Raw Chocolate Ganache Cake

Hi Guys,
I have been really busy in the kitchen lately, being creative and messy. :)  One recipe I am really excited to share is Raw Chocolate Ganache Cake, this is a recipe that I have adapted from quite a few different ones I have come across on the internet.  I have a great love of 'Rawganics', Jaffa Ganache Cake, and hopefully one day will be able to make it myself.  Well this recipe is not Jaffa, but it is definitely just as rich and decadent. :)
Warning this recipe is high fat and calorie....not for the faint hearted....;)

Raw Chocolate Ganache Cake

The Base
2 cups walnuts
2 cups dates - soak in water for about 1/2hr
3/4 cup cacao powder
Pinch of Himalayan salt

Mix all the ingredients together in a food processer.  The mixture should be sticky and a dough like consistency.  Add some of the date water if it is too dry.  Press the mixture into a pie tin or a springform tin. The mixture is very sticky, so use some of the date water to make it easier to spread. Put the tin in the freezer until hard, around 20 minutes.

The filling
2 cups cacao powder
2 cups agave syrup - or you could use maple syrup
1 cup extra virgin raw coconut oil - do not use the cheap coconut oil as it will change the taste of the cake and have that heavy coconut oil flavour.
1 tsp vanilla extract - or you could use peppermint essence for a minty flavour.

Blend the ingrediants together until smooth, and pour onto chilled base and put back in the freezer for a further 1/2 hr.

Coconut Cream
Meat of 1 young coconut
3/4 cup cashew nuts - soaked for 2 hours
1/4 cup coconut oil
1/4 cup agave syrup - or maple syrup
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Pinch of Himalayan salt - or sea salt
Use the coconut water from the coconut and add till right consistency is achieved.

Mix all the ingrediants together (expect the coconut oil) in a blender on it's highest speed.  You may need to keep scraping down the sides, to facilitate the blending.  Once you have a smooth consistency add the coconut oil.  Put the cream into the freezer for 1/2 hr or just enough time to let the mixture harden enough so your cream stays in shape for your piping.

Enjoy :)

Non-diet challenge update

Hi guys,
Well it has been a couple of days and on a general whole I am feeling pretty good.  Not perfect, but that is not something to strive for anyway, hey?? ;)  Every morning I start off the day with a fruit smoothie, full of greens, or on the weekend where I have a bit more time I will whiz myself up a green juice.  I really enjoy these, especially with lemon, as it gives you so much clarity and a real energy buzz!!  For morning snack it is generally fruit, with either a soup or salad or more fruit for lunch.  Afternoon tea is fruit again, and my dinners have pretty much been all cooked.  This seems to work well for me at the moment, though my goal is to eat all raw, I have been so busy of late and the thought of preparing 2 separate meals (sometimes 3, as my husband is not the healthiest eater, so I have to prepare something healthy for them) is not very appealing.  But these cooked dinners (with a couple of exceptions) are healthy meals and leave me feeling satisfied with no guilt. :)
I hope this helps anyone out there wishing to incorporate more raw into their daily diet, as it is quite easy to eat this way, which is about 75% raw.

Lets not forget my love of raw desserts, which has diminished at all, and I can safely say love just as much if not more.  This was truly realised when I went to one of my local health cafe's and accidently bought a cooked cheesecake, instead of raw.  Well guys, it was not as good as I remember, as it used to be my favourite.  It was so sweet, sickly sweet.  I think now I am used to the fresh tastes of raw desserts. <3

I think if you concentrate on the healthy foods you love, instead of your old unhealthy favourites, eating healthy is easy, not a chore or some sort of punishment for 'enjoying the good life too much'.

There is a saying 'Love what you do and you will never have to work a day in your life'.  What about, 'Love what you eat, and you will never have to diet a day in your life'. :)

How I combat the case of the guilts!!!

Hi Guys,

Well I have to say that I am really enjoying my freedom....my food freedom!  I am loving eating what I want when I want it, and not feeling guilty about it.  Well not too guilty anyway,,, the guilt is not something you can just turn off...but I am definitely turning it down. :)

Aside from my inner voice, the other annoying voice I do get is from my friends and co-workers, (in a whiney tone) 'I thought you were doing that raw thing', if I happen to have something for lunch that is not totally raw, or especially if I am eating all raw.  I do not know why people get all high and mighty about what I eat....I MEAN WHO CARES PEOPLE, I DON'T SAY ANYTHING ABOUT WHAT YOU EAT, DO I???? Sorry, just had to get that one off my chest :-/

Many of times I have sat their quietly eating my lunch and suddenly someone will ask me what I am eating (lets say it is raw carrot soup) and they will start saying stuff like, 'you know it is not that good for you to eat all raw, like where are you getting your protein from?', while they are sitting their having a packet of chips or a coke!!!!  How can they talk about what I am eating, while they are stuffing their faces with nutritional devoid food!!! grrrrr......

But time does heal wounds in this case,,,or at least makes voices less annoying.  People do start to lose interest in what you are eating, especially when you respond with a smile, respond nicely with 'well, I feel amazing' :P,, and the inner voice, well I think you have to try and find ways to block that one out, preferably not through mindless eating though...lol.  Some tricks can be through exercise (who can think when you are trying to breath, and of course there is that wonderful release of endorphines to give you those happy feelings at the end), music (especially loud music), shopping (only if you can afford it, otherwise you will bring in the more bad voices ;)) and really just anything that makes you happy (which for me at the moment is downloading a raw cookbook and maybe even making a scrumptious creation ).  Because happiness brings positivity, which kicks out any annoying voices and guilty feelings :)....

So today I had :-

A smoothie for breaky (in case you are wondering the little black dots are chia seeds, which are full of omega-3's and dietary fibre) frozen bananas, frozen raspberries, spinach & a couple of dates
A ceaser salad for lunch (it was the best I could do:))
Chocolate Moose for afternoon tea - 2 bananas, 1 med avocado, 1 tbsp coconut butter, 1 large tbsp cacao powder & 1 tbsp agave syrup.  Yummy =)
Noodle stir-fry for dinner - This is where the guilt and negativity started to rear it's head!!  So I jumped online and downloaded Natalia KW's cupcake heaven raw recipe book :)  And it worked, back to feeling excited and happy.  I know I know, this could be an expensive venture, and I can't afford this everytime!  Maybe I need to start practising yoga....I'm sure I can download that somewhere..lol

I hope everyone has an amazing weekend. :o)

My non-diet challenge!

Hi Guys,

I know I said I was going to follow Natalia Rose's 21 day detox, but after some re-evaluation I have decided that it is not the right time right now and instead of doing another challenge for a certain period of time I should be focusing on long-term healthy eating habits.  So that is what I am going to do...I am going to blog about my daily eating habits on a high raw diet.  Just healthy eating, not following any strict guidelines. :)

This is really a true challenge for me, as all my life I have either been on a diet or off a diet, which in my case was on a binge.  This has caused my weight and emotions to go up and down like a rollercoaster. I know if I did the detox, I would stick with it for the required time. But what about after that, it is the everyday long-term eating that is the true struggle.  When you must decide for yourself, and there is no guildelines or no menu plan to follow.  All my

I hope those who have the same problem, will find this helpful. :)

So today I had:
Green juice for breakfast
1/2 a pineapple for morning tea
Carrot Soup for lunch - 8 skinny carrots juiced, 1 small avocado, 4 mushrooms, some basil, cinnamon & cardamon.
A bunch of grapes, a banana for afternoon tea
Salad with olive oil dressing & some brussell sprouts cooked in olive oil, salt & lemon juice for dinner.
Along with a glass of wine, as I needed a little something extra to relax from a hard day of work :)

New Challenge

Hi Guys,
Long time no blog...sorry for my absence, I have just been extremely busy at the moment, more so than the usual working full time with a family :).  With organising my eldest daughter's formal (or as you call it in America 'Prom'), to my youngest daughter's high school interviews, which I cannot believe I am doing already!!!  I have also been helping train my brother-in-law's horse for endurance events that are coming up and also training myself for a 96km bush walking challenge in July.  This is a team event and it must be completed in 39hrs, this is to symbolize the 39th battalion that took that amazing trek through Kokoda (Papa New Guinea) by our brave soldiers in World War 2.
So as you can see I already have a challenge on the go, but as I enjoyed the last challenge so much I feel it is time to try another.  Well, it is probably not a challenge per say, it really easy just following an eating plan for 21 days, but challenge sounds more exciting. :)  So what I have decided to do is follow Natalia Rose's '21 Day Raw Food Life Force Energy Program'. She is the author of one of my fav Raw books 'The Raw Food Detox', definitely recommended.  I have started the progam a couple of times and never stuck with the whole 21 days, so I never got to feel the full benefits (If there are any!!).  I bought this book in 2008, so it is definitely high time I make use of it.
I am starting tomorrow, and I will blog everyday telling you what I ate, along with any extras including her suggestion of a colonic...arghhh. Yes I am finally going to give it a go and see if it is worth the pain and embarrasment I am sure will accompany me there.:/
I am quite excited to see how this compares to my raw food challenge!
Till tomorrow :)

Day 7 Raw Food Challenge

Hi Guys,
Well I have made it, one week along and still going strong?  I was a bit intimidated to jump on the scales this morning, cause of all the raw cake I had been eating :)  But thought it would be something people might be interested in, though I am not telling you what I started out at, a womans perogitive!!! I will tell you that I have lost 1.2kg..yeh :D That is pretty good for me as I do not lose it easily.  But that could just be all the cleansing aka loss of water. I am not doing this for weight loss though, but if it happens ;)  But the most important thing is, is that I am feeling amazing! I have got over my tiredness and ready to take on the world. Even though I am eating lots of fat, I feel really clean and light. Which is great!
So breakfast today was the last piece of cake....note to self, next time make half the amount as I am the only person that eats it in the house, and if it is there I will eat it.... Though I did manage to take a couple of pieces to my lovely friends at work who said they really liked it (best $50 bucks I spent..lol) .
Lunch was a bunch of grapes with 5 dates...love those things, if you like sweet you will love these.
For dinner I made a raw pesto with zucchini pasta, I know I keep making the pasta but it is so quick and easy and yummy. Beautifuly combines with any sauce, I don't like it cooked but raw 'bella'!

Raw Pesto

1/2 cup pine nuts
1 bunch of parsley
1tsp dried basil
1/2 cup olive oil
Blend together and you have it.

Really amazing sauce, best dinner I have made yet!!! 
See you all tomorrow :)

Day 6 Raw Food Challenge

Hi guys,
So it is day 6 and I don't know if I am having a delayed detoxing response (cause I have had anything yet), but I am soo tired.  It is 8.45pm and I'm struggling to keep my eyes open.  But that is not too bad as I haven't had any other reactions to detoxing like bad headache's. So I am pretty happy about that :)

Raw Taco's

Today I had a smoothie for breakfast, well it was actually my daughters, reject smoothie, which she was going to throw out. See she has been having smoothie's for breakfast too, it's good to see some of my good habbit's rub off on her and not just my bad ones ;). Well anyway she made a smoothie with what she thought was an orange but was actually a grapefruit.  Take note, grapefruit is not a tasty addition to a smoothie, or juice for that matter...hehe.   Lunch was leftover zucchini pasta with tomato salsa sauce from last night.  Dinner tonight was some 'raw taco's', inspired by Natalia's Rose's wonderful book, 'The Raw Food Detox Diet'.  This book is what first got me into raw food in the first place.  It is so easy to read and understand, and the recipe's are wonderful.  It is a wonderful read for anyone interested in getting a little healthier as there are different levels of eating plans.  I will put a photo of the book in tomorrow's book, actually I might put in a couple of books that I have that are really good.  I have read a couple that are a bit blah, blah, blah!!!
Ok, so that is me for the night, don't forget to let me know if there is anything in particular you want to know. See you all tomorrow :)

Day 5 Raw Food Challenge

My lovely boredom cure

Hi Guys,
Well today did not quite work out as planned. I could not go on my hike today as my training partner was not feeling well :( and it was pouring down raining this morning so a run did not exactly excite me, so it was a sleep in for me!  Now I had no plans and no money (spent it all on my food processer...hehe), what is a girl to do?  Well I did what any normal person would do, I watched tv and ate.  I had 3 pieces of my raw cheesecake before lunch.....arghh, the positive is at least it is full of healthy ingredients :) and it is really filling as I could not have possibly fit any more in.  Does anybody else relieve boredom with food???
For dinner I was still feeling lazy, so I whipped up zucchini pasta with a tomato salsa sauce in 5 minutes.  That is the beauty of raw it is so quick and easy and because I did it in the food processer the cleaning up was just as quick and easy. :D  Also there was enough there for lunch tomorrow, so that is done too. Oh and then I had another small piece of cake for dessert...lol which is when this photo was taken, it is not the best, but a day on the couch eating cake, I think nobody looks their best ;)
I hope everybody had a wonderful weekend, as they are over so quickly, and I will see you tomorrow. seeya:)

Mad About Raw: Day 3 of my Raw Food Challenge

Mad About Raw: Day 3 of my Raw Food Challenge: Hi Guys, I am a little tired tonight, felt really good this morning though. One thing I have noticed that I am not waking up hungry of a mo...

Day 3 of my Raw Food Challenge

Hi Guys,
I am a little tired tonight, felt really good this morning though. One thing I have noticed that I am not waking up hungry of a morning, as I usually am.  Did a 5km run, and felt really good during, think I even went a little faster!


Chocolate Moose Heaven

Breakfast was a green smoothie, really loving these at the moment.  Apple for morning tea and leftover dinner (my tomato rice special) for lunch along with some salad.  That was really filling and kept me going till dinner time.  Sitting down with my girls watching Charlie and the Chocolate factory and guess what I felt like......chocolate!!!! You can actually buy raw chocolate bars at Mrs Flannery's (the new one with Johnny Depp :)), but I was too lazy for that.  So I decided to make my own Chocolate Moose.  I put 2 frozen banana's, 1 avocado, around 2tbsp cacao powder, 1 tbsp virgin coconut oil and 1tbsp of agave nectar and a little water in the blender and gave it a good go.  What was the result was a beautiful, chocolaty, velvet moose.  It was so decandent, especially with some added strawberries.  I am really loving chocolate at the moment, and actually prefer the raw chocolate flavour, which is more of a dark chocolate taste. On a lot of websites Cacao is actually classed as a Superfood as it is high in antioxidents......so I am looking after myself. ;)
After this antioxident feast, I was not hungry for dinner so that was it. 
I am off to bed now, so till next time. :)

Mad About Raw: Day 1 of the 30 day challange part 2

Mad About Raw: Day 1 of the 30 day challange part 2: Ok, so for the rest of the day I had another carrot for afternoon tea, as it is so easy just to throw in my lunch bag and eat while on I a...

Mad About Raw: Day 2 Raw Food Challenge

Mad About Raw: Day 2 Raw Food Challenge: Hi Everyone, Well day 2 is almost over and I am feeling fantastic. Not hungry, tired, deprived or bloated, which is how I usually feel (esp...

Day 2 Raw Food Challenge

Hi Everyone,
Well day 2 is almost over and I am feeling fantastic. Not hungry, tired, deprived or bloated, which is how I usually feel (especially when I go on yet another diet!!!). So breakfast it was a green smoothie, and let me tell you it was one of the best ones I have ever made.

It had 2 frozen banana's, to give it a thick texture, 3 fresh dates (pitted!), a handful of baby spinach. 4 leaves of cos lettuce and a squeeze of lime.Yumm ;)  I made salad and packed some fresh fruit for my lunch and left it on the kitchen table...arghhhh. So off to the fruit shop for lunch where I got some grapes, dates and a couple of plums.

Now that did me easily till dinner where I made a tomato rice special. I put parsnip and zucchini for the (rice) in the blender till it becomes a rice consistency.  For the sauce I blended 1 tomato 1/2 a red onion 2 garlic cloves (I love garlic) 1/2 cup semi dried tomatoes, 1 tbsp olive oil some coriander and blend.  It was really yummy and light, didn't leave you with that bloated heavy feeling pasta does.
So feeling really good, still waiting for the detox headaches to start though...lol
Till tomorrow, seeya :)

Day 1 of the 30 day challange part 2

Ok, so for the rest of the day I had another carrot for afternoon tea, as it is so easy just to throw in my lunch bag and eat while on I am on the computer at work.  On the way home I felt like indulging a bit, I think I probably did not eat enough during the day and my sugar was low. So I pulled into Mrs Flannery's and bought myself a 'Raw Rasberry Cheesecake' by Rawganics, it was so yummy and really filling, pictured above.  I love it cause I sort of feel like I am eating some naughty and pleasurable without the afterguilt that always seems to come after eating 'normal' dessert.
So after this by dinner time I was not hungry which is highly unusual for me (those who know me would testify), so I just made myself a vegie juice, with carrots, beetroot, cucumber, an apple and half a lemon. I heard this happens when you eat all raw, because you are getting all these nutrients you don't feel as hungry!!
The only time today I felt like eating cooked food was when I was making everybodies dinner. So I just munched on some carrots sticks and kept me mouth busy.
So day one is done, and I am feeling good. :)

Chocolate Cake recipe

I have had a few requests from friends for the recipe for the 'Chocolate Cake' which I have made so here it is. This is based from Ani Phyo's  site http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4rgk3gQowk
Icing
1/3 cup dates,  1/4 cup agave syrup (from health food stores or you could just use maple syrup)
1/2 cup avocado, 1/3 cup cacao powder (a raw version of cocoa, from health food store or just use cocoa powder)
Cake
3 cups raw walnuts (natural), 2/3 cups cacao powder, 1/4 tsp sea salt, 1 cup dates.

Blend the walnuts in a food processer until you get as close to a powder as possible add the other ingrediants (it should be gluggy) then put into a dish and then in the fridge or freezer.  Blend all the icing ingrediants together, pour on top and put in the fridge or freezer again and whalla you have a beautiful healthy dessert.  Really easy, yummy and good for you :)