Spring is Here!

Snow is melting, trumpeter swans are arriving, flies are buzzing, the sun is warming.  Aaaaaah.

Yesterday totally felt like spring- thank goodness!  After a thorough spring cleaning (which takes about an hour in our tiny place), I went for a long run on the snow-free pavement.  Trail running is still a while out, although that brings up the issue of bumping into bears.   (Many people here run with a gun, but that makes me more nervous than bears.)

We ate our dinner while basking in the sun on the porch.  It felt lovely.

Pile of greens with homemade guac and salsa.  The salsa was made by a friend and it is incredible.  She refuses to give out her secret ingredients.

Celebratory spring cocktail:

1 mango

1 small pkg frozen strawberries

2 tbsp raw honey

1 cup sake

Makes two huge servings or four normal servings.  

seriously tasty

A pear ginger cheesecake tartlet, inspired by Sweet Gratitude and Ela's cheesecake chatter.  :) 

 I'll show you the whole cheesecake tomorrow.

Question: Do you have any summer goals?  Mine is to run all the way up our 1/2 mile straight-up-and-down death hill (on the completion of a longer run) without stopping.  I've been told it can be done, but I've yet to see it.  

More Chocolate

I have been intrigued by Matthew Kenny's chocolate chip recipe from Everyday Raw for quite some time.  Raw chocolate chips.  Really??  The recipe looked like a pain in the butt, but it really wasn't!  I don't have a piping bag, so I used a Ziploc with a tiny whole cut in the corner.  (I think a piping bag would yield a prettier result).  The recipe made four D trays, which is exciting because they taste super delicious and hold their shape.

My first chocolate chip application was with Delightfully Raw's cheesecakes, which I found in the depths of the freezer.  Still yummy.  

Unfortunately I don't have all the necessary ingredients for Kenney's chocolate chip cookies (where does one find cashew flour?).  TH thinks that I should really read an entire recipe through before jumping in, to make sure I have all the ingredients.  I don't usually worry about this, as I am a highly qualified substituter, but I don't want to mess up a recipe involving my lovely chippies. 

Once again, my favorite part of this recipe was cleaning out the blender.  Warm chocolate anyone?  

Question:  Anyone know a replacement for cashew flour, that could work in raw cookies?  Coconut flour?  

Raw Curry

Eating raw in the winter doesn't appeal to some people because they believe that eating raw means always eating cold food.  This is so not the case!  When I have a hankering for a comforting,  soul-warming dish I simply put my lunch/dinner plate in the D and pull it out when it's warm all the way through.  For example, this weekend TH and I enjoyed an outstanding curry with kelp noodles.  I used my leftover kale chip curry sauce from Delightfully Raw and mixed zucchini, cabbage and broccoli in with the kelp noodles. The combination of creamy sauce and the D helped the noodles lose their crunchy texture.  It was flippin' fantastic.

We followed the curry with a little raw cheesecake from, once again, Delightfully Raw.  This meal was pure bliss.  

Damn, I have a crush on that recipe book.  I love that I can confidently make any recipe, secure in the fact that I will not be wasting hard to come by ingredients.  I have one raw food recipe book, which will go unnamed, that I had to stop using because every recipe I tried tasted like it had been dug out of the litter box in a demented cat lady's house.  In fact, I just found several jars filled with brown substances of varying consistencies in the freezer, thanks to the afore mentioned recipe book.   I remember thinking, "I can't throw this away.  Maybe I will like it later."  Still not liking it.  

Question:  Do you have a favorite always reliable recipe book?

Kale Chips for Breakfast

This morning the D offered up curry kale chips (recipe from Delightfully Raw).  If you are a kale chip fan, you must try these!  The sauce is sweet and a just a tiny bit spicy.  I had to do some substituting as organic red peppers are nearly impossible to find this time of year.  I replaced the red pepper with extra carrots and some zucchini.  Scrumptious curry sauce made from veggies?  Hell yeah.

I also made the (imo, better than cooked) pasta sauce from Delightfully Raw.  It has been so much fun to uncook my way through that book! 

I couldn't find my mandolin to make pretty noodles (I must have given it away after shredding my fingers one too many times) so I peeled a few zukes for the noodles and topped the sauce with:   

Brazil Nut "Parmesan" 

2 cups Brazil nuts, soaked for a few hours

juice from 1/2 lemon

1/2 tsp (+?) salt

2 tbs nutritional yeast 

Blend* ingredients and then crumble onto dehydrator tray. Leave in the D at 105 overnight. 

*Food processing might be easier, I just didn't relish the idea of cleaning the f.p. afterwards. 

The parmesan added a nice tangy, salty, crunchy texture.  Of course, TH had to mention that it tasted nothing like the real thing, but whatever. 

A little post lunch dessert:

I used real vanilla beans in the cheesecake and I think it made a difference in flavor.   The outsides look like dried up worms, but inside there are thousands of tiny, aromatic seeds.  It's kind of a hassle to scrape out the seeds, but your fingers will smell great afterwards!

Question:  Has anyone ever blended the entire vanilla bean, pod and all, into a dessert?

Raw Honey Time

When I opened up our Full Circle Farm boxes today I was pleased to remember that I had ordered this raw honey along with my weekly produce:

After a little spoon licking I knew I needed to put it to good use. First, I tried it out in my mid-morning power pudding. 

1/8 cup chia seeds

6/8 cup water

sweetener to taste (I used a teaspoon of honey)

gogi berries

pomegranate seeds

Chia seeds, according to Dr. Weil at www.drweil.com, are higher in omega-3 fatty acids than flaxseeds. They are also full of antioxidants and other goodies like fiber and calcium.  I love them because of the fun goo that develops with soaking.   

Mexi Mountains for lunch (guac on raw crackers, a little salsa and hot sauce drizzled on top):

I had the counter rocking with my wimpy food processor as I put together a cheesecake crust (almonds, dates, vanilla and salt) and then tried my raw honey and new sunflower lecithin in a cheesecake filling recipe from Delightfully Raw.  It had an amazing texture and a rich, decadent flavor.  

Can't wait to have one of these lovelies for dessert: 

"cheese"cake tart with blackberry sauce