Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day everyone. Hope you are all having a special day! I love Valentine's Day. I got engaged 7 years ago today. Here are some beautiful raspberries to celebrate the morning with.



This is a lunch I created the other day. It is so easy to make and it tastes great.



Ingredients
shredded carrot and zucchini
handful of mixed sprouts
onion
cucumber
cubed green apple

Dressing
Olive Oil
Agave
Lemon
turmeric
lots of pepper
pinch of Himalayan salt

I added some mashed avocado and some raw carrot crackers that I bought the other day.



Wishing you all a great Valentine's Day! I am working on sprouting quinoa so we will see how that turns out and what else the day brings.

Delish Raw Chocolate Cheesecake

Last night I made a Delish Chocolate Cheesecake. It is pretty easy to do. Don't get me wrong there are many versions of this raw desserts that are out there that are more complex. These day's I tend to go for easy. I have a four year old and a 2 year old with special needs, so my time is limited. So I tend to pick some easy recipes if I know that I am going to be in a rush.

This one includes the following ingredients:

Filling
3 cups Raw Cashews soaked overnight and rinsed
1/3 Lemon Juice
1/3 Coconut Oil (also called coconut butter)
2 tsp Vanilla Powder
Cacao Nibs (for sprinkling on top)
Pinch of Salt
Cacao Powder (depends on your craving for chocolate)
1/4 Agave Nectar (I always cut my sweetener, so you could add more)
1/4 Almond Milk

Crust
Walnuts crushed
Raw Coconut
Agave Nectar

First blend the cashews, lemon juice, coconut oil and vanilla in the food processor.



Depending on the flavor that you want you can either add in cacao powder as seen below or leave it plain. You could also do fruit. Everything from raspberries to mango works. Note if you want a 2 layered cake, let's say part white and part chocolate take out a little more than half of the white. Once it is taken out then add in your flavor choice.



Now you need a base. I usually use walnut and coconut for the base. This recipe I was in a rush so I used agave nectar and mixed together well and placed on the bottom of my glass dish. Make sure it is padded in well. It should look like this. For the best version pulse all the ingredients int0 the processor for a few minutes until it creates a ball. Then place in dish. I cheated a bit and just crushed it in the dish itself so that is why it is a bit thicker of a crust.




Then layer the first batch of cashews, which is the plain white mixture.



Then add on your second layer of the mixture, which is the chocolate mixture. Add your cacao nibs on top. If you are doing a different flavour you can add the fruit on top. Just make sure it is not one that is going to bleed all over the cake. If it is blueberries for example, I will leave the sauce separately until I am ready to serve it.



Stick in the freezer to settle and solidify a bit. I love mine a little bit frozen so I just keep it in the freezer until about 10-15 minutes before I want to eat it. For a fancy cake you can put this in a spring form pan or a round dish and decorate with a raw chocolate sauce.




Enjoy, this is a guilt free cheesecake!!!

Raw Veggie Wraps and Messy Kim-Chi

I am all over the map today and yesterday. My 2 little ones have been sick with things that your don't really want to hear about when you are visiting a food blog. So I have been scrambling a bit. Eating this and that. No huge gourmet meals here these last couple of days.

Today I made the easiest veggie wrap. I used a lettuce leaf and filled it with avocado, shredded carrot, red onions and some sprouts. It was quick and easy. You could use collard greens or cabbage for a the wrap. I do have an awesome recipe for tacos that I will post in the next week or so.



Pick your choice of veggies, wrap and enjoy.


Yesterday I got a chance to go to the health food store. So much fun. I picked up a lot of yummy things. I have really been interested in some fermented foods and that is where the Kim-Chi came in. I will get to that in a minute. First look at all the goodies that I picked up.

Some Kimchi, raw crackers, and a bottle of Kombucha.


Some yummy sprouts.


A coconut


And then to the Kimchi. I have truly learned my lesson. When eating fermented foods please, please open them over the kitchen sink. I have had lots of fermented foods but this has never happened. So red, so spicy so messy.!!!!



Well that was fun. Well not the mess, but shopping of course. What's your favorite fermented food?

Rise and Shine Juice and Cereal

To help your body heal and feel good, homemade juices are a great option. I felt that I needed to skip the smoothie this morning and head straight for some juice. Both of my kiddo's are sick this week and thus I have been having a lot of really late nights. I mean up till 4:00am type of late night.

This juice contains celery, beets, green apples, one carrot and some swiss chard. It tasted nice and mellow and not too sweet, just the way I like it. I recommend organic produce for your juices.



This is what it looked like after the juicing.



Juice pulp that is left over. Don't throw this out. All this fiber can be used in treats, crackers and other raw food or even salads.



Juices are a great way to get your nutrients and lots of them directly into your body. Juicing takes out the fiber from the food and leaves the nutrient dense liquid. This allows for easy absorption with all enzymes intact. It can help to heal the body. Juices should be taken on an empty stomach for best results. If you are new to juices, take it slow and try a basic juice first, then after a little while start to experiment with flavors. You will be amazed and how they taste and how your feel.

You can also juice:
Apples
Kale
Carrots
Celery
Garlic
Ginger
Beets
Swiss Chard
Herbs
and much more.

I also had my homemade cereal for the last post. It turned out really good and I am pretty happy with it. The only problem is that I didn't make enough. As promised here are a few shots of the cereal after dehydrating.

Cereal in the dehydrator



Finished dehydrating. Could break into small or big chunks.



Final product



Yummy!!

Yummy Homemade Cereal

Since the mornings are a challenge. I have to find ways to get the most out of my food. Usually I make a smoothie or even a juice. Sometimes I make my own cereal, which is really easy. You can take your ingredients that you want to use and put them in a mixing bowl. Add your choice of sweetener and then a little oil. Mix and put in your dehydrator for the raw version. If you don't have a dehydrator stick the mixture in your oven on the lowest heat for about an hour. If you do the oven route it will not be raw, however it will still healthier for you and better than the majority of the grocery store cereals.

My favorites ingredients are sesame seeds(black), almonds(crush them), sunflower seeds, chia and hemp seeds. Oats are another option. You can use oats too. Raw oats and oat groats are also another option



Get a large bowl and mix it together.



Then pick a sweetener, a flavor and an oil from below and mix it up and that's it.

Either dehydrate or put in your oven depending on if you want it raw or not.


Here are some options below.
Sweetener:
Agave nectar, Stevia, raw honey, molasses and maple syrup depending on your preference.

Flavor:
Cinnamon, vanilla, nutmeg, pinch of sea salt, cacao powder, carob powder

Fun stuff:
Goji berries, cacao nibs, shredded coconut, pumpkin seeds, chopped apple or pear, whole flax seeds.

Oil
Coconut oil is my suggestion.

Note: If you need to have more moisture you can use a blended up apple or pear. Also non sweetened applesauce can work.

When it is done you can serve with almond or any other nut milk. I like mine in chunks but you can break it up if it is stuck together. Keeps in fridge for a while...but will be gone in no time. Enjoy and have a great breakfast.



Mine is dehydrating right now so I will show the final pictures later.