what I've been up to, tamari almonds and chocolate chia pudding

It's been a long long time. Yes I know. Honestly I just haven't felt like blogging. My food obsession is most definitely continuing, and you can catch me much more frequently on Instagram.

After much pondering and searching I decided to buy a waffle machine for home. I LOVE IT!  Not a huge investment, think it was all of $15 from Big W. So really using it just the once made it cheaper than a breakfast at a cafe.

New runners. I'm totally in love with my bright, bright Nikes!

Green smoothie at Nourished in Avalon. Such a lovely cafe, and the new addition in Mosman, Bloom, is even more beautiful.

Feeling like salads again as Sydney has burst into spring this year. We've already had a 27 degree day and that was officially in winter. This one was fresh spinach, roasted pumpkin, Jarlsberg, sesame seeds and rocket.

 

Rosewater & Pistachios from Jude Blereau's new cookbook Wholefood Baking. The icing too is a healthier version too. This one contained coconut milk and rice milk, and came out fluffier than a traditional buttercream.  

I've heard the raves about Coyo for ages and have been avoiding it. I truly love dairy and yogurt in particular so I didn't see any reason to try something positioned as an 'alternative' for vegans and veggies. I was so wrong - it is the most stunning product. I only chose the plain version, and will definitely be trying the fruit and frozen ones, asap!

Oh Pimm's. I love you. Welcome back.

And I also thought I'd post a few simple recipes:

Tamari Almonds

1 1/2 cups raw whole almonds
1 Tbsp tamari
1/2 tps sea salt

Mix all the ingredients in a bowl and allow to sit for at least 2 hours.

Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees celsius.

Bake on a metal tray for 10-15 minutes, turning every 4 minutes. Make sure to check on them as nuts can get burned very quickly!

Allow to cool

These are so moorish and I can really get through so many more almonds this way over raw. Although I do love those too.  They are also so easy to do, I won't be paying double for tamari almonds in the shops again!

I would also recommend doubling or tripling this recipe. We can get through this amount in a day at our place.

Chocolate chia pudding

The gorgeous Heidi Apples posted this recipe earlier in the week. I wouldn't generally re-post something so quickly but I've had more than a few requests for it!

I found this pudding to be very rich and decadent, so although others might choose this for breakfast I would rather have it as a mid-morning snack or dessert. Mainly because I'm not a chocolate at breakfast-time person. Apart from maybe a little Lindt on Easter Day that is.

This recipe also takes a few hours to be ready-to-eat, or you can allow the chia to soak overnight which is what I did. Chia soak up an incredible amount of liquid. I must admit, at first I wasn't sure the quantities are correct, but by morning there was absolutely no liquid left.

Serves 1

2 TBSp Chia Seeds (any colour)
3/4 cup Milk (almond, regular or soy would all work really well)
2 tsp Raw cacao
1/2 tsp  Maple Syrup
3 Medjool Dates, finely chopped

Serve with yogurt, fresh fruit or nuts

Combine all the ingredients, cover, and place in a fridge for at least 2 hours.

Stir prior to serving and top with extras as desired.