Chocolate avocado wild blackberry no bake pie

I made this today and WOW! This is just too good not to try. The crust itself is to die for! The fact that it's a no bake pie is awesome! It's easy to do as long as you have a food processor! The original recipe came from Vegweb.com. However, I changed the recipe slightly. No time to lose; check it out!

Chocolate avocado wild blackberry (almost raw) no bake pie

Ingredients:

Crust:
2 cups pecans, divided
5 soft dates, pitted
3 TB chia seeds, soaked in 2 TB warm water
1 TB maple syrup
2 TB cocoa powder (made by blending a small handful of carob chips)
1 TB cinnamon
2 tsp ground fresh nutmeg
1 tsp vanilla extract, optional
pinch sun dried sea salt

Filling:
2-3 ripe avocados
2-3 C fresh or wild picked frozen blackberries
2 TB lemon juice (this keeps the avocados from browning)
1 tsp vanilla extract
Approximately 4 C dark chocolate chips
Optional: fresh strawberries, cherries or blackberries to top


Directions:

1. For crust, soak 1 cup pecans in 2 cups fresh water for 20 minutes (if you can allow for 2-4 hours, that would be better, but 20 minutes works for on-the-fly!). Drain and rinse. In a food processor, chop 1 cup dry pecans into a fine meal. Set aside. Chop soaked pecans into a fine meal.

2. Cut or break the dates into pieces. If the dates are very dry or firm, soak them in 1/2 cup fresh water for 5 minutes to soften. Add the date pieces, chia seeds, maple syrup, carob, cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla, and sea salt to the ground soaked pecans and chop until well mixed.

3. Add the ground dry pecans and chop until well mixed. The dough should be crumbly but sticky enough to hold shape when pressed. Press the dough evenly into a pie plate; it is easiest to press the dough first to the sides of the plate and then press into the bottom for an even depth.

4. For filling, in a blender, cream together avocados, lemon juice, and vanilla. In a double broiler, melt chocolate chips; let chocolate cool slightly. I cooled it quickly by adding in the frozen blackberries that I had picked the previous day.

5. Add melted chocolate/blackberry mix to the avocado mixture and blend until smooth. Top with fruit berries of choice. Pour into prepared crust and chill in fridge for approximately 30-60 minutes to let solidify before serving.

Power seed, engage!

Thanks to a good friend, I've gotten to know a magical little seed known for its green hair growing powers, the chia seed. Apparently the Aztecs and Mayans knew about the health benefits of this tiny seed; it sustained them during long hunts. You can read all about the versatile little seed by visiting The Great Google, so I won't reinvent the wheel here, I'll just go straight to the recipe I conjured up this afternoon. I wanted a mildly sweet, bursting with healthy power-packed goodness snack. I ended up with just that:

"Tropical Chi-gel-ly":
1 C coconut water
3 T chia seeds
1 large ripe mango, peeled and cored
1/2 ripe banana

optional: add a small amount of honey or a whole banana for a sweeter gel-ly.

I let the seeds gel up then added everything in my food processor and processed away. I topped mine with a ripe organic strawberry and coconut flakes. Yum! I wish I could say that I ate this little bowl of yum before heading out for a fantastic run, but unfortunately my iliotibial band is acting up again, so you'll find me on the living room floor rolling the foam and stretching out the IT band!

The options are limitless with chia, it can be added to salads, cereals and baked goods. Anything edible, really. I can't wait to play around with it some more! Enjoy!