Spice Roasted Rhubarb

Ok, so I may be slightly obsessed. After roasting strawberries, and having the most divine roasted rhubarb at a cafe recently, I had a crack at doing it myself. No photos, all awesome. The recipe is fairly ‘approx’ like a lot of my recipes – so feel free to adjust amounts to taste. The pomegranate molasses isn’t for everyone, and the amounts below leave a slightly tart rhubarb.

10 or so long stalks of rhubarb, sliced into pieces around 2 inches in length.

1 T pomegranate molasses

1 T honey

1 t each of cinnamon, nutmeg, mixed spice (or a combination of similar spices) I would love to use fresh crushed star anise, unfortunately there was none in the cupboard

1 T or so of fresh grated ginger

7 -8 whole cloves

combine and spread on a baking tray. Roast mod oven for 10 min then check. I like to have a little bite in the rhubarb still and to have it hold shape, but you may like it softer and mushier.

 

Serve with custard, chia pudding, porridge, strong red meat, whatever your heart desires.

Raw Coffee Cheesecake with Faux Caramel

 

 

This is delicious, I have nothing more to say.

 

Raw Chocolate Peppermint Slice

One of my favourite slices is chocolate and peppermint. Gorgeous flavour combination. Being an indulgent person, I find a lot of ‘treat’ foods actually come in single serve amounts which doesn’t work for my body at the best of times. So in order to satisfy both my cravings and subsequent blood sugar levels, I came up with this raw, vegan, chocolate peppermint slice.

Summer Salad

This is one of my favourite salads. It’s light and flavoursome, easy to prepare and very filling. I use a food processor for speed, but you can hand chop and grate if you feel so inclined. Into the grater: a …

Banana berry treats

A wonderful friend of mine shared this recipe with me when I was staying with her ‘in between houses’ this year (I’m onto number 7 at the moment, looks like a keeper … ) The original recipe is here.

Jelly tip ice blocks are such summer treat, with ice cream and jelly wrapped up in chocolate – what could be better? Well, as Nicola Galloway purposes in the original recipe, a healthy version fits the better bill nicely.

I’m not a big fan of bananas, something about the texture and the taste, and well, after that there isn’t a lot left really is there. However, when they are whizzed up in this recipe they are something else. Truly.

 

Carrot and Pineapple Cake

This is one of my favourite cakes, it’s very filling and you can save the age old battle of ‘to walnut or not’ by leaving them out entirely (the correct way to make a carrot cake). The pineapple adds a juicy sweetness, but watch cooking times as you may need to adjust the heat and cook a bit longer.

Nut burgers

I used to love eating the ‘humming burgers’ at lotus heart cafe. This is the closest I can come to replicating their nut meat patties.

1 onion

2 stalks of celery

Chocolate Hot Cross Buns

I first encountered chocolate and bread as a combination when I was selling Kirby vacuum cleaners door to door and someone had just made a loaf of chocolate and apricot bread. It was delicious. If you are going to eat bread for the sake of it, eat it with chocolate in it!

Chocolate hot cross buns –

3 t yeast

1/4 c milk (room temp or very slightly warmer)

1/3 c brown sugar

set aside to foam. While waiting, sift and combine:

1/4c cocoa

3 1/2 c flour

1 egg

2 T butter

3/4 c water

1 t mixed spice

1 t cinnamon

Stir in foamed yeast mixture till a shaggy dough. Knead together loosely. Leave to rise in a warm spot. (and hour or so)

Punch down and knead in 3 / 4 c choc chips. Shape into 8 buns and leave to rise in the container they’ll be cooked in.

For the crosses (otherwise they are just buns aren’t they!)

mix 1/4 c flour, 2 T cocoa and 1 T of icing sugar with enough water to make an easy paste. Place in plastic bag and snip a small corner. Draw lines through the centre of the buns to form X or + or whatever splodgey shape they turn out to be.

Glaze with 2 T milk, 1 T water with 45g of sugar melted into it.

Bake at 220 for 12 – 15.

Alternatively – place everything in the bread maker and pick up instructions at second knead – ie adding choc chips.

Raw Chocolate Delights

These are like chocolate truffles, but better. And good for you. And they are filling, so you won’t want many at a time 🙂

1 cup dates, soaked for a few hours or over night, drained.

1/4c cocoa

2 T coconut oil

2t honey

1/4 t vanilla

pinch of good salt 

1 cup pumpkin seeds, whizzed to a flour.

Whiz pumpkin seeds into a fine flour, set aside. Whiz dates up, then add everything into the whiz bowl and process until you can roll into balls. You may need to add a dash of water, depending on how well soaked/drained the dates are.

Try variations such as a pinch of cayenne, or using prunes instead of soaked dates. Different brands of cocoa (or using raw cocoa) will give different results as well. You could also try different essences like peppermint, orange, etc.

You can roll in coconut, cocoa powder, candied citrus peel, or just leave plain.