Great Conversations, and Full-on Maca Mojo for Terry--HAWMC #8

Remember this white chocolate maca bark I posted at Terry's urging? Since Terry herself is spending the weekend with us, I made her some dark chocolate maca bark for full-on mojo! Recipe down below.

Today's HAWMC prompt asks for a recreation of the week's best conversation. Something I enjoy pointing out in the Linguistics class I teach is the power of speech as a means of bringing something into existence. Even beyond performative speech acts (like "I pronounce you man and wife;" "I name this ship Sachem"), we create relationships, gifts, connections, and so much more, purely through our use of language.

One of my favorite conversations this week was one I wasn't involved in! But I was involved in the conversation that spawned it. Yesterday, Phil's daughter called from the library (where she works) to say a book had come in for Phil. I confessed to her:

"I thought I'd knocked that 'flu on the head, but as soon as I went out on Friday, I started to feel bad again, and it ended up I couldn't sleep last night---it was my turn to wake Phil up!..." (sympathetic noises from Amy) "I really want to go get a good hot shower or steam at the gym--but of course it's Easter, so everything's closed! Phil said I should ask Leslie (Amy's mom) if I can soak in her tub." Amy said, "Well, if you don't feel comfortable asking mom, you can take a shower at my place, but my water pump's on the fritz so I've been taking power showers, which might not be what you need right now. And you know mom would love to share her tub." "OK, thanks so much. I know you're right about that." 

A few hours later, the phone rang again, and Amy was up at Leslie's and had evidently told her about our conversation. That's the favorite conversation that I didn't even hear! So it was Leslie on the phone, saying "Come on up! Any time you like!" I said "I don't know if I should go anywhere tonight or wait until tomorrow." Leslie said, "I think the sooner you can sweat some of that crud out, the better, and the tub's just sitting there waiting for someone to soak in it."


So, Phil, Terry and I all went up to Leslie's, providing the bonus that Terry got to see Leslie's spectacular panoramic view and visit with her and Amy. And I spent probably 45 minutes in that big tub--big enough for me to lie full-length, or, if I curled in fetal position, I could float back and forth like a veritable fetus. I was grateful for the conversations that took place in my head in there too, this first moment for weeks that I disengaged from everything and just lay quiet in hot water. My thoughts went directly to the poems I'm working on, and it felt so good to have that time to process on them.


I'm so grateful both to Leslie and Amy--I felt so cared about and nurtured, and deep-muscle-relaxed, and I slept so well last night--an unusual thing indeed of late. At this point, I may not make it to our Easter/Passover celebration, which was sort of my idea in the first place, although I'll definitely send Phil laden with goodies. But this time, I'm getting over the 'flu for sure!


Recipe: Chocolate Maca Mojo (Sugar Free, Vegan, Raw)
Terry really appreciated the maca in the original version of this, and she doesn't need to avoid chocolate, so I thought this new version would take it to the next level. I knew she appreciated goji berries, so I added those and cacao nibs for texture. I've mentioned before that I think maca and coconut taste wonderful together: I think a hint of spice makes them even better, so I included some cayenne in this version.


The measurements are a little eccentric, because 3/8 cup cacao butter was what I had, but I think it'll make sense.


Ingredients:
3/8 cup cacao butter
1 cup coconut butter (or "creamed coconut," which comes in 7oz blocks, a little under a cup)
3 tablespoons powdered xylitol
1/4 cup cacao powder
1 1/2 T maca
"a good pinch" cayenne powder
"a good pinch" vanilla powder
"a good pinch" salt


3 tablespoons cacao nibs
3 tablespoons goji berries, chopped


How-to:
Melt the cacao and coconut butters together, and then simply add all the powders in gradually and stir very, very well. Once there are no lumps, stir in the cacao nibs and goji berry pieces.

Pour into molds of choice, refrigerate until set, pop out, and share with abandon! I was going to just give the whole batch to Terry, but then Phil came by and wanted to taste, and said "That's one of the best things you've made!" So he got one of the bars too. I'm so happy he liked it as well.

What was YOUR favorite conversation this week? And gosh, aren't I lucky with my friends?

Spring Colors and Brownie Bite Recipe

Happy Weekend! After six nights of zero-to-three hours of sleep and an ultimatum from my naturopath yesterday, I slept a full night last night! As a result, I'm feeling kinda groggy today, go figure...
I'm finally going to share the recipe for those brownie bites I mentioned so many times.

Phil got back safe and thrilled from his ski trip. He had one day of glorious sunshine, and one day that it looked like this.

Changeable, our version of spring weather.
That gray morning, my home-alone breakfast gave me the feeling of spring, with its vibrant colors...

A shredded carrot, a very small sliced orange, and a half tablespoon of goji berries, soaked overnight. So juicy, so pleasing on the palate!

So, those brownie bites! I realized they would be very easy to make sugar free as well. so I'll provide options for that. Even in the not-sugar-free version, they involve a lot of very dark chcoolate and not a lot of sweetener, so they're really not very sweet even then. They're not what a milk chocolate lover would like--they're serious, hard-core, bitter chocolate. They do involve raisins, though, and I just adore the chocolate/raisin combo.
Brownie Bites (raw, vegan gluten free)
1/2 cup raisins, soaked ahead of time (reserve soak water) OR for sugar free version  3/4 cup "chia sweet" (see this old post for the whole concept)
2 cups carrot pulp  (or use grated carrot, squeezing out some of the excess moisture
3 oz 100% cacao chocolate, finely grated
1 cup cacao nibs (you can use 2 cups cacao nibs or 6 oz of 100% dark chocolate as you prefer)
1 cup shredded unsweetened coconut
1/4 cup macadamia nut butter (or other nut butter--I used homemade) (edited to add this that I forgot to include in my initial post!)
1/4 cup maple syrup (omit this if doing the sugar free version)
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/2 teaspoon cayenne (spices optional)
Put the carrot pulp, coconut and chocolate/cacao into a food processor with the S-blade and whiz around until incorporated.
Add the maple syrup and raisins OR the chia-sweet, and the vanilla extract. If using the raisins, start by just adding the raisins without their soaking water, and gradually add the water with the motor running if the mixture seems too dry.
Add the salt, and spices if using, and process to a smooth, moist dough.

Tip the dough out on to a teflex-lined dehydrator sheet and form into a square about 9x9 and half an inch thick.

Dehydrate around 24 hours--start out at 145, then reduce to 110 after the first hour.
Cut into pieces--in 40 pieces, they worked out at 35 calories each with the raisins and maple.

I still have lots of these in the freezer at home, so when I get home I'll take a better picture of one! Later--I'm not sure this is a better picture, but it was the best I could do:

They are super-dark-chocolatey, as I said before, and despite the dehydration, they remain moist with that alluring not-quite-crunchiness of the nibs and carrot.
So, this may not be for everyone, but to me it's really special. The first time I made these, as I mentioned before, I found them sinfully irresisible. This time, they're not quite as wonderful, and I think it's because I didn't use as many raisins this time.

Carrot Cardamom Birthday Cake (Allergy-Free); Gratitude, and a Bonus Recipe

What a birthday I had yesterday (the 28th)! I feel so blessed. So many dear friends from all over the world and all over my life history contacted me on Facebook, and I was so glad to have the opportunity to think of each and every one. We had a poetry group meeting, which is always a highlight of the week in which it falls, and our hostess this time made her gorgeous living space so festive and party-like for the occasion. In the evening, our wonderful friends and hosts extraordinaires, David and Olga, hosted a limerick party for my birthday! Everyone had to bring an original limerick--that was the "admission ticket." I loved that idea: a way to honor my love of poetry so that absolutely everyone could participate.

When I came home from my poetry group to get ready to leave for the limerick party, there was a message on the phone telling me that a poem of mine won second place in the Statewide Poetry Contest! What lovely news to get on my birthday!

Now that I've exceeded my monthly allocation of exclamation points, let me share some food cheer. That up there is my birthday cake: a carrot cardamom cream cake--that's what the carrot juice in my last post was for.

I made it up as I went along, but it was a real winner, so I'm going to share before I forget what I did!
This makes one ten-inch cake, but it's not a super-tall one--which I like: the slices aren't so overwhelmingly big.

Carrot Cardamom Cream Cake (gluten and dairy free, vegan, low sugar)

Crust:
1 cup pecans
1/2 cup golden flax meal
1/2 cup carrot pulp (from making carrot juice)
~3/4 cup chopped dates
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon vanilla powder

In a food processor, pulse the pecans into crumbs, then add the flax meal and carrot pulp and pulse a few times to combine. Then, with the processor running, gradually add the dates until everything starts to come together. Press into a ten-inch springform pan.

Filling:
1 cup carrot juice
1 1/2 soaked pili nuts, drained
1/2 cup young coconut pulp (I used frozen pulp)
1 cup thick irish moss gel
3/4 cup erythritol
3 tablespoons lemon juice
1/4 inch fresh ginger
2 teaspoons cinnamon
2 teaspoons ground cardamom
pinch ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon stevia
1/2 cup coconut oil, melted
2 tablespoons lecithin granules

In a Vitamix or other high-powered blender, blend all but the last two ingredients until smooth. Check the taste and add more cardamom or sweetener if it seems necessary. Add the coconut oil and lecithin and blend again until very smooth.
Pour over the crust and freeze for a couple hours until set.

Here's the crust...

 And the filling ready to rock'n'roll...

 And you can see here that it's not awfully tall up the side of the pan.

 I decorated it with some leftover frosting from our anniversary cake (a different kind of carrot cake!)

There's not much left, so it was thoroughly enjoyed! I love how the irish moss and the young coconut make it not quite so 'heavy,' but it's still delightfully smooth and rich.

Bonus recipe: Sweet Potato Puree with Roasted Garlic

We had an "orange" theme going in the food for the limerick party--also my influence. This is super-simple and extremely delicious; another off-the-cuff concoction.
I roasted several heads of garlic--350 degrees for about an hour in the oven.
I boiled up 4 medium sized sweet potatoes, took the peels off and drained the liquid.
I added about 2 teaspoons of coconut oil, and a whole head of roasted garlic cloves, and pureed with a hand-held blender.
It was delicious, and almost shockingly sweet--roasted garlic is darn sweet too!

The rest of the carrot pulp went into these brownie bites--perhaps I'll share the recipe for those next time.

Abundant gratitude and love to everyone--thank you.

Belated Valentine's Mint Chocolates, Out of the Woodwork

...but first--this is the snow pile in our cul-de-sac after almost two weeks of thaw! It's almost as high as the alders. I am so grateful for plow trucks--without them, we would be buried!

I had this post ready to share yesterday, a Valentine's delight as I'd hinted on Monday... 

...but yesterday was a "packet deadline" day, and by the time I'd gotten my packet in, finished up a lecture, and sat in rehearsal for over three hours, not having slept much the night before, my very sensible husband insisted I go to bed instead of posting!

Rehearsal? Yes! I'm going to share a couple poems as part of "Out of the Woodwork," a variety performance here in town on Saturday night. Two short poems, one of them I just wrote for our friends Tom and Jeanie as an elegy for the death of their son. Here's the local newspaper's announcement--it even mentions me and what I'll share a little ways down!

I used to spend many hours of every week at rehearsals. Showing up for these few, and as a poet, not a singer or instrumentalist (although, like everyone else, I do get to sing for the Finale of the show) is an interesting revisit of what used to be so central to my life. There are several wonderfully versatile musicians who are really anchoring the show, playing several instruments, supporting and shining in turn. In the past, I used to be in that kind of role. I don't at all mind not being; it's just interesting to observe how it is to be a small part of a team, briefly individuated when I come onstage and perform my poems, and otherwise in the background.

I have to be careful with my eye contact: I tend to pay close attention, and when the director is looking around for someone, my eyes are right there--but in this case, I'm not the one she needs!

OK, about those mint chocolates. They were an experiment, and I'd say a successful one, sort of along the lines of the pomegranate fondants I made at Christmas, utilizing Irish Moss gel for a soft but creamy texture.

This time, I tried using pili nuts. They were a delicacy when I lived in HI--several farmers at some elevation grew them. They're even fattier than macadamia nuts, and like mac nuts, seem to have mostly monounsaturated fat and very little omega 6, so good in my book. Phil doesn't care for them because they don't have a distinctive flavor, but coupled with their creaminess, that makes them a great base for raw desserts!

Mint Chocolate Fondants (sugar free, vegan, mostly raw, gluten free)
For the filling:
1 cup pili nuts (cashews or macs would also work)
1 cup Irish Moss gel
1/2 cup nut milk
1/2 cup erythritol
2 teaspoons peppermint extract
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup cacao butter
1 tablespoon lecithin

Blend together all but the last two ingredients in a high-powered blender. To make it easier on the blender (but dirty more equipment), process the nuts into butter in a food processor first.
Then, add the cacao butter and lecithin and blend again until very smooth.

I used only 1/8 cup cacao butter, and it meant that the filling took a very long time to set, and really needs to be kept refrigerated or frozen. The extra cacao butter will provide more solidity.

Pour the filling into a bowl and refrigerate until it firms up a bit. Then, either form into balls, or put in molds--I used my heart-shaped ice cube trays from IKEA again. They'll need to be frozen for some time before coating.

For Coating:
Homemade raw chocolate or your favorite high quality dark chocolate
And/or homemade carob chocolate (here's my recipe).
(I did both)

Melt the chocolate gently, and dip the fondants in it, ensuring they are thoroughly coated. Set them on a nonstick surface so that they don't break apart when you pick them up. Our ambient temperatures are such that it's quite a challenge keeping the chocolate melted enough, and with the lesser amount of cacao butter, the fondants were also softening up quickly. Best to keep them in the freezer and pull out a few at at time, with chocolate-covered fingers!

I'm not the best at coating chocolates--they never seem to come out perfectly smooth when I do them. But homemade-delicious-looking, you betcha!

These are creamy, smooth, not overpoweringly sweet, with a lovely mouth-feel.

I'll be back tomorrow with the post, also promised on Monday, about food and what counts as "good" for me...

Have a beautiful day!

"Instant" Apricot Power Bars, Gratitude

I'll share this recipe for a super-simple snack, as promised, in a moment. It's a dried-fruit-and-seeds-based bar, which is why it's "instant," and I'll share some of my thoughts and peeves about that, too.

First, though, I wanted to share a moment of gratitude. Since my working week is so eccentric and my choice of eating establishments so "other," I tend to shy away from the whole "TGI Friday" thing. But it just happens to be a Friday, and I just happen to have been overwhelmed with gratitude today. Gratitude for the kindness of so many friends, both in real life and online. For all my blog readers! Gratitude for my wonderfully supportive and patient husband. Gratitude for my naturopath and therapist, who allow me to trust them enough that I can get help, after years of never receiving any kind of healthcare, and who encourage me to know myself and do my best. For writing groups in town and writer friends everywhere. For rooibiscus tea, and all the herbals that have been helping me through my cold. For my own ability today to take a supplement that I knew would calm me down rather than stoking the crazies and amping up even more.

I'm so grateful that I get to do work I love (most of it I really do), in a beautiful place, and that in as tiny a home as we live, I have two wonderful workstations--this one with the view...

And this "nook," which is a better place when the sun is shining in through the windows and you still have to work!

Thanks for letting me indulge in that gratitude.

Now for the bars! Nut/seed and dried fruit sweets are ubiquitous in the Middle East and were also ubiquitous as healthfood store snacks when I was growing up. They are wonderful: super-nutritious and very easy to make--but they are not rocket science, nor are they a huge innovation. I used to make them all the time, in various permutations of dried fruits, nuts and seeds, and they were always super-popular. It would fascinate me which combinations were favored by whom. I didn't like the dried banana/pumpkin seed version at all, but one of my best friends adored it, so I'd always make it for him.

But, since they are the basis of a huge repertoire of raw desserts, I have to admit to having been jaded and cynical at times when I'd look through a new Raw Recipe book, turn to the dessert section, and see all kinds of exceedingly decadently titled items--"chocolate truffle brownies!" "triple layer fudge cheesecake!"--and they would all turn out to be yet another more (or sometimes, less) elaborate version of a nut/date treat. Truth in advertising? Don't get me wrong: I'm sure they were delicious. It's also true that in recent years, even the use of nuts/dates in raw desserts has become far more sophisticated, with the advent of finely ground cashew flour and date paste, and the use of stand mixers and irish moss to make super-fluffy textures.

But aside from making my own cream cake crusts, I hadn't made a nut/date or seed/dried fruit "bar" in ages before this week. I'd been avoiding dried fruit for years because of yeast issues, and most nuts and seeds are way too high in omega-6 for me to feel comfortable consuming them as a snack. I'd gotten a dehydrator, and was enjoying concocting lower fat, lower sugar snacks that needed dehydration to bring everything together.

I also love simplicity, though. As busy as I've been, and as minimal of appetite, I wanted something compact without being overly decadent, quick and easy to make. 

I don't like "decadent" for my regular snacks: it makes me too nervous, and I end up not enjoying the food. I'd always prefer to eat something I can "justify" to myself. So, part of my current enamorment with apricots is due to their great vitamin and mineral profile and relatively low sugar. And apart from a spell last year when I avoided all PUFA's, both omega 6 and omega 3, which I don't think was a great success, I generally feel fairly good about high-omega-3 seeds like hemp and flax. Hemp has the added bonus of being a complete protein, and flax has the good lignans (fiber) too.

These Instant Apricot Power Bars (version 1) are so quick and easy. I made them in the mini chopper that came with my immersion blender, and pre-chopped the apricots to minimize the time I had to listen to a noisy motor. I'm a quick knifewoman, so it probably sped the whole process up. You'll enjoy them too, I hope!

1 cup unsulphured dried apricots (pre-chopped to save time and noise) 

1/2 cup hemp seeds (shelled hemp hearts)

1/4 cup golden flax meal

handful mulberries

Whiz the apricots and hemp seeds until they're well blended together. 

Add the flax meal and blend again. 

Throw in the mulberries just as the mixture is starting to stick together.

Form into bars and refrigerate. They'll keep in the fridge for a long time, and practically forever in the freezer.

These are soft and chewy, not as dry or dense as some of the nuttier bars that use nut butter as a binder together with the dried fruit.. The hemp and flax seeds give them a pleasant, earthy taste without the omega 6 that earthy sunflower seeds provide. The apricots are subtly sweet, and also give the whole thing an orangey hue for which I'm always such a sucker! The mulberries are just lovely: a complex sweetness, and that wonderful texture too.

Sound good?

I call this "version 1" because I'm curious to see how it would be with some added mesquite and/or carob and/or maca, and with some goji berries, or citrus zest or other spices--my beloved cardamom??...!. As ever with these nut/seed/dried fruit affairs, the possibilities are endless. I'm so grateful to be able to enjoy dried fruit again, and to consider it a nutritious, powerful food that works well for me.

Have a beautiful weekend, everyone! Eccentric scheduler as I am, I may be back over the weekend with some more body image-related thoughts. 

What do you think of dried fruit/nut/seed treats? Best new thing ever or overhyped, or other?

loves...

Parsnip Rice BUT Why "Raw Versions" of Cooked Favorites will Never Catch On

The view from here... The beach is frozen, with ocean water freezing on top of snow. The sun is bright, blue-sky gorgeous, about ten degrees. It's been like this for a week since the big blizzard. Cold, but so beautiful.

I have a raw "parsnip rice" recipe to share today, but also some reflections on why raw versions of familiar cooked dishes will never catch on. Phil is teaching me a lot!

Why "Raw Versions" will Never Catch On

I'm weird, and I've never had "cravings" for traditional "comfort" cooked foods in the traditional sense. I remember my poor friend Stacy, one time when I was suggesting that she could create a raw substitute for a craving, trying to get it through my head that "raw pizza isn't pizza!"

Well, if a dedicated raw foodist felt that way, what about a person who has no interest in focusing on raw foods at all and thinks the whole idea is a crock, but is open to tasting the concoctions his odd partner creates?

Phil's reaction to the "parsnip pilau" recipe (shared below): "It's nice, but the texture's not my favorite. It's all chopped down, sort of like rice, and I prefer vegetable salads to have more texture." 

You see the problem?

It'll still be a vegetable salad, no matter how you dress it up, no matter what fancy name you give it. The fact that it was "like rice" was actually a negative for Phil, because to him, it was still a vegetable salad. The same held when I brought a raw lasagna to a gathering one time. Everyone adored it, and everyone referred to it as "a salad."

For me, this isn't a problem. For me, "a rose by any other name..."--I don't care what you call it so long as it tastes good. But for people who are used to eating "anything and everything," it seems things need to live up to the billing established over a lifetime of knowing, for example, what "carrot cake" is supposed to be like.

Yes, even the wonderful carrot cake didn't meet with Phil's discerning texture sensor. That nut milk pulp: it's fattier than regular flour, but maybe it's also more fibrous. He complained of a fibrousness in the texture, said it felt like "eating chaff!" More for me, I guess. But otherwise, raw desserts are the only exception, in that people do recognize them as desserts, as genuine "pies," etc. Although as you'll recall from my "Grover Pie" post, even the desserts are subject to misnomers...

For people who eat a diet centered around grains and meat and dairy, vegetable and nut-based concoctions are never going to fool them. 

My response is to be more careful with what I call something, and I'm also looking for ideas on how to make raw cakes less "pulpy" (when I can, I'll experiment with a food mixer and see if that helps).

Parnip Pilau
We all love parsnips here, and the last time I roasted some, I nibbled on the raw ends and thought it would be lovely to make a raw "rice." Organic parsnips don't exist here, but when I got some in my Full Circle box, I thought it would be a great opportunity to do it raw.

Of course, I couldn't resist including a carrot in there too!

Parsnip-Carrot "Pilau" (raw, vegan, light)

"The Rice"

2 medium parsnips

1 large carrot

Chop the veggies into large pieces, and process them in a food processor with the "S" blade until fine.

Put in a bowl and set aside.

"Curry Sauce"

1/2 cup nut milk

2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

1 tablespoon flax seed meal

1 inch fresh ginger, grated

1 tablespoon curry powder

1 teaspoon miso

1 teaspoon turmeric

1/2 teaspoon cardamom

1 teaspoon melted coconut oil

1 tablespoon lecithin granules (or teaspoon liquid lecithin)

1 teaspoon maca (optional)

1 teaspoon cayenne (optional)

Blend everything together--the nice thing about this sauce recipe is that you can do it fine in an underpowered blender. I did it with my little immersion blender.

Pour over the veggies and stir well together. To make even more "pilau" like, consider adding raisins, pistachios, almonds, pine nuts... (I didn't, but it would be good that way too.)

I found this delicious combined with some homemade kim chee...

 And wrapped in a lettuce leaf. On top is just a smear of the eggplant dip I made a while back.

So, it's a "pilau," but I wrapped it up in a lettuce leaf like I do everything!

What do you think? Will "raw versions" ever catch on? What should we do about it if not? 

And any nut pulp/chaff suggestions welcome too!

About that Carrot Cake

I promised to share more about the anniversary raw carrot cake I made...

...and then of course I headed out to the party without my camera, so didn't get to show the cake in its beauty!
This pic is from after I'd already put it back in the box with the ring around it, which knocked lots of the frosting off...

 And here is a piece missing the frosting on the side...

 But here's a "repaired" piece I'm taking to friends tonight.

I think it's very pretty!

What I did
This is basically the Ginger Carrot Cake recipe from Matthew Kenney's Everyday Raw Desserts, with some tweaks, and I made up a lemon-cream (cashew) cheese frosting instead of the ginger frosting offered there.

The tweaks on the cake? As you can see, I used goji berries, whereas the recipe calls for raisins. I love raisins, but there were at least four raisin-haters around the table, so I respected that. I left out the walnuts and pecans because, just like some people don't like raisins, I can't stand nut pieces in baked goods. I put about a half cup of shredded coconut instead. Also, I mixed the spices with the wet ingredients, thinking that they would meld better that way, and used whole, grated ginger and nut milk instead of ginger and apple juices.

Here's my recipe--it's different enough from Kenney's that I feel ok posting it:
Gingery Carrot Cake
Dry Ingredients:
8 cups nut pulp (mine was a combination of almond, hazel and brazil nut milks, with a little sorghum flour because I only had 7 cups)
2 1/2 cups grated carrot
1/2 cup shredded coconut
3/4 cup chopped goji berries

Wet Ingredients:
3 cups date paste
1/3 cup irish moss gel
3/4 cup nut milk
2 tablespoons vanilla extract
3 inches fresh ginger, finely grated (even if you have a Vitamix, it's worth doing this)
1 1/2 tablespoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon cardamom
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/8 cup melted coconut oil
1 tablespoon lecithin

Blend together until smooth all the wet ingredients save the last two. Then, add the coconut oil and lecithin, and blend again.

Mix together the nut pulp and carrot. Gradually add in the wet ingredients, mixing briskly but not too much. Finally, stir in the goji berries and coconut.

Divide the mass of batter into two, and arrange half on the bottom of a 9-in. springform pan. Frost with one third of the frosting (which you made earlier! Instructions coming up) and set in the fridge to firm up. Then, put the top half on, and when ready to serve, frost the cake.

So, what about that frosting? Two whole days advance warning?
Yes, I made a cashew cream cheese, just like the one I made for the mushroom pate, but gave it a sweeter twist. This is a super-heavy, rich frosting, so I made it lower in sugar to ease the overall digestive load while hopefully maximizing pleasurableness.

Lemon Cream "Cheese" Frosting
2 cups cashew "cheese" (recipe here)
juice and zest of one lemon (a quarter cup)
1/4 cup erythritol (could substitute coconut sugar, rapadura, whatever you prefer)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup coconut oil
1 tablespoon lecithin

Blend the "cheese," lemon juice and zest, erythritol, salt and vanilla until very smooth. Add the coconut oil and lecithin, and blend again.

It should be very well chilled when applied to the cake, but better not frozen. I actually made this on Tuesday, so it was frozen until Friday, when the party happened!

To my guilty surprise, I discovered something very long forgotten and deeply buried: there's a part of me that just adores the "cake and frosting" texture combination--the complex texture and crumb of the cake (and I love the _raw_ carrots in the mix there); the tart smoothness of the frosting. I'd also worried that the carrot cake should have had some lemon in it, but the frosting is lemony enough that they marry beautifully.

Now, I need to figure out a frosting recipe that doesn't involve two cups of cashews (although culturing lowers the fat a bit) and coconut oil--something delightfully smooth and decadent that doesn't sit so heavy or contain so many calories!

Here's the nut milk bag the cashew cheese sat in, with lots of lovely cultured "crumbs."

Am I weird that I made these residual bits last three days, rather than just enjoying them right away?

When the cake was served, I had a moment of anxiety about people not liking it because it's so far from the mainstream. But they're used to me by now! I was also embarrassed by how big it was--but that just means that I get to share it with more people! As dense as raw cakes are, though, I'm thinking that "next time," I might make a half recipe and try mixing the dry and wet ingredients in the food processor, but with the plastic "dough" blade instead of the S blade--I think that might be the closest thing to a mixer, which I don't have (nor do I have room for).

Well, there you go! Two recipes, and a way to make even my beloved carrots decadent!
Much love...

I'm sharing this on "Traditional Tuesdays" http://wholenewmom.com/traditional-tuesday/traditional-tuesdays-nutritious-and-delicious-february-28-2012/

Mint-Carob Truffles--So Good, They Get a Post to Themselves

OK, not quite--the mint truffles have to share a post with this morning's sunrise. But the mint truffles are spectacular too.

This was around 9.30am--a week ago, it would have been pitch dark. It's astonishing and marvelous to me that the light returns so quickly after the solstice. We had a giant full moon too--I got outside just too late to picture it from our southwestern exposure.

As busy as I am right now, I still need some recreational kitchen time. Thanks to those coconut mounds that also got a post to themselves...

...I have also been reminded that even when I have no appetite at all, chocolate and peppermint will "do it" for me. During my crazy insomnia in the run up to the holidays, I was hitting the caffeine pills (bad, bad girl), which I usually know is a bad idea, and which exacerbated my mania at the time, so I needed my ND to remind me all over again of the many reasons why caffeine is a particularly bad idea for me.

Did you know this about chocolate? Apparently, when you consume theobromine and caffeine together (as in coffee and chocolate, a mocha, tirami su), the two of them synergize so that the stimulant effect is greater than the sum of its parts. Worth knowing...

Well, I had a bowl of homemade carob chocolate leftover from this post, and I'd made nut milk again for a special occasion recipe (coming up), so I decided to rework one of my favorite chocolate mint truffles with the carob chocolate. It's super-simple and very low in sugar, and it turned out to have an especially delightful texture-twist.

Mint-Carob Airy Truffles (mostly raw, vegan, gluten free)
8 oz homemade carob chocolate (basically cacao butter, carob, mesquite and a little sweetener and vanilla) Edit from the future: my next post after this one provides a trouble-shot carob recipe.
1/2 cup homemade nut milk of choice (this happened to be almond-hazelnut; my favorite is coconut; any would be lovely!)
1 teaspoon peppermint extract

Simply melt the chocolate, add the nut milk and peppermint extract, and stir together. Let sit in the fridge (or at room temperature if you live where I do) to firm up a bit, then roll into balls. For me, about 30 balls.

These are a milk-chocolate kind of color because of the mesquite--not as dark as I'd normally go for. But their taste is heavenly.
As for the texture, that is just something else! I don't know how it came out this way, but it's a little more crumbly than a traditional truffle and so airy and light inside, it's like one of those aerated chocolate bars! I wonder whether it came out like that because I had the nut milk cold, rather than room temp, when I added it to the carob chocolate.
Any ideas?

Seriously, I think I like these better than the coconut mounds, and yet they're not addictive! With the coconut mounds, I'd eat one, and of course I'd eat just one because I'm that stubborn, but I'd really really want to eat more than one! With these, I can eat half of one and be blissed out.

Go and make some!
http://wholenewmom.com/traditional-tuesday/traditional-tuesdays-nutritious-and-delicious-january-17-2011/

Zucchini, Cake, and Two Kinds of Work

When I made this cake on New Year's Eve, between my editing marathon and writing my retrospective here, it was part reward for working so hard, part eleventh-hour recognition that I'd pretty much fizzled on my "Food as Pleasure" series, and part giving zucchini another try.

Theoretically, I love zucchini. It's low-calorie but nutritious, has a neutral flavor and a great texture, is an ideal vehicle in raw foods for carrying either sweet or savory creations. Unfortunately, it doesn't love me back. That's the only conclusion I can make, after having had raw noodles and/or lasagna many times, sometimes made by myself, sometimes by someone else, and having never been able to get past a certain slimy bitterness that I always detect. Other people have eaten the same dish and loved it, so I assume it's me, not the innocent zuke.

I did remember that Elaina had a cake recipe that utilized zucchini, and I also remembered a wonderful raw chef back in the Bay Area who would bring raw cakes to potlucks sometimes that featured zucchini in the ingredients. I was way too scared of the calories in anything called "cake" back then to really indulge, except for one time, a lemon cake that just blew me away (and for most of the next day). So, when we got a couple beautiful zucchini in our Full Circle box, I knew that making this would be my well-earned study break.

I mentioned recently that it's been almost four years since I worked as a chef. It's now been a full four years since I worked with Elaina, and I still almost can't believe it's been that long: I enjoyed working with her so much and felt such a great connection.

She has a fantastic recipe page on her website--two columns of delicious sounding recipes, none of them too complicated, generally low-glycemic. I think she was the first chef to put out recipes involving Irish Moss.
This was the Ginger Spice Cake, just over half way down the page in the right column.
I had to make almond milk in order to have the almond pulp. It cracks me up that the last time I made nut milk was also when I needed pulp, for the Hallowe'en frangipane! And then I have this wonderful, rich milk tempting me in the fridge and I feel so guilty and so indulgent with every sip...(And try to give it to Phil in cocoa quickly, get it away!)
Here was my small error, though: the recipe doesn't specify whether the pulp should be wet or dehydrated. Mine was pretty wet, and I'm glad I combined the "wet" and "dry" ingredients gradually: I had a cup of "wet" leftover.
Speaking of those "wet ingredients," they consisted of Irish Moss gel, zucchini, maple syrup, and some coconut oil. And guess what? Combine those ingredients, and what you get is a very close approximation of blended young coconut meat! That may not be very exciting to those of you who live near an Asian market that sells young cocos for a buck apiece or less (as I used to), but for me, 220 miles away from young coconuts at 5 bucks apiece or more, I'd say it's a cool thing to know.

As often when I've done these "food as pleasure" challenges, I didn't quite succeed at doing the full pleasure immersion. I didn't make the frosting, because I had some leftover in the freezer that would work. But it would have been nice with more frosting.

(although this is a pre-frosted pic)

Everyone who tried it so far has liked it! I think the texture would have been better and fluffier with drier almond pulp, but it's cakey and dense, and very gingery and spicy.

So, what did I do with the leftover "wet ingredients," aka mock young coconut? Did I use it to enhance several days of smoothies? I'm afraid I didn't. I wanted to play with it and make something more--maybe a carrot cake version!

But I've been way too busy. Since I've talked about work quite a bit here recently, let me say that I've noticed, in my line of business at least, two kinds of work. There's the intense, focused, intellectual engagement, as when I'm doing complex editing or translating, writing the script for a lecture--or working on a poem, for that matter. Then, there's the processy, fiddly, put this in this order and move that over there and how do you align this and does that have the right tag attached and how does PowerPoint work anyway...all of which can take hours! As I mentioned in my last post, I really love the former, the intense intellectual engagement. I really don't love the latter. I don't feel that I have much natural talent for it, and it's easy to dismiss as a pain in the butt. Maybe I need to work on my attitude, find a way to see it as "fun," "playing around with the program."

Finally, this afternoon, after several hours of that kind of fiddle-faddle "playing around" work, I rewarded myself with some food-making playing. I did something with an eggplant, which I'll share soon. And I also took that cup of mock young coconut and mixed it with two medium grated carrots...

And then I mixed in about 3-4 tablespoons of chia seeds. And then, I thought I was going to make it into cake, but realized that since it sat for several days already, dehydrating this into sweet bread would be a better way to go. So, it's in the dehydrator right now!

I'll let you know how it turns out.

Of course, a third kind of work that I'm going to be involved in very soon, which has already started, actually, is the interacting with other people part. Which is scary to me, more because of me than because of them.
What kind of work do you like to do? Have a great weekend, working or not!

Holiday Aftermath, With Two Recipes and a Leftovers Bonus

Christmas was white, after all those weeks of iffy sleet and naked ice.  It is so beautiful and quiet, but the outhouse is not at all inviting with snow drifted all over the seat and unavoidable!

And Christmas was beautiful and festive, with bright lights and colors relieving the white and dark outside.

I shared so many different kinds of home-made goodies! Close family and friends each got a whole box. (And here I am sporting the gorgeous shawl I was given as a gift. I almost can't believe I get to have something so beautiful. I'll show it again in more detail sometime.) I also put out two plates of goodies, one laden only with "Ela-friendly" (i.e. no dairy and low sugar, gf) goodies, the other only with the mainstream confectioners sugar/butter/peanut butter/gluten stuff. Perhaps not surprisingly, the "Ela-friendly" plate had maybe two items taken off it (one of which I took), whereas the other plate I had to go back and refill a couple times.

I may do some family pictures next post, but today I want to focus on sharing a couple recipes that added to the festive cheer, for me at least!

First up: "Rooibiscus!"

This is a combination of rooibos and hibiscus tea plus a cup of pomegranate juice.
Two tablespoons hibiscus flowers and one tablespoon rooibos steeped in three pints of not-quite-boiling water, allowed to cool, and mixed with pure pomegranate juice. I had the idea to make this some time ago, but hadn't gotten around to doing it until just now.

It looks just like red wine in a glass. It functions like iced tea: super refreshing and increasing alertness.

It's also lovely mixed with sparkling water and/or ice. And it's actually also lovely with just a splash of red wine added, if that's your kind of thing. I think I was the only person really hitting it, but I enjoyed it all evening, and made more the next day. I had also brought home-made coconut whiskey and home-made vegan pina colada mix just like I did last year, and those were popular!

I was not the only person hitting the other recipe I want to share: vegan, semi-raw mushroom pate'.

I'm really proud of how this turned out. I had mushrooms and shallots from Full Circle Farm, and had been asked to bring a vegetarian appetizer. I remembered a mushroom pate' I used to make back when I was in college. It was during the period that I had a boyfriend and was eating a little dairy while he ate less meat to try to bring us closer together (neither end of the compromise lasted), and the base for the pate' was regular cream cheese--a concept totally repugnant to me these days.

So, I made a two-day fermented cashew cheese and combined it with gently sauteed shallots, mushrooms, garlic, and a little parsley.

 You can see how the cashew cheese is nice and aerated with good bacteria.

 And it all mixed together so beautifully and was well enjoyed by everyone. I brought two kinds of raw crackers to serve with it. Neither one is my recipe, although of course I tweaked! Both are on this page: one is called "Cheeze its" and the other is "Hot'n'Spicy Tortilla Chips," although I wanted more of a neutral cracker, so I left most of the spice out. I left the bell pepper out in both cases, because it makes me sick and I thought I might want to eat one or two. But I also brought carrots, which I prefer to crackers any day! With the "tortilla chips," I might have finally made a cracker that's crunchy enough that Phil will eat it! So far, I've been disappointed in that quest, and he's a huge cracker lover, so this was a breakthrough.

Now for the vegan Mushroom Pate' recipe:

For the cashew cheese (make two days in advance):
2 cups cashews
1 cup water
1 probiotic capsule

Blend the cashews and water until smooth. Open the probiotic capsule, add it to the blender, and blend again.
Scrape everything out onto a sieve lined with a nut milk bag or cheesecloth and set over a bowl.
Place in a darkish location for two days. (You can leave it for less time, but it won't be quite as tangy or as aerated.)

On the day you're ready to make it, chop:
8-10 cremini mushrooms
2 shallots
2-4 cloves garlic
3-4 tablespoons fresh parsley

and have ready:
salt, pepper, lemon juice

Add just enough (coconut or olive) oil to grease a heavy-bottomed saucepan, and saute' the mushrooms and shallots. When they begin to release some liquid, add the garlic.
When everything smells aromatic and mushroomy, take off the heat and stir in the parsley.

To put it all together:
Remove the cashew cheese from the sieve and place in a large bowl. Add the juice of half a lemon and some salt and black pepper.
Pour in the sauteed mushrooms, shallots, garlic and parsley mixture, and stir together carefully.
Adjust seasonings to taste. Garnish with black pepper and a parsley sprig.

The tang of the cashew cheese and the earthiness of the mushrooms and shallots complement each other so beautifully. I was so happy to have plumbed my memory bank and creativity and to end up with such a crowd-pleaser. Note too that this could easily be made raw: you would just need to marinade the mushrooms and shallots in the dehydrator ahead of time, and use less or no garlic. I wanted the texture of cooked mushrooms and really don't enjoy raw onions/garlic, so I went with sauteeing, but if I'd given them two days in the dehydrator, it might have worked all-raw too.

Bonus--what to do with the leftovers!
But wait--there's more!
Yes, even though it was a crowd-pleaser, there were leftovers. They furnished a lovely lunch today.

Here's how:
Shred up some purple cabbage and romaine lettuce (a cup or more of each).
Combine with kelp noodles, previously soaked in warm water to soften.
Add about a quarter cup (or however much you want/have) of the Mushroom Pate' and massage all together by hand.
Serve with sliced grape tomatoes, top with nutritional yeast and spirulina if that's your thing!
Yummy and beautiful--and I made some for Phil with regular pasta and a few other ingredients too.

I'll be back with some more snow pictures and holiday recapping: I leave you with the yin yang dogs and the hope that you had wonderful holidays.