A day at the beach...in Melboune, Australia

While roaming around Melbourne on the bike loaned to me by my host, I made my way to the beach. It was well over 100 degrees, which considering the temps in Minnesota, was over a 100 degrees difference. Quite something in a matter of days. I loved it. I'm not really a beach person, but Australia is well known for their beaches, so I figured I had to see at least one. Of course, it was a city beach and was quite crowded on such a hot day. It was pretty fun to go from bitter cold to a day at the beach, I must admit.

Along with a couple of really great oranges, this is a pic of my treat at the end of my long bike ride.

Water, sunscreen, and kale chips. All I needed plus some oranges.

Ingredients: Kale, cashews, carrot, coriancer, and sea salt

St. Kilda Beach, St. Kilda, VIC, Australia

Does anyone know what these water propelling boots are called?

I haven't posted much lately because I've recently spent a month in Australia and New Zealand and didn't want to post that I was away from my home while I was actually away. I had some drafts prepared to post while gone but wifi wasn't always reliable, so that didn't really work out. But I did keep a journal while traveling of all the great raw food I found along the way. No dedicated raw restaurants to be found but plenty of options for delicious food, especially chocolate. Normally when I travel I have to give up raw chocolate because it isn't so readily available, but it is plentiful in Melbourne. I tried every kind and flavor I found from every small business. So for awhile I'll be posting those discoveries, starting with the chocolate. It was so much fun for me to search out raw food while in Melbourne. I think I pretty much discovered every nook and cranny as it relates to raw ingredients and availability. I discovered some new things, contemplated new ideas, and met some great new friends who share my passion. New Zealand was a bit harder but mostly because I was with a group and meals were planned. Still, I did just fine. Any raw foodists out there can rest assured that these two countries are easy to travel to and still eat as well as you want to. (Well, getting there isn't so easy, but traveling within the countries is easy and raw food is plentiful.) And since the people are so nice and the countries are so beautiful, I highly encourage you to find your way there at some point in your life. Truly remarkable places.

Here are some of the raw chocolate bars I found. My favorites were by Pana, especially the cinnamon flavor. I also discovered these amazing chocolate truffles that about made me kneel and kiss the ground. I cannot even tell you how good they were and do them justice in the telling. With flavors like pistachio; orange blossom; coconut goji berry; coffee infused; sea salt; and my favorite, chili pepper, these were as much art as food. The chocolate bars I can confidently say I could make myself, but these truffles were something else. I haven't quite figured out the secret, but I'm going to try. I don't know the company that makes them but bravo to you. Really beautiful, really delicious, and oh, so satisfying.

Pana Chocolates made in Australia

Made in the U.K. but found in Melbourne

Also Australian made. I lived on Loving Earth's products while in Melbourne.

The amazing truffles: clockwise from top:  sea salt; coconut-goji, pistachio, and chili pepper.

Orange Cranberry Spritzer

Cranberries and orange go so well together in a relish that I thought I'd try a juice. I then used my Sodastream to make some carbonated water. Combining the two created a brightly colored spritzer.  The juice is great on its own as well. 

Orange Cranberry Spritzer:
1 1/2 c. cranberries
1 orange
1 pear
1 lime

Run all ingredients through a juicer. Combine with some carbonated water to create the spritzer. Garnish with a lime slice.

Superseed Crackers with Herb Cheese

I've been meaning to make this recipe from Natalia's Pure Pleasures cookbook. Though she calls them a bread, I'd say they are more like crackers. Full of superfoods, including sunflower seeds, hemp seeds, sesame seeds, chia seeds and flax seeds, they'll chock full of high nutrition in every small bite.  Flavored with caraway seeds, they taste like a hearty rye bread though they are flat and dense. I've experimented with sprouting rye to make such a bread, but these crackers came closer than any recipe I've concocted using rye. I modified Natalia's recipe slightly based on what I had in my refrigerator.  I paired the crackers with a hearty herb cheese in which I used probiotic powder to pump up the nutritional benefits as well as adding a fermented flavor. Together the combination was really satisfying. An opened face cheese sandwich on rye, if you will.

Superseed Crackers with Herb Cheese:
2 zucchini
2 granny smith apples
2 c. raw sunflower seeds soaked for 4 hours and drained
1/4 c. olive oil
1 c. filtered water
1 T. chopped shallot
1/2 c. black sesame seeds
1/4 c. chia seeds
2 T. hemp seeds
2 T. poppy seeds
2 T. caraway seeds
1 1/2 t. sea salt
1 c. ground flaxmeal

Puree the zucchini in a food processor. Add chopped apples and continue pureeing. Add sunflower seeds, olive oil, water and shallot. Mix well. Remove from food processor and put into a large bowl. Fold in the remaining seeds, salt, and flaxmeal. Mix until well incorporated.

Divide dough in half. Place each half on a Teflex lined dehydrator sheet.  Place another Teflex sheet (or parchment paper) over each ball of dough and roll out with a rolling pin into a rectangular shape. Score crackers into desired shapes. Dehydrate at 105 degrees for approximately 15 hours, flipping halfway through. Remove Teflex when you flip the crackers. Remove from dehydrator when crisp, give or take a couple of hours.

Cheese:
1 1/2 c. cashews soaked for 2 hours and drained/rinsed
1/4 c. filtered water
1/4 lemon juice
1/2 t. chickpea miso
2 t. non-dairy probiotic powder 
1/4 c. chives

Mix all ingredients except chives in the food processor until well incorporated. Fold in the chives. Refrigerate a few hours until set.

Assembly:
Place 1-2 T. of cheese on each cracker. Top with some pea sprouts. Enjoy.

Cranberry Walnut Crackers

I'm often inspired by Susan Power's recipes found at rawmazing.com.  I rarely follow a recipe but instead use them as jumping off points to make something tailored to my tastes.  I've been trying not to eat too many sweets but couldn't resist playing with some of her cracker recipes because they lean toward the sweet but don't quite feel like dessert. I'm fooling myself about the dessert part, I know, but these crackers contain protein, Omega 3's, Vitamin E and Vitamin C, manganese, biotin, and more, so sweet or not, they are good for me. And that's good enough for me.

 Cranberry Walnut Crackers:
4 c. soaked and drained walnuts
1 c. flaxmeal
2 c. fresh cranberries chopped
1 c. fresh squeezed orange juice
1/4 c. coconut nectar
5 drops vanilla stevia

Chop cranberries in a food processor. Set aside. Next, chop walnuts in the food processor using the pulse button. Make sure not to process too long because walnuts can quickly make walnut butter. Add cranberries, orange juice, coconut nectar, and vanilla stevia and mix well. Fold in the flax meal by hand.

Spread dough onto Teflex lined dehydrator sheets. Score into desired shapes. Dehydrate at 105 degrees for approximately 12 hours or until crisp.

Cranberry Orange Spread:
1 orange cut into pieces
1/2 c. shredded coconut
1 c. soaked and drained cashews
1/4 c. agave
1 c. fresh cranberries

Chop cranberries in a food processor. Set aside. Blend remaining ingredients until smooth. Pour spread into a bowl. Fold in cranberries reserving 1/4 c. to use as a garnish on each cracker.

Assembly:
Spread a tablespoon of cranberry orange spread onto each cracker. Sprinkle with a few fresh cranberries.

Pear Walnut Crackers with a Fig and Pear Compote

This recipe is again inspired by Susan Powers. I basically followed the recipe with only slight alterations. Originally I was so in love with the intense flavor of the fig walnut crackers that I didn't fully appreciate the subtlety of these crackers. Then I slowed down and really tasted them. I fell in love again, so much so that I brought these home to my mother and fed them to her with her glass of white whine.  She loved them so much we made more the next day so I could leave some with her. Then I served them to one of my sisters who also loved them.  Then when another sister called and we were all raving about them, she wanted the recipe since she, too, has a big Excalibur dehydrator. I promised her I'd post the recipe, so here it is.

 

Pear Walnut Crackers:

2 pears chopped 

2 c. walnuts soaked and drained

1 c. almonds soaked and drained

2 c. raw groats ground into flour

1 t. cinnamon

2 t. fresh sage

1/2 t. papaya seed peppercorns*

1/2 t. sea salt

First grind oat groats into flour using a Vitamix or grain mill. Set aside. Next puree pears in a food processor. Add walnuts and incorporate well. Then add almonds and incorporate well again. Add oat groats and other remaining ingredients and blend well until a dough-like consistency has formed.  Spread mixture onto two Teflex lined dehydrator sheets. Press each ball of dough into a large square. Score the crackers into desired shapes. Dehydrate at 105 degrees for about 10 hours, flipping halfway and removing Teflex liners at this point. Crackers should be crisp when finished dehydrating.

*Instead of peppercorns, I dehydrate papaya seeds until they are the size of peppercorns and then put them in my peppermill. 

Pear Fig Compote:

1 pear chopped and seeded

12 dried Black Mission Figs with stems removed

1 t. cinnamon

Process ingredients in a food processor until you have a jelly consistency.

Assembly:

Place a tablespoon of compote on each cracker. Top with a thin slice of pear and sprinkle with cinnamon.

Cinnamon Fudge Cake

Yesterday was my birthday, and I believe in birthday cake! So I made this one for a party I had. A raw cake is a pretty intense thing. It involves a lot of nuts ground into flour, which makes for a pretty heavy, dense cake. A small sliver of a piece is pretty filling, so one cake serves a lot of people. I mean a lot. We made a pretty good dent in this thing by the end of the night, but I'll have a few slices in my freezer for awhile. I may have to have friends over again to finish it off.  Last night, however, was a great time with great friends eating great food and then enjoying some great dancing. Thanks to those who celebrated with me. You know how to make a girl feel special.

Cinnamon Fudge Cake:
Wet Ingredients:
7 medjool dates blended with 1/4 c. water
1 c. coconut milk
1 t.  sea salt
1 T. vanilla
1 c. coconut oil in liquid state

Mix all ingredients together, adding coconut oil last.

Dry Ingredients:
5 c. ground almonds
3 c. ground cashews
1 c. shredded coconut
1 c. cacao powder
2 T. cinnamon
2 t. sea salt
1/4 c. agave

Whisk all ingredients together in a large bowl until well incorporated. Add agave and mix again.

Next, add wet ingredients to dry ingredients. Mix with hands or pulse gently in a food processor on the dough setting. (Note: a hand mixer would have kept this cake lighter and not so dense, but I don't have one. I used the food processor and pulsed as little as was necessary. The cake was quite dense in texture, but the flavor isn't compromised. A fluffier cake would be nicer but is sometimes hard to achieve with nuts as the base.)

Cashew Crumble Filling:
2 c. cashews chopped
1/4 c. agave
1 t. vanilla extract
1 t. sea salt

Combine all ingredients in a bowl and toss until well coated.

Cinnamon Frosting:
2 c. soaked and drained cashews
1 1/2 c. coconut milk
1/2 c. agave
1 t. lemon juice
2 T. cinnamon
2 t. vanilla extract
1 t. sea salt
2/3 c. coconut oil in liquid state
1/3 c. coconut butter in softened state

Blend all ingredients in the Vitamix, adding coconut oil and coconut butter last. Pour frosting into a shallow pan and chill until set. This may take about an hour or two. Frosting should still be spreadable when applied to cake.

Assembly:
Press cake batter evenly into two springform pans. Spread crumble onto the top of one of the cakes. Chill for at least one hour before layering the second cake onto the crumbled topped layer. Lastly, frost the cake with the frosting.

Optional: cacao nibs for the spiral garnish.