Naraya Cooking Health Recipe

these tarts are so cute. you can't resist them. it's funny how whenever you decorate things with fresh fruit they become more appealing. our bodies know what they want!


i thought i was only going to be able to use the kiwi we had in the house but just as i was about to decorate them my mom came home with fresh, locally grown, organic strawberries! perfect.

you know i'm obsessed with chocolate, so today my goal was to make something without it - for once in my dang life. it looks like there's chocolate in the crust but that's just the skin of the almonds, prunes and raisins.

the filling is like a cashew custard i suppose. it's actually just cashews,  maple syrup, vanilla seeds and nut milk. oh ma gad. too good. i was eating spoonfuls.


the light was great in the kitchen today so i took lots of photos - hope you don't mind ;) i think these would be fun for a garden party. it is finally getting to be that time of year! imagine bringing them out on a cute little tray with some fancy drinks or whatever and impressing all your friends... mhm. do it.


these better be gone by tomorrow because that's when i start my liquid cleanse (i don't know if i'll be able to resist the temptation!) as i said in the last post - i'll be having lots of juice and smoothies, and tea and nut milks as well. after my 10 day cleanse i will going into my 21 day water fast!!! yippie!


anyhoo - time to give you the recipe if you want to make these. as usual, they're super easy and far too delicious to be healthy... yet they are.


fruit tartlets with cashew cream: makes 1 large tart or about 6 small
-
crust:
1/2 cup walnuts
1/2 cup almonds
1/2 cup prunes/raisins/dates
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons hemp seeds
2 tablespoons flax seeds

cashew cream filling:
1 cup cashews
1/4 cup or so nut milk
3 tablespoons maple syrup/agave
1/4 teaspoon each of salt, cinnamon and ginger powder
seeds from 1/2 vanilla pod
2 tablespoons melted coconut oil

to make the crust: pulse the nuts in your food processor until they are crumb-sized. add the other ingredients and pulse until the mixture starts sticking together. you might need to add more prunes/raisins/dates. press this mix into the bottom of a tart tin or several tartlet tins. put in the fridge.

to make the cashew cream filling: blend the cashews into cashew butter then add all the other ingredients until smooth. yummmmmm. spoon this evenly into your tart/tartlet tins and put back in the fridge while you cut up your fruit. decorate as you please - then enjoy!

hello, lovelies. i'm sorry i don't have much to share today in the way of recipes. but i do have an interview on a trendy australian website/magazine! it was really fun to do, and the girl who interviewed me is super cool.




here's some related links that i found. you might like 'em. you might not.

a reliable site with thought-provoking articles.
go veg and protect yourself from modern lifestyle disease.
plant-based diet to beat lifestyle diseases!

sorry in advance: i haven't posted in awhile, this isn't raw, and the pictures are bad. BUT ANYWAY...

i hope your dad enjoyed his day! mine did. it was sunny here for most of the day, some friend's visited, greg made a great breakfast, we bought a new barbeque and grilled veggies, and i made him a cake.

oh... and he got to eat meat -.- hmph! seriously though, if this was 2 years ago... the fact that my dad eating meat on father's day was a big deal and a treat for him would be pretty much unbelievable. i'm so happy we've come this far. i'm very proud of my family.

anyways - cake.


two of my dad's fave things are marzipan and chocolate (two others are beer and BMW motorcycles). so i made him a chocolate cake with marzipan and chocolate frosting. it's baked, but i used organic whole wheat flour and raw sugar. yay!


it was... very good. if you love cake - make this! :) i used a recipe that was already on the blog.

yum. that's what these babies are.

i will admit right off the bat - i didn't make the chocolate chips myself today so they aren't 100% raw in the photos. but as long as you make your own raw chocolate chips (or buy some), you're golden!


i was asked to give a raw cookie recipe so here it is. these are mostly oats with a bit of coconut, almonds and agave (i didn't have any dates!) i recommend using dates if you have them, they're a whole food whereas agave is more processed... still far better than white sugar though ;)

personally, i find these more satisfying than baked cookies. they taste just as good, and the bonus is that they're good for you. nothing to feel guilty about here! i bet these would be good if you dehydrated them for a couple hours, they'd get like baked cookies on the outside. for me though - they were great as is.

i made quite a few so i'll be giving them away to friends and what not. it would've been nice to go downtown and give them to the homeless. last time i was downtown i was bringing some raw brownies to a friend's house and didn't think to share them with the people who needed them more than my or my friends until after i was coming home... dang. next time!

hopefully you're not homeless and so can enjoy them in the comfort of your dwelling today.


in your food processor, pulse oats, almonds and coconut chunks until they're like a rough flour. add all the other ingredients and blend until it comes together. add raisins and chocolate and mix in by hand. then form them into balls and flatten. dehydrate if you desire. hurraw!

before i start telling you about brownies - have you heard the new fleet foxes album!?

every single freaking song is amazing and resonates deep within my soul. that's all there is to say. my friend is going to give me his old record player (so excited!!!! he is the best) and helplessness blues may be the first record i buy. here's a song from the album, it's got a beautiful video to go with it.


on to food. as you may have noticed - i have been eating predominantly salad the past few weeks, and this has yet to stop. all the salads i make are so gorgeous i have to take pics and show you. i don't care if you don't wanna see them. i will force you.

hey, my darlings. i'm sorry the posts have been less frequent than normal lately. i've been sleeping like a bear in winter, and eating salad.





in the pictures shown, i've been using a balsamic vinaigrette and olive oil dressing, sometime i blend it with herbs, miso and garlic. the greens are spinach, and 3 different kinds of lettuce from the garden, along with herbs. the ones above are dill, oregano and ... ? i can't remember the name of the last one.

then i load on tomatoes, cucumber, olives, figs, avocado, and we had baked potatoes one day so i used that. yum!

here's a recipe, if that description wasn't enough. 




i've also been researching for the motorcycle trip my dad and i will be taking at the end of summer. i'm so excited! you can see the route we're following here.

so far i've just been finding veg-friendly restaurants we can eat at along the way. happy cow is a terrific website for finding vegetarian and vegan eateries all around the world. i can't wait to get to jasper, because i discovered they have a raw vegan cafe there called gratitude cafe! how cool is that. here's some of their food:



i've found vegan places nearly everywhere else too. next - finding camping sites. originally we were going to hotel it, but it's going to be the perfect time of year to camp, and it makes the whole trip more interesting. any chance to be closer to nature and i'm there!

i have also been getting increasingly stoked about building my tiny home. you know what i'm talking about. i think the weebee is my favourite model from tumbleweed tiny houses.


it's 102 square feet - just right, not too big and not too small. i sound like goldie locks here. anyways, i am planning on buying the building plans but tweaking them for my personal desires =)

that means i'm going to use recycled materials and antique windows, have no need for an oven/stove, have a closed water system, install solar panels, and have a composting toilet!

i know. sounds a little weird... and smelly. but not to fret. apparently they're the greatest. check it out! it's called "humanure". you can see humaure's book online for free here. aren't their chapter titles great? all you do is build a box around a bin/bucket and make it look like a normal toilet. you do your business and cover it with wood shavings.

 it doesn't smell at all! this means i won't have to figure out plumbing. i just dump this stuff in the forest or bury it in the dirt wherever i will be living. and hey - after a year i can use my compost as, well, compost! circle of life, my friends.

don't you judge me. everyone should do this!

i've been eating a lot of salad lately. our greens are growing like crazy so i can run out to the garden and pick some lettuce and spinach whenever my heart desires. my friend christine came over yesterday and we made a lovely mix of greens, cucumber, tomato, olives and mushrooms. it was nice to catch up with her, since we hadn't seen each other in awhile.

she's all cool and awesome so she made this photo:


i also added some oregano, basil and cilantro. i think sweet basil may be my favourite conventional herb. my mom's is cilantro. i tear the herb leaves up really small, so it's lovely when you get a bite of salad and every now and then there's a hit of basil or what ever.



oh goodness. i just ate a salad (a lot like the one above) but these photos are making me want to make another. i think i actually might. because after i finished eating the first one (just now) i went into the kitchen and realized my friend amber had left two avocados as a gift.

because she's the best.