Key Lime Pie

I made this Key Lime Pie two days ago. I was inspired by Stacy Stowers (aka The Raw Food Nanny).
I was looking up her Happy Shake and found an article on Shape Magazine online that featured five of her favorite recipes. I happened to have most of the ingredients for a Key Lime Pie on hand, so I made this first.

My only change was that I used agave instead of honey because I already had some. Me, Raymond, and my husband (the ultimate tester) all love this pie. It's simple to make. The only labor intensive part is peeling and juicing the limes. Other than that, it's a "pour-into-food processor-and-blender" recipe.

Enjoy!

Key Lime Pie (RV, GF)
Ingredients:

For basic nut crust:
3/4 c. raw almonds

1 c. raw walnuts

10 medjool dates (1 c. pitted and packed down)

Pinch of salt

For pie filling:
3/4 c. fresh squeezed lime juice

1 1/2 c. avocados

1/2 c. raw honey (I used 1/2 cup agave)

1/8 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. vanilla

1/2 c. coconut oil

2 tbsp. lecithin

Directions:
For basic nut crust:
Process ingredients in a food processor using the “S” blade until ingredients stick together. Don’t overprocess or you will make nut butter. Press into pie plate. Chill while preparing your pie filling.  For pie filling:
Blend in your blender all ingredients except the coconut oil and the lecithin. Now add your coconut oil and lecithin. Blend again until creamy. Pour into your pie crust and chill for 6-8 hours or until firm. Decorate with kiwi fruit and/or berries, if desired. Makes about 8 servings.

◦

Key Lime Pie

Mango Sorbet and Nut Milks

Mango Sorbet

This Mango Sorbet from Ani's Raw Food Desserts is a winner. And it's simplicity is even better.

This is SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO easy! It's very kid-friendly to make and to eat!

My version wasn't as frozen as in the book photo, but darn, it was perfectly ripe, sweet, and ideal for a hot summer day! 

 

And you can see that I'm making stuff from Raw Food Real World. I'm working through fears this year. I'd asked Matthew and Sarma if I could blog through their book last year. It's August of 2012 and I'm just now doing it. I'm taking my time. No rushing. No pressure. I look at the simple stuff and make it.

 

That also means I can't always share recipes. Publishers have told me they prefer bloggers to limit recipe sharing to five recipes from a book.

 

Nut milks and shakes are pretty basic. Once you know the formula, you can add to it.

 

Nut milk basic recipe:

1 cup nuts

4 cups water

 

Soak the nuts for 4-8 hours.

Blend in a high-powered blender.

Strain and squeeze in a nut milk bag or cheesecloth.

 

From there you can add sweeteners, coconut oil, or whatever you like.

 

 

Milkshake Basic Recipe:

http://theveganmochaangel.blogspot.com/2010/07/vanilla-milkshake.html

I wrote this two years ago. It's the vanilla milkshake from the book. I make this at least once a day. That is how yummy, vanilla-ee, sweet, refreshing it is.

 

Again, once you got the formula, you can make a chocolate shake, strawberry shake, peanut butter shake, etc.

 

Enjoy!

 

Love,

Althea

◦

Mango Sorbet and Nut Milks

Chocolate Ganache Pie

It's been so long since I shared a recipe. I figured it was time :-). I've made this Chocolate Ganache Pie from 30-Minute Vegan before. The pie was better than last time. This is cooked and vegan, and if you make the crust yourself, it can be gluten-free. If you buy a pre-made crust, then it won't be.

I know this can be made raw. A live crust is as simple as blending dates and almonds in a food processor. The filling is something I'm going to play with, and I have a solid idea. Until then, here's the original version.

Chocolate Ganache Pie (V)

INGREDIENTS
1-1/2 cups vegan dark chocolate chips (preferably grain-sweetened)
1/2 cup pure maple syrup 1 (12.3-ounce) package Mori-nu firm silken tofu
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1⁄8 teaspoon sea salt
1 premade pie shell
PREPARATION
1. Melt the chocolate chips by heating them in a double boiler over medium heat until the consistency is smooth, lump-free, and creamy, stirring only once or twice.

2. Meanwhile puree the maple syrup, tofu, vanilla, and sea salt in a food processor until smooth. When the chocolate is thoroughly melted (about 20 minutes), add it to the food processor and blend well.

3. Pour the mixture into the pie shell and chill until firm all the way through, about 1 hour.

NOTE: This dish will come out sweeter if you use the more common semisweet chocolate chips, which contain cane sugar. Sunspire sells a variety that we prefer, which is grain-sweetened, but either one will work—sweeten to your heart’s content.

Also, when melting chocolate in a double boiler (which can also be any glass or stainless-steel bowl set on top of a pot with 1 to 2 inches of boiling water in it), be absolutely sure that both the bowl and anything you use to stir the chocolate with are completely dry. A good way to make sure the melting pot or bowl is dry is to start heating it before you put the chips in; this will dry out any moisture. The slightest droplet of water will “seize” the chocolate, leaving it lumpy and devastatingly imperfect looking. But surely do not cry over broken chocolate; everyone still loves to lick it up and your lumpy little pie will still taste divine.

This is the tofu, maple syrup, and sea salt in the food processor. Get it smooth.

Put the chocolate chips in bowl over boiling water.

Stir until the chips melt. Raymond did this part for me. Kids love playing in the kitchen!

After pouring the chocolate in the food processor, blend with the other ingredients. This is what it will look like.

Pour into the shell and let sit at least an hour. Overnight is best. You'll have a pie that no one will believe is vegan.

Here's a gluten-free pie crust recipe:

Graham Cracker Crust (GF)

INGREDIENTS

1 1/2 cups gluten-free graham cracker crumbs or crushed cookies of choice

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

6 tablespoons vegan margarine

PREPARATION

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Use margarine to grease bottom and sides of a spring form or pie pan. Set aside.

2. Mix graham cracker crumbs, cinnamon, and melted margarine together.

3. Press mixture into prepared pan.

4. Place in preheated oven and bake for 10-12 minutes. Cool on a rack before adding filling.

Love,

Althea

◦

Chocolate Ganache Pie

Coconut-Lime Cookies

These cookies, from Living Raw Food, by Sarma Melngailis, are easy and tasty to make. And ya'll know I'm all about easy! I cut the entire recipe in half because I only had 1 cup of macadamia nuts.

2 cups mac nuts

1 cup shredded dried coconut (buy at the store, don't try to shred & dry coconuts at home!)

1 tablespoon lime zest

1 teaspoon sea salt

1/4 cup agave nectar

2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Put the nuts in the freezer to chill for a few minutes. Take them out, and put them in a food processor with the coconut and lime zest and pulse until combined by the mixture is still a bit chunky. Don't overprocess or mixture will become oily. Transfer mixture to a bowl. Add the remaining ingredients. Using a ice cream scooper, or tablespoon, place rounds of the mixture in a dehydrator on a Teflex sheet (I use parchment paper). Flatten them into cookies about 1/2 inch thick. Dehydrate for @ 24 hours or until your desired consistency.

Enjoy!

Love,

Althea

◦

Coconut-Lime Cookies

Strawberry Cobbler

I made a fruit cobbler from Sweet Gratitude by Matthew Rogers and Tiziana Alipo Tamborra. They suggest using a berry combination. I only had strawberries on hand, so that is what I used. Their suggestions of cobbler combinations follows:
apple/strawberry
white peach/raspberry/mango
pear/persimmon/pomegranate
blueberry/strawberry/raspberry/blackberry

The cobbler is one of the easier recipes in the book. The topping is walnuts, date paste, cinnamon, liquid vanilla, and salt. The fruit filling is fruit, lemon, agave, liquid vanilla, cinnamon, and salt.

And it was scrumptious. It made a wonderful breakfast. Rom loved it.

Sweet Gratitude is a textbook on how to make a raw dessert. This is not an entry level book. If you are serious about learning how to make desserts that impress people, or want to go professional, this is the book for you. If you are a newbie, don't buy this because you'll leave with the impression that all raw desserts are complicated. That is not true.

Raw Desserts by Jennifer Cornbleet, or Ani's Raw Food Desserts by Ani Phyo feature much easier desserts. Sweet Gratitude's level of difficulty also speaks to the quality of the desserts.
I give it a 10 out of 10, for people who want to take desserts to the next level. If you don't, you'll wind up leaving it to collect dust on your bookcase.

Love,
Althea

◦

Strawberry Cobbler

The Best Raw Brownies EVER!

I made the Warm Fudge Brownies in Matthew Kenney's book Everyday Raw. Can I just say "WOW!!!!!!!!!!" They are everything a brownie should be: warm, fudgy, thick, rich, moist...in short, Heaven on Earth. These brownies are reminiscent of the best brownies I've ever tasted. If you have this book, and a dehydrator, make the brownies.

The above photo is the batter. It was so good. I kept licking the spoon, trying not to eat it all before I put the batter in the pan.

This is what it looked like after being dehydrated.

I think I took them out of the pan too soon, but they still tasted phenomenal. They looked more like cookies, but who cares?

I took two pictures once they were finished. I'd added cacao nibs (just my personal touch), and I'd grinded my own cashew flour, hence why they look grainy. But again, the taste was ridiculous.

The same brownies again. Awesomeness on a plate. Seriously. My husband and my oldest son could not get enough. And I managed to save one for a friend who was leaving my job the next day. She was intrigued by the thought of raw brownies. Upon first bite, her response was, "Wow. This is delicious. I'm going to have to get a dehydrator." Two thumbs up for Warm Fudge Brownies.

Love,

Althea

◦

The Best Raw Brownies EVER!

Three Yummy Desserts

Coconut Ice Kream with Strawberry Sauce

This is a luscious ice creamy dessert from Ani Phyo's Raw Desserts book. Even if you don't have a favorite "raw" dessert, go ahead a post your favorite dessert anyway! It's like they say with the lottery: you can't win if you don't play :-).

And the strawberry sauce is mine. It's just strawberries and agave blended in a food processor. That's all you need for a heavenly sauce.

Chocolate Cake with Non-Dairy/Gluten-Free Icing

This is a vegan chocolate cake I made for my family. I'm still playing with the recipe, and I would prefer to post a gluten-free option that tastes not gluten-free. But the icing I came up with seriously rocked the house.

Non-Dairy Chocolate Frosting
1/2 cup non-dairy margarine, softened, but not melted

1 cup powdered confectioner's sugar

1/4 cup cocoa powder

1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/8 -1/4 teaspoon sea salt, start with 1/8

Beat the margarine in a food processor until creamy. Add all the other ingredients and beat until mixed and smooth. Makes enough for one 8x8 cake. Double or triple the recipe to frost a two-layer cake.

Raw Apple Crisp Redux 2

From my Raw Mocha Angel Class:

Apple Crisp
8 apples cubed & peeled
½ cup agave nectar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
Pinch to ¼ teaspoon cardamom
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Mix the spices together and pour over the apples. Let marinate for 30 minutes to an hour.

Icing
4 cups of cashews
2 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 tablespoons agave nectar
Water JUST TO THE TOP of the cashews.

Blend until smooth. You want it creamy and THICK.

Top the apples with your favorite raw granola. Put the icing on top of that and you've got one heck of a dessert.

Enjoy!

Love,

Althea

◦

Three Yummy Desserts