Cauliflower Cashew Curry

I love this time of year, because I love stews and curries. This cauliflower cashew curry recipe from 101 Cookbooks is a fall/winter favorite of mine. I didn't make this dish at all last winter because I was avoiding both coconut and soy. But since I've added them back into my diet, I've been looking forward to making it again. I used tempeh instead of tofu and served the dish with black rice. I doubled the recipe so there would be leftovers for lunches. It was delicious!

Since the Great Cauliflower Incident of July, I have been able to work through my fear of cauliflower. But I am still only able to buy pre-cut cauliflower. Pre-cut veggies are more expensive but cut down on prep time and make cooking on busy weeknights easy, so I'm okay with the extra cost. And of course, there's the peace of mind that comes from knowing there aren't any large bugs setting up house in the middle of my veggies.

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Raw Ice Cream

I may have mentioned the summer heat before, but if I haven't, it's really hot here. There's an old saying that goes something like "When life gives you heat, make ice cream." I may be misquoting, but thats the gist of it.  

So I made some ice cream. This is raw ice cream made with a cashew base. This is the same ice cream recipe that I used in my ice cream cake a few weeks ago. It's pretty simple, as long as you have the proper kitchen gadgets. My kitchen is well stocked with gadgets, and use them often. 

First I soaked raw cashews for a few hours, then added them to my Vitamix blender with the rest of the recipe's ingredients. After it was was thoroughly mixed, I put the "cream" in the fridge for a while to cool down. 

I then added the mixture to my ice cream maker. 

I mixed up some chocolate syrup to swirl into the ice cream with raw cacao powder, coconut oil and agave. I didn't want to have to use the Vitamix again because I didn't want to have to wash it again, so I used my immersion blender with a whisk attachment. It came out a little gritty (but still delicious), so I probably should have either used the regular blender attachment or the Vitamix. Next time. 

After about 25 minutes of churning, I swirled the chocolate and some peanut butter into the ice cream. The peanut butter isn't raw, so technically this is no longer raw ice cream, but that's okay with me. I let it churn about 30 seconds too long because the chocolate swirls no long looked like swirls, but it ended up looking like some sort of chocolate ice cream experiment gone wrong. That's also okay with me, because it tasted extremely delicious. The perfect treat for a scorching hot day! 

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Chocolate Chip Cheezecake Swirl

Last week my vegan group had a dessert potluck. I'm becoming known for making yummy raw desserts and I have a reputation to live up to, so I decided to try a raw cheesecake. I made a raw strawberry cheesecake last year for a coworker, and it was a big hit in the office, so I knew my friends would love a chocolate one. This was really similar to the ice cream cake I made for my birthday potluck, but it wasn't as much work since there was no ice cream maker involved and the layers didn't need to be frozen separately.

The recipe is from Ani's Raw Food Desserts by Ani Phyo, and was made mainly with cashews. The base of the cake is vanilla with a little bit of lemon juice. Chocolate syrup is swirled in once the cake's been poured into a spring form pan. The recipe called for a double batch of chocolate syrup, which I don't think it needed because the cake became really chocolaty and I had a lot left over. There's also a layer of cacao nibs in the middle to give it a little crunch. I decorated the top with cherries, because fruit always makes a cake look pretty. This was really amazingly delicious. I think it only took about half an hour to make (and less time to consume), so I will definitely be making it again!


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Strawberries and Cream

My friend Joyce brought strawberries to my birthday party potluck on Saturday and there were some left over, and I decided to make a yummy dessert with them. I cut them up and then drizzled on some of the whipped cream and chocolate sauce left over from the raw ice cream cake I made. The whipped cream is made with cashews, coconut milk and agave, and the chocolate sauce is made with cacao powder, agave and coconut oil. This wasn't quite as good as the ice cream cake, but it was still pretty tasty!


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Raw Ice Cream Cake

It's my birthday week! To kick it off, I had a few friends over for a vegan potluck party. I made my own birthday cake - a raw ice cream cake! I purchased the a raw ice cream recipe booklet from SweetlyRaw.com. The cake was made mainly with cashews. It was rich and creamy and tasted fresh, not preserved and full of chemicals, like store bought ice cream cakes do.

The cake was extremely time consuming, but it was well worth it. Everyone loved it and some of my friends even said I should go into business and sell raw cakes! I fear I may have set a new standard to which my potluck offerings must live up to now.

First I made chocolate ice cream. The ingredients are blended together and then churned in an ice cream maker.

The ice cream is poured into a spring form pan. I also made little brownie bites and mixed them in to the ice cream. The layer had to freeze before the next one could be place on top.

Then I made chocolate buckwheat cruchies, which go in between the cake's layers.

Next up is the vanilla layer!

The vanilla layer is poured over the chocolate crunchies.

I also made chocolate syrup, which I swirled on top of the vanilla ice cream.

I used a knife to make pretty swirls with the syrup.

The vanilla swirl layer had to freeze before the top could be decorated.

I made whipped cream to decorate the top with, but I couldn't get it thick enough to stay in any kind of shape. So I blobbed it on and decorated it with cherries.

After a few hours in the freezer I let it thaw for a few minutes and removed it from the spring form pan.

The dessert spread was pretty amazing. Along with my cake, there was raw tiramisu that Agatha made, truffles that Jessica made and a strawberry pie that Alisha made. The pretty flowers are were a gift from my friend Ruthie.

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