Fruity Chia Pudding

This healthy, filling, yummy dessert is quick to make as long as you remember to start the chia seeds soaking in advance. If you start the chia seeds soaking in the morning you can have your pudding for dinner.

The bee pollen and camu camu powder give an extra nutritional boost to this pudding. I’ll often eat this as a meal on it’s own. It’s great to have for breakfast because I find it really lasts me through the day without being too heavy and filling.

Chia is very sustaining and great for endurance. So this is my favorite breakfast if I have a lot of physical work to do in the garden or if I’m going on a bushwalk for the day.

Ingredients:

1 cup chia seeds, soaked in 3 cups water for 4-6 hours
2 tablespoons honey or agave syrup
1 tablespoon tahini
1 teaspoon camu camu powder
1-2 tablespoons of bee pollen
dash of Himalayan or Celtic sea salt
Fresh fruit in season (juicy fruit works best, especially berries, pineapple, mandarin, grapes)

Instructions:

Soak the chia seeds in 3 cups of water ahead of time. You can start soaking them in the morning, mix everything together around lunchtime, pop it in the fridge and it will be ready to eat for dinner.

Add the honey or agave syrup, tahini, camu camu powder, and sea salt to the soaked chia and mix thoroughly. Then add the fruit and mix just so that it’s evenly spread throughout. Spoon the mix into a pie dish or jelly mould. Glass pie dishes or silicon jelly moulds work great.

Sprinkle the bee pollen on top and pop it into the fridge. You can also eat it straight away if you want too. This recipe usually makes a bit more than my glass pie dish can easily hold, so I usually have a small bowl immediately and pop the rest in the fridge.

The chia are so filling and sustaining that I can’t eat a lot at one sitting. It will keep well in the fridge for several days.

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Vegan Vanilla Ice Cream

I was having a sweet craving this evening… actually it was going on all day and I was trying to come up with something I could make with what I had on hand. Finally, the idea for this hit me. And oh did it hit the spot… the tahini adds an extra smoothness to this so it’s even more like real ice cream than most frozen banana-based non-dairy ice creams. The vanilla extract and rapadura go so nicely together, creating that sweet, vanilla flavor.

Even if you eat dairy, it’s worth trying this for it’s own sake. Totally guilt-free desserts, I love ‘em! Try some of my other raw vegan ice cream recipe too.

Ingredients:
1 ripe banana
3 frozen bananas
1 tbsp tahini
1 tbsp rapadura sugar (or sweetener of your choice)
1 tbsp water
1 teas organic vanilla extract (or vanilla pod if you have it)

Instructions:
Peel the ripe banana and break it into pieces into blender. Add the tahini, rapadura, water and vanilla extract. Blend until smooth. Add the frozen bananas and blend again until smooth and creamy.

If you want this to be an all-raw dessert, be sure to use raw tahini. Often the ready made tahini is made from lightly toasted sesame seeds. I’ve had trouble finding raw tahini in New Zealand, but you can buy grinders and juicers with attachments that allow you to create your own. I love tahini so much, and it’s such a small part of most of my recipes that I just use the best organic tahini I can find, even though I’m trying to eat a mostly raw and living food diet.

Eat immediately!

Serves 2.

Kitchen tips: To cleanup I added about half a cup of water to the blender jug (no soap, just water) and blended on high until most of the remains had been ‘water blasted’ off the sides of the jug.

Zoe loves Vegan Vanilla Ice Cream

I poured this ‘vanilla banana milk’ into a bowl for my dogs and Zoe loved it! She lapped up every last drop and came to see if there was more of this yummy stuff left.

Zoe works hard, her day-job is in excavation. It’s hot, thirsty work. A cool, thirst-quenching treat like this is just the thing after a hard day’s work.

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Espresso Non-Dairy Ice Cream

My very favorite ice cream is coffee ice cream, and nothing else even comes close. Not only is it very difficult (read: impossible) to find good coffee ice cream in the shops here in New Zealand, but now that I’m not eating dairy, ice cream is off the menu… or is it? NO! Because there is a healthy, delicious, non-dairy, non-soy alternative. And it takes about as long to make as it takes to get a tub of ice cream from the freezer and serve it up. But the best part is, it’s so healthy, it’s virtually guilt-free.

I love this non-dairy ice cream, in all it’s variations, so much I don’t think I’d be satisfied going back to eating ice cream made from dairy.

Ingredients:
1 ripe banana
3 frozen bananas
1/4 cup brewed & cooled espresso
1 tablespoon coffee chicory essence
1 tablespoon honey or agave syrup
1/2 teas vanilla extract (optional)

Instructions:
Break bananas into pieces and add to blender. Add all other ingredients and blend on low until until the banana starts becoming smooth, then turn the speed up until thoroughly blended.

If you brew the espresso earlier in the day, or save some from your morning coffee you can make this delicious treat in about 5 minutes for dinner or lunch. In fact, it’s you can still make a nice cold dessert even if the espresso is still warm.

Many health experts argue that coffee is actually healthy because of the high level of antioxidants it contains. As much as I’d like to believe that I know from my own experience that coffee is addictive and too much is definitely not good, for my body at least. But I love it all the same.

If you don’t like coffee, or are trying to give up, you could use a healthy coffee substitute instead. Roasted chicory is one option, but I’ve also seen, though not yet tried, roasted maca root. Raw maca has a sweet, rich, malty flavor which I imagine is enhanced by the roasting, so I’d certainly love to try some! Both chicory and maca are very nutritious and healthy in their raw state. Roasting, like all forms of cooking will destroy some of the nutrients, including vital enzymes. But it’s a trade-off if you feel coffee is not good for you. The caffeine in coffee can certainly have a detrimental effect if you tend towards insomnia.

This is a great raw vegan ice cream recipe to use as a starter and just play around with the ingredients to create a delicious concoction of your own. What variations have you come up with? Leave a comment and let me know.

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Apple Cinnamon Chia Pudding

Chia seeds are an exceptional superfood, they are so full of goodness. I’ve had some around for a while and I’ve been using them in smoothies and just eating them dry. I also tried adding a tablespoon to a glass of water and drinking the resulting gel, which was wonderful and refreshing. But I really wanted to do something more with them, I wanted to use them in as a main ingredient in a dish. So I went searching online for recipes and came across a video called “Chiary Pudding” by Kate Magic.

Inspired by Kate’s recipe and all the great things she says about chia, I put my chia seeds on to soak the next morning and came up with my own chia creation that afternoon using ingredients I had at hand. Just before I was going to put the pudding mix into the mould, Suzi (a.k.a. The Constant Gardener) came in from the garden with a handful of the first strawberries of the season. Perfect timing! They really gave the chia pudding an extra lift. Here’s my recipe, along with the video that inspired it and the notes I took from the video.

Ingredients:

1 cup chia seeds
3 cups water
2 small, or one medium apple, peeled, cored and quartered
4 tablespoons water (or as needed, for the applesauce)
2 tablespoons honey or agave syrup
1 tablespoon mesquite
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon camu camu
pinch of Celtic or Himalayan salt
2 tablespoons bee pollen
fruit to garnish, such as berries, grapes, mandarin slices

Instructions:

1. Soak the chia seeds in 3 cups of water for 4-6 hours in a mixing bowl.
2. Blend apple, honey, cinnamon, camu camu, and salt together until it’s the texture of applesauce. Add a bit of water as needed to get the right consistency, I used 4 tablespoons of water, but depending on the apples and blender you use you might get by with less.
3. Add the applesauce mixture to the mixing bowl with the soaked chia seeds and mix together thoroughly. If you have enough fresh fruit you can mix it in as well.
   

   Mixing applesauce into soaked chia seeds

4. Turn the apple-chia mixture out into a silicon mould, or a glass pie plate
5. Sprinkle with bee pollen and garnish with fruit. I used slices of strawberry and grapes to garnish.
   

   Apple Cinnamon Chia Pudding ready to eat

6. Refrigerate or serve immediately.
   

   Apple Cinnamon Chia Pudding ready to eat

Here’s the video that inspired it all!

Recipe from the video:

1 cup chia seeds to 3 cups water (Soak for 4-8 hours and it becomes quite stiff)
1/2 cup mesquite
1 T camu camu
1 T tahini
1 T agave
1 teas suma
250 g strawberries (optional)
Bee Pollen

Mix all everything except the strawberries and bee pollen together. Add in the strawberries and mix them through.

Put into a mould (silicon moulds are good), sprinkle bee pollen on top, and put it into the fridge to set so you can cut it like a jelly, or you can eat it immediately.

Variations – add:

• Lucuma
• Cacao
• Berries

Makes a lovely, quick pudding that’s really sustaining, filling and energizing. Good source of essential fatty acids and good source of energy. Very uplifting and energizing.

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Banana Blueberry Ice Dream

I was craving something sweet at night, but I wanted to stay on my raw food diet because I feel so much better on it. Fortunately I’d put some bananas in the freezer a couple of days earlier so whipping up this cold, creamy dessert took a matter of minutes and was a big hit. Even the dogs loved licking the bowl! One of the things I love most about a raw food diet is that you get to eat such satisfying desserts and you don’t have to feel bad… in mind or body. There are few things that are as simple, quick and easy to make as a raw vegan ice cream recipe, so these are a good way to introduce kids to raw foods and preparing them.

Ingredients:
1 ripe banana
3 frozen bananas
1-2 handfuls of blueberries (fresh or frozen)
1/2 teas natural vanilla essence
Raw Agave syrup to drizzle on top (optional)

Instructions:

1. Break the un-frozen banana into roughly quarters and put into blender.
2. Break or cut the frozen bananas into roughly quarters (smaller chunks if you have a whimpy blender) and put into blender.
3. Add blueberries and vanilla essence to blender.
4. Blend on the lowest speed until creamy. If you have a ‘pulse’ function you can use that until the frozen banana chunks have been broken up.
5. Spoon into serving bowls and drizzle with agave syrup to taste.

Makes 2-3 servings

Tip:
To freeze bananas, peel firm but ripe bananas and put them whole into a plastic ziplock bag. Seal the bag most of the way, then squeeze as much air out of the bag as you can and finish sealing the bag. This helps to prevent ice crystals from forming. Pop them in the freezer and that’s it. Once frozen they are ready to use when you want and besides making a delicious, guilt-free ice dreamy dessert they are great for adding to smoothies.

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Slow Cooker Baked Chocolate Zucchini Cake

We’ve still got an overabundance of zucchini from the garden and while trying to come up with new ways to use it all I stumbled upon baking… in a crock pot. I never would have thought this would work, but I’m so glad it does. With a slow cooker (a.k.a. crock pot) you don’t have to keep an eye on it like you do with an oven. You just pour the batter in, go off to do something else and come back 2 hours later – ideal! The cake is moist and divine… well, what dish with chocolate is not divine?

If you have a really large crockpot, just double this recipe.

Ingredients:
1/4 cup oil
1/2 cup soft brown sugar (if you can find rapadura sugar it’s the best)
2 small eggs
1/2 teas natural vanilla essence
4 T yogurt
1-1/4 cup wholewheat flour
2 T cocoa
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp mixed spice (or nutmeg)
2 cups grated zucchini
2 T dried cranberries (optional)

Instructions:
Mix oil and sugar in a bowl until the sugar is dissolved. Add the eggs beat until creamy looking. Mix in the vanilla and yogurt.

Sift the flour, cocoa, baking soda & salt into the mixing bowl, then add spices. Mix just enough to combine the wet and dry ingredients. Add the grated zucchini and cranberries and mix it through the batter. I find it easiest to do by hand.

Turn the crockpot on high and spray the inside with spray on oil, then line it with non-stick baking paper. The baking paper will stick to the sprayed on oil.

Slow Cooker Chocolate Zucchini Cake Is Done!

Pour the batter into the prepared slow cooker, cover and cook on HIGH for 2 hours or until a skewer inserted into the center comes out clean. Depending on your crockpot it may take anywhere from 90 minutes to 2-1/2 hours to cook. Once you learn how long your slow cooker takes you can just leave it to cook and come back after that time to remove it. No need to keep checking like you need to with a conventional oven.

When the cake is cooked, remove the lid and lift out the crock. Be careful it will be hot. Leave it to cool for 20-30 minutes, by that time you should be able to touch the crock without burning yourself. Turn the crock upside down over a wire cooling rack and the cake should easily fall out. After the cake cools completely you can store it in the fridge for a few days – if it lasts that long! It’s nice eaten warm, but the flavor improves after a day in the fridge.

COOK’S TIP:
To line the slow cooker with baking paper…
Take a sheet of baking paper and lid on it. Using the lid of the slow cooker as a guide, trace a line all the way around the lid and trace another line about 2 inches away from the lid all the way around. Use scissors to cut the paper at the OUTER circle. Then make lots of cuts from the outside edge toward the center, stopping at the inner circle. Spray the inside of the crock (bowl) with oil. Now place this cut paper into the crock (bowl) and smooth it out over the bottom and up the sides. If necessary, cut a strip of paper to fit upright against the sides to cover the cut strips and make a smoother surface. You can reuse this paper for several batches of cakes.

Here are some photos, which might help to explain it a bit better:

Step 1: Trace the lid. Trace all around the lid, then draw another line about 2 inches outside of the lid.

Step 2: Make the cuts. Make the cuts from the outside edge, toward the center. Make the cut from the outer line to the inner line.

Then just cut a strip of paper to stand upright and wrap around the inside of the bowl, covering the cut strips. This way it’s really easy to re-use the baking paper for another cake.

Related products you might be interested in:

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Healthy Zucchini Muffin Recipe

Ingredients:
3 eggs
1 cup vegetable oil
1 cup soft brown sugar
3 cups grated zucchini
2 teas vanilla
1-1/2 cup wholemeal flour
1-1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 teas salt
1 teas baking soda
1 teas baking powder
1 T ground cinnamon
1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans (optional)

Instructions:
Beat eggs until light and foamy; add vegetable oil, sugar, zucchini and vanilla. Mix lightly but blend thoroughly.

Mix together the remaining dry ingredients, except nuts until they are thoroughly blended.

Add the dry ingredients to the first mixture, stir just enough to blend everything together. Stir in walnuts.

Spoon the batter into lightly oiled muffin tins, filling 3/4 of the muffin cup. Bake at 175C (325F) for about 20 minutes or until done. To check if they are done, insert a clean toothpick, skewer or wooden matchstick into the center of a muffin. If it comes out clean, they’re done.

Healthy Zucchini Muffin Recipe

Cool and serve. Can be refrigerated for a few days (the flavor seems even nicer the next day), eaten warm from the oven, or wrap and freeze them.

Makes 24 small muffins.

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Ingredients:
4-5 cooking apples, peeled and sliced
1/2 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
1/2 cup flour (leave out for wheat free version)
3/4 cup rolled oats
1 teas ground nutmeg
1 teas ground cinnamon
4 T butter, softened

Directions:
Lightly butter the crockpot and lay the apple slices at the bottom of the crock. Combine the sugar, flour, rolled oats, nutmeg and cinnamon, and cut in the butter. Sprinkle the topping over the base of apples. Cook on low or auto for 3-5 hours.

Wheat Free Variation:
I’ve also made this without the flour and it still turned out perfect. It was quite by accident that I left the flour out, but my wheat allergy was starting to come back, so it’s good to find another delicious gluten free dish.

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