Raw Raspberry Chezcake Bites

Valentines Day is this Sunday and I don't have a special Valentine lined up.  Most single girls can get pretty bummed about Valentines Day, but not me.  Valentines Day just gives me an opportunity to make goodies for people I care about.  No romance for me, just lots of sweet treats.  

Tonight I took a break from studying and made Raw Raspberry Chezcake Bites.  These red and white bites are super festive and tasty.  The crust is so good it could be eaten by itself, and actually its a similar recipe to my raw pecan snickerdoodles.  The filling was whipped together in my blender- just young coconut meat, soaked raw cashews, lemon, and vanilla.  Together the chezcake filling and the cookie-like crust would be enough to put a smile on anyone's face, but since its mid February I jazzed up these gems with a raspberry sauce- just raspberries and agave blended together.  You could make this into a full size chezcake, or if you have a mini muffin pan, use that!  I put the chezcake filling into a sandwich bag and cut a hole in one end and piped it into the mini crusts, and used the baggie trick for the raspberry topping too.  

Raw Raspberry Chezcake Bites

Crust:

1 cup almonds

.5 cup pecans

2 dates pitted

pinch salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 tbs of coconut oil

Process in food processor until sticky, press into pan or muffin tin.

Filling:

1 cup soaked raw cashews

meat from 1 young thai coconut

zest from a full lemon

juice from half the lemon

1 tsp vanilla

2 tbs honey (or 6 dates or .3 cup agave)

Blend until smooth, scrape into pan or sandwich bag to pipe into mini muffin tin.

Raspberry Topping:

.5 cup of frozen raspberries

agave to taste

Swirl with chezcake filling.  Freeze chezcake bites or full chezcake until firm and enjoy!

Butternut Squash Lasanga

I had friends over for a Christmas dinner party on Saturday.  I was only planning a meal for 10-12 people, but I wanted to make sure everything could kind of be prepared ahead of time, so I didn't have a last minute freak out*.  I ended up making a spring mix salad with fennel, grapes, avocado, red onion, and sunflower seeds and a grapefruit/celery dressing, stuffed mushrooms, mashed potatoes, brussel sprouts with almonds, curried carrots and apples, and a butternut squash lasagna- for dessert I made a cranberry cake with coconut icing.  I tried to pick things that I've either prepared before, or things that would be hard to mess up.  The only risk I took was on the lasagna- and overall it turned out pretty great, with the exception of the noodles... I used rice lasagna noodles and I think If I do this again I'll switch it up with thinly sliced zucchini instead.  This would make a great main dish anytime of year.  The richness of the cashew "alfredo sauce" and the creamy butternut squash will satisfy and fill you up- while getting a dose of green iron from the spinach.  

Butternut Squash Lasagna

1 butternut squash peeled, seeded, and thinly sliced

1.5 cup of raw cashews

1.5 cup water

garlic

salt

the juice/zest from one lemon

1 cup nutritional yeast

spinach (fresh or frozen... a lot or a little... your choice!)

1 package lasagna noodles (or 5 ish zucchinis mandolined)

Blend/process cashews, water, nutritional yeast, garlic, salt, and lemon stuffs until a smooth, creamy sauce is made.  Layer noodles, squash, spinach and sauce in a 9x13 pan until ingredients are used, or the pan is filled.  Bake at 375 for 30-40 minutes.  Top with vegan parmesean or parsley!

*last minute freak out= I've been known to have them all of the time.  I like the last-minute-oh-crap adrenaline rush I get, but even though this method proved successful when writing research papers in college- its not the best process when food is involved.  Plan ahead, make lists, and if you're dying to try a new recipe for company, make it in advance, so you'll have a plan B if need be.  Also, the best asset in helping with last minute freak outs is an amazing friend/family member that can be your sous-chef/assistant.  For every great dinner party that I've had there has been a friend "behind the scenes" making me look great- whether it be icing my cakes, chopping veggies, stuffing mushrooms, helping catch up on dishes, or just making sure the ice is ready for drinks and the floor is swept.  Having a good friend do this for you is invaluable- thank them often and reward them with taste tests and food to take home.  My mom is usually my behind the scenes girl, but for this most recent party I have to thank Cote for making my last minute freak out a non-freak out.  

I hope everyone's holiday season is merry and bright!

Here are a few more photos from the dinner party...

Potato and Root Vegetable Soup

The cold weather that fall brings makes me crave warm comfort foods.  Potatoes are my favorite feel-good food with warm soup coming in a close second on the favorite comfort food list.  So, here's a great potato soup recipe using potatoes and their other root veggie cousins- turnips and carrots.

Potato and Root Vegetable Soup

4 cups potatoes (I used yukon gold) chopped into 1 inch cubes

2 cups of carrots chopped 

4 medium sized turnips chopped

1 large onion chopped

1-2 cups of raw cashews

4 cups of veggie broth

In one pot boil potatoes, carrots, and turnips with veggie broth until tender.

In a skillet, toast cashews lightly and then add chopped onion until translucent.

When the root veggies are tender, drain veggie broth and reserve.  Add cashews and onions to the root veggies and with a hand blender puree while slowly incorporating the reserved veggie broth until you've reached the desired consistency.  Serve with plenty of cracked black pepper, fresh grated carrot, and maybe some nutritional yeast sprinkled on top.