When I recently attended this year's Wise Women's Gathering I was gifted a bunch of lusciously scented organic rose petals. It wasn't until my family and I had arrived home from our 10-day road trip (of which three of those days were spent camping solo with the kids while Andreas attended the Wise Men's Gathering - it's hard but doable!) that I decided what I would do with these beautiful petals.

In preparation for my upcoming Valentines Day AcroYoga workshop this Saturday I plan to bring a batch of this chocolate to share.

The combination of partner yoga, flying therapeutics and Zenthai massage I have planned for the workshop could only be topped off by some truly delicious chocolate.

And here it is!

And in case any of you were wondering, yes it is vegan. And raw. And a little bit Persian, given the cardamon and pistachios. And high in magnesium and no doubt lots of other healthy nutrients. But most importantly, it's delicious and feeds the soul.

Read on for the recipe...

You know those times when you create something so unexpectedly delicious, so unapologetically radical, so exceptionally epic, that it makes you want to jump up in glee and dance like a Beastie Boy in a Japanese train station?

Well, this was one of those times.

​The full moon in Aries raging at the moment might have me a little more excited than I otherwise would be. But trust me, these are worth the effort of washing (licking) chocolate truffle mix off of everything.

After seeing a few similar recipes pop up on my Instagram feed, I decided I had to try them. It took a few exposures to convince me because these babies contain one of the ingredients I have been scared - terrified, actually - to use in my food adventures. Powdered medicinal mushrooms.

Makes approx. 12 goodie balls

• 1 cup pesticide-free raw almonds, or other raw nuts
• 1 cup pitted Iranian dates
• 1-2 tablespoons warm water, to mix
• 1-2 drops of peppermint essential oil (don't use any more than this - consuming too high a volume of essential oils e.g. more than a few diluted drops in food by mouth can have serious health hazards!)
• 2 tablespoons raw cacao powder
• 2 tablespoons organic desiccated coconut
• Optional: goji berries, Inca or golden berries, chia seeds, powders such as spirulina or maca, cacao nibs

Put all ingredients in a food processor. Blend on a low speed till it gets moving and then process on high until it’s well mixed but not smooth! Depending on how powerful your blender is this could take up to a few minutes.

Use a tablespoon to measure out mixture for each goodie ball and roll them into balls. You can roll the balls in coatings such as cacao powder, chia seeds, desiccated coconut or sesame seeds to create variety. Have fun!

This was one of the creamiest, most chocolatey thickshakes I've ever made. So much so that it blew my mind.

My mind was blown even more by the fact that it contained two massive handfuls of greens from the garden, as well as antioxidant-rich nasturtium flowers and leaves which by themselves can be just a little bitter.

This recipe was inspired by Dr. Libby's Real Food Chef, a fantastic wholefoods recipe book my friend Naomi gave me as an early birthday pressie (you rock Naomi!)

On my road to headcold recovery and in an attempt to go heavy duty on the greens, I whipped up this stunner this morning and can honestly say I am now a religious woman (if the chocolate green smoothie goddess does indeed exist).

Ingredients

* 2 handfuls organic green leaves - I used fresh tuscan kale, red silverbeet, nasturtium leaves and flowers from our garden. Warning - nasturtium is slightly bitter on its own so use only a little, or a lot if you're bold and a little daring!
* 1/2 cup filtered water, or coconut water
* 2 medium bananas, chopped and frozen
* 1 cup blueberries, fresh or frozen
* 2 tablespoons raw cacao powder
* 1 tablespoon raw cacao nibs - I like Loving Earth's cacao nibs. The Cacao Power nibs are also good.
* tiny pinch stevia powder (my sweetener of choice), or 1/4 cup agave, raw honey or maple syrup

1. In a high powered blender, blend the greens first in the water or coconut water. This is crucial for a smooth, creamy thickshake as opposed to a chunky glass of something reminiscent of lawnmower clippings that have been left in the rain.

2. Add banana and continue blending, until smooth.

3. Add remaining ingredients until it reaches a creamy, smooth consistency.

4. Drink it down like a man or be dainty and use a spoon. I find it incredibly satisfying to consume a thickshake so thick it necessitates spoonage.

If I had children I believe I could comfortably trick them into thinking this was a perfectly innocent, rubbish-filled sugary chocolate shake, rather than a superfood-packed, naturally sweetened and oh-so-good green shake. It was that good. I think I'll have kids just to try my theory.

Happy blending cacao kings and queens! Now you can eat your greens and bear a suspiciously chocolatey grin.

I have a confession to make... nutritionists over-indulge sometimes!

Yesterday a batch of Loving Earth raw vegan chocolate arrived at my house and I was toe-curlingly, disturbingly excited. Coupled with a full day in clinic, and followed by a visit to a local fashion show where Palasis and the other chefs were swapping delicious morsels of food (read: japanese dumplings and vegetarian nachos) and of course I had to try a bit of everything!

This was followed by an ecstatic yoga rave at lululemon athletica and delicious post-rave peanut butter goodie balls! Finally when I got home for dinner I enjoyed some nori rolls with veggies, Japanese guacamole, greens from the garden... and more of that chocolate :)

I didn't overeat but I sometimes overindulge in some of my favourite treats: mostly dark chocolate, coconut ice cream and guacamole nori rolls, three things I haven't been eating as much of recently.

I hope this will show you that NOBODY IS PERFECT - even those of us who provide this guidance to others professionally!

Today I realised there is much to be said for planning. As much as I love eating whatever I feel like in that moment, I also need to prepare in order to ensure I’ll actually have food that I’m desiring in the house. I'm a huge advocate of intuitive eating, but we can’t be very intuitive with our meals unless we have prepped and planned a little bit, right? When I am best prepared for eating in an energising way, here is what I have on hand:

• Avocados – both ripe and and unripe
• Ripe fruits in the fridge (watermelon and organic Fuji apples are my favourite, followed by a killer organic pear), I also usually have frozen berries, some ripe bananas sliced into chunks in plastic bags in the freezer, and unripe bananas ripening on the counter
• Plenty of wholegrain mustard and lemon and limes because this is how I love to dress my salads
• Plenty of garden greens such as kale, rocket and silverbeet, and other vegetables such as corn, tomatoes, beets, carrots, cabbage and big juicy olives for salads
• Potato, sweet potato and pumpkin for epic roasted wedges 
• Organic eggs and wild salmon (when I crave an omelette or a piece of fish, nothing else will do)
• Dark chocolate bars

So what is your most common slip up or indulgence that you easily overdo? Most importantly, how do you tell yourself that it's NOT that big of a deal (because it's not) and pick yourself up and brush yourself off the next day?

By the way, the Yoga Rave was ridiculously fun. Thanks Gregory Dunn for a super-pumped class full of ground-thumping laughter, glo-sticks and sweat! I'm lucky enough to be an ambassador for lululemon athletica and together with chef Palasis, we'll be holding a Raw Chocolate and Guilt-Free Dessert workshop at the Robina store on October 15th - see lululemon athletica Robina's facebook page for details and to book your complementary seat. As you can understand places are limited so get in sooner rather than later :)

This is a delicious dessert with no dairy in sight for the vegans! Creamy, rich and borderline hallucinogenic!

MAKES 1 TO 2 SERVINGS

For the Sauce
2 tbsp maple syrup
1/4 cup pecans
3 dates, pitted

Make the sauce first so your ice cream isn’t melting while you wait. Using a food processor blend the dates and pecans till smooth and add maple syrup. Blend till it’s a nice, creamy and smooth consistency.

For the Ice Cream
5 pitted dates, soaked (if using medjool dates no need for soaking)
3 frozen bananas, broken into pieces
1 tbsp raw cacao powder OR 1/4 tsp vanilla bean paste (if you want a more of a butter-pecanesque icecream)
Homemade Chilli Cinnamon Chocolate (recipe available - ask me)

Using a food processor blend the dates to a smooth paste consistency, then begin adding bananas and cacao. Cut the chocolate into smaller pieces and add to the mixture once it becomes smooth and creamy also for a divine chocolate-and-chilli chip concoction.

An elegant, chocolatey treat that invokes childhood memories of candied orange peel and jaffa lollies! 

Makes 1 pie, serves 8-12 (or 6-8 eager chocolate pie beavers!)

The crust:

½ cup almonds
½ cup walnuts
½ cup cashews – you can use any kind of nuts to replace any of those here, such as pecans, macadamias, and brazil nuts
2 teaspoons powdered chai spices (mix of cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, cardamom)
1 cup pitted dates, pre-soaked in warm water for 15 mins
A few tablespoons date-soak water

The filling:

2 large ripe avocados
3 tablespoons raw honey or maple syrup
30g raw cacao nibs or broken pieces of 70%+ dark chocolate – ay carumba!
2 heaped tablespoons raw cacao powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 tsp finely zested organic orange peel

1. Combine crust ingredients in a food processor and mix together thoroughly to form a dough. Add a little more water, if required, to form a damp mass.
2. Press dough into a pie dish to form a base.
3. Combine avocado flesh, cacao, dark chocolate nibs, cinnamon, orange zest and honey in a food processor and mix until a thick, smooth consistency is reached. Add more cacao powder if you have especially green avocados and the mixture still looks and tastes a bit “avocado-ey!”
4. Place chocolate filling into pie crust evenly. Place pie aside in the fridge for at least 1 hour.
5. Slice pie into 8-12 pieces. Serve each piece decorated with thinly sliced orange or candied orange peel, and say hello to heaven!