Naraya Cooking Health Recipe

Meet me in the club oreo, it's goin' down.

Take me to the candy shop, I'll let you lick my lolly pop oreo.

I'm hot 'cause I'm fly into oreos, you ain't 'cause you not, this is why I'm hot.

And also this, just because.




Usually this is how my mind works: I find a way to incorporate the lingo of my raw food recipes and lifestyle into rap songs. I don't know why I do this, but regardless, now you know. Moving on.

This recipe is the BOMB yo. It tastes as good as the photos look, and I know ya'll are freaking out over the photos. Hehe. Basically we've got chewy chocolate cookies sandwiching a peppermint vanilla coconut creme filling. Yupp. Oh right, then all the cookies are dipped in chocolate, making them double chocolate. Can life get any better? Well, yeah, because these are also really good for you and easy to make. Okay, now life can't get any better. Unless you throw in a bowl of banana ice cream (but that is a constant truth).

As usual I give you a bunch of adaption/substitution options so no matter what sensitives you have, you can probably make these. I don't think I need to say much else about this recipe. I mean, look at it. Does anyone REALLY need more information? Get uncookin'.

PEPPERMINT OREOS DIPPED IN DARK CHOCOLATE
Makes 10-12 sandwiches

Cookies:
2/3 cup almonds
2/3 cup brazil nuts
1 cup dates
3 tablespoons carob powder
Pinch of sea salt
1-3 tablespoons water, if needed

Vanilla creme:
1 cup coconut chips
1 cup coconut shreds
2 tablespoons almond butter
2 tablespoons melted coconut oil 
1/2 teaspoon vanilla powder
1-3 drops of peppermint essential oil, as desired

Dark chocolate:
Use this recipe. 

To make the cookies: grind the nuts into flour in a high speed blender or food processor. Add the rest of the ingredients (except the water) to the nut flour in a food processor and process until it all sticks together in a ball. If it's still too crumbly after a few minutes, add a little water. I did this and suddenly my very dry mixture became the perfect cookie dough consistency! Roll this dough out between two pieces of parchment paper then cut out cookies with a cookie cutter. Put them in the freezer until they are solid and can be handled without falling apart. If you have any extra dough, make a giant 'ugly' cookie and sprinkle it with some sea salt. No dough left behind.

To make the vanilla creme: blend all the ingredients together in a high speed blender, adding the peppermint oil to taste (it's very potent!) If your blender isn't powerful enough to blend everything into a thick, coconut butter-like mixture, then add some more coconut oil, and perhaps a liquid sweetener or some dates and water.

Sandwich the coconut creme with cookies, making little dollops on each cookie then gently pressing down another cookie on top. Throw in the freezer for another 30 minutes or until they are solid and very cold.

Make the chocolate, then pour it into a tall, narrow bowl and dip in your frozen cookies. You will have to have 2-3 rounds of dipping, letting the chocolate on the cookies harden after each time. Enjoy!

NOTES: if you want the cookies to be darker, add more carob powder; if you want the creme to be whiter, try omitting the nut butter and adding more coconut oil or maple syrup.

SUBSTITUIONS: use oat flour, buckwheat flour, or any nuts instead of almonds or brazil nuts; use cacao or cocoa powder instead of carob; use vanilla extract instead of powder; salt is always optional; use more coconut shreds instead of coconut chips; use any nut butter instead of almond; use date paste instead of coconut oil; use peppermint leaves instead of essential oil.

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x

P.S. The avocado is in a bowl from Ethos Planetware and made from simply recycled corn, bamboo and rice. UM, COOL.



Open the dates and remove the pits, then dip the gooey side in the cinnamon. You could also use this method with cacao powder, carob powder, hemp seeds, coconut shreds, whatever. If you want fudge, just add nut butter.


BANANAS with NUT BUTTER  

Bananas
Almond butter, cashew butter, whatever ya want

Eat them together. You're welcome.

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For me that means no job in a cubicle, and not living in an environment based on capitalism and exploitation. I need to be around trees, sunshine, mountains, rivers, gardens and people who inspire me. I need to focus a large part of my days to MYSELF, breathing deeply and letting anxiety fall away. Some of you might be saying "Easy for you to say, you already have your dream job and are young and don't have to do a job you dislike. I need to keep doing what makes me unhappy because I can't afford to do anything else." Stop right there! Let go of the excuses and find out HOW you can finally live the life you know you deserve. Work towards your goal, be thankful for what you already have, and you will succeed.

My goal? Travel the world and then settle down in the interior of BC, buying my own patch of property and building an off-the-grid home. Sounds pretty unrealistic, but I'm gonna make it happen. You'd be surprised at how affordable land can be in certain spots. You'd also be surprised at how inexpensive homes can be to build. For inspiration, look no further than this. You don't HAVE to stay in a job you hate, you don't HAVE to keep paying rent or a mortgage, you don't HAVE to be in this never-ending state of stress and irritability. You can live simply, happily and peacefully as soon as you want to. Enjoy the things in life that actually matter. For me that's being with people I love, hiking to the tops of mountains, eating baked yams, dancing like no one's watching, and improving my own self every day with meditation and yoga. There is no reason you cannot have the life you want. Go for it! And on the way, try out this cupcake recipe.


DOUBLE CHOCOLATE CUPCAKES with BUTTERCREAM FROSTING

Cupcakes: 
1/4 cup water
2 tablespoons chia seeds
1/2 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup dried coconut meat
1/2 cup dates
1/2 cup water
3 tablespoons carob powder
Buttercream:
Use this recipe. 
Coconut powder:
1/2 cup dried coconut meat
To make the cupcakes: stir the chia seeds into 1/4 cup water and let them sit for 5-10 minutes so they puff up. Grind the oats and coconut into a fine powder and set that aside in a bowl. Blend the dates with 1/2 cup water and the carob powder until smooth, mix this into the oat/coconut powder by hand and then mix in the puffed up chia mixture as well, until it’s all well combined and like a dense, slightly wet chocolate dough. If it’s too crumbly, add a little more water. Press into cupcake papers and let them sit in the fridge until set (I let them sit overnight, covered with a cloth). 
To make the coconut powder: grind into powder in a high speed blender. 

Frost with the buttercream, then sprinkle with your powdered coconut, and enjoy! 

SUBSTITUTIONS: use buckwheat, almond, coconut or quinoa flour instead of rolled oats and/or coconut; use cocoa or cacao instead of carob. 

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Pink layer:

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• 1 large sweet potato, diced
• 1 cup cooked chickpeas
• 1 large shallot, sliced
• 2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
• garlic powder
• chili, chipotle or smoked paprika powder
• pink salt
• leafy greens of choice (I used baby kale)
• pepitas (pumpkin seeds)

• 3 tablespoons tahini
• juice of 1/2 medium lemon
• 2-3 tablespoons water, + more as needed
• pink salt, to taste

Note: The following prose is for Jack, but of course you are invited to read it. At the bottom of the post I share a recipe for raw vegan ginger cookies dipped in pink frosting, and I KNOW you want that. In any case, I hope you get what you want out of this beautiful day. x

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Listen to this while reading.

We are two animals collaborating our lives in this particularly strange place, and I think that's beautiful at least. 

Being in love with you is effortless. It's easy, full of lightness and lights and helpless smiles. I live for your lips, the corners of your mouth that turn up when you're happy. Most days when we need to part, I'd rather keep running my hands along your body in early sunlight. I know you doubt my devotion sometimes, and my reasons for staying with you, but you've given me so much. I am relearning who I am as a whole person, beside you. I laugh more with you than I have ever have. You're my sunshine. My skin gets excited when I hear your deep, controlled, thoughtful voice say my name, say I Love You, say That's Right. You think you're weird, I think you're precious. I wish I could grab your butt all day. I wish you could grab mine all night. Well, we kinda do that anyways. 

We've been in this endless honeymoon for nearly 500 days, it feels like 50. Everyday we are together, every word we share, I learn more about you and these lessons consistently water my infatuation with who you are to me and for me. You are my home now. You are my rock, my hearth. You're my life partner, my calm companion in this overwhelmingly anarchic world of modernity and noise and colour. Although you don't complete me - because we are both complete in ourselves - I'd be quite lost without you. Who would I share myself with? Who would hold me the way you do? Who would rub my back during the Week of Hormones? (Which is coming soon, by the way).

The giddiness one feels in the beginning of a romantic endeavour is what I still feel when I know I will see you soon. It's the feeling I get at the mere thought of you. Often I am on a bus or supposed to be paying attention at a lecture, but I find my mind wandering to you. To [certain parts of] your body. To the energy between us. You make me a better person. "You're my top, mate." 

I look back to who I was when we first began this adventure together, and I smile. In fact I smile at every memory we share, and the memories we have yet to create. You've seen more of my colours and shades than anyone else. You've seen me at my best, my worst, my average. I've told you my secrets, my fears, my dreams, my regrets. I've revealed to you my weaknesses, my strengths, my confessions, my mistakes. I know you will always keep your arms open for me to cry and laugh in (I certainly do enough of both). I feel like the most fortunate person in the world for getting you all to myself. Everyone is missing out and - luckily for me - they don't know it. 

Loving you is easy. It's organic, raw, natural. So natural that it grew into a flower before I even noticed there was a seed, but then there it was: vibrant and alive and finally defined. Loving you is easy, my sweet babay. Let's eat cookies! I put ginger in them just for you. 

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GINGER COOKIES with PINK FROSTING

Cookies:
1/3 cup oats
1/3 cup almonds
1/2 teaspoon vanilla powder
1 tablespoon chunk peeled ginger
1 tablespoon maple syrup (optional) 

Pink frosting:
2 tablespoons cacao butter
2 tablespoon beet juice
1 tablespoon maple syrup

To make the cookies: grind the oats and almonds along with the vanilla and ginger into a thick paste in a high speed blender (my Blendtec mini twister jar does this perfectly). Add the maple syrup if desired. If you don't have a great blender, buy almond butter and oat flour instead of grinding your own, and grate the ginger very finely. Press thus cookie dough into cookie molds and put in the freezer.

To make the pink chocolate: melt the cacao butter, then add the rest of the ingredients and whisk until evenly combined. Dip each of your cookies into this, put back in the freezer for 5 minutes, then repeat until you've used up all your pink chocolate mixture or you don't want to put anymore on your cookies. Serve with almond milk and enjoy with your sweetheart.

ADAPTIONS: use buckwheat groats or other nuts instead of oats or almonds; use vanilla extract instead of vanilla powder; use dried ginger instead of fresh; use any other liquid sweetener instead of maple syrup; use coconut oil or coconut butter instead of cacao butter. 

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