Carob coconut avocado breakfast pudding

It is a bank holiday weekend here in England, and it comes at a perfect time for the Bite-Sized household. After the excitement of my sister's visit and Mini Bite's first birthday, we were fortunate to see family from Canada last weekend. Around that, we had our first two weeks of "real" work routines. In other words, Mr Bite and I are both back working and Mini Bite is in nursery three days per week. (Mr Bite had July off under shared parental leave, to ease the transition of my return to work.) Those routines are going better than I could have hoped, but it has still felt like a busy time. All in all, an extra day at home is welcome!

The weather for this weekend is also beautifully summery, to the extent that we may visit the coast on Monday. Today we took advantage of the sunshine to fit in a scenic bike ride, something that is still relatively novel since we bought a child bike seat three months ago.

Today's recipe is perfect for long weekends and summer days, but it would suit weekdays and clouds equally well. It's easy to make and jam-packed full of nutrition whilst also tasting delicious. I know many of you dislike carob - just swap cocoa powder in if that applies to you.

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A carob recipe round-up {vegan}

I know, I know - if you aren't a fan of carob, you will be wrinkling your nose at this post (or skipping it altogether!). Carob is one of those products that seems to divide people into love/hate categories. Personally, as this post highlights, I adore the stuff. I have my mother to thank for this, as she gave us carob as children when trying to ration our chocolate intake. I love chocolate too but carob has a firm place in my heart alongside it.

Hazelnut and cherry carob cookies

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Cranberry, chia seed and carob porridge (oatmeal)

I know I did a giant porridge post not that long ago, but it has snowed twice here this week. Snow in London isn't all that common and so it very much feels like porridge weather. This cranberry, chia seed and carob porridge is a perfect breakfast for cold mornings. 

Our first snowfall was on Saturday, when I was graced with falling snow for miles 4 to 10 of my long run. It didn't really settle, but we had another light scattering yesterday and there were a few snow topped houses and white parks. It's a beautiful aspect of winter. 

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Carob latte

Today's post brings a very simple recipe, for the simple reason that in this case, simple worked best. (Enough simples in that sentence?) I initially made a carob and lucuma powder latte, but contrary to my expectations I didn't like it at all. I am not sure if carob and lucuma aren't the stellar combination I thought they would be, or if they just don't work in hot drink form. Regardless, for my second carob hot drink, I went back to basics and kept the flavours simple. Carob.

Now, I do know that many of you proclaim to dislike carob. I doubt this will be the post to convince you otherwise. Personally, I love it (love it), and was delighted to quench my carob desires when I visited London's largest Planet Organic store last month. I managed to buy carob powder, dairy and sugar free carob buttons, and two dairy free carob blocks. It was a happy day.

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Raspberry carob mousse

First, thank you to those of you who shared your thoughts on my last post. I really valued your comments and perspectives on what is an incredibly complex topic. It certainly seems like we can all agree there's no easy fix!

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Creamy smoothies: Peanut butter and carob (with broccoli!) and strawberry-mint-avocado (with cauliflower!)

I have given away the twist to these smoothies in the post's title. However, I figure that most of you are used to seeing odd things turn up in smoothies. It's not a big leap from spinach or kale to broccoli or cauliflower. So - I'm sharing the twist with you from the start and plan to use the rest of the post to convince you that these particular smoothie additions are worthwhile (and edible)!

I have a bit of an obsession with peanut butter and carob at the moment. To clarify: I have a bit of an obsession with peanut butter and carob together at the moment. I am obsessed with them on their own pretty much constantly. Now, I want them together in everything.

In smoothie form, this desire played out very well, in all ways except the photography aspect. To my shame, I snapped images on my phone only, and taking photos of a browny liquid in questionable lighting on my phone...well, the result wasn't great. I apologise. I was going to make another version before sharing this post, but I was so enamored with the drink that I thought you deserved to hear about it promptly.

The broccoli in this smoothie is limited to the broccoli stems. It's something I've been meaning to try it for some time, having seen the idea mentioned in various places over the years. The idea is that you have a container in your freezer that you add broccoli stems and/or other 'waste' vegetable or fruit components to, and then add them to your smoothies as desired. Once the broccoli stems are processed - and I use my food processor, not a high powered blender - they aren't noticeable at all. You end up with a creamy drink that is more like a thickshake than a smoothie, tasting as decadent as can be, but which incorporates broccoli that would otherwise be wasted. It's really quite brilliant.

Having used broccoli stems with success, the obvious next step was to try cauliflower stems. I added them to a variation of the strawberry, avocado and spearmint smoothie that Gena posted on Choosing Raw last week. 

As with the broccoli stems, the cauliflower wasn't noticeable once processed. This was also the first time I'd used avocado in a smoothie, and that wasn't noticeable either. It makes a nice change from bananas, in terms of thickening the texture and creating a creamy drink, and you could probably use water rather than milk for all of the liquid additions (I used half of each). Whilst I froze my avocado before blending, I'm not sure that's strictly necessary either.

Whether you make these particular drinks or just tuck the idea of broccoli and cauliflower stems away, I hope you end up with a smoothie that makes you as happy as these two made me!

Peanut butter and carob shake with broccoli

Serves one

Vegan

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Ingredients

1 medium banana, frozen

2 tsp carob powder (or cocoa powder; adjust to taste)

1 tbsp peanut butter (or any nut butter)

1/4 - 1/2 cup chopped broccoli stems, frozen

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup non-dairy milk (I used sweetened almond; or use coconut water or milk for a raw alternative)

Method

Add all ingredients to a blender or food processor, and process until smooth.

Strawberry-mint-avocado smoothie with cauliflower

Serves one

Vegan

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Ingredients

1/2 medium hass avocado, frozen

1 cup strawberries

1 small bunch mint leaves, removed from their stem

1 tsp vanilla

1/4 - 1/2 cup chopped cauliflower stems, frozen

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup non-dairy milk (I used sweetened almond; or use coconut water or milk for a raw alternative)

Method

Add all ingredients to a blender or food processor, and process until smooth.

Submitted to 5 ingredient Mondays, 
Raw Foods Thursdays, and
Ricki's Wellness Weekend

What do you like to add to your smoothies?

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Bickley Harvest Festival - metal art, a garden lunch, baby kangaroos, and carob

Last Christmas, Mr Bite and I gave several "experience" presents to family as a way of complementing "thing" presents. One was a  movie voucher and babysitting offer for his sister and brother-in-law, who have three exuberant children aged between 4 and 9. Another was an outing to the Perth Hills for his mother, specifics left somewhat open to allow for adjustments to weather and seasonal events.

Last week, we reached May and neither of these experience presents had been put in to place. On the babysitting front, we had tried once but needed to reschedule when one child was sick. On the Perth Hills outing? There we were just disorganised.

Prompted in to action, we identified the Bickley Harvest Festival as a possible outing to aim for. The festival is held annually on a weekend in early May, and aims to showcase the Bickley Valley region of the Perth hills, about 40 minutes east of Perth. The region is home to forests and walk trails, wineries and restaurants, various small businesses, and local produce stalls. It seems that the festival event has run for the past sixteen years, so it was a little perplexing to discover it for the first time this year!

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Vegan tahini-filled chocolate eggs, and carob-raisin-crisp bites

I have definitely moved into long weekend mode. We spent much of yesterday in a national park east of Perth. Today I have baked muffins, baked cupcakes, and made the things in this post. I am feeling very content.

I was initially concerned about posting the chocolate creations I made today. There are lots of chocolate-themed recipes around at the moment, not to mention an excess of Easter products if you venture near any shops. However, I'm not sure you can have too many chocolate recipes, and I am so enamored with these ones that I don't have the patience to save them for another time. If you are looking for any last minute Easter ideas, these also have the advantage of being quick and easy to create.

The tahini-filled chocolate eggs are adapted from Chocolate Covered Katie's vegan peanut butter eggs. They aren't quite as impressive as Gabby's peanut butter caramel filled eggs, posted on The Veggie Nook last week, but I like them a whole lot nonetheless.

With a short ingredient list and a creamy filling, these eggs are less sweet than Reese's peanut butter cups and  they have a darker chocolate shell. Both features are advantages to my taste buds, and it turns out that tahini contrasts extraordinarily well with chocolate. Extraordinarily.

Tahini-filled chocolate eggs

Adapted from Chocolate Covered Katie's vegan peanut butter eggs

Vegan and no bake

Makes 10 eggs

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Ingredients

Filling -

1/4 cup unhulled tahini (sunflower seed butter)

Generous pinch salt

1 - 2 tbsp brown sugar (to taste)

1 tbsp custard powder

Chocolate coating -

2 tbsp coconut oil

3 tbsp good-quality cocoa

2 drops liquid stevia

Method

Combine the filling ingredients in a small bowl, mix to combine, and chill in the freezer for at least 30 minutes.

Line a plate or baking tray with baking paper. 

Place the coconut oil in a small to medium bowl and warm to liquid state if necessary. Add the cocoa and stevia and stir well to combine.

Remove the tahini filling from the freezer and scoop out small balls using a teaspoon. Roll between your hands, then dip into the chocolate mixture using a spoon. Roll to coat. Remove and place on the prepared baking paper. 

Repeat for the remainder of the filling mixture, then place the chocolate eggs in the freezer for at least 2 hours, until set. When set, remove from the baking paper and trim any excess chocolate from around the eggs using a sharp knife. Serve immediately, or store in the freezer until serving.

Where these tahini eggs are creamy and decadent, the following carob-raisin-crisp bites are crispy and decadent. A variation on my carob crunch bites with goji berries, they can also be made with cocoa if carob isn't your thing. Similarly, other sorts of dried fruit can be substituted for the raisins and/or you could add chopped nuts to taste.

However you make them, they are likely to be enjoyable alone, with tea, or even on top of some vanilla soy ice cream...

Carob-raisin-crisp bites

Adapted from my carob crunch bites with goji berries

Vegan and no bake

Makes about 10 medium-sized pieces

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Ingredients

2 tbsp coconut oil

3 tbsp carob

1 drop liquid stevia

Pinch salt

1/4 cup raisins

1/4 cup puffed rice, puffed millet or other puffed cereal

Few tablespoons granola (optional)

Method

Line a small square or rectangular dish with baking paper.

Place the coconut oil in a medium bowl and warm to liquid state if necessary. Add the carob and stevia and stir well to combine. Add the remaining ingredients and mix well to coat the raisins and cereal thoroughly.

Transfer mixture to the prepared dish and press down. Chill in the freezer until set, at least 2 hours, and then cut into squares.

I wouldn't call these Easter chocolates (I'd hate to limit them to just one time in the year), but I think I'd rate them above most commercial Easter option.

On the topic of Easter - I hope you have a very happy day tomorrow if you celebrate it, and an equally happy day if you do not!

I am sending the tahini-filled chocolate eggs to Healthy Vegan Friday #36 and Catherine's 'anyone can cook vegetarian' Easter egg theme on Cate's Cates.

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Homemade carob crunch bites with goji berries

Some days, at least in my world, things just feel wrong. There may not be anything tangibly wrong, or at least nothing that you can put into words. Nonetheless, things may seem off kilter, frustrating, Not Right, uncomfortable, hard, wrong.

Last week finished off that way for me. There are some tangible contributors this time around, from both the anxiety and sadness camps (always a fun combination), but the 'real' stressors don't go all the way to explaining things. Friday brought a migraine. I couldn't settle into a groove with things. I wanted to stay in bed and bury my head in the covers and a book, except even that didn't really appeal - which is when I know things really are not right.

Fortunately, there are things that help when life is like that. Carob bars have been dancing around my head for a while now, and yesterday seemed like as good a time as any to indulge in making them.

These bars drew inspiration from the Lewis sugar free carob blocks that I greatly enjoy, as well as Chocolate Covered Katie's recent dark chocolate crunch bar, this recipe for carob bark, and this recipe for homemade chocolate or carob bars. They involved a hefty dose of trial and error. They are a bit of a work in progress. They calmed me down and they lifted my spirits.

I don't like mess, but this sort of mess is surprisingly soothing

I have called the final product 'carob bites' rather than 'bars', because they are not neat enough to be called the latter. They're also not neat enough to be photographed prettily (or at least, not with my photography skills). In fact, they're a bit messy all up, but in some ways that seems appropriate for my mood, and they taste so good that I'm prepared to forgive them anyway.

Delicious mess

Homemade carob crunch bites with goji berries

Created with reference to Chocolate Covered Katie's dark chocolate crunch bar, this recipe for carob bark, and this recipe for homemade chocolate or carob bars

Makes 10 - 16 pieces

Vegan

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Ingredients

3/4 cup carob powder

1/2 cup coconut oil

1 tsp vanilla

Pinch sea salt

1/4 cup dried goji berries (or dried fruit of choice, or nuts)

1/2 cup puffed millet (or puffed rice)

Method

Melt the coconut oil, using a double-boiler system or on low power in the microwave, stirring regularly. Add the carob powder and mix through.

Add the vanilla, sea salt, goji berries and puffed millet and mix well to combine.

Line a baking tray or square baking dish with baking paper. Spread the mixture on to the baking paper.

Set in the freezer for 20 minutes and then break into pieces (or you could be neat and cut them). Store in the fridge.

These are more carob-y than most commercial carob products, because they omit the milk solids (or soy solids in dairy free blocks) and thus have a much higher carob percentage. Perhaps as a result, or for other reasons, they are also a bit crumblier. I was very happy with the taste, but the texture may need a bit of tweaking and I think the mixture needs more liquid to the dry carob. I may try thinning things out with water or almond milk in future, or just reducing the carob.

Despite the texture being a bit on the crumbly side, these were highly enjoyable to eat. The goji berries paired well with the carob tones, and the puffed millet gave crunch as well as lightening up what is an otherwise dense product. 

All in all, a highly satisfying experience, both in the making and in the final result.

Whilst this is definitely a recipe for carob lovers only, substituting cocoa powder for carob powder would yield a dark chocolate bar that I imagine would be very, very good (although you would probably want to add some sweetener, as carob powder is naturally sweeter than cocoa).

Do you like carob? And have you made your own carob / chocolate bars? I am thinking of pursuing this hobby over the remainder of the year!

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Peppermint carob truffle balls

Sometimes I make something that is so perfectly aligned with my tastes, I can't understand why I haven't made it before.

Something that doesn't need a real recipe, or forward planning. Something that uses ingredients I always have to hand, in quantities that I am used to mixing together.

These peppermint carob truffle balls are a perfect example.

Easy to make, the short ingredient list works to give a product that delivers in taste and in texture.

If you like carob and peppermint, I think you will like these.

Peppermint carob truffle balls

Makes ~16

Vegan

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Ingredients

2/3 cup raw almonds

1/2 cup pitted dates

1/4 cup carob powder*

1 tsp peppermint essence (or use 1/2 tsp if you just want a slight mint flavour)*

1 tbsp maple syrup

2 tbsp dessicated coconut

~1tsp water, or as needed to think out the mixture

*If you don't like carob, cocoa would work fine

*If you don't like mint, sub in vanilla

Method

Combine the almonds and dates in a food processor. Process until ground and starting to clump together.

Add the carob, peppermint essence, maple syrup and coconut to the almond-date mixture, and process until smooth and the mixture holds together. Add water if needed.

Roll the mixture into 16 balls. Place on a baking tray lined with baking paper and set in the fridge for at least 1 hour (or in the freezer if you can't wait that long). 

Caroby.

Minty.

Smooth and incredibly delicious.

These have to be in my top 5 favourite truffle balls to date. 

As a bonus, if you move from making these to making banana softserve without cleaning your food processor,  you can have banana peppermint carob icecream, which tastes hardly of banana but very nicely of mint and carob.

A win-win outcome, I think.

After re-discovering these in April 2013, I am sending this recipe to Ricki's Wellness Weekend, 18th to 22nd April 2013, and Raw Foods Thursdays 18th April 2013.

Have you enjoyed any impromptu dishes lately? 
How do you feel about carob?

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