RAW ICE-CREAM MUDD PIE!!

OK, so...while we were in Canada I made sure to stop by my favourite restaurant, Red Robin, and have my favourite non-raw dessert, Mile High Mudd Pie. This is the ultimate in decadent desserts, complete with whipped cream, chocolate fudge sauce, nuts, ice-cream and peanut butter. This little picture to the right shows you the real thing.

Of course, I HAD to embrace the challenge of coming home and putting together a raw version, to make this pleasure GUILT FREE! This was my first attempt at making raw ice-cream so I'm sure there's room for improvement.

So basically, you choose your two favourite raw ice cream flavours...and make them. I used chocolate, from a recipe I found at gliving - click here for a video of the recipe, and mint, from Russell James (be sure to add raw chocolate chips - see below for chocolate sauce, chill and then chop). Grab a round metal bowl, line it with plastic wrap and fill half way with the first of the two ice creams. Freeze. Pour and smooth down the second of the ice creams on top. Freeze. Apply a layer of raw peanut, almond or cashew butter onto frozen ice cream. Lastly, add a layer of raw chocolate cookies or cookie crumbs. Freeze. Turn out onto a serving dish and pipe raw whipped cream on top (1 cup young coconut meat, 1 cup almond or cashew cream, 1 tea vanilla extract, 1/2 cup coconut butter, agave to taste. Blend til smooth and place in freezer til firm enough to pipe). Sprinkle with crushed cashews and drizzle with raw melted chocolate (1/4 cup melted cacao butter, 1/8 cup raw cacao powder, 1 tb maple syrup, 1 tb raw agave. Mix in bowl with spoon).

This is a fun recipe to try and like all ice-cream cakes, you make yours to suit your own style. Personally, I think anything with chocolate, ice cream and nuts is a sure thing.

Raw Chef Certificate, Vancouver

While we were in Vancouver, Canada I visited the Raw Foundation Culinary Arts Institute and completed Alissa Cohen's Living on Live Foods Raw Food Chef - Level 1 certificate. Yes people, I am now a qualified raw food chef!

Our instructor - Miss Janice - was the perfect host chef. I learned SO MUCH and used every square inch of paper to write everything down.

We made green smoothies, chocolate brownies, date torte, mock salmon pate, stuffed mushrooms, collard wraps, broccoli soup, fettucine and raw spaghetti. We received valuable teaching about how to put foods together according to the five tastes (sweet, sour, salty, spicy and bitter), how to use herbs and spices to create ethnic flavours, superfoods that balance hormones....and too much more to mention. It was all GREAT!

Thanks Miss Janice for a fabulous time!

Cafe Bliss, Victoria CANADA

On our travels through Canada we visited raw cafe Cafe Bliss, one rainy day in downtown Victoria. Victoria is a beautiful city located on Vancouver Island, Canada. This was my very first encounter with a raw food restaurant and, you guessed it, I made a beeline to the dessert display. I was pleasantly surprised by the chocolate desserts on show screaming BITE ME!.

As eager as I was to obey, we made sure to do the right thing (as an example to our children!) and order salads first. I ordered a huckleberry raw pizza (the picture was overexposed) which was simple yet delicious, Nate ordered the house salad with orange dressing and the Ethan and Tali had a children's meal (almonds, strawberries, raisins, raw crackers) then we dove into dessert tastings!

Here are a few pictures of the raw desserts Cafe Bliss serve. I don't remember the names of them but we ordered the caramel slice-looking-square, the mint chocolate square and a few of the heart shaped raw chocolates. They were very kind to give us some complimentary chocolates as well. They were all incredible and it was difficult to choose my favourite. Tali's favourite was the mint squares!

They assured me a Cafe Bliss raw recipe book will be released by Christmas 2009. You could probably order that by clicking the link to their website at the top of this post.

Apple Pie at Grandma's House

Here begins the tale of my adventures with visiting family and eating raw (well, trying to) in Canada. My family and I caught the midnight flight and flew from Perth, Australia to Vancouver, Canada and spent 5 weeks visiting with family and friends. We drove from Vancouver to Kelowna and towns in between. Even though it was a challenge eating raw (on holiday!!) there were a few raw highlights worth sharing. One of our first visits was with Nate's Grandma Braun and Aunt Sandy. They live in a house surrounded by fruit trees and vegetable gardens.

Hmmmm, what to do with fresh, ripe apples?? Raw Apple Pie, of course!

My mother-in-law Gwen and Aunt Sandy were both enthusiastic helpers in project apple pie. We gathered all our ingredients and put together two killer pies. Aunt Sandy got busy preparing the crust by blending almonds, coconut, vanilla extract,dates and stevia in a food processor, Mum picked, peeled and sliced the apples, and I made up the sauce by blending wild raspberries, dates, apples and water then tossed the sliced apples through the sauce and poured them on the crust in the pie dishes. They were sprinkled with remaining crust crumbs and placed in the freezer to set for half an hour.

Like I said, everyone enjoyed two killer raw apple pies.