A Love Cake to Open Your Heart

Yes its time to get mushy, lovey and romantic.   Why not celebrate love every day?!

This is my treat to myself for Valentine’s day. And this treat is entirely made of whole raw foods, pure and healthy! It’s actually a great food to have in the morning, as an energy boost … it’s a raw chocolate love cake!

Whoever you make this cake for is sure to be very happy, but once they take a bite, and the antioxidants hit their system, they will be buzzing with joy and love. Really! Raw cacao physically (and spiritually) can be considered a heart opening medicine. It helps stimulate cardiovascular function and clears out clogged arteries. It is packed with phytonutrients and a compound called “anandamide” ~ the bliss chemical.

So enjoy! And be in love ~ with your healthy self, your friends, your family, today and all days!

Raw Chocolate Raspberry Love Cake

Base

~ 1 cup dates (pitted and soaked if not fully soft)
~ 3/4 cup soaked walnuts
~ 3/4 cup soaked almonds
~ 1/2-3/4 cup raw cacao powder (to taste)
~ pinch of Himalayan rock salt
~ 1 tsp cinnamon

Combine ingredients in a food processor and mix until combined but still chunky. Split into two round parts. One layer wil be the base of your cake.

Filling

~ 1 1/2 cup raspberries
~ 1-2 tbsp raw liquid honey or agave syrup

Combine the filling and spread onto the first layer of the cake. Top with the second layer of chunky chocolatey nut dough.

Frosting

~ 1 avocado
~ 1/3 cup raw cacao powder
~ 2-3 tbsp agave syrup (to taste)
~ pinch of Himalyan rock salt

Blend or food process these ingredients until smooth, and spread on the top of the cake. You can even put them into a cake decorator pipe and make fancy shapes (though it doesn’t quite hold its shape like regular sugar frosting)

Wild edibles, growth, sun energy and anti-aging

Good afternoon lovely readers…

Hope you are enjoying the heat and the sun and taking advantage of this early summer-time weather we’ve been having.  I’m in Ontario, and it seems there’s been a heat wave for the last two weeks or so!  We’re baking.  Well no, actually we’re planting!

We’ve been busy working on our big gardens outside because the goal is to grow as much of our own food as we can this year.

I’m exploring some revolutionary permaculture techniques, inspired by a wonderful book called Gaia’s garden.

Permaculture is a way of growing and living holistically, with a serious consideration for the permanent maintenance and beautification of nature as we develop food systems and harmonious relationships of growing and harvesting what we need for sustenance.  Ok ~ that’s a mouthful.  It’s an integrated approach.

In my journey for optimal health, I realized there’s nothing more healthy than the vegetables and fruits that are grown and picked by your own loving hands.  There are also abundant medicines that nature offers us, which grow untended and wild!   Some people mistakenly refer to them as “weeds”.  My last post had some wild edible recipes, and I’m always looking for creative ways to incorporate these super-soil, super-local superfoods in meals.

Photo courtesy of awesome blog: Subsistence Pattern!

Some edible greens I’ve been into lately include wild celery, nettles, wood sorrel, sorrel, dandelion, and some other yet-to-be fully identified plants.  I was told they were edible!  Why am I so crazy over wild edibles?  When I was young, my mom would take me to parks and wilderness places to pick wild berries, they were so different than store-bought, small ~ but perfect, so sweet and juicy the taste just doesn’t compare to the almost bland, watery, unripe ones that we get from Mexico or California.  No wonder people started making pies, jams, and desserts with these conventionally grown fruits.  The wild fruit has a perfectly sweet and ripe taste that is best enjoyed right off the branch!  It can have 10 times the levels of nutrients than the conventionally fruit, yes, in that tiny package.

There is an inherent wisdom in eating this locally, and eating with the seasons.  Every single nutrient is appropriately bioavailable for our bodies, exactly the way that nature intended.  The first greens that come up in the spring are the most tender, they are usually bitter or spicy, and this tastes relates to the compounds in them that make them excellent for detoxing the different organs of our bodies, first and foremost ~ the liver!

Since then I’ve heard and read about them in various books which detail their benefits   Wild food is such a gift, it grows perfectly, in rich undisturbed soil who’s fertility is built over many, many years ~ quite a different practice than conventional (even organic) farming.  The other key here is sun energy.  When you harvest something wild or directly from your garden, you usually put the herb straight to your mouth, or create a meal, it is usually used instantly.  This is an amazing practice which has more depth to it than at first glance.  The plant has accumulated sun, water and earth energy and stores it until the moment it is sliced or picked, at which point it is completely ready and bursting with antioxidants for your body.

Because we are accustomed to vegetables that have been harvested and shipped, we’re missing out on all that sun energy ~ studies confirm that the produce loses 40-70% of its nutrients in the first few hours (definitely greens lose more nutrients).  That’s a lot!

So I urge you, when you can, to pick fresh and eat!  It’s so direct, so sustainable, so local and so simple.  Come, on, I’m just trying to simplify your life here    And eat green.  Now is the season, nature is giving us cues with her hues ~ green is the colour!  Salads, wraps, pestos, pates, steamed greens, big green sandwiches, green juices, green smoothies  …so many ways to squeeze in more greens.  And drench everything in fresh herbs, to stay forever young.  Herbs and wild edibles in spring and summer top the charts for antioxidant content!

This is a basic recipe for a vegan pesto, which you can substitute any herbs or wild greens into.  It’s great with wild leeks (ramps), parsley, lovage, or any combination really.

Wild Edible Herb Pesto

• 1 cup soaked raw almonds/walnuts (or substitute for sunflower seeds for a lighter pesto!)
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 2-3 tsp rock salt
• 1-3 cloves garlic
• juice of 1 lemon, zest of 1/2 lemon
• 1 cup packed with herbs (basil, parsley, wild celery, dandelion, wood sorrel, etc.)

Drain the soaked nuts or seeds, blend everything in a food processor until smooth.  Add more salt or pepper to taste.  I eat it, and also bottle it immediately and store it in the fridge or freezer.  You can even double or triple this recipe and can the pesto using standard canning process.  It’s a great way to retain springs antioxidants for later.

Antioxidant Revival

Mmmm spring!  Can you feel it in the air?  The birds are coming back again, the snow has melted and buds are peeping out.  Everything is awakening and beginning to grow, so get in tune with it and you’ll grow too!

This warm weather makes me love all things green.  Are you inspired to bring out your inner radiant goddess and participate in a spring cleanse?

It’s also time for an antioxidant blast for our bodies, refreshing and invigorating the cells!  I’m craving berries…

A pure and therapeutic drink will fill you up on nutrients, at the same time as purifying and cleansing all the old crusty blocked energies in the body that may have accumulated through the winter.

Reinvigorating Chocolate Smoothie

• 1 cup almond milk
• 1 pear, avocado or banana
• 1/2 cup fresh, frozen or preserved berries (I dug up some red currants preserved in raw honey from the freezer – yum!)
• 1-2 tbsp raw cacao powder or nibs
• 1/2 tsp spirulina (or more if you dare…)
• 1-2 drops of stevia to sweeten (optional)

(Photo courtesy of Jozi Kids Blog)

Toss in some extra good stuff like MSM powder, liquid zeolite, a pinch of goji berries or whatever other superfoods or supplements you are vibing with.  Blend well and sip through a glass straw.   Feel your cells rejuvenating!  I love this smoothie in the morning – it’s the perfect wake up food and will keep you going.

Green is springing up, and there’s no better way to get your antioxidants than fresh from the earth, in the wild!  Watercress and stinging nettles are early risers that can be abundant in our area – and tasty purifying superfoods.  Those first bitter shoots to spring up are nature’s way of telling us it’s time to purify and awaken our bodies.   Another way to shake the cobwebs out is by drinking plenty of pure water with lemon throughout the day.  I’ve been making sumac lemonade …another powerfully high antioxidant drink – local, native and abundant!

Creamy Nettles smoothy

•  1 cup almond milk
• 1 fruit (banana, pear, apple)
• a few leaves of nettles, however many you dare to experiment with (use gloved hands to handle – blending them thoroughly destroys the stinging needles)

Blend until smooth and creamy, add a drop of stevia or a touch of coconut oil for extra sweet or creamy consistency.

 Sumac Lemonade

Add a handful of clean sumac berries to a pitcher or jar of pure water.  Let it infuse for a few hours (doesn’t matter how long you leave it, the longer the more sour it gets).  Add some agave, maple syrup or stevia to sweeten your lemonade.  Enjoy pure antioxidant power.

Satisfying Vegan Lunch

Warm weather often calls our body to eat pure.  Its time to ditch the refined flour, packaged food, and heavy, greasy and oily comfort foods of winter.  skip the latte and go for a green, herbal tea, or try yerba mate for a great coffee replacement.

All the full flavour of whole foods comes through from greens, grains, unrefined oils and herbs.   I’ve been trying to lay off the sugar and fatty foods, and today’s lunch definitely hit the spot!  Also, I’ve been leaning towards simplicity and the beauty of 3-4 ingredient meals.  In this case it was whole rye bread, kale, and oil that did the trick.   Here is my simple and satisfying vegan sandwich

• 1-2 slices whole 100% sourdough rye bread (or use your favourite whole grain, just check the ingredients to make sure there’s no white flour in it)
• 3-5 leaves of kale, massaged in the hands to soften
• High protein chia seed oil
• pinch of sea salt or dried herbs for flavour

Mix the chia seed oil with salt and herbs, massage the kale with it and top your bread.  Tada!  You have a simple sandwich to be savoured.  I wish my camera was working so I could show how how beautiful the simplicity of this sandwich was.    Use hummus or your favourite spread for extra sandwich fun.

Enjoy it, before we embark on a spring cleanse… 

Don’t forget to get outside and recharge on pure sun energy  <3

Shiitake Noodle Soup, Flu Shots, and Ginger Syrup Contest

When it comes to natural health,

if it feels good - do it.

Now, there are some guidelines to that motto. It definitely does not apply to blood sugar cravings (or anything harmful)!

However, if it’s truly healthy and you love it or it tastes like ambrosia to you, then it might just be what your body needs.

When it’s cold and damp outside, my body definitely gravitates to warming, hot and spicy foods. The good news is that many warming, hot and comforting foods are precisely what we need to boost our immunity and fight off viruses.

Hot tea, homemade soup, anti-inflammatory spices such as turmeric, cayenne and cumin, spicy chilly peppers, ginger, garlic and onions all help to fight infection and relieve cold and flu-like symptoms. So load up on your favourite warming foods!

Traditionally chicken soup has been used as a home remedy. With all the chemicals in regular store-bought meat many people are steering clear of chicken. So here is my version of healthy chicken-less soup. Shiitake mushrooms replace the meaty bits, give the soup a great rich flavour, and are also a great immune boosting longevity food.

Shiitake Noodle Soup

• 1/2 onion, chopped
• 1 carrot, chopped
• 1/2 cup chopped vegetables (I used cauliflower and broccoli)
• 1/4 cup chopped shiitake mushrooms (use any mushrooms in place of this)
• 1/4 cup lentils, sprouted or dried
• 1/4 cup small whole grain pasta (I used Eden Organic’s Vegetable Alphabets)
• Oil and sea salt to taste, fresh sprouts to garnish

Bring 2 cups of water to boil in a pot, cook the dried lentils on high for 5 mins.   Add the shiitake mushrooms, onion and carrots.  Chop the broccoli and other vegetables while cooking, then add those, the pasta, and add the lentil sprouts if using sprouted lentils.   Simmer until the pasta is cooked and the vegetables are soft.  Add olive oil and sea salt to taste.  Serve and garnish with fresh sprouts if you like.  Then enjoy your perfect comforting soup that hits the spot.

Flu Shot? I Think Not

Now about a topic that is slightly controversial. Ever year at around this time our doctors urge us that we should be getting the flu shot. It seems so natural and so routine every year, that millions of people “just do it.” Maybe it’s time to start re-thinking that mentality.

The reality is that yes we are more susceptible to bugs this time of year. But can we tough it out, face what our body is trying to tell us and fight it naturally? We certainly can. Strengthen your immunity naturally all winter long, it’s easy and there is nothing to fear.

When you really weigh the pro’s and con’s of getting a flu shot or not – it’s a no-brainer!  Have you ever wondered what’s in a flu shot?

“Millions voluntarily take annual flu shots not knowing their harmful ingredients. With variations by producer, they contain numerous stabilizers, neutralizers, carrying agents, and preservatives, including:

- 25 micrograms of mercury (thimerosal), a known neurotoxin; one microgram is considered toxic; according to the NIH, “mercury and all of its compounds are toxic;

- aluminum hydroxide and phosphate, known to be linked to some neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer’s disease;

 - formaldehyde, a known carcinogen according to the National Cancer Institute; it’s also linked to upper respiratory tract problems and effects on lymphatic and hematopoietic systems;

 - gelatin, polysorbate 80 and resin – ingredients causing severe allergic reactions;

 - ammonium sulfate, a suspected gastrointestinal, liver, and respiratory toxicant and neurotoxicant;

 - sorbitol, a suspected gastrointestinal and liver toxicant;

 - phenoxyethanol (antifreeze), a suspected developmental and reproductive toxicant;

 - beta-propiolactone, a known carcinogen and  suspected gastrointestinal, liver, respiratory, skin and sense organ toxicant;

 - gentamycin, an antibiotic;

 - triton X100, a strong detergent;

 - animal tissues and fluids, including potentially contaminated horse blood, rabbit brain, dog kidney, monkey kidney, chick embryo, chicken egg, duck egg, pig blood, and porcine (pig) protein/tissue;

 - calf and fetal bovine serum;

 - macerated cancer cells;

 - diploid cells from aborted fetal tissue; and/or - other ingredients varying by producer.”

- Source: “Ineffectiveness and Dangers of Flu Shots” Global Research (read more…) 

Consider this – what does your doctor have to gain by recommending it?  What does someone like me have to gain from it…. ?

Tips to Fight off Colds and Sickness Naturally

• On the onset of a runny nose, sneezing, headaches or any cold-like symptoms, start taking care of yourself.
• Get to sleep when you need to.  You are much more productive when you’r healthy, so don’t even try to plough through it or it only gets worse.
• Keep your intake of sugars to a minimum, and try not to consume any refined sugar products.
• Drink hot tea with lemon, hot herbal tea, hot tea with lemon and ginger, Meredith’s Ginger Elixir, or the throat soother recipe posted below.
• 

  Our cold and flu medication: garden fresh melons

  As always, try to eat more fresh fruits and vegetables to keep those antioxidant levels high.  Berries, mushrooms, pumpkin seeds, squash, melons, lemons, ginger, garlic, raw honey and raw apple cider vinegar are all antioxidant power house foods that boost the immune system.

Throat Soother

• 1 tsp raw honey
• 1 tsp raw apple cider vinegar
• 1 cup warm-hot water

Stir the raw honey and apple cider vinegar into a cup of hot water (hot enough to drink, not boiling).  Sip and be soothed.  

My Secret Weapon

Meredith’s Ginger Elixir.

A triple threat – ginger, lemon and raw honey provide antioxidants, enzymes, and are anti-microbial and anti-viral.

Meredith’s Ginger Elixir is a high purity extract of ginger, lemon and raw honey (from Meredith’s own happy bees!).  I’m giving away a free bottle to one lucky Canadian!  Free shipping included.

Sign up for the Antioxidant Buzz newsletter and you’ll be entered for the draw here.  Leave a comment about it below.   Contest ends November 20, 2011.

Nutritional Info: 

Non-Dairy Chocolate Ice Cream Anyone?

It’s a bit cold, so maybe this is the last ice cream of the season.

Or maybe you love ice cream so much that you could care less how cold it is as long as that creamy chocolate goodness is going into your mouth.

Non-dairy (and sugar-free!) ice cream is so easy to whip up and so delicious that you might not even crave the yucky calorie-laden plastic tub kind anymore.

Add some raw cacao for a super antioxidant boost and tons of ripe organic berries or fruits.  Sprinkle some shredded coconut or chopped nuts on top, get creative.  Mix in some probiotics if you want to get really fancy!  Drizzle on chocolate syrup for extra chocolatey-chocolatness.

All you need is a food processor with the S-blade attachment.  If you have an ice-cream machine just combine all the ingredients and run it through.  Even a high-powered blender will do the trick, it might be a bit more liquid but still delicious!

Chocolate Banana Ice-Cream

•  4 bananas, chopped up and frozen for at least 3 hours (it’s easy to do it overnight)
• 1 tbsp virgin coconut oil
• 2-3 tbsp raw cacao powder or cacao nibs
• 1 tbsp raw honey, agave or other sweetener (optional)
• 1/2 tsp vanilla (optional)

Blend all ingredients in a food processor with the S-blade until whipped and ice-cream like.  Serve in bowls and garnish with berries and fruit.  Enjoy immediately or store in the freezer.

***

Chocolate Syrup (Adapted from Naked Chocolate)

• 3 tbsp raw cacao powder
• 3 tbsp agave syrup or raw honey
• 1 tsp water
• 1 tsp virgin coconut oil (optional)

Whisk syrup ingredients until incorporated and smooth.  Add more water if you like it more runny.

Mmmmmmm…  Go make it now and thank me later!  :)

***

Make your own happy juice and tonic

Green juice and ginger tonic are some liquids that help me get a flood of antioxidants to my system and also do wonders for my digestion.

Why do I call it happy juice?  After drinking a green juice your body will start to flush toxins out almost automatically.  Your head becomes clear and your cells are perfectly nourished.  Because the body doesn’t have to work hard at separating the fiber and absorbing it (this takes a lot of energy), the nutrients “flood” into you and give you pure, happy energy.  

Sometimes we also need a tonic to completely calm our digestive system.  This is especially helpful if feeling a hangover, morning sickness, motion sickness, or general nausea and digestive upsets.  Ginger is a wonder tonic, and because I’m prone to motion sickness (according to the Ayurveda system of healing I am mainly “vata” constitution) it makes it one of my favourite “foods”.  I think I’ve built up my tolerance to it, because it is very strong especially raw.

Ginger boosts your immunity, it is also recognized as a potent anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, and anti-cancer agent, not to mention it is one of the most potent antioxidants and has been used in Eastern medicine for millenia.

It is best when taken raw, although it’s also common to make a tea with it simply by slicing the ginger into chunks and steeping it in hot water for 10 minutes or so.

My Recipe (Ginger Tonic)

• 3 inch chunk of fresh ginger
• Juice of one whole organic lemon
• 1 heaping tablespoon of raw honey

Blend the ingredients in a high speed blender, adding some pure water if your lemon isn’t juicy enough.  Strain this mixture and the result is your tonic, which you can bottle and store in the fridge.  Adjust the honey or lemon amount to your preference.  Take it out as needed and dilute a shot glass amount in a glass of water.  Spicy Goodness!!

Did I mention this is also good to warm cold feet that don’t get adequate circulation?

Green Juice Recipe

You can juice anything of course, but I find ceratin combinations taste best.  Because you might not want a bitter drink, consider adding carrots, beets, apples grapes, or other fruits for sweetness (bananas should not be juiced).

• 1 cup (loosely packed) preferred greens (spinach, lettuce, kale, celery, beet and carrot tops, etc…)
• 1 apple
• 2 carrots
• 1/2 – 1 whole beet
• 1/2 ounce ginger tonic (optional)

Run the vegetables through your juicer and sip.  If you have a Blendtec blender or Vitamix, you can blend everything with a bit of water on the “whole juice” cycle, then strain through a nut milk bag and drink.

Raw Vegan Jumbleberry Pie

If jumbleberry pie doesn’t yet exist, I just made it up…and it’s absolutely delicious.

We’ve been living off berries for a few weeks now – that’s what I love about August.  Most of the berries grow here in our backyard, but we also love to frequent pick-your-own farms.  There’s something meditative about berry picking…I’ve become quite an expert over the years, I think.

Mostly its currants that grow in the backyard, they are easy to grow (up here in Ontario, Canada) and don’t mind cold, shade and lack of water.  The bushes are over five years old and produced a plentiful harvest.  It’s quite a chore to pick them all!

Currants, black and red, are definitely an acquired taste – they seem sour at first. But a perfectly ripe berry should be bright red or deep black, big, and soft.  Some of them get so full they start to literally burst, still on the branch.  A ripe black currant has thin skin and a slightly tart but sweet, almost kiwi like-like flavour and texture.

Backyard berry harvest

The benefits of these berries haven’t been overly studied, and are not too popular here in the west, maybe because of their sourness.  However they are rich in antioxidants called anthocyanins, which possess potent anticarcinogenic properties.  Black currants are also high in antioxidant vitamin C, omega-6 and surprisingly high in calcium among other minerals.

The other berry that was plentiful this year was gooseberry.  A ripe gooseberry should be purple and not green, with a sweet, plum like flavour.  Gooseberries are also extremely high in vitamin C, and a good source of vitamin A and B vitamins.  Both currants and gooseberries are in the same family, and are helpful in lowering blood sugar.

You don’t have to use black currants or gooseberries in your pie, actually this pie is delicious with any fruit – just raspberries or just blueberries.  Even peaches or strawberries will be delicious.  A raw pie is a whole lot easier to make, more nutritious and brimming with enzymes.

Jumbleberry Pie

Crust:

• 1 cup walnuts (can also use other nuts such as almonds)
• 1 tbsp unpasteurized, unfiltered honey (or preferred sweetener)

Filling:

• 2 cups mixed berries (I used black currants, strawberries, raspberries, blueberries and gooseberries)
• 1 heaping tbsp unpasteurized honey

In a food processor, process the walnuts until they become dough-like and soft.  Take out your “dough” and knead it with the honey.  Press it into a pie plate for a rich buttery crust.

Pick the little tails off the gooseberries, you’ll know what I mean.  It’s not necessary, just probably will make a smoother pie.  A little bit of extra fiber won’t hurt either.

Mix your berries with the honey in a large bowl, you can even mash it with a potato masher.

The mixture will be runny, so this makes for a pie that doesn’t cut well – but still unbeatably delicious!  Otherwise you can try thickening it with a bit of tapioca starch (though it won’t be raw).  If using sliced fruit or strawberries, don’t mash, just place in your pie crust and serve.  Top the finished pie with more fresh berries.

Have your pie and eat it too!

Juicy Raw Summer Wraps

Heat wave!

It’s been an incredibly hot summer here…every day is another excuse to go to the beach.  Especially when you don’t have air conditioning!

And when it gets hot like this no one wants greasy or heavy food – it only weighs you down and makes you hotter and groggy.

I’ve been makng a lot of these raw wraps lately.  Instead of using a traditional wrap with unecessary amounts of refined carbs and preseravtives, I use a fresh leaf from the garden for a California style wrap.

Doesn’t matter really what kind of leafy green you use, as long as it’s big.  I like using a collard green, beet leaf, or romaine lettuce leaf.  The bigger the leaf you use, the easier it is to wrap up lots of juicy filling.

A bonus of using these leaves is that it makes a lighter wrap, and you can use more nuts and seeds as your filling, while still following proper rules of food combining.  Big dark green leaves are a great source of chlorophyll, protein, vitamin C and vitamin K.  They aid in your body’s anti-inflammatory response, and detox.

Raw Summer Wraps

• 4 collard greens, or any other large leaf such as beet green, turnip green, lettuce, spinach or even broccoli and cauliflower leaf.

Filling:

• 1 cup raw sunflower seeds (yummy substitutes include raw walnuts or almonds)
• juice of one lemon
• 1 clove garlic
• 1 tsp rock or sea salt
• 1 1/2 cups mixed fresh herbs (parsley, dill, basil, chives, cilantro…)
• 1 cup mixed chopped veggies (red onion, tomato, cucumber, radish, sweet pepper…)

Comine all the filling ingredients except the mixed chopped veggies in a food processor, and blend until smooth.

Lay your collard leaves flat, and gently slice off the stalk that sticks out, for easier wrapping.  Fill with the green pate you just blended, about 2 or 3 tbsps on each wrap.  Sprinkle on some chopped vegies and roll up, tucking the sides in or leaving them open.  The filling should be sticky enough that they stay wrapped.

The options for this kind of wrap is endless.  Instead of the pate, wrap your favourite slaw or salad.  Add avocado for creaminess.  Use your favourite combination of pate and veggies, or even just veggies and a thick dressing.

Enjoy!

Chocolate Cinnamon Pudding…More Rainy Day Food

What’s with all this rain?!

Not that I’m complaining.

At least there’s no flooding here… juicy berries are getting a thorough watering.

But I won’t let a dampening day dampen my spirits – not when I can have chocolate pudding for breakfast.

This morning we made the effort to have an outdoor breakfast – despite the downpour.  Something about that fresh clean rainy air was enticing.  All bundled up, we (my daughter and I) sat under the canopy having our chocolate pudding with raspberries.

Does it get any more divine than that?    Watching the rain splatter onto the pool cover, onto the little boys carved into the stone fountain, as the crows swoop majestically to their nests in the spruce trees…

…This rainy day is not so depressing after all.  It’s become poetic, inspiring!  What a good time to practice my photography skills.

I hope you enjoy this healthy chocolate pudding as much as we did.  I guarantee it’s a fantastic way to start the day – both nutirionally and pleasurefully speaking. 

Not only is it super yummy, but super nutritious, chock full of omega fatty acids, amino acids and antioxidants.  It’s also really simple and quick to make, just as easy as pouring a bowl of cereal.  What I call a win-win.

Chocolate Cinnamon Chia Pudding

• 2 tbsp chia seeds (soak these in 1/3 cup pure water overnight)
• 1 tbsp raw cacao powder
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1-2 tsp raw honey or agave nectar
• (Organic) raspberries for garnish

Let the chia seeds soak overnight in the water.  This chia “gel” doesn’t go bad, so you can make a bigger batch of it to scoop from whenever you want to use it.  I keep mine on the counter, and just keep adding water to moisten it every so often.  The 2 tbsp soaked really expands in size to make a good bowlful.

Mix the rest of the ingredients in and top with raspberries.  Dig in.  Savour the flavour.

Rainy Day Fare – Socca Sandwich and Chocolate “Cupcakes”

April showers bring May flowers…and May showers bring…more flowers?

I don’t mind the rainy weather we’ve been having here too much, our gardens definitely need it, and new greens are sprouting every day, lush and full.  We’ve been lucky here, ther hasn’t been any flooding.  The air smells clean and fresh – that “just-washed” by mother nature smell.

These are the days you can’t really play outside or “get much done” (rainy weather just makes you want to cozy up and do nothing, doesn’t it?), but we’ve been enjoying our meals out on the deck when we can, under the wooden canopy, watching for birds and just taking it all in.

So… time for some warm comfort food, that is still light, fresh, and bursting with antioxidant nutrition.  What is socca?  In standard Italian, the dish is called “farinata” ‘made of flour’, in Genoese dialect fainâ. In Nice and the Côte d’Azur, it is called “socca”, and in Tuscany, “cecina” ‘made of chickpeas’. In Argentina Fainá or Faina (wikipedia).

The point is, it’s delicious – I’m sure you will fall in love with it once you try it.  It comes out soft, despite of it’s appearance, and you an use it as a gluten-free sandwich bread, dip it like a pita, or serve it on the side with some soup.

Socca (Chickpea flatbread)

• 1 cup chickpea flour
• 1 cup water
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1/2 tsp rock salt

Add the chickpea flour to a bowl, and slowly start adding the water while mixing with a whisk.  You want the consistency to be slightly runny, so that it pours easily like crepe batter.  You might not use all the water.  Add the olive oil and salt and whisk until smooth.

For variations, you can add your favourite herbs to the batter, like rosemary, oregano or some black pepper.

Let stand for 5 or so minutes for the chickpea flour to thicken the batter.  Prepare a pan on the stove (or use a crepe pan), by heating on high.  Using a ladle, scoop some of the batter onto your pan, tilting it in a circular motion so that the batter covers the whole pan.  It should be less than 1 cm thin.  Turn the stove top to medium, and let it cook until golden brown (5 or so minutes), then flip it over with a spatula and cook it through on the other side.  Repeat until you’ve used up all of the batter.

I filled my socca sandwich with wild leek pesto and sprouts, then folded it over.  Blissfully enjoyed under the canopy on my deck, watching the rain fall.

Raw Chocolate “Cupcake”

I don’t know if this is the world’s healthiest cupcake – but it sure comes close.  Divinely decadent.  One little bite and you’ll be buzzing with antioxidants and good energy!

Cupcakes:

• 1 cup hazelnuts (or sliced filberts)
• 1/2 cup shredded coconut
• 2 tbsp hemp seed butter (use almond butter or any other seed or nut butter)
• 2-3 tbsp raw honey or agave nectar
• 1/4 cup raw cacao powder

Combine ingredients in a food processor with the “s” blade, blend until smooth or slightly chunky.  I like it with a bit of texture.  If you are using sliced filberts, you can just mix everything by hand.  This mixture should be sticky and “dough-like”, use it to form your cupcakes, adding a bit more shredded coconut or cacao if they are too sticky.

Roll into balls then press down a bit to flatten the bottom to form cupcake shapes.  Now you are ready for the icing.

Dark Chocolate Icing:

• 1 medium avocado
• 7 dates, soaked in water (or 1.5 tbsp raw honey or agave nectar if you prefer)
• 1/4 cup raw cacao powder
• 1/4 cup carob powder

Blend until smooth.  Spread onto shaped cupcakes.  Garnish with a hazelnut or sprout (optional).