Crunchy Raw Chocolate Malt Granola

So... my daddy is visiting me in Berlin these days and it's really amazing having him here and showing him a bit of my urban world, combined with my love for nature, lakes, greens, and of course... food :-) I am showing him around Berlin, bringing him to all the sites and also to my favorite lakes and restaurants and other food places and of course, sneaking in some healthy raw food creations from my kitchen lab, mainly for breakfast. Now, of course, I can't shock him with a green juice or green smoothie on the first day, so the first two days, I introduced him to my raw kitchen, giving him what he kind of knows: Granola, or "Knuspermüsli" as the German's call it.

Who doesn't love Granola, the yummy crunchy sweet clusters that you commonly put in milk in the mornings and crunch your start into the day. Unfortunately, granola isn't as healthy as it may appear, cause usually it's full of sugar and not so healthy stuff and if you then drink it with homogenized ultra heat treated milk or some highly factory processed soy drink, I doubt it's any better than a wheat bun with butter and jam...

The good news is, I have a perfect alternative: All raw, gluten-free, free of processed sugars and full of good energy, so yummy and crunchy. The secret of the crunchy effect is the sprouted buckwheat. Buckwheat is an amazing seed (it's actually not a grain!). It's gluten-free and actually reminds more of a grain, cause it's fairly low in fat, digests super well and when you sprout it and dehydrate it again, it becomes very crunchy and therefore is the perfect base for granola. Now add some truly raw wild grown cacao nibs from Bali and Indonesia to give you some happiness to start the day, cause they are so loaden with Triptophane, which is the precursor to Serotonin, the happy hormone, and then add a few sprouted nuts and seeds and a paste made from dates, carob and mesquite (a pod from central america) to give it a malty chocolaty flavor, and ready is the best chocolate malt granola ever.

For the base Base:

250 g sprouted buckwheat (weight before sprouting)

1 cup walnuts or pecan nuts (soaked for 2 hours)

½ cup sunflower and pumpkin seeds (soaked for 4 hours)

½ cup shredded dried coconut

4 dried figs

1 /2 cups raisins

1/3 cup of goji or other special berries

1/2 cup cacao nibs (or crushed beans)

2 apples, grated

Put the sprouted buckwheat into a bowl. Food process the nuts and seeds in a food processor with the s-blade attached. They should be coarsely ground still quite chunky. Add to the buckwheat. 

Soak the dried fruit in just a little water for about half an hour. then cut the figs in small pieces and add them together with the raisins and berries and the rest of the ingredients to the buckwheat nut base. 

Safe the soak water of the dried fruit.

For the paste:

1 apple

3 medjol dates

3 T coconut palm sugar

2 T cacao powder

3 T mesquite powder

3 T carob powder

1/2 t salt

1 t vanilla powder or 1 vanilla pod

Optional: grated zest of 2-4 oranges

soak water of dried fruit

Blend everything to a thick paste adding a little water if needed. Add the paste to the base and stir well using a sturdy wooden spoon or your hands. Distribute the granola evenly and not too high and not too tight on teflex sheets of a dehydrator and dry for up to 36 hours at 42 degrees until completely dry and crispy. Store in an airtight container. 

Serve with plain homemade raw coconut or almond milk 

and some fresh fruit (grated apples, berries,…), 
add some chopped wild herbs, mint and/or lemon verbana and crunch your day away !

Find this and more recipes in my 

Ebook

or learn this and much more during my introduction seminar to raw food

The 101 of Raw Food

or even better

in Bali end of January 2015 during my most magic retreat :-)

Enjoy the most awesome day :-)

b.happy - b.crunchy - b.alive!

My Dad and I after swimming in Plötzensee (above) and at Tempelhof after my yoga lesson.

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Summer Tomato Cream Soup with Seaweeds and Sesame

The tomatoes in Germany are now starting their peak season and are getting really ripe, and full of flavor. This is the time for making everything from tomatoes and there is nothing better than a chilled raw soup on a hot summer day. 

Wakame seaweeds contain a lot of minerals like zinc and vitamins A,C,E and B12 and are high in iodine, which especially on summer days is good to replenish us after a sweaty day. Sesame contains lots of calcium and tomatoes, when blended in a high speed blender give us the highly effective anti oxidant lycopene. So this soup is a real nutritious bomb and tastes delicious on a hot summer evening. And the best news, it's ready in 10 minutes :-)

So here's what you need:

Ingredients for 4 portions:

500 g ripe cherry or heirloom tomatoes

1 small red onion

2 cloves garlic

60 g cashews, soaked for 2 hours

800 ml water

1-2 T lemon juice

60 ml tamari (natural soy sauce)

1-2 T shiro miso or yellow chickpea miso

1/2 t fresh ground pepper

1/4 t cayenne powder

>> blend all in a highspeed blender until completely creamy

To garnish: 

4 T dried wakame or mixed seaweeds

1 handful of pea sprouts or mung bean sprouts

1 heaping T sesame seeds (white or black)

While you prepare the soup, soak the seaweeds for about 10 minutes in water to soften them up. 

Pour the soup into 4 bowls, garnish each bowl with the soaked seaweed, sprouts and sesame seeds. If you like, you can previously chill the soup. On colder days, it maybe nice though to blend it with warm water for a warm soup. 

As variation, you can also replace half of the water with fresh squeezed apple juice. Depending on the sweetness of the tomatoes, you may feel the need to add some sweetener like coconut palm nectar or coconut palm sugar. 

Enjoy this tomato deliciousness. 

Oh, and by the way, this soup is one of the recipes of my first book, which will be released in January 2015, so stay tuned :-)

b.colorful - b.healthy - b.alive! 

Stuffed Raw Zucchini Flowers in Nice

The Côte d'Azur is one of the nicest coasts I have seen in all my travels, besides the Amalfi Coast in Italy. Already the nature here is so inspiring. Seaside and mountains combined with an amazing availability of fresh local Mediterranean products, this is paradise for me :-) 

This morning, my wonderful host and raw food soulmate Sandra and I went to the market to do the shopping for my raw food course tomorrow and  there they were, beginning of May: Fresh large beautiful zucchini flowers and the ripest tastiest ox heard (Cœur de Boeuf) tomatoes. We were both instantly in love! It took only a few seconds until I combined the ingredients we had in the fridge and the wonderful oils and salts we find in the Mediterranean to come up with this recipe. So colorful, so beautiful, so fresh. It was like tasting pure spring on a plate. 

Recipe for 3 portions

For the Salad base

1 small head lettuce

1 Handful wild herbs

2 Coeur de Boeuf Tomatoes

some cress sprouts

3 Tablespoons fruité noir (from dark ripe olives) olive oil

Fleur de Sel

Fresh Ground Pepper

For the stuffed courgette flowers

10 zucchini flowers

1/2 ripe hass avocado

8 pieces of sun-dried tomatoes

3 Tablespoons olive oil

1-2 Tablespoons lemon juice

1/2 big carrot (about 100g)

1 small shallot or half a small red onion

1/3 cup tightly packed fresh seaweed (or a soaked mix of dried ones)

1 heaping Tablespoon whole hemp seeds

1 Handful of Parsley

Fresh Ground Pepper

blend all in a blender or a food processor at medium speed. It should be a coarsely ground paste.

Take out the inside nozzle of the zucchini flowers and stuff each flower with a tea spoon of the filling. 

Enjoy and taste the Spring and think of Turkoise Water and the smell of fresh flowers and herbs everywhere :-)

Deutsche Version

Die Côte d'Azur ist wohl eine der schönsten Küsten, welche ich auf meinen vielen Reisen gesehen habe. Allein die Natur ist schon so inspirierend: Türkisblaues Meer, Berge im Hintergrund, die verwinkelten Gassen von Nizza, die zu lokalen Märkten mit den besten lokalen Mediterranen Produkten führen, hier ist das Paradies :-)

Heute Morgen war ich mit Sandra, meiner wundervollen Gastgeberin auf einem dieser Märkte für meinen morgigen Raw Food Kurs The 101 of Raw Food einkaufen und da wir beide wohl Seelenverwandt sind, haben uns beide die unglaublich tollen Zucchini Blüten und die jetzt schon so unglaublich reifen und süssen Oxenherztomaten angelacht. Bei dieser Inspiration brauchte es nur ein paar Geistesblitze um die Zutaten zu Hause im Kühlschrank zu kombinieren und dieses unglaublich leckere Frühlingsgericht zu zaubern. 

So unglaublich frisch und farbenfroh, es war, als schmeckten wir den gesamten Frühling auf einem Teller. Ein wundervoller Vormittag in Nizza!

Rezept für 3 Portionen

Salatbett

2 Ochsenherztomaten

1 kleiner Kopfsalat

1 Handvoll Wildkräuter

Kressesprossen zum Verzieren

3 EL dunkles Olivenöl

Fleur de Sel

Frischer Pfeffer

Für die gefüllten Zucchini Blüten

10 Zucchini Blüten

Füllung:

1/2 grosse Hass Avocado

8 sonnengetrocknete Tomaten

3 EL Olivenöl

1-2 EL Zitronensaft

1/2 Karotte (ca. 100g)

Frischer Pfeffer

1 kleine Schalotte

1/3 Tasse frische Meeresalgen

1 geh. EL Hanfsamen (ganz)

1 Handvoll frische Petersilie

Alles bei niedriger Stufe (4-5) im Vitamix oder auch in einer Küchenmaschine mit Stösel verarbeiten. Die Paste soll noch Struktur haben!

Bonne appetit :-)

another recipe in another future blog
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