Bliss Balls

Remember when I used to keep a blog?

Because to write an explanation for the absence would be too difficult and sad, I'll instead write out this recipe for an easy, sweet snack.

There are a millions versions of bliss balls, but this one is inspired by those sold here in Nelson, BC (where I still live!), because they are the greatest. They are rich and sweet, and the best part is the crunch from the nuts and seeds.

I'm sure it won't be another year until my next appearance, but summer is here, the outdoors are calling, and for the first time in years and years, I live in a house with a yard in which to lay, and a garden in which to work. Yippee!

Until next time!

Bliss Balls
(makes about 12 balls at 35 grams each)

Ingredients:

• 150 grams raw almond butter
• 65 grams tahini
• 60 grams honey
• 60 grams shredded coconut
• 60 grams raw sunflower seeds
• 50 grams raisins
• 25 grams sliced almonds
• 1 tsp spirulina (or more)
• 1/2 tsp fine sea salt

Instruction:

1. In a medium sized bowl, combine almond butter, tahini, honey, spirulina and salt.

2. Mix in remaining ingredients.

3. Portion, roll and store in refrigerator.

Notes:

• The dough consistency is soft. If you find it too soft, add more shredded coconut, or even coconut flour. Try a tablespoon at a time until you get a consistency you like.
• I sometimes substitute some or all of the almond butter for peanut butter, without too much of a flavour difference.
• Pretty much everything else is also substitutable—pumpkin seeds for sunflower seeds, chlorella for spirulina, chocolate for raisins...

Oatmeal Cookies II

If you will believe it, I haven't just been lazy about posting oatmeal cookies. It actually took me a month of obsessive oatmeal cookie making to arrive at this recipe. Creating an oatmeal cookie for my dream bakery was way more difficult than I anticipated...in part because I struggled to define my "perfect" oatmeal cookie, but also because of the increased number of variables to consider, adjust and change, especially compared to a basic shortbread or sugar cookie.

Rolled Sugar Cookies

Like shortbread, sugar cookies were a staple I thought I should be able to make using local sugar. This time, I stopped counting after trial batch number 6. While a nice tasting cookie was quickly achieved...a nice texture, not so much.

Sesame Crackers

James and I had some friends over for dinner the other day, and is there ever a better excuse to make your own crackers? These are perfect for cheese and dips, as they are only very lightly salted. I also like rolling them out in big pieces—saved a lot of time, and I think it's a neat look. This recipe is exceptionally easy, the crackers taste great, and they look lovely; I already have a second batch of dough in the fridge, waiting to be rolled.

Raw Hazelnut & Cacao Nib Refrigerator Cookies

As winter approaches, I am becoming less strict about my adherence to a raw diet. However, I have found I prefer many raw recipes to their unraw counterparts—I am maintaining my switch to cashew yogurt and nut milk, and zucchini hummus is just so delicious, and much easier to make than chickpea hummus. I really did miss tea, though.

Green Apple Guacamole

A problem I have with a lot of prepared raw food is that it's often heavy on the nuts. I love nuts, very much, but my stomach reacts negatively when I eat large quantities of them. So, I've been looking for more vegetable based meal ideas.

Raw Corn Chips

Last summer I worked for a local farmer, whose primary crop was sweet corn. Wonder of wonders, the farmer gave me and the other employees permission to bring home any unsold vegetables and as much corn as our families wanted, which, for us (dad), was a lot.

Cashew Yogurt

I know I had previously wished for winter's early demise, but 24C in March is unsettling. I tried to take advantage though—I went for my first run of the season yesterday(!), turned soil and de-pooped my garden, and planted a few flats of seeds. Hopefully my garden will be more successful than last year...chicken wire is definitely going up before my dogs have a chance to pee my plants to death.

Cauliflower Popcorn

Continuing on my path to raw, I have been collecting snack recipes. Raw cauliflower popcorn was a recipe I'd heard about, but never could bring myself to make. Mostly because the ingredients list usually included nutritional yeast and I had no idea what that was, or where to get it. As it turned out, nutritional yeast was easy to find—I happened across it in the organics section of my local grocery store. 

Pickled Pink: Beet Pickled Eggs

Some months ago, I was experimenting with pickling eggs. While searching through my fridge today, I found a jar of beet pickled eggs I'd made in the fall. The first two pictures of this post were taken within the first couple of weeks of their pickling, and, as you can see, the whites turned quite pink, while the yokes stayed yellow—lovely.

Strawberry Cinnamon Fruit Leather Hearts

I wanted to give out heart shaped fruit leathers as Valentine's gifts this year, but I ate them all. 

Black Sesame Seed Crackers

Hmmm...I really haven't much to say. Things have been fairly normal, though tiring, these days. Mostly, I am sick of driving in this horrible winter weather...I am so exhausted at the end of my days, from a day full of baking, and the stressful commute, that I haven't accomplished much lately. Realizing it's time for bed, and I've sat in the same chair for the last 4 hours, is wholly depressing.

Strawberry Banana Fruit Roll Ups

I wonder if it is pure coincidence that I am making Fruit Leathers around the same time as my first attempt last year? Or maybe there is some unknown force at work...

Oat & Herb Crackers

For ages, my mom has been wanting me to try and make crackers—she's a cracker fiend. So, the other week, when I was feeling particularly ambitious, I thought I'd practice my rolling skills. I used this cracker recipe for whole wheat crackers and made a few changes to suit my and my mom's tastes.

Pickled Eggs

I love pickled eggs so much. I was first introduced to them when I was young, by a friend whose mom pickled her own. I thought it was so romantic—going down to a basement and bringing up a bottle of home pickled eggs. For some reason it took me 10 years to try it myself. This summer, I found a small-scale, sugar-free recipe for pickled eggs in Putting It Up With Honey, gathered some eggs and...waited another two months.

Cocoa & Almond No-Bake Granola Bars

I'm back to the granola bars...

This time it's my mom I'm trying to please. She's been on her own quest for the perfect granola bar—crunchy and chewy, but low in fat. After at least 4 different recipes, she still couldn't find one she liked, so I thought I'd try my hand at the old granola bar game...again.

Kale Chips: Am I Missing Something?

I write my first exam of the season today...I'm so close to the end, I think I'm more excited to get it over with than nervous...

Anyways, while I study, I always crave a snack. 

I wanted something salty, and kale was on sale for $1...so I made kale chips. I used elana's pantry's recipe for Salt and Vinegar Kale Chips, with the only variations being that I used my dehydrator to crisp them and white vinegar instead of apple cider vinegar (it's all I had...and I'm not about to buy a new jug of something 4 days before I move out).

I must say...I was pretty disappointed. I have read a lot of blog posts describing the wonder of kale chips, but I didn't think they were anything special.

Elana's warning about this recipe being very salty is valid—I found them too salty, and so did James, though he liked them more than I did. I am so sad, because I thought this would be the answer to my salty snack craving...and I've read such good things...

Am I just missing something?

Apples to Apples: Unsweetened Apple Sauce

I have made it a habit to browse the shitty fruit shelf at the grocery store before I buy any regular produce, and there are certain fruits I will only buy from there. Bananas, for instance. The only time I get to enjoy dehydrated banana chips, or Maple Walnut Banana Ice Cream is when I find bananas on The Shelf. Apples, however, were always an exception. Being available more locally than bananas, I always bought them fresh.

Do You Know About Shrinkage?

I know I have already posted about raisins...more than once...but I am obsessed with them. I make them in huge batches every time grapes go on sale...but they're so delicious, I end up eating them all in the same day they finish dehydrating.

Since they have become part of my regular diet, and I already eat so much fruit [fiber], I decided I better find out the grape/raisin weight ratio...to keep my grape consumption in balance and give myself a reality check—just because it's half the size, doesn't make it half the fruit.

Peel Sessions: How to Peel a Mango

Over reading week, I was visiting my friend Katie. She happened to have a bowl of mangos sitting on her kitchen table, so I asked if I could have one. I cut it up into a million irregular pieces and ate it that way...the only way I really knew how. Afterwards, as I was tossing the peel, her dad came in and said something along the lines of "you know you can peel a mango like a banana." No...I didn't.

I have actually eaten a mango every day since I learned this trick. I even tried an Ataulfo mango, which tasted pretty similar but...they were on sale. I know mangos aren't exactly the picture of local eating during winter in Canada...but...I love them. And, like I said, they were on sale...poor students can't be too picky.

Anyways, I still I wish I had known How to Peel a Mango a little earlier in life...

Score the top of the mango with a knife.