Most Popular Recipes of 2014 - Be Good Organics (2024)

Can you believe 2015 is upon us? I swear it’s true when they say the years fly by faster the older you get (not than I’m classifying myself as old, of course). 2014 has been such an amazing time. I wanted to start out by saying thank you so much for all the amazing support you’ve given me and our Be Good Organics community over the past two years, but in particular this last one. I originally started Be Good Organics as a personal blog to share with you the learnings frommy health journey, but it’s mind-blowing to think that now over 50,000 of you around the world are reading these posts every week.

For those of you who’ve only just recently joined me, the long and short of it is just over three years ago I was diagnosed with a serious form of Graves’ disease, an autoimmune disease, which causesyour thyroid and entire body to go into overdrive. Tachycardia (a rapid and irregular resting heartbeat of over100 beats per minute), atrial fibrillation (abnormal heart palpitations),tremors, anxiety, insomnia, sweats, Graves’ophthalmopathy(an inflamed bulging and protruding eye), overactive digestive system, inability to maintain weight,reduced bone density, early onset osteoporosis and infertility… to name a few of the unfortunate symptoms. Left untreated it can lead to advanced osteoporosis, loss of vision, blindness, birth defects, heart complications and stroke.

Fast forward to now, and I’ve managed to successfullycure my Graves’ disease, essentially through an organic plant-based whole foods diet and lifestyle. When I see doctors and specialists now, they’re still flabbergasted that I’ve been off medication for over 18 months without radiotherapy or surgery, and haven’t had a relapse as most sufferersdo. Every time they say that I feel like the luckiest person in the world, that I didn’t give in to the surgical/radiation options and discovered this wonderful holistic path that I’m on!

After I’d been writing the blog for a while, I found so many of you were asking –well what do you eat, what skincaredo you use, whatabout chemicals around the home?SoI decided to open a little online store to go along side theblog. I thought an online store would bea great way togive all of youthe opportunity to access some of the wonderful organic, plant-based and cruelty free products I was using and loving.

Then I decided in 2014, study geek that I am, that I wanted to go back to university to learn more about the scientific background to how a plant-based organic diet and chemical-free lifestyle could cure disease, and how I could use that knowledge to help others. I already had two University degrees under my belt, as well as a 3-year postgraduate qualification, but I realised that learning and teaching others with thatknowledge is what I truly love. So 2014 has seen me back studying full time, as well as managing the Be Good Organics community, with the help of some lovely new staff. My partner Tony has been a massive help with this, and we now have two lovely girls working for us on the store side of things who are just wonderful. Slowly, having them around is helping me move back to the blog which is what I truly love, providing information for you all, as well asfun ways to implement the same plant-based lifestyle I’ve fallen in love with.

During the process I’ve also learned a lot about the impacts that meat and dairy consumption has on animals and our environment. It’s truly mind-blowing how much suffering is caused by ourrapidly rising human desire to feast on meat and cheese. Now we’re trying to ship out our bad habits to countries like China by telling them how healthy and wonderful it is to eat dairy and feed their babies milk powder! I must say that while dropping meat and dairy products started out as a health-relateddecision for me, it most certainly now is driven by a deep emotional attachment I have to animals, and love for the environment. Whilst bacon and cheese may have tasted mighty fine in a past life, now I know that making those choices is directly hurtinginnocent living creatures, and destroying our planet.

For example, thedairy industry alone causes the countless slaughter of day old male baby calves so that humans can consumetheir mothers’ milk – in 2014 in New Zealand alone, 2 million baby calves were taken from their mothers within days of birth to be killed. Meanwhile pigs and layer chickens are kept in wire cages so tiny and filthy they can’t even move their limbs. Even the free range egg industry partakes in the daily slaughter of 1 day old baby male chicks (popped casually into a waste disposal unit, whilst alive), and the killing of their sisters a mere 12 months later, as they become ‘less efficient layers’. I wouldlove to say there is a ‘humane’ way for this allto happen but unfortunately there’s not.Even ‘free range organic’ meat still has to be prodded and shovedup the alleyway to the slaughter house, and if you’ve seen it happen you’ll soon realise that these animalsare ridiculously scared at the fate that awaits them.

Meanwhile on an environmental front, extremerequirements for water and grain to feedagricultural animals are causing mass deforestation, habitat loss, plant and animal species extinction, as well as an exploding carbon footprint and global warming.Sadly the people who are most affected by this are not ourwealthy western nations, but the poorest countries in theworld. 7 football fields of land are bulldozed every minute to create more room for farmed animals. Someone who eats animal products creates seven times the greenhouse gases as someone who doesn’t, and churns through13 times the amount of water. In fact, animal agriculture (the raising of animals for human food) is the number one contributor to global warming, ahead of all thetransport in the world combined. So while we’re all ridingour bikes, takingpublic transport, and buyinghybrid cars, we could actually be making more of an impact by simplydropping the steak and cheese off our plate! It’s also a horribly inefficient use of our global resources, with 1kg of meatrequiring 16kgs of grain to produce. That means a non-meat eater could have 16 meals and have the same environmental impact as a meat-eater’ssingle plate of bacon and eggs.

I know it’s all rather heavy and horriblestuff, but I still wanted to share my thoughts with youbecause I feel so passionately about these issues. Going plant-based can make a massive impact on your health, but it also is the most selfless and giving thing you cando if you love animals and care about our planet. Of course I’m a major foodie and love good food, so most of my posts are about much more light hearted ways to make this change in your own life, AND love it while you’re doing it.Even if you’ve joined this community just for the tasty raw treats and sumptuous dairy-free slices, I hope an ounce ofyour heart will have been twinged by these other important messages. That’s my dream in any case.

So without further adieu, let me thank you for being here with me, riding along this journey, supporting our Be Good Organics community, and considering making the move towards a more plant-based, healthy and sustainable lifestyle. I wanted to celebrate by sharing with you five ofyourfavourite recipes from the blog lastyear. If you haven’t made them yet, I promise they are all absolute winners. Thank you for all your kind comments on social media and for sharing my posts with others – without you this movement wouldn’t exist, so thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Now bring on the deliciousness…

Much love, bear-hugs and heart felt gratitude,

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Carob Coconut Rough Slice

2014’s clear winner so prepare yourself.This may well be the most delicious recipe I have ever created. If you’ve never tried Carob before, you should definitely test trial it on this. The malty sweet carob matches perfectly with the creamy coconut, and the chewy carob topping is divine. If you’ve tried myChewy Choc Goji Crunch, then you’ll absolutely love this (don’t tell Choc Goji, but I think this version may actually even be better).

To get myCarob Coconut Rough Slice recipe, clickhere.

Lemon Coconut & Apricot Fudge Slice

This is a delicious summery slice recipe, perfect for our current weather.It’s a healthy take on the traditional Apricot and Coconut Fudge Slice you’ll often see in your local bakery, slathered in creamy lemon icing. Yes this will definitely take you on a wee bakery throwback I reckon!Apricot and coconut is a classic combination, but it’s the creamy lemon icing that really takes this to the next level. The tangy tartness from the lemon perfectly offsets the sweetness of the apricots, and the whole combo is, just, well divine.

To get myLemon Coconut & Apricot Fudge Slice recipe, clickhere.

Ferrero Rocher Choc Hazelnut Truffles

Truffles, bliss balls, amaze balls, raw balls, fruit and nut ballsor bites, whatever you like to call them, I truly love making these small round spheres of goodness. They’re so simple, have so many variations, and all you need is a good food processor. They are a great way to get a whole lot of extra nutrients into your diet, and a lovely way to have healthy sweet treats on hand all the time. These particular balls are a take on the popular Ferrero Rocher and taste so good you’d never know the difference!

Here are just a couple of lovely things you guys had to say about these babies:

“Just made these, they are delish! They actually taste like Ferrero Rochers.” ~Abbey

“I’ve just made a batch of these, and let me tell you…. so delicious, they won’t be around for very long!” ~Kelly

To get myFerrero Rocher Choc Hazelnut Truffles recipe, clickhere.

Cacao Coconut Bars

These bars are a delicious blend of cacao, coconut, cashews, raisins and a hint of vanilla. They havejust the right level of sweetness (not too much), and are about a tenthof the cost of buying pre-made raw fruit and nut bars from the store. They’re also super easy to makein your food processor, and if you have kids or grandkids you can get them involved too.

To get myCacao Coconut Bars recipe,clickhere.

Healthy Anzac Biscuits

This delicious recipe and one of my own personal favourites is a take on the traditional Anzac biscuit.I’ve tried to honour theclassic recipe, whilst also injecting a little bit of Be Good Organics plant-based love and healthfulness. Thedelicious rolled oats have remained, but I’ve removed most of the sugar and golden syrup and replaced what’s left with low GI unrefined organic coconut sugar and dark coconut nectar. The butter has lovingly been swapped to organic coconut oil (which works an absolute treat in baking), and the white flour switched to unrefined spelt or quinoa. The result is a biscuit so healthy you could practically eat them for breakfast.

Here’s what some of you said…“These were lovely! Great texture, perfect sweetness. Perfect as a lunch box treat.” ~Astrid

To get myHealthy Anzac Biscuits recipe, clickhere.

Hope you enjoy recreating these, and as always I’d love you to share the plant-powered goodness with your friends. You can shareyour creationsonInstagramand tag me @begoodorganics and #begoodorganics, or share these recipes onFacebook(hit the likebutton below),Pinterest(hover over any of the images and click Pin It)orTwitter. Thank you!