Portugal so far... plus chocolate recipe with a quirky ingredient!
Hello! I am at Merkaba in the mountains of Northern Portugal! If you follow me on Facebook or Instagram you will already know all about this! i decided to treat myself to a month long birthday present so deeper my own inner journey and spiritual growth.. you'll find more on all that over on the mindset blog.
I am here for the entire month of May (well just over 3.5 weeks) and am settling into community life. It is an incredible space... and the view is stunning! That said we did have ten full days of torrential rain- though luckily out of the other side of that now. Sunshine looks set for the rest of my stay! The rain was a great teacher and afforded me much thinking space.
Check out the amazing Kitchen space! This is where I have been unleashing some creativity :-)
I'm off to join the yoga class on the bus deck shortly (yes the deck next to a converted double decker bus!) and so will leave you with a quick recipe (and some extra food pics)!
One of the guys cooked up way to too much couscous so I tried tho think of as many ways to use it as possible.... these chocolate bars were a huge hit! You could use any grain really- I would typically go for quinoa as a more nutritious and gluten free option. Or how about millet of amaranth?
.... apologies for photo quality. I only had my phone an the lighting was not too great!
Recipe: Chocolate cous-cous snack bars
Ingredients;
- 2 cups cooked cous-cous (or other grain- see notes above)
- 1/3 cup peanut butter (crunchy is good for added texture)
- 1 cup chopped dates (with 1/4 cup hot water to partly soften them*)
- 1/4 cup melted coconut oil
- 1 cup soaked seeds (I used sunflower and pumpkin)
- 1/2 cup raw cacao powder
- 1/4 cup coconut sugar if needed- adjust to taste)
- 1/2 cup cocoa nibs (mixed through or press on top)
- chocolate drizzle- optional (cacao coconut oil and coconut sugar)
Method:
Blend the peanut butter, coconut oil and soaked dates (I softened my dates simply the processor here is very basic).
Stir all remaining ingredients together then add the wet 'paste'. Stir/mash evenly to coat fully then press into a lined brownie sized tin. I added a little chocolate drizzle to decorate
Firm up in the fridge before slicing into squares.
Here is a little teaser to some other meals I've been enjoying here...
Al food is plant based and organic as far as possible. Much of it is also raw, so I've been trying out loads of raw nut and seed based sauces, I really want to share this one of mine with the gang soon! Also lots of decadently healthy raw desserts. For my first two weeks here Tracy from Raw Happy was here- she is a raw food chef and also amazing yoga teacher and cooked up some incredible meals and treats of us all.
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I made this oat crumble as a surprise 'bressert' for my boyfriend last weekend. His favourite fruit is rhubarb and I had a few stalks in the garden that I wanted to use up. I wanted a super healthy breakfast crumble that was indulgent enough for dessert (hence bressert).
I had planned for this to be enough to last us for breakfast ABD dessert late in the day.... but we ate it all for breakfast.