Pineapple, Strawberries, and Blueberries

Now, these fruits, I cannot complain about!  I eat them almost every day. 

Papaya & Mango

Mango and papaya have been on sale at a few local grocery stores lately.  I thought this papaya was just ripened enough but it smelled like gasoline.  Strangely enough, the next day, it tasted and smelled better.  Does papaya improve a day after cutting?  Anyone else experience this?

The mango disappeared the same night….er…hour it was cut up. 

Thai Vegetable Wraps & Coconut and Chocolate Ice Cream

 

Raw Food, Real World (for wraps and coconut ice cream)

Thai vegetable wraps in collard leaves with bok choy (instead of savoy cabbage), almond-ginger dressing, mango, carrots, basil, cilantro, mint, and served with a tamarind dressing.  I left out the bean sprouts.  I loved the wraps; I kept going back to make more.  I think I will use the leftovers as a salad, with the collards chopped, so it’s easier to transport tomorrow.  Definitely recommend this recipe!

Coconut ice cream sweetened with agave nectar, also shown with raw chocolate ice cream with coconut water and meat, macadamia milk, and cacao powder.  Served with mango, kiwi, and blueberries.  The ice creams tasted good, but I realized tonight that if I want to make my own nut milks and ice creams with coconut meat, I should really get a better blender, such as a Vita-Mix.  The texture isn’t smooth and pureed enough with my regular old cheapy blender!  Especially to serve to other people.

Pure Food & Wine, ‘Snice, New York City

www.purefoodandwine.com

Part of my adventures in New York City today with friends included going to Pure takeaway, where you can order salads, sandwiches/light dinner items, juices, smoothies, and desserts, all raw and mostly vegan, with some items containing bee products.  I got a salad with dulse, rosemary crackers, hempseeds, avocado, and cucumber.  It was one of the best things salads I had ever had, albeit pretty rich with the avocado, hempseeds, crackers, and dressing.  I really like dulse on salads.  Sue and I also got caramel bars, with chocolate on top, just the right size and very delicious, not too sweet. 

In addition, I got some thumbprint cookies with raspberry filling, an expensive treat that I’m pretty sure was also dehydrated, but how many times do I have the chance to indulge in such things?  The raspberry flavor is awesome.  I highly recommend trying Pure.  Next time we plan on getting the ice cream.

Sadly, my pictures of ‘Snice didn’t turn out well, but it is a salad and sandwich place with coffee and espresso drinks, teas, and desserts such as cakes, cupcakes, muffins, and cookies.  Most items are vegan, and I heard good reviews of the vegan panini sandwich.  I got the house salad, a HUGE plateful of mixed greens with shaved carrots and cherry tomatoes.  I was very pleased!

http://www.menupages.com/restaurantdetails.asp?neighborhoodid=0&restaurantid=5860

Collards Rolls w/ Sun-dried Tomato Balls & Cheese

 

The Raw 50 (for cheese & mango flan)

I know that raw collard leaves, to some, may not sound like their idea of food, and I’ll admit that I was skeptical myself, but I got some organic leaves, marinated them in salt and lemon juice, and made some accompaniments for wraps.

The cheese is excellent, with pine nuts, macadamias, nutritional yeast, extra-virgin olive oil, and garlic.  I could eat it by the spoonful.

I love raw preparation of food, as it seems to inspire more creativity in me than cooked prep does.  I wanted sun-dried tomato and basil balls, so I merely threw some sunflower seeds, sun-dried tomatoes, and basil in the processor, ground it up, decided I need more liquid, and added garlic, carrots, and raw tahini.  What resulted was exactly what I wanted and paired perfectly with the cheese and collards.

The mango flan, however sweet and coconuty, did not turn out.  You are supposed to chill it for 30 min. in the freezer and then release it from the container.  This didn’t work, at least for me, but the flan tastes just as good using a spoon, and I got to use young coconut meat for the first time and drank the coconut water.  I’m thinking that my skin loves coconut oils and anything coconut, really, so I’m embracing all things coconut right now and finding that I like fresh coconut flavor more than I realized, just not dried shreds.

The flan can be seen in the background here:

Raw Cookies & Truffles

Raw truffles with cacao (I need to grind it more next time!), coconut oil, agave nectar, raisins (ground), extracts, and hempseeds.  Not what I was going for but tasty, anyway.

These are simply amazing and I think better than any cooked cookie I’ve ever had!  They have cashews, sun-dried bing cherries, agave nectar (not a lot), and vanilla extract. 

Pumpkin Cake w/ Maple-Cream Cheese Frosting

I found this recipe online and am not sure if I can/will recommend it yet….the batter was so thick that I was worried the cake wouldn’t turn out at all.  I feel a little bit better about it now, but we’ll see after the celebration of a friend’s birthday tonight!  I did modify the recipe slightly, using all ground maple sugar instead of any other refined sugars.  However, as you can see, there is quite a bit of frosting, sweetened not only with maple syrup but also with some powdered sugar (organic and fair-trade!).

I do NOT mess around when making candy- or sugar-coated nuts.  These are coated with not only maple syrup but also maple sugar.  It’s like pouring a gallon of the syrup down your throat, only more sophisticated and with extra protein and minerals.  There are candy-coated ground and whole cashews in the middle layer as well.

Raw Cake, Blueberry Frosting

 

At first glance, the frosting probably looks like it’s chocolate because it’s so dark, but it is merely dried blueberries pureed with lemon juice.  I had made this cake before, years ago, with walnuts and raisins, then a date-lemon topping; I thought blueberries would be a nice modification.  Like most raw desserts, it’s high in calories but very healthy and delicious.  Use 2 cups of each walnuts and raisins for the base, ground together in the food processor.

Raw Carrot Cake

 

The Complete Book of Raw Food

Considering I could barely control myself long enough to stop eating the dates that were part of the ingredients for this cake, I’m very proud that I finished it and took a picture before I dug in…..

The cake part has ground walnuts, coconut, raisins, dates, flax, hempnut butter (I did this variation myself), carrot pulp, and carrot juice, with nutmeg and cinnamon.  Prepare to dirty your juicer and food processor, but it’s worth it.  The frosting is amazing, simply cashews, lemon juice, and agave nectar, but I lowered the agave and added a few dates to the topping mix.  Garnished with walnuts and coconut.

Let me say as well that I do not like coconut.  Coconut milk, sure, but coconut shreds?  Not really.  This cake is phenomenal.

Cherry Spirals

 

My Sweet Vegan

I made these based off of the My Sweet Vegan recipe for strawberry spirals.  I wouldn’t suggest making this dessert if you’re in a hurry; the dough must chill twice, for a preparation of approximately 6 hours.  I REALLY enjoyed the spirals of cherry and the not-too-sweet cookie.  Unlike the turtles below, I think you can indulge in a few cherry cookies without feeling ill.  You might notice that some cookies have more cherry filling than others; the ones with extra filling are just as tasty, but they are not as feasible to pick up and eat.