I so appreciate all the congrats from you guys regarding the impending arrival of our little spawn. I am due next week and officially in “get all the things done!” mode.

I’ve heard over and over again the same advice to stock your house full of foods that are easy to eat one-handed for after baby’s born and you’re carrying him/her around everywhere all the time to keep ’em from screaming continuously. To that end, I decided to make some healthy raw-ish mint chocolate brownies to stuff in my face as needed. I say raw-ish because I didn’t personally bother to use raw cacao powder or raw flavor extracts in these, but you absolutely could if that’s important to you, it just wasn’t for me. To me, this is raw enough.

In fact, I’m letting a lot of things slide lately. Sometimes the dishes don’t get done, and that’s ok. Sometimes I get winded just making the bed and so I just stop half way through. Sometimes the thought of shopping for food makes me want to collapse into tears over a pint of ice cream, so I don’t go and we order out for the 3rd time in a week. Sometimes… my perfectly plated stack of raw mint chocolate brownies topples over before I even get my first shot in, and with a sigh, I decide to just go with it rather than re-plating because it’s a real and accurate depiction of how I’m feeling right now.

“Oh no! That one broke in half! I’ll have to eat it since I can’t possibly photograph it like that.” (Totally happened)

They may look a bit beat up, but I assure you these brownies were just as tasty after their tumble. They have a high moisture content, giving them a truly fudgey and rich texture. The mint flavor is subtle, herbal, and cuts through the richness nicely.

Raw mint chocolate brownies

A no-bake and guilt-free chocolatey brownie with a hint of fresh mint.

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Total Time: 15 minutes

Yield: Makes 12

Ingredients

• 1 cup raw unsalted cashews
• 1/2 cup raw unsalted macadamia nuts
• 1/2 cup raw unsalted walnuts
• 1 cup chopped dates
• 2 cups fresh mint leaves (tightly packed)
• 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (+ more for dusting)
• 2 tsp. chocolate extract
• 1 tsp. raw agave nectar
• pinch of salt

Cooking Directions

1. In a food processor, process nuts until small. Add dates and pulse to combine.
2. Add all other ingredients and process until a paste forms and starts to pull away from the sides.
3. Press mixture evenly into a 9x9 pan lined with plastic wrap or wax paper.
4. Dust over extra cocoa powder and freeze for at least an hour.
5. Store in an air-tight container in the refrigerator or freezer.

If you would prefer a stronger mint flavor, simply substitute one of the teaspoons of chocolate extract for a mint extract instead. Also, vanilla will be fine if you can’t find chocolate extract too. And if you don’t have one of those nut varieties, just sub in more of one of the others. I like to use macadamias in raw desserts that imitate something that is typically baked because they lend a convincing buttery flavor and texture. I chose walnuts because they tend to deepen chocolate flavors. If all you have is cashews though, it’ll be fine.

I personally like to store these in the freezer and eat them ice cold. They can be messy and melty at room temperature, and the cold makes the mint flavor pop in a cooling and refreshing way. These will be great to hold me over while the little lady is eating her breakfast, and when she’s done I can worry about making something more substantial to eat.

It’s gotten to the point now where I’m on edge all day expecting labor to start at any moment. On that note, I should probably go pack for the hospital, or clean, or draft a living will or something…

July 12, 2013 Alayna Discussion, Recipes 17 comments

I seem to develop a new food obsession every couple of months. I went through a period of intense and insatiable grapefruit lust a few months ago – there was nothing more delicious in the world to me than a ripe grapefruit at that time, and I ate one almost every day. Right now I’m in a berry bubble. If you haven’t noticed, berries have appeared on my blog a lot recently, and it’s because I’m absolutely obsessed with them nearly to the point of dependency.

My craving for berries is nowhere near over, but I’m starting to feel the intensity ease up a little now that the initial excitement from all this newly seasonal fruit has settled some. And right on cue, a new craving has emerged: Mint. Guys, I’m losing my mind over this stuff right now.

The beautiful spring weather we’re having right now in Georgia (on the days it isn’t pouring down rain, at least) has me wistfully dreaming of sipping cocktails on patios in the sunshine. It won’t be long now before the bully that is summer in Georgia comes to scare away this brief moment of fair weather, replacing it with a beatdown of searing sun rays and suffocating chokehold of humidity. Of course I’m exaggerating, but only a little.

Anyway, we’ve been too busy for cocktails on patios lately, so I’ve been entertaining myself by recreating the flavor of one of my favorites at home, one that just so happens to feature my food obsession of the moment. Mmmmmmmojitos!

The mojito is a mixture of rum and club soda, flavored with the refreshing additions of lime and mint that have been muddled with sugar. The flavor is so clean and crisp with the herbal aromas of lime zest and mint leaves scented throughout. The sugar never fully dissolves, and instead soaks up the other flavors, making for a sweet and flavorful sip with lots of texture.

These mojito bites are made with nothing more than nuts, dates, lime, mint, and agave to sweeten. I’ve rolled them in sugar to recreate that gritty undissolved sugar you get in the bottom of the glass – my favorite part. And guys, they really do taste like mojitos! It’s a perfect replica! Sans booze, of course.

I’ve been keeping these in the refrigerator so I can enjoy them cold, just like a cocktail. Every bite is a burst of fresh mint and lime, and I especially love getting to lick the minty sugar off my fingers afterwards.

For a clutch of poppable minty snacks to curb your own cocktail cravings, follow these easy steps…

Raw vegan mojito bites

All the flavor of the classic summertime cocktail with none of the hangover.

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Yield: Makes 22 to 24 bites

Ingredients

• 1 cup raw unsalted macadamia nuts
• 1 cup raw unsalted cashews
• 3/4 cup chopped dates
• 3/4 cup fresh mint leaves
• 4 tbsp. fresh-squeezed lime juice
• the zest of 2 limes
• 1 tsp. raw agave nectar
• pinch salt
• white sugar for rolling

Cooking Directions

1. In a food processor, pulse together nuts until small. Add dates and pulse to combine.
2. Add in mint, juice, zest, agave, and salt. Process until a paste is formed.
3. Pinch off small bits of the paste and roll into balls. Roll balls in sugar.
4. Store in an air-tight container in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.

Best part: No hangover!  Second best part: No straw clogged with mint leaves! Third best part: No giving yourself a headache trying to suck the mint leaves up through the straw! Fourth best part: No deciding it might work better to blow the mint back down the straw and having half the drink explode out of your glass as the mint shoots out of the straw like a cannon!

Just me? Ok.

Oh, and they’re completely raw and vegan too. Nifty!

UPDATE: As a reader pointed out, white table sugar is usually not a raw or vegan product. Bone char, a product made from charring animal bones, is often used to de-colorize sugar for that bright white look. Even sugars labelled as raw often are not. Usually they are processed into white sugar before adding back some of the natural molasses to appear less processed. When making this recipe, I fully intended to use truly raw and vegan sugar but didn’t realize I was out of it until it was too late. I meant to say something about it but forgot. If it’s important to you that these snacks are indeed raw and vegan, be sure to read the labels on your sugar products carefully or omit altogether. Sucanat may be your best bet. It is a dehydrated sugar that retains all of it’s natural molasses, making it one of the least processed sugars available.

What flavors are you craving right now?

What cocktail would you like to have in a bite-sized treat?

May 13, 2013 Alayna Discussion, Recipes 25 comments

It may come as a surprise to some that I actually consume a fair bit of raw foods. I don’t follow a raw food diet at all, but I do try to get plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables, nuts, and healthy fats into my diet as often as I can, and in as close to their natural states as possible. It will come as a surprise to no one though, that I love sweets. LOVE sweets. I could subsist on sweets alone if it wouldn’t eventually kill me.

Discovering raw foods has been like finding a massive loophole in the system. Cake for breakfast? Don’t mind if I do. Oh, and it’s healthy, you say? Well that’s a horse of a different color!

Raw food desserts really are both delicious and healthy, as long as you eat them in reasonable portions. Like any other food, too much of a good thing can be bad. But, if you get a mid-afternoon craving for a sweet snack and reach for a raw whole food treat rather than a processed cookie, you can get all the satisfaction of a decadent dessert without feeling guilty.

I actually discovered blogs when I found a few vegan and raw food sites through StumbleUpon many years ago. Health and food were not really even on my radar back then, but I was drawn in by the beautiful and colorful food I saw on these first few blogs. It spiralled out from there as I sought to find more and more interesting blogs on the topic of food.

One of my early favorites was Almost Vegan, written by Amber Shea Crawley. Amber’s refreshingly offbeat personality and her enthusiasm for healthy but delicious food was infectious, and I’ve found myself excitedly following her career over the last few years as she’s transitioned from eager home cook, to professionally trained raw chef, to a twice-published cookbook author with a successful self-titled vegan blog, Chef Amber Shea.

I already have and love Amber’s first cookbook, Practically Raw, so I was thrilled when she announced that she was writing a follow-up cookbook focusing entirely on desserts. Practically Raw Desserts is just as lovely as Practically Raw, and I couldn’t wait to try a few of the recipes immediately.

The recipe that caught my eye first was the one for Strawberry Blondies. Amber is kind of famous for her original raw blondie recipe, which I reviewed on the blog a few years back (please excuse the terrible photos in that post, I hadn’t gotten into photography yet.) Those raw blondies were so satisfying as a real dessert, with their buttery richness and golden flavor convincingly mimicking the flavor of a baked blondie. Of course, I couldn’t wait to try them with the addition of my favorite fruit.

They are soooo good guys. The addition of a little bit of vanilla extract really rounds out the tart fruit flavor, making it taste more like strawberries and cream. I’ve been eating one of these every day since I made them and they’ve really helped to satisfy my cravings for sweet treats.

I went ahead and whipped up a few other quick recipes from the book too. This oat milk, pictured below, was great with a dash of cinnamon over a bowl of puffed wheat and fruit. Also, I sweetened the oat milk with another of Amber’s recipes, date syrup (in the first picture up top.) I made the syrup to use on pancakes this weekend, but it worked great to lightly sweeten the oat milk too.

That leads me to one of my favorite things about the book: Amber has taken the time to list variations, substitutions, and alternative cooking methods for all of her recipes. After reading a few of the recipes and seeing the substitutions listed, I didn’t have to wonder if I could sweeten that oat milk with date syrup, it had become obvious with how versatile and interchangeable her recipes are that I could do it and that it would work perfectly. I really appreciate the confidence this approach instills in the reader, that’s it’s totally ok to just use whatever you have or whatever you prefer to make the recipe work for you.

Another thing I love is that the vast majority of the ingredients used are relatively common. The only ingredient I’m having trouble finding is coconut flour, but like I’ve already pointed out, I’m confident that I could just replace it with a nut or seed flour of my choosing and have it work perfectly in any recipe that featured coconut flour. I like that I don’t have to make a special trip to a health foods store to start enjoying the recipes right away.

So, I’m recommending Amber’s cookbook, Practically Raw Desserts, not only because I consider her a friend and want her to succeed, but because I think she’s turned out a truly quality product that can appeal to a much broader audience than just the avid raw food community. If you’re interested in making healthy desserts at home with minimal equipment needed, few hard-to-find ingredients, endless variations and substitutions, and NO baking required, then pick up Practically Raw Desserts on Amazon, or learn more about it here.

For a few of my own raw dessert recipes, try these on for size:

Raw vegan orange pistachio bars

Raw nectarine dream cookies

April 25, 2013 Alayna Discussion 13 comments