Chocolate, chocolate, chocolate

We love chocolate in this house so we fiddle about with raw recipes and we  came up with this. The kids love it and so do I… too much. This  makes  wonderful healthy kids snacks.

Raw Chocolate Fudge

1 cup raw cacao powder

1/2 cup coconut oil

1/2 cup grated cacao butter

1/2 cup macadamia butter

1 cup agave/ honey

1 Tblsp vanilla extract

pinch macrobiotic salt

pinch cinamon

pinch chilli (Optional)

Method:

In a food processor combine cacao powder, salt and macadamia nut butter.

place in a bowl.

Mix in the agave, vanilla, cinamon and optional but very yummy chilli by hand.

Melt coconut oil and cacao butter in a glass bowl over hot water.

Mix melted oils into cacao powder mixture by hand until smooth.

Pour into a pyrex dish and place in the freezer for a couple of hours until firm.

Cut into bite sized squares and place in the fridge.

These are best stored in the fridge.

You can also pour the mix over dried fruit and nuts before you freeze, inspired I know!

What about cranberries, currents and brazil nuts? Or dried apple, apricot and almonds?

mmm mmmm- the possibilities are endless and quite delicious

Pour mixture into a glass pyrex dish

Place in freezer for 1-2 hours, until firm

Cut into squares and serve

Store in refrigerator or freezer to maintain proper texture and consistency

Brazil Nut Butter

Ok dont freak out but this can’t even be called a recipe.

If you take about 3 cups of brazil nuts and put them in your blender or food processor and blend for 5 minutes you get brazil nut butter.

Wicked!

Try mixing macadamias which are pretty sweet with brazils which are oily and less sweet and maybe cashews which are creamy.

Add raw cacao and agave and hide in the pantry eating it straight out of the blender- did I say that out loud? ooops

Macadamia Butter

Ok this is too easy

Get some macadamias and whack them in the blender and blend for 5 minutes until the desired consistency.

Ta da

You can try 2 cups macadamia 1 cup cashew for a smoother more spreadable mixture.

Also a pinch of salt and a tiny bit of stevia/agave can enhance the flavour depending on your personal tastes.

Great for healthy kids snacks.

Chocolate Macadamia Nut Butter

My Smallest family member was craving some chocolate spread which I almost never buy and since we had all the ingredients to make a healthy version we thought we would play around with some recipes and it would be faster and more fun than going to the supermarket

What we did in the end was this: Read more

What’s for breakfast?

What’s for breakfast?

This is one of the recipes you get when you sign up for a weekly newsletter and it got so much good feedback I thought I better put it up for everyone.

This breakfast will keep you going until lunch time and tastes sweet and delicious. You can adjust your sweetener for the type that is best for your body ie agave is fructose so very easy to digest, honey is sucrose and raw honey has nutrients, Stevia has no calories/carbs and will help you moderate your blood sugar and maple syrup is yummy and probably good for you- google it!

It is also the perfect carb/ protein breakfast for an athlete, especially if you use agave.

The porridge will keep for 3 days in the fridge and you can add different toppings every day for a new taste sensation every morning.

Buckwheat should be raw not toasted and soaked overnight.

Porridge

2 cups buckwheat

4 cups water

1 grated apple

1/2 cup dried fruit

1 tsp cinnamon

tiny pinch of salt

Method

Soak buckwheat in water overnight and rinse really really well in the morning. Get all the soapy residue off it

Place in food processor with approximately  ½ cup agave/honey or sweetener of choice,

add 1 tsp cinnamon and blend until creamy.

Done!

You can make chocolate porridge with a teaspoon of raw cacao too.

Put one serving in a bowl and add grated fresh apple. Top with dried fruit like dried apple, currents, raisins, dried cranberries, fresh blueberries and raspberries and perhaps sprinkle of LSA.

If you like nut milk or chocolate nutmilk then add this

On a cold morning you could warm the porridge and nut milk gently to 48C so you retain all the nutrients.

Optional: try using Chai spices for a very warming and aromatic porridge: Cinnamon, ginger, cardamon, clove and star anise, all ground finely.

It is nice to have some simple recipes for food you can prepare ahead of time to make the morning meals nutritious, quick and easy. Below is a list of some good things about Buckwheat which is neither a wheat nor a grain.

Peace

Vidi

Buckwheat is actually gluten and wheat free and not a grain at all. It is a complete sources of protein, containing all eight essential amino acids. It wont spike your bloodsugar levels. It is also known to lower high blood pressure. Sprouted buckwheat is also known as a colon cleanser. In it’s raw state it alkalizes the body.

Buckwheat is full of rutin, which is a compound that is known as a powerful capillary wall strengthener. It is helpful in avoiding varicose veins.
Itis also rich in lecithin, making it a cholesterol balancer because lecithin soaks up “bad” cholesterol and prevents it from being absorbed. Lecithin neutralizes toxins and purifies the lymphatic system, taking some of the load off of the liver.

Buckwheat is high in iron,  boron, bioflavonoids, flavonols and co-enzyme Q10. It contains all of the B vitamins, magnesium, manganese, and selenium and calcium .

Cool huh?

I can haz dessert?

I feel like Ice Cream. So do the little peeps.

Luckily for me I had some frozen bananas in the freezer- as I often do. Now to add avocado, raw Cacao, cinamon and agave. Blend and blend and blend. You can stick it back it the freezer for 30 min if you like or just eat it as is.

Put it in a champagne glass with some finely shaved lime just because you can.

I swear that if the kids could have somehow licked the bottom of the glass they would have. A great healthy kids snack is one they can’t get enough of- never knowing how good it is for them.

Takes a moment, tastes delicious. Try it out

Thrive in 30 Days

Well here I am again and I thought I might get things on track with some help from a guy I have a lot of respect for. I just signed up for “Thrive in 30 days” on Brendan Braziers website so that I could get his pearls of wisdom on a regular basis. Nothing like being reminded every few days or even once a week that eating right is important to you and relatively easy.

Brendan is a professional ironman so not only walks his talk- he swims, runs and bikes it.

I trust his take on the vegan and vegetarian diet as he has nutritional needs that are extraordinary and he not only copes, he performs and recovers better than most. I feel rather blessed to have such a great role model and someone to point to every time someone says you cant build a great body on vegetable protein. He has plenty of sound, scientifically based advice and recipes that are simply delicious. It may be a whole new way of eating for some people or it may just be adding some superfoods to an already fabulous diet. Whatever it is for you it is worth checking Brendan out.

The basics are

“Eat your fruits and vegetables.” This is one of the most tried and true recommendations for a healthy diet. Plant-based foods are rich in antioxidants, essential vitamins and minerals, enzymes, fiber and phytonutrients and countless studies support their many health benefits.

Give me convenience, I know, lame. But I am used to just chucking a couple of spoonfuls of powder in the blender with some water after a 30km run and knowing that I am replacing all the stuff I’ve just striped from my poor body

Enter Vega- this is the product line that is packed with plant-based nutrition, Vega Whole Food Health Optimizer provides protein, fibre, antioxidants and more. Click here to go to their website
A powdered meal replacement that has:

26g of Broad Spectrum Protein

6g of Essential Fatty Acids

17g of Quality Carbohydrates

15g of Fabulous Fiber

Full Serving of ChlorEssence (High CGF Chlorella)

Full Serving of MacaSure (Organic Gelatinized Maca)

Mixed Berry Complex (ORAC 800 blend)

Probiotics (Dairy-free)

Digestive Enzymes

100% Recommended Daily Intake of Vitamins & Minerals

I like the 100% of vitamins and minerals because there are a bunch of them sitting in my bathroom that I just got sick of taking so now I wont feel like I am missing out. With just 220 calories and 2g of net carbs per serving (natural flavor), Vega is an excellent choice for those on a calorie-reduced diet. High in fiber, protein and essential fats, Vega is naturally filling and satisfying, helping to suppress appetite and cravings.

Brendan’s Vega products are currently only available in USA and soon Canada- I know, I know. Waaaahhhhh.  I am hanging out to get mine while in New York later this year for the Marathon.

I am also thinking of being tricky and getting them sent to my friends in NY and having them post them over Mwwaaaah aahh aahh a cunning plan.

And in other news-Vega make snack bars, the holy grail of the athlete on the run… like literally on the run- so you can ditch processed, sugary energy bars. The Vega Energy Bar. Raw and alkaline, each bar is packed with 10g of plant-based protein. Click here to check them out
I don’t know about you but I love to see really healthy convenience food and when I checked out the website there was a respect for the need for products and companies to be environmentally sustainable and socially responsible. YAY! and on that note I am packing up my gear for a long run tomorrow and we’ll talk later.