Raw Fruit and Nut Protein Bars


I’m currently doing the amazing 28 day Ultimate Fat loss Programme from Pure Form Fitness. It’s a fantastic eating programme with natural supplements and education and involves eliminating various allergens from your diet for the first 14 days. So as a result there’s been no baking this weekend but I was inspired by Gabby’s recipe at the veggienook and decided to make a programme friendly snack. It’s a combination of my raw cocoa-orange balls and Gabby’s recipe and it’s delish! I was sort of making it up as I went along so I’m sorry for the measurements but to be honest you can just adjust these as you like until you get the texture and taste you like – if you like more apricots throw some more in, if you are a nut fan up the nuts! simple! 🙂

handful of raw cashews

handful of raw almonds (normal or blanched – your choice)

5 – 8 dried dates

small handful of raisins

small handful of dried, unsweetened apricots (the nice juicy ones!)

A good handful of shelled hemp

I – 2 scoops of Pure Protein Powder (vanilla)

a squeeze of fresh lemon juice

Pop all the ingredients into a food processor and blitz until it forms a sticky dough/paste. Adjust the quantities if necessary – if it is too moist add some more nuts and shelled hemp, if too dry had a date or two, or an apricot. I tried to make this into bars – they’re a wee bit soft but they work ok! Line a tupperware box with clingfilm and then press the mixture in to it. Place in the fridge and then cut and eat whenever you need an extra protein boost, or just a nice yummy snack!

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Rawr chocolate – simply divine!


The lovely people over at Rawr sent me some of their delicious raw chocolate bars to review. I’ve had them a while but have been taking my time trying them as I really wanted to give them my full attention!

There are 6 flavours of bar, and they sent me 5 to taste (they also do a Heatwave chilli bar which sounds amazing!):

Rawr Purity – organic dark chocolate

Rawr 80% Intensity – organic intensely dark chocolate

Rawr Passion – organic chocolate with goji berries and vanilla

Rawr Zest – organic orange flavoured chocolate

Rawr After Dinner – organic mint flavoured chocolate

Right out the bag first impressions of these bars are fab. The packaging is really lovely, simple but beautiful. The bars are a really good size – a nice chunky slab of chocolate which is also a big plus! They are all raw, organic and use no refined sugars or fats so they’re as good a chocolate bar as you’re going to get! 🙂

The taste definitely lives up to the look. I can’t decide which my favourite is – it’s a toss up between the After Dinner mint one or the Zest orange one. I’m a massive fan of both mint and orange flavour chocolate so these were always likely to be my favourites. The mint one is really nice – the mint flavour isn’t overpowering but is enough to give you that lovely after dinner mint effect. Often I find mint flavoured raw products have that nasty fake mint flavour and I was worried that would be the case here but it’s not at all. It’s flavoured with organic mint oil and it’s very subtley done.

The zest bar is lovely and orangey, but again it’s not overpowering. You can still taste the flavour of the raw chocolate but you get a deliciously warming orange flavour coming through from the organic orange oil. This is perfect with a cup of tea in the afternoon and anyone out there who’s a fan of Terry’s chocolate oranges will love this – all the flavour without any of the nasty refined sugars and fake orange flavours! (and I’m saying that as a BIG terry’s chocolate orange fan so that says a lot!).

I was most intrigued by the Passion bar and a little unsure it would work. Goji berries are very much the super food of the moment and I guess I worried these were just thrown in there for effect, but to my surprise the flavours worked really well. The vanilla extract softens the taste and the tart chewiness of the goji berries is lovely. This is a much milder choc and would suit people who tend to prefer “milk” chocolate.

The two plain chocolates are both lovely. The Purity bar does what is says on the pack – a pure organic chocolate, rich, dark and delicious! The chocolate is lovely and creamy but still has that dark chocolate bite. The 80% Intensity bar is quite something! At first I wasn’t too sure about it but after a few bites I was hooked. It has cacao nibs in it which give it a lovely crunch and it is seriously intense! 🙂

So all in all these are delicious. You get a lot of choc for your buck and they are simply lovely. I’m looking forward to using them in some of my recipes soon 🙂  Do check them out – you can order online from their website: http://www.rawrchoc.com/