we eat grass, er, drink, wheatgrass!

on the weekend paul got a manual wheatgrass juicer! YES!

i happened to be doing a coconut water demo at drive organics that day (btw, what an amazing grocery store! they have everything and everyone is so friendly and it has a real island vibe somehow) and they had trays of wheatgrass so i got one! $17 including a $3 deposit for the tray. same cost as organic lives though they don't have the deposit going there.

i got a ride home with ray and as i was waiting to cross the street to my building, i met a lady who was so excited i had wheatgrass and asked where i got it. then we got in a big talk about growing your own wheatgrass (which is what i'd like to do at some point soon!) and she mentioned her daughter just moved here and i've been in touch with her daughter many times since! they recommend this automatic sprouter sprouting machine and i'm so excited about trying it out at some point!

me and paul were kinda discouraged about how much juice you get out of the grass but it appears to be how it works. i found this site encouraging as it says 6-8 ounces per tray is the norm. and i learned from parvin that you can use one flat of wheatgrass twice... after you cut all the green and use it one time, there should be more growing again for you to use! i am nervous about the base getting moldy so we have been keeping the flat in the fridge. and you water it once a day in opposite corners. but not too much of course! so... we'll see. so far so good!

i would love to have wheatgrass growing for shots every day! 

rawzania night!

on friday, sarah, emily and jen came over and we assembled a raw lasagna together! i guess i would call it an ingredient potluck! no overuse of hummus here! and wow... how fun to be all crowded in the kitchen assembling this thing! ^_^

we used ani phyo's italian rawzania (page 185 in ani's raw food kitchen) as reference, though didn't use olives. jen made the 'italian pizza cheeze' (page 161) with cashews, emily brought the zucchini and sarah brought tomatoes, onions, basil and garlic (and carrots and kale for later! ^_^) from her garden. THE BEST! i blended up a brazil nut/cumin/coriander/braggs/salt crunchy topping which was so awesome the last time i made lasagna with paul.

mint-chip cheesecake!

so today i made the mint-chip cheesecake out of sweet gratitude, page 100. think mint cacao chip ice cream by cashew creamery as a cheesecake!

 i prepared last night by soaking the cashews and making the almond/cacao/coconut crust so this morning was easy!

ew, the mint and cashews don't look so pretty in the blender.... yet...

there's the crust! YAH!

 ooh and the warm from blending (oops) mint cheesecake! 

 and the chocolate blend for the swirl... my first attempt at a swirl!

 so fun!!!

 probably still could've saved less of the cake mix (and i saved less than the recipe asked to!) for the chocolate swirl but oh well! last time i saved the 2 cups the recipe asked for and it was way too much!

 now here is the best part... after having it in the freezer a few hours, i pat cacao nibs on the sides and top and add some mint leaves and it looks like a real dessert, doesn't it?

just in case you didn't see the first photo... ^_^ 

 oh, you want a view as if you're me, looking down on the cake, ready to cut it?

and here we go! 

 it gets soft so fast! i like it right out of the freezer! ah, and a note for next time with the swirling... i will pour heavier right away so that some of the swirl goes deeper into the cake! 

mmmm... cheesecakes are getting so easy to make! i'm so excited! 

lemon poppyseed cake!

it appears i never posted about this! back in june!!! this (though i'm curious about this as well!) was the first cake i ever made, from sweet gratitude, page 54, after alexia recommended it to me.

it took me FOREVER since i didn't really prepare in advance with ingredients so i spent most of my saturday making almond milk! what a process!

...and mashing medjools into a date paste. gah. i've since started getting hunza dates from organic lives as they are pitted already and i just chop them finely until they become more of a paste.

 ha. look at all this almond milk i ended up with! i needed 8 cups of almond flour for the recipe but only 1.5 cups of milk. i was giving this milk away as i didn't want to waste any! i now know to make almond milk (and flour) in advance so i can freeze the flour and drink the milk as i would normally. sigh.

 now after painstakingly trying to mix the almond flour with the dates with no mixer or large processor (the vitamix was no good at mixing the 'dough')...  the lemon frosting... yum! the vitamix is an icing's dream!

 first layer of the cake... frosting needed to set before i could put on the top layer!

 and it's done! i need to start doing more cakes so i have more practice at icing! yikes! (see the heart i made out of desperation?)

 that looks like 'real' frosting, does it not?

 and now the most important part... testing it!!!

 i couldn't get over the cakey texture...

 and oh, how it quickly disappeared! it had most excellent reviews, just sayin ^_^ well worth the effort!

thank you, thursday night! (and kassie!)

not sure how i got so lucky, but on thursday night, i was invited over to kassie's where me and CL got to enjoy a raw meal she made!

it's super exciting to have a new "raw" friend with so much to discuss AND she lives super close! YAY!

also, we have the same 'cook'book (ani's raw food essentials) so i basically got to sample a whole bunch of recipes in one night! thanks, kassie!

 this is the "chinese chickenless salad" (page 161). love it! i got to take some home with me ^_^ and it was just as great the next day for lunch!

 ooh and then pizza! YAH! using the oregano pizza crust (page 214 - celery and flax? loved the texture) and cherry tomato marinara (page 240) and fresh basil leaves (my favourite!) and tomato slices and i think it was the basic cheeze (page 103) recipe on top - made of cashews maybe? i don't know if i have ever made my own raw pizza and i have to get on this! so fun!

 and we all were so full but look at these! desserts from organic lives! how could one resist? the strawberry cheezecake, chocolate ganache (aka the ridiculous) and the coconut cream pie (aka the OMG).

thanks again for a wonderful night! 

(i hope to make a cheezecake tomorrow that i can share with her! ^_^)

figs, figs, glorious figs!

figs are on sale again at whole foods! what wonderful times!

  i got a paper bag more than half full for $9!!!

($2.99/lb oh yes oh yes oh yes!!!) 

i'd like to think that i'll allow more than 3 to dehydrate ^_^ or well, use some to make something but they are just so fun to eat fresh and on their own! i have to somehow buy enough to want to sacrifice some for later!