Day four: recipes and junk

I think I’ll get the “junk” part out of the way first; and, when I say “junk”, I mean “junk food”. Check it out. The most gorgeous junk food evaaar:

These are cupcakes I made for a New Year’s party. They were devil’s food cake with a peppermint buttercream. Once I frosted them with voluminous peaks of fluffy perfection I did the following:

That’s a dark chocolate ganache, people. And, check out my cute liners! That was a Christmas gist from my in-laws-to-be! So nice!

Next up, I have a cake that I made on Sunday. It’s “my” (Baked’s) signature buttercream frosting (almond flavor) with amaretto soaked strawberries.

See how the amaretto-strawberry juice soaked into the cake!? This was a boxed cake, even! All you do is bake a cake from a box, while that’s baking soak some sliced strawberries in some amaretto and a bit of sugar. When the cake is cool, slice off the top to make it even, pour the strawberry amaretto juice and chopped berries onto the exposed cake, frost the other side and flip it onto the berried cake, then frost the outside for an impressive and impressively easy dessert.

What’s next? Well, it’s not exactly junk food any more but it’s not something I really liked.

 

This is from a recipe called Poivrons Farcis from Urban Vegan. I was trying to make myself like peppers but I’ve never been a big fan. This dish was no exception. The inside was great: Gimmie Lean Sausage, carrots, pepper bits, quinoa . . . I just couldn’t handle the pepper shell with it’s soft layer and the horrible, tough skin. bleck. Ah well, we froze then for Mr. Crow.

Now, on to the most recent of things. So, yesterday I said that I was making kale crisps in my dehydrator and I’d let you know how it went? Well, it went GREAT! Although this attempt was a bit salty for my taste but these were superbly munchable. Kind of like a raw Dorrito. I even passed some around at work where, after some initial trepidation, people nommed them with gusto!

Look how cute it it! I probably ate half a head of kale yesterday as a snack. mmmmm. This is definitely a staple.

Next up is a “cheese” from Sarma Melngailis’ Living Raw Food.

4c raw cashews, soaked for at least 2 hrs (overnight in my case)
1/3c fresh lemon juice
2t sea salt
2t smoked paprika
2T nooch
1/4c miso (white/yellow)
1/4c tahini
1/4c filtered water, plus more as needed
1/3c minced chives (I left these out)

Blend all but the chives in a high-speed blender until smooth, adding additional water one tablespoon at a time as needed, until the cheese is think and smooth but not runny. Transfer to a bowl and fold in the chives.

She uses this recipe to stuff squash blossoms in a fancy-type recipe but, in her everyday recipe section she fills bell pepper halves with it. I further deconstructed it and served it as a dip with red pepper spears and celery to make it all the more portable.

Now, I know I just wrote that I don’t like peppers, but, as I also mentioned, I’m determined to make myself like them. I made a very important discovery yesterday with this. I like, nay, I love raw peppers. When the whole thing is crunchy it’s the finest thing in the world. I ate an ENTIRE pepper for lunch. Raw food FTW.

And now, for the checklist:

mood: 9
energy: 9
hours of sleep: 8.5
Appx% of raw food consumed yesterday: 90%
notes: The buzz is gone and I’m kind of glad. I find myself hard to handle when I’m that way. I still have tons of energy as evidenced by my cooking and blogging. I’ve even been helping Mr. Crow with his chores around the apartment.

They say that you go through an uncomfortable detox period when you eat this way. Supposedly it involves things like: Headaches, nausea, depression, moodiness, nightmares, poor sleep, diarrhea, sore throat, cold/flu symptoms. I’m still waiting for it. . . (^.^)

For now, I’m ready for breakfast. Let’s go see what the cornucopia has for us today!