Raw frozen Grape and Chocolate iceblock 'caterpillars'...so fun, so simple and so YUM!

Today I just randomly invented these super fast and simple little 'caterpillar' ice blocks and am so happy I did!
I purchased a bag of super sweet little organic sultana grapes from the local health store today and simply threaded a few on wooden skewers.

organic sultana grapes on skewers ready to be coated in raw chocolate

I then melted a 1/4 cup of cacao butter in a bowl over a pot of hot water, added 1/4 cup of agave syrup and stirred until mixed before adding 1/4 cup of cacao powder. Mixed until a smooth liquid.

While I was making the raw chocolate, I left the grapes on skewers in the freezer to cool on a sheet of teflex paper from the dehydrator to avoid sticking.

After the chocolate was ready, I simply poured with a spoon the melted raw chocolate over the grapes on the skewers until all coated, twisting as the chocolate solidified to the cold grapes.
Once all done, left to freeze over night.

In the morning, I had a wonderful raw treat surprise for the kids which they loved, as did the parents ;) They sure didn't last long. So now I have a job for the kids, to thread grapes on skewers all day tomorrow and leave to freeze and store, ready for the chocolate coating so this snack can be made anytime through out the year even when the season of sultana grapes are long gone.

Raw chocolate coated grape ice blocks

Such a simple delight for the entire family.

Raw Jackfruit cheese cake and tartlets.

This week we were blessed to have a very special visit from a delightful lady who actually owned our new found paradise for 22 years. It was such a beneficial visit on both parts as this property has been a huge part of this lady's life and she has such fond memories of her life here with her family. We also enjoyed listening to her stories and all the interesting details about specific parts of the land we are still unfamiliar with. We discovered our true boundaries and learnt we have coffee trees growing and to my delight, a massive lychee tree also. It was such a joyous encounter that I wanted to make it extra special by making something special...raw and homegrown....

Since the jackfruit has been the centre of our research lately and we have quite a lot of fresh pulp stored in the freezer for use, I decided Id experiment and make a raw jackfruit cheesecake for our special visitor.

I started by making a base of crushed nuts (mixed macadamia, almonds and cashews) about 2 cups and added blended dates. I used little Australian honey dates I found at the local health store, but medjool dates will be perfect too. I added a little melted coconut oil and mixed by hand to get the correct texture so when it is pressed in a cake tin, the base will hold its shape.

Nut, coconut oil and date base pressed into spring sided cake tin.

I then made the cheesecake filling by blending in my vitamix blender about 2 cups mixed macadamias and cashews which had been soaked and drained for about half an hour. I added the juice of a few lemons from the garden which had fallen off our trees (I even used an unripe sour orange) I then added about 2 tablespoons of agave syrup, 1/2 cup of melted coconut oil and about 1 1/2 cups of defrosted ripe jackfruit pulp. This blended into a really whipped texture which I spread over the base and added passionfruit pulp.

Cashew, macadamia, lemon juice and jackfruit whip to make cheesecake filling

I then left to freeze overnight until our special guest arrived. I left to thaw for about half an hour before serving. It was very well received and our guest was surprised it was made from the 'jackfruit of that old tree' as she had never liked the fruit on it.

 

 

 

I ended up having lots of extra ingredients left over to make tartlets too.