A Carob & Orange Brownie Recipe

I woke up this morning and felt like eating some sort of walnut, carob, orange, superfood concoction..... like maybe a brownie.

This was a little unexpected for me at the moment because I haven't made any raw cakes and sweets for Pras and I since I started my 2012 juice feast on Jan 1st (I've only been making those ordered by my lovely customers ♥ )

What's a little strange is that even when I'm eating raw cakes I'm usually not one for orange flavours or walnuts but hey ho, if it's what my body's asking for then why not? Walnuts are actually my least favoured nut. I like almonds, cashews, pine nuts, macadamias, etc etc but walnuts are generally the last nut I'll choose. I think of food cravings as being the body's way of meeting our nutritional needs so I was curious about what I might be missing. I did a little googling to see what the nutritional profile of walnuts tells us. It seems that walnuts contain Vitamin E in the form of gamma-tocopherol. Gamma-tocopherol has been found to be beneficial for heart heath. There is a lot of nutrition close to the walnut skin (as is the case for a lot of fruits and vegetables too).  If you want to read more about these benefits have a look here.  Let's move on.....

So this morning I started messing about in the kitchen and a walnut-carob-orange-superfood brownie happened.  I haven't named them and to be honest, I probably won't make them again until I feel like walnuts next time!  But they are nice, very healthy and have a slightly crumbly texture. 

Please keep in mind I've made this once and that was today!  There is a bit of fiddling and adjusting the ingredients 'to taste' but I'm sure if you haven't made any raw treats before you'll figure it out.

 

1 c     walnuts

1/2 c  almond flour

1/2c   brazil nut flour

1/2c   coconut butter

1/4c   coconut sugar (or substitute a sweetener of your choice)

2T     carob 

2T     mesquite

1T     lacuma

1t      powdered orange peel

4T    Almond milk

2 drops orange essential oil

         reshi powder

         ashwaganda

All you need to do is break down the walnuts in the high speed blender or food processor untill they are smaller pieces.  Keeping some texture is important.  Put  the broken down walnuts in a bowl with the nut flours and other dry ingredients and thoroughy mix.  Add the orange essential oil and the almond milk, mix through.  Then stir in the melted coconut butter.  Press it into a pan and refrigerate until set.

I added reishi and ashwaganda to these today but you could add whatever superfoods you like or just leave them out if you don't have them.  As I'm not eating cacao at the moment I avoided using it as an ingredient but it would be really easy to turn these into a raw chocolate brownie.

The general advice given about eating essential oils is usually 'don't'.  As Pras and I are eating these and we're not bothered about consuming small amounts of essential oils, I included it.  If you don't like the idea, just leave it out and add extra air-dried and ground orange peel. 

These ones are a little thinner that I would suggest making them, if they are a little thicker they will slice better and probably won't crumble as easily.  Keep them in the refrigerator.

A Long Time Between Posts!

Just a quick hello to everyone to say sorry for not posting for the last while.  Life became hectic with some unexpected bumbs and turns, and what can I say, posting regularly just wasn't realistic for a while. I've been continuing to make cakes to order, but they are only available by ordering directly.

♥ I'll be putting up another post later today with a raw brownie recipe for you to try ♥

Raw Cakes in Archie Browns Today

The following raw cakes are available from Archie's today - that's both Truro and Penzance Archie Browns stores (cafe & deli) and at Kneehigh. 

 

Date Fudge and Carob Torte ~ A sweet and creamy torte made with dates, coconut, cacao butter (no cacao powder or nibs) and carob.







 


Chocolate Berry Bliss Squares ~ Rich berry-cacao yumminess made with raspberries, goji berries, nuts and raw (milk style) chocolate.

Ginger Crunch Squares ~ Decadent cake squares bringing together the divine combination of ginger and dark chocolate. 

Banana & Brazil Superfood Smoothie

I haven't posted a drink recipe in a while so, here is a recipe for a superfood smoothie that we've been enjoying lately. It's a recent variation of our more regular hemp milk green smoothies incorporating some of my favourite superfoods ~ Maca, Reishi and Mesquite. 

You can use whatever type of nut milk you like but I find the flavour of the brazils give this smoothie a fuller flavour.  

Brazil Nuts are the richest natural source of selenium and a good source of vitamin E.  They also contain Palmitoleic acid and oleic acid which can help to lower 'bad cholesterol' levels and increase 'good cholesterol' levels.  

INGREDIENTS

3c Brazil milk

2 Bananas

2t Maca

2t Mesquite

1/2t Reishi Powder

THE HOW TO...

Make your brazil milk ~ 1c brazil nuts : 4c water

 Put all ingredients in blender with (strained) brazil milk and blend

If you have a sweet tooth, you may need to add a little extra sweetner of your choice.  The bananas add enough sweetness for me but are probably not enough for most people.

♥ CHIA ♥

Chia & Cocnut Fruit Pie

Even though Chia has been around for a while now, it's pretty new to our diet.  We had lots and lots of chia in the cupboard with many well meaning intentions to get to know all about her but, never quite got around to it.  

It was only after Kate Magic's recent visit that I decided I really should get the Chia out and do something with it.  

We were missing out on all of the benefits this lovely seed has to offer!


So, I opened the 1kg bag and guess how long it took us to consume the lot.....                     It was all gone within two weeks.  
We found that

♥ We LOVE Chia ♥

So what did we do with all the Chia?

The recipe for this chia breakfast was in the  August Newsletter

We had a chia pudding everyday, sometimes milky and creamy and other times filled with fruit.  I liked to have mine mid-morning or for lunch, sometime after I'd finished my couple of litres of daily juice.  Pras enjoyed his for breakfast. 

And Oh ~ what can I say?

♥  Chia crackers  ♥

 
I have to buy more chia soon so I can make more crackers.  I've never made such crackers before.  

I'm hooked!

While I've always loved the idea of crackers I'd never loved a cracker before chia came along ♥ 
 

The reason I don't usually eat crackers it that they feel heavy in the body, I didn't find this with the chia crackers.  They were light and crunchy and I just couldn't leave them alone.   They disappeared super fast. 

  
We had some Chia for dessert a couple of times too.  
That makes it sound like we have meals doesn't it?  Which is slightly misleading.  
In the Raw Faerie house there is more of a grazing theme to food, we eat whatever we want when we want it, including desserts.  

Chia and coconut fruit pies were the dessert I chose to make with the last of our seeds and it was thoroughly enjoyed.  
  






We found that the Chia was really easy to digest and filling too.  I also love how it just takes on the flavours of the other ingredients.  Eating Chia once a day made me feel great, I had more consistent energy levels throughout the day.

If you would like to know what the benefits of Chia seeds are... why they are good for you... and what their nutritional profile is ~ You can click through to Angela Stockes-Monarch's blog ~ Raw Reform for the details.  They are an amazing source of protein, nutrients and omegas ~ I'm not surprised I feel so great when I eat them daily.   

Flapjacks Take Two!

I've received quite a lot of feed back from my flapjacks post a couple of weeks ago, as well as some recipe requests.  It seems that my gorgeous husband is the only (kind-of) raw person who misses flapjacks!

I'm pleased to say that since the first batch I've been playing in the kitchen again and this time we have apple and Sultana Flapjacks.

My taste tester loved them even more than the plainer first version.  Here they are!

 

I am not sharing the recipe yet but I will share it in the future.  Not sure if it will be on the blog or in my newsletter yet but, it will be shared soon ♥ 

Raw Cake delivery today ~ Archie Browns

Raw Cakes are being delivered to Archie Browns this morning. Available in Truro Archies from this morning and in Penzance Archies from tomorrow morning.

Also available from the Kneehigh Asylum Theatre from Thursday  

Enjoy

Minty Madness ~ Photo by Danaleise Radley

Raw Chocolate Torte

Love Bomb ~ Photo by Danaleise Radley