Here’s one served plain as a muffin…

And now dressed up for the full effect…

Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes:

Note: You’ll notice that I used carrot instead of pumpkin for these  (I would rather eat raw carrot than raw pumpkin) but you can easily substitute raw pumpkin or squash for the carrot.

1 c pecans

2 c coconut chips

2 c shredded carrots

1/2 c coconut flour

4 T lucuma powder

4 T coconut sugar

3-4 T pumpkin pie spice (will depend on the brand you use)

2 c pitted medjool dates, soaked 1-2 hrs (or soak for less time in the dehydrator)

12 drops vanilla stevia

1 tsp vanilla powder

2 pinches sea salt

In a food processor, grind the pecans and coconut chips to a crumbly powder. Next add the shredded carrot, coconut flour, lucuma powder, coconut sugar, salt, vanilla powder, and pumpkin pie spice. Process until well combined and remove mixture to a bowl. Add soaked dates to the food processor with the stevia and process well to a paste (you may need to stop and scrape down the sides a few times). Add the dry mixture back to the processor with the date paste and process well until a dough forms. To make muffins or cupcakes, form into muffin shapes and place in paper muffin cups. Dehydrate at 115 degrees for 4-6 hours, cool and frost. Alternatively, you can pat into cookie shapes for cookies and dehydrate or simply chill in the fridge.

Cream Cheese Frosting:

1 1/4 c raw cashews, soaked 8 hours or overnight

1/2 c + 2 T water

3 T fresh lemon juice

1/4 c raw honey*

pinch sea salt

8 drops vanilla stevia

1/4 tsp vanilla powder

1 T lecithin powder

1/2 c melted coconut oil

1 T melted coconut creme

*This frosting is not overly sweet. Feel free to add more honey if you like it on the sweeter side.

Blend cashews, water, lemon, honey, salt, and stevia in a high speed blender until smooth. Add the lecithin, coconut oil, creme, and vanilla powder and blend again to combine. Pour into a bowl and chill for 2 hours or more in the fridge. You can speed this process by chilling it in the freezer for 15 minutes or so but watch that it doesn’t get too solid. If frosting cupcakes when they’re warm from the dehydrator, serve them immediately as the frosting softens rather quickly on a warm cupcake. Alternatively, let the cupcakes cool slightly before frosting and store in the fridge if not serving right away. Top with pomegranate seeds, cinnamon, or superfood of choice.
Note: You will have more than enough frosting for the cupcake recipe. Use leftovers as a sweet spread for raw crackers or bread, a luxurious addition to your smoothies, or try blending with nut milk to make a rich cream for your favorite coffee or tea drink (amazing with chai).

Enjoy!

I no longer eat a 100% raw diet but will always love my raw desserts. As I’m sure you can tell from my previous post, I’m on a bit of an ice cream kick lately. Nearly all of the desserts I did at the restaurant involved one key component- ice cream or sorbet. I’ve been doing this for a while now but it still amazes me that you can create something so rich and luxurious from such simple, healthy ingredients. Yes, it’s still a treat (I wouldn’t sit down to eat a pint of this in one go) but to me, raw ice cream is the essence of healthy indulgence…ok, maybe raw chocolate too but more on that later

For this recipe, I took a pure classic- vanilla ice cream- and dressed it up a bit. It’s the kind of ice cream I would’ve done for that restaurant in New York and would be equally impressive at any dinner pary…whether a party for many or just for one

Vanilla Bean Ice Cream with Gingered Cherries

Vanilla Bean Ice Cream:

1 c water

3/4 c raw cashews

1/4 c raw honey

1 T xylitol powder* or lucuma powder

4 drops vanilla stevia

4 drops Medicine Flower vanilla essence (or use alcohol-free vanilla flavoring)

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp vanilla powder

1/4 c melted coconut creme

1 T melted coocnut oil

Gingered Cherries:

1/2 c dried golden cherries

1/2 c water

1/4 tsp vanilla powder

1/4 tsp ginger powder

Blend all ingredients except coconut creme and coconut oil in a high speed blender until smooth. Add the melted creme and oil and blend again. Process in ice cream maker according to manufacturer’s instructions or freeze in ice cube trays and blend just before serving. For the cherries, mix all ingredients in a bowl and place in the dehyrator at 115 degrees for 1 hour (best to do 1 hour before serving so the cherries are a bit warm). If you don’t have a dehydrator, simply mix in a bowl and place on the counter to sit for 1-2 hours. The cherries will still absorb the liquid, they just won’t be warm. Serve the ice cream topped with the cherries and enjoy

*Xylitol powder is simply xylitol (widely available online and at Whole Foods) ground down in a coffee grinder, spice grinder or Magic Bullet. Lucuma powder is delicious as well, the ice cream just won’t be quite as white.

This past weekend we did another Whole Foods demo…which meant another simple, delicious recipe to share with everyone and lots of smiles and oooh and ahhhs at our demo table. I love it. This recipe is such a winner! I was originally going to do a simple chocolate chia pudding but kicked it up a notch (thanks Emeril) and made the most luxurious chocolate mousse. It’s kinda like the perfect black dress- you can dress it up for your fanciest dinner party or just have it for a casual dessert or  snack…and it’s so healthy with all of those good fats from the chia and coconut oil…you could even have it for breakfast! Hello lazy Sunday mornings

Ok, so I’ll stop raving and get right to it

Chocolate Chia Mousse

Chocolate Chia Mousse
[serves 1 or 2- 2 for an elegant dessert]

2 T chia seeds

1 c water

1.5 oz cacao paste, melted*

2 T coconut oil

1.5 T raw honey or more to taste

4-6 drops Vanilla Creme stevia (I used Wisdom Naturals brand)

1/2 tsp vanilla powder

1/8 tsp salt

First, soak and stir the chia in the water until the chia expands and becomes gelatinous (about 5 minutes). Pour the soaked chia into your blender and add everything but the cacao paste. Blend well until smooth and the chia is broken down. Add the melted cacao paste and blend again to incorporate. Taste and adjust sweetness if necessary. Feel free to add some cool spices or seasonings as well and blend again. This is amazing as is but would be great with cinnamon, ginger, maca, almond extract, or any other flavor essence you love. Try a different combination every time! After blending, pour into your serving dishes and chill for a minimum of 3 hours or overnight (would be great to make the night before a dinner party, just multiply the recipe). Top with raspberries and cacao nibs or topping of choice and be prepared for compliments

*This recipe produces a sweet milky chocolate mousse. For a darker, more intense chocolate flavor, increase the amount of paste.

TRU Cuisine’s Rainbow Stuffing
(serves 6)

4 Stalks of Organic Celery (minced)

2 Medium Organic Zucchini’s (shredded & squeezed to drain any access water)

½ Cup Yellow Onion (finely chopped)

1 Large Carrot (shredded & chopped)

1 Sweet Apple (cored & diced)

¼ Cup + 2 Tablespoons Vivapura Monukka Raisins (chopped)

1 Tablespoon of Cold Pressed Olive Oil

4 to 5 teaspoons of Stuffing Mix – below

Mix all ingredients well; then add Stuffing Mix.

Stuffing Mix

2 teaspoons Mixed Italian Seasoning

2 Tablespoons Nutritional Yeast

½ teaspoon Garlic Powder

1 ½ teaspoons Dried Parsley

1 ½ teaspoons Dill Weed

1 teaspoon Tarragon

1 teaspoon Celery Seed

¼ teaspoon Cracked Pepper

3 ¼ teaspoons Onion Powder

Celtic Sea Salt to taste

Mix together well. ENOY! Will keep for 2 days refrigerated…We think this would be great with chopped golden cherries as well to add another dimension of sweetness to the dish (or chopped incan berries for a cranberry like tang). Yum!!

For more delicious recipes, information on Raw & Living Foods, upcoming events and class schedules, visit TruCuisine.com.

Choco-Goji Bites

Choco-Goji Bites

(makes approximately 30-40 balls)

8 oz goji berries

8 oz mulberries

16 oz cacao nibs

8 oz green hemp seed meal

2 T lucuma

1 c coconut oil, melted

1/8 tsp salt

3 T yacon syrup

Cacao powder, maca, or additional cacao nibs for rolling (optional)

Ridiculous amounts of laughter and love

Grind cacao nibs in food processor until well broken down (close to a powder) and set aside.  Grind goji berries to coarse powder in food processor (approximately 30 seconds).  Add mulberries and grind more (another 30 seconds).  Add green hemp seed meal and pulse to combine.  Add ground cacao nibs, salt and lucuma and pulse more until evenly combined.  Add coconut oil and yacon and mix well to form dough consistency.  Form into balls and gently roll in the palm of your hands after balls are formed to smooth if desired.  Serve as is or roll balls in desired superfood or superfood powder (cacao powder, maca, cacao nibs, etc.)….Chill to harden or serve soft and see if you can resist eating more than just one!

Choco-Goji Bites coated with cacao nibs, maca and cacao powder

…AAAAND most of these ingredients can be found in our Top 10 Superfoods Kit as well!

Other delightful variations:

Choco-Goji Bites Tart
Press dough into shallow tart tin with scalloped edges and top with chocolate icing, drizzle with chocolate sauce or serve as is with a side of raw ice cream or whipped cream

Choco-Goji Bites Cookies
Form dough into patties instead of balls and drizzle with chocolate icing or melted lucuma vanilla coconut creme or scoop softened (not melted) lucuma vanilla creme onto one cookie and top with another to make sandwich cookies…yum!

Super Power Choco-Goji Bites
Add 2 T-1/4 c Healthforce Vitamineral Green, raw protein powder (Warrior Food or other sprouted rice protein), and/or spirulina (remove equal amount green hemp seed meal if necessary) and roll finished balls in Spirulina Crunchies.  Serve soft or chill to harden and enjoy!

Sorry to have been gone for a bit! Life has been abundantly busy here in the Vivapura aWarehouse. Lots of orders to ship, lots of product to bag and lots of beautiful customers to converse with on the phone. That has left very little time for recipe development or blogging. I decided to start up again with a beautiful recipe just in time for Valentine’s Day. Also, if you would like to get some cacao ingredients to make chocolate at home we have a coupon available for web orders. Order any cacao product (nibs, powder, paste or butter) from our site and use coupon code “cacao20″ for 20% off your cacao purchases!

I made these little heart chocolates a few weeks ago, inspired by my new silicon heart ice cube tray and curious about some sweetener a friend had dropped off for me to try, Palm Sugar. I’ve heard lots about Palm Sugar but have yet had a chance to use it. It worked ok in this recipe but I never could get it to really dissolve in the chocolate so it left a crispy sort of texture. I was a bit distracted by it but all of my taste testers were raving about these so I decided to share them anyway. You could play around with other sweeteners as well.

Chocolate Hearts with Super Berry Filling

1 cup strawberries, chopped
6 drops Valencia Orange Stevia

Place both ingredients into a high-speed blend and blend until smooth. Leaving the puree in the blender add the following:
1/4 cup Barberries
1/4 cup Goji Berries

Stir these into the puree in your blender and allow to soak for 15 minutes. Blend again until puree is mostly smooth but some texture remaining.

2 cups Cacao Paste
1/2 cup palm sugar
1 tsp. Cacao Paste
1 tsp. Super Maca
1/4 cup Coconut Oil
pinch mineral rich salt

Fill a bowl or pan with boiling water, find another bowl or pan that sits on top of the bowl filled with boiling water. Place cacao paste in the top bowl and stir until it melts. If your water cools too much you may desire to add more hot water to the bottom bowl. Once the cacao paste is melted add each of the other ingredients one by one until everything is well-combined.

You can use chocolate molds, silicon baking or ice cube trays or a baking dish. You want to use half of your chocolate in whatever sort of mold you are using. Swirling it around the edges ever so slightly so there is a bit of a coating around the edges. Place your mold in the freezer and allow it to set until firm.

Next your are going to spread the Super Berry Filling on the first layer of chocolate.

Make sure to not spread the filling right to the very edge of the chocolate layer, this will ensure that the filling becomes totally enclosed. Also, be sure to keep the filling as low profile as possible so that the top layer of chocolate can fit. You may have leftover filling (it tastes great added to smoothies, used in cakes or spread on any sort of bread).

Finally, cover the filling with your additional chocolate. Trying carefully to cover the filling so that none peaks out. If you choose to garnish your chocolates be sure to do that now. I used Barberries on mine.

Now allow the chocolates to set once more. Once they have hardened you need not store them in the freezer, they will keep fine in the refrigerator. Since the filling uses some fresh fruit be sure to not let them sit more than a week or so before gobbling them up. Who am I kidding? These couldn’t last a week in anyone’s refrigerator before being gobbled up!

When I prepared this recipe I also added a mashed potato-like recipe from Matthew Kenney’s book Everday Raw. It was a nice addition.

Pecan & Mushroom Stuffed Chard Rolls

Mushrooms:
12 oz. baby portobello mushrooms, caps & stems sliced
4 twigs fresh rosemary, “leaves” removed & minced
1 lemon, juiced
1 tsp. mineral rich salt
1/2 tsp. onion powder
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 cup olive oil

Place all ingredients in a bowl & toss well. Allow to marinate for at least 30 minutes, tossing occasionally. Place marinated mushrooms on a teflex sheet and dehydrate for 3-6 hours.

Pecan Stuffing
2 cups Pecan Pieces
2 cloves garlic
4 twigs fresh rosemary, twigs removed & discarded
1/2 tbs. dried thyme
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 tsp salt
1 bunch parsley, roughly chopped

Place all ingredients into container of a food processor. Pulse until well-combined and a crumbly, stuffing-like consistency is achieved.

Cranberry Chutney

8 oz. fresh cranberries
2 oranges, peeled & chopped
1/2 tbs. Vanilla Powder
1/3 cup apple pulp, leftover from juicing
1 tbs. raw honey or other liquid sweetener
pinch salt

Place all ingredients into a food processor container. Pulse until well combined but still with some texture.

Assembly:
1 bunch chard, washed & de-stemmed
Dehydrated Mushrooms
Pecan Stuffing
Cranberry Chutney

Take a half of a chard leaf and place a small pile of pecan stuffing, a spoonful of cranberry chutney and a sprinkling of dehydrated mushrooms on the top third of the leaf. Roll the leaf carefully around the filling. Do this until you run out of filling.

I digress, tonight I’m sharing the recipe that I made with the leftover pumpkin pulp from the Pumpkin Cheesecake. Having had two meal invitations that day it worked well to have two related desserts. If I had really been multitasking I would have made a double batch of the topping for the cheesecake and used some of it in the trifle. Instead I created a lighter cream that features Jarrah Bee Pollen.

Pumpkin Pear Trifle with Jarrah Creme

Crumble:
2 cups packed pumpkin pulp (leftover from juicing)
1/3 cup Cocopura Coconut Oil
1/3 raw honey or other liquid sweetener
1/4 cup Coconut Flour
1 tsp. Vanilla Powder
1 tsp. cinnamon
pinch of salt
1/2 cup Pecan pieces

Combine all ingredients except pecans in a food processor, process until well-combined. Add pecans and pulse until well combined. Take mixture and crumble it onto a teflex sheet. Dough should be around bite sized pieces. Dry in dehydrator until quite dry, soe moistness is the middle is nice but the outside should be dry. This will take between 6 and 12 hours.

Jarrah Creme
1 1/2 cup coconut milk (made from thai young coconuts or Coconut Flakes)
1/4 cup raw honey or other liquid sweetener
1 lemon, juiced
1 cup macadamia nuts
1/2 tbs Vanilla Powder
1/2 cup Coconut Oil
2 tbs. Jarrah Bee Polle
pinch mineral rich salt

Add all ingredients into a high-speed blender and blend until smooth. Allow to set in freezer while you assemble the rest of the trifle.

Assembly
6 extremely ripe D’Anjou pears; peeled, quartered & sliced
1 lemon, juiced
1/2 tbs. Vanilla Powder
Pumpkin crumble
Jarrah Creme

Combine pear slices, lemon juice and vanilla powder and toss gently in a bowl.

In a small trifle bowl place 1/2 of the pear mixture along the bottom. Add half of the pumpkin mixture next and then half of the creme. Repeat this order with the remaining ingredients. Allow the mixture to sit for a few hours in the refrigerator at least for the layers to settle together.

Wednesdays Blog: Mushroom & Pecan Stuffed Chard Rolls

I attended not one but two Thanksgiving gatherings last week and I brought this to the more “traditional” of the gatherings. I did partake of some heavenly fire roasted yams but the bulk of my meal was a lovely raw onion bread topped with a lovely kale salad and a hefty dollop of this sauce. One of my hosts declared, “This tastes like SweetTarts!” after she tasted the sauce.

Anyhow, my point is, don’t relegate this cranberry sauce to your thanksgiving table. Happily enjoy it throughout the cranberry season!

Goji Cranberry Sauce

2 tbs. Irish Moss, powdered
1/2 cup of water
1 cup goji berries
1 1/2 cups fresh squeezed orange juice
12 oz. fresh cranberries
1/2 tsp. Vanilla Powder
1 2″ knob ginger, grated
stevia to taste (orange flavored works nicely)

Combine Irish Moss Powder & water and set aside. Soak goji berries in orange juice for 5 minutes. Combine Irish Moss mixture, gojis & juice with remaining ingredients in a high powered blender. Blend on high until smooth. Store in a glass jar and allow to thicken over night.

This will not “gel” like a traditional cranberry sauce. It will be a thick but pour-able consistency. Delicious with raw, wilted greens.

Wednesdays blog: Raw Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies