Happy 4th!!

Happy 4th Everyone! I hope that where ever you are you are having a good day. I returned from Boston last week and if you haven't ever been, you should check it out! They have a really cool science museum that I highly recommend and I bet it is a blast over there around the 4th! The picture to the right is of the electricity show at the science museum.


Since I have been back, I've kept busy tidying up the garden- which has gone mad! producing all sorts of wonderful veggies! I picked 5 zucchini a couple days ago- one was a monster!
The black raspberries have also been ripening like crazy. I have one and quarter gallon bags frozen, more fresh in the fridge, and more ripening on the bushes! Praise the Lord it has been a bountiful summer!

I have a couple summer shake recipes that I will share later but for today I created a couple fun treats that are quick and easy to whip up if you have company over or if you just want to treat yourself!

Raw Ice Cream Parfaits

1 and a half frozen bananas, sliced

4 pkts stevia
1 squirt agave 
1/2 tsp vanilla extract, if you have it -preferably non-alcoholic 

In small processor, place bananas, stevia, agave, and coconut milk. Process until smooth.

In small desert glasses layer blueberries, buckwheat oat groats, and ice cream. Top with raspberries and their juice for color. Serve quickly or place in the freezer.

Raw Cherry Ice Cream Floats

Take the left over ice cream from the parfaits and place it in the freezer to harden so you can form it into balls for the float. 

Once it is hard, scoop it into the glass, top with cherries and some the juice. Pour soda on top and serve!

Have a happy 4th!

Book Review: The Lost World

I just finished this awesome book by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
In addition to his well known character, Sherlock Holmes, Mr. Doyle wrote a few other works of fiction, The Lost World being one of them. In 1992 it was made into a movie that I haven't had the pleasure (?) of seeing.

Set in London, the main character is journalist Ed Malone and he wants to marry a rather selfish and shallow young lady who refuses because he isn't a famous person of notoriety. She challenges him to take advantage of life and pursue it's possibilities- basically the only good thing she did-- thankfully her role is minor.

Malone ends up meeting a Professor Challenger who has evidence of "prehistoric" animals being alive in South America and ends up leading a second expedition to the location to prove their existence with another professor- Mr. Summerlee, Malone- who documents the trip, and a great all-around sportsman and athlete, Lord John Roxton.

I will leave the majority of the story for you to discover and experience, as it is an excellent one, and merely say that the adventure was a success.

Are Dinosaurs Alive Today?

Although the majority believes that dinosaurs are long extinct- by millions, trillions, or whatever, number of years, there are those that believe that dinosaurs are still alive today, but are just very rarely seen. This is due to how populated our world has become. There are few places that remain unexplored where a dinosaur can actually live (while a lot of the Artic is unexplored, a dinosaur isn't going to be found living there), but there are places that are hard to get to, and rarely disturbed. The possibility exists and there are several books that explore the related sightings and possible locations of existing dinosaurs.

A few really good ones- if your interest has been piqued- are the following!

Dinosaurs Dead or Alive is a quick easy read that is very interesting. It has a few pictures and gives accounts, many with personal quotes from people who have experience dinosaur sightings.

Another really good book, that gives sightings from all over North America- including newspaper articles is, Monster! Monster! A Survey of the North American Monster Scene by Betty  Sanders Garner. She has a very skeptical viewpoint and doesn't do only dinosaurs but also gives sightings of Big Foot, river monsters, and sea serpents.

Dinosaur; Scientific Evidence That Dinosaurs and Men Walked Together by Dr. Carl Baugh, Ph. D. goes into verifying scientifically why it is possible that dinosaurs and man lived together.

This Past Month- Fun Adventures!

Wow! I didn't realize that it has been a little over a month since I posted last! YIKES!! 
In my defense it has been a busy month! In the beginning of May my family and I went to Pensacola to celebrate my cousin John's wedding to his lovely gal Tiffany and to vacation- we had a blast! And I got Very burnt! This is my brother James in the photo to the left and my mom and dad are between us in the photo below. It was really great to get to see my cousins and their children again!

Since returning to Indiana I have been working on the garden! I got a bunch of raspberry bushes from a very kind lady who was thinning out her patch and I made a couple beds for them. 

Most recently I got the garden planted!! Finally!!! I broke down and bought plants this year rather than attempt to start them from seed- I just wasn't up for it! And they are doing soo well! After last years drought this year is so full of promise that I am just super pleased and excited! I have had soo much trouble trying to grow tomatoes that I think this will be the year I succeed! 

Our family owns several sour cherry trees and they have been super bountiful this year as well- I have picked a bunch along with my mother and father in law and there is still more on the trees! So I created a couple recipes using them- of coarse!

Watermelon Cherry Breakfast

1 1/2 C watermelon cubed

1/2 C pitted cherries

2 handfuls raw oat groats

1 handful raw almonds

1 handful dried cranberries

1 1/2 tbsp raw chocolate sauce- about 1/2 of the recipe below

            1/4 C coconut oil

            1 1/2 tbsp cocoa powder

            1 pkt stevia

Load your bowl with each ingredient and chow down- it is soo good! It is also great with a pear instead of watermelon!

I am thinking about trying to make a raw cherry cobbler...

Anyhow, I hope you are having a fabulous summer! More delicious recipes to come soon!

Raw Ice Cream Cake Experiment Pt.2

Overall Success!

Unfortunately the cake was set on a warm oven for a couple minutes- DO NOT allow this to happen, it will soften enough just sitting out. As a result the bottom layer was much too melty. Fortunately, it tasted Great!

I ended up putting it back into it's springform shell so that it wouldn't smush everywhere when cutting it. I recommend doing this if you are worried about this happening. As you can see, I made a mess getting it back into the pan but serving it turned out much easier and the pieces stayed together well.

The overall group opinion was that the crunchy 'tween layers were delicious and the strawberry layer was the most liked. The chocolate crunchy layer was better than the peanut butter because the peanut butter flavor didn't seem to come through. I think it was because there was too much flavor wise going on. 

Everyone agreed that they liked that one piece took a while to consume, but wasn't heavy. I hope you get a chance to experiment with making your own raw ice cream cake soon, and enjoy it as much as I did!

Raw Ice Cream Cake Experiment Pt.1

I have been wanting to try my hand at making a raw cake for a while now and so I have taken the plunge! And it, while time consuming, I am pretty sure will be totally awesome! I decided to make a layer cake because I was inspired by fragrantvanillacake's raw banana split layer cake, but I didn't want a chocolate layer- I know you're thinking- WHAT! no chocolate! Yeah, my husband isn't a big chocolate fan...

So here we go!

Crust

1/2 C raw coconut flour

1/2 C raw golden flax meal

1/2 C raw cashew flour

1/4 C date paste

1/4 C agave

dash of cinnamon

pinch of salt

Mix ingredients together and press into the bottom of an 8 or 10" springform pan- I am using a 10" pan. If you don't use all of the crust "dough" that's okay- I am going to post a recipe later with my extra to make into cookies or something!

Bottom Layer: Caramel

3 frozen bananas

2 tbsp vanilla extract- preferably alcohol free

6 pkts stevia

1/4 C agave

Blend ingredients together in processor and spoon over crust. Freeze until firm in middle. Overnight works really well :)

Now here is where I wanted to do something a little different. My brother always requested an ice cream cake from DQ when we were growing up and the cookie crumble between the layers was always sooo good! So here's what I did to emulate that:

Chocolate Crunch 'tween layer:

Nut Crunchies: Sprinkle a couple handfuls of buckwheat groats-unsoaked- over base layer. Then sprinkle almond and cashew pieces over to form a light nut layer.

Mix together the following ingredients and pour over nut crunchies.

3-4 to 1 C coconut oil (liquid state)

4-5 tbsp cocoa powder

6 pkts stevia

pinch of salt

Place cake in freezer to keep base layer firm and to solidify choco crunch layer.

Middle Layer: Peanut Butter

3 frozen bananas

2 tbsp PB2

2 tbsp sunflower butter

6 pkts stevia

1/4 C coconut milk (a little more as needed for blending)

Place ingredients in food processor and blend until smooth. Spoon over crunch layer and place back in freezer.

Peanut Butter Crunch 'Tween layer:

Same as above but with different sauce:

Nut Crunchies: Sprinkle a couple handfuls of buckwheat groats-unsoaked- over base layer. Then sprinkle almond and cashew pieces over to form a light nut layer.

Mix together the following ingredients and pour over nut crunchies.

3-4 to 1 C coconut oil (liquid state)

3 tbsp PB2

4 pkts stevia

1/8th C agave

Place cake in freezer to keep layers firm and to solidify PB crunch layer.

Top Layer: Strawberry

1 frozen banana

4 fresh strawberries

1 C (approx) chopped frozen strawberries

1 pkt stevia

1/4-1/2 C (as needed to blend) pomegranate juice

squirt of agave (to taste)

1/2 C coconut milk

Place all ingredients in blender and blend until smooth. Should be thick but pour-able.

My ice cream cake is currently in the freezer and I will decorate it in the morning before church (we'll have it at lunch) and put it in the fridge. 

Check back for the final pictures and the verdict on how good - or bad- it turns out! 

Raw Coconut Curry ICE CREAM!!!

I had the brilliant idea to use the left over sauce from the curry dish I posted last in my raw banana ice cream! Oh what a brilliant idea-- it was Soooo tasty!!

Give it a try!

Raw Coconut Pineapple Mango Curry Ice Cream

1/4 C of coconut mango curry sauce
1.5 frozen bananas
almond/coconut milk

Slice frozen bananas and place in mini-processor. Add in sauce and a little almond or coconut milk to help it blend. 

Chocolate Sauce

1-2 tbsp warm (liquid state) coconut oil
2 tsp coco powder
2 pkts stevia
1/2 a pinch of salt

Mix ingredients together when coconut oil is in liquid state and drizzle over ice cream- YUM!

Enjoy! As always, try it and let me know what you think!

Raw Coconut Pineapple Mango Curry

Pineapple was on sale a few weeks ago and I still had one lingering in my fridge- cause I bought like 5 of them! So I came up with this SUPER delicious recipe that I just had to share! There was only one downside to the dish and that was that I made it with sweet potato noodles instead of zucchini- I know! But I was trying something different. Live and learn! If you want to do the sweet potato noodles go for it! But it will be crunchy unless you dehydrate them for a while!

Raw Coconut Pineapple Mango Curry
makes 2 servings

1 Mango
1/4 of a Pineapple
1/2 tsp Curry
1/2 C coconut milk
1 small yellow or orange sweet pepper
pinch of salt
dash of black pepper
sprinkle with red pepper flakes
half of a spiralized sweet potato

  

First, spiralize your sweet potato or zucchini. Then cut up your pineapple. You will only end up needing about 1/4 C for the sauce and 1/4 C to go on top of your noodles. Place one 1/4 C in the blender and the other in a small bowl.  Then cut the fruit off the mango pit. Set half aside with the pineapple to go on top of the dish and put the rest in the blender. Then cut your yellow or orange pepper- I have been buying these small ones- they are great for recipes, salads, and dipping! Next add the coconut milk to the pineapple and mango in the blender. Add in the salt, black pepper, and curry. Blend until smooth, it should be sauce like, not too thick but not too thin. Taste and add more curry as desired. Place your noodles in the bowl you are going to eat from, pour on half of the sauce, and top with your set aside pineapple, mango and yellow pepper. Sprinkle with red pepper flakes and enjoy the deliciousness!!!



After making dinner I got inspired and made some super delicious raw banana ice cream!

Vanilla Carmal Ice Cream with Peanut Butter Shell Topping
makes 1 serving

1.5 frozen bananas

1/2 tsp vanilla

1 tbsp agave

2-3 pkts stevia

1/8th C coconut milk

Peanut Butter Shell Topping

2 tbsp PB2 or 1 tbsp nut butter of choice

1 pkt stevia

1 tsp agave

1.5 tbsp coconut oil

Slice frozen bananas and place in chopper or food processor. Add the remaining ingredients and process until smooth. You will need to smush the banana down into the blade to get it all smooth. (At least I do! :D )

For the sauce, get a small cup or container and mix the ingredients together. When placed on top of the cold ice cream sauce hardens into a delicious shell topping! I had a fun fancy pizzelle cookie with my ice cream (you should too!) Enjoy!!