Sweet Gratitude
(Edited later to add this photo and comment: You ever notice how the first piece of pie is usually the messiest? Well, I knew I was going to cut this pie further down into 16 pieces, so I figured I might as well get a picture tonight. It looks great! I hope it travels well.)
Without topping.
and with:
You can’t really tell its goodness yet; I’ll try to get an inside shot!
Sweet Gratitude
As it turns out, the strawberries are perfectly sweet to balance the tartness of the lemon, and look how colorful it is! The crust comes out of the glass pie pan fine, but the lemon part separates a little from the crust.
Also, the strawberry parfait keeps for only 2-3 days. I’m glad I’m sharing this! I guess Irish Moss doesn’t take to the freezer well. Desserts….well, all food is better fresh, anyway. :)
Sweet Gratitude
This is the beginning of the raw lemon meringue pie. It has a macadamia-cashew-coconut-date crust. This was my first time working with Irish Moss as a thickening agent. It was a bit of work but turned out great; I imagine this makes it so you can use less coconut oil or coconut butter, thus adding less fat and more varied nutrients.
So I got my two coconuts ready to make the meringue, cut one open and realized the water smelled. Then I tasted it. Immediately spat it out. This coconut was bad; let’s try the next one. Same thing! And I didn’t want to run to the store just to get the same thing over again, so I figured I’d improvise.
I had already bought 2 lbs. of strawberries today, had vanilla beans and cashews soaking for the meringue, so I chose the strawberry parfait to top the pie. I also had some left over that I just put in dessert dishes/ramekins. The strawberry mixture smells great! I didn’t test the final result because I’m doing no added fat for 3 days a week and this day is one of them. Without the coconut butter (which is made using whole coconut, as opposed to just the fat), it was divine! No seaweed taste. :)
Let’s hope the strawberry parfait and lemon pie go well together. If not, there’s always cooked chocolate cupcakes for the cooked food eaters!
Just Desserts (from Raw Goddess Heathy)
Pretty frustrated when the springform pan of the prettier and more accurate “marble” did not release, I took a photo of this one instead. It’s a really good cheesecake, made from readily-accessible ingredients, and the chocolate flavor is just right. I can’t wait to try more from this book! Thanks, Heathy (www.rawgoddessheathy.blogspot.com).
Sweet Gratitude
This dessert was excellent, very rich and chocolately!
Sweet Gratitude (a raw food dessert recipe book)
This is going to be so good! I didn’t want to take it out of the pan yet, since I will be traveling in a vehicle to share this with friends tomorrow, so I hope to get an inside shot then. If you’re a raw foodie who loves making desserts, I would get this book – everything sounds so awesome and creative.
The bottom layer/crust is chocolate with pecans; the filling is both a chocolate and a caramel cheesecake swirled together, and the top is a caramel sauce with cacao nibs, pecans/macadamias, and yacon syrup.
I feel like I have been missing out on some not really top-secret information – raw sweet potatoes can be pureed in a food processor, blender/Vita-Mix! Previously, I thought you had to use a Champion with the blank attachment.
I saw this video and couldn’t take my eyes off of it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ALYIi_Fd5X4
I’m very excited about this; I made a puree today with just 4 cups sweet potato, a little agave (about 3 T.), vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom, allspice, and ginger. So no added fat and very simple, but I love it.
Sweet potatoes are a great source of vitamin A and also provide calcium, potassium, iron, and vitamin C.
Parfait recipe here: http://goneraw.com/recipes/2451-Sweet-Potato-Parfait
Veganomicon
I remember a few months back, Isa made a thread/post on the Post Punk Kitchen message boards that she had perfected lemon bars. Many people were excited, and while I admit that I was, too, I just never got around to making the bars until now. I halved the recipe and made the bars into triangles, dusted with powdered sugar. They are perfect; Isa does not tend to exaggerate!!!
If you’re in Philly, let’s start some lemon bar Friday dance parties! 
Look at the georgous crust.
Dinner will be ready in a few hours. Sneak preview:
Lavender Rice Pudding Brulee with Blueberries, Joy’s tester recipe
Toovar Dhal with Cilantro-Lime Dumplings, from Veggie Chic
Photos are repeats, but dishes were made again Wednesday night! With hundreds of cookbooks on my shelves, you can tell I really like something if it happens to make it in the queue more than once.
This time, I used dates to sweeten the rice pudding and some whole-grain flour in the dumplings. Delicious!
Sensational Stevia Desserts (nonvegetarian cookbook)
This is a great salad which is pretty easy to make, once you get the pureeing parts done! The main base is bananas, silken tofu, coconut extract, and stevia. To one part, I added strawberries and the other, raspberries (my variation). Also shown in the middle is a mango puree and fresh blueberries and strawberries. Yum!
The making of hempnut milk:
It looks like I’ll need to strain it a little bit to remove the froth, or maybe that disappears when it cools. Either way, thanks, Sue, for the maker! I am going to make tofu tomorrow.
