Vegan Coconut And Macadamia Nut CakeThe Perfect Easter Dessert

Coconut and macadamia nuts blend beautifully
in this simple and delicious Easter cake.

Follow Foods For Long Life on Facebook and Pinterest.
Check out my eBook, Health Begins in the Kitchen.

Simple and Delicious
When the holidays come, I like to go with a simple dessert, like a cake without icing. It's quick and easy and I get to dress it up with fresh fruit, and a selection of dairy-free ice creams. And what goes together better than coconut and macadamia nuts? 

          *                       *                    *

Coconut and Macadamia Nut Cake
Vegan
[makes 12 servings]
Requires a 9 inch cake pan and wax paper

Earth Balance or olive oil to grease cake pan
2 tablespoons ground flax seeds
6 tablespoons room temperature water
1/2 cup almond or light coconut milk
1 teaspoon coconut extract
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 small ripe banana, mashed (1/2 cup)
1/2 cup organic cane sugar
1 1/2 cup King Arthur white whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon aluminum-free baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup shredded, unsweetened coconut
3/4 cup macadamia nuts

Cut the wax paper to fit the bottom of a 9 inch cake pan. Grease the sides with Earth Balance or olive oil.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Make flax eggs by mixing the ground flax seeds and water. Beat until gooey and set aside.

Place the milk, coconut extract, oil, mashed banana, sugar, and flax eggs in a large mixing bowl. Beat with an electric hand mixer until well combined.

Make sure the banana is very ripe.
One small banana should yield 1/2 cup of mashed banana.

Add the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt and beat until well combined.
Add the coconut and blend in thoroughly with the beater.  

Crush the macadamia nuts and fold into the batter.

Crush the macadamia nuts with the side of a mallet.
Don't overdo - leave big chunks.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and spread evenly.

Bake until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean, about 30 minutes.

Place on a rack and cool in the pan for 15 minutes.

Flip over onto a plate and slowly peel the wax paper off of the bottom of the cake.

Flip back over onto the rack and cool.

Place on a serving platter with the golden top up.  Slice into 12 or more pieces.

Serve with fresh raspberries or other fruit, like pineapple or strawberries, and a scoop of vanilla, or coconut non-dairy ice cream.

Per serving (make with unsweetened almond milk): 226 calories, 14 g total fat, 4 g saturated fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 326 mg omega-3 and 760 mg omega-6 fatty acids, 3 g protein, 22 g carbohydrates, 3 g dietary fiber, and 198 mg sodium.

Go Nuts For Nuts - You'll Live Longer! Nut Medley Recipe

Eating nuts can lengthen your life!

Follow Foods For Long Life on Facebook and Pinterest.

Longevity Foods
Occasionally you'll hear someone promote a food that could improve your health and possibly extend your life but often it's not something you would want to eat everyday. Cholorella and spirulina come to mind. Or, it's not something you have easy access to like goji berries, for example. But a 30-year Harvard study recently revealed that plain old, easy-to-find nuts can help you live longer.

Amazing Study Results
In this study 119,000 men and women were tracked, making this the largest study of its kind. The results were astounding. Here's what they found:

Over the 30 year study period, people who ate just a handful of nuts (about 1/4 cup or an ounce) each day:

 * were 20% less likely to die from any cause,

 * had a 29% reduction in deaths from heart disease, and

 * had an 11% reduction in deaths from cancer.

There was also a linear relationship between how often people ate nuts and the amount of benefit they received. The more times a week they ate nuts, the longer they lived. 

 * Those who ate nuts less that once a week had a 7% reduction in mortality.
 * Those who ate nuts once a week had an 11% reduction,
 * two to four times per week, a 13% reduction,
 * five to six times per week, a 15% reduction, and
 * seven or more times a week, a 20% reduction.

But Aren't Nuts Fattening?
Nuts are high in calories because of their fat content and I'm sure if you ate a pound of nuts each day you would gain weight. But the study found that regular nut-eaters were found to be more slender than those who didn't eat nuts. So eating a handful of nuts a day not only improves your chances of living longer but it can also keep your slimmer. 

What To Do (In my opinion)
So how can you take advantage of this good news? 
To take advantage of the many benefits of nuts, eat a variety of them, of course avoiding those you may be allergic to. Walnuts provide more omega-3 fatty acids, Brazil nuts are rich in selenium, almonds are high in vitamin E, pistachios provide vitamin B6, macadamia nuts and pecans are rich in manganese as are most other nuts. So mix it up!

I prefer to eat raw nuts because the roasting process can create carcinogenic chemicals. Some of the nuts that are sold as "raw" are actually blanched (like almonds) or exposed to high heats during the shelling process (like cashews). But at least they are not roasted in oil. 

Raw nuts, however, are high in phytic acid which can lower your absorption of minerals like, zinc, calcium, iron and others because it has a tendency to bind with them. If you are a raw foodist and nuts are a key part of your diet, this could be an issue. To prevent this, nuts could first be soaked, rinsed, and dehydrated. However, if you are only consuming an ounce or two of nuts a day, (which is all you really should be consuming to get health benefits) it's not a problem. 

I also prefer to eat unsalted nuts. I find that I can eat a handful of unsalted nuts but if they are salted, I want to eat a lot more. I cannot walk away from a bowl of salted pistachios!

Because of their high fat content, nuts can go rancid so always keep them in the refrigerator.

Store nuts in a large glass jar
and keep refrigerated.

Make a mixture of your favorite raw, unsalted nuts. 
 * Store in a glass jar and refrigerate.
 * Serve to your guests as an appetizer.
 * Put an ounce in everyone's lunchbox.
 * Put out a bowl for family "grazing".
 * Sprinkle nuts on top of green salads and fruit salads.

          *                                *                                *

Nut Medley
Vegan, Gluten Free
[makes 24 (1/4-cup) servings]

1 cup raw, shelled, unsalted English walnuts
1 cup raw, shelled, unsalted pistachios
1 cup raw, shelled, unsalted pecan halves
1 cup raw, shelled, unsalted cashews
1 cup raw, shelled, unsalted almonds
1 cup raw, shelled, unsalted Brazil nuts

Mix all ingredients and store in a glass jar. Refrigerate until needed. 
Enjoy a serving a day!

Per serving: 188 calories, 17 g total fat, 2 g saturated fat, 505 mg omega-3 and 5,692 mg omega-6 fatty acids, 0 mg cholesterol, 5 g protein, 6 g carbohydrates, 3 g dietary fiber, and 1 mg sodium. 

Serve this nut medley to your holiday guests and put
1/4 cup servings in your family's lunchbox every day.

Raw Vegan Pineapple Papaya Salad With Macadamia Nuts And Coconut - A Taste Of Hawaii

This gluten free salad is made with Hawaiian fruit and nuts.

Follow Foods For Long Life on FACEBOOK.

Our Favorite Place
Doug and I have always loved Hawaii. It was the destination of our very first vacation together. We just got back from Maui 2 weeks ago and agree, it's still our absolute favorite place on the planet. 


One of the reasons I love Hawaii is I get to eat all the pineapple and papaya I want. And those wonderful macadamia nuts! What can I say. So when we got home I decided that I had not gotten enough of these wonderful foods so I headed out to the grocery store. I was lucky enough to find Hawaiian papaya and pineapple and decided to make this simple salad which immediately took me back to Maui. I bought  some macadamia nuts while we were there and brought them home. These, along with some coconut, were added to the fruit salad. Given the cost of imported papayas, pineapple and macadamia nuts, this salad is pretty pricy but it's quite a bit cheaper than a trip to Hawaii!

Me sitting at the 5 Palms Restaurant in Maui

A beautiful Hawaiian Sunset

Our friend the whale, showing off a bit

Pineapple Papaya Salad with Macadamia Nuts and Coconut

Raw Vegan, Gluten Free

[makes 4 (1 cup) servings]

2 cups diced papaya

2 cups diced fresh pineapple

2 tablespoons shredded coconut

1/4 cup crushed macadamia nuts

Place all fruit in a bowl  with 3/4 of the coconut and gently toss to combine.

Top with macadamia nuts and remaining coconut and serve.

To crush macadamia nuts, place in zip lock bag and hit with mallet

Per serving: 297.3 calories, 16.4 g fat, 5.2 g saturated fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 98 mg omega-3 and 264 mg omega-6 fatty acids, 3.7 g protein, 39.7 g carbohydrates, 7.2 g dietary fiber and 8 mg sodium.

Raw Vegan, Gluten Free, Mango Macadamia Nut Ice Cream Sweetened With Dates

Making your own ice cream is easy and fun.
Most of all, it allows you to control the ingredients!

Follow Foods For Long Life on FACEBOOK !

One of my Favorite Kitchen Toys!
Last summer we bought a 2 quart Cuisinart ice cream maker and we've been using it ever since! Basically you just blend up a smoothie, throw it in the ice cream maker and around 25 minutes later you have ice cream! This is especially nice when you have lots of extra ripe fruit. For a little more info on the Cusinart and some very low calorie recipes, check out  Vegan Mango Peach and Strawberry Ice Cream.


Knowing What's in your Food
The best thing about making your own ice cream is knowing EXACTLY what's in it. Especially for those of you who are on a gluten free diet, you know that gluten lurks in additives like food coloring and thickening agents. So today we are going to make a raw, vegan ice cream that is simply made up of nuts and fruit. 


Mango Macadamia Nut Ice Cream
Raw Vegan,Gluten Free
[makes 8 servings]
2 ounces raw cashews (1/2 cup), soaked for 6 hours and rinsed 
3 Medjool dates, pitted and soaked in 2 cups water 1 or more hours (save water)
1/2 teaspoon gluten free almond extract (optional)
2 cups mango, peeled and sliced (about 2 mangos*)
1 medium banana, peeled and sliced
1/2 cup raw macadamia nuts, slightly crushed.
* I like to use Manilla mangos when you can find them but other mangos are fine.


Rinse cashews and place them in a Vitamix or other high speed blender with the dates, all of their soak water and almond extract. Process until mixture looks like milk.
Add mango and banana and blend until smooth.
Add mixture to a 2 quart ice cream maker and process, according to instructions. 
To crush macadamia nuts, place them in a plastic freezer bag and gently crush with a mallet until each nut breaks into about 4 pieces.
Add macadamia nuts to the ice cream machine during the last few minutes of processing.
Serve immediately.


Per serving: 163.5 calories, 9.4 g fat, 1.5 g saturated fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 2.3 g protein, 20.6 g carbohydrates and 2.9 g dietary fiber. 

Raw Vegan Vanilla Macaroons With Macadamia Nuts

A great raw treat for your family

Follow Foods For Long LIfe on FACEBOOK !

It's Warming Up - Time to Eat More Raw Food!
It's been very warm the last few weeks so my raw food consumption is going up. In the spring I try to eat at least half my food raw. Pretty soon it will be time to do a raw cleanse where I'll eat at least 90% of my food raw for a period of time ranging from a few weeks to a month.
So besides enjoying more smoothies, salads, soups and other raw recipes, it's time to make some raw treats! 
Last year I posted a Raw Chocolate Almond Macaroon which we really love to make. I thought I'd make a vanilla version of these with the added crunch and goodness of raw macadamia nuts. To get them to hold together and make them nice and round, I use a Small Scoop. It's made to scoop 1 tablespoon of cookie dough so it's perfect for scooping up macaroons. 

Perfectly measures 1 tablespoon of macaroon and allows easy release onto dehydrator sheet

Raw Vanilla Macaroons with Macadamia Nuts
[makes 2 dozen small macaroons]
1/2 cup raw almonds, soaked overnight and rinsed
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup raw agave nectar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 tablespoon unrefined virgin coconut oil, softened
1 cup dried, unsweetened shredded coconut
24 raw macadamia nuts, chopped in half or quarters


Process almonds in a food processor with an S blade until they are the size of crumbs, occasionally scraping down the sides as needed. 
Add salt and pulse a few times until combined. 
Add agave nectar, vanilla extract and coconut oil and process until smooth. 
Add shredded coconut and pulse until thoroughly combined. 
Scoop out tablespoons of the mixture onto a dehydrator sheet using a small ice cream scoop. You could also just use a tablespoon and form them in your hand before placing them on the sheet.
In about 4 hours, when they are easily removed from the dehydrator sheet, transfer the macaroons directly onto the screen. 
Dehydrate at 115 degrees until they are hardened on the outside but still soft and chewy on the inside. This could take as little as 8 hours total or if you want them a little drier, dehydrate for a few more hours. Check on them so they don't get too dry and hard.


Per serving: 102.4 calories, 8.0 g fat, 3.9 g saturated fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 1.4 g protein, 7.2 g carbohydrates and 1.3 g dietary fiber.

Best Ever Vegan Brownies With Macadamia Nuts And Chocolate Chips - Low Calorie And Guilt Free. Perfect For Valentines Day!

Guilt free vegan brownies!

Doug Loves Them!
My husband is the big dessert lover so when he says something is "the best ever", I take note. This isn't what he said with my first attempt at a vegan brownie recipe during the Christmas holidays. They came out hard and dry and ended up down the disposal. So I kept playing with ingredients hoping that I'd have something to blog for Valentine's Day dessert. The other night it happened - a great batch of moist, chocolate brownies with big chunks of heart healthy macadamia nuts. Raw macadamia nuts have a decent 6:1 omega 6 to omega 3 ratio so when you add a little flax seed to the recipe, you get a very good 2.6:1 ratio.

Heart healthy raw macadamia nuts

To LIne or Not to Line?
My pictures will show that I lined the pan with wax paper. This has advantages and disadvantages. The advantages are:
* No need to grease the bottom of the pan (although you still have to grease two sides). This saves the "hidden calories" no one ever counts.
* After baking, you can actually lift the entire batch of brownies out of the pan, place them on the counter and easily cut them up.
The only disadvantage is that it's a bit harder to spread the batter and keep the wax paper in place. If someone has a trick for that, please share it.

Line the pan with wax paper extending up the sides. Grease the remaining two sides.

Spread the batter evenly over the bottom of the lined pan.

After baking and cooling for 15 minutes, carefully lift the entire batch out of the pan.

Vegan Macadamia Nut and Chocolate Chip Brownies
[makes 12 to 16 brownies]
1 1/2 cups white whole wheat flour
Powdered stevia - equivalent to 1/2 cup of sugar 
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tablespoon ground flaxseeds
3 tablespoons water
1/2 cup Sucanat or or organic cane sugar
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup unsweetened soy milk or other non dairy milk
6 tablespoons unsweetened apple sauce
1/3 cup macadamia nut halves
1/3 cup vegan chocolate chips


Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Grease an 8"x8" baking dish or line as shown above
In a large bowl, mix flour, stevia powder, baking powder, salt and cocoa powder.
In a medium bowl, make a flax egg by mixing ground flaxseeds and water.
Add sugar, olive oil, soy milk and apple sauce to the flax egg and beat well until it's well combined.
Pour the wet ingredients into the flour mixture and blend thoroughly.
Stir in the macadamia nuts and chocolate chips until evenly distributed.
Pour batter into the pan and spread evenly.
Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out easily and mostly clean (it may have a bit of melted chocolate chip on it). Don't over bake. If you use a metal pan, it might cook faster.
Remove from oven. Cool for 15 minutes and remove from pan (if lined) or just serve from the pan if not lined.


Per serving (12): 175.5 calories, 8.1 g fat, 1.9 g saturated fat, 164 mg omega 3 and 426 mg omega 6 fatty acids, 0 mg cholesterol, 3.6 g protein, 25 g carbohydrates and 3.6 g dietary fiber.


Per serving (16): 131.6 calories, 6.1 g fat, 1.4 g saturated fat, 123 mg omega 3 and 319 mg omega 6 fatty acids, 0 mg cholesterol, 2.7 g protein, 18.7 g carbohydrates and 2.7 g dietary fiber.


For other Valentine's Day ideas, check out Vegan Mexican Chocolate Cake or Raw Vegan Tropical Chocolate Truffles.


Follow Foods For Long LIfe on FACEBOOK!