FREESTYLE RAW CHOCOLATE BROWNIE

This is a no food processor recipe. I have been experimenting with raw foods since a while and always wanted to try some raw chocolate brownies.

I was meeting up with some people this week and thought that this would be a good reason to finally try making some raw, vegan sweets that also taste nice.

Drool!

Now, my process of cooking often works like this. I get an idea of what I want to make, check the internet to get a vague idea what goes into the recipe, then I get the ingredients and throw them together how it feels right.

I also don’t have a food processor and if you are really into the raw foods you probably need one, but I just have to improvise.
This cake isn’t 100% raw, coz I bought ground almonds and hazelnuts, which are already roasted. If you want truly raw nuts you’ll probably have to do some research and order them over the net, coz I don’t think most regular organic shops sell them. And if they do sell them, they are most likely not ground yet. So yeah, the food processor problem..

Anyways, I got the ingredients and then just eyeballed it.

This is roughly what I used(and btw, this recipe is for about 4 people),

ground almonds 2 cup(about 200gr)
ground hazelnuts 1 cup(about 100gr)
cocoa powder 2 tbsp

1/2 cup banana (no chips, I think they are disgusting, get the chewy kind)
1/2 cup dates
If you have no banana use more dates instead or use raisins or whatever you like, this is just for taste and sweetness.

coconut oil 8 tbsp
thickened apple juice sweetener 6 tbsp (I don’t like agave juice, I think it’s too processed, also apples=more local)
lukewarm water 1/2 cup

Mix the almonds, hazelnut and cocoa powder.

Chop the banana and dates really finely, dump into the mix.

Warm up the coconut oil gently, don’t overheat it to keep the most of its healthy properties, mix it with the lukewarm water and the sweetener, dump into the mix and stir til everything is mixed nicely.
Taste mixture and make sure you like it.

I used a cute, little square dish(that I found in the street sometime) to put the mixture in. It’s about 15cmx15cm.

Put into fridge over night.

Cut into small slices.

Enjoy.

Great texture. And it cuts really well!

Backstory:
The reason I wanted to make something with coconut oil is, that there was a person with dementia at the gathering, so I thought I would make something with extra virgin coconut oil.
Some people swear by the use of coconut oil to treat and prevent Alzheimer and dementia. I know eating it once probably won’t help much, but it can’t hurt, right?!

It’s funny when you meet with people that are a bit conservative and ..somehow set in their ways(most families?) and you tell them “I made some vegan cake and this is the first time I tried it, so I hope you like it!”. I was a bit nervous to be honest.
And after they had a slice you tell them, “By the way, I also didn’t cook it and there is no flour in it!”
And what do they do?! They say they like it and take another slice!!
You know, that’s the feeling of satisfaction.

That was cool. So the cake was a success and I know another healthy, vegan treat I can make for myself when I have cravings for something sweet.

Which raw, vegan treats have you tried making?

EAT YOUR TREES

So I went on this ‘herb walk’/forage tour on Saturday and it was pretty awesome!! I loved it. The woman who was doing it, Elisabeth Westphal, did a really great job, she is really enthusiastic about nature, plants and the environment and you can really feel that.

The tour went for 3 hours and by the end I was pretty beat. It was  quite exhausting, how Elisabeth does it I don’t know, she’s full of energy, I think it’s coz she eats wild herbs every day. Must be good for you!

Anyways, it was really interesting to find out and learn new things. For example, we started the tour with edible leaves of trees. I didn’t know you could eat the young leaves and flowers of linden trees for example. And there are different kinds of linden trees. We tried the summer and the winter variety. The young leaves of the summer variety are really soft. And they get really slimey when you eat them. That’s supposed to be good for you.

winter linden tree

Also you can eat most pine trees. I knew that, but I didn’t quite believe it. Most of them taste disgusting. You only eat the young shoots and you can make tea from them. They taste really strong. By the way, is any tree that has needles called a pine tree in English and what are foliage trees called?

Some pine tree, I think it’s a larch.

Also, what I didn’t know is, you can eat, I think all, fruit tree leaves. Pretty cool. I tried some apple leaves and they have a really interesting, particular taste. Like a flowery, apple taste.

soft, furry apple leaves

This is a really popular plant in Germany, Bärlauch, which means ramson or wild garlic.

one of my favourite finds, I wanna make some pesto with it

Riding my bike through the forest, I found the smell rather offensive in the past, coz it’s really strong. You can buy this shit in pesto at the organic shop. Of curz I had to try it and it tastes quite nice. The store-bought pesto smells and tastes really grassy, but then developes a very piquant flavour. Almost spicy, nutty.

I liked the fresh flower, fruit thing better then the freshly picked leaves. They are really fresh and juicy and the little balls pop in your mouth. The flavour is very leeky, garlicy.

You can also eat a lot of flowers and use them as edible decoration, like for example, forget me nots.

Pretty!

But don’t eat the buttercups, they are poisenous!

Pretty beech tree. Edible too, in parts.

Yeah, so the forage tour was really successful and I could write lots more, but maybe another time. Elisabeth did a really great job and I’m looking forward to the next tour of hers. Hope you learned something and Happy Foraging!

Green Smoothies

So I wrote about blender foods the other day and I just wanted to share some recipe ideas I tried since then.

One day I was in a real hurry and had about 2 minutes before I needed to run out of the door to get to work, so I whizzed up this quick smoothie.

1 banana
1 passion fruit
some rice milk

Very easy and very tasty! I forgot to mention liquids in my other post, so yeah, put in some water or some rice milk or make almond milk yourself or just put in some freshly squeezed juices, I like grapefruit, for example.

Today I made another green smoothie for breakfast. It turned out kind of green, purple-ish and I thought it was really pretty.

This is what I put in

fruits

and this is how pretty it looked like.

love the colour

I had to actually thin mine down with more rice milk, coz it was really thick. Tasted delicious!

Here is a clip of some more green smoothie tips and ideas one of my friends posted in the comments(Thanks Damian:).

And here is a different take on the green smoothie, a savoury version. I’m not sure, is that healthier, some people seem to think, the more greens the better?

Next time I’m gonna try making my own almond milk and throw some nuts and raw cocoa beans into the mix!

Have you tried any green smoothies yet? Got any more ideas?

Blender Food

In some previous posts I’ve been going on about how we don’t have a blender..

And now we’ve got one! 2 weeks before we move out, awesome!!

Anyways, I’m trying to quickly remember all the things I wanted to make.. wtf?! So, first I’m gonna make some green smoothies, with bananas and pears maybe and spinach, dandelions and plantain, if I can find some. Dunno about fruits, I like passionfruit, maybe a kiwi or two and I like grapefruit too.

Or I’ll just make some fruit smoothies, would be nice with quinoa or amaranth or something for a breakfast shake. Or sprouts would be nice too, you could sprout beans or quinoa yourself. Or heaps of other things. So healthy, juicy and delicious!

I’m also thinking about blending up some veggies, maybe mushrooms or chickpeas or grains and stuff for some homemade veggie burger. Or nuts, for nut burgers.

That’s all I can come up with at the moment, if you have any more recipe ideas that need a blender let me know!

Make Your Own Tea For Stress And Wrinkles

I know this guy is doing a bit of a hard sell, but I just find his videos so hilarious and entertaining! And also quite informative. The dude is just so L.A. and he looks like a magician/skateboarder/surf dude, it’s pretty funny.

Video has some interesting info on some very common and some not so commonly known plant stuffs, that you can use for a nutritious tea. Not sure, but I thought raw food people don’t drink tea, might depend?

So yeah, watch it and try the tea! And tell me about other herbal teas and tinctures you like to use for healing.

 

Eating Raw

So I thought now that I’m eating vegan anyway, I might as well try to eat as many fruit and vegetables raw or just very lightly cooked.

What I sometimes do is cut up some vegetables and stir them into pasta or couscous after I turned the heat off. I eat a fruit salad with a toast for breakfast and then maybe another one or some more toast for second breakfast/lunch.

Because it’s so fucking exhausting to get organic fresh produce in Melbourne we skipped the shopping last weekend and were eating more breads and pasta.

And of curz just a few days later I got a pretty bad stomach bug. Now, I might have gotten that from work, some guys apparently just don’t know how wash their hands after using the toilet. Wtf?! Apparently the statistics for men not washing their hands after using the toilet are pretty high. Most men are just gross! Anyways, so, not sure if someones been spreading their germs or what was going on, but I got sick!

I have been feeling so much better since I changed my diet to more fresh raw plant stuffs. It took me a while to notice the effects, about 2 months, but I generally feel much more energetic, happier and balanced. I’m also less tired and as I’ve heard lots of vegan athletes say, I recover better.

Now, of curz that’s propbably also due to some other lifestyle changes, but diet is a big part of it. Anyways, after I got sick I jumped right back onto the wagon and went to the supermarket to buy all sorts of fruits and nuts and vegetables and now I’m feeling better again!

Here is a cute link about the advantages of eating raw.

And here is a video of a 30-day raw food challenge

I didn’t know Woody Harrelson was a raw vegan.

And I’m just posting this coz it’s trashy! It’s a real laugh and kinda cool you should watch it.

Eating raw is simple!

I can’t stop staring at this guys beard and he’s got see through vegetables too, how trippy!

I like checking out peoples raw food videos or blogs, but I hate it when they try to sell you shit in every fucking video. Their books, their products, subscribe.. whatever.. it get’s annoying. Fair enough they mention it, but do they have to go on about it?! It’s seems to be kind of epidemic, but I haven’t checked out too many videos yet.

Anyways, I love watching videos, some of them are very entertaining and I love learning new things.

I’m Beat

Melbourne doesn’t have many great organic, whole foods shops, so each weekend we have to drive across the whole city just to visit a couple of them. It takes half a day, most of the time we go to a market too, and by the time we get back I’m completely beat!

Pisses me off it’s so difficult to get organic produce. There is nothing in our area, so we just go to the normal supermarket during the week, they only have regular produce and a tiny, sad looking organic section, which is obviously not great.

We are trying to eat more raw, vegan foods. We are definitely eating healthier all the time and I think, after two to three months now, it makes me feel better. More energetic and I feel cleaner.

Today we had baby spinach, kale and rocket with brown rice and red quinoa for lunch, which was nice. The grains are hidden under the kale in the bowl.

Looks pretty healthy

The kale wasn’t great, but it’s the first time I cooked it that I can remember. I just sauteed it with some olive oil and salt. It was really chewy.

Somebody on twitter sent me this link to a kale chips recipe. Now this looks delicious! I’ll try that tomorrow.

So yeah, we are eating healthier, more raw, organic produce, but sourcing that crap can be frustrating.

Is it easy where you live to source fresh, organic vegetables? How do you organize shopping for healthy foods?

The Beautiful Truth

I’d really recommend watching this documentary.

The style is a bit different, sometimes it sounds more like an educational movie for children. I like it because it covers lots of different things about health, like mercury in fillings, msg, aspartame and how to cure cancer by changing your diet. Which is pretty amazing if it works!

Ok, enjoy and have a nice weekend!