CHOCOLATE CASHEW CREAM CUPCAKES

CHOCOLATE CASHEW CREAM CUPCAKES

By rawrevive.com

Chocolate Base

128g/1 cup Raw Cacao Powder

220g/1 cup melted Raw Cacao Butter

100g/1/3 cup honey

1 tablespoon Vanilla Bean Powder

Cashew Cream

150g/1 cup Raw Cashews

105g/½ cup Coconut Oil

120ml/½ cup Filtered Water

1 teaspoon Vanilla Bean Powder

Chocolate Base

Melt the raw cacao butter double boiler method.  Combine cacao powder, honey and vanilla bean powder in a bowl. Add the melted cacao butter and whisk until smooth.  Line a muffin tin with paper cupcake liners.  Pour chocolate mixture into a funnel or measuring cup and pour into cupcake liners about 1/2 full.  Put muffin tin into freezer to set for 1/2 hour.

Cashew Cream

Combine all ingredients in a high speed blender until smooth.  Place cream into a glass container and set for 1/2 hour in the freezer to thicken.

Assembly

Remove the muffin tin and cashew cream from the freezer.  Place cashew cream into a pastry bag and swirl cream onto chocolate bases in the muffin tins.  Garnish with your choice of raw cacao nibs, nuts, goji berries or coconut.  Keep in fridge until eaten.

4 ELECTROLYTE RECIPES YOU CAN MAKE AT HOME

4 ELECTROLYTE RECIPES YOU CAN MAKE AT HOME

By lifehack.org

Sports drinks were once only popular with athletes, but today their popularity has soared outside of the world of sports. But should you drink sports drinks?  If so, did you know that instead of paying the high prices for sports drinks you could always make them in your own kitchen?

Should You Drink Electrolyte Drinks?

Today there is a huge fuss about electrolytes – but what are they are and do we really need them?  Electrolytes are essentially vitamins and minerals such as calcium, sodium, magnesium chloride, hydrogen phosphate and hydrogen carbonate.  These vitamins and minerals are essential for our survival.

A person eating a balanced diet usually won’t need to replace their electrolytes with a drink.  However, there are instances when eating a balanced diet is simply not enough.  Humans constantly push their bodies to the limit.  Athletes, for example, constantly work their bodies causing them to sweat.  When you sweat, you lose electrolytes.  It is this reason that has made sports drinks such as popular drink among athletes for years.  But losing electrolytes isn’t just a problem for athletes; anyone doing physical labor can lose electrolytes.  Pregnant women often find their bodies need more electrolytes even if they eat a very balanced diet!

So, while you don’t necessarily have to drink a sports drink containing electrolytes, if you are pushing your body to its limits it could be one of the easiest ways you can restore your electrolyte levels while simultaneously quenching your thirst.

Benefits of Creating Your Own Sports Drink

There are many benefits to choosing to make your own sports drink in your kitchen instead of just heading to the store to buy them.

Save you money – This is by far one of the biggest benefits you will find.  After just a few trips to the store to buy name brand sports drinks, you will find that if you just buy the proper ingredients, you can save a lot of money compared to just purchasing them at the store.

Know Your Ingredients – If you are buying the ingredients and making them yourself, you know exactly what is going into each homemade sports drink.  When you buy a sports drink in the store, you don’t know for sure where their ingredients came from and what they quality of each ingredient is that you are putting into your body.

Flavour Variety – One of the best parts of making them yourself is you can create and customize the flavours of your drinks to your tastes.  This allows you to create new flavours so you aren’t limited to the flavours you will find at your local Grocery Store.

READ MORE AT LIFEHACK

CHERRY PIE

CHERRY PIE

By littlemoondragon.blogspot.fr

For the Crust

240g/2 cups of almond flour

70g/1 cup shredded coconut

105g/1/2 cup coconut oil, melted

85g/1/4 cup honey

1/4 tsp salt

For the Filling

300g/2 1/2 cups cherries, sliced and pitted

1 tbsp honey

Mix together all of the crust ingredients.   Separate evenly into two bowls and chill for at least half an hour.  While your crust is chilling, slice and pit the cherries.   Preheat the oven to 190.  Use one of the parts of the crust and press into the bottom of a pie dish and bake for 10 minutes.

Put the honey and cherries into a small saucepan and heat up with a lid on.  Stir occasionally.  When your mixture is boiling turn off the heat and leave to cool.  While your filling is cooling, roll out the other part of your crust between 2 sheets of parchment paper.  It should be about a quarter of a centimeter, but don't worry about it being perfect.  Pour the filling on top of the bottom crust and spread it out evenly. Add the crust on top as best you can as the pastry is very delicate and may fall apart a bit, just patch it together, it will be ok as it is a crumble pie.   Use a fork to make a few holes in the top so that steam can escape.  Bake at 175C for 25 minutes.  Leave to cool.

WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF EATING CHERRIES?

WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF EATING CHERRIES?

Do you have gout, or diabetes or you need something to help you sleep.  Eating cherries can help with all of these problems.  Read all about it at the link below.

READ MORE AT ORGANIC MEDIC 

COMPELLING REASONS TO EXERCISE AND EAT RIGHT THAT AREN'T WEIGHT LOSS

Compelling Reasons to Exercise and Eat Right That Aren't Weight Loss

By greatest.com

If the latest infomercials and magazine covers are any indication, it seems like weight loss is on everyone's minds these days. And while a healthy weight is a good goal, when it comes to eating right and exercising, it shouldn’t be the sole focus. In fact, when you tally all the reasons to eat well and exercise, we're not even sure it should make the top 10. Face it: The number on the scale is not a reliable indicator of overall health. Even worse, according to one study, people who diet or exercise just to lose weight quit a lot sooner than people who make healthy changes for other reasons . Oh, and they really don't lose weight in the long term. The researchers found that the most successful motivation for sticking to a healthy lifestyle was "feeling better about themselves" for women and "better health" for men.

And yes, those are both great rationales to exercise and eating right, but they're just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to all the good things you’ll bring into your life. Here are 45 science-backed reasons to start living a healthier life today that have zilch to do with your weight.

1    Works as an Antidepressant

Whether you suffer from the winter blahs or have chronic depression, the blues can make everything in life feel harder. Antidepressant medications have been a godsend for many people, but one study found that depression sufferers who did aerobic exercise showed just as much improvement in their symptoms as people on medication. In fact, after four months, 60 to 70 percent of the subjects couldn’t even be classified as having depression. Even better, a follow-up to the study found that the effects from the exercise lasted longer than those from the medication.

READ MORE AT GREATIST

CRANBERRY AND NUT BARS

CRANBERRY AND NUT BARS

By twenty8.com

INGREDIENTS

140g almonds

100g cashews

150g various nuts and seeds roughly ground together

50g dessicated coconut

120g coconut oil

120g almond butter

30g honey

2Tbsp chia seeds

70g cranberries

4drops Orange essential oil

Instructions

Place almonds and cashews into a Food Processor and process until desired consistency.  Add nuts/seeds and pulse 4-5 times until coarsely ground - chunky is better.  Stir through dessicated coconut.  Melt coconut oil and stir in honey, salt and orange oil.  Pour into nut and seed mix, and add cranberries until well combined.   Spoon into lined baking tray and smooth out with spoon or spatula. Refrigerate a few hours then slice into even sized pieces. Store in fridge or freezer!

GARLIC HERB AVOCADO CASHEW CREAM CHEESE

GARLIC HERB AVOCADO CASHEW CREAM CHEESE

From onegreenplanet.org

VEGAN GARLIC HERB AVOCADO CASHEW CREAM CHEESE

INGREDIENTS

75g/½ cup raw cashews

240ml/1 cup water

1 medium avocado

60ml/¼ cup lemon juice

½ teaspoon Italian seasoning

¼ teaspoon granulated garlic or 1 minced clove

salt, to taste

Instructions

Soak the cashew in the water overnight or at least 2 hours.  Drain off any left over water that was not absorbed by the cashews. Add the drained cashews, avocado, lemon juice, Italian seasonings and garlic into a blender.  Blend until smooth, stop and scrape down the sides and repeat until the mixture is smooth.