Tuesday, May 14, 2013

Let them eat cake!



We admit, sometimes there is nothing more delicious than having a little piece of cake. Ah… but it isn’t as naughty as it sounds, because the cakes we are talking about this week are healthy raw cheesecakes!

The art of creating the perfect raw cheesecake starts with building a solid foundation.

Ingredients

½ cup cashews
½ cup almonds
½ cup pecans
10-12 pitted dates (soak to make soft)
½ cup shredded coconut
1 tbsp pure vanilla extract
¼ cup raw cacao powder
½ tsp rock salt

Preparation

1. Blend cashews, almonds, pecans and salt until finely chopped
2. Add dates and cacao powder and blend well
3. Add remaining ingredients: shredded coconut and vanilla extract
4. Press into bottom of pan

Our 5 favourite raw cheesecake fillings

1. ‘Pomegranate Cheesecake with Clementine Gelato’ from The Raw Chef
2. 'Raw Orange Chocolate "Cheese" Cake Revisited' from Rawmazin
3. ‘Pear-Ginger Cheesecake’ from Both Halves
4. ‘Raw PB & J Swirl Cheesecake’ & ‘Raw Blackberry Lemon Lavender Cheesecake’ from Fragrant Vanilla Cake

Tips

• Feel the mixture, it should stick together when you pinch it. If it doesn’t, add more dates
• Test taste the mixture for sweetness, add a dash of vanilla extract if needed
• If your blender blade isn't very sharp, blend the nuts and salt first before adding the other ingredients
• Now that you have the foundation for your raw cheesecake, play around with the endless opportunities for raw fillings

How does detoxing help your skin?


You've undoubtedly heard that detoxing is good for your skin. In fact, healthy and radiant skin is the top detox benefit reported by our cleansers. Cleansing helps give your skin that sparkly, dewy, fresh look, and it also helps ease common skin conditions such as acne, dermatitis, psoriasis and eczema. But why and how?

The role and functions of your skin

The skin is the largest organ in your body. It protects you from external pathogens, regulates temperature, facilitates vitamin D absorption, enables tactile sensation, and importantly plays an active role in detoxification.

Its detoxification function has the biggest connection with skin appearance. If you’re overloaded with toxins – playing too hard, eating too much (or too much of the wrong things) and sleeping too little – it all takes its toll on your skin. Dehydration lines, breakouts, rashes and skin irritations are all signs your skin needs some serious TLC, and your body could do with a cleanse.

Detoxing and its impact on your skin

When you detox, provided you are avoiding all the right foods (our cleanse does just that), you are naturally eliminating skin aggravators and inflammatory agents such as dairy, yeast, sugar and gluten.

Juice cleansing gives your digestive system a rest, stimulates detoxification (gently clearing out all those skin-clogging nasties), and floods your body with delicious nutrients all at the same time. It's a recipe for skin success!

If you think a juice cleanse might be for you, check out our spring/summer menu. Our Fruit & Greens and Zingy Uplifter six packs are also a perfect skin-friendly supplement to a healthy diet. More info here.