Tuesday, December 14, 2010

More fun for Christmas!

Can we get enough good healthy sweet into us at Christmas? This wicked looking  cake/tart/slice call or shape it what you want is made with only the best ingredients that for a Christmas treat you could have it for breakfast and still not feel guilty!! Go on try it.. lol

check out the post's below with the Christmas puddings too.. 


KITZ CHOCOLATE CARAMEL SLICE

My favourite slice has always been the sugary, fatty version of this healthy one I created using raw natural ingredients. I haven't had the sugary one since I was a kid but with this delicious alternative I can now enjoy knowing that all of the ingredients are actually nutritious!!
 
Ingredients:

Base:

1 cup Kitz active almonds
1 cup Kitz Choci-jo
½ cup dates
1 T coconut oil

Middle:

1 cup soaked cashews
1 cup soaked date plus soak water
2 T dark agave
½ t each cinnamon & vanilla
¾ guar gum (optional)

Top:

1 ½ cup soaked cashews/mac’s
½ cup soaked dates
100ml dark agave
Pinch vanilla
75ml water
1 heaped t cacao

Preparation:

Base:

Place almonds into a food processor and process until a smooth meal. Add the choci-jo and blend for about 15secs then add dates slowly down the chute while motor is still running adding coconut oil straight after so that it incorporates with the dates, once they are evenly chopped and the mix stays together when pressed into a ball pour into a nice slice pan or round tart dish and press down firmly to make a base. You can use the back of a spoon or the bottom of a flat glass to smooth the bottom. Make sure it is pressed well so that it does not fall apart when cut!!


Filling:

Rinse the cashews then place in a good quality blender with the dates and date soak water, agave, vanilla & cinnamon. Blend until smooth. This can take a while, to test put some mix between you thumb and index finger and if there are no grains, it is smooth like cream it is ready. It may not get as smooth as cream but get it as smooth as you can. IF using guar gum slowly while the motor is running tilt the teaspoon of guar gum into the blender so that it does not clump. Blend until it combines and thickens. Spread evenly over the base then place into the freezer to cool.

Topping:

Place all ingredients except the cacao powder into the blender and blend until smooth and creamy, then add cacao powder and blend until it is mixed in thoroughly. Spread evenly over the filling. You can wait until the filling has cooled a bit then add the topping. Place into the fridge or freezer to cool for at least 5hrs.. then ENJOY!!
 

Christmas Puddings

Christmas is nearly here. One of the most enjoyable things about Christmas for me is making up all the wonderful treats we seem to just enjoy at Christmas!! why's that  wonder? Maybe that's what makes them so good, the fact that we save them for this special time or sharing.
Here is a recipe I came up with last week in a moment of inspiration.

Christmas Pudding Balls 

Ingredients & Preparation:
Equal portions of
  • Dates
  • Figs
  • Organic apricots
  • Organic sultanas
Chop all fruits to about the same size as the sultanas, place into a large bowl that has a lid.
Add
  • 1t cinnamon
  • 1 ½ tsp mixed spice
  • 2-3 tbs organic dehydrated coconut palm sugar
  • 1 cup of warm ginger digest tea or similar.

Soak for at least 24hrs stirring occasionally.
Then, in a blender grind until fine,
  • Kitz Active mix
Or equal amounts of
  • Buckies
  • Active walnuts – natural
  • Active almonds – natural
  • Pepitas (pumpkin kernels)
  • Sunflower seeds
  • Dried coconut – organic
Buckies, active walnuts and active almonds are all available in the Kitz online shop or at a good wholefoods shop near you.. :)
 Add grounds nuts and seeds to soaked fruits and mix. Add enough to make firm dough. With damp hand roll into fist sized balls then roll in dried coconut. Place on a plate or a container and store in the fridge until firm. They will keep for quite a few days. If you wish you could freeze them to make them last longer.

Macadamia cream 
Soak about ½ to 1 cup of macadamias, depending on how many pudding balls you made. They only need to be soaked for a couple of hours. Rinse a couple of times then just cover with good fresh or filtered water and blend until smooth and creamy. Macadamias do not get the ultra smooth gloss that you can get with cashews but some people find cashews a bit hard to digest, you could use cashews if you are fine with them. They do make a beautiful cream that’s for sure.

Coconut cream 
I blended good quality low temp dried coconut until it went smooth and creamy and we had that with it as well, the combinations worked really well. If you have time and the ingredients give it a go.


Chocolate Inspired Christmas Puddings

These are for all the chocoholics! A healthy combination of 2 Christmas favourites.. Chocolate and fruit puddings!! I really wanted to melt some raw chocolate and drizzle it over the cream but I ran out of time and had to get them ready quickly for my Kitz Angels.. it was morning tea time!!
 

Chocolate Christmas Pudding with Macadamia Cream

Ingredients & Preparation:
Equal portions of (about 1/2 -3/4 cup of each)
  • Dates
  • Figs
  • Organic apricots
  • Organic sultanas
then add half as much of the nuts as you did of each of the fruits (say 1/4 - 1/2 cup each)
  • raw almonds
  • raw walnuts
Chop all fruits to about the same size as the sultanas, place into a large bowl that has a lid.
Add
  • 1t cinnamon
  • 1 ½ tsp mixed spice
  • 2-3 tbs organic dehydrated coconut palm sugar
  • 1 cup of warm ginger digest tea or similar. 
Soak for at least 24hrs stirring occasionally.
Then, in a blender grind until fine,
  • Kitz Active mix
Or equal amounts of
  • Buckies
  • Active walnuts – natural
  • Active almonds – natural
  • Pepitas (pumpkin kernels)
  • Sunflower seeds
  • Dried coconut – organic
Plus
  • 1/2 cup Raw cacao nibs
  • 1/2 cup Raw cacao powder (test to check your level of chocolatiness!!) - I know that's not a word but it explains what I mean! 
Add grounds nuts and seeds to soaked fruits along with the raw cacao nibs and cacao powder. Mix until thoroughly combined. Add enough to make firm dough. With damp hand roll into fist sized balls then roll in dried coconut. You could also roll these in cacao powder to give them that really nice chocolate look and extra richness. Place on a plate or a container and store in the fridge until firm. They will keep for quite a few days. If you wish you could freeze them to make them last longer.
NOTE: Buckies, active walnuts and active almonds are all available in the Kitz online shop or at a good wholefoods shop near you.. :) 
Macadamia cream 
Soak about ½ to 1 cup of macadamias, depending on how many pudding balls you made. They only need to be soaked for a couple of hours. Rinse a couple of times then just cover with good fresh or filtered water and blend until smooth and creamy. Macadamias do not get the ultra smooth gloss that you can get with cashews but some people find cashews a bit hard to digest, you could use cashews if you are fine with them. They do make a beautiful cream that’s for sure.
To serve
Dollop macadamia cream top, sprinkle with raw cacao nibs a little vanilla powder and some raw cacao powder.. add goji berries for a Christmas affect.
Enjoy! :)

Monday, October 11, 2010

Choci-Logs

I don't know why I called these Choci-logs because in the end they are not logs are all but I like the name, and anyway half way through the process they are a big log!!
I made the first batch of these for my daughter who was the inspiration behind the Choci-Jo, that's how it got it's name... her name is Sami-Jo!! She is a triathelete so always need healthy nutritious snack to keep up with all the training she does. These are a a great source of Carbohydrates for energy, good fats for metablism and processing nutrients as well as protein for growth and repair that is so essential when you train hard.
With a food processor these only take 5mins to make, they are so quick and easy!

Choci-logs

Ingredients:

100g Kitz Active Almonds
130g Kitz Choci-Jo granola
60g sultanas
60 dates
40g goji berries
40g raw cacao nibs
60g brown rice protein powder
1 large ripe banana – with black spots on it!!

Preparation:
Place almonds into a food processor and ground to a meal, then add Choci-Jo and process until broken up.
Add sultanas and dates a process until they resemble bread crumbs
Then add remaining ingredients and blend until it sticks together, you don’t want to overdo it as it will just turn into fudge with no crunchy bits from the buckwheat or chewy bits from the fruit!!
Turn out onto a piece of baking paper, cling wrap or a layed out clean plastic bag and shape into a big log.
Roll it up tightly then place in the fridge or freezer to cool for about 4hrs.
When the goji berries are soft you can roll it in desiccated coconut, almonds meal or ground cacao nibs then slice into little rounds.
Store in a container in the fridge or freezer depending on your preference
Enjoy!

Sunday, October 10, 2010

Tea time for the Kitz Girls
KITZ CHOCOLATE CARAMEL SLICE

My favourite slice has always been the sugary, fatty version of this healthy one I created using raw natural ingredients. I haven't had the sugary one since I was a kid but with this delicious alternative I can now enjoy knowing that all of the ingredients are actually nutritious!! The Choci-Jo and the Active Almonds are available at Kitz Living Foods, theres a link at the right of the page. http://www.kitzlivingfoods.com.au/

INGREDIENTS

Base:
1 cup active almonds
1 cup Choci-jo
½ cup dates
1 T coconut oil

Middle:
1 cup soaked cashews
1 cup soaked date plus soak water
2 T dark agave
½ t each cinnamon & vanilla
¾ guar gum (optional)
Top:
1 ½ cup soaked cashews/mac’s
½ cup soaked dates
100ml dark agave
Pinch vanilla
75ml water
1 heaped t cacao


Preparation:

Base:
Place almonds into a food processor and process until a smooth meal. Add the choci-jo and blend for about 15secs then add dates slowly down the chute while motor is still running adding coconut oil straight after so that it incorporates with the dates, once they are evenly chopped and the mix stays together when pressed into a ball pour into a nice slice pan or round tart dish and press down firmly to make a base. You can use the back of a spoon or the bottom of a flat glass to smooth the bottom. Make sure it is pressed well so that it does not fall apart when cut!!

Filling:
Rinse the cashews then place in a good quality blender with the dates and date soak water, agave, vanilla & cinnamon. Blend until smooth. This can take a while, to test put some mix between you thumb and index finger and if there are no grains, it is smooth like cream it is ready. It may not get as smooth as cream but get it as smooth as you can. IF using guar gum slowly while the motor is running tilt the teaspoon of guar gum into the blender so that it does not clump. Blend until it combines and thickens. Spread evenly over the base then place into the freezer to cool.

Topping:
Place all ingredients except the cacao powder into the blender and blend until smooth and creamy, then add cacao powder and blend until it is mixed in thoroughly. Spread evenly over the filling. You can wait until the filling has cooled a bit then add the topping. Place into the fridge or freezer to cool for at least 5hrs.. then ENJOY!!

Monday, August 2, 2010

My real world

I've haven't been here for quite a while.. it get kind of hard because I feel that everything I put into this blog should be about Raw!.. I am raw, I love raw, I can't think of any better way to eat. I don't have the think about it. I don't crave anything but fruit, greens and some raw veg. Occasionally I think about seaweed or spirulina. Both are foods that I can eat in a salad and thoroughly enjoy if I am in the mood. Lately that seems to be .. well now that I think of it, kind of never really. When I get it in front of me it just feels like it's going to ruin what I am about to eat. I now love to mono eat my fruits. I never have more that one fruit at a time just because I like it that way and for no other reason. Many will do this for better digestion. My salads are usually no more that 2-4 ingredients and on special occasions I will have more variety. I think mainly so that friends and family don't think I've completly lost it!. ;)
I can remeber when I was a teenager  we would sit around snacking, I would have a bag of red apples or some dates while everyone else wanted chips, chocolate and sweetened drinks, either bought juice or flavoured milk. Even back then they weren't real food to me. My big splurge would be rolled oats, bran buds and wheatgerm mixed with water.. I would make it really mushy and just pig out on it. I loved it!
But that's me, I have a family and they love cooked food. They have no desire to be raw, vegatarian or vegan. Except for my husband who I think could easilly be vegatarian.

Saturday, January 30, 2010

Fruitfull Bali

It's been a while since I've been here... but we have been on a long awaited trip to Bali! and it was wonderful.

Honeydew Melon Smoothy
I feasted on fruit grown in the lush volanic soils of the island, all grown naturally without chemicals. It was amazing, the mangoes, papaya and bananas are as ripe as can be, full of sweetness and the skins are still green! what is that telling us?
Along with the massive amounts of papaya, mango and watermelon I consumed I also enjoyed snake fruit, rambutans, manogsteen, bananas and the most favoured of all.. the Durian! fresh from the farmer and never seen a fridge let alone a freezer! so cheep and so sweet and creamy!

Ubud Markets.. durian everywhere!
I am already planning a return, this time going to hire mopeds and take a small backpack so that we can just travel the Island and stay where we find great little gems. We did hire them this time while we where in Ubud and it was a lot of fun. Rode mountain bikes from the Volcano back to Ubud, the boys white water rafted.. I did the whole massage/spa thing.. :) very nice!! and we did lots of walking, talking - we where trying to learn Indonesian, exploring and mmm shopping!
Jordi in the Hot Tub at the Spa!