Cherry Chipotle Salad Dressing

Hello my friends!

Has it been this long? Do all my posts have to start like this? My goodness! I would offer up a humble apology but well, we've been down this road before and I suppose it goes to show I am having so much fun living it up that it's hard to find the time to get on this thing and type away! 

It IS time though, so I want to share with you all my biggest discovery and creation of the last year! I'll call this "The Salad Dressing That Changed My Life!"

I don't know if any of you knew this about me, but for a nutritarian, meaning, someone who eats a LOT of greens (!!) I am seriously salad challenged! Or at least, I was! Nine years now I've eaten like this, and it's taken me all this time to find a dressing I like! A lot! That's sad! Especially with the many different dressing ideas out there, to say I had never even found ONE I looked forward to...tragic! Not to mention obnoxious! 

I've spent the first 8 years of nutri-life getting my greens through green smoothies that I learned to PACK with the stuff, so much so that a couple of those a day met my requirements. But gosh, did I tell you I HATE being cold? And those made me sooooooo freezing! When I lived in Abu Dhabi aka hot central, evaporate your butt into nothingness hot, the cold was...tolerable. Kinda. But now that I am back in the land of human being weather aka Ohio, cold stuff isn't my friend. In fact, the only time I like ice in my drink is when my beverage of choice is a juice, iced tea or sparkles! Heaven help you if you put ice in my water! Cold sucks! 

SO! Now that we have that established, I want to get on with it and share with you the miracle of lazy! Because this particular day, when I stumbled upon the accidental creation of my first OMG recipe I knew I instantly could not live without forevermore, it was just that--pure unadulterated 100% Grade L "Lazy" and I'm not ashamed to say it! Sometimes, it gets tiring being the only one who can make my food as good as I make it! I mean, going out to eat is fun. But lets face it, in the nutri-world, I'm grateful if a restaurant has anything I *will* eat, never mind if it's as good as what I make myself at home. It's not. I can already tell you that! Restaurants always seem to have awful, sad, veggies and fruits that have been pre-cut for days and show little signs of life by the time they make their way to me. It's usually disappointing. LoL! I can't just go into a store and buy a bottle of salad dressing either. I have to make EVERYTHING! And as much as I loooove to create, some days I'm just not wanting to fuss and so....I don't!

Well folks, this day it worked out for me. Particularly well, in fact! It may seem stupid simple, but behold! Below, I present to you the salad dressing that changed my life. Giggle. You don't even need any fancy equipment to do it! How about that? On this day, all I had at my disposal were some salad ingredients, and a bag of frozen dark sweet cherries. No nuts to make a dressing. No dates. Nada. No mangoes. That was it, slim pickings I believe they used to say. So I figured "What the heck?!" and in my desperation and hunger (being hungry really does make everything sound amazing, doesn't it?) I took the cherries, plopped them on the counter and quickly forgot about them. I think honestly I had intended to just eat them frozen! But, um...I forgot. So they sat there. And sat. And sat. Until finally I found them, and to my horror, they were nothing but a bag of sloshy, liquidy cherryness that threw me for a loop with how much liquid they released when they thawed! Immediately, I thought--I'm gonna blend this! Yes! 

And blend away I did. The result? OMG. Amazing! Seriously! I was bounding to the table practically, so excited to eat of course, but even more excited to share! I knew I had struggled to find an easy dressing that wasn't loaded with dates and nuts or tofu, that had the potential to make me excited to eat a salad--and now I'd done it! Yes! Score one for lazy! Now I could share it with the rest of the salad challenged population! Is that you? Oh come on. Be honest. Nobody likes that faux-ranch crap in the nutri-books! It's nothing like ranch and weirds me out. All of them. Gross. But this one? Judge for yourself! It's versatile too! 

Feeling savory? Add some garlic, chipotle, onion powder and black pepper! I love spice islands spices! No, I am not an affiliate of any kind! 

       Feeling like a vinaigrette? Add some Balsamic! The Oilerie makes my FAVORITE aged Balsamic Vinegar...ever! Again, NO sponsorship here! Just looooove.

Need a hit of creaminess? Add some cashews! Or pine nuts! Swoon. I LOVE pine nuts! Hint hint.

Seriously, this dressing makes me VERY happy!

HUH? What are these? STAY TUNED!

Are you ready for the recipe?

Are you sure?

Got your pen?

PIN button handy? 

Printer on? OK!

Here it is, in all it's "L Rated" Glory....

XOXO,

Jemoiselle

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    --Jemoiselle's Signature-- 

Cherry Chipotle Salad Dressing

Ingredients:

        1 Bag Frozen Dark Sweet Cherries

        1/4c Balsamic Vinegar

        1/4 tsp Chipotle Pepper Powder

        1/4 tsp Garlic Powder

        1/2 tsp Onion Powder

        1/2 tsp Black Pepper

Instructions: 

         1. Allow cherries to thaw.

         2. Add everything into vitamix, food processor, or blender.

         3. Blend, taste, adjust, send me pine nuts. ;) 

                                              AHEM! I mean, ENJOY! 

Yield: Not nearly enough. 

Storage: Irrelevant. You won't be able to stop eating it. Sorry! (Not sorry!) Seriously, I don't know. I eat it too fast for it to go bad.  ;) If you have any left, the fridge will be fine. Shake before each use. 

Video: How I Eat Out + Surprise! I'm a Raw Nutritarian!

Hello my friends,

How have you been? Long time, eh? I'm happy to report I'm still going strong and haven't had a cheat day or slip up of any kind since August/September 2013, and honestly still feel just as joyful about my food and lifestyle. Maybe more so! Isn't that ridiculously awesome? I am so thrilled! I have definitely conquered that mountain and LOVE to talk about it with anyone who has questions about how I do it or what my level of enjoyment is like now that I've abstained from all "SAD" food for so many years. If you have a question, ask away!

So, what have I been up to? We bought a house, got a dog, oh, and I WENT RAW! (And I'm blonde, surprise!) What in the world?! I had experimented with it years ago when we lived overseas, made it one month solid once or twice to my recollection, but always went back to cooked nutritarian. All of life is a journey, right?
Well, last summer (2015) I experienced my longest stretch of success yet, from June 2015-October 2015 100% raw. I added a few cooked items for salad toppings like beans, potatoes on the side, and steamed veggies for winter comfort for a while. Funny thing though. My body never really felt as awesome when I went back to adding even small amounts of cooked food, in fact, I felt surprisingly off! Just like when I went nutritarian from SAD back in 2009!

The difference was dramatic, and it was entirely obvious to me that I felt my best raw, and ate much better too. More greens, more berries, fewer starchy vegetables. My tastes further refined, and I started eating so many things in large numbers that I used to eat cautiously because of past aversions, like mushrooms and tomatoes to name a few! Even my salads changed! I no longer feel I need dressing of any kind! What freedom! It makes it that much easier to get in the large amounts of dark leafy greens we need too, when they taste so good with so little. Some greens, like red chard, I've taken to eating plain all the time. They are so salty it's incredible! Who would have imagined plain greens could be eaten by the huge bowlful like chips and enjoyed as much? This way of eating really changes the way our bodies function. I feel like my enjoyment of food has skyrocketed and simplified. It's wonderful.

So early this year, based on that and more, I knew I had to get back to 100% raw and made it my objective to stay there. So far so good! It's been since January, I believe. I didn't record the exact day, silly me. But I feel awesome, and recently had a full blood workup done to verify my health. Everything came back perfect. Score one for raw.

So, what else? I've been working on building up my running endurance, dabbling in HIIT fitness (Let me just say, wow!) and doing yoga nightly, and aspire to make more youtube videos answering questions "face to face" and demonstrating how I eat out without deviating from my lifestyle. That is what you'll see in the video above. So, if you have a question, send it in! I'm signing off. It's late and oh my gosh, Easter is tomorrow! Yay! I'm so excited! Last year, I got mangoes that looked just like peeps (with little eyes, too!) in my basket! Now THAT is what I'm talking about! Ohh mangoes. I cannot wait for the good ones to hit the shelves this year. Swoon! I've got a new convert on them too, my son! On one hand, I'm thrilled he loves them every bit as much as I do! And on the other, when there is only one mango left and we both are eyeing each other competitively to see who will try to reach for it first, well, I then wonder if I didn't create a monster! ;)

Have a Happy Easter everyone! Enjoy the video! I'll be around!
Jemoiselle

My Favorite Food on the Planet: Custard Apples (Cherimoya)

Hello to you dear readers, how have you been this year? I've never felt better! I'm so excited to write this post, because I have a new favorite food to share with you! So many of the blog posts I read (and write) focus on recipes, and from what I can see, that is what people want, even need. But honestly, I don't live like that. I don't follow recipes, I wouldn't thrive within a lifestyle that required that of me in order to achieve success! I thrive on a genuine admiration of the foods that love me back just the same, and I cannot wait each and every day to get my hands dirty and play with them! Yes! That's right. You heard me. I play with my food! I think everybody should! It brings my life such immense pleasure in doing so. Most of the food I eat is as simple as unpeeling it, cracking it open, and diving in spoon first. 

With that in mind, I want to share with you a little more of me. Meet my newest passion, the Custard Apple! It is, officially and unequivocally my favorite food on planet Earth. Hands down. Bar none! 

How we met: My wonderful husband is always coming home with fresh "kills" to deliver at my feet as little love presents like the good rough and tumble cave man that he is, haha, but this one blew. My. Mind. Like, whoa! At first sight, I was a little underwhelmed. They looked like big turtle shelled balls, appeared dense and mottled, and they smelled like...well let's be honest here, feet. Dirty feet. They felt mushy. He had bought me about six of them. Ahhhh! Smile! Look grateful! "Ohh Baby! Thank you! I love you so much! You're the best!" Hehehe

Despite my apprehension I really was so thrilled to have an opportunity to try them! I really was grateful. In the back of my mind, I was terrified of not liking them, of wasting them. Rare (for the typical American market) tropical fruit is usually not cheap. I always worry about wasting his money, do you get like that when you're shopping too? Thoughts of my experience with a particular spinet melon come to mind. Shudder!  You see something you would love to try but are too afraid you won't like it, and the thought of it in the garbage combined with the price scares you off! I'm sure it's not only me! 

Exactly. Well, one of my new goals on this blog is to help you through that, to show you unique and rare fruits and veggies too, inside and out, using the Creator's recipe as my guide. I want to teach you to cut it, how to eat it, when its in season, how to pick one (or ten!) out and try my best to describe its flavor so you can widen your food horizons!

Recipe not required. 

Without further ado, please feast your hungry eyes on this beauty!

The Custard Apple, or Cherimoya is the fruit of the Annona Cherimola tree in the Annonaceae family, also known as the sour'sop family. I hope I'm getting that right? Ha! Many trees of the same genus make similarly named fruits, making the actual fruit I have here possibly confusing to find. To save yourself from confusion, you'll want to see the name "Cherimoya" on the little fruit sticker to verify you have the one I am featuring.

The Cherimoya is grown primarily in South America, and was originally called Chirimuya by the Inca people who were lucky enough to have lived in the Andes where it grew naturally. Other English names followed, to include Chirimoyo, Momona and Kelemoio to name a few. The fruit ripens in the winter to spring, when it is at its peak. The ideal fruit will be baseball sized or larger, slightly heart shaped, a rich green hue, with mottled darker patches. The skin will have a scale like appearance, and smell deeply of musk, almost to the point of being off putting for some. Feet! Hehe. That's how you know you have a good one! It should feel soft in your hand, like a very ripe pear. Don't be afraid of a soft cherimoya! That is where the custard texture comes from. 

The fruit is ripe even when firm, with the darkened patches, and still delicious, but the truest decadence is experienced when you allow it to fully ripen into a rich creaminess you'll be sure to crave long after they go out of season. The fruit is cut in half, and served on a plate in my house, with a little side dish for spitting out the large smooth glossy seeds inside. Yes, you have seeds to spit! Trust me, being one who usually rejects fruit that has seeds that need that kind of treatment, I find this fruit more than worth it's trouble! 

The white flesh is delightfully sweet, rich and creamy and reminds me of a floral vanilla custard, with beautiful nuances of pineapple, mango, and fresh palate cleansing apple on the finish. So many layers, like a fine wine. Ahhhhh. 

Unfortunately,  I discovered these bad boys just as the season was coming to an end, so unfortunately unless you are very lucky, you and I will be waiting until next winter to find them again. Kind of tragic, no? But at least now you have them in your mind, and the next time you are lucky enough to see them, you will know exactly what you must do! 

They might not be completely gone! There might still be time. Have you seen them in your market? If so, go out and grab one! Or two! Or a case!! Enjoy, and think of me.

Warmly,

Jemosielle

Nutritarian Tubetti Rigati Corn Pasta Marinara

So today I am going to commit what must be a blogger crime: a posting fly by! Yes, my friends, I am about to rush out of the house, but my lunch ended up so amazing and comforting, I just knew I had to share it even if my post is a bit vague. You can jive with that, right? I mean, in my kitchen, I cook mostly with my eyes, sense of smell, and lastly, taste. I don't measure. I just throw stuff wildly together (imagining tomatoes and garlic airborn hehe) and pray that it's edible. And most of the time, lucky me, it is! 

Today was one of those. Enter, the pasta craving. I don't care how long anyone has been a Nutritarian, every now and then, we miss the fun factor of eating pasta! Little bites of childhood memories fill my mind, splotches of spaghetti sauce on the table, crinkled napkins, the smell of sweet and salty sauces and meats wafting through the kitchen into the living areas of the house, beckoning the family together by their noses! hehe Good memories. It's just fun! So, today with my limited time and a bag of 100% corn pasta at the ready, I set out to make a fast food meal, nutritarian style!

So, the sauce. It had to have a creamy mouthfeel without oil, substantial flavor without salt, and fresh ingredients. Not easy to pull off, you might think. Not so! My trick today came thanks to our Excalibur Dehydrator and the last season of veggies from the garden and from our local organic farm share!

I've had mason jars filled to the brim with dehydrated tomatoes of all kinds from the ridiculous avalanche of tomatoes this fall. I also had copious amounts of homemade dried red peppers, dried dill, and dried mushrooms.

This got me thinking, why not just fill the vitamix with a bunch of these, mainly tomato, add some homemade garlic powder, onion powder (in a hurry, remember?) coriander, sage, oregano (lots) chipotle pepper, smoked paprika, fresh basil and a healthy splash of balsamic vinegar, some hot water from my water dispenser and vitamix the heck out of it? So I did!

It was AWESOME! The dehydrated veggies really added a ton of flavor and creaminess I did not expect to have without adding any nuts or seeds to my recipe. The pasta was cooked in a jiffy, add some sauce and.....

VOILA! Om nom nom. Good eats on the fly! I'll be back later to add a proper recipe to the best of my ability, but really, what I hope to do here at Blissful Nutritarian more than anything else, is to empower you to play with your food, and recapture all the joy in cooking healthy fare that won't kill you (another snicker) that you may have longed for when you made the switch. After all, we have ups and downs. What better way to have more ups than downs than to understand your ingredients, and not NEED recipes? It's food science! It's wonderful. It's delicious.

I'm out the door, Ciao!

Jemosielle

AS PROMISED, BACK LATER! See BELOW for the "recipe" the way I threw it together:

Jemoiselle's Nutritarian Tubetti Rigati Corn Pasta Marinara
Serves 1-2

All Approximated Ingredients
Sauce:
1-2c dehydrated tomato slices (cherry and heirloom)
1/2c dehydrated red yellow and green bell peppers
1/4c dehydrated mushrooms (optional)
1-2c very hot water (mine was 160ºF)
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar (no added sugar)
1 tsp dehydrated dill 
2-3 leaves fresh basil
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp dried rubbed sage
1/2 tsp garlic powder (ours was homemade, oh my gosh you must try that!)
1/8 tsp chipotle pepper powder
1/8 tsp coriander
1/8 tsp smoked paprika
                     
Pasta:
1/2 pkg of Tubetti Rigati 100% Corn Pasta

Let's make some pasta!
For the sauce, Vitamix all ingredients except pasta until extremely smooth. Adjust with water for thickness desired, if necessary. Taste, adjust for spices. Faint because it's amazing! Set aside. 

For the pasta: Boil water in a small sauce pan and add pasta, cooking for approximately 8 minutes until al dente. Plate and top with sauce, and garnish with a fresh basil leaf or two if you like!

Enjoy!

Hot! Hot! Hot: Hot Chocolate! (FREE of dairy, salt, oil and added sugar!)

            

Hello My Friends!

Anyone who has seen the holiday movie The Polar Express knows what I was thinking when I wrote my title for today's post! Oh yeah. It's that hot chocolate song scene on the train that's delicious enough to make every adult in the room want to sneak away to go make some hot cocoa, stat! Well, over the years I've experimented with nutritarian hot cocoa recipes here and there but never found one that absolutely knocked my socks off, and didn't have a too-thick or gritty texture, so I set off to make my own and now that I'm happy with it, I'd like   to share it with you! 

There is no guilt in a properly made hot cocoa positively overflowing with rich fudgey, fluffy vanilla-y goodness! At least there shouldn't be! Cocoa is loaded with antioxidants and phytochemicals that make it a-ok in my book to use in nutritarian recipes. I'm actually a nutritarian rebel of sorts, because I prefer the dark cocoa variety, that has been dutched, or processed with alkali, while Dr. Fuhrman advocates the use of Natural Cocoa, no dutch, no dice. What is alkali and what does it do? Heck, I don't know. Perhaps I should. Oh well! The way I figure, I live 100% nutritarian, all of the time.  I'm not going to fuss for now. I'm sure the natural version is healthier, but it just doesn't give me the flavor I'm looking for, and this keeps me off of swiss miss (gag) and blissfully happy 100% nutritarian ALL of the time, so for now, I'll just have to be a rebel. That ok with you? :) Good. If you want, feel free to use the natural version. But be warned, the results while good, aren't what I'm drinking! And I am one happy camper!

"The secret to being a blissful nutritarian is learning to make food into memories, and memories into food, and making sure neither intends to kill you!" ~Jemoiselle

hehehe That's the ticket. Moving on!

So, this method requires some prep work. Yay, eh? We basically need two major components: a diluted date puree and a homemade nut milk. My favorites are cashew (super creamy, doesn't really need strained) almond (classic, affordable) and my ultimate fav, raw macadamia milk (super buttery but $$!) so choose one and let's get this show on the road!

To make homemade nut milk, you only need four things.

1. Nuts, raw and unsalted
2. A nut-milk bag (for straining)
3. A powerful blender (vitamix, blendtec?)
4. A large bowl

Nutritarian cooking is easy! It doesn't have to be all fussy. Being exact is not necessary, besides, it is good to know your ingredients! How do you think I came to create recipes? Mistakes! Experiments! Never measuring! What does thick almond milk taste like? How about thin? Which do you prefer? How will you know unless you just jump right in? With that said, a good basic recipe follows:

Jemoiselle's Easy Homemade Raw Nut Milk

1/2c raw nuts
5c water

Directions: Puree nuts and water in a high powered blender.  Strain out the "meat" by pouring the smooth pureed liquid into a nut-milk bag, and squeezing it out into a large bowl. Pour into a refrigerator friendly pouring vessel, and enjoy. Done.

See? That was easy. Too thin for your preference? Add more nuts next time (or this time, but being flexible is great!) or is it too thick? Add more water. I'm almost certain this consistency will not be too thick for anyone. It's comparable to 1% milk, in my opinion. We use it to add TEXTURE to drinks, but usually, I do not make drinks made entirely with nut milks. Texture is the secret. A little bit goes a long way!

The nut milks also add visual interest. They brighten up an otherwise dark drink. They can be frothed in a milk frother and that froth can be piled high like a mountain and sprinkled with so many delicious variations of spice, like cinnamon, cocoa or pumpkin pie spice! It gives the illusion and appearance of richness, like a guilt free whipped cream or marshmallows on whatever we choose to use it with. It's versatile. It feels naughty. It's not. I love it!

So, the next component we need is a date puree. I make this in large batches too, and use it to sweeten anything from lattes to hot cocoa to sweet potatoes in a flash. It's rich in fiber, vitamins and minerals, tastes great, and lasts nicely in the fridge. Here's how we make it. Again, you need to learn the "science" of the ingredients! Adjust it to your preference if it's not sweet enough, and vice versa.

Date Puree

1lb Dates, pitted (preferably medjool, but any will do!)
Hot Water (fill the entire vitamix or blender carafe up)

Place dates in blender. Fill blender nearly all the way up with hot water. Allow the dates to soak in the hot water for a few minutes. Blend until velvety smooth. Place into pourable refrigerator vessel and enjoy.

Now, we've got the date puree for sweetening all sorts of things using all the fiber in the dates (no guilt there!) and we've got the nut milk we'll use as our creamy component. Let's make some hot cocoa!

Jemoiselle's Nutritarian Hot Cocoa - 12 oz mug

1 slightly heaping teaspoon dutch dark cocoa powder
1/4c date puree (more or less to taste)
1/4c nut milk
1/8 tsp vanilla extract
1/2c hot water (or to fill your mug)

Peppermint Hot Chocolate Variation: Dip a toothpick in pure peppermint oil, and swirl in completed mug of cocoa!

Mayan Hot Cocoa Variation: Sprinkle the top with a bit of cinnamon and/or spices like clove and nutmeg!

Here's how we roll. Take that cocoa, put it in the mug. Pour in the date puree. Add the hot water, stir until smooth. In a frother, (I use Nespresso's Aeroccino and LOVE it!) froth up about 1/4c of that nut milk with the vanilla until steamy and fluffy! Add to mug, gently mounding the foam on top. Dust with a bit of extra cocoa or cinnamon. Enjoy!

Don't forget to come back and tell me how you liked it!

Seasons Eatings: My Nutritarian Pumpkin Pie Recipe for YOU! (FREE FROM: Gluten, Added Sugar, Salt or Added Oil)

My Dearest Readers,

For many years now I have been working on my nutritarian crusts and cookies. Before I went all fruity (snicker) I used to be a huge foodie, cake baker, bread maker and pastry queen. LOL, let it be no secret, the holidays used to be my worst nemesis in the battle of healthy living! Battle no more, because for the last couple years I have absolutely blown my own mind with how BLISSFUL the holidays can be when you leave the junk behind and kick the cheat day habit to the curb where it belongs!

Holidays are for celebrating, and what better way than with food that is happy for you to eat it? Food that blesses us with a promise, that it will do it's very best to make sure we make it until the next holiday AND MANY MORE, to cherish and absolutely immerse one's self in the love and blessings that only true friends, family, and good health can bring! Am I right? When we celebrate, shouldn't we do so with food and such that doesn't threaten our ability to enjoy life with the ones we cherish most? So, Santa's cookies in this house are made from my own recipe for Nutritarian Gingerbread!

My Thanksgiving menu follows suit with Nutritarian versions of Green Bean Casserole, Sweet Potato Casserole, Mashed Potatoes with Mushroom Gravy, Steamed Veggies, Hot Cocoa and the best of all, my soon to be famous Pumpkin Pie with Nutritarian Whipped Cream topping! Nom!

With that attitude in mind, for the last couple of years my holidays have been incredible. I've found that when you leave the old behind, you automatically have this wide horizon on your hands just ripe with potential for developing new incredible recipes and traditions to replace the old with!  This year, I hit the ultimate gold mine with my Pumpkin Pie. I can honestly say that for me, it could not get any better. Impossible. It is melt in your mouth, can't-believe-it's-not-bad-for-me PERFECTION!

Now, as a holiday gift, I want to share my method with all of you to create the ultimate Thanksgiving or Holiday Pumpkin Pie! This pie was so good, it was the first thing I thought about for a few days after Thanksgiving. LOL! I looked forward to it so much, and couldn't believe how spot on it was for what some would call "The real thing." To me, this is every bit as delicious as the real thing, right down to the flaky just-the-right-amount-of-chew could fool a SAD eater crust. Oh the crust. Swoon! How I love thee!

So, this year, I was fortunate enough to have gotten my hands on a beautiful batch of raw macadamia nuts from Hawaii with a taste so buttery, so clean and rich at the same time, they have ruined me for other macs to be quite honest! They were the inspiration here, don't get cheap and substitute anything less than raw unroasted unsalted macs. I bake without measures quite often, since every single day for me is lived 100% Nutritarian, and it would be way too time consuming for me to write down the measures of each and every thing I eat. I eat a ton! So, this recipe has to be made carefully, with some love. Ok? Let's begin!

Jemoiselle's Blissfully Decadent Nutritarian Pumpkin Pie
I don't measure, these are my best estimates. Taste as you go, guys! Next time I make this, now that I know how incredible it turned out, I will write down exact weights and get it straight. This is very much a "for now" from what I remember, recipe!

Pie Filling:

1 can Pure Pumpkin Puree (next year it will be fresh, but this year had to be an exception.)
1c Pitted Medjool Dates (or, more or less to taste. Doesn't need much. I could have used less)
1/2 Package of Extra Firm Tofu (no salt or oil added, as pure as you can find)
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
1/4-1/2 tsp Pumpkin Pie Spice, to taste (I use spice islands brand blend)

Crust:

1-1.5c Raw Unsalted Macadamia
1-2c Oats (Gluten free oats)
1-2 tsp ground chia seeds (a great binder)
1/4-1/2 c water
1/4-1/2c Medjool Dates
              (I also like using homemade date syrup. Dates soaked in hot water, then pureed)
Optional: 1 drop butter flavored extract (propylene glycol base with a synthetic butter flavor)

Whipped Cream Topping:
1c (or more) Raw Unsalted Macadamia
1/2-1c Medjool Dates
1/2-1 tsp Vanilla Extract
1 drop Almond Extract
Water, if too thick.
Optional: 1 drop butter flavored extract. I don't remember if I used this in the topping too! (same as above, found in cake supply stores)

Instructions

For the filling: Puree the filling ingredients in a high powered blender (I use a Vitamix and cannot live without it) and taste to get the sweetness and spices just right. It will set up nicely in the fridge, but don't let it get thin. It needs to be the consistency of a very thick, smooth pudding.

For the crust: Using a food processor, make the macs into mac butter, then add the dates, ground chia, extracts and alternate oats and water to get the consistency just right. You are going to press this into a pie plate, so pinch it between your fingers as you adjust. When it sticks together, it's ready.

For the topping: Blend all ingredients in a vitamix until light and fluffy, the consistency of soft cool whip. Taste test for sweetness balance and adjust as necessary.

Bake that pie: Press the crust into a pie dish. It should be thick, about 1/4 inch. Press it up the sides and bottom all around until it's even. Fill with pumpkin filling and bake approximately 30 minutes at 350 degrees F (180C) just until the crust looks slightly light browned and the filling looks more firm. My pie filling developed cracks in the surface, which I will be working on in the months/years to come. It doesn't affect the taste, no worries!

Allow pie to cool then chill in the fridge. To serve simply slice with a sharp knife and top with a dollop of Nutritarian Whipped Cream. Enjoy! Keep in mind, I tried my best to remember how I made it for this post. If something goes awry with yours don't get discouraged! Just don't be afraid to change things up until it's the way you like it. If in doubt, drop by and ask me a question and perhaps we can troubleshoot it together.

It is my sincere hope that this recipe/method brings you so much joy this season that you don't miss the old type one tiny little bit, and that that realization might open your eyes to the possibilities of living 100% Nutritarian, even in the Holiday Season! I've never been happier. <3

Happy Holidays Everyone!

Jemosielle

On the road post: Self Love... (And an invitation)

Hello Lovelies! Jemoiselle here...writing from the road! Helloooo!

You know, I'm always blown away with the sheer depth of joy that can be found within life's simplest moments in the life of a Nutritarian me. I think this is a beautiful and profound thing, so I hope that you don't mind if I ramble on a bit about a rather dear topic: loving yourself. 

Before Nutritarian life was the only way for me, for years, decades even, I felt incomplete. Like something was wrong with me because I didn't look like the people on TV. Some words, Inadequate, hopeless, depressed, short changed metabolism wise. Nothing I did worked. Many times as a teenager I actually tried to simply stop eating until I (hypothetically) had become the ideal size. The modern diet simply would not allow me to achieve the visual representation of glowing good health that I coveted in the appearances of certain others. It was so hard, so emotionally draining as I would ride a low, resolve to change somehow, only to watch my resolve melt away like it were made of nothing but down feathers floating in a hurricane. Not pretty.

Enter, tonight. I'm going somewhere I promise. So I'm at a mall, having a beautiful night with my family. Today, I ate out with them, I had a big plate of steamed plain baked potatoes with lots of black pepper. It was divine! I consider that treat food, as potatoes aren't super nutrient dense compared to my usual fare. When we eat out I make do! Its been so long since I've tasted the food most people eat I simply don't desire it, and ordering what I do is no form of sacrifice but rather quite an indulgence. Anyhow, I digress.

So in the mall, as often happens in families with small children, we had a mad dash to the bathroom. So I accompany my little one to the room I used to dread (read: mirrors everywhere!) and headed in with an extra bounce in my step. I'm not gonna lie, I love mirrors! I was actually excited to see myself! Call it vanity, I call it well deserved self-love. 

It gives me a warm fuzzy to look in the mirror and be utterly pleased with my appearance. It soothes my soul to leave behind the days of utter dread that would strike my heart and start up that all-too-familiar heart sinking feeling that came with knowing disappointment (even just a few seconds worth) was inevitably ahead, whether conscious or subconscious, a part of my old life every time I passed a mirror. Can you imagine the pain of clothes shopping? I avoided it! How sad it was. 

That existence of indulgence that promised pleasure but delivered only pain ate me up, a real soul crusher. It makes such beautiful sense to eat foods that actually want to be eaten and love me back as much as I love them! My food nurtures my soul, feeds my spirit, liberates my heart and sets my mind ablaze with a passion I've seldom experienced at this intensity! Oh the love I feel when I see myself now! To know I eat all I want, anytime I want, I am always satisfied and never stuffed, and all that, to be blessed to look like this! Finally, the love and joy I feel everyday on the inside has manifested on the outside. Complete contentment, self-adoration, gratitude for just being me. Weird eh? Quite the contrast.

 It's not vanity, it's the real blessing and reality of life available to EVERY human being on this planet, who embraces God's provision, the generous and symbiotic manna from Heaven, that which grows like magic from the Earth from next to nothing, into a plentiful harvest that not only fills us up but heals us, and caresses us molding our bodies and minds into the most beautiful and peaceful contented versions of ourselves as is humanly possible! It's simply marvelous to me, and tonight, I'm just so overwhelmed with the gratitude I feel for finding it.

Which part of my writing here represents where you are in life, in health and love? If you are still caught in the cruel cycle of infliction that is the Standard American Diet or Western Diet, and you truly don't want to be; if you are ready for a life changer, if you're sick and tired of this junk that addicts you and hurts you, I want to help you. Please, if you are truly ready to leave the old life of pleasure for pain behind, use the contact form on the right, and I'll help you through it. If it's your time for change, I want you to have it. 

It is my true desire that everybody who wishes for freedom from food addiction and heart breaking body image issues be provided the way. I can't do it for you, but I can share how I get through challenging events, and answer specific questions here on the blog that pertain to your challenges. Lord knows I've been through it all! I've travelled internationally, had birthdays, learned a new way to have a truly blissful holiday season and more. It's been 5 1/2 years of Nutritarian learning for me. I'm ready to share it!

Tell me, my dear readers, what do you want to know? I want to be more active here, so let's do this! I'm listening guys!

In love and health,

Jemoiselle

Yes, I went there: FAUX-BEEF JERKY (...Oh my gosh, help me!)

My dear readers,

It's been a while since I've come at you with something truly magnificent! Tonight, before I head up to bed, I simply MUST share a new discovery with you. We're talking a discovery so fresh, I am still eating my first batch with stars in my eyes as I type! In fact, it is rather hard to type and eat at the same time. *giggle* I just can't help it, it's soo good! I am so freaking excited to share this recipe!

So, most of us have ended up vegan after at least a few years under our belts as meat eaters, am I right? And while I certainly don't miss eating meat per se after all this time, I do miss the intense flavor beef jerky had. Heck, who am I kidding? I don't eat salt! While I certainly don't long for that terrible feeling of overeating that inevitably salt encourages, or the puffiness and exhaustion that results, I *used* to enjoy salt. A lot. (Guilty face!) As a salt-free, oil-free, added sugar-free nutritarian, nothing I have come across has reminded me of beef jerky, not that I've been looking. I use a lot of garlic, spices, vinegar and even table-tasty seasoning (from Benson's Gourmet) to replicate the full flavor of something salted in savory applications, but most days salty food just isn't on my mind.

It's just one of those things I didn't feel a need to attempt to replicate when there are so many other awesome things to eat and play with! While it's easy to make cookies, cakes, bars and crackers that remind me of old foods, jerky simply never crossed my mind. In fact, I don't really make a lot of "old world" mock foods these days. The beauty and simplicity in my cherished whole foods is just too tantalizing to bother attempting to "improve." Why mess with perfection, right? Most days this is the norm for me, but tonight was different.

Folks, this new discovery was all just a big mistake! A freak dehydrator incident. A way to preserve a surplus of fresh food I couldn't consume fast enough, consisting of many different veggies that tonight, as fate would have it, included some celery stalks cut up into long sticks that dehydrated into tiny little sticks. I intended to grind them up with the other veggies to make another one of Hubby's mind blowing whole food seasoning powders, but tonight I just took a nibble out of curiosity.....

                                    .....and WHAM! Beef jerky flavor! What in the world?

Here's the recipe. It's stupid simple.

Jemoiselle's Mind Blowing Faux-Beef Jerkey

1. Get some organic celery (Psst! I won't tell anyone if you use regular, but try!)
2. Cut each stalk into thirds, and then cut third into three or four long sticks.
3. Place on dehydrator tray for two days at 95ºF. 

Dehydrate, and eat. Freak out. Do whatever you do. Share your results! 

For me, I swear, it even matched the meat texture! Almost made me kind of grossed out at first remembering how beef jerky actually felt in my mouth, the stretchy bits (shudder) that didn't quite get trimmed out. I am telling you, this stuff is the closest we will ever get to beef jerky this side of the farm! Next time, I will try making powder out of it and using it as a "one veggie" celery seasoning. Can you imagine that? Nom. Cows will sleep a little easier tonight I'm sure. *wink*

Have a great night everyone, lots of love!
Jemosielle

Faux Real! Mock PB Candy Pieces Mylkshake Magic...

Hello Everyone! 

How did you do during the infamously tempting Holiday Season? You know, that dreaded but wonderful time of the year where it seems that absolutely everyone is trying to torture/derail you with cookies and candies and fudge and everything that we try so hard to forget even exists? :) Well, I am proud to say for the first year ever, I made it through the season without a single crumb of cheat food! In fact, my last crumb was in August 2013 and I intend to keep it that way. (Update, still going strong Jan '15!) You know what, it felt GREAT! Marvelous even! We're talking Halloween, Thanksgiving, my birthday, my kiddos birthday, my Hubby's birthday, and most importantly Jesus's birthday, all without consuming (or serving) anything that causes us harm. I have so much I have neglected to blog about, perhaps that can be my resolution this year? Maybe? I have been dreaming of this accomplishment for years now, nearing 5 to be exact, and I've finally realized it. Finally, It's time to celebrate! Are you ready? But not with cheat food, oh no. Not even necessary. I have a special present to share with you...

Now before I became a Nutri (my way of saying Nutritarian!) one of my major weaknesses was Reese's Pieces. Well, who am I kidding, Reese's anything. By the bag full! After making the transition to this lifestyle and really embracing it, I found that even when I had cheats and ate some of those old favorites, they just didn't taste the same anymore. Needless to say, eventually I stopped eating them! My past love affair with junk however, is what has inspired this post, so hang with me and I'll explain! 

So, it started the other day. My little one, homeschooled and also a Nutri, having recently received a neat vintage cook book from Grandma for Christmas, wanted to make one of them as an experiment. It was published in 1980 and was a really neat gift, containing both healthy nutritarian-esque recipes, and umm, not so healthy recipes. Raw egg milkshake for kids anyone? LOL The recipe he picked out was in need of some modification for our lifestyle, and what I am about to share with you is the result of said experiment. I wasn't expecting this to be even remotely edible since I don't usually make smoothies or "mylkshakes" with these ingredients, but hey, he really insisted, so we forged ahead. 

The recipe in the book was originally (before I nutrified it!) supposed to taste like banana and peanut butter, so imagine my surprise when I changed some things here and there, took a cautious sip and tasted something oddly familiar and comforting all at once…it took a few sips to pin point what I was tasting, but eventually it came to me. Reece's Pieces! Say what? Another sip later and I was hooked. This is pure magic! Alchemy! How is this recipe not already circulating the boards of pinterest? How are we NOT freaking out!? Let’s change that, shall we?

So, without further ado, I present to you with much love and compliments especially from my 6 year old whom without his inspiration and insistence this recipe would not have come to life, a completely dairy-free, no unnatural sugars (it uses honey) salt and gluten free, guilt free mylkshake that tastes so good you’ll swear it’s bad, but it’s not! I present, a healthy mylkshake (this is no smoothie, folks!) that actually tastes and looks like a real milkshake, tastes to me, exactly like Reese’s Pieces, but is as harmless as a fluffy feather lazily drifting about in the wind. Enjoy with great pleasure, and to your health! Clearly, this is not something we are going to eat every day, right (ahem!) but when you want something truly special, I hope you'll give this one a try! 

In Love and celebration,

Jemoiselle

Faux-Real Reese's Pieces Mylkshake

Serves 2-4

2c Homemade Cashew Milk (Vitamix 1c raw unsalted cashews to 2c filtered water)

1/3c Natural 100% Peanut Butter (No salt, sugar or oil please, only peanuts)

2 Tbsp Raw Honey, or to taste.

1/2 Large Speckled Banana, PERFECTLY ripe (Don't be tempted to add more banana!)

1/2 Tsp Pure Vanilla Extract (Check those labels, no added sugar please!)

Ice cubes, Approx 4 cups (or to your texture preference)

FOR THE CASHEW MILK

In a Vitamix Blender or other insanely high powered blender, make that cashew milk. My cashew milk is a whole milk, no straining or filtering. Blend until rich and creamy, store in the fridge for a week max. Adjust amount of cashews for your preference, more or less. 

FOR THE FAUX-MYLKSHAKE

In a vitamix, add all ingredients except the ice. Blend until smooth. Taste test for desired sweetness, then add ice one cup at a time until desired consistency is reached. I like mine SUPER thick! Your mileage may vary! :)

A Shout Out to Spinoza's in Beavercreek, Ohio!

Hello my friends!

I have something neat to share with you today! As some of you know my sweet wonderful Hubby is a meatatarian, and before I became a Nutritarian we loooved to eat out! We are what the world affectionately calls "foodies" through and through, and well, since my transformation our restaurant life has been...bleak...at best or on the flip side, extremely guilty! Amazed by local restauranteur and owner Glen of Spinoza's, whose skills and passion for fresh ingredients at his restaurant in Beavercreek, Ohio's Fairfield Mall sets the bar about as high as it gets for gourmet pizza and salads devoid of canned anything even offering whole wheat crust, I set out to ask him a huge favor: create something a nutritarian can eat! Glen's pizzas are some of the best around and I am not supposed to tell you how amazing they are (no, siree!) but what is a gal who is trying to be a good Nutri to do? I'll tell you what. Go hungry! And that is what I did, and it didn't take long of that routine for me to decide to bite the proverbial bullet and ask him if he would help out, and to my shock, not only did he oblige with a huge smile as he sat down to hear more about it, but he was really excited about it and even did some research about how we Nutri's go about our days, the focus of our dietary guidelines etc. Wow! Talk about above and beyond the call of duty!

The next time we went in, I was absolutely floored to find that he had purchased a special dutch oven just for nutritarian cooking, and had planned out and had on hand everything he needed to craft a beautiful dish of herbed steamed veggies and whole garlic cloves atop a bed of hydroponically grown romaine, leaves left intact (a gorgeous touch!) with a huge bowl of lime wedges. Unbelievable. The veggies were steamed to perfection, not too done, not too crisp. Chopped herbs flecked within the veggies and added visual interest, and I thought I detected a hint of white wine. There were puffy cauliflower pieces, tender yet crisp asparagus with lime, yellow squash and even whole steam roasted garlic cloves sprinkled here and there as smooth and silky as butter but without the guilt and heart ache (literally)!

 Even more incredible and much to my unknowing delight, he had gone to the trouble of creating a surprise nutritarian sorbet of ripe juicy sweet (but not a drop of sugar added!) dark black grapes, and it was obvious that great care was taken to get the temperature and presentation just right, as the sorbet was absolutely matte and traditionally textured, just as if it were real ice cream, it held it's shape and frozen temp while I savored each bite, yet, it was easy to spoon, not too firm at all, and to my great delight, each bite seemed to almost dissolve light as a cloud and effervesce on the tongue! How did he do that?! It was pure nutri-alchemy! The whole ordeal brought back an element of joy I was honestly missing very much in my pursuit of optimum health and fitness.

I couldn't believe he had gone to such lengths and with such beautiful enthusiasm, and I just had to share with you, dear readers, so that should any of you find yourselves in the Dayton Ohio area (Beavercreek Ohio, Fairfield Mall to be exact) you might like to pay him a visit yourself and delight in his culinary prowess! He said he has aspirations of making a nutritarian pizza in the future, can you imagine? Nom! Spinoza's can be found in the Fairfield Mall in Beavercreek Ohio in the Dayton area. Check them out over at yelp here! Or to find them via Google Maps go here!

Spinoza's Pizza & Salads

2727 Fairfield Commons Blvd., Beavercreek, OH ‎

The Mall at Fairfield Commons

(937) 426-7799 ‎ · spinozas.com

Glen, from the bottom of my heart, thank you dear friend! A priceless gift.

With Love For All,
Jemoiselle