Recipe - Lemon Frosted Carrot Cakes

Although these cakes are good to eat just as they are, you can dehydrate them (before frosting) for a drier texture. I like to use Meyer lemons for their sweeter taste without the mouth-puckering sour tartness associated with lemons. (The produce manager at the Independent Grocer store in Abbotsford brought in Meyer lemons for me.)  Yield:  1-1/2 dozen

Carrot Cakes:
1-1/2 cups carrot Pulp, from juiced carrots              2 tsp Meyer lemon zest
1/2 cup almond pulp or almonds, ground                  1 tsp agave
1/3 cup coconut Flour                                              1/2 tsp cinnamon + 1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/3 cup walnuts, chopped                                        1-2 pinches vanilla powder
1/3 cup raisins, chopped     

• Use the pulp leftover from making Almond milk, or grind almonds into a meal 
• Coconut flour is shredded coconut that is ground in blender
• By hand, mix all the ingredients together in a bowl
• Shape cakes using a 1-1/2 or 2” spring-loaded ice cream scoop, pressing mixture firmly into the scoop
• When you turn them out onto a tray – they will have a rounded top and flat bottom
• Set in the fridge until ready to frost – or at this point they can be dehydrated a few hours

Lemon Frosting:
1/4 cup cashews                                                     2-1/2 Tbsp coconut oil, melted
1/3 cup Meyer lemon juice                                      1 Tbsp agave   

• Place coconut oil in a jar with lid and sit the jar in a bowl of warm water to melt
• When oil is melted, blend all ingredients in a blender until smooth
• Spoon the frosting over the top of each cake
• Place in the fridge until ready to eat - cakes will last a week covered in the fridge

Recipe - Persimmon Pudding Green Smoothie

If you have never made a Green Smoothie before, here is your opportunity! Just start out with a few glasses each day and build up to drinking a blender full.

Dark leafy greens contain an abundance of the essential minerals, vitamins, and amino acids needed for optimum health. And the easiest way to include nutrient dense greens into our daily diet is by drinking a blender full of GREEN SMOOTHIE every day!

So what have I discovered through drinking Green Smoothies? Abundant health, increased energy, regulated weight, reduced cravings, and better digestion are just a few of the benefits!

For this recipe, any blender will do, but for the tougher, fibrous greens like kale you will find a more powerful blender gives creamier results. My blender is a Vitamix which can handle just about anything.

Persimmons Pudding GS
Add ingredients to the blender in the following order:
2 cups purified water
3 cups spinach, tightly packed
1 one inch thick slice of fresh pineapple
2 persimmons, chopped
1 banana, sliced

• Place water in bottom of blender
• Add spinach (make sure measuring cup has been tightly packed)
• Slice off an inch from the top and bottom of the pineapple and throw away. Remove outside skin from pineapple with a knife, and cut a one inch thick slice. Cut this pineapple slice into cubes including the core, and add to the blender.
• Insert a small knife into the top of each persimmon around the green stem. Cut a circle about 1/2" deep to remove and throw away the stem. Chop the remaining persimmons into cubes, and add to blender.
• Remove the peel from a banana, slice, and add to blender
• Blend all together until thick, smooth, and creamy
• For a pudding - put into small bowls and serve with a spoon!
• For a drink - add an extra 1/2 to 1 cup of water, thinning to your desired consistency, blend again and serve in glasses!

Recipe - Choco-late Pie

Season's Greetings!

To show you that healthy desserts can be delicious, I thought you would enjoy this pie which delivers a full rich chocolate flavour without being overly sweet. It makes a 9" pie and can be the perfect ending to your holiday meal!

For those of you who have never tried making a raw pie before, this is a good one to start with. It is really easy to make - and you will feel proud of yourself when you take that first bite!

Crust:
3/4 cup walnuts, unsoaked
3/4 cup macadamia nuts, unsoaked
1/2 cup Medjool dates, pitted
1-1/2 cups shredded coconut
1/8 tsp Himalayan salt 

• Process all the nuts in a food processor until coarsely ground
• Add the dates, coconut, salt and process again until mixture holds together
• Press firmly into a 9" glass pie plate and put in the refrigerator to set

Filling:
3 large avocados (4 small avocados)
1/4 cup each of raw cacao powder and raw carob powder
1/2 cup agave syrup
pinch of powdered vanilla (or 1/4 tsp liquid Vanilla)
pinch of Himalayan salt
1/4 cup coconut oil, melted

• First start melting the coconut oil (place the oil in a jar with a lid, and sit the jar in a bowl of hot water), set aside until melted
• Peel the avocados and discard the peel and seed
• Scoop the avocado flesh out with a spoon and place into a food processor, process until smooth
• Add cacao powder, carob powder, agave, vanilla, salt, and process again
• Add the melted coconut oil LAST and process until well combined
• Spoon the filling into the prepared pie crust and smooth the top
• Place in the refrigerator to firm up for 1 hour or more

Recipes - Persimmon Pudding

Persimmon Pudding

Since persimmons are in the grocery stores right now, I decided to repost this recipe from this blog's archives. You can make a fast, easy, and deliciously thick green smoothie pudding - OR - you can leave out the celery to make a quick fruity pudding!

Persimmon Pudding

Makes 3-4 servings

1 persimmon

1 banana

4 very large strawberries (I used frozen)

2-3 stalks wild celery, with leaves

(I used regular celery, but I love using wild celery which is more nutritious and tastier)

• Remove and discard the top and seed from persimmon
• Blend together persimmon and banana in a blender
• Add strawberries to blender (If using a Vitamix you may want to use the tamber)
• Omitting water thickens a green smoothie into a pudding
• When fruit is mixed thoroughly, add celery, one stalk at a time, blending untill smooth
• Pour into dessert dishes - Fast, Easy and Delish!

Recipes - Date Nut Torte

This recipe comes courtesy of Alissa Cohen. It is fast and easy to put together and tastes divine! Only made 1/2 of the recipe, just to get a better picture for you!

Date Nut Torte

Date Nut Torte

Base of Torte
2 cups raisins
2 cups walnuts

• In a food processor, combine raisins and walnuts and blend until well blended and moist
• This will take a few minutes and you may see it forming a ball
• Make sure the raisins come out looking like a fudgey mixture and are not still grainy
• Remove from food processor and mould onto a plate in a round circle about 1-1/2" thick  

Frosting
1 cup dates, pitted and soaked
1/2 lemon, juiced 

• In a food processor, combine dates and lemon juice until smooth and creamy
• Spread the frosting on top of the torte
• If you want a firmer texture that will be easier to slice, refrigerate the torte for a few hours

Creativity in Action

How many times have you started making something only to find it is not to your liking - then what do you do? Well this just happened to me! Life presents these moments that you can either take as a defeat, or grasp as an opportunity to create something new - the choice is always yours!  

Today I wanted to make some new little dessert balls, but they tasted similar to all the other dessert balls out there. So at this point I could throw out this failed attempt or have some fun and let my imagination run free. Opting for fun seemed like the thing to do, so to what was already in the food processor I began adding ingredients, varying the texture, and taste testing until I came up with this new surprise - that by the way is nut-free. Since I wasn't sure how long the batter would take to dehydrate, I decided to use this lovely little heart mould and split the batter into two portions.

 

What could have been a 2-layer heart-shaped cake OR a carob zucchini loaf turned out to be a 2-layer Carob Zucchini Cake with a Strawberry Cream filling and Carob frosting (either way I would have been happy)!

Recipe - Mixed Noodle Teriyaki

This simple light sauce, which also makes a great dressing or dip for veggies, was inspired by Ani Phyo. I like playing around with traditional Asian recipes - and this is the result! My way is to combine noodles of different colours and textures with a sweet Teriyaki sauce and serve alongside Garlicky Green Beans (see post April 24, 2011) and diced juicy canteloupe for a complete meal! 

Mixed Noodle Teriyaki  Serves 4
Sauce
2 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
1 Tbsp raw Tahini (or 1 Tbsp Almond butter)
2 Tbsp gluten-free Tamari
3 Tbsp agave
1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
1 Tbsp grated fresh ginger
1 tsp minced garlic

Noodles
1 cup finely shredded Red Cabbage
3 cups of noodles (use any combination of root veggies like zucchini, carrots, daikon, etc)

• Whisk together the sauce ingredients in a bowl (or mix the sauce in a blender)
• If you want a thicker sauce, simply increase the tahini (or Almond butter) 
• Shred cabbage and put in the bowl containing the sauce
• Make noodles with a Spirooli, Spiralizer, or veggie peeler
• Add noodles to the bowl with the cabbage and sauce
• Mix all together until thoroughly coated
• For added nutrition, sprinkle some sesame seeds or sprouted lentils over top
• Noodles and sauce mixture will keep 1-2 days in the fridge