Happy Halloween...Raw Pumpkin Pie..!

Hello beautiful friends,

Mmmm....I love pumpkin pie...sweet and spiced just right. There is no reason you can't have a raw version of this delicious dessert. Here is my pumpkin...and my yummy raw pumpkin pie recipe...

Can you see the image I have carved here?

Raw pumpkin pie recipe:

Base:
3/4 cup almonds
3/4 cup pecans
3/4 cup soft dates (if dates are dried, soak in pure water for a few hours)
Pinch pink Himalayan salt

Filling:
2 cups 1/2 inch dice pumpkin or butternut squash
4 tbsp. coconut water
1/2 cup unsulphured dried apricots, soaked for a few hours in pure water
1/3 cup coconut oil, warmed to a liquid
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. ground allspice
Pinch pink Himalayan salt

To make the base, put the nuts into a food processor and process to a breadcrumb consistency. Add in the salt and with the machine running, add the drained dates. The mixture is ready when it sticks together when pinched. If is seems a bit too dry, add a couple more dates, or a tablespoon or two of the date soak water. Press into an 8 inch loose bottom cake tin, making sure you press the mixture about an inch up the sides to form a pie crust. Set aside while you make the filling. 

To make the filling, put everything except the coconut oil in the vitamix or other high powered blender and blitz until smooth. If you don't have a high powered blender, you can use a normal blender, just break up the pumpkin or squash in the food processor as much as you can before putting in the blender, and you may need to use a little extra coconut water, but try to use as little as possible. You'll need to stop and scrape down the sides a few times. Once you have a puree, add the coconut oil with the motor running until smooth. Pour filling onto base and pop in the freezer to set for 4-8 hours. When ready to serve, remove from the freezer for 30 minutes to soften slightly. Feel free to garnish with a sprinkle of cinnamon and/or some desiccated coconut. YUM YUM!

Max loved this...he kept asking for more and more. I told him: 'You'll turn into a pumpkin if you carry on like that'...He didn't believe me...

But....

Mummy's are always right...

Look what happened....

Happy Halloween from me and my little pumpkin..!

Wishing you raw health and happiness,

Natalie. x

www.rawlifestylecoach.co.uk

Acai power berry smoothie, new raw food workshops and raw cake!

I have been enjoying the benefits of the beautiful acai berry recently. Many of the superfoods used by raw fooders are native to South America, and this wonderful fruit is no exception. It is rich in anthocyanins and flavenoids, both of which are powerful anti-oxidants, helpful in preventing diseases such as heart disease and cancer. These substances also help neutralise free radicals and so have an anti-ageing effect! My favourite way to use the acai powder is in this delicious smoothie:

Acai power berry smoothie:
1.5 cups frozen mixed berries
3 tbsp. goji berries
1 tbsp. acai powder
2 frozen bananas
2 tbsp. shelled hemp seeds
1 tbsp. maca
3 cups pure water

Blitz in the blender until smooth.

I am proud to admit that my raw food enthusiasm is starting to infuse out into my circle of family and friends. It was my brother in law's birthday last week and he requested a raw birthday cake! Of course I could not refuse, I love making raw cakes, and I love giving presents so I couldn't wait to get started! I decided to do a chocolate cake as I knew that's what Dan would like best. So I made a layer of squidgy chocolate cake made from brazil nuts, pecans, walnuts, cacao powder, cacao butter, dates and chocolate covered mulberries. Then I made a sticky toffee layer from dates, almond butter and cacao butter. The final layer was a chocolate icing crafted from cacao butter, coconut butter, cacao powder, agave, almond butter, hemp seeds and lucuma. I then made raw chocolates with fillings inside to go on the top of the cake as I wanted it to look extra special. I filled some with almond butter and some with coconut. I will show you a pic of the finished product but I am keeping the recipe a secret for now as I plan to put it in a new book I am working on, so watch this space for more details about that!

Announcing my new Raw Food for Beginners Workshop! You are invited to join us for a fun and informative half day workshop, learning all about raw living foods. Take part in making and eating a selection of dishes including a nourishing raw green smoothie, yummy raw lunch, mouthwatering raw dessert and luxurious raw chocolate truffles to take home. You will also learn about the basics of raw food, equipment, how to set up a raw prep area in your kitchen, food shopping and sourcing, time saving tips, my top 5 most harmful foods and my top 5 most beneficial foods. You will also receive all information printed out in beautiful handouts, recipe sheets, access to a private Facebook group, and a special bonus free gift from me.

The next workshop is taking place in Rusper, West Sussex on 15th September 11am - 3pm.
Places are strictly limited and are going fast so book your seat today! Only £60 including all teachings, smoothie, lunch, dessert, truffles, materials, hand outs and recipes, private Facebook group and special bonus free gift. Book with a friend and receive £5 discount each, two places for only £110!

Book online at: http://www.rawlifestylecoach.co.uk/#!workshops/c1krl

Wishing you raw health and happiness,

Natalie. x
rawlifestylecoach.co.uk

Strawberry picking and raw carrot cake...

Aaaahhhh....British strawberries, is there anything better? Have you seen the price of them in the supermarkets these days though? A great way to save some money and have a nice afternoon out is to go to a local pick your own farm. That way you also get to choose your own fruit, and you know that it is local to you, which makes it all the more special. David, Max and I managed to find one close to where we live, so we took a trip down there a couple of days ago. Max absolutely loved it and was gobbling the strawberries and raspberries all the way round!

We had a huge basket and managed to fill it up with beautiful ripe fragrant strawberries!

Then we headed over to the raspberry field and had a great time finding the nicest looking raspberries for our box.

So what did we do with all that beautiful fruit? Well we did just eat a lot of it plain and unadulterated which was delicious, but as you know berries have an extremely short shelf life so in order to preserve them a little longer (we obviously picked too much!) I made some raw strawberry ice cream, and some delicious raw raspberry jam.

The jam was so easy to make, just put a cup of raspberries or strawberries in the blender, add 1/2 cup medjool dates and blitz until smooth. Store in a screw top jar in the fridge. Will last for a week or so. Yum!

I always have loads of carrot pulp from making juice. I never throw this away, I put it in a sandwich bag, label it and store it in the freezer until I am ready to use it. I wanted to make a carrot cake with it this time. Warm and spicy with a creamy vanilla icing, mmmm. It turned out delicious! 

Carrot cake:

2 cups carrot pulp (squeeze out excess moisture if possible)

2 cups almond flour (finely ground almonds)

1/2 cup oats

1/2 cup unsweetened shredded coconut

1/2 cup chopped pecans

1 cup soft dates (soaked if dried)

1/2 cup coconut oil

2 tsp. ground cinnamon

1 tsp. ground ginger

1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg

1/2 tsp. ground cardamom

Pinch Himalayan salt

Put almond flour, oats, spices and salt in the food processor and blitz to a flour. Add dates and process again to form a dough. Add carrot pulp and blitz again to incorporate. Add coconut oil and blitz again. Finally add pecans and coconut and pulse to combine. Don't process too much as we don't want to amalgamate and break down the nuts and coconut too much, we want to create texture and crunch with these. Put the dough in a silicone mould or a 6 inch loose bottom cake tin lined with cling film and put in the fridge to firm up while you make the icing.

Creamy vanilla icing:

1 cup cashews, soaked 4 hours or more

1/2 tbsp. lemon juice

1 tbsp. vanilla extract

1 tbsp. vanilla powder (or more extract)

2 tbsp. coconut oil

Drain and rinse the cashews. Put everything in the blender and blend until creamy and smooth. You may need to keep stopping and scraping down. You may also need to add a small amount of water if it is too thick for your blender. Just remember we want the end result to be a thick cream icing consistency so don't add too much water. Spread or pipe over the cake. To pipe, it is best to put the icing in a bowl and place in the freezer for 30-60 minutes to firm up. Then put in the piping bag and pipe over the cake. If it firms up too much just leave it out to soften a bit.

Let me know if you make any of the recipes here or in previous posts, and leave me some feedback or ask any questions that come up, I'm happy to help if I can!

Wishing you raw health and happiness,

Natalie.

rawlifestylecoach.co.uk

Happy International Raw Food Day!

Hi everyone,

This is my first post this month, I have been very busy over the last few weeks here at Raw Lifestyle Coach HQ, developing new recipes, hosting a very successful June retreat and working on a new top secret VIP programme I think a lot of you will love! Stay tuned for updates and sneak previews about that.

Other things I have been up to recently, I went to see the amazing Michael Buble in concert at the O2. It's the second time I have seen him now and it was a fantastic show. If you haven't seen him before, I highly recommend his shows, his charm, sense of humour and stage craft make for a truly unforgettable experience. Oh, and there's glitter and confetti!

My family and I have been loving the long awaited sunshine. A lot of people find it so much easier to eat raw when its warm outside. We have been enjoying refreshing salads, pates, juices and smoothies. I give Max half an hour outside in the morning (before 10am) with no sun block on so that his body can make some vitamin D from the sun. Vitamin D stores well in the body, and because we're in the UK where this sort of weather is rare to say the least, I recommend taking advantage and getting out there, exposing as much skin as possible and getting your vitamin D levels up for when the weather goes back to normal again! It is always advisable to stay out of the sun or cover up and wear a natural sunscreen between the hours of 11 - 3pm. We also supplement with a sublingual vitamin D spray.

Here's Max outside getting his vitamin D and enjoying his green smoothie!

As it's International Raw Food Day today, I have a couple of delicious new recipes for you. I'd also like to tell you about the official website for IRFD, http://internationalrawfoodday.com 

Go there and sign up today and they will send you all sorts of free goodies, raw food ebooks, free talks and magazines etc, it's a great thing to be part of. 

We have been enjoying the beautiful organic British strawberries in this delicious smoothie. It also has goji berries in it. Gojis are a true superfood, high in antioxidants, essential fats, and all amino acids, making them a complete protein. This smoothie is protein packed, fruity, creamy and satisfying, keeping you full until lunchtime!

Strawberry goji smoothie recipe:

10 strawberries

1/4 cup goji berries

2 tbsp. Sunwarrior protein powder

1 tbsp. maca

1 tbsp. white almond butter

2 frozen bananas (or 2 bananas and 4 ice cubes)

2 cups pure water

Blend until smooth, starting with 1 cup of water and adding more to achieve desired consistency. Serves two.

How about a delicious sweet treat to celebrate IRFD in style? You could try making my raw banoffee pie recipe! This always comes out perfectly and is a real winner with guests and kids!

Banoffe pie recipe:
Base:
1 cup walnuts
1 cup almonds
1/2 cup flax meal
1/2 cup coconut oil (melted)
1/4 cup peruvian carob
2 tbsp. agave
Pinch Himalayan salt

Toffee:
2 very ripe bananas
2 cups soaked dates
2 tbsp. almond butter
2 tbsp. olive oil
Pinch Himalayan salt
Pure water to blend

Cream:
1 1/4 cups raw cashew nuts, soaked 1 hour
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
Seeds from 1 vanilla pod
3/4 cup pure water

Filling:
2 very ripe bananas

Garnish:
Raw chocolate bar

To make base, grind nuts in a food processor until fine crumbs. Don't over process though or you'll start making nut butter! Add the rest of the base ingredients and pulse to combine. Press into a 9 inch loose bottom cake tin lined with non PVC cling film, or a silicone cake mould. Chill in freezer to set.

Put all toffee ingredients in a blender, adding a few tablespoons of water and blend until smooth, adding more water if needed to achieve a thick, smooth toffee cream. Spread this over the base. Slice bananas and arrange neatly over the toffee layer, then put cake back in freezer.

Put the cream ingredients in the blender (after rinsing clean), starting with half the water, and blend, adding more water to achieve a thick whipped cream consistency. Spread the whipped cashew vanilla cream over the banana layer. Grate some of the raw chocolate bar over the top to decorate and pop into the fridge until ready to serve, or go ahead and cut yourself a nice big slice and enjoy right away! Happy International Raw Food Day!

Wishing you raw health and happiness,

Natalie. x

rawlifestylecoach.co.uk

21 day juice detox - day 20

Max's birthday gathering today. I was up super early and was still preparing food when the guests arrived at 2pm!

I made some raw mushroom and squash burgers with salsa and sour cream, layered russian salad inspired by Tonya Zavasta's gorgeous recipe in the last issue of Funky Raw magazine, taken from her book, Beautiful on Raw, and Max's delicious chocolate coconut cream cake.

Raw mushroom squash burgers:

6 portabella mushrooms, peeled

2 cups cubed peeled butternut squash

1 large or 2 small cloves garlic, peeled

1/2 red onion, chopped

 3 tbsp braggs liquid aminos

1 tbsp dried mixed herbs

1/2 cup flax meal

1/2 cup pumpkin seed meal

First put the garlic in the food processor and blitz until finely chopped. Add the squash and process until a puree consistency. Add mushrooms and onion and process until a coarse pate is achieved. Add other ingredients and process again so that everything is thoroughly combined. Either just spoon onto paraflexx dehydrator sheets, or do what I did and use a ring mould to shape into small burgers and then dehydrate for 12 hours at 115 degrees. You want the burgers to still be moist in the middle so do keep checking on them. As soon as the tops are dry enough you can flip them onto the mesh sheet and remove the paraflexx sheets so that they dry evenly. 

Salsa recipe:

5 tomatoes, quartered

1 small clove garlic

1/2 red onion

Juice from 1/2 lime

1/4 tsp. Himalayan salt

Finely chop garlic in the processor, then add onion and repeat. Then add tomatoes and pulse until roughly chopped. Mix in salt and lime to taste by hand and season with freshly ground black pepper.

Sour cream recipe:

1 cup raw cashews, soaked 2 hours or more

juice of 1/2 - 1 lemon

1/2 tsp. Himalayan salt

Pure water as needed

1/2 bunch finely chopped chives

Drain cashews and put in high speed blender with a little water (barely covering the cashews). Blitz until smooth, adding more water a tablespoon at a time to achieve the desired consistency. Then add juice from 1/2 lemon and the salt. Blitz to mix, then taste. Add more lemon and salt if it still tastes sweet or cashew like. When you have got the flavour right you can pour into a bowl and stir in the chives by hand. Mmmmm!

Max's chocolate coconut cream cake:
Cake:
1 cup almond flour (almond pulp from making almond milk, dehydrated and powdered)
1 cup buckwheat flour (raw buckwheat soaked 1 hour, dehydrated and powdered)
1 cup coconut flour (can be bought or just powder unsweetened shredded coconut)
1/2 cup shredded coconut
1/2 cup raw cacao powder
1/2 cup agave
1 large ripe avocado
1 cup water
1/2 cup coconut oil
Pinch Himalayan salt

Process everything to a smooth batter in the food processor. Split into two and put into two 8 inch loose bottomed cake tins lined with cling film. Shape in the tin and then take the two cakes out and place onto  mesh dehydrator sheets. Dehydrate for 8 hours until firm but still moist and springy to the touch.

Coconut cashew cream:
3 cups shredded coconut
1 cup raw cashews, soaked 2 hours or more
Coconut water

Put the coconut in the food processor and process until it turns into coconut butter. Remove and set aside. Put the cashews into a high speed blender with a little coconut water (barely covering) and blitz until smooth. Add 1/2 cup of the coconut butter and blitz to mix in.

Chocolate icing:
2 large ripe avocadoes
1/2 cup coconut milk
1/4 cup coconut butter
1/4 cup cacao powder
1/4 cup agave

Put everything in the food processor and process until smooth.

To assemble the cake:
Put one of the sponge cakes back into the tin. Pour the coconut cashew cream on and smooth over. Put the other sponge on top. Then spoon over the icing and smooth out with a spatula. Ease out of the tin carefully and decorate with cacao powder or shredded coconut or goji berries if desired. I left mine plain just with the number 2 candle.

Wishing you raw health and happiness,

Natalie. x

www.rawlifestylecoach.co.uk

21 day juice detox - day 18

I went into London today to catch up with my best friend Sophie. We haven't seen each other in ages. Sophie lives in West Hampstead so I grabbed the opportunity of heading into Camden to visit....Inspiral! Such a fantastic place, beautiful food and great music. If you haven't heard of Inspiral, it is a vegan cafe bar serving both cooked and raw vegan food, amazing raw cakes, truffles and chocolates, juices, smoothies, vegan hot drinks (yay, vegan chai latte!), and they also do organic beers and cocktails if you are a drinker. You may have heard of them from their lovely products that are available in health food shops, like their famous dehydrated superfood kale chips, and their gorgeous raw granolas.

I had a yummy hemp milk chai latte, a selection of salads (I think I had red cabbage, broccoli and cauliflower with a miso dressing, spiralised courgette and butternut squash with a goji berry and ginger dressing and seaweed salad), and I just couldn't resist trying their raw sunfood burger. Probably a bit heavy for me at the moment but it was worth it, sooo delicious. And, it felt so nice to have raw food prepared for me, as usually I am the one who does all the raw food, at home and at my retreats!

And here is the hemp milk chai latte with raw tiramisu (we shared this!)

Me about to dive in....YUM YUM!!

So I highly recommend a visit to Inspiral if you find yourself in the Camden area. So good!

Wishing you raw health and happiness,

Natalie. x

www.rawlifestylecoach.co.uk