Get Nakd cheaper!

When I first went vegan, Nakd bars became a go to snack. It was something I could easily pick up in a supermarket without having to worry about it's content as it happily boasts it's dairy free status.

It got to a stage where actually having looked at the ingredients I realised there must be a way to make these without having to fork out the high costs attached to the tiny little bars. So I got searching, and found a Larabar recipe. It's so simple, and you can mix the ingredients- swapping out nuts, adding in seeds, trying other dried fruits. Whatever you like. But this recipe is a alternative version of the Cashew Cookie Bar from Nakd- which I think is much tastier and probably saves me my pennies (haven't actually worked that out...)

Anyways, you will need:

1 cup cashews

1 cup dates 

1 tbsp peanutbutter

1-3 tbsp water

You need to have a food processor too. I have tried before to make it in a small blender but it did not like it. 

 So you follow the tricky step of chucking the right contents of everything into the food processor bar the water and hitting the blitz button until it begins to bind. At this stage add a tbsp of water at a time until it thickens more and properly sticks together. It'll look something like the image below- but it depends on how sticky you'd like it. Obviously the more water the stickier.

Then whack it all onto one half of a sheet of greaseproof paper to roll it out. Before, I used to use my hands and just mould it into a larger bar that I'd then cut up. It made it irregular, which I didn't mind, but left my hands feeling rather grim. So I started to roll it out wedged between greaseproof to save the rolling pin from making a claggy mess. 

Just cover it up- leaving space at each edge and roll it all out.

Hurrah! Then I just cut the edges off to neaten it, and cut into bars/squares ready to have healthier snacks to munch on throughout the week. My little nephew tried this once and loved it, so if you have little ones it may be a nice alternative to a choppy bar. Plus once it's made- you get to enjoy the cut off edges with a cuppa!

Healthy, sweet and tasty!

It's K again here, and this time with again I have a recipe review. (Don't worry I do "freestyle" in the kitchen... sometimes.)

Now, I spoke before in my introduction about my love of sweet things. And boy, have I been indulging in the sweets... What I love more finding is healthier versions of sweet treats that I love, that give me the same sugar rush feeling but don't leave me feeling like I need to go for a run.

When I saw these Raw Carrot cake bites, I was eager to get 'baking'.

So I should say this shot is taken from this fab book, by Aine Carlin. G got me it from the Works- we were strolling around my little hometown around Christmas or just after, and it was one of the few shops open. The book though was so cheap! And full of fantastic recipes. You should buy it! If you're low on funds, I did find a recipe link online here.

Now, the recipe I linked you to uses cups (which I honestly prefer) but in the book it's in grams. No big shakes. 

But whilst I was making the recipe I realised I was 50g short of the total needed for pecans. I soldiered on anyway, and I don't think it effected the result that much. I also used normal dates and not medjool, sultanas and not raisins. Rebel, I know. 

The recipe along with being healthy is super easy to make- extra brownie points for that! (The book also features some fab looking brownies which I may have to try.)

In fact the "worst" part of the job was grating my carrot and zesting my orange. Such an effort to get that off there!

Squeezing the wetness out of the carrot was a pretty weird experience too. I mean I've done it to other food stuffs but it felt weirder with a carrot. Maybe I could have done with it's moisture.

Then you just chuck everything in a food processor and let it do it's thing! Little before and after for you. 

Once I thought I got it to the right consistency (which doesn't look as refined as the book's but still looked clumpy-ish), I took a ball out shaped it, and tried rolling it in the coconut. As you can see, not great coverage.

It just wasn't sticky enough. That bothered me more than the fact that they didn't have a radiantly orange centre like in the recipe book- mine are a bit more rustic. As a result of stick-less-ness, I lobbed it back in the food processor, added some water and let it stick up. I'm unsure why mine was so dry in comparison, maybe my fault for swapping in/out stuff, but it was nothing a bit of water couldn't solve. I did think of adding some of the orange juice, but I ate my orange after zesting so water was the way forward. 

The water helped! The coconut stuck a lot better. I then got stuck in to rolling out all of the other balls before coating them. Warning: it is very sticky work, and if you don't like getting messy hands you might struggle with it. Also, it is so very tempting to pop pieces in your mouth as you go along. 

Ready for the fridge. You know, for once, I actually made more of something than the recipe calls for! Partially I think because I was worried of using too much to start with, and then realised I could go bigger. Variety is the spice of life though, hey?

Boy though, they taste amazing, and it's nice to have all the different little sizes so you can pick and mix like 3 small or 2 large. G approves too.

As a last note, I really do recommend the book. Like I said, it's full of super recipes and so cheap. It saves hundreds of hand washes when your iPad/iphone falls asleep and you need to used the screen again to follow cooking steps. And I love recipe books, I love the signs of a well loved recipe through the stained parts and crumbs and just being able to not be connected to technology for a bit and escape in the realms of the kitchen. 

I'm thinking I might tackle Carlin's carrot and courgette loaf next, or the focaccia bread. Oh and the shepherdess pie with the cabbage and apple side, oh my... too many options!