STEAMED SWEET POTATOES with WILD RICE, BASIL + TOMATO CHILI SAUCE

A lot of you have been asking for more savoury recipes and more low-fat dinners. My job as I see it is to give you what ya want. So here we go. This is also a good representation of my actual diet; since I do not simply live off raw vegan chocolate cake (although sometimes I wish I could), but in reality enjoy mostly fruit all day in the form of smoothies followed by a dinner of lots of steamed or baked veggies with rice! Check out my Instagram to see more on this... and also to see my PMS face.  I do love my raw vegan desserts recipes, and I definitely eat as much of them as I want, but I see them as a fun and delicious way to get in my fats for the day, so in the rest of my diet I keep fat content to a minimum. Fat is an essential part of a healthy lifestyle, but I just don't need much of it. So in this recipe, I only use a handful of nuts (or 1 tablespoon of nut butter if you prefer). It provides the perfect amount of creaminess and richness without making me feel sluggish afterwards, which happens when I eat too many nuts in a day. I have learned my limits.

As many of you may know, I have gradually transitioned into an 80/10/10 diet (a high carb diet) and for me that basically meant just increasing the amounts of fruits and starchy veggies I was eating. Instead of 3 bananas a day; I eat anywhere from 5 to 15 now. Instead of 3/4 cup of rice; I eat 2 cups, etc. When I eat this way I find I don't crave the rich foods that I used to. I don't want to eat the entire tray of raw vegan brownies, I am satisfied with one. I have learned that my body does best with minimal amounts of fat. As I stated a moment ago, I feel weighed down and head-achey when I eat too much fat in a day. All I need to keep me energized and strong is a handful of nuts, 1 avocado, or 1 tablespoon of nut butter or coconut oil a day. Am I saying this is the ideal diet for everyone? Of course not! You know your body better than I do! So experiment and find what works for you. I have a friend who does best on a high fat diet, and so that right there is proof that we all require different percentages of macronutrients to fuel ourselves right. Having said that, it DOES make sense to me from an evolutionary perspective that most of us would do best with a diet high in fruit, greens, and starchy veggies.

My logic is simple: we all know fruits and vegetables are good for us, so let's eat as many as we can!

Now, onto this meal! I am in love with sweet potatoes. They are excellent for your brain and eye health, as well as overall wellness. Basil is called The Sacred Goddess Herb and is thought to be the embodiment of femininity and holiness itself, tomato is great for the prostate (holla to the males out there), and the whole recipe is just freaking yummy altogether... so make it.

STEAMED SWEET POTATOES with WILD RICE, BASIL + TOMATO CHILI SAUCE

Sauce:
1 tomato
1 tablespoon nut butter (optional) 
1 tablespoon miso paste
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon maple syrup 
1 teaspoon chili powder, to taste 
1 garlic clove

Other ingredients:
1 large sweet potato, sliced and steamed until soft and tender
2 cups cooked wild rice
1/4 cup basil leaves

To make the sauce: blend all the ingredients until smooth. Mix the sauce into your rice and sweet potatoes in a bowl, then top with basil leaves and enjoy! 

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MINT CHOCOLATE CHIP ICE CREAM SANDWICHES

I know what you are thinking: "Emily told us she was gonna lay off the desserts!" Well, you are right. I did say that. I was burnt out after writing an entire book on raw vegan desserts in 4 months... so I thought I wasn't going to want to make any for a looong time. Then this past weekend, I visited my friend in Victoria (on Vancouver Island) while camping nearby with my beau (it was a fab trip) and we ate at this fantastic restaurant called be love. I will be posting a review on our experience there soon. We all loved our meals so much that we ordered dessert too. Eva was given this amazing plate featuring a cherry ice cream sandwich and it reminded me of why I love[d] raw vegan desserts so very passionately! My meals and recipes have been so simple lately, and personally I have been loving that. Yet at the same time, none of them have the capacity to make people swoon and moan with pleasure, and simply be wowed at the sight of the dish, like raw vegan desserts do. My sweet treat creativity got flowing once more and I couldn't wait to get home and whip up all these ideas I have for raw vegan desserts! No, really. I have a lengthy list. This was one of the items on said list, and since it was reminiscent of the yumminess in Victoria, it felt like the perfect fit. I can confidently say they turned out wonderfully, and the whole family loved them; even some friends from Switzerland who are visiting right now! I mean, they KNOW their chocolate. 

I used chocolate mint leaves from the garden, but you can use any kind of mint leaf you like. I also used some beautiful peppermint oil from doTERRA, because it's so organic you can eat it! Highly recommended. Top secret info that is no longer secret because I am typing it out on a very public blog: I used a little bit of spirulina powder to give the ice cream that classic mint ice cream colour we all learned to love as kids. You cannot even taste it but it worked perfectly. Nobody knew... mwahaha. Call me the devious nutritionist. But don't actually, 'cause I ain't certified; I am just a crazy girl in a kitchen who likes eating plants and photographing everything. If you wanna keep this recipe low-fat, I give a few adaptions you can make in the recipe directions. As for me? Even though I am super into the whole high carb thing right now, I still love me some fats and I adore nothing more than getting my daily recommend intake of them in desserts like this. We should all be eating some healthy plant-based fat everyday, we just don't need much! So that being said: please enjoy the heck outta these, and share them with those you love. Or those you don't love, so you can improve that relationship. Or let's be real - you might just hoard them in your freezer and not tell anyone, so you can devour them all in stealth mode. I know you. 

MINT CHOCOLATE CHIP ICE CREAM SANDWICHES 

Cookie:
1 cup walnuts
1 cup dates
1 tablespoon cacao powder
Pinch Himalayan salt

Chocolate chips:
2 tablespoons melted coconut oil
1 tablespoon cacao powder
1 tablespoon maple syrup

Ice cream:
1 cup young coconut meat 
1 cup cashews 
2 cups water 
2 tablespoons maple syrup
1/4 cup mint leaves 
3 drops doTERRA peppermint oil
Spirulina powder, as needed (optional) 

ADAPTIONS: if you wanna make this low-fat, use rolled oats instead of walnuts; use bananas instead of cashews; and use date paste instead of coconut oil. 

To make the cookies: pulse the walnuts in a food processor until they become a fine powder. Add the rest of the ingredients and process until it all begins to stick together. On parchment paper, shape the dough into cookies however you like. I used a circular cookie cutter and dropped a spoonful into it, pressed it down, then gently tugged the cookie cutter off and made another. Set these in the fridge overnight. 

To make the chocolate chips: whisk together the ingredients, then pour onto a flat plate and freeze until solid. Chop into small pieces and stir into the ice cream when it's thick enough (otherwise the pieces will just sink to the bottom). 

To make the ice cream: blend all the ingredients until smooth, adding tiny amounts of spirulina until the mixture is the colour you want. Put this mixture into an ice cream maker and follow the instructions of the machine. If you don't have an ice cream maker (like me), simply pour the mixture into a metal pan and stick it in the freezer, whisking it up every 30 minutes until it's transformed. Remember to add your chocolate chips! 

Assembly: cookie, scoop of ice cream, cookie. 

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CASHEW SAGE COOKIES WITH LEMON DRIZZLE

Sage cookies? Huh? Maybe you think it's a weird combo, but I say: try the cookies first! They taste surprisingly delicious. My mom and my friend Amanda love them! Amanda - a brand new vegetarian - actually asked if she could eat them all, and I think she was serious. I got these sage leaves at the farmer's market last weekend, and was procrastinating all week from using them in a recipe. They were lookin' a little worse for wear so today I finally picked out the leaves that had passed their prime, and use the rest for this recipe. I used cashews and Medjool dates from Prana and I have to say, they are unbelievably good. The cashews basically melt into cashew butter upon entering your mouth. Un. Real. 

And that's it! The only ingredients in the cookies are dates, cashews and sage leaves! Sometimes I think nomalicious healthy food is almost TOO simple. The drizzle is just lemon juice, coconut oil, and banana (you can use cashews instead of banana if you don't like banana flavour). You'd think after making all the raw vegan desserts that I have, I'd have gotten accustomed to the fact that you can make amazingly decadent, beautiful, healthful recipes from just a handful of ingredients like nuts and dried fruit... nope. I am still impressed everyday by the magic that takes place in my food processor when I whirl together some cashews, sage leaves and dates. My mission is to share this fact with everyone who will lend an ear (or an eye). You can have your cake and eat it too! Heck, I will eat TWO cakes! Get it? Heh heh heeeh... I take the puns where I can get them, okay. 

I am pretty much out of thoughts to type down today, so I will tell you about my childhood. Currently I am listening to Rhapsody in Blue by Gershwin and it is taking me baaaaack to when I used to watch Fantasia 2000 on the reg. As a consequence of loving it so dearly, my life is now filled with daily associations of animated musical scenes from that awesome film. Baby whales finding their way home, Teenage Mother Nature fighting Grumpy Father Destruction (I made up those names), flowers dancing in ponds... these images had a huge impact in my development. The music did too, of course, and it's probably a reason I love classical so much. I didn't really have a point to this rambling, but now you know something more about me... and I reckon - yes, I "reckon" - that a lot of you can relate. After linking all those YouTube clips, I just wanna watch Fantasia now. 

CASHEW SAGE COOKIES WITH LEMON DRIZZLE

Cookies:
1 cup cashews
1 cup dates
1 tablespoon sage leaves

Drizzle:
1 banana (or small handful of cashews if you don't want banana flavour)
Juice from 1/2 lemon
1 tablespoon melted coconut oil 

To make the cookies: process the cashews and sage leaves into powder in a food processor. Add the dates and process until it all begins to get sticky. Roll into balls, then press into cookies. Put in the fridge. 

To make the drizzle: blend everything until smooth. I used cashews but that's only because I have no ripe bananas at the moment (I KNOW, IT HAS BEEN A ROUGH DAY). 

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BANANA STRAWBERRY ICE CREAM CAKE

Hello, all. How's everyone doing? This is a glorious recipe that is sure to brighten up anyone's day - who doesn't love ice cream cake? And what? It's HEALTHY, you say? Well, I'll be! It's a miracle! Actually it's not really a miracle, it's just momma nature treatin' us well and providing all the sustenance we need in the form of juicy fruits. Life is good when you've got ripe plants to eat. I am very happy with these photos, if I am being honest (and I am.) Then again, it's not hard to take beautiful photos when you have beautiful subjects to take photos of. The vibrant colours of nature are the thing to be admired here. I found these flowers at the farmer's market this morning, where a vendor was selling bunches of edible plants: 3 for $5.00! She recommended dipping the sage leaves in coconut oil then baking them with a pinch of salt until crispy... she is a genius.

Today I share with you a simple yet beautiful recipe for a sweet, creamy, fresh ice cream cake. It is made of 100% fresh fruit, and nothing else. Because when you care about the world, animals, and yourself - why eat anything but plants? Enjoying a plant-based diet is the best choice you can make to have the most positive impact on the health of our planet, our animal friends, and your own well-being. It is the intelligent decision, and the compassionate one. If you are a lover, you should let go of meat, dairy, and other animal products; it is that simple. I hope I don't sound preachy or judgemental in this post, I only want to spread a message of peace and equality. I have just been sobbing for an hour over the state of humanity. We support the systemized murder and torture of billions everyday, just to say "mmm... bacon!" It is literally insane and it must stop. I know the majority of people are not aware of the impact of their simple meal choices, and that is because there are huge corporations and massive amounts of money and power intentionally masking the truth and parading lies to the public. I do not blame the public. But I do think it's fair to demand an end to the killing. A sane person understands murder is wrong, so why eat meat? An animal is an animal - we are all animals. There is no categorical difference between us and all other living beings, so why kill one and love another? It doesn't make sense. I love my friends, so I do not eat them. Instead, I eat fruit. Let's eat cake, hug pigs, save the earth, regain our health, and love each other.

BANANA STRAWBERRY ICE CREAM CAKE

Ice cream layers:

4 frozen bananas

1 cup strawberries

Banana layers:

3 thinly sliced bananas

Slice the frozen bananas, then blend in a high speed blender until they get to the consistency of soft serve ice cream; it will take a minute but suddenly you'll have that perfect thick, creamy, fluffy texture. Add the strawberries one by one, until the mixture is pink but still thick. 

Now in a 4-inch cake mold, or other small mold, layer the sliced banana pieces with the ice cream mixture. Set in the freezer just long enough to make it hold together. Then cut around the edge of cake with a knife so it separates from the mold, then carefully take it out and enjoy! I decorated mine with edible flowers and sage leaves. 

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CHOCOLATE COCO MINT BARS

Hello, my love. Yes, you. How are you today? I am genuinely curious.

In case the interest is mutual, I'll let you know I am feeling swell. I mean, I've got these chocolate coco mint bars in my fridge... so what could REALLY be wrong, right? Even when I am not considering these healthfully decadent wonders, my week has been going very well. My Oma and Opa are visiting from Ontario, so the family has been spending a lot of time together. My younger brother recently graduated from high school, and my older one has just graduated from university, wasting no time in getting accepted into law school two days ago! So in September he will be moving a few hours north and be living on residence for 3 years. It will be unfamiliar territory without all of us here. Although we have our issues, my family is close, and we've always been in one big house together. Now as we get older, we are starting to head out and find our places in the world. Greg is leaving for law school, I am planning on moving out soon so I can have my own space... Daniel is a very independent person so I know once he has enough money, he'll be off. My parents, I think, are happy to see us each succeed in our own paths, but they must be a little nostalgic seeing us grow up as well. At the same time, this means a new chapter in their lives! One free from the endless verbal, physical and emotional noise that comes with three children. One filled with each other, and the prospect of this thing called "free time", which they probably cannot remember exists since they haven't experienced it in 23 some odd years. My dad is excited to retire soon, and my mom is having almost too much fun swinging back into her acting and theatre career, which she put on hold while she raised a family. They are looking at little islands around the coast to buy property on, but I think they may end up a bit north somewhere, close to the ocean, where they can have a big garden, and where there are great hiking and off road trails for my dad to bring his motorcycle on.

It's surreal, unsettling, and exciting to understand that where I am now in time - and where my brothers are, even where my family is - is so very temporary and still just the beginning! I feel like everything is the beginning until it's really over. (Although is anything ever really over?) The morning of the day I die, I will probably be thinking "it's just the beginning!" I don't say this out of naivety, but rather optimism; it is my way of looking at the world. Humans seem to have this tendency of seeing everything as finally complete in the moment. In other words, we look to the past and think "Hah! I was so young then, I am much older now and actually mature." I suppose what I am trying to say is that we see and consider ourselves in the past and present, but don't look to the future and consider it's influence. Of course, I believe deeply in the living in the moment. I have "BE HERE NOW" tattooed on my wrist! At the same time, I think it can be important and useful to think of ourselves as at a point in time, and never at the end! Another example is how we think this is the most modern and civilized time of all, but certainly 100 years from now people will look back and think "I am amazed they actually wrote on paper and used pens!?" Just like how we are fascinated by horse-drawn carriages from 100 years ago today.   We are in a timeline of infinity, and I like to think about that often. So in that sense, it's exciting to be experiencing all these changes in the dynamic of my family and our home. Where will we go and where we will be 5 years from now? 10, 20, 50 years? I have so much yet to experience, at times it seems overwhelming, but as I said said earlier; I strive for optimism, and so I am mostly excited for whatever is to come.

This is just the beginning.

CHOCOLATE COCO MINT BARS

Chocolate layer:

1 cup walnuts

1 cup dates

1 tablespoon cacao powder

Coco mint layer:
2 cups dried coconut flakes
1 tablespoon coconut nectar (optional) 
1-5 drops peppermint oil, as desired

To make the chocolate layer: put the walnuts in a food processor and process until they turn into a powdery consistency. Add the dates and process until it all begins to get sticky. Add the cacao powder until fully incorporated. Press half this mixture into the bottom of a small lined bread pan and put in the fridge. 

To make the coco mint layer: put everything in the food processor and process until the dried coconut flakes turn into a crumbly buttery-like mixture; this can take a few minutes, so be patient. Press this mixture onto your first chocolate layer. Refrigerate for until it's solid. Add the remaining half of the chocolate mixture on top and press down evenly. Refrigerate until solid. Sprinkle with coconut flakes if you like. Slice and serve!

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BANANA ICE CREAM CAKE with MATCHA, BLUEBERRY + VANILLA LAYERS

Heyo! To be honest, I wasn't too stoked on how this cake turned out, appearance-wise. I am still trying to develop my skills as a swirler (it's a word, shh), and you can really tell. If you wanna find the worlds best swirler, check out Fragrant Vanilla Cake! I am always in awe of her talent level of swirling. Anyhoo, back to my mishap: I messed up in the middle of the top of the cake, so I tried covering up my mistake with pumpkin seeds (don't we all? ... No.) Fortunately the lighting was nice today so the cake looks alright, but it still doesn't quite meet my standards in terms of prettiness. However, I am sharing it anyways because I love you. And since I love you, I of course want to give you as many delicious and healthy recipes as I can! Here's another one, folks. 

This is mostly bananas! As you may have learned from my reading my past posts and checkin' me out on Instagram - YES, I GOT INSTAGRAM! - I am eating essentially 80/10/10 now. That is, 80% carbs, 10% each for protein and fat. My diet looks a lot like *smoothiemania* all day (10 bananas per smoothie wasssapp!?) plus giant bowls of rice and vegetables for dinner. I ain't missing out on a thing! Even dessert! I love this lifestyle. I am so excited to eat everything all the time. And I have energy out the wazoo (we still do not have confirmation on the precise definition of wazoo though). Here I show you that you can have a tasty raw vegan treat, but it doesn't have to be filled with nuts and coconut oil! Those foods are awesome, but we don't need much of them; only a handful a day. You get just that with this cake. Actually, I'm gonna let you in on a secret - this cake is, for all practical purposes, a smoothie that is frozen in a cake mold. If that makes it seem unappealing to you, pretend I never said it. Blot it out from your mind forever. But if that fact makes it even MORE enticing... well, you're welcome. I think it's cool. Get it? 'Cause it's frozen? "OMG Em you are soooo funny!" Aw shucks, you're too kind. 

BANANA ICE CREAM CAKE with MATCHA, BLUEBERRY + VANILLA LAYERS

Matcha layer:

3 frozen bananas

1 teaspoon matcha powder

5 Medjool dates (optional)

Blueberry layer:

2 frozen bananas

1/2 cup frozen blueberries

Handful cashews

Handful dried coconut flakes

Vanilla layer:

3 frozen bananas

1/2 vanilla bean

2 tablespoon coconut nectar or other sweetener

Handful dried coconut shreds (optional) 

For each layer: just blend all the ingredients in a high speed blender until smooth and very thick! If your blender cannot handle it, add some coconut milk to keep things moving, and keep things creamy (if you add water it'll just make it icy). Reserve about 1 tablespoon of the matcha and blueberry mixtures. Spread each layer evenly into a 6 inch cake pan (mine is adjustable), with the vanilla layer being on top. Now drop little dots of the matcha and blueberry mixtures onto the top of the cake. Use a toothpick or chopstick and drag the tip through the dots - it makes hearts! Freeze until sold. When you wanna serve this, I recommend letting it thaw for a bit so it gets creamy. 

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RAW VEGAN CHOCOLATE CHIP BANANA MYLKSHAKE

My raw vegan chocolate chip banana mylkshake brings all the boyz to tha yard. 

(I am positive I have made that joke before with other shake recipes but let's pretend it's the first time and laugh at my highly intellectual sense of humour.)

Eyoo. How're you doin' today? I'm feeling great. It's been so warm and sunny all week here (thus far...) and I have been out power walking, running and hiking everywhere I can get to on my toe shoe covered feet. I've been high off the good vibes and vitamin D since Monday and I ain't comin' down anytime soon. I figured it'd be the perfect time to share a summery recipe that will keep you cool and smiling on the warmer days. But heck, I drink this recipe all winter too so don't feel the need to restrict enjoying it to only the hot seasons... make this everyday! I practically do. This is a wonderful treat to blend up after going for a hike, as a matter of fact. Maybe that's not a true fact, I mean there have not yet been scientific studies conducted on the perfectness of this particular mylkshake in relation to a post-hike situation BUT at least we've got my gut telling me it's a pretty damn good choice to try out this recipe. That's all I got for ya though. Sorry if it's insufficient. What am I even talking about now. My writing game has NOT been strong lately and I apologize for that, I'm just way too focused on other things in my life at this point but I swear on the life of my future pig companion (one day... one day...) that I will improve my prose pronto! Now if you will excuse me, I need to nourish all these boyz that have appeared in my front yard. 

RAW VEGAN CHOCOLATE CHIP BANANA MYLKSHAKE

4 frozen bananas

1/4 cup hardened raw chocolate

1-2 cups non-dairy mylk

1 tablespoon cacao nibs (optional) 

Blend everything together (except the cacao nibs) until smooth, but not too smooth - you want the chocolate to combine but still have little chips of it in the mix. Get it? It's a chocolate chip mylkshake! Pour into a glass or two and sprinkle the nibs on top if you like.

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ULTIMATE RAW VEGAN PIZZA (LOW-FAT, OIL-FREE, SALT-FREE)

This is epic. This is pizza. This is how we broke the liquid fast on this fine day (4/20). I have been thinking about making this since like the second day into the fast, and I think it's pretty much perfect. I wanted to create a raw pizza recipe that was NOT nut-based. Nuts are great, don't get me wrong, but they have a high fat content and so you only need a handful every day. The thing is... I wanna eat a LOT of pizza, and so if I wanna eat a lot of NUT-based pizza, then I'm gonna be consuming too many nuts and too much fat for a day! Get it? The base for this recipe is actually zucchini noodles and other veggies! I got the idea from this dude. So in fact you could make the pizza crust and just eat that because you're essentially making a giant bowl of zucchini noodles in a garlicky tomato sauce... then you just have to shape it into circles and dehydrate it for awhile! I am definitely remaking this recipe but stopping at this giant spaghetti bowl stage and nomming that up. Another bonus about this pizza crust is that you can use your leftover nut pulp in it (from when you make nut mylk)! I used the walnut pulp from when I made walnut mylk a few days ago. Now you have even more reasons to make your own fresh nut mylk. It's approximately 1723 times better than store-bought, and you have an excuse to make the best pizza ever. C'mon. No down sides.

All the ingredients in this are organic and most are from the farmers market. *Beaming smile*. I think I've successfully made the switch to an almost all organic diet! Yes it is more expensive, but it is worth it to me. I want to nourish my body with the most excellent food available, and that means organic! Preferably local too (which will be easier now that summer is headin' our way). The flavour of organic food is also incomparably better. These heirloom tomatoes we got from the farmers market are IN.SANE. You don't even know. Run to your farm market and grab some right now. We got them for a dollar each because they were SO ripe that they burst open while the merchants drove them to the market. Better for me! I dehydrated them and holy LAWD they are like pizza bites. So we've now got pizza bites on pizza slices. Life cannot be improved.

In case you wanna hear about the last day of our liquid feast - we went eight full days and most of today in total - it was fantastic! Energy levels were great, I wrote my last final exam with an optimally-functioning brain, then went to see my friends' band perform at a record store (it was record store day). By midnight I was tired and hit the hay. My partner and I likened today to Christmas, 'cause we were so stoked to eat. Having said that, after I got up, did yoga and went for a quick run, I just wanted a smoothie. But I'm not surprised by this since most of my diet is liquid anyways, except my dinners, so this wasn't a huge change for me; but enough of a challenge to make me REALLY excited to eat solids again, and appreciative of such. Whenever I fast my passion for food is recharged 333%, so then all I wanna eat is zucchini pasta and raw chocolate and fruit bowls... mmm.... *drool*. Oh, and this pizza.
Pizza forever.

ULTIMATE RAW VEGAN PIZZA (LOW-FAT, OIL-FREE, SALT-FREE)

Crust:
3 zucchinis
2 tomatoes (I used beefsteak)
Juice from 1/2 lemon
1/2 onion
1 garlic clove
2 dates
2 bell peppers
1/4 cup walnuts (or nut pulp leftover from nut mylk)

Sauce:
1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes
1/2 cup chopped zucchini 
Juice from 1/2 lemon
Handful fresh basil leaves 
1 date
1 garlic clove

Toppings:
2 tomatoes (I used heirloom)
2 cups mushrooms
1 bell pepper
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar

To make the crust: slice the zucchinis into noodles with a spiral slicer, mandolin or a cheese grater. Set aside in a large bowl. Blend the rest of the ingredients until smooth, adjusting according to taste. Mix this into the noodles. You should end up with a huge bowl of really saucy noodles. Like I said, it's hard not eating all of this by itself. Spread this evenly - keepin' it thick - into a big circle on a dehydrator tray and dehydrate at 115 °F for 6 hours or so, until pliable. Flip over and do the same again. Note: you can use your oven at it's lowest temperature if you don't have a dehydrator. Keep checking on your crust as it is drying though, because everyone's will turn out different.

To make the sauce: put all the ingredients a food processor or blender and blend until smooth. Spread on your crust.

To prepare the toppings: slice all the veggies thinly, then coat in the apple cider vinegar and place in a warm spot, dehydrator or oven for around 40 minutes until they soften. Decorate your pizza with the toppings, slice, then ENJOY THE HECK OUT OF IT. Optional: add some raw vegan cheese! I also threw on some avocado, cilantro and hemp seeds. 

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CHOCOLATE & SALTED DATE CARAMEL CUPS with PECANS

WOO LISTEN TO THIS RIGHT NOW AND BOOGIE WIT ME!

Okay. That's done... for the time-being (but the boogie's never REALLY over). Moving on to chocolate caramel dreamscapes! I made these after having a non-raw version at the farmer's market. The lady who was selling them makes them from scratch; she uses a coconut caramel made from her own coconuts and raw cane sugar, etc. I love supporting the farmer's market so I bought one and shared it with my beau in the snow. Heh heh... dat rhymed. It was INSANELY good. We were both like "what tha heck!?" So later that day I made a raw version and I gotta say it tastes daaamn fine... plus it's great for you! I made three, and I just ate them all. When it comes to chocolate, I don't do sharing (except for special occasions like with a beau in the snow and that's only because it rhymes; if it was sunny they wouldn't have gotten any).

What have you been up to lately? Personally I have been busy as a bee - or beaver, because they never stop working either... not with those teeth - writing my second book, being me which takes a surprisingly large amount of time, keeping up with university classes, maintaining my blog and attempting to revive/keep alive my social life! I also realized the other day that I should probably start making an effort with my appearance. I haven't in a looong time but now that I'm going to be in TV interviews, photo-shoots and meetings with other vegan-ish professionals and business people... I need to look like a respectable girl again. I used to take a lot of pride in dressing well and in high school I made a reputation for myself for always wearing high heels and dresses. (I had like a suitcase of make-up by grade 7, okay?) But after taking some gender studies courses in university, among other reasons, I felt strongly that I should boycott the whole gender norms system so I stopped wearing make-up, bras, clothes that fit; using shampoo and shaving... you get the idea. I was a dirty, gender-neutral hippie. 

I think that phase has to end now though. This is a new chapter in my life, and it's gonna be largely defined by professionalism! Technically, I have created my own business (woah... no way) and I feel like I should start acting like it. I'm finally realizing this can be my job if I want it to be. And I want it to be. Thus I went shopping a few times in the past week and have pretty much built a new wardrobe for myself. Lots of girly dresses and some sweet flowy pants. Flowy is a word; I don't care what auto-correct tells me. 

I'm still getting used to caring about what I look like again, it's pretty strange, but humans adapt fast so I'm sure in no time it'll be second nature to throw on mascara again. At the very least, I'm excited to find eco-friendly, vegan cosmetic companies! 

I'm glad you guys don't mind my ramblings because it is really therapeutic for me to write all this stuff out. Even if no one is reading this and you all just skip to the recipe... I'm still relieved to get these thoughts out somewhere. From the very beginning this blog has been a kind of daily journal for me, but one that saves paper and that literally anybody can open up, read, comment on and share (if you have access to da interweb). I actually love that my heart and mind are so easily accessible to the public; letting out everything that is floating around in my head for all to see takes a huge weight off me somehow.

Okay I have managed to write an entire post that has almost NOTHING to do with the actual recipe featured today. Here's the deal: if ya love chocolate, caramel, pecans and healthiness; then this recipe is your new BFF. But I thought I was your new BFF, so we're gonna have to have a talk about that.

CHOCOLATE & SALTED DATE CARAMEL CUPS with PECANS: makes around three

Chocolate:

Approximately 1/2 cup melted chocolate (click for my recipe) 

Date caramel:

1/4 cup dates

1/2 teaspoon Himalayan salt

Water, as needed (I used about a 1/2 cup) 

2 tablespoons melted coconut oil (optional) 

Pecans 

Coat the bottom and sides of cupcake papers with 1/2 the chocolate, then place a couple pecans in the bottom of each and put in the freezer until the chocolate hardens. 

To make the date caramel: blend all the ingredients together until smooth, adding water as needed. Scoop into your cupcake papers, then pour on the rest of the chocolate and top off with a pinch more of Himalayan salt and a pecan.