Chocolate Truffles

Yummy choccy guilt free truffles,

fun, quick and easy peasy to make..

Ingredients

100g dates - soaked for few hours

50g raisins - soaked for few hours

1 cup ground hazelnuts

3 tbsp cocoa powder
handful of goji berries

sesame seed, dessicated coconut and extra cocoa for rolling..

Blend together dates, raisins, ground hazelnuts, cocoa powder and goji berries until all combined in a uniformed dough. Break off small bits of mix and roll in your hands to form a magical truffle, then roll into preferred rolling mix, I used a mix of all three..sesame seeds, dessicated coconut and cocoa powder.

You could also try rolling in dry nuts/fruits such as chopped goji berries or apricots.

These are muchos delicia!

Great little power balls of energy when you're on the go too.

Hope you have fun making them.

Truffle love 

xx

Hummingbird Cake

I was inspired to make this cake when I came across the recipe in this lovely book..(http://www.amazon.co.uk/Cake-Angels-Amazing-gluten-wheat/dp/0007439296/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1357295358&sr=8-7) a great baking book full of gluten, wheat and dairy free recipes, although the baker uses eggs in most of her cakes and a lot of sugar, so when I came across a cake called Hummingbird, the name and the look of it inspired me greatly, so I just adapted the recipe and made the creation wheat, dairy and sugar free, also light and lovely..just like a Hummingbird...

Here's the recipe...

Ingredients for cake

200g Gluten free flour mix

1 tsp baking powder

1tsp xantham gum

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp nutmeg

1 cup walnuts, chopped

1 flax egg

1/2 cup fruit sugar

200g pineapple - tinned or fresh - puréed

2 ripe bananas - mashed

1 cup sunflower oil

tiny drop of almond extract

Ingredients for filling

1 cup light tahini

1/2 cup honey

1/2 cup ground almonds

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1/2 cup pineapple juice

3 tbsp apple juice

To make the cake...

In a large bowl combine all dry ingredients, make a well in the centre and add the puréed pineapple, bananas, flax egg, sunflower oil, almond extract and walnuts and mix well until a combined batter forms. Pour the mixture into two cake tins and pop in the oven at 180oC for 25-30 mins.

When ready, take cake out of the oven and leave to cool for 10 mins, then  turn onto a wire rack to cool completely. Once cooled, make the filling and topping...

Mix all ingredients together in a bowl, adding more honey if desiring a sweeter taste, (I also added a little coconut cream too). Spoon half the mixture on top of one of the cakes, then pop the other cake on top, and spoon rest of mix on top of cake, decorate with almonds and walnuts.

and there it is..your beautiful little Hummingbird cake :)

x

Christmas Treats (& Chocolates!!)

I'm not the greatest fan of Christmas, I'll be honest, I tend to hermitise at this time of year, spending time reading and keeping extra warm and cosy under lovely blankets and pillows, but the one thing I do love about this time of year, is the excuse to make home made gifts for my friends and family. I had a few ideas for gifts already, but found myself inspired to make some chocolatey treats after finding this recipe on this wonderful blog..http://www.thesweetlifeonline.com/2012/11/26/hot-chocolate-mix-three-ways/ ...
..and so I got set to work on my own..

I followed the recipe from the blog mentioned above, I just added a little ground ginger to one of the batches and I used soft brown sugar instead of powdered sugar. I also contemplated using dark brown muscavado sugar, but wasn't sure how it would turn out..so am saving that experiment for a rainy day..

I sampled it out before hand..and oh my..what a treat it is..warming and cosy and chocolatey!..very Christmassy :)

After a mega serving of this magical stuff, I then got started on decorating the jars and made as Christmas gifts for mi dear ma and also nan and granadad...

I also made a few cards for close friends and family too, I hadn't set on sending out any cards this year, but once I got started with the homemade hot chocolate gift..I felt the urge for more crafty Christmas making coming on..

...then I felt the urge for more chocolate making!..

I made this batch with macadamia nuts, the full recipe can be found here.. http://www.wutherswebofcakes.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/raw-chocolates.html

I then wrapped and decorated them in separate tubs to give to friends for Christmas gifts...

with a little loving help from my butterfly friends..

and I was so good I never ate one..not one...or two..or three...

..promise!

;)

Happy Solstice and Merry Chocolatey Christmas!

xx

Cauliflower

Isn't it a beautiful word! Cauliflower, I love it!

I also love to eat it too, and I discovered a new way to eat it.

This is a lovely raw recipe that'll leave your stomach as light and fluffy as the texture of this wonderful cauli creation, here it is...

Ingredients

1 lovely cauliflower
1 cup cashews - soaked for 4 hours or overnight
1 cup sultanas
1 clove garlic
2 spring onions
zest of 1 lemon
2 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp olive oil
handful of green beans - chopped
1/2 tsp nutmeg
sprinkle of black pepper

Chop the cauliflower into chunky florets, transfer to blender and wizz for 1 minute until it resembles a rice consistency, like this..

Pop in a large bowl andd set aside.
Then blend the cashews, lemon juice and zest, olive oil, spring onions and garlic until smooth and creamy, like this..

Then combine the the two..the sauce and the cauli, then sprinkle in the sultanas and green beans and season with nutmeg and black pepper..

Finito!

This is a really lovely light raw food meal, full of nutrients and light and fluffy flavours, the creaminess of the cashew sauce goes really well with the cauliflower and nutmeg, although, I think when I make it again, I'll leave out the spring onions..just because they repeat on me so much when they're raw! They do give the dish lots of flavour though..so you may wish to leave them in..unless you have an onion problem..like me!

I made this as a takeaway lunch with some tasty green gem lettuce..

..and then topped with some chestnut mushrooms..yum!

You can also gently heat this up in a small pan if you fancy a warmer meal in your tum :)

x

Peanut butter dream

This no bake, raw, nutty dream is a heavenly tasty treat come true! I was over the moon when this creation turned out so well, it's the first raw sweet treat that I've made that is tongue ticklingly tasty with indulgence, while staying super duper healthy for you. And it has three of my most favouritist things in the food world inside of it...

Peanut butter, banana, and CHOCOLATE,

Here's the ingredients...

for the base

1 cup almonds

1 cup hazelnuts

2/3 cup pumpkin seeds

1/3 cup oats

1/2 cup agave/maple syrup

2 cups corn flakes

1 tbsp smooth peanut butter ( I use Meridian's natural - no added sugar or salt)

1/2 cup cacao nibs

1 tbsp coconut oil - melted

Blend the nuts, seeds and oats until just broken, transfer to a large bowl then add corn flakes and cacao nibs and mix. In a separate bowl, mix together agave, peanut butter and coconut oil, then transfer to nut and seed mix and stir well until all combined. If mix seems a little to crumbly, add a tiny bit of soya milk and stir well.

Transfer to a baking tray, pressing down well, and leave to set in freezer for 1 hour. 

for the topping

3 tbsp peanut butter

1 cup chopped dried banana

2 tbsp cocoa powder

1/2 tsp almond extract

1 tbsp agave/maple syrup

2 tbsp boiling water

1 tbsp coconut oil - melted

Once the base has been left to set for an hour, take out of the freezer and start with the topping.

Spread the peanut butter evenly on top of the base, then sprinkle on the dried banana.

In a small bowl mix together the cocoa powder, agave/maple syrup, melted coconut oil, boiling water and the almond extract until all combined and it resembles melted chocolate, then lovingly drizzle it all over the peanut butter and banana topping..then treat yourself and lick the bowl!

Pop in the freezer for another hour, (or 20 minutes if you can't wait any longer to dig into it).

Once hardened, cut into squares and enjoy!

Share with friends and family and they'll love you forever ;)

Peanut butter love

xx

Superfood Soup

Served with a superfood bread..

Ingredients for soup

1 butternut squash - peeled and chopped into cubes

2 red peppers - chopped

1 yellow pepper - chopped

200g kale

2 cloves garlic - thinly sliced

1 tsp paprika

1 tbsp cumin seeds

1 tsp ginger

1 tsp mango powder

2 tbsp turmeric (LOVE turmeric)

1 tsp nutmeg

2 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp veg stock(or cube)

1-2 pints boiling water

2 squares of block coconut

1 tsp cornflour (or arrowroot)

In a large pan fry the garlic and spices in the olive oil for 5 minutes, then add the chopped squash and stir for a further 5-10 mins. Mix the stock with the boiling water and pour over squash, bring to the boil, stir, let simmer and pop in the peppers. Then add the coconut and stir until all combined.

Once the veg has begun to soften, blend with a hand blender to your preffered consistency, I like to leave a few bits of chunky veg in mine, so it's half and half, if you don't have a hand blender, serve as a chunky soup. And if you feel it needs thickening, add a little cornflour or arrowroot and it should thicken it up right nice. Oh and I pop the kale in last as I don't like to cook out all the nutrients of the good green stuff..and it's a nice texture in the soup too, and colour :)

This soup was soooooooo nice, I went over board with the amount of turmeric but I love the stuff and it went together really well with the creaminess of the soup; twas a nice fluffy and delicate dish but also fills  you up right nice, it had a nice calming effect on me too which I think must have been from the turmeric.

And it went really well served with a couple of slices of home made bread, which I'm actually starting to get quite good at!...

Ingredients for bread

150g gluten free brown bread flour

150g spelt flour

2 tsp quick yeast

1 tsp salt

1 tsp fruit sugar

1 tbsp cumin seeds

2 tsp ground coriander

50g chopped dates

2tbsp olive oil

200ml hand-hot water

Put the flours, yeast, salt, sugar, spices and dates in a bowl and mix together.

Add the oil and water and mix to a stiff paste, if the mix is still a little dry, add a tiny bit more water, or if too watery, add a tad more flour.

Turn into a greased loaf tin, cover loosely with oiled cling film, or a tea towel and leave in a warm place for 45mins. 

Then remove cling film and bake in the oven for 20-25mins at 200oC until firm.

You can use any flours you like in this, I just prefer not to use wheat as most of the time my tummy doesn't like it, and you'll probably get a better rise out of using wheat flour.

I made this bread again the other day using 300g spelt flour and it rose much better, am still finding it tricky to find a wheat free flour that rises, but, despite that, this bread did taste super yummy and is nice and light on your lovely tummy.

Superfoods for superdoods ;)

Hope you enjoy

x

Happy Hallows

Posted a little later than planned, but here's some of the treats I made for a little cosy Halloween gathering spent with some spooky guests!..

*

Beansprout, Peanut and Apricot Salad

75g cucumber, thinly sliced

225g beansprouts

25g roasted almonds

70g dried apricots

2 spring onions - finely sliced

Dressing

1 tbsp peanut butter ( http://www.wutherswebofcakes.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/homemade-peanut-butter.html )

1 tbsp sunflower oil

1 tsp soya sauce

2 tbsp water

Mix together the beansprouts, cucumber, peanuts, apricots and spring onion in a large bowl.

Mix together the dressing ingredients in a small bowl until smooth and all combined.

Pour dressing over the salad mix and stir well.

Simple as that!

This dish would also be nice served as a stir fry, and you could try adding sesame seeds and/or sesame oil too. And instead of apricots you could add sultanas, and instead of almonds you could try cashews..whatever you fancy..be as creative as you wish :)

*

Sweet Potato with Coconut

3 sweet potatoes - chopped into cubes

2tbsp sunflower oil

2tbsp water

2 tbsp shredded coconut

1 tbsp cumin seeds

1 tsp turmeric

1 tsp garam masala

Boil the sweet potatoes until just tender, drain and set aside.

Heat the oil in a large saucepan, add coconut, cumin, turmeric and stir for 2 minutes.

Add the sweet potato and water and stir well. Cook gently whilst stirring for a few minutes until heated through, then serve and sprinkle with garam masala.

Yum!

*

Spiced Red Cabbage with Raisins

350g red cabbage - finely shredded

50g raisins

1 tbsp balsamic vinegar

1 tbsp sunflower oil

1 tsp ground all spice

Put the cabbage in a pan of boiling water and cook for 20 minutes. Drain well and add the remaining ingredients and mix thoroughly, serve in a warm serving dish.

These recipes were inspired from a Vegan Dinners Parties cookbook by Linda Majzlik.

I served the dishes with some home-made hummus, Linda McCartney veggy sausages infused with rosemary and some hearty brown bread rolls brought by one of my lovely guests.

And joining me for this wonderful feast were some rather intriguing guests...

The Theatrical Phantom Fagin..

...satisfying our creative delights with the art of puppet mastering..

..a jazzy skelly and her jazzy skelly moves..

..and myself..as Dead Doll Delia..Delighted by the sights yet Deliriously..well..Dead?!

We had a most lovely Hallows eve and made some rather fun videos on the night too...enjoy!...xx

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zhKzNIM1Zw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4o9H3KVRDe4&feature=relmfu

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4pGhVRxcqA&feature=relmfu

Pumpkin Peace :)