I'm not vegan, but I like their style.  A while back I made this raw version of a cheesecake for a vegan dinner I was attending.  It got rave reviews from our veggie friends and I put a checkmark by my mental list of desserts to revisit for my own raw creation.

Quick fun fact: The Mister and I embarked on the raw food experience a few years ago and we both still admit that we never felt better. During that time, I went all out (as is typical of me) and created a raw foods pantry stocked with plenty of vegetables, nuts, agave and funky gadgets like a spiralizer. I also bought a few raw cookbooks because, well, one can never have enough cookbooks. My pantry is still stocked similarly today, only with a few more items that include our cooked food regimen.  

The one thing that never ceases to amaze me about raw food living is the caliber of desserts that are created and how things like cashews can turn into something like cheesecake. That I am enthralled by desserts should surprise no one. Raw. Not raw. Half raw. Raw-ish. If it's dessert, I'm digging it. But, I digress.  Back to this "cheese"cake.  

Why did I call it an almost raw "cheese"cake?  Well, see that top chocolate layer? I went ahead and made a chocolate ganache which required 3/4  cup of cream (doh!). 

So, my raw cheesecake became my raw-ish cheesecake instead. For my vegan and raw friends, this cake can be made minus the chocolate ganache and with a different sweetener like agave.  For a different topping, I might choose a fresh raspberry puree and melted dark chocolate (no added cream) drizzle.  I guess I could have done that too, but chocolate ganache is where the recipe took me and who am I to deny the recipe gods? 

Okay, okay, raw cheesecake.  Some of you might not be familiar and wonder, how the heck does one make a raw cheesecake without cream cheese and granulated sugar and the love? 

Well, most raw desserts are termed raw because they involve pure ingredients that are not cooked or heated above a certain temperature. That's right. There was no baking involved with this dessert. Only toasting and blending and love. 

Most raw cheesecakes riff off a similar base of soaked cashews, oils and a sweetener of some sort. I used cashews, honey, coconut oil, cacao powder and lemon juice. I found the lemon juice gives the cheesecake it's cheesy tang. The use of a really good blender is key too. That is what allows the mixture to acquire the silky look and feel of a cheesecake. It really is astounding to watch such simple ingredients transform into a decadent dessert. 

I chose a hazelnut date crust which is just that, hazelnuts and dates. Nothing else. It is sweet and nutty and compliments the chocolate perfectly. The "cheese"cake itself is sweet, but not too sweet and the chocolate ganache adds richness. I sprinkled Murray River Sea Salt over top the ganache for a little salty with my sweet. The Mister loved it which is a testament to the dessert. He wasn't too keen on the one I brought to our vegan dinner party, so I wasn't sure if this one would make the cut. But, it did.  Like butter baby! Or, rather, no butter baby! 

Almost Raw Chocolate "Cheese"cake with Hazelnut Date Crust
(adapted from Roost Blog Meyer Lemon Vanilla Bean Cheesecake)


For the Crust:

• 2 cups hazelnuts, toasted and skins removed
  
• 10 dates, pitted and coarsely chopped
  
• 2 tablespoons unsweetened large coconut flakes

Preheat oven to 375 degrees and arrange hazelnuts into a single layer on a baking sheet. Toast in preheated oven for 12-15 minutes, until nuts become fragrant. Remove from the oven and allow them to cool enough to touch, about 5 minutes. 
Remove skins from hazelnuts by simply picking up  a handful and gently rubbing together. The skins should easily come off.
Sprinkle coconut flakes onto the bottom of 9-inch springform pan. This will prevent crust from sticking. Then, pulse skinned hazelnuts and dates in food processor until they are well incorporated into a fine crumbly mixture. Pour mixture into bottom of pan and press into an even layer to form the crust. 

For the filling: 

• 3 cups cashews, soaked for at least three hours
  
• 3/4 cup honey
  
• 3/4 cup coconut oil
  
• 1 vanilla bean, scraped
  
• 1 cup raw cacao powder
  
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
  
• 1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice

Combine all ingredients in a food processor and process until smooth. Then, in two batches, pulverize the mixture in a high-speed blender until silky. Pour the mixture over the crust, top with wax paper, cover and put into the freezer for at least one hour. 

NOTE: If you do not have a blender, you can use the food processor for all the necessary mixing. For best results, a high-speed blender does the trick. Also, I recommend two batches because I tried one batch and triggered the auto-matic overload shut-off feature on my Vita-mix. I almost blew the motor out. Yowza. 

For the ganache: 

• 3/4 cup heavy cream
  
• 8 ounces of good chocolate (I used a mixture of dark chocolate and semi-sweet chocolate) 
  
• Sea salt for sprinkling 

Finely chop chocolate and place in a mixing bowl. The finer the chocolate is chopped, the better it will melt. Set aside. Heat cream in a small saucepan over medium high heat until it begins to bubble around the edges. Once it begins to bubble, pour half the mixture over chopped chocolate and let it sit for a few seconds. This will lessen the temperature shock to the chocolate. Gently whisk the chocolate until it melts. Pour remaining cream over chocolate, allowing a few seconds to rest, and then whisk in. The chocolate should be smooth and glossy. If chocolate begins to separate, try whisking a splash of cold cream to restore its elasticity. 

Pour chocolate ganache over frozen cheesecake mixture and spread evenly. Sprinkle sea salt over top and place cheesecake in the refrigerator to allow ganache to harden in place. 

To serve, allow cake to thaw slightly before slicing. 


P.S.- This is one of my first attempts at developing a recipe that is my own. I would greatly appreciate feedback on those of you who try this recipe out. This is all new to me and would love to hear your thoughts in the comments below. Thanks for reading!! 

Last year I took a road trip with my buddy Nikki to the Wedding Day Hooray, an indie wedding marketplace and all around good time in Atlanta, Georgia.  She was pimping her wares and I was hunting for wedding ideas.  It was there that I first spotted the brooch bouquet. A brooch whaaa? A brooch bouquet. A nifty, crafty wedding bouquet made entirely of brooches.  I had never seen anything like but it struck me as such a meaningful way to add a personal touch to my wedding and include my loved ones in the process. 

I decided then and there, a good 16 months in advance, that I would have a brooch bouquet.  I began amassing my collection, picking up pieces at flea markets and antique mills, whenever something caught my eye. I dedicated a special drawer in my office and slowly began filling it. Family and friends have also added to the pile and continue to bring pieces to me. With any luck, I will be carrying lots of love down the aisle. 

Here's a look at my collection thus far....

I've seen brooch bouquets tailored  for each wedding, some unified specifically for color and style. My goal is to have an eclectic piece. Although I've been collecting brooches with flowers and leaves, I ultimately want the bouquet to tell its own story based on my collecting adventures and the family and friends who brought me pieces. I want the bouquet to be  organically constructed rather than a calculated object. This also appears to be the strategy for my entire wedding. 

The cat pin (above right) was my stepmother's who passed just last December. She was a cat lover (as am I) and was so excited for our wedding. When I spoke to her over Thanksgiving she had already booked a room.  I found this pin in her jewelry box and knew I wanted to take it home to honor her memory. 

Below is my favorite pin, the airplane. My father gave it to my mother years ago and she recently brought it to me for the bouquet.  He passed twelve years ago. My two big brothers will be walking me down the aisle and my father will be there in spirit and tucked sweetly into my bouquet. The books and lace in the photo below have all been collected since last January, small bits and pieces that will be spread throughout my wedding decor. All of it carefully curated and selected for a DIY wedding made with nothing but love. 

I'll be posting more photos of the DIY process as we get closer to the date. In fact, a friend recently asked me for a countdown. My wedding is, as of today, 165 days away. Time flies. 

I get a little giddy this time of year when farmer's markets begin to explode with produce and sweet, delicious fruit. I'm like a kid in a candy store, grabbing armfuls of whatever looks good, hoping I don't run out of cash before I get my fill. Strawberries are returning in a big way and I received my first basket from a friend who harvested strawberries from her own garden and kindly left me a basket on my doorstep.  The sincerest thank you I can give is making something special with such a lovely haul. I've never roasted strawberries before, but was inspired by my one of my favorite cookbooks and author, Heidi Swanson, and a recipe I read last summer when I first purchased the book and began picking off the recipes one by one. 

Roasted strawberries or as I like to call them, strawberries in the style of Jackson Pollock are rich and artful. The Mister thinks they resemble a murder scene. I think they are poetic. Heidi Swanson takes her strawberries and dresses them up with a little port and balsamic vinegar. I roasted my first batch and tried them with balsamic vinegar and tarragon. Then I got thinking about jam. And ginger. 

After a few iterations in my kitchen on a rainy day, I settled for strawberries roasted in a ginger syrup for sweetness and spiked with fresh ginger juice for a  spicy end kick. A little lemon juice adds brightness to the jammy concentration of strawberries. The syrup cooks down with the natural fruit juices and becomes an oozy puddle of flavor and stunning color. Poetic berries meet their delicious demise. 

My first inclination with any concentrated berry is to put it over vanilla bean ice cream. Like so. It's my go-to combination.  Next, after dessert  is breakfast.  How awesome would this be over some french toast with a little powdered sugar? This may still happen.  Then, of  course, the jam is money over bread and cake. Take your pick.  I'm working on an olive oil cake recipe, so I had a readily available vessel for my jammy jam. 

Roasted Strawberry-Ginger JamMakes approximately 1 cup of jam 16 ounces strawberries, hulled
4 tablespoons ginger syrup (recipe below) 
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1 1/2 teaspoons fresh ginger juice, about 2-inch piece of ginger, peeled and juiced
1 1/2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice


NOTE: If you do not have a juicer to extract fresh ginger, you can opt for a microplane grate to achieve the same flavor without imparting massive chunks of ginger to the mix. 

Place a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper. 
Hull each strawberry and cut in half or smaller, depending upon the size. Set aside berries. 

In a separate bowl, whisk together ginger syrup, oil and salt. Pour over berries and toss gently, then pour onto baking sheet arranged into a single layer. The original recipe called for 40 minutes of roasting time. I roasted mine for approximately 45 minutes. I watched for the juices to thicken to a syrup-like consistency and was careful not to let them burn. 

Once roasted, pour warm berries into a small bowl and stir in ginger and lemon juice. This can also be the time to add fresh herbs like tarragon or basil. Berries can be eaten warm or cooled and stored in the fridge a week. 

Ginger Syrup (from Bon Appetit Magazine) 
Makes approximately 1/2 cup of syrup
1/3 cup raw sugar (I used evaporated cane juice) 
2 tablespoons fresh ginger, peeled and coarsely chopped
1/3 cup water

Bring all ingredients to a boil in a small saucepan, stirring until the sugar dissolves. Remove from heat and allow syrup to steep for 15 minutes. Strain the ginger out and discard. Use immediately or cover and chill the syrup for later use up to one week. 

I made a list of goals at the beginning of this year of thirty-one things I wanted accomplish during my 31st year. Number eighteen on the list was "Handmade birthday wishes for my besties"  After a few tragic oversights, I set a goal to do better this year  by creating handmade sentiments for my dear friends.  Handmade gifts  always warm my heart because I know that someone put time, effort and loving thoughts into creating them. This is one my most recent creations for an old friend. She said it made her heart smile. Mission accomplished. 

They say all good things take time. Ain't that the truth! 

As a child, I would daydream of who and what I was going to be when I grew up. I was going to be a princess, the first female President, an astronaut, a TV star. I dreamt about a  life filled with celebrity and spokesperson deals. In high school, I was sure I wanted to be a lawyer, the ones that TV dramas were made of.  Fast forward to college and I wanted to be a psychologist. A year later, I became starstruck with the hip, twinkling allure of the advertising agency which I pursued for quite some time.

I was always chasing something, looking for the BBD or,  the bigger, better deal. I was sure it was waiting at the end of some dark and distant hallway, the reward at the end of a very long road paved with ambition and stick-to-it-iveness. If I could just keep going, keep pushing. 

Then, something funny happened to me. 

Instead of searching out, chasing yet another mechanical rabbit around an endless track,  I turned my focus inward. I stopped running toward bright, shiny objects and began asking myself some very important questions.  

What is it that I like to do? What am I really passionate about? If I could be doing anything in this world, what would that be? What is my soul's longing? What makes me happy? 

For the longest time, I didn't know. What an uncomfortable feeling. To me, it was not okay to not know. I felt like everyone knew their path but me (a gross distortion of reality, by the way).  I was falling behind in this phantom race. I needed to find out quick or else! 

Still, I sat with those questions, for years I sat with those questions. Then, I began learning to live the answers. I relaxed a bit, took it easy, stopped being so hard on myself.  I became comfortable with trying and failing, trying and not liking, putting myself out there.  I learned that it's okay to not know. It occurred to me that there is no grand timetable with milestones like sales goals that tallies my score in life. 

Thirty one  years into this lovely journey of mine, I have finally stumbled upon the real meat and potatoes of this whole thing. It's the journey. 

I took this photo yesterday during my most amazing Sunday full of happy adventures. I saw these pennants waving in the wind while the Mister and I enjoyed a sweet indulgence at the local yogurt shop. This happened right after a most satisfying afternoon nap. I love Sundays. I really do. 

Even better is the continuation of such a happy day into this bright and delightful week. Let's keep this happy train moving, people. Have an awesome week! 

Happy Friday, friends! Any fun on tap for you this weekend? I'll be kicking it close to home for the most part.  I've got plans to plant more veggies and get organized for a garage sale we're hosting next weekend(fingers crossed).  I also hope to spend some time in the kitchen cooking up some lovely new concoctions. 

In other happenings, I had my very first "wedding nightmare." It was bound to happen, I guess. There's simply too many elements for one's conscious mind to contain. Around 2:30 early Wednesday morning, I was startled to consciousness by a dream in which the Mister and I were in front of our family and friends exchanging vows and we realized that we had no rings. We had forgotten to purchase rings!! Then, my dream moved to our reception where we discovered that there was no DJ. Gasp! 

After lying awake until about four in the morning fretting about all the tasked that have yet to be completed, I decided to do something about at least one of those nightmare scenarios. I got a DJ! 

My dear friend and magnificent DJ extraordinaire, Rob Dowell, has agreed to rock the dancefloor at our wedding. Rob and I go waaaay back to my college days and he's become known in our circle of friends for his fun 80's mixes and his deadpan sense of humor.   Here's his latest mix for your listening pleasure. Happy Weekend! 

OMG! Is it really Thursday already?  I returned Tuesday afternoon from an impromptu Easter visit with family in Knoxville and then I blinked and it was Thursday. Holy smokes! I need a time lasso. 

Since time is of the essence, I thought I'd share  a  healthy and easy recipe that's ready in a pinch. These little egg cups are a great solution for hurried weekday breakfasts and the mix-in possibilities are endless. I like to make these ahead of time, usually at the beginning of the week, and then warm them when I'm ready to eat. 

My most recent batch was filled with onions, red and green peppers and a touch of cayenne, but you can use just about anything.  

Ingredients
1 sweet onion, finely chopped
1 red pepper, finely chopped
1 green pepper, finely chopped
1/8 teaspoon cayenne
1 tablespoon olive oil
12 large, free-range eggs
1 tablespoon coconut oil 
Salt & Pepper to taste

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. In a saucepan, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat and saute the onions until translucent, about 2-3 minutes. Add the peppers and saute for 2-3 more minutes. Season with salt and pepper and add cayenne. 
3. While the onions and peppers cook, whisk the eggs in a large bowl and set aside. 
4. Once the onions and peppers are done, let cool slightly and then add to the bowl of whisked eggs. Season with salt and pepper. 
5. Coat a muffin pan with coconut oil. Alternatively, you can use non-stick spray to coat the muffin pan. Using a ladle, pour the mixture into the muffin cups. 
6. Place muffin pan in the oven for 12-15 minutes or until they puff up and turn golden brown. Use a small knife or spatula to remove the eggs from the pan and serve with your favorite condiments and a side of fresh fruit. 

If I had more time, I would have made a fresh salsa verde to spoon over top or something of comparable deliciousness. This morning, I drizzled my trusty condiment, green Tabasco, over the egg cups and served them with a side of fruit.  You can  add herbs, cheese, meats and whatever else you like. Dill comes to mind. And bacon, mmmm bacon.  I stuck to simple vegetables since I've been trying to behave myself. That whole "walking down the aisle with all your friends and family watching"  is keeping me on the straight and narrow. Kind of. 

Well,  I hope these simple egg cups  help you maximize your time on those busy mornings when everything has gone buck wild. It'll be one less thing to worry about and if you're anything like me, you need breakfast to keep you from mutating into an evil three-headed, slobbering devil woman. 

P.S.- I have a few recipes in the queue that I am really excited about. I  hope to get those to you soon, time willing.  Happy Thursday!