Zizi's Adventures - Real Food, Real Stories

Strawberry Leather Or The Healthy Version Of Gummy Candy

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This is going to be a very red post, full of strawberries. Strawberry leather… have you heard about it before? This is actually fruit leather and you can make it from juicy apricot or peach (I will definitely try from these stone fruits too!). This leather thing is exciting not only for children, for adults too. It’s very easy to make but it takes a few hours. Anyway, you will be amazed with the result so don’t miss it!

Last year I found a couple of fruit leather recipes online but somehow I’ve never made them. This year when the Hungarian strawberry season started I was the first one at the market to buy a batch and try to make these yum gummy candies.

Why should we make our gummy candies? The traditional gummy candy (bear) is made from a mixture of sugar (a lot!!!), glucose syrup, starch, flavouring, food colouring, preservative, citric acid, and gelatin (derived from the collagen mainly inside pig skin (hide) and cattle bones!!!). I think that’s enough reason to convince myself to make my homemade version as healthy as possible. We can say that gummy candy is only a plastic chemical product. Remember this next time when you stand at the cash desk and all the colourful candies will tempt you to buy them.

Raw food diet followers make fruit leather in food dehydratator. I don’t own one so I baked my version in the oven at the lowest temperature. Ingredients are only strawberry, honey and vanilla. Do you also think it’s a healthy gummy candy?

Strawberry Leather

Ingredients

– 5 cups strawberry (about 600-700 g)
– 3 tablespoons honey (you can use maple syrup or rice syrup too)
– 1 vanilla bean, split and seeded

Method

Hull and half the washed strawberries. Place them in a pan and cook on low heat for about 12-15 minutes. Turn off the heat, add honey and vanilla. Pureé it with a hand blender. Pour the strawberry mixture on to a baking sheet (38*35 cm / 14,96*13,77 inch) covered with parchment paper.

Put in the oven and bake (dry) at 50C (122F) – this is my lowest temperature in my oven – for about 6-8 hours. Leave the oven door a bit open to let the moist out.

First time when I took the sheet out of the oven the leather was very firm so I put it back in the oven and I let  it cool there. The next morning the leather was softer and it was easy to peel off from the parchment paper.  Use a scissor to cut stripes and roll them up.

Strawberry leather on baking sheet…

Strawberry leather without baking sheet turned against the light…

Amazing experience – strawberry leather in my hands!

Fruit rolls…

Superfood Breakfast: Raspberry Almond Milk Smoothie

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My newly discovered non-dairy milk is almond milk. I know I could make it easily at home (recipe here and here) but to be honest I’m a bit lazy and buy it at the organic farmers market from a Hungarian farmer. He makes a thick, creamy almond milk that tastes and smells like marzipan. I love it!

Almond milk contains ground almonds and water. It’s a healthy alternative to cow’s milk, and contains more vitamins and minerals (vitamin E, A and D, manganese, selenium, magnesium, potassium, zinc, iron, fiber, phosphorous and calcium) than soy or rice milks. Unlike animal milk, it doesn’t contain cholesterol or lactose so it’s suitable for lactose intolerants, vegans and vegetarians. It doesn’t contain saturated fats or cholesterol, but it does contain omega-3 fatty acids, so it’s very good for your heart. Almond milk is also high in protein.

Five years ago I had a different breakfast habit than now. I used to have a slice of toast with butter and a cup of tea. I slowly changed my eating habits so my breakfasts changed too. I usually drink a big glass of vegan smoothie (green or fruit) or juice every morning. As I studied at the school of natural therapies fruits in their raw forms are exactly what your body need for energy. They are easy to digest and the sugar from fruits (glucose) are in the form that your body can easily turn into energy. And this is what we need every morning: energy, right?

Fruits make you energetic in the mornings, grains nourish at lunch time and vegetables clean your body in the evenings.

Raspberry Almond Milk Smoothie

Ingredients (serves 2)

– 500 ml almond milk
– 60 g raspberry (frozen or fresh)
– 3 teaspoon honey / maple syrup / rice syrup

Method

Place all ingredients in the blender and process for 5 minutes, until smooth. If you find it too thick, add more almond milk.

If you leave it thick you can use it as a vegan yoghurt. I added oatmeal to it and it became a wholesome nutritious breakfast.

Raw Brownie

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I love brownies… ie I would love if I shouldn’t add so much sugar to the dough to make the brownies moist and gooey. That’s why I don’t bake it very often.

But this is history… now I can make gooey brownie that sweet enough although there is no sugar in it! It doesn’t contain egg, dairy and flour either. You don’t even have to bake it, you only need a strong food processor to make it.

This is a healthy brownie. That’s all.

Recipe adapted from Sarah!

Raw Brownie

Ingredients (for a 22*22 cm / 8,6*8,6 inch cake pan)

– 2 and 1/2 cups dates, pitted
– 1 cup raw cocoa
– 2 cups walnut
– 1/2 cup almond, chopped roughly
– 1/4 teaspoon salt

Method

Place walnut into the food processor and blend until the nuts are finely ground. Add cocoa, salt and blend again for 1-2 minutes. Slowly add dates while the processor is running. Work until the “dough” or mixture easily sticks together (if it doesn’t add 1-2 dates).Press the “dough” into the lined cake pan, sprinkle the top with almond (press almond pieces into the “dough”). Place in the freezer for 20-30 minutes or in the fridge for 2-3 hours.

Enjoy without remorse! 🙂

The World’s Best Raw Chocolate Ganache Cake

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I have to tell you: this is the world’s best yummiest raw chocolate cake ever! I can even say: this is the best chocolate cake.

I don’t tell you to make it.

I’d rather say: if you don’t make it you will miss your best raw chocolate cake moment!

Raw, vegan and full of chocolate? How can this happen? Does this mean this is a healthy, sweet, very chocolate-y experience? Yes, if you don’t count the 100 grams coconut flower sugar, this cake is nutritious, healthy, full of vitamins and minerals.

The base contains dates, almonds and Himalayan salt. Almonds are rich source of vitamin E, containing 26 miligrams per 100 grams. Raw almond is high quality protein, a third of which are essential amino acids.They are also rich in dietary fiber, B vitamins, essential minerals and monounsaturated fat, one of the two fats which potentially may lower LDL cholesterol.

Health benefits of dates are uncountable, as this fruit is affluent in natural fibres. A 100 gram portion of fresh dates is a source of vitamin C and supplies 230 kcal (960 kJ) of energy. Dates are even rich in other vitamins and minerals. These natural product contains oil, calcium, sulphur, iron, potassium, phosphorous, manganese, copper and magnesium which are advantageous for health.

The base of the ganache is avocado. Avocados are a good source of fiber, potassium, and vitamins C, E, K, folate, and B6. Half an avocado has 160 calories, 15 grams of heart-healthy unsaturated fat, and only 2 grams saturated fat. One globe contains more than one-third daily value of vitamin C, and more than half the day’s requirements of vitamin K.

Cocoa contains a large amount of antioxidants (flavinoids). Cocoa beans are rich in a number of essential minerals, including magnesium, calcium, iron, zinc, copper, potassium and manganese and in vitamins such as A, B1, B2, B3, C and E.

“Coconut sugar has long been a staple in East Asia where it is extracted from the sap of coconut flower buds. And when compared to brown cane sugar, coconut sugar contains more than 20 times the amount of nitrogen, 26 times the amount of phosphorus, nearly 16 times the amount of potassium, four times the amount of magnesium, 26 times the amount of natural chloride, and nearly twice the amount of iron. It is also very high in natural B vitamins.” (Learn more on Natural News.)

Do you believe me that this is a healthy chocolate ganache cake? 🙂

Oh and I shouldn’t forget to mention the name of the goddess who I learnt to make this cake from. Laura Coxeter is a raw food specialist and she showed Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall (in the TV show River Cottage “Veg Every Day”) how to make a sumptuous chocolate tart with wholesome raw ingredients.

Raw Chocolate Ganache Cake

Ingredients (serves 4, for a 18,5 cm – 7,28 inches – spring form pan)

For the base
– 100 g almonds
– 70 g dates, pitted
– 1/2 teaspoon sea or Himalayan salt

For the filling
– 2 big ripe avocados
– 70 g raw cocoa powder
– 50 g coconut oil
– 100 g coconut flower sugar (you can substitute with raw cane sugar)
– 1 vanilla bean, split and seeded
– pinch of sea or Himalayan salt

Method

If you have time soak the almonds for at least 6 hours then drain and dehydrate them (The soaking releases the enzyme inhibitors and makes them easier to digest.). In a food processor blend the almonds. Add dates and salt and blend until you get a ‘dough’ or until the mixture forms a ball (if it’s too dry, add 1-2 teaspoons coconut oil to the dough).

Line the spring form pan with cling film and press the dough into the bottom of the pan. Place it in the freezer  to harden until you make the ganache.

Place all the filling ingredients in a food processor then blend everything until smooth. Pour the ganache over the base. Set in the freezer for 1 hour (it should be firm enough to slice up). If you’re impatient you can take out after 45 minutes freezing. 🙂

Let’s cut in…

This is your slice… the bigger part is all gone! 🙂

The World Most Healthiest Chips And The Challenge In February

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I bet everybody likes challenges… to be honest I do! So I challenged myself in February. I was planning to do a 29 day sugar-free (no cakes, no chocolates, no sweet fruits only apple, lemon, orange and mandarin sometimes) vegan challenge but I ended it on the 25th day. 25 days were enough. I enjoyed it, I had ups and downs but I couldn’t bear not to eat anything sweet anymore.

Thanks to Maria, for her informative blog posts and yum, nutritious recipes. Thanks to Sarah, for her great book “I Quit Sugar”. Thanks to William Dufty, for his amazing book “Sugar Blues”. These all helped me to keep going even if it was difficult sometimes.

(As you know I write my blog in two languages: Hungarian and English. I’m a bit behind with the translations and all my Hungarian posts from February are translated now in March.)

I love kale! It is very high in beta carotene, vitamin K, vitamin C, lutein, and reasonably rich in calcium. Making chips from this beautiful vegetable is a life changing experience. There are so many great recipes on the internet but I did the simpliest. I seasoned the leaves with salt, pepper, sprinkle them with good quality olive oil and baked in the oven. If you taste it, you never want to eat store bought chips again! It is that good!

Kale Chips

Ingredients

– 1 bunch of kale
– 2-3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
– salt and pepper

Method

Preheat the oven to 150-160C (300F). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.

Remove the kale’s stems and center ribs and cut the remaining leaves into bite size pieces. Rinse and dry the leaves in a salad spinner centrifuge. Season with salt and pepper and toss with olive oil to coat the leaves evenly. Arrange the leaves on the parchment paper and bake for 12-15 minutes until the leaves are crisp and light golden brown.