RASPBERRY CHOCOLATE "CHEESECAKE"

Back in January, I made a raw vegan cheesecake, per my birthday list. The recipe I used from This Rawsome Vegan Life is genius. Combining little other than nuts, dates, coconut oil, lemon juice,  and a small amount of maple syrup, you get a gorgeous, nutritious dessert that tastes exactly like the real deal. It seems like it's too good be true, but somehow it's not.

Ever since the first cheesecake, I've wanted to make another one, but kept this on the backburner as I pursued other culinary endeavors like these cupcakes and this delicious falafel. Finally I was able to make one on Tuesday.

Based on how well the last one turned out, I knew I wanted to make one with my own spin. Cue a vegan cheesecake a la raspberry and chocolate. For this one I added cocoa powder to the crust, cut the lemon juice in half (replacing the other half with raspberries), and added a chocolate drizzle. I'm not saying you have to make this one, but you do need to experience the magic of a raw vegan cheesecake at some point soon. It might be a little life changing... just saying.

RASPBERRY CHOCOLATE CHEESECAKE

Crust:
1/2 cup dates
1 1/2 cups nuts (I used 1 cup of walnuts and 1/2 cup of almonds)
2 tablespoons (or more) of cocoa powder

Cheesecake:

3 cups cashews (I soaked them in warm water for 2 hours)

3/8 cup lemon juice
3/8 cup raspberries (+  extra for garnishing, I used frozen)

2/3 cup maple syrup

3/4 cup melted coconut oil

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Chocolate Drizzle:
1/4 cup melted coconut oil
2-4 tablespoons cocoa powder (to taste)
2-4 tablespoons maple syrup (to taste)

Cover the inside of a cake pan with wax paper (I used a 9-inch springform pan for this again, although I'd like to get a 7 or 8-inch springform pan for a slightly thicker cake). Pulse all crust ingredients in a food processor/blender until you get a sticky mixture that you can pat down into the bottom of the cake pan to cover it completely. Set in fridge/freezer to chill. 

Blend all cheesecake ingredients together until smooth and creamy. Pour onto the frozen crust in the cake pan and set in the freezer until it has the firmness you'd like (it was about 45 minutes on this one for me).

While the cake is in the freezer make the chocolate drizzle by stirring all ingredients together. Once the cake is firm, pop it out of the pan. Peel off the wax paper and liberally drizzle it with the chocolate.

Slice and enjoy!

Recipe adapted from This Rawsome Vegan Life

WRIGLEY FIELD AND EGGETTES

Happy Sunday, friends! Hope you've been having good weekends. I'm just stopping over here today to share a little outing Joe and I went on a few weekends ago.

After the excitement of the World Series, we decided to make a trip up to Wrigleyville to pay homage to The Cubs. Instead of taking public transit, I insisted on walking there because I love walking places. Like the first time I ever visited Maine, I walked there from Georgia (...AT jokes). In all seriousness though, I don't know Chicago too well, and I'd like to know to know it better. 

I originally thought the walk was three miles, but it ended up being more than four miles, which yes, by the end was a lot. Joe was a good sport. We had some really nice conversations and stumbled upon a few restaurants to go back to. We were also able to truly appreciate the novelty of taking a subway on our way home.

Even though there was no game going on, Wrigleyville was so lively! Everyone had come from far and wide to pay homage to The Cubs. It seemed like Joe and I were the only ones in a ten block radius without Cubs gear on. #thingstoputonourchristmaslists

After checking out Wrigley Field, we went out for ice cream and eggettes (also known as bubble waffles or gai daan jai) at a place called Snow Junkie. I stumbled upon Snow Junkie on a Chicago food Instagram account a few weeks earlier and knew I had to go. I'd never had an eggette before, but had wanted to try one ever since writing a college nutrition paper about them and other cultural examples of "quick (non-yeasted) breads". 

My expectations after waiting more than three years for an eggette were high, and the one I ordered really hit the spot and even exceeded my expectations. Mine was filled with ice cream and topped with raspberries, mochi, a macaron, and chocolate sauce. It was ridiculously over-the-top, but so worth it! Joe passed on the eggette, but in true-Joe fashion got a super chocolatey shaved Thai ice topped with even more chocolate and Reese's cups. (:

Upon finishing our sweet treats we walked back past Wrigley Field in the dark to and made our way home - this time on the comfort of a subway. 

Walks In The Park & Other Stuff From Last Week

Last week? The uneventfullest (I know that's not a word), but last week was certainly a pretty one. Let's see if I can break it into a full ten items (and make my life sound tons more interesting than it actually is ;p).

Here I go!

01. Work was even busier. I mostly enjoyed it.

02. Amie DB and I had Mexican beers and chips chez her office on Wednesday for Seis de Mayo.

03. I read this book. #ReasonsIGetMistakenForATeenager

04. My co-worker broke a wine bottle under our desks. Everything smelled like wine for 24 hours after. It was pretty funny (and on the plus side, smelled tons better than if she had broken a hard liquor bottle).

05. I didn't go to the gym until Friday because of my wisdom teeth med's side effects.

06. But instead of the gym, I went walking through Central Park on my way home from work on Wednesday!

07. Thursday too! After stopping at Levain to get a chocolate chip walnut cookie though!

And after finding the most incredible wisteria cascading off the roof of an UWS building. How incredible is that stuff? More than four stories of it!

08. Once I made it to the park on Thursday, I spotted this cool egret. Hard to believe this is the middle of the city.

09. On Friday night, one of the amies who still lives in Westchester and her work friend (who went to Cornell!) came into the city. They were going to another co-worker's birthday party, but ended up bailing and surprised me at my apartment. We sat on the kitchen floor and drank hard cider and caught up on life. It was the kind of Friday night my tired self needed.

10. Also on Friday night, I found out that two of the Cornell amis will be living in/near the city this summer! I'm so so excited.

Now that we've talked about my week, how was your week? Anything fun happen? Any pretty flowers in bloom in your neighborhood? I'd love to hear!

Sangria Saturdays

Last weekend, I finally got around to making the rose sangria I had been enamored with since the beginning of the summer. Yes, enamored. I really was that taken by the recipe. And gosh. I had every right to be that enamored. It was just as good in person as it was on paper and in the photographs. I managed to round up three lovely amies who were home to share it with and we kind of maybe finished the entire pitcher (which contained 1.5 L of wine) within forty minutes. I will definitely be making this deliciousness again :)

My (Mildly Adapted) Recipe ::

1 1.5 bottle of wine (I went cheap because I figured it didn't make sense to spend tons on wine that would be doctored up a ton anyways, the bottle I bought was actually white wine and it was $12).

1 small splash of old red wine in my fridge (this is not mandatory)

1 carton of red raspberries (washed)

1 peach (sliced)

1 cup of watermelon (cubed)

2 limes (Sliced)

6 tablespoons of agave

6 tablespoons of triple sec

Directions :: 
1. Wash and slice fruit.

2. Layer fruit in a large pitcher.

3. Measure in triple sec and agave, and pour the entire wine bottle in. Leave to chill in the fridge 3+ hours.

4. Drink. But not too much. That'd be way too easy. (For the record, I only had two large glasses because it ran out too quickly. I guess I should've been expecting that ;P).

Food And A Thought :: Roasted Peach And Ginger Sorbet

I haven't posted one of these in ageeess. I pretty much haven't done anything in the kitchen since I've been home and everything I've made for dessert has been frozen (insert gratutitous "Let It Go" chorus here... or don't)... You can even view Instagram for proof. This dessert is obviously no exception to my recent frozen dessert trend, but remember how I mentioned that I wanted to make ice cream (of a hipster flavor variety) in July? Well, I decided to be contrary and make sorbet instead BUT I did make it in the ice cream maker so I think that counts ;)

Any who, frozen or not, this sorbet was pretty darn refreshing. The ginger added a very subtle "hipster" twist and makes the recipe name sound much cooler. I think it could be really great in champagne instead of peach puree as a sort of bellini too. Despite the amount of sugar, it wasn't too sweet, although I think next time I would probably take out a quarter or half cup of sugar and replace each quarter cup I take out with another peach to make it healthier. I guess I've said enough. It's probably time that I stop talking and hand over the recipe. Enjoy! ☺

Recipe :: 
3 cups water
1 cup sugar
6 peaches
Juice from 1/2 a lemon
1 ginger root, grated (or to taste)

Directions :: 
Set oven to 400 degrees.

Peel peaches and cut in half, set face down on a baking tray. Roast for 10-15 minutes.
(The roasting gives the peaches a peach pie/cobbler flavor rather than a fresh-off-the-tree flavor and helps with pureeing them better.)

Combine water and sugar in a sauce pan over medium heat until sugar is dissolved.

Remove peaches from oven. Combine in a blender with sugar water.

Finely grate the ginger root. Juice the lemon. Add both to the blender mixture.

Once blended, (depending on if you have an ice cream maker (I do)) either...

• Put mixture in the fridge to cool for 2+ hours and once cooled, transfer to ice cream maker following its directions, until the mixture is frozen in consistency and transfer that back into containers to store in the freezer.
  
• Put mixture in containers and put in the freezer. Let sit in the freezer for an hour, stir, and then stir every 30 to 45 minutes until the mixture is frozen (so it doesn't become a block of ice).

Makes ~5 cups 

Headline Puns

Do any of you watch the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest that takes place every 4th of July at Coney Island? I don't get around to watching it every year as I'm not always by a television or even home every 4th of July, but I love watching it when I can (even if I am a vegetarian). This morning, they were talking about it on the Today Show and this was the headline. Could it really get any more punny? The pun-lover in me thought it was hysterical! I will actually be around tomorrow, so I'm thinking of tuning in. Maybe history will be made (although 70 hot dogs is such a ridiculous quantity)!

A Senior Week Wine Tour

Yesterday, the amis and I piled into Ami M's car for a wine tour! We headed west from Cayuga Lake to Seneca Lake, where I was coincidentally with the lovely mother the other week for a wine tasting/lunch. In total we went to five wineries and if I'm not mistaken, had more than 30 different wines!

We started our day out at Catherine Valley Winery, which of the five we went to was my least favorite. I feel like least favorite is pretty harsh though, since it wasn't bad at all. Drinking wine in good weather with good friends with lake views can pretty much never be a bad thing. The wines were just more American-y tasting. 

Next, we headed to Atwater Vineyards. Of the five we went to, this was everyone's favorite. It had some of the best views and every sample we had was so so good. Between the eight of us, we bought at least eight bottles of wine there. (Aka: the rest of senior week is going to be a good one! ;) )

After we actually ended up back at Red Newt Cellars where my mom and I were two weekends ago. We first had lunch and then figured we'd taste, since well, when on Seneca Lake, you know? The wines were just as delicious as last time. Especially their dry Riesling and port (both which my mom bought a bunch of when we were there).

Second to last we ended up at the Hector Wine Company. It had a huge shaggy dog that really liked Le Copain (and would pretty much only give him her paw lol). The wines were also pretty tasty. Probably even tastier than the wines was the homemade honey mustard that accompanied the pretzels at their bar. I'm kind of regretting the fact that I didn't buy a bottle of that.

Last stop on our tour was Leidenfrost Vineyards. I think it might win the prize for best views of Seneca Lake.

After the tour, we all headed back to Ithaca. Upon arriving home, I promptly passed out for three hours. That's how you can tell it was a good day :)

A Pre-Mother's Day Wine Tour

En route to Rochester this past weekend to celebrate Mother's Day with my grandma, my lovely mother stopped by Ithaca for the day for a pre-Mother's Day celebration.

We started out the morning by having a quick breakfast at CTB with Le Copain. Afterwards we headed out of Ithaca to Seneca Lake (Cornell is on Cayuga Lake) to the Red Newt Winery which was featured in a book my mom and I both read about Finger Lakes wineries this year.

First we did some wine tasting. It was like my wines class but with more generous portions (even though we actually split six servings between the two of us). We tried two dry Rieslings, two Gewurztraminers, a Cabernet Franc which was not very good, and a Port that came with a little chocolate which was very tasty.

After the wine tasting we split a cheese plate and a crostini plate with a spread trio, each had a glass of the better of the two Rieslings, and had a really nice visit.

On our way out, my mom got her book signed by the owner of the winery which seemed to be a pretty big deal for her ;) and we drove back to Ithaca (and maybe got out of the car to pose in front of the Finger Lakes National Forest sign (which is actually the only national forest in New York State!))

I don't always say this or say it enough, here or to her, but my mom is pretty great. :)

Food and a Thought :: Nutella Frangelico Ice Cream Sandwiches

One of my favorite sites to visit from time to time is Pinterst Fails. It shows DIY projects/recipes people saw on Pinterest, tried to make, and (miserably) failed at. Most of them are so funny! Since I try to bake something new every week for Sunday dinner, I resort to Pinterest at least once a month for a dessert recipe idea. Nothing has ever come out horribly since I usually stay pretty realistic with the recipes I pick out and have quite a bit of baking under my belt. However, some things don't always look like the picture. Soo... I thought I'd do something fun. This week, I was inspired by a pin for Nutella Frangelico Ice Cream sandwiches. I thought, how about I try to emulate the ones I saw on Pinterest (and the fancy photography)?!

So... below are two pictures. One I found on Pinterest, one is by yours truly ;). Fill out the poll below, and then see the recipe link for the answer.

Which ice cream sandwiches did I make?

A

B

Poll Maker

(Sorry if  you follow my Instagram... sorta spoiled it. I was pretty darn proud of my food photography).

Recipe (and answer) after the jump.

Food and a Thought :: Snickerdoodle Cupcakes

When I was younger, I never actually knew what a snickerdoodle was. I always assumed it was a cookie with peanuts, caramel, and chocolate... basically a chocolate chip cookie with bits of Snickers bars instead of the chocolate chips. When my mom ordered a few boxes of cookie dough for some fundraiser sometime around my freshman year of high school, I was confused when the snickerdoodles she made tasted like cinnamon. Upon further reading of the dough box, I realized what a snickerdoodle actually was. Heh.

On that note, here are some other misconceptions I had as a kid (and can remember):

• (Until age 4) I thought that the Westchester town of Mount Kisco was pronounced "Mom-Kisco"
• (Until age 5) I thought that the garbled noise sound you get from being in a big crowd of people (ie: at a mall/stadium) was everyone was making that noise just because they were in a crowd (sort of like cheering). I didn't realize it was just a compilation of many conversations that you couldn't pick out the details from. 
• (Until age 9) I thought that the grocery store "A & P" was pronounced "A.M.P." 
• (Until age ?) The image I always had of God in my head was the Keebler Elf. Sometimes I still make this weird association because I have for so long...

So misconceptions aside, today I decided to bake snickerdoodle cupcakes. Without many ingredients to bake with in my house, I figured I'd bake cupcakes and figure out something to flavor them with. It came down to lemon, orange, coconut, butterscotch, or cinnamon. I chose cinnamon because I rarely ever bake desserts with cinnamon. As for the cupcakes, even though cinnamon isn't my favoritey favoritest of spices, the cupcakes were quite good, moist, and the meringue-y frosting wasn't particularly delicious but fun for a change/definitely makes a statement. Recipe here!

( Note: I cut the cupcake recipe in half for 12 cupcakes and cut the frosting recipe in thirds). 

PS/Fun Fact :: The Joy of Cooking claims that snickerdoodles are probably German in origin, and that the name is a corruption of the German word Schneckennudeln ("snail noodles") It is also possible that the name originated from a New England tradition of whimsical cookie names (via Wikipedia)