raw chocolate class!

last night i had the pleasure of attending the ever-endearing and entertaining emma's raw chocolate class at zimt headquarters.
i knew NOTHING about making raw chocolate as i tend to mash banana with coconut and raw cacao powder or mix coconut oil with maple syrup and raw cacao powder to fix my chocolate cravings. will i get a thermometer and start getting some actual chocolate creations happening? we'll see. i would definitely document it on this ol' thing if i did!

emma showed us the slowly melting cacao butter that she mixed with cacao powder at 40 degrees. then it was cooled to 28 degrees and then brought up to 30 degrees to set.
then we made medallions (french accent please) or hearts and such, hehe. then we sprinkled beautiful things on top like coconut, cinnamon, chia seeds, rock salt, cacao nibs, and rose petals and waited for the chocolates to set! glorious!

please know she has just one more class on thursday, march 28th. so sign up if you wanna take part! i don't know when she will be offering classes again! this is one busy lady!
p.s. i got a sneak sample of a cookie dough she has started and is just waiting packaging for. think cookie dough in a raw chocolate bath? oh goodness! swoon! i haven't yet tried her raw caramel and i can't wait to!!! i'm grateful she keeps the cacao innovations flowing continuously!

iced mock mocha

i thawed out some e3live this morning but only had enough for a shot for paul. later, i wasn't in the mood for the taste so i thought i'd do something with raw chocolate! my result is something that reminds me of when i used to drink iced cappucinos at tim hortons (more than half my life ago, ok?) and the raw cacao is definitely giving me a coffee buzz! yay! i totally needed this jolt.

e3live "mocha" and a shot of e3live (with green grapes as a chaser!)

for my blended drink, i used:

*about 2 tablespoons raw cacao powder (i'm guessing! i'm pretty sure it was more than 1 tablespoon)

*1 "shot" of e3live (ie the amount i could pour off the unthawed stuff to fill a shot glass)

*1 tablespoon maple syrup 

*1/2 tablespoon lucuma powder

*1 cup unsweetened almond milk

*4-5 ice cubes (made with a stainless steel ice cube tray! the best! i love the old look and updated material! ie aluminum-free!)

it separated a little after i had it sitting out for a bit: dark green and brown swirls, not as appetizing. but stirred, it's a pretty normal looking chocolate colour! and the raw cacao is the perfect caffeine buzz for today and i can't taste the e3live! (does anyone else sometimes not like the taste of wheatgrass or e3live? today is one of those days...)

black bean brownies

sounds gross but these are awesome! not raw or particularly healthy, but... top allergens-free and bean-heavy! hehe.
i tried these for the first time at a potluck where my new friend jen claimed they were super easy and she had just veganized a simple recipe from her mom or something. and she sent me what she did. and now, i am going to post what i did last night!
i have now made these twice and they have been super simple and super delicious both times ^_^ trying them again this morning makes me really aware of how chewy these brownies are! it's crazy! the ground chia is incredible!

brownies and coconut milk ice cream! hurrah!

ingredients:
1 - 15 oz can black beans (rinsed! of course!)
4 "egg whites" (i use 2 bowls, each with 2 tablespoons ground chia, or flax, with 6 tablespoons of water - to clarify: you'll 4 tablespoons ground chia or flax and 12 tablespoons of water in total)
12 tbsp cocoa (i use raw cacao which is funny as i bake these!)
2 tbsp earth balance (last night i used coconut oil which was great)
1 cup "sugar" (last night i used sucanut - not sure yet what to do about this high amount of sugar which i'm sure isn't so necessary - i will keep experimenting!)
3 tbsp gluten-free flour (i have used rice flour and last night i used namaste's perfect flour blend)

directions:
1. heat oven to 350 degrees, use a 9x13 pan. (i greased my pan with coconut oil just in case, though i don't know if it's necessary. also, i find 9x13 a bit big as i like a thicker, fudgier brownie so last night i used an 8x8 glass dish)
2. blend beans and 2 "egg whites" in blender. (since my blender is getting fixed right now, i blended half of the beans/"eggs" in my mini food processor and then added the rest. it all fit and it all blended just fine. hurrah!)
3. combine the bean mix with the sugar and flour and remaining "egg" mix.
4. mix cocoa and "butter" (melted) in a bowl and then add to main mix and mix thoroughly.
5. pour into pan.
6. bake 30-35 minutes or so! i took mine out last night at about 35 minutes and a toothpick still was showing a chocolate stain. but i love my thick, slightly gooey brownies! when i made them in the larger pan, they seemed they would be a bit dry but the next day, they had softened and moistened up. and all reports back have been very happy ^_^

i feel like this is the perfect recipe for staff treat days and kid events as they look "normal" and i think they taste normal (you would never guess that these are made of beans!) and i think most people can eat them! (ie no dairy/nuts/gluten/oats/eggs, etc.)

enjoy!

zimt artisan chocolates

maybe a month ago, i was able to meet up with a friend who has started a glorious business: raw chocolate! i bought 4* kinds to try and i look forward to trying more!

dark chocolate ganache dark chocolate with a rich chocolate ganache centre

*meine minze rich dark chocolate peppermint ganache enrobed in dark chocolate

naranja rica dark chocolate with a sweet orange chocolate ganache centre

coconut crisp rich dark chocolate and crispy flaked coconut

*vanilla caramel smooth dark chocolate with a rich vanilla-caramel centre

nib'd rich dark chocolate studded with crunchy cacao bean nibs


*pfeffernib'd nib'd with a hint of peppermint 

süß orange nib nib'd with accents of sweet orange

*chocolate coconut fudge rich dark chocolate with a fudgy coconut chocolate centre

kaffee dark chocolate with roasted fair trade espresso

my favourite of the 4 i tried were the meine minze and the pfeffernib'd - they were smooth and perfectly sweet. the chocolate coconut fudge and vanilla caramel had chewy, lingering coconut inside but not in a melty, mahalo way. i need to get used to it.

anyways, mighty excited about raw vegan chocolate being available in vancouver! so far, you can get it at greens market and nice shoes.

i just heard for the first time from someone last week that cacao may not be the superfood everyone (especially david wolfe) claims. i have some carob in my cupboard now to mix so i don't overdo the cacao - i suppose it's just a reminder of 'everything in moderation'. i tend to go a bit crazy for cacao.

cacao! pow! i appreciate portlandia recognizing its hipster-status as a buzz word (or safe word, ahem) and not just a buzz-inducer!

cascadas farallas, costa rica, day 3

this was the only day we had noni to start the morning (before yoga). i almost finished all of mine but wow, that stuff smells like something awful and it's hard to drink something just because you know it's really good for you!
so my friend and i were grateful for the usual juice at breakfast (perhaps a blend of pineapple, papaya and something else?) and i had a fruit platter...













lunch featured maracuya (passion fruit) juice and a kale salad with avocado dressing. YAY!














dinner started with tomato pave (featuring olives and pinenuts! yes!). for future reference, here is a tomato pave recipe i'd like to try in the future.












my main course was the heart of palm lasagne. i found it a little lemony for my liking though perhaps i was just drawing too many comparisons to organic lives's lasagne which has perfected the texture and comforts of lasagne flavours.














dessert was homemade chocolates featuring cacao (of course! love it!!!), coconut, nuts and raisins. excellent!

cascadas farallas, costa rica, day 1 (dinner only)

so i've recently come back from a 10 day trip to costa rica... to baru, near dominical, on the pacific rainforesty side of costa rica. i LOVED where we stayed (cascadas farallas) as i ate amazing raw meals there, had yoga every morning (except sunday) and we were right at waterfalls and in the middle of the rainforest and then just 5 minutes drive from the most amazing beach... amazing because it was pretty empty (rainy season! YES!), the people were totally laid back (ie foreigner? who cares?), raw coconut water right from the coconut for $1 and well, it was just the best.

we arrived later afternoon on tuesday the 17th after a flight from houston, texas where i grabbed a double wheatgrass shot at the jamba juice in the george bush airport....















the food on the plane (continental) was sucky but at least there were salads and the flight attendant gave me two. so i ate 2 containers of iceberg lettuce (gah, korea camp flashback!) with the hot sauce. woo.














but after landing in san jose and driving for over 3 hours to our blissful retreat in the rainforest (stopping along the way to see alligators and views of course), we had a couple hours to chill until our first dinner. we came to really get excited for dinner as, with any meal, we didn't know what we were going to have but also, there would always be a starter, entree and dessert. 3 surprises in one meal! yes! my friend was eating vegan and i was always raw (though lunches and desserts are raw regardless).

so our first night's dinner started with "saffron augo lemono"...



it was a cold creme soup with a hint of lemon and meatball type things that to me, had a strange filtered water taste to them somehow. i finished my friend's for her.

then, my main course (and one of my most favourite dishes from our stay): raw pasta primavera...



i loved the creamy sauce and that the noodles weren't just zucchini like i'm used to but carrots and something else! the crackers were a soft and buttery smooth compliment. it was total comfort food.


and then dessert was crepes! cacao with coconut ice cream... HEAVEN.








one of my top 3 favourite desserts from the trip.



and that started off my food/beach vacation of absolute bliss...