5 Minute Dark Chocolate (Raw Vegan)

I cheat. Let's be real, I do my best to be a good vegan, but sometimes I can't help myself. Like the other day when I was starving and waiting in a loooong line at Victoria Secret the day before Valentine's Day. All I could think about was how I needed food before I pass out, and the sweet check-out lady answered my prayers with a complimentary box of chocolates. Nice touch VS. Nice touch. Naturally I went and stuffed a couple in my mouth despite being vegan AND allergic to dairy hahaha.

Those chocolates are now sitting on my counter and the way I avoid temptation is easy (No. I didn't throw them away. I'm not crazy.) I just made my own vegan chocolate so that if I was tempted to go for the normal ones, I'd remember that I have an even MORE delicious option in the freezer! I used a chocolate pomegranate recipe for the basic idea of how to make the chocolate, then made my own version. Here's what I did:

Ingredients:
1/3 cup coconut oil (melted)
1/2 cup pure maple syrup (warm)
3/4 cup raw cocoa powder
sea salt
raw cashews

Prep Time: 5-10 minutes (depending how you melt your oil)
Freeze Time: 20 min

To Make:
I melted to the coconut oil and maple syrup together, then folded in the cocoa. The first time I made this I mixed the oil and cocoa then whipped in cold maple syrup and it made a cool puffy chocolate, but it was messy to eat. The way you mix this together really effects the outcome. Once the cocoa was more incorporated into the mix, i slowly stirred it. I then cooled it slowly by surrounding the mixing bowl in a larger bowl with cool water and slowly mixed the chocolate until it seemed silky rather than separated.

That's the main chocolate! You can really do anything you want with this step. I set little clumps of cashews on a metal try with parchment paper, then spooned chocolate over them. I also made some plain dollops without nuts. I bet spooning it onto shredded coconut would be AWESOME or any other type of nut. ANYWAY...

When I was finished doing that, I went back and covered them again for good measure, then powdered the tops with the raw cocoa powder for a touch of bitterness, and ground a bit of sea salt over the tops. THIS PART IS IMPORTANT! I'm serious, without the sea salt is good, WITH the sea salt, it's the best ever.

Put it in the freezer for about 20 minutes. That's all. No excuses.

See? I wasn't kidding when I said the vegan chocolate was a yummier option.  I took some bites before the photo ;). And I SHARED the VS chocolate. That's not all on me hahahaha

Vegan Cheddar Cheese Ball

I came up with this recipe when the creative energy was flowing after a juice fast :). I think the thing that mainly intimidates people when making vegan foods are the weird ingredients. This one is almost raw and easy to tweak to make it raw. HOWEVER I'd like to say, once you have some of this stuff, it's something you'll use a lot and keep for a long time. After you make one or two raw things, it won't feel intimidating at all! ALSO, things are very easy to substitute. This is not an exact science, so play around! This one also takes minimal effort so don't worry about time being an issue :)

Ingredients:
1 cup raw soaked cashews (I soak overnight but 6 hours should be fine)
2 roasted bell peppers (I use the jarred and add a splash of the oily water)
1 pinch each: mustard seed, turmeric powder, chipotle powder, sea salt
2 tsp coconut amino acids
1 tsp tamari sauce (if you don't want to use this, add more amino acids. And vice versa)
1/3 cup raw coconut oil (melted)
2 TBS nutritional yeast
1 1/2 tsp oat flour
1/2 tsp arrowroot
1/2 tsp xanthan gum

Top Coating:
1/3 cup finely chopped raw cashews (not soaked)

Prep Time: 10 minutes Freeze Time: overnight

To Make:
Literally just put it all into a food processor and process the hell out of it. No joke. It's that easy. Stir it around every once in a while to incorporate everything, but other than that, you're good.

Taste it to see if you want to add any more flavor, but this is what it will taste like in the end so make sure it's ready! At this point it will look like cheese soup. PLEASE feel free to use this as nacho cheese! I almost ditched the cheese ball idea all together once I saw how this turned out and just drizzled it over chips with salsa! BUT... I didn't.

To Form the Ball:
I put plastic wrap inside a bowl leaving the edges out, and and poured the mixture in. Then I took the edges of the plastic together and twisted it so that it was like a pouch with the liquid inside. Don't worry! It was easy. Then I held it together with a twisty, and balanced it in a glass in the freezer (to hold a round shape) overnight.

In the morning I put it in the refrigerator to soften a bit, then rolled the ball in the chopped cashews! To prevent a mess, I didn't completely take it out of the plastic wrap until it was halfway covered and I could roll it with my hand on the coated bit. Then, back in the refrigerator to soften a bit more, or if guests are on their way over, leave it out to thaw and enjoy!

I ate some of it with some raw vegan crackers I created. Yummy!