Here, Halva Monster!

Carob Halva Monsters


3 Heaping tablespoons Tahini Paste
1 Tbsp Carob Powder
1 Tbsp Arrowroot Powder
1 Tbsp Liquid Sweetener
(I like Freedom syrup [made entirely from fruit] but agave or maple would be fine too)
Raisins or sultanas
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Stir, stir, stir everything except the raisins/sultanas in a small bowl or a coffee mug until well mixed. Heap onto spoons and make smiles with the sultanas! Or you could just put them in with the rest and stir it up if you don't like smiling food. Whatever.
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This is a small but rich and flavourful snack that will serve 2-3.

Char-grilled Mushroom Burgers (Not Raw)

These...are not raw. HOWEVER. They are DELICIOUS (they taste JUST like real burgers!!), totally fat-free and jam packed with good nutrients. I got the inspiration for them from a mushroom burger recipe that I found at vegalicious.com. Note, I hate mushrooms normally...but I LOVE these!                          

240 Ml/1 Cup Brown Rice
480 Ml/2 Cups Oat Flour (I will teach you how to make your own below if you don't have any on hand)
200g Mushrooms (I used chestnut, but you may use portabello or other if you like)
3 Cloves Garlic (raw)
5 Cherry Tomatoes, rinsed
2 Tbsp Tomato Paste (or pasta sauce will do fine)
1 Tbsp Nutritional Yeast
Seasonings...I use:
1/2 tsp Fleur De Sel/sea salt
1/4 tsp Onion Granules (/Onion powder)
1/4 tsp Chipotle Powder
1/4 tsp Thyme
1/4 tsp Ground Mustardseed
1/4 tsp Black Pepper

Set the rice to cook. Rinse your veggies & put them in the food processor at high speed. Blend thoroughly. Make some oat flour if needed by putting 480 Ml or 2 Cups of oats in a blender, blending and stirring until you have something that is majoratively powder. Strain your rice and put it and the spices/seasonings in the food processor with the mushroom mix, allow it to be a bit bitty/chunky the way ground beef is. Now put the mushroom mixture in a large bowl and stir in the oat flour. Form into balls and put straight on a grill (George Foreman works great for this) or, alternatively, a lightly oiled frying pan. Cook until golden & crispy on both sides. Enjoy however way you will-add some raw by eating them with greens leaves in place of a bun, or alternatively you may eat them in a tortilla or with some rye bread. Whatever suits your fancy.

                                                                                             

Aubergine Jerky

-REQUIRES A DEHYDRATOR-
This is based off of how I learned to make eggplant "bacon"; but I think it tastes more like jerky. It's quite nice.

2 Aubergines (eggplants)
1/4 ripe Avocado
2 Tbsp Olive Oil
2-4 Tbsp Maple Syrup (depending on how sweet you want it)
2 Tbsp Unfiltered Apple Cider Vinegar
1 Tbsp Nutritional Yeast (optional)
1/2 Tsp (or more) Fleur De Sel or sea salt
1/4 Tsp Cayenne or Chilli Powder
A few pinches of black pepper
Pinch of Thyme

Throw all ingredients except the aubergine into the blender and create a marinade by mixing on high speed, stirring regularly as needed. Slice the purpley goodness into thin strips, coat it with the glaze (I just tossed it all in a bowl with my hands then laid it out...but I am lazy) and allow to marinade for an hour or so. Dehydrate at 40 degrees C-this may take up to 2 full days (do NOT leave the dehydrator on while you sleep) but it is worth it.

Above is a "BLT" type sandwich I made using the aubergine jerky, spinach leaves, chopped cherry tomatoes, Basic Cashew Cheeze, and nutritional yeast on top of some (not raw) rye bread. mmmmm...

HOLY DONUTS!

MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I think this may be my new favourite food. Maybe. I don't know, but. DROOOL!
Chocolatey raw donut holes. Oh. Absolutely. AMAZING. and EASY!! I like easy.

100g (or about 7/8 cups I think) Brazil Nuts
240 ml (1 cup) Dried pitted Dates
1/2 Tbsp Virgin (cold-pressed) Coconut Oil
1/2 Tbsp Agave Syrup
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Coating:
3/4 Tbsp raw Carob Powder
pinch of Cinnamon

In a food processor (or a blender if you do not have one), put one ingredient in at a time starting with the nuts and blend.
Put the Carob Powder & Cinnamon in a bowl. Take the donut mixture and scoop out with a Tablespoon. (pack it into the tablespoon with your fingers, then press it so it gently slides out and you have a half-ball shape. That's at least, how I find the easiest way to do this.) Take the half-balls and roll them, with the round side facing down, in the carob mix-shake off the excess. Will make about 13 donut holes if I remember correctly. Mmmmm.

Good-bye gluten, hello-a Quinoa!

My dear old Daddio reccomended I try this fantastic stuff called quinoa (thanks Dad, this is FAB!) to replace whole-wheat pasta, since that was one of the few things I was cooking and the only thing I was still eating containing gluten, an inflammatory agent found in wheat and other grains. I decided to do a bit of research online and make the quinoa the raw way, and YUM, it is absolutely FANTASTIC stuff. I FAR prefer this to pasta!

I decided to make a salad that's reminiscent of pasta-but I like this much better.

Quinoa Pasta Salad

150g uncooked Quinoa (you can buy this in the health food section at Tesco's, or I'd imagine anywhere else you do your shopping seeing as how Tesco's is a "commercial" grocery store!)
1 Large Aromatic Vine Ripened Tomato
2 Medium Greens Leafs (A large handful of spinach leafs would substitute fine, I'd imagine.)
1 Tbsp Pine Nut Pesto, optional
Ground "Feef" for meatballs
Nutritional yeast
White Pepper

Soak the quinoa in a bowl of water-leave it overnight, for between 12-18 hours. The Quinoa will soak up the water, soften and sprout a bit. Drain the excess water and divide between two bowls. Chop the tomatoes and Greens and divide them, spread them over the bowls....use a half-teaspoon to make mini meatballs to put in (I used 6 meatballs per bowl. spread out a little bit of pesto if you like, and use nutritional yeast in place of parmesan cheese. Nutritional yeast is fantastic because it is loaded with rich B vitamins and is deactivated so you needn't worry about candida. Sprinkle the salad with white pepper to taste and serve. Serves 2, of course, but you can easily double, triple, or quadruple this recipe if you are uncooking for a larger crowd. This is very quick and easy to make-took me less than 10 minutes to throw everything together after the sprouts had been soaked. Easy healthy dinner!

All-purpouse Ground "Feef"

Admission; MY guilty pleasure, the thing keeping me from going vegan for a time was ground beef. I love love love the taste. I've been missing it for a long time. So I had to recreate it. I think I've done a pretty decent job, because this really hits the spot.

Raw Feef (Fake Ground Beef):
3 Organic Carrots
480 ml/2 cups Walnut halves/chopped Walnuts
24 Sundried tomatoes
2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
2 Tbsp Sesame Seeds
3 Cloves Garlic (remove the green bits in the middle if raw garlic tends to give you indigestion)
1 tsp Ground Black Pepper
1/3 tsp Fleur De Sel
1/4 tsp Cayenne Pepper
Pinch of ground mustardseed (optional)
Pinch of basil (optional)

Pulse, stir, pulse stir ect until you have a gritty, paste-y texture. You can make meatballs(as I have done in the photo above by scooping with a tablespoon!), form burgers (which are great on a bun of greens with mustard), use as taco meat, ect. Pile on some Basic Cashew Cheeze to a meatball and this is out of this world. Yum!

Butternut Soup and...Nutterbutt Ice Cream!

Creamy Winter Squash Soup:

About 240 ml/1 cup Butternut Squash, peeled and chopped
1 Small carrot
1/2 to one whole small leek leaf, depending how you want it to taste
1/2 tsp Cinnamon
1 tbsp ground Black Pepper
2 tbsp Sunflower oil
2 tbsp Basic Cashew Cheeze
1 Tbsp Pine Nuts
1 Clove Garlic
1 tsp Fleur de Sel (which you can read about here, it is so good and loaded with minerals-I highly reccomend ditching your white salt and opting for this instead!)
240 ml/1 cup warm Water
Dash of Allspice, optional.

...You know the drill...toss it in the blender and mix on high speed until creamy and smooth. Serves 2.

Carob Nut Ice Cream

The bottom (round plump part) half of a Winter/Butternut Squash, peeled, seeded and chopped (I left about half of the mulch/pulp inside, but not the seeds.)
1 large handful of dried, pitted/stoned Dates
2 handfuls of nuts (I used 1 ea of Walnuts and a "Mixed Nuts" blend that contained Almonds, Peanuts and Walnuts)
3 Tbsp Maple Syrup
3 1/2 tsp Raw Carob Powder
1/3 tsp Allspice (I know, I use this stuff in everything...but it's so damn good!)
1 Tbsp Rice, Almond, Coconut or Breastmilk (for this particular batch I used Provamel's Rice Milk, which is one of the nicer milks I think)

It is important to note that this is not one of my easier recipes, so, I apologise in advance (but HEY, give me some credit, most of my things are pretty cheap and easy). This might not be the case however if you have a really good food processor, but if you are like me and are working with a cheap blender, be prepared to put in a bit of elbow grease.

Now. Chop up that squash into small pieces because otherwise you will do what I did and be stuck blending the darn thing a bit longer than you will like to. I put in very large pieces and was blending for ages. Toss the squash in with the liquid ingredients and pulse, stir, pulse, stir until you've got it into a chunky mush. Now add the dates and nuts and continue doing that pulse and stir thing until you have a consistency you are happy with, it should be like runny home-made ice cream with small chunks (I like chunks in my ice cream, don't you?) now add the powdered ingredients, pulse and stir a couple more times, and you can put this into a couple of plastic tubs and freeze it. I used two large hummous pots and managed to fill them to the brink, so in other words this will easily serve 4, or could just as easily serve only 2 if you keep it on hand in your freezer for those occasions, you know, when a friend needs you to come over pronto with a tub of ice cream...keep this on hand for just such occasions. What a favour you'll be doing them, bringing something so delicious AND giving their body to a raw treat... :) This has a very carob-y, nutty, ice-cream esque taste and consistancy and is just. YUM.

Apple Walnut Pie With Caramel Crust

More sweet, un-sugary, un-baked goodness for the harvest season. Yummy yummy!!

First, I made the caramel crust:

240 ml/1 cup Dried, Stoned/Pitted Dates
About 180 ml(3/4 cup) Nuts (I got a bag of mixed nuts at Tesco's for .50p that had Almonds, Peanuts and Walnuts and that is what I used here. Bargain!)
1 1/2 tbsp maple syrup
1/4 tsp carob powder

Mix all ingredients in the blender/food processor on high-speed-pulse, stir, pulse, stir, repeat until the dough is gritty and well mixed. scoop into a bowl and refrigerate while you prepare the apples.

Apple-walnut filling:

3 organic apples, peeled and diced
120 ml(1/2 cup) chopped walnuts
1 tbsp maple syrup
1 tbsp water
1/4 tsp allspice

Stir together the walnuts and apples in a large bowl. In a small bowl, stir together the maple, water and allspice. Add into the apple-nut blend and stir continuously until they are evenly glazed.

Pull the 'crust' out of the refrigerator and press as evenly as you can into a small round cake or pie pan. Spoon the apple-walnut blend on top of it and spread it out. Serves 3-4 (or less if you're feeling gluttonous...warning, this is very hard to put down!)

NOTE: This is quite sticky and a bit hard to serve (though surprisingly easy to clean out of the dish) so unless you are like me and eating this with someone you don't mind eating straight out of the pan with I recommend halving or quartering the dough beforehand onto separate dishes to make individual pies. :)

Basic Cashew Cheeze

200ml Cashews
About 3 tbsp Sunflower oil
1 Clove Raw Garlic
Sea Salt
Black Pepper

Soak cashews in water overnight. Put drained cashews, oil & garlic into blender or food processor, add a fair amount of sea salt (maybe a half a tablespoon, but your taste buds are your best guide) and a couple of grinds of black pepper. Blend, stir, blend, stir, blend, stir, ect until smooth and creamy...and enjoy! Tastes great on everything and you can hardly tell it's not real cheese!

A Taste Of Autumn: Creamy Spiced Corn Chowder & (un)Cookies

Mm, mmm! Dinner turned out SO yummy...I LOVE my cheap blender.

Creamy Spiced Corn Chowder:

1 Tin of Green Giant Sweet Corn
Warm Water
About 3 big spoonfuls of Basic Cashew Cheeze
Fresh parsley
2 tbsp Olive Oil
1/4 tsp Allspice
Sea salt
Black Pepper

Empty the tin of corn, including the water in it, into your blender. Scoop in the cheeze and add the oil. Rip off a tiny handful of fresh parsley and toss it in. Add the allspice and put a few grinds each of black pepper and salt. Finally, fill the tin with warm water and add this to the mix. Blend on high speed until smooth and serve. Garnish each bowl with a sprig of parsley. Serves 2-3.

We ate this with carrots and hummous. Mm, mm! For dessert, we had...

Maple (un)Cookies

240 ml (1 cup) Pitted Dates
240 ml (1 cup) Cashews
1-1 1/2 tablespoons Maple Syrup
1/4 tsp Allspice

Place all ingredients in a blender or food processor and blend on high speed, pulse and then stir, pulse and then stir, ect...do this as many times as you can be bothered to do, basically. Then, form the dough into balls, mash flat in your palms and serve. These keep very well and taste great with a side of rice milk. Yum, yum!