Chocolate brownies and strawberry ice cream

So, I had a bit of a raw food prep day yesterday, filling up the dehydrator, fridge and freezer with staples and treats for the week. The things I made were: chocolate brownies; strawberry ice cream; buckwheat flax crackers; jalapeno burgers; carrot, raisin and cashew bread; marinated veggies; kale chips and the ultimate salad dressing! Some of the recipes I made up, others I got from books and other websites which I will post up here. I'll do some of the recipes today, and try to finish them off tomorrow :)

Chocolate brownies

First off, Chocolate Brownies. These have a more gooey texture than traditional brownies and are really rich and delicious. I made this as I wanted something chocolatey and had walnuts leftover from making the jalapeno burgers (the burger recipe is already on this blog- look in the index on the right of the home page if you're interested, they are really good).


Ingredients:
I cup walnuts, soaked 4-6 hours
1/2 cup dates
1/4 cup raw cacao powder
1/4 cup raisins
squirt of agave (optional- to taste, depending on how sweet you like them. and how well your mixture is holding together)

All you do is put everything in a food processor and mix it all up until it starts sticking together. It will probably all go into one ball if you leave it long enough!
Then spread the mixture in a baking tray or glass dish lined with greasproof paper, score it into squares, put another piece of greaseproof paper over the top and put it in the freezer to set for about half an hour. Keep in the fridge.


Next up, real Strawberry Ice Cream, YUM! This is amazing. You would never know this was not a dairy ice cream. Well, actually it's way better than that as it has no artificial sweeteners, colours, flavourings, sugar, dairy or any of that bad stuff AND tastes even more delicious. I adapted it from Ani Phyo's basic ice kream recipe which you can get from her book Ani's Raw Food Essentials.

Strawberry ice cream!

This picture does not do it justice at all, I can't tell you how delicious it is. Real fresh strawberries taste so delicious in ice cream. 

Ingredients:
1 cup cashews, soaked 2-3 hours
1/4 cup agave syrup
1/4 cup water
1 punnet strawberries (mine was 227g)

Again, it's really easy, just blend it all up together until smooth. Use as little water as you can get away with, as too much will make it harder and form ice crystals. Add more if you need to, to get the mix to the texture of thick cream, but 1/4 cup seems about right to get a lovely creamy, ice cream texture. Taste a bit of the mix (amazing  right?!) and adjust the sweetness if need be. Then put it in a tub in a freezer to set overnight. I recommend doing it overnight so you're not tempted to scoff it before it's done! I made mine in the afternoon and had "tested" it quite a lot before it was frozen! You don't need to churn it like dairy ice cream, it sets beautifully without forming ice to break up. I stirred mine up once, when it was just frozen, but you don't need to. Then, in the morning it's all ready to eat! 

Well, I've run out of time for today but will put more recipes up tomorrow. :-)