Raw carob chews

Well here is another raw recipe that I learnt from the raw food demonstration that I went to a few weeks ago. I brought home a lot of the stuff for Nat to try and he loved the sweet treats. One that he particularly loved were these raw chews. Now I didn't tell him that they had carob in them until after he declared them to be good as he has a bit of an aversion to carob. I have made these once since the presentation - but I didn't take any photos and I didn't bother wrapping them up because I thought it was a waste of cellophane. So these photos come from the demonstration day. Gosia kindly said that I could share this recipe with you - although if you are interested in yummy raw food recipes you should check out her website.

Carob Chews *when I made this my processor was smaller so if you have a smaller food processor halve the recipe*

Just under 1 cup almonds
Just under 1 cup walnuts
Handful raisins
4 Tbsp carob powder
40 dates
40 dates

Process the almonds in a food processor, then add the walnuts and process until really smooth (the mixture should be quite oily when done). Add the raisins, carob and 40 dates and blend and then add the remaining dates and blend till chewy.

Turn out onto a clean surface and shape into a square (or place in a square container). Cut the mixture into squares.

Cutting the mixture

The mixture once cut

If you want you can wrap each square in cellophane and make lollies out of them.

All wrapped up

Pot-luck fun and food

Sorry I haven't been blogging lately - I have been pretty vague since the end of exams and through sheer vagueness I have had a few too many kitchen disasters since I last posted - the sheer number of brain-farts I have experienced has been astounding... for example - I made hummus and totally forgot the lemon juice!!! What is hummus without lemon juice??? And that is just the beginning of the disasters - but I don't want to dwell on those because today I went to an awesome potluck for the group Vegetarian Tasmania.

I knew that there were some raw foodies going and so I decided to make a raw dessert and then I complimented it with a fresh (and easy) salad because another brain-fart made me think that I had an extra hour of preparation time up my sleeve and so I wasn't able to make the other raw main dish that I was going to make - so I settled with the simplest quickest salad in the world. Looks fresh and appatising and also is able to be thrown together in 10minutes with minimal effort (shouldn't every meal be like that sometimes??

This simple bean salad has frozen green beans and corn that have been lightly steamed and then rinsed. A can of 4bean mix, about a can of chickpeas (I had some that I had cooked and left in the fridge), some celery, cucumber, red capsicum and spring onion or red onion. I just sprinkled the salad with a little salt water but it is also really good with any of your favourite french or italian dressing.

For dessert I made raw bliss balls. They were so good - I really had to stop myself from eating the mixture while making the balls because it was SO good. They were a hit with the poeple at the lunch and the lady who gave the raw food demonstration and her husband were really impressed and wanted the recipe. That is a sucess in my book :)

Lady's Raw Bliss Surprise

5 dates - soaked in water for a few hours or overnight
110g dessicated coconut (about 1 1/2 cups)
1 tbsp coconut oil
1 1/2 tbsp raw cacao powder
enough raw agave syrup to bind the mixture into balls (between 1/4 and 1/2 cup)
almonds (optional)

Drain the dates and blend in a food processor with the oil, coconut and cacao powder. When processed quite finely, add 1/4 cup agave syrup and process for about 30 seconds. Stop and grab a ball of mixture and squeeze gently to see if it sicks together. If it holds together well the mixture is ready. If not, add a little more agave, process and then test the mixture again.

Once the mixture is ready you can either roll the mix into balls or you can use an almond as the centre of the ball and form the mix around the almond. I was able to take these straight to the potluck and they held together well, but the 3 that I kept for Nat in the fridge were much firmer and really nice.

Nat after he bit through his bliss ball.

It makes 20-24 balls - depending on wether you use almonds or not.

Vegan Gluten Free Almond Macaroons

Yesterday was Nat and my nephew's first birthday/naming ceremony celebration.

I really wanted to help with the catering but as we were driving up that morning (they live in the north of the state) and I don't have any big containers for transporting things like cakes, muffins or cupcakes I thought I would make some cookies.

Just before Nat left for work the day before yesterday (when I planned to do my baking) he reminded me that I should make sure that the cookies are Gluten Free. I had forgotten that two of his siblings have a gluten intolerance (and I don't think nat appreciates the difficulty I have had cooking gluten free sweets and breads). So off to the net I went and I searched and searched - my biggest limitation being that the only gf flour I had was buckwheat and I wasn't able to get to the shops to get any more flours or gf ingredients.

Just before I gave up and resorted back to my original plan of pumpkin oatmeal cookies, I saw this recipe for Almond Macaroons. Of course it wasn't vegan, but it wasn't hard to veganize either. They are SO simple and took hardly any time - well they wouldn't have taken much time but I did have to blanch my own almonds.

These were really good!!! They were a hit for all who tried them. I made two batches (just to make sure the first ones worked before making the second lot. Nat tried one and it was difficult to convince him that he couldn't have any more before the party. The second batch I made, I didn't pulse the almonds quite as much as the first lot - they still held together but they didn't look as nice (so almond flour is the consistency that I want in the future).

***Beware, these are VERY soft when they come out of the oven - and they fall apart. But I let them cool a little on the tray and then transferred them to the rack after they started to firm up - best thing about them initially being so soft was that I could squeeze them back together if they fell apart!!

Everyone who tried them at the party loved them so through sheer easiness and taste I will be making these a lot in the future.

Vegan Almond Macaroons
Makes approx 16
Time: less than 45mins (incl. blanching almonds)

1 cup blanched whole almonds
1/2 cup raw sugar (or other granulated sugar)
1 1/2 tsp egg replacer (I use Organ no-egg)
1 tbsp water
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
icing sugar for dusting (optional - I didn't use it)
approx 16 almonds

1. Preheat oven to 180degrees celsius
2. Blend almonds in a food processor (I pulse them to a flour as the cookies look better). When they are processed add the sugar and pulse to mix it through.
3. Add the egg replacer, water and vanilla extract and blend (I thought that the mixture would not stick together but when I grabed a small handful and pressed it together it did - if it doesn't add a little more water)
4. Roll mixture into 16 balls and place on lightly greased baking tray. Press the ball down and place an almond on the top.
5. Bake in the oven for 10 mins. Remove and allow to cook slightly on the tray (so that they harden up a bit) and then transfer them to a wire rack to cool completly.
6. Keeps at least 4 days in an airtight container.