"LIKE A COW" - say it like that,

 and stand up!

CACAO that's its real name - not the bastardised Cocoa version - that's for the Englishmen of old who couldn't speak properly while retaining their upper lips stiffened then kindly left us with a confused legacy of cocoa/coco.  It's cuckoo - and it still gets me too.  Coco is for coconut, Cacao is for chocolate (Cocoa is cooked and refined and yes it still has antioxidants and health benefits, providing you select quality) - but!

CACAO IS ALWAYS BETTER - so if I say chocolate - this is what I mean.

 Check out those  fruits growing straight off the trunk!

Cut them in half to reveal the cacao bean inside.  David Wolfe recommends growing Cacao as an indoor plant in Perth - does anyone have any viable seed?

And it's raw - heated under 43* Celsius to retain the nutrients.

There's bucket-loads of info on raw cacao online - I'm about MAKING STUFF - so go googling for info.

All right - I admit, I'm also known to be pedantic with a penchant for pronunciation,  spelling and punctuation but that's completely irrelevant here,

although tangents are fun.

SO

I have a chocolate/raw cacao workshop coming up on April 3rd

and I've been playing a lot in preparation for it

and making silly, impractical things like 

white chocolate zombie skulls with mango jam and walnut brains

and easy and delicious things like cacao mousse, berry pie, brownies, superfood balls and smoothies.

So if you're coming to the Cacao class and have novelty silicone ice trays - bring them!

we'll fill them with things like:

*goji/coconut (better than cherry ripe)

*mango jam

*activated nuts

*crunchy minted buckwheat

*any other delights that pop in between now and then - any requests?

Remember these are all gluten, dairy, cane-sugar and additive free

so you can indulge virtuously,

Naturally!

Pizza and cake - mini class

This was a mini workshop done on request

there were just a few of us and we had a great time.

One of the girls has an almond allergy so we worked around it, and made Pizza, superfood balls (I'm sorry I forgot the photos AGAIN!) and a 'German Chocolate Cake' from "Sweet Gratitude" - what a great book.

Live Pizza

I'm really happy with the base - it's nut-free, flax free and mightily tasty with an oregano/tomato sauce.

It's topped with mushroom, avocado, black olives, baby spinach, fresh basil, sliced tomato and 2 types of nut cheese - one a fermented "cheddar cheeze" - a strong booty flavoured cheese coloured one you can see - and the orange wormy topping is a red capsicum macadamia cheeze.

 (OK I confess, I LOVE pineapple on pizza, the secret's out, some have told me "that's disgusting and shameful" but so what! I have a penchant for pineapple on pizza and I'm proud of it, if that makes me a food bogan, so be it! Some oxymorons are delicious, and this is one of them - especially as it's an acidic, sweet and juicy contrast of flavour and texture, I like that).

  The photo of this  little wedge of German Chocolate Cake doesn't begin to encapsulate the experience of having it and eating it too   - On the right the lovely Cinque is holding a slice of White Chocolate and Berry Pie (because I forgot to photograph the Superfood Balls before they all disappeared!) - but look at that lovely creamy pie with oozy berries on top, mentally steal the berries and put them between the chocolate and coconut cream layers of the cake on the left and - OK you get it - it's the only improvement the German Choc Cake needs - and cut really small pieces - it's impossible to stop eating it once you've started and it's really rich!!

PS every time I say 'chocolate' - i mean 'raw cacao' - the real stuff..  .

Workshops and playtimes

It was so exciting to kick off last month with a few workshops - thank you so much to everyone who came along and made it so much fun see here's Junee enjoying making fresh pasta from Zucchini:

  "Intro to Raw" which includes juicing and smoothies,  is about making the transition to raw food easy and delicious with lots of dips, sauces, salads, snacks, zucchini pasta, apple pie and a few variations and extras.

Cauliflower 'popcorn' snack 

with thanks to Philip McCluskey, an inspiration!

I was too busy being excited about doing my first workshop to get many pictures,

but here it's all being eaten!

and what a fantastic mess we made,

HOORAY!

Sweet Delights

APPLE PIE

I love this - apple pie with rose cashew cream, so easy, so delicate, so delicious and

SO GOOD FOR YOU!

I'd hoped to make a video presentation of the recipe, we'll see!

(cross your fingers for me)

I was lucky enough to try Hannah Sforcina's (of A Foodly Affair) watermelon sorbet on a sweltering Saturday night - it was wonderful, and this isn't it - it's :

WATERMELON CANDY

in preparation in the dehydrator.

slice, dehydrate (for an eternity) then be amazed by the results, but don't do it on the mesh like I did, it sticks!

(use baking paper or teflex)

 The strangely floral pink thing in the middle is a watermelon candy rose, flanked by luscious lemon biscuits and little black dahlia apricot balls.

That's all for today - I'm afraid my sweat might drip onto the keyboard and destroy the internet, so stay cool everyone and see you at dog beach when the sun's going down. phew!

Superfoods New Year's Party

A long time ago up a hill and far away, there was a 2011 New Year's Superfoods party at Damian and Karri's place, and it was a blast!  Lovely people, delicious food, buzzing energy and a fantastic atmosphere in which to start the new year.  Thanks guys!

Clint lining up the party shots.

 

I like the swirls on the left when I decided the lucuma/cacao ice cream needed more cacao.

The shot on the right is the eventual platter of little ice cream sandwiches.

Jazz made a delicious plate of nachos - it was a sensational blend of flavours and colours and quite frankly Jazz I want some more!

 

Juanita's wondrous raw sushi.

Superfood chocolates

and smiles.

Welcome 2011

Tizzy Cucumbers

TIZZY CUCUMBERS AND OTHER FANCY BITS

This is a catchup post of snacks, meals and sweets from 2010 - I've been renovating the kitchen to get ready to run workshops in 2011 so I've been a bit too caught up to post regularly - So here's what I've been hanging on to:

Tizzy Cucumbers - filled with a macadamia/capsicum dip, coriander and black olives for the annual Egg Nog Post Xmas party A.K.A  Noggfest.

The same combo filled zucchini slices as rollups at the houseconcert / pool party the next night (no pic)

I just really like this watercress, banana and mango smoothie going crazy in the vitamix.  Yeah watercress! I'd wondered what to do with it overtaking the exfish pond.

Another garden produce smoothie - pomegranate, apple and banana in front of Gerry's Pomegranate painting in the background.

 Raw Curry - I liked it - I'll work on it until I love it.

Minted Carrot Mountain

 This one's too easy - grated carrot, soaked sultanas (use ginger juice and water, or just water, or vinegar, or lemon juice) and shredded mint with a little salt.  It's easy, delicious and filling and lasts a few days in the fridge.  Raw nuts give it some good crunch too - cashews, almonds or peanuts if you eat them.

 The next two "pastas" are variations on the same theme - it keeps things interesting rather than eating the same thing over and over - give it a new costume.

 Zucchini 'ravioli'  black olive nut cheese filling, marinated mushroom sauce and tomato/basil side.

 The above veges, and thinly sliced pumpkin were layered in a container here, and a red velvet sauce was made in the vitamix from jicama, red caps, sundried toms, a few dates, a carrot and some herbs to make

Lasagne

Weight the container down for a few hours, then slice with a sharp knife, decorate with sliced mushrooms.

These cakes are all variations on Raw Cacao and Berry combinations.

Wishing a wonderful 2011 to everyone,
Martine

Blogspot Gremlins Ate My Recipes

and I'm not surprised, they were really good!

OK the kitchen renos are nearly complete so I'm sorry no recipes, they got eaten last time and I ended up with a blank post, so here come the pictures anyway...

Here's what happened to my jicama:               Jicama Ravioli with Basil/Walnut Pesto and Red Velvet Sauce.

Jicama Julienned with Pear, Hazelnuts and Avocado Dressing

 Classic hot summer recipe -  Watermelon and Jicama Salad with Chilli and Mint - juicy! 

I also promised to eviscerate and expose the guts of my other tubers, and I did, it's coming - the whole process of peeling, slicing and dehydrating is documented but I was so disappointed!  Purple sweet potato (which is white on the outside, unlike white sweet potato which is purple on the outside) is so incredibly starchy I'd rather extract the juices to starch and iron my collars - that's if I wore collars, or better, a ruff.  But who irons anyway?

Maybe more for the worms

Translation: I haven't yet hatched a plan for these starchy little felons they're in stasis in a bag in the cupboard.

 purple sweet pot = white outside, purple inside.

 white sweet pot = purply outside, white inside... not confusing.

Do I need to come back with a photo of disappointing chips? let's leave it there and I'll be back with something lovely!  Really soon.