Raw caramel apple pie

I took this pic with my phone
before the caramel had set so it
looks a bit rubbish!

Ok, this isn't my own recipe, but it's so delicious I had to share it. I got it here, from the one green planet blog. The author of that does another really good blog too, Raw on $10 a day (or less!) which has loads of great recipes and tips for being raw on a budget.

The pie has a base of walnuts and raisins- except I used a combination of raisins and dates in my version (just because I didn't have enough raisins!)- ground up together, pressed into a dish, then left to chill in the freezer. The apple filling is sliced apples, raisins, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger (this was what I used instead of pumpkin pie spice as I don't think you can get that in the UK), lemon juice and agave, mixed up and softened in the dehydrator for a couple of hours (you could skip this step if you don't have a dehydrator). Then the caramel sauce is raw almond butter, agave, water and olive oil blended together and poured over the apple mix which you spread over the base. It's so gorgeous I just had a fat slice for breakfast. I recommend this recipe LOADS, and really you only need a little slice as it's really rich... although having said that I just had a pretty massive slice and am already contemplating another... Well, why not, it's all healthy, raw and good for you... enjoy!

Mastercleansing again

Well, so much for my last post all about moderation... I've just returned from a week in France where I ate LOADS of cooked food, including plenty of dairy and wheat- pizza, quiche, pasta etc!- and loads of wine and cheese. Hmmm. In my defence, it is pretty impossible to eat out raw in rural France- it's hard enough to get vegetarian meals, let alone vegan, everything has cheese in it! So I decided to just go with it for the week and reset myself when I got back. I did make a green smoothie for my breakfast every day while I was out there... oh, except for two days when I had croissants, ahem.

Now I'm back and my tummy has definitely expanded so I'm back on the mastercleanse. I've explained loads about this before in this blog, I journalled the last time I went on it, so do look at my other posts if you're interested in more details. So far I'm starving but it's only the first day! However I wasn't in work today, and now have a weekend ahead, so hopefully will be in the swing of things by the time I go back to work (which I am DREADING by the way...)

Also, need to get back into exercising. Too broke for Bikram this month so am going to start doing another 30 day challenge with the EA Active personal trainer on the Wii, starting in the morning. Wish me luck!

I also have another colonic booked for tomorrow. Not sure how that will go after a week of stuffing myself (oh, and I also had crisps, pretzels, biscuits and crackers in France... did I mention that?). But hopefully it will all help in resetting my system. Heaven knows I need a reboot!

Onion bread, kale chips, aubergine bacon and chocolatey bites

Hello! I haven't written this blog for ages and decided it was time to get blogging again. I've been kind of on and off the raw food over the last few months and have come to a few realisations. The main one being I absolutely definitely feel better when I am eating raw. I have more energy, I'm more positive, productive, and generally feel happier and healthier. The change from when I'm eating rubbish food and drinking alcohol is immense. But I have learnt not to be too hard on myself and take it easy when things don't go to plan.

Aubergine bacon, recipe below

I've noticed a lot of raw foodists lately, who used to go on about being 100% raw now referring to themselves as "high raw". And I'm kind of doing the same. I think as long as the bulk of my diet is raw, say 80-90 %, I am not going to beat myself up about the remaining 10-20% that may be cooked foods. I am still remaining vegan, and the funny thing is, since I have "allowed" myself this, I have actually been pretty much totally raw! I think I have finally discovered moderation! Instead of grabbing a bag of crisps when there is nothing tasty and raw around and then saying "ah sod it, I may as well eat crap all day now", and then getting chocolate, a sandwich, a glass of wine, biscuits etc, and then getting on that whole stuff-your-face-with-junk merry go round again, if I now allow myself the odd "bad" thing and carry on with my mainly raw diet it all works out fine!

 The only thing I am keeping off though is the wine- when I drink booze I really do loose all sense of moderation and that is when stuffing my face with junk takes control! So I am remaining off the booze for the time being. And the more raw food I eat, without feeling like I'm being strict on myself, the less cooked food I want to eat. I have only eaten raw for the last week as though I told myself I could eat cooked stuff too I actually haven't wanted to. And with my extra energy I have been making loads of raw treats- this is another key thing, make sure you are prepared and have plenty of treats around so you're not left with only a salad or something as a choice.



Onion bread



 I just made a double batch of Matt Amsden's onion bread from Rawvolution, I had forgotten just how good this was. Rawvolution was the first raw food book I got and it's also my favourite raw food restaurant in LA. And this bread is so easy to make, it only has 5 ingredients, and I swear my batch came out just as tasty as the bread I had at his place in LA, if I say so myself! It takes ages to dehydrate though, so make sure you make it in advance (36 hrs in the dehydrator total) but the actual making of it is so simple: you just grind sunflower seeds and flaxseeds, slice onions, then mix it all up with olive oil and tamari (or nama shoyu if you can get it, or braggs or another equivalent). Then spread the mix over dehydrator sheets. Then wait, while the smell of it cooking tempts you to eat it out of the dehydrator before it's done! (or is that just me... I am greedy!)



Chocolatey bites

 I also invented some lovely chocolatey bites, that are so simple to make. I soaked 1 cup of cashew nuts for an hour then put them in the food processor with a cup of chopped dates, 2 tablespoons of raw cacao powder and 1 tablespoon of mesquite. Process it til starts to come together, then shape into mouthful sized cookie shapes (or whatever shape takes your fancy!) and put in the fridge. That's it! And they are delicious.

I also made another batch of bacon out of aubergine (photo at top of page), I've put the recipe on here before, but you can find it here. I love this stuff, it's really crispy and full of flavour. I didn't have any chipotle so I used smoked paprika and chilli which worked really well. The marinade for the aubergine is amazing- I've also used it on kale chips and in salad dressing!

Talking of kale chips, my love affair with them continues. These are the things that I could not do without and keep me away from crisps as they taste just as good! I've put enough recipes for kale chips on here, but experiment and invent your own. The farmers markets in Brixton and Swiss Cottage have some amazing kinds of organic kale, there's a purple one I love and some Tuscan kale with massive leaves that's great too. I've also been getting neon chard from them which is beautiful and great for smoothies. I did a green smoothie detox last month which was great, and I have continued with green smoothies for breakfast each day, a great start to the morning. A couple of bananas, then any other fruit- mango, papaya, pineapple, raspberries, strawberries, peaches etc, they're all good! Then add some water, and maybe some maca, mesquite, purple corn or whatever superfood you're into and a couple of handfuls of greens and you're good to go.

Well, I'm glad to be back, I'll be back soon with more raw food stuff. I've been making some skin care products too so might let you know a bit about these too. Bye for now x

Raw chocolates!

My new favourite thing= homemade raw chocolates. They are so quick and easy to make and completely delicious.

All you do is put 100g of raw cacao butter in a glass bowl, on top of another glass bowl filled with hot water, and melt it down to liquid. Then whisk in 6 tablespoons of raw cacao powder (I use a 1/3 cup measure and a 10ml measure). Use a metal whisk, it gets it all mixed up better than a spoon. Then add 2 tablespoons of agave nectar and about half a teaspoon of vanilla extract.

Then you can add whatever you like as flavourings really. The batch I knocked up last night I put mesquite and lucuma in and they are really good! I've got a bit of a thing for mesquite at the moment, it's so gorgeous, I put it in my smoothie this morning too!

I've made them with a few drops of rosewater in before too- they were good- a bit turkish delighty tasting. But you could add orange, mint, chopped nuts, goji berries... whatever takes your fancy! I bought a silicone mould to make them in but you can easily make them in an ice cube tray.

I have also used the leftover melted chocolate to dip some raw ginger flapjack biscuits I made in, and they turned out great. I got the biscuit recipe here, they call them ginger oat cookies, they were lovely as they were, but massively improved by being chocolate coated!

Raw crackers, tapenade and sundried tomato cheeze

Okay, so these don't look all that appetising but I blame my phone! My battery charger has packed up so can't use my camera til I get some new batteries. And these crackers are also very messy looking and free-form because I just snapped the big sheets of dehydrated cracker into random bits to make the crackers! But they taste so good, and are very addictive.


So first things first, the crackers. I based these on Kate Magic's recipe for Crackables, which you can find on her website, with a few additions. Basically, soak 250g of flaxseeds in a litre of water for 12 hours until you get a gloopy mixture. To this add the juice of 2 lemons, a couple of spoons of green powder, and a chopped red onion. Then I also added 1/2 red and 1/2 green pepper, chopped, 1 red chilli, a few grinds of black pepper and a pinch of salt. You can vary this recipe and add what you like really, fresh herbs are especially good. Mix this all up well, spread over 3 dehydrator trays with teflex sheets on, and dehydrate at 105 degrees for 12 hours. Then flip them over and dehydrate for another 6 hours or until crispy. Then break them up into bits like me- or try and make nicer proper square cracker shapes if you can!


Tapenade
This is scrumptious! I got this recipe from a girl called Natasha at a raw food meetup, and she got it from Cafe Gratitude (San Francisco), it's official name is 'I Am Opulent' Olive Tapenade and is my new addiction. It's totally delicious. Although, she put a bunch of fresh coriander in hers, and I didn't have any so missed that out. All you do is blend together a jar of raw olives- I used these Raw Health organic kalamata olives which are divine- with a red chilli, a clove of garlic and enough of the olive oil from the jar to create a smooth mixture- but not too smooth, I like it with a few little olive chunks in. Simple but beautiful, really fresh and succulent tasting, with a spicy chilli kick. It's also really good spread on romaine lettuce leaves with mashed avocado and rolled up.
The sundried tomato cheeze is my old favourite from Ani Phyo's recipe in Ani's Raw Food Kitchen: Easy, Delectable Living Foods Recipes and is made with brazil nuts, lemon juice, garlic, water, sea salt and sundried tomatoes. Another really easy one but very flavoursome and moreish.

Key Lime Pie

I've been wanting to make some kind of lime tart for a couple of weeks and finally got round to it yesterday. I have to say, it was delicious, I think it's the tastiest raw dish I've made so far. I've already eaten half the pie! I first started thinking about it at a raw food potluck meetup at Heleana's place a couple of weeks ago, where one of the guests brought her lime pie and was kind enough to provide the recipe later. I then found a different recipe in Raw Food Made Easy For 1 or 2 People, Jennifer Cornbleet's book which also sounded good. So in the end, I took the best bits out of each recipe, changed some things, added some new twists of my own and came up with this recipe. If you only make one raw dessert, make this, it's amazing, you would never know it was raw, and actually healthy! It tastes indulgent, rich, sharp and sweet, and the crunchy base is a great contrast to the smooth zestiness of the lime mousse.

Base:
1/2 cup macademia nuts
1/2 cup hazelnuts
1/2 cup shredded coconut
Pinch of sea salt
1/4 cup medjool dates
1 capful natural vanilla extract

Put it all the food processor and mix together until nuts are coursely ground (it's nice if they're still a bit chunky) and the mixture is starting to stick together.
Press it down firmly in a flan dish and put it in the freezer or fridge to chill while you're making the filling.

Lime mousse:
1 1/2 cups mashed avocado ( about three- I used two massive ones and one little one)
1/2 cup sweetener of your choice (I used a combo of half raw honey and half agave nectar)
Fresh lime juice- I started with 1/4 cup then upped it to almost 1/2 cup, but anywhere in between these amounts would be fine, depending on how sweet or tart you like it- taste it and see!)
2 tablespoons coconut oil
1/2 capful natural vanilla extract

Blend all this up until smooth, then pour it over the base, smooth over wit the back of a spoon and leave to set in the fridge for about an hour before serving.

I decorated it with some lime slices too. Then enjoy! x

Mainly, pics from 'An Evening of Raw Vitality & Splendour at Vantra'

I've been really busy the last week or two so haven't had time to update this blog much but I have stayed 100% raw, and eaten a lot of amazing things. I even managed to stay raw and alcohol-free when I stayed at my sister's last weekend- I brought a load of stuff down with me, including my favourite cheezy kelp noodles- I think the recipe for these is in this blog already- as well as loads of salads, fresh fruit and chocolate mousse!

My phone is full of pictures of things I've been making and eating out that I haven't had time to upload yet. Haven't got a lot of time now as really want to try to get an early night so I think this entry is going to be more pictures than words!

But I want to show you the pictures from Saturday night first. I went to Vantra for an event with Phillip McCluskey and the food was great. The service was kind of slow, so I was ready to eat off my arm by the time my starter arrived, but nobody minded too much and I met some lovely interesting people and had a fab night.


The starter- canapés, including a big kale chip and
flax crackers with different toppings



My choice of main course- stuffed red pepper with nut roast. The other
choices were Thai veg noodles or courgette lasagne. All seemed to be
very well received.

 

Pepper with the lid off so you can see all the yummy stuff inside.
It was really tasty, and the dressings were beautiful.



Berry and rose tart

Carob tart

Pineapple and passionfruit mylkshake- doesn't look too exciting
from this photo but trust me, it was one of the most delicious
drinks I've ever had! The maca and mesquite living latte was
also gorgeous!

I'm going to call it a day now, but will try to update some more in the week and catch you up with all the other things I've been making, including some chocolate crispie cookies I invented that turned out sooooo good! I've also ordered a load of stuff for making raw chocolates so going to get on that soon, which will hopefully stop me from spending the small fortune on raw chocolate bars that I do at the moment! Laters x

Hot purple kale chips

I admit it, I am completely and totally addicted to kale chips, I can't get enough of them! My favourite recipe is usually the Renegade Health Show's cheezy kale chips (you can find the recipe on this blog- look in the alphabetical index on the right hand side titled "Labels", under cheezy kale chips) as they're completely delicious and tangy and addictive. But yesterday I invented a new kale chip recipe. I'd bought some from Inspiral last week that had purple corn in, so I decided to use some of that in mine too. I used a different recipe to theirs though- I looked on the tub and the Inspiral ones just had cashews, nutritional yeast and salt in. And kale, obviously. Here is my recipe:


1/2 cup cashew nuts, soaked for 2 hours
2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
2 tablespoons purple corn flour
2 tablespoons agave nectar
1 chilli (I used a scotch bonnet, seeds and all, which made them really spicy! You might want to use a little less, or a less strong chilli... if the mix is too hot, add a little more agave)
1/4 teaspoon sea salt

Whizz it all up in the food processor until smooth- you may need to add to some water to get it to the right consistency- thickish but still runny- I think I added about 1/4 cup, maybe more.

Then coat the kale with it really well, rub it in so it's all stuck to the leaves.
I used 1 pack of organic curly kale from Waitrose- I can't remember how much that is in weight- probably the equivalent of one head/ bunch whatever they call it.

Then spread the kale out on teflex sheets on dehydrator trays- use enough trays so that it's well spread out, not all clumped together, so the air is able to circulate and the kale can dry out properly.

Dehydrate for about 8 hours at 105 degrees until crispy.

Keep in an airtight container. Well, I've eaten the whole lot already so storage isn't a problem! Enjoy!

This picture is my lunch today- more courgette pasta, but this time with marinara sauce, the one from Raw Food Made Easy For 1 or 2 People, which is the best tomato sauce I've made, it's really rich and tasty. And just a little salad of pea shoots and spouts and stuff with it. I also scoffed a load of blueberries, flax crackers, macademia nuts, goji berries, kale chips, a Nakd bar, and a bar of Raw chocolate throughout the day! And had a green juice for breakfast. All very satisfying and delicious. I did also make a kind of coleslaw with red and white cabbage mixed with more carrot-ginger dressing but didn't manage to eat that, so will have it for lunch tomorrow. Might make some guacamole too to have with crackers- I'm working late tomorrow night so will have to bring enough stuff for dinner as well as lunch. I'll let you know what I concoct!

No more master cleanse... FOOOOOOOOOOD!

So, I completed 16 days on the master cleanse! I lost 10 lbs, not as much as previous times, due to the time of the month, but I lost 2 inches from my waist, an inch from my hips, an inch from each thigh and an inch and a half from my boobs (bit gutted about that last one!). Feel a lot trimmer and my jeans are now too big!
I had been planning on doing 20 days, but I got up on the morning of day 17 and could not face one more lemon/ cayenne/ maple drink. So I made fresh orange juice and damn it was GOOD! I haven't put any weight back on since I came off the cleanse (5 or 6 days now I think), in fact I've lost another pound and I am eating tons! All raw of course. I feel amazing, so much better than I was before the cleanse and am so glad I did it. And it feels so great to be eating raw again. I've had loads of delicious stuff.

The first couple of days I stuck to juice then eased my way back into raw. Last night I had a friend round for dinner and made courgette pasta with my spiraliser and fresh raw vegan pesto.

Courgette pasta and pesto

I put loads of fresh basil, a clove of garlic, olive oil and pine nuts in the food processor, blitzed it all up and mixed it in with the courgette. It was lovely! I also made loads of salads to go with it, as well as flax crackers, macademia cheese, and chocolate mousse for dessert.

I kind of made up the recipe for the flax crackers, based on the ingredients from a packet of crackers I bought from Inspiral the other day. I soaked 250 g of flax seeds in a litre of water for 12 hours. Then I processed up a 225g punnet of baby plum tomatoes, a red pepper, 1/2 cup of sundried tomatoes, a clove of garlic, a scotch bonnet chilli, loads of fresh parsley and 1/4 teaspoon of himalayan crystal salt. I put the gloopy seed mixture in, whizzed it all up then spread it over 4 dehydrator sheets and dehydrated it for about 12 hours. Then I flipped it over and did it for another 6 or so hours. And they turned out pretty good!


Flax crackers, mashed avocado,
macademia cheese & alfafa sprouts

The macademia cheese was amazing! I got the recipe from Raw Food/Real World: 100 Recipes to Get the Glow, and I really recommend this. You wouldn't believe a mix of macademia nuts, peppers, lemon, a pinch of salt and nutritional yeast would taste so amazing. This is dehydrated too, and comes out with a great texture. I just had some more of it now for my dinner, on flax crackers with mashed avocado and alfafa sprouts and it was gorgeous.

Chocolate mousse

The chocolate mousse is an old favourite from Raw Food Made Easy For 1 or 2 People. It's so quick and easy and tastes delicious. It's made with avocados but you would never know, it just tastes really rich and creamy and chocolatey but is totally dairy free! As well as the avocado I put in some medjool dates, raw honey, vanilla extract and raw cacao. The photo is never going to do it justice as it just looks like a dollop of brown stuff but it is soooooo good. I had the leftovers for lunch today which is why it's in a tupperware!



Today's packed lunch

So with all the leftovers from last night, I had the best ever packed lunch today! The yellow/orange stuff round the outside of the salad (picture on the left) is carrot and ginger dressing from Natalia Rose's The Raw Food Detox Diet: The Five-Step Plan for Vibrant Health and Maximum Weight Loss. The salad has red cabbage, mixed bean sprouts, yellow peppers, pea shoots, spinach, grated carrot and marinated mushrooms.
I am so delighted to be eating real fresh raw food again! I've been having green juices for breakfasts too- this morning it was apples, cucumber, celery and ginger. Beautiful!

I'll try and keep this blog more up-to-date now, as I am totally re-set and back into the raw for good. I promise you I feel really amazing and will continue to keep it up!

Day 13 master cleanse

I mentioned yesterday that I was going to start including psyllium in my detox... well I have and it is producing great results. I've been having psyllium and bentonite shakes and you would not believe what is coming out of me! I was toying with putting a picture on here but decided that was probably one step too far! But suffice to say, A LOT of old stuff that has been clogging my intestines is being eliminated, which is great. I also just did a coffee enema which also brought out a load of stuff. I mean a LOAD of stuff! I apologise if you're eating or if you find all this talk of bowel movements revolting but I am finding it very interesting! Ok I won't go into any more detail... today anyway ;)

I should say, some master cleanse purists don't think you should do anything extra on the cleanse as you don't need to, e.g. Peter Glickman, who wrote Lose Weight, Have More Energy & Be Happier in 10 Days, Second Edition, which is a great book, the first master cleanse one I read. He feels that the salt flush and laxative tea along with the lemon drinks is enough to detox you fully. However, others feel that it is ok to add other processes for a deeper cleanse, such as Tom Woloshyn, who wrote The Complete Master Cleanse: A Step-by-Step Guide to Maximizing the Benefits of The Lemonade Diet which is also a brilliant book. Woloshyn studied with Stanley Burroughs and talks about various other techniques that can assist with the cleanse. I think that it's ok for me to do it now, as I've done the recommended full 10 days of the cleanse following the instructions to the letter, and now I'm carrying it on beyond 10 days I think it's fine to add further elements to help deepen the cleanse and rid myself of the stubborn toxins.

Coffee enemas are great for accelerating your liver's ability to detoxify, not just for the effect on the colon. You should only do them after a purification process is underway though. They have a clearing effect upon the liver and leave it in a much better state to continue with detoxifying. I learned about these and a lot of other excellent cleansing techniques from an amazing book which I really recommend, Cellular Awakening: How Your Body Holds and Creates Light. OK, that's enough book recommendations for one blog entry!

I am still feeling amazing, and have loads of energy. My mind also feels detoxed, I am feeling much more focussed and positive. My tongue has still not gone pink though it is starting to get better! And I am still eliminating plenty of unwanted matter. So the master cleanse continues!

Day 12 Master cleanse!

Well, I have decided to go on beyond the 10 days I originally intended as I am still definitely detoxing. I think days 8 and 9 were big detox days for me and on the morning of day 10 I knew it wasn't time to call it a day. My tongue has not gone back to a healthy looking pink yet (a sure sign that I'm not done detoxing), and I've also come out in a bit of a rash on the inside of my elbows and the nape of my neck, which means that toxins are still being released.

I'm still feeling really good though and have bags of energy, I'm not feeling tired or weak or hungry at all. I spent about 3 hours cleaning my flat today and also went on a long walk around the park to try and burn off some of my excess energy! That's not to say that I'm not looking forward to eating actual food again, because I REALLY am, but I'm not desperate... yet!

I've also introduced psyllium husk into the cleanse, as of yesterday, to help clear out more of the old stuff from my colon. And this morning I made a tea with some herbs that are supposed to help get rid of parasites- wormwood, cloves and pau d'arco- but it was REVOLTING! It tasted so bad I almost threw up! I won't be trying that again. They say at least 80% of adults have parasites in their intestines and I wanted to try and clear them out but there's no way I'm drinking that again. I think I'm going to get a zapper instead, they're supposed to work well. You can get a really cheap one on Kate Magic's site: Raw Living. They also do the Terminator, which is meant to be the best one, but they're more expensive.

Not sure how long I'm going to continue with this. I should think at least to 14 days, maybe 16, possibly 20. I'll see how my tongue is looking in a couple of days! I'm still losing pounds and inches too, and definitely feeling a lot trimmer and healthier. So I may as well carry on a bit while I'm finding it easy and it's still doing its job. Hopefully this will set me back on the right track to raw living. I'm so looking forward to making some raw foods when this is all over. I think I have properly re-set myself!

Anyway, going to make a peppermint tea now, I'll check in again soon. x

Day 6 Master cleanse

Well, my sixth day of the cleanse is coming to an end and it's still going remarkably well! I decided not to update this blog every day while I'm cleansing otherwise it will get ridiculously boring, but will check in now and again until it's over and I can start posting some more raw recipes again.

The salt flush has got so much easier. At the beginning it was revolting and I could barely keep it down without gagging, but now I can drink it easily and for some reason it doesn't taste so bad at all. And it certainly does the job with cleaning me out!

And I'm not feeling hungry at all yet, which is a surprise! Although I did have a couple of brief cravings today, for the first time. I woke up thinking about cheese on toast, then later it was grilled halloumi, then after that cottage cheese. So I would assume that my body is eliminating cheese today! But weirdly, I just thought about the food without having a desire go out and eat them.

I read another another really good master cleanse book,  The Complete Master Cleanse: A Step-by-Step Guide to Maximizing the Benefits of The Lemonade Diet which was great. Very different to the Peter Glickman one I read at the start of the cleanse, although that was good too. But this one explains a lot about the science behind the cleanse, the digestive system, how the cleanse actually works etc which I found really interesting, and it really helps with keeping focused.

Well, if I finish this after 10 days, I only have 4 days to go! However, you're meant to do it until your tongue goes pink- while on the cleanse it gets a very unattractive coating as the toxins are being expelled, and then goes back to clear pink when you are fully detoxed. So if my tongue is still not fully pink on day 10 I will probably go on until it is, if I feel like I can. Want to get fully cleansed! It's also not good to stop if you're having any major detox systems on the day- as then, obviously, you're still eliminating so should carry on until they have stopped. So I'll see how I feel on day 10.

Back to work tomorrow on Tuesday, unfortunately, so things might get a bit harder then. But I'm determined to keep going and see this thing through! Wish me luck!