Taking on the V-Con pt. 4

Hello coconut. Hello pie. I love you. I have eaten 3 slices of you and I loved every bite. I wish you could be there for me always, but alas you are dwindling down to nothingness. Timmy and I will share in our memories of you often. "Remember when Pie was so sweet to us?" Timmy will ask and I will reply, "Of course, Pie was the sweetest." and we will rejoice in thoughts of you.

This week the recipe in the Veganomicon sent my heart all a flutter. As you may have gathered I love desserts, I love making them, decorating them and most of all eating them. I do not have one sweet tooth but twenty-eight. The recipe: Lost Coconut Custard Pie. Are you drooling yet? I am. I was so very anxious to make this thing that I failed at taking photos for every step of the process but the recipe is not hard to follow and is pretty versatile, so you can really add or change the basic ingredients.


ingredients: coconut milk, non-dairy milk, arrowroot, agar agar, vanilla extract, coconut shreds, strawberries and lemon.

Arrowroot is very similar to cornstarch and is used in this recipe to thicken the milks, and agar agar is a seaweed that when heated with a liquid makes it gelatinous. I like that word, gelatinous. Beside the baking of the pie crust the recipe is made on the stove top which pleased me immensely in this 110 degree heat.


baked pie crust and warm custard ready for some refrigerator action

I fear I did not chill my little pie long enough but I was pacing the kitchen like a maniac waiting for dessert. I had some the next day and I think the flavor was more intense and yummy, so if you make this, make it a day ahead.


I made a crumbled chocolate cookie crust and topped the pie with fresh strawberries and melted chocolate.


Okay, I am going to eat another slice right now. I hope you enjoy the photos enough to go out and but the Veganomicon, make this recipe and share your results with me.

Live Chocolate Mousse

As I mentioned yesterday it is heating up here in the desert and the thought of turning on the oven to bring sweet treats to my grumbling tummy is not a pleasant one. Sometimes I imagine my famine filled face passing out as the oven heat waves leave me light headed. From there I fall gracefully into a heap on the kitchen floor and my dessert, my master prize, burns to a blackened mess all the while I dream of butterflies. I will awaken to the smell of burning delicacies and cry my weak heart out as I find my pie, my chocolate cake, my sweet tray of cookies have become inedible. Though this has never happened, I fear it. I have haunting nightmares of burned sweets.

But I will not fear, there is hope that lies outside of the soul scorching oven, it is called...the refrigerator!

Okay, enough of the drama, yesterday I mad a delicious chocolate mousse out of avocados. It sounds crazy but it is not only a healthy treat but an amazingly tasty treat! The recipe is adapted from a simple recipe from the Vegetarian Times magazine.



1 1/2 avocados
1 banana
5 medium strawberries
1/4 cup raw cacao powder (you can use cocoa if you like)
1/4 cup raw agave nectar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
Additional fruit to top the mousse with (optional)

Toss all ingredients into a food processor or blender, mix until smooth and refrigerate for at least one hour. Enjoy!

I Love Cake!

Whenever I am asked to bake a cake for some celebration or another, I become a mixed bag of emotions. The first is nervousness, the fear of the cake not being perfect, because honestly, I want to make the most wonderful cake for someone just to highlight how special they are. Then I have the great feeling of elation when I have decided what to make and have an idea of how to make it. Coming up with winning flavor combinations and building layers of tastiness and art make me feel great. There is the zen of baking and the chaos of construction that can make everyone of my muscles ache as if I have just performed in a marathon, but it is all worth it. In the end when I deliver a cake and I see that person's eyes light up and their tummy give an audible nod of appreciation, I am renewed. I feel accomplished.