Raw Lifestyle

Raw Chocolate Truffles new

2012-01-24T06:21:00.000-08:00

Divine melt-in-your-mouth 100% Raw Chocolate Lovehearts! A soft-centred dark chocolate truffle surrounded by a white chocolate outer and decorated with gojiberries or rose petals. Perfect for a Valentine's treat or for the celebration of love anytime. Raw Chocolate Bliss!

Eight chocolates per bag

£6.99

pm me on Facebook for an invoice or email me info'at'rawlifestyle.co.uk

Raw Chocoloate Granola NEW

2011-09-16T04:21:00.000-07:00

The Autumn is here! Needing something more hearty, warming and filling? I've created a superfood charged Raw Chocolate Granola for you to enjoy with the following ingredients:- buckwheaties, cacao, gojiberries, coconut, pumpkin seed, walnut, aswaganda, suma, maca, coconut oil, raw honey, cinnamon, ginger. Pour over your favourite nut or seed milk for a delicious breakfast or snack.

Coconut Creme Igloos (aka raw snowballs!) NEW!

2011-08-05T05:03:00.000-07:00

These delicious creamy coconut igloos (or snowballs) are a light enough treat to have in the summer season or anytime for that matter! I used to love those commercial sickly sweet snowballs my mom used to buy. But, thankfully, these are are not those! I have created a raw, organic version for you to enjoy using healthy coconut. Dark crackly chocolate on the outside, smooth soft cream on the inside. This raw version of 'snowballs' is a healthy and rich creamy/chocolatey treat!

Raw cream-filled Eclairs with Chocolate!!!

2011-07-11T08:02:00.000-07:00

A perfect summer treat for you! Raw cream-filled chocolate-iced Eclairs by Anabrese. A delicious raw take on the popular eclair, these Raw versions are healthy, nutritious and absolutely yummy. Not too sweet either as all our cakes are pretty much low-mod GI. Almond based layers filled with a generous amount of 'cardamon vanilla cream' and then topped with delicious dark raw chocolate.

2 eclairs

£12.00 (p&p=4.20)

4 eclairs

£24 (p&p = 6.00)

170g per eclair

Ingredients:- almonds, lucuma, coconut, raw honey, vanilla, macademia nuts, pine nuts, cacao, coconut butter, cacao powder, cacao paste, sea salt, spices, poppy seeds.

Delicious Whole Raw Cakes - white or dark chocolate Icing!

2011-03-22T05:31:00.000-07:00

Whole Raw Cakes available. Delicious goji/chocolate cake with creamy purple filling and then topped with the icing of your choice - choose from butterscotch white or dark chocolate icing. The white chocolate tastes just like vanilla tablet/butterscotch to me.

Whole Cakes are £24 plus £6 p&p.
(They are about the same size as a Victoria Sandwich)
Includes organic seeds and nuts, gojiberries, raw chocolate
and coconut cream filling w/purple extract)

Whole Raw Cake

Please view my posts below for further food offers!

Giza Raw Chocolate Biscuit!

2011-03-19T05:21:00.000-07:00

Tastes like a chocolate digestive and is a great treat to have with a cuppa. Crunchy on the inside, rich, dark chocolate on the outside, the combo is delicious! Yum.

Crunchy on the inside with with dark chocolate on the outside. Made with raw buckwheat cereal, coconut butter, raw cacao-rich chocolate and lightly sweetened with mesquite and raw honey.

Puts the 'is' back into biscuit.

*Special Offer* throughout August, Free complimentary Raw Mint Pyramid with every order!!!

For further food offerings, please see the listings below

Raw Lifestyle Bites - Anabrese's Three Wishes!

2011-03-08T04:30:00.000-08:00

These are the foods that I would put on my Raw Wish List. So, here are my top 3 food wishes I would like to share with you!

Raw Chocolate Gateaux ( 1 medium slice)

Smoothe, rich chocolate taste with a yummy purple cream filling and a pure chocolate icing!

Ingredients:-almonds, brazils, sesame seed, lucuma, cacao, coconut oil, purple corn extract, vanilla, cacao butter, raw honey

Chocolate Fondant Love Hearts 80g

A wonderful succulent coconut fondant centre enveloped in dark chocolate. Very decadent.

Ingredients:- coconut, coconut oil, oil of peppermint, cacao butter, lucuma,mesquite, vanilla, raw honey

Focaccia Crispbread 100g

A very tasty crisp bread with Italian seasoning to enjoy with your favourite dip or spread.

Ingredients:- sprouted buckwheat, pumpkin, flax, olive oil, herbs, tomato, olives, herbs, garlic, sea salt

All 3 for only £15!!!

(+£3 p&p)

For Cake and Chocolates Only, please order below

2x Chocolate Fondant Lovehearts
1x Rich Chocolate Gateaux slice
(or you can ask for it the other way round ie less chocolate, more cake!)

£15 plus £3 p&p

St Valentine's Themed Potluck Postie

2011-02-08T03:47:00.001-08:00

St Valentine's Themed Potluck Postie!!!

Enjoy a selection of Raw 'LOVE' Treats especially made for you!

£15 including delivery. Posting date 10th February. Or, if you desire only chocolate, see the post below for delicious white and dark raw chocolates by Anabrese.

White & Dark Chocolate Lovehearts & Roses - St Valentine's

2011-01-25T06:07:00.000-08:00

Sit back and enjoy these especially smooth white and dark chocolates joyfully created by Anabrese.

Each bag contains a mixture of white and dark raw chocolate lovehearts and roses for your pleasure and delight. Will it be dark or white? Choose from sweet sensuous creamy white or dark velvety cacao spice.

A lovely gift to yourself or to share with a loved one for Valentine's Day or for anytime you would like to lose yourself in some raw chocolate bliss!

These chocolates are creamy, smooth and velvety rich melt-in-your-mouth yummy!

Ingredients:-cacao butter, coconut oil, mesquite, lucuma, cacao, maca, purple corn extract, coconut, ginger, chilli, xylitol, raw organic honey, essential oil of orange.

70g Mixed white and dark raw chocolates - £4.95

P&P=£1.95

For multiple orders and discounts, send me an email: info'at'rawlifestyle.co.uk Replace 'at' with @

Winter Warming Croquettes & Beet Dip!

2011-01-08T05:03:00.000-08:00

It's January and very wintry with snow appearing yet again today. It looked so pretty last night, virgin snow on the road outside. This morning, I could see a single fox's pawprints marked out across the road.

Had a lovely dinner last night. My mini croquettes and 'very pink beet dip' (oh, say that fast!) Lovely and warming for this time of year.    Here is the recipe but it's more of a method as opposed to a fixed recipe.

You know how raw root veggies can be a bit hard to eat/digest for some and may not even be that appetising to you?   They're not to me anyhow. So, using this method is a great way of putting seasonal veggies to good use, and taste!

Start by blending a selection of veggies you have around. I used approx.

1 slice butternut squash
1 tomato
a few florets broccoli
1 courgette
1/2 onion
1 clove garlic
1/2 parsnip (just because it was sitting there doing nothing!)

Put all these veggies into your vitamix or blender and add enough warm water to cover up to about 1/2 of the level of your veggies in the blender.   Now, add a dash of salt and blend until smooth.
Next, strain your veggies through a sieve, mashing it through with a spoon until you have veggie pulp. You could use a nut bag but I prefer a sieve for this and I don't actually want the pulp too dry. Set aside.

Next, grind up 1/2 cup sunflower seeds, 1/2 cup pumpkin seeds and a few brazils in your nut grinder. Place this into a mixing bowl. Now, add your favourite dried or fresh herbs. I used the ones below but you can use whatever you like. Sage can be really nice too.

1/2 tsp oregano,
a dash turmeric,
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp paprika,
1 tsp sea spice,
dash kelp

Now stir in 2 tablespoons to start with of your veggie pulp and work it in until you have what looks like a thick nut pate.

Check seasoning, adding sea salt to your taste and more spice if you desire it? Make sure it tastes good to you.

Sprinkle your teflex sheet with ground flaxseed. Then, put dessertspoons of the mixture onto the teflex sheets until you use up the mixture. Dry @145F for 30-45 mins then flip over and dry for a further hour until they are to your desired 'dryness'.   It's better waiting until they're dried out a bit before trying to shape them.

These are so easy to make, I hope you enjoy them!

Here is the beet dip I made for them.

1/2 beet
2 handfuls macademia nut or pinenuts
pinch sea salt or to taste
squeeze lemon juice
pinch cayenne or ginger

Blend with a little water until smooth and creamy.

For more of my raw recipes, please see 'Raw Lunchbox', 'Raw Chocolate Treats' and 'Raw Christmas & Thanksgiving Recipes' ebooks.

Raw Muesli

2010-11-14T03:21:00.000-08:00

Made a lovely big box of raw muesli for this season. It's really easy to do and saves you a lot of fiddling around mixing all your ingredients separately. I used oats, buckwheaties, bilberries, sunflowers, pumpkins, hazelnuts, coconut, apricots, raisins, cacao nibs, bee pollen.

Served with hemp milk and a little xylitol or honey to sweeten, yum.

Nut Clusters & Hot Chocolate

2010-10-23T04:37:00.000-07:00

In these damp and cold Autumn days, I really enjoy a cup of creamy hot chocolate with something sweet that is quick to make if I have nothing raw already made up.

To make instant hot chocolate, just blend the following:-

1 cup hot water (you can use your seed milk if you have some)
2 tsp cacao powder
2 tsp mesquite meal
1-2 tsp favourite sweetner ie honey or xylitol or agave
1 pinch sea salt (brings out the flavour)
pinch cinnamon and ginger (opt)
1 handful macademia or pine nuts or brazils

Blend until creamy and adjust sweetening, spices

Raisin/nut clusters

1 cup nuts (macs, brazils, almonds)
1/2 cup raisins
little water or orange juice
cacao powder

Process the nuts, then add the raisins and process again. Add a little water to make a sticky dough. Break off small pieces and roll in cacao powder.

Enjoy!

Potluck Postie NEW

2010-10-20T06:47:00.000-07:00

Inspired by Emma's desire for pre-made raw snacks, I offer you the Potluck Postie!

This is a weekly service when I will send out a small selection/sample of whatever I have been creating in the raw kitchen. It will mainly include things like savoury bread, crackers, cookies, chocolate, cereal, cake (although not all at the same time!).

For example, this week's selection included:-

Buckwheat garlic/tomato/onion bread

Coconut/fruity/cacao soft cookies

Crunchy buckwheat/oat biscuits with coconut icing

You can let me know of your favourite foods for future PP's and if any ingredients are a 'no no' for you.

Generally, the idea is that the Potluck Postie (PP) is a surprise package, however, if you would like to know in advance of the general type of food I'm making, just drop me a PM through facebook or email me at info'at'rawlifestyle.co.uk (replace 'at' with @)

All payments need to be received by Tuesday 10am for that week and food will generally be despatched Thursday.

Prices are 15 pounds per parcel including P&P mainland UK. You can also opt to buy the Raw Christmas Hamper here instead of at the xmas site. Price includes delivery.

Payment Options

Potluck Postie Feedback:-

Was delighted to receive my Potluck Postie package – didn’t know what it was and when I opened it all these lovely little parcels fell out…. Each one was absolutely delicious and I was in danger of eating all of them at once. I am SO looking forward to the next delivery.Vikki

I love this idea - I don't have to make any decisions and I get a surprise package! Everything this week was great, especially the chocolate cereal bars and the almond cookies - delicious. The food arrived in good condition, so no problems with the packaging. The food really helped me to cope with a busy schedule, and I am going to order as often as finances will allow. Thank you so much for this. Julia

I just wanted to send you a little email to thank you for the delicious potluck postie.. I must admit it made my day when i arrived home from a long days work to find my goodie bag waiting for me :)) and the contents topped it all off.. they were absolutely delicious.. Robert

Last week was my first postie. My two year old daughter loved the white chocolate flax seed crackers! Finally a healthy biscuit/treat that I can feel good about sharing with her. Tracy

Hi...Ive been meaning to email you for days to say I really enjoyed the goodies in the last postie potluck...they were delicious. I tried to make them last as long as possible but didnt quite manage it! Jenni

Next Day Sprouted Buckwheat Cereal!

2010-09-10T06:06:00.000-07:00

A tip for producing next day sprouted buckwheat cereal.

Soak buckwheat around midday (a kilo is good if you're going to be dehydrating into crunchy buckwheat cereal.) Leave to soak for 30 minutes. Strain over a sink. Cover the buckwheat with a tea towel which will accelerate the sprouting time. Next morning the buckwheat is sprouted ready for eating or dehdyrating into bucky cereal.

Tomato and Walnut Pate

2010-07-05T09:06:00.001-07:00

This is a lovely pate to use in nori rolls or as a spread on flax bread. Enjoy!

2 whole tomatoes
4 sundried tomatoes, soaked
3/4 cup walnuts, soaked
1 carrot
1/2 tsp cumin powder
1/8 tsp turmeric, ground
1/2 tsp oregano, dried
sea salt to taste

Quarter the whole tomatoes and chop the carrot. Put the spices/herbs into the food processor. Add the tomatoes, carrot and walnuts and process into a pate. Check seasoning, add more salt to taste if required.

Raw Mocha!!! Hot Chocolate!!!

2010-03-19T14:55:00.000-07:00

I have to say this is a delicious drink throughout the long cold winter we have here in Scotland. It has kept me warm this winter and I think I am going to miss it in the summer!

1 large cup almond milk (made from blending 1 part nut to 3 parts water and then straining the pulp)
1/3 vanilla pod
2-3 teaspoons raw cacao
2-3 teapsoons mesquite meal
1 teaspoon maca (opt)
1 teaspoon purple corn extract
dash cinnamon and ginger
dash agave syrup (opt)
pinch sea salt
cacao liquor for grating on the frothy top

Blend up the almond milk with all of the above ingredients until smooth. Sweeten to taste with a little agave syrup and blend until creamy. Warm up in a saucepan and then give it another whizz in the blender before pouring into a tall glass. Grate the liquor over the top. Enjoy!!!

Raw Gold Chocolate Gift Box - Valentine's Gift!!!

2009-10-16T04:08:00.000-07:00

165gms of pure chocolate bliss!

4 varieties of chocolates:-

mint chocolate crunch (with buckwheaties)

orange hazelnut squares

tropical delight (sesame/coconut coated in dark chocolate)

chocolate truffles (hazelnut/sesame, cacao, spices)

Sorry, the 'Chocolate Boxes' are no longer available but if you want to make your own delicious chocolates like these see 'Raw Chocolate Treats' for the recipes!

Raw Chocolate Treats ebook is here!!!

2009-03-10T05:08:00.000-07:00

Raw Chocolate Treats by Anabrese

Make Your Own Raw Chocolate at Home!!

The recipes are simple enough to give every chocolate lover a unique creative experience.

Making your own raw chocolate at home is rewarding, good fun and even cheaper than buying commercially available chocolate bars. You can become your very own raw chocolatier in your own home making raw chocolates for yourself, your family and as gifts for friends. The book also includes delicious chocolate-tasting desserts.

Have a chocolicious day!

2008-11-10T06:33:00.000-08:00

Well, it's that time of year again where all the advertising of food, food, glorious food hits you in the face everywhere. It can be very tempting for new raw foodies to eat some of the familiar comfort food they grew up with. But, you don't have to succumb to all that stodgy, depleting heavy food that's on offer at your aunties. I have made it easy for you by producing a book chock full of the most tantalising, delicious, feel-good food you can imagine on a raw diet. If you prepare a little in advance of your social gatherings over Christmas, you will enjoy the lifeforce of raw food at its best and most delicious. On that note, have a wonderful merry time and enjoy all the other wonderful things about this time of year, as well as the food!

Autumn Food

2008-09-01T06:34:00.000-07:00

Hi, we're on the tip of the Autumn here in Scotland and I notice how food choices are moving out of the summer salad and fruit fare to thoughts of warming and filling treats and pies. A super choice right now is soup with it's warm, comforting and smooth effect on mind, body and spirit. A little flat bread could be a good accompaniment or mixed vegetables warmed up and a cream dressing added. Whatever you decide to have, enjoy the new season and I'll speak to you soon.

Petit Pain (Raw Bread)

2008-08-12T05:21:00.000-07:00

We're moving into the Autumn here in Scotland now and I have been making bread over the last few days experimenting with different recipes. Here is one for you to try.

1 cup sprouted and dehydrated spelt
1/2 cup flax seed
1/2 cup sesame seed
1 tsp asofetida or other spice
1 tsp carraway seeds
dash sea salt
1 tablespoon olive or sesame oil
coconut oil as butter on warm bread

Grind up the spelt and seeds in a grinder until a course flour. Transfer to a bowl and add salt and spices. Use your fingertips to rub in the oil. Add a little water at a time until you have dough.

Transfer to your worktop and use ground buckwheat flour or flax to prevent the board getting sticky. Divide the bread mixture into about 8 even pieces. Take one piece and roll into a long 'snake'. Cut into 3 and make a plait. Or, you can simply slice your bread bun into thin slices.
Dry in the dehydrator @145 for 1-2 hours.

Delicious warm out of the dryer with coconut oil!

Chocolate Brownies

2008-08-06T01:40:00.001-07:00

1 cup buckwheat/flax flour (1/2 cup each of buckwheaties and flax seeds ground)
1/2 cup cacao
2 tablespoons mesquite meal
4 soaked figs
4 soaked apricots
1 apple
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp spirulina
1 tsp mixed spice
2 tsp coconut oil or olive oil
pinch sea salt

Put all the dry ingredients into the food processor, then add the soaked fruit and process until you have a dough. Place fudge-like dough on a teflex sheet and place another one on top. Use a rolling pin to roll out to about 1cm thick. Cut off the edges to make a neat square. Mark into squares. You can leave as it is or place in the dehydrator to dry out the oil slightly @ 145 for 45 minutes, turn over halfway to do the underside. Or, just place in the fridge until you're ready to put the icing on if you're using it. You could just make a chocolate sauce and pour it over the brownies before serving!

ICING
1/2 cup coconut oil
2 tablespoons mesquite
1 tsp cacao
vanilla
orange oil (opt)

Melt the coconut oil and stir in the mesquite until it is like a thick soup. Pour over fudge and set in the freezer or fridge. Cut brownies into squares and store in the fridge up to a week or the freezer.

Wild Raspberry Trifle

2008-07-28T06:19:00.000-07:00

Base
1 cup raspberries
3 medjool dates

Custard
1 mango
1 banana
2 tsp psyllium
3 dates
1 tsp coconut oil

Cream
1 cup pine nuts
vanilla
lemon juice
1-3 tsp agave syrup
pinch salt

Make up trifle by blending each set of ingredients up to make a layer. Pour into nice moulds and decorate with raspberries (you can mash them with some agave to make a sauce) and sprinkle with cacao nibs. Enjoy!

My Lovely Raw Pet Rats!

2008-07-28T06:13:00.000-07:00

We have 3 lovely female rats named Coco, Suma and Poppy. We feed them raw foods as they are the best foods nutritionally for all animals on the planet.

Each day I set out a raw banquet for them and they are healthy, energetic and have silky fur.
Occasionally, we give them a little box of wheatgrass to dig in the mud for the wheatberries. They also like to chew the grass.

Today's menu
pomegranate
mung beans
chick peas
lettuce
sunflower sprouts
nori
mixed grains

Flat Bread

2008-07-27T01:26:00.000-07:00

1 cup buckwheaties
1 cup flax
1 cup sesame seeds
1 tsp carraway seeds
dash sea salt
1 tablespoon olive oil

Grind buchwheaties, sesame seeds and flax into a course flour. Transfer to a bowl, add salt and oil, mix. Stir in carraway seeds. Add enough water to make a dough. Divide mixture into 8 pieces. Take each piece and roll out into a flat round. Place on dehydrator tray and dry until firm but still bread-like. ( I personally dry at 135 for 30 minutes, then turn it over and dry @105 for another 30 minutes )Serve with fresh hummus and salad topping or any soup.

Summer Heat!

2008-07-24T05:34:00.001-07:00

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

2008-07-13T04:45:00.001-07:00

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

2008-06-25T07:29:00.000-07:00

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

2008-06-21T06:41:00.000-07:00

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

2008-06-18T02:40:00.001-07:00

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)

2008-06-05T04:13:00.000-07:00

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

Jam Tarts

2008-05-18T02:23:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-05-11T01:53:00.000-07:00

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

2008-05-11T01:44:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-05-10T23:16:00.001-07:00

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

2008-04-15T03:54:00.001-07:00

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

2008-04-12T04:42:00.001-07:00

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

2008-04-08T05:02:00.001-07:00

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

2008-03-28T03:48:00.000-07:00

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

2008-03-23T06:07:00.000-07:00

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

2008-03-23T06:02:00.000-07:00

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

2008-03-18T05:12:00.000-07:00

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

2008-03-16T02:55:00.000-07:00

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

2008-03-07T02:02:00.000-08:00

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

2008-03-06T06:30:00.000-08:00

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

Chocolate Truffles

2008-03-05T07:46:00.001-08:00

I've been making these the last couple of days. Yum.

The ones in the picture have raspberry added.

1 cup soaked dried fruit (figs, apricots, raisins)
1/2 cup cacao powder
2 tablespoons coconut or sesame seed
cacao for rolling in

Only soak fruit for about 5 minutes. Strain the water. Add all the dry ingredients to the food processor. Run the processor and drop the fruit in a little at a time.
Process until you have a sticky dough. Take small pieces and roll into balls, dip in cacao powder.

Springtime cleansing

2008-03-05T04:04:00.000-08:00

Well, it's March now and the nights are getting a bit longer each day as we move toward the spring equinox on the 21st of the month.

It always amazes me how the body just starts to do it's own thing around this time of year with liver cleansing in mind. Desire for food is less and there's a move towards eating nice light fruits and salad even although it is still a bit cool. Seeds and nuts are minimised as the body adjust to a lighter cleansing diet.

I also enjoy saunas this time of year and especially infra red at the moment as it's like getting sunshine into the body when there may be snow and hail outside.

Useful tips for cleansing the body of it's winter excesses is to do the following.

Take lemon/ginger water in the morning with a little honey.
Follow an hour later with a teaspoon of milk thistle seeds sucked and chewed.

Then have a nice light breakfast of juicy fruit like blueberries, strawberries or apples. If you prefer have a smoothie.

For lunch, have a nice kale salad with onion, corn, courgette and carrot. some grated beet is good too and good for the liver. A light dressing of flax oil and lemon juice is good with some pressed garlic. A soup is a good option too as you may find salad and fruit a little cooling.

I made a really nice noodle soup yesterday which I enjoyed eating with chopsticks.

NOODLE SOUP

1 courgette, 1/2 of which is grated
1 large tomato
1 tsp slippery elm or flax seed
1 tsp miso
knob of ginger
1 clove garlic
1/2 tsp oregano
pinch turmeric
sea salt
sea spaghetti or thongweed or strip of nori

Half the courgette and grate half of it and place in your soup bowl. In another bowl put a handful of sea spaghetti and 1/2 chopped onion in it. Pour on just boiled water to blanch. After 5 minutes strain the liquid from the sea veg into your blender and add the other half of the courgette with the tomato, herbs, spices, elm powderand miso with enough warm water to cover. Blend until smooth. Pour over the grated courgette, blanched sea spaghetti and onion. Eat with chopsticks for fun.

Super Smoothie

2008-03-01T08:00:00.001-08:00

If you want a smoothie that fills you up for a while, this is it.

1 cup strawberries
1 banana
handful goji berries
2 tsp maca
2 tsp cacao
1 tsp bee pollen
1/2 tsp spirulina
pinch sea salt
pinch cayenne
1 tsp coconut oil (opt)

Place ingredients into a blender and pour cold or warm water to the level of the food. Blend until smooth. Add more water if you want it thinner. Enjoy. There's so much nutrition in this smoothie, it is filling.

Apple/banana cookies without seeds/nuts

2008-02-29T04:22:00.001-08:00

Made up some apple banana cookies today as it was raining and I like doing things like that on a rainy day.

2 apples
2 bananas
1/2 cup buckwheat flour (made from ground sprouted and dried buckwheat)
1 tablespoon coconut (okay just a little nut for taste and flavour)
1 tablespoon of hemp protein powder
1 teaspoon mixed spice
1 tsp dried ginger
1 tsp maca powder
pinch salt
1/2 tsp spirulina (opt) makes cookies green in colour!

Process all the above in a food processor. Take spoonfuls of the mixture and place on a teflex sheet. Dehydrate for 2-3 hours at 145 turning over halfway.

Keeping Warm

2008-02-25T10:10:00.001-08:00

I was feeling pretty cold today as the weather has been non-stop heavy rain and being the middle of February, pretty cold winds too. I had been eating small amounts of fruit and a vegetable mix. When I had some chocolate I got a little warmer. It wasn't until I had my rich spicy tomato soup that I truly warmed up. Here is the recipe if you need to warm your bones wherever you are.

2 large tomatoes
1/2 red bell pepper
1/2 courgette
1 teaspoon coconut oil
2 teaspoons pumpkin seeds
1/2 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp paprika
1/8 tsp turmeric
knob ginger
a couple of slices of onion
1 tsp unpasteurized miso
dash sea salt or to taste
pinch cayenne

Put ingredients into a blender and add warm water to the same level as the veggies. Blend until smooth and creamy.

Chocolate Cake

2008-02-17T01:55:00.000-08:00

There's something about Sunday that makes you want to relax and almost imitate the coffee/cafe culture/newspaper in hand kind of day. I thought I would attempt a chocolate cake. I was following a recipe I saw on youtube that seemed simple but wanted to change a few ingredients so it wasn't so nutty. Instead of cashews I used coconut. I also used a little less dried fruit as we don't like things too sweet.
As I went along I really had to adapt the whole thing. In the video they put the ingredients into a vitamix but I knew from experience this wasn't going to work (in the US they seems to have wider jugs). I processed the ingredients in my food processor instead and then blended up a little of the mixture in the vitamix into a sauce to stir through the processed mixture. All in all, I will do my own thing next time but it introduced me to making raw cake so that it comes out like solid chocolate and you can actually cut a nice triangular piece.
raw chocolate cake

Winter Into Spring

2008-02-12T04:55:00.000-08:00

It's been a cold winter but at last the snowdrops are here and the crocuses and daffodils are showing face. The sun has been out for the last few days too making the it almost seem like summer with the way the light is getting stronger. This morning however, I woke up to a very frosty and cold misty day.

I put on the flax crackers straight away so they should be ready early evening. For breakfast I had an apple followed by pear and banana custard. For lunch I made a zucchini, carrot and yellow pepper salad, sprinkled with some savoury pumpkin seeds that come out just like roasted seeds. I have also had a few chocolate hearts (well, just preparing for Valentines Day).

I have spent some time getting a slideshow onto this page for you to view my recipe pictures. Some of these recipes will be in my raw food recipe book, due out at the end of March.