Chocolate banana smoothie

I felt like making a smoothie and the Chocolate Banana Thickshake recipe in the Rawlicious booklet provided some inspiration.

Again I used some cacao nibs as that’s what I have in the cupboard and ground them with some nuts and added frozen banana and other items and made up a lovely creamy smoothie.

Then the next day I made up the same mix with slightly different quantities but this time didn’t get a chance to freeze the banana which didn't seem to affect the taste or consistency at all.

This is so easy to make that all I really need to do is keep a few basic ingredients in the fridge for the next time I need a smoothie fix.

I've just worked out that this is the 16th recipe that I've tried from the Rawlicious booklet, which means that I've now reached the halfway mark. All Rawlicious posts so far can be found here. It's a great feeling and I'm looking forward to checking out the rest of the recipes in the near future.

Beet my nana smoothie

I’ve just made a “Beet my nana smoothie” from the Rawlicious recipe book. It’s the first time I’ve bought any silver beet, and this has been an excellent way to use it as the smoothie tastes sweet and I’m sure it’s healthy. The very ripe bananas probably contributed to the sweetness.

I have the impression that most people prefer to cook silver beet rather than eating it raw, so I googled the question and found the answer at Wiki: Fresh young chard can be used raw in salads. Mature chard leaves and stalks are typically cooked or sauteed; their bitterness fades with cooking…

Other sites suggest that silver beet can be shredded and added raw to salads. I haven’t noticed any bitter taste so the silver beet smoothie worked for me.

Cinnamon Bars, Pink Coconut Shake and Living Fudge

I have never really thought about where vanilla essence comes from. I needed one vanilla bean for the Cinnamon Bars and 4cm of a bean for the Pink Coconut Shake, both recipes from the Rawlicious booklet. So I looked for the beans in the herbs and spices aisle in the supermarket. No luck. I scoured the shelves at Flannery’s – again no luck. Then I found a bottle of them at Wray’s Organics at Newmarket.

They’re not what I expected. For some reason I thought they’d look like other dried beans such as pinto or kidney beans, but vanilla beans are the dried form of the pod with bean seeds still inside and are shown above next to the Cinnamon Bars. And they’re pricey – close to $20 for the bottle of what looks like 20 beans.

Jamie Oliver’s forum has a discussion about vanilla beans. As at January last year, they are grown in Australia and exported, and have been found in David Jones food hall in Sydney, delis and some supermarkets. Buying vanilla beans grown in Australia sounds great, but the ones that I’ve found have come from Mexico. After I use up the ones I have, I’ll be checking in my local David Jones to see if they stock Australian vanilla beans.

I’m sure it’s just me. I found there were too many distinct tastes all rolled up into the Cinnamon Bars. I think I mustn’t like anything that includes two or more dried fruits. But I had no such problem with the Pink Coconut Shake, which I finished right to the last drop… I’m beginning to understand what people see in smoothies.

I found a recipe for Living Fudge in “The Raw Food Gourmet” which I thought might work because it didn’t include any dried fruit. I rolled the fudge into little balls and then proceeded to really enjoy them… too much! I’d classify them as addictive but will make them again for sure!