Last weekend we were going to a birthday party for my 5 year old’s friend. I had been wanting chocolate pie for a few days but felt I probably shouldn’t make it and eat it all by myself so this was the perfect excuse to get my fix!
This recipe came from my friend, Brigid and it is always a hit and one of the fastest desserts to eat. I won’t lie, I do like it for breakfast, too.
This is one of those desserts that is so fun to adapt and decorate as well. So, be creative and go for it!
Chocolate Mousse Pie
Crust:
2 3/4 cup macadamia nuts
1/8 tsp sea salt
Run the food processor until it the nuts become a nice dense texture.
Put in a pie pan and push down into crust shape.
Filling:
2/3 cups dates, pitted
1/4 cup raw almond butter
1-2 TBS coconut oil
few TBS agave nectar
1/4 cup raw cacao powder
1 cup water
1-2 TBS psyllium husk powder.
Mix ingredients in food processor.
Pour into crust.
Decorate with berries, coconut flakes, seeds, nuts, fruit slices, etc if you wish.
Ta-da! You’re done!
For the crust, I usually use a mix of about half mac nuts and half cashews. The cashews add a bit more creaminess and the mac nuts are so rich and decadent!
For the filling, I follow it using the full 2 TBS coconut oil and tend towards the 1 TBS psyllium husk powder. The more powder you put in, the thicker the mousse is. I also use raw honey instead of agave.
It looks pretty topped with fresh berries or coconut. This time, I used goji berries and goldenberries to decorate the top and add some superfruit power!
My kids also like the mousse made alone and eat it like pudding. My husband has been known to eat a slice or FIVE! This is definitely a hit with all who try it.
Sioux adds — this pie doesn’t last long in our house either, my kids love the pudding, and Luke and I will eat the entire pie if left alone in a room with it for more than 20 minutes. Even after 20 minutes, don’t expect much to be left…especially if we know we’ve only got 20 minutes!
Botanically, carrots belong to the Umbelliferae family, which also includes fennel/anise, celery, parsnips, dill, cilantro/cumin, parsley, caraway, Queen Anne’s Lace and the poisonous hemlock. Many of the popular plants in this family works well in the garden as a companion plant. Largely because the tiny flowers forming the umbels, for which the group is named, are perfectly suited for parasitic wasps, ladybugs and predatory flies which drink their nectar. These beneficial insects will then dine upon insect pests on nearby plants. Some of the more fragrant herbs in this family possibly dilute the odors of nearby plants, or the pheromones emitted by pest insects to signal to other pests.
Raw carrots contain vitamin C, vitamin B6, thiamine, folic acid, potassium and magnesium. Carrots are one of the best sources of carotene which is a strong antioxidant and is converted by the body into Vitamin A. Also most of the goodness is actually in, or just below the skin. Many people do not realize that numerous antioxidant compounds are located in the skin of fruit and vegetables, so buy organic where you can for fruits and veggies that have edible peels and don’t peel them before using! You can get some vitamin K by using the greens on top of the carrot — the carrots themselves don’t have much of this important vitamin, so save those greens for your next green smoothie! Carrots are also known for their sweetening, antianemic, healing, diuretic, remineralizing and sedative properties.
This smoothie isn’t as simple as my usual morning fare, so I only tend to make it once or twice a year as a treat. It’s also incredibly sweet, so seldom is probably better than frequently anyway. But I’ve been thinking about it for a few weeks now, and bought an extra bag of carrots to satisfy my craving.
We are lucky to have gotten a juicer from Luke’s parents when our old one broke, but if I didn’t have this I would probably just make a pulpier version in the Vita-Mix. Since I do, I juice the carrots ahead of time. I was making enough for myself and the kids, and while a better juicer might yield more juice with less carrots, I nearly used the entire 5lb bag!
I poured all the carrot juice into the blender and set the pulp aside for a later use (I’ll post that later this week — Luke ate all that I made so I am dehydrating the second batch for pictures). The kids were playing Harry Potter and had a hard time settling to smoothie, so I’m here to confess that I didn’t push this sweet treat too hard and found an alternative use for the extra smoothie.
Carrot Cake Smoothie
3.5lbs carrots, juiced
2 carrots
1/2 cup walnuts
2 bananas
2-3 dates
cinnamon, ginger, cloves, allspice, nutmeg, etc to taste
I juiced all the carrots, poured this into the blender.
I roughly chopped 2 carrots, added to the blender, along with the bananas, walnuts and spice. I opted for only cinnamon this time to keep it simple.
Blend til smooth. My old Oster blender never managed to get all the little walnut bits, so I had to chew that smoothie more, but this one was pure smooth goodness.
If our ice cream maker hadn’t started leaking freezy fluid, I would pour this in for a delicious and different raw ice cream. It’s incredibly rich. If making this as a smoothie, I would probably leave out the dates and perhaps one of the bananas. Did I mention that I found this to be incredibly sweet? I don’t remember thinking that at all in the summer when I made this last, so either my carrots were much sweeter or my palate and sensitivity to sweetness has changed. At any rate, it was a lovely, rich treat on a cold winter day.
Stumbled across this and found it to be thought-provoking and inspiring:
So let’s make some snacks that don’t need to be wrapped in plastic! Looking at the ingredients on the expensive Larabar package, it seemed silly not to try to replicate these at home. Scouring the internets, I found recipes out there, and boiled them down to their common denominator. Sheri from green & crunchy calls these Earth balls, and I guess that’s stuck in my head. But online I found them called Laraballs. Either way, they’re chock full of tasty nutrients.
Earth Balls
3/4 lb nuts
1/4lb dried fruit
spices
Grind the nuts a bit in the food processor.
Toss in the fruit and process until it starts to whir about as a cohesive “dough”. For this past week’s class, I used 3/4 lb of a mixture of walnuts and cashews, and 1/4lb of deglet dates.
Once the nuts and dates are pretty well mixed, you can add spices to enhance your vision. I added 2 Tbsp of cinnamon and processed til no cinnamon powder was left in the bowl.
Roll out and cut into rectangular bars if you like the shape, but we often roll them into balls. Luke likes them better if I then roll the balls in shredded coconut.
The options are endless — add some dried apple and apple pie spices. Ditto dried banana and the spices you use in your favorite banana bread. Play with the ratio to make a more crumbly cookie by adding more nuts or less fruit.
I store them in the fridge in my glass-topped pyrex food storage containers. I’m not sure how long they’ll last there because we gobble them up pretty quickly, but if you needed them to be there longer, you could put them in an airtight continer to keep them from drying out.
Today was our first raw food class at Green School — thanks to all who were able to join us, and we look forward to journeying further into the world of raw food together. For the younger folks in the crowd who had no clue when I started singing, this is the commercial that started it all:
And you can head on over to our Bodega and find quite a few Chia Pets, as well as chia seeds by the pound to boost the nutrition of your smoothies, salads and more.
A member of the mint family (Latin name Salvia Hispanica), this tiny black seed was used as a staple by the indigenous populations of the southwestern US, Mexico and down into South America. Mountain Rose Herbs gives us this brief history lesson, adding context to our appreciation of this important plant: “Chia was a staple for Incan, Mayan, and Aztec cultures. “Chia” is even the Mayan word for “strength”, and Chia seeds used to be referred to as “Indian Running Food” because they are so energizing. Apache and Aztec warriors sustained themselves by bringing the seeds along while on conquests, Aztecs used Chia as a legal tender, Indians of the southwest depended upon them during long trading expeditions, and they were also used by the Indians and missionaries as a poultice for gunshot wounds and other injuries.” I found this image with the tag “Mural depicting Aztec chia harvest (Courtesy of Missouri State)” but couldn’t actually find it at Missouri State, or any other information but included it anyway to give some Aztec flair to this section.
So what about the chia seed could have brought about this reverence throughout human history? According to the USDA National Nutrient Database, chia seeds are 16% protein, 44% carbohydrates (the majority of which are fiber) and 30% fat, most of which are essential fatty acids, or EFAs you read so much about these days. If you mix a spoonful of chia in a glass of water and set it aside for half an hour, the glass will be full of a mucilaginous substance upon your return. The high content of soluble fiber in the chia seed which brings about this transformation creates a physical barrier between carbohydrates and the digestive enzymes that break them down, thus slowing the conversion of carbohydrates into sugar. The result is that you feel “full” and that sugars hit your bloodstream at a slower rate, thus releasing “fuel” for your body over a longer period and contributing to chia’s reputation as an endurance food.
You can peruse a 16 page chia seed nutrition report/recipe collection at goodcausewellness.com, which lists the following benefits of chia seed consumption:
High In Omega-3 Acids. Chia seeds have higher levels of alpha-linolenic acid (ALA) than flax seed. ALA is an essential acid because it is not produced by the body. Chia contains almost a third of its mass as omega-3 and omega-6 oils. In fact, chia seeds have the highest whole-food source levels of Omega-3 acids, as measured by percent of weight.
Rich In Antioxidants. Chia is a great natural source of antioxidants, including chlorogenic acid, caffeic acid, myricetin, quercetin and flavonols.
Full of Important Nutrients. Chia is an excellent source of calcium, phosphorus, manganese, potassium, iron, zinc and copper. Chia contains six times more iron than spinach per serving.
Low In Sodium and Cholesterol-Free. Chia contains less than half the sodium of flax seed, per serving. This is
important to those with high blood pressure and concerned about sodium intake. As a plant-based source of Omega-3, chia is cholesterol-free.
Promotes Hydration. Chia soaks up water and this promotes hydration and electrolytes retention.
Helps in Weight Loss. Chock full of soluble fiber, chia is very filling. As more chia is eaten, there’s less room for higher caloric foods.
Builds Endurance. The Mayan word for chia is “strength” chia builds stamina and endurance because it steadily releases slow-burning glucose into the bloodstream
Gluten-Free. The protein in chia seed is gluten free.
Stays Fresh. Unlike flax seed, chia seed stays fresh for extended periods of time.
I myself use chia primarily as a supplement in my smoothies, tossed into the blender after the rest of the ingredients have homogenized. Dante loves chia seed pudding with fresh or dried fruit mixed in. He’s not a big chocolate fan, but I would also consider making a chocolate chia pudding by adding some cacao powder to the mix. Either way, this makes a great cooling breakfast or snack, though we’re not looking for “cooling” foods much this winter so we haven’t had some in months.
I also toss them on top of salads, salads, oatmeal, etc., but since chia seeds absorb up to seven times their weight of water, they swell into tapioca-like balls. This can add a odd texture in your salad if you’re not expecting it, so I tend to sprinkle these on just as we sit down to eat them, not ahead of time. You can take advantage of this property and make chia gel to use as a thickener for dressings, jams, and other condiments.
Chia Gel
Mix 1 part chia seeds to 8 parts water, stir several times in the first 10-20 minutes to ensure no lumps
So why all this about chia? Because I used ground chia seeds to the Ani Phyo’s Halva recipe from her new dessert book, also found in the Bodega.
Ani Phyo’s Halva Chia Thumbprint Cookie
Raspberry Sauce:
1/2 cup fresh or frozen raspberries
1/4 cup pitted Medjool dates
1/4 cup agave syrup (didn’t add)
1/4 cup water
Combine well in blender. Will keep for 3 days in refrigerator or a few weeks in freezer.
Cookies:
3/4 cup sprouted chia seed powder
1/2 cup tahini
3/4 cup almond meal
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup pitted semi-soft Medjool dates -chopped
2 tablespoons Raspberry Sauce
Combine dry ingredients with tahini and mix well. Add in agave, mix well. Add in dates and mix with your hands. I also added a little water to help them stay together.
Roll dough into 9-12 balls place on sheet preferably lined with parchment paper.
Use your thumb or end of wooden spoon to make an indentation into the center of each cookie. Fill each with generous amount of sauce.
To serve, chill in the refrigerator for 20 min. or more to firm up. Will keep for several days or many weeks stored separately from jam. Enjoy
As you have probably noticed by now, we often make changes to the recipes based on the availability of ingredients at the time inspiration strikes as well as our own ideas of ingredients we like to use or avoid. For this recipe, I made the following alterations:
I thought the oblong nuts lurking in my refrigerator drawer were almonds when I was making my shopping list, but as I discovered when I pulled them out to make this recipe, they were brazil nuts. Different flavor, but since they were all I had, I used them anyway.
I did not have sprouted chia powder, so I ground the chia seeds in my spice grinder and replaced that 1:1 for the powder.
I had only 1/4 cup tahini, so I quickly ground some sesame seeds in the grinder and added that to the Brazil nuts as I whirred them in the food processor.
I had forgotten that when watching Kevin and Ann Marie Gianni make this recipe on the Renegade Health Show that they mentioned how sweet it was. After making the “dough” by putting everything in the food processor and mashing it (not following the directions above) I tasted it and found it to be unbearably sweet. So I rummaged through the dried fruit and nut drawer and found some walnuts which I processed and added to the dough to cut the sugar.
I replaced agave nectar with honey.
I did not add honey or agave to the raspberries, just the dates and water.
I would like to give this recipe another shot using the almonds, and cutting the sweetener upfront so I don’t have to fiddle about on the back end. Luke loves these and ate half the batch I’d left home while I was at Green School, but I find that it has a funny taste, which I attribute to the chia powder, as well as possibly a bit to the Brazil nuts. I would probably not grind the seeds and just add them to the dough next time as is. The raspberry sauce was amazing and I plan on making it for other uses as well, and as Luke said, it made this recipe.
This is one of my favorites. It was my best friend as I was making the transition to raw and is always a hit at a gathering.
I got the recipe somewhere while searching the masses of raw recipes on the internet. This recipe is from Chef Jana Adjani and is by far the yummiest fudge I have made.
Chocolate Fudge
1/3-1/2 cup raw cocoa beans (to taste)
1 cup raw almond butter
4 TBS Virgin Coconut butter
1/4-1/2 cup agave syrup
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp sea salt
Put the raw cocoa beans in high speed blender or food processor until it is a powder.
Put the rest of the ingredients in and process until thick cake like batter.
Pour batter into a square glass baking pan, cover and freeze for about an hour.
When ready to serve, leave on the counter for a few minutes to thaw to make it easier to cut with a knife. Enjoy!
My side notes…
I use raw cocoa powder instead of nibs and grinding them as the directions suggest. It is hard to get those little nibs to a very fine powder. I use closer to the 1/2 cup since I am starting with the powder. I also throw everything except the coconut oil in to the vitamix blender first to get it incorporated a bit first. The coconut butter melts because of the little bit of heat being produced by the blender. Otherwise, this is a very easy straightforward recipe.
The author also recommends you play around with it a bit. Feeling free to add in extras like coconut, chopped walnuts or dried fruits. I second that. Of course, I haven’t ever done that but rather opted to go for the straight up chocolate but it would make a nice option for a dessert platter at your next party or for your Valentine sweetheart!
Last weekend we were going to a birthday party for my 5 year old’s friend. I had been wanting chocolate pie for a few days but felt I probably shouldn’t make it and eat it all by myself so this was the perfect excuse to get my fix!
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