Monthly Archives: February 2015

Chocolate caramel sandwiches

 
These yummy chocolates are late! They were meant to be my valentines post but ‘ better late than never’ is being applied. ( I just hope ‘ better never than late’ isn’t the verdict!!!). My two children gollop these down and they are one of my husbands favourite sweet treats . I know that sometimes dairy and refined sugar ‘free’ desserts might not feel as indulgent, as rich, or as creamy as regular desserts, but once you reduce refined sugars from your diet your taste buds change quite quickly and it’s not long until you find regular desserts and chocolates too sweet. However when I had friends over I produced these chocolate sandwiches and everybody felt they were simply a delicious, slightly indulgent, chocolate treat, not like the majority of healthy treats. Your tastebuds won’t feel cheated of flavour with these I promise.

Makes approx 10-12 mini sandwiches.

Ingredients

• 2 energy balls (from previous post) broken into 10-12 pieces.

• 6 dates

• splash of water

• dark chocolate 70% 120g.

• sea salt optional

Method

Push each of the broken pieces of the energy balls into the base of a mini cupcake case. Place in the fridge.

Next make your ‘caramel’ by blending the dates and a splash of water until smooth. Place about a small teaspoon on top of each of the energy ball mixture in the mini cupcake cases. Put back in the fridge.

Finally melt the dark chocolate and dollop about a large teaspoon over the caramel until covered. Place in the fridge until hard. You may sprinkle sea salt on top of the chocolate if you like, or a goji berry for decoration. Personally I like a sprinkle of salt.

Here’s the juicy bit. . .

Dates are a wonderful substitution for sugar. They are sweet, sticky and contain many vitamins, minerals and are unrefined. High in iron and calcium they are particularly beneficial for vegetarians and vegans. B vitamins in dates aid the metabolism of foods like fats, carbohydrates and proteins. Dates also contain fibre, antioxidants and good levels of potassium.

(null)


Raw chocolate energy bites.

(null)

These balls not only taste delicious but are really good for you too. They are perfect to satisfy a sugar or chocolate craving and because they are dense with raw superfoods, these tasty bites are an excellent bridge between meals if you’re feeling peckish. You can use whatever nuts you like, walnuts, pecans, hazelnuts or a mixture. If you have time to spare you could activate your nuts. This process of activating certain foods removes the phytic acid. Nuts, grains and seeds produce this acid as a defence measure to protect themselves. This acid reduces the absorption of some nutrients in the food, iron for example. I’ll do a post on activation soon.

Portions 10 – 12 bites.
Prep – 10 mins.
Cooling – 1 hour.

Ingredients

• 1 cup nuts ( 200g approx)
• 1/4 cup goji berries (40g approx)
• 1 cup or 7 pitted medjool dates
• 2 tbsp desiccated coconut
• 3 tbsp coconut oil -melted
• 2 -3 heaped tbsp raw cacao ( you can add more or less depending on how chocolatey you like them)

Method

Blend the nuts in a food processor until broken to a thick crumble like texture.

Add the goji berries and blend.

Next blend in the dates.

You can then add and blend the three remaining ingredients, desiccated coconut, raw cacao and coconut oil.

Using your hands roll the mixture into 10 or 12 balls.

Finally roll each ball in desiccated coconut and place in the fridge to harden for approximately 1 hour.

Store in the fridge in an airtight container.

Here’s the juicy bit. . .

Raw cacao is a fantastic superfood. It is chocolate in its raw, unprocessed form. When we say chocolate is good for you, it is this raw cacao, which commercial chocolate is made from, that we are referring to. The milky, sugar laden processed chocolate bars in supermarkets are stripped of most of the valuable nutrients found in the raw cacao bean.

Raw cacao is high in iron, & calcium. A 10g serving supplying 33% and 18% of the RDA respectively. It also contains good amounts of protein, fibre and vitamin C.

It rates very high on the ORAC scale ( oxygen radical absorption capacity), providing a rich source of antioxidants.

Added to smoothies, homemade brownies or raw desserts, cacao is a tasty way to eat healthily.


Super Green Smoothie

(null)

I got my husband a nutri bullet for his birthday last month and we’re really lovin it. It’s such as easy way to get greens into your diet in a tasty and raw way. You don’t really think you’re drinking down a whole portion of spinach or whatever green you choose. I generally try to add fruits not high on the GI scale like grapefruit or berries as I’m trying to watch my sugar intake. These smoothies are quick to make and give you a great burst of energy. My husband used to be a big meat eater but he’s reaching for his morning smoothie now instead of eggs or meat as he feels much more invigorated and more alert. I hope you get to make the switch one morning from your regular breakfast and try this smoothie to see how different your energy levels change and alertness improves.

I wanted to also say, as a newcomer to blog writing since October 2014, I’m thoroughly enjoying the recording of my culinary creations. However unexpectedly, the most difficult part of preparing a post is the photo taking.
With two young enthusiastic children with keen appetites, trying to assemble the photographic scene without anything being disturbed is nearly impossible. I’m posting a series of photos to demonstrate my trials and tribulations of photographing food. Enjoy!

Portion – 1

Ingredients

•  a handful of kale or spinach
• half grape fruit- peeled and sliced into segments
•one kiwi peeled and sliced
• half an avocado- flesh scoped out
• small banana
• water

Method

Place all the ingredients into the nutri bullet and whizz until fully blended.

(null)

(null)

(null)