Vanilla Cheesecake

Crust:
1 Cup + 2 Tbsp Nuts (of your choice-I used mixed nuts as they arte CHEAP!)
Large handful of Dates
Pinch salt

Grind it in a food processor and line a cake/pie pan...you may put down desiccated coconut or corn meal down before hand if you are worried about it sticking to the bottom.

Filling:
3 Cups Cashews
1/2 Vanilla Bean
3/4 of a Fresh Lemon (The Whole Lemon may be used if you wish it to be more "zesty")
3 1/4 Tbsp Maple Syrup
1/4 Cup Rice Milk
2 Dates, Dried + Pitted
1/4 tsp Arrowroot

Soak the Cashews for 3-4 hours (to sofetn and remove enzyme inhibitors). Add all ingredients except the ricemilk & arrowroot to a food processor and blend on high speed. Mix the ricemilk & arrowroot in a seperate bowl, stirring until well blended. Add this too, to the food processor and mix well. Spoon the cheesecake mixture on top of the crust and refridgerate or freeze while you make the topping (the coldness will help the arrowroot to "set" and harden the cheesecake.

Topping:
3 Handfuls Frozen Blueberries (Or Other Berry of Choice)
1 Handful Dates
1 Tbsp Agave Syrup

Everything goes in the blender at high speed. You may need to use a spoon to stir up the dates. Drizzle atop your cheesecake and spread around with a spatula or the back of a spoon.

...And enjoy! Will serve 4-8 (depends how hungry you are...)

How beautiful is this?

The Ginger Mother's Frosting

Here is some frosting calling for the very healthiest ingredient in all of human kind-HUMAN mother's milk (breastmilk). This is nutrient packed and great for toddlers-and adults too.

115-120 Ml (1/2 Cup) Expressed Mothers' Milk
180 Ml (3/4 Cup) Cashews
2 Large Handfuls of Dried, Pitted Dates
60 Ml (1/4 Cup) Water
4 tsp Agave Nectar
4 tsp Cold Pressed Virgin Coconut Oil (AKA Coconut Butter)
1 tsp Organic Locally-Harvested Honey (Commercial bees are kept and treated in a manner that is inhumane and definitely inconsistent to veganism)
1/8 to 1/4 tsp Dried Ground Ginger(not raw)-depending how strong you want it to taste-optional

Everything goes in the blender at high speed, you must scrape the sides repeatedly and continuously burst air pockets with a spatula when blending to ensure everything gets thoroughly blended. Blend for several minutes, until smooth and velvety-it will have the consistency of a thick yoghurt (if you need it thicker, add more Cashews as needed). This would go great with my "Honey Butter" Cakes, the frosting for which I made was more fruity and caroby. This would also taste great as a dip with banana slices or berries. 

A footnote; don't worry if you don't produce enough milk to whip out  this much breastmilk all at once. Eat some organic apricots (known to increase breastmilk production) and accumulate it in the fridge one pumping at a time if you must. I pumped (expressed) breastmilk twice, one in each day, to get this much simply because I am breastfeeding a 1 year old which as I'm sure you can imagine, requires a LOT of milk. This recipe is well, well, worth it but make sure you keep the breastmilk in the fridge and do not leave it in the refrigerator for more than a total of a week, after which it will go bad.

Cheezy "pasta" sauce

240 Ml(1 Cup) Cashews
150 Ml(5/8 Cup) Sunflower Oil
120 Ml (1/2 Cup) Water
4 Tbsp Nutritional Yeast
2 Cloves Garlic
1/4 Tsp Ground Mustardseed
1/4 Tsp Black Pepper
1/4 Tsp Fleur De Sel (or sea salt)
1/8 Tsp Onion Granules

Blend on high speed for a few minutes...
Serve over grated butternut squash as I have done in the photo (which taste like noodles with this sauce) or quinoa with chopped tomatoes & basil.

Frosted Honey Butter Cakes...mmm

Delicious! This is easily one of our new favourites, my husband the honey bear just LOVES it.

1 Cup Pitted Dried Dates
1/2 Cup Cashews
1/2 Cup Brazil Nuts
1 Tablespoon Honey
1 Tablespoon Desiccated Coconut
A couple pinches of Fleur De Sel (or sea salt)
1/4 Teaspoon Allspice
Dash of Cinnamon
Dash of Nutmeg

Process in a food processor, starting with the nuts and salt (you want the salt to mix in evenly, this is integral-and add them in slowly. Slowly add in the dates, then everything else. Use measuring cups (of any size you like) to form round cakes. Frost (if you want):

180 Ml (3/4 Cup) Dates (dried & pitted)
60 Ml  (1/4 Cup) Dried Mangoes
120 Ml (1/2 Cup) Rice Milk
60 Ml (1/4 Cup) Water
60 Ml (1/4 Cup) raw Carob Powder
4 Tbsp Virgin Coconut Oil
1/2 Tsp Honey or Agave Nectar

Blend on high speed in your blender for several minutes, poking at the top of the mixture with a spatula repeatedly to make air pockets so that the entire mixture gets down to the blades. This takes a while to blend thoroughly but it is very worth it. Once it has a smooth, velvety consistency, frost those cakes...and enjoy! This also would taste great with bananas or strawberries. Mmmm.

All Hallows' Eve Special-Pumpkin Pie! Yum...

Wow, this turned out so, so good. Minus the filling being a bit more sloppy than the baked kind, it's pretty spot-on I'd say. This makes A LOT of pie, so half this recipe if need be, but serve it in a small pie pan if you're gonna do so. It will keep well in the fridge or freezer with some tin foil over it though.

For a Basic Pie Crust, you do something similar to my (un)cookies. This is really easy and doesn't take much work.
1 1/2 cups Cashews
2 Cups Dried, Pitted Dates
1/2 tsp Cinnamon

Pulse this in your blender/food processor until it's blended up nicely. It's gonna be chunky, but you want it to be well mixed. It won't take more than a minute'r two.

Now take this, and press it with the back of a spoon and your fingers into a large pie pan. The crust is sticky so this part is a little difficult, but it's not that bad. Stick it in the fridge while you make the filling.

Filling:
(I halved this and did each half at a time since I only have a cheap blender. If you have a food processor you can do this all at once and save yourself a lot of time, however.)

Approximately 1420 ml/6 Cups chopped pumpkin (small pieces)
240 ml/1 cup Ground Almonds
2 Tbsp Desiccated Coconut
4 Tbsp Maple Syrup
2 1/2 Tbsp Organic, Local Honey (Otherwise the Bees are treated in a manner that is very cruel and grotesque...eugh...)
2 Tbsp Provamel (or other rice milk/milk substitute)
1 1/2 Tsp Allspice
1 Tsp Cinnamon

This is tough work in a cheap blender, and might take some time, but pulse, stir, pulse, stir, ect until you get it well blended.

Topped With A Walnut, Just Because I Thought It Was Cute.

Fill your pie crust with your filling and smooth out the top with the back of a spoon. Refrigerate for 30 min to an hour and serve. Yum, yum, yum!

Rawnnaise

Time for a sauce. A sauce which is admittedly, not my favourite. Why? Because mayonnaise DISGUSTS me and I mean REALLY, REALLY disgusts me. However, my husband LOOOOOVED the stuff. He could have eaten a mayonnaise sandwich (hmm, not unlike my brother...if only I lived close enough to convince him to try this)! So I like a lot of the "raw" versions of things, but this one tastes exactly like mayonnaise. Wow. I have offended myself. Paul, on the other hand, I have made a happy man. So if you are like Paul, and you love mayonnaise, try my recipe:

175ml (3/4 cup) Macadamia Nuts
175 ml (3/4 cup) Cashews
120 ml (1/2 cup) Water-Add a little bit more if you want this to be more of a "salad dressing" type mayo.
2-3 Tbsp Olive Oil
2 Tbsp Raw, Unfiltered Apple Cider Vinegar
1 Clove of Garlic
1/4 to 1/3 tsp Fleur De Sel
1/4 tsp ground Mustard seed/Mustard powder
Pinch of Basil
Pinch of Cayenne powder

Blend it up, and there ya go!

Basic Cashew Cheeze

200ml Cashews
About 3 tbsp Sunflower oil
1 Clove Raw Garlic
Sea Salt
Black Pepper

Soak cashews in water overnight. Put drained cashews, oil & garlic into blender or food processor, add a fair amount of sea salt (maybe a half a tablespoon, but your taste buds are your best guide) and a couple of grinds of black pepper. Blend, stir, blend, stir, blend, stir, ect until smooth and creamy...and enjoy! Tastes great on everything and you can hardly tell it's not real cheese!

A Taste Of Autumn: Creamy Spiced Corn Chowder & (un)Cookies

Mm, mmm! Dinner turned out SO yummy...I LOVE my cheap blender.

Creamy Spiced Corn Chowder:

1 Tin of Green Giant Sweet Corn
Warm Water
About 3 big spoonfuls of Basic Cashew Cheeze
Fresh parsley
2 tbsp Olive Oil
1/4 tsp Allspice
Sea salt
Black Pepper

Empty the tin of corn, including the water in it, into your blender. Scoop in the cheeze and add the oil. Rip off a tiny handful of fresh parsley and toss it in. Add the allspice and put a few grinds each of black pepper and salt. Finally, fill the tin with warm water and add this to the mix. Blend on high speed until smooth and serve. Garnish each bowl with a sprig of parsley. Serves 2-3.

We ate this with carrots and hummous. Mm, mm! For dessert, we had...

Maple (un)Cookies

240 ml (1 cup) Pitted Dates
240 ml (1 cup) Cashews
1-1 1/2 tablespoons Maple Syrup
1/4 tsp Allspice

Place all ingredients in a blender or food processor and blend on high speed, pulse and then stir, pulse and then stir, ect...do this as many times as you can be bothered to do, basically. Then, form the dough into balls, mash flat in your palms and serve. These keep very well and taste great with a side of rice milk. Yum, yum!