Ode To Raw Sammies (And Wraps Too!)

As much as we enjoy a complex, raw gourmet meal, we often eat quite simply. For me, nothing beats a simple supper of soup, salad, and an open faced sandwich on raw crackers or bread. Oh, and sprouts, lots and lots of sprouts! Yum! Simplicity at its best! Plus, sandwiches are always a perfect answer for those days when I don't have a great deal of time or energy to put into preparing our evening fare.

Revamping An Ol' Favorite
Once upon a time, before the advent of microwave ovens and TV dinners, sandwiches (in their many forms and shapes), were the obvious choice when it came to eating something that needed to be simple, quick, and even portable. Between school, work, road trips and parties, I'm sure we've all eaten our fair share of them. I never knew how much I missed having sandwiches, though, until I discovered raw breads. "Can't reinvent the wheel," you say? Well, maybe you can after all...

WonderBread: The Raw Generation

Like most people, bread used to play a prominent part in my diet. Toasted bread for breakfast, bread for lunch or dinner, and sometimes bread for late-night snacks. I even worked at an artisan organic bakery at some point, eating soooooo much of it; I was turning into a Pillsbury Dough Girl.

When I seriously started cleaning up my diet, bread was one of the first things to go. (I gotta say that my sensitivities to gluten really helped breaking my bread addiction!)

We never dreamed of having raw breads until we got our Excalibur dehydrator. I mean, sure, we had tried the 'Manna Bread' sold in health food stores, but never quite took to it. (Tasted too much like cake to me!) However, I was thrilled when I unbaked my first batch of raw bread. Yay! At last, something simple to enjoy with our daily soups!

I discovered the Onion Bread and Russell James' Almond Bread recipes early on (both of which I have already posted, just check the Recipe Index). These have become our staples and make such fantastic bases for sandwiches, that it sort of stopped my bread quest in its tracks. As a result, I haven't been experimenting much with sprouted grain-based breads. However, Alissa Cohen's calzone dough (another house favorite), is made with sprouted buckwheat and is so wonderfully adaptable that you can use it as a base for whatever bread you want. Just play around with the seasonings...

Aside from the many bread recipes in her book 'Living on Live Food', Alissa has a Rye Bagels recipe. Although I haven't had a chance to try it yet, it's said to be very good. She has actually shared the recipe on the Forum. Just look here.

Still, I haven't totally given up on new bread recipes. In fact, I just made RawGuru's Tomato Herb Bread. Although the recipe needs a little tweaking (see my comments), it is absolutely delish! A new favorite!

Tomato Herb Bread
Posted by RawGuru in his latest newsletter

1 cup almond flour
1 cup sunflower seeds
3 tbs. flax seed meal (I doubled the amount)
½ apple (chopped)
1 fresh tomato
2 tbs. avocado oil (olive oil works fine!)
1 teaspoon Himalayan Crystal Salt
2 teaspoons Wild Tomato Concentrate (I just used more sun dried tomatoes)
½ cup soaked sun dried unsalted tomatoes
1 clove garlic
½ cup parsley
1 teaspoon dry Italian herb seasoning
1 tbs. lemon juice

In a food processor or high speed blender, grind the almonds and sunflower seeds until fine. Set aside in a large mixing bowl.

In a blender, add the rest of the ingredients and blend till thick. Add this mixture into the nut/seed flour. Stir everything with a wooden spoon or by hand. The dough should be pliable and elastic. Add more flax seed meal if you think it's necessary.

Line a few dehydrator trays with teflex sheets and spread a thin layer of the dough with a spatula. Make it about 1 inch in height. (!?!) Using a butter knife cut through the dough to form 9-10 squares. Dehydrate for 3 hrs. and remove from the teflex sheet and place on the mesh sheets. Dehydrate for 8 hrs or until firm.

Carmella's Notes:
This bread tastes totally awesome, however, it needs a little tweaking. Nothing that can't be easily overcome though! I don't know if I did something wrong here (all I can think of is that I used left-over almond pulp instead of almond flour), but it did not yield a lot of dough at all. There is no way you could spread the dough an inch thick and fill several trays like the recipe suggests! I also ended up adding some of the soak water in order to make the dough more manageable and still, it just barely filled a single tray, spreading the batter more like a 1/4 inch thick. In any case, I'd strongly recommend doubling the recipe to make it worth your while. It's so delish, you won't regret it!

As always, you can check out the Raw Food Talk archives, but here's a couple of threads you might find of interest in regards to breads:

Thread One
Thread Two

Fillings Galore
If I was to list all the possibilities of sandwich fillings to choose from, this could easily turn into the longest blog post in history! Nut 'cheeses', spreads, pates... Just take your pick!


There are raw renditions to virtually every SAD fillings you can think of, including Zucchini Hummus, Egg-less 'Egg' Spread, Mock 'Chicken' Salad, Tuna Salad, and Mock Salmon Pate. I've even made a Mock 'Liver' type spread (although I prefer to call it 'Nuts for Mushroom Pate'. It just sounds so much more... well, shall we say 'appetizing'?)

Nuts for Mushroom Pate
Inspired by Richard Salome's Vegetarian Chopped Liver Pate

1/2 cup soaked pumpkin seeds
1/2 cup soaked almonds
1/4 cup soaked walnuts
1/8 cup brown sesame seeds
1/8 cup soaked sunflower seeds
1 or 2 garlic cloves
1/2 cup mushrooms
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp powdered kelp
big handful of fresh parsley
1/4 tsp sage
2 tbs lemon juice
1/2 tbs oil
Braggs or salt, to taste
a little water

Blend nuts and seeds in processor until smooth.

Add remaining ingredients and blend until smooth, adding water until desired consistency is reached.


Of course, there are also excellent raw versions of all-time favorite condiments. Here are a few of them:

Avocado Mayo
Posted in RawGuru's most recent newsletter

2 ripe avocados
1.5 tbs. lemon juice
2 pinches Celtic Sea Salt
½ cup soaked raw cashews
1 tbs. parsley
1 tbs. avocado oil
¾ cup water

Blend until smooth.


'Mustard'
Posted by Doe on Raw Food Talk

1 cup brown soaked mustard seeds
¾ cup lemon juice
½ tsp salt

Blend until smooth.


'Aioli Sauce'
Posted by Doe on Raw Food Talk

1/2 avocado
3 tbsp olive oil
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
1 tbsp raw honey or maple syrup
1 tbsp nama shoyu
1 tbsp prepared mustard (optional)
1 clove garlic
1/4 C chopped parsley
2 tbsp chopped basil
Fresh water as needed
Pinch sea salt or to taste

In a blender, blend avocado, olive oil, lemon juice, apple cider vinegar, honey or maple syrup, nama shoyu, mustard (if desired), garlic, parsley, and basil until smooth. Add fresh water a few drops at a time to blend to desired consistency. Season with sea salt. Sauce should be thick and smooth.

For more yummy raw condiment ideas, you may want to visit this thread.


Just Make A (Sand)Wish
Some of our favorite sandwiches include nut cheese, avocado, tomato, marinated mushrooms and lettuce on almond bread (shown on left) and BLT on onion bread. Yep, there's even a raw approximation of bacon made with eggplant (although, eggplant bacon doesn't really taste like the 'real' thing - which is totally fine by me!) The recipe is a classic on Raw Food Talk.

Eggplant as a bacon
Recipe by Top Raw Men, posted
by Sweet lips

1 large eggplant, thinly sliced lengthwise
3/4 c. oil (I only used 1/4 cup oil)
1 tsp. cayenne
2 Tbl. honey
4 Tbl. Ume Plum Vinegar (ACV works good too)

Marinate for 2 hours. Place on teflex sheets and dehydrate for 9 hours. Turn bacon over and dehydrate another 9 hours. (Didn't take me that long though.)


But wait, since pictures are worth a thousand words, how about I let Raw Food Talk's many talented raw chefs give you some more great sandwich combos?

Beckla's romaine and tomato using calzone crust for bread:

Eilene's Mediterranean Almond Bread with Eggless-Egg Salad, Avocado, Romaine and Tomato:

JennaBoBenna's Onion bread sandwich with creamy cashew cheese, tomatoes, zukes, romaine and orange bell peppers:

Petals' Meatloaf Sandwich made with Rawlife's meatloaf, Rawkinloc's garlic bread, Alissa's spinach dip, some onions, tomatoes, and lettuce:

Crisyn's Open Faced Sandwich - Mediterranean Almond Bread, topped with Eggless Egg Salad, baby greens, tomato and some perfectly ripe avocado:


Ertarox's Deli Sandwich: Avocado Spread, Zesty Herb Cheeze, tomatoes, cucumbers, sprouts, and a thick layer of marinated portabella mushrooms on rye bread (made with Alissa's rye bagels recipe):

And last but not least, RawVeganMom's BLT on chewy onion bread with sunflower mayo:

Mmmmmmmmm... Making me fall in love with raw sammies all over again!

Raw Wrhapsodies
Wraps are the healthy, 'hip' version of sandwiches; perfect for those times when you feel like something a little lighter. We used to make wraps out of Ezekiel sprouted tortillas, but these sort of fell by the wayside too, as we embraced a fully raw diet.

Last summer, my good friend and raw chef, Chantale Roy, was selling wonderful, tasty veggie wraps at the farmer's market. So light, pliable and uniquely different from anything we'd ever tried before! Armed with the list of basic ingredients, I tried to recreate them at home, but let's just say that the results weren't too conclusive (and I'm being generous! LOL) In any case, they looked more like crackers (and crumbly ones at that!) rather than soft wraps. Disappointed, I gave up on my wild wrap experiments, hoping I'd eventually come across a similar recipe.

When I recently stumbled upon Cherie Soria's veggie wraps (thanks to s.alubrio.us' del.icio.us raw recipes bookmarks), I instantly knew I had finally hit the jackpot!

You'll find 3 of Cherie's recipes for soft tortillas/wraps on this site. If you look closely, you'll notice that they all follow a basic formula of 10 to 12 cups of veggies, avocado, seasonings, and psyllium husk powder (to help the ingredients bind). Once you get a feel for it, you can easily adapt the wraps to suit whatever you have handy. A great way to use up those veggies that are wrinkling away in your fridge too!

Here is my tweaked up version of Cherie's Salsa Wraps:

PepperAma Wraps
(This one is for you, Ama, pepper-lover that you are!)

5 cups seeded and chopped red and yellow bell peppers
3 cups chopped zucchini
1 cup tomato, seeds removed
1 cup sundried tomato, soaked and drained
1 tablespoon leek (although green or red onion would work too)
2 teaspoons onion powder
1 to 2 cloves garlic, crushed
½ teaspoon sea salt
1 avocado, peeled, seeded, and mashed
3 tablespoons psyllium powder
¼ cup chopped cilantro, packed (optional)

1. In a high-powered blender, purée the bell peppers, zucchini, tomatoes, and leek or onion until smooth. Add the onion powder, garlic, and salt, and purée again. While blender is still turning, add the avocado, and then the psyllium powder, and blend well for a few seconds.

2. If desired, pulse in the cilantro until it is broken into pieces. Do not fully process; the cilantro should be in small pieces.

3. Using 1/2 cup of the mixture for each wrap, use a flat rubber spatula to quickly form four flat disks on a dehydrator tray lined with a nonstick sheet. Each disk should be about 7 inches in diameter, and they should not quite touch each other. Spread the wraps into round disks quickly, or the mixture will thicken and become difficult to spread.

4. Dehydrate at 105 degrees for about 4 hours, or until you can easily remove them from the nonstick sheets.

5. Turn the wraps over onto mesh dehydrator screens. Place an additional mesh screen on top of each tray of wraps. This makes them flatter and easier to store. Continue dehydrating another 3 to 4 hours, until dry but still flexible.

6. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to two weeks, or in the freezer for up to two months.

As you can see, I also experimented with making some square wraps. It does save a little work, although you do get the hang of making the circles after a while. Just spread the batter (maybe a little over 2 cups) on an entire teflex sheet and then score it into 4. Alternatively, you could probably cut the wraps after they're dehydrated, with scissors or pizza cutters.

Here they are on the way to the D...

More Rawesome Fillings
For some reason, it just feels like you can be a lot more creative with wraps than sandwiches. Perhaps because you get to fit that much more filling into them (which has always been my favorite part anyway! LOL)

Actually, the veggie wrappers are so deliciously flavorful themselves that you'll find you don't need much more to make a tasty meal.

Here are some yummy fillings we've tried so far:

• Rich Cheddar Sauce, marinated zucchini and Portobello mushrooms, alfalfa sprouts, red and yellow peppers and black olives.

• Creamy Spinach Spread, mung bean sprouts, alfalfa sprouts, red and yellow peppers.

Creamy Spinach Spread
This is actually a very simple recipe. I got the idea one day when I had left over 'cream cheese'.

Cream Cheese
1 ½ cups raw cashews, soaked for at least 1 hour
½ cup pure water
1 tsp salt (or to taste)
1 Tbsp Lemon juice

3 cups of spinach (we like it with lots of spinach but you could use less if you want)
minced garlic, to taste
Tamari or salt, to taste
your favorite fresh or dried herbs (optional)

Prepare the cream cheese (or use some you have already made).

Pulse chop the spinach in your food processor until finely minced. (You don't want a green mush though!)

Gently fold the spinach, garlic and seasonings into the cream cheese.

That's it!


Another scrumptious and quickly whipped-up filling is avocado mashed up with a little pesto of your choice, tomato, lettuce and sprouts. Simple but so tasty!

My friend Chantale makes delightful, exotic wraps. Here are a few of her awesome filling ideas:

• California: pecan paté, veggies, mango, avocado, clover sprouts
  
• Tuscane's sun: Brazil and cashew nut 'cheese', sun-dried olives and tomatoes, marinated onions, peppers, clover sprouts
• Pizza: Pine nut ricotta 'cheese', basil pesto, veggies, clover sprouts

These wraps make such a wonderful, light alternative to nut or seed-based breads and crackers. They also make ideal traveling food. (In fact, the wrap recipes were posted on a site about raw foods to bring when going hiking.)

There you have it! Countless, delicious possibilities to play with! I can just tell that we'll pretty much live on sammies and wraps this summer, when the heat (can hardly wait!!!) will naturally move us away from the heavier, more complex meals. Plus, I doubt that I'll feel like uncooking up a storm and cranking up the D too often while the sun is shining outside... unless, of course, we relocate The Sunny Raw Kitchen on our deck! (Is there such a thing as raw BBQ's? LOL)

Sunny Raw Tips
Make sure to assemble your wraps a little ahead of time before serving. This will allow the fillings to soften the veggie wrappers. They'll just melt in your mouth! Mmmmmmmm

For an even easier and lighter alternative, simply wrap your favorite fillings in lettuce, chard, collard or cabbage leaves. Oh, and I almost forgot nori sheets!

*~*~*~*
Photo Credits
Almond Bread Sandwich by Fairygirl
Onion Bread (adapted from Rawvolution's recipe) Sharon in Colorado
Alissa's Rye Bagels by Veganforlife
Onion Bread Sandwich by SeaGrass7
Eggplant Bacon by Veganforlife

New Kitchen Gadgets

You may have noticed a few recent changes around the Sunny Kitchen lately; all aimed at helping you find your way more easily around this site.

Recipe Index Revisited
In addition to the newly added Recipe Index being organized alphabetically, by categories as well as by blog posts, you can now see at a glance whether recipes are 'dehydrator-free' or 'dehydrator-friendly'.

Googling the Kitchen
Can't remember which post talked about dehydrating temperatures? Wondering whether I've already discussed feeding raw foods to our animal friends? Or perhaps you have a bunch of ripe tomatoes sitting on your counter and would like to see if there's any interesting recipe ideas floating around this blog. You can now do a search of the SRK's archives through a Google Search Engine. Simply type in what you're looking for and hit the button!

Playing Tags
What's with the list of Technorati tags appended at the end of each post? In case you aren't already familiar with Technorati tagging, here's how it works. A Technorati tag is a "keyword or category used to describe the subject matter or topic of a blog post." Say you were interested in the category "raw recipes." By clicking on that particular tag, not only will you be given a list of all the relevant posts on The Sunny Raw Kitchen labeled "raw recipes", but you can see all the blogs registered with Technorati having posts discussing "raw recipes" as well. Technorati is what's known as a "blogosphere search engine," giving you an inside glimpse into the ever-growing 'blogworld'. Man, you just gotta love technology (when it's working! LOL)

To learn more about Technorati tags, you can visit this blog.

Cheesecake Home Delivery
One more thing before I go off on today's uncooking spree. Speaking of technological glitches, for some mysterious reason, Feedblitz (the service that I use for notifying subscribers of new posts on The Sunny Raw Kitchen), was experiencing some trouble last night. As a result, those who have subscribed to this blog did not receive an email informing them of yesterday's post on Raw Cheesecakes. All you have to do is keep scrolling down to submerge yourself into "Healthy Decadence" or access the post from the archives in the sidebar. (And don't you worry, I kept you a nice, big piece...)

Oh, and while on the topic of Feedblitz subscriptions, a few of my readers have mentioned to me how they have signed up, yet haven't been receiving any email notifications. As I was saying, it's good to keep in mind that computers aren't infallible. Also remember that the Feedblitz registration is a two-step process. Once you have filled in your email address in the appropriate box, keep a close eye on your inbox. You should receive an email (usually within minutes) asking you to confirm your subscription. If you don't, you might want to check your SPAM folder, in case it was sent there. I know it's a bit of a drag, but the idea is to avoid other people signing you up for blogs you're not interested in (or worse, never even heard of!) If you are still experiencing difficulty, it might be a good idea to just try signing up again.

Have a good one everyone!

Technorati Tags: Recipe index, Google search, Technorati, Feedblitz

Healthy Decadence

...or How to 'Have Your Cheesecake and Eat it Too'!

In case you thought that the Raw Food Diet is about sacrifice and austere deprivation, I have some great news for you: it is anything but! You can make all sorts of incredibly tasty raw gourmet dishes, but desserts are 'creating in the raw' in its most stunning and delectable form. (If you still have your doubts, just take a peek at my post about Fairygirl here. That should take care of it!) What's more, raw desserts have all the scrumptious looks and palatable taste of the most exquisite cooked desserts... minus the undesirable side effects. Guilt-free decadence? Mmmmmmmm... Now you're talking!

Even Better Than The 'Real' Thing
I must have had SAD cheesecake only twice in my entire life. (I'm not kidding!) All that sugar and cheese... No thanks! What can I say? I was never a big fan of desserts. (I mean, prior to getting into Raw... lol) Therefore, I was initially a little suspicious of raw cheesecake. I kept procrastinating and procrastinating until I could no longer ignore all the hoots and raves about it.

Imagine my surprise (and delight!) when I discovered that while raw cheesecake is sweet, creamy and rich, the resemblance with its infamous twin stops here. It is a perfect example of how the 'living' version of a recipe can surpass the SAD one in every way. As Cherie Soria, founder of Living Light Culinary Arts Institute, would say: "If you can make a raw vegan cheesecake better than regular cheesecake, why would you eat regular cheesecake?"

Cheesecake Making Demystified
In spite of what it may look like, making cheesecake is really not that difficult. There are many different variations, but if you look closely, they are all very similar. Come on! Let me walk you through the process of making my Tropical Cheesecake. You'll see what I mean...

First, we'll start with the crust. Most crusts are basically a combination of nuts and dried fruits, such as raisins or dates. My personal favorite uses pecans and dates, oh and that's a smidge of cinnamon and a pinch of salt you can see in there too:


Process until crumbly but not too much, as you don't want it to turn into a paste.


Then press the crust mixture into the bottom of a spring form pan. If you don't have one, no problemo! You can use a margarine tub or cake pan lined with saran wrap.


A'right, now we'll set the crust aside for a moment and get to work on the filling. Again, if you look at several cheesecake recipes, you'll notice how the filling ingredients are basically the same. One slight variation that you may encounter is in regards to coconut oil. Coconut oil stays firm at room temperature, therefore helping the cheesecake hold its shape once out of the fridge. You may also notice recipes calling for cacao butter. Besides lending its chocolate flavor, cacao butter also acts as a firming agent.

Here are the ingredients that we used for this particular recipe: soaked cashews, agave syrup, lemon juice, vanilla and water. We actually forgot to put coconut oil in and, as a result, the finished cheesecake turned out a little on the soft side.

Pour filling over the crust mixture and put in the freezer for a few hours to set.

Once the cheesecake has firmed up, you can take it out and gently transfer it onto a serving plate. Leave in the fridge to thaw.

Now, this is the point where you can let it rip and go whichever way you want: fruit or berry sauce, chocolate layer or whatever topping you fancy. This cheesecake was 'meant to be' Fairygirl's Chocolate Cream Stack but evolved into something quite different altogether. (Yet another example of how recipes sometimes have a mind of their own!)

We put slices of kiwi on top of the filling. Then we covered these with a Coconut Whipped Cream:

And the final touch: pieces of pineapple...

Tada! Tropical Cheesecake!


We served the cheesecake drizzled with a strawberry and agave sauce and dried coconut flakes:

Tropical Cheesecake

Crust:
2 cup of pecans, soaked and dried (or dehydrated)
12 soft dates
a dash of salt

Process the ingredients in a food processor until they are crumbly and will hold together. Press the crust mixture into the bottom of a spring form pan* and set aside.

* If you don't have a spring form pan, you can use one of those margarine tubs and line it with saran wrap.

Filling:
3 cups cashewssoaked for a few hours
1/2 - 3/4 cup honey or agave
1/2 cup lemon juice
2/3 cup coconut oil (warmed up in dehydrator or in bowl of warm water)
2 " piece of vanilla bean (or 1 tsp pure vanilla)
1/4 cup of water (or maybe a little more)

Blend everything in a high power blender or food processor until smooth. If using a FP, stop to let it rest a few minutes so as not to stress the motor.

Whipped Cream
From a Strawberry Cheesecake recipe that RawGuru posted on the Sunfood Nutrition Raw Food Lifestyle Forum

1 cup young coconut meat (chopped up)
3 tbs. raw cashews or mac nuts (soaked for 8-10 hrs)
5 dates or 1 tbs. honey (or more if you like it sweeter)
3 tbs. coconut water or almond milk
1/2 tsp. lemon zest
drop of vanilla extract

Blend until smooth.

Strawberry Sauce
1 bag of strawberries
1/4 cup of agave or honey

Blend until smooth.

To assemble:
Pour filling into the crust and let set in the freezer.

Once the cheesecake has firmed up, take out and gently transfer it onto a serving plate. Leave in the fridge to thaw.

Cover with slices of kiwi and a nice thick layer of Coconut Whipped Cream.

Decorate with pieces of fresh pineapple.

Served the cheesecake drizzled with Strawberry Sauce.

Close your eyes and enjoy!


Berry Cheesy Cake
There's a bunch of mouth-watering cheesecake recipes on the Raw Food Talk Forum, but a modified version of Emily Lee Angell's 'Just Like Cheesecake' is probably one of the most 'famous'.

The following is the original recipe and was recently posted by razzleberry under the thread 'Thank God 4 Raw Cheesecake' which says it all...

Just Like Cheesecake
By Emily Lee Angell ("The Complete Book of Raw Food")

Makes: 24 slivers

For the Crust:
2 cups raw mac nuts
1/2 cup dates, pitted (medjools)
1/4 cup dried coconut

For the Cheese:
3 cups chopped cashews, soaked for at least 1 hour
3/4 cup lemon juice
3/4 cup honey
3/4 cup coconut oil
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon celtic sea salt (optional)

For the Raspberry Sauce:
1 bag frozen raspberries (or use whatever berries you prefer)
1/2 cup dates

To make the crust, process the macadamia nuts and dates in the food processor. Sprinkle dried coconut onto the bottom of an 8 or 9 inch spring form pan. Press crust onto the coconut. This will prevent it from sticking.

To make the cheese, blend the cashews, lemon, honey, gently warmed coconut oil (do not use microwave), vanilla, sea salt (if using), and 1/2 cup water. Blend until smooth and adjust to taste.

Pour the mixture onto the crust. Remove air bubbles by tapping the pan on a table.

Place in the freezer until firm. Remove the whole cake from the pan while frozen and place on a serving platter. Defrost in the refrigerator.

Serve with Raspberry Sauce.

Razzleberry's Notes:
I forgot to add the vanilla, but mine still tastes amazing! And instead of honey, I used agave and dates. Oh, and another tip. BLEND, BLEND, BLEND all the cheese mixture so it is very creamy and there aren't big chunks of cashews left. Probably an obvious thing to say, but hey!


Cheesecakes for Chocolate Lovers
While working on this post, I made Sheryl Duruz's Chocolate Caramel Divine Cheesecake from the gorgeous Raw Food Holiday Celebration Guide. (Well, ya know, I had to know what I was talking about!) Sheryl also posted the recipe on Raw Food Talk. You can find it here.

As you'll see, her cheesecake filling is essentially identical to the one above, except that she calls for a little cacao butter and some agave instead of honey. As I didn't have cacao butter, I simply replaced it with coconut oil. I also used less agave, perhaps only 1/2 cup.

Although it was quite good, if I was to make it again, I'd put a little less coconut oil and lemon juice, and reduce the salt to a pinch. But hey, everyone's taste buds are different. To demonstrate this point, my neighbor (to whom I had sent a couple of pieces), walked in my kitchen this afternoon, praising how "excellent" and "unreal" the cheesecake was! She still can't get over the fact that it was all raw!

Staying with the chocolate theme, raw chef Vanessa Sherwood, featured on GreenChefs, posted the recipe to her decadent Blackforest Chocolate Cheesecake on Raw Food Talk. (The place is a real treasure chest, I tell ya!) Man, if that doesn't look like raw dessert at its best, I don't know what does! (It's on top of my 'to-make' list!) On GreenChefs, it is described as "bursting with sweet cherries layered between a chocolate crust and a creamy chocolate cheesecake filling."

Blackforest Chocolate Cheesecake
By Vanessa Sherwood

Filling:
2 cups cashews, soaked 1 hour or more
1/4 cup agave nectar
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup cacao butter, melted
1/4 cup coconut oil, melted
1-2 teaspoons coffee extract (optional)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Seeds from 1/2 vanilla bean
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup cocao powder
1 10oz package frozen cherries, thawed

Blend everything together except for the cocoa powder and cherries until completely smooth. At this point, if your blender can take it, blend in the cocoa powder. Otherwise scrape the mixture into a mixing bowl and whisk the cocoa powder in by hand. Hand mix in the thawed cherries. If you want to make a sauce out of the cherries, either set some aside or use an additional package.

*About the coffee extract. Coffee enhances the flavor of chocolate. I use Java Juice- Pure Organic Coffee Extract. The website is www.javajuiceextract.com. If you don’t want to use it, substitute more vanilla extract or just leave it out.

Crust:
1/2 cup brazil nuts
1/2 cup shredded coconut
Pinch of salt
1 heaping tablespoon cocao powder
1-2 tablespoons agave
1-2 tablespoons cacao nibs
Seeds from 1/4 vanilla bean

Process the brazil nuts, shredded coconut, salt, cocoa powder and vanilla bean seeds in a food processor until fine crumbs. Add the agave and cacao nibs until the mixture just starts to stick together. Press into the bottom of a springform pan. If you are making a large cheesecake, feel free to double or even triple the recipe (crust and filling).

Pour the filling over the crust and chill or freeze until ready to serve.

Vanessa also posted a White Chocolate-Strawberry Cheesecake that's looks just fabulous. You can find the recipe here.

Have I got you drooling all over your keyboards yet? Well I AM so I better stop! lol

Now if I've piqued your curiosity, tickled your bellies and left you wanting for more, remember that there's lots of raw cheesecake recipes floating around the web. All you have to do is get digging...

It's your turn to see for yourselves what the fuss is all about. So which recipe is gonna be first?

*~*~*~*
Photo credits:
Raspberry cheesecake from Living Light Culinary School by AmaFlynn
Caramel Divine Cheesecake from Raw Food Holiday Celebration Guide
Cheesecake with Blueberry Sauce by lunalin
Raspberry cheesecake by RawFoodieMom
Blackforest Chocolate Cheesecake by Vanessa Sherwood
White Chocolate-Strawberry Cheesecake by Vanessa Sherwood

Technorati Tags: Raw, raw food, raw foods, raw recipes, recipes, raw cheesecake, cheesecake, tropical cheesecake, whipped cream, raspberry cheesecake, chocolate cheesecake, Black Forest cheesecake