Summer Heat!

Well, it's gloriously warm and sunny in Scotland this last week which is great as we've had quite alot of rain so far.

I'm so enjoying lots of fruit, salads and soaked nori and olives. It's important to keep cool and drink lots of water and/or green juices. It's no wonder there is such a focus on green juices in the US where raw foodism has taken off. You won't catch me drinking much of the stuff in the winter for sure.

Anyway, off to the dentist. Making chocolate fudge later as an after shock treatment!!

Ice Cream Pie

This is a yummy treat to have once in a while.








CRUST
1/2 cup coconut, dried
1/2 cup sunflower seeds or any nut or seed you have
1/2 cup dates

Process ingredients and press into a lined flan dish.

ICE CREAM
1/2 cup coconut oil
1/2 cup cashew nuts or pine nuts
2-3 frozen bananas
vanilla (opt)
pinch sea salt

Put the oil, nuts, vanilla and salt into a blender. Add about 1/2 cup of water and then add pieces of frozen banana until the blender changes pitch and the mixture becomes thick and creamy. Pour into the pie crust and cover with clingfilm or a teflex sheet and freeze for 1-2 hours.

RASPBERRY SAUCE
1 cup any berry (raspberry, strawberry, blueberry, currants)
1/2 cup dates

Blend the above and pour onto pie. Marking slices creates a nice pattern. Or you can just create something beautiful yourself. Place pie in the fridge or freezer until you're ready to serve.

Raw Blueberry Muffins with White Chocolate Icing

Well, these are in the dehydrator right now and I must say, there is a beautiful home-baking smell of sweet cake in the air as I type. Will be making up the icing once they become dry enough.













MUFFINS
1 cup raw coconut flakes
1/2 cup flaxseed
1/2 cup almonds or sunflower seeds
1 cup blueberries
1 ripe banana
1 tsp mixed spice
1/2 cup raisins, soaked for 10 minutes in warm water
1/8 tsp sea salt

Grind the coconut, flax and nuts or seeds all together in a grinder.
Place in a mixing bowl with the spices and salt.
Process the blueberries using the pulse button just to mash them up. Add to the seed mixture.
Strain the raisins and add them into the bowl.
Mash the banana and add to the bowl. Now, thoroughly mix everything together.
Use an ice-cream scoop to make dome shapes of the mixture and place on teflex sheets.
Dry at 145 for 40 minutes (or whatever temperature you prefer) and then flip over and turn the dryer down to 115 and continue drying. This way, the muffins will be ready within 2 hours.

WHITE CHOCOLATE ICING
1/2 cup coconut oil
1/2 cup cacao butter
1/3 vanilla pod
3/4 cup lucuma or mesquite meal

Melt the cacao and coconut oil in a saucepan over a low heat (do not let simmer).
Scrape the seeds of the vanilla and add to the oils. Stir in the mesquite or lucuma.
Pour over the muffins. Place in the freezer for 10 minutes or in the fridge.

OR

BUTTER ICING
1 banana
1 cup cacao butter
1 tsp honey

Melt the cacao butter on a low heat in a saucepan. Blend with the banana.

Raw Chocolate Orange

This is my favourite chocolate recipe so far!

3/4 cup cacao butter
1/4 cup coconut oil
1/2 cup cacao powder
1/2 cup lucuma
4 drops essential sweet orange oil

Melt the butter and oil on a low heat in a saucepan, do not allow to simmer.
Carefully mix all the other ingredients into the oil, using the back of a spoon to press the mixture against the sides of the pot to properly smooth out any cacao or lucuma. Transfer to moulds or pour out onto a teflex sheet and pop into the freezer for about 20 minutes. MMmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Spaghetti On Toast

TOAST
1 cup buckwheaties
1/2 cup flax seed
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tsp caraway seeds
1/8 tsp sea salt
6-8oz water

Grind the buckwheat and flax and put into a bowl. Rub in all the ingredients, add water to make a dough. Flour your board with additional ground flax or seed or even coconut. Form into an oblong loaf. Thin slicely and dehydrate @ 105-145 until crispy.

TOMATO SAUCE
2 tomatoes
1/2 red or yellow bell pepper
1 tablespoon salad dressing (3parts oil/1 part apple vinegar)
1/4 tsp turmeric
1/4 tsp oregano
1/4 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp ginger spice
1 clove garlic
1 tsp ground flax or seed
1/4 tsp sea salt

Blend all the above ingredients until smooth and sauce-like. Mix through the zucchini and warm in a saucepan or place in the dehydrator for an hour.

SPAGHETTI
2 zucchini, grated finely or spiralized using a saladacco

Raw Caramel Shortcake (the healthier alternative)

Raw Caramel Shortcake!  Crumbly biscuit base with a caramel filling and covered in chocolate.


£5.50 per shortcake plus £3 p&p or 2 for £10 plus £3.50 p&p

Ingredients: coconut, sunflower, buckwheat, apricots, dates, irish moss, vanilla, raw chocolate 

Quantity

1 slice £8.502 slices £13.50

Jam Tarts

Lovely jam tarts to take on summer picnics. Keep in the fridge for up to 5 days. Will also freeze well.







CRUST
1 cup sunflower seeds
1/2 cup coconut
1/2 cup dates, soaked in warm water a few minutes
1-2 tsp agave syrup

JAM FILLING
1 cup apricots, soaked
1/2 cup blackberries or other berry
pinch sea salt
1 tsp psyllium seed

Make the crust by grinding up the seeds and coconut. Add to the food processor. Turn on the processor and drop in the dates one by one. Add the agave to bind if needed.
Take a small amount of the mixture and roll into a little ball slightly smaller than a golf ball. Flatten with a spatula on a hard surface and then push the disc into greased pastry cases. Dry in the dehydrator at 145 for 30 minutes. Put 2 teaspoons of the jam into the pastry cases and dry a further 30 minutes at 115 just to let the jam thicken. You can of course makes these lovely tarts without using the dehydrator at all.

To make the jam, blend all the ingredients together until you have a thick puree.

Sun Cookies!

These cookies have a lovely buttery flavour and can be dried to be chewy or soft.






1 cup sunflower seeds
1/3 cup hazlenuts
1/3 cup oat groats
1/3 cup coconut, dried
1 cup dates
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 cup flaxseed, ground

Grind all the seeds, nuts and oats together and the place in a bowl. Stir in the cinnamon and add a pinch of sea salt if you like.
Blend the dates with 1/2 cup water into a puree (use warm water and let the dates sit in the water for a few minutes before blending if they are very firm dates)
Add this paste to the nut,seed and oat mixture and mix well. Let the mixture sit for 5 minutes in the fridge to firm up a little. Take small amounts in your hand and roll into golf-sized balls. Place on a teflex sheet and use a fork to flatten them into cookies at the desired thickness. Dry at 105 flipping over halfway until completely at the texture you like. These are ideal cookies for making sandwiches with some apricot puree in the middle and you could drizzle with chocolate on top. Enjoy!

Flax Vegetable Bread

This is a nice way of using up vegetables. Experiment with what you've got if you don't have the ones I have used.



1 and 1/2 cups of flax seeds
2 zucchini
2 tomatoes
1/2 cup fresh peas
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp corinader
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp paprika
OR 2tsp of mexican spice
1/2 tsp sea salt

Put all the ingredients into the food processor and process. Use a spatula to push down the seeds that climb to the walls of the bowl and process again. When it is all mixed together transfer onto a teflex sheet and spread out to a large square using the spatula. Dry in the dehydrator at 145 for 1 hour and then flip the bread over.
Gently mark the bread into squares and continue drying at 105 until nice and firm but it should still be a little moist in the middle. You can dry it until it completely crisp if you prefer. (Use the drying temperatures you feel are right)

Gorgeous sunshine here!

The weather has been so much better lately with warm sunny days here in Scotland.

It's been a joy to start having salads once again with their life-giving nature.
I find there is such a need for copious amounts of water during warm dry weather and drinking instead of eating is taking a bit of getting used to. Also, when I do eat, I'm looking for more savoury vegetable salad meals to replenish the salts which helps to hydrate the body in the summer. so, have fun in the sun and stay hydrated until next time.

Mint Chocolate Cheesecake

BISCUIT BASE
2 cups buckwheaties (dehydrated buckwheat sprouts)
3/4 cup coconut oil
pinch sea salt
2 tsp lucuma or mesquite meal
squirt agave syrup

Melt the coconut oil in a pot by swirling it just above the flame until melted. Don't let it sizzle or burn.
Put all the dry ingredients into the food processor. Turn it on and pour in the coconut oil. Add a little agave to help it bind. You will have a loosely held together crumble mix. Press into a pie case and smooth out. Sit in the fridge.

FILLING
1 cup mixed dates and apricots
1 cup mixed coconut and sunflower seeds
2 tsp cacao
1 tsp agave or honey
1 drop mint essence

Soak the fruit in warm water for a few minutes to soften.
Put the dry ingredients into the food processor. Drop in the fruit and add a little honey or agave to bring it together. Roll out the 'fudge' mixture into a circle to fit over your biscuit base. You may only need to use half of the mixture. You can make fudge balls with the leftovers!

CHOCOLATE TOPPING

1/2 cup cacao butter, grated
1 tablespoon coconut oil
1/2 cup cacao powder
2 tablespoons mesquite or carob or lucuma

Make a bain marie (sit a glass bowl in a pan of simmering water so that the glass bowl is held by the sides but does not touch the water) and melt the butters. Stir in the cacao powder and mesquite or carob or lucuma. Check for sweetness, add a little agave if you like but I like the chocolate topping to be a little bitter as the rest of the cheesecake is quite sweet.

Pour the melted chocolate over the pie filling and let it set in the freezer for about 20 minutes. Then, you can transfer the pie to the fridge as you don't want the base and filling to freeze solid.

Great for a special occasion. Enjoy!

Ps, Alternatively, you can add the mint essence to the chocolate topping as opposed to the filling.

Banana Crepe or Pancake

I made these first thing this morning so they were ready by mid morning. They are delicously light yet satisfying. Put your favourite fillings into them and enjoy.

4 large bananas
1 cup flaxseed, ground
1 tsp ginger spice
pinch sea salt

Process in a food processor until you have a creamy batter. Take a tablespoonful or the mixture and make circular crepes, spreading out thinly. Dry on the teflex sheet at 145 for an hour then flip over and continue drying at 145 for another hour. They may be ready now. If not, turn dryer down and continue drying until completely pliable and dry. Fill with your favourite raw fruit jam.

Raw Chocolate Orange Cake

This is a delicious chocolate orange cake which is quite mousse like. You can double the cacao butter if you want it to be richer and more solid but I like to keep the fat down this time of year.

1/2 cup cacao butter, melted
1/2 cup blueberries
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup goji berries
2 medjool dates
1 orange rind
1 tsp purple corn extract
2 tsp maca
1/2 cup cacao powder
1 tablespoon hemp protein powder
dash sea salt
1 tsp ginger
1 tsp mixed spice
dash chilli powder
vanilla (opt)
1 1/2- 2 cups water

Melt the cacao butter or warm to soften by putting in a glass bowl over a pot of hot water. Put the blueberries, gojis and other ingredients into a vitamix, except the cacao. Add 1 and 1/2 cups water to get going. Add in the cacao with the mixer running and pour in the cacao butter. Add a little extra water if you need to.
Line a bowl or dish with plastic food wrap and pour in the chocolate mixture. Cover and allow to set in the fridge. Turn out onto a plate and decorate with fresh fruits in season. You can keep this cake in the fridge and just thaw out a piece when you want it. Enjoy! It really is delicious.

Glorious Muesli

1 cup goji berries
1 cup dried coconut
1 cup raisins
1/2 cup chopped dates or apricots
1/2 cup hemp seeds or pumpkins
1/2 cup of buckwheates or crushed flax crackers

Mix together in a bowl and store in an airtight container. To serve, make up any seed or nut milk and pour over the muesli, top with fresh blueberries and strawberries (opt)

Delicious!

The Cost of Tradition

It seems that there is a great trend here in Britain to keep to tradition. I wonder at the cost this view is having on environmental issues and animal welfare. On the one hand, we have people saying it's okay to eat the animals as long as they have a good life, albeit short. Given the choice, would these people prefer a short happy life or a long happy life? Such a contradiction.

We may also need to address how we celebrate things like Christmas, Thanksgiving day and Easter. In this modern age, is it still right to be breeding millions of turkeys just so we can dish it up at the table on the said day? As the level of consciousness grows amongst the population, it may be time to start asking these kind of questions and really looking at what we are doing for the sake of tradition!

Broccoli Tomato Soup

It's been a while since I had a nice soup but I made this today and really enjoyed it.

2 large tomatoes
3 large broccoli florets
1/4 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp oregano
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
2 tsp agave syrup or 1 date
1/4 tsp sea salt

Lovely served over grated zucchini and nori strips. Yum.

Delicious Seed Pate

This is a lovely pate to have in the fridge to dip your crackers or vegetable in any time.

1/2 cup sunflower or pumpkin seeds or mix.
1/2 red bell or yellow bell pepper
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp paprika
juice 1/2 lemon
1/4 tsp sea salt

Blend the above with water up to the same amount as the ingredients in the blender. Pour into a jar and allow to thicken in the fridge.

Raw Intelligence

Well, all I can say is that when you are raw, the body sometimes does it's own thing and you (the ego) have no control over it. We're moving towards a full moon and the equinox all in the same week and there is strong expanding energy influences. This has affected me in the last week with a strong cleanse, where I have been put in the position of resting and juicing with frequent trips to the bathroom. I'm beginning to feel stronger now but am going slowly with food. This kind of thing also happened around the same time last year and the year before, in fact probably every springtime since being raw. So, if you're feeling a little out of sorts at this time, don't despair. It's just the raw intelligence of your body at work. Take it easy and enjoy some invaluable 'me' time.

Breakfast at New Moon

This morning I hopped out of bed and immediately started eating blueberries. I normally get up and have hot water and lemon/ginger but today I just wanted to eat.
Whether it's because we have a new moon tonight or not I don't know but the last few days I've been eating a little more. I followed the berries with some rich chocolate milk (recipe on the previous posting.) Delicious and filling until lunchtime. Eating lightly for lunch as I'll be doing a liver flush later tonight.

Rich Chocolate Milk

I made this today and it was delicious. I think the combo of maca, mesquite and cacao make it uniquely rich and flavoursome.

Milk
1/2 - 1 cup almonds, soaked
3 x the amount of almonds you use as water eg. 3 cups water to 1 cup of almonds

Blend up the nuts and water. Strain the mixture and pour the milk back into the blender. Add in the following:-

1 tablespoon cacao powder
3 tsp maca powder
3 tsp mesquite powder
1 handful raisins dried
1 inch of vanilla bean
pinch sea salt
1 tsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp mixed spice (opt)
pinch cayenne