Chocolate Mint Ice Cream and its effects...

My day began and ended with mint in stranger ways than I could have ever imagined... Over a breakfast of green juice for breakfast (kale, cucumber, apple, celery, mesquite and maca), I created yet another raw ice cream. This time it was a variation on previously made mint chocolate-chip ice cream in what Andrew called my new raw 'mint oreo ice cream'. Here's the secret:

Raw Mint 'Oreo' Ice Cream

2 C cashews, soaked overnight

1 C water

2/3 C agave nectar (or maple syrup, I think I did half of each)

1 tsp vanilla (or 1 whole vanilla bean)

1/3-1/2 C crushed mint leaves

1/2 tsp (or to taste) of mint extract

dash of salt

pinch of spirulina for green color

raw oreo cookie dough (see below)

cacao nibs, optional

1. Blend everything in a Vitamix (or blender or food processor) until smooth

2. Pour into ice cream machine and follow directions!

3. In the middle of the ice cream machine process, or once the ice cream starts to get a solid enough ice cream consistency, blend in the raw oreo dough mix (as usual, I didn't measure out my recipe for the cookie dough, but it was a mix of ground oat groats, ground cashews, maple syrup, cacao powder, vanilla extract, salt to taste) to create either a cookie dough swirl or just mix in pieces/chunks of cookie dough. I also added cacao nibs for extra bitterness.

4. Let the ice cream machine finish doing its thang

I also made a batch of strawberry ice cream (same base but with less sweetener and about 8 big strawberries), and a lemon poppy seed tofu pie. The pie's crust was ground cashews & oat groats, couple dashes of salt, 3 soaked dates, 4 apricots, and 2 prunes (the fruits were blended in the food processor with some of their soaking liquid to form a paste), lemon zest and agave nectar because the mix was too dry. The pie plate doesn't fit in my dehydrator so it had to go into the oven at the lowest setting for a little bit just to dry it up (it takes about 30-45 minutes since the setting is so low). The filling was made out of 2 blocks of tofu, agave nectar, salt, vanilla, 2 whole peeled lemons, and 2 limequats. I blended all the filling ingredients in the Vitamix (I've used a food processor in the past) and the texture came out so much smoother! I mixed in poppy seeds and poured it into the crust. It definitely looked more like a lemon-meringue pie than anything I've ever done. It even had the little white meringue-like peaks!

But how did I end my day with mint you ask? Well, I finally had the chance to get back to the Bikram studio tonight, and wow did I detox again. The first time I went, I mentioned I could feel (and smell) the toxins just pouring out of me. The second time wasn't quite as drastic, but after one week it seems I have more to release. The weird thing was about 1/3 of the way through, sweating like there's no tomorrow and feeling the release of toxin build up, I was suddenly engulfed in the smell of peppermint, not just peppermint really, but the same smell as the mint extract I used in the ice cream this morning... strange, I know... It really comes to show what your body retains and how long it can keep it in (or how quickly it can release it!) Once again, the class was wonderful and was held by the most helpful instructor I've had yet. I'm definitely going to try to go back to her classes!

No emotional outbreaks this time though, unless you count my toxin release resulting in some internal mad hysterical laughter a couple times during the practice because I was just so happy... I guess I also release some serious endorphins when I do bikram! Yay, for minty happy sweat!

Workout of the Day:

1.5 hours of minty fresh Bikram

Recipes of the Day:

Yummy Ice Cream & Lemon Tofu Pie