Tahini Balls

Here is the Gwinganna Retreat recipe for Tahini Balls. They are great if you are craving something sweet but good for you. Often our cravings are really for vitamins and minerals that we are lacking and these tahini balls are full of calcium, magnesium, zinc, iron, phosphorus and potassium to name but a few. These make fantastic healthy kids snacks as well.

Recipe:

1/2 cup tahini

1/2 cup dessicated coconut

1/2 cup raw honey/ agave nectar

1/2 cup L.S.A

1 cup dried fruit (goji berries, currents, apricots, sultanas, prunes, the options are endless)

Place all ingredients in a food processor and process until it begins to form a ball.

roll into walnut sized balls, roll in coconut and store in the fridge.

Perfect 3pm snack or lunch box treat.

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?

Hummus

Here is a version of hummus I like although I often make it with zuchini instead of a nut base because I get sick of nuts and I never get sick of veges.

Recipe:

3/4 cup macadamia nuts

4 Tablespoons lemon juice

4 Tablespoons tahini

1tsp cumin

1/2 tsp minced garlic

1/2 tsp salt

water to mix

Blend all ingredients  until smooth. Taste and season.

If you thin it down it makes a great dressing for coleslaw or my personal favorite a salad of mixed sprouts- heavy on the mung bean sprouts.

Ice cream

Ice Cream

2c cashews
1/2c coconut butter
1/4c agave nectar
1 vanilla pod, scrape out the seeds and discard the pod
1c almond milk
1t lemon juice

Blend all ingredients in a high-speed blender until smooth.

Pour mixture into your ice cream maker and churn. Set in the freezer if necessary.

Before you serve you might want to mix through some berries or chocolate or set in moulds and cover in crushed berry sauce.

Quick Corn Salad

Here is a quick corn salad that is perfect to take on a picnic and children are enchanted by it’s fresh colours so it makes a wonderfully healthy kids snack or compliment to any meal.

You could always use it as a filling in a lettuce wrap for an nutritious lunch or as the veges in the kid’s sandwiches.

Recipe:

Fresh corn relish

Fresh corn is cunchy and sweet in season and often I bring some back from the farmers market to make relish and salads.

Always buy it still in its natural wrapper rather than that horrible dried out stuff the supermarket has cut up for your ‘convenience’ and plastic wrapped without regard for the moisure and nutrients being lost.

Recipe:
4 large ears or fresh corn

4 spring onions chopped

1 small clove garlic minced

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

Zest of 1 lemon

Juice of 1 lemon

1 teaspoon macrobiotic  salt

1 teaspoon cracked black pepper

Method:

Holding each ear of corn upright on a tray or cutting board slice off the kernals from top to bottom then transfer to a large bowl. Add remaining relish ingredients. Toss to combine. Adjust seasoning to taste.

Serve with crackers and nut cheese

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