Made my first ever galette last night….Yummo! Baked on a pizza stone, it is so much easier than making a pie. (recipe below)
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/sunny-anderson/open-faced-plum-tart-recipe/index.html
In keeping with the recent trend of all my posts being about food, here is another one. This one is for a carrot cake. Although I don’t like it as much as the Chocolate Ganache one, this one is pretty good too. I decorated the top with slices of dried mango and cilantro leaves. Recipe below picture.
Ingredients:
2 C oat flour (made by processing rolled oats in a blender)
2 C pulp from 6-8 juiced carrots
1/4 tsp salt
2 C dates finely chopped or ground
1 C nuts chopped
2 tsp vanilla
3 TBsp honey
Other things I added in:
extra salt to taste
extra honey or agave to taste
lots of raisins
lots of cinnamon! (how could a carrot cake recipe NOT have cinnamon??)
1/2 C extra nuts
2 TBSp coconut oil
Directions:
Mix all the ingredients together well. Knead and form into 2 rolls for slicing or layers for a cake. Make one layer of a cake & cover with frosting. Place second cake layer on top and cover whole cake with frosting.
Cream Cheese Frosting:
Put all ingredients in a high-powered blender and process until smooth and creamy. (I will probably use my little food processor and a rubber spatula.).
Love the composition of these food photos by French food photographer Beatrice Peltre. Love her food blog too!
I tried my third raw recipe today. This lasagna recipe made with zucchini is from the book Raw Food, Real World by Sarma Melngailis & Matthew Kenney. The recipes are from an upscale all-raw restaurant called Pure Food & Wine in NYC (wish I could go). I actually made the sauces last night/refrigerated and then made the assembly first thing this morning. Yes, I had this for breakfast. This recipe absolutely BLEW MY MIND!!! It was easy to prepare too. I was most impressed by the complexity and richness of all the flavors! The “ricotta” cheese made with pine nuts & lemon juice was pure heaven…I can think of more possibilities with that sauce (I couldn’t stop licking the spatula). This dish tasted so sinful I am having a hard time believing it is good for you. This is a life-changing recipe for me. I have decided to buy a few Raw cookbooks to start incorporating more of these recipes into my diet. Not trying to make a super extreme radical radical change, I just like the way they taste, they are easy to prepare, and it just makes me feel good and happy. :) However, if eating super radical could make me as pretty as her, I would do it. Who knows where all this will lead, but right now I am having fun on my food journey (enjoying the process).
She shares the recipe here.
Here is a shot of the mid-assembly process to show how rich and creamy the sauces are!
Later this morning, I made one of my favorites for fish…Mango Salsa! Ingredients: Mangoes, Kiwi, Cilantro, lime juice, red onions. C’est tout!
I used the mango salsa to make my cod fish burrito (lunch) on a large collard green leaf. So yummy, fresh, and low carb! I will be using collard green leaves more for wraps (holds together nicely).
So YUMMY! I made these this morning after my workout. Since I’ve adopted a grain-free diet, I have been using recipes for “baked” items with various nut flours. More recently, I have been trying more Raw recipes for this reason. I am actually liking the raw “baked goods” recipes more than the cooked ones with almond and coconut flour. They are moister, sweeter, and less gritty in texture I think. I picked up this book at the library. I’m so glad the library had it because I was thinking about buying it, so now I get to try it out first. This is the second Ani Phyo recipe I have tried. I will definitely be buying this book. This one is fabulous just like her chocolate raspberry ganache cake I tried last week. This girl is a genius chef! I really liked these “pancakes” even better than my panfried almond flour ones. I only ate 2 of these (saved the 3rd one for later) as they were pretty filling/dense. The cakes consisted mainly of ground flaxseed meal. It only took minutes to make and I didn’t even have to use a food processor–just stirring in a bowl. So much easier/faster than traditional pancakes (less mess) – a bonus!
You can buy the book here.
I have been following a healthy eating diet lately called the Primal Blueprint. I have been doing pretty well the last couple of months but have been craving some bad stuff lately. Last night on the internet, I found this recipe for a healthier version of cake….Raw Chocolate Raspberry Cake!! I realized I had all the ingredients in the kitchen, so I resolved to make if for breakfast the very next morning. I am so excited at how this cake came out that I had to take a bunch of pictures. Jakie was so excited too that he stripped down naked and was running around the house. Don’t know what that was about, but oh well.
This cake is all raw (not cooked) and is made with walnuts, honey, dates and cocoa powder. I didn’t have enough walnuts so I threw some almonds and macademia nuts in there too. I also added a bit more honey, splenda, and also about a TBsp of coconut oil to get it a little bit gooier. This cake is surprisingly really good!! The inner layer is lined with fresh raspberries. It is really rich and moist so you only need a little sliver of a portion. Although it does not have sugar or lots of carbs from flour, I’m sure this has some calories with the nuts and oil, so I would eat in moderation as a treat. YUM!!! I may look into some more raw food recipes for deserts now that I liked this one. I always thought making raw food would be time intensive, but this recipe took all of about 10 minutes and the only equipment needed was a food processor and measuring cups/spoons….so less work and less clean up than with baking. I really don’t like baking. I rarely do it….too much work and makes a big mess of the kitchen.
I am not about to become a raw foodist, but am just looking for some recipe options out there to replace the more unhealthy stuff like deserts, chips, etc.
This recipe is by Ani Phyo. The recipe is here, and check out a you tube tutorial here!
I also looked through this book last night at Barnes & Noble and it looked really good. This book is by a couple who run a really swanky raw food restaurant in NYC. I must have this cookbook! The photos in this book were gorgeous. Gotta have photos in a cookbook!
Oh, the FROSTING….the coolest thing about this cake is the frosting! It is made with Avocado!!! Avocado, honey, dates and cocoa powder. The avocado gives it that creaminess. How cool is it that I snuck Jakie some avocados for breakfast and he didn’t even know it?!
Cake makes Jake a happy boy. One of my nicknames for him is actually “baby cake jake”.
There are no pictures of hayden in this post because he did not like it. He said “Yucky!”. That’s fine…more for me and Jake. Jake said “Mmmm….that’s yummy mommy!” Jake, like his daddy, is not one to turn down sweets 
I really like this kitchen. I love the light we get from all the big windows. I will miss it when we move this summer (except for that awful tile floor that shows all dirt and is impossible to sweep!).
The day before St. Patrick’s day I made special pancakes for the boys with green gel and sprinkles. They loved it! I made them the day before because I had to work on the actual holiday. We also got a new book in the mail from Daddy which inspired Hayden’s desire to have green eggs and ham for breakfast. He was a little disappointed that the eggs didn’t look exactly like the picture. The tasted good though. I put parmesan cheese in them too.
Tim was gone all week for a conference but came home today. We celebrated by making a campfire after dinner out on the patio. Tim was teaching Hayden how to safely tend to the fire. Jake was very snuggly after having missed daddy all week.
Earlier that week while daddy was away we made Christmas cookies. Jake did not like the red hots…”too spicy”.
