Hey You, Want Some Candy?

I've been down and out. Me and crazy boy really hit the skids. In my experience, nobody shares almonds. It's hard to get a nutritious meal from the food banks. We once got a fifty pound bag of potato flakes and three 16 ounce jars of sugar and oil laden generic peanut butter. One church attendant called us entitled when I gave back the cans of spam and deviled ham that were in our bounty. Well true, we still had our teeth and a toothbrush to share. We even had  jobs and  we could clean ourselves up in the sink of the local Amtrak lavatory. Hmmm, maybe we were entitled, maybe we were a special kind of homeless couple. Our kind of homeless was way before the 99% occupy was fashionable. We were the one per cent. Homeless employed vegans, but stuff happens even to those who are cruelty free. The good news was that my Bloomies card hadn't totally run out so, I had my last hurrah and ran up credit for a couple of bad ass bras. I guess I could have purchased some almonds or shoes instead of the undies, but it's tough on those mean streets and it's good to feel like you got some under armour.

Chocolate Almond Boats with Strawberry Topping

I've tried making quite a few raw chocolates and thus far this has been my favorite. The chocolate base is from one of my favorite cookbooks, Lacey Sher and Gail Doherty's You Won't Believe It's Vegan.  We also made some bark which was equally delicious.

Chocolate Base
1 C raw cacao nibs
1 C agave
1.5 C coconut oil
pinch of sea salt
1/2 C almond slivers

Blend all ingredients, except almonds in food processor or blender, until completely smooth. Stir in almonds. Pour into candy molds or spread on parchment lined sheet pan. Freeze until firm. Store in freezer until firm.

Almond Mousse Recipe (in the Veganville archives)

Strawberry Topping (also in the Veganville archives, but hidden under the code word blueberry...oh just exchange fruits)
Well it is our sincere hope that this post has given you some food for thought. You can't always judge a book by it's cover. And because we've been through it and have lived to tell it we encourage you to say hi to your local panhandler, give them a smile, some dental floss and some much needed greens. We usually protect our anonymity when it comes to our charitable deeds, but we hope you can follow our example.So, in addition to helping one or two animals every 6 months, Veganville now contributes two jumbo cupcakes every 5th Saturday to our favorite Vet on the street. Next month we will be contributing to Junkie Joe and his pitbull Axe. Won't you?