White Chocolate Ice-cream OMG Yum Nom Nom

Chocolate or raw cacao desserts are standard crowd favorites, but just for the sake of variety here's a quick raw recipe using raw cacao butter and orange. This dessert is different than most of my first raw ones, which had to be kept frozen and then allowed to thaw since they were too hard to eat out of the freezer. This hard ice-cream is fridge stable. Since there is fresh fruit in it, keep it in the freezer if you aren't going to eat it within a couple days.

White Chocolate Orange Ice-cream
1/2 cup raw cashew
1/4 cup raw cacao butter
3 tbsp coconut sugar or 1/4 tsp powdered stevia
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 orange, peeled or 1/4 cup of fresh squeezed OJ
zest of half an orange approx 2 tsp
1/8 tsp salt (optional)

Combine all in a high speed blender and work til smooth. Pour contents into your vessels of choice and let set in freezer.

For a simpler white chocolate ice-cream, replace the OJ with water and leave out the zest. Triple the vanilla for vanilla ice-cream.

Any fresh fruit or fresh squeezed juice, whether it be kiwi, pineapple, raspberry, durian, goji, acai berry or pear, can be substituted for the OJ.

Of course if you feel that it's not dessert without chocolate, who's to stop you. Just in case you missed the post on why fair trade chocolate click here and scroll to the bottom for the fun vid and link.

Desire a little more wow factor or you happen to have a bit more time on your hands, try this one.

White Chocolate Truffle
In eight silicone mini cupcake cups, pour in the white chocolate layer using the recipe above. Place in freezer to set for at least an  hour. You can also use mini cupcake baking pan.


Remove from freezer and pour white chocolate orange layer on top. 
Set in the freezer.
Top with your favorite fruit or sauce.

Want some more fancy in your life? A quenelle will add that bit of French to your life you've always wanted.
What you'll need is two spoons and some time to practice. Alternate a spoonful of ice-cream between spoons until you achieve the desired football shape.

Plate as it's own dessert with sauce, fruit or garnish or accent another dessert like cake or crepes.

This quenelle was made with mango ice-cream.

Throw a party with your elite group of friends and wow them with your skills. The kind of party where you dust off your nice table ware, use cutlery you need to polish and break out your good set of wine glasses.





Jumping back to an older post, my friend Ioanna submitted a pic of a dessert she made using this recipe for the gluten free choc chip oatmeal cookies.

Awesome job Ioanna!

4th of July Vegan Style, with Sushi Bowls of course

fresh to the table

There's something very therapeutic about making food for loved ones.
Every step deserves close attention.
From the planning of the perfect dish,
to the care taken choosing each ingredient,
to the prepping of the produce - chop? scallop? julienne? grate?
to the cooking of each component
and to the presentation.

farmer's market treasures

I understand that this much attention to each stage of cooking is not everyone's cup of tea. Different people are drawn to different activities like gardening, crafting, hiking, knitting or running. But for me, when I cook for people I care for, it's not work, it's not a drag, it's a joy. For me it's about fully immersing myself in the moment.  Giving myself a break from the regrets and fears that fill my head. Taking the opportunity to create and put on a grand performance.

I remember a cloudy stretch between sunny days when I decided I didn't want to cook anymore.
Being in a kitchen had become too tied to memories best forgotten. Fortunately, I was blessed with friends that helped to bring me out of that place.

 

Clean up is the step that I would be happy to do without. Other than that, having people over for dinner is such a win win for everyone. I like eating out for new culinary adventures but there's no place home.

 


How about this for a non-traditional 4th of July diner?

I thought it would be fun for people have a sushi bowl.
The base of the bowl was 2 parts jasmine rice and 1 part forbidden rice. Black/purple rice, reserved for royalty in the past, has the same nutrition as brown rice plus extra antioxidants. I prefer the texture too, less of a husky chew. The forbidden rice, serving for 6, was seasoned with 4 sheets of finely shredded roasted nori and 1/4 cup of soy sauce - using a gluten free shoyu easily makes the bowl gluten free. 

The grand selection of fine topping included black bean nori, sauteed shitake mushrooom, crispy ginger, minced soy beef, hass avocado, cherry tomato and seasoned nori snacks.

Black Bean Nori
1 cup of organic black beans - canned or soaked and cooked
1 tsp fresh grated ginger or 1/4 tsp ginger powder
1 sheet of roasted nori, finely shredded with kitchen scissors
1 tbsp shoyu or tamari sauce
heat all in a pot on medium heat til bubbly, stirring occasionally

Sauteed Shitake
1 cup of fresh shitake, sliced in strips or soaked and drained from dried mushrooms
2 tsp refined coconut oil - neutral taste and aroma
1 tbsp shoyu/tamari sauce
1 tsp coconut sugar or agave
heat oil in a pan on medium
cook mushrooms til slightly browned
lower heat, add sauce and sugar, heat another 2 min

Ginger Crisps
4 oz fresh ginger, thinly sliced
1 tsp refined coconut oil
1/4 tsp salt
heat oil in a pan on med/high
place ginger in a single layer in pan
heat til slightly browned, turn over once, brown

There was also a salad that turned into an interesting tell of people's personalities. Some had the salad as a starter while others mixed the salad with the rice in varying proportions. The salad had romaine lettuce, dinosaur kale and parsley. The dressing was a tangy pecan ranch.

Tangy Pecan Ranch Dressing

massaged kale salad

1/2 cup raw cashew
1/4 cup raw pecan
1 cup water
1 tbsp lemon juice or juice of 1/2 lemon
1/2 tsp salt or 1/8 to1/4 if less desired 
1 tbsp yellow miso
1/4 tsp garlic powder or 1 fresh clove
2 tsp coconut sugar or agave
Combine all in high speed blender til creamy

Alternatives
2 tbsp of nutritional yeast in place of miso
2 tsp unpasteurized apple cider vinegar in place of lemon juice
just pecan or just cashew
make it nut free with sunflower seeds

The dressing is fun on any salad. Use it in a wrap or in a sandwich. Flavor punch a pasta by leaving out the lemon and combining it with marinara sauce.

The raw dressing also helps fight inflammation and has a low glycemic index.
One serving boasts significant amounts of the minerals magnesium and manganese ( magnesium benefits, manganese for your health). 

For dessert we had organic fair trade chocolate chip brownie cupcakes with choc icing and a peanut butter cream. Curious about why fair trade, jump to older post.
If cupcakes are your thing check out this magic book of goodness.
Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World
or order some up from this Wizard of sweet delights
Clara Cakes

And now a dance break!

Just in case you haven't visited yet, here's a new restaurant in LA Rawsheed Fusion Chef.

Dessert First

To start things off, here's an easy treat. This simple, no cook 5 ingredient dessert is rich, decadent and most importantly, dairy free.

RAW CHOCOLATE MOUSSE TART

Chocolate Mousse

2 ripe avocados (1 cup)
4 tbsp of chocolate (cocoa, raw cacao powder or carob powder)
6 tbsp of agave, maple syrup,10 medjool dates (soaked & drained), 1 tbsp stevia powder or 1/2 tsp stevia liquid
(choose your sweetener based on what you have available or based on specific dietary needs)
1 tsp of vanilla
1/8 tsp of salt

Add all to food processor and blend until smooth. No food processor you say? Mash super well with fork and stir until smooth and uniform in color. Let set in covered container in the fridge for a few hours. Serve chilled.

Optional serving suggestions:
chocolate mousse pie - pour into pie crust and top with shredded coconut or sliced strawberries
choc cinn mousse - add 1/2 tsp cinnamon
choc mint mousse - add 1/2 tsp peppermint extract

My friend Vida's pie version with sliced strawberry and banana.

To back up a little, I got the basic idea for the mousse from a documentary by actor/activist Woody Harrelson titled Go Further, 

"Documentary filmmaker Ron Mann joined Hollywood actor/hemp activist Woody Harrelson as the thespian traveled up the West Coast preaching the merits of natural, organic living, the result of which is Mann's 2003 film, Go Further. In 2001, Harrelson and a group of friends and other like-minded individuals hopped on bicycles -- accompanied by a psychedelically decorated bus converted to run on hemp-seed oil -- and thus created the SOL (Simple Organic Living) Tour..."
In it, Renee Loux, the on tour chef, makes a chocolate mousse for everyone to dip strawberries into. After watching the documentary, I vaguely remembered chocolate, avocado and spirulina.  She has the full recipe evolution of her dessert on her Renee Loux site. Chocolate Avocado Mousse recipe. I share my mousse using 5 basic ingredients that anyone can easily score from almost any grocery store. The whole point being that it can be done without too much of a culinary stretch, and as a no fail option for a dairy free dessert...hopefully.  :T)