Philly Cheeze Fake

Philly Cheeze Fake Foo Shizzly!

Take a look at this divinely inspired creation that is a synergy of marinated eggplant, breaded dehydrated onions, cashew cheese, walnut pate and tomatoes. This was the featured entree the other night at Conscious Media Tuesday at Shakti. The turn out was the lowest but the entree was the bestest! I’m debating whether to do “Philly Cheese Fake” 2 weeks in a row. Send me an email if you want specifics on the recipe.

I’ve got a video in the works of the assembly. Here are the basics in photo form:

Lay out the eggplant

Add walnut pate and breaded onions

Cheeze it

Wrap it

Decorate it

Blam It!

Busy October

Marinara and Cheeze Pepper Platter

Lots of fun stuff to think about for October. I’ve been working on a recipe book and working with a friend to produce a DVD to accompany it. Every time I visit a book store or go online I see more live food recipe books but I also see scores of … well, “dead food” books. I look at the people on the covers and it’s hard not to notice even with the make up and airbrushing that they aren’t radiating health. Am I judging a book by it’s cover? These books are big budget full color Food Network endorsed circus acts. Wow, how can a person compete with that? My feeling is that I’m not really competing with “that”, I shouldn’t even be concerned with “that”. It’s nice to know that “that” exists but I shouldn’t spend my energy on it. Besides, I’ve got my hands full working the recipe book, there’s also media nights going here in Atlantic Beach at Shakti and there’s a juice feast scheduled to happen. Still with all this going on there’s still time to play in the kitchen and test out recipes… like this one:

Almond Cashew Cheeze

1 C almonds

1 C cashews

1/2 C water or rejuvalac

1 t salt

*** If you don’t use rejuvalac add 1 t of apple cider vinegar and 1 T miso

Process all ingredients smooth in blender or food processor

Classic Marinara

2 C sundried tomato

1 whole tomato

3 T lemon juice

3 T C Italian herb

1 T olive oil

salt to taste

Process all ingredients smooth in blender or food processor

Add sun dried tomato soak water to blender if sauce it too thick.

Keep it Live!

Being Present at The Present Moment Cafe

Flower Child chowing down at The Present Moment Cafe

Never miss an opportunity to help manifest someones dream, especially if it involves delicious vegan live food in the oldest city in the United States. This morning my friend Valerie casually mentioned she’d never been to The Present Moment Cafe in St. Augustine. Bummer I thought, continuing with the onion dehydrating project I had started. It took a moment for me to realize the opportunity at hand, the carpe diem, grab the reins by the bull kinda gusto that should be part of a life lived in the Present Moment. She had to work at 2pm at Shakti Life Kitchen in Atlantic Beach (North Florida’s other premiere vegan live food option)… it was totally doable… in the car by 11, we were at the Present Moment by 12 noon… our bellies were full and we were back on the road by 1pm.

With all that said, what tasty treats did we partake in at The Present Moment Cafe? We started out with an amazing Thai style soup with mushrooms, sesame seeds, onions and a hint of lemon grass… I could be totally wrong though on the ingredient list. That’s was my take on it and I neglected to ask for the break down. One things for sure, it wasn’t clam chowder and it was really good.

Yummy Thai Soup

Next up was a massive Cesar salad and 2 stuffed portabellos with a creamy spinach filling, very rich and Frenchy style.

We ain’t done yet… a sampler platter with guacamole, salsa and a refried beans creation (no beans or refrying of course) To accompany the platter was a massive sunlight burger all drippy with cashew provolone… wait, there’s more… a mound of creamy white truffle pesto pasta. This was some serious eating and proof to this fact is that we walked with a to go container… unheard of when sit down to eat. To my defense I showed some restraint so I would have the slightest bit of room left for dessert…

Ceasar Salad and Stuffed Shroom

Warm Pecan Apple Cobbler with a scoop of cashew vanilla ice cream… no to go’s on dessert.

On a scale of “1” to “damn that’s so good I wet my organic cotton briefs”… post meal I would be running to the bathroom to rinse my drawers in the sink… that is if I wore any. All joking aside, The Present Moment Cafe is a boot shooting chart topper with amazing food and very reasonable prices. The pictures don’t lie… portions and plating are superb, staff is wonderful and the atmosphere is so cozy that you’d consider moving in.

White Truffle Pesto Pasta, Chip and Dip sampler, Sunshine Burger

On the down side there’s a bunch of road work being done in front of the restaurant. Noise wasn’t an issue but the only access has been converted to one-way which sends you looking for a western route to India. Once you arrive in the Promise Land all your worries melt away like cacao butter basking in the sun.

If you’re ever in North Florida or even the South East you owe it to yourself to visit the Present Moment Cafe in St. Augustine, Florida. Check out there details here:

www.thepresentmomentcafe.com

Keep It Live, Adam