Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Happy Valentine’s Day


Just in case you’re like me and completely forgot it’s Valentine’s Day until much too late to make something complicated and frilly for your sweetheart—I’ve got the perfect solution: strawberry banana Chia pudding with (if you happen to have coconut milk in your refrigerator) coconut milk whipped cream.  Not to worry, the whipped cream isn’t necessary to enjoy this tasty and healthy treat.  Find the guidelines here!


Hope everyone has a lovely Valentine’s Day!

Monday, February 13, 2012

I’ll never bake again.


Okay, maybe that’s a lie.  I probably will bake again.  I mean I was just thinking about baking some homemade rolls…

In any case, I’ve been experimenting with lots of mostly raw meals.  And I say ‘mostly’ because there’s so much heated—to less than 115° F, mind you—debate over what is and isn’t actually classified unequivocally as raw such as “raw” agave nectar or even cashews.  This led me to discover the beauty that is raw dessert. 

I’ve always loved to bake (because I love to eat what I bake), but there has always been a tiny twinge of guilt after indulging in that fifth cookie.  Maybe the guilt was because this meant Grandma would get fewer cookies this Christmas, but you see the point.  Guilt.  These cookies are bad news. 

Raw desserts are in a class all their own.  They are not without calories of course, but the fats and calories involved are healthy and necessary in any well-balanced diet.  They take significantly less time to make as everything is, of course, no-bake.  All you’ll need is some sort of trusty blender such as a food processor or immersion blender.  Oh, and lastly they’re delicious.  As in 'I feel like I just consumed ten thousand calories and lived to tell the tale' delicious. 



Last night I attempted my first raw passion fruit “cheesecake".  It was actually my first passion fruit anything.  I’d never tried one before.  Marcus (my partner) and I were in Tesco a couple days ago and only had to smell them before choosing to give them a try.  We cracked one open when we got back to the flat and were a bit disappointed to be honest.  Not in the flavour as it was tropical and amazing, but there just isn’t much of it in there.  I had to find a way to make it stretch.

So, I thought, “Why not a passion fruit cheesecake?”  I poked around online checking out various raw cheesecake recipes, but ultimately I just do what I want in the kitchen.  Guidelines for how I created my raw passion fruit cheesecake are available here

Before I’d even added the passion fruit to the cashew cheesecake filling I was saying to myself out loud alone in the kitchen like a goober, “Wow.”  It was shocking how some soaked nuts, lemon juice, vanilla extract, salt, and agave nectar could taste like cheesecake.  I could eat all of this and feel no remorse.  It’s all just a bit of nuts and dates.  It’s practically a granola bar.  This is health food. 


And let’s face it…you can’t very well bring Grandma ‘health food’ for Christmas after all.  Guilt be gone.