Update: Yoga guy, Daniel, accepted my Facebook friend request.

I went to Stonehenge for the winter solstice. The moment I had the idea to do it, I knew it was a good one.

As it turned out, I ended up going with four friends on what turned out to be such a fun road trip.

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It’s Halloween, which means it’s pumpkin pie time.

I’ve got a new recipe here for you that is part pumpkin pie, part cheesecake.

Let me know how you like the recipe.

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These are fuuuun!

This video will show you how to make a raw pumpkin-shaped cookie, complete with orange and green icing. You can then use the recipe below to get creative and make other shapes and colours, including ghosts and bats.

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I recently just went through several hours of dental procedures, having a root canal done and crown fitted.

I’ve just found out that root canals can be extremely detrimental to health and may actually change my DNA, causing heart disease.

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I get asked about sprouting buckwheat quite a lot: how to do it, how long to soak and sprout it and whether to measure the buckwheat in a raw food recipe before or after it’s sprouted.

I’ve answered all those questions and given you the full, easy method in this video.

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This time last year, when I was living in Austin, Texas, I had just come back from a trip and was hungry, with nothing prepared in the fridge.

Dan, who does my videos, was with me.  So we took the opportunity to film a quick little video, showing you how you can whip up something amazing, with very little prep, once you know how to put these ingredients together.

I went a little above and beyond what I would normally make, because I wanted to show what was possible.

But in reality, you could just make one or two elements of what I made here and still have an amazing meal.

Check it out and let me know what you think in the comments below.

I’m at home right now, having just come back from a couple of day’s worth of filming at Jason Vale’s Juice Factory.

What have I been up to?

Survey results: you spoke loud and clear.

So a little while ago, I sent out a survey to my email list saying that I was going to be making this ‘free thing’, asking exactly what it is that you want me to make for you.

I had a huge response of over 3,000 people fill out that survey, telling me exactly what’s wanted and needed.

It took me hours to look through all those responses, and I wanted to make sure I got it right, so I wrote this blog post to check in with you.

To my amazement, I then had over 900 comments on that post to tell me that, “yes” this is exactly the free thing you want me to create for you.

By the way, feel free to keep on commenting on that blog post so I can continue to hone and improve this thing I’m putting together.

I first of all want to say a huge thank you for all the time you spent on the responses.  They were thoughtful, insightful, thorough and really made me think.

One of the things I realised is that you’re really lacking in ideas for foods that you can make easily and quickly, that are packed with nutrition and flavour, and that don’t take lots of equipment.

Well, I’m excited to say that I am making these free videos and recipes for you.

We’ve started it and that’s what I’ve been filming.  Jason was kind enough to let me use his beautiful kitchen space you can see in this picture, so we can make this an extra beautiful thing.  Dan, who edits my videos, is busily putting together the videos, and I’m having the recipes and photos put into full colour PDFs for you, so it’s a nice little package that you can download.

How do you get it?

All you have to do is make sure you signed up to my email list here, and then just keep a lookout for the download instructions in a few weeks, when it’s all ready!

With fennel, rocket (arugula) and these on-the-vine tomatoes in season now, what better way to celebrate this bounty than with a beautiful fresh pesto and crispy chia crackers.

This is actually a really simple little recipe; the vine tomatoes that I’ve plated these with just have a small amount of salt sprinkled over them with a drizzle of avocado oil. I’m still enjoying the leftovers as I write this now.

Chia crackers are much lighter and can more easily be made thinner than flax crackers, which is why a lot of people prefer them.

Enjoy.

 Crackers

• 3 bulbs of fennel
• 4 apples
• 1/2 lemon
• 3 medium tomatoes
• 4 cloves of garlic
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 handful of dill
• 1 1/2 cups dry chia seed

1. Juice the fennel, apple, lemon and tomato. Transfer this to a blender with the garlic and salt, then blend on full speed.
2. Once the garlic has been blended in, add the dill and blend on a lower setting to break up the dill without blending it all into one colour, so the specks of green still show through. This will give a more attractive cracker in the end.
3. In a bowl, combine the blended mixture with the chia and let that sit for 30 minutes. It will thicken up as the chia seeds go much more gelatinous. It’s better to juice all the ingredients as we’ve done here and soak the chia, rather than just blend all the ingredients up, as you might do with flax crackers, because too much fibre in chia crackers will stop them from crisping up.
4.  Spread this mixture as thinly as possible over two nonstick dehydrator sheets, covering the whole sheets.
5. Dehydrate for 4 hours at 115 degrees F and then remove the nonstick sheet, transferring to a cutting board. Cut the crackers to the desired shape and size, which is easier at this stage, now they have been drying for 4 hours.
6. Return the individual crackers to the dehydrator, just on a mesh sheet, and continue to dehydrate at 115 degrees F for 14 hours.
7. Store for up to a week in a sealed container. If they go a little soft, they can be crisped up again in the dehydrator at 115 degrees for a few hours.

 Rocket (arugula) pesto

• 200 g (7 ozs) rocket (arugula)
• 2 cloves minced garlic
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 6 turns of black pepper
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/2 cup pine nuts
• 1 tablespoon nutritional yeast
• 2 teaspoons lemon juice

1. Grind all ingredients in a food processor, leaving it a little chunky.
2. Can be kept in a sealed container in the fridge for up to 4 days.

My friend Amy Levin has offered to share with us her amazing raw Mole Truffles here.

Amy is a real expert in the science and art of raw chocolates, and I’m always inspired by her work. If you’re in the US right now, you can catch one of her classes, as she’s on a short tour of classes in Florida and Pennsylvania. She does classes in the UK too.

Click here to see her current schedule and how to book.

Makes 50 bite-sized truffles

Ingredients

• 250 g (9 oz) raw almond butter (or make your own in the Vitamix)
• 50 g (1.5 oz) pumpkin seeds — soaked, rinsed and dehydrated
• 75 g (2 1/2 oz) raisins + 100 g (3.5 oz) soak water
• 50 g (1.5oz) maple syrup
• 2 teaspoons nama shoyu
• 1 1/2 teaspoons whole cumin seeds, ground in a mortar and pestle
• 2 ancho chilies, de-seeded and soaked with the raisins
• 2 teaspoons chipotle pepper, de-seeded and roughly chopped
• 35 g (1.2 oz) cacao powder
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract or 1 vanilla bean, scraped (Reserve the empty pod for other uses.)
• 1/8 teaspoon grated nutmeg
• 1 tablespoon cinnamon powder
• Pinch of cayenne pepper or smoked hot paprika (optional)
• 225 g (8 oz) 78% Ooosha dark chocolate or a high-quality raw dark chocolate of your choice

Method

1. Soak the chipotle, anchos and raisins in enough water to cover for 4 hours or until soft.
2. I made my own almond butter by using my Vitamix. Put 250 g of soaked and dehydrated almonds in the Vitamix. Turn the blender on high speed and, using the tamper stick, push the nuts into the blades until you have reached a nice smooth consistency. Be aware that the blender conducts a fair bit of heat, so you want to really use the tamper stick to keep things moving and finish the butter within a minute of blending. It’s best to cool the butter in the fridge or freezer before proceeding with the rest of the recipe. This will keep the heat down.
3. Add the remaining ingredients except the melted chocolate and blend like fury, using the tamper stick to help you. Don’t add more liquid as it was change the recipe completely. In the end, however, if you choose to add more liquid, then you will need to also add a bit more chocolate to keep the consistency right.
4. Turn the mix out into a large mixing bowl, pour in the melted chocolate and whisk it all to combine. At this stage you could also add some textures, like cacao nibs or chopped pumpkin seeds, if you wanted textured truffles.
5. Cover with cling film; press the film right on top of the mix so it doesn’t create a skin while it cools. Set in the fridge or freezer. The best thing to do is leave it in the fridge overnight. This allows it to set slowly, and the flavours will develop more. In fact, over the coming days the flavours will continue to develop.
6. Finally, with cacao-dusted hands, roll the truffles into balls. Alternatively, you can set the mix into silicon moulds, pop them out and then roll in chocolate. If you choose to roll into balls, then don’t coat with powders as this will not allow the chocolate to adhere. You could, however, roll them in chopped nuts and then dip in chocolate for a nice underlying texture.