The Last of Summer!

It has suddenly hit me that my daughter (Winnie) is going to be 4 at the end of October and that October isn‘t actually that far away now. Winnie has been organising her birthday party for so long now that it started to feel like it was never going to happen but now I see that it’s my turn to start thinking of ways to make her creative ideas come to life.

Winn decided right at the start that her party would be a Doctor Who and fairy themed party and gave me a clear design of what the cake should look like along with a couple of other things she thinks will happen when The Doctor meets the fairies (mainly involving flowered hats and cheeky fairy tricks). I’m currently brain storming for food and decorating ideas so if any of you have any ideas I’d be happy to hear them!!

I decided to put up the recipe for the raw chocolate tart in this post as although the weather is being unpredictable it does seem clear that we are very much coming to the end of our beautiful summer days and so I thought it was a good time to get that one last hit of summer with this indulgent yet fresh and super healthy tart!

I have always adored the combination of chocolate and strawberries and it’s always something I indulged in when spending long hours reading Harry Potter and it is the spark of this memory that inspired me to create the following recipe.

The chocolate filling is something I’d been using for a while and keeping in the fridge to use either as a sandwich spread, fruit dip or just a yummy chocolate pudding and I really like how this recipe just takes it that bit further.

*recipe note* Make sure your avocados are fully ripe if not you won’t get that really smooth and glossy filling that we’re looking for. Cost wise this is a pricy tart but to make it a little easier on the purse you can either half the recipe and make some mini tarts or replace 2 avocados with bananas which will obviously change the flavour but it will still be lovely. This tart is also lovely topped with fresh banana (especially if adding them to the filling also) or raspberry, do watch out if you use bananas though as they will brown over time.

Raw Chocolate and Strawberry Tart

I decided not to clear the table for this picture - Fear The Flesh not the tart!!!

Equipment:

Blender or food processor, tart base, mixing bowl, spoon, knife, chopping board, scales, fork for mixing

For the butter-free almond base:

Ingredients:

12oz raw almonds

2oz desiccated coconut

3oz dates

4tbsp hot water

Instructions:

1/ Pulse the almonds in a blender until they are a course crumb with only a few larger chunks remaining (no larger than ¼ of an almond) and transfer to a large mixing bowl. I only have a cheap blender and found I got the best results if I blended the almonds ¼ cup at a time.

2/ Chop the dates then blend them with the water until as smooth as you can get them.

3/ Mix the coconut in with the almonds then stir in the date puree with a large fork until the mixture is clumping together slightly.

4/ Tip the mixture into the tart dish and firmly push into the base and sides until you have a firm tart case that covers the whole of the tart dish.

For the filling:

Ingredients:

4 ripe avocados (preferably haas, see recipe note above)

8 fl oz agave syrup

2 fl oz maple syrup

3 oz cocoa or cacao powder (if using cacao also add 2 tbsp cocoa butter)

3 tsp vanilla extract

2 tsp rose extract

14oz (1 punnet) of fresh strawberries

Instructions:

1/ Blend the avocados until smooth. If you don’t have a food processor it’s best to use a stick blender as the mixture is too thick for a blender to process.

2/Add all the remaining ingredients (bar the strawberries and cocoa butter if using) and blend until smooth and glossy.

3/ If using the cocoa butter put it in a small bowl then place the small bowl in a larger bowl of hot water until the cocoa butter is in its liquid state then blend in with the rest of the ingredients.

4/ Spread mixture evenly into your prepared tart cases and chill in the fridge for at least 3 hours (preferably over night).

5/ Top with fresh sliced strawberries and enjoy.

The main problem getting these pictures was trying to stop my little ones from stealing the food !

lalala - nothing to see here.....

A post with one recipe and no excuse!

Well my word it’s been a long time! I’ve never been one for excuses and if we’re honest they tend to be quite dull so I’ll just jump right in!

I’ve been so busy lately I’ve barely stopped! If I haven’t been taking the kids to new clubs and activities then I’ve been working on EVE (www.EVEwrestling.com) or writing/working on new recipes.

Somewhere along the line I also thought it would be great idea to buy both seasons of Dollhouse at once. Now, I may have mentioned that even after a life time of yoga and meditation practice I have never been the most patient lady - so when I do something such as buy a DVD box set or a new book the main objective for me is to finish it....Quickly. I’m the girl that waited in line at midnight for the Harry Potter books then didn’t sleep until I’d finished them! So, against my better judgement even though I set out saying ‘I’ll just watch one or two episodes a night’ I watched them all over roughly a 3 day period until I started to become doll-like myself.

Due to this and a couple of other ‘incidents’ (I HAD to catch up on the True Blood books!!) and the fact that I've started back at work for the first time in 4 years I thought I’d share with you one of my favourite quick and easy recipes that is coincidentally one of my families favourite dinners.

It’s a great dish full of summer time flavours and I love it as it uses un-pressed tofu so it’s a real time saver and great for those last minute dinners :-)

SIMPLE AND DIVINE ROASTED TOFU, PEPPERS & AUBERGINE

Equipment needed:

Chopping board, knife, 2 large non-stick roasting tins (or 2 large roasting tins lined with parchment paper), pastry brush, small bowl

Ingredients:

1 500g pack of firm tofu, cut in squares roughly 1cm thick (tip - cut into rectangles first then cut in half)

1 Aubergine, sliced in 1cm rounds

2 peppers (I used one red and one orange) sliced in 1 cm rounds

For the marinade:

1 tsp garlic granules

1 tbsp vegan Worcester sauce

1 tbsp maple syrup (or your preferred sweetener)

1 tbsp balsamic vinegar

2 tbsp nutritional yeast flakes

4 tbsp olive or rapeseed oil

4 tbsp soy sauce (preferably low salt)

Instructions:

1/ Preheat your oven to 210C

2/ Mix all the marinade ingredients together in a small bowl until combined and set aside

3/ Lay the tofu and aubergine out across the two large roasting tins trying your best not to overlap. You might have to squash the tofu a little but don’t worry too much if there is some slight overlapping.

4/ With a pastry brush, brush the marinade over the tofu and aubergine slices. Turn them all over and bush the other side with marinade also.

5/ Scatter the pepper slices over the top and brush with any remaining marinade. Don’t worry if you don’t have any to spare as it will be just as tasty, it just depends on how big your aubergine was.

6/ Place in preheated oven and bake for 15 minutes. Remove and turn everything over (the food not the baking trays…) and bake for 10 more minutes. I tend to rotate shelves as like a lot of ovens my oven can be patchy.

Serve on its own, with basmati rice (pictured above) or with crusty bread.

(for those wondering - I used the tidying technique learnt from Black Books for my photo's :-P)