Blog by Tanya Maher

Blog Menu

Cafe doors opening, Early Bird retreat applications closing...

Posted by Tanya Maher · July 31, 2014

I can hardly believe it, but the dream I’ve been busy building since for ever and working on tirelessly with the best team in the world for the last five months, has just been realised.

I have a cafe! With my own fricken name on it!!!

It’s been so full on that I don’t remember the last time I sat down or even slept for more than 5 hours, but today… today is different.

I finally got a chance to sit on our comfy cafe banquettes, looked around at all the beautiful natural walls full of living plants, observed the hardworking team happily chatting away and then overheard a customer on the phone:

‘I found the perfect new spot for us! Meet me in Chelsea, at Tanya’s.’ tanya's cafe pic instagram 3 Then suddenly, it sunk in.
This is the real deal.
These are real customers.
These are real people who really love raw food. My raw food!
These are real chefs who can make my recipes to my standards and perfect them to theirs.
These are real mixologists, who are as passionate about incredible cocktails as I am about quality, superfoods and life.
This is my new family. And they love coming to work and promoting the healthiest lifestyle ever.
This is my new home, my new office, my new happy place.

One day I will figure out how to put so much gratitude, joy and emotions into words, but for now I am happy sitting here breathing in what love created.

It was built for you, so I invite you to do the same. If you are anywhere near London, stop by and say hello. We are open 7 days a week 7am-11pm (apart from Sunday and Monday when we close at 4pm).

Our menu offers a variety of breakfast items, including rawtella un-toast and dehydrated fruit crepe, pour over coffee, cold-pressed juices, smoothies and liver flush shooters. Our lunch menu has an even bigger selection and includes multi-layered lasagne, detox salad, soft shell tacos with marinated oyster mushroom meat, pad thai and organic natural wine. Then come four- you can enjoy a shared platter of nachos or cheesecakes and chocolates, as well as our superfood cocktails made only with the top quality, vegan and organic spirits mixed with cold-pressed juices and superfoods.

Here’s more: www.TanyasCafe.com

I can’t wait to see you! Now we have a meeting spot

With Love,

x Tanya

P.S. While the cafe doors are opening, the early bird opportunity to Soul Adventures Retreat in Vilcabamba is closing. Just as predicted, we’ve got over a hundred applications already and until yesterday we had the retreat completely full. Two ladies can no longer make it, so I’m opening the applications once more. If Vilcabamba, organic raw food, meditation on cliff tops and yoga in the valley of longevity speak to you… Read on and apply, here before 1st August>>

4 comments

The imperfectly perfect raw chocolate truffles

Posted by Tanya Maher · April 03, 2014

I had quite the honour to be invited to speak at yet another VegFest event last weekend. This time in Brighton, where it originated.

VegFest Brighton 2014

It’s a pretty good sign that your message needs to be heard when there are people sitting on window sills, standing up at the back and staying till the very end of the lecture even when the room is boiling. Needless to say I was humbled by the experience and grateful for all the connections afterwards too.

But that wasn’t even my favourite part! What was my fave is checking out all the stalls, learning about incredible conscious companies doing incredible conscious things and errr… eating!

So many delicious things to taste and buy, but the highlight for me was the most decadent, creamy, soft and buttery raw chocolate truffles from Cashew Catering.

I couldn’t possibly leave without quizzing the lovely CC people on what went into their tastiest truffles and amazingly, they shared their secrets with me! First thing I did once I got home was get cracking with my own version of the dreamy aftertaste and my GAWD!! Well you’ll just have to try this for yourself…

[Oh and if you’d rather buy these online, Cashew Catering can package them up and send them your way. Do it!]

THE IMPERFECTLY PERFECT RAW CHOCOLATE TRUFFLES

For the soft filling
1 + 1/2 Cup Coconut oil, gently melted
3/4 Cup Coconut palm sugar, powdered
3/4 Cup Cacao powder
15 Drops Butterscotch or Hazelnut medicine flower extract
Pinch Himalayan salt

For the chocolate coating
Basic raw chocolate recipe
Tea leaves or rose petals to garnish

1. Gently melt the coconut oil in a double boiler.
2. Add the palm sugar and the rest of the ingredients, stirring well.
3. Line a tupperware box (I used a 14 x 14 cm container) with cling film and pour in the truffle sauce.
4. Transfer to the fridge and let it set for 3 hours. If in a hurry- freeze for 30 minutes.
5. Peel off the film and chop up the hardened chocolate block into uneven chunks. Transfer back to the fridge/freezer while preparing the chocolate coating.
6. When your chocolate coating is melted and well stirred, place a truffle chunk onto a fork and while holding it over the bowl containing the liquid coating sauce, spoon some of it and pour over the chunk, making sure to cover all sides. Sprinkle rose petals while still wet.
7. Place each ready truffle on tin foil, so it is easy to peel off afterwards and transfer to the fridge to set for 15 minutes.
8. You can eat straight out of the fridge, but to get the full soft/ decadent/ creamy truffle experience- take them out of the fridge to soften for one hour, keeping at room temperature and out of lit areas.

If you wanted to do even more with your truffles, spoon some Coconut Manna onto each chunk, add a frozen raspberry, then coat with chocolate! Or better yet, come to our Raw in Chelsea SupperClub on April 10th to sample these for yourself...

1 comment

Raw Chocolate Nut Shake + Tribest's Soyabella Review

Posted by Tanya Maher · December 21, 2013

I recently had an exciting opportunity to work with Tribest in order to develop and photograph a selection of recipes for their beautiful new website- www.tribest.co.ukIf you haven't checked it out yet, make sure you do- there's a whole collection of free recipes for you to enjoy!Here is the delicious list so far:

Fruit Leathers

Raw Chocolate Cookies

Cheesy Kale Crisps

Italian Flaxseed Crackers

Antioxidant Punch Smoothie

Energy Burst Smoothie

Oranges and Cream Smoothie

Raw Chocolate Nut Shake (below)

Ultimate Beauty Smoothie

Very Berry Summer Smoothie

Virgin Pina Colada

Cucumber Cooler Juice

Down to Earth Immuniser Juice

Kidney Supporting Juice

The Classic Green Juice

Prior to this project, I was already using, loving and recommending Tribest's products, such as GreenStar Elite juicer and Sedona Dehydrator. Their range is so much bigger though, that luckily for me I got to play with all of it!

One product in particular that I want more people to know about is Tribest's Soyabella. It's an elegant little piece of equipment, which doesn't take up much bench space, looks like a stylish kettle, but is actually a nut milk maker…

It's super easy to use. I just soaked my almonds in water overnight, exactly as I always do when using the blender+strainer method. As you can see below, Soyabella has all the measurements indented inside and on the grinder cup, so you'll always know where to aim for that perfect homemade milk...

The motor head has a patented helical grinding blade and you simply insert it into the grinding cup. The downside is that you can't load it with too many nuts at once or you'll never get this blade in. I had to wiggle and shake my way in with the blade to make sure that it's screwed onto the grinding cup properly. After a couple of times, this becomes second nature. You then imply lower the blade head + grinding cup into the body...

I love it how this isn't rocket science and you can work out what to do without any instructions, rather using very clearly marked buttons. The cord is also detachable, which has come in handy when I packed up my Soyabella to take along to workshops and also to store nicely on my kitchen bench.

After 3-4 whizzes (this was literally a total of 40 seconds, no more), you have a ready creamy and delicious nut milk right inside the jug, while the nut pulp stays in the grinder cup. It's easy to pour, easy to clean and the milk is quite possibly the tastiest I've had after using a variety of different methods to produce it...

Favourite part:

Aside from a clean, easy, no-fuss, no-mess way to make my nut milk, I love it that I can use Soyabella for making my hot chocolates! There is no cooking involved, so I can still have my hot chocolate drink- raw, but since I'm not using my hands to strain the milk, I won't burn them either when using hot water.

Least favourite part:

The pulp left inside the grinder cup stays pretty wet. Sometimes this is actually the best part about this process, because I add the wet pulp directly to my other recipes, like raw cakes and cookies, however the rest of the time, I find myself using a spoon to manually press the ground up nuts into the grinder, so the rest of the liquid can seep out of the tiny holes.

The verdict:

Get it! It's affordable, it's stylish, it's easy to use and produces delicious, raw, healthy, lactose-free, nutrient-rich nut milks. Tribest are also offering my readers a generous 25% off of any of their products including this baby, until 31st December 2013. Just use the code TANYA25 in your shopping basket! Check out what else you can get discount codes on before the end of the year, here>>

And as for a recipe that you could make with a nut milk, try this crazy tasty…

RAW CHOCOLATE NUT SHAKE

Serves 2

2 cups hazelnut milk
2 bananas, peeled and frozen
3 medjool dates, pitted
3 tbsp cacao powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon
optional: 1/2 tsp vanilla bean powder

– Transfer all the ingredients into a blender and blend on high.
– Serve immediately.

Tanya’s Top Tip: You can use any non dairy milk here, but I chose hazelnut, because there is just that something so dreamy about the hazelnut and chocolate combination. Make your own nut milks by using Soyabella.

0 comments

Vilca balls - an award winning energy ball recipe

Posted by 2 · November 24, 2013

As I type this sentence, we are now well and truly into my Raw Food & Soul Adventures Retreat in Vilcabamba, Ecuador.

Every day has been jam packed with adventure, workshops, excursions, laughter, detox, yoga, meditation and food, glorious raw food!

Something in particular, which was a heap of fun for everyone- also happened to be the activity during which I came to the conclusion, that we have a group of creative geniuses on our hands…

An energy ball competition!

First, I had everyone pull a team name out of a 'hat'.

Teams were either Macadamia, Pumpkin Seed, Walnut, Sunflower Seed, Almond or Brazil Nut.

Then I introduced all the ingredients that everyone would get the chance to play with. These included everything from Goji berries and Dates, to a whole variety of Superfood powders, like Baobab, Acai, Spirulina, Barley grass, Violet Fig powder, Raspberry powder and about 15 others.

They were to be judged on taste as well as presentation and everyone was encouraged to forage through my parents' garden for decorations.

Plate decoration in process:

Energy ball mixing in process:

The teams then presented their recipe to the group.

And then everybody tasted and casted one vote for the best decorated plate and one vote for the best tasting ball:

I'm only glad I didn't have to make that decision, I would've struggled big time! Just take a look at all the creativity that went on:

I've no idea how they managed to choose with all that variety, but we had a clear winner on all accounts:

The gorgeous Sue, Suzanne and Bill wowed all 17 participants with their taste pairing. And luckily for us, they were only happy to share their 'Vilca Balls' recipe with Better Raw readers too!

VILCA BALLS

Makes 30 small balls

1 1/2 cup pumpkin seeds, soaked 2-8 hours
1 cup sesame seeds
1 1/2 cup dates, soaked 2-8 hours
1/2 cup cacao powder
1/2 cup Goji berries
1 Tbsp Acai berry powder
2 Tbsp Spirulina
Desiccated coconut for rolling in

-Put all the ingredients, apart from desiccated coconut, into your food processor and process until well combined.
-Roll into equal sized balls and coat in coconut.
-Serve right away or dehydrate for 5 hours so they last longer and get a dense chewy texture.

1 comment

How to throw a raw food party | Our engagement celebrations

Posted by 2 · August 22, 2013

It's no secret that Elliot and I are getting married next year, but we are not done with the high of being fiancés just yet! As we got engaged in the middle the coldest winter UK has experienced since well before we were even born, it only made sense to wait for the summer to celebrate outdoors.

THE PREPARATIONS

We hired the lawn bowling club next door, ordered some props online, put together a canapés menu and recruited the best looking helpers in town...

DIY decorations in the making the night before.

The gorgeous Californian beauties and their funny mini man.

Raw pizza and salad for the helpers.

And the #1 prize goes to my #1 helper and bestie! Gina- you are a little cupcake of awesomeness!

THE FOOD

When you are preparing raw food, it shouldn't actually take you any longer than preparing cooked food, however you must always start ahead of time to allow for the dehydration process.

The great news about dehydrating is that you literally- pop in your trays full of food and walk away for the next 12-24 hours or so. No need to check up on anything, no need to worry about anything getting burned, and no crazy energy bills either! Have you checked out what dehydrator I use and recommend? See my entire suggested equipment list here>>

Here's a sampling of what I made...

Everybody's favourite- these Marinated and Pesto Stuffed Mushrooms never stick around for long, they are the best addition to any picnic and you can even serve them as a main course with a side salad.

Dessert was surprisingly tricky to organise, as I knew it'll be sitting out in the sun, while so many raw food dishes require a fridge or a freezer. That's why I opted for Chocolate-filled Macaroons (they are usually chocolate covered and I teach the recipe in my Raw Chocolate 101 class) and Chocolate & Caramel Coated Cookies (recipe is just like these Dutch Stroopwafels, but with added cacao powder).

Raw Food Pizza- a party must-have! The base is a classic nut-free version I always make, then goes the tomato paste, then the spreadable cheese and finished with any toppings you have in mind (or in my case- something that required minimal prep time was the winner- olives!) I also teach the making of it in my Raw Food Tastes of Italy class>>

Dips and Dippers. ALWAYS have Dips & Dippers. For simple dippers- carrots, runner beans and celery sticks will do the trick if your dips are tasty enough, but it's always good to add some flaxseed crackers to the mix. For the Dips- I made extra Pesto while doing the stuffed mushrooms, extra Creamy Cheesy Sauce while making the pizza sauce and Guacamole.

These mushroom nut balls and tomato ketchup are a delicious idea, possibly best kept for a more intimate dinner occasion. They take quite a long time to first soak and marinate, then process, then roll into balls and then dehydrate, but disappear in record time. Serve them with toothpicks to pin and dip or over courgette noodles if you are having them as a main meal.

THE PARTY

Like any host will know- there is always something to do last minute, there is always something that gets overlooked and there is usually something that doesn't get done at all. However the great thing about it all is: nobody knows, but you!

I mean, just look at these guys... does anyone look like they know I may have forgotten a thing or two?

BRING ON THE WEDDING

Our engagement do was sooooo much fun, although I reckon that was as much practice for the actual event as I will want to handle for the time being. I'm only grateful that the wedding isn't for another few months! But when the time does come, it will be the best day I am sure...

Just the thought of my whole family being back in New Zealand together for the first time in nearly six years, makes me emotional, but both of our families coming together for the second time since Elliot and I met, all while we have our closest friends by our side and in the same part of the world, while we say our 'I do's' -my heart may just explode.

Is it normal to even feel these nerves this far ahead? I will endeavour to calm them down by looking at our 'Save the Dates' and share one with you to make you smile too...

13 comments

Join 47,000+ readers

THE IMPERFECTLY PERFECT RAW CHOCOLATE TRUFFLES