Little raw Christmas balls of bliss

We all know Christmas is approaching. The shops have been reminding us for the last month with all their campaigns to get us to buy more and eat more during the festive season. 
I am not very big on Christmas, mainly because I'm not a kid anymore and I now know Santa isn't real, but mainly because the real 'spirit' of Christmas has been lost in all the mainstream consumerism that has become what it is today. 
My kids love Christmas, they love it because they get presents. They also love it because 'Santa' hands out lollies in every shop! I try to add a little bit of real 'Christmas spirit' into our day by making the kids handmade gifts and emphasising  the goodness of giving and sharing rather than receiving, but it generally gets lost in all the unavoidable 'hype' of consuming. 

Anyway, here is a delicious, little, simple, raw treat recipe that I thought would make fabulous little handmade gifts that anyone would love to receive. Its so simple the kids can even make them. A great way for the children to experience a little bit of 'true Christmas spirit' by 'making and giving' on this over commercialised day of the year.

Raw Christmas bliss balls




Raw Christmas bliss balls to share this festive season

 Simply process a mix or a combination of activated almonds, pecans and walnuts. About 2 cups will make a few balls for a family to share. I crumbled the nuts until a fine meal and added enough dates to form a sticky dough. (I used a juicer with the solid plate, but you can use a food processor to combine nuts with dates)   
To this I added cacao powder - about 1/2 cup and another cup of roughly chopped almonds  
I mixed the chocolate dough with my hands and rolled into balls.
I thought they looked cute served in mini patty papers.

To make the chocolate topping, simply whisk until smooth equal parts melted coconut oil, honey and cacao powder. 1/4 cup of each should be enough to put a dollop on the top of each. 

Finish by placing a goji berry on top and let topping set in fridge before serving. 

My kids loved these and never left any for poor Dad to enjoy when he got home from work. Will have to make another batch for Christmas day. 

Some more raw creations from this week....

I have been rather busy over the last week in the kitchen, finalising some last minute dishes as I prepare for my Raw 'Delicious Dinners' Workshop happening this weekend. I am very excited to see a full house of expected attendees, some of which have attended previous workshops, but the majority will be new to raw. Its going to be so exciting to share the amazing world of raw to interested people who have never tried it before. I cant wait!

So here is a some delicious raw dishes that has been created in our kitchen this week.

Fresh green 'tacos' with the lot!

This is a great, simple dish that the whole family can help make and will enjoy. I have even had other children visit our house and we make this meal together and everyone always digs in! Even kids who don't normally eat anything green, let alone all raw will devour this!

Start by making the 'mok mince'
Process a couple of handfuls of walnuts or pecans until crumbled with a dash of nama shoyu and cumin powder and any other spices you may wish to add.



Starzi adding her special blend of herbs and spices to the 'mok mince'

Next make the tomato salsa:
Chop up a couple of tomatoes with some finely chopped red onion, add some olive oil, crushed garlic clove, cumin and coriander powder and a dash of lemon juice. Finish with a pinch of salt.

Optional extras are:
Chopped mushrooms in a marinade of olive oil and nama shoyu
mashed avocado with lemon juice, salt and herbs
sunflower seed cheese spread made by blending until smooth 1/2 cup of activated sunflower seeds with a pinch of salt, dash of lemon juice and a Tablespoon of nutritional yeast.

And now the fun bit! Ask you kids to go to the garden and gather bundles of fresh large green leaves to use as tacos.

Assemble: Lay out your leaf, place a dollop of each ingredient into the centre and roll. Enjoy.

We served today's meal with orange wedges and celery sticks just because we had some.



Both kids proud of their inclusion in today's meal.


And here is what we did with the left overs in the next days meal......

Raw Tomato, basil and cheese tarts:

Raw tomato, basil and 'cheese' tarts

Using left over 'Mok mince' from the above meal, press into a small pie tart tin to create a mould, then remove from tin.

Top with left over marinated mushrooms from above meal, chopped fresh tomato, red onion strips, fresh basil leaves, baby spinach leaves and a dollop of left over sunflower 'cheese' from above meal.

This was super fast to create as it was basically made from leftovers.... two very different dishes with very similar ingredients!


And here is another variation from the above meal I created today using similar ingredients.

Tomato, mushroom, spinach, avocado, olive and basil towers (to make 4 towers)

This is just as the name suggests - a tower of raw food to create these delicious, gourmet looking creations. 

I was inspired to make towers after stumbling across a brand new 'stack em kit' for only $5 at the op shop last week. What a bargain..this kit contained 6 stainless steel cylinders with a 'pusher' so towers like this can be achieved without any fuss. I was really impressed with the results.

So I started by making a nut base by processing about a cup each of activated walnuts and almonds a tablespoon of nutritional yeast and a sprinkle of  'seasoned salt' . I also added a tablespoon of melted coconut oil to ensure the nuts mix would hold shape when pressed. I pressed this nut mix into the base of each cylinder with the 'pusher' to create a sturdy base. (I think my bases were too thick so make them half the thickness as mine in the picture)

Next I began to invent layers with what I had available. 

First layer was fresh basil leaves placed flat onto the nut base.
Next layer was a slice of fresh tomato
Next layer was chopped mushrooms that had been marinated in olive oil and nama shoyu (or tamari)
Next layer was another slice of fresh tomato
Next layer was fresh garden silverbeet that had been shredded and massaged with olive oil, nutritional yeast and salt until wilted.
Next layer was another slice of fresh tomato
Next I added a few pieces of cubed avocado and sliced raw olives.
I then crumbled left over nut base on the top, but if I had any left over 'sunflower seed cheese' I would have used that instead. 
Garnish with a basil leaf. 

I think this dish can be enjoyed just as much without the nut base for a light summer lunch (just use a slice of tomato for a base) and some raw pesto would work great in amongst the layers also. The options to expand on this dish is endless! If you don't have one of the fancy 'stack em kits' then just try your best to create a stack anyway - I have done without one in the past with great results. 

More teasers for my comming workshop and a couple of quick raw balls of bliss

Today I have found myself again highly energised on a 'raw high' as I created a few more exciting new recipes to share at my next workshop and a couple of quick and easy bliss balls for the family as I used up some excess almond meal and coconut pulp.

Lunch was these fantastic little raw 'spring rolls' which were enjoyed like this:



And then like this as a packed lunch for the husband:

I also whipped up these quick and tasty little raw bliss balls using left over coconut pulp from making fresh coconut milk recently.

Recipe: Raw Chocolate and coconut bliss balls

Combine in a bowl:

pulp of one brown coconut after making fresh coconut milk (or you can use 1 cup of dried coconut)

1/4 cup of cacao powder

pinch of salt

dash of vanilla powder

1/2 cup of chopped activated almonds (or any chopped nuts will do)

Add:

1/2 cup of raw honey

1/4 cup of coconut oil

Mix until well combined and shape into balls.

Roll in a little cacao powder to finish

Then I made some tasty little raw 'jam drops' using left over almond pulp.

Recipe: Raw 'Jam Drops'

Combine in a bowl:

left over almond pulp (about 1 cup)

5 dates that have been pushed through a juicer with the flat plate

1/4 cup of honey

dash of vanilla powder

dash of cinnamon

1/4 cup of coconut oil

Roll into balls and make an indent with your thumb to add the jam drop(mixture will not stick extremely well so take care when pressing in the hole for the jam.)

Add a dollop of raw jam by just blending any type of fruit. I used mulberries. If jam becomes too runny, just squeeze excess liquid out through a nut bag. Keep liquid for smoothies or drink as is. You can also add a small amount of honey for more sweetner or to thicken. (or you could use store bought jam from a jar but it wont be raw)  

These were disappearing quicker than I could jam them! 

Sneek peek at whats comming to my next workshop in a couple of weeks......

Today I was delighted to find my enthusiasm re-emerge  for creating raw delights as I trialed this fantastic new Phad Thai noodle recipe....and the results were amazing! So, I have decided to include it at my next workshop. Here is a picture before it was devoured.

Raw Phad Thai noodle

And here is another favourite that I will be sharing on the day of the workshop. Raw pasta pesto.

Raw Pasta pesto

Looking forward to creating and trialling a few more recipes over the next couple of weeks to share at the workshop.

The freshness of Raw in Spring time.

Hello everyone...I am back and happy to be here. Its been a while since I have posted anything new, as I fumbled, lost through the last month, finding a little more of myself and my 'middle ground' in a raw lifestyle.

Finding that 'middle ground' has been a struggle, as I personally find it quite difficult to allow just 'a little bit' sometimes, as that 'little bit' easily becomes a lot more and lines become very hazy. Not only that, eating just one baked muffin...ok, it wasn't actually just one, I ate 3 in the afternoon, just turns my stomach, literally. I have discovered that eating only truly raw in its whole form, my appetite is content and I feel completely fresh inside with not a need to 'over do it' and want more. My energies are high and I am feeling good. Its only when I enjoy the tastes of processed, baked or cooked foods, my taste buds are in charge and I find myself wanting more, in some cases, even when my stomach is literally about to burst with fullness until it cramps! My energy also plummets, I just want to curl up on the lounge and become a couch potato and I feel crap. 

Anyway, these are all good lessons and just as much as I love raw food and the benefits it provides for my mind and body and my wish to eat it all the time, I have accepted that this will not always be the case as our lives transition from what they are now, to what we are aiming to achieve, maybe only then a 100% raw lifestyle may be achievable. For now it is a very high raw diet as I take it day by day, hoping to end each day on just wholesome pure raw food. 

So today like the last few have been all raw and today like the other days, we have enjoyed simple raw meals to coinside with the glorious season we are in now - Spring, coming into summer and with it, the flow of sweet juicy fruits! 

I absolutely love fruit, tropical fruits and berries particularly. I can eat fruit all day and be totally content. As long as the fruits keep rolling in, my interest in other cooked, baked or processed foods will be all but gone.

Here is our simple Spring lunch today...

Our simple staple salad made by Starzi:

Just throw together some greens, avocado, olives and tomatoes and top with a dressing made from olive oil, crushed garlic, pinch salt and juice of lemon (we used apple cider vinegar today as we were out of lemons) and then for something different and because our garden is thriving with them, a sprig of chopped dill.

  
This salad was served with Moroccan Carrots

Spiral a couple of carrots, toss in olive oil, juice of half an orange, dash of lemon juice, pinch of salt, sprinkle of cumin powder and cinnamon and some cracked pepper with a topping of fresh chopped parsley.

This was followed by the sweet fresh juice of a thai young coconut

And then to top it off...my favourite food in the world! Mangoes! Simply a bowl of diced mangoes with a few left over strawberries for colour. So easy, simple and totally delicious.