Cranberry Beetroot-Almond Chocolate Cake

Beets are another under appreciated food in my house. But can also be sneakily disguised into an awesome dish!

This cake will surprise you! It is rich, moist and flavorful. And will keep for up to a week :)



 

Ingredients

• 3 medium beets, cooked and cooled
• 1/4 cup coconut oil
• 1/2 cup  virgin olive oil
• 3/4 cup pure maple syrup
• 1/2 cup honey
• 3 medium eggs
• 2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 cup organic, coconut flour
• 1 cup almond meal or almond flour
• 3/4 cup cocoa powder
• 2 tbs black onyx cocoa
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 1/2 cup frozen cranberries

Instructions

1. Boil your beets with skin on. Test if they are done by poking with a knife or skewer. And cool. You can then easily rub off the skin with your hands, or rubber gloves. This process will preserve the colour and flavour of the beets.
2. Preheat the oven to 350F. Grease a 9 inch cake pan with coconut oil and dust it lightly with cocoa.
3. In a food processor mulch whole raw almonds until desired flour like texture occurs. You may need to push the almonds down the sides of the bowl.
4. Grate the cooked beets on a box grater or on grater attachment in food processor and measure them; you should have about 2 cups of grated beets.
5. Transfer beets to you food processor with almond flour and then adding in the coconut oil, olive oil, maple syrup and honey until everything is well blended.
6. Adding eggs, one at a time, and blend until smooth. Add the vanilla extract.
7. In a separate bowl fold together the flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt. Gently fold the flour mixture into the wet ingredients.
8. Fold the frozen cranberries into the batter until distributed, then scrape the batter into the prepared cake pan and spread around until it is even.
9. Bake for about 35-45 minutes, until a wooden skewer comes out clean. Remove from oven and allow to cool, in the pan on a wire rack, for a good 20 minutes.
10. Carefully invert the pan onto a cutting board, tap gently, and the cake will drop out. Dust with cocoa powder or melted chocolate. Serve warm or cool

  Black Onyx Cocoa Powder has been alkalized to the highest extreme. Producing a dark, purplish black cocoa that makes for an impressive black/rich baking good. This extreme alkalization neutralizes the natural bitterness, removing some of its chocolate flavor and a lot of its butter fat(10-12%).
Is also not recommended to use by itself, as it is too rich. Always cut with another cocoa of choice to compliment the flavor.

“All you need is love. But a little chocolate now and then doesn't hurt.” 

-Charles M. Schulz 

Enjoy Food with Curiosity~  Peace.Food.Nutrition 

Chocolate Chip and Cardamom Cookies

Cardamom  has a very distinct flavour, that can not be replaced. It is most widely used in Middle Eastern, Morrocan and Indian cooking. And is now becoming more recognized in the Western cooking. It is a very versatile spice used in savory and sweet dishes.
Health claims for cardamom in Ayurvedic cooking, is that it is a warming spice. Promoting circulation and is a vasodilator... but really.. I just wanted to play with the flavour, because it has such an amazing aroma.

These are not going to last, so I recommend doubling the recipe and freezing some :)

Ingredients


1/4 cup coconut oil
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup cane sugar(sucunat)
2 tbs real vanilla extract or  equivelant 1 vanilla bean seeded
2 large eggs-or 3 small
1 tsp of ground cardamom seeds
1 cup coconut flour
1 cup spelt flour
1tsp baking soda
pinch of sea salt
1/2 cup chocolate chips or chopped pieces
1/2 cup of water or milk


Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. Cream together the coconut oil and sugar until smooth. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the vanilla. Stir in dry ingredients, cardamom and then chocolate chips. Add a couple of table spoons of water at a time to bring the dough together. Drop by large spoonfuls onto an un-greased baking sheet.
3. Bake for about 10 minutes in the preheated oven, or until edges are nicely browned.

I dare you to try and NOT have one right out of the oven!
 They will seduce you, they are so delicious.

Recipe makes 10-12 cookies


~Enjoy food with curiousity 

Marinated Eggplant, Roasted Garlic and Cilantro Thin Crust Pizza.

I am inspired to open peoples eyes to delicious food. Take the eggplant..believe it or not, not a fan by most people... Take my boyfriend Tanner. Every time I bring an eggplant home he just rolls his eyes. And the poor eggplant always gets ignored and just ends up in baba ganoush. Dont get me wrong, baba ganoush is awesome. But it's the only way he eats eggplant and that gets boring pretty quick. Why should this unique vegetable be ignored, when it has so much potential!

I found these amazing Japanese eggplant at the farmers market. I took some initiative and surprised him by putting it in some of his favorite dishes. He didn't even notice until I mentioned the ingredients!

This week I was feeling kind of inspired to try something new. This recipe will work best if you use the Japanese eggplant compared to the American version, as they are more firm and will hold their shape better on a pizza.






There is a bit of time preperation for this recipe. So I recommend preparing some ingredients the day before hand or on a day off when you have some leisure. Read through the whole recipe before starting.

Enjoy food with curiosity!




Main Ingredients needed:
Whole garlic bulbs, red bell peppers, japanese eggplant, sesame seeds, fresh cilantro, parsley,
hoisin sauce, braggs or soysauce, chili flakes, honey, tamarind paste, boccacini mozzarella,  
fresh parmasan, corn meal.

 
Roasted Garlic

I like to roast about 6-8 bulbs at a time so I always have some on hand.
But if you are starting some for this recipe, start with preheating your oven to 350'c.
Take your garlic bulbs and make a straight cut off the top of the bulbs. Lay the root side of the bulbs flat in a loaf dish or small frying pan and drizzle olive oil in the center of each bulb. And bake for about 45 -1 hour. Until golden brown. Wait until they cool, and just squeeze them out of their shells.

 
 

Roasted Bell Peppers

These peppers are something else you might want more of on hand.
You can use red, orange or yellow peppers as well, but I wouldn't recommend green, as they are not as sweet. You can also buy roasted peppers, but I can promise you they won't be as sweet as roasting them yourself.

Roasting bell peppers you can do on the stove element if you have a gas stove, on the BBQ or in the the oven on broil. I did them in the oven, in a loaf pan. At 450'c for about  15  mins. You want the skin to look charred. And be sure to turn the peppers over to ensure even cooking. Once they look charred evenly around the pepper, take out of the oven, and put in a sealed container until they start to sweat. Once they have cooled down, you can simply just peel off the skin, and slice into strips.

 

  
Marinade for Eggplant. 

1 tsp tamarind paste if you have it, or honey
1tbs hoisin sauce
1 tbs braggs or soysauce
1/2 tsp chili flakes
2-3 tbs water

Recipe is only enough for 1/4 of the eggplant. Cut the eggplant into thin half moon pieces or quartered pieces and marinade in a tupperware container for at least 6 hours. You will probably have to shake it up every couple of hours to ensure all the eggplant gets some flavor.




Pizza Dough

3/4 c water
1 tsp honey
1 tbs yeast
1/4 tsp seasalt
2 cups flour
cornmeal or cornmeal flour for rolling

I am always so disappointed whenever I come across a recipe for homemade pizza, to find they used a store bought pizza dough,  when its so easy to make!
You can use a bread maker on the dough timer. Or by hand, kneading the dough in a warm kitchen and letting it rise naturally. Will take about an 1+ 1/2 hours.


Pizza Sauce

1/2 tbs terriaki
1 tbs hoisin
1 tbs braggs or soy sauce
1/2 tbsp honey

Mix all ingredients together then brush a light layer over the pizza dough.

Sprinkle dough with toasted sesame seeds

Top the rest of your pizza with the remaining toppings with exception of cilantro and bake at 350'c for 15-20 mins or until the crust looks golden brown. Top with the fresh cilantro and more sesame seeds just before you serve it.

I know it does take a lot of time for preperation, but I promise it will be a hit even with the non-believers! This meal disappeared  even before I could take pictures ! So I had to make another one the next day. :)

Enjoy!

                                                                                 

(raw pizza)

  

(baked pizza)