Blogging Locations #3, 30 Days, 80% Raw, Raw No-Sugar Key Lime Pie, Gelatin and Quirky Pragmatism, Developing a Thick Skin

This is going to have to be a really quick post - it's been a super-busy day and we're both exhausted!
But today is day one of Tina's 30 Days of Self Love and Reflection and I really am in, wanted to shake a leg! We're thinking of self confidence today, and one of my outings today was designed toward fostering that.

Latitude 59 is a cute little coffee shop in town which is another place in which I updated my blog in the past, in the days before we had internet at home (it's still been less than a month, but so easy to get used to!

I went there to meet up with someone to talk about poetry, my poetry writing and my possibly applying to schools to do a degree in poetry writing. As part of this process, I'm having people look at my work (and also my application essay drafts) and soliciting critical feedback. I really want criticism but I'm also really sensitive to it, and one of my self-confidence intentions is to learn to have the courage of my convictions so that I can learn to take criticism without emotional ache.

We got our first few potatoes out of the ground! Phil pulled these because the plant was sickly - we don't expect to harvest the rest for another month. I don't eat potatoes but Phil likes them.

We were having dinner with Phil's daughter tonight and she is trying out the candida diet (i.e. no sugar). She's more habituated to sugar than I am and I really wanted to make her a treat. So, I made a no-sugar raw key lime pie with xylitol as the main sweetener.

Graham-style crust was 1/2 cup golden flax meal, 1/2 cup (soaked and dried) pecans, about 1/4 cup shredded coconut, 2 tablespoons coconut oil, a pinch of salt, 3 tablespoons of xylitol. Processed to crumbs and pressed into the 8x4 pan:

Filling - started out with 1/2 cup mac nuts, 1/4 cup lime juice with 3 tablespoons xylitol dissolved in it, blended and then added 3 teaspoons lime zest, 1/4 teaspoon stevia and 1/4 cup melted cacao butter - here's the cacao butter just being blended in (with a plate of lime zest on the side):

I then added 3/4c warm water with a packet of gelatin dissolved in it. I know this isn't vegan and apologize if it's offensive to any readers here. Phil's daughter is an omnivore and I really wanted to make a treat that she would enjoy. Irish moss and agar are not easily to be found out here. Here's my little piece of quirky pragmatism about gelatin also: gelatin contains some of the most nutritious compounds to be found in animal products. If the animals are being killed for meat anyway, I feel better about the fact that they are also being used to produce gelatin, rather than harvesting the meat and wasting the rest. Using animal products in a whole fashion earns far more of my respect than plucking the best steaks and dumping the rest.

What do you think about gelatin? Am I mistaken about it representing a more holistic use of animal products?

Here is the finished product:

Both Phil and his daughter loved it! And I got to have dessert with everyone else for the first time in forever. They both wanted to squeeze lime over it! I had been afraid it would be too sour, but apparently it could have taken more! I had a little piece and liked it. I thought the cacao butter was a strong taste, and it probably didn't taste a lot like 'standard key lime pie' (which I'd never eaten but they have, of course) - is it harder to fix alternatives when you're used to a 'standard flavor'? (Or is it just easier for me to like the taste of something 'at face value' because I've never tried the 'real' version?)

A new month, a new issue of Eighty Percent Raw Magazine! Check it out, and see my article about cruciferous veggies!

Stay tuned for the final installment of my Amazing Grass product review!

love to all.