Archive: June, 2010

Ravishing Raw Chocolate Ice Cream

June 29th, 2010 · Marie-Claire · Cravings, Desserts, Good Mood Food, Inspiration, Ravishing Raw Recipes One comment - Tags: , , ,

Chocolate Ice Cream

If there is something that can help you stop craving on a hot summer day, it is ice cream. With this lovely creation in your freezer, you can easily resist the ringing sounds of ice cream cars passing by your house. You will be all smiles because you know you have something much better waiting for you.

When I say ice cream, I mean the real thing. If you have no ice cream maker, you can blend frozen fruits and make the most lovely one-minute- sorbets in the world. This is how I did it… until just now. Since I got this wonderful equipment for my birthday, I am hooked on trying out all possible combinations with flavors and what my garden is offering me. The first spoon I took was a real revelation. I had never tasted such a full ice cream flavor and texture. Nothing can exceed the creaminess of a raw ice cream, made of sweet cashew nuts and fresh picked fruit in your garden or… pure chocolate!

This recipe is based on one of Sarma Melngailis. I was totally new at making ice cream two weeks ago. So I started with an existing recipe and am trying out things now. For this recipe I left out the coconut. It is not always as simple to find them and I rather taste the chocolate. Add some more coconut butter instead to have a hint of memory to coconut. I prefer discrete tastes above an insistent flavor. This is the way you can start looking for your own preferences. Just try and taste.

An ice cream maker doesn’t have to be expensive to do an excellent job. You can purchase a regular one for about $30 or $40. Even Cuisinart is very affordable here. So if you have a celebration coming up, put it on top of your list or just buy one yourself to treat yourself on a healthy and easy to make snack or dessert. Here comes your good mood food!

Preparation to think of first! To receive a smooth ice cream texture, it is always necessary to soak the nuts you are using, even cashews. Soak one cup of cashews for about four hours or longer in filtered water or spring water. Do this in the morning, when you get up. If you have to work, your cashews will be ready for use when you get home and feel like making something special.

Tools You Need

Ice Cream Maker

* An ice cream maker. Even a cheap one will do just fine and delight you with the real thing you have been longing for.

* A blender

* A small and a large bowl

* Measuring cups

* Measuring spoons

* A whisk

* A timer

* Some spatula’s, small and big

* A small bottle to apply chocolate sauce. If you don’t have one, take a square piece of paper, make a funnel of it, and cut a small tip off at the smallest end. Now you can draw with the sauce on your plate. Or simply use a spoon.

Tools You Need

Ingredients for chocolate sauce

Ingredients for chocolate sauce

* 3/4 C raw cacao powder

* 3/4 C Maple Syrup or Agave Nectar (Maple Syrup combines great with chocolate and gives it an extra dimension)

* 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract without alcohol

* Pinch of sea salt

* 2 TBS melted coconut butter for a full flavor

The making of chocolate sauce

Melt the cacao butter

Always start with the part where you have to prepare food. So first melt the cacao butter while you are working on the next step. This will save time.

Blend all ingredients except for the cacao butter

Now blend all ingredients at lowest speed, except for the cacao butter. By the time this is done, the butter is ready.

Add the liquified cacao butter slowly at the slowest speed. Your chocolate sauce is ready! Take a lick! Ever tasted this?

Take the sauce out of the blender but don’t clean the blender. It’s all meant to come together and you don’t want to spill anything of this goddess sauce.

Ingredients for ice cream

Ingredients for ice cream

* 1 C of soaked cashews (they have soaked in water and became bigger)

* 1/8 C of coconut oil

* 1/2 C of spring water

* 1 C Agave Nectar

* 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

* 1/4 tsp of sea salt to bring out all flavors even more

* 3/4 C of the chocolate sauce you just made

The making of ice cream

First melt your coconut oil “Au Bain Marie”

Blend all ingredients except for coconut oil until very smooth!

Add the coconut oil slowly on lowest speed.

Cashew Creme and Chocolate sauce

This is your cashew creme and chocolate sauce. Keep a bit of the chocolate sauce aside to add lusciously on your ice cream later.

Mix both emulsions together in your blender until they are one. Done!

Chocolate Ice Cream Before Freezing

Set aside a few hours in the refrigerator till the mixture has cooled off.

Poor into the ice cream maker

All set to go. Follow the instructions of your ice cream maker. Usually you have to turn on the machine before you start pooring. Than let the machine do the work.

Forty minutes for firm ice cream

Set the timer; twenty minutes for soft ice, forty for scoop ice cream.

Coming!

Peeking after about ten minutes…

Ready!

Ready to taste! Heavenly! You can take a scoop and treat yourself already. Put the rest in the deep freezer.

Chocolate Ice Cream

Zucchetti!

June 26th, 2010 · Marie-Claire · Ravishing Raw Recipes 7 comments - Tags: , , ,

Zucchetti!


One of the things I thought I would never be able to miss is pasta. I was a real pasta lover before I went raw and although I had only been eating the whole food versions for years, it was a scary thought it wouldn’t be part of my diet anymore. So the first thing I wanted to replace by a raw creation was spaghetti. And guess what! It is de-li-cious!

In fact, you don’t have to miss anything when eating raw. You can make a raw version of every cooked recipe. I know, at the beginning there is so much to read and learn and it can be very overwhelming. But after a while, when you don’t have to look at all these recipes anymore and getting the hang on creating your own varieties, you will come up with new things.

A good way to go when you are just starting is: follow the recipe the first time and then start changing, adding, creating to your own taste. You will be surprised how easy and fun it is to re- invent your new diet and lifestyle. The best part of all this is, that you don’t have to know anything about cooking!

So let me tell you about spaghetti, made of vegetables. You can choose any long vegetable you want. If you are craving for the feeling, looks and taste of real spaghetti, zucchini is the best choice. It is al dente without cooking, has a pretty neutral taste with a touch of fresh sweetness, and just as cheap.

I like my sauce with little bits of chunks, but if you prefer a real smooth sauce looking like a Bolognese, let the blender run a bit longer until you have the consistency you like.

You will find the recipe in my FREE eBook “Raw For 3 Days!”

If you would like to receive this step by step book, enter your email address in the sign up box and I will send you the link where you can download “Your Step-By-Step FooDprint”

You can present your Zucchetti in different ways, depending on the occasion. Are you running late or aching for an ordinary looking spaghetti? Then just throw and stir up very well until all slices or angel hair is coated. It will look like this then…

Linguini Covered With Tomato Sauce

Or if you get a special friend over for dinner, take a ‘ring’ and make a little tower of the pasta and sauce. Put it on a bed of chervil and basil leaves or fine lettuce and you have a lovely, fancy starter that will impress for sure… Or you can treat yourself after a week hard work with a nice looking dinner in the garden.

To treat yourself or a friend

A Tower Of Pasta

Smooth Health

June 26th, 2010 · Marie-Claire · Alkaline Your Body, Chew, Chew, Chew!, Chlorophyll, Clean(s)ing, Colon Health, Enzymes!, Green Smoothies, Jazz Up Your Health!, Keeping Your Body Clean, Ravishing Raw Recipes No comments

Your Green Breakfast

The best way to start your day is make some fresh vegetable juice or a smooth smoothie. Your body has to wake up in the morning and is taking its time until about noon to process your meals of the day before. During morning you are releasing eventual toxins and waste. So if you are not feeling great, look back for a second and think of what you ate yesterday. Try to avoid these energy blocks next time.
All these lovely greens are the best way to do this. Moreover you will have ‘eaten’ more vegetables and fruit than you would on a normal day. You can make this most nutritious breakfast in no time. With a large blender -about 1,5 to 2 quarts of volume- you still have a few glasses to take with you to work, or to feed whoever is around and give them the best start for their day as well.
Dishes are done as quickly; just rinse under running water and you can close the door behind you without leaving any mess.

Green smoothies make miracles happen for your general health, both physically and mentally. I will write more about the benefits soon. But first I want to seduce you with this very simple and easy recipe. It’s the ideal smoothie that makes beginners ask for more and well, you can have more because this is enough for a whole bottle extra. If you have a small blender, just fill it up completely. Making another one is done in a minute.

Your first smoothies are usual very sweet. You need a bit time to adjust to new tastes and your body to the large amount of greens it is receiving all of a sudden. If you have some trouble with the green taste, then add more sweet fruit until you really like it. The only rule in this game is: make your smoothies real yummy, totally to your very own taste. Gradually add more vegetables than fruit until you are used to the pureness of greens. Your body will very quickly start asking for more, a feeling that will surprise you. This means you are on the right track to health and ready for new, stronger combinations with wild edibles.

A good tip is: always have frozen fruit in your freezer. Don’t throw out overripe bananas, but break them into pieces and freeze them in a zip bag, same with mango, pineapple, berries… Using frozen fruit in summer is just lovely and you don’t have to add ice anymore. Also you can make the most delicious ice sorbet in a minute when you are craving sweet. But this is for a next post.

You will find this recipe in my FREE eBook “Raw For 3 Days!”

To receive this eBook, join my email list and I will send you the link where you can download it.

Your daily health in a bottle. Bon appetite!

Pure Temptation!

June 25th, 2010 · Marie-Claire · Anti oxidants, Desserts, Good Mood Food, Magnesium, Ravishing Raw Recipes, Weight Loss 2 comments

Love Chocolate Caramel Bar…

Pure Temptation Within Reach

As promised here is a tasty preview of how tempting raw food can be. If you thought you would have to forsake all your beloved food you had it all wrong! Insatiable hunger? Eat some chocolate and you will feel immediately satisfied. One of these chocolates is enough to ease your restlessness while looking in your cupboard for that little ‘something’. Provided you have the pure natural ingredients- raw, without milk, gluten or sugar- this chocolate feast is one you can enjoy without guilt.

You won’t gain weight because raw chocolate contains many valuable nutrients. It satisfies your eternal hunger for more and therefor will help you losing weight. It will provide you energy for the rest of your day, magnesium, a wealth of antioxidants and make you happy with its high serotonin levels. Too much of a good thing is never good, even with this chocolate. You can end up being constantly over- active when taking large doses every day, not being able to fall sleep when eating it in the evening. But in moderation you will only benefit from this divine food.

Make your own chocolates in ten minutes, or some crunchy chocolate bars with a hint of creamy caramel. For this first recipe I will guide you step by step. What are we waiting for?

Measurements;

C = A cup or 25 cl.

1 / 4 C = 1 / 4 cup or 6 cl.

TBS = tablespoon

tsp = teaspoon

Quantity; this amount is sufficient for a tea with some guests or just for you during the week.

Storing; This chocolate will keep well for a few weeks. If you add the caramel layer use it within one week. Always store in the fridge. These products are purely natural and melt faster than the usual chocolate you buy in the supermarket.

Tips;

* Always add sweeteners, spices or seasonings by bits, and taste, taste, taste. These flavors can be so intense and sometimes surprise you with their strength. You can always add more if you need to.

* Rinse your kitchen tools immediately with warm water, especially bowls or batches of electrical equipment such as your blender or food processor. It is done in a few seconds and will save you a lot of cleanup work afterward, when the food sticks under the blades.

Tools you need

Tools you need; a food processor, blender or hand mixer, a large and a small bowl, a scale or measure cups, measure spoons, a grater or a paring knife, a spatula, a large spoon and a whisk.

Ingredients for raw chocolate

Ingredients for your raw chocolate:

* 100 g. raw cacao butter, grated or cut with a knife

* 6 TBS raw cacao powder

* 2 TBS Agave Nectar

* A pinch of sea sea salt

* A pinch of cayenne will make your chocolate sensual and ‘hot’

* For love ahead and exaltation; add 1/4 – 1/2 tsp maca powder, depending on your taste.

Ingredients for the 'caramel' layer

Ingredients for the caramel layer;

* 1/4 C raw pecan nuts

* 3 medjool dates (I didn’t need the fourth one on the picture…)

* About 1/4 tsp of cinnamon, to your own taste. I usually use more in winter, to make my body glow.

Scrape or Grate 100 g. of Cacao Butter

Start with scraping or grating the cacao butter. (watch your fingers!)

Melt Cacao Butter "Au Bain Marie"

Fill your large bowl half way with warm water, put the small bowl with the grated cacao butter in it. Now you can start making your caramel layer while the butter is melting.

All ingredients for your caramel layer in the food processor

Throw all the ingredients for the caramel layer in the food processor and mix until you have a crumbly but sticky texture.

Fine and sticky texture

This is how your texture looks like. To test if it will stick, take some between your fingers and knead it. If it stays together it is ready, if not, add another date and mix again.

Put some household foil into your mold

Put some household foil into your mold so you can easily remove the bar later. Certainly when you are not using a spring form, you will appreciate this little trick.

Push the crumble firmly into your mold

Push the crumble firmly into your mold.

Your first layer

This is how your first layer looks like. You can also build up the sides if you like to. Now put it in the refrigerator while you make luscious chocolate in no time.

Your melted cacao butter

Look at this fluid gold! Keep the small bowl in the warm water while you are proceeding to keep it smooth and fluid.

Mix all dry ingredients into the melted butter

Whisk all dry ingredients in your melted cacao butter until you have a fine, smooth structure. Ready!

Poor on top of the first layer

Now poor this luscious brown desire on top op your first layer. Take another lick out of your bowl…

Ready to let sit in the refrigerator!

Ready to let it sit. No patience anymore? Ten minutes in the freezer and you can put your teeth in your creation. (but don’t forget to take it out! Set the timer) Or let it cool off slowly in your refrigerator for an hour.

You will find the recipe of the following delicious chocolates in my FREE eBook “Raw For 3 Days!” To receive my eBook, sign up and I will send you the link where you can download it.

Note your creations

Buy a lovely note book and always write down your trials

Time to spoil yourself

Pick some lovely fresh mint and make yourself a nice cup of tea. Spoil yourself with your first chocolates…

… and your Pure Temtation.

… and with your Pure Temptation.

Food for Love!

Thirty Ravishing Reasons To Go Raw!

June 25th, 2010 · Marie-Claire · All About Raw Food No comments

Any reason is a good reason to eat raw. But it is only when you give yourself the opportunity to hold on for a while that you will feel the difference. From there, your motivation will grow and you will feel confirmed in what you are doing for yourself. You won’t have to wait very long for this ‘difference’. After only one week you will notice that your step is lighter, you have the energy to do that extra something in the evening, you are even in a better mood. Small things… which make the difference.

As you become more motivated and add more raw foods to your regular menu, this experience will grow. In addition your curiosity will increase, you will want to know more, you will start searching and become fascinated by the infinite possibilities you had never suspected.

Rawlicious Chocolate!

But let me start from the beginning, if you have not heard about the many benefits of rawfood. Here we go!

° Your body is composed of about 70% water. All those fruits and vegetables that you reduce will hydrate you throughout the day and make it easier for you to maintain a good moisture level. After a few weeks you will receive nice compliments from people, saying that you are looking so good. “Who, me?”

° You have more energy than you can remember.

° You are receiving all the building blocks for a healthy life.

° No more dips after eating but a renewing boost to continue your busy day. All this is thanks to the enzymes which remain intact and are now available for digestion instead of for creating enzymes for digestion. This means that your body doesn’t have to do overtime and can hold its power for you!

° All vitamins, minerals and proteins are still alive and make you revive and alive. You don’t need any supplements, except for vit. B12, recommended in each vegan diet.

° You’re no longer ‘undernourished’, but ‘well-fed’.

° Malaise feelings disappears, like slumbering annoying complaints of which doctors say that “nothing can be done.”

° Your skin is tighter, your eyes gleam, you get the ‘glow’ that make you look younger and feel youthful.

° Your nails and hair grow faster, they shine and make you look healthy.

° You rejuvenate from the inside, and you can feel this on every level!

° You become more sensitive and enjoy sex more than you have in a while.

° Your mind is focused, your memory sharpened, your thoughts clear, your concentration better.

° On the other hand you are experiencing mental rest, and you feel the need to develop your personality in many different ways.

° You will discover new, open choices and possibilities in your life and feel like going for it now!

° You are eating less without effort and yes, your favorite dress is fitting again! And do you know this one; “Eat less, live longer?

° You can eat whatever you want without guilt. Yep, even chocolate, cake, desserts, but wait until you know what exactly and how to make it!

° Have you been suffering from yo-yoing effects of many unhealthy diets? Your overweight will melt away naturally!

° Dieting is now laying in the past! Because you have exchanged junk food for a healthy lifestyle. It’s as simple as that.

° If you weigh too little, you will come to a healthy weight that is right for you. Rawfood balances your body completely.

° Your body detoxifies in a natural way, releasing its toxins and heavy metals slowly.

° Your blood and cells are renewed, strengthened.

° Your sight, taste and sense of smell are improving: your senses are sharpened.

° You get the chance to kick off of your emotional food addictions and therefore are feeling better. The circle is broken and you are set free!

° Not only your body is cleansing: your whole personality and surrounding is. Your kitchen was never so tidy!

° Raw food supports your body during illness and makes it stronger so it can heal itself.

° The risks for chronic diseases, cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular disease decrease. Your immune system is strengthening. Bye bye colds and flu!

° Raw dishes can be very simple, fast and delicious.

° No more burned pots and pans.

° You have you have never felt so good!

° You are simply a new, better and healthier person.

… And so much more. But you will experience it all yourself. How? Look forward to the next post!

Pure Food for Radiant Health

June 19th, 2010 · Marie-Claire · All About Raw Food 2 comments - Tags: , , ,

Deliciously Raw!

Welcome to my raw food blog! I would like to take you with me on this culinary journey. Becoming “Raw” will open your world. This is my experience and that of many thousands of others who went on this adventure with certain hesitation and now are making the journey of their lives. Whatever the reason for your visit to my blog, I hope you will find the things and answers you are looking for. Even more, you can post me your questions. I will try to answer them as quickly as possible. I look forward to your comments!

My raw journey began about a year and a half ago, when I was still dealing with my recovery of five serious diseases occurring simultaneously in 2005. I planned my healing very systematically, step by step. It took me several years to find a doctor who believed, diagnosed and treated me the right way. But it was only when I discovered rawfood that I made huge progresses and I could pick up the thread of my life again.

That’s why I want to inform everybody about what we aren’t been told. Because it is not about what we know, it is about what we don’t know. With this knowledge and consciousness you can take the power in your own hands and protect yourself against illness. Or if you have been suffering of vague complaints for years, seeing many doctors who tell you over and over again that you are just fine, or that ‘nothing can be done’, or that ‘it is all between your ears’, you can now take your life into your own hands, strengthen your body and make ravishing progresses in a short time. Let’s do it!

If you’re at the very dawn of this transition to a new diet and lifestyle, excitement is often accompanied by uncertainty. The questions, possible excuses-to-not-having-to-do-this including cynicism is making it all much harder on you than necessary. ”But how do I start? What should I eat? Can I only eat salads? Hey I’m not a rabbit! How can I enjoy eating? And some wine? How can I go to restaurants with friends? And what about my family? The children? How can I be sure that I will get all my vitamins and proteins? Raw in winter? You must be crazy! And at parties?”

Sssht. Quiet. “Alles kom reg” they say in South Africa. We will go step by step. You’ll be surprised how quickly you will get there.

Raw food is so simple. And yet, it is much more than the celery stalk or carrot out of your fist. Let the delicious possibilities surprise and seduce you. The principle is very simple; nothing is heated above 108 ° F. Some prefer to keep it at 118° F. but 108 °F. is the safest limit, if you want to keep all enzymes alive in your food. Above this temperature almost all the enzymes, vitamins, minerals and proteins die and your food becomes lifeless.

“Eat Dead Food and you will look dead.” Dr. Ann Wigmore said frankly and oh what she was right. She stood at the cradle of numerous investigations of the entire scope and we thank so much knowledge and powerful recipes to her life long dedication. Raw food gives you new, unsuspected energy and vitality. It makes your body so strong that it can heal itself of its illnesses. Eating raw will focus you, sharpen your concentration, enrich your soul and make you feel whole. Choosing a raw lifestyle takes you back to the roots of your existence, your pure essence and the fundamental principles of all life: nature. And yourself!