Raw chocolate

So I got so many questions about the raw chocolate that I decided to do a little tutorial for you all.
And OF COURSE it is VEGAN!! Never doubt it! Raw too!


Ok, so you need about 1/2 cup solid cacao butter, 1/8 cup coconut butter, 1/2 cup raw cacao powder, 1/4 cup raw agave (or to taste), pinch of salt, 1 T vanilla. These are approximate measurements as I usually just wing it.
Make a double boiler using two different sized thick glassed bowls or dishes. Pyrex is perfect. Chop up the coconut butter so it melts faster. If you pour boiling water into the bottom bowl and stir frequently your butter will not get to hot. Keep an eye on it though.
Once your cacao butter is almost melted add coconut butter and wisk until smooth.
Add cacao powder, agave, vanilla, and salt... Wisk well
Once your chocolate is smooth and your desired sweetness you are ready to temper it. Pour it into a plastic wrap lined dish or chocolate molds and place it in the freezer.
There are limitless possibilities to layer or fill your chocolate. Tonight I used a peanut butter cup mold and put cashew butter in the center of a dozen chocolates. In this picture I am using raisins to fill some chocolates. I made a cashew cream last time and layered it between several thin layers of chocolate in a shallow dish, then cut into bars. Just freeze to solid between each layer.
YUM!

I'm BAAAAAAAAAHHHHHCK

Hi,
I know its been awhile. Today I am officially ONLINE. I have been absent quite sometime and it feels really overwhelming stepping back into things. I am not quite ready to RAWFU just yet, maybe tomorrow, today I am taking it slow.
Some of you may know that my boyfriend and I "borrow" wireless Internet from our neighbors. It has always been a bit "hit or miss" but for the last several weeks NOTHING! We finally took the plunge and are PAYING for Internet. What the F!? Internet should be free to all, right? Like food and housing.
I was also gone for a week with family in beautiful sand point idaho, where the commercial says "the idaho man: Father, husband, gun owner, fisherman..." haha, despite the fact that half the men in the grocery stores are wearing camo, idaho was still a fun and beautiful place. Plus I got to go on roller coasters at silverwood theme park.
Here are some photos of my food endeavors while I have been away:

Salad wraps

Strawberries and bavarian cream

CHOCOLATE and CASHEW BUTTER Candy bar!

Salad Wrap Platter

birthday fun!

My birthday weekend has been great, I am sorry to see then end approaching :( I want to stay at home all day and just sit on the couch to try to stretch the time out as long as possible.
So my actual birthday was on sunday. I worked a few hours then came home and hung out with my friend carey and her pup bucky. Bucky is blanches best friend, although sometimes you would never know it the way blanche can bully him. Unfortunatly carey's car broke down when we were out running errands so our plans were shot. Its ok, a friend rescued us and buck and blanche came back to my house while carey went with her car and the tow truck to her parents house. Alex and I were planning on a date night and going to a movie but it was pouring down rain so we were flexable and opted to stay home and play board games together. <3
Monday I went with a group of old friends to wild waves and we did the speed version of the waterpark. Let's just say, it was wild. After that, I came home and was thrilled to find my new VITAMIX on my doorstep. YAY! I used it to make the whipcream portion of one of my birthday cakes. At 630 all my guests came over and we had a great time. It went really well. I always worry about mixing friend groups at parties as I am not a very good host and I have a hard time seeing to EVERYONES fun and needs, however everyone saw to their own fun and everyone was able to talk to others and feel comfortable so that was so comforting to me. All of the non raw foodies LOVED the desserts (or at least told me so) and overall all of my desserts were a success. Aimee and Chris brought a wonderful blackberry cheese cake and mint ice cream, and it was really fun to eat something I hadn't put together. Another friend looked up a raw recipe and brought a mango pudding which was very tasty also.

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This morning blanche and I went running and she was not feeling it. She kept stopping and trying to trip me. I felt something kind of roll or pop behind my knee, it felt like a ligament rolling over a tendon or something (I don't know if that is at all possible) . I iced it just incase, it feels a bit stiff, hopefully it won't be a lasting injury.

treat night

So in the past friday night has traditionally been the night that I would get home from work, get in pajamas, sit on the couch, put on a movie, and order in vegan pizza so that I didn't have to go anywhere. Friday night was pizza night. Kinda like a special little ritual I had. Maybe because it is my wednesday and I am half way through the work week, but probably just because when you are a kid friday nights are TGIF and staying up late and eating pop corn and rootbeer floats. It is a celebration day, a symbol of two more whole days before you have to go back to school. Two days with no obligations but homework (which I never did anyway)... Well I know I am about to turn 27 and I have been dragging out the celebration of friday nights long past their pull date, but you know what?! I like it. It is called emotional eating and I am just fine with that. It makes me feel GOOD. At least now I am eating healthy raw foods instead of dead vegetables, over processed soy foods, and worst of all WHEAT! If I can have my cake and eat it too why not?
Speaking of cake, my birthday feast is taking shape... mmmm it's gonna be good.

For dinner tonight I made zucchini pasta with pesto (fresh zucchini, tomatos, and basil from the farmers market), garlic cheese bread, and a green salad (greens also garden fresh). It was delicious. It felt like a treat. Maybe I will have ice cream next. Believe it or not I haven't had ice cream ALL WEEK! Contrary to popular belief Ice cream isn't the ONLY THING I eat and talk about. Just one that makes me really excited! I made a whole bunch monday, but that is for my birthday so I haven't touched it. I have a tiny bit of vanilla left from last week that I will probably finish off tonight.

vitamix

I did it. I took the plunge. Bought a refurbished vitamix for a birthday gift to myself today. It was a lot of money. I am feeling a little guilty about dipping so far into my savings, but I know I will use it every single day. Ugggh. Oh well, what's done is done.

My haul

So yesterday I had the good fortune of visiting the RAW VEGAN SOURCE store in redmond. Holy shit.
That pretty much discribes it.
As you can see, I did some damage. I got so many super foods I should be able to fly by next week by my estimate. Probably have xray vision in a few weeks. Seriously though, out of control. So new things to try are mesquite powder, msm, cacao butter, raweos (which used to have honey but are now VEGAN!), purple corn, carob powder, hemp seeds... Also got a ton of raw nuts, some delicious greens fresh from the garden, gojis, olives, vanilla... mmm

It has been raining so hard today and a little cool... On my ride home from work the sky opened up and gave me a shower. The wettest ride I have had all year probably. It was kind of awesome and crappy all at once. Awesome to be out in it and be cleansed by the earth, not awesome to have wet pants rubbing against your skin every time you pedal.
I got home and made a cup of hot tea (not raw) and ate a raweo (tea and cookies, such comfort food) and alex fell asleep on the couch sitting up next to me.
Dont worry, that is a tattoo on his chest, not a massive clump of chest hair ;)

my kitchen

It has come to my attention that I am not the only one who likes to look at other peoples kitchen... here's mine

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you see my kitchen is shared with my adorable cooked vegan food eating boyfriend. He likes to eat my raw food too. Especially when I count out exactly how many olives I want in my salad... then he steals one off my plate! jerk!
I have a low power blender and have already burned out two so I started getting the same type so I could reuse the blending jar. If anyone wants to get me a vitamix for my birthday I will take it :) Our fridge is very mess right now but you can see the giant salad bin on bottom, where I store my greens... Also all the nuts and seeds are in jars on the top shelf. I posted these charts we got from bastyr on the cabinet that list good sources of calcium and iron... Also you see my dry good inventory I post for alex so that he stops buying more rice. We have SO MUCH RICE!
Tomorrow I am going to the raw vegan source store with chris, of "bitt's husband" fame. I am going to spend SO MUCH MONEY!