Raw chocolate nut truffles

Sorry I've been a bit M.I.A on here lately!
I'm still alive, and still living and loving my paleo lifestyle- although, if you ever come to my house, do not expect to see a clean kitchen! I'm always cooking (which I love) but I don't love the mess! Oh well, you can't have everything!

Here's a recipe I threw together today for on of my most favourite things to eat! Raw chocolate nut truffles. It's pretty much a combination of everything I love!
They are sweet and satisfying, plus full of great fat, vitamins and minerals. Just try not to eat the entire mixture before rolling- like everything- moderation is the key ;)

Recipe mades approx 14 little balls
1/2 cup medjool dates, pitted
1/4 cup cashews
1/4 cup macadamia nuts
1/4 cup almonds
1/4 cup walnuts

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon vanilla essence
1 tablesp cacao powder (extra for dusting on top)
1 tablesp desiccated coconut
1 tablesp cacao nibs
1 teaspoon mable syrup
1 tablespoon chia seeds
pinch sea salt

Blitz everything in food processor until sticks together when pressed.
Roll into 14 little balls (approx a heaped teaspoon each ball)
Put in fridge to set.

Raw chocolate caramel cheesecake

Another cake! Yep. I love making these delicious raw creations! Full of nutritionally dense ingredients, this cake tastes naughty but doesn't have any nasties in it that you get with traditional cheesecakes.
It is dairy free, gluten free, egg free, grain free, refined sugar free and vegan friendly!
The cake has a slight banana taste to it, if you're not a fan of banana's omit them and add another cup of cashews (preferably soaked) and increase the coconut oil to 1/2 cup.

Recipe

For best results, use a spring form pan. You can line it if you like.

Base

1 cup walnuts

1/2 cup hazelnuts

1/2 cup macadamia nuts (or almonds)

1 cup dates

1 tablespoon cacao

big pinch of sea salt flakes

Process all ingredients in food processor until ingredients stick together when pressed. 

Put into spring form pan, pressing down to make a firm base layer, going up the side of the pan slightly.  Put in freezer to set while making the cheesecake.

Cheesecake

2 Bananas

1/4 cup coconut oil, melted

1 cup cashews

1 cup macadamia nuts

1/4 cup rice malt syrup

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/3 cup cacao

1/2 cup coconut cream

Blend all ingredients in food processor until smooth. Pour on top of base, and put in freezer to set for 1-2 hours.

Caramel sauce

1 cup medjool dates, soaked (discard water before use)

1 teaspoon mesquite powder (optional)

1 tablespoon almond butter

2 tablespoons coconut cream

Blend all ingredients until smooth. Pour on top of cheese cake, smooth out top. Return to freezer to set for 4 hours, or overnight.

Cut with a hot knife while still frozen. Allow to soften a little before eating...if you can wait.

Top with raw cacao nibs. Nom nom nom.

Choc chip almond cookies

Everyone loves a good choc chip cookie. Well, I do anyway. On the weekend my lovely husband came home from Subway with 3 yummy cookies- one for Pip, himself and....me... not that I could eat them...he forgot. Gluten and me do not mix, and as tempting as they smelt, the memory of the belly ache that would follow is enough for me to not think twice at sneaking a bite.

So today I thought I'd try my hand at cooking up a delicious cookie that we could all eat. And these did not disappoint! Gluten free, dairy free, vegan, egg free, refined sugar free. Worthy of an omnomnom get-in-ma-belly tag.

The smell that filled my house when cooking these babies was enough for me to risk burning my tongue when I snuck one straight off the baking mat (delicious, but not recommended).

Recipe

Cookie

1 1/2 cups almond meal

2 tbspoon raw cacao powder

1/4 cup cacao nibs

2 tblspn coconut oil- melted

1/4 tspn baking powder

1 tspn vanilla extract

1/4 tspn sea salt flakes

2 tblspn agave syrup (or maple syrup)

1/4 cup desiccated coconut

Chocolate sauce

2 tablespoons of coconut oil

2 tablespoons of cacao powder

1 teaspoon agave syrup

Method

1. Preheat oven to 170C 

2. Combine all ingredient in a bowl

3. Scoop 1 tablespoon of mix and roll into ball. Place on lined tray and press centre in with thumb.

4. Bake for 13 min. Remove from oven and allow to cool 

5. Meanwhile, make chocolate sauce- melt coconut oil, mix in cacao and agave syrup. Allow to cool until sauce thickens slightly, but not set.

6. When cookies are cool, pour over chocolate sauce. Put it fridge to set.

Try not to eat all in one sitting.

Back into running and my chocolate protein smoothie

Today I went for my first run in nearly 9 months. It's been just over 5 weeks since Jimmy was born (naturally) and I've been busting to have a little jog each time I take the kids for a walk in the pram. Cue pelvic floor exercises!!
After I had Pippa I took up running, and completed my first half marathon when she was about 15 months old. I love running. It is my version of meditation, and I get such a high after a good jog.

I wasn't allowed to run throughout my 2nd pregnancy due to a possible incompetent cervix (I had surgery to remove about 1/3 of my cervix due to grade 3 precancerous cells just before falling pregnant- get your pap tests ladies- they save lives!!). I got the all clear to exercise at 25 weeks, but by then I was too big to consider taking up running again. I really didn't care, I was just happy to have made it to 25 weeks with no trouble!

Yesterday while on our walk I tried a couple of little jogs to see how it felt, and while pushing two kids in a pram was bloody tough (about 20+kgs to push) the jogging felt really good (if it was only for about 50m at a time). So today I decided to head off on my own. It was a beautiful, sunny winters day, perfect conditions for a light jog. I've just downloaded the Lorna Jane app, so I thought I'd trial it instead of my old run keeper.
After a little warm up, off I went. And surprised myself how far I went! I managed nearly 4km, at a nice leisurely pace and a couple of stops thanks to a pesky shoelace. I was puffing but surprisingly i didn't die in the ass at the 1km mark!
Hopefully I can get out of bed tomorrow!

After every run I always refuel my muscles and aid recovery with protein- today, in the form of a shake. I thought I'd mix it up- and because I'm breast feeding I'm burning extra calories, so I added in extra nutrients to fuel my milk supply (protein is great for milk production).

This smoothie would be perfect for breakfast (or any meal really!) It's sweet, chocolatly and packed with protein, healthy fats, fibre and lots of super foods.
 Recipe
1 scoop of protein powder (I use plain whey protein isolate)
1/4 avocado
1 cup almond milk (of fluid of choice)
1 table spoon raw cacao powder
1 teaspoon maca powder (optional)
1 teaspoon chia seeds
3 madjool dates (pitted)
4 walnuts
2 tablespoons of greek yoghurt (optional)
Whizz in blender top with cacao nibs and bees pollen for yummy crunch!

Chocolate walnut breakfast mousse

Another delicious breakfast by the Holistic Ingredient, so simple and full of awesome super foods- walnuts, cacao, chia seeds, avocado, macs powder and cinnamon.

You can make any flavour of mousse with chia seeds. Omit the cacao powder, and instead you could put in your favourite flavoured protein powder ( I have cookies and cream Whey protein isolate) although you probably would have to take out the sweetener if you did this. 

Or pop in some peppermint essence, or orange rind to make choc peppermint or jaffa mouse.

Apprx 1.5 cups almond milk (or milk of choice), add more if you prefer a runnier smoothie
1/3 cup of walnuts, or about 20 g
1/4 of an avocado
2 tblspns chia seeds
1 tblspn raw cacao (or to taste, I like my chocolate intense, I added an extra half tablespoon)
2 heaped tspns maple or rice malt syrup, or sweetener of choice, to taste
1 heaped tspn maca powder (optional)
1 heaped teaspoon raw cacao nibs
1/4 tspn cinnamon
Pinch of vanilla powder (or essence)
Pinch salt

Leave half the walnuts and cacao nibs aside. Throw the rest of your ingredients into the blender and blend until really smooth. Top with the cacao nibs and remaining walnuts. I would recommend making this the night before or at least half an hour before you eat it to allow the chia seeds to soften.

Dairy free Chocolate icecream

Thank goodness someone showed me how to make clean icecream. So simple and easy, all you need is the frozen bananas and a food processor/ high powered blender.

Ingredients

1 frozen banana

1 tsp cacoa powder

You could add in peppermint essence/ vanilla powder, chilly powder or anything you enjoy with chocolate to give it a twist.

Method

Blitz banana until creamy, add in cacao powder, blitz until incorporated.

top with nuts of your choice

RASPBERRY AND COCONUT CHOCOLATE TORTE

RASPBERRY AND COCONUT CHOCOLATE TORTE

This divine creation is from Petite Kitchen, another blog I follow. It is gluten free, dairy free, nut free, refined sugar free and very yummy!! It isn't overly rich or decadent, so you won't feel sick after a slice or two! The coconut flour is very high in fibre and so needs lots of moisture to stop it becoming dry (hence the 5 eggs). I ended up whipping the egg whites first (I separated the 5 eggs) to try and give the cake a bit more fluffiness, but i'm not sure if it helped at all! Do as you wish!

I topped mine with coyo (DELISH coconut yoghurt) to keep it healthy, but I'm sure cream would be better!

Serves 8

Ingredients
• 1 cup frozen or fresh raspberries, or fruit of your choice
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1/4 cup extra virgin coconut oil, or unsalted butter
• 5 free range eggs
• 1/2 cup coconut flour
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda

1. Preheat the oven to 150°C and grease or line a cake tin with baking paper.

2. In a small saucepan on low heat, melt together the extra virgin coconut oil, and honey. Set aside to cool.

3. Add the raspberries to a food processor. Blend until smooth. Add the remaining ingredients, including the coconut oil and honey. Blend until smooth.

4. Pour the batter in to the prepared cake tin, then bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean once inserted.

5. Leave to cool, before inverting on to a plate.

6. Lovely served with fresh cream, ice cream or natural yoghurt.

Raw walnut brownie

Omnomnomnom
That's how I sum up this delicious Raw chocolate brownie.
This recipe is so so so simple, with only 4 major ingredients. It is gooey, rich and delicious with a little crutch. Everything I love in a dessert!
This recipe is from My New Roots - www.mynewroots.org

2 cups whole walnuts
2 ½ cups Medjool dates, pitted
1 cup raw cacao 
1 cup raw unsalted almonds, roughly chopped
¼ tsp. sea salt
Cook and try not to eat it all.....

Raw super muesli slice

I love a healthy, filling snack. No carb highs or sugar crashes in this house please! This slice is loved by my 3yr old- she helps make it and loves that it is smothered in 'chocolate'

I put a mix of nuts, medjool dates, goji berries, cacao powder,rice malt syrup, and coconut oil in it, and top it off with 'chocolate' (cacao and coconut oil) 

I normally don't measure any ingredients- but next time I make it I'll try my hardest to write down what and how much and add it here.... 

Raw Chocolate banana cheesecake

Food porn alert!! This cake was so omg yummy!
This was my second attempt as a raw cheesecake. My first can be found here. It is totally decadent, rich and filling- everything you would expect from a full fat, dairy filled, sugar laden, naughty dessert...all of which this is NOT! Everything in this cake is good for you- bananas, cashews, cacao, coconut oil.... omnomnomnom!

Recipe from This Rawsome Vegan Life
http://www.thisrawsomeveganlife.com/2013/03/vanilla-chocolate-chunk-cheesecake-with.html#.UeYyQBZT91M

Lunch! Sweet cacao omelette by The Holistic Ingredient

Delicious sweet omelette, topped with Greek yoghurt and blueberries. Easy, fast lunch!
This lovely lady has a wonderful ebook I suggest you check out and buy!!! http://theholisticingredient.com/a-nourishing-kitchen-ebook/