Raw salted chocolate cardamom truffles

Photo credit: http://wayfaringchocolate.com/2011/02/09/raw-vegan-marzipan-balls/

Raw | Vegan | Whole food ingredients | No refined sugar

MAKES: About 30 small-ish truffles (depends how large you make them)

PREP TIME: ~30 minutes

INGREDIENTS
1 1/2 c. organic raw almonds
1/4 c. organic raw walnuts
1/4 c. organic hemp seeds (hemp hearts); optional: If don't want to use these, sub 1/4 c. walnuts
1/3 c. organic raw unsweetened cacao powder + a little more for dusting
1/4 t. organic ground nutmeg
1/2 t. organic ground cinnamon
1/8-1/4 t. organic ground cardamom (to taste - I go with 1/4 t. but it's quite strong)
1/4 t. fine sea or Himalayan salt
1 c. pitted organic dates, chopped
2 t. vanilla extract
1/16-1/8 c. water (to desired texture)
Coarse sea or Himalayan salt, for sprinkling

DIRECTIONS

1. Place almonds, walnuts and hemp seeds into food processor and process until a fine mixture (may need to stop and scrape down the sides a few times). Note I also own a Vitamix and while I love it for...pretty much everything...in my opinion, these types of raw desserts do better in the food processor. It seems to mix better and it's easier to remove the "dough" at the end.
2. Add in cacao --> salt and mix briefly to incorporate.
3. Add in dates, vanilla and 1/16 c. water and mix to incorporate. Test a chunk of the mixture to see if it will clump together and roll into balls. If not, add a touch (don't need much!) more water, mix and test again until it's the correct consistency.
4. Take about 2 t. of the mixture (adjust to whatever size truffle you want), mold it in your hands a bit to get it to start sticking to itself, then roll it between your palms to form a ball. After you make a few, the mixture will be sticking to your hands and can make rolling the truffles difficult. Washing your hands and using slightly wet hands helps with this.
5. After all truffles have been formed, sprinkle (to taste) with coarse salt (you can do a couple of test truffles to see how much salt you like), then dust with cacao using a fine mesh strainer.

Honeydew mint basil sorbet (Vitamix)

Photo credit: http://www.dessertsforbreakfast.com/2013/06/honeydew-sorbet.html

Easy | Fast | Whole food ingredients | No refined sugar
Adapted from Delicious Living's free vegetarian cookbook in PDF form 

SERVES: 3-5, depending on serving size

PREP TIME: ~15 minutes

INGREDIENTS
3 1/2 c. organic honeydew melon (about 1/2 a large melon), cubed
1/3 c. fresh organic basil leaves, loosely packed
1/3 c. fresh organic mint leaves, loosely packed
Juice of 1 1/2 organic limes
1 1/2 T. local raw honey
2 generous pinches Himalayan or sea salt
4 c. ice cubes

DIRECTIONS

1. Place all ingredients in the Vitamix in the order listed and process on high for 30-60 seconds, using the tamper as needed.  Look for mounds to form - this is when you should stop processing. If you process too long, it will start to melt.

Spanokopitta (Greek)

Photo credit: http://www.maplespice.com/2011/04/spanakopita.html

SERVES: 6-8

PREP TIME: ~1.25 hours (including toasting pine nuts)

INGREDIENTS
1 lb. organic leeks, washed and sliced thin
6 T. organic olive oil
2 lbs. fresh organic spinach, washed and trimmed/1 lb. frozen organic spinach
1/2 lb. organic feta cheese
3 large organic, free-range eggs, beaten
2/3 c. organic, free-range dairy/almond/soy milk
1 T. freshly chopped organic dill or fennel
1/2 t. organic nutmeg
Sea/Himalayan salt and organic black pepper, to taste
8 organic scallions, sliced
3/4 c. organic pine nuts, toasted
1/2 lb. filo pastry

DIRECTIONS

1. In a large frying pan, sauté leeks in 2 T. olive oil until they soften.  
2. In a large saucepan, wilt the spinach over high heat, drain it thoroughly in a colander and squeeze out excess water.
3. In a large bowl, mash feta with a fork and add beat eggs, milk, dill/fennel and nutmeg, and season well with salt and pepper.
4. Add the prepared spinach, leeks, scallions and pine nuts and fold into the mixture.
5. Grease a 9" square baking dish and line it with half of the pasty sheets.  To do this, lay them down one at a time, brushing each one with olive oil. 
6. Spread the filling evenly over the pastry base.
7. To finish, layer the remaining pastry sheets on top, again brushing each liberally with olive oil, especially the last sheet.
8. Bake at 375* F for 40-45 minutes, until the top of the pie is golden and crisp.  Allow it to cool a little before cutting it into squares.

Artichoke pie (Italian)

Photo credit: http://www.closetcooking.com/2009_08_01_archive.html

I just had this at my friends' house for Easter and it was amazing!  This recipe comes from one of her cookbooks (don't know the name of it, sorry).  Hers looked better than the photo (sorry, photo).

SERVES: 6-8

PREP TIME: ~1.25 hours (including toasting hazelnuts)

INGREDIENTS
2 T. (1/4 stick) organic butter
1/2-3/4 c. organic olive oil
2, 14 oz. cans/jars organic artichoke hearts, drained and cut in half
4 1/2 c. organic mushrooms, sliced
2 T. freshly chopped organic parsley
1 clove organic garlic, crushed
1 c. organic ricotta cheese
3 large organic, free-range eggs
4 T. organic Parmesan cheese, grated
1/2 t. organic ground nutmeg
Sea/Himalayan salt and organic black pepper, to taste
1/2 lb. filo pastry
1/2 c. organic hazelnuts, toasted

DIRECTIONS

1. In a large frying pan, heat butter with 2 T. of oil and cook artichokes, mushrooms, parsley (save a little parsley for the last step) and garlic gently for 5 minutes over medium heat.  Set aside.
2. Mix ricotta with eggs and Parmesan in a large bowl.  Season to taste with nutmeg, salt and pepper.
3. Grease a 9" square baking pan and line it with half of the filo pastry sheets.  To do this, lay them down one at a time, brushing each one with olive oil.
4. Spread artichoke and mushroom mixture over the pastry, followed by the ricotta mixture.  Scatter the toasted hazelnuts on top (and leave a few to sprinkle over the very top after the next step).
5. To finish, layer the remaining pastry sheets on top, again brushing each one liberally with olive oil, especially the last sheet.  Sprinkle some reaming parsley and toasted hazelnuts on top (just decorative).
6. Bake at 350* F for 40-45 minutes, until the top has puffed up and turned golden.  Cut into squares and serve.

Carrot ginger soup (Vitamix)

Image credit: http://www.greatperformances.com/recipe/carrot-ginger-soup

Easy | Majority whole food ingredients | Vitamix
Adapted from the Vitamix Whole Foods cookbook (pg. 62)

SERVES: 2-3

INGREDIENTS
Organic olive oil (enough to sauté ingredients in pan)
4 medium organic carrots, havled
1/4 small organic onion, peeled
4 cloves organic garlic, peeled
1/2 t. Himalayan salt
Pinch of white or black pepper
1 T. fresh organic ginger
Enough bouillon for 2 c. water
2 c. filtered water

DIRECTIONS

1. Chop ingredients: Place carrots, onion and garlic into Vitamix, secure lid, start with machine on low and quickly increase speed to level 4-5, blending for 10 seconds or until chopped.
2. Cook ingredients: Heat oil in a small/medium pan and sauté chopped ingredients until onion is clear and carrots are tender.  Add a little water, if needed, to simmer vegetables.
3. When the ingredients are almost done cooking, boil 2 c. water in a teapot (can skip this and heat water in the Vitamix, but pre-heating reduces the time you have to blend)
4. Make into soup: Place remaining ingredients (salt-water) into Vitamix, add sautéed ingredients, secure lid, start on low, increase speed to 10, then high.  If water is pre-heated in a teapot, just blend until well mixed.  If not pre-heated, vent lid after about a minute of blending, then blend for 3-4 minutes, or until steam starts to come out of the vented lid.

Organic "homemade" moisturizer (face, hands, body)

Image credit: http://www.elanaspantry.com/ingredients/coconut-oil/

INGREDIENTS
Organic virgin coconut oil

DIRECTIONS

1. Place coconut oil in a shallow jar that you can easily reach your hand in to
2. Use as needed on face, hands, body
3. That's all
4. No, this is not a joke.  I spent a long time searching out different options for natural moisturizers, thinking I needed some concoction of a bunch of ingredients to get something good.  Not true - coconut oil is all you need.  Since coconut oil has a higher melting point than avocado or olive oil (and also something like vitamin E oil), it is usually nicer to use.  When your house is cooler, the oil will be a solid, but even when it's not it still absorbs quickly into the skin and is not nearly as greasy as the aforementioned oils.

Orange (or any flavor) sorbet (Vitamix)

Image credit: http://www.pathaverfield.com/index.php#mi=2&pt=1&pi=10000&s=28&p=1&a=0&at=0

Easy | Three ingredients (could be two) | No refined sugar | Vitamix | 30 seconds

SERVES: 2-4 depending on how large you want the portions to be

INGREDIENTS
1 orange with the skin cut off (could sub any fruit, really)
1 T. agave (could skip this or sub honey)
8-10 ice cubes

DIRECTIONS
1. Place all ingredients in a Vitamix and process for about 30 seconds, using the tamper as needed to push down the ice cubes.  You can still probably make this in another type of blender or food processor, but I can't promise the consistency will be good or that it won't take much longer than 30 seconds.