My Own Yoga Bar

Yesterday I was reading Natural News and Mike Adams was reviewing a new raw food bar. He was excited that there were only five ingredients in the bar, all raw and all organic: Dates, pistachios, cacao butter and honey. I happened to have all of those ingredients in the house so I decided to make my own yoga bar based upon what I thought it might taste like. James and I shelled raw pistachios by the fireplace, then I soaked the cashews and the pistachios over night.

In the morning I dehydrated them a little then chopped the nuts and the dates together. (Easy with a mezzaluna). Heat the cacao butter gently (also added a little coconut butter on a whim). I had decided that the mixture was sweet enough with all of the dates so skipped the honey. When the cacao butter was melted, I quickly poured it into the mixture in a thin stream while mixing. Everything was transfered to a cookie sheet and put into the freezer for a few minutes.

Once the mixture was partially hard, I cut (nudged, really) it into bars and put the tray back into the freezer. Mostly because I wanted to go to the beach.

I didn't chop everything super fine because I wanted the crunch. I enjoyed giving each portion its own wrapper.

My very own Yoga Bar. Now, for fun, I need to find one of those bars Mike was talking about and do my own comparison.

Seriously, fruit and nut bars are so easy to make and delicious to eat..why buy them?

Yam and Roasted Cashew Soup

Yam and Roasted Cashew Soup

500g (1 lb) yams, peeled and sliced
4 cups vegetable stock
2 Tbsps olive oil
1 tsp red chilies
1 Tbsp chopped ginger
1 Tbsp chopped garlic
3 medium carrots, sliced
1 large onion, sliced
1/4 cup flour (I never seem to need a thickening agent like this)
3 t soy sauce
1 tin (6 oz) light coconut milk
Few sprigs coriander (cilantro) plus extra for garnish
Salt and pepper
1 cup cashew nuts

1. In a large pot, boil yams in vegetable stock fifteen minutes.
2. Meanwhile, heat olive oil in large fry pan and add chilies, ginger, garlic, carrots, onion and saute until soft.
3. Mix in flour with a wooden spoon.
4. Pour in the stock and yams.
5. Blend all in a food processor until smooth.
6. Return to large pot and simmer fifteen minutes, add all the coconut milk.
7. Preheat oven to 400 degrees, pour soy sauce over cashew nuts, toss to cover, and bake ten minutes, turning several times to brown evenly. This can be done in skillet on stovetop.
8. Add the few sprigs of coriander and seasoning to the soup.
9. Serve the soup and garnish with coriander leaves and cashews.