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I have decided to move this blog to another site - combined with my other blog so that I have all my passions, musings and writings under one virtual roof. I hope you will follow me there: http://virgo-vegan.blogspot.com/

Black Forest Ice "Cream"

This is incredibly chocolatey and not too sweet. If you prefer more sweetness, you can definitely add more agave or dates. With ice creams, make sure that the pre-ice cream freezer mixture is sweet enough to your liking or even a little too sweet. For some reason, ice creams taste less sweet after they are frozen in the ice cream freezer.

Ingredients:

1 cup raw cashews, soaked for at least an hour in purified water (do not reserve the water)

1/2 cup raw cacao powder

1/2 cup agave syrup or mild date (such as halawi)

20 oz cherries, divided (pitted)

1/2 tsp almond extract, alcohol-free (optional)

Pre-freeze your ice cream freezer bowl overnight.

Take 1 cup of cherries, chop and put in a bowl in the refrigerator. These will be the chips for later. Drain cashews and add to high powered blender along with cacao powder and agave syrup (or dates). Blend on high until thick and creamy and no chunks of cashews are left. This should look like a very thick pudding. Add remaining cherries and blend again until creamy and no chunks. Taste at this point for sweetness. If it is not sweet enough add up to another 1/4 - 1/2 cup of agave or dates. Pour the mixture into a large bowl and set in the refrigerator for at least 6 hours.

Start the ice cream freezer, and pour the chocolate cherry mixture into the freezer. My ice cream takes a total of about 20 - 25 minutes depending on how warm the house is. Check the ice cream after about 10 - 15 minutes. When the mix is starting to set, add the chopped cherries. Adding them at this point will ensure you have an even distribution and that the cherries do not fall to the bottom of the freezer. Let the ice cream freezer run (according to manufacturers instructions) until mix is completely frozen. You can serve and enjoy at this point and the ice cream is like soft serve. Or spoon mixture into a freezer safe container, and freeze overnight so it sets up hard like carton ice cream.

Hemp Milk

Ingredients:

1/4 cup shelled hempseeds

1 cup water

1 Tbsp Agave Nectar or 1 medjool date

Directions:

Place all ingredients in the blender and whirl - this takes about 15 seconds in a high powered blender. Flavor with vanilla, honey, almond extract, etc. (if desired) Optional - strain using cheesecloth, a nut/seed bag or very fine sieve.

For a sweet treat - use 1/4 cup hempseeds, 1/2 cup water, and a very ripe frozen banana - tastes like a nutty banana milk shake!

Zucchini Pasta with Creamy Tomato Sauce and Flax Bread Sticks

This may be my sons favorite meal. I was making the zucchini noodles for me and some gluten free packaged pasta for him. After he saw what I had, he asked for "mommy noodles" and would much prefer these over packaged pasta.

Zucchini Pasta with Creamy Tomato Sauce

Ingredients:

Pasta:

1 zucchini per person - spiraled with a vegetable spiralizer or you can use a vegetable peeler to make fettucini style noodles.

Sauce:

1/2 cup cashew chreese

1 cup sun dried tomatoes, soaked for 1 hour (reserve soaking liquid)

1 large tomato

1 Tbls dried Italian herbs (I use a mix of basil, oregano, parsley, sweet fennel, and parsley)

Put all sauce ingredients in high powered blender and whirl until desired thickness. I prefer this to be smooth without any chunks. If it is too thick, add some sun dried tomato reserve liquid. If it is just right, then you can discard the reserve liquid.

Place zucchini noodles on a plate, top with a large spoonful of sauce. Top with parmezano if desired, and flax bread sticks. Serve right after plating otherwise the zucchini starts to release a lot of water and this will make for a soggy plate. Sauce is fine to keep as a leftover and will store for up to 3 days, but make the noodles fresh each time and right before dining.

Orange Banana Smoothe - Post Running Smoothie

Everytime I finish a run, I crave this smoothie.  I always keep about 5 peeled bananas in the freezer to add to smoothies - this is a great reason to do that.

Ingredients:

2 frozen bananas

3 medium oranges, peeled

Place all ingredients in high powered blender and whirl until creamy and smooth. Makes approx. 1 quart of smoothie.

Pina Colada Green Smoothie

This is my son's favorite smoothie and we split it every morning for breakfast.

Ingredients:

1 large banana

4 cups of spinach

1/2 a large pineapple

1 Tbls coconut oil

Put all ingredients in a high powered blender an whirl until creamy and smooth.  This makes abut a quart of green smoothie.

Parmezano

This is more of a condiment recipe, but it is very versatile in application and incredibly simple to make.  Use it anywhere or in any recipe calling for Parmesan Cheese.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup raw nuts or seeds - I prefer the flavor of raw pine nuts

1/2 cup nutritional yeast flake - if you can only find powder, then use 1/4 cup

1/2 tsp garlic powder

a pinch of sea salt

Put all ingredients in food processor and pulse until nuts are the texture of sand.  If you have a high powered blender (like a Vita-mix) this takes about 20 seconds to make.  Make sure you do not over grind, or you will get a nut/seed butter.  

This is technically a raw transition food - some raw foodists treat nutritional yeast as a raw food, and others do not.  It is up to you but right now it is part of my raw diet and is also enjoyed by my husband and son who are not on a raw diet.

We use this to top pizza, pasta, baked potatoes, popcorn, raw veggies, etc.