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Roasted rosemary almonds — for a little crave

 

A sudden desire for sweets or chips? Try somehting else and satisfy this crave with some healthy, tasty almonds!

Almonds are known for their high nutrient and vitamin contents. They deliver important unsaturated fats and mineral salts like magnesium and calcium as well as a large amount of vitamin B and E.

 

By eating only 60g per day you can already provide diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and a high level of cholesterol. This recipe combines almonds with healthy garlic and rosemary, which has a memory improving effect.

 

 Bon appetit!

 

10 g butter*

 

200 g almonds

 

2 big cloves of garlic (crushed)

 

1 handful of rosemary leaves

 

1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper

 

1 tsp. ground cumin

1/2 tsp. smoked paprika

1/2 tbsp. Brown sugar

2 tsp. Seasalt flakes

1 tbsp. native olive oil

Melt the butter in a cast-iron or stainless steel skillet, add the almonds and stir until they're heated through and starting to brown. Take off the heat and add the condiments, stirring through. The residual heat of the pan should cook the garlic just enough to take off the edge without burning it (which results in a bitter taste).

Instead of the brown sugar you can also take some honey, which gives a beautiful color and a delicious taste!

* I used to prefer the taste of olive oil for this purpose, but I do not like to heat vegetable oils in order to avoid transfats, so I have got used to using butter or ghee for this recipe.  

Recipe found at The passionate cook

 

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Raw caramel-nut-bars with chocolate and fresh fruits

My first intention was to do raw food blueberry muffins. I saw the recipe and it sounded great. Unfortunately the dough became sticky and it was impossible to form little muffins out of it. So I decided to add more nuts and raisins, some honey as well as one caramel and chocolate layer. For the freshness and some more vitamines I added fresh fruits. The result: Some delicous caramel nut bars with chocolate and fresh fruits!

 

The recipe:

 

First you need all nuts you like (I took one cup of each walnuts, cashews, and peanuts)

 

You put the half of it in a blender and mix it until it becomes a sticky mixture. Then you add the other half with a spoon and mix it (manually) so that the sticky dough becomes a great nut dough.

 

Now you can add dried fruits which you have to chop up first. I took dates and raisins. Then you add a little pinch of himalayan salt, some honey and cinnamon (as you like). Before eating everything you should quickly press the crust into a plate and put it in the refridgerator.

 

For the Caramel I took some salted butter, which I melt together with sugar in a little pot. When the sugar gets the typical caramel color and there are no pieces left you can take the pot from the stove and put it over one side of the nuts mixture. Put it again in the fridge.

 

Last and very important thing: the chocolate. You can melt it eather in a bain-marie (you need some patience) or just for a minute into the microwave to melten it.

 

When the caramel-nut bars dried, you can turn them onto the caramel side, so that you can put the chocolate on the other side. If you like to add fruits too, you should slice them before putting the chocolate on it. When the chocolate is still liquid, you can put the fruits on. Now you just have to put it in the fridge and wait for the chocolate to cool and voilà! Easy recipe for delicious, healthy home-made nutbars!

 

 

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Caramelitas

Maika send me the recipe to try those delicious Caramel-Chocolate Oatmeal Bars and I couldn't wait to try them! The recipe comes from Our Best Bites and even if I do not used the all-ready-caramel and I mixed the dough with my own hands (unfortunately I do not have a hand mixer..) it was quite delicious. For the next time I think I would try to make the bars with less sugar, as it was probably a little bit too sweet (if this is even possible).

Ingeredients:

1 cup butter, softened
2 cups packed brown sugar (I actually used cane sugar, that's probably what made it too sweet)
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
3 cups quick-cooking rolled oats
1 cup mini semisweet chocolate chips (I took a bar of chocolate and chopped them)
1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans (I took walnuts and peanuts and toasted them first)
30 caramels (9 ounces), unwrapped (..or just do it on your own;)
3 tablespoons milk

Recipe:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line a 15×10 inch baking pan with foil, leaving about 1 inch extending over the edges of the pan.  Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl beat butter with an electric mixer on medium to high speed for 30 seconds.  Add brown sugar.  Beat until combined, scraping sides of bowl occasionally.  Add eggs, vanilla, baking soda and salt; beat until combined.  Add flour slowly and mix until combined.  Stir in the oats.  Press 2/3 of the dough (about 3 1/3 cups) evenly into the bottom of the prepared pan.  Sprinkle with chocolate pieces and nuts.

In a medium sauce panheat and stir the caramels and milk over low heat until melted and smooth.  Drizzle caramel mixture over chocolate and nuts.  Take remaining dough and flatten small pieces with fingers and place evenly on top of the caramel layer.  Bake for 22-25 minutes or until top is just barely light brown, don’t overbake!.  Cool in pan on a wire rack until room temperature.  Use foil to lift uncut bars out of pan.  Place on cutting board; cut into bars.

 

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Flourfree Almond-Carrot Cake

Since I am in Beijing I tried a lot of different carrot cakes - with or without frosting - and they were all different. Some were too sweet, some too firm, some too dry, but the best and perfect one I ate was at Dareem Cafe in Sanlitun South. Therefore my goal was to make a carrot cake which was at least as delicious as Dareems'. It is the first carrot cake I made - Maika gave me the recipe - and it was simply delicious: succulent and just perfect! I did not any topping as it was already delicious, but I think for the next time I'd probably try some walnut cream cheese frosting...we'll see!

And here comes the recipe, inspired from Natalie Eve Garrett 

Ingredients

1 3/4 cups almond meal (or 1 ½ cups ground almonds or other nuts)
1 ½ teaspoons cinnamon
½ teaspoon nutmeg
a pinch of ground cloves
a pinch of salt
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
4 eggs
2/3 cup raw sugar
1 teaspoon almond extract
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 ½ cups carrots (3-4 large carrots), peeled and finely grated (I used a food processor, but you can also use the smallest holes on a box grater. Or, in a pinch, you can buy a bag of pre-shredded carrots at a place like Trader Joes, though they’ll be drier; soak them for an hour or so first!)
2/3 cup raisins (optional)

Recipe

1. Preheat the oven to 350°. Grease a 9” cake pan with olive oil spray plus a drizzle or two more olive oil; set aside.

2. Combine almond meal (or grind your own in a food processor), spices and baking powder in one bowl; set aside.

3. Beat the eggs (with a mixer fitted with a whisk, or briskly with a fork). Slowly add the raw sugar and beat until it’s thick and ribbon-y. Add in the almond extract and olive oil, keep beating. Ahhhh that gorgeous almond smell!

4. Gently fold in the almond-spice mixture, and then slowly add the carrots and raisins.

5. Pour the batter into the cake pan. Bake for about one hour.

Fresh Lemongrass Tea and Homemade Carrot Cake at Kocoon Spa

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