Nourish the Body, Feed the Soul Double Chocolate Cherry Cheesecake (Vegan/Gluten-Free/Raw) Made by Alice Marsh

Well, not traditional southern “soul food”, more like “we’re in the middle of a blizzard so come eat hearty and delicious food that will feed your soul”, soul food. So that’s exactly what we did last week, at January’s raw food gourmet dinner held at Bartertown in downtown Grand Rapids.

Our group gets together once a month somewhere, it may be poolside or even in a greenhouse and each of us brings a raw, plant-based dish to share. Then, we eat!

Last week, the weather outside was frightful but the dinner was so delightful and since it was complete chaos at home, I stayed (and ate) while it snowed, while it snowed, while it snowed!

My Dinner (Vegan/Gluten-Free/Raw) (clockwise from top) Raw taco salad and raw corn chips (made by-Ellie, Teddy and me), Rawvolution No-Bean Hummus (made by Emily Richett), raw zucchini pasta with mushroom marinara (made by Amanda and Dan Roelofs) and raw nori wraps (made by Rosemary Fiscus).

One of the components of the DIY taco salad that we brought was “Rock Your World Raw Taco ‘Meat’. Since I had a few requests for the recipe, here it is…

Ingredients:
2C Walnuts, raw & soaked
2T Cumin
1T Coriander
2T Soy Sauce (Nama Shoyu, raw version of soy sauce)
1/8 C Sprouts
*Optional
Dust with sun-dried lime or serve with a lime wedge.


Directions:

• Place raw walnuts in a bowl, cover with filtered water and let saok for 2-6 hrs.
• Drain and discard water, Do not use soaking water!
• Place the sprouted walnuts in a food processor fitted with the chopping blade along with the remaining ingredients and pulse just until mixed, but still crumbly.  
• Plate and dust with sun-dried lime or serve with a lime wedge.

Double Chocolate Cherry Cheesecake Made by Alice Marsh

And, who doesn’t CRAVE chocolate in the winter (or anytime for that matter)? Back by popular demand…

Double Chocolate Cherry Cheesecake

Alice Marsh

(Vegan/Gluten-Free/Raw)

(Makes one 8″ or 9″ springform pan)

The Crust:

1 3/4C Pecans or walnuts, raw

1/2C Cacao nibs, raw

1/8t Himalayan crystal salt

3/4t cherry extract

1T Cacao powder, raw

3/4C Raisins

• Place all of the above in a food processor fitted with the chopping blade and pulse until crumbly. 
• Spread the mixture out on the bottom of the springform pan.
• Chill until ready to fill.

The Filling:

3C Cashews, raw and soaked for 1 hour, drained and rinsed

1/2C Agave nectar, raw

6 Dates, soft and pitted

1/2C Lemon juice, fresh

1/4C Water, filtered

2t Cherry extract

1C Coconut oil

3/4C Cacao powder, raw

*Optional

2T Soy lecithin

• Place all of the above in a high-speed blender and blend until smooth.
• Pour mixture into a prepared springform pan.
• Chill until ready to garnish and serve.

The Coulis:

10oz Cherries, frozen (a bag is usually 10 oz.)

1/4C Agave nectar, raw

1t Lemon juice, fresh

pinch of Cinnamon

• Place all of the above coulis ingredients into a high-speed blender and blend until smooth.
• Drizzle over each slice when serving.

And finally, here is Jeremy’s dessert…

Banana Coconut Cheesecake (Vegan/Gluten-Free/Raw) Made by Jeremy Kuhn Jeremy makes premium raw vegan foods “to-go” Check out his site: http://www.deliciosityfoods.com/

Jeremy kept us all drooling until his cheesecake defrosted enough to cut. Worth the wait. Deliciosity, INDEED!

(left to right) Amanda Roelofs, Emily Richett and Teddy Drake Unfortunately due to the weather, this month’s dinner was not as well attended as most. Fortunately, this meant that we could actually go up for seconds and I’m embarrassed to say… THIRDS!

A BIG RAW, PLANT-BASED
“THANK YOU”

to Bartertown for allowing us to host our monthly dinner
at their digs!