Living food Loving Life

The Nectar is serving...

2011-09-26T14:23:00.000-07:00

TheNectar is an Organic, vegetarian cafe on the edge of Norwich, serving freshjuices, smoothies, herbal tea blends, healthy cakes, handmadechocolates, lunches and snacks. The food we make is inspired by nature.. whole,beautiful and colouful! We source as much local and seasonal produce aspossible, and choose fair trade when we have to use imported goods. Most of theproduce we use comes from our local community supported agriculture scheme,Norwich farmshare, which we support by subscribing to a box of lovelyorganically grown vegetables every week to use in our fresh juices, salads andsoups. We like to volunteer every now and then and get our hands into the soilour food is grown in! Being connected to where our food comes from is very importantto us, and we like to get involved in as much of the process as possible, bygetting to know our growers and growing some it ourselves! We have our ownfresh herb window boxes outside, and grow our own edible flowers fordecoration. Food is about pleasuring all of the sences, and we love to make ourfood look as good as it tastes!

Wemake all of our own cakes, treats and chocolates, using all organic, raw, dairyfree, gluten free and sugar free ingredients. This means that not only theydelicious and beautiful, but evrythjing that goes into them is good for you andthe planet! We make rich chocolate tarts using raw cacao, seasonal fruit'cheese' cakes using cashews to make a creamy cheese and flavoured with deeplycolourful berries and fruits. Our flapjacks and energy balls are packed full ofhigh energy nuts, seeds, dried fruits and spices. If you've never tasted rawchocolate before, you're in for a treat! We handmake them in small batchesusing raw cacao, low GI sweetners like coconut sugar or local borage honey, andhand mould them into gorgous artisan chocolates filled with nut-butter ganache,juicy fruits or subtle natural flavours. We use our own chocolate in our mugsof real hot-chocolate, melted down with fresh almond milk and warming spices.Our menu is always changing to reflect the seasons, keeping us in touch withnature and feeding us with it's bountiful harvest.

TheNectar is the creation of years of passion of health and nutrition, fromchildhood days of gathering berries and making concoctions in the kitchen,followed by years of travels in Australia where Jo, the owner of the nectar wasintroduced to Living foods. She was given a job running a farmers market stallselling raw cakes, chocolates, crackers and salads, then later helping to runworkshops teaching the art of raw food preparation. On her return to theUK, she continued eating a high-raw diet, but wanted to use more locally grownproduce and combine her love of raw-food cuisine with a local, seasonal andethical edge. She keeps the nutritional content of all the food as high aspossible, whilst making it look beautiful, adapting her recipes to the seasonsand making everything with joy and a passion for delicious nutritiousfood.

Mostof the food we serve is raw, vegan and gluten free, though we also serveorganic cows milk and cheese for drinks and sandwiches. We get our bread forour wholesome sandwiches from the artisan bakery two minutes up the road. Wealso make soups in the colder months, made with seasonal organic veg andwarming spices. We stock locally produced cordials, preserves, honey and oil,as well as packaging our own crackers, granola, nut butters andgluten-free flours. As well as being a cafe, we also run regular workshops inliving food, so you can come and learn how to make your own healthy rawrecipes! See our events page for upcoming dates.

Wehave spent alot of time making sure the food we serve is of the highest qualityand good for you and the planet! We care about where our food comes from, theway it's grown and how we produce the food we make you. That's why we chooseorganic, local small scale growers and fair trade, so that we show our supportfor others doing their bit for mother earth.

Menu

Juices:We love juice! All of our juices are freshly made to order using our gentlejuicer, giving you the highest nutrient-juce possible.

Simply:Carrot

Apple

Orange

Sweetbeets: Carrot, beetroot, apple (+ginger)

Flu-fighter:Orange, lemon, apple, ginger, echinacea

Go-gogreen : Cucumber, celery, spinach/kale, lemon, apple (+avocado)

Jazzyapple: Apple, fennel

Cool-fire:Pear, ginger, cucumber

SOLEJuice: Seasonal, Organic, Local, Ethical juice of the day.. see our specials

Smoothies:All of our smoothies are made with fresh juice and fruit.

Greendream: Banana, apple juice, greens, hempseeds

BerryPower: Banana, apple juice, berries, hempseeds

Avo-mint:Avocado, apple juice, peppermint

Thickshakes:All of our Thickshakes are made with either our homemade organic almond milk ororganic cow milk

Creamychocolate: Almond/cow milk, banana, dates, hempseeds, raw cacao powder

Creamybanana: Almond/cow milk, banana, dates, hempseeds

Berrycreamy: Almond/cow milk, banana, dates, berries, hempseeds

Chaishake: Almond/cow milk, banana, dates, chai-spices.

Hedgerowcordials: Our handmade cordials are made using vitimin-rich seasonal fruits. Served either still, sparkling or hot. See ourseasonal flavours of the month.

Teas

We Love tea! We have an extensive range oforganic herbal teas, fresh herbal teas and blend our own ‘speciali-teas’ usingherbs and spices to suit your mood. All served by the pot for 1 or 2

Normali-tea – Black tea served with our home-madealmond milk or organic cows milk

Simplici-teas – Straight up: Green tea,Rooibos, peppermint, chamomile, nettle, liquorice, spearmint, rosehip, fennel,yarrow, lemon-verbena or ginger

Puri-tea: fennel, aniseed, cardamom, liquorice,peppermint

Digestivi-tea: liquorice, cardamom, fennel,peppermint, ginger, black pepper

Vitali-tea: peppermint, black tea, spearmint,cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, green tea, black pepper, clove

Immuni-tea: Nettle, spearmint, rose-hip,goji-berries

Chocola-tea: Cacao nibs, cinnamon, liquorice,carob, cardamom, ginger, cloves, black pepper

The Nectar Chai: Homemade spicy chai, with orwithout black tea and made with either our won almond milk or organic cows milk

‘Real’ hot chocolate: Our signature drink!Thick creamy hot chocolate, made our own raw chocolate, traditional spices andeither almond milk or cows milk. Can be made with chilli on request!

Hot lemon & honey: for when you needwarming and sweetnening on the inside. Add a touch of chilli to banish thewinter blues!

Coffee

Our coffee is organic and fair trade, and weuse aeropress and pour over methods to extract the higherst flavours from ourspeciality coffees. Our coffees are specialy selected for their flavours andaromas, so are best enjoyed black, though please ask for your choice of milk.

Food

Rainbow salad bowl:

Organic salad leaves, grated root vegetables,our homemade sauerkraut, sprouted mungbeans, tomato, avocado, tamari-seeds anda tahini-ginger dressing.

Can be served with our home made raw flaxseedcrackers or bread

Living-pizza:

Gluten-free buckwheat pizza base with rawcashew ‘cheese’ sundried tomato sauce and fresh seasonal veg topping andsprouted seeds.

Wholesome sarnies:

Homemade pesto, avocado and tomato

Homemade hummus and grated root veg

Raw cashew ‘cheese’/organic cheese and chutney

Dipping plate:

Homemade raw cashew ‘cheese’, homemade pestoand hummus serves with our raw flaxseed crackers

Bread and Moroccan spice dip:

Artisan bread, olive oil, balsamic vinegar andhomemade ‘dukkah’ (morrocan spices)

‘All-day breakfast’ Granola:

Sprouted buckwheat, fresh fruit, raisins,hempseeds, our almond milk or organic cows milk, honey.

Toast and spreads:

Choose from homemade cashew ‘cheese’, localpreserves, honey, miso, handmade raw chocolate spread, nut-butter.

Warm-grain bowl:

Warm buckwheat/quinoa served with creamy pesto,fresh herbs, seasonal vegetables and tamai-seeds.

Seasonal specials:

From warm winter soup to summery sushi-rolls.Check out our specials inspired by nature!

Cakes and desserts:

We make all our own cakes daily! All aregluten, dairy, sugar free and raw.

Rich-raw chocolate pie (nut free)

Carrot cake

Seasonal fruit cashew ‘cheese’ cake

Raw-chocolate fudge

Handmade raw chocolates

Go-go balls

Flapjax

The Nectar is Open!!

2011-09-26T13:54:00.000-07:00

Hello from The Nectar Cafe. Having being loosely involved in Transition Norwich for a while now, I was interested in the Low Carbon Cookbook group and getting involved in the meetings to discuss some of my favourite topics.. seasonal abundant goodies, and what goes with that; eating them!

The August 'Kitchen conversations' meeting and feast was held at my new little cafe on the corner of Onley street, just off the Unthank Road on the outskirts of Norwich. Here we are sourcing the most local, organically grown produce as possible, by collecting a large share from the Norwich FarmShare, travelling no more than six miles from field to shop, The rest comes from local allotments, Hughes Organics or my own garden! At the moment, I am getting three different types of lettuce, cucumbers, tomatoes, carrots, fennel and kale from Farmshare to use in the salads and juices. I am growing lots of nasturtiums, other edible flowers such as calendula and buckwheat in my own garden, plus piles of bright red Spartan apples and delicious raspberries!

From the local allotments I am topping up with pears, beetroot, spinach and radishes, some of which is fairly traded in tea and cake! Low carbon cooking is not only about choosing organic, local and seasonal ingredients, but also the way we produce our foods and transport them, so arriving by bicycle in exchange for healthy treats seems to follow the ethics well. At the cafe, we also have the ultimate low carbon smoothie maker; the bicycle powered blender! You can literally pedal your own smoothie outside. Simply choose your fruit, pop it in the jug, jump on and pedal away until your smoothie is blended! It actually isn't as hard as it sounds, and is a sight to behold, riding an old fashioned bicycle with a blender attached on the corner of the street. It has had lots of outing recently too, visiting the Harlequin Fair, Postwick fete and a local school. Where will it travel to next?!

Another Low carbon cookbook favourite which makes a daily feature on The Nectar menu is cabbage sauerkraut, made from pounding enzyme-rich cabbage with fennel seeds until it's juices release enough to let it ferment in its own juices, and make a tangy, naturally preserved vegetable. Delicious in salads and sarnies. Our bread is baked two minutes up the road using organic flour, and we make our own gluten free crackers out of sprouted flax and buckwheat.

Every day we have a SOLE juice; the Seasonal, Organic, Local Ethical juice of the day. Last week it was fennel and apple. So yummy and aniseedy! Tomorrow it will be cucumber, pear and kale, using farmshare and allotment delights. Kale is the king of leafy greens, super high in iron. Tonight my dehydrator is full of kale-chips as I have been demonstrating in my 'Autumn Harvest' workshop at the cafe, and will be serving them up this weekend at the cafe alongside our regular salads, sandwiches, snacks and cakes. Do pop in sometime for some lovely organic lunch, check out the extensive herbal tea menu or pick up some locally made seasonal produce.

Oh and keep your eyes out for all the amazing foods growing this month! I am being lucky enough to be given lots of Puffball mushrooms this week, and have been out foraging for rosehips, wild raspberries and blackberries. The squashes at the moment are the highlight of the growing season! My first soup made with Red Kuri was just what I needed to warm the colder evenings. Today is the Autumn Equinox so we shall be moving into shorter days and longer nights as of this weekend. Let's all eat lots of warm squash soups, crumbles and embrace the darker evenings with the abundant sweet produce right now. Enjoy the Autumn harvests!

The Nectar Cafe is at 16 Onley Street. Open Tuesday to Saturday, 10-5

Harlequin Fair!

2011-08-23T14:16:00.001-07:00

It was the first outing for the bicycle blender (Splender) at our local festival, the Harlequin fair. We foraged for blackberries in the hedgerows before helping little legs onto the bike to power up their own smoothies!! We had children queuing and coming back for more!!

Some children could hardly reach the peddal but still managed to pt enough power in to get a super smooth smoothie. Other big-kids legs were too long!!.....

We evn rode the bicycle around the festival rounding up buisness for the smoothie sessions. Heres Leilai riding around blending berry smoothies on-the-go!!

Berry good!!

We ill be at the Greenpeace fair with the blender on the 4th September; the day after The Nectar opens!! Come and pedal your own smoothie at the cafe or at the fair this weekend. As of the 3rd September, the cafe will be open Tuesday-Saturday, 10-5. Full menu and pictures coming up!!

The Nectar!!

2011-07-21T10:21:00.001-07:00

So I am about to reveal to you why I have been so quiet here in blog-land lately.. I have been a very very busy bee shop-fitting, planning, creating my own little cafe and workshop space!! Eeeep!! I know.. very very exciting (and scary at times but thats all part of the creative process of making big things grow!!)

The space is what used to be 'Amity Point' cafe on Onley street off Unthank road in Norwich. I had been doing my monthly raw food workshops there last year before I went off to Australia for the winter, and when I came back I had already decide that I wanted to propose to the owners of the cafe that I wanted to help them out in pushing it forwards as more of a hub for raw, organic veggie wholefoods. What I actually came back to, was them to tell me that they were leaving the business and moving out.. which was the moment my heart leapt and said; 'This is your chance!!'

Since then, I have been in the process of taking over the lease which took a while, and then I had the keys to an empty shop, naked and ready to turn into my own little room of foodie joy. Now I will confess, things have not gone totally smoothly! My lack of knowledge in shop fitting, plumbing, electrics, carpentry..Ok so they're not my thing! I have made some mistakes along the way and have had to deal with managing my stress levels when things have got tricky and dealing with different trades men! I have been soo lucky to have lots of amazing help from friends and family to get big jobs done, like laying flooring, re-plumbing and wiring and making benches, and I am happy to say that we are making good progress! I have been trying hard to keep myself immersed in the creative parts of the process, and the most fun parts so far have involved deciding on a name, recruiting amazing friends to be a part of the project and coming up with yummy recipes!

So you want to know what the shop is called?!....' The Nectar' : )

1. (n.) nectar
the saccharine secretion of a plant, which attracts the insects or

birds that pollinate the flower.

2. nectar
the juice of a fruit, esp. when not diluted, or a blend of fruit juices.
3. nectar
(in Greek myth) the life-giving drink of the gods.

4. nectarany delicious drink.

I love it!! Perfect name for a unique cafe in Norwich. Since doing my workshops and talking to lots of people into vegetarian and raw foods, It comes up time and time again how there are hardly any good veggie places to eat in Norwich. So now is my time to make that space. With the help of some amazing friends, we will be serving up fresh juices, smoothies, herbal teas, real-hot chocolate, chai, super salads, raw cakes, chocolates, gluten free sprouted breads and crackers and cleansing soups. I want to support local growers and proders as much as possible, so I am collecting a large share from the Norwich Farmshare, which is growing an abundance of organic vegetables on the edge of the city. I will also get produce from Hughes organics, have bio-dynamic herbs in the herb planter from orchard end organics, take surplus produce from the local allotments and grow as much as I can in my own garden too! All of the ingredients used in my cakes and chocolates will be organic from rainbow wholefoods and detoxyourworld for imported superfoods. I'm even off on an advanced raw-chocolate making course this weekend to take my chocolate skills to the next level!

My most exciting part of the shop so far is my custom-made 'blender-bike' made by my amazing friend Willie. We used it outside the shop yesterd

ay to whizz up some banana and coconut smoothies while we worked. We will be using this as a mobile cafe/promotion/festival bike!! I love it. I will upload a video of us making delicious smoothies on it soon.. for now, here's some snaps.....

Leilai peddling up banana and coconut smoothies outside the shop!!

More pics to be revealed soon : ) We are aiming to by open by late August, and will be at the Harlequin Fair and Subud fair next month too. I'll be keeping you posted with more updates as they unfold! I'm off on my on my journey to the chocolate class now, so I'll let you know all about it on my return : ) x

Fermentation experimentation!!

2011-06-18T09:02:00.000-07:00

I have turned my kitchen into a bubbling brewing culture club! I have on the go, Kombucha, kefir, sauerkraut, kimchee and ginger beer : ) Kombucha is a fungus which feeds on a sugary black tea solution and digests the sugar to become full of beneficial bacterias and probiotic microorganisms. It is also full of a range of organic acids like glucuronic acid, gluconic acid, lactic acid, acetic acid, butyric acid, malic acid and usnic acid; vitamins, particularly B vitamins and vitamin C; as well as amino acids and enzymes. It is literally a super drink! It originates from China, although it is apparently widely consumed in eastern Europe and Russia where they are said to have very low rates of cancers, especially stomach and conditions related to high blood pressure. It is used for treatment in a huge range of disorders, from cancers and matabolic problems, to AIDS, artheritis, candida, MS, kidney, stomach and bowl disorders and wounds and ulcers. It is also great for the skin, taken both inside and externally. Not only does kombucha give us all of these amazing benefits, it tastes amazing too! Now, I have had many people tell me that they have had bad experiences with it, and that it tastes like sour gone off cider.. It did seem to become a fad in the 90's and I remember my mum brewing it herself and I thought she was totally nuts! It defiantly looks funny; the fungus is like a rubbery whish pancake which to some is just really weird! You can certainly over-ferment it, which makes for a very funky strong medicine! But given the right culturing time, the right conditions and a 'second ferment', which means adding some sweet and flavoursome ingredients once the fungus has been removed to add fizz, taste and sweetness, then it should become a delicious drink, which makes me feel like I'm enjoying a soft-drink without all the sugar and artificial ingredients and feeding my body nourishing live nutrition! I'll be doing a workshop on fermentation soon : )

Here are some pics of my brews!

Finished Kombucha which has had a second ferment with Goji berries and sliced ginger. It was fermented for two weeks in a dark place, ( I don't have anywhere really warm which means I have to leave it quite a while to digest the sugar) and strained and sealed with the berries for another 6 days. This adds the fizz and flavour of sweet ginger cider...

Everytime I brew a batch, I get a new baby fungus : ) My kombucha family is gradually multiplying!

Here is another amazing fermented food. Lactic-acid fermented vegetables such as cabbage in sauerkraut has been made for centuries as a way of preserving using the vegetables natural bacteria in its juices. Not only are fermented veggies far tastier than pickled cooked ones, they are extremely good for you and you can get super creative with the herbs and spices you add. Each batch is totally different!
The same natural microorganisms that create lactic acid in our colons are found naturally in cabbage, and these increase dramatically when we start a fermenting process. The harmful bacteria cannot survive in these conditions, meaning we are increasing our colonies of good bacteria by eating sauerkraut and other fermented foods, and these fight off the harmful bacteria, caused by poor diets, stress and medications such as antibiotics.
Sauerkraut is super easy to make, is a brilliant way of preserving cabbage and other vegetables, and allows us to eat living food all year round. It tastes great on its own, but I love to use it as a base for salads, mixing it with sea vegetables such as dulse and nori, adding freshly grated roots, and adding a dressing of tahini or avocado. It is traditionally a German dish, served in hot-dogs! Maybe try it with some raw burgers or sausage mix..
You can add any hard vegetables into your kraut: beetroot, carrot, squash, turnip, onions. Apples also work great with cabbage, although I did this once and it smelt very much like cider! Try also adding ginger, garlic, juniper berries, fennel seeds, caraway, dill seeds, celery seeds, cumin, chillis… be creative and come up with your own variations. I love to mix red and white cabbage for a ‘pink’ kraut, and add fennel seeds for a mild tangy mix, leaving it for about a week to ferment. The longer you leave your kraut, the stronger it becomes, so taste it every few days to see how you prefer. Fermenting is an art; you will discover what your tastes are and your own ways of doing it, but here is a brief description of the method:
Sauerkraut
1 large white cabbage (or half each of red and white cabbage
1-2 tbsp sea salt

Firstly, remove the outer leaves from the cabbage and set aside. I like to grate my cabbage using the food processor, as it releases more juices, but you can finely slice it by hand or grate using a hand grater if you like. Put the grated cabbage into a big bowl, and sprinkle with salt, mixing well with your hands. Add any other spices or seeds at this stage.
Using a strong implement, (rolling pin, vitamix plunger, clean baseball bat!) start to bash the cabbage to bruise the skin and release the juices. I find it best to do this on the floor, using my body weight to push down on the mixture. Take your time with this. It’s a workout! You need to keep going until the juices come above the cabbage when you push it down. Don’t be tempted to rush this part.. it’s crucial to the success of your kraut!
When you are happy with the amount of juice coming from your cabbage, pack it into your sterile container of choice. A large round pot or jar works well. You need something which you can fit something smaller inside to weigh the kraut down. Pack the cabbage in tight, pushing it down so that the juices rise up above the cabbage, then place the outer leaves ontop, covering it all and up the edges. Place your weight ontop of the leaves, the cover everything with a clean towel.
Check your kraut every day, making sure that the cabbage is not exposed to air, and the juices are staying above the cabbage. The juice should increase as time goes on. Taste it after 3 days; it should taste mildly tangy. If so, you can eat it then, or carry on fermenting it for a week for a good kraut. You can keep it going even longer if you wish, or if you are brave! Once ready, transfer into sterile jars and keep in the fridge to stop the fermenting process.

Batches of Sauerkraut. These ones are a mixture of red and white cabbage, with caraway and fennel seeds. I added one capsule of probiotics too to add extra good bacteria and perhaps speed up the culture time. I still left these to ferment for 8 days, which turned out a strong but pleasant kraut, with lovely aniseedy flavours with the cabbage

Grated cabbage ready to add salt and pound to release juices which will keep all the yummy bacterias out of air contact and good to breed

I've also been making lots of Elderflower cordial, using organic sugar which I don't usually use but the essence of elderflowers is such a beautiful delicate taste at this time of year and a lovely present and drink to share with friends. I simple mix 20 heads of elderflowers with 1.2 litres of boiling water, 1.5 kgs sugar, 2 tsp citric acid and 1 sliced lemon and orange. I then leave this in a big bowl for 5 days, stirring every day then strain into sterilised bottles. Its delicious with sparkling water! With all this kombucha and fizzy elderflower, i feel like I'm drinking the best healthy 'soft drinks' every day! Get experimenting with your own cultures.. its so easy and interesting and makes you get such abundance seeing the growth of your cultures as they grow and multiply! I've also been growing wheatgrass again. Its so easy but I only get success during the summer when its warm enough to germinate the seeds. I have been loving adding the grass to my other juices to make more yummy drinks. My favs are wheatgrass, apple and fennel, cucumber, celery and carrot and simply wheatgrass and watermelon which I used to love drinking in Australia when I got amazing local melons. I might have to treat myself to one soon!

I first came across wheatgrass shots at a festival when I was quite young, and remember thinking that it looked like the foulest thing I’d ever seen! Years later, trying it for the first time, I think I gulped it down thinking it would be like a gross medicine, but was actually quite shocked at the sweet rich taste it had, and felt it giving me instant energy, like an espresso but without the jittery anxious feeling! I now grow wheatgrass regularly, and although it takes time and patience, it is well worth having a fresh superfood growing right on your windowsill. Wheatgrass shots are really expensive, as is dried wheatgrass which wouldn’t have the same vitality of freshly juiced grass from your own hands. Wheatberries used for growing wheatgrass are cheap, and you will get many trays of fresh grass form just a kilo of grain.
Wheatgrass contains 70% chlorophyll, which is like the blood of plants, having almost the same molecule structure of human blood cells. It is considered a complete food, containing all amino acids and vast quantities of vitamins and minerals. Amazingly, one pound of wheatgrass is the equivalent of 23 pounds of fresh green vegetables!

Here are some of the many health benefits wheatgrass has…* Aids in the prevention of and fight against infections and improves the body's ability to heal wounds.* Helps remove heavy metals from the body.* Absorbs 92 out of the known 102 minerals from the soil.* Helps with skin problems such as eczema or psoriasis.* Chlorophyll in wheatgrass helps improve blood sugar disorders.* Helps eliminate body odours.* The high magnesium content in chlorophyll builds enzymes that restore the sex hormones.* Helps prevent tooth decay.* Chlorophyll in wheatgrass helps purify the liver.* Arrests the growth of unfriendly bacteria.* Is an energiser for body and mind.* Great for constipation and keeping the bowels open.* Is non-allergenic.* Aids in the prevention and fight against cancer.

6 days from planting to this....

Something this good has to be drunk out of a wine glass : )

Cutting of a handful of grass to add to other fresh juices. Once cut, the grass will grow up again and can be used a second time

Wheatgrass and apple juice

Added to a green smoothie: 1 handful of wheatgrass juiced, blended with 1 banana, 1/2 cup apple juice, 1/2 cup water, a big handful of spinach leaves and a spoonful of beepollen and hempseeds. This will keep you buzzing all day!

x x x x x x x

Summers here!!!

2011-06-03T13:05:00.000-07:00

Well it seems that the sun hasn't stopped shining since my return home from Australia. I have been blessed to have it follow me back round the earth to shine on these bright days lately. The rain situation is getting quite scary though.. I have been watering desperatly to keep my salads, tomatoes, cucumbers, squashes and beans alive, while the herbs and fruit continue to flourish despite the dry times. I do wish for some liquid sunshine soon.. All this hot weather is lovely but it does seem unbalanced and missing something without the grounding energy of the rain. I 've been enjoying the changes happening in the garden and out in Norfolk all spring though, and had a wee trip up to Scotland to plant trees for trees for life which I plan to do annualy. This was my second year and i find it such a nourishing experince to spend time in pristine nature surrounded by big mountains and lakes with like minded folk. Here are a few pics of my spring so far...

Forget me not's.. how could i?

Crab apples; Old and new

Dainty Daffs

Apple Blossom!!

I found these edible-looking mushrooms and picked them to look them up.. they happened to be St georges mushrooms as they come out on st georges day.. and it was! Thay were delicious.. really hearty and juicy

Raw-'creme-eggs' in the making.. white cacao shell with vanilla, cashew cream 'white' and dried mango 'yolk'. Gosh these were Amazing, well worth the day of prep they took!!

My raw 'creme eggy'

Morning showers in Plodda falls on Trees for life. Best way to start the day!

A feast shared under the trees at a womens circle.. food, friends, fire and full moon : )

Big GREEN juices again!! Oh yeah, my body now wants juice!! Cucumber, celerry, lemon, spinach, nettles, mint, parsley, carrot, spirulina and bee pollen. Ho yes!

Polly and I about to take the wild flowers workshop at the Fairy Fair, the annual nature festival run by the wonderful Fairyland trust

Jessie and I cooling off in an amazing natural swimming pool, made by our friend and Permaculture enthusiast David

Playing in the natural swimming pool with the boys and the pond newts : )

The natural swimming pool.. Pond plants keep the water clean.. good enough to drink actually as found out in a recent water test! Soooo much nicer than a crowded chlorinated pool anyday! I want one!

Australian Adventures!

2011-05-15T14:23:00.000-07:00

It's been soooo long since I last posted.. Time to get back into it! This time last year I was a busy bee just starting off my buisness teaching raw foods workshops. Since then I have taught lots of classes, catered for some wonderful yoga days, made special cakes for friends including my dearest friends wedding, started a collection of monthly workshops focusing on local seasonal produce and been traveling in Australia for three months, working at some of the amazing raw food places on the east coast where I have worked in the past, and exploring more of my beloved Tasmania, this time by bike! It was an incredible trip once again.. full of inspiration, learning, amazing fresh live foods and adventures. I feasted on coconuts collected by my crazy tree climbing mate, picked fresh papayas from gardens and foraged on so much stone fruit and berries around Tasmania! The end of my trip was spent at an amazing herb farm in the highlands of northern Tasmania where I learned to make herbal preperations, natural soaps, sourdough bread and more about medicanal herbs. I traded my knowledege of raw foods and made them lots of crackers, chocolate and cakes to expand there broad repetoir of food and use up some of their abundnat fruit! I am truely grateful to have such an amazing family to stay with on the other side of the world who take me and so many other travelers in to share skills, good food, their beautiful untouched land and wildlife and so much wisdom and openness. I hold a special place in my heart for Liffey valley and hope I will get back there one day!

Here are a few pics form my trip, starting off on the east coast around the Gold coast and Byron Bay:

The lovely kandy at 'From Earth and Water' where I worked in Burleigh Heads. Amazing 100% raw food cafe

The evening of Summer solstice looking out from the back garden of the house I was staying at. My friend Matt kayaked out to soem dolphins who where playing right out infront of us.. he couldn't wait for me so I ended up swimming way out to see them! Incredible sunset, Huge full moon, Beautiful people, drumming, food, music and massage : )

Me working at Threeworlds organic Vegan cafe on the Gold coast, serving up some handmade artisan flatbreads, mexican chilli, guacamole, cashew sour 'cream' and salsa. Heaven!

The cake fridge at Threeworlds organic cafe. I made the Chai-pumpkin Pie and mango cheezecake! So much fresh local organic produce to play with.. avos and coconuts galore!

Some of amazing chef Cynthia's creations.. Blueberry ands white chocolate slice and carrot cake with lemon cashew icing. So beautifully presented, and the woman has so much to share! I feel very grateful to have worked here with such talented foodies

I spent Christmas and new year on the east coast of Australia, working in two raw/vegan cafes and making yummy food with my friends over there who I have met through working there over the past few years. The houses I stayed in where all kitted out with juicers, blenders and organic gardens, so I felt very at home! After New year, I flew to Tasmania where I was volunteering at a Folk festival, where I met lots of great people who were cycling, kayaking and wwoofing around the beautiful little island. It inspired me to do what I've always wanted to do.. travel and tour by bicycle, so after the festival I hired a good bike and gear from Hobart and set off with a girl I met up the eats coast. We were camping along the way, stopping off for swims in the ocean, foraging heaps of the abundant stone fruits and berries and sleeping under the stars at the most beautiful spots. Very simple living but full of nature, wildlife and feeling connected to everything. I found the days on the road so fullfilling and gave me such clarity. The feeling of my body being worked as it should.. waking up feeling refreshed after long deep sleeps, feeling truely hungry at every meal, and the physical work of cycling for 6 hours a day and carrying all the posesions I needed on me was an amazing experience, and something I want to do again! I promised myself that I would do more cycle touring back here in the UK, so I must make sure I hld space to do this while the british summer lasts!

Maria Island National Park.. This curios flower is called 'Pig face'.. its edible and sooooo tasty! When the flower is over it leaves juicy salty fleshy bright pink fruits behind, like a sea-dragon fruit!

One of many camp-feast with the two girls I cycled with for a few days.. Freshly foraged samphire and Mussles, with beetroot, black beans and curried veg delights!

Me on my bicycle : ) Ontop of the world up the east coast of Tassie. Amazing veiws all the way! Hot, knackered and elated!

My sea-weed wraps : ) I gahtered this dulse and sea-lettuce in the Bay of Fires in the North of the eats coast. Amazing salty mineral goodness that tastes incredible with avo and toms in wraps! My fav beach lunch!

Jo and I about to cycle off to the tasmanian circus festival together.. three days of the most amazing circus acts from all over Oz and beyond.. Did hula workshops, street dance, yoga, all in beautiful untouched forests of Golconda with local organic homemade produce and pedal powered smoothies! Thats my kinda festival!

My amazing cycle ended up leading me to the organic herb farm in the highlands of Northen Tasmania, trading skills and sharing my days with the beautiful family who hae created this amazing place within 650 acres of untouched forests. Myself and up to 8 other 'wwoof'ers helped in the gardens, cultivated the herbs, helped in the natural drying process, packeaged teas, made traditional sourdough breads, preserves, soaps, balms and enjoyed the inspiring surroundings of the valley. We were living amongst lots of wildlife; walabees, possoms, tasmanian devils, platapus and so many different birds. There was fresh spring water that we drank every day, spectacular waterfalls, forsets to get lost in, cliffs to climb and a sauna to sweat it all out at the end of the day with a freezing cold dam to jump in inbeteween! I was able to share my knowledge of raw foods with the family and make them raw chocolates, crackers, fruit leathers and sauerkraut which they loved and were very excited about adding into their diets. I am so grateful to have been given such wisdom from the family and around the herbs. I am growing some of the hebs at home in my garden now, and hope to start blending my own herbal tea blends soon! Here are a few pics of the farm:

Working in the herb feilds.. calendula hoeing! Happy days : )

Spreading the red clover onto the drying racks, which are then hung in sheds kept warm with wood stoves over a few weeks. All so slow and wholesome

Echinacea!

Twin Marigold flowers : )

Thats just a taster of some of my adventures in the kand down under! You can find more on my facebook page here

More news of new adventures to come soon!! Happy summer : ) Enjoy the lovely elderflowers, spring greens and asparagus Mmmmm!!

Winter Warmers

2010-11-09T14:14:00.000-08:00

Many plants, like the tulip and the apple tree, would not blossom in the springtime were it not for the period of dormancy that is the gift of winter’s chill. Their example can inspire us to use this season of slumber to cleanse ourselves like flora shedding lifeless foliage so that we, too, may emerge from under the frost refreshed and renewed when spring arrives. –Anonymous

What a wonderful third seasonal workshop we had at Amity Point last Thursday. I made lots of nice and warm raw foods. Sounds like a contradiction but totally possible! The menu started with my version of miso soup, full of garlic and ginger and sea-veggies, a sauerkraut demonstration, to ensure lots of living pro-biotic enzymes during the winter months, a hot spicy curry and parsnip 'rice', and the most comforting, warm apple and blackberry 'scrumble' with hot vanilla custard. The custard came out of a mistake when once heating almond milk on the stove and it strated to thicken! My milk turned into cream, which was fine as I had a crumble to eat anyway. Then I thought about making an authentic looking and tasting vannila custard using the same technique, using saffron and turmeric to turn it a nice yellow colour, and fresh vannila pods to make the delicate flavour. I must say, it really was one of the best 'mistakes' I've ever made : ) Mush better than 'birds' instant custard any day, and full of my favourite ingredients.. vannila, saffron, almonds and dates. Mmmm.. comfort food at it's best!

Apple and blackberry 'scrumble'.. I forgot to take some pictures of the custard ; ( But here are the recipes......

Apple and Blackberry Scrumble
This is a winter classic, my memories of childhood winters were all about eating hot apple crumble and custard and roasting chestnuts in the fire! I thought that a raw version of the humble-crumble could never quite cut it, but this really does! Especially when eaten straight out of the dehydrator (or low oven), it has that ‘just baked’ feeling, without the stodginess of wheat and margarine topping and overly sloppy sweet filling. This keeps the freshness and beneficial enzymes of raw local apples, ayervedic spices and wholesome nuts and date topping. If you want to make a cooked crumble, try making this topping instead of a conventional topping; it really is much tastier and easier! The longer you leave the filling to marinade, the softer it will become, so I try to make it a day in advance, popping it in the dehydrator for a few hours before serving. You can also try this one with pears, adding seasonal berries such as blackberries, or using a combination of fruits you have to hand for a sort of fruit-salad-crumble, such as mango, bananas and kiwis. Serve with hot vanilla custard for a real comfort food treat.

Topping:
1 1/2 cups walnuts
1/2 cup Buckwheaties (or rolled oats)

1/2 cup soaked dates

In a food processor, combine all ingredients until they become crumbly. Add half of the dates first, adding more if needed. Do not over process, you want a crumble mixture not a dough….

Filling:6 medium sized apples (1 pureed/ 5 sliced)

1/2 cup soaked dates (+soak water)

1/4 cup raisins

2 tsp cinnamon1 tbs lemon juice

1 tsp vanilla

½ tsp nutmeg

Put the thinly sliced apples into a dish. In a blender, puree the other two apples and all other ingredients. Pour over the sliced apples, adding a few whole raisins.
Either cover and leaver overnight, or place in the dehydrator or very low over with door ajar for a few hours to warm through. Scatter over the crumble topping for the last hour.

Thick and creamy Vannila Custard

Makes 2 cups:

2 cups almond milk (made with 1 cup almonds and 2 cups water, or other nut or seed)

1 tbsp lecithin granules

12 soaked dates

1 vannila bean (or 1 tsp vanilla essence)

1 pinch saffron strands

1 pinch turmeric powder

Make the almond milk in the usual way, soaking the nuts overnight or for 6+ hours, and blending with clean water until well blended. Strain through a nut milk bag, and pour milk back into the blender,
Add the lecithin, soaked dates, saffron and turmeric. If you have a powerful blender like a vitamix, add a whole vanilla bean, skin and all. If using a normal blender, split the bean lengthways, and scrape out the tiny seeds from the middle. Add this to the milk, and blend until well mixed.
Pour the vanilla milk into the blender, and heat gently over a low heat, stirring frequently. The milk should start to thicken. Make sure it doesn’t catch on the bottom. If you aren’t worried about it being totally raw, you can bring it gently to the boil, which will make a thicker custard. Keeping it within ‘finger’ heat, will make a warm runny custard. Serve over raw or cooked crumble, any dessert, or soaked or poached dried fruits.

Enjoy a warm winter of high vibrational living foods with added warm energy added. Raw food doesn't have to mean cold food. Get creative with warming spices, dehydrated foods and warming teas and soups, and when you feel like a good proper cooked soup or curry, go ahead and get heated from within! Next months workshop: Festive party!!

Autumn Harvests

2010-11-09T13:21:00.000-08:00

Autumn is a feasting time when it comes to seasonal produce in the UK.. The summer produce tends to overlap with the autumnal hardier vegetables, and tree fruit is just starting to drop with abundance, gearing us up for storing, preserving and hording for winter. The summer winners such as courgettes and tomatoes just keep on coming, continually producing their versatile fruits, whilst the newcomers such as squashes, kale and nuts join in to ever increase our culinary possibilities! The fruits add a long lived sweetness to our plates; apples and pears can keep ripening from September through the winter, and be stored right through to next year. The change of the seasons is marked by the autumn equinox or ‘Harvest Moon’, when the length of day and night is equal, before moving into the longer nights. It is a good time to cleanse, reflect, detoxify and set forth intentions for the upcoming months.

Equinoxes are generally the optimal times to do some sort of cleanse. I like to them around spring and autumn, when the shifts from winter to summer and vice versa are most strong. On autumn equinox, the days are becoming shorter and cooler and the yin energy wants us to become slower, complete projects and conserve energy ready for the winter months. The change of seasonal produce from cool watery fruits such as tomatoes and cucumbers, to earthy woody vegetables and heavier sweet tree fruits, tells us that we need to store more energy in our bodies for the cold months, slow down to digest our foods better and add heat to our foods to warm us from the inside. The equinox marks the start of autumn, and the night of the equinox is when the day and night is of the same length. Equinox in Latin means 'time of equal day and night', and after this, night will start to conquer day. It is said in traditional Chinese medicine that autumn equinoxes affect the lungs and large intestine, so our bodies are detoxifying these areas at this time. Warm spices to keep the lungs clear are helpful, while staying off mucus forming foods like dairy and gluten would be highly beneficial. If you are able to do juice cleanse or colon cleanse using herbs or a fibre drink such as psylium and clay, it would help the colon rid itself of toxins from the large intestine and get ready for the increasing density of foods to come over the winter. Seasonal cleansing is all about preparing our bodies for the change of pace and nature, taking some time to reflect on the past three months and what you wish to see for the season ahead. Grief stored in the lungs will want to release now, and built of negative thoughts or emotions will signal the eliminative organs to begin the process of letting go. It is just as important during a cleanse to take time to reflect, meditate and breathe as it is to be mindful of what you take into your body.

Eating 100% raw food at this time when the days are becoming darker and cooler is not something I recommend, however it is more important that ever at this time to make sure the vitality of your food is high. Slumping into heavy rich processed foods when your body needs all the energy and light it can get would not make us feel great for the winter, though it is important to get some warmth and density into our systems. The seasons signal us start slowing down, so it is not good to fight the natural rhythms with too many light cooling foods like juices or unseasonal fruits, but keeping the high raw energy whilst including some warm grounding foods will keep us energised yet connected to autumns pace. Try to always add some sprouted seeds to cooked dishes, Keep up the smoothies in the form of warm ‘soups’ and buckwheat porridges, and make use of beneficial superfoods when you need extra energy such as maca, cacao and spirulina. When salads start getting thin on the ground, sprouting is something we can always add to our foods to get the optimum amount of Live raw energy! Happy Autumn, it really is the most exciting season for getting creative with LOVE foods ♥

Autumnal Broccoli and mushroom quiches and Chai Pumpkin Pie

Radient Pumpkin Pie Glow : )

This was from the Autumn Arvest workshop at Amity Point cafe, on my monthly seasonal workshops sharing themed raw recipes in inspired by the seasons offerings. Next month; Winter warmers!

Autumn Harvests

2010-09-18T07:52:00.000-07:00

It's been a crazily busy month, with my best friends wedding at the beginning of September, followed by a string of workshops, parties and work to occupy me since then! I adore September though; all the autumnal harvests appearing, the overlap of the late summer produce with the first autumn squashes, fruits and brassicas. It really is natures feasting time, with such abundance of goods with the cooling shorter days and feelings for denser foods and staying inside making food more! That's the way I am feeling at the moment... creating lots of new autumn recipes and preserving the gluts of fruits that are falling everywhere!

The week after Lucy's wedding, I catered for an alternative birthday party for a group of home educated children between the ages of 5-10. It was great fun, hard work but they all loved it were so into good wholesome food which is so inspiring to see. Most of them had been bought up with some raw-food influence in the family, so were used to eating raw cakes, sweets and crackers, though it was new to a few of them. They all got stuck in though, gathered blackberries from the hedgerows to decorate a cake I had bought, made some hula hoops for a hooping lesson in the garden, gathered wild edibles from the lanes and rolled their own cacao-truffles for their party bags. The day after was a 'yoga-in-the-yurt' day with Mandy, with the theme of 'Blissful balance' which was wonderful as always to be a part of and share with such lovely people. What made it even more special, was spending some time with Mandy and Monty dog afterwards, and jumping in the river with them for a refreshing post yoga swim! It was *cold*! But made us feel so alive after a gorgeous day, getting plenty of attention from shocked walkers by at our efforts, and nearly decapitated by a huge swan!

Sweet girls enjoying their delicious Live lunch full of Love

The Face Cake they decorated, with blackberries they picked

Lunch in the Yurt... Mushroom, broccoli and sundried tomato 'quiche'

Blackberry and raspberry layer cake

Me cutting cake for the hungry yogis!
Berry cake and Lime avocado pie

Post-yoga swim in the river with Monty!

This week, I have been house sitting for Lucy and Graham at their house in the city, looking after their crazy cat Bebop and three rabbits. It's amazing what a change of scenery and home can do for you, just little changes to get you out of your usual habits and make you do different things. I have been able to do some nice 'me' things this week; enjoy living close to town and see people walking past the window every day, have some cosy cat and movie time and be able to walk around to see friends! Yesterday, Mandy and I took a trip to London, for a girls day out at Tri-yoga to do a class with her teacher Claire Missingham. The plan was to go to the class, catch up with some yoga friends for lunch, explore a bit of London, then hit Saf restaurant for a gourmet raw dinner in Shorditch! I have been wanting to visit Saf for ages, and as Mandy is leaving the UK this year, it was a treat to us both to celebrate the wonderful workshops we have bought together and both our passion for good food..

The yoga was the hardest yoga class I have ever been in, but loved the challenge of it and was an experience to be in such a big class with alot of very strong and good-looking people! It wasn't until after the class, that I realised who the woman opposite me who I thought looked familiar was... I was sweating, stretching and chanting with Mel C from the spice girls! I felt quite star struck, and had to contain myself from going up to her and introducing myself as the sixth spice : ) I am often referred to as the spice girl as I work on a spice market and apparently always smell of spices! So after our hot yoga class, we had tea in a gorgeous tea room, with the g=biggest selection of teas I have ever seen on the walls to select from. I Got a slice of raw cake from a vegan cafe on our way to do some window shopping of the pricey shops of oxford circus. It's so cool how you can get raw-options at most veggie places in London. Getting the tube to Shorditch, we ended our yoga-gastronomy tour of London at the famous Saf botanical restaurant and coctail bar : ) It truly exceeded my expectations, and I ate the best meal out I have ever had. We had three courses, sharing a platter for starter, two mains, two desserts and two out of this world cocktails! If you are into raw foods, vegetarian, vegan, carnivore, foodie, cocktail connoisseur or love fine dining experiences, then this place is for you. I want to take all my friends and share the pleasure we got last night from such beautifully prepared food. The service was friendly, atmosphere relaxed, kitchen open and the food came not only beautifully presented, but really promptly too. By the we had to leave, we had both eaten three substantial courses and drinks, but felt amazing; and ready to go out and party if didn't have a train to catch! Next time.. it will defiantly be the prelude to a night out in London, and I will be sampling more of their ridiculously creative cocktails. Here's the pics of the heavenly Saf....

Mandy trying to decide whether to go for a 'guilty husband' or a Kentucky Love affair : )

Guilty Husbands got first shot... Rose and almond vodka, cacao, cherry dessert wine and champagne......

Our beautiful starter.. Cheese board with three different breads and crackers. Cashew cheeses in four flavours, red pepper flax crackers, barley bread and mixed seed crackers, with amazing dried tomatoes and red pepper dressing. Best nut cheese I have ever tasted!

Cashew cheese with herb stuffing and pink peppercorn crust

Mandy very happy about the scrummy pad thai.. courgette and carrot 'noodles' with a date and ginger dressing

Our other main dish was a sundried tomato 'quiche' made from a warm buckwheat base, caramelised onions and a cashew cheese topping. Yummmmmm

Desert time... The devilishly rich chocolate torte. I couldn't believe these deserts were raw. They were so much more solid and smooth than I have ever seen or made before, with out tasting oily. Pure decadence. Look at the ginger coulis hearts! Love on a plate...

Orange and cacao torte with ginger sauce. Utterly divine, but the richness of the dark choc torte won the battle of deserts. What a feast

Next week is my autumn harvest workshop at Amity Point cafe. It is the Autumn equinox on that day, so I will be talking about cleansing as it is the best time of year to go on a cleanse! Luckily for everyone on the workshop, all the food will be amazingly healthy, cleansing and full of life force to carry them through the seasonal turnover. It is the second of four monthly workshops I am running, using seasonal produce and a seasonal theme. This week I will be making a warm buckwheat and pear porridge, butternut squash soup, quiche, kale chips and a chai pumpkin pie! I love my workshops, and love that my attendees love them too! Mandy and I have our last raw-yoga day at Seamere next Saturday, which will be an Autumn equinox themed class and autumnal cleansing menu. Equinoxes are generally the optimal times to do some sort of cleanse. I like to them around spring and autumn, when the shifts from winter to summer and vice versa are most strong. On Autumn equinox, the days are becoming shorter and cooler and the yin energy is wanting us to become slower, complete projects and conserve energy ready for the winter months. The change of seasonal produce from cool watery fruits such as tomatoes and cucumbers, to earthy woody vegetables and heavier sweet tree fruits, tells us that we need to store more energy in our bodies for the cold months, slow down to digest our foods better and add heat to our foods to warm us from the inside. The equinox marks the start of Autumn, and the night of the equinox is when the day and night is of the same length. Equinox in latin means 'time of equal day and night', and after this, night will start to conquer day. It is said in traditional chinese medicine that autumn equinoxes affect the lungs and large intestine, so our bodies are detoxifying these areas at this time. Warm spices to keep the lungs clear are helpful, while staying off mucus forming foods like dairy and gluten would be highly beneficial. If you are able to do juice cleanse or colon cleanse using herbs or a fibre drink such as psylium and clay, it would help the colon rid itself of toxins from the large intestine and get ready for the increasing density of foods to come over the winter. Seasonal cleansing is all about preparing our bodies for the change of pace and nature, taking some time to reflect on the past three months and what you wish to see for the season ahead. Grief stored in the lungs will want to release now, and built of negative thoughts or emotions will signal the elimantive organs to begin the process of letting go. It is just as important during a cleanse to take time to reflect, meditate and breathe as it is to be mindful of what you take into your body. I will be taking this coming week of our autumn equinox to enjoy the cleansing process myself, and blog about that next time!

Enjoy the wonderful change of seasons and all that it brings. Love, let go and laugh!! x x x x

September Inspirations

2010-09-05T12:28:00.000-07:00

I can hardly believe it's already September, but being probably my most favourite month of the year, I am happy to be enjoying all the bountiful produce that is growing right now. I am recovering today after my beautiful friend Lucy married her lovely man Grayham, and I made yet another LOVE cake, which was gratefully enjoyed by those who got in quick enough at the pretty tea party after the ceremony. Having a restful day, I am reading some foodie blogs and getting inspired about what I want to make this month, and loving all the delicious photography out there! A new camera is defiantly on the list of wants this month too. Here's what is getting me excited right now...

Love cake for Lucy and Grayham ~ Strawberry and blackcurrant cashew pie with hemp and buckwheatie base

The gorgeous tea party following the ceremony

These are my 'going to makes' for September, with the abundance of apples, carrots in my garden and it's mushroom season! These pics were taken from the daily raw cafe, which has some great recipes. I thought it's about time I started to share some recipes of my own here, so I'll start with the cake I have been making lots of this summer, with all the yummy berries that are everywhere at the moment. I could eat this cake everyday, it's the taste of summer and perfectly light. And it helps that it looks so beautiful from the colour the berries give out. Pure heaven....

Summer berry tart

Base:2 cups almonds/mixed nuts/desiccated coconut/buckwheaties
½ cup soaked dates

In a food processor, process the nuts until fine but not powder, then add the soaked dates/apricots until a dough forms. Press this into a flan tin, or mould into the shape of your choice on a plate, forming a rim around the edges.

Filling:2 cups soaked cashews (+ 4 hours or overnight)
2 tbsp lemon juice
1 ½ cups strawberries/raspberries
½ cup blackcurrants/blackberries
½ cup agave syrup/honey/maple syrup
½ cup coconut oil, melted
2 tbsp lecithin

In a blender, put the drained soaked cashews, lemon juice, berries and agave and begin to blend. You may need to scrape down the edges a few times to keep the mixture pulling down. Add the coconut oil and lecithin, and continue blending until smooth and creamy. Pour the mixture into the pie crust, smoothing with a spatula. Set the tart in the fridge for 1 hour (or less in the freezer). Decorate the top with fresh berries and flowers to make it even more beautiful.

Living~Yoga

2010-08-18T07:38:00.000-07:00

Recently, I put decided in my head that I wanted to expand my business to work with other people, in areas that go along with raw-foods. Knowing that food is just one small part of experiencing balanced health, exercise, yoga and nature have always been a big part of my life. I wanted to integrate these aspects into my work, through working with others who were teaching these practices.

Personally, I have always been very active, and am well aware of how my body feels when I am regularly exercising, compared to when I have been less active. In the past, I have been 'working out' obsessively, working as a fitness instructor and teaching up to four classes a day plus my own workout! Now, I am much more balanced in my exercise, gaining it from choosing to use my bike instead of owning a car, opting to spend time working my garden rather than in the gym and enjoying the balance in body and mind I get from practicing yoga. I had a funny moment walking into a gym the other day, a beautiful sunny day, seeing everyone running-to-know where on the treadmills, plugged into the TV screens using huge amounts of electricity, when they could be running off their own energy outside in the sunshine actually getting somewhere and viewing nature! We are strange : )

Having studied detox in the body through the foods we intake, I am obviously a huge believer in foods healing us of diseases, lack of energy and clearing out our lives both physically, mentally and spiritually. There are many other ways of Detoxing though, which should be included in our lifestyles as much as eating clean, live foods. The best way of getting rid of toxins from our bodies?... Sweating! Yep, our skin is our biggest organ, and releases toxins through the sweat. You can tell how good you feel after exercising or saunas. The rising of body temperature that is a result will help our body simulate the situation of a fever. This temperature increase will generally bring about an immune system enhancement and increase in white-blood cells production, metabolism, heart rate and blood flow. Having a home-built wood-fired sauna in my garden, means I am lucky enough to feel the effects of this detox regularly. I use salts to help draw out the sweat through the skin, and different essential oils on the coals for clarity and cleansing. Drinking loads of water is essential to replace the lost fluids, or you will end up feeling much worse than you started! As always with detoxification, you may feel weak, feverish or headachy as the body flushes itself from the unwanted nastys, but having got through this stage, you will no doubt feel much better! So, though for the day is; get a sweat on!

Me and the sauna~shed!

Though I am not working with a professional sweating teacher (I'm sure you can all find your own fun and pleasurable ways of doing this) I am working with a lovely Yoga teacher, in her beautiful yurt in the countryside outside of Norwich. We have been doing regular yoga~raw food days, practicing flow~yoga assana practices in the morning, followed by a delicious raw lunch and chat with me, followed by some more yin style yoga, mantra and meditation, finishing the day with a LOVE cake... here are some pics of our Living~yoga days....

'Reconnect to nature' yoga lunch

Lunch in Mandys Polytunnel : )

Blackcurrant and strawberry cashew~cheese cake

Flower~power carrot cake

'Love~flows' yoga day... Green heart lime pie

It is such a pleasure to be working with others who are sharing such natural ways of living, bringing people back to their naturally healthy, happy bodies and minds. I'm so glad I don't need to pay for a gym, now that I know how it feels to be healthy everyday, using local, seasonal live foods, being active whenever I can and balancing my body and mind with yoga and meditation. If you have not tried yoga before, or would like to come along to one of our Living-yoga days, please email me for more info!

Also this month I have been enjoying the love and life of the Harlequin fair, a beautiful three day camp just outside of Norwich. I was working on the bar, serving the best organic, local ales and ciders, skipping off in the middle to run a yoga day with Mandy ; ) There was a big 'sustainable futures' area, where you could carve your own spoon out of willow, learn about Permaculture with Brenna who I am doing a 'Living~permaculture' day with in September, ride a cycle-powered generator and watch political films if you wished. In the healing field, there was yoga, tai chi, meditation, massage and a great wild-food walk going on, where I learnt lots about why we should all eat more nettles, dandelions and plantain! The music was brilliant, from seeing my good friend Teleri play on the solar stage, to jumping around to the Three beards, Tragic roundabout and Headspace on the last night, it was a festival to remember. Thanks to all those who volunteered, such a great way to get involved in the festival spirit. Next year, I hope to be there with a LOVE foods stall, run some workshops and maybe have a pedal-powered blender by then!

Leah and I in the Bumble-bar
I also had a lovely time out on Brennas boat on the Norfolk broads for a few days last week. An impromptu mini holiday just a few miles out of the city, which felt like a million miles away. We were moored on a RSPB reserve, surrounded by birds, big skys, marshes and a barn owl. I felt time literally slooooww right down, as we spent our days reading, lazing in the sunshine, walking the footpaths to forage for plums and berries, making boaty- dinners for the boys, before cruising back to Norwich slowly.... all in good boaty time. I think we all need some boat time in our lives. Get back to slow, now thats another good thought for the day!

'Free~spirit' Perfect name for the perfect home

Brenna making Plum Pie : )

Big Norfolk skys

Good Morning!

I am hosting a four week course with a different theme each month at Amity Point cafe, starting in September. The dates for this are Thursday 2nd September, 23rd September, 21st October and 18th November. This weeks class will be the first one, and I have a summer menu of ginger-lemonade, gaspacho, picnic ideas and a berry cheesecake. My lovely friend Kiama made these posters for each one!

Summer of LOVE

2010-07-30T16:01:00.000-07:00

Summer is well and truly with us. Infact, in true British style, we are complaining about how dry it has been over the past month! Gardens have been crying out for some rain, and although many of my greens and herbs bolted straight up having been rather neglected whilst I jollied off to the Isle of Man for two weeks, everything else is happily growing together; the sweetcorn is growing tall amongst the jungle of courgettes, and the sunflowers are about to burst open. Flowers are an essential part to the garden to bring colour, wildlife and as an edible addition to salads, cakes and drinks. It’s surprising to most how many flowers are edible. Not all are as tasty as the peppery nasturtiums or delicate daylilies, but all offer a splash of colour to turn any food into a visual delicacy.

Marigolds and courgette flowers
It was whilst on my ten-day course in Permaculture design on the Isle of Man, that I came up with the idea of making raw-cakes, without any electrical equipment at all and only using the ingredients I had to hand in our camp-kitchen. It was someones birthday on the course, so I wanted to make something special, as she was interested in live-food and others were keen to learn what on earth a raw-cake would be like! We had big purple beetroots, sweet carrots and courgettes in our allotments, and a chest full of dried fruits and seeds, oats, honey and spices. Perfect! The course was teaching us permaculture design principles and how to apply them to a piece of land, using systems such as mulching, zoning, stacking, composting catching and storing water, eco-buildings and alternative energy. We learned through observation, discussion, mind-maps, and trips to organic farms, living off-grid as a community of twenty two people for the duration of the course. It was very basic simple living, but not once did I feel like I was missing the ‘luxuries’ of instant power, flushing toilets or the fast pace of 21st centaury life. Living so closely to the earth, meditation, learning to cooperate with my group and work together became my daily work. Through discussing the realities of what we are doing to our planet, the unsustainability of our modern lifestyles and our consumption of resources, bought up many thoughts towards the way I want to live my life and the way I see food, agriculture and educating people on what they eat. It was just as much a spiritual journey as an educational course; encouraging us to open up to what it is inside of us that made us want to connect so closely with a group of initial strangers, live on the land and lead more sustainable lives for the future. It made us feel connections with all living things, plant energies, animals and even people we may feel resentment towards. Realising we are all living on our planet together and working in harmony rather than against each other is all part of our evolving journeys, and what permaculture opens us up to. Integrating rather than segregating; in society, our gardens, our bodies and minds. It really is a whole way of living, and anyone who is interested in the permaculture way is bound to start seeing everything in a whole new light! People often ask what I have given up that I miss, and I can honestly say that there is nothing I wish I did or had which I deny myself for an eco-lifestyle. The smallest things which I do, to reduce my carbon footprint are done out of rejoice, such as not owning a television, which allows me more time to view nature and connect completely with others without distractions, and cycling instead of driving, which saves hours of stress in traffic and gives me time to exercise in the fresh air and the best parking spots in town! Usually, what we let go of brings us more pleasure in time, wellbeing and space. What can you give up today which will bring you more space to do what you love?

Today I..... watched the duck in the lilly pond : )
Back to the cake! We called it the ‘permaculture garden cake of love’, because it was the most beautiful, heart shaped pink cake, covered in berries, cherries and an arrangement of bright edible flowers foraged from our land. It really was the most beautiful cake I had ever seen, or tasted! It was made without the use of any electricity, just our hands mixing and kneading all the fresh local ingredients together and moulding into a heart shaped cake. After decorating it with flowers such as cornflower, marigolds, nasturtiums, sweetpeas, camomile, chive flowers, roses and lavender, we presented it to the birthday girl to which she cried with joy! Everyone agreed it was the best cake they had ever had, and seeing how it could be made with the most basic of equipment made it even more special. After sharing this experience, I thought more about how living foods and permaculture principles can be integrated. The essence of a live-food lifestyle really is about ethical choices and sustainability, but within the raw-food movement, it often becomes far away from the natural, un-processed source of simple plants and using them in their pure form. People can pick up raw-food books and become overwhelmed with the complex recipes and expensive ingredients and equipment needed to make them, taking days of preparation time! This is not what I see as sustainable for a lifestyle, supposed to be ethical, healthy and simple to follow. I want to bring live-foods back down to earth. Show people how they can make delicious meals using 100% raw ingredients, without spending a fortune on equipment or ingredients. Sustainability needs to be looked at in terms of the impact on the earth, longevity of a lifestyle and sustaining optimum health. One without the other is not going to be an ethical movement, so it is important to see the package of live-foods as a whole lifestyle, rather than a short term diet.

Another Permaculture LOVE cake
Realising that the food we eat is just one small part of gaining optimum health and wellbeing, I am working with a yoga teacher in Norfolk to do ‘Raw-yoga’ days, combining the healing forces of yoga with a live-lunch and talk on raw foods, mantra, meditation and live cake. I am also co-running an introduction to permaculture day on the 26th September, with live-food demonstrations and food included. We will talk about the principles of permaculture, kitchen gardens, sprouting, fruit growing, herbs, preserving, salads, drying foods and live cakes. This will be a whole day course, including food, handouts and lots of useful information to go on and grow your own and make raw-living dishes. Please contact me if you are interested in attending any of these events, or would like to hold a raw-food workshop in your home or own venue.

Planting perenial plants in the permaculture plot where we will hold intro-to-permaculture and Living-food days
I feel very grateful to have attracted these simple ways of living into my life, and how they connect me with nature and the simple joys in life, like the first harvest of strawberries of the year, first swim in the sea, picking and making my own herbal teas and sharing gluts of vegetables with friends or using as trade. It’s amazing what we can manifest when we align to what is important to us. Looking back at my journey with living foods, this is what I have always believed in; simple, ethical beautiful food to share with others, and what ‘LOVE foods’ is about. Live, Organic, Vegetarian and Ethical. I am very happy to be able to share this information with others with love, life and passion!

The 'Live-More-LOVE' workshop in my garden, decorating cake with edible flowers

Here are a few ways that you can increase the amount of live-energy into your diet, whilst reducing your carbon ‘food-print’:

Grow some sprouted seeds, pulses and beans in a jar, sprouting tray or hessian bag, to add to any meal for some nutritious live tasty goodness

Turn gluts of root vegetables, cabbages and fruits into fermented ‘krauts’, by shedding finely and pounding until they release their juices, covering in cabbage leaves and pressing under pressure for a few days until tangy and soft. Sauerkraut is full of natural pre-biotics, great for digestive health, and a great way of naturally preserving vegetables.

If you use your oven for every meal, try making one meal without it, making a raw lunch like a big salad with sprouted grains and grated root vegetables, or a fresh fruit breakfast or smoothie.

Whilst the children are on their school holidays, get them involved in a fun project, like making a salad window box, or a hay-box cooker. This is like a slow cooker, made from two boxes, one fitting inside the other the size of a pan you will use, with the gap between the two boxes stuffed with hay to insulate. To cook grains, beans, even stews and soups, you can quickly bring the food to the boil on your stove, then transfer the pan to the hay-box to finish the cooking over a few hours. It may take longer, but you will save a lot on power bills in the long run. Get back to slow cooking the primal way!

Go foraging for wild foods. It’s amazing how much you can get year round. In season in August, there are elderberries, blackberries, meadowsweet, nettles, wild raspberries, apples, sea kale, plums, fat hen, rowan berries and mushrooms. Always be sure to go with an expert when picking mushrooms however, as some can be poisonous.

Use flowers as way of making food even more appealing to the senses. Rose petals, sweet peas, herb flowers, marigolds, dandelions and daisies can all be used to brighten up cakes, salads and party foods, and children will love learning which flowers can be picked and eaten as a holiday activity.

Instead of making individual meals every day of the week, invite friends over to share a ‘pot-luck’ dinner, or look for community meal groups. Save energy by cooking for more, rather than everyone cooking for themselves.

Remember to look for what’s in season locally this month: beetroot, beans, carrots, cauliflower, tomatoes, spinach, courgettes, peppers, rocket, potatoes, radishes, onions, cucumber, sweetcorn, apples, plums, blackberries and peaches. Think seasonal and get creative with local ingredients!

Try to use your car less to do your shopping; get some panniers for your bike; it’s surprising how much you can transport when you have them, or make use of an organic veggie box delivery scheme. You won’t know what you are getting but it will be guaranteed seasonal and local produce!

Make food enjoyable, a part of your daily practice and a way of connecting with nature and people. I am organising monthly picnics in Eaton Park for everyone interested in learning more about live-foods, so come along and share a dish prepared with the LOVE foods principles in mind. These are the end of each month. The next introduction to LOVE foods at The Window coffee room is on the 28th August. These have been incredibly popular, and are limited to six people so email me for bookings. The next ‘raw-yoga’ day will be on the 11th September in Tuttiungton with Mandy from Yellowbean yoga, and will be a day of flowing yoga postures, delicious live foods, information, meditation and cake to end the day. Please email me for booking onto the Introduction to permaculture and living food on the 26th September, venue to be confirmed. I hope to meet you at an event and share good food and company soon!

Isle of Man Permaculture design course

2010-07-27T13:48:00.000-07:00

10 days, 23 beautiful souls, 1 yurt classroom, 30 lovely shared meals, 2 shit-pits,1 dog, 2 wise old men, many swims in the sea, endless hugs, heaps of laughs, an essence of moon-beams, a sprinkling of wild winds and a good dose of sunshine; this was my permaculture design course on the beautiful Isle of Man adventure. I am very grateful to have shared this journey with such fabulous people. These memories will be influence my life for ever on.....

My Perma-pals in our yurt-class room.. and Lola!

Living-roofs ~ Loving life : )

Pretty patterns in nature

The Permaculture LOVE cake in the making.......

Decorated with foraged berries and edible flowers...

Carrie and her birthday LOVE cake ♥Esther and our pan full of yummy salad

I knew that this course would be life changing, but nothing can really prepare you for the changes that will go on in your head with the way you see the world, your community and the way you live until you are forced to see a whole new way of living, become totally connected to the land and live so closely with 23 relative strangers for 10 days. We had no electricity, camped in all weather, cooked for each other and immersed ourselves into the principles of permaculture day and night. Not only was it giving us an amazing amount of knowledge to implement into our lives, it was also a very spiritual course, where we used meditation, healing and energy work to help us see the way of the future and how all living things work together as a whole system. For this I am very grateful, having met such inspirational souls, and learned so many tools for efficient, sustainable living. A permaculture design can be made on any area of life, not just land-based projects, so the first thing I am going to be looking at is my business, making it more sustainable and ethical. I am going to think about the relationship between peramculture and live-food diets, and how they work together. My feeling at the moment, is that the essence of raw-foods is from the same principles of permaculture, but the two have become separated, when raw-foods becomes too much focused on the body, segregating people from society and not focusing on local, seasonal ethical food choices. My journey is taking me bring these ethics back into the food I eat and look at ways of living a high-raw lifestyle, without impacting the earth negatively. I want to find ways if making amazing food, without needing to use electricity, or imported ingredients, and focusing more on sustainable food choices, ways of sharing our local harvest with my community and keeping Earth care, people care and Fair share in focus. Thank you Isle of Man, Mill, Rod and all my permy-pals who joined me on this evolving journey....

Cake face : )

2010-06-18T13:55:00.000-07:00

I am a very happy girl; I have just been down to my fruit patch and found the first red strawberries of the year! Oh my, how good fresh berries straight from the plant taste, like nothing you can compare to shop bought fruit. Simply as they are, they are the true taste of the start of summer, the mark of the longest days and begin our fruit harvest with their delicate heart shaped beauty.

They must have known it was the day I was making a strawberry ‘cream’ layer cake for a friends party. Although, I must admit, I bought some local strawberries to top the cake with, as my first few were just too precious! The cake was 6 simple layers of a sweet crunchy base made with sprouted buckwheat and almonds, a cashew ‘cream’ and fresh berries topped with raw chocolates and fresh fruit. It looks incredible, though is surprisingly simple when you learn a few simple techniques on how to create raw-living cakes. No waiting around for the oven to heat or using refined ingredients! All of my LOVE food cakes and foods are free of gluten, dairy, eggs and refined sugars, and are full of raw organic fruits, nuts, seeds and superfoods such as raw cacao and goji berries. They can be as simple as the raw choc-avocado pie that I teach in my introduction to raw workshops, or a bit fancier like the layer cake I made today. All are filled with respect for the pure wholesome ingredients that they are made from, and a sprinkling of love.

As the longest day is almost upon us here in June, I have been embracing the light evenings, getting lots of work done and working in amongst the garden life in all its wild abundance! It really is a wildlife haven; no clear cut paths and neat lawns do I possess, but a haven for birds, ladybirds, frogs and butterflies as they visit my wild borders of herb Robert and cow parsley. I manage to work with nature, to create my own areas for planting vegetables to last throughout the year, use as many wild plants in my diet, cosmetically and for wildlife as possible, and focus on perennial plants which will stay here and find their home with me as long as they wish. As the nights will start to draw shorter now, I can enjoy the harvests of my minimal efforts, store and preserve for the winter stores and enjoy watching the ever changing landscape of my diverse garden. My edible garden continues to grow even inside, with pea-shoots on my windowsill for salads, mung beans sprouting in trays and many herbs adorning my kitchen. Growing your own is something everyone can try; whether you have a big or tiny garden, a flat, room or caravan. I managed to sprout whilst travelling in a van for six months; they are the ultimate travel-proof live food!

I am about to embark on a two week course in Permaculture design on the Isle of Man, where I will be living simply with nature, with no electricity, compost toilets, eating food from the land I am staying and living as a group. We will be learning about the principles of permaculture design and its fundamental elements; Earth care, people care and fair share. Earth care is about working with nature rather than against it. It also means using outputs from one system as inputs for another (vegetable peelings as compost, for example), and so minimising wastage. People care is about looking after us as people, not just the world we live in. It works on both an individual and a community level. Self-reliance, co-operation and support of each other are encouraged. It is important to remember however, to look after ourselves on an individual level too. Our skills will be of no use to anyone if we are too tired to do anything useful! The course is a model for a lifestyle I believe will help us move towards self empowerment in sufficiency, ethics and help our relationships with others.

So I will be taking a break from my LOVE foods workshops for a few weeks, ready to come back with new inspiration, ideas and refreshed from some good wholesome nature time. The workshops of June have been wonderful, and the people who have come to learn, eat and be inspired have left me with such lovely feedback and belief that live foods really do make people happy! The first picnic I organised in Eaton Park was such a feast of peoples own creations they had come up with from experimenting at home following the workshops. We had marinaded mushrooms, nori rolls, raw ‘pasta’ with tomato sauce, crackers, breads and some amazing chocolates and cake. I will be organising a LOVE foods picnic every month, so if you are interested in bringing along a raw-vegan dish to share, please email me for dates and details.

Next month, I will be introducing some more advanced workshops for those who have been on my workshops already, as well as continuing with my introduction to raw classes. These will go more in-depth into the live-food lifestyle, get a bit fancier with some dinner party recipes and include a forage around my garden! I am also very grateful to be joining forces with the lovely Mandy of Yellow bean yoga, to bring together yoga and raw food, in some day retreats in rural North Norfolk throughout July, August and September. These will be a morning yoga session with Mandy, followed by a raw lunch and talk with me. In the afternoon, we will do some more gentle yoga, mantra and meditation, finishing the day with some raw-cake and tea. We did one in May following Mandy attending a workshop of mine. We decided to combine the yoga and food to make a ‘living-yoga’ day, which went down so well. The energy of the group was amazing, everyone was alive but grounded after lunch, and the cake at the end of the day got everyone talking and feeling awakened, energised and cleansed on all levels. Yoga and live foods really work! I am so happy to be combining these two healing practices, and share them with more and more people. All of my workshops and our ‘living-yoga’ days are in the events section, or please email me for more information.

I feel blessed to have found such amazing tools for living, with joy, respect and connection with nature and its energies. It is a continual learning of what works for each and every one of us, not only using one method but trusting in whatever comes our way and learning from it what we need. I am constantly learning more about the energetics of food and incorporating different theories from other traditions, cultures and lifestyles, and remembering that a healthy happy outlook on life is the most powerful tool for joyful living. Living foods resonate with me, and I love sharing their creative nature with people. I also love how live foods can make am appearance in anyones lifestyle, without taking things away, going on a diet or ever eating a home cooked meal again! It’s all about balance, loving what you are doing and enjoying the journey. Living food is great; Loving life is amazing. Love what you do today and don’t delay. If you would like to learn more about LOVE food workshops, please feel free to contact me, and try out the recipe of the month, which is full of the joys of summer.

Summer Gaspacho soup

(Serves 4)
6 medium tomatoes
1 onion, finely chopped
1 small cucumber, finely diced
2 spring onions, chopped
Juice of 1 orange
Juice 1 lemon
1 clove garlic
2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
2 tbsp olive oil
1 bunch fresh parsley
1 bunch fresh coriander
1 tsp ground cumin
Pinch cayenne pepper
Pinch salt

Finely chop three of the tomatoes and place in a large bowl with the onions and cucumber. In a blender, place the other tomatoes and all other ingredients, and blend until smooth. Pour over the diced ingredients, mix well and season to taste. Best left to chill for a few hours and served with a sprinkling of fresh herbs. Enjoy on a hot summers afternoon with a glass of strawberry Pimms or elderflower cordial. Will keep in a container for 3 days in the fridge.

I found this beautiful photo on the tree of life blog, of their beautiful toms and cucumbers.. yuuummm : )

First LOVE foods picnic!

2010-06-12T14:18:00.000-07:00

I've just got home from my first gathering of lovely food and yummy people in the park at a LOVE foods picnic. It was so amazing to see all the creative dishes that people had been experimenting with following my workshops. Here are a few photos.....

Heathers 'just like brownies' choc fudge : )

Super scrummy salads, courgetti and marinara, marinaded mushrooms and chocolate mousse

Ashers beautiful nori rolls

Our hoop table or raw delectables. Yum in the sun!

Thanks to those who came along. The next one will be on the 31st July in Eaton Park at 1pm. Hope to see some more of you there to feast with then! x

Goin' Wild....

2010-06-06T12:43:00.000-07:00

Summer has arrived! The long sunny days, feeling of the warmth on my skin and light evenings makes me feel even more energised than ever, especially with all the summer greens and wild edibles that are so abundant right now. An amazing thunderstorm has just freshened the skies as I write, after a week of hot dry weather, the garden has got a good soak and I am getting some work done inside, which is rare for me in the summer days!

I am going to turn my attention in June towards wild-foods, herbs and lovely weeds. Natures gifts to us which are so powerful yet so overlooked in our society. We often 'use' herbs as a 'supplement' to our diets, and see them as a commodity like other medicines, or a temporary fix to a problem, but rarely do people tune into the growing, gathering and the multitude of uses herbs, wild foods and weeds have in our everyday diets. I have always been very aware of the uses of these plants, sporadically used them and grown common ones in my garden, but right now I am drawn to making them the highlight of my summer diet, cutting back on the heavy sweet foods which I have been busy making over the past months. It is so easy to get sucked into marketing hype for exotic superfoods pushed in raw-food recipes, websites and shops, and forget that the real best superfoods we have available to us, are the ones growing right outside our doors. The wild-foods which grow locally to us, the ones which have been here hundreds of years, and are growing so vibrantly right now, rather than reaching for the dried, packaged expensive 'superfoods' from the other side of the world! I'm not saying that I don't often use these too, as I am well aware of my cacao consumption over the past years : ) but I am feeling that now is the perfect time to explore the world of wild-weedy wonders that are growing all around me...

Last weekend I was blessed to work for the amazing Fairyland trust; a charity which teaches children and families about nature and folklore by creating magical things. I was a fairy-gardener, dressing my beautiful yurt with native foliage and telling the story of Mrs Hedgelove and how she was upset how everyone was digging up their gardens and calling the wildflowers weeds. we then all made a miniature wildflower garden each to take home, decorating them with things for the fairies to play with like acorns, pinecones and feathers. The setting was the enchanting Holt Hall, where wild garlic, nettles and elderflowers grew abundantly all around us. It was my first wild garlic of the year.. oh my gosh I just Love the stuff!! All the great taste of yummy garlic with less 'punch' and more green : ) Heaven! Nettle tops found their way into my themos each morning to keep me hydrated through the long tiring days, and young pollen-full elderflowers were so good picked straight off the tree. Will defiantly be making some elderflower champagne this year : ) I gathered lots of wild garlic before I left and made it into the best pesto ever, made with cheap organic sunflower seeds and UK hemp oil, it really was a LOVE food special; Live and Local, organic, veggie and very very ethical. Was soooo good spread on my seaweed crackers and stirred through courgette pasta. Unfortunately in the enjoyment of it all, I forgot to take any pics, but will surely be making some more so will try to remember next time!

A friend is bringing me a wild bouquet tomorrow from a special wild garlic woods near their house, so I will be making lots to store for winter : ) I am now starting to make crackers, buckwheaties and granola mix to order for clients, along with my chocs, truffles and cakes. But for me this month, it's greens, herbs, elixiers and infusions, along with the divine Norfolk asparagus of which I love and soon to be beachy foraging sessions to gather the beautiful Norfolk samphire. Just a few weeks of harvest to collect our local sea-veg, which is much more palatable to most people than other seaweeds. More like salted beans than fishy seaweed; yum! I am following a restorative and kidney cleanse for a while, which means I will be cutting out most of my sweet treats for a bit, and giving my body some extra love with some cleansing herbs, vitalising mineral soups and strengthening meals. High in vital energy without the heaviness, stimulating concentrated energy I have been eating more of over the winter. The cleanse I am following is not totally raw, but includes lots of green juices, miso broths and protein to balance blood sugars. From previous experience of cutting back on sugars, it is always the mind which struggles the most initially in the cravings for sweet, comfort foods, but once the head has decided that it is better off without it, the balance of mood, hormones and energy is well worth the conflict. I am ready and looking forward to the clear-out!

My garden is just so full of wild foods it's amazing. I just love my home! Here are some pics of my wonderful wild garden, and some of my green juices for you, and I will post some wild garlic/ pesto/ herbal cleanse pics next time!

Cow Parsley, nettles, dandelions and yellow arch-angel at the bottom of the garden....

Apple blossom ♥

New against old; apple blossom, crab apple flowers and old crab apples

Jack in the hedge : )

The most amazing blood oranges from Folland organics.. Mmmm garden bliss

My weird and wonderful wildgarden.. A real fairy place

Get outside and see what you can find! There are some great sites for wild food, and the classic mini-guide 'food for free' is brill for identifying plants out and about.

As for LOVE food events this week, I am doing a talk and chocolate tasting at The book hive on Friday at 6.30 with Hayley from The Window. Come along to experience cupping with Hayley, learn all about caffeine with Dave Hart and taste some of my handmade raw chocolates and find out about raw cacao. On Saturday the 12th, I am organising the first LOVE foods picnic, where everyone is invited to bring along a raw-vegan dish to share and get inspired by others creations, connect with other foodies and have a proper food healthy feast in the park! I'll be there at 1 with my hula hoops, so come and see what living foods are all about if you have yet to come along to a workshop, or if you have already come along, get creative and bring something along! If you don't know what to bring, you could bring some fresh fruit, a salad or try some foraging! Just try to keep it as organic as possible, and think about the LOVE foods principles: Live, Organic, vegetarian and Ethical. It will be a fun and inspiring way of meeting new people and getting loads of inspiration. My workshop at The window booked out so fast next Sunday, so I am doing another class the following Tuesday at The Bicycle shop, 6-8.30. If you would like a space please email me at jobalfe@hotmail.co.uk

After all that I'll be taking some time off to explore the Isle of Man and do a permaculture design course, then I will be back late July when I will be joining forces with a lovely freind to offer some very exciting new workshops... watch this space! Much LOVE x x

May Workshops

2010-05-26T14:25:00.000-07:00

Wow! One week and three workshops.. All from the great response I have had to my first class on the first of the month, I put on two more days to fit people in last week, and had my first workshop booked at someones house with seven lovely people too! It's been amazing; 33 smiley people introduced to living foods, a few blenders full of green smoothie and nut milk, a sprinkling of bee pollen and a big dose of raw energy has begun to flow through Norwich! I love teaching this so much. The response I get from people is amazing, and hearing the transformations people are going through with their diets is wonderful. I love how people come to it for all different reasons, though usually it is purely for a love of good food, creativity and fun. I am so not into dictating any kind of 'diet' or extreme lifestyle change. For me, it's about getting across the ease, love and energy we get from living foods, which brings people together, makes us more aware of natures cycles and gives us our power in choosing the foods we consume. I love live foods so much, and love seeing the looks on peoples faces and noises they make when they try it for the first time!

Here are some photos from my second workshop at the bicycle shop, taken by Alex:

Me and me Vitamix : )

Smiley happy people

Mmmmmmm Greeeen smoooothie

Granola and almond milk

Buckwheat, avo, alfalfa Nori-rolls
Ecstatic sushi moments : )

Getting busy with the sushi

Saving the best til last

The workshop at Lovely Lisa and Laurants house was such fun. Little Harvey sat and tried all the food with us, and we all sat outside in the gorgeous sunshine with our own hand-rolled nori rolls and cake : ) I'm still smiling over the moment everyone thought I was telling them how important it is to get 'semen-oil' in your diet...?! Uh... sea minerals that was : ) Not semen Lisa. I love Lisa! Her other questions included 'does your poo go green when you have all these green smoothies?' Here is the lush Lisa and her hansom Harvey:

Others getting creative with their nori rolls...

SUNday was quite literally that.. the hottest day of the year so far, the Worlds smallest cafe and six inspiring people came to learn, make and taste the LOVE food experience. I sneaked out into the sun while they made their lunch.. Here's a few pics from out of The Window:

So as May makes way for June, I am pleased to announce at least two beginners LOVE foods workshops happening in June, just before I hop over the Isle of Man to do my permaculture design course. Woo sooo looking forward to it! I am also arranging a picnic in a park in central Norwich, more details to follow but basically bring along a Live Organic Vegetarian Ethical (as much as possible) dish to share, and we will feast together, share ideas, recipes and a fun afternoon buzzing on raw energy and life! I am also going to run a follow-up workshop for those already dabbling in raw foods or who have done my introduction workshop and want to learn some thing more 'advanced' and fancy. If you are interested in coming to one of these workshops please let me know and I will arrange a date.

June Introduction to LOVE food Workshops:

Sunday 13th 10.30-1 @ Thw Window coffee room, Wensum st Norwich

Tuesday 15th 6-8.30 @ The Bicycle shop, St. Benedicts st Norwich

LOVE food Picnic: Saturday 12th June, time and venue tbc

I hope to see you at an event next month! Have a lovely bank holiday weekend. You'll find me dressed up as a fairy-gardener at the fairy-fair at Holt hall making miniature wildflower gardens with kids. Will be a fantastic weekend for all those in East Anglia. Have a great one what ever you are doing, and enjoy the light! x x x

Seamere Yoga Retreat

2010-05-16T14:31:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, I was blessed to attend my lovely yoga teacher Mandys yoga day at Seamere in norfolk. The day was titled 'celebrate your inner fire' and we did lots of powerful asanas to stoke the fire inside of us all, strong pranayama practices and some beautiful chanting and meditation. A walk around the stunning gardens followed our delicious lunch, which was an all raw deal, after Mandy attended one of my workshops and was inspired to create her own raw dishes. Everyone loved it, and was amazed at how awake, energised and light they felt after lunch. At the end of the day,we had two cakes; one chocolate pie made by Mandy from the recipe from my workshop, and I made a lemon 'cheeze' cake. No one could believe that they were not only gluten, sugar and dairy free, but 100% raw and better than any cooked cake they'd tasted! A bunch of converted women went away high on yoga, raw chocolate and sunshine! Yey, the sun has come back! lets hope this is our summer to come. Here's a few pics from yesterday...

Cashew lemon cheeze cake and Mandy's Chocolate Pie

Cafe- Gratitudes 'I am cherished'

Seamere gardens

Peaceful garden

LOVE foods May-hem!

2010-05-07T13:26:00.001-07:00

Wow.. what a month May is turning out to be! Seems like everyone is fulfilling all the dreams that have been brewing over the winter months. My workshops have sure been a dream of mine for a few years now.. now they are actually happening and the response has been amazing! One person on my last class said that she ate more good food in the 2 hours of the workshop, than she had in the last year! Excellent!

So, I am pleased to say, that I will be running two more workshops this month! One on a Tuesday evening at The Bicycle shop in Norwich, from 6-8.30pm, and one on a Sunday at The Window coffee room, 10.30-1. These workshops will be an introduction to live foods, we will create 6 delicious dishes, that are easy to make at home, with minimal equipment and easy ingredients. You will go away with a full belly, a detailed recipe booklet with all the recipes from the day, and lots of inspiration to start making your own live food creations at home.

The Window Coffee room, is my lovely friend Hayleys creation, and is the Worlds smallest cafe!! It's an amazing space, where people get to know each other, become friends and enjoy Hayleys many different styles of coffee and coffee knowledge. The room is delightful, with handmade benches, local art work, brilliant books to browse and always a smiling face to sit and have coffee, tea or a raw chocolate with!

Hayley has just launched her website, which has some lovely photos and information on it, and will have all the events happening at the Window: check it out thewindowcoffee.com

If you want to come to one of the next workshops, please email me at jobalfe@hotmail.co.uk, or call Jo on 07913758088. And pop into the Window and try some of my live-by -chocolates and raw-balls... they're to Live for! x

Proud coffee shop extrordinare Hayley

My Live-by-chocolates, goji-ginger gogo balls and choco-mint bliss balls

Cosy coffee daze at The Window

LOVE foods Beltane Workshop

2010-05-01T22:42:00.000-07:00

Eeeeep! I've just got home from my first live-food workshop in Norwich! It was a great success; 6 very happy well fed people left feeling inspired, alive, well fed and ready to begin with their own LOVE food creations at home! Yey!

The venue for the class is my lovely friend Hayleys tiny coffee shop 'The Window' in Norwich, which is so tiny it is possibly the worlds smallest cafe! Its actually perfect for hosting my workshops, as it seats just 6 people, its super intimate and everyone can see close up exactly what I'm making, ask loads of questions, get to know one another and I can just pass the food straight out over the table! Lots of people were looking in from outside too.. The window has big windows!

Today, as it was an introduction to Live foods, we made 2 green smoothies, 1 sweet 1 savory, Almond milk, granola, carob thick-shake, Nori rolls and Chocacado Pie. They all loved it all. Actually a couple of them found the savory smoothie a bit unusual, but I totally understand that it could be a bit much if you haven't eaten blended greens before. The sweet green smoothie was a total winner, and my number 1 raw food recipe for those starting to experiment with raw foods in their diet. If you were to change nothing else about your diet but just add a green smoothie each day, you would be getting massive benefits from all the live, chloropyl goodness in a glass. They're such a brilliant way to start the day. Everyone loved the almond milk too, with which I made up a granola from grated apple, sprouted buckwheaties, sunflower seeds, soaked gojis and raisins, cinnamon and bee pollen. with cold almond and hemp milk poured over, everyone was amazed at how simple and delicious this was. I love the way this looks too; with the bright red gojis and gold-dust bee pollen, its like fairy food : )

I talked through sprouting, all the different methods and what you can sprout, then i made a raw-nori roll full of sprouted buckwheat and alfalfa, fermented miso paste, mineral rich nori, creamy avocado, grated root vegetables and leavy greens. Gosh, as I was talking them through all this, it struck me exactly how great nori rolls really are! In one roll, you're getting sea-minerals, fermented food, sprouted grains and seeds, root vegetables, essential fatty acids and leafy greens. Plus we could count 5 colours in the one roll; purple beetroot, orange carrot, green avocado, white sprouts and pink chard. That's on massive anti-oxidant hit! Count your colours on your plate today, and see how many you get!Last but defiantly not least, we made the best chocolate pie in the world. This is what i make for people if i want to make a cake for friends, and I don't tell them the secret ingredient : ) Until after they've fallen in choc late heaven! It's creamy, rich, chocolaty, smooth and sweet. Its completely free of refined sugar, dairy, gluten or artificial ingredients, and full of good fats, raw cacao and fibre. Secret ingredient? see if you can guess....

Everyone left feeling very satisfied, happy and armed with a recipe book which i have been busy writing all week! I'm loving this writing, food- creating, workshop hosting role though. Things are just flowing now that I'm following my dreams and passions, and sharing beautiful food with people, and teaching them about getting closer to nature, which is what it's all about. There will be plenty more Workshops to come in the future, and looks like the beginning of a yummy food- network in Norwich! Woop! I'm off to bounce on a bouncy castle with Lou and friends for our joint birthday bonanza now.. full of raw energy and cacao *** pie! Happy Beltane to you.. May it be as creative, fertile and full of growth as nature intends. x

Birthday Lou likes Almond milk

Spring creations ♥

2010-04-05T02:34:00.000-07:00

A few creations coming out of my kitchen nad garden lately......

Fruit & nutty Live by chocolates Peppermint Cashew~creme Choc~cups
Almond & hemp Mmmmilk
Wild woman Nettle infusion
Seedlings of herbs peas and toms
Happy Easter creating all! x x

Spring Cleansing

2010-04-05T01:56:00.000-07:00

Spring has arrived! As it has just been the coldest winter I have actually ever known in my lifetime, the sprouting of the crocuses and daffodils last month was such a relief that spring was on its way and warmer longer days where soon to be with us. It has been a particularly hard winter. Weeks of snow and icy temperatures have left most of us feeling in much need of a pick-me-up and a fresh start as the lighter longer days arrive. Spring cleaning is an age old tradition; sweep out the old winters dust and clutter, and let the fresh air in. Just as our homes naturally require a clear out at this time of year, so can our bodies benefit from a cleanse to prepare us mentally and physically for the longer busier days of summer. Now is the perfect time to start a spring detox, to say goodbye to winters sluggish nature and welcome our lighter more awakened selves.

After the long winter, it’s normal to feel a little heavy, and its important not to give ourselves a hard time over putting on our ‘winter layers’ and feeling less active than in summer. Just remember to look at nature and how the trees are dormant and animals hibernate. We often force ourselves to keep on going throughout the year with out honouring natures cycles. It is normal to crave richer food in the winter, the days are shorter and darker and we are less active. But now is the time we want to lighten up, ready to spring into action. The body begins its own cleansing processes at this time, so the more we help this along, the better we feel. It’s the perfect time to start introducing more raw foods to your diet, as the vitality of the body increases and spring crops appear outside. Taking it slow and listening to your own body is key with spring cleansing or any change in your diet, as the days are still cool and any drastic cleansing can cause an imbalance. Just by focusing more on lighter cleaner foods and increasing or exercise, we will naturally feel more energy.
Winter months also usually put extra burden on the liver, as rich heavy foods congest it, making us feel sluggish and aggravated and our bodies stiffer. The liver is responsible for the smooth flow of energy through the body, so it is important to give it a break from foods which slow it down. Cutting back on cooked fats, nuts and dairy products, and focusing freshness; spring greens, asparagus, parsley, dandelion leaves, fresh nettle tea, are all excellent at encouraging the liver into action. Nutrient dense grains like quionoa and amaranth are high in protein, and don’t leave us feeling heavy as starchy carbs often do. Starting off the day with some fresh lemon juice in water, and adding some good quality cold pressed oils like flax or hemp oil to our diet are great for the gall bladder, provide us with essential omega 3 fatty acids for brain function, and help us feel lighter and more energised. Adding some bitter herbs such as dandelion root or burdock support the liver further, cleaning the blood and are especially great if winter has been an indulgent one.
In my raw food workshops, I recommend people start off by adding some kind of raw foods to each meal. This way you can still enjoy your usual foods, but you will find that you will probably eat less of the dense stuff as you will add satisfying salads, sprouts and juices to your meal. The science behind the raw food diet, is that when we eat cooked foods, our body responds by instantly increasing the number of white blood cells into the blood. This is called ‘digestive leukocytosis’ and is a stress response the body has to infection or toxic substances in the body. It has proven that when we eat raw foods, this reaction doesn’t occur, so the bodys defences remain strong and the immune system is in its natural state. What is now believed is that if you eat raw foods before eating cooked foods, or if your meal consists of at least half raw foods, leukocytosis does not occur. So if eating a meal of all raw food is not right for you, try adding a big salad to your cooked meal, drinking a big glass of fresh vegetable juice before eating, or adding a handful of sprouted seeds to your food. You will soon start to feel the benefits of adding these fresh natural foods to your diet, and will naturally need less heavy foods to feel full. I am all for listening to what your body needs, and not forcing a new diet which is hard to fit into your lifestyle. I like to focus on what you can add to your existing diet to begin with, rather than cutting out everything you love! As you get used to these new tastes and ways of preparing foods, you can start replacing your favourite foods with healthier versions, such as raw chocolate, nut ‘milks’ and live-cake. I am also convinced that everything we eat should be a pleasure, and my raw versions of traditional foods are far better than the processed type any day!

So let’s embrace the spring with a renewed sense of wellbeing, alertness and lightness as we look forward to the summer days and acting on all the ideas we have been developing over the winter. It’s also a wonderful time to learn something new, so why not come along to a live-food workshop at ‘The window’ coffee shop, where I sell handmade raw chocolates and truffles, at which is probably the worlds smallest café! You can learn how to sprout seeds, make delicious smoothies, make a raw meal in less than 15 minutes, see how the best chocolate pie in the world is made, and of course, learn more about raw chocolate and try all of the foods made on the day. You will go away with a recipe book, a full belly and have the chance to buy some products to get you started with some live food creations. It will be limited to six people, so send me an email if you are interested in coming along. The first workshop will be on May the 1st , which is also Beltane, the coming of summer, light and fertility. The perfect day to learn something new! As soon as the days get a bit warmer, we can have some ‘LOVE food’ picnics somewhere in Norwich, watch this space. Heres to spring… may it be a season of creativity for us all!

Live by chocolate

2010-03-09T08:16:00.000-08:00

Spring is in the air, or so I hope it is by the time you are reading this! I am writing on the first day of Lent, a time in which many people decide to give something pleasurable up, until Easter lures them back into self indulgency. Traditionally, the most common pleasure that we try to abstain during this period is… yes, Chocolate. For many people, chocolate is a guilty pleasure. But what if it was not only good for our health, but good for the planet too?

With Easter approaching, the supermarkets are all stocked high with highly packaged Easter eggs to feed our addiction to the sweet stuff. As a nation, we each consume on average 10kgs a year, more than any other European. Chocolate has been given a pretty hard time over the years, and now even our biggest manufacturer has just been sold on to US rivals. It could seem that our favourite sweet is in need of a makeover. Chocolate used to be a luxury, savoured at times like Easter and Christmas, but not any more. Chocolate has evolved over the past decade, moving on from the low cocoa milk chocolate, in all its fancy forms of caramel filled, honey comb and childlike shapes. Then there was a move towards the trend of dark chocolate, bought on by the revelation of health benefits and use in every cooking show and latest cook book. Chocolate became something to be savoured, appreciated and analysed, with the rise of fair trade, organic and artisan brands. Chocolate has seen many changes over the years, but as we move into a new decade, and in honour of Easter, we have a new revolution of chocolate to tempt us. It takes chocolate back to its roots, the purest form you can imagine, and has a nutritional powerhouse to go along with it. Let me introduce you to the Cacao bean. Intense, bitter and crunchy in its naked state, it has been blended into the purest of all chocolate bars for our consuming pleasure. Raw chocolate is a simple, unrefined experience. I urge you this month to give ‘live-by’ chocolates a try (death by chocolate is so last centaury).

I first discovered raw chocolate at my first raw-food picnic, where someone had handmade some truffles which were the yummiest richest chocolate treat I’d ever tried. I then began experimenting with my own recipes, ordering some raw cacao and blending and mixing the raw ingredients, with no need for refined sugar or dairy products. I was soon a dedicated devotee to the cacao bean: the live, un-roasted bean from the fruit of the cacao tree. All conventional chocolate is roasted, where many of the health giving benefits are destroyed. The raw cacao bean is a very complex foodstuff with more than 300 chemically identifiable compounds. It is said to be significantly richer in antioxidant flavanols than green tea, red wine or acai, and contains protein, fats, calcium, iron, carotene, thiamine and riboflavine. The chemical which makes us feel in love is abundant in cacao, hence why chocolate has been widely used as a cure for a broken heart! Raw chocolate gives us a natural high, a feel good comfort with out the guilt and is even thought to prolong life!

So with Easter upon us, why not choose to try some raw chocolate instead of overindulging on over packaged, unfairly traded and over processed Easter eggs? I have started to sell a selection of my ‘Live by chocolates’ at The Window coffee room on Wensum street, Norwich, where you can enjoy a artisan crafted fine coffee
or a refreshing herbal tea from my good friend Hayley, who has opened up what is thought to be the smallest café in the UK right here in Norwich! She is up against a café in Denmark which holds the record for the worlds smallest café, which would have Norwich in the Guinness book of records if her café is smaller! The little room of coffee is a beautiful, friendly, natural space, with room to seat up to 6 people and more room to stand and listen to Hayleys expertise in all things coffee. The room was fitted out with all recycled and reclaimed woods, furniture and local art work. All food sold in the shop is handmade, so pop in and relax while browsing through the eco-bookshelf, enjoying one of my goji-ginger gogo balls, and watching the world go by through the big window shop front. All of my raw truffles and energy balls are gluten, dairy and sugar free and utterly delicious. They are handmade in small batches for the café. I will be holding a tasting session on Saturday 27th March. For those of you who are eager to start making some raw treats of your own, I will be holding my live food preparation classes next month. This will be a fun and creative demonstration on how to make a selection of raw meals at home, and will be held in The Window coffee room, so places are limited to 6 people. Please email me if you are interested in coming along. It’s a great chance to broaden your culinary knowledge, get creative and try a different way of preparing food. All food will be provided and you will go away with a recipe folder, inspiration and a full belly!

I look forward to seeing some of you in the café, enjoying some raw-chocolates with you and celebrating the emerging of springtime which has been so long awaited!

Live~by~chocolate hearts

Goji~ginger~gogo balls!

Choco~mint Bliss~balls

When in doubt, sprout

2010-02-01T14:02:00.000-08:00

February seems to have a bad reputation with most people. Me included am one of the many who undeniably wishes away the dragging on of the winter months, dreaming of spring days and labelling February my least favourite as months go. As it seems my garden seems to have been under a white blanket of snow for the past month, the visits into the vegetable beds, or any kind of garden activity have been restricted to admiring the winter wonderland and keeping the birds fed and happy, while I stick to the warmth of the kitchen, planning this years gardening projects and experimenting with recipes as I always do!

Through this sparse gap in the garden, we still have a way of producing a fresh, living and abundant food that is often underrated and unused considering its simplicity and economical value. I’m thinking sprouts. No not the brussel variety, but sprouted seeds, beans and pulses which provide us with counter-top salads year round in the form of fine alfalfa, crunchy mung bean and spicy mustard to name just a few. It’s something I am very passionate about, being a consistent sprouter, experimenter of different seeds, methods and ways of using these powerhouse potential-plants. It’s something that everyone can do, kids love to see their seeds growing curly purple tails and it’s super value for money when you see the volume of sprouts you get from a small quantity of seeds. Even the most impatient of seed sowers can get almost instant gratification from watching the fascinating process of germination at close quarters. I remember, as a child, learning to grow cress onto damp tissue paper, watching the daily development of the tiny plants before munching them willingly amongst mashed eggy sandwiches. My own first attempts at sprouting came when I bought a plastic tray sprouter, and from then came a love of trying different seeds, making sprouted dips, breads and cereals. I have recently experimented with making sprouting bags from organic hemp and flax material, which work amazingly in warmer weather but not so well in the cold. If you want to get your children involved in food and growing, sprouting is a fun and easy way to give them something they can easily do, get creative and reap the nourishing rewards. Try making a ‘cress head’ with them for fun, and they will soon be asking for their own sprouted greens in their sandwiches! Get them to draw a face onto a hollowed out hard-boiled egg shell, then fill it with a ball of cotton wool. Moisten it with water then sprinkle with cress seeds, cover the egg shell with paper for a couple of days until the seeds begin to sprout, then uncover and watch the cress grow. Sprinkle with a little water every day, and give the ‘head’ a haircut when the cress is fully grown. They can then add more cotton wool and seeds to grow more ‘hair’. Children love seeing things grow and having something to be responsible for. Sprouting is an educational, healthy and fun way to get them to eat live foods and to experience nature close up.

I like to eat sprouts every day, but especially at this time of year when fresh green salad vegetables are not locally available or in season. They are the ultimate ‘living’ food; still in growth when being eaten, with all the potential and power intact to sprout forth into a full grown strong plant. They are packed full of antioxidants, Enzymes, trace elements, vitamins and minerals. Eating sprouts on a regular basis can result in an enormous improvement in general health, boost the immune system, revitalize and strengthen the body, improve digestion and combat tiredness and stress.
Each seed offers different health benefits, so eating a range of sprouts will boost your body with a range of nutrients. Some are particularly specific, like the fenugreek seed, which helps lower blood glucose levels, can increase breast milk production and aid digestion, the white radish seeds, which help clear mucus and so are wonderful when you have a cold, and lentils, which lower cholesterol and blood pressure. Each is unique in its taste and texture, and can offer us an exciting addition to our sandwiches or baked potatoes, or can make up a meal of their own. Like all plant foods, they are best eaten raw, as cooking will destroy some of the enzymes, but a lightly cooked sprouted bean is still very valuable nutritionally. Indeed, because sprouts create high vitality, those people with serious illness, or a weakened constitution, might be advised to lightly cook sprouts initially and gradually introduce raw sprouts as strength begins to return. They are very powerful.

So now’s the time to get started with sprouting! It can be as simple as soaking some seeds overnight in a glass jar, then draining the water and covering the rim of the jar in muslin or a pair of (clean!) tights, and leaving them to sprout in a well ventilated space. Just be sure to rinse and drain the seeds twice a day. If you are ready to get more seriously into sprouting, the three tiered seed trays you can buy in health food shops are great for growing a variety of sprouts, or hemp sprouting bags are easy to make, and just need dunking in water and hanging for a few days, when you will have a sack full of curly sprouts ready to use. The only thing you have to remember is to rinse your seeds twice a day and keep them well ventilated. Harvest them when the ‘tails’ are between 2-4 cm long, depending on the seed, which will take between 3 and 7 days. Once ready, you can keep them in the fridge for up to a week where they will stop growing and be ready for you to have a healthy snack any time of the day!

When your sprouted seeds are ready, you can start getting creative with incorporating them into your diet. It’s so easy and delicious to add fine sprouts like alfalfa to sandwiches and wraps. Kids especially will love these. Mung beans, aduki beans and chick peas add a sweet crunch to salads, stir fries, and make a wonderful addition to hot winter casseroles and stews to give them a raw superfood kick. Soft sprouts like buckwheat and quinoa are perfect for breakfast on porridge or muesli. If you want to try making a meal out of your sprouts, here’s a recipe for February which will make you feel like you are in the midst of summer inside:

Sprouted Tabbouleh (serves 2)

2 handfuls of alfalfa sprouts
2 handfuls spinach, torn
300g sprouted quinoa or buckwheat
4 tbsp pitted olives
4 tomatoes, chopped
½ a cucumber, finely chopped
¼ a celeriac, finely chopped
Big bunch of fresh parsley, chopped
30g fresh mint, chopped (or 15g dried if unavailable)
Juice 1 lemon
2 tbsp olive oil/flax seed oil
2 tbsp tamari/shoyu sauce
1 clove garlic, finely chopped/grated
½ small onion, chopped
Make a bed out of the alfalfa and spinach in a bowl. Toss all the other ingredients together until they are well mixed. Serve over the sprouts and greens. The flavours of the lemon and herbs infuse over time, so leave to marinade for a few hours if you have time. You can find fresh local spinach, celeriac and herbs at markets and vegetable shops at the moment. Alfalfa sprouts are probably the most common of all sprouted seeds to find in the shops. Quinoa is a seed that is usually used like a grain in place of rice, has a mild nutty flavour and is very high in protein, higher than any other grain. It is very easy to sprout. Just soak over night and sprout for 2-3 days. It will get curly purple tails if left after this, though is still edible. Store in the fridge for up to a week. This meal is packed with enzymes, chlorophyll, carotene, zinc, magnesium, anti-oxidants and good fats. You can serve it as a side dish, in wholemeal wraps or nori sheets, or Moroccan style with falafels and hummous. You can even make a sprouted hummous using sprouted chickpeas in place of cooked. Experiment and have fun in February using sprouts!

Why everyone should try sprouting:

They’re environmentally friendly. Sprouts are the ultimate local and seasonal food!

They’re inexpensive. 1 cup of dry seeds will give you up to 4 cups of living sprouts. What a good deal!

Children love them. Especially when they can grow their own and watch them sprout.

They’re an easy way of eating more vegetables. 1 handful of sprouts counts towards your daily portions of fruit and vegetables.

They add the salad fresh feeling to wintery meals. Just add sprouts to any meal, be it sandwiches, casseroles or soup!

They so easy. It really is as easy as ‘just add water’. Watch and give them some love and attention, and soon you will have your very own windowsill garden.

I am going to be running workshops in raw-living food preparation in Norwich in the near future. If you are interested in attending an event, would like to know more about the live-food lifestyle or want to know where you can purchase raw products, please email me at jobalfe@hotmail.co.uk, or call Jo 07913758088. Happy sprouting!

Fenugreek Sprouts!

Mung Bean sprouts

LOVE photos

2010-01-23T14:20:00.000-08:00

I've just been reminiscing on some travel pics, from my time spent in Australia where I made food for a farmers market and did some catering jobs. Some of the ingredients are pretty exotic compared to our UK fare, but I have managed to recreate all of these yummy at home! here's just a few to get you inspired................................

Chocolate 'cream' and berry cake face : )

LOVE Sushi: grated beetroot and carrot, alfalfa sprouts, avacado, miso, pickled ginger & tamari

Stuffed Mushrooms: Sunflower pate in marinaded mushrooms with tamari honey dipping sauce

Seaweed sesame crackers ~ oh sooo good! Nori based, dulse, spiralina, buckwheat and sesame.

My-Chai-Pumpkin-Pie: sprinkled with bee pollen and macadamia 'creme'

One of many raw dinner parties: Live-n-kickin-chilli, hummous, crackers, sushi, wild rice salad, creamy spinach and organic red wine. Divine ♥

Me avec berry super smoothies.. juicy smooth start to every juicy smooth day ~.~

Living Food.. in a nutshell

2010-01-23T10:40:00.000-08:00

I have got used to the puzzled look on peoples faces when I say I eat mainly Live foods. I think people either imagine me hunting down a living animal and chowing down, or just living on carrot sticks and lettuce! The concept of eating raw foods as the bulk of your diet, means we end up having to rethink and re-learn what we have learnt around food preparation and traditional ways of making meals by cooking.

I will be sharing with you here, many recipes and ideas for simple live-food meals. I try to keep my food really simple. Many raw recipes require alot of time and equipment, and although these are great for special occasions as you would spend extra time cooking a fancy meal, the raw-food lifestyle for me comes down to simplicity, and less time spent in the kitchen! I do however, always have things which take a bit of organisation initially like sprouts, fermented foods and crackers in my daily diet. People often think these take alot of effort to do at home, but for the time it takes to water your sprout tray twice a day or mix up some crackers for the week, it's always quicker in my opinion than, say, baking a loaf of bread or making a roast dinner!

I do include some cooked foods in my diet, and these tend to be wholegrains such as Quinoa, (actually a seed and at 17% protein, it really is a power food and provides all the amino acids) millet and buckwheat (also seeds so high in protein), porridge oats, some roasted root vegetables, cooked lentils and soups, and occasionally fresh locally sourced free range happy hen eggs. I happily eat cooked food when out with friends or when being cooked for by friends and family. I luckily have a surrounding of very food-wise and healthy eating mates! I wont go into the science of why eating a high raw diet is so wonderful for the body right now, but it has been shown that when you eat 51% or more in weight of raw food in each meal, you are going to counteract most of the harmful and de-energising effects of eating an all-cooked meal. This makes eating more raw so much easier for most people, when you can simply add to your existing diet, rather than taking away. This is how I like people to be introduced to live foods.. It's more creativity, vibrancy and taste that you can add to your life. My LOVE food lifestyle is about showing people what life has to offer them, not about deprivation or saying you cant. You CAN make the choice to feel great all of the time, and by adding more life to your body through live foods, you are naturally going to become more radiantly alive and the things that no longer serve you will naturally fade away.

Today, I'd like to share with you some ways of adding more raw to your existing diet~

Serve your cooked food on a bed of raw, organic salad leaves/kale/sprouts. They will gently wilt under your food if you are not keen on eating raw salads, and add a fresh and juicy crunch to your meal. Gradually increase the amount of greens to cooked food, until you are ready to try making a whole salad with exciting dressing!
Juice! By drinking a glass of vegetable juice before your meals, you will help combat the effects of cooked food on your body, feel fuller quicker and give your body an instant boost of live green nutrition before you even sit down to eat.
Breakfasts..I find the easiest meal of the day to do all raw is breakfast, as smoothies or live cereals are oh so yummy and filling and don't have to be vegetably! Try blending up some fresh or frozen berries, banana and fruit juice with some ground flax and sunflower seeds, or soaking some buckwheat over night in warm water and blending with some cake spice, cardamon, honey and soaked-dried fruit. There are loads of ways of getting heat into raw foods with out cooking. Use lots of spices and ginger, and tea tea tea!!
Throw sprouts on everything! They really are the most alive and nutritious food you can source so easily, they go with everything and taste great! try sprouted buckwheat on porridge, mung beans on soup and alfafa in sarnies. more on sprouting to come.......!
Always carry raw snacks with you for when you get hungry. Like nuts, dried fruit, cacao beans, dehydrated crackers, fruit, veggie sticks, bliss-balls..(recipes to come!)
Make easy switches in your daily diet, like trying nut 'milks' in place of dairy, raw chocolate instead of standard choc, honey can replace sugar in practically anything, raw crackers instead of bread and tahini or flax oil in place of butter and cheese. These are all great ways of eating loads of living foods without drastically changing your diet.

I hope that leaves you with a few ideas on how you can start on the LOVE food lifestyle, one bite at a time! I'm getting together some super easy recipes for you to try which you are sure to love. Happy experimenting, and loving life ♥

Love food

2010-01-18T15:20:00.000-08:00

Here are some pics of some food I've been making for a business meeting of the wonderful peeps at Bizz Fizz. My lovely business coaches love my food so much, they hired me to cater for their meeting!

Living Pizza~ Sprouted buckwheat and sunflower base with cashew 'Cheeze', tomato marinara sauce and fresh sprouts, herbs and veggie topping

Raw-Root-Slaw with tahini orange and ginger dressing

Carrot Cake with cashew cream

Chocacado Pie!

Live by Chocolates

...And my daily green smoothie... cucuber, celery, kale, garlic, parsley anf nettles blended with flax/chia gel, lecithin, flax oil and spices. Yum!

Welcome to LOVE food!

2010-01-18T14:21:00.000-08:00

Welcome to my blog page for LOVE food.. my space for sharing my lifestyle and vision for business in Live food and Love of Life! As i spend most of 'My' time thinking about food, recipes, growing food and sharing food to enhance lifes other many joys, i will be sharing my musings here and letting you know what I'm up to and how you can learn more about Living food and Loving life!

The name LOVE food came to me very spontaneously one day.. I was pondering on an article I was writing about my food ethics, and the main points I was getting across spelled out the word of Love!! How perfectly perfect I thought!! So Love food is evolving.. organically in its own right. Live Organic Vegetarian and Ethical food is the way forward! I just LOVE how this spells out LOVE into our consciousness just from these four powerful words. That's no coincidence is it?!

I will be sharing with you my workshop dates, future pot-luck live food meet-ups, products, recipes and all the things I love about life here for you to enjoy. Here's my first article I've ever writen for Norfolks Eco Echo January edition, on the subject of eating seasonal and local food:

Love Food

Here in Norfolk, we are blessed with an abundance of local fruit and vegetable crops, artisan producers and wild foods. We have miles of beautiful coastline providing some of the best seafoods in the country. The farm shops and farmers markets allow us to connect with our growers and producers face to face, try something new and learn what goes into our favourite foods. The impact we can make on ourselves, our environment and our community by eating local and seasonal food is huge. Two words which are becoming more and more talked about in reference to our eating habits, but do you actually know what is local to Norfolk, and what is in season during the lean months of winter?

Growing up in Norfolk, some of my first memories are being amazed by different foods, trying everything and noticing things growing everywhere! Picking blackberries from hedgerows, seeing my mum make chutneys from the stores of apples in autumn, stopping off at roadside asparagus caravans along the Norfolk lanes in June for some healthy roadside fast-food! It was all so natural to me and I was lucky to have been brought up with this knowledge. Eating locally to the place we are in connects us to our environment, and eating seasonally is one of the joys of life and honours its cycles. On top of this; local and seasonal food simply tastes best! How wonderful that we can have all of these benefits in our everyday lives, whilst reducing our impact on the environment at the same time. Simply by choosing to buy, grow, trade or forage more local foods natural to our environment and season, we can help stop climate change, reduce carbon emissions and support our community.

As I write, I am relaxing after a day at the monthly golden triangle farmers market. We had sunshine, then sleet, and now it looks like the frosty mornings are about to set in. After such a mild winter so far, I’m almost looking forward to the idea of the really cold days catching up, cosy evenings in and all the warming winter vegetables that keep us nourished throughout the colder darker days. After spending the last four winters in Australia, the chances of a snowy new year, the comforts of the slower winter pace and gathering ideas to spring forth into action as the days grow longer are all deeply appealing! Growing up with a garden full of home-grown fruit and vegetables, home-cooked meals, preserving and traditions, I more recently travelled to the other side of the world where I learned more ways of sustainable and healthy food production, which I have bought back home with me and am enjoying sharing and learning more with my community in Norfolk. My main interests are in ‘Live food’ diets; eating a high percentage of ‘living’ or ‘raw’ foods in their natural state where enzymes are still intact and nutrients are of optimal benefit to our bodies. Permaculture; a design system which works with the earths systems to creates edible landscapes, gardens and permanent cultures. Minimum labour and maximum yields are achieved, focusing on a diverse range of foods for our own wellbeing, and the care of the earth and wildlife. I am also very passionate about the importance of local and seasonal in all areas of our lives, as we really can make a big difference by focusing our intentions close to home and in the present. I make my own choices around the food I consume, for the care of my own health, care of the planet and of my community, by sticking to four principles. They are: LOCAL; to connect with our environment, support local businesses, reduce food miles and carbon emissions and to know we are getting the freshest and nutritious food we can possibly get. ORGANIC; because pesticides and chemical fertilisers are not only harmful to ourselves, but they harm wildlife, the environment and the people who have to use them. Non organic farming methods degenerate our soil, pollute water systems and destroy natures way of bio diversity, so it really make sense to choose organic where we can. VEGETARIAN; commercial meat production is thought to be one of the highest causes of greenhouse gases, uses massive amounts of water and land use. Choosing to reduce your meat consumption, have a meat free day a week or switch to locally reared organic meats will all help the environment, your health and reduce your food bill, when you learn how low cost, tasty and easy plant-based meals can be. And ETHICAL; when buying products which cannot be sourced locally or fit into the other principles, I try to think about the ethics of the food, avoiding ones which are un-fairly traded, over packaged, over processed, air-freighted or genetically modified. None of us are perfect and life is not about being hard on ourselves in any way, so as long as we make these choices the majority of the time, then we are naturally going to become more in tune, healthy happy consumers. Think of the LOVE acronym when choosing what you eat, and make January the month to journey with local foods!

So what is in season in January? During the leaner months, when gardens appear to be bare, we naturally crave denser foods to match the feeling of the darker days, and we also need variety and vibrancy to keep us inspired by food and our bodies nourished in the harsher climate. Our immune systems need a boost, as do our bank balances after the Christmas indulgences. In season and available to buy from farmers markets, local shops, box schemes and in gardens in January are; Kale, celeriac, chicory, kohl rabi, leeks, endive, Jerusalem artichokes, cabbages, parsnips, turnips, onions, potatoes, purple sprouting broccoli, spinach, apples and beech nuts. If you have jumped on the preserving bandwagon earlier on in the year, you can add to this your own pickles, chutneys, jams, nuts and wines. Sprouting seeds and beans also provides us with year round living salad ingredients. Staples we can source locally include stone-ground flours, cheeses, butter, rapeseed oil, honey, meat, fish and beer. Choosing to try locally produced goods over mass produced, mass marketed and processed foods, makes us realise how much better this food really tastes! It’s not only about the ethical statements we are making by supporting such committed businesses, nor the community spirit of being at a farmers market, or even the fulfilment of planting your own broad beans from seed! All of these things are added wonders to the fact that local food will always taste better than any air-freighted, unripe or factory farmed produce ever will. Compare some of our very own Norfolk winter vegetables, honey or cheese to a standard equivalent from the supermarket. Local and seasonal equals fresh and flavoursome.

January is a great time to set your intentions for the forth coming year, so what better time to make a pledge to consciously source more local and seasonal foods, and plan to grow and forage more of our own fruits and vegetables? With the growing awareness of climate change and recession, we all need to find ways of keeping our carbon footprint and spending to a minimum. Food is one of the biggest ways we can make a difference, as it’s something we all do everyday, many times a day. Food is life! We buy and consume more food than anything else, so we can really make a big impact by reducing our carbon ‘food-print’, or food-miles. Choosing to eat more local, seasonal and plant-based foods, can make big differences to carbon emissions, while making you feel healthier at the same time!

As we set forth into 2010, here is a recipe using ingredients that are grown locally, and is so colourful you will find it impossible to feel the winter blues! It is ‘’living’’ food, so is wonderful for the start of a detox if you have overindulged over Christmas. As root vegetables are so hardy, you can make this in a big batch and it will keep in the fridge for 3-4 days, where the flavours will mingle and the textures soften. It makes a great snack, side dish, lunch on its own or filling for sandwiches, jacket potatoes or on crackers. For a main meal, you could serve this with some cooked grains such as quinoa or millet, rice, wrapped in a tortilla with some local cheese or cooked beans or lentils. Experiment with different root vegetables and use what you can find! It’s packed full of iron, calcium, zinc, vitamin A B’s and C, antioxidants, protein and essential fatty acids, all excellent for seeing us through the cold season.

Winter raw-root-slaw

1/8 red cabbage
1/8 white cabbage
2 medium carrots (orange/yellow purple)
¼ medium sized celeriac
1 large apple
Fresh root ginger to taste (optional)
1 small onion (optional)
1 beetroot

Grate the carrots, celeriac, apple, ginger and beetroot into a large bowl. Finely chop the cabbages and onion, add to the bowl and set aside.

Dressing:

4 tbsp tahini
2 tbsp flax seed oil
1 clove garlic (optional)
2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
2 tbsp tamari/shoyu sauce

Blend all the ingredients in a blender, or grate the garlic and mix well by hand. Add water if the consistency is too thick. Pour over the vegetables until well combined.

Reasons to eat more local and seasonal food:

It tastes great! It’s usually been picked within a day or two, it’s crisp, and loaded with flavour. Produce flown or trucked is much older. Studies have shown that the average distance food travels from farm to plate is 1500 miles!
It’s better for you! Local food has been more recently picked therefore retains more of it’s nutrients.
It preserves genetic diversity. In industrial agriculture, varieties are chosen for their abilities to ripen simultaneously and withstand harvesting equipment. Only a few varieties of fruit and vegetables meet these vigorous demands, so there is little genetic diversity in the plants grown. Local smaller farms can grow a large number of varieties to provide long season to harvest, including unusual, rare and colourful crops and better flavours.
GM free. Genetically modified fruits and vegetable seeds don’t get into the hands of local small scale farmers, and most wouldn’t use them even if they could!
It supports your local community. When you buy direct from the producer, you are re-establishing the time-honoured connection between the eater and the grower.
It supports the environment and benefits wildlife. Local growers value the resources of fertile soil, hedgerows, and wildlife and use cover crops to prevent soil erosion. Cover crops also capture carbon emissions and help combat global warming.

Ways in which to become a more local and seasonal consumer:

1. Grow your own You don’t need masses of space to grow your own fruits, herbs and vegetables. Anyone can do it in the smallest of spaces. Think window boxes, sprouting trays, container fruit trees, patio beds. Fresh food can be as simple as growing a few sprouted seeds on your worktop and planting some basil. Your enthusiasm to try more is bound to grow from there!

2. Get preserving. The abundances of crops that we get during the summer and autumn months can be enjoyed all year round when we get back to our traditions of preserving. Think jams, chutneys, wines, cider, pickles and sauerkraut. All perfect additions to the winter table.

3. Forage There is a feast to be found in the hedgerows, woods and seaside’s that is free and the most nutritious food you could find. Blackberries, samphire, nettles, nuts, mushrooms.. A basic knowledge of what is edible is essential but there are lots of books on the subject and when you realise what you can use you will start seeing weeds in a whole new light..

4. Think outside the supermarket Food shopping doesn’t automatically mean supermarket shopping. Try doing your weekly shop by visiting a farmers market, local grocers, and the daily markets around Norfolk. On Norwich market alone, you can find organic fruit and vegetables, cheese, fish, meat, wholefoods, grains, bread and even local fudge and icecream!

Happy January and enjoy getting creative with all the amazing foods that Norfolk has to offer this coming year. Cheers to a New Year healthy eating plan that can make so many big changes locally and globally at the same time. That has got to give you the feel good glow!