Holy Chocamole ... The Blog

This recipe I have been looking at for a couple of years now, never quite tempted enough or brave enough to really give it a crack.

That all changed yesterday when I finally worked up the courage to not only make it but vlog about it too!!!

Can I just say I couldn't even journal about yesterday. This stuff is dangerous and is certainly NOT fit for children even if they are 24 !!! it must be kept for those 40ish and over... preferably female .. and preferably me !!! In all seriousness though I highly recommend this recipe I also highly recommend you halving the serves. If this dessert was any richer it would make the 1% look like sewer rats !!! Serious richness of flavour going on, amazing texture, made better by almost fully melted chocolate so the odd bite was in there still.

I have to say I think this is the biggest winner ever !!! This is MY take on the recipe, everyone has a similar one and that is ok. The video is below. Please excuse my teeny tiny kitchen and inability to find the right angles ... other than being teeny tiny the ceiling is only 6 foot 4 inches tall so it is making things challenging but no less fun !!!

HOLY CHOCAMOLE 

4 Avocados

100g (ish) Melted Dark Chocolate

1/2 cup Carob Powder

1/2 cup Agave Syrup

Halve and de-stone your avocados. 

Place all ingredients in a food processor and blitz for a good 5 minutes. 

Pop into pots for serving

This recipe will either serve 4 very greedy people or 8 people reasonably without leaving them feeling ill (which is what you want) 

Here is how I did it !!! 

Now go and make it !!! 

The Skinny on Agave.

 Agave syrup or rather Agave Nectar is becoming more and more popular as a substitute for sugar. I wanted to know more about it so I did what every normal human being does and Googled it. 

The Blue Agave plant comes from Southern Mexico and has to grow at least 7-10 YEARS before it can be harvested and you thought Avocados were slow at 5 years !!! They are big spiky succulents very similar to cactus or Yuccas. Yeah not to be messed with 4 foot spikes can give you a nasty nip!!!

The Aztecs loved this plant and saw it as a gift from the gods... quite sensible really as it is amazing and EVERYONE is starting to use it now as a sugar substitute including Rawists as due to the low processing temperature it is classified as a raw food !!! 

Your friendly spiky Blue Agave plant 

Now the bit we are interested in for Nectar or syrup making is the Pina ... it's the bit that is in the middle of all of those loverly long spikes and is half buried underground as well. 

The Pina looks like this

Yes they are harvested by hand ... so start complaining about the price these guys don't earn a fifth of what's on that bottle !!! 

Have a chat to the poor donkey too who I can absolutely guarantee is paid in room and board !!! 

Agave Syrup is a bit like honey, it is less sweet though than honey and I have to admit I am quite grateful for that. 

For those of you who are a bit canny and might have put 2 and 2 together .. yes Agave is also the plant responsible for this .... yes you guessed it Tequila!!! 

its no wonder really when you have loverly fellas like this... lugging those things to the trucks by hand!!! 

the average Pina can weigh anywhere between 50 - 150lbs !!! that is a whole person !!!! or a pregnant skinny person !!! that's 2 whole people !!! (yeap my mind is still going off on a tangent !!!) 

Not content with being a substitute for sugar and the worlds most sung about adult beverage the humble Agave is also a medicine!!! Yes you read that right the Aztecs and locals have been using is as a skin balm to help itchy skin or mixed with salt as a poultice for open wounds for centuries !!! Modern medicine has found there is a very good reason for this as it has a wonderful ability to stop pus forming !!! yeap it got icky but hey anything that stops nasty open wound infections has to be a good thing. 

So there you have it the skinny on Agave, if you wish to know more then I suggest you do as I did and check out Google or better still you local library!!! 

What exactly is Carob ???

If you are anything like me you might have thought that carob was a more raw form of cocoa or something like that. Well guess what ... we were wrong!!! 

Carob actually comes from a completely different part of the world and is from a completely different family of plants !!! In fact Carob is a form of legume and Cocoa although called a bean by us is not actually a bean or a legume. 

Carob or  ( Ceratonia siliqua ) is native to the Eastern Mediterranean even the Middle East and has been cultivated for the at least the past 4000 years !!! Pretty impressive huh!!!

Carob is also known as the "locust bean" this is due to a misunderstanding as it was once believed that these were the locusts that John the Baptist ate in the wilderness. It turns out this isn't the case as John apparently ate actual migratory locusts. You know the giant grasshopper things !!! 

Seeds were used to weight gold, hence the word "carat." Mohammed's army ate kharoub , and Arabs planted the crop in northern Africa and Spain (Moors), along with citrus and olives.

Spaniards then carried carob to Mexico and South America, and the British took carob to South Africa, India, and Australia.

Carob can be grown anywhere Citrus grows well. So if you have a lemon tree why not try growing a Carob tree too. Nothing like having a form of choccy available to you to pick straight off the tree.

So there you go that is all about Carob. There is of course loads more to learn about it and all you have to do is ask Google. 

This is a Carob Tree

These are its pods

The Angst of Cheesecake

I don't know about you guys but the moment I am told No, that's the moment my head basically gets a "screw you" attitude.

This is not a new thing for many people and it tends to be easier to get through when you are changing your lifestyle with other people. I am not. My son is happy to eat what I make but he wants to add meat to it. More about that another time.

Time to really get stuck into sorting out food to go out with though as the last few days have proven to me it is almost impossible to go out and actually have this lifestyle and fit with others as well.

Here is my vlog to go with this. I am getting used tot he camera slowly, I guess doing these vlog journals is helping me get over that so hopefully they will get better over time. It needs to I have a competition recipe/cooking video to do. Yeap I have entered a competition with Holland and Barrett so I really need to get this right.

I have the food bank this morning so I will be popping off this morning but this aternoon I will be making food and with any luck not forgetting the memory card in the camera this time !!!! *face palm*

So here it is I hope you enjoy it.... if you are going to leave a comment please be kind, please do subscribe to the YouTube channel cos that would be awesomes :D

See you laters !!!! Byeeeeee xox

Day 1 Journal ~ Yeap It's My Very First Video Diary!!!

This morning I made my first brekky vlog. Not quite sure how I managed it to be honest but I did. Maybe because no one else was there. I have to admit though after chopping off the ends of it I am a little bit shaken up.

I had no idea I had gotten quite that big. If anything I am sad for myself that it got to that stage. I have to say though NOT in a poor me way though more in a well this is as bad as it gets for you missus time to sort things out!!!

So I am

here is my very first video Journal. I have to admit I didn't say everything I wanted to but I got most of it out. Those who know me know I stutter a bit and tend to trip up on my words. Eventually I get there and no I will not be editing out those bits. I don't want to be perfect I want these videos to be from the heart and real. Which is why they are not really staged and are completely ad-libbed.

So here is my journal for today xox

If you are following my journey or coming along and joining my journey please let me know It is always good to know I am not the only weirdo out here :D :D :D

Have an amazing day xox

DAY 1 I need to start again!!!

Over the last few months I have been recovering from illness and injury and am still trying to sort myself out after injury.

After finding out that I have gained 3 stone since i broke my ankle in February I felt it was high time i did something about this wreck I appear to have become whilst relying on others to feed me. today is the start of this, not only the start of this but the start of my vlog as I find it easier to film stuff than to photo things. Probably because I keep forgetting to take photos and I can set the camera up to film and not worry.

So below is my première video. Yes it was really taken at 6.38am !!! Below I will add the recipes.

LEMON AND HONEY

INGREDIENTS

1 whole little Lemon 

OR 

1/2 a Large Lemon 

1 Tablespoon Honey

Boiling water

METHOD

1. Slice the lemon and place slices in the cup. 

2. Add the honey

3. Add boiling water from the kettle

4. Leave to steep until at a safe drinking temperature. 

5. Enjoy

POND SCUM COCKTAILS

INGREDIENTS

1 litre Fresh fruit juice, (tropical is best but a mix of orange and apple works just as well )

1 Banana

1 Tablespoon of Spirulina Powder

METHOD 

1. Place all ingredients in a drinks blender. (If you do not have a blender, use a wand type blender or a food processor works too.)

2. Blitz. 

3. Pour out and drink fairly immediately as it will separate. 

So there you go my very first vlog. I know its no Tarantino but I am quite chuffed for my first time out. 

See you next time xox

Stuffed Pancakes

The other members of my household are meat heads... literally. I am always finding ways to make their food different and "manly" and I have to admit there have been times I have felt left out and really miffed about it. So when they came up with the idea of cheese and bacon pancakes for breakfast I sat back and thought. "Well... what about me !!!" On this particular day I thought it might be a good idea to do what I did for them but using vegan cheese and mushrooms and I did ... and it was lush so I figured I better share it before i have my arm chewed off by someone!!!! 

Oh and just out of interest.... my son asked me to make him some of these for him too !!! There are some days you winder if you are winning or not !!!! 

STUFFED MUSHROOM AND CHEESE PANCAKES

1 Cup            Gluten free plain flour

1/2 Cup         Buckwheat flour

1 Tabespoon Ground Flaxseed (Xanthum Gum works too) 

1 teaspoon    Baking Powder

1/2 Cup        Almond Milk (or whatever your preference of non dairy milk is)

250g             Mushrooms (sliced)

100g             Cheddar style Vegan Cheese

50g               Vegan butter for greasing the pan 

First off you have to mix up  your first ingredients together to make a fairly thick pancake batter. Leave to rest

Next you need to cook off your mushrooms in maybe some vegan butter and some herbs. Whatever work for you I used thyme and garlic my favourite flavours for mushrooms. Once they are cooked through and browned a little set to one side.

Slice your cheese fairly thinly but thick enough for it to hold its shape. 

Heat up your pan or skillet or griddle for your pancakes and lightly grease. USe a medium heat not a super hot one, you want them to cook through and not burn on contact. 

Once bubbling add a half cup of mix and if very thick smooth it out a bit so the mix is around 3 mm thick. as this slowly cooks add a couple of slices of your cheese to the top.

Add then your mushrooms on top and carefully pour more mix over the top of the mushrooms to cover. 

It is important that the mix completely cover the mushrooms like so... 

When you start seeing bubbles through the top of the mix on the edges and  few on the top you need to flip it fast. Have confidence and get your flipper right underneath it and flip it quickly, don't give it time to fight back !!! 

As you can see it does have a loverly golden brown base and yes those bits on the side are the extra batter poured over the top. 

Of course make as many as you need and keep them warm in the oven on 50C till you have made them all. 

Inside turns into a wonderful cheesy gooey mushroomy goodness ....

I have to admit I made a good half dozen of these. I got 1. Yeap apparently stuffed pancakes are a hit in our house whether they have bacon in them or not !!!