Raw Vegan Cheesecake

FOR ONCE, this is not a Joy the Baker inspired cooking post. 

It is, however, Blogilates inspired. 

I made this today and I'm already putting it on the blog. Woofreakinghoo.

Since it is vegan, there's no cheese in this cheesecake. And since it is raw there is no cooking or heat (except melting the coconut oil). I took copious pictures. Let's get into it. 

I started with the crust:

1/2 cup dates

2 cups walnuts

Throw 'em in a food processor 

Pour the resulting crumbliness (technical term) into your pan!

Press it all down reeeeal good like:

Voilà! Crust.

OK, Cheesy time!

Soak 3 cups of RAW cashews overnight:

Drain them, and throw them in a food processor with:

1/4 cup lemon juice

1/2 cup organic agave syrup

3/4 cup coconut oil

PAUSE. It has to be melted. 

Grab yourself a pan, fill it halfway with water, put it on medium heat.

Put 3/4 cup coconut oil in a glass bowl, then stick the bowl in the pan.

Before...

After! (steamy)

Pour that oil in the food processor, and also add a teaspoon of vanilla extract.

You're ready to process! (make it nice and smooth)

Here's what you get:

(unsure why this picture is vertical. don't know how to rotate).

Pour that delectable mixture into your pan, and spread it evenly:

Stick that baby in the freezer, for a minimum of 3 hours.

When you're just about ready to take it out, whip up some sauce!

I did a (frozen) berry combo.

Totally eyeballed the amount. Probably around a cup.

1/4 cup agave

(There are also 4 dates in there!!)

Then blend it all together!

TAKE THE BEAUTY OUT OF THE FREEZER.

I put my berry sauce in a ziploc so I could drizzle it on the cheesecake with precision.

CUT

Drizzle on the sauce, and EAT!

What's the verdict?

SO good. It's so good. It really is similar to cheesecake, but you feel a lot less disgusting after you eat this. It's just a CLEAN taste. Again, it's RAW. We only used natural foods (minus the vanilla extract and agave, which are basically natural but had to be processed in some way) so you don't get any weird processed/chemical or refined sugar aftertaste. 

The thing you should know, though, is that it's still highly caloric. Both the crust and the filling are nut based, and we all know that nuts = calories and fat. But it's the good kind of fat, and they also have a lot of protein. So while you probably shouldn't be eating more than a piece of this at a time, don't worry too much about the calories. They aren't the be-all and end-all of nutrition.

(also there have been studies showing that a handful of cashews have a similar effect as a dose of Prozac, so this is a HAPPY cheesecake!)

Bottom line... MAKE THIS. And serve it to all your friends who think eating raw vegan makes yumminess impossible. They are wrong.

Another 365

Day 184 7.1.12

WHOA. Startin' July with my face in your face.

Day 185 7.2.12

Kelly came over and we created.

These are little (cookie dough) bites of HEAVEN. From Joy the Baker, obvi.

Day 186 7.3.12

Kelly was still here the next morning, so we created more.

Cinnamon bread.

Day 187 7.4.12

Oh, Mother. Makin' a Fourth of July spread to die for.

Day 188 7.5.12

Carryin' the patriotism to the next morning with my breakfast.

Day 189 7.6.12

A simply delightful picnic with Cortnie in Balboa Park.

One of my favorite summer afternoons.

Day 190 7.7.12

This is a close-up of my shell mirror that faces my bed.

Handmade by my mom.

This picture is ridiculously shitty, but that mirror is a work of art.

Day 191 7.8.12

Caprese salad at Nicky Rotten's after family tennis.

Day 192 7.9.12

Playing with my grandparents' russian dolls

Day 193 7.10.12

Homemade hummus

Day 194 7.11.12

Included in a birthday package from Danielle. 

It's on my nails now.

I'm obsessed.

Day 195 7.12.12

Kids whipping their hair.

My sister and her friend worked with them for a couple weeks to put on a recital of sorts.

Day 196 7.13.12

Marissa's birthday dinner at The Marble Room downtown.

Comic Con goers EVERYWHERE.

Day 197 7.14.12

Went for a run for the first time in.... oh, ever.

Day 198 7.15.12

Danae's going away dinner.

natalie being cute.

Day 199 7.16.12

I just..don't get some people.

Day 200 7.17.12

This is a great face for day 200. Girls night at Danae's.

Day 201 7.18.12

The day I FINALLY got my phone back. After 30 days.

This is a view from the Coronado bridge as I was coming home. Sometimes it really hits me that I live in paradise.

Day 202 7.19.12

I made (a vegan) dinner and it looked like the picture in the recipe book.

Felt very profesh.

Day 203 7.20.12

A huge prayer for Colorado and a simple meal for my dad and me.

I love appetizers as dinner. It feels naughty. <-what?

AHHHH I'M CURRENT. NEVER THOUGHT I'D GET OUT FROM UNDER THAT PILE OF PHOTOS (and screenshots shhh).

Also I severely missed Instagram.

That's real.

Where Has My Life Gone (365)

I know. I KNOW. I haven't posted 365 pictures since June 11. Who am I? I am the worst. I'm gonna take you through to the end of June and then do another post with July thus far. This should be interesting.

Day 165 6.12.12

I made black bean burgers.

Day 166 6.13.12

Peewee watermelon!

Jk it's a weird form of cucumber, but I was giddy all night because of this.

Day 167 6.14.12

Vegan veggie quesadillas. Guys they were so good. I should buy almond cheese again.

Day 168 6.15.12 

The day before my phone went byebye.

Day 169 6.16.12

Walking home from work.

Day 170 6.17.12

Father's Day. Lucky.

Day 171 6.18.12

LOVE the ads at the Village Theater. Vintage.

Saw Rock of Ages. Highly enjoyed the cheese factor.

Day 172 6.19.12

My sister does a great little dance for us in the midst of cooking dinner.

PLL Tuesdays.

Day 173 6.20.12

No comment.

Day 174 6.21.12

Tennis with dad.

Day 175 6.22.12

Sunrise photo shoot with the ever-fabulous Cortnie Dee. For the love of all things holy, book her! 

Day 176 6.23.12

Color coordination in the bedroom.

Day 177 6.24.12

Oh just the best mac ever, made by my mother of course.

Day 178 6.25.12

Don't even. I know. Gross.

Day 179 6.26.12

BEN from Love in the Wild.

Guilty pleasures are beautiful. Literally.

Day 180 6.27.12

lalala another screenshot. SO exemplary of my feelings, though. Slideshow issues always.

Day 181 6.28.12

Birthday lunch the day before my birthday to accomodate LIFE.

French cuisine. I chose it because it was fancy.

Ended up maybe regretting it a little bit because there were literally 3 vegetarian choices and I could have gotten away with picking a vegan place on my birthday if I wanted to!

But this cheese plate was fantastic.

Day 182 6.29.12

BIRTHDAY.

I turn 20 and throw a party. Posted about this already

Day 183 6.30.12

Danae takes me to see Wicked!

I like it but, for the second time, am not blown away.

What's up with that??

OK. June done. It was a fast month. But what does that mean?

On to July.

stream

I've had so many thoughts in my head that I've wanted to write about but haven't spent any time with the blank page. Ahhh, here we are.

Well. You know. Now I don't know what to say. My brain is like WHOA SO MANY THINGS IN HERE, MAN.

Let's see. Yesterday evening was not awesome. I was stressed because RUSSIA and I have like eightyhundred books to buy and read and HIV tests to take and Visa applications to fill out and I can't breathe under it all. Also those creepy crawly totally bitchy feelings of INADEQUACY. We've dealt with this before, amiright? Wow are you overwhelmed by the amount of CAPS?

This is not a post in which I attempt to write eloquently. CLEARLY.

I had a long, wonderful heart to heart with my dad last night, though. I was in tears, natch. Feeling intense physical anxiety, something I hardly ever experience. That is not me. I don't want to be that person. And he just came into my room and asked me, simply, what I was feeling.

And the floodgates opened.

I cried and he listened and he related and we laughed. We smiled and sighed and hugged. It was beautiful and I wish I could have written it all down, have it all on tape, something. My dad is the most patient, kind, caring, loving person I know. And damn, we are so alike. He gives the best advice because he has been there. And if he hasn't been there he tries. He listens and then he tries as best he can to understand and help. And sometimes, an almost grown girl still needs her dad's help.

Speaking of growing, I think I have another inch on me. Woke up feeling taller and measured against my dad, who was previously the second shortest person in the family. I think he's the shortest now.

Before the night brought on the anxiety, we had a family day. Bagels and coffee with The Sunday Morning Show in the AM... followed by some afternoon tennis and a reward in the form of Nicky Rotten's, down on First Ave. We shared garlic fries and I had the most beautiful caprese salad. Life was so sweet yesterday.

I promptly forgot that when I stared at the red and bolded text in all the emails from NTI (National Theater Institute) about Moscow. Sometimes the world just feels so small and then suddenly your problems are so big and nothing else in the world could be worse and it will never get better.

And then you breathe.
Or cry, and talk to your dad and realize all this internal shit? Needs to stop, because it's not helping anyone. Worrying does nothing. Everyone with me: Worrying. Does. Nothing. I preach it but I don't practice and I'm trying. So hard I am trying to live outside myself sometimes and put my whole damn life in perspective.

Look around at what I have.
Wake up grateful every day.

I'm here and I'm living and I'm embracing my fuckups, my weaknesses, my weird ass quirks.

Acknowledge what could have been done better, make a note for next time and move the hell on.

This little piece of writing is incongruent and all over the place but it's what my heart needed to say and it's where my fingers fell on the keys.
And it feels so nice.

OOTD: Patriot

Oh, don't worry, I'm still awful at documenting my (minimal) fashion. 

But I thought I'd share my vibrant ensemble because I'm quite proud that I am unmistakably redwhiteandblue today.

*~modeling~* 

hahaha well this is just fun for everyone.

I got this shirt as a birthday gift! Thank goodness.

Just a simple white bandeau underneath. It was $3 at a resale shop.

And the pants! 

(I got creative in showing you)

I bought these pants at Ross over winter break! 

You're thinking two things right now:

Pants?! Yes, pants! It wasn't hot at all this year. Kind of cold and gloomy out; even a few raindrops!

You might also be thinking red pants?! YES. I love them, though I do have to muster up some courage to wear them. Not on this day, though! 

You can't be judged on this day.

Celebrating 20

June 29th was my 20th birthday! 

I hadn't had a real party since I turned 14, so I decided this was the year.

I was really bad at documenting the details, but in essence, the theme was... beachy, with food inspired by all of my birthday parties of the past. It was easy, fun, and delicious. We ate cucumber sandwiches (1st birthday), fruit kabobs (9th), hummingbird cake (my all-time favorite as a kid), grilled cheese (8th), chips and salsa/guac, potato salad (4th), and the list goes on. We drank mom's iced tea, lemon limeade, and Rev3! We also had the chocolate fountain going, of course. Can't have a party without that beauty. 

I decided I didn't want any disposable cups or water bottles at my party; I didn't think all of that waste was necessary. Instead, I killed 2 birds with one stone and decorated mason jars for everybody to use as cups... that they could also take home as party favors. I know, I sold my souls to the hipsters. But I don't think hipsters do party favors...or birthday parties, for that matter, so I'm good.

Here's the set up of the table in the courtyard, where music played and we danced a bit (ok, mostly me)

 

We also found some straws with umbrellas hanging out in the garage...perfect!

I'm gonna find a close up picture of the mason jars so I can explain how I decorated them.

Later, we had a bonfire out front.

The whole crew (minus a few) (RHYME)

Even though I am positively sure now that I like going to parties more than hosting them, and I like cuddling at home with a book more than going to parties (on most days), this was a great birthday and it was really wonderful to have all these people in my home. Let's see... 7 of those people in that photograph, I hadn't seen for over a year; some not since graduation! It was like a mini-reunion and I can honestly say that it was GREAT to see all of these wonderful people. It made me so happy. I think I might also do a post on the gifts because they were all so thoughtful and sweet. 

I have felt like I was twenty for quite some time now, but I haven't felt that twenty was old (comparatively) until... right now. Really, I just thought about how strange it is that I'm in my twenties. I have completed two whole decades. I didn't do much to commemorate that fact, or my exiting the teen years, though I did do a dramatic reading of the letter I wrote to myself when I was 10. I should post what that looked like, too. It was quite interesting, but honestly? Not much has changed. I still have many of the same dreams and goals. Damn that feels good. Consistency in my life.

Everybody says 19 and 20 are boring. I will admit, it's true about 19. It's a conflicting age, because no one really knows how to feel about the end of their teens. At least, I didn't. Fear of the unknown, I guess. How do we be 'in our twenties'? What does that look like, feel like? I kept feeling indecisive about whether I wanted to slow everything down or speed it up. 

Twenty is a fresh start, in many ways. I can make my twenties whatever I want them to be. True, 20 is just dangling 21 right in front of your face mercilessly, but it's a great age to be old enough to savor your youth but young enough to still enjoy it. It's a nice round number. Probably the year before real life makes everything messy. (Me in a bar in a year? Messy).

I'm glad I made it to 20 in one piece. I like it here.

swell.

I'm 20. It's July. Everything's new.

Some say spring is the season of rebirth and renewal, but for me, this year, it's summer. I feel different. I am different.

I'm experiencing a lot of (really wonderful) emotions that I haven't felt in so long. This makes me have hope. I feel passion, excitement, a fresh perspective and changed priorities.

People are beautiful and they deserve patience and love. Some people are not so beautiful, but that doesn't mean they don't deserve love. Just no more patience. They are dismissed, and for the better. There's way too much ahead to be worried about what has been left behind.

But mostly, it's beauty I see. The kind we don't stop to take in. The kind we take for granted in our family, our friends, our surroundings. When you actually realize how much love is around you, it will take your breath away.

It's crazy when new feelings spring up and the timing is perfect because they could have happened at any time in the past year but your heart chose now and it feels so right. And you're sure. When you can't take your mind off of someone, and you're sure.

It's funny because I've exited my teen years and now I feel like a giddy bubbly everything-for-the-first-time 8th grader. It's so good. It reminds me that age is but a number and there are so many possibilities.

That's it, right there. So many possibilities. Every day, for the rest of our lives. To take advantage of—to appreciate— just one... it's the best feeling in the world.