My top #Rawgust meal ideas & raw banana bread recipe!

It's coming up to the end of the month. The end of August.... and therefore the end of #Rawgust

I didn't announce it directly on my blog (kept that to social media) but I made the decision on the last day of their life to give Raugust a go - that's raw vegan for the month of August. My boyfriend was also up for playing along which helped!

I felt very unprepared and aware that it may not run perfectly or smoothly but that's ok. It was the spontaneity that spoke to me in the moment when I saw a post by the Ethcs crew that I really resonated with.

Having spent time at Raw Fest on the last weekend of July, and more recently exploring the connection between a plant-based diet and our innate sense of creativity for my forthcoming book, I am learning that a raw vegan diet has the potential to bring you even closer to that connection with self, with source, with nature.

My good friend Rhiannon Van Der Griffin recently shared her raw journey with me a part of my book research and I was inspired more than ever to try it for myself. 

In moments like this I come back to this quote by Matt Cutts. It's simply about getting curious to explore what becoming the very best version of you could look like. For 30 days.

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So how did the month play out for me?

NOTE: more in depth update in this post!

Well, I admit I wasn't perfect. I wasn't 100% raw. Probably about 85% in reality. 

One of the biggest reasons for wanting to do it, was to increase my repertoire of raw meal ideas for the future, and that I did for sure. In particular, raw sauces, dips and dressings for salads can REALLY make a salad.... it doesn't often matter what veggies you have in the bowl if you have an incredible sauce to smoother them in, right? ;-) Make enough for the week and you have easy meals lunches you can make in moments. 

I am going to put together a separate post sharing a big roundup of raw recipes from a vegan community I am part of, but for now I'd like to share a few of my favourite discoveries and tips.

I'd also love to hear about your own 'raw' adventures...

Whether that might simply be incorporating a green smoothie each day, or a raw lunch Monday to Friday, or more raw snacks. It's not about hitting 100% perfect, what works for you?

Have you felt any benefits going more 'raw'? Or what are you currently struggling with?

My favourite things to make...

• Raw sauces etc (as noted above) - make a weeks worth.

• Deyhdrated flax crackers which are great as a snack in the go, as cracker as a 'bread substitute' and also as croutons in a salad when sliced into tiny squares- recipe here

• Bliss Balls are also an obvious go-to, BUT I did have a tendency to eat a lot of them and then be too full for a massive salad- ooops!

• Courgetti- spiralised courrgette and carrot for a fun pretty bowl. Also great with the chunky bolognaise- see pic above - recipe to come.

• Smoothies of all kinds - green, berry or banana and raw cacao for a chocolate hit!

• Overnight oats - this one is a little contentious as to whether it's actually raw, since rolled porridge oats are technically heated in the rolling process. But this was often nice to wake up to instead of smoothie or fruit bowl in the morning, or as lunch on the go.

• Mushroom curry - so easy and so good (see pic above) based on this recipe using cashews.

• Lettuce wraps with a peanut satay dipping sauce (technical the peanut butter component wasn't raw) note: gem lettuce leaves work best- those in the picture were from my veggie patch.

Still a few more days of #Rawgust to go, so I will see what creations catch my eye- I will be back with more raw recipes here soon!

For now, I'll leave you with this recipe for a raw banana bread... I totally made this up as I went along, but it worked so well as a spin-off on a bliss ball style creation.

Recipe: Raw Banana Bread Slice

Ingredients:

• 2 bananas

• 2 tbs flax seed

• 1 cup dates

• 1-2 tsp cinnamon (to taste)

• 1/2 cup oats

• 1/2 cup nuts- chopped (I used macadamias*)

• 1/2 cup nuts- ground (I used pecans*)

• pinch salt

* I loved the flavour and texture of the chunky macadamia pieces, but I imagine cashews or almond would also work well. Any ground nut could be used.

If you want a more intense 'double banana' flavour, try using dried banana pieces (not banana chips) instead of dates - or half and half.

Method:

Blend the banana with the flax, cinnamon and dates until smooth. Add all remaining ingredients and mix well to form a stiff slightly sticky 'dough'. (I pulsed the mix together in a food processor but you could do it by hand). 

Form into a log on a liner and chill for at least an hour to firm up. Once firm slice into pieces and serve. Store in the fridge for up to a week. This freezes well too.

NOTE: It makes about three times the amount shown, but I gifted most of it to my boyfriend before I had a chance to shoot it ;-)

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Christmas Day…done! (and Chocolate Cream Cranberry sponge)

So how long did you spend in your jammies Christmas day morning?

This year I was actually pretty good and got dressed well before lunch…but not until I’d opened my stocking (which usually includes some underwear and socks!)

Christmas day was spent at home with my family- mum, dad, brother and sister. All the presents were piled under the tree and every year that still seems so magical to me! We spent quite a few hours in the run up to lunch giving out the gifts, interspersed with trips back and forth to the kitchen to manage proceedings.

This year I packaged my gifts in brown paper with a minimal amount of sticky tape to help the recycling process! …but I do love lots of ribbon- it’s not Christmas without lots if ribbon! Part of the gifts to my family were bottles of my homemade  vanilla extract.

I also decided it would be a novelty to give homemade ‘vouchers’ so they could choose they own personalised cakes from my growing list of recipes. It will be interesting to see what they choose!

We all pitched in to help with Christmas lunch.  My main task was the brussel sprouts …so…many….sprouts…to…peel! I blanched them and then pan fried them with shallots and chestnuts. 

My other self-appointed roll was as ‘dessert creator’. I wanted to provide a lighter healthy vegan alternative to go alongside the traditional Christmas pud. It needed to be something pretty fool proof and easy to put together (no dramas on Christmas day thank you!).

I decided upon a combination of many of the recipes I have posted in recent days. The ingredients list may look long but the method is actually so simple.

…light fat-free chocolate sponge (based on this recipe)

...chocolate chestnut frosting (previously mentioned here) or you could use your own favourite.

…cranberry compote (based on this recipe) or any berries could be used.

…all layered up to create one fruity luxurious Christmas chocolate cream sponge! 

I really love the tart berries combined with the sweetly smooth and creamy frosting, topping the light and springy sponge base.  The perfect end to a sumptuous satisfying dinner…even those who claim they ‘couldn’t eat another thing’ could squeeze in a pieces of this!

Recipe: Chocolate cream cranberry sponge

Makes one 10x15 inch pan (or a thicker sponge for a slightly smaller pan)

Ingredients

Sponge base: (this can be made a day in advance)

• 10 1/2 oz. firm silken tofu
• 1/3 cup rapadura
• 1/3 cup agave syrup
• 1 tbs vinegar
• 1 tbs water
• 1 tbs vanilla extract 
• 1 tbs ground flax mixed with 2tbs hot water (see egg replacer note below )
• 1 cup whole wheat spelt flour
• ¼ cup ground almonds
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• ½  tsp salt
• 1 tbs ground flax mixed with 2tbs hot water
• 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder.

Chestnut cream frosting: (Can be made in advance). I used a two-layered approach with mychocolate frosting smoothed directly over the sponge (I had some reserved in the freezer) and then this chestnut frosting over that.

• 100g silken tofu
• 20g agave or brown rice syrup plus ¼ tsp stevia
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 100g chestnut puree (I used canned puree)
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 2 tbs cocoa powder

Cranberry compote:

• Approx. 4 cups fresh cranberries
• 3 tbs rapadura (extra if you don’t like your cranberries too tart)
• 1/3 cup water
• 1 tsp cinnamon

Method

Preheat oven to 180C. Line a 10x15 inch pan with baking parchment. In food processor, mix the tofu, rapadura, agave, vinegar, water, vanilla and flax mix. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, ground almonds, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Pour the blended tofu mixture into flour mixture; stir together thoroughly. Spoon the batter into the prepared pan. Smooth batter evenly into pan and bake  for 10-12 minutes.

Allow to cool before lifting from the pan. The sponge can be made up to a day in advance.

To prepare the frostings, blend all ingredients listed together in a food processor until a smooth consistency forms. Layer the frostings up on top of the sponge.

To make the cranberry compote, add the fresh cranberries to a small sauce pan along with the rapadura, cinnamon and water. Simmer and stir every minute or so for 10- 15 minutes until the berries have softened and formed a thick compote.

Spoon the compote on top of the frosting and serve immediately.

The dessert can be stored in the fridge for a couple of days.

P.S. I know I also promised a boxing day pasty recipe!  We made the pasties for lunch today and now I just need to get it all written up…I promise this is on its way! It maybe too late for your Christmas day leftovers but it is also the perfect recipe idea for any ‘roast’.

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Raspberry Crumb Top Cake

Well, I figured we were in much need of another sweet treat as I came to my attention that my last few posts were a little lacking that department!

I’d been meaning to tackle a ‘crumb top’ style cake for a while, and then one day one of my colleagues brought in a version that he’d made over the weekend.  Of course, this contained the usual eggs, milk, butter and refined sugars, but I was curious to see whether I could come up with an equally yummy healthy vegan alternative. A couple of days later, upon my request, I found his recipe in my inbox, so the challenge was set!

The original recipe followed a different methodology to the route I eventually took at this used fresh yeast to create a kind of dough for the base, although it had the texture of sponge. I figured that my best bet was to opt for a more standard ‘sponge’ style with the fruit layer and crumb topping to boot. After doing a little research I settled on  this recipe by The Post Punk Kitchen to give me my starting point.

This cake was pretty yummy. The sponge was light and the topping crumbly (in my opinion a bit too dry and crumbly so I’d be tempted to use agave as noted below). Also don’t skimp on the amount of jam/fruit as this gives the cake moistness and a beautiful layer of textures.

Recipe: raspberry crumb top cake

Makes one 9’ cake pan (round or square)

Ingredients

Cake base:

• ¾ cup soy milk
• 1 tsp cider vinegar/white wine vinegar
• ¼ cup rapadura plus ¼ tsp stevia
• 2 tbs coconut butter
• 2 tbs apple puree
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 ¼ cups white spelt flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp salt

Topping:

• ½ cup sugar free raspberry jam (or another berry jam)
• ½ - ¾  cup raspberries
• 1 cup white spelt flour
• 1/3 cup rapadura (using agave may be better as will be stickier)
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• ¼ tsp nutmeg
• 1/3 cup coconut butter melted

Method

Mix the soy milk and vinegar and set aside to curdle in a large bowl.

For the topping mix the dry ingredients then add the coconut butter (and agave if using) and mix with fingers until the mixture clumps into fairly large lumps that don’t crumble away immediately. Add extra oil if needed.

For the cake base, mix the remaining wet ingredients with the curdled soy milk. Add the dry ingredients and mix well until the batter is very smooth. Pour the batter into a greased/lined cake pan, ‘blob’ the jam onto the top and mix through a little. Break up the raspberries a bit and evenly cover the top of the batter. Sprinkle the crumb topping across the cake evenly and press down into the batter a little.

Bake for approx. 30 mins at 180C until a toothpick comes out clean. Allow to cool fully before slicing.

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