vegan

Raw strawberry jam + all the treats that come with it!

/ lolitabopaa / 2 Comments

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Besides their amazing taste, strawberries are a good source of antioxidants and vitamin C. They also have a high fiber and water content, so they will contribute to a better digestion. They’re delicious in any form, but to preserve all their benefits you should enjoy them raw.

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Since I had diabetes, classic jam is a big no no for me because it contains too much sugar. Great way to preserve all the nutrients and avoid adding sugar is raw chia strawberry jam. Mashed strawberries mixed with chia seeds make a fairly homogeneous mixture and thanks to chia gel you will get approximately the same texture as with classic jam.

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Raw strawberry jam

  • 300 g strawberries
  • 4 big Tbsp chia seed
  • 1 Tbsp lemon juice
  • agave syrup (optional)

Preparation:

  1. Roughly mash strawberries with a fork. You should leave some big pieces.
  2. Add lemon juice, chia and agave syrup if needed.
  3. Store in a fridge overnight.

Strawberries work wonderfully with coconut or milk products. Top some greek yoghurt or ice cream with it…

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… or make a really delicious vegan alternative to butter and jam in the morning: avocado strawberry sandwich…

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Avocado and strawberry jam sandwich

  • bread with walnuts
  • avocado
  • strawberry jam
  • coconut chips

Strawberry & Tomato gazpacho

/ lolitabopaa / 2 Comments

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Gazpacho is a soup made of raw vegetables and served cold. Its origins are apparently disputable, since many mediterranean countries have similar dishes, but let’s just stay by the fact it comes from Spanish cuisine. Traditionally it is made of tomatoes, bread, cucumber, bell pepper, onion, garlic, olive oil, wine vinegar, water and salt.

I’m giving it a modern twist: tomato, strawberry, basil and balsamic vinegar. That’s about it.

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Gazpacho always has some texture, so don’t blend everything in a soup. Chop very finely all ingredients. Strawberries and tomatoes have high percentage of water, so when chopped they will release a lot of juice. Also, strawberries should be marinated with balsamic vinegar and basil for couple of hours before adding chopped tomatoes. This will allow develop a sort of velvet flavor. Tomatoes will add freshness.

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Peeling fresh tomatoes can be really annoying. Here a little trick: cut a cross on the bottom side, than submerge the tomato in boiling water for 10 or 15 seconds. Cool immediately in cold water, than just pull off the skin.

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Ingredients:

  • 250 g strawberries
  • 250 g tomatoes
  • 3-4 Tbsp of aged balsamic vinegar
  • fleur de sel
  • bunch of basil leaves

Preparation:

  1. Chop strawberries, add balsamic vinegar, fleur de sel and finely chopped basil leaves.
  2. Chill and let marinate for at least 5 hours.
  3. Cut crosses on the bottom part of tomatoes. Submerge in boiling water for 10 to 15 seconds. Chill in cold water then pull off the skins. Remove the seeds from tomatoes.
  4. Finely chop tomatoes and add them to the strawberry mixture.
  5. If needed, finish with some additional salt, balsamic and basil leaves.

* If strawberries are not as sweet as they are supposed to be, add a sweetener to enhance the flavors. Tomatoes always need a hint of some sort of sugar.

Coconut carrot mi-cuit

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Coconut carrot cake upgrade Nº3: coconut carrot mi-cuit

Mi-cuit comes from french and literally means half cooked. When ordering a dessert in France, you’ll opt for mi-cuit au chocolat. It’s a chocolate cake whit a liquid chocolaty middle part. It is baked really quickly so that it gets crust on the outside but stays liquid on the inside. Since my carrot cake is really moist and dense and contains no eggs you will get juicy carrot mi-cuit.

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Chia will do the trick!

Chia has high fiber and protein content and is rich with omega-3 fatty acids. What’s even better: it has binding properties. When combined with water, It forms a gel that can be used as an egg replacer.

The main formula is: 1 egg = 1 Tbsp chia seed + 3 Tbsp water.

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Ingredients:

Preparation:

  1. Follow raw coconut carrot cake recipe.
  2. Put mixture in individual pie molds and bake at 170ºc for approx. 30 min.
  3. Let cool and serve with greek yogurt topped with coconut, raspberries and some crushed roasted nuts.

Raw coconut carrot cupcake

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Coconut carrot cake upgrade Nº2: raw cupcake with coconut frosting

For this recipe I was actually inspired by raw lemon cupcake prepared by Barbarella – green chef that I’ve tried at Open kitchen – food market in Ljubljana that’s open every Friday when the sun comes out. I’m sure my recipe has nothing to do with hers, but those flavors were so remarking that I just had to try something similar on my own.

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Frosting is a must!

The cupcake itself is pretty dense, so you need to balance it with something light. The best is to use coconut whipped cream. When I was preparing this, I didn’t have any so I’ve mixed some greek yogurt with coconut oil, left it in the fridge for couple of hours and what came out was simply delicious.

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Ingredients:

Preparation:

  1. Follow raw coconut carrot cake recipe. Use small cake ring to form cupcakes.
  2. Prepare whipped coconut cream or mix 1/3 coconut oil and 2/3 greek yogurt for frosting.
  3. After letting sit everything in the fridge for couple of hours, garnish cake with frosting, strawberries and sprinkle with coconut flakes.

Raw coconut carrot bites

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Carrot cake upgrade Nº1: coconut carrot bites

I love coconut balls, but usually they’re made of butter or coconut oil, sugar, powdered milk and coconut flakes. I wanted to try something else. Healthier and more fresh. And since too much fat blows up my sugar, I wanted something without any additional fat. After many tries I finally came up with the recipe I adore. It’s actually raw coconut carrot cake upgrade.

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Ingredients:

Preparation:

  1. Follow raw coconut carrot cake instructions.
  2. If using additional coconut oil, stir in the mixture and let sit overnight.
  3. Make small balls and roll them in coconut flakes.

Raw summer pie

/ lolitabopaa / 3 Comments

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Light delight for hot sunny days: raw coconut carrot cake

The last thing you need in those hot summer days is to spend your day cooking and heating up the house. Fresh, light and raw, full of vitamins and water to rehydrate your body. That’s what we should enjoy in the summer.
This cake was actually created in wish to find an alternative to classic cheesecake, which I adore but I wanted something low carb and without any milk products. The texture has nothing to do with it, but the taste gets pretty close.

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There’s no need to remind you how healthy carrots are but usually all that peeling and grating just turns you off eating them. For this recipe I’m using a blender or if you like Vitamix. It’s so easy to prepare them that you have no more excuses for not doing it anymore.
Since there’s a lot of lemon juice in the mixture, you have to balance it with something sweet. Applesauce is great for that. It’s pretty low carb and adds some sweetness. That allows you to reduce overall sugar content.

And coconut… it’s a summer thing par default. If you’re not by the sea, it will sure get you there. What I’ve discovered since I started using coconut in my recipes is that it comes in many different forms. Apart from the raw thing, what you can get in the supermarket is coconut chips, coconut flakes and coconut flour. I’m using different coconut flours. The one from Amanprana has more strong taste, so I use it when baking. It goes well especially with chocolate. The one from Vegalife is mild in taste and more neutral, so I use it mostly in raw recipes. Coconut flour is also great because it has really high fiber content. The one from Vegalife has approx. 40 g of fiber per 100 g. It also contains a lot of good fats, but you should keep in mind that there’s approx. 60 g of fat in normal coconut flour or flakes. That means that you don’t have to add that much additional fat to your recipes. I often add coconut flour to my post-workout smoothies. There I prefer using fat reduced coconut flour from Vegalife that has only 17 g of fat per 100 g.

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What I like about his recipe is that it can be used in so many ways and always turns out delicious. To find out more go to the upgrades:

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Ingredients:

  • 350 g carrot
  • 50 g nuts (I used 30 g cashew and 20 g almond)
  • 70 g coconut flour
  • 30 g coconut flakes
  • 100 g applesauce
  • lemon peel of 2 organic lemons
  • juice of 2,5 lemons
  • 3 Tbsp chia seed
  • 50 g coconut nectar or agave syrup (I used 20 g agave and 3 Tbsp sucralose)
  • 20 g oat flakes
  • chocolate, almonds and coconut flakes to garnish

Preparation:

  1. Use blender to grind peeled carrots with applesauce until completely smooth.
  2. Use grinder or mortar to grind oat flakes, chia seeds and nuts. Grind separately to get flour consistency.
  3. In a separate bowl combine carrot mixture whit all the remaining ingredients.
  4. Use a cake ring or a cake mold to form a pie. Press well.
  5. Let sit in fridge overnight.
  6. Sprinkle with chocolate bits, coconut flakes and nuts.

Sweet potato hummus

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Since you can not buy neither go to the Lebanese to have some, you have to learn how to make it on your own. Luckily! Hummus is a rare treat at my place. Except if you’re in Ljubljana and you go to the best Falafel in the town. Anyway, apart from a classic, a sweet potato hummus is a must.

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Everyone is talking about superfood these days. But they are leaving out one of the most important ones. Chickpeas are a great source of protein and carbs to give you energy. They have a low glycemic index (which is great for diabetics) and are rich in fibers. Normally making hummus from the scratch involves soaking the chickpea for couple of hours, but if you’re in a rush, the canned one will do either.
And what’s the trick to make a really silky and smooth hummus? According to Jerusalem, after soaking, the drained chickpeas should be sautéed with baking soda for a few minutes, before dumping in the water to cook them through.

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Why sweet potato? It adds a nice flavor… It must be the sweetness. My grandma was always saying that adding something sweet to your vegetable dishes will enhance the flavors. I has a lower glycemic index than regular potatoes – around 50, more fibre and there’s approx 23 g of carbs in 100 g of sweet potato. There are many different varieties, but normally you’ll find purple, white or orange sweet potatoes. I like the orange ones the best, but it’s true that the choice depends on the purpose and preparation.

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Cumin seeds (Cuminum cyminum) are often confused with caraway (Carum carvi). In slovenian cumin stands for carvi. So the real cumin is something that is hard to find here. I always get mine when traveling. In hummus you need to add the real cumin seeds. I’m also using black cumin seeds (Nigella sativa) to garnish which are actually not related to cumin.

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Ingredients:

  • 1 big sweet potato (approx 200 g)
  • 240 g chickpea
  • 2 Tbsp tahini
  • 2 medium garlic cloves
  • 1/2 lemon juice
  • 2 Tbsp olive oil
  • 1 big tsp freshly ground cumin
  • salt
  • pepper
  • black cumin seed and olive oil to garnish

Preparation:

  1. Cut sweet potato in two, add some oil, salt, pepper. Bake in skins at 220°c until soften.
  2. This step only if using dried chickpeas
  3. Remove potatoes from skins.
  4. Put all ingredients in food processor and mix at high speed.
  5. Transfer in a large bowl, make a hole for olive oil and garnish with black cumin seed.
  6. Serve with pita bread or wholegrain sesame crackers. Carrots work well too.