Gloriously guilt-free rosewater, macadamia nut and berry chocolate

Ten months ago I had a serious Lindt chocolate addiction - right up until I kicked my half-a-block-a-day habit and went cold turkey as part of a healthy eating overhaul.

But then I discovered something wonderful. Chocolate is actually good for you, amazingly so. I’m not talking about the stuff you buy in the supermarket – that is often high in refined sugar and has had the nutrients processed out of it. I’m talking dark chocolate made from raw, organic cacao. This stuff is magic for you – it’s full of flavonoids (aka antioxidants) that help fight the effects of ageing and disease. 

Cacao butter and cacao powder

Cacao also helps:

• regulate blood pressure
• reduce cholesterol
• boost the immune system
• give you strong nails and shiny hair
• make you happy, and
• relieve stress, thanks to its high magnesium content.

Chocolate is naturally bitter, so if you’re used to the milk chocolate variety, take the time to adjust to progressively darker chocolate and you’ll come to appreciate the true flavours. Lindt makes fantastic dark chocolates with 70%, 85% and even 90% cocoa that will help in the transition.

When making your own chocolate, the key is to use raw cacao, rather than cocoa, which has had almost all the nutrients destroyed during the refining process. I also use the cacao butter, which comes from the same beans as cacao powder, but coconut oil will work too. Whichever you use, make sure to melt it low and slow, as high temperatures will remove some of the health benefits.

Try to keep the sugar dosage to a minimum, and use a less refined alternative to the white stuff such as rice malt syrup or coconut sugar, or a natural sugar alternative like xylitol. Each lends its own flavour and texture so experiment to find your sweetener of choice. I use 2-3 tablespoons rice malt syrup in my peppermint chocolate (based on this recipe) but only a tablespoon of syrup in the below recipe because the dried fruit has its own sweetness.

Dried cranberries, raw macadamia nuts and goji berries

This recipe uses macadamia nuts, cranberries and goji berries but have fun and experiment with your own fruit and nut combos. Try to use dried fruit that is doesn’t have sugar and vegetable oil listed in the ingredients. The few drops of rosewater are optional but add a wonderful dimension to the chocolate. I also finish my chocolate with a sprinkling of dried rose petals once it is semi-set – this is definitely optional and strictly just to make it look pretty :)

Raw chocolate with rosewater, macadamia nuts and berries

1 cup of grated or roughly chopped cacao butter

1 tbs rice malt syrup

½ cup raw organic cacao powder

2 tbs each macadamia nuts, goji berries and dried cranberries

1/8 tsp rosewater

1 tray – I use a silicon loaf tin

Put the fruit and nuts in a small bowl. Sprinkle the rosewater over the top, stir in and leave to absorb the flavours for five minutes. Scatter the fruit and nuts evenly over the tray.

Place a small saucepan on the stove over the lowest possible heat. Add a cup of water to the saucepan and put a glass or metal bowl over the top – the bowl should not touch the water. Add the cacao butter and melt gradually, stirring regularly. Don’t let the water underneath simmer – turn the heat off if you need to as the residual steam will be enough to melt the butter.

Once the butter has melted, remove it from the heat, add the syrup and whisk well for a couple of minutes to blend it in. Gradually whisk in the cacao powder, ensuring there are no lumps. When you’ve got a lovely silky liquid chocolate, pour it gently into the tray, coating the fruit and nuts. Leave the chocolate to set on the bench or in the fridge if you’re in a hurry. When it is solid, break it into pieces and enjoy.

Raw chocolate has a low melting temperature so, during the warmer months, store it in the fridge in an air-tight container.

Eating the rainbow with pear and beetroot salad

There’s a wonderful mantra going around the healthy eating scene at the moment, and it’s all about “eating the rainbow”. It means enjoying a rich variety of fresh fruit and veg every day in as many colours as possible. This is because the colour reflects the type of nutrients you’ll get from that particular fruit, so eating the rainbow means maximising the amount of nutrients you are giving your body. Check out Nutrition Australia for more.

Home gardeners can also take the concept one step further by growing the rainbow! Rather than planting just one or two plants, go for broke and plant a wide range of delicious, colourful fruit and veg.

My backyard garden - even leafy greens come in the colours of the rainbow!

In summer this might mean red plants like tomatoes, strawberries and rhubarb, purple/blue plants like blueberries, eggplant and beetroot, orange plants including rockmelon, carrots and corn, your leafy greens plus cucumbers and peas, and finally potatoes and onions to represent the brown/white group. How amazing does that all sound – fresh, organic, and glowing with sunny goodness! From a practical perspective, it also means if one crop fails you’ve still got plenty of others to choose from.

Organic beetroots - if you grow your own, use the leaves too.

Today’s salad covers the rainbow spectrum: buerre bosc pears (white/brown), beetroot (purple), avocado, broccoli leaves and kale (green), yellow silverbeet/chard (green and yellow), and red in the form of a few drops of divine pomegranate molasses. Beurre bosch pears are lovely and crunchy and sweet but any other pear will do.

The beautiful beurre bosc pear

Pear and beetroot salad

2 small or 1 medium beetroot

Extra virgin olive oil

Leafy greens – I used kale, broccoli leaves and silverbeet

1 beurre bosch pear, sliced, diced or cut into wedges

1 small avocado

½ tsp apple cider vinegar

1-2 tbs water

Salt

Paprika

Pomegranate molasses (optional)

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees. Place your halved beetroots on a square of foil with a small drizzle of oil and a sprinkle of salt. Fold the foil around the beetroots into a parcel, and roast for 30 minutes. Unwrap, cool and cut the beetroots into small cubes.

To make your avocado dressing, mash or blend your avocado with the vinegar, a pinch of paprika, a tiny pinch of salt and just enough water to reach a creamy liquid consistency.

Finely slice your greens, pile them up on a plate and decorate with the pear and beetroot. Drizzle the avocado over the top and add a few drops of pomegranate molasses – this is optional but adds a wonderful zingy sweet dimension. Step back and admire how spectacularly beautiful this salad is, then toss it in to a lovely colourful mess and serve.

I went a little OTT on the presentation but seriously, how pretty is this salad!

Herbal tea from the home garden

Herbs are one of the best parts of an edible garden – they’re always there, ready and waiting to lift any meal from blah to tada. But did you know you can also use them to make the world’s easiest herbal tea? It literally takes a minute or two and voila, you have gourmet tea that beats the pants off the tired teabags in the supermarket. Even better, their life-sustaining properties are absolutely spectacular, so much so that they’ve been used medicinally for hundreds, and sometimes thousands, of years. 

Lemon verbena, rosemary, lemon thyme, chocolate mint and chamomile

Chamomile, chocolate mint, lemon thyme, lemon verbena and rosemary are all herbs that I grow easily in my backyard, and they can all help keep you healthy or heal many common ailments.  But first the recipe:

1.       Pick your herb – a sprig or about a tablespoon of leaves will do unless specified below
2.       Chop it up or just stick it straight in your mug or teapot if it fits
3.       Pour boiling water over the top
4.       Leave it for 2-5 minutes, pour and drink.

Rosemary tea

I told you it was simple! You can use a herb on its own or in combination with others. There’s no need to add milk or sugar, although honey can be a nice addition. Try making tea with any other herbs you have in your backyard and see what difference they can make to your taste buds and your health – and tell me all about it :)

Chamomile: Everyone knows this herb as the sleepy time tea. It will grow very happily in most soils in full sun. Use just 3-5 flowers per cup (or a few leaves if not in flower), and take them out after a few minutes as the flavour can become too strong very quickly. As you might have guessed, chamomile tea is a mild relaxing sleep aid. It also has anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial and antioxidant properties, is a muscle relaxant and helps reduce fevers, colds and stomach ailments. If you have any leftover tea, it can be used as a nourishing rinse after you’ve washed your hair.

Chocolate mint: yes that’s right – mint that genuinely tastes like chocolate. I love it! It makes a great evening tea, and is just as comforting as a hot chocolate without the sugar hit. If you don’t have this variety, any other type of mint will still taste great. Mint is one of the absolute easiest plants to grow in any garden, preferably in semi-shade. It is so enthusiastic that it’s best to grow it in a pot so it doesn’t take over the whole garden. Drink it to help digestion and soothe the stomach from indigestion, inflammation, nausea and motion sickness. If you have a cold, mint tea will help clear your nose and soothe your poor sore throat and help relieve some of the coughing. Mint is also a stimulant that helps aid memory retention.

Lemon thyme: this makes a gorgeous, gently lemon scented tea. It’s also a beautiful tough little plant that loves full sun and will tell you if it’s thirsty by wilting and recover quickly when watered. I’ve had my lemon thyme plant in the same terracotta pot for the last nine years or so. Every summer I take it out of the pot, saw off the bottom half the roots and repot it with fresh premium potting mix and it grows even more vigorously. Thyme is antiseptic and antifungal so will clear out any nasties from your system and help soothe a sore throat. It’s also high in minerals including potassium, iron, calcium, manganese, magnesium and selenium, and a wide range of vitamins.

Lemon verbena: This is actually a small 2-3 metre deciduous tree so it will need a little more space than your usual herb – but it is worth it. Several leaves fresh off the tree will give you a rich, zingy but rounded lemon flavour. It’s my favourite summer tea as it is beautiful hot or cold. Prune the tree in early autumn and dry the pruned leaves on a metal tray in a sunny spot for a day or two, and you’ll have plenty of tea ready for winter. Lemon verbena is an antioxidant, an expectorant, helps reduce stress, aids digestion, boosts the immune system and reduces colds and fevers.

Rosemary: This exceptional shrub can grow in the toughest of locations – mine is ecstatic in a metal tub, even in the middle of scorching summers! In late winter through to summer, rosemary bursts into a profusion of delicate purple flowers that I love as much as the bees do. Given rosemary is used mainly for savoury dishes it can be an acquired taste as a tea but I drink it every afternoon at work as a pick-me-up, either on its own or with parsley (another wonder herb) or lemon thyme. Rosemary has been known as the plant of remembrance for fallen soldiers for centuries because of its ability to boost memory and concentration. It is a rich source of antioxidant and anti-inflammatory compounds, kills off nasty parasites in your guts, and is good for brain and eye health.

Herbs are simple to grow, easy to use and amazing for you – what’s not to love! Drink your own herbal tea regularly and you will notice the difference. That said, one last word of advice is that pregnant women should always seek professional advice before using any herb in large doses.

Happy brewing!