orange lavender pudding with cashews

This recipe creates a pudding that is creamy, fresh and - let's face it - pretty cute. I love using fruit in desserts because... okay wait do I actually have to explain? This is a raw, vegan blog; obviously I like fruit. It's colourful, naturally sweet, nutritious and generally the all-around perfect food. You can practically live off fruit. The benefits of eating nature's vibrantly coloured candy are too many to count. Just eat a lot of it, okay?

Last night I was scouring the internet looking for some dessert recipes I could turn into raw vegan versions. I didn't actually find a recipe for an orange pudding but somehow it got lodged in my brain and stayed there. So I made it. At 10:00 PM while dancing to lame pop music. Yep. The idea to add lavender came this morning, while I was setting up the pudding for photos. I know I say this about a ton of things like chocolate, dates, bananas, coconut, etc. - but you really can't go wrong with lavender!

The recipe can't get much simpler or more whole-foods: blend some cashews, dates and oranges. Add some coconut oil and put it in the fridge. Sorted (as they say in the UK)! The next morning you have a luscious, sweet citrus infused treat to enjoy at anytime of the day because it's so healthy. Pudding for breakfast? Excellent. Lunch? Good choice. Snack? Go for it. Dinner? Alright, you must really like pudding. You should probably eat something else with dinner. Weirdo.

orange lavender pudding: serves 4

2 peeled oranges
1 cup cashews
1 cup dates
1-2 tablespoons melted coconut oil
1 teaspoon dried lavender flowers

Blend all the ingredients until smooth. If it is too thick, add the juice of another orange or two. Scoop into small, single serving dishes (like ramekins) and leave in the fridge overnight. The next day decorate the pudding with orange zest and slices, and more lavender flowers if you like. Get sexy with it. 

fruit tartlets with vanilla cashew cream

these tarts are so cute. you can't resist them. it's funny how whenever you decorate things with fresh fruit they become more appealing. our bodies know what they want!

i thought i was only going to be able to use the kiwi we had in the house but just as i was about to decorate them my mom came home with fresh, locally grown, organic strawberries! perfect.

you know i'm obsessed with chocolate, so today my goal was to make something without it - for once in my dang life. it looks like there's chocolate in the crust but that's just the skin of the almonds, prunes and raisins.

the filling is like a cashew custard i suppose. it's actually just cashews,  maple syrup, vanilla seeds and nut milk. oh ma gad. too good. i was eating spoonfuls.

the light was great in the kitchen today so i took lots of photos - hope you don't mind ;) i think these would be fun for a garden party. it is finally getting to be that time of year! imagine bringing them out on a cute little tray with some fancy drinks or whatever and impressing all your friends... mhm. do it.

these better be gone by tomorrow because that's when i start my liquid cleanse (i don't know if i'll be able to resist the temptation!) as i said in the last post - i'll be having lots of juice and smoothies, and tea and nut milks as well. after my 10 day cleanse i will going into my 21 day water fast!!! yippie!

anyhoo - time to give you the recipe if you want to make these. as usual, they're super easy and far too delicious to be healthy... yet they are.

fruit tartlets with cashew cream: makes 1 large tart or about 6 small
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crust:
1/2 cup walnuts
1/2 cup almonds
1/2 cup prunes/raisins/dates
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons hemp seeds
2 tablespoons flax seeds

cashew cream filling:
1 cup cashews
1/4 cup or so nut milk
3 tablespoons maple syrup/agave
1/4 teaspoon each of salt, cinnamon and ginger powder
seeds from 1/2 vanilla pod
2 tablespoons melted coconut oil

to make the crust: pulse the nuts in your food processor until they are crumb-sized. add the other ingredients and pulse until the mixture starts sticking together. you might need to add more prunes/raisins/dates. press this mix into the bottom of a tart tin or several tartlet tins. put in the fridge.

to make the cashew cream filling: blend the cashews into cashew butter then add all the other ingredients until smooth. yummmmmm. spoon this evenly into your tart/tartlet tins and put back in the fridge while you cut up your fruit. decorate as you please - then enjoy!