Sweets ‘n Treats

Since Since I have been talking so much lately about all things green, I figured it was time to show you how I spent my Sunday morning…making all kinds of desserts!

First, a quick comment on yesterday’s juicing recipe with the watermelon rind.

After I drank the juice, I felt horrible for the rest of the day. I was nauseous, bloated, lost my appetite for the rest of the day and night and most of today, hubby had an upset stomach after his juice, and the mental skeeve factor of the rind was getting to me, too.

Why the tummy turmoil? First, I think that the juicer was not able to handle all the pulp from the rind and lots of pulp made it’s way into the juice, more than my tummy was able to handle.

Secondly, if you believe in food combining such as Gena does in this post or Mike Snyder’s link here about food combining, watermelon should always be eating alone, and first.

I ate (drank) it in conjunction with other veggies and in a ridiculously large quantity, as in the rind of basically half a watermelon and maybe improper food combining did me in, who knows. I just know that we won’t be repeating juiced watermelon rind again..ever!!

Now, onto the fun stuff, the sweets ‘n treats!! As many of you know, the Raw Vegan Freezer Brownies hold a special place in my heart, even more special around midnight every night. Here’s a link to a past blend, and here’s how I made today’s Chocolate Love:
*1 cup pitted medjool dates
*1/2 heaping c walnuts
*1/2 c agave
*heaping 1/2 c cocoa powder
*2 Tbsp Vanilla (I think you can get a buzz goin’ with all the nilla I put in, but I love it that way)
*Blend, scoop out, freeze. Done & Yum!
My friend Justine, who also make the brownies and termed them Chocolate Sludge, asked me if I thought there was any way to make them more brownie-like and less fudgey-sludgey?

I would say, use equal portions of dates and nuts, in this case 1 c of each, and about 1/2 c of cocoa powder, and scale back the agave. They won’t be as sweet, but they will be firmer. Hope that helps you Justine.

Moving right along to ice cream. Well, backtrack to Saturday night, I wanted to make dairy-free ice cream for Scott. I loosely tried to follow HEAB’s recipe but ended up with more smoothie than ice cream. Here’s what I used:
*1.5 frozen bananas
*1/2 c cold lowfat vanilla TJ’s almond milk
*1/8 c sugar
*1 Tbsp cocoa powder
*1/4 tsp xanthum gum
*dash vanilla *4 ice cubes.
Then I feared it was too thin, so I added 4 more ice cubes thinking more ice was going to thicken it, but actually, it thinned it.

More ice, and overblending AND on too high a speed on my Vita-Mix which was actually cooking/melting the mixture turned my hopes of ice cream into a smoothie.

I dialoged with new friend Deb, the Smoothie Guru Queen herself, and she gave me a few pointers, thanks Deb! Then, I consulted Vita-Mixes Recipes link, and it says to actually blend on high for only 30-60 secs, but also be careful not to overblend or melting will occur.

Thin ice cream in a bowl :(

But never fear, after a half hour in the freezer, we had dairy-free ice cream. And Scott also had Cool-Whip, a surefire way to dairy-up something that had been dairy-downed. Scott loved the ice cream so much, he asked for more!
More you say, dear husband? Ok, so I tried again Sunday morning.

This time I used:
*4 smallish frozen nanners
*1/2 c Lowfat Vanilla TJ’s almond milk
*3 Tbsp cocoa powder
*1/2 c sugar (I didn’t want to use agave and risk thinning it out and I didn’t have any stevia)
*1/2 tsp xanthum gum
*Note no ice used

Going into the V….

And this is after 15-20 seconds of blending, on high. The picture doesn’t quite show it but it is thick, like soft-serve. Houston, we have liftoff!
I read over and over on Vitamix’s recipes page when I searched for ice cream the phrase, Do Not Overblend.

From their site, ” In about 30 to 60 seconds, the sound of the motor will change and four mounds should form in the mixture. Stop machine. Do not overmix or melting will occur.” I actually found that things were done in 15-20 seconds. Keep going and you end up with cooked, melty slop. Nothing that the freezer can’t fix but that wasn’t my goal.

Oh and wait, here’s some food porn. The tamper stick of the Vita-Mix coated in ice-cream. Aside from the NC-17 rating of this photo, I think the photo shows that it really was soft-serve consistency.
Much better than it looks in the bowls, which I ended up putting in the freezer anyway.
After the ice cream making fest finished, I made Scott his Sunday oatmeal:
*Heaping 1/3 c dry oats
*1/2 c almond milk
*Splash water
*Small banana
*Nuke and then add cinnamon, brown sugar and some plump raisins.

See the nanna piece and the raisin? He said this version was better than yesterday’s, he says that every time though.

Before I spent half the day in the kitchen, I went for a quick run.

I need to change up the half the day in the kitchen thing because although some cooking is fun for me, too much is not….and that’s the Tip of the Day: As soon as you know something ain’t workin’ quite right, change it up. Don’t let it fester and linger. Make the change, take a breath, move on, and be happy!

As a sidebar, you should check out HEAB’s post today on over-exercising. Do I exercise alot? Yep. Do I do it for the physical bennies like heart health and looking good in a bikini? Yeah, they’re nice. The real reason? I am a miserable bee-otch if I don’t exercise to blow off my steam and stress. I am a better person, wife, and mother with exercise in my life..trust me! But since I love yoga, I don’t view yoga as work. It’s my passion, a labor of love.

Here’s me practicing that passion…

Marichyasana D
Backbend, aka Urdhva Dhanurasana. This one opens up your heart chakra and lets the negative emotions and stress release. And it also gives your kidneys a gentle squeeze which helps them filter out the junk from your system better.
I have no idea what Skylar was looking at, but it captured her attention long enough for her to sit still for a photo op.
:)
Averie