Detox Adventures

Last Friday marked the ending of a week-long detox that Owen and i decided to do as sort of a new year revitilization.  It was a fairly simple regime as far as detoxing goes; no bread/wheat, white rice, dairy, processed foods, refined sugars or salts, caffeine, alcohol, so on and so forth.  Difficult at first as I'm a coffee addict, though still quite fun to look to new recipes for satisfying meals.  It also gave me an excuse for raw food cheesecake, which is delicious minus all the cream cheese, dairy, sugar, all the stuff that makes your stomach go blaahhh.

Just like Cheesecake

Equipment needed:  Food Processor, 8-9in springform (or regular) pan

Crust

2 cups raw Macadamia nuts (or Almonds)
1/2 cup pitted dates

1/4 cup dried coconut (optional)

2 tbs raw carob powder (optional) 

Cheese

3 cups chopped cashews, soaked for at least 1 hr

3/4 cup fresh lemon juice

3/4 cup honey

3/4 cup coconut oil (virgin, cold pressed)

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp sea salt (optional)

Raspberry Sauce

1 bag frozen raspberries

1/2 cup dates

honey/agave nectar to taste, depending on how sweet you want it

Process macadamia nuts in a food processor.  Sprinkle coconut onto bottom of pan.

To make the cheese, blend cashews, lemon, honey, gently warmed coconut oil, vanilla, sea salt (if using), and 1/2 cup water.  Blend until smooth and adjust to taste. 

Pour mixture onto crust.  Place in the freezer until firm, defrost in refrigerator.  

To make raspberry sauce, process raspberries and dates (and honey if using) in a food processor until well blended.

Voila!  The wonderful thing about this cheesecake is that it only gets better over time.  Anyone is guaranteed to love this recipe, it is so light and sweet and hard to resist.