Pears and Strawberries.. what shall I do?

Make a Pear and Strawberry Flan!! that's what I did.

I had to make something nice today, the morning tea I  had served them the last couple of days was dismal!! It was one of those things I had to resurrect by making a nice chocolate sauce and cashew cream to pour over it. It looked divine but the cake was  bit dry. O'well, you win some you lose some!!

This was a spur of the moment cake. I had strawberries that needed to be used and I couldn't bring myself to put them in the morning smoothie. I also had some nice big pears that lend themselves to that delicious sweetness needed in a good flan!! So of the the pantry I went looking for more inspiration and this is what I came up with. I wasn't going to write down what I put in it but when I finished it I just though id better. Nothing worse that when I throw something together that they love and then I can't remember what was in it.

Yep it was a hit and yep I going to blog it!! so here is the recipes.

Pear & Strawberry Flan

Base

Ingredients:

1/2 cup Kitz Active almonds

1/2 cup Kitz Active walnuts

3/4 cup dates

1/2 cup coconut (dried)

1 tsp freshly ground vanilla bean

Preparation:

Place all ingredients into a blender and blend until sticky but still chunky. Press into the base of a paper lined cheesecake pan.

Filling

ingredients:

1/2 cup cashews

1/3 cup goji berries

cover with water and soak for about 1/2 hr.

add

1 large peeled and cored pear

1 punnet of strawberries

2 tbs chia seeds

1 tbs coconut oil

Agave to taste

Guar gum, - optional and if needed!

Preparation:

Blend all ingredients until smooth and creamy. If it is too runny add 1/2 tsp guar gum while the motor is running until incorporated and thickened - I had to do this as I had left too much water with the nuts and goji's!!

enjoy!



Current fav - Orange Goji Berry smoothies..

Not only do oranges taste amazing but they are also cheap at the moment. With the amount of I have to peel each morning i'm also loving that they don't have seeds. Navels are my freind. Because everyone should know.. Orange seeds are the natural enemy of a food smoothy!!

I have I told you about Goji berries!! whoa, they are a powerhouse of nutrition!! They have 500 times more vitamin c than oranges and they are a rich source of caratanoids. They contain 19 types of amino acids which include all 8 essential amino acids plus 21 trace minerals. 11mg of iron per 100g plus an array of phytochemicals. Some say they are one of the most nutritonally dense foods around. Plus they taste awesome!!

All you need is about 7 oranges - peeled
Small hanful of goji berries
Ice or water - about 1/2 cup

Blend until smooth and creamy!! devour.

This serves about 2-4 depending on size of oranges and glasses!!

Miso yummy fat free Kale chips and stixs

Kale chips

Kale Stix



All of the Kale chip recipes i've seen are made with either nuts, seeds or oil. Now sometimes that's great but sometimes I just want a light snack. I also make these and crush them up like the celery sprinkles to use in salads. Kale is such a nutrutious green as it is extremely high in vitamins, A, C and K as well as a being a good source of usuable calcium and magnesium. It even has ALA omega 3 in it. Research has shown that Kale consumption is linked to so many improvements in your health and energy that you could write a book on it.
Kale chips are a really easy way to get lots of in!! The truth is I have to stop myself from eating it all before I get it out of the dehydrator.
Most people throw the stalks out but I just can't do that so I had a go at these stix and they are amazing. Yeh, nothing is waisted.
Just like everything I make, nothing is measured so these are just estimates.

Kale chips & stix

Ingredients:
2 bunches of fresh organic kale
3/4 cup freshly sprouted mung beans
1 tsp unpasturised barley miso
1/2 glove of fresh garlic
1 cm peice of fresh ginger
1 tsp fresh tumeric
Splash of low sodium tamari
good healthy splash of homemade saurkraut juice

Preparation:

Wash kale then strip the leaves off the stalks. Chop the leaves into medium sized chunks and place into a large bowl. Chop the stalks into sticks about 5cm long and place into a separate bowl.

Blend all the remaining ingredients in a personal blender, pour onto the chopped kale and gently massage it in.

For the Stixs I added a little bit of stevia to give it a more teriyaki type flavour, you could also use a few sultanas, raisins, agave or a date. the combination of sweet, savoury is always nice, especially with ginger and garlic. I did a separate batch of the wet ingredients for the stix and the chips, so you will need to do the about recipe twice.

Before going into the dehydrator

Bush lemons are abundant at the moment and they are divine. Precious Katie has been bringing them in for me regularly as well as a few limes .. now they are really special!! She gets them from a tree growing wild in the hinterland. Perfect, no sprays, no polution!

I also had some freeze dried blueberry powder I needed to use up. The result of that is this cheezecake type swirl.

The ingredients make this a perfect after training snack.. gotta be happy with that!

Bush lemon blueberry swirl

Ingredients

Approximate only!

Base

1 cup of active mix or equal amount of any other nut or seed. (Preferably sprouted and dehydrated)

½ cup sultanas (raisins)

½ t each of cinnamon and vanilla bean

Squirt of agave or enough to bring it together or to taste!

Preparation:

· Process active mix or nuts in a food processor with the S blade until fine. Add the rest of the ingredients and blend until it sticks together when pressed into a ball.

· Press into a baking paper lined cheesecake tin. Place in the fridge or freezer while you prepare the filling.

Ingredients:

1 ½ cups cashews – soaked in filtered water for a least 2hrs

Juice and zest of 2 bush lemons. (Normal lemons would be fine)

½ - 2/4 cup dark raw agave

2 large scoops of Sunworrier vanilla protein powder

1 tbs freeze dried blueberry powder (or fresh/frozen, about ½ cup)

½ tsp guar gum

Preparation:

· Rinse and drain cashews then add enough filtered water to just cover them in a high speed blender. I use the Sunbeam Café series 1100 watt and it is fine. If you have a vitamix!! Lucky you. J

· Add the lemon juice, zest and agave and blend until smooth and creamy. You may need to add more water or agave depending on your taste.

· Add the protein powder and blend it in. then with the motor still running slowly rain the guar gum into the blender through the little hole at the top until it is nice and thick with no lumps. It is important to keep the motor running as it can clump.

· Dollop about 5 big spoons full or a little over half of the mix onto the base. Leave it until you add the blueberry mix

· Add the blueberries to the rest of the mix and blend until it is back to the smooth creamy consistency again. Dollop the rest into the base around the lemon cream.

· Note: if you used fresh or frozen blueberries and it made the mix too runny you can add more guar gum and agave or just freeze it that will help it stabilize.

· Carefully with the handle of a spoon swirl the two mixes until you get a lovely combination of colours, don’t overdo it or it will turn to mud!! Tap it gently on the bench the settle the mix and smooth the top as much as you can then place it back into the fridge or freeze until it is set.

Enjoy!

Still loving raw even though i've been absent from my blog

 Smashed Lemon Casheeze Cake

 Citrus Coconut cakes with Fig Jam and Cashew Cream

 Coconut cake, banana passionfruit salad with Super charged sprinkles and warm macadamia cream

 Pear flan with apricot jam - Nut and seed free

New me, new blogspot..

I think it's time I put the link to my new blog here..

As off last June I have been eating cooked vegetables, fish, seafood and oats, so I am not 100% raw anymore. It's been a great move for my health, socialization, family and Karma..  adored being raw and found it very easy to do but it was really making me an outsider and the fact was that my health was actually starting to deteriorate.

I'd had an itch for the last 3yrs on my torso that was driving me crazy. My hair was thinning, I was losing muscle tone and strength. The quality of my lean tissue I later found out had become quite poor. Not a good thing when it is so vital to retain it as we age. My hypothyroid had  not corrected itself, my adrenals where drained, my teeth where chipping and cracking, my skin was starting to lose elasticity and I was finding myself completely drained and exhausted by about 3pm each afternoon. I also found myself craving things like a nice piece of salmon. I had never craved any cooked food, meat, seafood or for that matter anything that was not included in a raw vegan diet, but all of a sudden my body was telling me it needed more, so I listened to it and with apprehension make some changes.

The excitement of my husband and children at my decision to change my diet was amazing, they where just so happy and relieved. It really saddened me, I didn't realise how much my restricted eating habits had affected them. Right there and then I felt that was an even better reason to do it.

So here is a link to the new me.. Karenluvslife

I look forward to seeing you at the new location

xx