Carrot Smoothie

I don't have to tell you that carrots are really good for you. So here is a new way of enjoying them: a carrot smoothie.

I have been trying for a while to make one that I really like, but so far most of them where just okay. Finally, I found the perfect combination: Carrots, oranges, and dates.

You need:
- about 200 g of carrots (about 4 large carrots or up to 10 small ones).
- 2 oranges
- about 5 medium sized dates
- about 500 ml of water (or more or less, depending on how thick you like your smoothie)

You do:
Soak the dates, at least for a few minutes (better overnight) - they will blend more easily. Put them into the blender. Clean your carrots and cut them into pieces and add them. Peal the oranges and put them into the blender as well. Add as much water as you like (however, start rather with too little, because you can always add more, but you cannot remove it anymore if you added too much). Blend. You need to blend a bit longer than you do with most smoothies to get it really smooth. Also, if you have a crappy blender, this might be the recipe that will tell you that it's time to upgrade.

Enjoy (if you like it sweeter, add more dates - if it's too sweet, use less next time)!

Michael

P.S. I noticed that I feel really well in the morning if I have this carrot smoothie for breakfast.

Sesame Mucho (Sesame Bars)

In my quest to make healthy energy bars, I had a few breakthroughs in the last couple of weeks. Today, I will give you a quick recipe for sesame bars - really good for trips and for fast energy before, during and after workouts. Because they contain a lot of sesame and sesame is very high in calcium, these energy bars also give you a serious calcium boost. If you eat half of the bars (7) in one day, you have around a quarter of your RDA.

You need:
- 1/4 cup of sesame
- 1 cup of cashews
- 1 1/2 cups of dates

You do:
Grind the sesame into powder in a seed or coffee grinder. Mix all the ingredients in a powerful food processor until you have a firm dough of a somewhat coarse nature. Due to variations in the degree of moistness in the dates, you need to play around with the ingredients a bit. The dough should be so firm that it stays in a shape that you give it. Knead it and form it into a flat brick and then cut off the bars with a big sharp knife. Put them on a tray and in the oven for around 20 min at 200C. After baking, you need to let them cool down for about another 20 min before you eat them or put them in a box. Enjoy.

Carocolate - Carob Bars

Chocolate cravings? In need for some comfort food or some handy sweets on your road trip or something to give your kids for Christmas?
Try carocolate (carob bars). It's yummy, and according to some of my usual testers, it's the best thing I have ever created. It's vegan (of course) and very healthy 100% HiFi food, meaning it doesn't contain any added sugar, flours, or pressed oils and is high in fiber. It's also high in calcium, which is no surprise, since carob, dates, and nuts are all high in calcium. It's also very easy to take with you on trips, or cycling workouts, that's why you can use it as energy bars.

Since it doesn't need cooking or baking, it's done in about 5 min.

You need:
- 2 cups of dried dates
- 1 1/2 cups of nuts (almonds, hazelnuts or cashews)
- 1/2 cup of carob powder
- 1 vanilla bean
- pinch of cinnamon

You do:
If you want the aroma of roasted nuts in your bars, start by roasting the nuts for a couple of minutes in a oil-free pan or in the oven. Process all the ingredients in a food processor (or with a hand-blender) into a sticky coarse dough. The finer the dough, the finer the final product. Shape the dough into bars, by pressing it down and cutting it with a knife. That's it. Enjoy!

Michael

Hot Carob Cashew Drink

Here is another nice hot drink and a good alternative to hot chocolate.

(Takes about 3 min)

You need:
- a blender
- about 1l of boiling water
- 2 tblsp carob powder
- 10 small dates
- about 15 cashew nuts.

You do:
Put all ingredients in the blender and blend until smooth.

Use less or no cashews if you like it less creamy (fatty). Use less or no dates if you like it less sweet. Carob powder is already somewhat sweet. On the other hand, both whole dates and whole cashew nuts are HiFi - they won't harm you. So why not indulge?

Michael

Spiced Rooibos Latte

Are you a vegan and you wouldn't consume anything with caffeine, but you like a hot frothy drink once in a while? Try a spiced rooibos latte...

You need:
- a blender
- 500ml of boiling water 
- 3 tea bags of rooibos or the equivalent amount of loose tea
(my preferred version uses two bags of green and one bag of red rooibos)
- half a cup of dates
- a large pinch of cinamon
- a large pinch of ginger powder
- if you like you can also add a small pinch of any of those: cloves, nutmeg, cardamom

You do:
Brew the tea. Let it steep for 5 to 10min (make it strong). Pour the tea in the blender. Add the dates and the spices. Blend. Enjoy :)


Michael

Carookies - Carob Bean Cookies

This recipe for sugar-free gluten-free bean and date-based carob cookies was inspired by my friend Annika's outstanding work on other bean-based cookies (which you can find here). They are similar to chocolate cookies, but rather healthy with tons of fibre and a good amount of protein. I use them like energy bars, in particular after workouts when no fresh fruit is available. Carob has been shown to protect against colon cancer.

You need:

2 dl of dried adzuki beans, soak over night or for at least 8h
250g of dates (make sure you get the stones out)
5 big tablespoons of carob powder (available in most organic food shops).
mark of 2 vanilla beans

1 dl of almonds
1/2 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon of ground ginger (depending on how spicy you like it)
3 oranges (blended)
1 big chunk of orange peel
2 ripe bananas
baking paper

You do:

Cook the adzuki beans for 1h or longer until they start to disintegrate. Cook the beans so that the water is gone when they are done, but make sure you always have enough water in the pot so that the beans don't burn. Put in the dates and the oranges. Cook for about another 5 to 10 minutes until dates also start to disintegrate.

Afterwards, add all other ingredients except the almonds and process until smooth. Add water if necessary, but the dough should be easy to form with your hands and not be too liquid. Add almonds, either ground or chopped, depending on your preference (you can also do a bit of both). Form into cookies on baking paper and bake for about 30 minutes at 200 degrees Celsius. The recipe is for 2 large trays.

Enjoy.

Michael