Let them eat (raw) cake!

Today I want to share an amazing raw cake with you!

Lime-avocado-fantastico!

Time: 30 min + 3 hour (freezer)
Serves: 8 persons


Cakefilling

• 3 avocado (ready to eat)
• Juice from 2-3 small limes
• 2 bananas
• 3tbs coldpressed coconut oil (melt in a bain-marie/vannbad)

Make the cake (see recipe below). Slice the avocado and remove the stone, take out the green with a spoon. Put avocado, limejuice, bananas and the melted coconut oil in a food blender and blend it to you get a smooth mix. (no lumps!) Pour the mix ontop of the finished cake. Put the cake in the freezer for about 3 hours. Let it defrost about 15 minutes before serving. 

Cake

• 3 dl almonds
• 2 dl dates (without stones)
• 1 tbs cold pressed coconut oil
• 1 ml (krm) salt
• 3 tbs coconut meat (dried/shredded) - to put at the bottom of the pan

Use a pan (about 20-24 cm). The smaller pan, the higher cake.

Blend the almonds in a food blender untill it turns in to a almond "flour". Add the dates, coconut oil and salt and blend until you get a dough just don´t blend too long. The dough should be sticky and become firm when you try to manipulate it. Sprinkle a even layer with shredded coconut in the bottom of the pan and press down the dough to an even layer. (Then add the filling as described above.)

A colleague at work made this cake and brought it backstage for us to nibble on in the interval. It tastes awesome! She didn´teven have a freezer, so somehow it can work without as well, although it will be quite liquid compared to the freezer-prepared one. 

Vegan breakfast (what can we eat?)

Vegan breakfast

So, this was the hardest part for me. As a Norwegian I eat a lot of bread, often both for breakfast and lunch. The first week I only ate peanut butter and jam as I didn't know where to find anything I could eat, after being a big time cheese eater my whole life. Booooring! So if you want to be vegan and don't know what to eat on your bread, please read on! 


Spreads


Jams (but they put animal products in jams? Seriously?)
Argh. Be careful and read the labels, sometimes it includes gelatin). Easy, cheap and available, but not as healthy. A great tip is to make your own apple jam. SO easy, quick and you don't have to put much sugar in it, unless you want to store it for a long time. (I have made a great apple jam by boiling it with a few sticks of cinnamon. Yummy!)

"Cheese"

Yay! As a lover of cheese I was thrilled to know there are nice vegan "cheeses" available. On bread and crispbread I recommend Jeezini. They have several different flavours and it both look and taste like similar types of (real) cheese. Another great thing is that it doesn't contain palm oil.

Vegancheese.co.uk
Bute Island (Sheese)

Tofutti cheese

Daiya dairy-free

If you are Norwegian I have bought Jeezini in "Sunkost" stores. (F.eks: Gunerius) I have also seen Bute Island cheeses and tofutti cream cheeses in Meny stores. 

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Cream cheeses

I have only tasted Tofutti cream cheese till now. And it is a good vegan "Philadelphia cheese". I have seen if you want to make a cheese cake you can add tofutti instead of your normal dairy cream cheese. To make it a bit healthier and interesting I put some avocado/tomato on it. Lovely! It is a great base for making interesting sandwiches. Just add whatever green and healthy stuff on and feel great!

(Norwegians: I have found this in Meny stores). 

"Meat"

Mock meat & Jeezini cheese

Yeah, I used to love meat on my bread. I admit it. So I was VERY surprised and happy to find products that were cruelty-free but still satisfied my "meat-hunger".

These two are ok tofu "meats", quite strong in taste.

(Norwegians; Also bought at "SunKost" at Gunerius and in a "Life" store at Grønland). 


Paté & spread

Pepper, chilli taste

I used to love liver paté and again happy to find vegan alternatives. The Granovita Organic Herb is the one closest in my opinion. The other flavors they offer are great if you want an interesting spread. 

Flavors: Spicy mexican, herbs, tangy tomato, original, mushroom. 

I also have bought this Cremisso spread, but haven't tried it yet!

(Norwegians: I have found this in Meny stores. They are our friends obviously ;) 


Mayonnaise

There are vegan alternatives out there, or you can make your own. In Norway you can buy it in Meny stores, although it is a bit pricey. Perhaps you can make your own? 


Margarine

This is easy to find, but choose something without palm oil.There several almond, hemp and nut alternatives, but I haven't tried them out yet. The most common I find is soy alternatives. 


Cereal

Sometime you just want to eat some cereal and skip the bread. I thought it was difficult to drop the milk at first, but then I tried Rice milk and almond milk. I think these are the best for cereal, but you can try and find what you prefer! (There are also different brands of "milk" so you can try and find your favorite). 

When I drink;

Chai latte: Almond milk
Latte: Soya milk
Cereals: Almond and rice milk. 

PS: Remember to buy unsweetened milk, or you get a lot of sugar. 

(Norwegians: Rice, oat and soya is easy to find in almost any store. But almond I have bought in Sunkost and Life stores). 



Yogurt

I love yogurt and Alpro have several flavors for us to enjoy! My cats loves yogurt and still think this is the real deal ;) These are best served cold straight from the fridge, when they get warmer they start tasting a lot more like soya. 

You can make it more interesting (and healthy) by adding berries and seeds! 




Then of course you can eat something else for breakfast? 

Basic vegan pancakes
Strawberry shortage pancakes
Raw Buckwheat Porridge
Apple pie oatmeal
Many different vegan porridges for you to explore!



Fun fact about my journey to veganism

14 days before I became a vegan overnight, I had to explain why I was a vegetarian. I ended my "defense" by saying; "but I am not a vegan, because they are really extreme and wouldn't it be silly to stop eating cheese?" BAM! 14 days later I was a vegan, and wow was I surprised. 
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My view on Vegans before I became one ;)

I blame it all on "Earthlings" (see my post about my experience). I have never seen anything on TV who have made a greater impact on my life, than this documentary. I had to face my own hypocrisy and I just couldn't be a part of it any longer. Later I saw "Fork over Knives" who had a different angle (mainly on human health) and also strengthened my resolve.

Let's bake something! (Paleo bread)

A week ago I talked with my mum on the phone and she talked about Paleo bread. I had never heard about the "Paleo diet", but I were trying not to eat so much wheat, so I became intrigued. After realizing there were NO flour involved in holding all these seeds together I first laughed and then felt a bit adventurous. OK, let's try that (sceeeptical)... But I was surprised! I got a elemental recipe from my mum, but later I have experienced a bit. This is my best Paleo recipe at the moment!

(Also great for Vegans!)

2 tbsp Psyllium powder 

1 1/2 cup /350 ml water

--

100 g sesame seeds
100 g sunflower seeds
100 g pumpkin seeds
100 g flax seeds
100 g walnuts
100 g (optional, you can add another great ingredient? What about hemp seeds?)
--
1-2 tsp sea salt (I use Maldon)
3 tbsp melted cold pressed coconut oil
(Optional: 1 handful raisins or you can add chocolate)

(If you use cup sizes: 100 g is about 1/2 heaping cup)


1. Preheat your oven to 175°C (or 350 Fahrenheit)

2. Mix the psyllium powder with the water in a bowl, stir and set aside for about 5 minutes. (It will get a thick gel consistency).

3. Measure all the seeds and nuts and put in a food processor and pulse two times. (Do not overdo it).

4. Put the hard coconut oil (it's hard) in a cup in the microwave. 

5. Put the coarsely cut seeds and nut in a bowl. Now add the coconut oil and salt. Stir. 

6. Add the gel looking psyllium to the mix and mix it all together with your hands. Yes, your hands, its fun and weird. Have a go!

7. Put the mix in a loaf pan (can be about 12 x 4,5 inches / 30 x 10 cm). I used a small bread form. I also used baking paper in it so I didn't have to worry about it sticking (or using oils). 

(I have heard you can set it aside for about 1 hour if you want to, but that is optional, and I decided to only let it rest for about 15-20 min. You can drop it all together though if you want! It is said that it tastes even better, but I was in a hurry ;) 

8. Put it in the preheated oven (in the middle) and bake for about 60-70 minutes. (If you want small buns you can divide them into about 11-12 pieces and bake them for about 40-45 minutes). 

9. Remove it from the oven and let it cool down (completely). I tried to remove it too early from the form and it started to widen (loose form), so I put it back and let it cool down in the form. When it was almost cold I took it out. If you cut it before it is cold the bread will fall apart. 

Here is some pictures if you are curious how it looks, consistency and how natural it looks! And the best part, it is YUMMY! 

Freeze: You can freeze the bread for up to 4 months. 

Psyllium mixed with water (it turns even more gel like)

All the ingredients are in the food processor 

Put the Psyllium gel and coconut oil in the bowl 

Work it together with your hands!

Give the loaf pan some baking paper clothes

Place it in the middle

Finished! Now cooling off completely !

Cold and awesome!

Bon apetite! It was great!