Health Cafe Journey

For that occasional  time you want a sweet treat, this raw chocolate raspberry bark is very easy to put together. And quilt-free to eat. I buy organic cacao nibs and grind them to make the cacao powder using a coffee grinder I dedicate to making nut and seed flours. Coffee beans leave too much oil and residue behind. So it's best to have another grinder you use for grinding anything but coffee. A square glass pyrex pan works great to freeze the chocolate mixture into a bark. Rubbing the bottom and sides with coconut oil before pouring the mixture will make removing the frozen cut squares easier. Enjoy this delicious dessert anytime and get the heart healthy benefits of antioxidants, magnesium and healthy saturated fats. Raw Chocolate Raspberry Bark from Food Matters yield 24 pieces category Dessert cuisine Vegan, Vegetarian ingredients 1/2 C raw cacao powder 1/4 C maple syrup 1/2 C coconut oil, melted 1 tsp vanilla 1/4 C almond butter 1/2 C raspberries 3 Tbsp chopped rolled oa...

This is a very simple (only five ingredients) and quick recipe to make. The cookies come out soft and chewy when warm from the oven—great time to taste test. Once cooled they become crunchy—many favs this consistency. I like chopped nuts in my cookies, so using crunchy almond butter makes one less ingredient to add. If you don't prefer the nuts, you can use creamy almond butter—your choice. Once you add the almond butter to the sugar mixture, the batter gets real thick and clogs up the beaters. Because of the almond oil in the mixture it does not stick to the beaters and can be easily scrapped off with little waste. In the picture above the cookies are spaced too close. They ended up "growing" into each other. The next batch was spaced three to a row—perfect. Almond Butter Cookies from Chris Pedersen yield 18 cookies category Dessert cuisine Vegetarian, Gluten-free, Low-Glycemic ingredients 1 large egg 1 C coconut sugar 1 tsp baking powder 1/2 tsp Mexican vanilla 1 C ...

This is the second Carrot Cupcake  recipe I've created. I decided the first recipe could be easier and, yes, even yummier. So I set about to make a newer, better recipe. Motivated by the upcoming celebration of our son's marriage to his college sweetheart, I spent the week before the event (dubbed the I Do BBQ ) planning, shopping and making the dishes and dessert. Our son Nur and his college sweetheart Annaliese met over 11 years ago. Nur participated in the Anime club on campus and met Annaliese there. Smitten from their first meeting, Nur spent much of the years winning her over—a true romantic tale. Both being minimalists and creatures of habit, they seem made for each other, highlighted by their love of Anime and annual vacation to Comic-Con in San Diego . The two lovebirds married in a private ceremony at San Francisco City Hall (a beautiful and cheap venue) on June 19th. The I Do BBQ allowed the extended family to meet Annaliese and share their well-wishes with the newl...

This is a dessert that is guilt-free, healthy, full of protein and includes the superfood cacao . Plus I used 100% organic ingredients to make it even better for you, provided you do the same. I saw this recipe on the Food Matters weekly newsletter email and thought, "Gotta make this!" To begin making this awesome dessert, pull out all the ingredients so you don't miss anything. I'm usually doing a few things at the same time when I cook, so forgetting to add something happens from time to time. Does that happen to you?  The original recipe showed a few ingredients measured in weight, so I needed to translate it into cups. You're welcome! I weighed out the cacao, ground it, then put it into a measuring cup to determine how many cups to use instead of weight. This process took extra time and because I had not put out all the ingredients ahead of time, I forgot the vanilla. Waa! The vanilla extract I just posted about making: DIY Make Your Own Vanilla Extract . The...

We enjoy honoring those who've paid the ultimate price on Memorial Day. This year we found an event close by—at Green Valley Cemetery—mile and a half away. We decided to incorporate our daily exercise by running to the location and running back (at least as far as Starbucks located between our house and the cemetery). After finishing my Starbucks' hot green tea, I harvested a cup of blueberries from our backyard blueberry bush. "I'm gonna make a dessert with these," I said to my husband Bob. And this is what I came up with. Simple. Fast. Utterly delicious ! I hope you enjoy it. Double or triple the recipe to make more servings. Blueberry Crisp from Chris Pedersen yield 2 servings category Dessert cuisine Vegan ingredients 1C fresh blueberries 1/2 Tbsp coconut oil 1/4 C quinoa flour 3 dates, diced 3 walnuts, diced directions 1. Preheat toaster oven on convection to 350°. 2. Melt the coconut oil and mix with quinoa flour, dates and walnuts. 3. Add half of mixtur...

I finally got some cacao nibs so I could make something with this healthy superfood. I told you about cacao in a  Wisdom Wednesday post . It's the healthy form of chocolate. Raw chocolate (cacao) is "off the chart" the highest of any food in antioxidants. Rich in minerals magnesium, iron, manganese, chromium, vanadium, copper, zinc and phosphorus. Cacao's complex nature and chemical reaction in the body allows the arteries and intestines to absorb more nutrients. It increases dopamine and other mood altering chemicals in the brain creating a sense of euphoria or bliss. Yeah, Baby! You don't get that from chocolate you picked up at the check-out stand. The superfood nutrients are in the raw version of chocolate. Most are cooked away (except the minerals) when you heat cacao over 118° to make cocoa. Raw cacao nibs are simply raw beans cracked into smaller pieces. To get cacao powder, I have a coffee grinder I use exclusively to grind seeds like flax. It does a grea...

These cupcakes were made by budding pastry chef Julia Thompson for my book signing at Face In a Book  back on January 11th. These are not your ordinary cupcake with sugar-laden frosting and more sugar in the cake. They are completely approved for my cancer-fighting diet. Some may describe them more like a muffin, but they are delicious none the less. Book signing for The Prisoner of Carrot Castle Bring these cupcakes as a healthy alternative for your child's birthday celebration at school. You can rest assured that you are not contributing to an over-sugared generation's addiction to sweets and resulting obesity problems. Carrot Cupcakes from Chris Pedersen yield  1 - 2 dozen cupcakes category Dessert cuisine Vegan ingredients 3 carrots 1/4 C water 2/3 C of coconut oil, melted) 2/3 C honey 1 egg 2 C whole wheat flour 2 tsp baking powder 1/2 tsp salt 1 tsp vanilla extract 1/2 tsp lemon extract 1/2 C chopped walnuts 1 tsp lemon zest 1/4 C coconut sugar directions 1. Preheat ...