Ⓥ Semi Raw Banoffee Pie

I remembered that I had a tin of soy condensed milk to use up, but really wanted to make a more healthy version of the banoffee pie that I liked so much last time.  So, I thought I would do a nut and date base with soy condensed milk, banana, and a raw coconut cream topping.

For the base I blended together

1.5 Cups walnuts
1 Cup dates
3 Tablespoons of Cocoa
3 Tablespoons agave syrup

I put this in a flan dish and squashed it down, then put it in the fridge.
 

For the topping I put a tin of coconut milk in the fridge for 24 hours and separated the solid cream from the liquid, I put the liquid in the fridge to use in something else later

I blended the coconut cream together with
0.25 Cups melted coconut oil
3 Tablespoons agave syrup
1 Banana
Pinch salt
1 Teaspoon xanthan gum powder
 

To be honest, I blended all the above ingredients bar the xanthan gum first and found that it separated.  I wasn't sure why but thought the gum might do the trick to get it back on track, it did.  If anything, I might have overdone it with the gum, as the cream topping was a tad thick, so I have reduced the amount in this recipe.

I had simmered the soy condensed milk in the unopened tin for four hours the day before and put the unopened tin in the fridge.

So, now I put a layer of banana on top of the walnut base, poured over the soy condensed cream and spooned on the topping.

It is now two days later and I have just had my second piece.  It is great, the base has got a sticky quality about it and the soy condensed milk, although I imagine full of sugar is lovely.  I have done an hour on my bike turbo today so what the hell, maybe I will have another piece, and it is mainly raw too!

Ⓥ Our Trip To Falmouth's First Vegan Cafe/Bar - Wildebeest

Visit No.1: Wednesday 12th March 2014
We journeyed down through Cornwall from Vegan Chat Room HQ on a trip to Wildebeest, Falmouth's first vegan cafe/bar.  The cafe had opened it's doors for the first time on Monday 10th March, and we were keen to sample their food.  We found it quite easily, on Arwenack Street, one of the main streets through Falmouth.

We had been trawling the charity shops of Falmouth, so were keener than ever to get stuck into some vegan grub.  The cafe is very smart and clean, with pine benches and tables, together with a few green stools and food bar. I checked out the toilets, one for each sex which is great and very clean. I think there were around seven tables, so a fair size cafe really.  There is also a chalk board for anyone feeling artistic, who wants to sketch down their vegan thoughts.  On the shelves are mini cacti/succulent worlds.

 

We selected two main meals from the selection on the chalk board - Chestnut, Fennel and Tarragon Ravioli and Pumpkin Quesadillas with Refried Beans, Salsa and Guacamole (gluten free).  We waited with drooling mouths for our food to arrive.

Very soon, our food arrived from the friendly staff, together with our cutlery which was contained in cleaned, reused and polished up tin cans, with recycled napkins.

Now, I have forgotten the times that I have sat wn in a veggie or vegan cafe or restaurant, awaiting the arrival of my food, keen to tuck into the selection of vegan fayre that I had selected from the menu, only to be disappointed to various degrees.  I can honestly say, that this was the very first time that I have not been disappointed to even one percent of a degree.  We shared both main meals, and tried the ravioli first.  Rose told me later that they make and dehydrate their own cashew cheese and that was sprinkled on top of the ravioli.  It was a dish comprising of a few ingredients, but those ingredients worked so well together.  The fennel was a wonderful, mild aniseed flavour, it went so well with the tarragon and chestnut.  The ravioli pasta was cooked really well, really light and with the cashew cheese on top melted in the mouth.  Then, we were onto the Pumpkin Quesadillas dish.  All four parts of the dish were very tasty independently as well as complementing each other.  The pumpkin Quesadillas were a new one for me, they were also nice and light filled with a great flavourful pumpkin centre.  We had all too soon reached the end of our meals.

Rose recommended two of the ice creams and sorbets for us to try, Giandina ice cream made with hazelnuts and BBQ pineapple and black pepper sorbet.  We thought we would try a giant cranberry, oat and almond cookie each to go with it.

The Giandina was really rich and sooo, hazel-nutty, just like a cruelty free version of Nutella in an ice cream. The sorbet was really fresh and with such a wonderful pineapple hit.  The fruity/nutty cookies were wonderful and went really well with the scoops, I did wonder how they fitted them in their oven though.

After we paid, we were given a loyalty card, which gives you one free drink after you have five stamps and a generous offer of 2 meals for 1 after you have ten stamps on your card.

Rose told us, that they having regular vegan sushi nights and they plan to have monthly events.  My only complaint, is that Vegan Chat Room HQ is too far away from Falmouth and more importantly from Wildebeest.

Website:  www.wildebeestcafe.com

Twitter: @wildebeestcafe

Facebook: www.facebook.com/wildebeestfalmouth

Visit No.2: Wednesday 18th June 2014
We decided to test out our new tent and go on a camping holiday further down into Cornwall near the Lizard.  We planned our return journey to take in a visit to Falmouth and Wildebeest.  We arrived in the late morning, before the lunchtime kitchen had opened, so we had a little walk around Falmouth harbour in the sunshine.

From the menu this time we chose Gnocchi and Mex Mix, with a slice of Raspberry Cheesecake each for dessert.

The Gnocchi dish came with asparagus, capers, sage sauce, cashew parmesan, roast tomatoes and rocket.

The Mex Mix came with salsa, guacamole, refried beans, sticky onions, cashew cheese and home made tortillas.

Both meals were up to the high standards already set during our first visit, full of flavour and mouth-watering.  This left just enough space in our bellies for dessert...

The Raspberry Cheesecake was, again, delicious.  It all worked well together and was a treat for our taste-buds.

 

We remembered to take our loyalty card with us, so we've collected another stamp for our collection... and we'll back for more :)

Website:  www.wildebeestcafe.com

Twitter: @wildebeestcafe

Facebook: www.facebook.com/wildebeestfalmouth

Ⓥ Organic Vegan Raspberry, Date, Cacao & Cashew Love Truffles

Being the season of love, I thought I would try to concoct some truffles for myself.  Gramondo could have a few as well, if there were any left over.

First, using my Excalibur Dehydrator I dehydrated around 200g of raspberries, forgetting of course to take any photographs of this stage of the proceedings.  It took around 16 hours to get them nice and crisp and dry.

Then I soaked a cup of organic cashew nuts for about one hour.

I chopped up a cup of organic dates and processed them with the nuts, raspberries, 1/4 cup of organic cacao and four table spoons of organic maple syrup.

I rolled the mixture into small truffle sized balls and placed them on a board, then put them in the freezer.  I thought freezing them would help later when covering them in chocolate.

Around one hour later, I melted various chocolate (including an Organica Chocolate Couverture bar) that I had managed not to scoff; it was around 140g in total.

Then I rolled each truffle, coating it in chocolate. Freezing them did help a great deal here I think. The chocolate hardened very quickly.

There you have it, fairly healthy, truffles, made from lots of raw organic ingredients, that take less than 30 minutes to make.  The raspberry is really intense, and works well with all the other ingredients.