Thursday, October 27, 2011

A raw food talk, an interview, and a little something to make you laugh!

Hi everyone! Firstly, I wanted to share this amazing video of Kristin Chenoweth singing "If You Hadn't, But You Did." It's exactly the sort of musical theater song I'd love to sing someday--just watch it and you'll understand; it's hilarious! Here's the link--http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-gume4RcNU&feature=related.  The voice/video syncing is a little off (side effect of Youtube), but it's great nonetheless.  Gotta love Kristin Chenoweth!
Next, I talked last time about my interview with the paper. Here's the article--http://www.riponpress.com/main.asp?ArticleID=3443&SectionID=2&SubSectionID=20&PollID=204#PollSection  I actually made the front page of the local paper--*gulp--which I didn't expect! We have a four-day weekend, and I'm kind of glad.  Hopefully this means I won't have the whole school asking  'Is that the crazy girl on the freak diet? What IS she eating now??'  Lol, that's how a lot of students react when they hear about it--like I purposely torture myself with terrible food so I can be healthy.  It's not like I've committed to being a nun or anything! :) You can have amazing, lovely desserts on raw food--and that brings me to the next thing. 
I'm doing a raw food talk tonight for a lady I know from church.  This summer I did a raw talk/recipe demonstration at the library, and she came.  She requested the brownies with ice cream for tonight! :) I happily obliged.  She has a group that meets every week.  I'm kind of nervous about talking in front of a ton of people I don't know, but it's not that different from an audition, and when it gets to applying for college I'm going to have to do lots of those!
So, here's the recipe for the brownies with ice cream.  I don't have pictures yet, but I promise to post them next time.  The thing I love about this recipe is it only has four ingredients, and is super easy to prepare as long as you have the bananas frozen ahead of time.  (By the way, DON'T freeze bananas in the skins.  Please.  It really...doesn't...work.  Trust me, I know from experience.) They're absolutely delicious and will definitely win over most people to the decadence of raw desserts in their simplest form!

Raw Chocolate Brownies

2 cups raw walnuts
1 cup raw Medjool dates, pitted
1/4 cup cacao/cocoa powder

Grind the walnuts into a powder in the food processor, and then grind about half a minute more, till some of the walnut flour is sticking to the side.   Add the dates and cacao and process until it is mostly smooth and the mixture sticks together.  Put it in a brownie pan or form it into brownies if you make a smaller batch.  If you want them to be a little stiffer, you can store them in the fridge. 

Ice Cream (nut free)

4-5 frozen bananas, broken into chunks and allowed to thaw for 15-20 minutes
Optional: mix-ins such as chopped nuts, cacao powder, fruit (strawberries are great for a strawberry banana ice cream), chocolate chips, etc.

Put the frozen bananas in your food processor (don't bother cleaning it out).  Make sure there are enough to cover your food processor blades.  Add your mix-ins if you have any, and process.  It will take a minute or two, and you'll have to occasionally stop to scrape down the sides.
There you have it! Top your brownies with banana ice cream and serve.  A very versatile, simple recipe!

Have a great day, everyone!
Megan

Thursday, October 20, 2011

Zucchini pasta and an interview!

So, I'm super excited because I just got a call from our local newspaper and they want to interview me about my diet! *gulp* It's kind of nerve wracking, but I'm excited! They're going to come and take pictures of me making my supper tomorrow night.  I'm thinking I'm going to make a green smoothie, like I always do for supper, and then have a dessert so there's something a little fancier...I'm leaning towards a chocolate orange cheesecake I made a few weeks ago on our homecoming dance night.  A friend, my mom and I went out to eat and came back to eat cheesecake and watch movies :) I think that sounds way more fun than a high school dance, but that's just me! :)
Anyways, onto the grub...a couple nights ago my family had spaghetti.  My mom's partially raw--she eats a lot of raw food, but will often eat cooked food that she makes for the familt.  However, any type of gluten (i.e. white flour) or sugar will give a headache nearly as soon as she eats it, so she prefers zucchini pasta instead of normal pasta.  It's made with a funky little tool called a spiralizer.  Doesn't it look super similar to normal noodles? :D

For whatever reason, the picture's posting sideways and I can't get it to flip the right way.  Oh well!
Next, I had made carob fudge and completely forgotten to post this picture.  I can't remember where I found the recipe, but I did tweak it a LOT, so props to whoever originated it!

 Raw Carob Fudge


1/2 cup almond butter (you can use roasted, but obviously it won't be raw.  Depending on the almond butter you get, roasted is often creamier.  My fudge has more of a gritty texture because I use Maranatha Raw
almond butter, and it isn't ground finely. Other raw almond butters might be smoother though.)
1/4 cup agave syrup/nectar (can sub maple syrup, but isn't raw)
5-6 drops liquid stevia **if you don't have liquid stevia, just omit it and use a little less than 1/2 cup agave
2 tbsp. carob powder, sifted
2 tbsp mesquite powder, sifted (mesquite is what really gives it its flavor, but if you want you can substitute more carob)

Stir all together in a bowl! If you use the 1/2 cup of agave, your fudge will be a little gooier than if you use the stevia option.  This fudge is best kept chilled in the fridge or freezer, as it gets an awesomely fudgelike texture when cold.  Enjoy! 

Lastly, I'll provide you all with a link to the cheesecake I'm going to make.  It's orange chocolate, and from the amazing Susan of Rawmazing, where you can always find absolutely delicious recipes! The link is: http://www.rawmazing.com/raw-orange-chocolate-cheesecake/
I keep the filling the same, but change the crust.  For my crust, I use: 2 cups walnuts, 1 cup dates, 1/4 cup cacao/cocoa powder.                         

Sooo...that's all for now.  I'll update later on how the interview went! Everyone enjoy your Friday! 

Megan               

Monday, October 3, 2011

Hey everyone!

Hey everyone! This is my new blog, Teenage Girl on Raw, and my name's Megan Sperger.  I am 16 and have been eating the raw food diet for about one and a half years now, and my dad's been pestering me about starting a blog.  It sounded fun, so...I did! :) I love making and creating raw food dishes, and also love singing, acting, reading, writing...all that artsy stuff.  I'll be posting recipes, recommendations for other people's recipes, etc.  So, figured I start out with my first recipe--a delicious green smoothie I made the other day! Gotta love your green smoothies! I bring one to youth group every Wednesday night since they're so quick and easy, and every time someone new comes I have to explain what my 'green sludge' is all over again.  :) But I don't mind...I adore my green smoothies, and I personally think they're gorgeous!


Peachy Tropics Green Smoothie


2 cups fresh or frozen peach slices (if frozen, try to use ones you've frozen yourself from their summer season.  I have yet to find flavorful store-bought frozen peaches!)
1 cup frozen mango
1/2 cup pineapple chunks
2-3 cups kale


Blend together in your blender...or VitaMix (so excited when Mom finally caved and got one, since we blend stuff all the time!! My family isn't raw, but they will eat my food and eat a reasonable percentage of raw foods.) and enjoy! 


I also made an awesome parfait, adapted from one in Ani Phyo's dessert book--an almond-raspberry parfait.  It features her almond frangipane kream layered with raspberry sauce and fresh berries.  I made this for my whole family for breakfast once and they adored it.  I make it a lot--it's quick to put together, especially if you forgo the berries, which I generally do as well.  Mine wasn't very pretty--the kream was fairly grainy, which may be because it's an almond-based kream, not cashew, but it was probably because I didn't blend it very long.  I also didn't have a very big parfait glass, so I really packed it in, and still had enough of the sauce and kream to make another one if I wanted. 




Yummy! Have a great day!


Megan Sperger