Today I’ve got a tasty ice cream dessert recipe to share, which has the added benefit of the medicial chaga mushroom (although it’s optional). I did a post on chaga last year and included a Chaga Maple Frosty recipe in addition to mentioning some of it’s benefits. I’m fortunate to live in an area where chaga grows in abundance all year around.
I made this ice cream last week, since a friend was over for dinner and I wanted to do a little something special. What to do with a few young coconuts, some ripe mushy persimmons, fresh ginger, and a bunch of soaked irish moss?! Here’s what I came up with. It would also be great with a chocolate sauce, or orange segments in place in place of the persimmon jelly. Continue Reading / Additional Photos / Videos
Summer is officially over – And yes, I’m just now getting the memo. Ok, that’s not true, I got the memo when then blogoshpere blew up with pumpkin-everything – however, I just chose to ignore. Why? Because as I get older, I realize the start of fall means one month closer to the beginning of winter – and that, makes me extremely sad.
Celebrating the end of my most beloved favorite season, I was gifted a large bag of basil from a good friend last week. While most of the basil will be used to make pesto for the winter months (it freezes beautifully), the rest I wanted to use in a more special and unique format. After all, I’m sure no one wants to come to my blog and see a recipe for pesto, right? Right. So instead, I came up with this carrot and basil ice cream concoction.
Carrots are beautiful for a few reasons: they’re easily accessible, they’re affordable, and they transition wonderfully between sweet and savory dishes. Moreover, they also have the ability to take on flavor profiles such as pumpkin, which is exemplified in this recipe. I swear, if you close your eyes and take a bite, you’ll think you are eating a pumpkin-based ice cream. And the best part is, you didn’t have to prep a pumpkin — Ohhh, the angst.
So – put the pumpkin down, step away, and instead, give this much-simpler-to-use veggie a try!
Thanks again to Mike and Stephanie for providing me with such wonderfully fresh and tasty basil this summer – I look forward to next year! (you’ve created a monster
The pumpkin pictured below, Is that not the purtiest, most perfect pumpkin you’ve ever laid your eyes on?! Now I’m not normally one to brag, but I growed that big beauty up there and man, I am proud! It’s my first successful squash, my garden’s inaugural gourd. The primary pumpkin! And apparently when I get excited, I alliterate!
I was so enamored of this precious pumpkin. I knew I had to do it justice, to create something really special. Lucky for me, a pumpkin goes a long way! I spent the whole weekend carving, chopping, blending, juicing, and otherwise altering the darling orb into all manner of delightful delicacies. But first things first, the prep work:
The heavy melon was washed and halved, the innards removed. The seeds were cleaned and set aside for roasty toasty. From there, it’s a blank canvas . . .
T’was a yummy morning. T’was. The dawn a breakin’, the bird’s a flyin’, the dog a wagin’, the fire a crackin’, the very ripe bananas a smellin’…love was in the air…All the elements were in place for the inspiration and creation of this recipe. A recipe I would never make if I were not visiting a special someone. A special someone, who happens to love his bananas. Me, I can’t stand em’. I know. I am in the minority. But I never liked them. As a kid maybe. My mom, who never cooked anything except her occasional overly steamed vegetables, baked potatoes and chicken soup when I was sick (Sorry Ma!), would make me mashed bananas with sour cream and honey. I know. Sounds nasty but as I kid I would crave it. Haven’t touched it since though. Not sure if I could stomach it now. No idea why I liked that mush so much. But at the time, it was Eureka. Now, I am just not a banana gal. Well, not until this morning.
About 15 minutes after I popped this thang in the oven the house started smelling and feeling like a warm, cozy embrace…of, well, bananas.
I found myself and my taste buds unexpectedly excited to taste it. Unfortunately, his oven sucks and the temperature doesn’t ever stay consistent so the bread got burned along the edges and the bottom a wee bit charred. That is why I cut it up into these cute little individual bite size pieces. A handy trick I learned from the Queen Bee Martha Stewart. Cause let me tell you honey — this moist, delicious banana bread tastes divine. Wouldn’t wanna throw it away cause it didn’t come out perfect. Yep. Another reminder of how there is no such thing as perfection and how imperfection can be perfect…
Our friend Brendan Brazier, the vegan tri-athlete, author and formulator of the Vega food products, stopped by to show Sarah and Boise how to make a raw energy bar. This is one of the first products Brendan created during his early days of training.
For Canadian thanksgiving, I made mini vegan pumpkin pies. For years I’ve made raw pumpkin pies, trying sweet potatoes, pumpkin, squash, carrot juice/nut combo – but I have to say, I prefer this cooked style. Enjoy it with a big dollop of the coconut whipped cream that I featured in my previous recipe post.
What’s so great about this pie? First, there are no nuts in the filling, making it far easier for me to digest (and good digestion is the name of the game for me these days more than ever). Instead I’ve used the natural creaminess of the cooked pumpkin along with healthy raw ingredients to create a delicious pie.
Secondly, this is a low glycemic dessert, using a small amount of coconut sugar in conjunction with stevia to sweeten it.
What makes it a “mousse” pie? I’ve suped it up with irish moss and coconut oil to give it a light, fluffy moussey texture. In fact, I’ve made this a few times already, that’s how much I like it, and it holds well as a cheesecake and as a simple mousse/pudding too! Whatever you choose, I’m fairly certain you’ll enjoy :)
What can I say, we just moved into our new Brooklyn Hood and I needed a quick welcome to our new place desert. Which is easier said then done, when everything you own is packed tight in moving boxes.
But not to fear… the cute corner health food / deli had everything I needed. Organic chocolate bars, maple sugar and some fresh mint.
Remember this one is raw and is a bit on the delicate side. It doesn’t like warm rooms, so pull this out of the freezer just before serving.
This recipe was sprung out of one of my many Martha Stewart inspired moments.
She called for straight up butter, of course, and so I wanted to see if I could use coconut butter instead. The batter was a little dry so I added nut milk and used chestnut flour instead of hazelnuts cause that’s what I had on hand and wow! They came out crunchy, delicately sweet and the perfect biscuit to serve along side some warm beverages.
The idea behind this post is quite simple. During my childhood back home, street vendors sold all kinds of snacks in small paper cones – toasted sunflower seeds, berries, nuts, candy, and other homemade treats. The food varied depending on the season and the part of the country. The cone is an inexpensive, simple container that was usually rolled and filled right on the spot.
During recess at school, we would often run across the street to a small market and buy whichever snacks were sold that day. Then we would proceed to sit in the schoolyard with our paper cones, gossiping and munching away.
Inspired by those memories, we had the idea to serve salad in an edible cone, just like ice-cream. We wanted to create a cone that would reflect the colours and flavours of the salad and add a nice crunch to the overall effect.
I was never into science. I definitely have a “creative mind” in that way, and remember nothing of the biology classes I had to take during school. One of the more peculiar, scientific things I am aware of is the sensitivity coconut oil has to temperature. If you notice, it can be liquid like oil or as thick as butter (and sometimes thicker!) It is such a fascinating obsession of mine, beyond it’s sometimes scientific characteristics.
Needless to say, there is nothing scientific about this dessert beyond the art direction and coconut capabilities. This is the simplest and most delicious snack, dessert or otherwise. You know that “chocolate shell” you’d get as a kid around ice cream? This is like that, but so much better and can easily be made raw. Coconut oil hardens into a shell around the banana literally INSTANTLY. It is a scientific experiment I’ll never understand, but is amazing nonetheless.
If you don’t like mint, experiment with other extracts! Try adding carob powder, macadamia nuts, or any topping you like. This recipe has infinite options and will be wonderful any way you prepare it, I promise. Enjoy this frozen treat for our last few days of summer, or if you’re like me, anytime around the year.
What do you think, time for a follow up to my Double Down Spicy Cashew Cheese post. I know, I am a one recipe skipping record kind of guy. This time, its Juli Novotny’s (kookie karma) famous spicy cheese kale chips. I made them the sameday I made the first patch of cheese, but I never got around to posting the photos or the how to instructions for the kale chips, so today is your lucky day or maybe not.
If you have never had a Kale Chip and think the whole idea of turning a green leafy lettuce into a chip is a bit odd, I am right there with you. The first time I heard about Kale Chips, I thought… what come on. A dried up leaf? But when I got my first bag of Juli’s chips, I was sold. WOW… I mean.. they were just great, but maybe they shouldn’t be called Chips. They are nothing like a corn or potato chip. They are more like a dried leaf or if you don’t fully dry them, they have a texture of a light jerky. Anyways… they are great in their own way. I would eat them any day over potato chips. Especially the cheesy version.
They are more like a dried leaf or if you don’t fully dry them, they have a texture of a light jerky
Now lets get into the how to make them part. The batch I made was enough for 8 people at a party or one hungry Monkie. The hungry monkie being me. I didn’t share any of them. In fact I ate them all within a day I think. I know… what a piggy monkie. But that is okay, it was my first batch and I earned the right to suck them all down and hey I live alone, so who am I going to share them with anyways? Basil the dog? I don’t think Cheese Kale Chips are something that should be on a dogs menu anyways. Carrots, definitely, heavy cashew cheese… hell no.
For this recipe you will need to make the Double Down Spicy Cashew Cheese before you start on the Kale. Follow the link to the recipe. Then follow the instructions below. Plus you will need a dehydrator or a really hot sunny location outside to sun dry thee chips. I am using a dehydrator by Excalibur. Oh and I have added step by step photos to the instructions after the jump, for all you Flesh Monkies out there who are completely new to this thing called Raw Foods. Lets get started… so exciting, right? Continue Reading / Additional Photos / Videos
Photographer Heather Pace
