Treat of the day: Vegan Truffles

Yummy, healthy, beautiful AND delicious, what more can we ask from a desert? Its a really easy recipe. I normally make a big batch and freeze most of it, so that every time I crave for 'chocolate' I just get 1 or 2 truffles!

VEGAN CHOCOLATE TRUFFLES

1 cup hazelnuts or almonds peeled and soaked in water overnight (this step is really important as its meant to release toxins and help digestion)

1 cup dried dates (cored)

1 spoon of raw cocoa powder

1 spoon of tahini

1 tea spoon of spirulina or clorela (optional - only if you want to make these beauties a 'detox' desert as well)

Agave or rice syrup - add to taste

Grated coconut and poppy seeds (to cover the truffles)

Mix all ingredients and blend them in the food processor until you get a smooth paste. Mould small balls and wrap them either in coconut or poppy seeds (or both!). Place them in the fridge for 2 hours. Eat and enjoy!

(they can be kept in the fridge for a whole week or in the freezer for quite a long time)

Favorite places

(you can never be bored living with a cat - be prepared to find her in the least expected places!)

Recently enjoyed things

1 - Getting back to our city walks after months of rain. They were missed. So many new things to explore...

2 - Celebrating a special day with a very special chocolate cake :-) in the best possible company.

3 - Recently developing a 'tiles-addiction' lead me to create a new board (here) dedicated solely to this portuguese art.

4 - Enjoying sunny breaks reading/sketching on the grass with J and friends (I sort of got this 'holiday feeling' for a tiny moment...)

Cooking again, after a while

A rainy day is a good excuse to try out a new recipe. It worked out wonderfully. I love brocolli!

Crunchy Brocolli Pie (serves 6)

Ingredients

1 unbaked pie shell
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 cups chopped fresh broccoli
1 1/2 cups grated cheese
4 eggs, well beaten
1 1/2 cups almond milk (normal milk can be used if preferred)
salt and pepper

Directions:
Preheat oven to 175 deg (C). Over medium heat pour the olive oil in large saucepan.
Add onion, garlic and broccoli. Cook slowly, stirring occasionally until the vegetables are soft. 
Spoon vegetables into pie shell and sprinkle with cheese. Combine eggs and milk.
Season with salt and pepper. Pour egg mixture over vegetables and cheese.
Bake in oven for 30 minutes, or until centre comes out clean

New Year Resolutions

1 - to learn new skills and perfect recently learned ones!

2 - to eat less (delicious) crapy food.

3 - to believe new projects will come true... soon enough!

Merry Christmas xxx

A Merry Christmas to all!

Happy Birthday Mum!

A lovely dinner with family and friends celebrating my mum's birthday. Good moments.

Sunday tea + knitting club

The best program for a Sunday afternoon: tea with friends followed by a knitting session were we shared our (beginers) projects and chatted away unaware of time. 

I baked a vegan pumpkin/cinammon pie (which turned out pretty good) and some chocolate filled cashew mini-muffins. 

My friend R. finished her first sock ever (Its just beautiful) and my friend C. had her very first knitting lesson. So proud of these 'small' acomplishments.

Recently enjoyed things

1 - Inspired by some improvements in the building I live in, I've been doing some repainting myself. Its kind of relaxing to paint your sorroundings. Afterwards its inevitable to keep noticing how much better it looks (each time you pass by).

3 - Typical portuguese homemade sponge cake eaten in a picnic + J's favorite expresso coffee. 

3 - A finished pair of mittens made to offer a friend!

4 - The first dim sum I ate in Portugal. Delicious.

5 - The best feet-hug I ever got from Toffee.

An image a day

A few years ago a good friend of mine offered me a beautiful 'Tibetan book of offerings'. There is  a sentence and a photo for each day. I had it close by for many years but somehow I lost track of were it was and today I found it again. This was the page for today:

In the evening, I tried to organize some of the photos we took while we were on holidays, 

And this was my favorite!

Holidays seem so far away already...