Naraya Cooking Health Recipe

This is one of those dangerously delicious recipes. I warn you now that these bars are basically addictive, thus they'd be the perfect treat to bring to party or to give to people whom you're trying to bring over to the vegan side (A.K.A. THE COOL SIDE). A mocha version of them will be featured in my upcoming cookbook (out March 2014). If you like things sweet and decadent - you're gonna love these.

chocolate cream caramel bars

Crust: 
1 cup almonds or other nuts 
1 cup dates
Pinch of salt (optional) 

Caramel:
½ cup cashew butter
½ cup coconut oil
1 cup dates

Chocolate cream:
1/3 cup coconut oil
2-3 tablespoons cacao powder
¼ cup preferred liquid sweetener

To make the crust: process the almonds into flour in your food processor, then add the dates and process until it all begins to stick together. Press into the bottom of a lined baking pan (I used a small bread pan) and refrigerate. 

To make both the caramel and mocha layers: just blend the ingredients in each list until smooth. Feel free to add other flavours like vanilla, chili , ginger, etc. Spread the caramel onto your crust, followed by the chocolate cream. Refrigerate until completely set; this will take a couple hours.

I've made another raw vegan recipe for Skinny Limits! Get the recipe here, and check out all the photos below. This lemonade is equally refreshing, sweet and delicious as the conventional kind; but it's NOT loaded with sugar. Instead it's just sweet enough, and has a lovely hint of lavender after each sip.

• 1 large beet with greens, beet julienned or grated and greens julienned
• 1 large apple, cored and diced
• 2 medium carrots, grated
• 1/2 cup cilantro, roughly chopped
• 1/2 cup organic raisins or golden raisins
• a few tablespoons hemp hearts or sesame seeds, to serve 
• organic tofu, cubed (optional)

• 3 - 4 tablespoons lime juice (lemon is fine too)
• 1 inch knob of ginger, finely grated (i used a microplane)
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cardamom, or to taste
• 1/2 - 1 teaspoon pure maple syrup or coconut nectar, optional

In a small bowl, mix together the dressing ingredients. Set aside to let the flavors mellow and come together. Check dressing for flavor before serving. 

Prepare your salad ingredients and use 3 to 4 large beet leaves (about 1 cup lightly packed) and place all ingredients in a large bowl. Pour dressing over the salad ingredients, toss to coat. (You can also make this ahead of time and keep refrigerated until ready to serve.)

Serve topped with a good sprinkle of hemp hearts or sesame seeds, and some extra raisins if you like as they add a nice sweetness.  

Serves 2 large portions or 4 -6 small portions. 

Notes:

If you don't find beets with the greens, use spinach, dandelion greens or lacinato kale instead. Use golden beets in place of red beets to keep the color mess to a minimum. 

The cardamom can be optional. If you don't use it often, there is no need to buy this just for the salad dressing although it is delicious and you may find other uses for it either here soon, or elsewhere. If you don't have it, you will still have a great dressing.

This salad tastes better the longer your able to let it set and let the flavors mingle. This is a great salad to make in advance and store in the fridge until ready to serve.

I just received a box of raw organic super food goodies from a company called Rich Nature this morning. I was contacted a couple weeks ago by them and they didn't even ask me to do a review on my blog - they simply really wanted to send me their products because they liked my work so much!

Well, ditto. And I'm gonna do a review anyway because I like what I got so much. So there.


Rich Nature is so cool! They sell super food berries and berry powders. They were generous enough to send me goji berries, mulberries (which I immediately learned I LOVE), Incan golden berries, yumberry powder, and seabuckthorn powder. Woo!

I added the berry powders to my smoothie after my workout and hoooooly moly was it delicious. Sweet and fruity, it gave me loads of energy. The berries are all fresh, soft and chewy just the way I hoped they'd be. Another thing I was delighted about: the packaging! They use rice paper and it works and looks beautiful.


Thanks, Rich Nature, for being so enthusiastic about healthy, sustainable, wholesome living through plant-based, organic nutrition. You rawk.

P.S. stay tuned for another product review for Oriya Organics this week. I'll be reviewing their raw greens powder and raw vegan protein powder. I drank my smoothie from their bottle this morning. Hehe.

Ingredients

• 1 ready made pizza dough (pref. whole wheat)
• fresh basil leaves, to serve
• red pepper flakes, to serve
• almond parmesan, to serve

Topping

• 1/2 small zucchini, sliced thin and halved
• 1/2 cup aspargus, cut into 1 inch pieces
• 1/2 orange bell pepper
• 1/4 red onion, diced
• 3/4 cup cherry tomatoes (red & yellow), halved
• a few large basil leaves, chopped
• a guzzle of balsamic vinegar
• pinch or two mineral salt

Balsamic Tomato Sauce

• 1 dry pint (about 8 oz package or 1 1/2 cups) grape tomatoes
• 3 rounded tablespoons tomato paste
• 1 - 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• 1 garlic clove or 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon Italian seasonings or a mix of oregano, basil, thyme, etc.
• mineral salt & cracked pepper to taste

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees or heat oven to dough directions. (We'll start with this high temp to move the pizza cooking along as quickly as possible.)
2. While oven is heating, prepare your vegetables, place them in a medium size bowl along with the tomatoes for the tomato sauce and add a guzzle of  your favorite balsamic vinegar. You can also add a tad of olive oil if you wish. Toss to coat. Place vegetables on a baking sheet keeping the cut topping and whole tomatoes separate for ease later on. 
3. Coat your cast iron skillet with olive oil, place your dough in the center, flatten out along the bottom and bring a small bit up the edges. Let set to rest until ready to layer.
4. Once oven has heated to 450, turn off oven and turn on the broiler (I had mine set on high but medium is good too), place vegetables under the flame and cook for about 6 minutes checking every so often. Remove and set aside. 
5. Turn oven back on to 450 degrees. The heat sensor should go off right away letting you know the oven is ready. If you skip the first heating at 450, this step will take around 15-20 minutes.
6. In a food processor or blender, being careful not to burn yourself, add the uncut grape tomatoes along with the other ingredients for the tomato sauce and process until blended and fairly smooth. Taste for flavor adding anything extra you might like. Your sauce should be a semi-thick consistency. If you find it's too runny, try adding an extra tablespoon or two of tomato paste. 
7. Finally, add a nice layer of your tomato sauce and veggies to the pizza dough. Place in oven and bake for 20-25 minutes, until crust is golden. Remove from oven and let cool a few minutes before cutting to serve. Serve with red pepper flakes and a good dusting of almond parmesan. 

Notes:

I found that I needed to cook my pizza longer than the directions on the pizza dough package, about 20 -25 minutes worked for me but each oven is different.

If your crust doesn't become golden enough for you, place the skillet pizza under the broiler for a minute or so checking often so it doesn't burn.

If you have a hard time with your crust being soggy under the tomato sauce and veggies, try cooking your dough first for about 15 minutes, then add your sauce and veggies and cook another 5 minutes or so.

I would love to recommend a good pizza dough recipe but I haven't made one yet and find the ready made dough is quick and works great for me. If you have a good whole wheat pizza dough recipe I'd love know about it!

P.S. HAVE YOU SEEN MY BRAND NEW TATTOO!? I AM SO HAPPY ABOUT IT. BE HERE NOW.