Happy Easter 🙏🏻🐰
Sending you and your family good health, love peace and happiness.
"When you find inner peace within yourself, you become the kind of person who can live at peace with others." ~ Nicky x
n a m a s t e
Nicky 👌🏻🐰xx
Easter time can be a time to restore, be with family and friends, it can be a great time of the year to stop reflect in how your year is tracking and give thanks to life, and all you have to be grateful for.
Easter time can provide you with some stillness, prayer time, and even timeout to revisit this years goals dreams and aspirations.
Easter time in many families holds tradition, holidays, getaways, and togetherness.
For over 50 years my family have been going to Central Otago, Alexandra and for the very first time this year, it has changed. In the past my Dad, Brother, Uncles cousins and extended male family go on a fishing trip. They stay in their fishing hut, that they made over the years their Man Cave.
They hold a fishing competition, sit around the billie, cooking their fish and food packed by their wives, telling stories from the past and jokes that us women don't need to hear.
They usually return on Easter Sunday, with their fish and my dear late Aunty Marlene would line the fish up and take photos. We would all then come together for a Easter Sunday roast and family togetherness, and laughter.
It was like this for many many years. It is sad my Aunty and uncle and my cousin who all passed away to cancer are no longer with us. I have also been living away from home and Easter time has taken on a different tradition. My cousins and brother are continuing on the Fishing Trip to keep the family tradition alive. But the dynamics has changed significantly, that's life forever changing and evolving.
My girls are growing up and the Easter Hunt and bringing out their easter bunny baskets since they were babies is hanging in there but very soon, things will change and Easter Hunts won't be so cool, but the baskets will always be bought out and filled maybe with some fresh figs and grapes with my healthy raw vegan chocolate ready for those who visit.
Most families have a family tradition at Easter and it's a time I treat like Xmas, as an Entrepreneur I take time out to look at my goals, my plans and track how the year as a quarter has looked and resulted. It's a brain storming weekend that I have done for many years. To stop when the world is stoping and resting.
Easter doesn't have to be always about chocolate, set up some time to spend around nature, goal planning, business development time, or maybe cooking some healthy teas vegan amazing yummy treats.
Cacao powder is full of nutrients. It looks like cocoa but retains all its natural
goodness making it a good substitute to eat when you crave chocolate. Serves 4
1 cup (8 fl oz/250 ml) coconut oil
1 cup (8 oz/225 g) Raw cacao powder
1⁄2 cup (21⁄2 oz/75 g) goji berries, plus extra to decorate 1⁄2 cup (21⁄2 oz/75 g) cranberries, plus extra to decorate 1⁄2 teaspoon Himalayan sea salt
Melt the coconut oil in a pan over gentle heat until liquid. Add the cacao powder and salt and stir through. Add the goji berries and cranberries. Pour into a 61⁄2 x 4 in (17 x 11 cm) container lined with baking paper. Add more berries pushing them into the top for decoration.
Easter Buns
For the Buns
1⁄2 cup flax meal (ground linseeds)
1 cup almond flour (I use dehydrated almond pulp left over from making almond milk)
1⁄2 cup pecans, finely chopped
1⁄2 cup spelt flakes
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3 dates, soaked in 1⁄2 cup filtered water for 10 minutes
1 tablespoon chia mixed with 1/3 cup filtered water
11⁄2 tablespoon olive oil
1 cup filtered water
For the Filling
1/3 cup almonds, soaked in filtered water for 3 hours
1⁄2 cup cashew nuts, soaked in filtered water for 3 hours 1 cup young coconut (the white part)
2 fresh dates blended with 3 tablespoons filtered water
1⁄2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup raisins
For the Icing
1⁄2 cup cashew butter
2 tablespoons maple syrup (not Raw) 1⁄2 teaspoon ground cinnamon powder 3 teaspoons filtered water
To make the buns, combine the flax meal, almond flour, finely chopped pecans, spelt flakes and cinnamon in a large bowl.
In another bowl, combine the date paste, olive oil and water. Mix the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients.
Spread in a rectangle on baking paper or a sheet of Teflex to less than 1⁄2 in (1.25 cm) thick. Dehydrate at 145°C/290°F for 30 minutes. Peel off the paper and dehydrate at 115°C/240°F for another 20 minutes.
Meanwhile, prepare the filling. Tip the drained soaked almonds and cashews into the bowl of a food processor or blender and process with the coconut, dates and vanilla until smooth. Stir in the raisins.
To make the icing, mix all the ingredients together in a small bowl.
Place a bun on a serving plate. Spread with filling and roll up carefully like a bun shape, or spread on top and add icing. Serve with thawed frozen boysenberries.
Nicky's Skin Smoothing Smoothie: Radiant Glowing Skin
- 1 tbspn Organic Cacao Powder
- ¼ avocado
- 1 small cucumber
- Juice of ½ lemon
- 1 inch of raw turmeric (if you can't get it, use 1 tbsp organic turmeric spice)
- 1 cup of spinach
- 1/2 tsp peppercorns
Why is this smoothie great for CLEAR, RADIANT SKIN?
- Spinach. This leafy green is loaded with lutein, the more & greens the clearer your eyes. which will keep your eyes sparkling and your skin radiant. Spinach is also a good source of omega-3s, potassium, magnesium, and vitamins B, C, and E.
- Turmeric. Anti inflammatory,
It has been used in India for thousands of years as a spice and medicinal herb.
Recently, science has started to back up what the Indians have known for a long time, containing compounds with medicinal properties
Unfortunately, curcumin ( turmeric) is poorly absorbed into the bloodstream. It helps to consume black pepper with it, that enhances the absorption of curcumin by 2000% that is why you will see peppercorns in my recipes with Turmeric.
- Avocado is loaded with skin-healthy monounsaturated fats, enabling your body to efficiently absorb fat-soluble nutrients for skin health.
- Rich in vitamin C, lemon will help your body purge excess water weight and balance the sodium and potassium levels in your cells -say goodbye to face bloating, fluid retention.
- cucumbers contain hydrating, nourishing and astringent properties that are very good for skin and digestion. Blend up a cucumber in your green smoothie to fight inflammation when a breakout is coming on!
Breakouts usually come from 3 simple things
1. Nutrition
2. Hormonal imbalance
3 . Stress ( this is a big one, so make sure you relax and practice time out to keep skin and digestion under check!)
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