Salad wraps with nut and seed sour cream

I'm sure you'll agree with me that this is an amazing dairy-free, soy-free and raw sour cream! I just love it. I enjoyed the cream by spreading it in large lettuce (iceberg) leaves. I then filled them with carrots and celery cut in thin long slices. Then I added lots of sprouts like alfalfa and garden cress. Also added were red paprika and tomato (cut in small pieces). Roll it up and finish it off with the garlic and oil dressing (to me the dish would be too plain without the dressing). Also making the oil dressing adds important EFA's to the meal. Make the oil dressing by crushing garlic in Himalaya salt and adding flax, olive and hemp oil. Drizzle the dressing over the salad wraps.












In a powerful blender blend cashew nuts, sunflower seeds and other ingredients together. I made a small batch enough for about three or four wraps, but double up on the recipe if you want more. You can also add fresh dill to the sour cream if you like. Use only a tiny bit of fresh garlic, especially when using the vita mix. With a 1/4 cup water the cream is quite thick, so you can add a little more water if necessary. I don't want the cream to turn out too thin here because it's a cream for in the wraps and not a dressing. Also place it in the fridge to set before using it.

1/2 cup (80 g) cashew nuts
1/2 cup (70 g) sunflower seeds
juice 1 lemon (about 2 tbl)
1/2 tsp balsamic vinegar
3 tbl olive oil
garlic to taste (I used just a tiny piece)
salt and pepper to taste

Raw apricot tartelette with almond and vanilla cream

After that delicious last raw cupcake I decided to make another little raw dessert, this time with fresh apricots and topped with an almond and vanilla cream sweetened with dried apricots. Frank liked this one very much.

For the base I made the same crust as before with the cupcake, with a few small changes. I didn't have enough cashew nuts so I added a handful of brazil nuts instead which is also yummy.

1 cup cashew nuts
1/2 cup raisins
2 tbl grounded flaxseeds
1 tbl coconut oil
1/4 cup nut butter
1 tbl water

Grind the nuts in the food processor. Add the other ingredients and mix. Add the water as the last step just to make the dough sticky. The dough will clump together in the machine when you add the water. Then it's ready to press into the tartelette forms. Place the crusts in the freezer while you prepare the cream.












For the almond and vanilla cream:

1/2 cup blanched soaked almonds (soak the almonds overnight in water and peel off the skins the next day)
4 dried apricots
1/2 tsp organic vanilla powder
1 tbl agave syrup
1/2 cup water (plus extra if necessary)

Place all these ingredients in a powerful blender (I used the vita mix). You may need to add more water to make the cream smooth and the right consistency. Place the cream in the fridge to set and chill.

To finish the tartelettes take the crusts out of the freezer. Cut the fresh apricots into small pieces. Fill the tartelettes with the apricots and top each with a dollop of almond and vanilla cream. Store the tartelettes in the fridge.

Tabouleh with hemp oil dressing

Two great things at the moment. One that the weather is hot and two that I finally got my bottle of hemp oil. So put those two together and it's time to make tabouleh with a hemp oil dressing! We love to eat the cold tabouleh salad in the summer. Traditionally made from bulgur, I also like to add quinoa for extra nutrition and the taste. The salad is made with lots of cucumber, tomatoes, parsley, dill but you can also add dried mint, avocado, and olives. Cut everything into tiny pieces and add this to the bulgur and quinoa. To make the dressing I crush garlic with Himalaya salt and add oil with lemon juice. The oils I use are a blend of olive and hemp oil.

Brazil nut banana shake

This is our morning nut shake. Definitely one of my favourite. The brazil nuts are softer than other nuts and can make a smooth and foamy nut milk which just tastes delicious cold and is wonderful to drink in the mornings.

For this shake a handful of brazil nuts, a banana or two, four or five dates, plus a tsp of hemp seeds, flax and lecithin. For the rest about 2 cups of water and lots of ice cubes. I often use frozen bananas for my shakes. If I have ripe bananas I cut them and store them in the freezer. Also nice is to add a tsp of carob powder. Mmmm, enjoy this. Great way to start the day!

Raw cashew raisin cupcake with chocolate frosting

After eating one of these I told Frank I could make these every day. They are soooo good!

For the base I simply mixed raw cashew nuts with raisins. To bind the dough I added a nut butter. The result was an awesome crust!

For the frosting I came across this great idea by Ani Phyo to use avocado as a base for the chocolate frosting. So I decided to give it a try and it worked. Really delicious!

















For the crust:

1 cup cashew nuts
1/2 cup raisins
1/4 cup plus 2 tbl nut butter (use almond or hazelnut)

To make the crust place the nuts in the food processor. Grind the nuts. Add the raisins and nut butter. Turn the machine on until the mixture becomes sticky.

Now place the nut mixture in a bowl. Knead the dough with your hands and add about one tablespoon of water to make the dough sticky. It should not fall apart in your hands and be easy to work with.

To make the cupcakes you need to place the cupcake liners in a muffin pan or use tea cups to hold the liners in shape. Then gently press the dough into the cupcake liners, keeping the center open to fill with the frosting.

For the frosting:

1/3 cup dried dates
1/4 cup agave syrup
flesh from 1 medium avocado
1/3 cup cacao powder

To make the frosting process the dates and agave syrup in the food processor. Add the avocado and blend until smooth. Now also add the cocoa powder and blend again until smooth.

Place the frosting in the fridge for a couple of hours to firm up.

Spoon chilled frosting into a decorating bag and fill the cupcakes with the frosting.

Raw coconut, carob and blueberry cookies

My daughter went to camp with her class. Before she left I quickly made these raw cookies. I just threw in all the ingredients in the food processor, so they are really easy to make.

Place hazelnuts and almonds in the food processor and turn the machine on to grind the nuts. I used about half a cup (70 g) of almonds, hazelnuts and about 5 walnuts. Then for extra energy I also added unhulled hemp seeds (2 tbl), but you can leave that out.

Now add 1 tbl carob powder, 2 tbl dried grated coconut and enough dried dates (10 or more) to sweeten the mixture. As a last step I added frozen blueberries, just about 1/4 of a cup (30 g) to make the mixture sticky and form a ball in the food processor. I didn't add coconut oil but later thought it would be nice to add this (about 1 tbl).

Now you can form the cookies with your hands and press them in grated coconut to decorate them. You can also shape them into bars or truffels. Store them in the fridge or freezer. Take them along with you when you're active and need the energy kick!

I tried to use coconut oil for my skin instead of my usual wheatgerm oil. When my wheatgerm oil is finished I'm buying coconut oil instead. Actually coconut oil can also be called coconut butter, which is more what my coconut oil looks like since it's firm. So I rub my fingers on the butter and spread a thin layer onto the skin. It melts on the skin and makes the skin soft and well moisturized. A little goes a long way so it's also a cheap way of moisturizing!

Beet orange apple salad

Maybe I mentioned before that beet is not my favourite vegetable. I usually ignore beet when looking for veggies at the store. Not that I won't eat it and I did enjoy this salad, but I won't eat it often. I know it's good for me and that I should eat it once in a while. I also bought a small box of beet juice the other day and drank about half of it which was alright.

So I made another beet salad today with apple and orange. This is an iron-rich salad! The kids liked it so I was pleased with that.

I made the dressing by crushing a clove of garlic with Himalaya salt. Then adding flaxseed, olive or hemp oil (or a combination of oils). Then add balsamic vinegar, a little more than you usually would since this dressing should be strong on the vinegar. Also add a little agave syrup to slightly sweeten the dressing.

The salad is made with beet, apples, celery, orange (with the juice) and hazelnuts are optional. Want to benefit from even more iron? Add parsley.

Pear and banana cereal

Finally I'm posting again! Sorry I haven't been around for a while. We have been adjusting to some positive changes in our lives like my daughter going to a new school.

Meantime I've also been making some changes in my diet. During the day I mainly eat raw food. So I don't eat a sandwich anymore in the mornings. Sounds like a hard thing to do maybe, but I realize that once you make these changes in your diet your body starts to send new messages like, "hey, I could use a nut shake right now". I'm forty years old and the older a person becomes the more enzymes the body needs coming from raw food to stay young and energetic.

When I wake up I'm usually not hungry at all. So I let my body 'wake up' before eating anything. I bring my daughter to school with the bike and by the time I get home I'm ready to eat. I'll either make a nut shake or have a home-made cereal with fruit.

I make the nut shakes with the vita mix usually using nuts such as almonds, walnuts, or brazil nuts. Then I'll add a banana or two and some carob. Also I'll add a teaspoon of hemp seeds, flax seeds, and at the moment also lecithin. To sweeten the nut shake I add some dates.

This nut shake gives me enough energy to manage without bread in the mornings. If I still need to eat it can be something like an apple or a grain cracker with a nut butter and jam.

I'm especially excited about this cereal from Brendan Brazier. I make it with pear and banana, some chopped almonds, unhulled hemp seeds, carob powder, ground flax seeds, chopped dates, and sometimes chopped fresh ginger. I top it off with home-made nut milk, but you can also eat it with soy milk. It's a delicious cereal to eat because it's not too heavy and so chewy with many nuts and seeds like many cereals often are. I also love the carob. Use as many dates as you like for sweetness.












Here I'm adding the grounded flax seeds. I grind the flax seeds myself to preserve all the goodness within the seeds. I use my electric coffee grinder and save the grounded seeds in a small jar in the fridge:

Chocolate and strawberry pancakes

These pancakes have a combination of three different flours which I'm all happy about: buckwheat, spelt and rice flour.

I also added a coconut oil which is neutral in taste. Coconut oil has many health benefits. It gives the body energy and also it's an oil which can be heated safely without turning into a trans fat.

The pancakes taste delicious with agave syrup.

We are having a good strawberry season!

What you need for the pancakes:

1/2 cup buckwheat flour

1/2 cup whole spelt flour

1/2 cup rice flour

2 tbl coconut oil

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp baking powder

1 tbl sucanat

2 tbl carob powder

1 tsp cinnamon

soy milk

Place all the ingredients in a food processor. Pour a little milk and mix. Add more milk through the opening of the processor until the batter reaches the correct consistency. I like my pancakes thin, but it's better to make a test pancake first which may be too thick so that you know how much milk you still need to add. If the batter becomes too thin because you added too much milk your pancake will stick to the pan and fall apart.