Raw "Spaghetti & Meatballs"

My all time favourite comfort food was anything to do with pasta whether it was carbonara, marinara, meatballs, cannelloni or just even the simplest of things like pasta with pesto. But it got a bit out of hand where I was eating it for breakfast, lunch and dinner. The amount of carbs I was putting into my body with no exercise made me gain 20kgs which I didn't realise until someone pointed it out to me. That day when that person pointed out my horrible eating habits was around 3 months ago now and ever since then I have been raw vegan and haven't looked back. The thought of that many carbs and fat going into my body sickens me now.

But when being raw vegan there is no missing out on that food that you always used to eat, no way I wouldn't allow it. These meatballs were a test on my cheap dehydrator to see if it actually worked because the first time I tried it, it failed. But to my disbelief and surprise it worked amazingly. The meatballs were firm on the outside but moist in the middle and tasted amazing!!! If you closed your eyes and ate this without knowing it was raw vegan you would think it was proper spaghetti and meatballs, its that good and that yummy!!

Raw "Spaghetti & Meatballs"

Meatballs:
1 cup dried tomatoes 
2 medium carrots, chopped
1 small onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves
2 Tbsp ground flaxseed
1/4 cup hempseeds
3 cups button mushrooms
1 tsp each dried basil and oregano
1 tsp fennel seed
1 Tbsp white miso
2 Tbsp nutritional yeast (optional)
sea salt to taste
1 cup raw walnuts, chopped

Sauce:
4 large tomatoes, diced 
1 cup dried tomatoes, soaked for 30 minutes and drained well
2 garlic cloves
1/4 cup fresh basil
sea salt to taste

6 medium zucchinis, peeled lengthways into noodle (1 zucchini per person)

To make the meatballs, place the dried tomatoes in a high speed blender or food processor and grind to a powder.  Add to a food processor along with the  carrots, onion, garlic, flax, hemp, mushrooms, herbs, miso, nutritional yeast and sea salt and blend until well combined. Add the walnuts and pulse until everything is finely chopped.  Shape the mixture into small 1 inch meatballs, and place on a lined dehydrator sheet.  Dry for about 8 hours until firm.  
Meanwhile, to make the tomato sauce, combine tomatoes, the sun dried tomatoes, the garlic, basil and sea salt and blend until smooth. 
Place zucchini in a bowl, top with tomato sauce and meatballs and serve!

Raw Red Velvet Cupcakes

Who likes cupcakes?? WE LIKE CUPCAKES!!! I always loved baking especially cupcakes I always found it so simple and easy. Raw cupcakes are a whole new story, with the use of veggies and dates and nuts and only a small bit of flour you have to make sure you get the right consistency for them to dehydrate properly and they can't be too dry or too sticky. So much to get right!!! Red velvet cupcakes were always my favourite because I am such a girl when it comes to colours..... I LOVE PINK AND RED!!! The recipe I used for these needed a little bit of adjusting but that may have been because I didn't exactly follow the recipe to a tee but I have never been able to follow a recipe, I like to improvise and then it a problem arises then figure out how to fix it. When looking at the recipe for the first time it required 8 cups of flour/meal which I thought was a crap load with the little amount of liquid required for the recipe so I decided 2 cups would be quite enough and sure enough they turned out exceptionally well.

I also found out today that my puppy loves raw vegan cupcakes. She first looked at it with curiousity wondering what is this thing mum is giving me but then continued to try and grab it out of my mums hands. She ended up having a bite and following mum around because she wanted more but seeing as though dogs aren't allowed to many nuts and coconut she wasn't allowed anymore. But it just shows that not only humans like animal friendly food, animals love animal friendly food.

Raw Red Velvet Cupcakes

Cake:
2 cups raw coconut flour

1/4 tsp sea salt
2  tsp pure vanilla extract
3 cups chopped raw red beets (peeled)

1 cup medjool dates, pitted (soaked in filtered water for 30 minutes if not soft, then drained)

1 cup raw coconut nectar or your choice of liquid sweetener
3/4 cup filtered water (or as needed)

Frosting:
3 cups cashews, soaked
1 inch chunk red beet
1/4  cup plus 2 Tbsp coconut water
1/4 cup plus 1 Tbsp raw coconut nectar or your choice of raw sweetener
1/4  tsp sea salt
seeds of one vanilla bean, or 1 Tbsp pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup raw coconut oil, warmed to liquid

For the cake, combine dates, vanilla, beets, nectar and water in a food processor and process until pretty smooth. Place in a bowl and add the coconut flour to the wet mixture and mix until smooth with a sturdy spoon (wooden is good). The batter should be like a dough which you can form into balls in your hands and then place in silicone cupcake molds to shape them. Place them in the dehydrator for at least 12 hours or until tops are not sticky anymore, they should be still moist in the middle.

Once the cupcakes are dehydrated, to make the frosting place beet, coconut water, coconut nectar, salt, vanilla and coconut oil in a blender and blend until completely smooth. Then to the blender add cashews one cup at a time, blending after each cup until smooth. Place frosting in a pastry bag and pipe a good amount of frosting on top of each cupcake.