raw vegan desserts: apple & berry crumble

Yes, what a wonderful weekend I've had spending time with my family and eating an abundance of vegan food! After a fun week of celebrating my Mummy Monster's 60th birthday and making her a raw vegan carrot cake (as requested by the birthday girl!) I decided to make a raw vegan apple & berry crumble for the weekend. My family road tripped to my Grandma's house on Saturday with a family friend from Michigan in the USA. Stephanie is here on a teaching exchange and was heaps of fun to hang out with! We toured my Dad's farm in country Victoria before heading to The Butter Factory in Euroa for lunch with my Grandma and cousin, Skye. My Mum always comments on how I get special service and more food when we go out as I always request a vegan meal! Although, this only works in my favour at the places that appreciate wholefoods and fresh produce… no mock meat for me! If you like to eat meat in your meal, go for the real stuff - and by real, I mean no added anything, organic, grass fed and grass finished!

Anyway, my awesome cousin came to stay with me for the weekend, which was an absolute pleasure. I felt like I had a mini-me as she followed me around, wore my trackie pants and ate my food! It's so very satisfying to share meals with someone who is happy to eat my uniquely delicious food. And as always, my parents got in on the taste testing as we all devoured a bountiful piece of my raw, vegan, sugar-free and gluten-free apple & berry crumble for dessert on Saturday night.

Here it is. For you, my friends. Enjoy!

apple & berry crumble

crumble

2 cups activated nuts (almonds, pecans, walnuts)

1 cup medjool dates, pitted

1/2 cup dried shredded coconut

dried desiccated coconut, to garnish

filling

4 apples, cored & thinly sliced

1/2 cup mixed berries, fresh or frozen

1 apple, cored

1/2 cup prunes, pitted & soaked 

1 Tbsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp ground nutmeg

1/2 tsp sea salt

juice of a lemon

Start by soaking the prunes in filtered water for 2 to 4 hours. Blend the cored apple, prunes, ground cinnamon, ground nutmeg, sea salt and lemon juice in a high-powered blender (use a Tbsp or more of the prune soak water to get the blades moving) and pour into a bowl. Toss well with the thinly sliced apples and mixed berries. Place the filling evenly in a baking dish and set aside. In a food processor or a high-powered blender, process the activated nuts until finely ground. Next, process with the dates and the dried shredded coconut until roughly combined. Crumble the topping mixture evenly over the filling and finish by sprinkling the dried desiccated coconut over the crumble. Dehydrate at 40 degrees Celcius or place in an oven on the lowest setting with the door ajar for 2 to 4 hours. Garnish the dish with mint leaves and serve with your choice of coconut ice-cream and a drizzle of pure maple syrup. Serves 4. 

the shadow of shame

Time waits for no one

Seasons change I know

Now I have to find

A way to let go

These are the lyrics for a song I wrote a few years back. These are the lyrics that mark a transition in my life. These are the lyrics of learning the lesson of letting go. The road to letting go is a difficult road to walk but it's the most rewarding. Because what's waiting for you at the end… is freedom…

Last week, I processed a turbulence within my heart with a trusted mentor. To be honest with you, and without revealing all the gory details, I had been struggling to let go of my attachment to a situation that I should never have been involved in. Yes, I had worked through forgiveness and had moved on but I was left with a feeling that I couldn't quite name. It felt like guilt. But guilt is a feeling that arises from having done wrong, and I reasonably knew that no part of the situation was my fault; in fact, I had done everything right. My trusted mentor exposed the lie operating in my life; this feeling was not guilt, this feeling was shame. 

Shame taints the glass through which you see yourself. Shame touches the core of who you are and underscores the lie that you should be ashamed of who you are - that you are not enough; that you are somehow wrong.

For me, the shame spiral started with, It's my fault, which led to, I'm responsible, I deserve this, and finished at, I'm not enough. Because I've been walking down this road of letting go for a few years now, I was able to recognise that believing this lie and carrying the weight of shame did not serve me. But this lie had been operating in my life for many years since childhood. And so, my trusted mentor lead me through the process of breaking this lie in my life. We prayed, and we asked God to speak to my heart - to the core of my being - and to replace this lie with the truth.

In the moment where I invited God in to speak this is what His voice spoke to my heart… Brooke, you are an oak of righteousness. I have planted you. You have been trying to cover your shame. But I cover you. 

The revelation that God covers me freed me. I was trying to cover myself; to make myself righteous before God. But the beautiful thing about redemption is that Jesus covers me because of the Cross. He took my shame upon Himself and He made the road to letting go into a road to freedom via the highway of salvation.

God sent His Son, Jesus, for this… 

… to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners… to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor. (Isaiah 61:1,3; NIV).

Shame is exhausting; freedom is energising. My prayer is that you would be released from shame and come find shelter under the cover of the God who loves you and who never leaves you… under the cover of the God who makes all things new.

You wash anew

Like a spring rain

Restore my heart

Come heal the pain

rawesome spaghetti marinara

As we draw near to the end of the year and my six week trip to the UK to visit my sister and brother-in-law looms (in a good way!) I can't help but reflect on the year that's been 2013. While I won't bore you with all the ins and outs of my thought life I will say that I am grateful for the people in my life. People have been an integral part of my year in a very good way. Here's two people I'm particularly fond of who last week celebrated their 30th wedding anniversary - my parents...

Next week, my dear mum turns 60 (she won't mind me telling you this, I promise!) so this weekend I'm going to be in the kitchen making her a raw carrot cake with a cashew cream icing as per her request. I love how you can be creative with the measurements and raw desserts still turn out looking and tasting great! So, keeping that in mind, feel free to tweak and adjust this week's recipe according to your own tastebuds. This is my go-to version of a raw spaghetti using zucchini noodles with a tomato-based sauce straight out of the blender. If you want tomato soup, omit the noodles and the veggies. So easy, very tasty and much better for you than that canned stuff.

rawesome spaghetti marinara

spiralled spaghetti

3 large zucchinis

1/2 tsp sea salt

marinara sauce

1 cup filtered water

4 medium tomatoes, chopped

1/4 cup sun-dried tomatoes, soaked

1/2 red capsicum

1/2 avocado

1/2 lemon

1 clove garlic

1 Tbs cold-pressed olive oil

1 tsp dried mixed herbs (optional)

1/2 red chilli, deseeded (optional)

sea salt, to taste

cayenne pepper, to taste

vegetables

baby asparagus

spring onion

mixed lettuce

mushrooms 

garnishes

coriander

nutritional yeast

pumpkin seeds 

rosemary

Make the spiralled spaghetti by processing the zucchini into long, thin noodles with a spiralizer or by using a peeler for long, thin strips of zucchini. Place the noodles in a bowl, sprinkle with sea salt and toss. Set aside. Blend all the marinara sauce ingredients together in a high-powered blender and chop up your desired vegetables and garnishes. Gently squeeze the zucchini noodles and discard any liquid. Mix the noodles with the marinara sauce, vegetables and garnishes until all ingredients are covered.  Serve on a bed of mixed lettuce and sprinkle with nutritional yeast, kale chips or pumpkin seeds (also known as pepitas). (You can warm up this rawesome dish in a dehydrator or in an oven on a low setting with the door ajar, if desired.) Serves 2. 

Bon appetit!

barefoot healing

For a few months now I have been sleeping connected to the earth. And I'm not sleeping outside in a teepee! No, I have been sleeping in earthing body bands that I won in a "rawffle" at the David Wolfe Australia Tour this year. When I won, I personally collected my prize (a bag full of goodies!) from David Wolfe and in front of the whole audience, shook his hand. It was truly a glorious moment! (I absolutely love David Wolfe... it may be his hair?!)

 

I can hear you all asking, What in the world is earthing? And how can it help me? Well, before we are chemical beings we are electrical beings. And being earthed or grounded restores the natural electrical state of the human body. Most disease is thought to be rooted in inflammation, so for those living with a chronic illness, this is an effective way to reduce pain and inflammation, improve sleep, increase energy and revive health. Not to mention, protect your body from the damaging (the positively charged) electromagnetic fields (EMFs) that are all around you!

With earthing, you are connecting yourself to the earth's electrical field. You can do this simply by walking outside barefoot. The earth is negatively charged, just like the alkaline side of a battery. For many people, our bodies are overly acidic (and disease thrives in an acidic environment) due not only to our modern diet, but also our modern lifestyle, as we are constantly separated from the earth's alkaline negatively charged electromagnetic field. Our footwear, our transport and our dwellings mean that the soles of our feet never see - or rather touch - the surface of the earth, thus blocking our connection with the earth and it's electrical charge, which has been designed to facilitate vibrant health and wellbeing.

The good news is that the natural electricity the earth has to give our bodies can be absorbed through any point of the skin. And so, I sleep looking like I've been abducted by aliens in my trusty earthing body bands. When I first tried it I wasn't sure if it would help me at all. But I noticed a physical change straight away! During the first few nights my fingers and toes were all tingly (a sign that circulation is improving), my sleep felt deeper and more refreshing, and weirdly, my digestion and elimination seemed to improve (and I didn't change my diet during that time). I'm not saying if you don't do this you won't be healthy, but on the road to health and wellness, everything adds up over time. Being a person who lives with a chronic illness, especially where the central symptom is fatigue, I believe there is value in adding earthing into my holistic health regime. 

Clint Ober has developed devices to assist in us being earthed if we have limited access to the earth or live in places where it is not safe to go barefoot. You can use these grounding technologies as you walk or work or sleep. You can also naturally connect to the earth by walking barefoot outside, swimming in a lake or the ocean, gardening with bare hands, or if you can allow yourself to go there, hugging a tree!

For more ideas on why and how you can try earthing I encourage you to check out Sarah Wilson's blog post here.