Coconut Frosting

By: Elna Botes van Schalkwyk

Vegan and Paleo Coconut Frosting

Coconut Cream Frosting: the Vegan way

1 cup coconut milk

1 cup agave nectar

pinch Himalayan sea salt

5 teaspoons arrowroot powder

1 tablespoon water

1¼ cup coconut oil

Method:

1. In a medium saucepan, heat coconut milk, agave and salt, simmer for 10 minutes

2. In a small bowl, combine arrowroot and water to form a smooth paste

3. Pour arrowroot mixture into saucepan

4. Whisk vigorously to combine, then bring to a boil, briefly, until shiny

5. Remove pot from heat and very gradually blend in coconut oil with a hand blender

6. Allow pot to cool for 10 minutes

7. Place pot in refrigerator for 45-120 minutes, until frosting solidifies and turns white

8. Remove from refrigerator and blend again with a hand blender, until fluffy.

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Coconut frosting: the Paleo way

1. Place a can of full fat coconut milk in the fridge overnight with the lid open. The coconut milk will thicken and separate from its water.

2. Scoop the solid coconut cream that forms on the top of the can and place it in a bowl. Be careful not to mix the solid coconut with the water in the bottom of the can.

3. Add one teaspoon vanilla extract and whip the coconut with a hand mixer until fluffy.

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Coconut frosting: the Pumpkin way

250 ml coconut milk

Coconut Frosting: The Pumpkin Way

¼ cup pumpkin (freshly roasted)

1 tbsp honey

½ tsp cinnamon

12 drops vanilla (crème stevia)

Put all the ingredients together in a bowl. With a hand mixer – whip until fluffy.

Coconut frosting: the rice milk way

⅔ Cup Organic Refined Coconut Oil, soft at room temperature

⅔ Cup Pure Honey

1 Teaspoon Pure Vanilla Extract

Pinch Fine Himalayan Salt

⅓ Cup Rice Milk Powder

1 Teaspoon Finely Ground Chia Seeds, optional

Method:

1. In a deep bowl with electric beaters, beat the coconut oil, maple syrup, vanilla and sea salt until combined.

2. Slowly sift in the soymilk powder and blend on low speed to incorporate. Then blend on high speed until the mixture becomes lighter–both in color and texture–and fluffy.

3. If it seems too soft to hold a peak, add the chia and beat to incorporate; let stand 2-5 minutes, then beat again before using.

Cookies a-la-Arthur

By: Elna Botes van Schalkwyk

Ingredients:

2 cups gluten free flour

Cookies a-la-Arthur

4-5 tbsp rice milk

1 tsp apple pie spice

2 tsp vanilla

¾ cup grated carob chunks (optional)

A pinch of Himalayan salt

Shredded coconut (optional)

Minced almond (optional)

Preparation:

• Preheat oven 350ºF/170ºC.
• Put everything, except the coconut, in a bowl and mix.
• Put spoon sized amounts on parchment lined baking sheet.
• Press down with fork, sprinkle with shredded coconut and lightly sprinkle each cookie with a very tiny amount of sea salt.
• Bake about 15-20 minutes or until golden brown.
• Enjoy! ♥

Tahini Balls

By: Elna Botes van Schalkwyk

Tahini Balls

Ingredients:
½ cup tahini (recipe on the blog)
½ cup almond flour
⅛ cup raw, organic honey
½ cup shredded coconut
3 tbs sesame seeds
¼ tsp Himalayan salt

Method:
1) Combine all ingredients, (apart from the sesame seeds) into a bowl and mix well.
2) Roll mixture into 12 balls, rolling each in the sesame seeds.
3) Place into an airtight container and put into the fridge.
Enjoy! ♥

Makes: 12 Balls

Quinoa-Mango Pudding

By: Esther Vasa

Ingredients:

Quinoa-Mango Pudding

Quinoa - 1 cup
Water - 2 cups
Almond Milk - 3 cups (or more if you like the pudding runny)
Mango Bits - 1/4th cup (Dehydrated or Fresh)
Cinnamon - 1/2 tsp
Coconut Sugar - 1/4th cup (or equivalent sweetener of your choice)
Himalayan Salt - 1/4th tsp

Preparation:

• Wash quinoa thoroughly at least twice, changing water each time.
• Add water, almond milk and salt to quinoa and bring it to a boil.
• Then, simmer on low until well cooked.
• Add coconut sugar and mix thoroughly. If you like your pudding sweeter, adjust coconut sugar at this point.
• Finally, add cinnamon powder and mango bits. Mix well.
• Serve hot or cold. Enjoy!

Butterless Fruit Muffins

By: Elna Botes van Schalkwyk

Ingredients:

200g blueberries (or any other fruit of your choice)

Fruit Muffins

200g gluten free flour

2 tsp gf baking powder

Sweetener of your choice to taste

175ml silk-, almond- or rice milk

2 eggs or 2 tsps egg substitute

150 ml extra virgin olive oil

A pinch of nutmeg (optional)

A pinch of Himalayan salt

½ tsp of nice quality vanilla extract

Method:

• Sift the flour and baking powder into the sugar.
• In a jug, or separate bowl whisk the milk, egg, oil, nutmeg and vanilla extract together until smooth.
• Poke a well in the centre of the flour mixture.
• Pour the liquid mixture into the well whilst beating quickly and lightly until smooth.
• Cover the bowl with cling film (plastic wrap) and stick it in the fridge for at least an hour.
• Preheat the oven to 180ºC/350ºF.
• Line a muffin tin with paper .
• Take the bowl out of the fridge and ladle the mixture into the muffin cases, making sure you fill it to ¾ full otherwise you'll have really small muffins.
• Wash and dry the blueberries, and distribute them evenly over the tops of the muffins. Yes they're meant to just sit on top because they have a tendency to sink!
• Bake for 30 minutes or so, or until risen and golden brown. Cool on a wire rack until they're not scalding and dig in whilst they're still hot!
• Enjoy! ♥

Healthy Chocolate Chip Cookies with Avocado

By: Elna Botes van Schalkwyk

Ingredients:

Chocolate Chip Cookies with Avocado

½ Cup avocado (approximately one avocado)

Sweetener of your choice

1 Egg or 1 tsp. egg substitute

1 tsp vanilla

1 Cup gluten free flour

1 tsp baking soda

¼ tsp Himalayan salt

1 Cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (or unsweetened to remove all sugar)

½ Cup chopped pecans

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 290ºF/145ºC. Line cookie sheet with parchment paper or lightly grease.
• Remove avocado from skin and place in mixer. Mix on medium until slightly lumpy. Add sweetener and mix on high until smooth. Add egg and vanilla and mix until combined.
• In small bowl mix together baking soda, flour, and salt. Slowly add to wet ingredients. Mix on medium until well combined. Add chocolate chips and pecans and mix till evenly combined.
• Scoop one tablespoon of dough per cookie and place on cookie sheet one inch apart. If you want flatter cookies you can use the back of a spoon to flatten them out. Bake for 15-18 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool.
• Makes 24 cookies. Dig in and enjoy! ♥

Chocolate Fudge

By: Shannon Veilleux Tripp

Ingredients:

Chocolate Fudge

1 cup cocoa powder
1 cup soaked walnuts or any nuts you prefer
1 cup coconut oil, divided
3/4th cup coconut sugar
1/4th cup raw honey (or just use coconut sugar)
1 stick Ceylon Cinnamon
Big pinch Himalayan Salt

Method:

• Melt 1/2 cup coconut oil (but you wouldn't have to heat it too long since it melts at 76 degrees F. I bet placing a cup of it inside a bowl of warm water would do the trick. Set aside.
• Place the other 1/2 cup coconut oil (still solid) into your blender with the cocoa, carob, walnuts, cinnamon stick, coconut sugar and the honey.
• Carefully add the melted coconut oil and pulse a few times until smooth (but don't over do it.)
• Line a bread pan with parchment paper or plastic wrap, pour the fudge in, chill it in the fridge until solid.
• Makes 12-15 squares according to the recipe.
• Now that is some expensive and delicious fudge!

Almond Orange Cookies

By: Desiree Paramo

Almond Orange Cookies

Ingredients:

Almond flour - 1 cup

Dried Grated coconut - 1/4th cup

Orange Zest

Honey - 1/4th cup or equivalent sweetener

Coconut Oil - 2 tbsp (melted)

Method:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Mix all the dry ingredients together.
• Make a well in the center and pour all the remaining ingredients. Stir well.
• Roll the dough into balls in your hands and press gently down on a greased cookie sheet. These do not spread or puff up and so the cookies are just going to be of the same size and shape as you see.
• Bake for 10 minutes, or until they are just turning golden. Do not overbake!

Healthy Energy Balls

By: Elna Botes van Schalkwyk

Ingredients:

Healthy Energy Balls

Ten dates
One cup of raw pecans
Heaping teaspoon of cocoa powder
Dried coconut shreds
Raw cashews
Goji berries

Directions:

• Soak the dates in water. If you think to do this an hour or more in advance, it's fine to use room temperature water. If you're pressed for time and only have a few minutes for soaking, use hot water. The idea is to soften the dates so that they are easily blended into a soft paste.
• Measure out a cup of raw pecans and put them in a food processor. A strong blender might also work, but for this recipe, a food processor works best.
• If you have trouble digesting nuts, soak them in water overnight, strain, and dry with a towel before proceeding.
• Process pecans on low or using a pulse setting until they're nicely ground. You don't want to make pecan butter here - you're looking for nicely ground pecans.
• Add a heaping teaspoon of quality cocoa powder. If you don't enjoy chocolate, it's fine to skip this step.
• Blend or pulse for another few seconds to bring ground nuts and cocoa powder together.
• Add six soaked and mildly crushed dates to the mix. It's best to add a little water to this recipe to create proper texture.
• A good way to add just enough, but not too much water is to lightly shake the dates as you get them out of their bowl of water, give them a gentle mush with your fingers, and add them slightly wet to the ground pecans.
• Process on low or use the pulse setting until the dates and pecans become together into one mass.
• You want the texture to be such that you can pinch off teaspoon-size chunks and roll them up with your palms into bite-size balls. If need be, add another mashed up date or two, but always be conservative in adding extra dates, as once the mixture gets too moist, it's very difficult to fix by adding more nuts.
• For some variety, roll balls in dried coconut, cocoa powder, and consider adding raw nuts and dried berries on top before serving.

Quick Energy Bites

By: Esther Vasa

This recipe is an inspired recipe and the original recipe was shared by someone on the internet and they called it "No Bake Energy Bites". I am not sure whom to give the credit but all I can say is that the recipe is a winner! I made some modifications and here is how I tried it and we all liked it.

Quick Energy Bites - No Sesame

Ingredients:

Oatmeal - 1 cup

Ground Flaxseed - 1/2 cup (You could use ground nuts or 1/4th cup flax and 1/4th cup nuts of your choice, if you prefer)

Dessicated Coconut - 1/4th cup

Peanut Butter or any other nut butter - 1/2 cup

Honey - 1/3rd cup

Dark Chocolate Chips - 1/2 cup

Pinch of Himalayan Salt

Cinnamon Powder - 1 tsp

Sesame seeds - about 1/2 cup for rolling the bites (optional)

With Sesame and Melted Chocolate Chips

Preparation:

• Preheat oven to 350F and lightly toast oatmeal for 10 minutes.
• Mix all the ingredients thoroughly and make your bites as shown in the picture next to the ingredient listing.
• Then roll them in sesame seeds, if you like and they will look like the picture on the right.

Enjoy! ♥

Jackfruit Pudding

By: Esther Vasa

To understand the full health benefits of jackfruit, please check yesterday's blogpost: Health Benefits of Jackfruit.

Ingredients:

Water - 1/4 cup

Jackfruit Pudding

Chia Seeds - 1 tbsp

Frozen Bananas - 2

Frozen De-seeded Jackfruit Bulbs - 6

Goji Berries - 1 tbsp

Aronia Berries - 1 tbsp

Bilberries - 1 tbsp

Dark Chocolate Chips or Carob Chips for topping

Preparation:

Put all the ingredients in a power blender in the order specified except the toppings. Blend until smooth. Top it off with dark chocolate chips or carob chips. Alternately, you could just use raw cacao nibs to make it totally raw. Enjoy!

Cranberry Quinoa Softcake

By: Esther Vasa

Ingredients:
For Cooking Quinoa
Quinoa - 1/2 cup
Water - 1.5 cups
Himalayan Salt - a pinch

Cranberry Quinoa Softcake

For Cake Mixture:
Flaxseeds - 1 tsp
Medium Sized Bananas - 3
Almond Milk - 1/3rd cup
Baking Powder - 1 tsp
Cranberries - 1/2 cup
Cinnamon Powder - 1 tsp
Ginger Powder - 1/2 tsp
Eggs - 3 or Egg Whites
Extra Virgin Olive oil - 2 tbsp

For Sauce:
Maple Syrup - 1 tbsp
Juice of 1/2 lime or lemon
Cranberries - a handful

Preparation:

• Thoroughly wash quinoa using cold water, rinsing quinoa seeds and by changing the water at least twice.
• Cook quinoa using the ingredients from "For Cooking Quinoa". Fluff and let cool.
• Blend cooked quinoa with all the ingredients listed under "For Cake Mixture" except cranberries.
• Bake at 350F for 1 hour 15 minutes or even more if you like the top layer to be crispier.
• Serve it as is and enjoy with almond milk. Or prepare the sauce by whisking the ingredients listed for "For Sauce" and topping the quinoa softcake with the sauce. Remember, the inside of this cake will be soft and moist while the outside is crispier giving the feel of biting into a slice of quiche.
• Enjoy!

Variations:
If you like your cake sweeter, add more bananas or just a few dates while blending. You can use any berries you have on hand. Works great with bilberries, blueberries or gojiberries too. Enjoy!

Homemade Righteously Raw Chocolate

By: Esther Vasa

I have recently come to love my "Righteously Raw 90% Cacao Bar" treats every now and then. After realizing how pricey it was and is, I resolved to make this at home. It is so much cheaper when you make it at home and you are very sure of what goes into each bar. It is a brainy food that is homemade, purely organic, righteously raw and simply delicious. 

My first try

The first time I made it, I just put all the ingredients in a food processor and the chocolate bar had a lot of texture to it. The picture on the side shows how my first bars looked like. The second time, I made it slightly differently and the recipe below shows the steps I took for my second try. If you want to take the easy route, simply put all the ingredients in a food processor or Vitamix or any other power blender and allow the bars to set in the refrigerator and cut them however you like. You may have some bits of cacao nibs and cacao butter and/or berries here and there but that may be just how you like your chocolate. Experiment and see how you like it better.

Ingredients:

Dried Goji Berries - 1/2 cup

Dried Bilberries - 1/2 cup

Raw Cacao Nibs - 1 cup

Raw Cacao Butter - 1 cup (Grated)

Pink Himalayan Salt - a big pinch
Dates - 6

Lime/Lemon/Orange Zest - 1 tsp (optional)

Homemade Righteously Raw Chocolate
Ready to sit and set in refrigerator

Preparation:

• Using a dry mixer (I used Vitamix 32oz dry container), blend goji berries and bilberries together and set aside.
• Then, in the same dry blender, blend cacao nibs with salt and zest and set aside.
• Grate a cup of raw cacao butter in a box grater and set aside.
• In a Vitamix wet container or a food processor, blend or process the powdered berries, cacao nibs and grated cacao butter until smooth. In a vitamix, you can blend for a few minutes and the warmth melts the cacao butter and gives the needed consistency. It should be fine with a food processor as well.
• Transfer into a pie tray, press tightly and make some cut marks using a knife or a pizza cutter. This way you can pull out the pieces when the "Righteously Raw Chocolate" is well set.
• Store this in refrigerator in an air tight container and enjoy a piece when you need a chocolate fix or just an antioxidant punch. Enjoy!
• PS: I get all my ingredients from nuts.com. I have no interest in the company nor am I promoting their products. I just want to share with you all as to where you can get all the ingredients if you are interested in trying it.

Variations:

You can make this using any berries like acai or chokeberries or mulberries. Also, you can add maca and any other ingredients you wish to add.

Chia-Berry Pudding

By: Esther Vasa
To understand the benefits of chia seeds, please check the blogpost on chia seeds by Elna!

Ingredients:
Chia Seeds - 1 tbsp
Water - 1/3rd cup
Blueberries/Blackberries/Strawberries/Raspberries - 1 cup
Sliced Banana or Apple
Ginger and Cinnamon powders per your taste


Method:

1. Freeze berries overnight.
2. Soak up chia seeds in 1/3rd cup water for 4 hours or until they are fully hydrated.
3. Blend the frozen berries and chia seeds in a power blender.
4. Add sliced banana or apple.
5. Generously sprinkle cinnamon and ginger powder.
6. This is a yummy treat packed with many nutrients!

Jerusalem Toffees

By: Elna Botes van Schalkwyk

• Preheat oven to 225ºF/110ºC.
• Arrange dried whole dates in a baking dish and place in the oven for 30 - 45 minutes, or until the outside of the dates becomes slightly hard. If you'd like them to be a little chewier, increase the temperature to 275ºF/135ºC for the last 5 - 10 minutes.
• Remove from oven and remove to a plate to cool. Eat warm from the oven or cool and store in an airtight container for a snack.

Enjoy! ♥

Gluten Free/Casein Free cut-out Christmas Cookies

By: Elna Botes van Schalkwyk

 

Ingredients:

• 300 g/10 ounces unsalted butter (or Nut Butter or Earth Balance for CF) at room temperature
• 1 cup sugar (I replace the sugar with ⅓ cup Xylitol)
• Pinch of Himalayan salt
• 4 large egg yolks at room temperature
• 1 t grated lemon zest or lemon juice
• 1 t vanilla (I use organic Bourbon vanilla powder)
• 3 cups Gluten Free Bread or Pizza Flour Mix

 

Preparation:

• In your electric mixer, beat butter, sugar/xylitol and Himalayan salt until creamy.
• Beat in egg yolks, lemon and vanilla.
• On slow speed, beat in the flour one cup at a time until just combined.
• Divide dough into three equal parts, flatten into disc, wrap separately in wax paper and refrigerate until firm, at least 30 minutes.
• When ready to bake, preheat oven to 180ºC/350ºF.
• Flour the work surface and your rolling pin with rice flour and roll out one disk at a time to ⅛ inch thickness. The dough will break up a little bit on the first roll, but then becomes very easy to work with. On the other end, the dough will be hard to work with after it warms up too much, so keep extras in the refrigerator until you are ready to use.
• Cut into desired shapes with cookie cutters.
• With a metal spatula, transfer to a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.
• Depending on the size, makes around 40 cookies.
• Bake 10 – 12 minutes, until lightly golden. Cool on parchment.

 

Optional for Christmas: Ice with powdered Xylitol Frost.

Healthy Walnut Cookies

By: Elna Botes van Schalkwyk

Ingredients:
2 Cups walnuts
⅛ cup raw, unfiltered honey (more or less to taste)
1 tablespoon cinnamon
2 egg whites, whisked till frothy
A pinch of Himalayan salt

Preparation:

Grind nuts and cinnamon in blender or food processor. Stir in honey.
Combine with egg whites. Drop by teaspoon on oiled cookie sheet. Bake at
350ºF/180ºC for 15 minutes. Cookies will be soft; do not overbake. Makes 15
cookies.

Enjoy! ♥

Thanx to Patti Vincent for this nice cookie recipe!

Paleo Almond Cookies

By: Elna Botes van Schalkwyk

Ingredients:

2 cups almonds, soaked 24-48 hours, changing soak water every 12 hours, and

final soaking water discarded

5-6 pitted dates (more if you like a really sweet cookie)

1 cup unsweetened shredded dried coconut

Pinch of Himalayan salt

alcohol free almond extract

Preparation:

Chop almonds in food processor, and slowly add dates one at a time. I usually run my almonds first through the homogenizer plate of my Champion Juicer, so that the slurry comes out more like a paste rather than a meal. If you only have a blender or food processor, then add a little bit of apple cider or apple juice (don't go overboard). It will make your "batter" sticky, which is easier to handle. Careful not to add too much liquid, or your batter won't hold together.

Add remaining ingredients to batter. Using a tablespoon, turn cookies onto teflex sheet of dehydrator. If you don't have a teflex sheet (its what you use when making fruit leathers), then use either a sheet of plastic type

saran wrap, or wax paper. Dry 4-6 hours, at 95 degrees, depending on how chewy or moist you like your cookies. Flip cookies over and dry on regular drying sheet for additional 4-6 hours at 95 degrees.

Enjoy! ♥

Thanx to Judo Genova for this healthy Paleo cookie recipe!

Crunchy Nut Rolls

By: Esther Vasa

After enjoying those "Pure Delish" gluten-free vegan nuts, I purposed in my heart to make my own.

Ingredients:
- 3 cups of mixed nuts crushed in a food processor (I used almonds-walnuts-cashew)
- 3/4th cup of jaggery or coconut sugar
- 1/4th tsp of himalayan salt or celtic sea salt
- 2 tsp of raw honey (to bind)
- 2 tsp of organic vanilla extract
- 1 tbsp of olive oil

Preparation:
Preheat the oven to 250F. Just mix all the above ingredients in a large bowl. Spread evenly in a greased baking tray. Let this bake for 30-40 minutes. Switch off the oven and allow the nuts to set. You could cut into cubes or when lukewarm roll the "Crunchy Nut Rolls" as shown in the picture. Its a treat to the young and the old alike. Enjoy!

Bananas Foster

By: Elna Botes van Schalkwyk

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons raw, unsalted butter or nut-butter of your choice
• sweetener of your choice
• 1 tablespoon milk
• 1/8 teaspoon Ground Cinnamon
• 1/8 teaspoon Ground Nutmeg
• 2 bananas, sliced
• 2 tablespoons organic red wine – free from sulphur dioxides

Procedure:

• Pre-heat oven to 140ºC.
• Combine butter, sweetener, milk and seasonings. Cook until melted and bubbly.
• Stir in bananas and wine.
• Put in pre-heated oven for a couple of minutes.

Baked Apple Wedges

By: Elna Botes van Schalkwyk

Ingredients:
3 green apples, pitted and quartered
Sweetener of your choice (optional)
2 tablespoons water
1½ teaspoons Ground Cinnamon
3 tablespoons unsalted real raw butter (If you're not lactose intolerant)

Procedure:
Place apples in baking dish. Combine the other ingredients (except butter), mixing well; pour over apples. Dot with butter. Cover and bake 350ºF/180ºC for 30 minutes.

Enjoy! ♥