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Picture of a square bowl with nut balls

New Moon balls with nuts

nutrition, , ,

Yoga Kitchen – Simple, healthy, and plant-based

Nuts and seeds as part of a healthy diet

These little balls are reminiscent of the New Moon. That is the time, when the moon, at the beginning of a new cycle, is completely dark and unshone by the sun. You can easily render the surface of the balls resulting from this recipe all round and smooth.
In fact, this recipe relies on a classic combination from healthy plant-based cooking. Nuts are combined with dried fruits and one or more flavourings or spices. You could build on this recipe by using, instead of the almonds and dates featured in this recipe, other nuts and dried fruits that you have available at the time. This way, you learn to be free and creative with your food, regardless of the rigidity of sticking to recipes.
In any case, this combination is very successful.

What ingredients do you need?

This is incredibly simple. Just three things, in the following proportions:

  • 75 g peeled (white) almonds
  • 40 g unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 200 g pitted medjoul or mazafati dates (about 18 pieces)

This is how to make these healthy and energy-rich snacks:

  • Cut the pitted dates into small pieces
  • Add the almonds and cocoa in a food processor with an S-shaped blade and grind them finely
  • Add the date pieces and grind further until a chocolate-coloured dough forms
  • First put the mixture in the fridge for a few hours
  • Then remove it from the fridge, cut the dough with a sharp knife first into four large, equal pieces
  • Cut each piece into 4 to 5 smaller, equal pieces
  • Roll these pieces between your clean fingertips into perfectly smooth, round black balls

Done!

How “healthy” are these almond balls?

There is no refined or added sugar in these balls. Definitely a plus. It is the sugar naturally found in the dates and the cocoa that make these balls so tantalisingly delicious.
Both almonds and dates are rich in fibre, which aids healthy digestion. Almonds contain fats and vegetable proteins. The fats from the ingredients of this recipe contain very little saturated fats. However, the fats and especially the (natural) sugars in these snacks combined do make them very high in energy, so it is best to consume them in moderation.
It all depends on your physical activity. If you are a regular (endurance) athlete, these little balls will be a great fuel for your higher energy consumption.

What nuts are also healthy alternatives to this recipe?

It is a good idea to also add a regular portion to your daily meals from the following nuts and seeds:

  • Brazil nuts
  • Cashew nuts
  • Chia seeds
  • Hazelnuts
  • Hemp seeds
  • Macadamia nuts
  • Pecans
  • Pine nuts
  • Pistachios
  • Pumpkin seeds
  • Sesame seeds
  • Sunflower seeds
  • Walnuts

And to that list you can also add peanuts, although botanically speaking, these are not nuts, but legumes. These pistachios are sometimes wrongly considered as less healthy, but there is no scientific evidence for this, quite the contrary.
Eat your nuts preferably unsalted. Many salted nuts like salted peanuts and almonds, contain far too much table salt, just like potato crisps.

How big is a healthy portion of nuts?

Thirty grams of nuts, or two tablespoons of nut butter per day is a good indication of what constitutes a balanced nut consumption for an adult. By the way, nut spreads are a good base to use in sauces and soups and make them creamy.

Does eating nuts make me gain weight?

Without going into detail here, scientific research shows that it does not. Unlike animal fats such as butter and lard or vegetable edible oil, nuts do not seem to lead to significant weight gain. You can consult the scientific sources for this in the chapter “Nuts and Seeds” in the book: “How not to Die” by American physician Dr Michael Greger. That book is an eye-opener regarding the benefits of plant-based eating.

New Moon balls, per 100g product

Energy Carboh. Sugars Fat Sat. Fat Protein Fibre Salt
1445 kJ/345 kcal 59,4 g 43,5 g 14,4 g 2,0 g 8,7 g 11,3 0,05 g

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Picture of square raw carrot cakes

No Bake Carrot Cake

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Yoga Kitchen – Simple, healthy, and plant-based

Raw spicy carrot cake with nuts and coconut

Admittedly, this carrot cake does take some labour to pull off. However, the result more than pays off. This full raw and vegan carrot cake is full of healthy ingredients and tastes downright heavenly and very refined. With its warming spices and energy from the nuts, dates and root vegetables, this cake suits the autumn and winter season very well.

What ingredients do you need?

For the cake

  • 2 medium-sized carrots, approx 190 g in total, grated
  • 120 g almonds
  • 80 g oatmeal
  • 8 to 10 large medjoul or mazafati dates (about 130 g, pitted)
  • 2 teaspoons of cinnamon powder
  • 1 quarter teaspoon of ground nutmeg
  • 1 quarter teaspoon ginger powder
  • a pinch of sea salt
  • 70 g grated coconut
  • a generous splash of plant milk (up to about 100 ml)
  • optional: a teaspoon of vanilla extract

For the icing:

  • 2 to 3 medjoul or mazafati dates
  • 120 g cashew nuts
  • one tablespoon of sesame paste (tahini)
  • 80 to 120 ml of vegetable milk
  • 15 g walnuts or pecans
  • optional: a teaspoon of vanilla extract

This is how to make this delicious carrot cake

A few small preparations:

  • Soak the walnuts in cold water for a few hours or overnight
  • Drain them and rinse away the bitterness
  • Soak the cashews for 15 minutes or so in warm water, or an hour or two in cold water
  • Drain them and rinse briefly
  • Open the dates to pit them, then cut them into pieces and soak them in warm water for about 5-10 minutes
  • Drain the soaking water
  • Roast the almonds for about 15 minutes on a sheet of baking paper in a preheated oven at 160°C, stirring once halfway through
  • Grate the carrots finely
  • Prepare a sheet of baking paper at the bottom of a tray with raised edges of approx 20 cm x 20 cm

This is how to make the cake come true:

  • Place the carrots, almonds, spices and salt in a food processor fitted with an S-shaped blade and grind to a coarse mixture
  • Add the dates and grind further
  • Then add the grated coconut and continue to blend
  • Pause occasionally and scrape down what sticks to the sides of the food processor to get a homogeneous mixture
  • Add the vegan milk little by little to get a slightly moister and finer mixture
  • Pat the raw dough thus obtained onto the baking sheet in the tray, press it flat all around and smoothen
  • Then add the cashews, the three remaining dates, the sesame paste and the vegan milk into the cleaned bowl of the food processor and grind until you get a creamy consistency
  • Spoon the cream thus obtained onto the carrot cake in the tray and spread uniformly and smooth
  • Pulse the walnuts coarsely in the food processor and finally sprinkle them over the cream layer as a garnish

Your delicious carrot cake is ready. Put it away in the fridge for a few hours to become firmer.
Picture of a cutout from a carrot cake

Some tips and experiences

Grinding the carrot cake dough is the trickiest job. But once that job is done, your cake is also pretty much done.
Toasting the almonds is not really necessary, but it results in a boost in flavour.
When toasting the almonds, keep a close eye on your oven. The almonds may turn a little light brown, but be careful not to burn them. After all, every oven is unique.
By placing a sheet of baking paper in the tray, you can easily lift the cake out of the mould afterwards to cut it up. You might as well make the cake in a round tray.
Due to the high nut and date content, this cake is very high in energy. A small piece per person is enough to make you feel satiated quickly.
This cake will easily keep for up to 4-5 days in the fridge in a sealed container.
Enjoy to the fullest!

Did you like this cake topper? Here is another recipe using carrots in a sweet-tasting dessert, without nuts.

What is the importance of nuts for health?

A small portion of nuts daily supports your health. Nuts generally contain healthy oils and also some plant proteins. The oil they contain does make them very high in energy. So consume nuts regularly, preferably daily, but in moderation.
Eating a portion of nuts daily is one of the recommendations from the “Daily Dozen”. This is a set of twelve plant foods that have been objectively scientifically proven benefits to support a healthy and long life. The “Daily Dozen” were developed by US physician Dr Michael Greger. He has made spreading scientific information about healthy plant-based eating to his life’s goal. Read about it in detail on his website www.nutritionfacts.org. This website is full of scientifically substantiated tips and information on how to eat 100% plant-based food in a healthy way. I highly recommend!

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Raw cocoa bullets with dates and brazil nuts

Raw cocoa bullets with dates and Brazil nuts

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Yoga Kitchen – Simple, healthy, and plant-based

Long live honest food

This country has a tradition of chocolate bonbons, or popularly known as the Belgian pralines. These things can be bought in all decent shopping streets, often in specialised shops. They come in endless colours and shapes. The duty-free zones in our airports are almost paved with them, as it were. These chocolates have a kind of luxury image. Many tourists take them as souvenirs. And even at parties, birthdays or other special occasions, they are among the standard gifts offered.
And what if they were a well-organised scam? Those things are full of added sugar, fats and dairy products. In any case, what you pay for with your good money does not benefit your health. In reality, it is pretty inferior food that is sometimes sold pretty expensive. At best, it is one stage on the highway to sugar addiction and diabetes.
So should you completely miss out on the typical taste of these chocolate treats?
Well no! On the contrary. Following my personal opinion on Belgian chocolates, here comes the good news:
With dairy-free, pure natural ingredients and no added sugars, you conjure up chocolate balls in a jiffy that are so delicious that pralines soon become a vague and uncomfortable memory.

What ingredients do you need?

  • 75 g brazil nuts
  • 140 g juicy medjoul or mazafati dates
  • a pinch of sea salt
  • 15 g (about three tablespoons) ground coconut
  • 5 g (one and a half tablespoons) (raw) cocoa powder
  • about 20 g of cocoa nibs or raw cocoa beans

This is how to prepare them

  • Grind the raw cocoa beans or cocoa nibs finely enough in a food processor with S-shaped blade and keep them aside
  • Add all the other ingredients together in the food processor and grind into a coarse, cohesive dough
  • Roll 12 to 16 balls of the dough
  • Then roll the balls through the ground cocoa flakes until they are coated all around

There you are, all done!
If you roll more than 12 balls, you may need some extra ground cocoa bean, as the total surface area of the balls will be larger than for 12 pieces.
This recipe yields about 258 g.

The taste test

These cocoa balls taste downright heavenly and have a well-balanced, rich sweet flavour. The outer layer of cocoa flakes gives them a pleasant, gently bitter crunch. In my opinion, they stand head and shoulders above classic pralines or chocolate bonbons in terms of taste and sophistication.

The health verdict

Brazil nuts contain healthy fats, a good amount of protein (14 g per 100 g of nuts) and are unique in the nutritional world for their high content of the mineral selenium. We need selenium as an essential micronutrient. One brazil nut a day and you basically meet your selenium requirement. There is no added or refined sugar in these raw bullets, nor milk, butter or added oil. The dates provide the sweet taste and, on top of that, they add a nice content of fibre and a whole range of minerals like copper and potassium as an extra. This is healthy snacking as it really should be.

Cocoa bullets with brazil nuts and dates, per 100 g product

Energy Carboh. Sugars Fat Sat. Fat Protein Fibre Salt
437 kJ/849 kcal 51,6 g 38,0 g 27,4 g 10,0 g 7,83 g 6,0 g 0,2 g

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Picture of a fvegan ruit crumble

Warm fruit crumble

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Yoga Kitchen – Simple, healthy, and plant-based

Autumn sonata with seasonal fruit, oatmeal and walnuts

A very quick and easy dessert, ideal for autumn or winter.
This is when freshly harvested fruit and nuts are available in abundance.
Warmed fruit delivers a subtle palette of flavours and aromas. The spices not only add a touch of flavour but also aid digestion. The recipe is 100% plant-based with no added refined sugar.

What ingredients do you need?

For the fruit marinade:

  • 4 pieces of seasonal fruit
  • one tablespoon lemon juice
  • a teaspoon of cinnamon (or more, depending on taste)
  • another half tablespoon of maple syrup
  • Optional: half a teaspoon of ground cardamom

For the crumble pastry

  • 120 g walnuts (almonds, walnuts, pecans, hazelnuts or a mixture
  • 100 g rolled oats
  • 2 tablespoons heatable oil (for example sunflower oil or coconut oil (melted))
  • 4 tablespoons maple syrup
  • 2 teaspoons cinnamon
  • Sea salt to taste

Here’s how you can do it:

In a nutshell, it’s very simple:

  • You mix the fruit with the marinade ingredients and spread it out on the bottom of a baking tray.
  • Then you mix the crumble ingredients and place this mixture as a second layer on top of the fuit layer.
  • Then bake in the oven.

Proceed step by step as follows:

  • Preheat the oven to 180°C (or 170°C with hot air circulation)
  • Cut the fruit into pieces
  • Mix the fruit with the marinade: lemon juice, cinnamon, maple syrup and optionally cardamom
  • Spread the fruit mixture in the bottom of a mould or on a baking tray and set aside
  • Coarsely chop the oats and walnuts in a food processor fitted with an S-shaped blade
  • Add the oil, maple syrup, cinnamon and sea salt and blend
  • Add the crumble batter in a second layer over the fruit in the baking tray
  • Bake for approximately 20 minutes in the preheated oven

And there you have it! The crumble can be eaten chilled but is best warm. You can serve it with a generous spoonful of vegan cream if you like.

Is it better to eat fruit raw?

Raw or not raw: it’s one of those debates in the world of food that can often be the subject of a veritable religion :

  • For raw food fans, it’s good to eat lots of fruit and heating above 40°C is taboo.
  • For followers of Ayurveda and macrobiotics, steaming or cooking fruit is preferable. According to these prescriptions, you are better off eating fruit in moderation, and separately from other foods.

Well, the truth will lie, as it often does, somewhere in the middle.
My advice is to find out how you digest fruit best. In any case, heating fruit comes at the expense of some of its nutritional value. This has been scientifically measured. In fact, some vitamins (such as vitamin C, which is naturally abundant in fruit) are degraded when heated.
The shorter the food is heated and the gentler the cooking technique, the greater the remaining nutritional value. Mild cooking techniques are therefore better.

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Picture showing nuts and fruits energy balls

Energy balls with nuts and dried fruits

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Yoga Kitchen – Simple, healthy, and plant-based

Little energy bombs

Dry fruits and nuts belong to the food items with a high energy density.
Firstly, they are very nutritious: they contain many minerals and nuts in particular contain healthy fats. Furthermore, they contain a relatively high amount of energy per unit weight, expressed in calories. You only need to eat a little bit of them to quickly reach a decent calorie intake.
However, calories are only a flawed way of measuring nutritional value. You can read more about that at the end of this post.

In the example below, we combine nuts and dry fruits to create a delicious plant-based snack that you could even eat for breakfast. And all with raw, unprocessed produce, with no added sugars.

What do you need?

The number of balls depends on how big or small you roll them.
You get about a total of 320 grams of finished product with the quantities suggested below.
From this you get about 24 pieces with a diameter of about one and a half centimetres.
Take 80 grams of each of the products listed below:

  • pitted tamarind paste
  • cashew nuts or white almonds
  • grated coconut
  • raisins

The tamarind is also called the Indian date. The fruit is also well known in South America and the rest of Southeast Asia. The seeds of the tamarind are rock hard, and these have to be removed. Look carefully on the packaging to make sure you have the pitted version. The pulp of tamarind is sold in packets of about 150g to 200g in Asian and Indian shops. Tamarind has a pleasant, fresh sour-sweet flavour.

This is how you make the energy balls:

  • Cut the tamarind paste into smaller pieces with a sharp knife. Remove any remaining seeds.
  • Add the nuts to the bowl of a food processor and pulse them to a fine, granular powder.
  • Add the grated coconut and pulse a few more times.
  • Set the finely ground nut and coconut mixture aside.
  • Now add the tamarind and sultanas to the bowl of the food processor and pulse them finely.
  • Continue to grind the tamarind and sultanas until a sticky mass with a doughy consistency forms.
  • Then knead the fruit mixture and nut-coconut mixture together well with your fingers.
  • Roll balls of approximately equal size between your fingers and hands.
  • The balls will keep for a full week in a sealed container in the fridge.

Kneading is solid work for fingers and hands! You’ll get muscular forearms!

Take the above recipe as a general model for this kind of healthy snack.
You can make your own combinations from the following ingredients:

  • Nuts such as: walnuts, pecans, almonds, cashews, hazelnuts …
  • Whole grains such as: buckwheat, oat flakes or other cereal flakes …
  • Dried fruits such as: sultanas, cranberries, plums, apricots, figs, dates …
  • Spices such as: pepper, cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom …

Use your creativity and be guided by your tastes and what you have available.
Preferably buy organically grown ingredients in bulk, which further saves packaging waste and is often cheaper.

Approximate nutritional value of these energy balls, per 100g of product:

Energy Carbohydrates Sugars Fat Sat. Fat Protein Fibre Salt
459,5 kcal 48,6 g 29,8 g 28,7 g 15,3 g 8,5 g 10,8 g 0,032 g

Calorie counting, does it make sense?

The energy value of a food product, expressed in calories, is a theoretically calculated amount of energy that would be released if you were to burn the food product completely to ashes in a closed vessel and then measure how much heat energy is released in the process.
But of course, we humans are not a closed vessel, nor do we burn our food completely to ashes!
Further, the energy from our food acts on our organs in a much more complex way than just heat energy.
As an example, to 1000 kcal steamed cauliflower, your body will react completely differently than to 1000 kcal smarties or some other criminally unhealthy candy.
Furthermore, eating 1000 kcal of food of any kind does not mean that your body will also absorb 1000 kcal of it. Some of your food will digest, some will not. Also depending on what your individual digestive system can handle. Indeed, a lot depends on the condition and diversity of your gut flora.

So calories are very, very relative as a measure of one’s nutritional intake and give little or no relevant information.
They are only useful if you already have a varied and balanced diet.
In the following cases, with a balanced diet, it may possibly make temporary sense to monitor and adjust your calorie intake:

  • If your weight is really too low and you need to gain weight for health reasons.
  • If your weight is really too high and you need to lose weight for health reasons.
  • Or if you want to build muscle or lose fat in a controlled way as part of a strength training programme (body-building).

In these cases, it comes down to eliminating excess or deficiency in nutrition by ajusting portions. Or by changing the ratios between carbohydrates, fats and protein and thus creating a better balance.

What is the right portion size for a meal?

It is a misconception to think that you have to eat your stomach full.
It is sometimes said in Ayurvedic health teachings that you should scoop up a volume of food the size of your two fists per meal on your plate. That makes sense somewhere. After all, our stomach is a very elastic organ. The more we eat, the more the stomach stretches. The bad news is that once stretched, it retains its larger volume, making it easier to eat just a little too much next time. So it becomes a vicious cycle in the long run.
A golden tip for better digestion and health: Chew as long as possible before swallowing.

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Picture of a bottle of nut milk

Nut Milk

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Yoga Kitchen – Simple, healthy and vegan

Making your own plant based milk, it’s done in hardly more than the blink of an eye. Of course, many different kinds of plant based milk are for sale in classic supermarkets as well as in organic wholefood stores. That is really a good thing, but why would you have to put up with al that packaging waste? Every year, Earth Overshoot Day (*) shifts to yet another couple of days earlier on the year, and the making of all those packages is partly responsible for that.
Making your own, raw and unpasteurized organic vegan milk in the quantities that suit you, it doesn’t take any longer than fixing a cup of tea or a cup of coffee.

What you need for half a litre of plant based nut milk:

  • 50 grs of nuts, preferably soaked
  • 500 ml of water
  • a pinch of sea salt (optional)
  • a pinch of cinnamon (optional)
  • a blender or a mixer and its cup
  • a finely meshed nylon filter bag

Picture of nuts and tools to make nut milk
Appropriate nuts for plant milk are almonds and cashew nuts. Preferably buy them organic.
Let the nuts soak in water and afterwards rinse them well in a strainer.
Almonds can be left soaking overnight, cashews will be ready after one and a half to three hours soaking.

here’s how you proceed:

  • Put the soaked nuts into the cup of the blender or mixer.
  • Add the other ingredients, pour the water over and blend thoroughly during about 30 seconds.
  • Pour the mixture through the filter bag into a wide enough recipient such as a measuring jug, then press out the nut pulp to extract most of the liquid.
  • Pour the nut drink into a glass bottle with a screw cap.

Done !
It will keep about three days in the refrigerator. Afterwards the milk will turn slightly acid as a result of fermentation.
Enjoy your plant milk!

What to do with the pulp ?

The pulp is made of the unsoluble fibres of the nuts. You can add that pulp to your morning muesli or porridge, or work it into cookie dough, whether or not you make raw cookies or traditional ones. This way, nothing gets lost.
(*)Earth Overshoot Day: The day of the year on which all resources that the Earth can produce in one year, are used up.

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