Raw Chocolate Cheesecake Recipe

Here is the recipe for this post

Chocolate Cheesecake

Pecan Date Crust
1 3/4 cups dry raw Pecans
7 tablespoons date paste (make it by blending pitted dates and a little bit of water)
1 teaspoon liquid vanilla
1/8 teaspoon salt

Process all ingredients and press them in the bottom of a cheesecake pan (I use one of those pans that you can remove the side once the pie is set) - distribute it evenly

Filling
3 1/2 cups soaked raw cashews
4 cups raw almond milk
1 cup raw agave syrup
4 tbsp raw cacao powder (weight)
1/4 cup liquid vanilla
1/4 teaspoon of salt
3 tbs lecithin granules
1 1/4 cups of raw coconut butter ( I like Artisana coconut butter)

Blend all ingredients until smooth and creamy. Fill the pan with the mixture. Let it set in the freezer for two hours - transfer it to the fridge and remove spring-form ring.

Strawberry and raspberry parfait

Karyn's raw has the most amazing banana pudding. I am addicted to the darn thing, however it is soooo expensive. After spending another $7 on a cup of pudding, I decided to give it a try. I based my recipe on the ingredients listed on the package. Fortunately, the recipe came out very similar to the original pudding! Karyn's sells their pudding mixed with cut up bananas and ground flax seeds. Since I didn't have any extra bananas, I decided to use my pudding to create a parfait. It looks and tastes delicious! Here is the recipe:

Ingredients listed on the package:
Bananas, pine nuts, cashews, flax seeds, Vanilla, Honey (I used raw agave nectar instead).

Directions:

Blend 2 bananas

1/2 cup soaked pine nuts

1/2 cup cashews (soaked)

1/8 cup vanilla

1/4 cup agave nectar

After blended sprinkle with ground flax seeds and mix with fruit. Karyn's mixes their pudding with bananas, but since I didn't have any I used berries.

Great new quinoa recipe

Great new Quinoa recipe I invented based on Sexy Quinoa Basil Salad

I didn't have all of the ingredients to make the sexy quinoa basil salad and decided to improvise. It turned out my recipe turned out really delicious!

Ingredients
2 cups quinoa cooked or soaked and sprouted
1/4 cup chopped raw red pepper
1 cup chopped zucchini (let it marinate in olive oil, then dehydrate for 4 hours at 115)
1/8 cup chopped pink onion
1/8 cup chopped mint
1/8 cup chopped basil
1/8 cup chopped cilantro
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tbsp garlic powder

Dressing
Raw goddess dressing


Mix all ingredients together in a large mixing bowl. Add the dressing and enjoy!

Raw crispy onion chopped salad

This salad is one of deceit. I used it to make my family think it was cooked, and they loved it. The crispy onions make this salad! They taste just like sad ones, specially if you serve them right out of the dehydrator. The chopped salad was a simple salad of greens, tomatoes and pink onions with a raw goddess dressing.

Here is the recipe for the crispy onions that top the salad:

Ingredients:
1/2 cup sunflower seeds
1/2 cup flax seeds
2 sweet onions
1/4 cup Nama SHoyu
1/2 cup olive oil


Grind 1/2 cup sunflower seeds, and 1/2 cup flax seeds. In a mandoline slice onions. In a large mixing bowl mix all ingredients. Once well mixed, place the onions in a dehydrator at 145 degrees for 5 hours, and then 115 degrees for 24 hours. Enjoy!

If there is any left over "sauce" feel free to slice more onions and make more.

New recipe: Gourmet Mexican Lettuce Wrap

I was hungry for a lettuce wrap the other day, and decided to throw some ingredients together and see what happened. It turned out Really good. In fact, I was craving the recipe the next day..... And, both my husband and stepson, who aren't raw, loved it! They almost ate the whole thing! Here is the recipe I put together:

Ingredients:
3/4 cup grape tomatoes cut in quarters
1/8 cup chopped pink onion
Juice of 1 lemon
3 tbsp chopped mint
1 hass avocado cut into small pieces
3 tbsp chopped basil
1 tsp garlic powder
1/8 tsp of pink salt
1 tbsp hemp seeds
1 tsp dulls flakes
Sprinkle of red chili pepper flakes
1/2 head of butter lettuce cut to serve as wraps

Mix all ingredients together except the lettuce. Serve on top of the lettuce wraps. Enjoy!

Florida Cobb Salad

After having this wonderful salad at bonefish grill last Wednesday, I decided to try and recreate it at home. The Florida Cobb salad is a great summer treat mixing creamy avocados with sweet mangos. To top it off, the pine nuts give it a crunch rounding out the salad. Without further ado, here is the recipe I used

Ingredients - serves one

3 cups of packed Mixed greens
Half mango
Half Avocado
One heirloom tomato
1/8 cup of raw pine nuts

For the dressing:
1/8 cup olive oil
2 tbsp lime juice
2 tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsp muster seeds
4 tbsp raw agave nectar
1 garlic clove
2 leaves of fresh basil
1/8 teaspoon of salt
3tbsp water
1tbsp Bragg apple cider vinegar
Blend all ingredients until smooth.

Chop the tomato, avocado, and mango into small pieces. Mix them with the greens. Top with dressing and pine nuts.

Chia green smoothie

Yesterday a friend, Hozy, asked me about Chia seeds. After bragging about how great chia seeds are, how they slow the break down of carbs and are a great source of EFAs, I decided to use Chia seeds in my morning smoothie. It turned out delicious and filling so I wanted to share with you the recipe.

Chia Mangonana Smothie

Ingredients
Half of a large mango
One banana
Juice of celery (3 stalks)
Juice of kale (3 stalks)
1 tbsp of chia seeds
1 cup of coconut water

Let the Chia seeds soak in the coconut water for an hour. Then blend the Chia and coconut Water mixture with the other ingredients until smooth.

Drink it up!

Review - Urban Yoga Spa in Seattle

I went on a family trip to Seattle this Summer. Near the hotel we were staying, there was a beautiful yoga studio called the Urban Yoga Spa. Inspired by the beauty of the studio and the smile of the front desk girl, I decided to give it a try. I got an unlimited week of yoga at an introductory price of $25.
Everyone in the studio seemed super happy and nice. The front desk girl tried to greet studio goers by name, and fellow yogis were welcoming. Since I hadn't brought a mat with me, I was able to rent one for $2. Their loaners are jade mats, which are great high quality mats. I love how they are heavy, comfortable and lie flat on the floor.
The classes were amazing! There were many great instructors, including the owner herself, Kathy. I took a few hour of power yoga classes throughout the week, and a few days dared to take the whole hour and a half of power vinyasa. The rooms were really heated to 104 degrees. It reminded me of dancing in Brazil as a young girl in a room with no air conditioning.
The highlight of the week at this beautifully decorated studio, was Kathy's Lady Gaga yoga class. I never thought lady Gaga and yoga went together, but they do and what a fun and upbeat combo! My experience was truly memorable at this studio. In the end of the week, I was sad to leave the Urban Yoga Spa, but the love for very hot power yoga persevered with me.


Namaste

Blind Faith restaurant Review

          Today I took my beautiful son, Gabriel, to have lunch at the Blind Faith restaurant in Evanston.  The service was amazing! The waitress was extremely nice and helpful. As for the food, there were some raw options in the salad portion of the menu. I had the blind faith salad, asked them to hold the cheese, and exchanged the cashew nuts for sunflower seeds. It was tasty! A balanced combination, of sweet (raisins), creamy (avocado), and crunchy (onions and sunflower seeds) sensations.

My son who is not raw, and a pick eater had the portobello burguer and said it was "to die for". It did look awesome! He also had the natural soda sweetened with Agave nectar. He chose the mandarin lime flavor, which he commended with a great smile. Dining at blind faith was a wonderful experience, great service, great company, and great food.

Yummy Dinner @ Bonefish grill.

Dining out might be difficult for a raw foodist, but some regular restaurants make it easy. Bonefish Grill is one of them... Look at this scrumptious cobb salad, just asked to hold the chicken and blue cheese and voila! A delicious mix, of mango, avocado, cherry tomatoes and pine nuts...

Back to the game

It has been a year since I stopped being raw. However, I have developed all these medical problems in the mean time. Unsure of what was going on, I visited a naturopath... She told me that vegetarians usually develop digestive problems due to excessive yeast in their system. She also told me to go on a yeast free diet, which means no sweets, bread, or anything that could ferment in your stomach. To make matters worse, she told me I couldn't drink coffee.
I started panicking, then realized there was only one thing that let me live life coffee free: green juices! I knew that I needed to start the raw diet again, this time around with the addition of some cooked protein like quinoa and Beans. I think what made me stop eating raw, was the extremism of the raw foods diet I was in. I would go to this amazing restaurants with my husband, and would not budge.hh I decided this time around, the key will be moderation, while keeping raw 80% of the time. I have also included yoga to my daily routine and will blog about how my diet and yoga have impacted my life.