I get asked about blenders A LOT. So to save myself writing a million emails, and/or sounding like a broken record (to myself), here is a brief summary of my experience with blenders. I started my raw food journey with a little Sunbeam blender. Nothing fancy at all, just a 600w motor with a glass jug, which cost $80 or $90, from memory. This little thing served me well for my first two years of rawness. It wasn't amazing, but it did the job - smoothies were relatively smooth, etc. From there, I upgraded slightly to the Sunbeam Cafe Series blender. I think it was 1000w, and cost around $200-$250. This, compared to the other guy, was awesome. By this time however, I had just started at the Northey St markets, and it just wasn't quite making the grade for how smooth I wanted my cheeses and cakes to be. So, I borrowed a friend's Vitamix while they were overseas, to see if that was what I wanted, and if they were really worth shelling out a grand for. And I fell in love. Quickly. Unfortunately, it wasn't too long until I found out that it wasn't the dream blender that it had seemed. Cracks started to show. Quite literally. I accidentally left a teaspoon in one day, while I was making cheese. A giant hole shot out the side, as well as cheese spraying all over myself and the kitchen. True, this was my fault for leaving a spoon in the jug, and I was looking at another $300 or so to replace the jug - this seemed like a lot, considering it's only just over 3 times more for the entire thing. Long story short, we just bought a Vitamix, got the broken jug repaired and gave my friend back the new jug. Shortly after this, we were looking at buying two of them. Vitamix Australia were impossible to even talk to. Call me crazy, but I think if someone wants to give you $2000 for your products, you should at least call them back. At least. It's not that I like to rag on the company, but I want to be honest here - their customer service was, in a word, BULLSHIT. On top of that, I found the way that the motor would cut out incredibly frustrating. For what is meant to be the be all and end all of blenders, I thought that it should be able to handle heavy usage without shutting down. When it did this, it was usually for 20-40 minutes at a time. ANNOYING. Other points of contention with the Vitamix:
Happy blender love to you all xx Hey lovelies, I made this for dinner last night and it was so yummy, I want to share it with you! I'm craving lots of chilli and ginger now that the cold weather is coming in (here in Maleny anyway). Keep warm! Xx Raw Pad Thai For the sauce: 1 cup peanuts (or almonds if that suits you better) 1 lemon 1 small knob ginger 1 clove garlic Splash of tamari 1/4 cup coconut oil (liquid) 1 chilli  Put all of the above ingredients in a high speed blender and blend. Add a little water if you need to. Spiralise or peel some zucchini noodles and place in mixing bowl. Kelp noodles are great in this if you have them, and you're a little over the old zucchini noodles! Chop up some other veggies - I had spring onions, lots of kale, green pepper (I've decided I'm not a fan of the word 'capsicum' anymore), coriander, and more chilli! Mix your sauce through your veggies and serve with a wee wedge of lime. PS, I just had to look this up while I was writing this recipe! Reminds me of those 10Baht pad Thai in Bangkok - definitely not raw :) Ello lubbers :) We've just booked in our next class, since so many of you have asked to come this Sunday and we've sadly had to say NO! Check out our classes page for more info and get in fast! And, we're taking $50 off Blendtecs for you class go-ers. Because we love you. Greetings lovers! I'm so excited - I just bought the most amazing looking bunches of kale from our lovely little co-op! I bought loads of it so I can actually turn it into chips and still have some for salads and smoothies. As much as I absolutely adore my kale chippies, I rarely make them because the joy is always so short lived - they often don't even make it out of the dehydrator because we eat them all before they are done! This recipe is one of my favourites. Love you long time, Ames Xx  Kale Chips 1 bunch kale (at least) Olive oil Himalayan or sea salt Smokey paprika (or, any flavourings you like!) Take a big mixing bowl, and mix together oil, salt and paprika. You want just enough oil to cover the kale. Wash and chop kale into large chip sized pieces. You don't have to, but I recommend cutting out the middle stalky bit - it just doesn't make for enjoyable chewing. Massage kale with oil mix. Spread out on dehydrator trays, and dehydrate until crispy. Be patient! The crispiness will be well worth the wait. It's been almost one whole delightful month since I've not been pregnant! And on top of being blessed with the most angelic, chilled out little boy, I've also had the pleasure of having my body back to myself and being able to eat well proper raw again! Ahh bliss. Sweet, sweet, bountiful energy and bliss. Lots of new recipes flooding my brain as a result! And a new class already, full of plenty of yummy winter things. Check out our classes page :) This here is what I whipped up for dinner last night. It's been oh so long since we have had zucchini pasta. It was once my staple - I absolutely lived on it when I first went raw - and somewhere along the way, we grew to hate it. Too much of a good thing. Enjoy the recipe :) Love Xx 
Zucchini Spaghetti with Lemon and Basil 4-5 zucchinis 1/2 red capsicum 1/2 bunch basil 1/2 Spanish onion 1/4 cup olives 1/4 cup sun dried tomatoes (or our yummy sun dried tomato pesto) 1 lemon, juiced 2-3 cloves garlic A splash of olive oil Pinch of sea salt Spaghetterise your zucchinis in your preferred manner - I use a mandolin (V-slicer), but you can also use a Spirooli, or vegetable peeler, or even just grate it. Place in a large bowl. Finely chop your olives, sun dried tomatoes, garlic, onion, capsicum and basil. Add them and all other ingredients to your bowl and mix through with your hands. I also added a good whack of our creamy spinach dip (because I have to eat it with everything at the moment!), and a handful of hemp seeds for some omega goodness. I just can't get enough breakfast stuff at the moment! As someone who has been vegetarian pretty much since I could chew, and never really been into faux meats, this seems like a strange thing for me to make. Actual meat smells makes me want to be violently ill. Even the smell of milk makes me dry retch so badly that the strictest rule in our house is to keep it the hell away from me - Willow and Damion sometimes have raw dairy milk - God help them if they don't clean their glasses straight away! But, dark confession I must make, the smell of cooking bacon is rather pleasant to my olfactories. I don't know why, maybe it's the saltiness. I could never eat it. So I'm not sure what compelled me to come up with this one. Maybe I'm just bored. Anyway, who cares, here's the recipe. Enjoy. Love love, Ames X Maple Beetroot Bacon Beetroots Maple syrup Sea or Himalayan salt Smoked paprika Olive oil Mix together everything except the beetroot in the quantities that most please you. Peel the beetroots so that they are free of dirt and those funny little hairy bits they seem to have. Using a vege peeler (or paring knife if you posess incredible knife skills), slowly peel as long and thick a piece of beetroot as you can. Make as many as you want, remembering that they will shrink a lot once dehydrated. Marinate in your maple mix, and lay out on lined dehydrator sheets. Dehydrate until crispy.  Ello you gorgeous food heads! I've never been a believer in the whole 'breakfast is the most important meal of the day' blah blah blah... but lately, I've been waking up feeling like I must consume everything in the house asap, so it has kinda become the most important meal of the day! So, it's been helpful to have some healthy things prepped up ready for immediate consumption upon waking, and this is one of my favourites. Hope you enjoy. Love, Ames X Figgin Awesome Granola 2 cups buckwheat, soaked or sprouted* 1/2 cup sunflower seeds, soaked/sprouted 1/2 cup pepitas, soaked/sprouted 1/2 cup dried figs 1/3 cup sultanas 1/4 cup (or less) agave, or raw honey 1/2 - 1 cup coconut oil 3T ground cinnamon Rinse your soaked/sprouted buckwheat and seeds, and place in a large mixing bowl. Add dried figs and sultanas - I would recommend soaking these for an hour or so, not entirely necessary, but as we'll be dehydrating them, I think it's better. Add oil, cinnamon, and agave or honey. Mix thoroughly. Spread out evenly on lined dehydrator trays, and dehydrate at 40deg for up to 24 hours. Whizz up your favourite nut milk, and serve with yummy berries.  *Soak for 4 hours, or for more detailed sprouting instructions, check here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqv65dhRgD4 (...I haven't actually watched this, but I'm sure it's great!) Ello Darlings! Despite this being, quite possibly, the busiest week of my entire life, I still wanted to share some foody love with you! So here I give you my old chocolate orange tart recipe. You can make this into a big cake too. I love love love orange and chocolate flavours together! Hope you're all having a beautiful week! Mwaa mwaa xxx Ps, we have ONE spot left in our last class this Saturday! Contact us if you want it! Post-haste! Chocolate Orange Tarts Base: 2 cups walnuts ½ cup date paste (dates blended with a small amount water) ½ - 1 cup cacao powder Small amount of coconut oil, if necessary Blend walnuts, mix in dates and cacao powder. If too dry or sticky, mix in some coconut oil. This is all best done with your hands. Line tart tins with plastic wrap. Press mix into tins, and chill. Filling: 2 cups cashews, soaked Zest and juice of 2 oranges ½ - 1 cup agave ½ - 1 cup cacao powder 1 cup coconut oil, liquid Blend and pour into tart cases. Chill or freeze to set. 
Hello Lovelies! Hope everyone is having a delightful Monday so far - I certainly am! May I make your Monday happier by sharing my donuts wit you? These were so good, they were all gone yesterday at the markets before we had finished setting up! De-lightful with a cold pressed coffee with vanilla hazelnut milk, if you're into that kinda thing. I am so loving feeding you Brisbanites brekky on Sunday. Thanks for all you guys that are loving it and keeping me inspired in the kitchen! If anyone has any favourite cooked things they would like to see raw, let me know and I'll see what I can concoct for you - I made the most brilliant I-can't-believe-it's-not-cooked-and-full-of-crap waffle cones the other day! I tricked small Willow again, ha ha!  I am going to share this super special recipe in our next class, which will absolutely be my last one before baby arrives - no idea when the next one will be after that! It's filling up fast already, even though it was only confirmed a couple of hours ago! If you would like to come, check out the details on the classes page. And now check out delicious donuts! Cinnamon Donuts 1 1/2 cups almond meal 1 cup golden flax 1/2 cup psyllium husks 3T cinnamon 1 1/2 cups water 1 cup date puree 1t vanilla extract Extra cinnamon mixed with coconut sugar for dusting  Process almonds and flax in blender or food processor until mealy. Place in large mixing bowl, add psyllium and cinnamon and mix through. Add the remaining ingredients and mix with your hands until you get a stiff, yet soft, dough. Hand shape into donuts, using a little water on your hands if needed. Lay them out on a dehydrator tray. Dust with your cinnamon and coconut sugar* - you can make this into a fine powder by blending them together in the blender. Try to not eat all of this on its own with a spoon, it's for the donuts! Dehydrate for a couple of hours, or leave out to air dry if you don't have one. Dust with more cinnamon sugar and devour immediately. *Not exactly sure if coconut sugar is raw - I doubt it - but it has a low GI and is full of other goodies - 12 amino acids, magnesium, phosphorus, zinc and iron. Plus, it is damn tasty, and you're not going to use that much of it. Everything in moderation! |
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