White Chocolate Dark Chocolate Raspberry Tart

I saw this recipe on the Rawmazing website a few weeks ago and have been itching to make it. Monday was my coworker Vanessa's birthday, which was the perfect occasion! This was pretty easy to make - all you  need is a food processor and a blender. (A vitamix works wonders.)

First I made the crust of almonds and coconut oil in the food processor.

Then I made the white chocolate cashew base. I spread a little over the crust, then layered on the raspberries. 

Then I poured on the rest of the white chocolate base. Because I made it in the Vitamix, it was very smooth and creamy, but it was a little thick and it took a while to scrape it all out of the blender.

Then I made chocolate ganache and poured it over the top. I put the tart in the freezer while I was making the ganache, but I didn't give it enough time to set, so it I had to be careful not to mess up the base layer while spreading the ganache. 

It was incredibly delicious! It was so rich and creamy, that a small piece would satisfy the biggest sweet tooth. And it was a huge hit with my coworkers. Raw desserts are so amazing, it makes me wonder why anyone would want to turn the oven on!

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Cocoa V

I'm going to get this out in the open right from the beginning: I ate wheat yesterday. Yep. I did it. But it had to be done. I was at Cocoa V in Manhattan with friends and I couldn't resist. I'm pretty sure I also ate some soy too, but these things happen.

Annemarie Colbin was one of my teachers at The Institute for Integrative Nutrition, and she says that you should never feel guilty for eating something that you don't think you should. You should look at it as an experiment. Take note of how you feel before and after - how did the food affect you? So I took her advice and considered the whole thing an experiment.

I've been on this elimination diet for three and a half months now, and I've been feeling good lately. In fact, in the past two weeks, three people have told me that I look great and asked what I've been doing differently! I've been thinking of adding some of the foods that I had minor reactions to back into my diet, such as garlic, asparagus and black tea. (I'm drinking a black iced tea as I type this.)

So, like I said, I was at Cocoa V with four of my wonderful friends yesterday and their menu wasn't very wheat-allergy friendly. I decided to eat what everyone else was eating and see how I felt later.


For starters, we all split a cheese plate. The cheese is Dr. Cow's raw cashew cheese, which is absolutely incredible. I've had it before and if it wasn't so expensive, I'd keep it in the fridge at all times. The cheese plate also came with wheat crackers, hummus and fruit. It didn't last too long with five hungry vegan women!



I ordered an iced chocolate to drink. I didn't even know there was such a thing as iced chocolate and I couldn't resist trying. It was amazing! My friend Janelle said it was the best thing she's ever tasted.


For lunch we all ordered quiche, which came with spiced sweet potato chips. The quiche was made with Daiya cheese, leeks and probably tofu. I'm sure the crust was made with wheat flour. It was extremely delicious!!!


Our dessert was chocolate fondue, which we all split. It came with fruit, biscottie and brownie bites and it was heavenly.



Cocoa V also has a little storefront where they sell all sorts of vegan chocolates, and I really wish I had bought some to bring home. The food was delicious, the restaurant is really cute, and our waiter was extremely friendly. I will most definitely eat there again soon. The Highline is just a block away, so we walked over after lunch and enjoyed a nice stroll above the streets of the city.

And the results of my experiment? I felt like I had "crashed" a few hours after I got home, but felt much better after I ate dinner. I was worried about how my digestion would be when I got up this morning. It was a little "off" but not as bad as I expected. I did have a little bit of a hangover feeling, but it wasn't terrible and it didn't last long.


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Chocolate Party!

The vegan group I belong to had a chocolate potluck party for Valentine's Day last night. I made Chocolate Peanut Butter Truffle Cookies.

The recipe is from Manifest Vegan. I doubled the recipe, because it says it makes about 20 cookies, but I ended up with about 75 cookies and only about half were eaten, so that wasn't necessary. I used 4 bags of chocolate chips to dip the cookies in. Dipping the cookies in the chocolate created a huge mess! I made the mistake of placing the cookies back on the cookie sheet since I don't have cooling racks. The chocolate cemented the cookies firmly to the sheets, and I had to get Dennis to help pull them off. (Note to self: Next time use parchment paper!) Most of the cookies ended up losing their bottoms, but it didn't take away from their taste at all. These cookies are GOOD. They're really intense, so you only need one to satisfy any chocolate/peanut butter cravings. They were a big hit at the party!

I thought I'd put aside my elimination diet for the evening since I knew there would be tasty chocolatey baked treats at the party, but I didn't cheat too badly. I had some hot chocolate made with almond milk which was amazingly good, a few chocolate cover cashews, one rum ball that did contain some wheat, and a piece of extremely rich fudge. I don't know what the fudge was made with, but I'm guessing there was some soy in it. It was so rich that it ruined me for the rest of the evening and I couldn't eat anything else, which was a good thing because there were lots of cookies, brownies and cupcakes. I did wake up with some digestive problems this morning which I find crazy, because I ate such small amounts of offending foods yesterday. But now I know for next time!




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Chocolate Cupcakes!

My friend Jessica is a bit of a chocoholic. She sent me this recipe for dairy and gluten free Milk Chocolate Cupcakes with Chocolate Agave Frosting from The Whole Life Nutrition Kitchen blog about a month ago. We had a mini potluck lunch with our friend Deana today, so I made them for dessert.

These cupcakes are made with sorghum flour, tapioca flour, cocoa powder and xanthan gum, among other things. They baked up moist and fluffy and didn't taste much different from "regular" cupcakes. The sugar free frosting that goes along with the recipe was a little weird because it kind of tasted like chocolate flavored shortening (which it basically is).

The cupcakes were really tasty and we all enjoyed them for our dessert. I'll definitely make them again, but I think I'll play with the frosting recipe a little next time.