Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Getting some use out of my ramekins


It was one of those days.

I walked into the kitchen with good ideas and good intent and I walked out with a firm kick in my pride.

Ouch.
I hate that.

I'll be honest and say that sometimes I can be rather melodramatic. You know... the cake didn't turn out so it must mean I'm a terrible baker, and oh my gosh now I'm rethinking my career decisions, and my life is over now I might as well just quit while I'm ahead.

Um. Hello! Drama queen, please exit stage left. Thank you.


So today I got right back into the water. Let's just say that my pride is regained so I guess my life can continue. I'm satisfied.

I realized a few things today. Let me share them with you:

1) Raw desserts always turn out for me. I just can't seem to screw them up. I like this;
2) Baked goods are having less and less appeal to me. More often than not I am now turning to raw food for both meals and for snacks (read: I bought a big bag of cacao so lots of chocolate-y things). And probably most importantly;
3) It's ok for things not to go perfectly all the time. I will have bad days. I just have to make the best of them.


I might edit the post later and post the recipe.

That is, I will if I can remember it.

Cheers!

P.S. You can totally see where my finger slipped onto one of the cakes in that last picture. Oops! I'll just eat that one, too...

Friday, March 2, 2012

I definitely deserve a slice of cheesecake


I'm still on this raw kick, and I'm not sorry.

I don't have a good reason for making this cheesecake. I've been feeling down lately, so maybe that's why I did it. Last weekend went unfavourably at work and to be honest I'm still running the events through my mind.

But... it certainly won't help me lose weight and I don't think I really want to share it either. So it's just going to chill in my freezer. And when I'm a good girl—I mean a really, really good girl—then maybe I'll have a piece.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it.




Raw Blueberry Cheesecake
Adapted from The Purple Carrot's adaptation.

Crust:
1 cup raw almonds (mine were soaked and dehydrated)
1 cup pitted dates
a generous pinch of sea salt

Filling:
3 cups cashews, soaked
2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
Juice of 3 lemons
1/2 cup virgin coconut oil (this will give it a coconut-y taste; use refined if you don't want that), melted
1/2 cup raw agave nectar
1 generous cup fresh blueberries, rinsed and patted dry, plus more for garnish

For the crust: combine all ingredients in the bowl of a food processor and blend until everything is finely chopped and sticks together when pressed. Press the crust evenly into the bottom of a 9-in. springform pan bottom-lined with wax paper.

For the filling: Combine all ingredients, except for the berries, in the food processor and blend until smooth. Pour roughly two-thirds of the mixture over the crust.

Add the berries to the remaining mixture in the food processor and blend once again until smooth; pour over top to create three layers.

// Another idea I had is to pour all of the filling into the pan, blend the berries separately, and then swirl the pureed berries into the filling. Totally up to you. //

Place cheesecake into the freezer until firm, about an hour or two. Store in the freezer, and allow a couple minutes to thaw before slicing and serving. garnish with fresh blueberries, if desired.

Yield: one 9-in cheesecake