Here are some pictures of my chocolate orange cheesecake

Can you say OMG.

Perfection in each dreamy mouthful.

It was soooo goood. I couldn’t believe it! It actually came out the way it was suppose to. The TG and TD’s loved it and couldn’t get enough of it. I had a huge hit on my hands and didn’t know what to follow up with.

So my next attempt was more involved than this one. My next cheesecake I picked from Sweet Gratitude: A New World of Raw Desserts by Matthew Rogers and Tiziana Alipo Tamborra’s recipe book, was the Turtle Cheesecake. Yes, you read it correctly. Turtle Cheesecake. There was much more to this than simply soaking some cashews and melting the cacao butter.

The ultimate cheesecake.

Made the pict huge so you could drool all over your screen. For those that may not be familiar with this cheesecake I will give you a description. The crusts consists of cacao with walnuts and dates. The cheesecake is made of cashews, cacao butter, and then you split this mixture into two and add cacao powder to one. Pour the white chocolate mixture over the crust and then you create the marbling affect by pouring the cacao mixture quickly with a downward motion to add the cacao layer with out having it mix together. It was a pretty straight forward technique that is explained in the book. You then wait for the cake to set, I put mine in the freezer over night as I didn’t have time to finish the cake that day.

Top view.

The next day, I made the caramel sauce which has macadamia nuts and yacon syrup and it really does taste like caramel. I pulsed some pecans with a little sea salt. I finished the cake by sprinkling cacao chips, and pecans over the top and then I spread the caramel sauce this layer. Lastly I drizzled the yacon syrup over the caramel and then used a chop stick to create swirls. And there you have it! Everyone enjoyed this cheesecake!

Raw cheesecakes are really not that hard to make. Once you soak the nuts and melt the cacao it comes together pretty quickly. So, give it a try!

My Big Girl

Enjoy the journey and the food you create!

Have fun with your animal friends!

]]> http://www.nieko.com/korirunsdogs/2010/06/12/raw-cheesecake-mmmm-cheesecake/feed/ 2 http://www.nieko.com/korirunsdogs/2009/08/04/basil-pesto-yum/ http://www.nieko.com/korirunsdogs/2009/08/04/basil-pesto-yum/#comments Wed, 05 Aug 2009 02:00:28 +0000 admin http://www.nieko.com/korirunsdogs/?p=301

I saw this on the Renegade Health Show, Ann Marie always has such great ideas on how to make quick, delicious raw food items. From coconut kefirs and yogurts to tasty entrees to wonderful desserts that are all good for you!

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I saw this on the Renegade Health Show, Ann Marie always has such great ideas on how to make quick, delicious raw food items. From coconut kefirs and yogurts to tasty entrees to wonderful desserts that are all good for you!

I picked up my csa shares and they had basil on the share table, as much as you wanted!  I had already watched this episode, so I immediately grab a huge bunch and made this really tasty basil pesto. It was so easy and quick! You really should make yourself this wonderful sauce. You can serve it over zucchini or jicama noodles. On a salad or as a dip for veggies  (if the sauce is thick) or as a marinade. The combination and permutations are endless.

I would like to introduce you to my guinea pig friends, Ethyl and Lucy! They are very sweet and love to talk to you.

Lucy, my guinea pig friend!

Lucy is very funny. She loves to talk and run around the house.

Ethyl is shy, but she loves to be held and also enjoys talking to you, once she gets to know you!

Enjoy cooking and the food you create! Have some fun with your animal friends!

The first thing I tried from this book was the Strawberry Kream Cheezecake. I had some strawberries I needed to use up and the only thing that I needed to purchase was lecithin powder. But, Ani gives you the option of increasing the coconut oil and decreasing the amount of water to achieve the same results. The only problem I had was waiting long enough to let the filling firm up! As you can see from the picture, we couldn’t wait to try the cheezecake and so the filling was not as set as it could have been. The next day the filling was set and looked fabulous. We unfortunately ate it up before I could get another picture.

The cookies I made were very easy to make and fun to make! The fun part of raw preparation is that you don’t have too worry or stress about burning or over cooking. And these cookies can be stored in the fridge or freezer, so you can take one out and eat it as a nice cold treat on those days you could “fry an egg” on the pavement, not that you would want to.

The Halva Chai Thumbprint cookies are one of my favorites. They are comfort food for me in that they remind me of special times with my Grandma – baking cookies and then sitting at the table having tea, talking with friends and nibbling on cookies.

These cookies are very tasty and filling! The jam filling is raw too. Very easy to make berries, dates and agave.

Next, I made Almond-Goji Cacao Chip cookies. These cookies were again very easy to make and the TG’s loved them! They really like the goji berries and the cacao chips which added a nice crunch to the cookie.

Lastly, I made the Oatmeal Raisin cookies. I am an oatmeal person, love whole grains, so these cookies are also one of my faves. I would like to point out that these cookies can be shaped into fancy cookies using cookie cutters. I need to purchase some more cute cookie cutters so I can make shapes other than a circle and a heart. Another fun fact when making these cookies is that if you mess up the shaping you can start over and the cookie is still great! So making these cookies are great to make with your children.

Enjoy cooking and the food you create!  Have some fun with your animal friends!

Raw Corn Tortilla Wrap from Everyday Dish TV on Vimeo.

What I love about raw food cuisine, is that you can make it into 3 or 4 different things, depending on the thickness, size, shape, and dehydrating times. Another aspect I like, is that you can taste everything you are making and eat it at any time. You don’t necessarily have to wait the alotted time to consume your masterpiece! And lastly, you can “play” with your food and not burn you fingers. Yah!

Here is a fun picture of the dogs at clicker class. It is a great class a good friend of mine KJB teaches. We are working on targeting to discern a shape from other shapes (triangle from a circle, square and a heart). A go-out and sit. Recalls with many different distractions. Calling two dogs at the same time. Also, we are working on recalls with a drop or down asked just after the dog starts to come. Another element is loose lead walking with a drop instead of a sit when you stop. It is really a challenge for all of us. Lots of practice, which is good because we engage the mind and body of the dog and we get to spend more quality time together. YEH!

Maggie, Emma and Betty at Clicker Class.

Enjoy cooking and the food you create!  Have some fun with your animal friends!

RAW GRANOLA

I soak overnight, then sprout the buckwheat groats (1 cup), oat groats (1 cup), sunflower seeds and pumpkin seeds(1/4 cup each). If I am adding almonds, I soak them overnight as well.  The exact quantities can be changed and modified to  your taste. You can time everything so that it is all soaked, sprouted and ready at the same time or you can do like I do (because I am still figuring the number of days everything takes). I start the grains 1-2 days in advance and then soak and sprout the sunflower and pumpkin seeds. The night before I am going to make the granola I soak the almonds.  If my timing is off, which is more often than not, I rinse and drain those that are ready to be used (before the others are) and store them in the fridge in an air tight container or bag. Taking them out each day, giving them a good rinse and letting them drain before putting them back in the fridge. Here is a picture of the buckwheat sprouted.

Sprouted Buckwheat for Raw Granola

When everything is finally ready, rinsed and drained, I dry them in the dehydrator at 115 °F until they are just “dry to the touch”. Then I pour everything into a large mixing bowl and add some goji berries and cranberries (can use other fruit; just have fun with it), about 1/4 cup of shredded coconut (can add more if you want) and mix well.  To this I add 1  tsp of vanilla depending on the size of the batch and 1/4  cup coconut oil melted and 1/4 cup of agave plus 1/2 to 1 tsp of cinnamon, 1 tsp of vanilla and celtic sea salt to taste.  Mix together using a large spatula or clean hands.  Taste and if needed add more cinnamon, salt, vanilla or agave if the granola is not “clumping” together. You could add cacao to this or use cacao coconut butter to make a chocolate granola and omit the cinnamon. The possibilities are endless!

Pieces of Raw Granola

I like to spread the granola onto non-stick sheets making sure to keep the thickness uniform. Press gently to compress the granola so that it will stick together. Make sure that the layer of granola is not too thick (1/4 inch is good), or it will take for ever to dry. Dehydrate at 115°F at least overnight, and if you want large pieces of granola (more like a granola bar) you can dehydrate for 1-2 days. And in hindsight, you can score lines in the granola sheets to make it easier to break into “bars”. Please note that the granola will be pliable when you first take it out of the dehydrator, but will “harden” once it returns to room temperature. The granola after 1 or 2 days of dehydrating is crunchy and similar to store bought granola.  Shorter drying times will result in a softer granola. To test your granola, break a small piece off of the sheet and let it cool. Then determine if the consistency is to your liking.

Raw Humus

Another raw addition was raw hummus that I enjoy for lunch with veggies. There are many nut based humus using cashews or almonds. I LOVE humus and now that I have tried both almond and cashew humus, I can honestly say that I like them as well as the traditional humus. The cashew recipe I have used is from The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Eating Raw. It is very good. I have also tried the live oatmeal, made spicy nachos and the nacho cheese dip. The nachos and cheese dip were a hit with the TDs and TG. The almond humus recipe I found in I Am Grateful: Recipes and Lifestyle of Cafe Gratitude and it too is very tasty. There are many recipes I would like to try in this cookbook.  Especially the desserts. The cheesecakes look divine. The almond milk was very easy to make and to my amazement very good. I don’t know why I was surprised at how good it was, but I will continue to make my own milks now that I know how to.

I found a lighter version of humus here. Susan of Rawmazing.com has a great blog with some very tasty recipes and photos of raw dishes she has created and prepared. This humus is very light using zucchini and cucumber  instead of garbanzo beans. I made this and it is wonderful with veggies, on crackers and in wraps.   If you are interested she has cracker recipes that are very straight forward to prepare and they are delicious.  Her desserts make you drool just looking at the pictures. Definitely a site you need to check out.

Date and Walnut Scones

I found this recipe in The Raw Food Revolution Diet and thought it looked fairly easy to prepare and I had all the ingredients on hand.  The pre-planning involved sprouting the wheat berries for 3 days. And soaking and dehydrating the walnuts. Then using my food processor to process the wheat berries, walnuts and dates plus cinnamon and salt. I tasted this after I removed it from the processor and I thought it needed more cinnamon. So, I sprinkled some more on top of the dough along with some goji berries and folded the dough over several times to work everything in.  I formed the dough into a round about an inch high on a non-stick sheet and cut it into 8 wedges that I spread out on the sheet. Then I placed the scones in the dehydrator for 2 hours at 125 °F, decreased the temperature  to 105 °F and dehydrated another 2-3 hours. The scones were transferred to a mesh sheet and returned to the dehydrator for another 4 hours.  The cool part of this is that they can be stored in the fridge for 1 week or if frozen – 2 months! “Sweet” as my friends would say.

You can top these with a berry date jam or sweet cashew cream.  I like them with almond butter on top too! I had the TDs and TG taste test these and they gave them two thumbs up.  TG thought they had a consistency of cake. I think he meant that there were denser than conventional scones.

Well, enough yakking and more cooking.

Here are a few pictures of my Kittycats.  They are all rescues and I love them dearly.

Rose the youngest.

Pete in the middle.

Eddie the oldest.

Enjoy cooking and the food you create!  Have some fun with your animals friends!