and added fresh chili and spring onions, pretty stunning dish!

No Moo Mushroom Mince!

3 large mushrooms

Shoyu ( good 3-4 tablespoons) they should be well coated-- you could use miso as a sub!

Juice of 1 Lime

Sea Salt

Dried Chili-- add to taste

Garlic grated

Dried herbs

Marinate well and leave for 1 hour, chop finely, until it forms a mince texture -- or process. I like to use my hands.

I then put into the fridge overnight, you may want to drain the marinate, or use it as a dressing!

This can go into a Marinara sauce for Raw Marinara with pasta or on top of a salad, or with rice as I did!

Spicy Rice

1 Cauliflower, riced

Add juice of 2 lemons

Shoyu, not too much, 3 spoons (big)

Cayenne to taste

Chili

Sea salt (very small amount)

Olive oil (1 tablespoon for a lot of cauliflower)

Leave to marinate, couple of hours or overnight!

Add in fresh chili and spring onions!

Yum! So so easy!

Supercharged Fudge Brownie

Supercharged!!

Give some to your guests..and let the fun begin!!

Ingredients

15-20 dates (mine were small)

1 cup water

2 Spoons Kate Magic-- Be the Change: Magic Dust (Mesquite,Lumaca,Cocao,Crystal Manna,Pink salt)

1 spoon Carob

1 spoon Maca

1 spoon Nut Butter (cashew I had)

200g coconut shredded up or mature grated..whichever you have.

To make

Soak the dates for 4-6 hours

Blend with 1 cup of water until a good thick even texture appears.

Blend in 100g of Coconut

Put into bowl, hand mix in all the Superfoods, taste, check it is to your palette.

Pour mixture into a dish, top with the rest of the coconut, place in fridge overnight or freezer, cut into pieces and bag up! Voila

If you wanted them to be firm enough just with fridge overnight add coconut oil.

Mine went in the freezer for 3 hours, are lovely and creamy...soo chocolatey.. YUM!

A treat for all!

Preparation is key..

Preparation Preparation Preparation.

I hear people all the time saying.."ooh I don't have time to make lunch or healthy snacks..hence I end up eating those Cornish pasties/sandwiches/burgers/sausage rolls"

Make time for yourself, your health and well being IS worth it!! If it means getting up early or missing that TV programme..or staying up an extra 20 minutes, DO IT you are worth it!

Last week all I did was eat whole fruit at work or chopped up, no salads really or smoothies. I kept things simple out of sheer laziness and trying to juggle work and gym and business plans.. so.. decided this week to be a bit more organised.

I turned all the salad bits I had into various salads, I also have cheese made, hummus and a spicy salsa. So literally all it takes is grab a pot, grab whatever dressing or fruit to top (pear/lemon juice/apple) and sit down to eat.. Simple! I also have some fruit bits..and the desserts I made. Plenty of options

All it takes is freeing up 30 minutes and you can have enough options for 3 days of eating! Without any worrying, what am I going to eat, do I have time.. bla bla.. when your hungry.. sense goes out the window sometimes-- this way the food is there, ready! I am the type of person..if theres nothing easy to eat..I wont bother to eat at all!

Don't they look fresh and appetising?... Yum!

Loving British Santini tomatoes, they are plum shaped and come in yellow and red variety, they are stunning and so so delicious!! I just love any tomato at the moment, could happily just eat them for days!!

Anyways is a lovely sunny day.. relaxing..the windows all open..is bliss

Had a lovely breakfast after the gym

Blueberries (200g) and 2 glasses of fresh orange juice..de-lish!!

Anyways that's all for now, more later, need to photograph my brownies and cheeze.... more to come!

AAhh RELAX....

Sundays are always relaxed, but even more so when you don't have to go to work the next day!! Yipee!


Been relaxing, later on make tea for my friend and have a chinwag.. mainly just a chilled day, its lovely and sunny... aah!



Food


Brekkie

1 small avo

Afternoon meal

1 Salad-- Romaine, spring onions, British Santini Tomato-- yellow and red, Lime juice



My stomach is a bit unsettled tonight so unsure of what I will have tonight, maybe some apple juice with ginger, or something simple like banana/lettuce smoothie

I really have been in the mood for preparing food, once I get the bug I cant stop!! ha!

Prepared tea for my friend, a Pear salad-- with British and Asian pears, pomello dressing.. loads of greens.

She had a big bit of cake ..certainly enjoyed it, yet to try myself!! I am a bit proud of it mind.. I must say!! hehe..here is the beauty! so firm and easy to slice..I am amazed!

Today I have been uncooking..

Made some cheese, based loosely on a post from the lovely Carmi on cashew cheese

see here

http://thesunnyrawkitchen.blogspot.com/2008/04/not-cheeze-pleaze.html

I used half sunflower seeds half pumpkin, and miso -- looks pretty good, once its firm and seasoned I will take some pics of it.

Ended up using my old blender for it.. which worked well. Reason being even though its 1/4 of the price of my old one, its hard wearing..and will blend anything UP SMOOTH! its mad.. a £10 blender shouldn't be that powerful, but it is, so.. used it for the cheese making. Worked lovely.

Then used cheesecloth to drain it out as usual.. same as when I last made cheese.. see this blogpost..

http://rawveganlondoner.blogspot.com/2008/02/weekend-postingpart-1-cheeze-making.html

Used some Italian seasoning to coat it, it smells GOOD and cheesey!! haha in a good way!

Now making some Super-charged chocolate brownies.. I have some odd bits and bobs left over from the cake..so kinda throwing them together. I will post pics and exact recipe tomorrow for those.

Soaking the dates at the moment..eagerly waiting to get making!!

Been a slow restful day, think tomorrow will be exactly the same!!

That's all for now..

Inspired Lemon Cake

So I haven't made anything elaborate or involving nuts/lots of ingredients for a long time, thought I would make something nice as a Bank Holiday treat

This cake is Inspired by, Poppy Lemon Seed Cake, Joz's creation

http://www.rawfreedomcommunity.info/forum/showthread.php?t=298

Here is my slightly altered creation!

Cake

Juice the following ingredients for the PULP

12 Apples, 2 pears, 1 lemon

(** Please note I am using a Breville Juicer however the pulp was dry and compact)

If your pulp is at all wet, squeeze in a nut milk bag first.

Mix this pulp Mix with the following :

Juice of 2 lemons
3 tablespoons raw honey-- or agave
200g ground RAW almonds, roughly

Mix it up in a mixing bowl, really keep mixing until its creamy and takes on a dough like texture. You can blend or food process it also, personal choice!


Press this mixture into a Spring form pan or any dish you like, pop into the Fridge---I left mine for about 5 hours





To make the frosting up :

I chose not to use the one listed mainly due the cost of Coconut oil and I didn't have time to get any.

Blend quickly on a low setting

1 cup coconut

+ any left over bits of Almond meal

Juice of 1 lemon

Agave if you want

The smallest amount of water needed to blend the mixture

Blend this, put it into the fridge, after a couple of hours, blend again, this should thicken right up, place it back into the fridge. If its still too thin, put it in the freezer for 30 minutes before frosting the cake-- (or add flax or another thickener-- could add some cacao butter completely up to you).


Here is the cake out of the tin before icing

Frost the cake with the Coconut Lemon frosting, grate zest of lemon and line on the top. You can serve or put into the fridge to set up some more overnight. Voila!

Dosent time fly!

Woops been so busy with stuff..completely haven't had time to blog, is now a Bank Holiday Weekend in the UK. So I will have plenty time for uncooking and updating!!

Now dashing to the farmers market, just leaving my food journal for the past two days!

Thursday


No training day



1 pre-cut pack of mango, pineapple and kiwi (150cal)



Handful blueberries (10-15 ish)



Some dried cranberries, small amount

Friday

Light floor work, weights and some weighted chin ups

400g Pineapple

2 litres water

5-10 small tomatoes

-----------------------

More later ..now off to shop for ingredients for a weekends lovely meals :)