Camping foods

...the healthy versions :) More or less according to the 80/10/10 diet. These sort of foods we've (even Wolfi!!!) been having mostly on our trip. Extremely easy and quick to do and so much healthier than 'normal' camping foods! Even if you're not into raw foods I still recommend to try especially on a hot summer day, so much lighter and no need to sweat in kitchen or in front of a grill... ;)

I prefer this with medjool dates, but just didn't have picture of such portion now...

Breakfast fruit bowl (for one)

• 3 (pink) grapefruits
• 4 bananas
• 10 medjool dates or 0.5 dl raisins

Peal and chop the grapefruits and bananas and mix together with chopped dates. Enjoy! (I'm totally addicted to the combination of grapefruits and bananas, absolutely delicious!!!)

Not a beautiful picture, but extremely delicious!!!

Lunch bananas with fruity sauce (for two)

• 8 bananas
• 4 + 2  persimmons
• 1 very ripe pear

Peal and chop the bananas and 4 persimmons into bowls. Peal the pear and the remaining persimmons, put to a mixer and mix until smooth sauce. Pour the sauce over the chopped bananas and persimmons and enjoy! :)

Appetizer soup (for one)

• 3-4 tomatoes
• 2 stalks of celery
• BIG handful of fresh basil leaves
• 1 clove of garlic

Wash and chop the tomatoes,  celery and basil and place into a mixer. Peal and chop the garlic clove and add with the rest of the ingredients. Mix high until smooth soup and enjoy instantly by drinking straight from the mixing cup :)

I just LOVE this sauce with asparagus! :)

Asparagus salad with lemon sauce (for two)

• Lettuce
• Big punch of baby leaf spinach
• 6 tomatoes
• 2 spring onions
• 12 stalks of asparagus

• 1 dl cashews
• 1 dl pealed hemp seeds
• 1 lemon (cut skinless and seeds removed)
• (black pepper)
• water

Wash the lettuce, spinach, tomatoes, onions and asparagus. Chop the tomatoes and onions into desired size. Cut the hard ends of the asparagus away, cut the rest into bite size pieces and boil in water for 5 minutes. (Asparagus can also be eaten raw, but I haven't got used to it yet. One step at a time...) Combine all salad ingredients in a bowl.
Put the cashews, hemp seeds and lemon into a mixer and mix until smooth. Add desired amount of water to get nice salad dressing (I like mine rather thick) and spice with black pepper if wanted. Pour over the salad and enjoy instantly!


~ Ilta

Milk & Cookies

It's a real winter here now! Has been snowing for days and almost storming now. So all I feel like doing is just reading by the fireplace and having some delicious milk and cookies :)

This milk is perfect for all sorts of drinks, from fruity to chocolaty to even alcohol drinks. Also good in baking and cooking and with breakfast cereals/muesli. You can make different kinds of milks with the same recipe just by changing the almonds to what ever nuts or seeds. My favourite is hazelnut milk. What's yours? :)

Almond milk

• 3 dl raw almonds
• 10 dried dates (or less if you don't like too sweet)
• 1 l water
• (cinnamon, vanilla etc. for flavouring)

Soak the almonds for 8-12 hours and rinse well. Soak the dates for 8-12 hours in water that just covers them.
Put the soaked and rinsed almonds to a blender. Add the dates and the soaking water and start mixing. Add water little by little so you get really fine texture. Filter the milk to a pot through a very fine strainer or cheesecloth. Squeeze the remaining pulp to get all of the liquid. Add flavouring if you desire so and bottle. Store in fridge and shake well before using. I recommend to use within 2-4 days.

Raspberry milk for two:

• 4 dl almond milk
• 2 dl raspberries
• 0.5 tsp vanilla powder

Mix in a blender and enjoy. Test also other berries or fruits!

Cacao-coffee for two:

• 5 dl almond milk
• 2 tbsp coconut sugar (or other desired sweetener)
• 1 tbsp cacao powder
• 1 tbsp instant coffee powder

Put all ingredients to a pot, mix well and slowly heat up on the stove. Don't boil!

Raw & spicy almond cookies

• pulp from the almond milk
• 1 dl flax seeds + 2 dl water
• 1 dl raisins + water to cover
• 2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 1 tsp orange peel powder

Put the flax seeds and raisins to separate dishes, add water and let soak at least for 2 hours. Puree the raisins with their soaking water in a blender. Mix all the ingredients into smooth dough (I used hands) and let it stand in fridge for about an hour. Roll the dough between two baking sheets and cut into desired shapes. Dry the cookies in a dehydrator or in 40'C degree oven until they are totally dry. This takes 12-24 hours, depending on the thickness of the cookies and the dryer. Will stay good for months in a cool and dry place.

Marmalade

• 10 dried apricots
• 20 dried plums

Soak the apricots and plums in water at least for 4 hours. Put to a blender and mix till smooth puree. Use as much water as needed. Store in fridge and use within a week.

~ Ilta

All day coconutty ;)

The weather in south Finland is now really yucky, slishyslashy as I call it :) Not much fun to be outdoors and at least I feel like just laying on sofa in front of fireplace and watching good films and of course eating well... especially plenty of comfort food! To me it means things containing chocolate, peanut butter and coconut. I've already posted some recipes of the first two ingredients so now it's time for coconut. Here is few of my current coconut favourites. I hope you enjoy them and be as comfy as possible this fall :)


Grapefruit breakfast
for two

• 1 dl millet (whole grain! oats or sesame seeds fit also)
• 1 dl coconut flakes
• 1 grapefruit (I prefer pink ones)
• 1 banana
• 1 tsp vanilla powder
• 1 tbsp lucuma powder (optional)

Soak the millet grains in water for 12-24h. Rinse well and put to a mixer. Add coconut flakes, peeled grapefruit and banana and the powders. Mix high until very smooth. Enjoy right away.


Mocha balls for afternoon tea

Ball factory :)

(you may enjoy these other times also, but remember that they contain plenty of energy!)

• 1 dl oat flakes or ready oat flour
• 1 dl coconut flakes or about 0.5 dl coconut flour
• 1 dl coconut sugar (or other sugar)
• 0.5 dl cacao powder
• 1 tbsp instant coffee powder
• 1 tsp vanilla powder
• 0.25 tsp rose salt
• 1 dl melted coconut oil
• 0.5 dl maple syrup or other liquid sweetener

Grind the oat flakes and coconut flakes into coarse flour. Mix all ingredients in a pot into fine dough. It is most likely very running so let the dough stand in fridge for a moment. Then roll into balls and roll them in coconut flakes. Put to fridge to harden before eating. Store in fridge or freezer.

Can you resist these? I can't!!!

Creamy peanut butter cabbage
2 - 4 portions (I recommend this for dinner because of its heaviness)

• 500 g white cabbage
• 2 onions
• canola oil
• 2 tsp curry powder
• 2 tsp Indian spice mix (coriander, turmeric, onion, black pepper, fennel, cardamom, clove, cumin, cayenne pepper)
• 2 dl coconut cream + 2 dl water
• 3 tbsp peanut butter
• 2 tbsp tomato pure
• 1 tbsp lime juice
• 0.5 tsp rose salt
• boiled pasta, rice, quinoa, potatoes...

Shred the cabbage and onions and fry in oil in a pan until bit softer (about 15min). Add the spices and stir for two minutes. Add the coconut cream, water (measure the water with the cream can so you get everything in use), peanut butter and tomato pure and let simmer for few minutes. In the end stir in the lime juice and salt. Serve with pasta, rice, potatoes etc. or enjoy just like that :)

Mixed with boiled corn pasta, my new favourite of the gluten free pastas!

~ Ilta

Raw weekend

Last weekend I attended a karate seminar in Joensuu, Finland. At the same time I experimented how does it go to have heavy trainings and only eat raw food... Well it went perfectly fine! In three days I had 7 x 1.5h trainings (+ plenty of overtime!) and I never felt too tired or even too hungry! I think I had even much more energy than when I've eaten warm food before trainings. So now I'd like to share with you some of the food recipes which I used there. I had my new personal blender with me so that it got properly tested before the big trip.

I'd also love to tell about the seminar itself, but I guess not many of you readers know much about karate, so I spare you from that :) Just want to say that it was definitely the best so far and Sensei Bob Nash is the greatest teacher ever! :D Looking forward to meet him again...

All recipes are for one person and I only used raw and organic ingredients.

Morning smoothie

• 1 grapefruit
• big bunch of lettuce or spinach
• 1/2 banana
• water

Put all ingredients to a mixer and mix until very smooth. Add desired amount of water.

I recommend to drink this first and after about 30min. enjoy the rest of the breakfast. This sort of smooth/slow start is good for the digestion.

Chocolate oatmeal

• 4 dried plums or dates
• 1 dl rolled oats
• about 2 dl water
• 1 tbsp hemp seeds or soaked sunflower seeds
• 1/2 banana
• 2 tsp cacao powder
• (1 tsp of each: maca, lucuma and soy lesithin)

In the evening put the plums, rolled oats and water to a mixer and let soak over night. In the morning add the rest of the ingredients to the mixer and mix until smooth. Enjoy for example with blueberries.

This picture was taken on our Lapland trip. This really is my favourite raw oatmeal recipe!

Tomato soup

• 2 sundried tomatoes (preferably not in oil!) + 1 dl water (soak 2-4h)
• 1 tbsp pumpkin seeds (soak 2-4h and rinse well!)
• 3 big tomatoes
• 1/2 onion
• about 1 dl of peeled and diced zucchini
• 1-2 tsp spice mixture which contains pepper, paprika, coriander, mustard seeds and garlic

Put all ingredients to a mixer and mix until smooth. Add more water if needed.
To get variations... Use hemp seeds (no need to soak) instead of pumpkin seeds to make more creamier soup. Use bell peppers instead of zucchini and experiment with different kind of spices. To get more filling soup add some boiled chickpeas or other peas (semi raw soup).

Energy balls

• 3 dl walnuts (preferably soaked and dried)
• 1 dl coconut flour
• 2 tbsp cacao powder
• 2 tbsp melted coconut oil
• 2 tbsp date syrup or maple syrup

Put the walnuts into a coffee grinder or good mixer and mix until almost butter. Put the walnut butter and the other ingredients into a bowl and mix until a smooth dough. (I just use my hands!) Roll the dough into bite size balls. These do survive in room temperature for few days, but I recommend to store them in a fridge.

Grated salad

• 2 carrots
• 1 small turnip
• 1 apple
• raisins & soaked sunflower seeds or other seeds
• canola oil & lemon juice

Peel and grate the carrots, turnip and the apple. Add some raisins and seeds and sprinkle over some oil and lemon juice. Mix well and let marinade for a moment in room temperature. Enjoy and remember to chew well! :)

~ Ilta

Morning kickoff

I've been eating raw food now for over a year and I feel much better then ever before! I started my experiments with delicious desserts and was instantly hooked! They are just so much lighter, richer in taste and easier to digest than any baked desserts. After these great experiences I started to do some raw breakfasts and lunches and now I just can't think life without any raw food anymore :) Slowly I've got Wolfi to like these things also and now we have almost every morning raw smoothies and porridge. On my own I eat almost 80% raw food and it really fits me. I feel much more energetic and somehow happier/positive. No more downs from refined ingredients like white sugar and flour and other nonsense.
Here is the breakfast we had on friday before our Midsummer trip. Really delicious and full of energy, vitamins and other important stuff! I recommend to test :)

Nectarine smoothie
for two

• 3 nectarines
• 1 banana
• 2 handfuls of spinach
• 1 handful of Jiaogulan leafs or other desired greens
• 2 stevia leafs or other sweetener
• 1 tbsp tocotrienols (rice bran) powder
• 2 tsp non-GMO soy lecithin powder
• 2 tsp maca powder
• 1 tsp MSM
• veggie milk (I used oat)

Put all ingredients to a mixer and mix high until very smooth. Add milk so much that the smoothie is nicely drinkable.
This smoothie will be very delicious also without these special powders, but they bring more vitamins etc. and make it very creamy.

Rhubarb oatmeal
for two

• 10 sundried dates
• 2 dl raw oatmeal
• 3-4 dl water
• 0.5 dl sesame seeds
• 1 dl water
• 100g rhubarb
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• (1 tbsp lucuma powder)

Put dates, oatmeal and water to a mixer and let soak overnight. Soak sesame seeds in a separate dish overnight. In the morning rinse sesame seeds well and put them with the rest of the ingredient to the mixer and mix high until very smooth. Add sweetener if desired and enjoy like this or for example with strawberries.

Because of the oxalic acid in rhubarb, one should eat calsium rich food at the same time, that's why I put so much sesame seeds into this oatmeal. You can also omit the seeds, but then I recommend to have for example some calsium enriched soy or oat milk.

~ Ilta