Better yet, have you tried to explain this to people who don’t really get the blog/social media thing and think it’s a little strange?

Haha, well I have had the chance to meet up with my virtual friends not once, but three times, including when I met my mentor Kristen,

one of my favourite flight attendant bloggers Sara on a work trip to the US,

another flight attendant group bloggy meet up here

and lastly, only a few weeks back, one of my favourite Aussie bloggers, Hannah of Wayfaring Chocolate.

Without wanting to recap her trip with what she has done so eloquenttly herself, you can go and read up on her visit from Canberra to Brisbane part one and part two.

What does that have to do with today’s post you ask?

Well after I sent the hubs on an unsuccessful motorbike ride around to the shops on camp after dinner last night to get him to find us some dairy free chocolate (preferably Lindt Madagascar), I decided to make something for us to hit that sweet spot we needed to fix.

Step in the Raw Coconut Chocolate Chilli Goji  Butter that Hannah gave me as a gift.

Yep a mouthful right?

If you’ve been reading GOR for sometime you’ll know I’m a freak for anything coconut and Hannah is a freak for chocolate so why not.

Well it didn’t stop there.

CGC (Chocolate Goji Chilli) Macaroons

1 cup of almond pulp (I used what is left after 1 serve of making almond milk, however you could use almond meal here)

1/4 cup Raw Coconut Chocolate Chilli Goji Butter – I realise MOST people won’t have this ingredient, however you could use 2 T cacao powder and 1/4 cup drippy almond or another nut butter. If you want the spicy kick of chilli add some chilli powder to taste.

1/4 cup of coconut

1 T Sunwarrior vanilla protein powder (use 1 T vanilla extract instead)

2 T agave

squeeze lemon

1 generous pinch of celtic sea salt – this is a must to complement the sweetness and spice.

Place all ingredients in a food processor until sticky enough to form into balls, then roll em on out then pop one in your mouth. The rest I put in the fridge.

The great thing about this recipe is they do not need dehydrating. And it’s a great way to use up your almond pulp.

They came out with just the right amount of chocolate sweetness, with a hint of chilli and to be honest I couldn’t even taste the goji, so if you were trying to replicate these at home, then use the suggestions I have made and don’t worry too much about the lack of goji

Will make 10-12.

I do love to use my cookie scoop or you could use your hands.

Thanks Hanns, I do wish I could send ya one! But only one!

My take on Gena’s Raw ‘Peanut’ (with not a nut in sight) Noodles. 

I dressed julienned cucumbers, zucchinis, red capsicum with Gena’s dressing served atop baby spinach leaves and garnished with green onion.

Hit up JuiceMaster in Dubai Mall for a Turbocharge smoothie

And a shot of wheatgrass.

Cucumber & lemon juice at Organic Foods & Cafe

And their roast pumpkin salad which was supposed to come with garlic croutons and pumpkin seed dressing but was served with a bottle of balsamic dressing. Wasn’t until I asked the waiter they told me AFTER I had started eating. Poor service I’m afraid.

Also saw a guy there pile up his plate of hot and cold buffet items and not have enough money (it’s charged per plate weight) so his headed back to the buffet to scrape some of his plate off whilst the staff watched :S  Another reason NOT to eat from a buffet people!

Mixed berry green smoothie (not that green tho!) – almond milk, strawbs, raspberries and blackberries, handful of spinach, couple of pitted dates and 2 bananas.

Made in a non vitamix - EASY! Just a little chunkier, but of course you must always chew, not chug  your smoothies anyway.

Monster Salad with left over ‘Gena’ dressing.

Wonder what I will make for my pal tomorrow Maybe a raw lasagne or a watermelon gazpacho!

It was fun to see how everyone takes on the Raw approach and thank you to those of you that shared your recipes too.

I’m off to the mall to buy a new swimsuit – in my nesting phase I threw out a LOAD of clothes and now I don’t even have swimmers to take Manus to the pool in, which I want to do very soon.

I’ll be back later with the grand prize winner!!!!

Cheryl - ½ a cabbage, 4 – 5 carrots and 2 onions with your dressing of choice

Beet Rawvioli from veRAWnica

Raw Biscotti from Jennifer

Chocolate coconut brownie balls by Kelly

Mango Banana Pudding

Strawberry Hemp Mylkshake

Favourite Green Smoothie all by Kathy

Raw breakfast with nut cheese by Jessica from Dairy Free Betty

Raw Apple Crisp from Laurel

Raw Taco [red leaf lettuce, spread with hummus[not raw as I haven't learned to make that yet] tomato, cilantro, shredded zucchini, shredded carrots, green bell peppers.

Rizza [raw pizza] made this today and it was super yummy. I sliced zucchini – long ways – and set on plate, mixed up an avocado with dried basil and salt, spread this on top of the zucchini slices, added sliced tomato, sliced bell pepper, 1 clove minced garlic, cilantro

Smiley Fruit  – I made this friendly guy in hopes that my little guy [10 yo] would join me in eating fruit – something he thinks he doesn’t like. It worked! he had me slice the bananas and mix with the strawberries and he ate them. Mission accomplished.

All from Sara who has just started raw on May 1!

This is a raw portabella mushroom burger on a slice of sprouted bread  - even got her daughter to eat them that hates mushrooms, she had no idea they were in there – from Danielle

And last but not least, my mum sent me this pic (dont’ worry she already has all these prizes so it’s just for inspiration sake)

Chocolate Mudslide from the very talented Priscilla’s Rawthentic Food website. My brother is being nursed by my mum right now after knee surgery and made him this.

I know you’ve all been dying to see more entries, I have been inundated, so apologies for the delay.

It always takes me forever to upload photos onto wordpress…anyone have any secrets as to how they do it quicker?

Anyway the giveaway closes in a few more hours (midnight GMT) but tomorrow I’ll be posting the last of the entries with the winner announced on Tuesday. Sound good?

I have loved seeing what you have to offer, and HELLO to all the new readers from this giveaway. I hope you’ll stick around for more giveaways and shenanigans coming up on the blog.

Dont forget to check out the blogs of those that have links attached as well for some more wonderful recipes.

See ya tomorrow with the last of the entries.

Raw Chocolates

Pear & Ginger Cheezecake adapted from Cafe Gratitude all by Martine

Cacao Fudge with Activated Almonds all from Alethea

Mooshymama’s Mexican Salad

Easy raw chocolate walnut clusters

Pre-dinner liquid gold green juice

Health-ified Cherry Ripe all by Grace of Goodness Gracious

Tessa’s first EVER green smoothie:”made with spinach, mango, banana, linseed and water…topped with a healthy serving of cinnamon!( I LOVE cinnamon) I think it’s all raw!! I had to take a deep breath to try it…but it was actually really yummy!”

Raw chard wraps – asian inspired, chard leaves with slices carrot, cucumber, avocado, sprouts and pepper, along with blended cashew cream with 5 spice and chilli oil, and all wrapped up tight so it doesn’t squeeze out when you munch! Both by Ros of Scotland

Stephanie’s Raw Mushroom Pilaf

Halona’s watermelon from it’s own bowl. Simple yet delicious.

Mango, Date, and Sunflower Tropical Energy Balls

Cookie Dough Truffles

Raw Nacho Cheeze

Raw Chocolate Brownies with Avocado Icing

All by the lovely Hannah

I’m a bit late in posting as last night we went to a beach party and although it was fun, it is really starting to heat up here, so I’ll be living indoors when that happens. We do live in the hottest part of the world!

So onto the entries…enjoy!

Tanya (my sister in law’s) post Zumba refuel Banana Berry Bang smoothie  - 1 cup almond milk (pic above), 1 frozen banana, handful of frozen berries & a tblsp chia seeds!

I Live in the Springtime Smoothie

Strawberry Fields Forever Smoothie

Cacao Truffles all from Marlie

Samantha’s cookies & smoothie

Carolyn’s carrot ginger pate stuffed in cucumbers.
She didn’t write down the recipe of this item, but did post about it her blog.

Alej’s Raw Yoga Motivation Chocolate and Coconut Orbs (longest name ever).
They contain raw nuts and seeds (cashew, almond, sunflower seeds, walnuts… anything I had in my cupboard), dates, raw cacao powder, and shredded coconut. Sometimes I add goji berries.
I usually make them when I lack motivation to get out of the house and go to Bikram practice but I know I really need to. Well, they always do the trick.

Junia’s Strawberry Watermelon Mint Green Juice

And I love what my bud Hannah had to say :

“Loving how I’m discovering new blogs through this competition”.

Right on!

Here’s some more photos for the giveaway to get you excited. Keep em coming

Angie’s Grawnola

Haley’s raw carrot raisin granola

Blueberry Lavender Tart

Cookie Dough Blizzard

Crepe with Raspberry White Chocolate Creme all from the very talented Vegan Lisa

Banana Fruit Leather with Cashew Cream Filling and Raspberry Sauce

Banana & Blueberry Pie with walnut & date crust and cashew cream topping both by Jezelle

Marty’s Indonesian Slaw- made from a recipe test he did from The Blissful Chef’s cookbook.  He’s showing it as she encouraged the posting of the test recipes.

Marty’s Zucchinni Pasta with marinara sauce

Lindsay’s photo of Ani Phyo inspired Raw Zucchini Noodle Pad Thai

Click on the links for the recipes

Just to let you know, it is only one entry per person however you can submit as many photos as you like….and I’ve been receiving entries from people who already have all these kitchen gadgets but want to join in the fun too. So bring it on

Sybille’s Quick, Healthy, Beautiful & Delicious Salad

kt’s Improvised Cheesecake

Julie’s Raw Not-sanga

Nicole’s Almond Fudge Bars (I’ll be posting more from Nicole over the days)

Mimi made this cake based on Ani Phyo’s raw chocolate-raspberry cake for her dad. He’s a diabetic so she used dates and coconut nectar to sweeten, instead of refined sugar.

Deanna’s Rhubarb Butter Bars

And MY MUM sneaking some raw goodies out of the fridge…she got confused and sent me a photo of HER instead Hi mum!

I’ll be back later with a truly informative post on milk/dairy alternatives.

So here is some Raw Food inspiration for you.

Gillian’s Raw Nori Rolls from Healthy Tasty Cheap

Nutty Nutella Moon Pies

Brazil nut pancakes with nutella cashew whipped cream, strawberries and berry sauce

Banana Chia Crepe, nutella & organic eherries, all three from Nelly

Marlie from Barefoot and Frolicking’s chocolate truffles

Heather’s Fruit Salad for breakfast

Nour from Green Shushi’s Papaya & Banana Smoothie

Chocolate Covered Katie’s Raw Cookie Dough Milkshake

Junghwa Chung from An Apple a Day‘s raw kelp noodle with cayenne, nutrition yeast, cashew, herb sauce. it has red pepper flakes on top

Keep those entries coming in

Speaking of kelp noodles, I promised you a video post on kelp noodles and seaweed, as soon as I work out why it’s not uploading I’ll get it right up for ya

Geez, it’s really hard to remember it’s Easter when it is a Christian holiday and I live in an Islamic Country. So tomorrow night, we are heading out to dinner with friends to another compound (where Pat and I met and he took me out for Valentines Dinner this year).

They always have a set menu for special holiday celebrations and the chef is always compliant when I ask for veggie options

It’s been a while since I’ve been able to make a decent dinner for us, so the other night I was able to whip up a quickie feast suitable for two tastes:

Veggie Marinara Pasta for me, Bolognaise for him.

Being from Australia, I always wonder why tomato sauce in the States is called marinara as in Australia that is what we consider a seafood sauce.

I sauteed some onion and garlic, used a jar of pasta sauce and some fresh tomatoes, red capsicum & mushrooms with some addtional herbs and a pinch of cayenne pepper. Ground mince for him.

And raw zucchini noodles for me.

A half raw dinner

Served atop rice noodles for him. With a side salad x 2 of cucumber and romaine/cos lettuce with my fattouch salad dressing:

Fattouch Dressing

1/2 c lemon juice

1 c extra virgin olive oil

3 cloves garlic

1T Sumac (powdered reddish herb) *available from ethnic supermarkets

1T agave nectar

1t himalayan or sea salt (I used fine grind sea salt)

Use a mortal & pestle to smash the garlic with the salt to form a paste (or you can use a knife on a chopping board).

Place paste and remainder of dressing ingredients in a bowl and whisk.

Any tricks on how you deal with different eaters in your household?

Since I haven’t ventured over to Bahrain (due to their unrest) to stock up on goods, I ordered a few of my old time favourites in a shipment.

Hello Artisana Raw Almond Butter.

Yummers on red apple.

If you don’t have access to Artisana products in your part of the world, then try and make some almond butter as per Neeta’s recipe here. I’ve not had much luck making my own RAW nut butter but I have with roasted almonds before.

On a fun note, I’ve been having fun looking at cute outfits for my boy to wear to my lil sister’s wedding I’m attending in Verona, Italy, in June.

How about these for size?

Have a great Easter weekend, wherever you are!

If you didn’t catch Amber’s review of Tanya’s Seduced Raw Chocolate Ebook, you’ve gotta check it out. I was already going to purchase it before I caught the review but, then it just sealed the deal for me. Just in time for Easter right?

Even if he is ‘Sir Poopalot’ it’s a welcome distraction and I am loving being a mum to Manus Kai.

Also I want to again say thank you to EVERYONE who has poured out so much love to him and our family with the beautiful gifts, cards and well wishes. So many people to thank I just hope I don’t forget anyone – it’s gonna take months to get around to it!

I had all these brilliant guest posts lined up to share with you once I had Manus, but I am finding that being a mum to a newborn (even with grandma and grandpa’s help!) means even having time to have  a shower is a triumph! Any other mum’s in the house know what I am talking about???

Anyhoo, it’s clear that I am incapable of running a giveaway in a timely manner whilst having a bub, so I wanted to let you all know who the winner of the year subscription to Nüde-Food Magazine was…..

Congratulations Steph, could you please drop me an email at robyn@girlonraw.com with your postal address so we can get this sorted for you ASAP.

So as I mentioned I have some wonderful peeps doing some guest posting here til I get back on track, but I’ll be popping in as well over the coming weeks (my online shop should be up and running mid April wahoo!) so stay tuned for more news and I’ll pass you over to my long time pal, Natalie.

Natalie and I only met briefly a few years back through a mutual friend, and since then I’ve also worked alongside her brother at Virgin Blue and we’ve also maintained a virtual friendship through facebook and our blogs, (aren’t online friends wonderful?) and she offered to guest post for me when she travelled with her family to the US and Canada last year as a new raw foodie. Plus she’s also a little ahead of me in the mummy game so she’s been offering me wonderful advice.

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Bio

Natalie is a Melbourne, Australia based Registered Music Therapist who is currently learning lots about the raw food lifestyle. She has recently started her own blog, Learning To Raw, which can be found at www.learningtoraw.com and facebook here

Family Travelers Exploring Raw

I traveled to the US and Canada in late 2010 with my husband Ron and 10 month old daughter Ruby. As a beginner raw food explorer, I was keen to seek out some tasty raw treats for us while we were away. I’d like to share with you some of what we found…

Raw Snacks For On The Go

We did a fair bit of train travel (from New York to Toronto and back) so we stopped at a local Whole Foods Market in New York’s Union Square and picked up some yummy snacks for the train ride and beyond. While we were in Wholefoods we had a beautiful lunch from their salad bar. I tried kale for the first time, and found some exotic red bananas.

Here are some raw ‘ready snacks’ I found that traveled well. I haven’t found commercial raw snacks like this in any stores yet in Melbourne – but I’ll keep searching!

A live ‘granola’ bar. This was quite dry and chewy with a nutty and earthy flavour. Not my favourite but healthy and filling!

These raw chai spice macaroons were yum! Nice and sweet and soft but quite crumbly. Ruby loved them too!

Raw Gourmet For The Weary Traveler

We spent two wonderful weeks in Collingwood, a small town in Ontario, Canada where I lived for three years in the mid 2000’s. My little town has grown up so much since I left in 2006 – they even have a gourmet, organic, raw food café called Pure.

I was lucky enough to be able to get to Pure twice during my visit. The first time was for a green juice energy boost.

The second time was for a whole meal – yum! I had an awesome raw nachos dish (made with flax cracker ‘corn chips’) and a chocolate ‘mylk’ shake.

Ron had their ‘Gorilla Taco’ with nut meat, veggies and more served ‘gorilla style’ (I love that!) in a red cabbage leaf.

The food was all completely yum, the owners and staff awesome and the business itself is as environmentally friendly as possible.

Although I was very full from lunch, I had to try one of their Irish Moss Parfaits to take back to our B&B for later. I was very impressed with the creamy taste (I had the latte flavour) and texture.

Check it out! Even the take-out cup is compostable!

Go and say hi to the lovely folks at Pure if you’re ever in beautiful little Collingwood. Their website is www.purefoodbar.com

We had an awesome trip and an amazing adventure. Ron got to do a treetop walk and 150 foot high flying fox ride, and I got to spend half a day relaxing with a massage and soak at an outdoor Scandinavian spa – bliss! We were also very fortunate to be able to see His Holiness The Dalai Lama give a lecture in Toronto while we were there – he was inspirational. I highly recommend travel with a small person tagging along – it was a delight to see Ruby experience new people and places. Be sure to do some research before you go about healthy/raw places to eat and shop, and child friendly transport, shopping, restaurants and attractions.