G dislikes cooking. She thinks it is ‘boring’ and a waste of time, and tries to get out of kitchen duties at home all the time. But preparing good healthy food is one of the life-skills that I absolutely insist my children learn from a young age. No excuse. Even if you are destined to be a star, you need to be self-sufficient. You need to learn how to take care of yourself.

Here are some cacao bites that G made. They were inspired by the almond bars I had at Alchemy, the lovely raw food café in Ubud, Bali.

It can’t get any simpler, or healthier. They are pure energy food, far better than any of the energy bars that you pay exorbitant prices for. Those shop-bought energy bars are full of sugars. These homemade ones are not.

Make them the G way, and you won’t regret it.

 

 

INGREDIENTS:

1. About 60g or quarter a block of Tru-Ra raw cacao butter

2. 1 to 2 cups of almonds and cashews

3. 1 handful raisins and or goji berries

4. 1 handful raw cacao nibs

5. 1-2 tablespoons wild honey

6.   1-2 tablespoons pure coconut oil

Combine all ingredients in a powerful blender. Adjust the coconut oil to a binding consistency.  Press dough into silicon moulds and chill until firm.  They are then ready to be popped out and enjoyed.

Perfect for lunchboxes!

 

PS: We used this raw cacao butter:

 

 

Food, food, food!  We sat on the beach in Phuket, eating Pad Thai. Sorry to say, I did not like it (must be my delicate tastebuds, since both Thais and foreigners alike rave over street Pad Thai at 80baht a plate). I did not like eating rice sticks with lots of flavourings and crushed peanuts.  Nutritionally, it is bankrupt.  We moved on to fried pancakes and bananas with nutella and honey.  They tasted a whole lot better, but the pancakes were nutritionally bankrupt, too. These types of food fill you up, might taste delicious even, but there is not much nutrients in them, just carbs.  And help, my 14 year old is growing at a phenomenal rate, she needs good proteins!

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And so this amazing dish that I recently learned from my German-Indonesian friend, Inge, who lives in Jakarta.  I will be eternally grateful to her. It is so simple to make, and is full of goodness. And what I love about it is, it is a storecupboard dish. I always have frozen spinach in the freezer and UHT cream in the larder, so no hassle whatsoever to rustle up this goodness.

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INGREDIENTS

1. Spinach, frozen ones that you get in bags will do, too

2. Chopped onions (my version, not Inge’s)

3. Butter

4.Full cream (about 100ml)

5. Milk (about 100ml)

6. 1 tablespoon flour

7. Grated nutmeg

8. Free-range eggs

9. Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

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Saute the chopped onion in butter until translucent. Roughly chop the spinach, add to the pan.  Add the flour and grated nutmeg. Add seasoning, and then add the cream and milk. Adjust for a thick, slurry-like consistency.

Spoon into oven-proof dishes. Crack an egg or two on top of each. Bake until the egg whites are cooked and the yolks slightly runny.

Thanks, Inge!

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