Raw Strawberry Cake

Nothing taste better than a raw cake on a warm day like this. I love making raw dessert because you can enjoy dessert without guilt since it's made only with natural stuff in their natural state that is good for you and contains many vitamins and minerals. Bella loved this cake so much that I had a hard time stopping her from eating the whole filling while she was helping me. 

I love how you can see real good pieces of strawberries

The cake looks like a perfect summer cake

Strawberry crumble cake, serving 8

Crumb bottom & topping:

2 cups pecans, not soaked

1 cup dates

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

Place in food processor and process until it's crumbly. Grease a cake pan with removable bottom with little bit coconut or olive oil. Spread about 50% of the crumbles into the bottom and set a side. 

Cake:

I cup young Thai coconut meat

I cup un-soaked cashews

1/2 cup strawberries, shopped

1/2 cup thick coconut milk (water and meat from a young Thai coconut blended)

6 good sized dates, soaked for 20 minutes

1/4 teaspoon sea salt

1 1/2 vanilla beans, scraped out

2 teaspoons psyllium powder

1 tablespoon and 1 1/4 teaspoon Agave nectar

1 tablespoon and 1 teaspoon coconut oil

2 cups strawberries, chopped

Place in food processor everything above except the 2 cups of strawberries and process until nice a creamy. Pour into a large bowl and add 2 cups of strawberries and blend well. Pour into cake pan and place remaining cake crumbles on top.  Place a foil over cake and place level in freezer for at least 6 ours. Remove from freezer and let defrost for 1 hour before serving. People will not believe it's "un-bakes" baked cake :)

Banana Bread

My favorite evening snack right now is a pieces of banana bread and half of a papaya. It feels so right here in Hawaii:)

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cups white sugar

1/2 cup margarine, at room temp

3 very ripe bananas, mashed well

2 cups flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 cup vanilla soy milk, mixed with 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon allspice

1/2 teaspoon salt

• Preheat oven to F350 
• Spray a 8×4 bread pan with non stick cooking spray, or lightly coat with margarine.
• Sift together flour, baking soda, salt and spices.
• Cream together the margarine and sugars. Add bananas, soy milk and vanilla.
• Add the wet ingredients to the dry. Mix well. Pour batter into pan. Bake for an hour to an hour 10 minutes.

Aloha and yummy juice

Aloha from paradise also known as our vacation in beautiful Paia on Maui. We have been here for two days and we love it. We enjoy walks on the beach and relaxing times. We are so in love with all the local goodies and fruit is included in pretty much every meal. The pineapples, papayas and passion fruit grows where we're staying and are incredibly sweet and flavorful.  The house includes a juicer I have not yet tried it but tomorrow I will make a juice from pineapple, papaya and passion fruits. Should be wonderful.

1 papaya, peeled, seeds removed and cubed
1 pineapple, peeled and cubed
5 ripe passion fruits, fruit meat scooped out and strained. 

Juice papaya and pineapple and then mix juice with the strained passion fruit juice.

Last Post Before Maui

To get into the spirit of Hawaii I made a yummy pina colada smoothie for breakfast. I can't wait to have fresh pineapple and to visit local farmers market in Hawaii 

Juice and meat from one young coconut

1 cup pineapple chunks

1 Banana

Blend everything in a blender and enjoy right away.

Homemade popsicles

In two days we're leaving Sweden to go home to San Diego again. It's been great to be here and I sad to go. The bummer is that I'm been feeling sick that last couple of days so I've not had too much of an appetite. When I feel sick popsicles is what I crave so I usually make my own from this recipe. I love trying new flavors with new fruits. The kids love them too:)

Peanut Banana Ice Cream

Whenever I have some bananas that are too brown for my liking I peel them and freeze them in smaller pieces. This way I always have access to frozen bananas for smoothies or the best and healthiest ice cream ever. The base for this ice cream is frozen banana that is mixed in a food processor until beautifully fluffy and smooth and resembles soft served ice cream. You can add any flavoring but this time I made my kids favorite flavor combination; peanut and bananas.

4 frozen bananas, in small pieces

1-2 tbsp peanut butter

Place everything in food processor and mix until completely smooth. Hold a good grip of the food processor because it can start jumping around. Enjoy immediately!

Sweet Green Juice

We like to drink a lot of vegetables juices and like to add lots of green leafs and beets. However I know it's might not be for someone starting out with green juices so here is a beginners juice that is mild and sweet.

2 celery stalks

2 red apples

1 lemon, peeled

1 cup broccoli

A little parsley

Cut celery, apples, lemon, broccoli in smaller pieces and juice. Add parsley and server immediately.

Yogurt Green Smoothie

Today I've been eating a lot and not necessary all good. After lunch I craved a green juice or smoothie so I made one which was not easy because there is no blender here so I had to use an old hand held one   instead. I love being here on vacation but next time I'm bringing my vita mixer with me:)

2/3 cup vanilla flavored yogurt

2/3 cup almond milk

1 cup mixed frozen berries

1 handful pea sprouts

Agave nectar which is if you want the smoothie sweeter. 

Combine everything in a blender and process until complete smooth. Served ice cold!!!

Warm Nectarine salad

Like I said in a previous post I’ve been enjoying eating local nectarines. Last night I made a fun dessert with warm honey nectarines served with vanilla coconut ice cream. It was a perfect combination of warm and cold.

1 cup sliced nectarines, peel off

1 tbsp. butter

1 tbsp. honey

1 pinch of ground cinnamon

Vanilla ice cream of you choice

Granola (optional)

Melt butter I a frying pan on medium heat. Sauté nectarines for 2 minutes. Add honey, cinnamon and stir. Let it simmer for 1 minute. Serve in a glass or bowl on top of ice cream and sprinkle some granola on top. Yum!!!!!

Nectarine and Berry Green Smoothie

I’ve been enjoying eating tons of nectarines lately since it’s our seasonal fruit right along with strawberries off course. We have a few strawberry plants in our garden and thanks to my dear friend's dad who gave me some advice on how to care for them, this year they’ve been producing a lot of berries.  Both kids really enjoy walking into the garden, gathering fresh strawberries for a smoothie or a snack.

For snack time I made a nectarine and strawberry smoothie with an extra bonus of greens in it. Smoothies are a perfect food to “hide” vegetables in and especially Noah loves his smoothies.

2 cups ice cold almond milk

1 tbsp. honey or maple syrup

2 small nectarines, peeled and chopped

A handful of strawberries, tops off and cut in half

1 small handful of greens of your choice (today I used broccoli greens)

1 tsp. spirulina powder

Combine and blend everything in a blender for a minute or more until everything is completely smooth. Enjoy right away!

Strawberry Preserve

We’re in the middle of strawberry seasons at the farmers market and oh how I love these sweet and juice little berries from Carlsbad. I kept thinking how I would love to have them all year around. So when I found a recipe for strawberry preserve in the July/August issue of Vegetarian Times I though this might be a way to have them for a bit longer…almost. Yes since it’s a preserve and therefore cooked down with sugar it’s not really like a fresh strawberry but it sure tasted good on toast with my tea this morning. I changed the original recipe by only using strawberries vs. it being with raspberries as well and I added some vanilla bean to it.

Since this preserve has a minimal amount of sugar and contains no preservatives it will last about a week if refrigerated and 3 month if frozen. I like to freeze my preserve so I always have some available when your toast is looking a little naked.

3 Ib strawberries, stemmed and halved

¼ cup sugar

1/2 vanilla bean, split open and seeds scraped out and sued

Combine strawberries, vanilla bean seeds and sugar in a slow cooker. Cover and cook on high for 2 hours. Mash berries with a potato masher and then ladle preserve into 4 clean 8-oz canning jars. Cool. When they are cool, seal with lids and refrigerate or freeze. 

Kamut and fruit porridge

I usually cook oatmeal every either with blueberries or banana but when I ran out of oats and when to buy some more I found kamut flakes and thought to try a new grain. So this morning I made kamut porridge with apples and cinnamon that was highly appreciated by Noah who ate happily. It was definitely filling and satisfying way to start the morning.

Kamut is a high protein grain and although it’s lower in fiber than other wheat grains it does contain many other important nutrients such as vitamin E, Thiamin, Riboflavin, phosphorus, magnesium, zinc, pantothentic acid, copper and complex carbohydrates.

½ cup kamut flakes

1 cup water

1 tbsp. dried mulberries

¼ apple, peeled and grated

1 pinch of cinnamon

1 pinch of cardamom

1 tsp. agave nectar

1 tsp. coconut butter

Combine everything except coconut butter and agave nectar in a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Cook for about 5-7 minutes while stirring often until it’s thick. Stir in coconut butter and agave nectar and serve.

Zucchini bread

I love my mornings because it’s just me and Noah having fun and cuddling. I love getting wet and snotty kisses from my little man. We usually spend fair amount of time in the garden taking care of all of our vegetables and fruit plants. Noah is finally appreciate all the goodies growing there and today was tasting freshly picked strawberries. Afterward we went inside and made zucchini and apple bread together. I used agave nectar instead of sugar because it’s so much better for little  bodies.

1 ½ cup whole wheat spelt flour

½ tsp salt

½ tsp baking powder

½ tsp baking soda

1 tsp ground cinnamon

½ tsp cardamom

1 egg

½ grated apple

1 cup grated zucchini

2 tbsp. plain yogurt

¼ cup agave nectar

½ vanilla bean

Preheat oven to F325

Mix together spelt flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder, cardamom and cinnamon in a large bowl. In a smaller bowl blend egg, grated apple, grated zucchini, agave nectar, yogurt and spilt open the vanilla bean and scrape out the seeds and add that too. Blend everything well and combine with the flour mix until incorporated. Pour batter into a well greased loaf pan.  Bake for 50-60 minutes, until center is dry. Check by inserting a toothpick and see if it comes out clean, then the loaf is done

Plum galettes

I get so excited this time of the year when I go to the farmers market. Because after a long winter with mostly apples, oranges and rot vegetables a more fun variety of veggies and fruits are now available. When I found plums on Saturday I knew already what I was going to make with them; a galette. Nothing taste like summer like a galette or pie.  Galettes are the perfect picnic dessert in my opinion and I love eating mine with whipped topping. For the galette dough I used this recipe.

Dough:

2 cups white spelt flour or all-purpose flour

½ tsp. salt

1 tbsp. sugar

12 tbsp. cold butter (if it’s salted just omitted the ½ tsp. salt form the recipe)

1/3-1/2 cups ice water as needed

Filling:

2 cups plums, peeled, pitted and chopped

Juice and Zest from one lemon

¼ cups sugar

½ vanilla bean, split open and seeds are used

Mix the flour, salt, and sugar together in a food processor. Cut in the butter by hand. Sprinkle the ice water over the top by the tablespoon and keep pulsing the flour mixture until you can bring the dough together into a ball. Press into a disk and refrigerate if the butter feels soft at all.

Let the dough rest in fridge while you make the filling.

Combine plums, sugar and vanilla bean in a small bowl and mix well. Let it sit and develop flavors while you roll out the dough.

To form a galette, roll it out on a lightly floured counter into a 14-inch irregular circle about 1/8 inch thick. Fold it into quarters and transfer it to the back of a sheet pan or a cookie sheet without sides, then unfold it - it should be larger than the pan (as you'll be folding it in on itself once it's filled).

Add the plum filling leaving a border 2-4 inches wide. Fold the edges of the dough over the filling, overlapping them as you go. Depending on how much of the edge you have left, the galette will be partially or completely covered, almost like a two-crust pie.

Brush the top with some almond milk or non-dairy cream. sprinkle the top with sugar 

Nut cheese stuffed dates

I was giving a friend a recipe for an appetizer and it was for nut cheese stuffed dates, which are one of my favorite ones to serve. The salty and sweet combination are wonderful and dates are so much fun. Dates are rich in antioxidants and its natural sweetness revitalizes the body so they are perfect snack after a workout.

1 cup raw cashews nuts

½ tbsp. minced chives

½ tbsp. minced parsley

Juice form ½ lemon

1/8-cup water

½ tsp. salt

15 dates, pitted

2 tbsp. Agave nectar

Preheat oven to F400.

Combine the nuts, lemon juice and salt in a food processor and begin mixing. Slowly add the water. Keep mixing until it’s smooth. Stir in the herbs by hand. Use a teaspoon to fill dates with the cheese. Place dates in a baking dish cut side up. Drizzle agave nectar Bake for 7 minutes. Stick a toothpick in to serve the dates. 

Nut ricotta stuffed nectarines

We had a very good friend from New York visit us and she is also a food-loving vegetarian so I was super excited to cook for her. I made a lot of small dishes made from vegetables from the farmers market; kale salad, tomato and basil salad, sprouts, bean patties, and then these amazing ricotta nectarines. The ricotta is made from macadamia nuts and is so amazing stuffed into a nectarine.

1 cup raw macadamia nuts

Juice form ½ lemon

Grate from 1 lemon

1/8 cup water

½ tsp. salt

3 medium nectarines

1 tbs Agave nectar

Combine the nuts, lemon juice, grate and salt in a food processor and begin mixing. Slowly add the water. Keep mixing until it’s smooth. Preheat oven to F400. Cut nectarines in half. Remove pits and stuff ricotta in the pit hole. Drizzle Agave nectar over. Place stuffed nectarines in a baking dish and bake for 10-15 minutes, until nectarines are slightly soft. 

Bourbon and Peach Glaze

This glaze I love brushing on pretty much anything I BBQ. I specially love it on spicy grilled seitan slices. Whenever you cook a glaze make sure to keep a watchful eye on the pot because it can burn in matter of seconds and then you have to start over. It has happened to me a couple of times.

2-3 peaches

¼ cup bourbon

¼ tsp. cumin

¼ tsp. coriander

Salt to taste

1 tbsp. butter

Peel and remove the pit form the peaches. Mince peach flesh. Combine peaches, bourbon, cumin and coriander in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Cook for 5 minutes until sauce have reduced to 2/3. Stir in salt and butter and let sauce cool. This glaze will keep in fridge for 1 week at least. 

Strawberry soy yogurt

Since I’ve been making my own coconut yogurt and my kids both love yogurt it seemed like it was about time I made my own soy yogurt. I made vanilla soy yogurt but added strawberries when it was done since they both love strawberries. I have a yogurt maker I bought years ago on Amazon so it super easy. But I hear you can also make it in your oven.

32 oz. vanilla soy milk

½ cup vanilla soy yogurt

1 cup strawberries, minced

¼ cup water

½ vanilla bean

2 tbsp. agave nectar

Strain the vanilla yogurt of any excess liquid. Blend soymilk and yogurt well and place in a yogurt maker for at least 12 hours. Check on the culture to see when it’s thick.

Combine strawberries, agave nectar, and water and split vanilla bean open and scrape out seeds. Discard the beans and sue the seeds. Bring to a boil and stir often. Cook on medium heat until it’s resembles syrup. Remove from heat and let it cool. Blend together yogurt and strawberry jam and keep in fridge in a glass jar. 

Raw Cashew Whipped Cream

Warm evenings like these screams strawberries and cream. Lucky me not only are our strawberries ripening but also I bought strawberries at the farmers market. For the cream I made raw cashew whipped cream which pair really well with the sweet berries. 

1 cup cashews

Filtered water for soaking the nuts

½ tbs coconut oil

1/2 cup water

2 tbs maple syrup

½ vanilla bean, seeds used

Put nuts in a container filled with enough water to cover and let them soak for at least 2 hours. Drain nuts and in a blender combine the water maple syrup and vanilla beans.

Blend, using a rubber scraper, scrape the sides to help the cream turn over. Slowly add coconut oil. Stop and check for sweetness and consistency, add more water if the cream is still too stiff.

Continue blending until fluffy and smooth. Use immediately.

Minty fresh fruit salad

My favorite dessert or even a snack is a perfect fruit salad. Nothing taste better than a fresh combination of juice and fresh fruit and some added kick of mint from my garden. You can use whatever fruit is available for your season and let the fantasy flow. If you want a more sweet dessert you can add vanilla yogurt, ice cream and chopped nuts

10 strawberries

1 orange

2 apples

2 peaches

1 tbsp. fresh mint, minced

Chop all the fruit and mix well with mint. Let the salad rest for 5-10 minutes to develop flavor before serving.