Kale Slaw with Mild Creamy Curry Dressing

This is a great big salad to share at a raw food potluck or party. You can make it a few hours before as this gives the rugged kale time to absorb the dressing. In fact, although food in my kitchen rarely lasts too long, the spices will help this salad keep in the fridge for a couple of days.

Serves 8 as a side salad

Equipment needed: blender or food processor

Slaw
1/2 bunch or head of kale
1/2 head of cabbage (red if you can get it)
2 or 3 carrots grated

Mild Creamy Curry Dressing
1/2 cup of ground almonds
2 tbsp apple cider vinegar or juice of 1/2 lemon
2/3 cup of coconut meat (meat of 1 young Thai coconut)
2 tsp curry powder
1 tsp turmeric
½ tsp Celtic Sea Salt½ cup olive oil
Black pepper to taste
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp maca powder (optional)
water as per needed (I needed about 1 cup)

1 tbsp Chia seeds

N.B. You could leave out the almonds or replace them with cashews or macadamias to make it creamier.

Remove stems from kale, layer leaves on top of each other and slice it .

Remove outer leaves from cabbage and chop and slice. Or shred in a food processor or grater.

For the dressing, blend all the ingredients together.

Pour dressing over and mix till all of the salad is coated.

Healthy Raw Chocolate 'Avocado' Mousse

A lovely quick treat. Avocados are so cheap at the moment! I could almost name this David 'Avocado' Wolfe's delight, as it contains three foods he regularly espouses for their wonderful properties, two he lists as superfoods, cacao and raw honey.

The texture and taste of this dessert would trick anyone into thinking it was a chocolate mousse.

Ingredients
2 Hass avocados (cut into chunks if avocado is still a little hard)
2-3 tbsp raw honey, or your preferred sweetener
3 tbsp raw cacao powder or nibs
1 tbsp carob

Equipment
Food processor, blender or stick blender

Yields 1 1/2 cups

Serves 2 to 3 people

Yield size will vary depending on the variety of avocado. You can adjust how chocolatey or sweet you want this to be.

Place all the ingredient in your blender, food processor or stick blender. Process till smooth. In my food processor this took a few minutes to make sure there we no lumpy green bits.

Garnish with fine shredded coconut

Tip: Use as filling for a pie or topping for fruit.

Maca Powder

I tend to use Maca Powder in many of my desserts, so I thought it only fair to give this wonderful food a blog post of it's own.

Did you know Maca is great for women and men!

For men:

• Stimulates sexual activity
• Decrease of impotency and erectile dysfunctions
• Decreases stress
• Improves hormonal balance and testosterone level
• Increases the production of sperm cells
• Reduces male menopausal symptoms

For women

• Reduces menopausal symptoms
• Increase of level of sexual activity
• Increase of fertility
• Eases menstruation pains
• Stimulates stamina
• Increases your energy level

Maca is a high-grade food because it consists mainly out of carbohydrates (60-75%), proteins (10-14%), fibres (8,5%) and lipids (2%).

The carbohydrates in Maca mainly consist of amino acids. The amino acids arginine and lysine effect the regulation of fertility, for both men and women. The reproductive cells of men contain a large amount of arginine. Maca fills up the arginine in these cells and in doing so, helps relieve fertility problems and a shortage of libido. Lysine helps women with fertility problems and menopausal complaints.

Maca grows only in soil that is rich of minerals. That's why the plant contains a lot of minerals: calcium, magnesium, potassium, iron, silica and traces of iodine, manganese, zinc, copper and sodium.



Because Maca also contains fructose, it can also fight fatigue. Sperm plasma also uses this fructose to supply the spermatozoids with energy.

There are also sterols in Maca. An improvement of menopausal problems and an increase of the female fertility are caused by these sterols and by the amino acid lysine. They also found glucosinolates in the plant. Plants that contain glucosinolates are used all over this world because they have an effect on hormonal reproductive actions.

But how does it taste? Well, a little bit like caramel, and a little bit like butterscotch.

Macadamia Cheeze

Macadamia Cheeze

Inspiration for this recipe is a recipe by Ani Phyo's book called Italian Pizza Cheeze, see link below. This cheeze is lovely spread on a raw crackers, raw bread, you can also add to a zucchini pasta for a creamy cheezy pasta. You could also spread it on the Scarborough Bread mixture to make a pizza and top with your favourite veggies.

Ingredients:

2 cups of raw macadamias

1 tbsp nutritional yeast (Engevita)

Juice of 1 lemon

1/3 cup fresh parsley

1/4 tsp paprika

1 tsp Celtic sea salt

Variation: You could use any herbs, I added parsley to go particularly with the Scarborough Fair Bread. To make this cheese a more yellow colour, use a yellow capsicum. You can also add a small pinch of turmeric but careful as it can change the flavour, especially if it's organic.

Serving suggestions: Pipe onto some Scarborough Fair Bread and garnish with a dulse leaf or parsley for yummy appetizer.

Scarborough Fair Bread

This is a sandwich style bread. Pop it in the dehydrator in the morning ready to have for dinner with a yummy raw soup perhaps with the same herbs to extend the flavour. I named this bread based on the song, “Scarborough Fair”. Singing it helps me to remember what herbs to put in.

“Are you going to Scarborough Fair?
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme,
Remember me to one who lives there,
For once she was a true love of mine”

Yields: 12 bread slices

Special equipment: Food dehydrator, high-speed blender/coffee grinder/food processor

Soaking time: 4-6 hours

Dehydrating time: 5 to 7 hours

Ingredients:

3 cups flaxseed, soaked for 5 hours (golden for a lighter and variance of taste)

3 cups hulled sunflower seeds

1 tbsp each of dried or fresh parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme

1 tbsp celtic sea salt

1 cup of water

Olive oil (if you find mixture not binding)

Stage 1: Soaking your seeds

Soak seeds for 4-6 hours in purified waters.

Stage 2: Dehydrate your seeds.

Spread onto two or more dehydrator trays with a spatula. Dehydrate at 110 F for 5-6 hours You will find that the flaxseeds will cling together and actually you now have the basis for a flaxseed cracker recipe.

Stage 3: Making the bread

Have two lined dehydrator trays on the bench ready to place mixture onto.

Prepare dry ingredients first. Grind a third of the flaxseeds at a time in your high-speed blender or nut grinder. Place in a large mixing bowl. Grind the sunflower seeds with the herbs and sea salt. Add to mixing bowl and mix with your hand (good time to have a little sing).

Add the water, and mix well. Your hands will get gloopy and you will know when the dough is ready it will form a dough in your fist. Spoon 1/3 to half mixture onto a dehydrator tray and spread to the edges with a spatula or a rolling pin. Trim the edges with a knife, put the excess in the middle or anywhere the surface needs filling. It should look smooth and flat, a little like wet bread. Fill the other tray(s)the same way, wash your hands and set the dehydrator to 62C (145 F) for the first two hours. This will sweat out the moisture and this bread is very moist necessary to inhibit bacterial growth. Then bring the temperature down to 110 F.

Remove trays, cut into sandwich slices or whatever size you want to use for. You could use this as a base for pizza or appetizers.

Serving Suggestion: Open sandwich layered with raw cashew cheese, tomato, red cabbage, dulse leaves, spinach leaves and garnish with spring onions, chia seeds and a cherry tomato.

This recipe was created especially for the Raw Coasties Class 13th May.

Aussie Christmas Cake (shhh....don't tell anyone it's raw vegan)

This year we will be home in Australia for Christmas. I have always wanted to make a Christmas Cake like the one's my Nana made. In my childhood, my paternal Grandmother (Nana Stella) always made these divine, moist Christmas cakes. She is probably one of my main cooking inspirations. But not to let my maternal grandmother (Nana Gwen) be forgotten she inspired the magic in me. And so I dedicate this cake to my nanas, love never leaves, I feel you ladies around me.

Nana's cakes were dark, full of the best ingredients, lots of fruit, and I haven't tasted a better Christmas cake since. I can't help wondering what Nana would think of this flourless, egg-free, white sugar free, organic version.


Our family are not practicing Christians. Like many these days, we still celebrate Christmas as a time of connecting with family and friends. Of being quiet and reflecting on our spirituality and stopping every day activity. So I plan to serve this cake on Christmas Day, which will be spending with family who will most likely have a traditional Christmas.

Raw plant-based food connects us with divine, or at least this is my experience. My intention for this cake is for each bite to be savoured slowly. To connect with the love that was put into making it. And for the extraordinaly rich and nutrient dense ingredients. For example, the dried apricots, currants, raisins and dates are incredible high in potassium.

The Recipe!!!!

Stage 1: Soaking the fruit

Prep: 7 minutes
Soak for 1-2 hours

Fruit mixture
1/3 cup dried cherries, chopped (in quarters)
1 cup sultanas
1 cup currants
1 cup goji berries or raisins

Zest and Juice
1 medium lemon
1 medium orange
1 red grapefruit

that will yield:
1 tbsp citrus zest
1 cup grapefruit


You will need: knife and chopping board, medium bowl, zester, juice extractor, small bowl, spoon, small sieve, one medium bowl, small plate wrapped in cling wrap,

1. Chop dried cherries and place in bowl with the currants, sultanas, goji berries.

2. Using a zester, get as much peel as you can from the orange, lemon and grapefruit. Lemon skins can be quite hard so don't worry if you don't get much from it. Place in bowl of fruit.

3. Cut and juice orange, grapefruit and lemon and pass liquid through sieve, place in bowl of fruit.

4. Stir it all together and place a small plate on top.

You will need: food processor or high speed blender.


Stage 2: Making the dough

Binding mixture:
1/2 cup dried apricots
1 cup dates (8 medjool) or use any dates
1 tbsp almond extract or vanilla
(You could also add brandy if you want to make this more authentic)

Dry mixture:
2 cups activated almonds
1 cup dessicated (dried) coconut
1/2 cup cashews
1 tsp nutmeg
1 tbsp mixed spice
1 tbsp cinnamon
11/2 tbsp maca powder

The binding mixture, I would consider the 'eggs' and 'cream' component that binds the mixture together. Depending on the strengh of your equipment. You can either blend both mixtures together or separately, and then mix together in a large bowl. If you are blending these separately, process the dry mixture first.


Stage 3: Putting it altogether and 'bake' or 'firm'


You will need: large bowl, 20 or 22cm mould, clean hands, medium bowl, medium fine sieve.

Strain fruit juice into a bowl. Add remaining fruit to large bowl. Add 'binding mixture to large bowl.

When we used to make Christmas cakes, my nan would make about four or five at least. She would put all the ingredient in a large pot. So much volume made it too tough for a wooden spoon and we didn't have an electric mixer. So she would mix it all by hand. Personally I think this was nan's secret ingredient. This is where you get to add a little magic to your cake. Mix it all together with your hands, make a loving intention, say a prayer, visualise with love the people you are making this cake for, including yourself.

Place it all in a cake tin or mould. If you are using a tin, be sure to wrap it in cling wrap first so you can get the cake out easier.I used a 22cm silicon mould. I find the silicon so much easier when removing raw cakes.

If you have a dehydrator, place it on 46F for 3 hours. Halfway through, turn it upside down.

If you are making this the night before or a few days before, refrigerate and you can warm it up in the dehydrator on Christmas Day or whenever you are serving it.


Stage 4: Decorate

Christmas is all about decoration. I did not use an icing for this cake but I will perhaps create an icing in a future post. We never used icing when making Nan's cakes. Like many we decorated with blanched almonds.

Garnish with honey spiced almonds. I used 20 activated almonds and coated them with 2 teaspoons of raw honey, and a pinch of mixed spice. You could leave off the honey or use some other sweet alternative.

Traditionally you decorate with Christmas ribbon. My cake wasn't quite deep enough for the ribbon I had.

Voile !



Variations: Add Christmas Bell Flower Essence to raise the energetic level even more !

Organic Spelt Raspberry and Dark Chocolate Muffins

This is a kind of blog hand-me down recipe. Vegans look away now (will attempt a Raw Vegan version in the future). I was searching for a Spelt Raspberry Muffin recipe and found one with Dark Chocolate in it. It sounded rather yummy with the dark chocolate twist so thought I would have a go. And I love raspberry and chocolate together so much I am almost considering renaming this site. I am going to note my variations but not post the recipe as I think could do this a little better next time. When I am baking I try to use all or mostly organic ingredients and low GI, non white sugar.

Bourke Street Bakery’s chocolate and raspberry muffins

Manna-Chi variations. Vegans look away now. I used Kialla Spelt Flour (I really like Kialla). Spelt flour is produced by removing the firm outer husk then roller-milling the inner kernel of grain and sieving out the bran. The end product makes for an easy digestible food when baked. Retains a substantial proportion of wheat's nutrients, although much of the dietary fibre is lost from removing the bran. High in nutrition and has a nutty flavour.

In place of caster sugar I used coconut sugar. It is sort of like a very coarse brown sugar but not as strong a flavour. But it is expensive. And being a low G.I. sugar it is not as sweet.

I found one block (100g) of Fairtrade organic dark chocolate (only $2 from Aldi) was enough. I made the buttermilk with organic milk combined with organic lemon juice.

Queens now sell organic vanilla extract in supermarkets.

Organic butter, eggs and allergy free baking powder were also used.

Verdict: Hubby reports these are the best cooked muffins I have made. Daughter approved also. These turned out very buttery, light and with these lovely bittersweet raspberry and chocolate contrast.




Verdict:

Rawkstars: Matt Amsden

Matt Amsden



My family and I visited his restaurant (twice it was so good), Euphoria loves RawVolution in Santa Monica, Los Angeles in December 2010.

This is an excerpt of my visit to Euphoria loves Rawvolution from my personal blog,

"In our first stopover we really enjoyed visiting Santa Monica and we had an extra incentive to go there this time, Raw Food Restaurants. Now we only ended up going to one of them because with the busy few weeks we have moving, Gib working, me doing course work and my PC crashing I hadn't had a chance to finish my travel itinerary and print it out. The raw food restaurant we decided to go to was "Euphoria loves Rawvolution" run by Matt Amsden and his wife. And it was a good choice. We instantly felt better as we walked in there. It was very California laid back and walking the back streets of Santa Monica. Gib commented it reminds him of Rose Bay. When I was in the cafe I felt like I was in Bondi so I guess you can say it was an Eastern Suburbs experience. I ordered a Matt Amsden's signature dish, Big Matt with Cheese and it was the best burger I have had without a doubt. Gib had a greek style pizza and a Chai Milk shake. We shared "Almost Tiramisu" and words do not describe absolutely yummy this dessert was.

The second meal at Euphoria loves Rawvolution, Rhiana had apple bread with almond butter. She didn't like her strawberry smoothie I think it was a bit tart for her but mum obliged. Gib had a salad (how unusual) and I had Indonesian flavoured kelp noodles. They were beautiful. And we shared a slice of hazelnut cappuccino cake, brownie and ice cream sandwich. The hazelnut cappucino cake was good but the tiramisu was probably the best thing of all. The wait staff were really attentive too and we also took away some rawkin' Kombucha which seemed to have a bit too much alcohol in it because I felt pretty relaxed after half a bottle."

Part 2

I have made his Onion bread and Bigsweet, less salty food than the recipes suggested in his recipe book "Rawvolution".

Gluten Free = Glue free tummies

Gluten free seems to be popping up in menus everywhere. One of my favourite cafes here on the coast, 304 on West not only labels what is Gluten Free, but vegetarian as well. I was inspired by Rainbeau Mars latest newsletter. Here is a very brief video presented by her "How to be Gluten-Free: In the Kitchen". Of course, if you are eating 100% raw vegan diet, you are probably gluten free, but not everyone is doing this (author looks at herself in the mirror).

I have a couple of weaknesses, one being shortbread biscuits. There is a gluten-free shortbread I buy in the supermarket, I don't remember the name but they are rather delectable. I buy them because I think at least they are not too bad. Anyway, watching Rainbeau's prompted me to do a little more research. Starting with the 1 in 100 Australians that have been diagnosed with Coeliac Disease.

What is Coeliac Disease?

According to Coeliac Australia,

In people with coeliac disease the immune system reacts abnormally to gluten (a protein found in wheat, rye, barley and oats), causing small bowel damage. The tiny, finger-like projections which line the bowel (villi) become inflamed and flattened. This is referred to as villous atrophy. The surface area of the bowel available for nutrient absorption is markedly reduced which can lead to various gastrointestinal and malabsorptive symptoms.

Currently, the only recognised treatment is a gluten-free diet. Gluten can be found in a range of foods including:

"Foods to avoid
A person with coeliac disease should avoid all foods that contain gluten. It is important to read the labels of all packaged or prepared foods. Some foods that contain gluten include:

Cereal and baking products – wheat, wheaten cornflour, semolina, couscous, wheat bran, barley, oats, porridge, breakfast cereals containing wheat, rye, oats or barley, corn or rice cereals containing malt extract from barley, some icing sugar mixtures and baking powders.

Pasta and noodles – spaghetti, pasta, lasagne, gnocchi, hokkien noodles, soba noodles and two-minute noodles.

Bread, cakes and biscuits – all bread, cakes and biscuits prepared with flours from a gluten source.

Meat products – any products prepared with breadcrumbs or batter, sausages and other processed meats or smallgoods (unless labelled gluten free), thickened soups, meat pies and frozen meals.

Dairy products – malted milk, icecream in a cone and some soymilks.

Fruits and vegetables – canned and sauced vegetables, textured vegetable protein (found in some vegetarian products) and fruit-pie filling.

Condiments – malt vinegar, some mustards, relishes, pickles, salad dressings, sauces, gravy and yeast extract from barley.

Snacks – liquorice, some lollies and chocolates, packet savoury snacks and some flavoured potato and corn chips.

Drinks – cereal coffee substitutes, milk drink powders.

Alcoholic drinks – beer, stout, ale, Guinness and lager (most beers contain gluten, however a range of gluten free boutique beers is now available in Australia).


Naturally gluten free foods
Despite the restrictions, a person with coeliac disease can still enjoy a wide and varied diet. Corn (maize), rice, soy, potato, buckwheat, millet, quinoa, lentils and amaranth are all gluten free. It is important to read the labels of all packaged or prepared foods. Some gluten free foods that people with coeliac disease can enjoy include:

Meat products – unprocessed meat, fish, chicken, bacon, ham off the bone and meats that are frozen or canned but with no sauce.

Dairy products – eggs, full cream milk, low fat milk, evaporated milk, condensed milk, fresh cream, processed or block cheese and some custards and soymilks.

Fruits and vegetables – fresh, canned or frozen but not sauced; fruit juices, nuts and peanut butter.

Cereal and baking products – corn (maize) flour, soya flour, lentil flour, rice (all types), rice flour, rice bran, potato flour, buckwheat, millet, amaranth, breakfast cereals made from corn and rice without malt extract from barley, polenta and psyllium.

Bread, cakes and biscuits – most rice crackers, corn cakes, rice crispbreads, corn tortillas and corn taco shells.

Pasta and noodles – gluten free pasta, rice noodles, rice or bean vermicelli and 100 per cent buckwheat noodles.

Condiments – tomato paste, tahini, jam, honey, maple syrup, cocoa, all kinds of vinegars (except malt), some sauces and some salad dressings.

Snacks – plain chips and corn chips, popcorn and plain chocolate.

Drinks – tea, coffee, mineral water, wine, spirits and liqueurs."

Further reading;

Gluten-free diet: fabulous or furphy?

Gluten free diet: Better health Channel

You can find a lot of Gluten-free products in the supermarket and online, including:

Gluten Free Foods Mornington

Sunnybrook Health Store

I also found this book online, "My Gluten Free Supermarket Guide".