This smoothie bowl is quite the regular on my breakfast menu, and for good reason. It's completely delicious, and of course completely good for you. Are you surprised? Nope, good. I just want all the self-lovin' up in here! It's super easy to make and also super versatile, so feel free to add or subtract anything you please. Sometimes I'll add a big handful of greens into the mix, which is a great way of sneaking in some extra nutrition to your morning!








What you need:

4 frozen bananas (or 2 or 3 or 5 or 6 or however many you please)
1 cup of frozen mixed berries
1 heaped teaspoon of cinnamon
1 teaspoon of maca powder
A splash of almond mylk/water/coconut water

What you need to do:

Blend. It. Up. Real good. That's it! Transfer it into a bowl, and top it with whatever you please. My usual toppings are:

Loving Earth Caramelised Buckinis (activated raw buckwheat)
Coconut flakes
More fruit, such as banana, plum, peach, berries
Cacao nibs
Goji berries
Chia seeds





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I arrived home from work yesterday in one of those give-me-all-the-snacks moods. You know the mood I'm talking about, right? I'm not the only one? Considering Easter is this weekend, I have chocolate on my mind, and I had been wanting to give raw vegan truffles a go so these proved to be the perfect opportunity. Chocolate + snacks + raw vegan goodies = yes please! I know most raw vegan truffles have dates as their base, but we didn't have any dates in the house, and lordy they're so expensive here! So I made do with what I had on hand, and they turned out fabulously delicious, naughty-tasting but definitely not bad for you in the slightest. You could very easily add anything you want into these babies; the buckwheat is optional, as are the chia seeds, but both add a delicious bit of crunch. You could try adding in almonds or walnuts, or basically any nut or seed, if you so desire.

Hope you all have a wonderful, chocolate-filled Easter!








What you need:

1 tablespoon of raw cacao powder (I use Loving Earth)
1.5 tablespoons of raw coconut oil, room-temperature
1.5 tablespoons of liquid sweetener of choice (maple, honey, rice malt, etc)
Half an avocado
1/2 of a cup of desiccated coconut
1 teaspoon of cinnamon
A pinch of sea salt

1 teaspoon of maca (optional)
2 teaspoons of chia seeds (optional)
1 tablespoon of raw buckwheat (I used Loving Earth's caramelised buckinis) (optional)




What you need to do:

Mix together the cacao powder, coconut oil and liquid sweetener, until it's a delicious chocolate-y mess.
Add in the avocado, and mash it up well until everything is mixed together nicely.
Add the coconut, cinnamon, sea salt, maca, chia, and buckwheat, and mix everything together.
In a small muffin tin lined with small patty pans, dollop a couple of teaspoons of the mixture into each patty pan. Pop into the freezer for 15-20 minutes, to allow the coconut oil to re-solidify.
This is where it gets fun and messy. Making sure your hands are nice and clean, roll the mixture from each patty pan into a ball (it'll be a little sticky!). Roll the balls in your choice of more coconut, or cacao powder, or both.
Pop back into the freezer, and eat whenever you can't wait any longer! The longer they spend in the freezer, the more truffle-y they become, but I totally understand if you don't hold out for that ;)





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Yesterday was a perfectly warm, sunny, cloudless Summer's day here in Sydney, and I spent it by the seaside at Nielsen's Park in Vaucluse, with good friends and good food. I wanted to make a deliciously summery but nutritious dessert, and lemon and coconut are basically a match made in heaven (kind of like banana and PB… mmm that's next on my to-make list). So here is the recipe for the lemon and coconut raw vegan cheesecake that some of you may have seen on instagram. Grab your loved ones and a picnic blanket, this cake is calling you.


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Grain free, refined sugar free and vegan carrot, orange and ginger cookies with crunchy buckwheat and cacao bits! These cookies. They're addictive. I'm warning you now. But they're also ridiculously good for you, so it's all fine. In fact, I wouldn't judge you if you ate them for breakfast… I might just join you. But aside from that, they're the perfect mid-afternoon snack to tide you over til dinner, the perfect I-need-a-treat-with-my-cup-of-tea snack, the perfect damn-it-it's-only-11:30am-and-I'm-ready-for-lunch snack, or the perfect middle-of-your-shift-at-work snack when you just need SOMETHING to nibble on (which is how these came about…). There are so many wonderful flavours in these cookies - a little bit nutty from the buckwheat, a little bite from the freshly grated ginger, fruity-sweetness from the orange zest and juice, little bites of deep, earthy chocolate from the raw cacao, plus they're a little bit carrot cake-y! They kind of taste like a muesli cookie except minus the muesli… Does that make sense? Just try them, you'll understand.




Ingredients (note: unfortunately I'm a very erratic experimental baker and don't measure my ingredients perfectly, so use your discretion to decide whether to add more or less of anything… eek)

1 and a 1/4 of a cup of buckwheat flour
1 tsp baking powder
A teeny pinch of sea salt
1/3 cup of raw buckwheat groats
1/2 cup of cacao nibs
1 tablespoon of coconut sugar (this is totally optional, depending on how sweet you like your cookies!)
1 grated carrot (about a cup's worth)

1/4 cup of maple syrup/agave syrup/honey if you're not strict vegan
1 tablespoon of soft coconut oil
Juice of half an orange (just eat the other half, nom)
1 tsp freshly grated ginger
1 tsp cinnamon

Method

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius, and grease a tray (I use coconut oil to do this) and/or line with baking paper.

Mix the buckwheat flour, salt, baking powder, optional coconut sugar, buckwheat groats and cacao nibs all together in a bowl. Add the carrot and mix.

In a separate bowl, combine the coconut oil, maple syrup/honey/agave, and orange juice, then add the grated ginger and cinnamon. Add this to the flour mixture and stir until combined. Here, I actually added an extra tablespoon or so of buckwheat flour because I thought the mixture was little too wet, but judge it for yourself. The mixture should still be reasonably wet and sticky!

Dollop tablespoons of the mixture onto the tray, shape them a little if you wish, and then pop them into the oven for 15 minutes! Devour, and try not to burn your fingers when they're fresh out of the oven and you juST CAN'T HELp yourself.






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From India, we headed down to Sri Lanka, flying into Colombo where I met with my parents and two siblings. Michelle and Charlie left us here to begin their own adventures, and after one night at the beautiful Galle Face Hotel in Colombo (a must-stay, simply to sip a gin and tonic as you watch the sun go down over the Indian Ocean!) we made our way to the town of Anuradhapura. Here we explored the ancient Buddhist ruins, dagobas (or stupas), and saw the Bodhi Tree and its surrounding temple.

We made our way to Sigiriya, where we climbed the famous rock fortress. Dating from the 3rd to the 5th century, this elaborate fortress palace was built into the rock at the top of a mountain, and still has beautiful rock fresco paintings which are marvellously in tact. We also went on a fabulous, although very wet and rainy, elephant safari and saw many, many elephants in the wild. What was probably the most poignant happening of all, however, was the night we were invited to have dinner at the little mud hut of a local family, who made us the most amazing traditional Sri Lankan meal on their clay stove (complete with eating with our hands!) and sang us Sri Lankan songs.

Our next stop was Kandy, where we visited the Sacred Temple of the Tooth, and then on up into the mountains and tea country, where we stayed in Nuwara Eliya. Here we drank lots of delicious ceylon tea, and did a magnificent 9km walk (for which we had to wake up at 5am for!) in Horton Plains National Park to World's End - a breathtaking look-out across the mountains and valleys and forest. Our next stop was Udawalawe, and here we went on another elephant safari where we got ridiculously close to some very noisy young elephants!

Our final stop was Hikkaduwa, a famously hippy beach town along the east coast of Sri Lanka. Here we spent four wonderful days relaxing, seeing wild sea turtles, swimming, surfing and snorkelling. We also made the journey to the famous architect Geoffrey Bawa's house, which I fell in love with (and which I haven't included photos from in this post as I'm planning on doing a separate post for it). From Hikkaduwa, we made our way back up to Colombo where we departed for home.

Here are some of the photos I took on my iPhone 4s of the wonderful Sri Lanka.


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Despite having spent a very significant portion of my year last year overseas, I was blessed enough to be eased back into real life very slowly upon my return with the opportunity to go to India and Sri Lanka. A family friend was going to India for the birthday of a close friend and was taking her daughter Michelle, a year younger than me, and Michelle's friend Charlie, and asked if I wanted to come too. Six years ago, I travelled to India with my family, and I have the fondest memories of that holiday - India was like nothing I had ever seen before, it was the most amazing cultural learning experience, and ever since then I've intended to return. So, of course, I said yes!

Straight after Christmas we set off, and after an initial (major) hiccup involving flight stuff ups we arrived in Mumbai, where we spent the majority of our time. We also spent time in Madhya Pradesh, around Jabulpur, where we stayed in a tiger sanctuary, went on safari, and took a boat ride in the village of Bhedaghat, down the Narmada River, which is lined with magnificent limestone cliffs.

We were in Mumbai over New Year's Eve, and man was it a party! The group of people we were with, mostly from the States, knew people who lived in Mumbai, and so we spent the night dancing on the rooftop terrace of their friend's apartment, drinking and feasting, and honing our Bollywood dance skills. Mumbai was filled with much drinking, a huge amount of delicious eating (ah, authentic Indian food…), lots of shopping, with a bit of culture thrown in. We visited the famous Gateway to India, as well as the former Prince of Wales museum, which had a wonderful collection of not only Indian sculpture and historical artefacts, but also Nepalese and Tibetan displays.

From India, we made our way down to Sri Lanka, which I'm in the process of making a post about! In the mean time, here are a few of the photos that were taken on my iPhone 4s in India.


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Despite having already been to Prague three months ago, I loved it so much that I decided to head back to the Czech Republic on my way up to Berlin. After Vienna, I stayed in the absolutely beautiful little medieval village of Česky Krumlov, in the most wonderful, cosy cottage hostel ever. Winter has really set in here in Europe, and I woke up each morning to the breathtaking view of the rooftops of the town covered in snow. I spent my time there wandering around the town, exploring the castle and the castle gardens, relaxing in the warmth of the hostel with a new American friend, and on Thanksgiving we cooked up a big lunch and dessert, which was my first thanksgiving ever. I was only intending to stay for two nights, but Krumlov really has such a wonderful feel to it and it was just too cosy to leave, so I ended up staying for three nights before I headed back up to Prague.

Prague remains one of my favourite cities in the world, and there's nothing quite like experiencing the festive season in that city; the buzz of the Christmas markets, the smell of hot wine and baking trdelnik, the fairy-lit trees lining the cobblestoned streets, it's all magic. I spent my one full day there climbing to the top of Petrin Hill and up the tower for a panoramic view of Prague, walking the streets and perusing the Christmas markets, sipping tea in the cosiest of cafes, and climbing to the top of the famous astrological clock for the most magnificent views of the Old Town.

From Prague I've made my way to Berlin, where I fly home from in a matter of days, the final stop in my four month long journey. Stay tuned for the final European adventure post! In the meantime, here are some photos taken on my iPhone of my stay in Česky Krumlov and my brief return to Prague.



































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