More Treats

Chocolate Brownie Bites

Brownie bites, brownies, fudge, truffles, monkey balls- (oh yeah- more on that below) whatever you call them, these little beauties are a staple for going raw. It's usually one of the first things you learn to make for pure chocolate survival. You can make them into brownie squares or even a cake if you like but I like to roll them into balls, dust with a coating of something and then I pop them into the freezer, with the hopes that they will last longer. They really don't make it very long around here though, despite my attempts.

Don't be too concerned about the amount of nuts you see as when portioned into these bites you are getting very little at once. Unlike regular brownie bites, one of the great things about these is that they are so rich and filling you can't really eat too many at one time. One is usually all I can do.

Another great thing is that they take literally no time to make and of course are just full of great ingredients.

Eat them as treats, or little protein snacks to boost your brain power (You don't think walnuts look like brains by coincidence do you?) They make good treats to take with you for energy as well. It's all good.

The ones I roll in coconut R. has renamed "Monkey Balls" and they are his favorite and no, he is not a child. Even though he swears he is not a "sweets person,' he makes these disappear pretty fast. That "one" I mentioned before is usually all I get out of the batch.

So in the spirit of Halloween I am going with "Monkey Balls" and have added a little raspberry coulis for drama.

Monkey Balls

Brownie Bites Recipe

3 cups walnuts (un-soaked)
2/3 cup raw cacao, unsweetened cocoa
20 dates (you may want to soak in some water to soften for a few minutes)
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp seas salt

Coating Options:


Coconut, unsweetened and shredded
Almonds, chopped
Hemp seeds
More cacao or cocoa or even carob

Blend the nuts briefly in a food processor. You want it coarsely chopped (Be careful to not over blend as walnuts become oily and can quickly become walnut butter.)
Add in the dates and pulse until will combined. Add the the rest of the items and blend until it starts to ball. Press between your fingers and if it holds, you are good. You may need a drop or two of water to get the right consistency- crumbly but sticky like dough.

5  Ingredient Brownies

When it all sticks pretty well then you can start to roll into bite-sized balls. I do the rolling all at once then put out dishes with toppings and roll them in those.

Assembly

OR Don't roll in anything at all. Your choice.

They will keep for a few days in the fridge or a couple of weeks in the freezer. So they say.

Tip: I reuse the container the dates came in to freeze the balls in. That way they don't get crushed.

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Raspberry Coulis


1 cup of raspberries, fresh or thawed
agave or soaked dates to taste

I just blend this up in a small blender or Magic Bullet and add in the dates or agave to sweeten to taste. You can strain out the seeds if you wish.

Besides the look of blood for Halloween, raspberries and chocolate are a favorite!

Halloween Treats!

Apple Butternut Squash Soup and Caramel Almond Apples

It's a few days before Halloween here in the states and I don't know about you all but I find myself thinking of treats. Back in my early trick or treating days, the worst thing that could happen was someone giving you an apple. Anyone else remember those people? or am I just dating myself here?

It was just around that time that my dad, who was an ER doctor said he would be taking our candy to the hospital to have it x-rayed before we could eat any- talk about scary! and NO apples! Fine with us- the no-apple part but then apple-giving fell out of favor about that time anyway.

Until recently I have been luke warm about apples. I know they are really good for us, "An apple a day..." and all that but mehh... just not that interested. Was I traumatized by Halloween? and look what happened to Snow White!  All I know is that apples were never very exciting and one of my last picks out of the fruit line up.

Honey Crisp Apples

That is until I came across the Honey Crisp apple.
This little gem is new in town, literally it's only been around for about 5 years and came from the University of Michigan. It's sweet and tart and when you bite into it a piece snaps off in your mouth, hence the name "crisp."

If you haven't tried this yet, it may just get you excited about apples again- like me. They are a little more money that the other apples you see in the store and I think this is why more people haven't been hooked in yet but once you try them, you'll see that it's worth grabbing them while you can. They are only around for a limited time in the fall.

So with my Honey Crisps in the house I made a couple of recipes that I think everyone will like.

Caramel and Almond Apples

These are wonderful and you don't have to worry about all the chemicals and processed sugar in the store bought caramels or caramel apples.

Wholesome Treat Ingredients

Caramel Recipe:

1 cup dates (soaked in water to soften)

14- 1/2 cup almond milk

1 tsp coconut oil

1 tsp vanilla

dash sea salt

Starting with the 1/4 cup almond milk, blend all until smooth in a food processor or blender, stopping ever so often to scrape down the sides.  Add more milk if needed but you don't want it to be runny. Mixture should be smooth.

You can enjoy this as is as a dip or proceed to dress the apples on a stick.

Other ingredients:

Almonds or other choice of nut, coarsely chopped

Apple

popsicle sticks

Plunge a popsicle stick into the apple of your choice at the stem area.  Frost the apple with the caramel paste. Place the nuts in a shallow bowl and press the apple into the nuts until it sticks in the paste. 

That's it! So easy!

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Apple Butternut Squash Soup

This soup is delicious!

It's made from fresh ingredients, in your blender- so simple and if you like go ahead and heat it gently on the stove. Remember to heat only until it's too hot to your finger, this means it also won't burn your tongue but more importantly it keeps all the nutrition in the food and keeps it raw.

Apple Butternut Squash Soup Ingredients

Recipe:

4 cups Butternut Squash (2/3 of one medium sized), peeled seeded and chopped.

1 young Thai coconut- meat and water (need a refresher on how to open these?)

1 apple peeled and cored, coarsely chopped 

1 cup diced carrots, I used baby carrots as that's what I had
4 dates, pitted and stemmed.

juice of 4 oranges

juice of 1/2 lemon

1/2  shallot, peeled

1 cup cashews, soaked in water

1 Tbsp curry powder

1 Tbsp cinnamon

1 tsp sea salt

Pumpkin seeds for garnish

Go ahead and put the cashews in enough water to cover while you get all else prepped. When ready to use, just drain off water.

Peel and chop the squash making sure to remove the peel down to the orange- past the yellow or if you want even faster prep take advantage of the butternut squash you can buy in cubes (Trader Joe's for one does this.) I put the squash in a giant bowl and covered with water while I prepped the rest. Some say it removes the starchiness from the squash.

Put coconut water in first and then other ingredients, with the squash being last. You may need to hold off putting in all the squash until it blends down a little bit. Blend until desired consistency. 

Note: If you don't have a high speed blender, you may need to do this in small batches to get it well blended.

Also if you are not a big curry fan ( like me) , don't worry as this flavor is really subtle. If still not sure add a little in at a time and taste.

For spider web topping:

I used half the cashews separately to make the spider web topping. If you don't want to do this go ahead and add all of them into the blender with the other ingredients.

In a small blender (magic bullet) I added the cashews and 1 Tbsp of water at a time and kept blending until I got a thick creamy consistancy. You want it thin enough to draw but not too runny. Then I put it in a ziplock bag, removed the air and clipped a small section of the corner to draw a spiral on the soup top. Finish by dragging a toothpick through the spiral from middle out.

Before eating just blend it all in.

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Hope you give these a try and let me know how it goes.

Happy Halloween!

Thai Carrot Soup

Delicious Raw Thai Carrot Soup

You can eat it cold, warm or even if you make it hot, you will enjoy the simplicity and taste of this lovely soup! It's carroty, and creamy with a little kick and very filling.

It's Time

I don't know about you all, but I can tell summer is coming to a close. We are still in the triple digits here in the California desert and will be for a while still so it's not like it's getting cooler yet but the day before Labor Day just felt a little different.  It was still hot and sunny but change was in the air. In the days following we had some rare showers and even a thunder storm. Although we didn't cool down much and it didn't last long, it was kind of fun to get wet and have a bit of relief from the ever present sunshine. I know you are thinking well, duh! A storm was coming, of course it felt different. But now the storm is gone and that feeling is still in the air and sky.

This signal of seasons makes me a little sad for the wonderful summer fruit and produce that will be left behind but at the same time, it brings new options and I can't wait to be able to actually spend more time outdoors. I know for many of you that sounds the opposite of your summer experience but we are just coming into our "season" here. People from all over will be heading our way to soak up our warm sunshine- warm as opposed to hot! and sunny skies. The desert becomes a playground again and I hope to be able to get out and play too this season.

Our local Organic Farmer's Market is just about to re-open- Woo-hoo! Can't wait! It closes from May until mid September and it always leaves a major void. So this is an exciting time! I love learning about where our food comes from, the people behind it and trying new things. This year I want to push my comfort zone even further and try as many new things as possible.

So in honor of the change in season, I thought one of my favorite soups was in order. When I was brand new to raw, and looking for what to try that was good, my friend Deborah Blank shared this recipe with me. It was instantly one of my favorites and still is today. I believe Penni Shelton, the director of RawFood Rehab.com is the originator of this version of the recipe.

Thai Carrot Soup

Raw Thai Carrot Soup

What I love about raw food preparation is lining up all the ingredients (can you tell?) and looking at all the fresh and colorful ingredients and knowing that I am not going to do anything to them to destroy their nutrients. I know exactly what is going into my food and that I will get the full benefit of health and wonderful fresh taste in a meal. Being easy, only a knife and blender required and no cooking time or major clean up is all just a bonus!

Thai Carrot Soup Ingredients

3 carrots, topped and tailed

1 orange bell pepper

2 cups spring water 

meat from one young/thai coconut

3/4 cup almond milk

1 Tbsp Nama Shoyu or Tamari

1 Tbsp agave

1 Tbsp curry powder

1 Tbsp chopped cilantro

1/2 jalepeno pepper

2 tsp sea salt

chives for garnish

Chop all vegetables except for the chives, into smallish pieces, 

Blend with other ingredients until smooth. 

Tip: the water is where you can control the temperature of your soup.

 Add room temperature water for room temp soup 

If you want it warm or even hot, heat your water before adding to the blender.

What to do with the coconut water? Drink it! Or make a smoothie with it as a base- so good!

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Now if you are new to Young Coconuts, Don't Be Intimidated!  

When I was new to raw, I skipped over any recipes that included these coconuts and when I finally tried to open one I was surprised how easy it was. For more info and a really good video on how to open them check out my post Cuckoo for Coconuts.

The hard part is finding where to buy them, usually your health food stores or  asian markets but they are popping up more places. I was surprised to find them in my regular Vons grocery store. Just shake to make sure you can't hear the water. Most of these retailers don't know when they turn bad to pull them from the shelf.

Now, I would love to be able to share a substitute for young coconuts for those of you that don't have access to them but since this recipe already has almond milk in it, I am not sure what would work in it's place. Meat from mature brown coconuts does not work, I'm afraid.
If YOU have any ideas on a substitution, please share in the comments below.

Cilantro Head

What are you looking forward to with the change of season?

Watermelon and Lime- Ice Pops and Aqua Fresca

It's not often that flowers inspire something to eat but when I picked up these flowers and starting shaping this arrangement I realized how much I love the colors of watermelon and lime together. They are both cheery as well as refreshing and cool. The more I thought about it, the more my mouth watered.

Since there doesn't seem to be an end in sight yet to the hot weather, I've decided to keep focusing on recipes that will help cool us off. Watermelon and lime are two perfect examples of fruit that do that well.

So here is a recipe that makes a wonderful ice pop as well as a refreshing and tasty drink over ice.

Watermelon and Lime Ice Pops

Watermelon and Lime Ice Pops

Forget the store bought who knows what is in them type popsicles and look no further than your produce department to make your own ice pops.

Recipe

*  About 4 cups of fresh watermelon
   (I left the seeds in)

*  Juice of one lime

*  A big squeeze of Agave Nectar
   (maybe 1- 2 Tbsp) depending on        the sweetness of the melon you         have

*  1/4 cup water (optional)

*   Pinch of sea salt



Blend all in a blender and pour into mold

Using the molds pictured, I filled almost to the top, leaving about 1/4 inch at the top for expansion. This keeps the liquid from sticking to the top.

I placed the top in place and let the pops freeze for about 2 hours.

Then I placed the sticks into the mold. This keeps the sticks from either floating up or sinking all the way to the bottom.

I chose to use the kind of molds with sticks, as opposed to the ones with the plastic sticks so that I could remove from mold when done, store and reuse the molds.

After frozen solid, let thaw a few minutes and pull from molds.

Now if you don't want to freeze this into pops, you can just pour it over ice and enjoy it as

Watermelon and Lime Aqua Fresca

Enjoy!

Mountain Getaway and Fresh Peach Ice Pops!

Our Cabin in the Woods

We were actually just on vacation! We decided to escape the heat of the California desert and head up into the mountains. So here we were in Big Bear Lake, California where we had made a little log cabin in the woods, our home away from home. Up here at an elevation of around 7,000 feet the weather is cooler, the pine air is refreshing and the nights are just plain lovely.

Heirloom Tomatoes

Our first stop upon arrival was to hit up the local Tuesday Farmer's Market. We made it about an hour before closing time and managed to scurry around and buy some wonderful produce from the local farmers. This particular market is interesting in that they make all the farmers submit photos of their actual farms for their website. "No fakers here" being their motto. All farmers are from within a one hundred mile radius and most from the high desert region.

We met a woman who had a tomato stand- just tomatoes and a few different peppers. She had so many kinds and an absolutely gorgeous selection of heirlooms. She gave us a sample of one of her red tomatoes and it literally melted in my mouth- amazing!

We picked out some wonderful varieties and I knew even before we got in the car that we should have bought a lot more tomatoes!  We also picked up fresh peaches, grapes, seeded watermelon, apricots, fresh lettuces, lemons, limes, and berries. There was also a french gentleman selling his wife's fresh bread. We actually bought some wheat rolls for Rich to make tomato sandwiches- his favorite snack. The only ingredients with these were wheat, salt and yeast- hmmm. Very light and airy.

 I Love Farmer's Markets!!

I love to talk to the farmers, hear their stories and learn about the food. So very interesting!

Mon Chapeau Neuf

I kept seeing these fabulous hats wandering around me and I had to track down where they were coming from. A lovely gal had a booth with hats that she had made by hand. They are a little oversized, rumpled and indestructible and with the big flowers and lace bands they really spoke to the romantic in me. She had several different fun colors making it hard to decide. I went with the more neutral shade and donned it immediately. So glad I did! I love it!

So vibrant and colorful- Doesn't it make your mouth water?

Our next stop, since our cabin was not ready was to hit up a local restaurant called BLT's, sporting an outside deck for dogs and their owners. Lili was very happy sitting under the table watching the other dogs under their tables. They even had a portion of the menu for dogs that included things like chicken and kibbles, hot dog and kibbles, burger and kibbles, you get the picture.

For people they had the most amazing fresh Signature Salad, one of the few places around that included more than just lettuce, meat and cheese in their salads and believe me I read a lot of menus before we headed up.

This salad had five varieties of fresh lettuce and another five varieties of fresh fruit plus a sprinkling of walnuts and a strawberry balsamic vinaigrette- Delicious!

So after getting settled into the cabin which was adorable by the way, I decided to make something cool and refreshing to go along with the cool and refreshing theme of our trip. I put those little fresh peaches from the market to good use.

Fresh Peach Ice Pops

Nothing like fresh ripe peaches!

Last year we went the whole season with never having a ripe peach! We bought lots of them but they were always hard and unflavorful, and never ripened. This year we have been fortunate that Trader Joe's has been selling crates of local fresh peaches. A peach should smell ripe at the time you buy them. They should have that lovely peach aroma at the stem. If you buy at farmer's markets they will usually let you sample one. Our local market closes for the summer due to the heat but this farmer up here in Big Bear let us just eat one to test and they were delicious!

Ice Pop Ingredients- Peaches, Honey and a little water and some pop molds

Peach Ice Pops

Blend up some ripe peaches

Add in a touch of water to get things moving in the blender

Sweeten to taste with a mild honey or agave

(My honey turned out to be not so mild and overtook the flavor of the peaches.

 I ended up making them again with a light agave and it was much better!!)

 Pour into molds

Freeze

Enjoy!

I promised to keep it real with this blog and tell you even the not so good results and tips and tricks that I learn along the way. This little experiment was a good example of this. Not sure if my raw honey turned on me but it took on a strange flavor with my recipes this week. I ended up remaking these with agave and they were wonderful! 

I will need to hunt down a local raw honey vendor, since out farmer's market is gone for the summer. Local honey is always best as it is kind of like gradually vaccinating the body against local allergens, a process called immunotherapy- like allergy shots.  Stay tuned for more on this adventure.

Another not so great item for these ice pops was the molds. I do not recommend the ones pictured here at all! They were some cheapies I got at Target or Walmart, I can't remember which but I was so frustrated with them either not coming out of the mold or just the sticks coming out, or them coming half way out leaving the other half to be washed down the drain that I ended up "donating" them to the cabin when we left. I have ordered some new molds and will let you know how those work out with a new recipe that I am dying to try out when they arrive. 

Meanwhile....

Here are some pictures from around town:

I just adore hollyhocks

 and they were everywhere.

So pretty!

Daisies always make me smile!

I also love American flags.

We got a kick out of these chairs out in front of a pub.

Next Post: We head out hiking, picnicking and exploring around Big Bear Lake but only after setting out the sun tea!