Carrot Cake Balls -- GF, CF, sugar-free, faux-cream cheese

IT's NATIONAL DIET MONTH!!!     Today I'm looking for something that will be delicious and yet not bust apart my 21 day diet. (because I'm not up to starting over.)  

This might work!  







Cream cheese cake balls that are dairy-free, sugarless, gluten-free, grain-free, healthy, raw and delicious?

And about which the 14 year old says,  "Okay Mom, they are not terrible."  Woot!  High praise indeed.

The impossible dream?  
Well, maybe. 
It's all true, except for the cream cheese.  

There is none of that in the recipe, but I made these and asked the guys what they  reminded them of and they came up with the name.  

Actually they said they tasted pumpkin too, but I thought that was really stretching it.  

Who knew dates are the secret ingredient? 

None of the guys and they will not!  

3/4 cup carrots, peeled, diced (2 or 3 full sized)
4 dates (pitted and diced)
1 teaspoon minced ginger root (I use the stuff from the jar in the fridge)
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon orange extract
1/2 cup pecans

I have a good food processor, so I did it all together using my processor blade, but try chopping the carrots first then remove and do the rest and add the carrots to thoroughly combine into a dough.  I used my handy-dandy melon baller and then rolled them in coconut.  

This is the birthday cake ball recipe that my dear friend Pam researched and fed to me for my September birthday.  It's taken a month to get it replicated.  I hope you love it as much as I do.    

Reality Bite:  And for the record, I still do not like dates... alone. (hee,hee.)

Last posted 10-29-13

Sugar Urge Curbed?

How is the sugar purge coming in your life?  If I cut it out as much as possible, I feel so much better.   Wish it weren't so, but when I eat sugar, I pay.  My body aches terribly--yet still...

The pain is good, as it is incentive to cut it out again.  Here is the Wall Street Journal take on that.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204660604574370851517144132.html

GF Black Rice Pudding

Naturally g-f, this  flaky, chewy nutritional powerhouse, black rice pudding is a delicious natural choice.  

I love that Asian experience found in markets like NamHi in Tulsa.  The smells there take me back eight months ago to Hong Kong.  What a delightful experience we enjoyed there.  The son walks through the store with his t-shirt pulled up over his nose, but not Me!  I revel in the sights, the smells and the memories.

Making this dish reminds me again of the beauty and delight found in food from diverse cultures.  This is a warm/cold, sweet/sour, crusty/creamy taste ephiphany.  This naturally dark food will bleed onto your hands, onto whatever food you cook with it, and  it carries all of the potential nutritional power of nature's most brightly colored foods.  

Polished white rice - contains 6.8 protein, 1.2 iron, 0.5 zinc and 0.6 fiber.
Brown rice - contains 7.9 protein, 2.2 iron, 0.5 zinc and 2.8 fiber
Purple rice - 8.3 protein, 3.9 iron, 2.2 zinc and 1.4 fiber.
Red rice - 7.0 protein, 5.5 iron, 3.3 zinc and 2.0 fiber.
Black rice - 8.5 protein, 3.5 iron, zero zinc and 4.9 fiber.

Rinse 1 cup of rice until the water has removed the floaties in the rice. 
For best best results, SOAK THE RICE for at least three hours in cold water. Best is overnight.
 Then cook the rice exactly how you cook other rice.  I use a rice cooker so I add one cup rice to one cup water in a cooker and steam until tender and water has disappeared.  

Serve with heavy cream, sweetened condensed milk, rice milk, or as I did, homemade vanilla yogurt.
I accent the sweet rice with a sour, colorfully contrasting fruit like mango, orange, peach, or apricot.

It's one of the best desserts my mom-in-law loved in Hong Kong and it was her diligence in finding this grain, that inspired me to seek it our here too.  Thanks Pat!  

Reality Bite:  Yum