This recipe was inspired two very lovely patients of mine. Not once, but twice in the last 2 weeks they have given me a (much appreciated) gift of ‘raweos’ purchased from the local farmers market, on the condition that I ‘reverse engineer them’ and share the recipe. This is my attempt and whilst they do not taste exactly like the ones I was given, they are pretty tasty nevertheless. Unless of course you don’t like the sound of a raw fudge biscuit, then these are not for you. 🙂

Makes 15-18 ‘Raweos’

Ingredients

‘Biscuit’

• 150g almonds
• 50g pecans or other nuts
• 75g activated buckwheat. I used loving earth activated buckinis
• 4 medjool dates pitted
• 1 teaspoon pink Himalayan salt
• 2-4 tablespoons of raw cacao (to taste)
• 50g Coconut oil
• 50g cacao butter

Filling

• 80g activated almonds, soaked for a minimum of 2 hours in filtered water
• 4 medjool dates, pitted

Well I hope you all had a great holiday and new year’s! I wanted to make the maple pumpkin cookies I had made for Thanksgiving, for my cousin and her family since they were in India at the time. I took out all the ingredients ready to make my first dessert of 2014 except the pumpkin puree had gone bad. We were already in the mood to have cookies and I had taken all the ingredients out. My cousin told me to come up with something, I did a little research and decided to just experiment with other ingredients I could add.

I added milk, a little bit more maple syrup, walnuts and raw chocolate chips.

It made 6 whoopie pie size cookies, but could get more smaller size cookies.

I was afraid on how they would turn out in taste, but they were actually pretty good. I had mine…

Gosh, two weeks into January already! How time flies. How is everyone doing on their goals for the New Year? Hopefully if you have made resolutions then they’re healthy and realistic .

I like to think I eat pretty well most of the time but finding what makes me feel best is definitely a journey. If you’ve been reading you’ll know that I’ve been eschewing sugar and sweeteners of any kind for some time now.  I don’t think this will be a permanent change (at least I hope not!) but it has given me the opportunity to assess how much I was eating and realize that, even if the sugar was of the “healthy” kind and a lot of it from fruit, that amount wasn’t working for my body. Some people thrive on lots of fruit but I’ve been feeling better eating more savoury foods and a greater amount of…

My boss told me in culinary school he had a project that involved him having to make dishes traditional to South Africa. After doing a bit of research on African cuisine I realized they have this awesome tendency to use peanuts in their cooking. I’ve been meaning to try a Spicy Peanut Soup but haven’t gotten around to it yet…I don’t even really like soups…

Anyways, I think most of you may already know how plants don’t have complete proteins and being on a plant-based diet means you have to listen to your body and ensure you are getting enough of everything. I will get into the whole protein thing soon but for now, I will tell you that mixing grains and legumes gives your body the full 22 amino acids that make up complete proteins.

I used chickpeas today, because they are my favorite legume ever. Who the hell…

Sweet potatoes are just spectacular. They’re obviously..sweet…but with natural sugars that are released slowly into your bloodstream, preventing the jumps in blood sugar that screws with your insulin and makes you gain weight (definitely trying these in brownies!). Not only is that little tidbit awesome, but they are high in iron AND vitamin C, meaning that it is a one-stop shop for iron consumption and absorption (see Wonderful Watercress). It also has lots of vitamin D, which helps to stave off winter blues (if you’re anything like me, you are fatigued, unmotivated, mildly depressed and always at the brink of an existential crisis this time of year due to lack of sunlight and my wonderful plant lovers). They also have magnesium, which helps calm your ass down if you are stressed; and finally, they are high in potassium (an important electrolyte to regulate heartbeat, nerve signals, and kidney function)…