White chocolate and raspberry cheesecake

You need a 26cm springform cake tin for this

CRUST

1 cup almonds (I use whats left over form making almond milk)
1 cup coconut flakes
Around 15 dates, stones removed
pinch of salt
1 tablespoon coconut oil

Process ingredients to form 'dough', press into cake tin and leave in fridge to set.

TOPPING

3 cups soaked cashews
2 cups of almond or coconut milk (the solid bit at room temparature)
3/4 cup coconut sugar or agave syrup if you prefer
squeeze lemon
1 teaspoon of vanilla seeds
pinch of salt
2 tablespoons lecithin ( or if you prefer, just add an extra tablespoon of coconut oil)
2 tablespoons coconut oil
1 cup of cacao butter

Blend all ingredients until smooth, I started with the cacao butter in order to melt it as otherwise it doesn't combine well. Pour onto cake base to set.

Top with more raspberries and a raspbery sauce made from raspberries blended with 2 tablespoons coconut sugar and a squeeze of lime juice.

Mushroom miso soup

Serves 4

Marinated mushroom (make an hour or so ahead)
2 cups sliced shiitake mushrooms
2 tablespoons tamari

make sure all the mushrooms are covered or shake in a closed jar and allow to marinate for around 1 hour before.

SOUP

2 cups of almond or cashew or hemp milk
1 cup chopped brown or Portabello mushrooms
2 tablespoons chickpea miso or a mix of light and dark miso if you can't find
2 tablespoons brown rice vinegar
1 clove garlic, new shoot removed
1-2 tablespoons olive oil.

Blend all until smooth and creamy and top with marinated mushrooms and chives or the green part of spring onions and some sprouted seeds or beans.

Raw lasagne recipe..

This recipe for raw lasagne is adapted from one given by 'The raw chef', you can find his recipes on-line and a great channel on youtube. 

This recipe serves 4 or 5 portions;

CHEESE

1.5 cups raw cashews soaked for a few hours in water to soften
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 tablespoons nutritional yeast (or if you cant get, a couple of teaspoons of tamari sauce)
1 tablespoon fresh parsley
pinch of pink salt
water to bring to correct consistency

Blend all adding water gradually to create a creamy cheese consistency.

MEAT

1/2 cup sunflower seeds soaked overnight and drained
1/2 cup sundried tomatoes soaked 1 or more hours before in water... drained
1/2 tablespoon of dark brown or barley miso sauce
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 tablespoon tamari sauce
1 tablespoon olive oil

blend in food processor leaving slightly chunky.

TOMATO SAUCE

1 cup sundried tomatoes soaked 1 or more hours and then drained
2 soft dates or 1/2 tablespoon coconut sugar
1 clove garlic (middle shoot removed)
1 cup chopped fresh tomato
1/2 tablespoon dried mixed herbs
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon lemon juice

Blend until smooth.

WILTED SPINACH

3 cups torn spinach
2 tablespoons dried oregano
1 teaspoon olive oil
squeeze of lemon
pinch of salt

Massage the spinach until wilted

PESTO

Because the sun dried tomatoes added so much flavour, I made a basil paste without seasoning to accompany the other elements. if you soak your sun dried tomatoes longer you can make a pesto this way; all i did on Saturday in the workshop was make a basil paste from basil leaves, garlic and a squeeze of lemon. 

Here is the 'normal' recipe though.

1 tightly packed cup of basil leaves
1/2 cup of your choice of nut or seed
1.5 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 clove garlic
squeeze of lemon 
pinch of salt

blend all ingredients except olive oil until smooth, slightly textured paste is created, then add oil and blend until combined.

COURGETTE PASTA

Use the Vegetable peeler to create strips of pasta, squeeze on a little lemon juice to help with discolouration. Allow for around 1/2 courgette per person, depending how hungry you are!

Raw buckwheat porridge.

I do this one so often at home now that it really is an intuitive recipe! However, I will try to be specific for reproductions sake! please adjust according to your own observations! if too thick add more water, too thin add more avocado or extra buckwheat.

1 cup of buckwheat soaked overnight and drained
1/2 avocado
water or nut milk to bring to the desired 'porridge' consistency
4 dates stones removed
tablespoon of raw honey, coconut sugar or sweetener you prefer.

Blend adding more of the milk or water to create the perfect consistency. Then add your toppings. we used: goji berries, white mulberries, cashews,coconut flakes, bee pollen, cacao nibs, cinnamon, vanilla seeds, banana, raspberries, strawberries... whatever you like!

Carrot, ginger and coconut soup

Makes 4-6 servings

Make 470ml of Carrot juice (or to save time buy enough organic, preferably cold pressed carrot juice from a bottle)

470ml of coconut milk (buy organic tinned or make your own from young coconuts)

60ml or 1/4 cup lime juice
2 teaspoons grated ginger or ginger juice
1/4 small avocado
1/2 teaspoon sea salt or pink salt
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (or more depending on how spicy you like it!)
Fresh black pepper to taste
Chopped coriander to garnish

Put all ingredients except for the coriander into the blender until very smooth. If you prefer a thicker soup add more avocado. adjust seasonings as required. if you prefer the soup warmer you can blend for an extra minute or so to add heat. vanish with the coriander. Enjoy!!!

Raw Chilli 'non' Carne and Cauliflower rice.

This recipe is one favourite right now... Nicely spicy and somehow very comforting for a raw dish!

It was inspired by a recipe in the book 'Raw and simple' by Judita Wignall. 

Rice

Large Cauliflower, depending on how many people you are making for.
Handful of corriander
2-3 tablspoons of Umeboshi vinegar or just use sea salt to taste if you don't have the vinegar.

Process in the food processor until you reach a rice or cous-cous kind of consistency. Done!!

Chilli (serves 6 people)
Sauce:

235ml water
1/2 red pepper
3 tablespoons of ground sundried tomatoes, do this first in the machine to get them into smaller pieces.
2 tablespoons orange juice
2 dates, stones removed
1 tablespoon mixed chilli powder
1 tablespoon cold pressed olive oil
1/2 tablespoon raw cacao powder
1 teaspoon tamarind paste
1 teaspoon salt, sea salt or pink salt
1 small clove garlic
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
!/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon of cayenne

'Meat'

180g of soaked and rinsed sunflower seeds or walnuts.
2 teaspoons mixed chilli powder
1 teaspoon cumin
2 tablespoons tamari sauce.

Veggies

1 cup diced courgette
1 cup diced tomatoes
1 cup corn kernels
1 cup shredded carrot
1/4 cup diced white onion or shallot

Blend sauce in a liquidiser machine or high speed blender if you have. Use the food processor to make the meat and then stir all parts together in a large mixing bowl. You can leave the in the fridge overnight and the flavours will develop from the spices. I usually top with guacamole or a sour cream made from blended cashews, water, lemon juice and salt.

Raw mango cheesecake

The end of the summer draws in and a last nod to the sunshine is here with a raw Mango cheesecake...

Base

Wholegrain oat flour, 1 cup
Soaked  and rinsed almonds 1 cup
Dried coconut or desiccated coconut 1 cup
20 dates, stones removed (buy the ones that are not coated in glucose sugar)
pinch of himalayan pink salt or flor de sal
1 tablespoon of coconut oil

Blend in a food processor and press into a 26cm spring form cake tin.
Move base to fridge or freezer to set while you make the topping.

Topping.

3 packets of organic coconut cream, hard set not liquid cream.
2 ripe mangos, flesh
4 limes, juice.
Around 1/2 cup agave syrup or a mixture of Agave syrup and stevia or raw honey. Taste to check the amount... each mango is different and each person likes a different sweetness! Use your palate to determine how much sweetener you like.
Pinch of salt
2 tablespoons of coconut oil.

Blend and check sweetness. Pour into base and set in the fridge for a few hours. decorate with Goji berries, mango chunks, kiwi fruit, berries, seeds... whatever you like!

Raw chocolate and salted caramel cheesecake with vanilla cream.

Cake base - 

(For a 26" cake tin which will give 16 slices)
2 cups almonds soaked overnight drained and rinsed
1 cup dessicated coconut
Handful seeds soaked overnight
1 cup dates, soaked for half an our before
pinch of salt

Blend down to a dough like texture and press into the cake tin which has been greased with coconut oil.

Chocolate layer - 
4 ripe avocados
2 packs coconut cream 
cacao powder (add until really chocolatey!) 
Maca powder (2 heaped tablespoons)
coconut sugar, around 150g but I always add to taste
pinch of pink salt
2 tablespoons coconut oil

Blend all until smooth and top the base, set in fridge.

caramel layer - 
2 handfuls dates (soaked in warm water for 15mins before)
2 tablespoons coconut oil
half teaspoon pink salt

take the dates from the water and blend with the other ingredients until smooth adding back in some of the soak water to give a creamy consistency.

Vanilla cream - 
Half cup cashew nuts soaked for 1 hour and drained
seeds from 1 vanilla pod
tablespoon of raw honey
water to the right consistency
pinch of pink salt

Blend until really smooth and creamy adding water bit by bit.

Raw courgetti spaghetti with red and green pesto and macadamia parmesan

Spaghetti - 
Take a cougette and spiralize if you have the device. If not use a vegetable peeler to create ribbons like thick tagliatelle. pour on a little olive oil and a sprinkle of salt and massage briefly to soften.

Red pesto - 
Drained sundried tomatoes, half a jar should serve 4 if doing both red and green pesto's. Blend with half a teaspoon of mixed dried italian herbs such as oregano, thyme and basil, a handful of cashews and 2 tablespoons of oliveoil. Take it to a fairly smooth consistency.

Green pesto - 
Whole 'bush' of basil, handful of cashews or pinenuts, half a bag of wild rocket or other preferred green such as spinach, watercress or wild garlic. Blend with half a clove of garlic, juice of half a lemon, good sprinkle of salt, tablespoon of nutritional yeast and olive oil. 

Macadamia paramesan - 
Blitz macadamia nuts (60g) with 2 tablespoons of nutritional yeast and half a teaspoon of pink or other good salt, take to a fine dust close to paramesan texture.

Raw carrot cake recipe

Ingredients.

Soak for 1-3 hours...
One cup almonds and 3/4 cup dates stones removed. process into a dough.

Juice...
Enough carrots to give you 1 cup of pulp
Save the juice for the recipe.

In a large bowl, combine....
the carrot pulp
3/4 cup carrot juice
almond/date mixture
1/2 cup raisins
1/4 cup desiccated coconut
1/2 cup broken walnuts
1 tablespoon ginger powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon powder
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon orange zest

After stirring together, press into individual moulds or into a single cake and chill in fridge.

Cashew cream topping

Soak for 1-3 hours in water...
4 dates
1/2 cup raw cashews

Juice...
1 orange
save part of the zest

In a blender...
The dates
The cashews
The orange juice
juice from !/2 lemon
small piece orange zest
scrapings from 1 vanilla bean

pinch cinnamon.

Chia chocolate brownie/ cupcake/ trifle!

Ingredients.

1 cup almond flour
1/2 cup chia seeds soaked in 1 cup water
6 tablespoons coconut oil melted to liquid
1 cup dates stones removed
1 cup raw cacao powder or carob powder if you prefer.
seeds scraping from 1 vanilla pod
1 pinch salt.

Blend all ingredients and transfer into whatever mould you prefer... cupcakes, a tray for brownies or I thought later could be a trifle glass.

Butterscotch sauce
1 cup dates stones removed
1/2 cup coconut oil melted to liquid
seeds scraped form 1 vanilla pod
1/2 cup cashews soaked for at least 1 hour
pinch of salt

Blend all ingredients to a smooth paste.

Vanilla cream.

1 cup cashews soaked for at least 1 hour
Vanilla seeds
pinch salt
Stevia 6 drops of liquid or sweetener of your own choice.
water

Blend cashews salt and vanilla and stevia and salt and add water until it reached your preferred consistency.

Thai salad recipe.

Ingredients.

1 lime juiced
handful of basil leaves and chopped coriander
2 pinches of cayenne pepper
2 tsp honey or coconut sugar as I used
2 grated carrots
1 finely sliced chinese cabbage
1 tsp grated fresh ginger
Splash of tamari sauce (optional)

Combine all the ingredients and mix well!

Stuffed mexican avocados recipe.

Ingredients.

1 cup Cashews soaked for at least 1 hour

Juice of 1 lemon

1 cloves garlic

1 pinch salt

1/2 cup water

2 tablespoons of cold pressed virgin olive oil.

2 teaspoons of spice mix, I used chipotle seasoning.

Handful of coriander or parsley or a mix of both.

1 cup chopped celery

I red pepper chopped

1 small cucumber chopped

1 green onion chopped.

Blend the cashews, lemon, garlic, salt, seasoning and water until smooth. add olive oil and more water if you would like a runnier consistency. Stir the sauce into the chopped vegetables and herbs and fill the avocados.

Raw White Gazpacho soup recipe.

Ingredients.

4 cups of freshly prepared almond milk.
1 cup of seedless white grapes or white grapes with seeds removed.
1 clove garlic.
1 medium cucumber.
Pinch of sea salt.

After preparing the almond milk using a nut milk bag, blend the white grapes and also pass through the bag to separate the skins. Blend the cucumber until smooth with the garlic and salt then return the milk and grape mix back to the blender and process for a few moments. Finally add some ice to the machine to make it super chilled and top with chopped herbs such as dill, chives, parsley and coriander.

Kelp and Kefir..

For a while now I have been using kelp powder in place of the multivitamin I was using before. I am having some great results! Feeling immediate energy boost and reduced water retention even before and during menstruation. I am taking as a powder in a glass of water. This is not for the faint hearted! I have been saying it tastes like I am putting a goldfish in my mouth and giving it a good suck! ;) You can also get it in tablets, I use powder as it is also great for adding to raw vegetables as it tenderises the fibres and creates a fishy flavour for 'mock salmon'. As with all supplements, choose good quality! Please don't go anywhere near your local chemist or Holland and Barrett store, you are wasting time and money and rather than benefiting your body you may even be adding to the toxic load! Good places to source supplements include good independent organic suppliers and once you know a good brand, online through Amazon. If you need help with this please feel free to get in touch. Whats good about Kelp? its a very rich source of Potassium, Iron, iodine, vitamin B6, Riboflavin and fibre. The plant chemicals present in Kelp have also been shown to absorb and eliminate free radicals and heavy metals from our bodies. Also very alkalising due to high levels of Calcium and Magnesium and supports the thyroid in healthy metabolism due to the Iodine content. All sounds good to me and so far it's going well. 
I am also creating my first batch of water kefir here right now. I am beginning this as I want to start making coconut water Kefir but first the probiotic grains need to be fattened up in regular sugar water. Kefir is a probiotic culture which is often found with milk but can be also made with sugar water. It creates a drink which is slightly fizzy once all the sugar has been digested by the culture and gives plenty of vitamin B12, digestive enzymes and probiotic organisms. it's really easy to make too! I got my grains from a site I recommend Happykombucha.com Probiotics are so important to our health. Since it is reported that all disease originates in the gut, taking care of the health of it seems like a decent enough idea! 

http://happykombucha.co.uk/ 

Action plan for the recovering dieter...

Steps on the journey to falling in love with the food you eat...

Here are some of the steps I have taken in my journey from absolute fear of food to the transformation into where I stand today... loving it all!!! I'd suggest, pick the step which feels the lightest to you first, the one which appeals to you the most, perhaps you feel a little spring of excitement inside at the thought... then after the raging success of applying that one... pick the one which is least appealing, try that... make a game of it... have fun... explore.

Don't put your happiness in your plate - food doesn't make you happy, no matter how much some part of you is telling you that you will 'feel better' if you just eat that massive bar of chocolate... you probably know that, but you'll do it anyway... Next time you hear yourself saying 'I need this because I feel bad, I need this to feel better', Write down 3 pages of how you are feeling... write free hand, don't think about what you write... whatever sense or nonsense resides in your head... write it down... keep writing until you fill the 3 pages. Then see how you feel after. This is magical.

Be kind to yourself - Life is precious, the most important thing is to be happy. Being kind to yourself really helps everything. Just because you ate 20 chocolate bars today doesn't make you a failure or a bad person. Drink more water, eat more greens, squeeze lemon juice on everything for the rest of that day... your wonderful body knows how to take care of the rest. Notice when you go into negative self talk, giving yourself a hard time for the choices you made... when you notice that thinking, replace the thought with something more positive. For example - 'You are so weak... you ate half a packet of digestive biscuits, you were supposed to start your diet again today, you are always going to be fat', can easily be changed to; 'Wow, how strong I am for not eating that whole packet, even though I was hoping to eat more healthily today, all is not lost, I really enjoyed what I just ate, I am going to drink more water and carry on' or even something funnier, something that feels nice to you and your body... feeling good is a really important step.

Stop I'll be happy when-ing - If you hear yourself saying, 'I'll be happy when I have lost 2 stone', STOP! Trust me, if you are not happy now, you wont be happy when you have lost weight. And even if you do get a temporary boost... it won't last. Happiness is not an event or a result of arriving at a certain destination. Happiness is a result of the habits you apply everyday of you life. Write down at least 10 things you love to do and do at least one of them everyday. keep adding to the list, keep doing this one forever! Trust me on this!

Experimentation - Try something new each week. We don't change until our habits change. Try at least one new ingredient or recipe every week. Even if it's something you have always disliked! Surprise yourself. Our palates change so much. This one step can create big shifts. Have fun with experimentation.

Stress less - Stress will kill you/ make you fat/ give you a disease way faster than eating any particular food will. Eat it and work on being less stressed in general. Try some meditation, get more fresh air, find a form of exercise you LOVE to do, there will be one I guarantee and exercise REALLY helps on the stress levels, natures anti-depressant... chill out!

Research - Do your own research. Stop reading or learn to be skeptical of the things you read in the media. There is no one absolute food truth, everybody is different. Take the information you receive with a pinch of salt. Only believe and use what is useful and empowering to you. There are plenty of movies about food to watch. take a look, become informed about the food you are eating, this led me towards WANTING to make changes rather than forcing change upon myself, a powerful position to be in.

Aim for 10 - this 5 a' day is a bit of a joke. Every other country in the world has completely different advice on what you should aim to eat per day in terms of fruit and vegetables. Some places in the world the figure is 10 portions per day. Aim for 10 without changing anything else. Burger and chips for lunch? fine... make sure you eat a huge salad with many different colours in there too. Full english breakfast? Eat spinach, mushrooms, avocado, grilled tomato, fresh herbs on the side. It's easy once you start... after a while doing this, the vegetables became my main ally. Easy! This is great ESPECIALLY if the first voice in your head says 'thats impossible'. Show yourself what you can do!

Give them a go and please let me know your experience! I will continue to add to this list myself as things come to me, it has and continues to be a many layered process. Following these steps you can begin to transform your relationship with food, drastically increasing your confidence and happiness levels... Watch out world!

Food is where the heart is...

The kind of place I want to shop is somewhere where everything is really fresh, organic, really cheap, everyone there smiles the best smiles and hugs the best hugs, they are your friends, if you don't have cash to pay that day... don't worry! You pay next time, they cook you lunch if you are there on time and they sell your things there if there is something you love to make, they are enthusiastic about the produce and you get a little story behind everything you buy... this is the place I want to shop all the time. I found it around a year ago and every week since we do our best to get here to take what we need. Compare this to your local supermarket! ;)

If you live in Portugal, please check it out... It's worth the trip to Sintra. Quinta dos 7 nomes, is a permaculture project and ecological co-operative. What they have created and continue to create is very inspiring. If you don't know much about permaculture, check it out... I was glad I did, it's a very logical science and means we usually get fruit and vegetables of much higher quality and also protect and nurture the land we plant on. 

Paying attention to where I get my shopping from feels good to me. Being able to touch the soil where the plant has grown makes me feel so connected to life, so grateful! Knowing the people who take care of the land live from values that resonate with mine also gives me a bit of a buzz... The vegetables taste so good from here and the fresh air breathes me. It's a win win situation really! Especially since most of the things are about 3 times cheaper than any local organic shop :) LOVE this place!

http://www.quinta7nomes.com/

The best diet in the WORLD!

The first question everyone asks when I mention some interest in raw food is "Do you eat all raw food?", I often see people feeling intimidated at the mere thought... of a person being able to eat ONLY RAW FOOD AND NOTHING ELSE! I'm not going to tell you the answer to that question just yet.....

I have started to share some pictures and recipes of the food I like to eat and some part of me hesitates every time I do because I am concerned that instead of being an inspiration to people, that many will feel disempowered and perhaps abuse themselves for not having a diet like I do. I feel this because I have felt this myself in the past. I'd look at these kind of posts and think, "I'd never be able to do that", "Oh, they must be so 'thin' and happy, I wish I was them", "I just can't eat that way" and so on... I never could have imagined even up to a few years ago that I would be in the comfortable position I am with food now and sitting here sharing things with you like I do. I was as deep in an addiction as I can imagine, food and psychological self abuse were my every waking thought for a long time. It took facing the truth of the situation and a big commitment to change and it took time, but it worked and it was so worth it. It is possible to change things. No matter who you are and how bad you might think things are, it is possible to change that. I am living proof.

So, what do I eat? Is it all raw food? The answer to that is, no... absolutely not. I love raw food. I love the creativity of it, it excites me, it inspires me, but I do not eat it all the time. For some people sticking to one plan, one way of eating works for them. The most important thing to remember as far as I am concerned is that everybody is different. There is no 'one diet fits all' that will suit everyone and give them perfect heath all the time. We all have completely different body chemistry which means that our digestive processes are different, we have different sensitivities, different palates, different emotional conditions, different everything! And though this may leave you feeling even more confused as to what the best thing to eat is, I hope instead that it shows you how much of a waste of time it is to compare yourself to others. You are unique and perfect as you are and the realisation of this for me brought one of the biggest diet changes of my life so far. 

So, if now you are asking me, "So, how exactly do I know what to eat?!". Good question! For me, my healing journey's first step began with letting go of control. For so many years I told myself "No!" , that I shouldn't be eating this or that and when I gave into these cravings, I'd feel completely useless and pathetic and terrified of being fat. 'What you resist persists' so I stopped resisting and told myself I was free to eat whatever I wanted. Just that thought alone helped me lose so much stress and tension around food. Gradually, I found that my fear of being fat was not being realised, even though I was eating freely whatever I wanted. However, I was with low energy and some skin conditions and so I started my research on nutrition. Long story short, I found that by listening to my wants and then adding more good stuff on top, I began to find peace and a genuine interest in the health of my body and change came naturally. And change continues to come naturally, I remain open about the things I eat, what works today may not work for me tomorrow. So, while my answer to the raw question right now is No, maybe sometime it will be, yes. I remain open, flexible and curious. My research has led me to combine elements of many different approaches. 'The blood group diet', 'raw food', 'body ecology diet', 'the paleo diet'.  It's become easy for me to eat well because I love the feeling I get from healthy food, I choose mainly organic food because it tastes better to me and I know it's often more nutrient dense and less likely to cause toxicity in my body from the chemicals. I also love to eat organic as it's really important for the planet, we are doing our bit by buying organic and locally sourced wherever possible!

All this said,  however healthy my diet is, I always make sure I leave space for the odd bag of potato crisps or a coffee and when i do choose these things I am in heaven, just as much as with an amazing salad... I enjoy every last delicious, indulgent, perfect bit! mmmmmmmmm

Love your food. Whatever it is. There's the best diet in the world.