I have a little confession to make...
For the past three years I have been fooling myself by trying to fool you, that raw chickpea hummus can be just as delicious as the cooked one.

I tried so hard to make this a reality, but at the end of the day- everyone will try my recipe, taste it, feel glad that they now know how to do it and then go off to the supermarket to buy their cooked one in a tub again.

Do you know why that is?
Answer: When you apply heat to raw living carbohydrates in food and apply it for long enough, those carbs turn into sugars. So by cooking our nutrient packed sprouted chickpeas, we are actually destroying a heap of goodness and turning them into a sweet by-product. Sugar is of course addictive, so when you try anything else, it simply doesn't compare and the voice of our tastebuds will always be louder than the voice of our intellect.

That's exactly why I always do my best to make my raw recipes taste amazing. I've even revealed my secret of adding dates to raw foods in my Amazon #1 Bestselling DVD Raw Food 101, in order to make a tastier hummus. The result was pretty good, but even I didn't hurry to make it myself. And there is something wrong with that picture. So I went on a quest to perfect my recipe and soon discovered that the secret is not in making raw chickpeas taste better, it was in replacing them with something else altogether!

I can't tell you what a revelation this was! And honestly, I think that if you enjoy a hummus in a tub, you will looooove this one. I do! Here you go...





3 courgettes, chopped
1 cup sunflower seeds, soaked
1 cup sundried tomatoes, soaked
½ cup raw sesame seeds
½ cup raw tahini
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
juice of 2 lemons
2 tsp cumin
optional: ½ tsp Himalayan salt, only if tomatoes weren’t preserved in salt

Put all ingredients in a high powered blender and blend to a rich consistency.

Doesn't it look and sound divine? It is a must-try, I tell you. Do it, do it! Everyone on my and Polly's Picnic & Punting event last weekend gave rave reviews to my hummus and all the other treats we made for the day...

Mocktails on arrival, curried flax crackers, raw sundried tomato hummus, summer guacamole, creamy cheesy dip, pizza, wraps with sunflower seed pate and fresh seasonal veggies and sprouts, marinated and pesto stuffed mushrooms, chocolate brownie bites, special indulgent cake, strawberries and cream, plus green elixirs. - See more at: http://www.betterraw.com/p/teaching.html

We were so fortunate to have the beautiful and shining Samjhana Moon of www.goddessportraiture.co.uk to capture our day! Here are just a few highlights...

5. Friends! Having London close enough for a bunch of us to holiday together.

6. This. 7. Hiring four wheelers. 8. No tides, which means you could sit on the beach with your feet in the water all day. 9. Being able to order a whole pint of freshly squeezed orange juice in most bars. Orange juice and Croatia's abundance of oranges wasn't the only foodie highlight. Melons tasted out-of-this-world insanely good. Rock melons were like ice cream right our of the fridge and watermelons served as the best hydrating treat you could dream of.  We ate melon on its own or chopped it into fruit salads, and when I got home- all I wanted was for the holiday taste to continue, which inspired me to make this heavenly drink...

4 cups watermelon, chopped flesh only
2 cups strawberries
1/2 whole rock melon, deseeded and peeled
1 tbsp Acai berry powder
optional: ice

- Transfer all of the ingredients into a blender and blend on high.
- Enjoy right away or freeze it in ice cube trays to use as flavoured ice in other drinks or to wizz up into sorbet.


Tanya's Top Tip: Acai berry powder is a freeze-dried result from harvesting Acai berries. These berries are a superfood full of anti oxidants, Vitamin A, amino acids, calcium and monounsaturated fatty acids, making it the ideal healthy skin food.

It feels like forever and a half since I wrote my last recipe post. I've been so busy writing articles for various magazines and websites, that my own little gem of cyber haven got neglected. Sad face.

I shall make up for it over the next couple of weeks with details on our Croatia visit and our engagement party too. But first, there was Venice...

The only two places I've been to in Italy prior to this trip were Rome with my sis and Turin for skiing. Elliot's been all over Italy many years ago when he did a Contiki Tour around Europe.

He had great memories about Venice. I've always wanted to go. It was [kinda] on the way to our Croatia destination. Why not?

Being the usual fuss-ball with food, I brought a bunch of pre-prepared snacks with me, as well as my own pH booster green powder (a mix of alkalising greens, grasses, herbs and algae - the healthy traveler's dream!) and continued drinking them, as I was also on the Acid Alkaline Breakthrough program along with all my members. When the program was finished, I welcomed the opportunity to do a little research...

A tiramisu sort of research. You know- 'when in Italy'.

Well it didn't take long for me to realise, that all the time I've spent salivating over a vivid memory of the world's best, most divine, heavenly, orgasmic scoop of coffee sponge fingers and vanilla mascapone cream, was simply the tricks of my cogent imagination.

Still, I was convinced that tiramisu really had to be the best dessert on the planet, it was just that the non raw food version was no longer satisfactory to my tastebuds. As usual, this trip provided more than enough inspiration to return home and create my own version of the heaven I dreamed up in the first place...




For the hazelnut milk
1 cup hazelnuts, soaked overnight
3 cups pure water
4 pitted dates
pinch Himalayan salt

For the coffee cake layer
1 cup macadamia nuts
1 cup hazelnut meal (pulp left over from making hazelnut milk)
1/2 cup sunflower lecithin granules
1/4 cup cacao powder
1 cup pitted dates, soaked 2-3 hours
3/4 cup espresso (3 tbsp ground coffee brewed with 3/4 cups boiling water)*
1/3 tsp Himalayan salt

For the vanilla cream layer
2 cups cashews, soaked overnight
1/2 cup hazelnut milk
1/2 cup melted cacao butter
1 cup sunflower lecithin granules
1/2 cup maple syrup*
juice of 1/2 lemon
1 vanilla pod, seeds scraped out only
pinch Himalayan salt

*This is not a raw ingredient, but is regularly used in raw food recipes.


-Make the Hazelnut milk by blending and straining all the ingredients. [If you've never made a nut milk before, watch my step-by-step YouTube video here>>]

-Prepare the coffee cake layer by processing the first four ingredients in a food processor, until finely ground. Add the dates, brewed coffee and salt, and process again until you have a mixture resembling a runny and grainy cake dough.

-Prepare the vanilla cream layer by blending all of the ingredients in a high powered blender. Use a tamper to make sure that all the ingredients are touching the blade and combine well into a cream.

-This recipe should be enough for 5 small glasses or ice-cream sundae bowls (cup size or 250ml). Layer each glass by scooping in a tablespoon of coffee mix and spread it along the bottom.
-Pour in some cream, until the glass is filled to a half level mark.
-The next step will have to be done more carefully, as the cake mixture could sink into the cream if you were to throw it on top. Simply scoop little bits of cake mix around the inside edge of your glass and then add a bigger spoonful into the middle. Use the back of your spoon to lightly even out the surface, careful not to apply any pressure.
-Cover with a layer of cream and transfer to the fridge to set overnight.
-In 4-8 hours, sprinkle with some cacao powder using a sieve and serve.

[The tiramisu could be prepared well ahead of time, as it will keep in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.]


And there you go. It's pretty straight forward, but the result is incredible!
And here are just a few snaps of our trip...

Buon pomeriggio :)

Venezia loving!!

Just 2 people in love...

Still trying to figure out why I love this photo so much, but I do.  It makes me happy.

Beautiful, Venice, beautiful!

Raw peeps won't go hungry! Fresh coconuts are everywhere, so is every kind of fruit. I went nuts for cherries.

Happiness.

Where are all the people?

'I'm on a boat!'.

Sun + Elliot + Venice + Boat = can hardly handle so many favourites in a single image!

Just cruisin' and soaking up final moments of Venice.

Trieste in all its glory.

Miramare Castle visit.

Not sure what happened here, but this was my natural reaction to so much overwhelming beauty around.

A refreshing water break on a super hot day.

Nothing unusual here, folks.

Friends,

I've teased you with promises of a destination retreat for long enough, now I have a sneaky feeling that you'll agree: what I'm about to announce has been worth the wait...

You might have been expecting to retreat with me to Bali, and right until just last week, I was too. But expectations are toxic and I found that all the pressure I was putting on myself to fulfil this promise has been majorly taxing on my energy, creativity and productivity to make it an epic trip away.

I knew that this was not the right head space to be in during planning stages, especially since I'm well aware that my energy could contribute to your spiritual experience on a raw food healing escape. Still I just couldn't figure out what was standing in my way and why I was having obstacle after obstacle in regards to locking in Bali. So I put everything aside, lit up an incense stick, rolled out my mat, dimmed the lights and began breathing my consciousness into a deep sea of calm, until there was just you and me and the vision of the most unforgettable retreat for you.

When I opened my eyes, the clock said 1:11.

I have no idea how long my meditation went on for, but I do know two things for certain: 1). The incense stick has burned out long ago, so I would've been in deep for at least 15 minutes and 2). We are going to Vilcabamba, Ecuador!!!!




As I experienced this amazing realisation, I couldn't understand why something so obvious didn't come to me earlier. Well now that it has, it is not about to go anywhere. I've even set the date...

Mark your diary for six nights/ seven days over 19-25 November 2013.


What you may or may not know about Vilcabamba...

• It is home to my beautiful parents and their raw food restaurant Sungate 11:11.
• It is my own personal retreat destination, where I go annually to detox, reconnect and recharge.
• It is a tiny village entirely surrounded by majestic mountains.
• It is best known as the Sacred Valley of Longevity.
• It is a magnet for the most gifted, spiritual and loving people. If you don't consider yourself as such a person yet- Vilcabamba is the place where you'll discover otherwise.
• It has the purest air of any place I've ever been to on earth.
• It has uncontaminated mineral-rich earth which bears the most delicious, healing and organic produce for everyone and the majority of its inhabitants have direct access to natural spring water.
• It is the raw food capital of the world.

Now that you know our destination and the date -and before I send you an application for taking part- I want to make sure that this is a retreat which ticks off all the boxes for you.

If you can make it to Ecuador for a week starting 19th November, please tell me what your most ideal getaway will entail...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79Z13VFFJE8&feature=share&list=UUcZcGZ88-ZcXUWBpvUPk2oA


While visiting, my friend Jesse van der Velde interviewed me on how I discovered raw food for the first time and asked me to share some of my top strategies on creating lasting lifestyle changes, as well as my three very best healthy eating tips.

This inspirational man by the way is like the Tony Robbins of Netherlands! If you don't know him yet- meet Jesse, Europe's renowned personal trainer, power energy coach, author, star nutritionist and the mega sensation behind www.jessevandervelde.com , www.superfood.nl and www.detoxyourworld.com .

In our interview he asks me about my favourite superfoods, a question to which I shamelessly declare my love of mulberries for their toffee-like, chewy, caramel properties.

This caramel obsession of mine stems all the way from childhood, when my grandma- angels rest her soul- had a whole stack of it ready for me every time I came to visit. She would boil an entire can of sweetened condensed milk for something like 3 hours until it turned into gooey caramel heaven and grandma's house became the only place a sweet-tooth-of-a-child could ever dream of living in.

Well, Stroopwafels (which you may know as caramel thins, toffee biscuits, syrup waffles or treacle waffles) happen to be a hugely popular caramel syrup and baked butter batter treat, which originated in the Netherlands.

It was a no-brainer then, that as soon as I got back, I'd create my own healthy version of the most delicious biscuit in the whole entire world. [Disclaimer: This statement is so all mine, but I bet I'm not the only who thinks stroopwafels are the bee's knees to your tastebuds.]





For the essentials
Food processor
Cookie cutter (I used a 4 inch food presentation ring)
Blender
Dehydrator (but you can also bake the biscuits in the oven, they will no longer be raw, but they will still be the healthiest gluten free biscuit you could get your hands on)

For the biscuit
2 cups walnuts, soaked overnight
1 cup hazelnuts, soaked overnight
1 cup hulled flaxseeds, dry
3/4 cup coconut palm sugar
2 tbsp mesquite meal / algarroba powder
1 tbsp maca root powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp Himalayan salt
juice of 1 lemon
1/4 cup pure water

For the caramel
1 cup pitted dates, soaked for a minimum of 2 hours
1/2 cup coconut butter, melted
1/3 cup coconut palm sugar
1/3 cup mesquite meal / algarroba powder

-Start by making the biscuits first. Finely chop all the walnuts and hazelnuts in a food processor, add all the remaining biscuit ingredients, apart from lemon juice and water, then process again to combine. Add the lemon juice and water, then process one last time until the batter has your desired consistency.
-Spread the biscuit mixture over a teflex sheet of your dehydrator tray, carefully evening it out with the use of a spatula. The thickness should be about 0.5-1cm if your cookies are going to dry in one solid form. Use a cookie cutter or a food presentation ring to create as many cookies as your dough allows.
-Dehydrate at 115 degrees F for 8-12 hours, turn the dough plank over onto a mesh sheet and place another mesh sheet or even two over your cookies, so there is some weight on them and they don't start curling up at the edges whilst drying. Return to the dehydrator for another 8-12 hours.

-To create caramel, you will need either a Vitamix or a powerful food processor. Transfer all the caramel ingredients into the machine and blend on high, while using a tamper or a pulse button (if using a food processor). Continue to blend until you reach a smooth, sauce-like consistency.
-Spread the caramel over each biscuit, you can then either eat right away (you will want to, believe me!), return to the dehydrator for another 2-4 hours to make it more dense or transfer to the fridge for 1-2 hours to make it more solid. Note that if you transfer to the fridge, it is best for the stroopwafels to remain there until serving, as they would start to moisten and soften later while 'defrosting'.







Are you in love? Me too!