Brent and I celebrated Valentine’s by spending a quiet day together and enjoying some delicious food. We did not do the whole big-bam-boom celebration with all the frills. The definition of Valentine’s according to Wikipedia "Saint Valentine's Day (commonly shortened to Valentine's Day) is an annual holiday held on February 14 celebrating love and affection between intimate companions." We show one another love daily, so I guess that means everyday is V-Day ;)
I wanted to give a homemade prezzy to Brent, which he would of course share with me, in the form of chocolate, done up raw. I really wanted to make raw chocolate turtle truffles, but I couldn’t find a good recipe, so it was a perfect reason for experimenting. The result....
Turtles, Turtles, RAW, RAW, RAW!
They turned out awesome! I was so proud of myself.
I am slightly ashamed to report that they did not last, and Brent still wanted more. I think he was really craving the richness of chocolate because it’s been a while since we have had a chocolate based dessert.
I decided for my next experiment that I wanted to keep the base of the turtle truffle recipe, but with MORE caramel and pecans because that combination was my favourite part. With this goal in mind raw Turtle Chocolate Bars were created.
Raw Turtle Chocolate Squares
When Brent and I bit into these little squares oozing with velvety chocolate, sticky caramel, crunchy pecans and more chocolate we just starred at one another with amazement. There were no words.
It’s a very fulfilling feeling when you have made something so delish that there are no words. I was really proud of the love and work that I put into these two gifts, and I know they were well received.
For dinner we shared a sexy meal, pasta!
Lightly Peppered Fettuccine Alfredo
Serves 2-3 people
Pasta Noodles
•4 small or 2 medium zucchini, peeled
Use a spiral slicer or make noodles by hand(I do not have a spiral slicer). I used a peeler to make large shavings of zucchini and then cut each one into two or three noodles.
Lightly Peppered Alfredo Sauce
•3/4 cup cashews, soaked for 2 hours
•1/4 cup brazil nuts, soaked for at least 4 hours or overnight
•1 small clove of garlic
•1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon of water
•1 1/2 tablespoons of olive oil
•1 1/2 teaspoons of lemon juice
•3/4 teaspoons of salt
•1/2 teaspoons of ground black peppercorns
•1/8 teaspoon nutmeg ( I used freshly ground – it smells so good)
Blend until smooth.
“Steamed” Spinach
•2 cups of spinach, packed
•Juice from half a small lemon
•2 teaspoons of braggs (or nama shoyu or tamari)
Toss all ingredients together in a bowl and massage spinach until it wilts. It may seem like a lot of spinach, but when you massage and marinate it the volume reduces significantly.
Marinated Mushrooms
•5 sliced white mushrooms
•1/2 teaspoon of lemon juice
•1 1/2 teaspoons of braggs (or nama shoyu or tamari)
In a bowl mix all ingredients together, set aside.
Toss the zucchini noodles, alfredo, “steamed” spinach and marinated mushrooms. We had about 2-3 tablespoons of sauce left over. We don’t like it too saucy ;)
I served this with a simple green soup.
For dessert I made an oreo-like soft serve, topped with nibs and caramel sauce.
This Valentine's was definitely a sweet one, hehe.
my gosh looks like you two ate like royalty. what was in the green soup?
ReplyDeleteI juiced kale/cherry tomato/baby cuke this morning, quite good! I'm become a real green juice junky :)
Yes,yes we did ;) That green soup had celery, spinach, avacado, lemon juice, cayenne, spirulina, and Himalayan salt (just a tad). Mmmm, I love my greens!
ReplyDeleteThat's awesome Bryne! I need to get back to juicing. Looking forward to the farmers market and growing some veggies this summer. Summer tastes so good :D
I didn't know monkey's drank green juice, hehe ;)