Household Blog

I have a new favorite dessert. It’s summer, and I’m avoiding sugar, as well as anything else that contributes to heat in the body—caffeine, meat, salt, etc. I run hot already, and to stay cool and happy, adjusting my diet to the season helps. I still eat moderate portions of meat and a bit of salt or sweetener here and there, but it’s drastically reduced (probably a good thing regardless) and more and more of my meals consist of raw foods made from fresh fruits and vegetables and some sprouted grains. Who needs recipes this time of year? All you have to do is pick it off the vine/tree/bush, wipe it off on your shirt, and dive in. Sun-warmed and divine.

But, well, you might still want this recipe—it’s raw, vegan (except for the honey, but you could substitute agave nectar), and of course gluten-free! a cheesecake that actually tastes like cheesecake, except that it’s much easier, much less expensive, you don’t have to worry about it cracking across the top (if you’ve ever made homemade cheesecake, you know what I’m talking about), and you don’t end up heating your kitchen up unnecessarily by running the oven. Perfect.

I found this recipe originally in The Complete Book of Raw Food cookbook—a favorite of mine, filled with creative ideas for eating a raw diet. The original version, if you’d like to check it out, is titled “Just Like Cheesecake.” Below is my version, altered only slightly to lower the amount of sweetener (honey) and allow for more variation. If you don’t want to do the topping as prescribed, you can just use fresh fruit or low- or no-sugar jam to top it. Trust me, we took it to our friends Robbie and Jeff’s last night for dinner (great polenta pizza, Robbie!) and it was a hit, shown above with some of our watermelon t’ej as dessert wine. Life is very, very good.

Raw Vegan Cheesecake

Crust:

• 2 c. nuts (I liked pecans best, but walnuts and brazil nuts were good, too)
• 1/2 c. dates, soaked and drained
• 1/4 c. dried, unsweetened coconut

Filling:

• 3 c. raw cashews, coarsely chopped and soaked for at least an hour
• 3/4 c. lemon juice
• 2/3 c. honey
• 3/4 c. coconut oil
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/4 tsp. sea salt

Topping:

• 1 to 2 c. fresh or frozen fruit
• 1/2 c. dates

Place all the ingredients for the crust into your food processor. Pulse until thoroughly chopped and well mixed—it should be sticky and slightly crumbly. Press into the bottom and up the sides of a pie plate or springform pan. Set aside.

Drain the water off the cashews. Place all filling ingredients in a high-powered blender or a food processor. Blend just until smooth. (If using a blender, do not run it too long or you may overheat the engine). Pour the filling into crust—it may not be perfectly smooth, but it’s okay. Cover and put in the freezer for at least an hour to set up. Once it has frozen—or at least gotten thoroughly chilled—you can move it to the refrigerator. It will have the consistency of regular cheesecake.

Combine topping ingredients (I’ve used raspberries or blackberries with dates, but some no-sugar jam would be lovely…) in food processor and pulse till smooth or thoroughly combined. Spread over the top of the cheesecake before serving.

Eat just one slice if you can, I dare you. But then again, not much guilt if you eat more than one piece *grin*  Enjoy!

Canning season has officially begun, and my first foray: strawberry jam. On toast, spread over brownies, spooned over yogurt – this stuff is divine. This is the recipe I used this year, no doubt next year I’ll have learned something new and be doing it differently, but this worked this year. You’ll need a water bath canner and clean 8 or 16 ounce canning jars with bands and new lids. Also, I never follow the directions on the box. So, yeah. There’s that. If you have experience with other variations on lower sugar water-bath canning recipes, I’d love to hear your tips – please share your experience/tips/recipes/variations in the comments.

Strawberry Jam

• 8 cups crushed strawberries (from about 5 pounds whole strawberries, cleaned and tops removed)
• 1 1/2 c. raw organic sugar
• 1 packet (1.75 oz) no-sugar-needed fruit pectin
• organic lemon juice

Heat water in your water bath canner to boiling, and make sure jars and lids are clean and warm.

Clean and remove tops from strawberries, then crush them using food processer or, if you like chunky jam like me, a potato masher. Place 8 cups crushed berries in stock pot.

Add sugar and pectin and stir well, heating to a rolling boil – even when you stir it it continues to bubble. Allow to boil, stirring constantly for one minute. Remove immediately from heat and skim any foam off the top, if necessary.

Using a canning funnel, ladle strawberry mixture into jars, filling to a quarter-inch from the top and adding about a teaspoon of lemon juice to the top of each 8-ounce jar and about a tablespoon lemon juice to the top of each 16-ounce jar. Top with lids and bands, tightening only finger tight. Note: no need to stir the lemon juice – I just add it to ensure that the jam has enough acid to prevent nastiness such as botulism. We don’t like botulism, not one bit.

Place each jar in the water bath canner rack as you fill them. When full, lower the rack into the boiling water and cover the pot, allowing cans to boil for five minutes.

Remove cans from rack and place on towel, listening for each seal to “pop.” It may take up to ten minutes for some, but usually it happens pretty quickly for me.

Store jars in cool, dark place until ready for use. Enjoy

Each spring, along with a thorough house cleaning, I like to do a thorough spring cleaning for my body as well, flush out the toxins and cobwebs of the past year. Not only do I find that this leaves me feeling refreshed and energized physically, but I think it helps me process things emotionally as well; muscle memory isn’t only about remembering movement patterns—our bodies store emotional experiences as well.

For the past few springs, spring cleaning has meant a strict raw foods diet in combination with additional fiber and supplements. However, this past year has been a doozy for me, and my mind and body both have been yearning for a deep cleanse. In a recent herbalism class, we learned about the “master cleanse” system and I’ve decided to give it a whirl this spring. Although most references suggest doing this cleanse for 10 days, my goal is five days, although I’m going to listen to my body in case I need to alter my plans—I’m not an ascetic, after all. Also, since I’m not really trying to lose weight, I followed the advice of Elson Haas’ article on the topic and increased the amount of maple syrup in my blend. See the recipe below, and my notes of the first day of my spring detox.

Master Cleanse Recipe (64 oz. – a full day’s batch)

2 quart Mason jar or other container
12 T. fresh-squeezed organic lemon juice
6 T. organic maple syrup (I used 9 T.)
½ t. cayenne
Pure filtered or distilled water

In your 2-quart jar, add the lemon juice, maple syrup (suggestions range from 6 to 12 tablespoons), cayenne. Add distilled water (about 60 ounces) till jar is full. Shake well to mix, and re-shake it every time before serving (otherwise the cayenne sinks to the bottom). This makes 4 pint servings—I have opted to have an 8 oz. cup of the lemonade eight times a day, about every two hours, to curb my cravings. Another consideration is that the lemon juice can be hard on your teeth, so you may want to opt for drinking your servings all at once at your “meal” times, rather than sipping constantly all day.

Other than the lemonade mix, it is suggested that one drink filtered water and herbal teas or laxative teas.

So here am I on Day One. Strangely, the hunger isn’t a huge issue—the craving for food is certainly there, but it’s not that debilitating “I’m starving!” belly pang. The cup serving every three hours seems to be working to keep me from getting too antsy for sustenance. My physical energy seems pretty good, I thoroughly enjoyed some deep stretching earlier and relished a feeling of being intensely grounded and present in my body. That said, even writing this post is a bit challenging—although I have a wonderful body hum and my sense of sight, smell, and hearing got more clear and pronounced as the day wore on, I think I’ve gotten so grounded in my body that my brain is a little spacey, and both my body and mind seem to be sort of floating through the day, rather than being direct and driven as they are normally wont to be.

So first day’s notes: Make sure you have plenty to do, but nothing requiring deep analytical thought, nor anything too physically demanding. Stretching is delicious. Music is lovely. I’m planning to enjoy an evening at the Barksdale Theatre this evening, but I don’t recommend business meetings while fasting—that bit of advice volunteered by Kate of Charlottesville’s Guerilla Yoga Project, a classmate who did the master cleanse a couple weeks ago, and I concede the wisdom therein. Oh, and don’t plan on any meal dates with friends or coworkers—it’s just taunting yourself. And of course, as ever: LISTEN TO YOUR BODY.

One day (almost) down, four more to go…

Has anyone else done seasonal cleansing or panchakarma? What was your experience?

I love this time of year. Just got whomped last weekend with an unexpected twelve inches of snow, and today, five days later, it’s set to be 80 degrees out. If you don’t like the weather in Richmond, wait five minutes.

Spring Fever, for me, means cleaning house, acting like a lunatic, getting outside as much as possible, gardening, and cleaning out the pantry while relishing the first fresh spring produce. La.

Here are a couple of my faves from this past week.

Pantry Pilaf

I love rice, not the bland white stuff, but the chewy, nutty blends of black, brown, and red rices, take a little longer to cook but the flavor is lovely. So you can cook this with any kind you like, but you know how I feel.

1 c. rice, uncooked
1/2 t. sea salt
1/2 onion, chopped (I used yellow, but I think I’ll try red next time)
1/3 c. dry sundried tomatoes, chopped
1 T. oregano (preferably fresh)
olive oil
juice of one lemon
pepper

Place your chopped sundried tomatoes (I prefer to use the dried ones, not the ones packed in oil) in a small bowl or ramekin. Add the lemon juice, pepper, oregano, and just enough oil to give it a  nice gooey mix. Stir well and set aside to soak – do this first – the longer it soaks the better. In skillet, heat a bit of oil and saute the onion just until tender. Set aside.  Cook rice with a half teaspoon of salt and two bay leaves and the requisite amount of water. One rice is fully cooked, toss in the sundried tomatoes and onion. Top with sunflower seeds if desired, and serve.

Braised Greens & Garlicky Beans

1/2 c. dried white beans (I used Rancho Gordo‘s Mayacoba – their beans are marvelous)
3-4 cloves garlic, chopped
1 bunch fresh spinach, washed and de-stemmed
lemon pepper
salt

Soak the beans in a liberal amount of water for 4-6 hours. Closer to dinner time, cook beans until tender (this takes a while – I use this as good kitchen meditation time – prep other ingredients, read a book, listen to music, drink some wine, you know – warm things up). Once beans are fully tender, drain them and set aside. Heat a couple tablespoons of olive oil in a skillet over medium. Add garlic, saute about a minute, then add the beans. Mix well (try not to smoosh the beans as much as possible) and continue to saute another couple minutes. Add spinach leaves (do not mix in yet) and season with salt, lemon pepper, and drizzle with olive oil. Cover the skillet and allow the spinach to wilt. Just before the spinach is fully wilted, remove the lid and toss to mix the greens and beans together. Remove from heat – do not overcook – that beautiful spinach green with the white beans, like the last winter snow melting away. You know, if winter snow was bean shaped and tasted like garlic *grin*. Enjoy!