Blueberry Chia Pudding, a la Raw Goddess Heather of Sweetly Raw - if you haven't seen this pretty girl's sight yet, go check it out! She makes the most amazing raw desserts (and savory recipes too!), with lots of photos, and her writing is personal and lovely. This lady rawks! haha. She also just finished a few contests for raw desserts, for all you dessert divas out there- ice cream cakes and moonie pies (I made a few myself!). I have her Just Desserts e-book, and I totally recommend it. Most of the ingredients are easy to find, and there are lots of great seasonal recipes (like the blueberry chia pudding!) for fruit-inspired creations. Speaking of which... the blueberry chia pudding was sooo good. Seriously. You must make this dessert! Especially if you aren't keen on the texture of the chia seeds - because it's blended, it ends up super smooth, and it's sweet and refreshing and the most gorgeous color. Love it!
Round 2 of sushi:
I seasoned this batch of jicama 'rice' with lemon zest and fresh ginger (grated on my microplane - probably my favorite hand-held kitchen tool)
before rolling it up:
this knife was a wedding gift - it is a Shun sushi knife - awesome! super sharp, perfect for slicing sushi (I didn't have to dip it in water or wipe it at all - if any of you have made sushi, you know that this can be a major time savor for making big batches!)
big thing of pickled ginger:
funny thing is, I picked it up at Oceanic, the local Asian market! haha. the only thing I don't like is it has aspartame in it and you can taste it :( anyone else have trouble finding non-aspartame ginger? I love pickled ginger (any ginger really), but aspartame, not so much... sigh.
I also recently made... balls! Averie's balls, to be exact :)
Chocolatey Vegan Raw Goodness. I used agave since I was out of maple syrup, but I think maple syrup would have been awesome. I used this raw cacao powder from Earth Shift - it's sooo good and chocolately... and really, not that much more than the usual grocery store. The only trouble I had was getting the ball dough out of the Vita - it stuck like a mother - I got the majority out, but cleaning it was a beast :( balls were super tasty though, chewy, just sweet enough, very satisfying (TWSS!!!). I also made another Averie special:
coconut snowballs! Again, I used agave (still out of maple syrup - I can't drive since I have this brace that goes up to my thigh, it's been 1 1/2 weeks since the surgery, so rather than bugging the hubby or friends to go to the store for um, necessities like maple syrup to make dessert, I'm trying to be resourceful, heehee). Here's the dough:
and I ate some in a bowl with Silk almond milk and this maple sugar:
If you haven't tried maple sugar yet, I totally recommend it. It's kinda pricey - it was an impulse buy at Whole Paycheck (I live in Tampa where we are not blessed with a Trader Joe's, and we have the world's smallest Whole Foods - I do most of my produce shopping at the farmer's market or Publix, a regular grocery store, or the asian market - but I do get some staples at WF's - hey I don't eat meat, and rarely eat dairy or seafood, so I get to spend a little more from the family budget on fun stuff like maple sugar, right?) anyway, it's like little crunchy nuggets of maple syrup and sooo good!
here it is all together:
so delicious! Averie - you would love this! sweet and crunchy and chocolatey and vegan!
my new favorite shake lately has been inspired by Kristen of Kristen's Raw and her now infamous Cherry Chocolate Bomb Shake and Sarma of One Lucky Duck and her Chocolate-Covered Strawberry Valentine's Day Shake. Here's my Recipe:
1 c frozen strawberries
1 c frozen cherries
1/2 c frozen banana
1-2 T cacao powder
1-2 T agave or maple syrup
1 T lucama powder
1 t maca
1 t vanilla extract
1 T chia seeds
1 c almond milk
blend all ingredients in Vita mixalicious:
it is fabulous and guaranteed to make any day fan-freaking-tastic! Plus, check out the gorgeous color :) I am loving my glass straws too! they make smoothie drinking way more fun!
yesterday, I threw said shake in my ice cream maker:
good, but I think I like it as a shake better.
Believe it or not, I haven't been in a chocolate-induced sugar-high euphoria all weekend... I also ate some greenery:
and several unpictured kale salads... mmm kale. I've been digging purple dino kale (I think that's what it's called?) lately - so good! It's from California and organic and $3.00 a bunch (which I can practically consume in one sitting), and so worth every penny... mmmm sucks that we're out. 'honey, can you go to the store?' haha. being an invalid isn't so bad after all! I love my kale with a simple vinaigrette (olive oil, vinegar - lately I've been digging the raw coconut vinegar, tangerine or lemon juice, freshly ground sea salt and cracked black pepper, drizzle of local raw honey or agave, squirt of dijon mustard, minced garlic clove, all whisked together) and then massaged until soft - sooo good! lately I like it sprinkled with some nooch (gotta love the added protein too!) and a sprinkle of red pepper flakes for some kick. Sometimes I just eat a big bowl of kale, and then I have another salad on the side with other veggies in it.... kale rocks. Okay, I'm done now.
well - I'm off to finish some laundry and play with the puppy. Enjoy the rest of your weekend :)
