Cacao & Orange Balls

Last week when I was at work I was after a snack so headed to the supermarket conveniently located next door & spotted the Emma & Tom's Life Bars.  I have never seen these before but was intrigued so bought the cacao & orange flavour.  This was so good, like a healthy chocolate bar!  It also doesn't have any scary ingredients either, they are - dates, raw cashews, raisins, cacao powder & cold pressed orange oil.

But they are a bit on the pricey side at $2.60 each so I decided to try making my own version to take to work for snacks this week.  I used figs rather than raisins because that is what I bought at the supermarket & used a tiny bit of orange rind because I only had a quarter of an orange.  The orange flavour is not very strong at all but obviously if you use more rind it would be better.  I also decided to make balls rather than bars.  These turned out well, they are just slightly chocolately & I think they will be perfect afternoon snacks at work.

Ingredients(makes 8 balls)

• 1/2 cup raw cashews
• 7 pitted dates
• 4 figs
• 1 1/2 tsp cacao powder
• orange rind to taste

Method

1. Throw everything into the food processor & wizz until finely chopped
2. Roll into balls & refigerate

Easter pre-lunch

Easter Saturday was spent having a family lunch at my mum's place.  I decided to take some pre-lunch noms since she was doing the whole big lunch herself.  I bought divine marinated olives from the Vic Market & decided to make some bread & dips.  I am sure that she just thought I would go to the supermarket & buy some crackers & dips & did not intend for me to get up at on Saturday morning & start baking bread at 7am but I tend to go all out if I am given a task.  My mum bought herself 'The Joy of Vegan Baking' a while ago & is obsessed with it & everything she has made from it has been amazing so I finally got myself a copy & made the focaccia from it.  This was hands down the best focaccia I have ever eaten!  I have made focaccia a few times & have eaten plenty of it & this was divine - tasty, not dry, not too yeasty tasting, perfect!  There is lots of resting time involved but very little actual work.

The dips I made to go with the bread were muhummara, as blogged about by Where's the Beef  & sweet chilli hommus.  I make up hommus as I go by blending up chickpeas, tahini, olive oil, lemon juice & salt & pepper & with this one I stirred through some sweet chilli sauce when it was done.