Posts tagged raw vegan

Cheesecake was one of my favourite deserts before becoming vegan. While I know I don’t miss dairy cheesecake, I do still love a good vegan cheesecake (see my post about Sweet Hereafter for proof!) During my raw week, I decided I was finally going to try making my own vegan cheesecake, and I’ve been wanting to try a recipe that uses cashews for creaminess for awhile now. I based my recipe on the “raw cashew dreamcake” at My New Roots. I was a little skeptical about how the cashews would work, but vegans (meaning just me) and non-vegans alike thought this was awesome.

The original recipe called for raspberries in the top layer, but I decided to go with what was local and chose mangoes instead. The little green flecks in there are lime zest, which I definitely recommend adding if you make this with mangoes. The flavours work together REALLY well!

This is the first recipe I’m posting that requires any specialized equipment, and I’m sorry about that - I try to make my recipes as accessible as possible. You can try it without a high powered blender, but I’m not positive that the filling will be as creamy. If you use a normal blender, make sure to soak the cashews overnight. This cheesecake is incredible, and definitely worth the extra effort. It might not be the “healthiest” recipe in terms of percent calories from fat, but that doesn’t always matter, especially when it’s all from healthy fats. And really, look at how beautiful it is! It tastes just as good.

Mango Cheesecake [raw vegan]
makes one eight inch cake (12 servings), recipe adapted from My New Roots

Ingredients
Crust:
1/2 cup raw pecans (other raw nuts would work as well)
1/2 cup soft Medjool dates (I used 5)
2 pinches of sea salt

Filling:
1 ½ cups raw cashews (soaked for at least 5 hours, longer if using a normal blender)
juice and zest of 2 limes
1 tsp. alcohol-free vanilla extract, or the seeds of a vanilla bean if you’re feeling fancy
1/3 cup raw coconut oil, melted
1/3 cup agave nectar
1 tablespoon coconut milk (optional)
1 cup soft fruit (I used mango)

Directions
Crust:
- Pit dates. Blend in a food processor with the pecans and salt until the mixture is in relatively uniform pieces.
- Press into the dish you’ll be using. If not a spring form or silicone pan, line it with plastic wrap before adding the crust mixture.

Filling:
- Drain and rinse the soaked cashews.
- Add all the filling ingredients besides the fruit into a high powered blender (like a Vitamix). Blend until completely smooth.
- Pour about 1/2 to 2/3 of the filling on top of the crust and smooth out with a spatula.
- Blend the fruit and the remaining filling until completely smooth again.
- Pour fruit filling on top of the plain filling, smooth out again, and freeze until firm.
- Remove from freezer about half an hour before serving. Top with sliced berries, raw chocolate sauce, pureed fruit, or coulis. Enjoy!

Nutritional information is for 1/12 of the recipe.

For the past four days, I’ve been eating “raw vegan”, which is really just what it sounds like  - eating all uncooked vegan food. This means that on top of not eating animal products, I haven’t had any cooked foods, grains, or legumes either. I guess what I’ve been doing is a modified raw vegan, because I’ve still had balsamic vinegar and olive oil, but that’s it*.

So, I’ve been eating a ton of fruit, a fair amount of vegetables, and raw nuts and seeds. I’ve also been having some type of raw food bar for the past three days. Here are some of the things I’ve eaten (for those who follow my personal blog as well, sorry for the repeat pictures!):

Raw ice creams - a banana and other fruit blended and put in an ice cream maker
The first was strawberry banana. This had an awesome texture and was supper delicious!


The second was mango mixed berry banana. It wasn’t as amazing as the strawberry banana, and I didn’t leave it in long enough, but it was still pretty fantastic!

Food bars
“Raw Revolution” Chocolate Raspberry and Cashew Agave. The chocolate raspberry was waaaaay better, but I forgot to take a picture. The Cashew Agave wasn’t too bad though.

“Pure” Wild Blueberry and Walnut Brownie. The Wild Blueberry was incredible, but the Walnut brownie had to much of a fake health food brownie taste to me.

Salads
I had to go out to a restaurant yesterday, so I had a mixed greens salad with tomatoes, cucumber, and bell peppers and balsamic vinaigrette. It wasn’t really photo worthy. I also made myself a bruschetta salad on Tuesday though, with roma tomatoes, rosemary, Italian seasoning, salt, pepper, and olive oil.

Juices
My parents have an awesome juicer, and I’ve made a few cool juices since starting this.
One was watermelon, apple and lime.


My favourite though was carrots, apples, spinach, berries, and half a lime. It tasted like a berry limeade!

That’s about all of the exciting things so far. Hopefully I’ll be making a raw cheesecake in the next few days, so I’ll be sure to tell you all about it!


*With one other possible exception - is tea considered raw vegan?

May has been a pretty good month for me and the blog. I’ve finally gotten into what I think is a decent posting routine, I’ve cooked up some yummy things, and I’ve gotten a lot of new followers! (Thanks by the way!)

Tomorrow I’m leaving Halifax for six weeks to visit my parents in the Cayman Islands. I’ll definitely still be blogging, though it might be a little less frequently. Still, there will be a lot of new recipes and reviews. While I’m there I’m going to be doing a week of raw veganism, making some yummy ice creams and sorbets, telling you about some of the coolest vegan friendly places in Cayman, and eating a lot of delicious island food. Get excited people =]