MUSHROOMS AND COFFEE

Buongiorno! I am still in Italy and hopefully eating some nice pasta or gelato (not or! AND) plus enjoying myself some wine. Meanwhile, for the rest of you, we have a throwback to a creamy mushroom pasta I did some time ago with walnuts and chive from the back porch. 
The chives were from the back porch that is. The walnuts were from Lidl. (The mushrooms however were almost from the back porch as well; porcinis my father-in-law picked last autumn.) 


My friend Dixie who has worked in many restaurants before gave me the advice to add a little bit of coffee to a mushroom sauce to bring out their taste and so I did, and so it did as well. Try it!
Otherwise this one took cream (I use oat cream), salt and pepper and garlic. 

MANGO-LEMON VEGAN NO-BAKE CHEESECAKE

Lets start the week with some cake!

The other day I was a guest at a radio show where we talked about the usual things that I tend to visit various shows for, but also had some chit chat on different things, one of them being food.
But I can't really asnwer the question of weather I cook or not correctly. Perhaps a boring  'sometimes' is the right answer. Most of the time I just make what I can get away with quickly (and, as you may recall, due to how I work I most often buy something fast that I have in my car...sniff). But sometimes I do cook properly, and mainly tend to bake things. And I have a habit of not really following recipes, but rather get inspired by them, and often coming up with things myself.

So - here is a semi-raw, no-bake, vegan and  gluten free cheesecake without white sugar that I put together for Easter.

Ok, I know the above categories will make some go "blah" but for me the thing with making these "free of"-cakes is that they should be as yummy and sweet-tooth soothing as any so called conventional cake, and not a substitute. Plus, if it's breakfast worthy it's a bonus because, reaaaally, who would not want to have cake for breakfast?
(Ok, I actually know several weirdos who would answer with a 'not me' to that one but in my universe cake for breakfast equals awesomeness, mmmkay?)

The crust on this one is made with less nuts than usual for some variation, by using roasted buckwheat instead. I am normally not too fond of the taste of buckwheat, but when roasted it has pleasant taste and makes the crust more piquant.
The cake has a lemond curd-y layer in the middle, and a fruity cheese layer on top made with fabulous oat-based PåMackan cream cheese. (It's a great product; tastes just like the real thing!) If nuts are an issue you could try leave them out and use only sunflower seeds for the crust instead (in which case you might have to leave out the mid layer which is made mainly from cashews, or then make a lemon paste of something else). If this does not have to be vegan you can of course make the cheese out of regular Philadelpia or similar.  If the mango is very sweet itself you might not need any extra sweetener, depending on your preferences. I used some agave syrup. Coconut oil is used to firm the cheese filling, but sometimes I have made fillings using cocoa butter instead (but that is way more expensive and not something I have at home regularly).
The cake mold I use is 22cm, alas, if you want a higher creation then use a smaller mold.

Alright! As this is no-bake you'll manage without an oven. Apart from a kitchen mixer, here's what you will need:

For the crust -
1,5 dl  raw buckwheat
2,5 dl walnuts
1,5 dl sunflower seeds
175g dates (approx.), soaked for a while if dried and pressed
lemon zest
1 tbs oil

For the faux lemon curd paste-
4dl cashews
juice of 2 lemons
vanilla
sweetener of your choice

For the cheese filling -
1 mango
1 pack (150g) of På Mackan vegan cream cheese
a little lemon zest
sweetener of your choice
a dash of vanilla
2 tbs melted coconut oil

Dry-roast the buckwheat in a pan on mid-to high heat. Be careful not to burn them; move them around.

Put the buckwheat (I keep writing buckwhat. Like buck-WHAT? Haha) in the kitchen mixer and mix, adding first walnuts about a dl at a time and then the seeds, until you have a semi smooth texture. It's okay to leave a bit of crunch.

Add the dates (squeeze out excess water if you had them soaked) and mix, then the lemon zest and the oil. Press into a cake mold and put in the fridge while doing the rest.

Next step! Mix the cashews smooth, add the lemon juice, the vanilla, and a bit of sweetener. You will get a rather firm paste. Spread/press it out on the crust and put back into the fridge.

Time for the cheese filling! Mash the mango and mix it smooth with the cream cheese. Add the rest.
(At this point of the preparation I thought that my mind had fucked this up, because the luke warm mango-cheese mix did not taste good right our of the mixer. But fear not! It will be nice once it has cooled down!)

Pour the filling on the cake and put in the fridge for an hour or two (or freezer, if you want it quicker. Also, some decoration would porpably be nice, but I never got that far. Berries would be a good suggestion!). Then serve and enjoy!

Store in a sealed box if you don't eat all at once.

MONDAY SOUP

When I don't "have anything at home" and need to cook dinner I tend to make this tomato-lentil-noodle soup. I still always have lentis, crushed tomatoes and coconut milk at home, and this one is ready in no-time. Double the batch of soup if you want this to be Tuesday-soup and Wednesday-stew aswell, it tastes just as good a couple of days later!

I think I've posted some version of this before but that was so many years ago so here you go again -

This soup takes:
1,5 dl red lentils
A handful of rice noodles (or noodles of your choice)
1 can of crushed tomatoes
1/2 - 1 can of coconut milk
Chopped garlic

(All measurements are approximate. I never measure. Not sure if it's even possible to fuck this up, you can have it more creamy or more tomaty if you like, everything works)

Cook everything together in the order above. Choose the amount of water yourself, depending on if you want your soup thicker or runnier.  Season the way you like - I always add garlic, preferrably a lot, and some chili powder or a bit of vegetable broth to the water. You could also add a little red curry paste or perhaps some grated ginger.

Serve with Sriracha sauce and garnish with fresh cilantro. Hemp seeds and/or salted peantuts on top makes this extra delicious.

PIMP MY WATER / THREE WAYS TO FLAVOUR YOUR H2O

I have noticed that keeping a jug of water on the table with stuff in helps me get closer to the goal of drinking enough water during the day (as in opposite of having a jug with just plain water, or no jug at all). And even better, it also helps the kids and man in the house to drink more too, which is a big bonus. The water we get is good and tasteless, but a hint of berry or herb in it makes it more appealing none the less, and is also pretty to look at.

Here are three ideas on how to spice up your water -

Strawberries, cinnamon-basil and a dash of apple cider vinegar.
I came across cinnamon-basil in the store the other day but any kind  of basil will of course do.

Orange and rosemary.

My colleague Tink came up with this one: Pineapple chunks and fresh mint. Try it by putting the pineapple bits in the freezer for a while before dropping them in the water.

Enjoy!

FRESH AND SOUR

Fennel is a vegetable which anis-like taste I sometimes crave for, and sometimes makes me go 'Uh, not now!'. It is however mostly the first option for me, and this easy-to-put-together side dish salad suits Easter well I think. It goes well with mild foods like eggs and rice to add some sour and piquant vibes, or middle along wiht some eastern dishes but also on top of a cheese sandwhich for example.

Fennel & Lemon salad
sliced or diced fennel
sliced cucumber
juice of a lemon
a bit of oil and white vinegar
black pepper

Just blend together in a bowl and you're good to go!

I use a white vinegar with black currant which gives some extra taste to the salad. If you want a spicier version you can add a little Sriracha sauce as well. And add some more oils and fine chopped cabbage if yo do,  but now we are going into totally different territories and salads already.

FLUFFY GREEN SPRING SMOOTHIE

(because at this time of year, you can just name everything starting with "spring"-)

Apparently there's some gene that determines weather you like celery or not. Same goes for cilantro. (The source being solely "what people way" and the internet so I have no idea how much truth there is in that, but it sure makes a great excuse for people to use.) Good for me I seem to have neither of those genes, because I love celery - and cilantro as well, altough I did not put it in this smoothie, even though one surely could; it'd fit great.

Pineapple makes smoothies wonderfully fluffy. You can add one or two drops of apple cider vinegar as well if you want your smoothie a bit more edgy.

So, here we go:
Cloudy apple juice
Celery
Wheat grass
The juice of one lime
About a coffe cup of frozen small pineapple chunks

Woom! in the blender and there you have it!

FOUR THINGS RIGHT NOW: LATE MONDAY EVENING

It looks like this when you open the door:

Which a) is just so wrong as it's only the 7th of November (yes, that is my sad frozen Halloween pumpkin under all that snow  -ffs this snow fell ONE DAY AFTER HALLOWEEN. So wrong.) and b) would be cozy would we be three weeks from now and would one not have to go anywhere.

I've been outdoors today, sadly, and driving home late at night was not very nice.

For the moment indoors is not that nice either. It's all full of boxes; we have pretty much emptied the city flat by now. Or, I have, suitably we had to move out the month when I'm alone in the blizzard while Eddi is in a sandstorm in a dessert in Iran for four weeks, doing stuff geologists do (in this case; teaching research methods). These boxes will empty one by one as we get some renovation done upstairs while others will be repacked to wait for future times and possible new flats. So now we a) don't have to have Christmas at our place this year or b) should have Christmas at our place this year as there will certainly be chairs and plates for everybody. Ha. Ha.

No but really, it will turn out nice here once we get it sorted out and renovated up. Just need a lot of money and spare time first, peanuts!

Talking about peanuts, made a big batch of quinoa snack bars/cookies/mush to munch on for the rest of the week - I  haven't made any of my usual vegan yummy-but-yucky-looking-stuff for a while so really had to restrain myself from eating too much at once of these. Which isn't that hard, as the raw bars I make are rather heavy; these however a bit lighter thanks to the quinoa. I've been eating so much chocolate and quick snacks lately as I'm on the move a lot and constantly, but now I'm hoping to get away from that a bit again and instead get my sweet tooth soothed and energy need fulfilled with better options (which I was better at before when I had a bit more time on my hands).

These bits took a blend of cashews, sun flower seeds, buckwheat (for a little crunch), dates, cocoa, coconut flakes, oats, coconut oil, a spoonful of organic peanut butter, cardamom and vanilla, liquorice flavoured sea salt and cooked quinoa; a mix on the recipe for the quinoa cookies and the raw bites that I usually make. Which reminds me; I should go and add some hemp seed on top!

Before calling it a night I still intend to finnish fixing a costume of mine that needs a few more sequins; heading over to Prague to perform and teach this weekend! Getting that costume work done is not so easy when the cat decided the dress was his spot tonight. But they blend together quite nicely, don't they?

VEGAN SANDWICH BLISS

From the list of small things (or maybe not even that small in the end) that make me happy:
Going to the big super market after work at 10pm because
1) nowadays it is open that late because of free opening hours.
(It's so god damn great I tell you, for anyone that does not do the normal 9-5. Smaller stores have had longer hours for years but now any store can choose their hours themselves and all Prisma's are open until 11 pm for example. And if you live out in the middle of a god damn field like I 99% of the time do nowadays, you are thankful)
2) and in that store, although not in the centre of Helsinki, you can easily pick and choose out of several vegan options available next to any non vegan-or vegatarian one. You don't even need to find that one sad hippie-shelf in the back corner for your almond milk anymore, it's all centrally located and full with lots of different options! 2010's, yey!
3) I can thus have a classic sandwich with cheese and even maddafakin baloney on it, with chocolate milk on the side and it's vegan all the way.

I am not a self-declared vegan, but do I most of the days follow a vegan diet. Sometimes by planning my meals, sometimes more "by accident" as I am so accustomed to it by now. I was on a full-time-vegan diet for a couple of years over a decade ago, and the selection was so much different back then! There is so much more to choose from than Tartex nowadays!

I've never been too fond of vegan cheeses, often found them a bit yucky, but the VioLife one is as good as it's reputation - no funky side taste here. They even have parmesan which I want to try! And the pizza cheese. (And for anyone over here eager to try it: do so from the S-labeled stores, as the K-ones sell these to about double the price as the S-ones!!). The latest sandwhich filling I tried out was vegan baloney with green pepper (soy based). Something I haven't had on my bread for years and years! Also, on a side note: the vegetable breads by Fazer are great! This time I tried out the newest version which is Finnish dark rye bread with zucchini and parsnip. The veggie percent is over 30.

Here are my own favourite vegan bread-spreads, that also work as side dishes to any bbq or salad/meze buffet. And definitely worth trying and serving even if you or your guests aren't vegans or vegatarians -

Green Lentil Tapenade

A delicious picante mash of cooked green lentils, garlic and vinegar and some more stuff. A little (just a little) more detailed how-to with ingredients can be found if you click the link behind the name.

Vegan Liver Patée

I just love this one, and many sworn carnivores dig happily in to this without thinking of it's veeeeegan label. It makes a great ingredient in the best pasta sauce/lasagna filling evvah! Click the name for the recipe.

Ok, now I am hungry again.

(As usual, none of these were sponsored mentions, it's just me digging stuff. But it'd be awesome if they would be though, awesome for me at least. But alas, they are not.)

QUINOA CHOCOLATE COOKIE-BALLS

This is a recipe that I got via my friend Minnie in New York, that she had modified from another recipe that had been modified from yet another recipe out there. The way it usually goes.
My version differs quite a lot in the end I think,  and I am keen to try on of the more original versions as well, but the first time I did these I went with what I had at hand, and my version has remained like that since.

Because of the quinoa the consistence is a bit different than from the raw or no-bake bars/cookies/fudges I usually make - they are a bit lighter, although still a lot to munch on. These somewhat reminds me of a "potato pastry" (perunaleivos/potatis bakelse)! This association will of course only open up to anyone here in Finland, where that is a very dense, chocolate pastry.

The actual recipe used maple syrup instead of dates but I only had the later (plus I am very fond of dates and it kind of makes the recipe a little bit healthier) and it did not have sunflower seeds, but I did not have as much almond butter as the recipe suggested plus I like the buttery texture that sunflowers get when mixed, which makes whatever it is that you are making yummier.

For the cookie-balls you will need:

1,5dl sunflower seeds

1,5 dl oats

1,5 dl quinoa

1,5 dl shredded coconut

1 dl cocoa powder

1 dl coconut oil

2 tbs nut-butter of your choice

12-14 dates

vanilla

Cook the quinoa. Mix the sunflower seeds with the oats rather smooth in a mixer. Add the dates one by one and mix to a paste. Melt the coconut oil in a pan on low heat (coconut oil melts at around +25 already) and stir in the cocoa, vanilla, coconut and cooked quinoa. Let cool for a minute or two and add this to the mixer and blend for a few seconds so that everything has mixed well. Form into desired shape with a spoon (balls,loose scoops, rolls or press out in a pan if you want to cut them into squares) in cupcake molds or in a pan covered with baking paper and place in the refrigerator for at least half and hour. I rolled my cookie-balls in coconut.

The second time I made these I forgot about the how-to and just mixed everything one by one in the mixer (the same order though, seeds first quinoa last) and it turned out really good as well.

I have done this with both peanut butter and almond butter (and the last time with no butter as I was out), so it is a matter of taste what you prefer. Also the amount of cocoa powder can be adjusted a but to your liking, I've done lighter and darker versions,  and leave out the coconut if you are not a fan, perhaps add some more oats instead.

I am a fan of bitter almond and added a few drops of bitter almond essence which gave me even more potato-pastry vibes!

You could manage to do these without a mixer as well - just leave out the sunflower seeds and add more nut butter instead, and mix with a fork. The cookies will turn out a bit more sticky and loose then, but we know they will taste good nonetheless!

FINALLY: PULLED OATS!!

Last night I finally, after months of waiting, got to prepare us some pulled oats!
"Months of waiting" might seem a little weird and exaggerated for those not acquainted with pulled oats and the anticipation (well, in certain circles at least) around it -pulled oats is a vegan protein source, in texture comparable to pulled pork. It is a Finnish innovation made from, oats - obviously- and the protein from faba beans and peas. There has been a buzz around it ever since last autumn, food journalists and bloggers having tried it already, but it did not reach the stores for us common mortal ones until this May. And it is always sold out everywhere all the time. It's a god damn BINGO! if you manage to actually score a pack in the store, proving that pulled oats are not just a legend after all.

Even I didn't manage to get this one myself -my local supermarket said the chances are biggest on Saturday morning when their order arrives, and they usually sell out by then - but got this pack from my colleague who had some extras after the midsummer celebrations. Our farm produces organic oats and organic faba beans but it's not like I'll be making any pulled oats myself here - I listened to a radio show where the developer of pulled oats talked about the process to reach the texture (which is, of course, secret) and how long it took them to develop it.  So unless I get a bit faster in the morning I'll just have to wait for the production to grow.


I cooked my first pulled oats with a tomato-oat creme-pickled paprika sauce.

And the taste? The texture is very meaty,  but so in a good way. The taste is mild and comes mostly from the seasoning (this pack was with parsley and smoked paprika.) Can't wait to get my hands on the other flavor as well as the un-seasoned one for more cooking.

Note that this post is in no way affiliated with or sponsored by Gold Green (but I'd definitely be up for it if they'd would ask, ehrm!)

SEPTEMBER

And so one day it is September and you open the door in the morning and wonder how it can be, that on the first official day of autumn it really feels like a change of season in the air; it is cold and the morning mist is heavy and grey, just like nature would have a calendar and switch mode as soon as the date change. Strange.

I have as usual been busy with work but also just spent a lot of time reading the newspapers and articles feeling even more bad than it usually makes me and thus not really feeling like blogging after that.

This morning I however had some time off.

Gave my orchids a bath; haven't been properly at home in either place to take care of my plants.

Did something of a pimp-my-hipster-porridge for breakfast - oat porridge, a nectarine, peanut butter and red wineberries plus hazelnut milk.


Opened the door and smelled autumn,  just before it started raining (and it rained all day).
And here are Dag's gathering of coloured tractors on the back yard table.


It will be chili time soon! (Btw it is always good when you water your outdoor plants just before it starts raining for some 12 hours straight. It makes you feel like you really just did something useful.)


And my coriander, in the growing box that survived the vicious lamb attack, is overgrown huuuuuge.


Then I went back inside and thought about wearing this little mint green vintage fabric piece that arrived from Etsy some time ago. (But I just ended up wearing a kitty romper instead).

SUNDAY BAKING: QUICK VEGAN BANANA CHOCOLATE CAKE

I run one of those households that often (or well, always) ends up with a banana or two turned so ripe they're too yucky to eat. But they can happily go in a cake!

So today we decided to bake one with Dag; a quick banana based chocolate cake that is - for being a cake, -not too unhealhty. Kids can easily participate here as things like getting to mash banana is fun and easy to do, and with a big enough bowl not necessarily even that messy.

It's a cake easily altered, for example, I add some more spices to this during the colder season.

You will need:
3 ripe banans
around 50g of dried dates + a hint of water
1dl coconut sugar (or brown sugar)
1-1,5 dl cocoa
3 dl spelt flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 dl oil  - I use coconut oil
(+ a dash of cinnamon)

Now, to make the easy things hard, or at least a bit more confusing for you: I have made this with four small bananas and with just two bananas and both versions work as well. The more banans the less dates you need, so when I had four banana-nanas I used just five dates. Also adjut the amount of cocoa powder to your own taste; 1,5 dl of cocoa makes the  rather dark and strong so you can go with less if that suits you better. I have also made this without the soda and it turned out fine. I you don't care about it being vegan or not you will get a nice cake by using butter instead of oil too (and you can of course toss in an egg for more fluffyness but then again that is already another cake). For more spices try some ginger and clover and perhaps a little cardamom.

First,  pre-heat the oven to 200c. Chop the dates and put them in a pan with a hint of water so it covers the dates, and heat up. Let it boil for a little while so you get a sticky paste. Add a little water if needed so the dates don't burn.

Mash the bananas with a fork or a masher. Add the sugar and cocoa, then the date-mass, then flour and finally the oil (in a runny state). Put in a greased cake mold (or fold it with baking paper).

I don't think the batter on this one is very good raw (which is a good thing, because that means more cake later) but Dag was eager to lick the bowl.

Bake for 35-50 minutes in 200C, depending on your oven and the size of your mold. Try it with a stick and take out to cool.

You can eat this warm, as it is or with ice cream. I prefer it after a day or two in the fridge.
Pimp it up with salted peanuts (no that's not crazy!), jam or with a bunch of cherries and some chocolate coconut cream  frosting!

RHUBARB CHUTNEY

Rhubarb season is coming to an end over here, but as it has been colder than usually (have I said this already here? How many times now? I feel betrayed by my summer!) you can still collect and make use of the stems, especially for jams and such, as it does not matter if they have turned a little more blah and bitter in their taste when cooked with sugar and such.

Although rhubarb actually is a vegetable, it is pretty much solely used for sweet dishes over here.
But it makes a great chutney for salty treats as well! It's a perfect addition to the bbq dinner. It's really good.

It should be really good with meat; I've had mine with tofu and grilled halloumi for example, but also as an addition to nachos and salsa.

You will need:
500g rhubarb
1 (yellow) onion
2 big cloves of garlic
1 chili fruit
about 0,75 dl honey
2 tbs red wine vinegar
a pinch of salt
1-2 tsp fresh ginger
a little turmeric

(A little embarrassing that we have our own honey but it's not pictured here... there is an old saying here that the shoemaker's kids have no shoes. And we've run out of it actually, so I had to buy some.)


Clean and peel the rhubarb, chop that with the onion, garlic and chili into pieces. Put in a pot together with the honey and vinegar and salt and let it boil together for about 20 minutes into a thick chutney.

Add the ginger and turmeric and pour into a hot cleaned jar.

I want to fill more jars so I double the recipe. I can also recommend to chop some rhubarb and put in your freezer, take it out and make this in winter to spice your dinner up on cold days! Because most likely your summer batch will be finished before the leaves fall off.

(This is tagged vegan because it goes well with vegan dishes. But then you would need to switch the honey for a couple of spoons of brown sugar for example, or some maple syrup!)

5 x BREAKFAST

For me breakfast is the best meal of the day; my schedule is such that I usually have the most time in the morning.

Apple-banana porridge on oats from our farm with raisins and black currants plus a little bit of almond butter on top. I cook the apple with the oats and put the banana in about half way trough, but the berries and raisins after. A basic porridge becomes more fancy that way, almost like a dessert. A small spoon of peanut butter, instead of almond such, is also good.

But here we have it on bread instead; peanut butter banana sandwhich, an apple and a hot cocoa drink with almond milk, vanilla, charadmom, coconut sugar and some cinnamon.

And peanut butter with citrus! Who would have known those two tastes would blend together so well! Peanut butter banana-.sandwhich with cumqats - I have a little tiny tree in the house and Dag kept picking the fruits off. So they ended up on my breakfast sandwhich.
Also, avocado sandwich with sundried tomato paste and chive, lemon water and some strawberry-rhubarb compote.

First outdoors breakfast of this year! Black coffee and raw bars with berries and cocoa.

(And wowza, now I am totally going to renew myself and add a fifth thing instead of my normal four):
Brekkie no5 is a smoothie made of mango-orange oat milk (oat milk with mango pulp and orange juice in it. Nice in drinks but terrible on müsli. Just sayin'), banana and frozen strawberries, together with some dates with almond butter.

PUDDING

Chia chocolate pudding. The kind of dish (or even, perhaps, treat?) that I am not really sure if it's just kind of edible or actually good.

I've made a few sets of chia pudding, or porridge (or slime) and they have never been much to cheer about. Very 'meh'. So why would I still keep making it? A) Because I still have a lot of chia seeds left over to be used up and B) you know when you sort of get this feeling you should like something (happensa lot with so called "superfoods") because you would like to like it and everyone says it's really good and also good for you? I kind of got that going on with that pudding now.

God damn it a (very) long time ago I used to make a small cup of linseed slime that I tried to get down every morning because it's really good for the stomach. The first mornings it was rather OK but after a while it just got unbearable. I mixed it with porridge but I could still feel the slimyness trough. During the same time I was also drinking apple cider vinegar in the morning (yeah those were the gourmand-mornings of 2001); a couple of spoons in a big glass of water. Cleansing and good for metabolism and all that. So they say. But it was the same with the vinegar, after a while I had to start pinching my nose and thing happy thoughts to get it down. Yuck. But that was then and now is now -I eventually (quite fast actually) gave up on the linseed slime. And vinegar. So one'd think that I now at this age would just forget about any self torment when it comes to what I ingest and move on with my life without any more superfood slime or chia seeds.
But then we get back to point A and the fact that those small little f**ckers don't come cheap.

What I had been missing all the time was of course cocoa.  Because anything related to chocolate makes most things better. And  ta-da, that chia jar of mine is started emptying up and, like I said, it might even be that it does so in a very tasty way.

The chocolate chia pudding (< bolded for those who think there is way much text here by now and just want to know what's in the cup in the picture without having to read it all):
So my chocolate chia pudding consists of chia seeds (surprise!) and vegetable milk. I use almond, but hazel or maybe coconut milk (not the canned one but the runny milky one that for example Go Green sells) is next on the list to try.  Then in with some vanilla powder, cocoa powder (quite a lot) and coconut sugar. I make it semi firm, with the milk covering the seeds well before I leave it to set over night or at least for some hours. I have a jar of lingonberry powder that I also add a little bit of. That gives a some extra sting. You can also add a tiny little pinch of salt.

When the pudding is ready I whip it a bit and mix in black currants and sprinkle coconut flakes on top. This goes well with  banana too, and with some raisins or finely chopped dried apricots mixed in. I am thinking of perhaps running the pudding in the blender when done though, to get it smooth.

Also, I've noticed a lot of small things taste better when served out of a coffee up. How is that one may wonder? The reason is probably the same that makes any beverage taste better when had out of a mason jar (according to the young and hip at least).

Do you have any food or dishes that you can't really decide on, yuck or yum?

RAW MANGO CHEESECAKE

Spring is here, Easter around the corner, pretty much all food featured anywhere is yellow.

So I am not going to be any worse - here's a yellow cake suitable for the season! (Or at any other time of the year, of course.)

You will need:


A couple of mangoes, cashews, pecan nuts and almonds, lemon juice, dried dates, dried pricots and cocoa butter.

This recipe makes for a rather small cake, 20-25cm in diameter.

Let the apricots and dates soak for about 10-15minutes in water so that they soften up.
I used six (small) apricots and 2 dates.

Make the crust first. Mix almonds and pecans in a mixer; I used 1,5dl of both. You can use just pecans too if you so like (and perhaps live somewhere where pecans are not ridiculously expensive). You don't need to mix them all smooth, leave a little crunch. Add the apricots and dates plus a pinch of salt and mix.


Press the crust out in a baking mold. Add a baking paper or plastic film if the mold does not have detachable edges. I usually put a bit of baking paper in the bottom anyway.

Put the crust the fridge while you make the filling.


First start by puttig the cocoa butter, 1-2 tbs, to melt in a cup or glass placed in a bowl with hot water.

Mix 200g cashews along with some squeezed lemon juice in the mixer (about half a lemon). You can add a few drops of lemon more after a while to make the mixing easier. Use a spatula to push down any cashew crumbs that rise along the edges of the mixing bowl. The mixture has to be very, very smooth. It has to be all smooth before you add anything else; you can not "go back a step with this one".  The mix will start forming a ball when it is ready.


Slice one mango and add it in pieces. Mix smooth.
If you want you can add in a spoon of honey or agave (or some sweetener of your choice), but it will be fine without.


When the cocoa butter has become liquid (add some more hot water to the bowl if it has not yet melted), pour it in a thin string while mixing. Mix for a while so the cocoa butter blends in well.
The cocoa butter is used for firming the filling. You could also do this with coconut oil.

Take a couple of slices of the other mango and put it in the mixer with the filling. Mix for a while so the mango gets a bit chopped up and mixed in, but it does not need to dissolve completely.
(Use the rest of the mango for decoration on the cake or just go ahead and eat it while you wait for the cake to be ready.)


Take out the crust and pour the fill on. Put in the fridge for a couple of hours or in the freezer for about half an hour before serving.

Then enjoy!



Next time I think I will take some bits of dried mango and grate in on top of the cake for some extra mango-ness!

The cake will stay fresh some 3-4 days when kept cool.