The avocadoes are ripe...what do you do? What do you do?

What to do with very ripe avocadoes and gorgeous strawberries? Make a dark chocolate and strawberry pie, of course. I had leftover pie crust in the freezer. Popped it in a glass pie dish and put in the dehydrator for a few minutes to soften. Pressed it in the bottom.

Then lined that with thinly sliced strawberries tossed in a bit of agave. Set in the fridge.

Took a bunch of avos, added in David Wolfe's organic cacao powder, Artisana coconut creme, agave, salt and the meat of two young coconuts, plus a little of the water. Blended in the FP, threw in a handful of cacao nibs, stirred, poured into the waiting pie plate. Garnished with remaining strawberries and some nibs.

That finished off my giant jar of DW cacao powder, so I poured the remaining coconut water into that, shook it up, and drank it.

Say it with me, friends.

RAW ROCKS.

Coconuts Roasting...on an Open Fire.

I had my first fire tonight. Not in a Drew Barrymore/Stephen King/Firestarter kind of way. The home where I'm now living has a fireplace. And all of my apartments and homes since moving out of my parents' house have been sans fireplace. It got really chilly tonight, so I set up a little fire and hung out in front of it. There's nothing cozier than a wood fire, and the smell is so gorgeous. What's this got to do with raw? Well, I'm gonna tell you.

At my last home, I was fortunate enough to be on a farm, with a landlady who had a huge compost that I could use. We found out quickly that my young coconuts took a bit too long to break down, so I resorted to throwing them out. Not any longer, superfriends! Scrape those coconuts out, let them dry, and they make rawesome fire catchers. Or kindling. Or whatever. Anyway, it burned well and I had a groovy, warm, incredible fire to toast my toes and chilly nose.

If you've got a fireplace and a love of young coconuts, get on the coconut boat and do your part to reduce, reuse, and recycle!

I'm your firestarter,

xo
V

Coconut and Banana Cream Pie (I Would Eat This for Breakfast Pie)

So I've been reading all my raw recipe books, getting ideas, and I decided to make a pie for the potluck I went to this evening.

Taking some cues from different recipes, I did my own thing and was really pleased with the results. The only thing I'd like to work with is getting the pie to set more firmly, but I think Irish Moss will do the trick. So, here's the 411. I tend to measure a lot by eye, but this time I wrote stuff down. Enjoy, and try not to eat all the batter before you pour it into the shell.

Equipment needed

• food processor
• mini prep food processor (if you have one, if not, just use the regular one)
• 9-inch pie pan

For the crust:

• 2 cups of hazelnuts
• 4 Tbsp almond flour (optional--I found that it added a good dry balance)
• 3/4 cups of dates, soaked and pitted
• 2-inch section of vanilla bean, seeds scraped and pod discarded
• sprinkle of sea salt
• 2 tsp of raw cacao powder
• 1 Tbsp coconut oil

Grind up nuts in food processor until fine, put aside in bowl. Then grind up dates, vanilla seeds and coconut oil. Put nuts back into food processor, add almond flour, sea salt and cacao powder. Blend thoroughly. Will have a sticky consistency, but shouldn't ball up.

Press the mix into your pie pan, pressing up the sides and smoothing the bottom. I put my pie shell in the dehydrator at 115 degrees for an hour or so, just to dry it out a bit since I was going to be adding wet ingredients.




Filling

• 1 cup of young coconut meat
• 1 cup of young coconut water (reserve any additional water in case you need more liquid)
• 3/4 cup coconut butter
• 1.5 large bananas (you may want to add more, depending on your preference)
• Couple pinches of sea salt
• 3-inch section of vanilla pod, scraped
• 3 Tbsp of lecithin (this emulsifies the ingredients and helps them to stay blended)
• 3/4 cups to 1 cup of dates, soaked and pitted

Blend all ingredients in food processor until smooth. I actually pre-blended the dates in a mini food processor, just so there wouldn't be big chunks, but that's totally up to your preference.
Put the mixture into a bowl in the fridge while the pie crust is in the dehydrator.

Topping

• Unsulphured dried and shredded coconut (Reserve to the side)
• 3-4 Tbsp Raw cacao powder
• Squirt of Agave nectar
• 1 tsp Vanilla
• About 2 Tbsp Coconut oil
• pinch of sea salt

This is one of the cases where I eyeballed the ingredients. Go by your tastebuds. Warning: this stuff is seriously edible. I put all the ingredients in a mini food processor and whirled it around.

When pie crust comes out, allow to sit out for a bit. Pour the filling into it, smoothing it over. Put into the freezer to set the top. After about a 1/2 hour, sprinkle the shredded coconut over the top (how much you use is up to you). Make the chocolate sauce, drizzle on the pie. Put it back in the freezer or fridge to set up a bit.

Eat. And moan with happiness.

xo
V