The LA Garden Show

This past weekend was so beautiful here in Southern California.  It was the perfect weekend for the LA Garden Show at the LA Arboretum and Botanical Gardens.

We all had such a great time looking at all the designer's gardens...there were some great ideas I told Jeffrey (hubs) to make me...eh em...for Mother's Day!!

Yes, this is what I want babe!!!

Looks like fire...ugh!

The brightest I have ever seen...

  

This one was a mini garden scene in a coffee can!  Go Barbie!

Inside the orchid house...breathtaking!!

Lest I forget to mention, that wandering the grounds, literally everywhere were these magnificent creatures...

The noises they made were hysterical!  But, it was no wonder why these animals were here...their beauty fit right in with the amazing landscaping.

Some other feathered friends decided they wanted to hang out with us (cause we are so cool!  or maybe it was because of the kettlecorn...hmmm)

It felt like we were in a fantasy...on an island...oh, wait, isn't that the house FROM Fantasy Island!!

Welcome!!

The sights were beautiful...especially these guys..

The hubs took this one of me by the waterfall....how romantic ; )

Everyone thanked everyone else on this beautiful day for a wonderful time.  I will cherish it always.  The  grandest of all finales?

Getting to hand feed Mr. P!  How cool is that??

Raw Ice Cream Cake Challenge entry

Well, I finally finished my raw ice cream cake for Sweetly Raw's Raw Ice Cream Cake Challenge!! I had a little set back with my leaky pipe, but I overcame.  Now, before I get into the details, I wanted to explain where I came up with the flavor idea.  It started with Heather's Moonie Pie Challenge (which I didn't enter) but I still made.  I started thinking about a different "cake" I wanted to use instead of the chocolate cake.  It is an almond based crust I perfected that tastes just like graham crackers.  I thought that the moonie pie might taste more like a s'more that way...and VOILA!  I decided I was going to make a s'more flavored nice cream cake.  Mmmm, mmmm.

This is what I am calling my "Gimme S'more" nice cream cake.

I began by making my "graham cracker" crust made up of dates, almonds, honey and coconut oil.  I only have a 12" spring form pan so I realized that my cake would be vertically challenged.  I decided that it was meant to be!  A s'more isn't 10" tall, it is shorter cuz you are squishing the crackers to melt the marshmellow and chocolate together...anyways, I digress.

I pressed half the crust into the bottom of my pan and kept the other half for later.  I then made the chocolate nice cream (with extra cacao butter and agave) and put half of it over the crust and put in the freezer to harden.  Next I made a white chocolate nice cream and put about 1/3 of it in the fridge to chill. I took the other two cups and added almond butter and more agave for my third nice cream flavor.

After everything chilled to a pancake batter-like consistency, I poured the almond butter nice cream over the frozen chocolate layer...and added little bits of fudge that I made from cacao butter, agave and cacao powder/nibs.  Then I swirled in the white chocolate layer for this pretty design...

I put this in the freezer to harden up and when it was ready, I added the other half of my chocolate layer. I took the remaining "graham cracker" crust and crumbled it over the top!

After this set up in the freezer, I drizzled chocolate sauce over the top....

You can see the layers from this view...just like a s'more!!  Graham cracker, chocolate, yummy marshmellowy, peanut buttery, fudgy layer, more chocolate and another graham cracker!!!

Deeeeeelish!!!

Finally, I added some whipped coconut cream to the top...

I didn't end up using any of the buckwheat crispy's I made...didn't seem to go.  But now I have plenty to make all kinds of goodness with.

Here is a slice...

I know I may seem biased, and I know this isn't the most beautiful nice cream cake to hit the scene...but it was absolutely DEEEEELICIOUS!!  Everyone in the family agrees!!  It actually tastes like a s'more!

What a blast to make!  The hubs insists this is his favorite nice cream cake to date, so that made my day.

Preparing for the Raw Ice Cream Cake Challenge

I have been busy preparing for an upcoming Raw Ice Cream Cake challenge.  Last night, I measured out the required nut, buckwheat and cacao butter quantities.  I soaked my cashews, almonds and buckwheat groats overnight.  I placed my coconut oil and coconut cream and cacao butter in my dehydrator on a low temp to bring them to a liquid state.  I was prepared for anything....except a busted pipe in my bathroom!

The water HAS to be turned off in order for the hubs to work his magic!!  Unfortunately, the lack of readily available water poses a HUGE problem!  Who knew how much I relied on my beautiful H2O!

I await patiently, out of the hubs way (he hates problems like these and can get quite cranky) and am trying to occupy myself with some other activity.  Oh...I wanna scream for ice cream!!!  Maybe later...

My little chocolate goodness

As I mentioned before, I have been so inspired by some sweet bloggers out there and I found myself caught up in a Moonie Pie Challenge.  Sadly, I was inspired just a little too late to enter my creations into the contest, but really, I don't consider myself a loser when you get to eat beauties like these...

I have to tell you, they may not have even been picked the winner (the real winner's moon pies were beautiful and very, very creative) but my family and friends loved eating them : )  I have a couple ideas to mix up the recipe on these bad boys and I am excited to try it out.  I will post my pics when I get around to actually making these again.

As luck would have it, I actually had a little bit of the chocolate I made left over.  Hmm...what to do?  Wait, is that the delivery man at my door??  What could it be??

Why it was my Tropical Traditions order!!!!!

I just had to try out the Coconut Peanut Butter and the Coconut Cream concentrate!  Okay, you can tell from the pictures that I really COULDN'T wait to try them.  Boy, oh boy, is this stuff the BOMB!!!

I realized that two of my very favorite flavor combos in the world to me are chocolate and peanut butter. I don't have much peanut butter these days, but I made an exception for the Coconut Peanut Butter from Tropical Traditions and I am so glad I did.

I decided to make these little beauties with the left over chocolate from the Moonie Pie Challenge and my cute little cup mold that I found back in my cupboard...

They are so stinking good, I do not want to share with anyone!!!!  But, I do of course.
Well, I just got home from a long day of work and I need to feed my body...(so tempted to just eat chocolate for dinner).

Oh, last thought for today.  I decided I am going to enter the Raw Ice Cream Cake Challenge so stay tuned for that goodness!!!

What the CUSS is going on?

So, I have been obsessing about my raw food journey...again.  Truth be told, I have been inspired by the likes of so many interesting, fascinating, awesome people out there, that I wanted to give it a try myself!
This seems like such an obvious thing to do, to channel my energy into something and at the same time, share with others who are crazy interested in the same stuff as me!

Here is my story, quick and dirty; I am a wife and mother of two who works full-time. I am obsessed with healthy living, even though I have my share of challenges (can anyone say warm, sourdough bread...). I am the ONLY one in my household, well except my little raw dog Belly, who eats high raw.  I have some really great days, and some that are better left forgotten.  I want to share and celebrate my little victories and vent, divulge my little challenges.  I am looking for more Mostly, Sometimes, Occasional, and 100% Raw Mamas (and Papas) to join in on my adventures.  There you have it folks.  This is my tale...of a mostly raw mama!  Who's with me?