Tag Archives: fruit

RAW Mango Cheesecake

05 Tuesday Mar 2013

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Deutsche Version / German version

Okay, I am kind of proud of this one. I just recently got into raw “baking”. I’m not a raw foodist, as you can see on this blog, but I love play around with raw food preparation! For me, it’s a really creative approach that offers so many new possibilities and new flavors! Some of them are worth sharing…

Like this one.

mango cheesecake

RAW Mango Cheesecake. It does not only look delicious, it really is! Don’t compare raw cakes to baked treats. They are not an imitation – they are different, a whole new thing. See them as an alternative or as a very tasty addition to your diet!
Raw cakes are usually quite rich – you might want to cut smaller pieces than you’d do with a regular cake.

RAW Mango Cheesecake

RAW Mango Cheesecake

 Ø about 20cm / 8 inch

For the crust:

  • 3/4 cup (about 100g) pitted dates
  • about 1/2 -3/4 cup nuts or seeds (I used sesame seeds and almonds)
  • 1/2 tsp cinnamon
  • Pinch of salt

For the filling:

  • 3/4 cup (100g) cashews 
  • 4-5 pieces dried mango (my pieces more rather big, use more if your pieces are rather small)
  • 4 tbsp coconut butter
  • 1/2 cup (about 50g) xylit (or sweetener to taste)
  • 1/4 tsp powdered vanilla
  • pinch of salt
  • 1/2 – 3/4 (about 125ml)  cup water

Crust: Either grease your pan with coconut oil or like it with baking paper. Put nuts / seeds in a food processor and mix until coarsely ground. Add the other ingredients and mix until combined. (Add more dates of the dough is to dry and add more nuts if it’s too moist. It’s hard to give exact amounts here cause it all depends on the moisture of your dates!) Put the dough in a baking pan (Ø about 20cm / 8 inch), form the crust.

Filling: Put all the ingredients in a blender and mix! You might want to soak the cashews before blending of your blender is not that strong. Add more water if needed. Pour the cream into the prepared crust. Lick off the spatulas and spoons you used. (This step is essential. DON’T skip ;) ) Put in the refrigerator over night or until the cream firms up.

raw mango cheesecake

Yummy! When a friend taste-tested the cake, he was like “Wow… this is really… cheesy. It’s like cheesecake…”
Even though I’d definitelly not say that this is a one to one cheesecake alternative,… the cashews definitelly yield a cheese flavor. And the mango coconut combo fits the cake really well. Even though I almost had the whole cake for myself, it did not last long until it was gone… hey, I am writing exams. I need brain food! And it seems like the little guy in the pic (no, he was not the test-taster) feels the same about this cake.

raw mango cheesecake

You can freeze the leftovers, too. You might also find the frozen cake easier to cut (even though I had no problems cutting the cake when I left it in the refrigerator over night). Freezing the cake is especial great, when you are making a raw cake for just one or two people. You can eat the frozen cake straight from the fridge… I promise, it’s the best ice-cream cake I ever had!

Lassi – The indian way of milkshake

29 Tuesday Jan 2013

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No indian meal without a lassi.

Mango Lassi

Lassi is a popular and yogurt based indian drink. It can be both sweet or savory. Traditional Lassi is savory, often yogurt is blended together with water and spices like roasted cumin and coriander seeds. It’s said to help your digestion when enjoying an indian fest, too.  The most popular way to enjoy a sweet lassi is mango lassi. It’s refreshing and not as filling as a milkshake. And it tastes really great!

If the mango you use is ripe enough, you won’t need any additional sweetener. At least, that’s what my tastebuds told me. Feel free to add  agave, sugar, stevia or blend in some dates. Whatever works for you is fine!

Another thing I like about Lassi: It’s so simple! No fancy ingredients! Okay, you can add fancy ingredients like rose water, but you don’t have too!

Mango Lassi 2

Mango Lassi 

  • 1 cup yogurt (I used soy) 
  • 1 cup water
  • 1 ripe mango, cut into cubes *
  • Optional: a dash of cardamom or 3 cardamom pods
  • Optional: 1 teespoon rosewater

Put everything in your blender and mix. That’s it! Enjoy  Lassi with an indian meal or just like that!

Note: Cardamom and rosewater are not for everyone. I love cardamom, but most people I know don’t… so please make sure you like it before you add it to your lassi! I warned you!

* No fresh mango on hand? Use some pieces of dried mango! Soak before mixing or use a high speed blender, it does the job!

Lassi 3

You might have noticed that there was no mini fig here. You’re still on the Playful and Hungry website, don’t worry. I must have been out of sorts when I was taking these pics… and probably really hungry, too!

Okay. I just can’t do this. I just can’t post this without a playful pic. That’s just not right! So here you are. The hippie is one of my favorites. However, I definitelly need a female hippie to identify with…

Let’s make the connection between Lassi and my playful hippie picture: Many hippies travelled to india! =D There you go!

hippie and horse

Navratan Korma – The nine gems

21 Monday Jan 2013

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Navratan Korma – I even like the name of this dish! Navratan means nine gems and stands for the nine vegetables, fruits and nuts originally used in this dish. However, it’s up to you how many ingredients you want to add, as always, just add the veggies you like and that are available to you. Navratan Korma is more about the delicious, creamy sauce anyway.

Navratan Korma

Too me, it’s THE Indian dish. It took a while for me to notice that each time I was at an Indian Restaurant (and I’ve been to many Indian restaurants!), I’d usually take Navratan Korma. Well, who needs variety when you can always just eat the most delicious dish on the menu?

Okay, I guess you noticed that Navratan Korma is delicious to me… So could just stop talking and giving you the recipe!

Oh, and don’t be intimidated by the long list of ingredients! It’s really not that much once you have all the spices!

Navratan Korma 2

Navratan Korma 

inspired by The Lotus and the Artichoke

  • 1 cup / 8og cauliflower, chopped
  • 1/2 cup / 50g bush beans
  • 1/2 cup / 50g peas
  • 1 large potato, chopped (I didn’t peal, it’s up to you)
  • 3/4 cup / 180 ml water
  • 1 onion, finely chopped
  • 1/4 tsp granulated garlic OR 1 clove fresh, finely chopped garlic
  • 1 inch / 2 cm fresh ginger, finely chopped
  • 2 Tbsp Coconut Oil
  • 1/2 cup cashews plus some for decoration
  • 2 tsp cumin, ground
  • 2 tsp coriander seeds, ground
  • 1 tsp garam masala
  • 1/2 tsp tumeric
  • cayenne pepper (optional, it’s hot!)
  • 1 tomato, chopped
  • a little less than 1 tsp salt
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 1/3 cup raisins
  • optional: fresh coriander leaves, for garnish

Heat the oil in a big pot on medium heat. Add onion and ginger (and fresh garlic, of using). Stir constantly and fry for about 2-3 minutes.
Add cumin, coriander, garam masala and tumeric and fry again for 2-3 minutes, until the spices omit a nice smell. Mix in the chopped tomato and cook for another 3 minutes. Turn of the heat now and puree the spice-tomato mix together with the cashews and water. Put the sauce back in the pot, turn on medium heat and add the bay leave, salt and raisins.
Now it’s time to add the veggies! You could also precook them, like the original recipe does, but I found it sufficient to cook them in the creamy sauce for about 15 minutes. Make it hot: Add cayenne pepper to taste!
Garnish with fresh coriander leaves.

Indian Navratan Korma

Cheers!

Simple Apple Pie Smoothie

21 Sunday Oct 2012

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I never expected it… but this smoothie really taste like apple pie filling! It’s fresh, raw, foamy, yummy. The dates yield a delicious caramel flavor and sweetness. The almonds make it extra creamy and perfect.

I made this so often for breakfast this week. Seems to be my favorite right now. Another great part: It’s not pricey! Apples are the seasonal fruit right now, at my grocery store, it’s the freshest and cheapest thing I can get.

But what I like best about this smoothie: It’s so easy! I usually have all the ingredients at hand. You only need one kind of fruit! Just apples, no more.  And you won’t believe how delicious it is until you tried!

Apple Pie Smoothie
one big Smoothie

  • 2 apples, cut into quarters
  • 1/8 cup almond (about one hand full)
  • about 5 dates
  • 1/4 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/4 cup ice cubes
  • 1/4 cup water or as needed
  • optional: some oats or flaxseed – make it a breakfast!

But everything in your blender, ice cubes first. Add as much water as needed for desired consistence. Blend – and enjoy! If you like your smoothie even sweeter, you can add some stevia.

I put some oats and flax seed in my smoothie as a breakfast – the oats make a great “pie crust”. You could also crumble some graham cracker on top of your smoothie. Or decorate it with some cream and cinnamon!

Baked Apple Cream

07 Sunday Oct 2012

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It’s fall.

A few days ago, there were the first leaves on my car when I wanted to drive home from work. That means: summer is over. It’s fall.

So it’s time for fall flavors! Pumpkin is one of my favorites. Fresh pears and apples. And all the spices! Cinnamon, cardamom (my all time favorite), ginger…

Right now, it’s time for another apple dessert. Baked apples are a favorite treat around Christmas time in Germany. Okay, we were talking about recipes for fall… But however. If you ask me, one can eat baked apples all year round!

Baked Apple Cream 

  • 750 ml / 3 cups unfiltered apple juice (cider)
  • 3 tbsp corn starch
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 2 apples
  • about 50g (two hands full) raisins
  • about 50g (two hands) chopped almonds
  • 3 tsp brown cane sugar
  • dash of salt
  • 1 tsp coconut oil

Melt the coconut oil in a non-stick frying pan on medium  heat. Add the almonds and roast them for a few minutes. Then add the sugar and fry until it’s melted and caramelized.
Chop the apples and add them to the sugar almond mixture. Add cinnamon and put aside.

Stir the cornstarch into the apple juice until combined. Heat the juice (stir!) until it boils and turn into a thick cream. Remove the pot from the stove and add the apples-almond mixture.

Enjoy!

 

Someone has to clean up, after all…

 

I had to make this dessert twice. The first time, it was gone before I could take a picture…. it’s that good.

It tastes great warm or cold!

And of course, you could add all the spices you want. Ginger would be great. Mulling spice. Cardamom. Whatever you like!

 

Oktoberfest Beer for dessert

03 Wednesday Oct 2012

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Yeah, now she’s gone crazy. But I really had beer for dessert. I even had it for breakfast. And was still driving my car afterwards.

No, don’t worry, everything is fine with me.

You’ll still be sober after ten dessert beers!

They are tasty and healthy. Oh, I know there will be many men and women telling me that “real” beer IS very healthy, too. However… my beer doesn’t taste like beer at all. Okay, I admit it: It’s a fake. It’s a dessert that looks like beer. Like real beer.

And I love it. I don’t like “real” beer though. YES, I am living in Germany and I don’t like beer. It’s possible.

But I do like this dessert.

And so does the little Bavarian. (Honestly, I never thought I’d have use for him!)

German Dessert Beer

  • 500ml / 2 cups unfiltered apple juice (cider)
  • dash of cinnamon
  • 1 tsp agar agar powder
  • soyatoo or any other kind of vegan cream (I used natumi)

Pour the apple juice in a pot and add the agar agar and the cinnamon, using a whisk. Boil the juice for about 2 min, stirring constantly. Pour into beer glasses and let it cool down until firm.
Whip cream and put it on top of your “beer”, it well be the “head”.
Enjoy.

It’s a perfect dessert for any Oktoberfest party. Or just for fun. At first sight, my friends really thought I was having beer!

Well, they should know me better… I’ve just been playing with my food.
Enjoy the dessert beer with a pretzel! (Aren’t those lego pretzels cute? I like it…)

Summer in a bowl – Mango Ice Cream (RAW)

06 Thursday Sep 2012

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The last days of summer – time to enjoy some more ice cream!

Okay, actually… According to my very own definition summer is already over where I live. Oh well. You can still fetch it back to your plate bowl!

 

This is the kind of ice cream we enjoyed most this summer. Maybe I will even love this in winter – we’ll see!
One part I really love about it: You use dried mango instead of fresh! Just stock some dried mango and you’re fine! It’s that easy…

It’s super creamy, raw and does not contain bananas! As I mentioned before – I love bananas, but I don’t want every treat and dessert to have a banana flavor.

Last days of summer Mango Ice Cream 

  • 2 cups (300g)  ice cubes
  • half a carrot (medium sized)
  • 1 nectarine, halved
  • about 10 peaces of dried mango (50g or 1,7 oz)
  • 2 tbsp agave syrup OR 15 drops stevia (or sweetener of choice)

Put everything in your heavy duty blender (I used a vita-mix) in the  order they are listed. Use your tamper and blend until smooth (it will take about 1-2 minutes). Done. Serve immediately. Enjoy!

Yes, I sneaked in some carrot – it will yield a beautiful color and I promise – you won’t taste it!

 

As long as there’s hot tea and warm blankets – I bet I’ll still love this when winter is here!

Very Berry Vanilla Yogurt Cake

30 Thursday Aug 2012

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Finally: The cake from the header. Yes, I know, you had to wait quite a while for this. And some people have asked me about it. Well… here it is!

 

Don’t worry, he got his peace of the cake!
It was my birthday cake this year. I wanted a summery light and refreshing cake. A cake that doesn’t make you feel yucky after one peace.  As it was summer, it was obvious that there had to be a lot of fruit in this cake!

 

So, that was all I knew before I made the cake: A lot of fruit, some yogurt and a vanilla cream. Yes, I can work with that. The result: Very Berry Vanilla Yogurt Cake.
Creativity can be so yummy!

Very Berry Vanilla Yogurt Cake

  • 3oog / 1 1/4 cups / 10,5 ounces soy yogurt (I recommend to weight the yogurt)
  • 200g / about 1 1/4 cups / 7 ounces mixed frozen or fresh berries (I recommend to weight it)
  • dry sweetener to taste
  • 2 tsp agar agar powder or 2 tbsp agar agar flakes
  • 1 vanilla pudding mix (like Dr Oetker organic vanilla pudding. For Germany: Ruf Vanilla pudding)
  • 1 cup soy creamer (Germany: Alpro Cuisine) or canned coconut milk
  • 1 cup soy milk
  • 1,5 cups vegan graham cracker crumbs (or any other vegan cookie. “Zwieback” works, too)
  • 3-4 Tsp melted Earth Balance / Alsan

Mix Graham crackers and Earth Balance in a bowl. Use your fingers to press the mixture evenly into the buttom of your plate.
Now prepare the Vanilla Cream: Prepare the Vanilla pudding according to the instructions, but use half a cup of creamer (or coconut milk) and half a cup of soy milk. Pour the pudding on top of the crust and let it cool down in the refrigerator.
Time to prepare the yogurt layer! Blend the mixed berries. Put the blended berries in a pot and boil them up with the agar agar (don’t forget to stir a lot!). Finally, mix the yogurt and the warm berry mixture in a bowl. Add sweetener to taste (you cold either use stevia, xylit, cane or coconut sugar. Don’t use liquid sweetener cause the yogurt might get thick if you do) Pour the yogurt berry mixture in your pan on top of the vanilla cream. Let the cake cool down in the refrigerator (it takes about 6  hours for the agar agar be completely thick. Don’t remove the cake from the pan before completely cooled down.)
Once the cake is firm and cooled down, you can remove it from the pan and decorate it! Be creative! (Remember: Being creative can be really yummy!)

I think my little friends have discovered something in my kitchen…

And here’s a piece of the cake with both it’s layers.

Just to give you an idea what it looked like!
You can use any kind of yogurt and any kind of milk you want. However, I’d recommend to weight the yogurt and the berries. Weighting the ingredients is more exact and will yield to the best results when using agar agar.

Have you ever made a vegan yogurt cake? (Or: Have you ever made a yogurt cake in the first place?) You should! It’s fun and it’s delicious!

 

Banana Cookie Dough Blizzard

26 Sunday Aug 2012

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Do I have to say more?

You can’t imagine how excited I was when I thought about my own twist on the traditional blizzard. Big chunks of cookie dough. A creamy base made from frozen bananas and even more cookie dough. Heaven.

I’ve had some trouble to explain to my not American friends what a blizzard actually is though! Might have been the hardest part of making my own blizzard (you see, making your own blizzard is really easy!). I started to describe it as something like a milkshake with big chunks of something, like cookie dough! The consistence is somewhere between soft serve and milkshake. It’s a little to thick for a milkshake and the cookie dough chunks are a little too big for a milkshake. It is a… well, a blizzard! (That was the point where I just gave my friend a blizzard for test tasting. He liked it.)

It’s that good. I had it for breakfast…

Banana Cookie Dough Blizzard
2-3 servings 

  • 3-4 frozen bananas, very ripe
  • about 2 tbsp Almond milk
  • 1/2 batch cookie dough

Put the frozen bananas in your blender or food processor.  Process bananas, stopping to scrape down the sides of the bowl if necessary. (When you make this in a vita-mix, use the tamper). Finally, add some cookie dough and process until combined. (I used about 6 cookie dough balls. It depends on the size of your cookie dough balls though. Use as many as you like!). You should have a soft serve type consistency when done. If think the mixture is still to think, add some almond milk and process again. Pour the blizzard into a glass and stir in your desired amount of crumbled cookie dough. Crumble some cookie dough on top, too!  Serve your homemade blizzard with a spoon.

I never thought making my own blizzard could be that easy!

All the cookie dough goodness!

On a personal note: I created a facebook page for this blog and I’d be glad if you like it! =)

All lovin’ no oven!

23 Thursday Aug 2012

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Who doesn’t love cookie dough? I mean, seriously! I never quite understood why some people actually bake cookie dough! As I didn’t grow up with cookie dough treats, I’ve told you about my excitement when found out about cookie dough ice cream before…

And isn’t cookie dough the most playful food ever? You make any shape from dough, using your hands or cookie cutters and eating half of the dough while doing so…

Yes, you can do really exciting, creative shapes… or you can just form balls like I did. Yummy, rich, buttery cookie dough balls. Not your average cookie dough though! This is a healthier, almost raw version! But as delicious.

RAW Cookie dough 

  • 2/3 cup cashews
  • 1/3 cup rolled oats
  • 2 tbsp agave
  • 1 tbsp whole cane sugar (for the typical cookie dough flavor. Can be replaced by brown cane sugar or more agave)
  • dash natural vanilla powder or a piece of a vanilla bean
  • optional: chocolate chips

Put all the ingredients (except chocolate chips) in a heavy duty blender (use the tamper) or a food processor and mix. Once all the ingredients are combined, you can either add chocolate chips by hand or put them in your blender / food processor and mix for a few more seconds.
Form the cookie dough into any shape you like. Don’t forget test tasting!

Want something more special? What about cookie dough banana sandwiches?

Trust me, it’s a perfect combination.

It’s delicious. Take care. You might have to share. Maybe double the batch? You could also dip either the cookie dough balls or the sandwiches in chocolate! (I wasn’t feeling like chocolate though. Plain cookie dough is as good as the chocolate ship version though!)
And stash some bananas away! There will be a new twist on banana ice cream later this week…