Miss Best's Blog

Kate Magic - Image: Hedvig Stabell

As you may have heard, at the end of October Kate Magic held a talk and workshop here in Stockholm. It was a true pleasure for me to host Miss Magic, and a real honour to get to spend a few days with her.

We had a really good turn out with very high quality guests, and I really look forward to getting to know my new raw friends from the events.

Raw Magic Workshop - Image: Hedvig Stabell

I would love to share with you what I learned from the talk and the workshop, but I could probably fill a whole book with the inspiration and information I gained, and seeing as though Kate has already done so, I recommend instead that you read Kate’s book Raw Magic and/or go to one of these events if she comes to a venue near you. Check out her events page here >>

Kate's Magic Cake

There are, however, three things that I can summarise:

1. Going to events like Raw Magic will bring you more than you can imagine. It’s not just about information, you come away with a new spark of passion, a perky boost of inspiration and a pocket full of phone numbers and email addresses for like-minded people in your area
2. Sneaking superfoods into your food is actually pretty easy when you get the inspiration. Maca, for example (a powder made from maca root that is a great energy booster and helps balance the body and hormones) is not very tasty on its own, but a little spoonful in a raw mayonnaise for example will bring some potent power without the taste.

   And I am sure that not many would disagree when I say that eating a little superfood-laced raw chocolate cake is a rather heavenly way to increase your nutrient intake! I believe it’s just about getting into the habit of pimping up the nutrient content of your food with potent superfoods. The Raw Magic events and book really help you get into the habit!

3. When you need to boost your body and mind into overdrive without burning yourself out, raw food is really the premium choice. The week of Kate’s visit was pretty intense (especially as I had been organizing everything while working full time on other projects) with late nights and early mornings, but I felt really focused, and each morning I woke up thanking the power of raw and superfoods that my energy levels were sustained despite missing meals and being on the go all the time.

   It can be easy to get used to the benefits of eating a high raw diet, and sometimes I take it for granted. When I compare how I felt during that week with previous times before I discovered raw food, when I used to work with organizing conferences, for example, having enough energy to actually enjoy the event rather than being burned out just from the organization is a true gift. My recovery after this intense period was also a lot quicker!

Miss Best and Miss Magic (Image: John)

It’s been three weeks since the Raw Magic events and I am happy to say that the magic remains, and my witchy intuition tells me that it’s going to lead to some great things for many people.

I have another exciting event in mind, so watch this space for some more inspiring events and raw cake! (If you don’t want to miss out on future announcements, make sure you sign up for my e-zine!)

Thanks to Hedvig for the great venue for the workshop and the lovely images!
http://www.pudlarpelargoner.blogspot.com/

If I was to list my challenges with eating raw then staying raw (or high raw) when eating out would definitely feature as my second greatest challenge.

To be honest, I didn’t used to eat out very often, so when I did, it didn’t feel like such a big deal if I wasn’t as raw as I would like to have been. When you’re used to making every single meal of the week, just getting a yummy vegan meal that you didn’t have to make is good enough.

But life changes, and I am now spending more time in the city than I did before, which means more lunches out. I am very fortunate because it’s pretty easy to find good cooked vegan food near my office, but since launching rawfoodstockholm.com this summer, I have really enjoyed the challenge of finding nice raw food in Stockholm. Others have shared tips on where to find raw food, and I have a constant eye open for places to eat.

The funny thing is that I originally created rawfoodstockholm.com to help others eat raw in Stockholm by sharing my favorite places, but I think I have probably got more use from it than anyone! Well, they do say that the thing that you try and help others with is the thing you most need help with yourself!

This information has come in really handy when I have been out for lunch with colleagues, but sometimes you just don’t have the option of choosing where to eat. One time we went to a restaurant, which was a very nice place but very traditional, so not only was there nothing vegan on the menu, there wasn’t even a salad in sight. In the past I would have felt really awful about not having anything to choose from, but boosted by my personal challenge to eat more raw when eating out I asked the kitchen to create a lovely big salad for me.

It wasn’t as straight forward as a simple order, and I had to go and speak to the chef, but I was soon served a lovely salad with seasonal vegetables, a simple dressing and fresh herbs and I was very satisfied, both with the food and with daring to ask for what I wanted! In fact, it was easier to ask for a plate of raw veggies than trying to ask for a vegan dish (“no, I don’t eat fish…”).

For another working lunch, I phoned in advance and ordered a salad of raw veggies with avocado and a little lemon juice, olive oil and sea salt. I got just what I ordered (plus some yummy sprouts) and it was delicious. And I felt great afterwards. With that kind of food in you, you certainly don’t need or want a coffee to keep you awake for the rest of the afternoon!

One place I will be adding to the rawfoodstockholm.com is Wagamama. When I lived in London, I went to Wagamama all the time, so when Christoffer saw they were opening next door to Central Station in Stockholm, I was very excited. I knew that you could get yummy Japanese noodles there, some of which are veggie or vegan, but I didn’t know that it would be a fairly decent raw score! It’s not a raw restaurant by any means, but you can choose from a little selection of freshly pressed fruit and veg juice, and order either a simple small salad or larger one with avocado. If you are not 100% raw then you can also enjoy some nutritious miso soup, and there are also steamed edame beans to nibble on. It’s a great place to go with friends as there is something for everyone and they have restaurants all over the world. www.wagamama.com

I really love it when I start to knock down barriers that have previously hindered me from succeeding with things that are important to me.

So, my next challenge? Getting over my number 1 obstacle. And what is that? Getting back into raw after Christmas or summer when I haven’t been able to, or not chosen to, eat high raw. I’ll let you know how that works out…in the meantime, please feel free to share your tips for overcoming these challenges.

One of the things I love is having spreads or dips in the fridge to stuff inside a sheet of nori, or to spread on raw crackers, or raw or cooked, gluten-free wraps. These make great snacks or meals: with a filling spread all you need to do is add some sliced veggies and green leaves and you have got your self a quick lunch or dinner!

Here is a recipe for a yummy and easy spread. To make it truly raw, you will need to buy some genuinely raw cashew nuts online, as regular cashews (even un-roasted ones) have been steamed. Since I am not 100% raw, and don’t often eat cashews for this reason, I save my pennies for other things and use organic regular cashews! But do what suits you best!

Rosemary and Cashew Spread
1.5 cups cashews, soaked for at least 1 hour in water
4 Tablespoons lemon juice
About 3 cm leek
¾ tsp herb salt
Pinch black pepper
1 tsp fresh rosemary

Soak the nuts for at least 1 hour in water. Drain and grind in a food processor. Add the remaining ingredients and blend until creamy. Chill for a couple of hours to make the spread more firm. In this picture I have served this dish with a drizzle of olive oil, some pink Himalaya salt and black salt and a sprig of fresh rosemary.

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You can find raw cashews online here:

Råvarubutiken (Scandinavia)

The Fresh Network (Rest of World)

For those of us in Europe, Autumn has announced her arrival by painting the leaves amber and red, and teasing us with sunny moments followed by chilly spells. For many, it’s the time of year where more and more time is spent in doors. Perhaps snuggled up on the sofa with a movie or an inspiring book, or perhaps just spending time with friends, board games and twinkling tea-lights.

It can be tempting in this weather and with these occasions to nibble away at yummy, salt, oily snacks such as potato crisps (chips), but as cosy as these snacks may be, they leave us feeling sluggish, greasy and even perhaps a bit guilty. I also used to find that if I pigged out on crisps I was too full to eat anything healthy afterward.

These days I meet my cravings for salty, oily, crunchy snacks thanks to my great recipe that keeps me away from the things that make me feel bad.

These snacks are so simple and quick to make, don’t require any special equipment, are inexpensive and meet the oily, salty, spicy, tart crunch that crisps offer. You can also play around with the flavors to try and match your favorites of the fried versions!

In fact, these are so simple I am not even going to give you a precise recipe, so that you can adjust it to your own tastes!

Take one courgette (zucchini) and slice into rounds. I like mine about 5mm thick. I happen to have a cool attachment for my mandolin that makes them crinkle cut, so I often use that to make them a bit more fancy. For this picture I peeled away the skin with a vegetable peeler so that they look less green, but usually I don’t bother as it’s both quicker and more nutritious to leave the skin on!

Take your rounds of courgette (zucchini) and add any of the following:

• a good drizzle of oil eg olive, flax, hemp (try just a spray of oil if you are watching your weight)

• lemon juice, apple cider vinegar or balsamic vinegar (the latter is not raw)

• garlic

• sea salt, herb salt or a spicy salt/spice mix

• nutritional yeast flakes (not raw, but add a great savory , almost cheezy taste plus B-vitamins)

• smoked paprika

• chili flakes

• mesquite (you can find this online here >>)

Give it mix, and munch as they are or dip into a good guacamole, such as  this one >>

I also love using this recipe with chunks of a mild, crispy white cabbage! Here is Sweden they have one called spetskål which is not quite as strong as a regular white cabbage. But regular white cabbage is good too. I seriously can’t enough of this dish. Sometimes I will mix up a big bowl full and munch on it for lunch! My favorite mixture is olive oil plus flax oil (great source of omega 3!) with garlic, herb salt, chili, lemon juice/balsamic vinegar and nutritional yeast flakes.

Courgettes (zucchini) is a good source of folate, potassium, vitamin A and C. Without oil, courgettes are low in calories.

Cabbage is a great source of vitamins K and C, and is also a good source of fiber, B6, magnesium, calcium and other nutrients. Cabbage also has cancer-preventing properties, is low in calories and wonderfully inexpensive!

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Two of the things that help me eat a lot of yummy raw food are:

1. The flexibility I give myself to eat high-raw (about 80% of my food) rather than 100% raw.

If, for example, I use a bought vegan pesto and use a few spoonfuls of that on my raw noodles, then that’s OK with me. These few spoons of not raw ingredients will ensure that the rest of my plate is raw. If I put pressure on myself to make a raw pesto when I don’t have the time, ingredients or the interest, then chances are I might find it a good excuse to not eat raw at all and say ’screw it, if I can’t eat 100% aw then I may as well eat beans on toast’!

2. Raw noodles!

When I ate more cooked food, I would eat a lot of pasta: first regular pasta, then I switched to wholewheat pasta, then gluten-free noodles. After all, pasta is quick and simple to make, and yummy too!

Of course, if I ate some cooked pasta now it wouldn’t be the end of the earth (I might not feel so energized though), but I have found from experience that one can quickly slip back into old habits. ‘Just this once’ turns into ‘well, that was easy yesterday, I’ll just have it one more time’ and soon you are eating cooked food when you can quite easily find a simple, speedy, yummy raw alternative that will not leave you feeling sluggish or guilty!

I can’t even count the amount of times when I have been so close to asking Christoffer to throw in some extra pasta when he has been making some, but then I will remember just how simple it is to make a raw version, and save myself a sluggish evening!

So here is a quick recipe for you. If you are in a hurry then use bought pesto. But please do try and get a non-dairy one. Regular pesto contain cheese (usually Parmesan) and this is very acidifying on the body. When our bodies are acidic we are prone to stress and disease. Look in the ‘Free-from’/special diet section of supermarkets and in health food shops for dairy-free pesto.

To make raw noodles you can either just peel strips off a courgette (zucchini) with a vegetable peeler, and then stack the strips on top of each other and slice into thinner noodles. Or you can use a gadget called a Spiralizer/Spirali or use a special teeth-like attachment for a mandolin. The former can be found online (scroll down for stockists), the latter can probably be found in cookware stores.

Noodles with Parsley Pesto
Serves 1 as a main meal or 2 as a side dish

Make noodles from one large courgette (zucchini), stir in some pesto (recipe below), chopped olives, chopped sun-dried tomatoes, a little salt and pepper and some fresh herbs such as rosemary, basil or oregano. You can also add chopped fresh tomatoes and bell peppers if you like!

Parsley Pesto
Makes about 1 cup (250 ml)

Parsley is high in iron and vitamin C and is also a food source of vitamin A, folic acid, potassium and calcium. This recipe is a great way to add more of this nutritious and tasty herb to your food!

1 cup (tightly packed) parsley
1/3 cup olive oil
¼ cup nuts/seeds (cashew nuts,almonds, sunflower seeds or pine nuts)
1 large clove garlic
Sea salt (or herb salt) and black pepper, to taste
1 tablespoon lemon juice

Blend everything together using a hand blender, or in a food processor. Give it a taste; add more garlic, lemon or salt and pepper if you think it needs it!

Store in a jar in the fridge for 3 or 4 days.

Stir into pasta or raw noodles, spread on wraps/sandwiches or use as a dip for raw veggies. You can also thin it down with water and use as a salad dressing.

You can find a Spiralizer/Spirali online here:

Råvarubutiken (Scandinavia)

The Fresh Network (Rest of World)

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I am very excited to announce two very cool things!

1. I have just launched an exciting project I dreamed up a few years ago:
Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Cafe Inspire: A perky blend of raw cake and inspiring speakers!

This is the place where I will be bringing you raw cake and inspiring events. I will be running both live and on-line events (if it’s an on-line or recorded event then you will be gifted a recipe for raw cake so you can make it yourself!) I don’t have an actual cafe, but will be using various venues around Stockholm, and eventually the world!

2. My first guest presenter is amazing!! In October Kate Magic will be holding 2 raw food classes, full of cutting edge info, gorgeous raw cake (made by Miss Magic!), and lots of lovely books and treats to buy!

So hop on over to Cafe Inspire and find out more!

I have been living in/near Stockholm for over two years now. In this time I have been getting to know the places where you can find raw food. Each time I discover a place, I want to share it with others. If I find a shop near a cinema where you can grab yourself some raw treats and juice to have instead of pop corn and soda then I want others to know about it! If I eat a really good salad somewhere, then it should jolly well be made public! If I walk into a super market and see raw agave, raw coconut oil and raw treats, then surely you would want to know where it is, right?!

So I had this idea. Why not create a site where we can share our favorite raw spots in and around Stockholm? And so Raw Food Stockholm was born. It is my pleasure to launch this site today and share with you the places I have found so far. I really hope others can contribute to it too so that other people can be sure to find raw food when living in, or visiting, Stockholm!

www.rawfoodstockholm.com

Enjoy, dear Reader, and please do pass the link on to others!

I discovered Nakd bars several years ago at a raw food / vegan festival in London. Immediately I fell for the taste, the cheeky packaging (declaring that the bars are “gleefully made in Wales’”) and the nice vibe I got from Natural Balance Foods, the company behind them.

Since discovering their new raw food bars this summer, I have I admit gotten a bit of a crush on this company. I totally love their cheeky little Raw Nakd Nudie bars, especially the Cocoa Orange which offers a perfect little hit of dates, nuts and cocoa (5%, not raw) and tastes truly delicious – and as you know by now, dear Reader, I am rather particular when it comes to my raw treats!.

Apart from the fact these these are yummy-licious raw bars, and are free from dairy, gluten and added sugar, I also love their size. The other bars they do are about twice the size, which is absolutely fine, but having these 35g bars is so very handy. If you are flagging and need a quick boost of energy then one of these bars will keep you going until your next meal. And if you have longer to wait, then eat two! Or three!…

I like to make sure I always have one or two of these in my bag to turn to either when I am hungry, or need a boost of energy, or am out and about and want a raw treat while other people are tucking into cakes and cookies.

So I have been enjoying these on planes, in cinemas (perfect with a carton of Coconut Water, a true treat!), walking down the street (I don’t usually like spoiling a perfectly good eating occasion by walking at the same time, but sometimes we busy girls need to eat on the run), in a park with a take-away peppermint tea, in the car, at my desk, on a walk in the woods…!

Apart from the lovely Cocoa Orange, you can enjoy these bars in the form of: Cashew Cookie, Ginger Bread, Pecan Pie. I think the names are so perfectly descriptive that I don’t think you need me make you drool onto your keyboard by going into too much detail; the best thing to do is try them for yourself.

You can find these cheeky little bars on line from Natural Balance Foods >>>

You can also find them in health food stores and other well stocked shops such as Goodstore >>> on Södermalm in Stockholm – perfect for enjoying in the park next door, or treat yourself to some coconut water (also from Goodstore) for a perfect cinema combo!

As you may recall from my last post, I have recently been in the UK visiting my family. I miss them extra much when I have just returned home from a trip to see them, so the other morning I awoke with a bit of a gap in my heart. Since I think nothing is more cosy that a pot of tea and a mountain of toast, my first reaction was to pile a tray high with these and sneak off to the sofa for a little bit of comfort eating. Well, that really wouldn’t get me anywhere, and it certainly wouldn’t get my work done for the day, so I didn’t act on these instincts. Luckily, I remember the lovely comforting breakfast I had with my lovely sister, which I wrote about in my last blog.

So I whizzed up a lovely smoothie and set about making some superpower bars that I could munch on with a pot of tea, instead of toast. And it did the trick! This makes a great snack or breakfast, and keeps you smiling and going for a long time

My lovely sister Flynn hadn’t really written down the quantities for the ingredients used in this recipe, so I have tried to replicate it as best as I can. Here it is for you today, dear reader. May it give you a comforting hug and an energy boost all at the same time!

Flynn’s Superpower Bars

½ cup almonds
¾ cup dried shredded coconut
¼ cacao powder
½ cup raisins
¼ cup flax seeds (grind these in a seed mill/coffee grinder)
Pinch of vanilla powder / a few drops of vanilla extract
Pinch salt
¼ cup sunflower seeds
¼ cup pumpkin seeds
1 tablespoon agave syrup (or more, according to taste)
2 tablespoons water (or more if needed to get a nice sticky dough)
2 tablespoons goji berries
1/2 teaspoon purple corn (optional)
2 tablespoons cacao nibs (or more for an extra buzz!)

Grind the nuts and seeds in a food processor. Add everything except the water and cacao nibs and whizz. Add enough water to get a nice dough, then stir in the cacao nibs by hand.

Roll out and slice into bars, or press into a container and cut into squares. Sprinkle liberally with coconut, and place in the fridge to firm up for an hour or so.

Keeps in the fridge for a week or so (if they last that long!)

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I have just returned from a perfectly dreamy week in the UK. Of course the weather didn’t exactly suit the summary wardrobe I had packed (when I left Sweden the temperature had been reaching the 30s (celsius) (over 86 F) for over a week), but then again the UK is not somewhere you go to to get a sun tan!

Me totally blissed out on the gorgeous, blustery welsh coast

What made it so dreamy was my family and the things we did. From just spending a whole day drinking tea and chatting with one of my sisters, to celebrating her birthday with the whole family, to lounging in a health club, going on a yummy shopping spree (a rare event for me to buy clothes and not food!), and a lovely trip to the welsh hills and coast, all mixed in with laughs, hugs and lots of love.

When I stayed with my older sister, we started the day with a fantastic breakfast. First I would make a smoothie using the strawberries from my sister’s garden, and she would make a pot of Pau D’arco tea (great for preventing and fighting infections, excellent when traveling I find) and her gorgeous chocolate ‘power bars’.

Now, we had a bit of a light-hearted disagreement about these power bars. We both agreed that they are out-of- the-universe tasty and satisfying, but I felt that ‘power bars’ sound far too functional and not yummy enough. ‘Superpower bars’ would probably be more apt…because they are chock full of nuts, and raw cacao and nibs, and gojis and dried fruit, and coconut; and not only do they give you a great energy boost and keep you going until lunch time, but they also give you a cheeky little buzz.

And so we would spend the mornings first slurping our banana and strawberry smoothie, that for some reason tasted like a yummy bubble gum, or candy floss (could be thanks to the home-grown organic strawberries), and then chit-chat all morning over our tea and ’superpower bars’. And then to spend the rest of the day ‘doing lunch’ or shopping or soaking in a jacuzzi… well, I smiled constantly for a week!

Flynnie's Superpower Bars

So, I would love to share with you, not only this nice ritual, but also the recipe for the smoothie. I will see if I can extract the recipe for the ‘(super)power bars’ from my gorgeous sister. In the meantime you will just have to use your imagination with the help of this photo!

Candy Floss Smoothie
Serves 2

• 2 bananas
• about 1 C (500 ml) of frozen strawberries
• water
• a pinch of vanilla powder or 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

I haven’t had a strawberry and banana smoothie that was as dreamy as this before, so I think it is due to some key things, so follow these instructions carefully!

First, you need to select the perfect banana. It needs to have a few brown flecks on the skin, to make this a yummy and rich smoothie. (I made this with a not so ripe banana one day, and it really wasn’t as amazing!) Peel these, break in to chunks and pop in your blender. Now add enough water to reach the 1 cup (500 ml) mark on the blender jug. Add the strawbs and vanilla and blend until smooth and creamy.(I started by pulsing for a bit to get things going and this seemed to make it nice and frothy) Pour into a pretty glass and share with someone you love!

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Feel free to share this article with others. Please just remember to include the following credit: © 2010 Johanna Best www.miss-best.com