Sometimes Pie Is A Good Thing!

Having just gone through Thanksgiving trying to stay 100% low fat raw and struggling, I am reminded of this pie recipe I came up with last year. I think my downfall was trying to ignore the holiday and just eat fruit. It lead to feelings of deprivation and I ended up trying to indulge in regular Thanksgiving food from restaurants and not really enjoying it at all. I would have been much better off with my Raw Holiday Favorites like this pie!

I think the better approach for me would have been to prepare for a Thanksgiving meal and make the raw food that we enjoyed in the previous year. So what if it's high fat! It's still raw, much healthier and delicious and I would not have felt I was missing out. 

I think now I am better prepared for Christmas and the birthday celebrations we have coming up this month of December.

So in honor of previous raw holidays, here is my recipe:

Raw German Chocolate Pecan Pie or Raw Chocolate Pecan Pie

For the crust: 

2 cups almonds 

1 packed cup of soft dates (soak if necessary to make soft) 

½ teaspoon vanilla extract 

Mix in food processor until fine and crumbly and sticks together between fingers. Grease pie dish lightly with coconut oil or olive oil to keep pie from sticking. 

Press mixture into pie plate, making sure to push up sides as well. Place in freezer to set. 51 

For the filling: 

25 dates soaked for about 1 hour - drained and liquid reserved 

2 cups pecans 

½ teaspoon sea salt 

½ teaspoon vanilla 

2/3 cup cacao, cocoa or carob powder 

2/3 cup shredded coconut ( omit if you want just chocolate pecan pie)

extra whole pecans for topping 

Process pecans until finely ground in food processor but not too much or they get oily, then add dates, salt, vanilla and process until smooth. Add date water as needed to keep it from balling up into dough. When it becomes the texture of brownie batter, add in cacao and coconut ( if using) until well mixed. 

Spread filling over piecrust and arrange pecans over top. Chill in refrigerator to set. 

For the cashew cream topping: 

1 cup cashews 

1 cup water 

½ teaspoon vanilla extract 

1 ½ teaspoon agave nectar or raw honey 

Add cashews with just enough water to cover them to the bottom of blender. Blend until smooth and all bits of nut are no longer apparent. 

Add the vanilla extract or substitute ½ small vanilla bean. Add 1 ½ - 2 tablespoons agave or honey to sweeten to taste. Add more water or more nuts to get right consistency. Cover and refrigerate until cold, set and ready for topping pie. 

This is just one of my recipes  along with many other fantastic raw holiday menu ideas that can be found in Penni Shelton's and Raw Food Rehab's compilation ebook, Raw For The Holidays. Click on the link and look for the picture link to buy on the left side of the page. I have made so many great things from this book. and for $15 it is more than an bargain. I made things from this book all year.

I will be getting this book out myself and planning for our next upcoming holiday celebration. 

For now, I'm back to my clementines. 

One Week 100% Raw Low Fat

Can you say DETOX!!!?

This is what it feels like. 

Just need to keep my head down, keep going and ignore the cooked food mirage that keeps calling my name for a quick fix.

Seriously, it has been a very tough week. I thought going raw was difficult but going low fat, low sodium, low sugar raw is another story. There is no way around detox here. Must go through it.

Headaches, congestion, hives and fatigue like never before. And did I mention shin splints? But I'm sure it will all be better on the other side.

I feel like I have done nothing this week except shop for fruit and veggies, slice or blend & eat them,  walk my 60 minutes per day and sleep. And the week is gone. 

 

Just like that!




Other than the rapid cleansing, the food component really couldn't be simpler. 

Fruit and veggies and greens.

I am focused on green smoothies, salads, and fruit mono meals. The hard part is getting enough calories in for the day without nuts and seeds. I am charting my daily calories on Fitday until I get the hang of it to make sure I don't slack in this area.

My day's food intake looks like this:

Pitcher of Smoothie:

2.5 cups strawberries

2 cups pineapple

4 cups spinach

1 banana

2 tbsp chia gel

2 tbsp hemp seeds

2 cups water

5 clementines

Salad:

4 cups greens

1 tomato

1 cup zucchini shreds

1 cup carrot shreds

.5 cup cucumber slices

lemon wedges for dressing

4 cups watermelon

This all works out to around a little over 1000 cals and less than 10% fat. I am actually working to increase these numbers a bit but it's a lot of food to get used to eating. My giant salad works out to around 113 cals- that's it!

So.... On I go.

Oh.. and for all my effort this last week.... 11 lbs gone! Woohoo!

The Berryman Cometh

There is something new and exciting about our Farmer's Market this year- 

It's The BerryMan!

He comes all the way from Pudwill Farms on the central coast of California to our little corner of the desert- a 7 hour drive! And I'm so glad he does!

Look at this beautiful spread!

It stops me in my tracks every time. 

Something about all those vibrant beautiful colors, you just know these are just bursting with nutrition! It's times like these when my mouth waters just looking at fresh produce like this that there is no question in my mind what our designed diet is supposed to consist of. I don't salivate looking at cows or chickens for instance.

The hard part is deciding what should come home with me.

All Raspberries

This was my choice last week.

I had never seen yellow or orange raspberries before. What I learned is that the yellow are sweeter than the red and the orange taste similar to the red.

Raspberries and Blackberries

This  week I went with the blackberries too. I have never had blackberries that just burst with juice like these.  Delicious!

All of the berries last more than a week in the fridge if not scarfed down first, which astonished me! The first week I needed them to last to the end of the week for a special occasion. (See cake below) and they did just that beautifully!

The ones from the grocery store last only a few days before turning moldy, which makes sense since it probably took at least a  few days travel time to get there and at least another few days before I get the chance to buy them. Sometimes they turn in just a day. So frustrating!

Here are some of the good uses I put these pretty berries to:

Berry Salad

what could be more simple and delicious than this?

I get beautiful mixed greens from the Hydroponic Herb Lady at the market, (but that's another post!)

Ingredients:

Mixed fresh greens (edible flowers come with the greens)

assortment of berries, raspberries orange and red and blackberries

Chopped  walnuts

Raspberry Vinaigrette

1/2 cup rice wine vinegar

1 shallot

1 tbsp honey

 1/2 tsp sea salt

 1/3 cup raspberries, here I used the orange

1 cup olive oil

Mix all in blender except oil, then while blending slowly add in oil through top to emulsify.

Berry Salad with Orange Raspberry Vinaigrette

Mixed Berry Cobbler

Individual Serving Dish

This is so simple and delicious, you will wonder why all these years you never thought of it.

Crumb Topping

Ingredients:

1 cup unsweetened shredded dried coconut

1 cup walnuts

1/4 tsp sea salt

6 dates, pitted or more to hold crumble together

pinch of cinnamon

Process all in food processor until it can be pinched together and hold. 

(I make extra and keep it in the freezer.)

Berry Mix

 3 cups berries of choice

 4 tsp agave syrup or honey 

juice of one lemon

Mash berries with fork a bit to release juices. 

Let sit about 10 minutes.

Place a generous scoop of berries into a serving cup

Top with Crumb Topping

A Better Peek At What's Under the Crumb Topping

Recipe based on Jennifer Cornbleet's 

Raw for Dessert

Raw Vegan Raspberry Cheesecake

This was for my friend Marjorie's Surprise Party!

Speaking of Surprises This is Surprisingly Simple!
Crust:
2 cups brazil or macadamia nuts
1/2 cup dates, pitted

1/4 cup dried coconut

Cheeze:

3 cups chopped cashew, soaked for at least one hour 

3/4 cup lemon juice

3/4 cup agave nectar (syrup)

 3/4 cup coconut oil in oil form 

1/2 cup water

1 tsp vanilla

 1/2 tsp sea salt

Raspberry Sauce:

 10 oz berries 

1/2 cup dates

The only part about about this that takes time, is soaking the nuts. 
So the day you are planning to make this, soak the nuts before hand while you do other things. If you think about it, this is a good time to put the coconut oil on top of the fridge or in another warm place to melt as well. I put mine outside to warm up. Melting point for coconut oil is about 74 degrees.

For Crust:

Rub inside of pan with a little coconut oil. 

Sprinkle dried coconut onto bottom of 8 or 9 inch spring form pan.

Process nuts and dates in the food processor until the texture of crushed graham crackers.

Press nuts into bottom of pan evenly.

Freeze while making filling.

For Cheeze:

Blend cashews, lemon, agave, gently warmed coconut oil (do not use microwave), vanilla, sea salt, 1/2 cup water in blender. I needed a bit more water to keep it moving but you want it very thick and creamy not watery. Blend until smooth and adjust to taste. Pour mixture into crust. Remove air bubbles by tapping pan on table. Place into the freezer to set up until firm.

Raspberry Sauce:

Blend berries with dates in food processor, not blender.

You can spread the sauce on top and freeze to set or mix into filling to make marbling. I  spooned on small  globs and then mixed into filling with a knife to create swirls.  Next time I will do this more to get it in deeper. I also reserved most of the sauce to spoon over the plate and individual slices when serving.

You can make this days ahead of time, cover and freeze. Thaw about an hour or two before serving.  In warmer weather remember the coconut oil melts at 74 degrees.

Note: Next time I might use less lemon juice, but this is the beauty of raw. You can taste it first with less before removing from the blender and decide to add more if you like. The flavors don't change since there is no cooking.

Cheezecake Slice with Raspberry Sauce and fresh raspberry garnish

I found this recipe on the internet but I believe it is from Ani Phyo's book,

Ani's Raw Food Kitchen, Easy Delectable Living Foods Recipes

 

So there you have some easy things to do with berries, 

beside doing as my friend Heather suggested,

 placing them on your finger tips and eating them off one by one!

Enjoy!