Self love can be hard to practice when you’ve got a whole lot of other people to love and take care of. Often our priorities contort and we put ourselves dead last. I think the paleo and primal lifestyles need to entail reflective processes that awaken our softer sides. Our hunter gatherer ancestors didn’t work as hard as many people think, the average “work week” was around 15-20 hours(1). This left plenty of free time to explore, have fun, make art, music, dance and just ponder the profundity of existence and what it means to be alive. I strongly wish our culture could return to its ancestral roots in this way, these acts of pleasure not only strengthen the self but also the community as a whole. We’ve been lead to believe that if we aren’t working and we aren’t consuming, then we are useless and bound to the confines of laziness. In whatever little ways we can, it’s important to reconnect to our roots, to take the time to create or to just bask in stillness, a rare creature nowadays. Personally I feel really happy and connected when I can get my dance on, not in da club or whatever but just in my living room or an empty field. What activities do you feel liberate you from the confines of the work and consume cultural dogma we live in?
Most don’t grow up in a way that teaches us how to listen to our bodies and know when we’ve pushed to hard and gone too far. So sit down, relax, have a piece of ridiculously healthy cheesecake, those hunter gatherers would’ve died for this luscious energy filled goodness. This recipe is fairly involved but the results are stunning and well worth it. I would normally make something like this for a celebration but this time I really just wanted a luxurious rich snack without any reason or logic- why not?
1 C date paste or around 8 whole pitted dates, soaked in warm water for ½ hour
½ tsp vanilla extract
2 Tbs cacao powder
½ C fresh squeezed orange juice
1 tsp orange zest
½ tsp sea salt
½ C cacao paste (unprocessed cacao not yet separated into powder and butter)
½ C coconut oil
½ C maple syrup
½ tsp flaky sea salt or himalayan rock salt
1 mandarin orange, peeled and sectioned (optional)
Instructions
For the crust, prepare a springform pan 7 or 9 inches and place a piece of parchment on the base with the edges underneath (this is just to help remove the cheesecake from the base)
In a food processor or high powered blender add almonds and hazelnuts, strained and rinsed, add dates and about 1 Tbs of their soaking water, blend until you reach a smooth and uniform consistency.
Add vanilla extract, salt and cacao powder and blend together, you may need to add a few Tbs of water or almond milk to get things moving and fully incorporated.
Press this mixture into the base of your pan and set aside in the fridge or freezer.
For the filling, heat a pot of water and place a heat proof glass or metal bowl over top. Add cacao paste, coconut oil and maple syrup to the bowl and allow it to slowly melt, stirring every now and then.
In a food processor or blender add soaked, rinsed cashews, orange zest and orange juice and blend until smooth. When everything in the bowl is melted add ¾ of the cacao mixture to the cashews, blend until super smooth and creamy.
Spread filling evenly on top of the crust and swirl remaining chocolate sauce on top, optionally you can also coat the mandarin pieces in chocolate and sprinkle some rock salt on top for serving.
Allow the cheesecake a few hours in the fridge to set, you could also put it in the freezer if you're in a hurry, just allow it to thaw out a bit before serving.
I made these paleo raw protein bars for my brothers birthday. He’s an avid cross fitter and thus devours huge quantities of protein at any given chance. I thought he’d enjoy these nourishing bars more than a fancy cake. He also got a gallon of my homemade bone broth to keep his joints limber and free from strain. These bars are yummy and really easy to throw together with ingredients you’ll likely have in your cupboard. You can switch up the toppings with whatever you have around, bee pollen, dried goji berries, hemp seeds,sunflower seeds, cacao nibs, coconut…the list goes on and on. You could also add a Tbs or 2 of cacao powder for chocolate protein bars. Ditch the cliff bars and try these on your next hiking adventure!
If you’re into re-wilding, paleo lifestyle,indigenous cultures and sustainability, check out this new documentary Origins. It’s free until November 22nd and definitely worth watching, you can tell a lot of work went into creating this film.
½ C date paste or around 6 whole dates, soaked in warm water to soften for a few minutes
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
½ tsp sea salt
3 Tbs coconut oil, melted over a double boiler
¼ C pumpkin seeds
¼ C sesame seeds
¼ C chocolate chips
Instructions
In a food processor or high powered blender add cashews, dates, coconut oil, vanilla and salt and blend until a smooth paste is formed.
Line a square baking dish with parchment and evenly spread the mixture,sprinkle with pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds and chocolate chip gently pushing them into the mixture.
Place in the fridge or freezer and allow to set for at least an hour before cutting into squares
I’m suddenly obsessed with chia seeds, I’ve made this pudding 3 times this week and even J said it’s the best he’s ever had. Much to my surprise he gobbled up nearly all of it the first time. I’ve never taken him to be a superfood kinda guy, though he is my superman…swoon. The things I love about these little seeds is the satisfying pop they provide which is hard to come by elsewhere. The kiwi gives an addition textural orgasm and together, the berries, the coconut, all that goodness just makes you feel like a million bucks. I was so inspired by these dainty seeds that I researched the heck out of ’em and wrote a post devoted solely to their benefits, check it out here.
Mix in coconut milk, chia seeds and coconut flakes
Let the seeds soak and expand for minimum 30 minutes
Serve with sliced kiwi, coconut flakes and bee pollen
3.2.2802
I’ve been writing a lot for different websites surrounding health and nutrition. It’s really fun and I learn at least twenty new things every day. It inspires me to know that people are thirsty for knowledge in this realm. I think it’s safe to say the majority of people are becoming disillusioned by big pharma’s shortcomings. We’re only now seeing the implications of massive scale agriculture, pesticide use and commercial meat production. I’m still blown away by the fact that the first ‘supermarket’ only arrived on the scene in 1950.
As a young girl I was given full freedom to experiment and have fun in the kitchen. I remember once combining raw rice, strawberry jello powder and flour resulting in a horrid red goo and a nightmarish dish to clean. My best friend growing up would always join in and together our cooking antics messed both our mothers kitchens daily. Our most memorable kitchen nightmare were the famous salsa sandwiches, we thought they were genius at the age of 9. Pitas stuffed with tortilla chips, salsa and cheddar. We’ve both come a long way, she’s an amazing chef at an accomplished Edmonton eatery and I write about my creations on this wee little blog. We all start somewhere, you can’t expect to not make mistakes in the kitchen. The key to finding your cooking mojo is to just have fun. Cooking is an art form and this quote rings true for me, you don’t hold back when you’re in love. You can’t. You can’t hold back when you make art of any type, or it will lack the essence of expression which has no boundaries or rules. So open your fridge, rip apart your cupboards, forget the rules, blend,mash,chop, throw together what inspires you. Okay there are basic boundaries an artist stands by, you want your paint to stay on the canvas, you want your food to taste amazing. Here’s my equation for creative success in the kitchen… Balance the sweet, salty, bitter, spicy, umami aspects and the rest is cake. If I’m making a salad for example this mandarin (sweet) kale (bitter) ginger (spicy) sunshine sauce (umami) lime roasted cashews (salty) I can use whatever I have on hand and create something delicious by following this simple guideline. Look closely at your favourite recipes and you will likely see this pattern.
Combine kale, mandarins and onion in a large bowl and set aside.
In a blender combine the sunflower seeds, lime, rice wine vinegar, sesame oil, olive oil, ginger, garlic, salt and coconut sugar until smooth and creamy.
Coat the kale with ginger sunshine sauce and toss with cashews or additional sunflower seeds and sliced red chile (optional)
I have breaking news, regular nutella isn’t nearly as healthy as they claim it to be! Shocker right? What should be a wholesome organic spread with emphasis on 2 amazing natural ingredients somehow got lost along the way. No fear, my feller cohorts and I have resurrected what nutella should be, no weird hydrogenated oils or refined sugar, just real food. It is 10:30 at night and I’m eating this stuff out the jar. I know you’re meant to spread it on stuff but I just can’t help myself. But why am I indulging in a bowl of this nutella at such a late hour? My inner night owl has not been tamed by motherhood. Though it is always just as difficult waking up at the crack of dawn to a hair pulling little ball of energy, I still can’t help but stay up late, creating, writing, laughing. What is this extraneous creature that dwells within me only to enliven after nine. She has always been there, when I was a young lass I would wait until everyone went to bed and have meetings with all my teddy bears arranged in a circle. We’d talk for hours. Or those slumber parties with all your best girlfriends, prank calling sexy phone lines in the wee hours of the night. I can see myself as an old woman, still staying up late to read, write, create, laugh, cry. Do you any have night owl tendencies? It’s interesting that my partner is what some would call a ‘morning person’ though to me he’s more of an ‘afternoon person’. How important is it to have similar sleep schedules in a relationship? Is it a little more difficult to find balance when one person eats nutella at night from a bowl and one spreads it on toast in the morning? Perhaps it matters more that both people love nutella, there’s a special bond there. Which reminds me of a quote…
Too true isn’t it? You certainly can’t please everyone. I know I’m guilty of trying to make everyone happy, but hey, it never works. There are even people out there who don’t like nutella (I’ve met them).
In a high powered blender or food processor, add hazelnuts and process until they start to form a smooth nut butter, you can add a bit of water here to get things moving.
Use a double boiler method to melt the coconut oil and cacao paste, stir in the honey and add this liquid to the hazelnuts.
Add salt,blend everything together until super smooth, adding water as you go to achieve desired consistency.
Stuffing your face with coconut chips is 100% happifying. Happifying; to make yourself happy, aint nobody else gonna do it. Snacks are a common frustration in our house, J goes on cracker binges, I pretend the big bag of dried mango is for baby Mav, covertly popping slice after chewy slice into my mouth. Fact is, middle of the afternoon hits and we all want just a little something. Well, these sweet and salty coconut chips hit the spot, how else do 2 people destroy 4 cups of coconut in one afternoon…yeah…that good.
Shredded coconut is wicked high in fibre and very satiating, after our chow sesh we didn’t eat all day, not even mango slices. If you’ve seen those blue monkey coconut chips that are way overpriced, these are their easy to make super cheap equivalent. Also, I know this is a touch weird, but I think if one were really fond of that junky cereal corn flakes, that these coconut flakes with some almond milk would be stellar.
Combine maple syrup or honey, oil and salt and mix in thoroughly with the coconut.
Spread the coconut thinly on 2 baking trays and pop in the oven for 10 minutes. Remove and stir, turn the oven off and return the trays for another 30 minutes.
Hey I'm Chantelle, my alter ego would be a mermaid if I wasn't such a terrible swimmer. I love writing authentically and cooking in my pyjamas. My favourite pastimes include eating avocados, travelling the world and hanging out with a toddler.
