Raw Almond Butter Cups

Hey everyone! I hope you had a great Valentines Day, and today's post is just bringing you a lil' recipe for some everyday treats you can make in five minutes! These are my favorite raw treats, they remind me so much of Reeses peanut butter cups. They're not to sweet(but adjustable of course!) and not too rich, like so many raw pies and cakes can be. Any raw nut butter will do, next time I will try with coconut butter :) I was really intimidated to try this recipe so here's a step-by-step just for you:

First prepare a batch of liquid chocolate a la Ani Phyo, or just combine one part liquid extra virgin coconut oil to one part ground cacao, I used 1/2 C : 1/2 C. If you live in a warm climate your coconut oil is probably already liquidated, but if you live in a Seattle-like climate just run the jar under warm water a few minutes, it melts quickly. Avoid microwaving. If you're using cacao nibs, which I highly recommend, grind them very well, for at least a minute to avoid graininess. Then sweeten to taste with coconut nectar, agave, stevia, or mesquite(I used 1 T mesquite) and pour half of the mixture into a muffin tin as pictured above. Throw in the freezer for about 5 minutes to solidify the chocolate.

Stir your almond butter with about 1/2 t pink himalayan sea salt and scoop 1-2 t on to your solidified chocolate pieces. Distribute the last of the chocolate over the almond butter and throw in the freezer for about 20 minutes.

Enjoy!

What's your favorite raw dessert?

Vegan Dragon Roll in Amazing Sauce

This is the brand new Dragon Roll from my favorite raw/vegan restaurant in town,
Thrive. Every time I go it's impossible to choose what to get, everything is so delicious!

I tried their brand new Dragon roll with red rice, avacado, cucumber, cilantro, wrapped in sesame ginger sauce and nori. It came with a truly amazing "garlic cilantro god sauce" for dipping. I will be saving the remainder for my salad tomorrow. I am seriously interested to know what's in that amazi-balls sauce, but can understand why it would be a secret...

HUG A VEGAN!

Since November world vegan month....

See if you can find one as cute as her :)

Read more about it with her vegan-highness Katie :D

warrior of the sun!

For months I pondered, tossed and turned, wondering 'why are the fitnessista's protein pancakes so much better looking, and probably better tasting than mine? Why are my smoothies gritty, unattractive, and seem to be missing something? Isn't there a better way to get my protein than eating high-fat nuts and seeds all the time?

And then, from heaven, the answer appeared:

One scoop has just 70 calories, one gram of fat and 16 grams of protein! There isn't a psychotically long list of scary ingredients, the bulk of it is ancient sprouted brown rice. It's sweetened with stevia and totally raw and vegan! And the best part? It tastes delicious. In smoothies it makes everything taste like a milkshake. Today's smoothie was mango, banana baby red chard, a few chunks of papaya, and the sun warrior made it a dreamsicle! It improves the texture so much and tastes like a creamsicle :)

I am never leaving home without it!

Raw Chocolate Covered Macaroons

Thursday is farmers market day! So I am a happy girl. But before I left, I popped these roonies in the dehydrator. For once a raw treat NOT made mostly of dates and nuts!

My AMAZING Chocolate Covered Nilly Macaroons:
(half batch)
1 C coconut
1/4 C almond or walnut flour
1/8 C coconut butter or oil
1/4 C maple syrup or agave
1 T mesquite powder
1 t vanilla
pinch sea salt

I mixed these all together by hand and then popped them in the dehydrator at 105 for about 2 hours until they were firmed up but still soft on the inside. I then chilled them in the freezer and dipped them a few times in Ani Phyo's liquid chocolate made with real cacao nibs.

I am in LOVE with raw mesquite powder. I was hesitant to buy it because it was $8 for a 16 oz. bag, but I am so glad I did. It has amazing health benefits and is great in oats and with desserts because of its blood sugar balancing properties. I love the taste, so caramelly and smooth, and recommend it blended with dates for caramel apple dip!

These were sooooo foodgasmic :)

Raw Carrot Cake with Kream Cheeze Frosting

This is one of my raw culinary triumphs. I based the recipe on the lovely Chocolate Covered Katie's raw cheesecake recipe, which was great to build on. The cake turned out delicious and the frosting tasted just like the philly cream cheese frosting I grew up on :D


Try this- it's not as difficult as it sounds! I usually don't attempt things with more than six ingredients, but I'm so glad I did...

Carrot Cake
1/2 cup raw almonds (unsoaked)

1/2 cup unsweetened shredded dried coconut

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1 heaping tablespoon raw mesquite powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

Pinch ground nutmeg

1 cup raw walnuts

1 cup raw pecans or almonds 

8 pitted medjool dates

1 teaspoon orange zest

1/4 to 1/2c shredded carrot

Directions:  Add ingredients, in order to a food processor or blender, blending things separately as needed. Press into a pie dish or spring form pan and frost with Kreme Cheeze frosting.

Kreme Cheeze Frosting

1 C raw cashews or brazil nuts

1 t vanilla extract

1/2 a banana

1 t lemon juice

20 drops agave nectar or maple syrup

water for blending, about 1/4 C if your blender is dodgy like mine

Directions: Blend 'er up, adding water as needed..\\


Warning: This cake is super rich, it gave me quite a tummy ache so I suggest resisting the urge to shove three pieces in your face.

whole paycheck...

why do you do this to me?!!?

shredded coconut 2.99
2 almond milks 4.00
almonds 2.80
1 lb. walnuts 3.99
sesame seeds 1.75
1 rawvolution cashew brownie bar 1.00
organic virgin coconut oil 6.99
almond oil (for my skin) 9.99
Organic Rainbow Chard 2.49

Seeing that i almost bought 5 Rawvolution bars since they were on sale, but I totally restrained myself! That cashew brownie bar was absolutely delicious though! Seriously, if all of their flavors are that good I am going to have an addiction on my hands.

I also noticed a few things while I was there...

Hemp Dream, has got a new look! I laughed to myself as I thought, maybe they're trying to appeal to the 1960's hemp loving crowd? Honestly...tie die? I'm sortof a hippie myself, but I'm stickin' with almond milk. I have heard of the insane health benefits of hemp seeds and have used the raw seeds in smoothies and raw oats, what do you guys think of the milk? does it give you a raw high? :D

It's awesome that Whole Foods has started carrying a local business' vegan pastries...introducing Mighty O' Doughnuts! I was full from my beastly salad lunch, but had I been hungry it would have taken much strength to resist the WF raw salad bar.

Another thing that made my day was the fact that they were selling blackberries for $7. Honestly, who the FCK do you think you are selling a pint of berries that grows WILD practically everywhere for that much?! I was miffed about that until I finished my shopping to head to my bus stop and lining the road were bushes and bushes of blackberries! I, having no boundaries whatsoever, had myself a little foraged, completely free snack while I waited for the bus.
Take that, Whole Paycheck.

Five Reasons to be Vegan from my #1 bitch!

WHAT I THINK?

#ONE: That may be true, about the chickens, but I don't feel great about eating highly processed soy omelettes either. I would almost rather have egg whites, they've been one of the hardest things for me to give up. But after seeing what they do to the animals, I agree.

#TWO: Milk 100% grosses me out. There are so many non-destructive, more healthy alternatives!! People become lactose intolerant for a reason. Milk makes me break out, too. Get your calcium from greens, yo!

#THREE: Go vegan, be happy! It's your life and your body, and you only get one!

#FOUR: "You'll do more good switching to a vegan diet than you will switching to an energy efficient car" This makes me feel like a fantastic person.

#FIVE: She's right, it really isn't that tough. The hardest part is explaining to family and friends, in which case you just have to tell them that you need to do what's best for you and let them accept it.

WHAT DO YOU THINK?