first blog post in forEVER!! and a chocolate raspberry torte

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chocolate raspberry torte: chocolate nutty crust, topped with fresh raspberries and fudgy sauce

I'm not going to lie, I totally make up whether to call it a torte, a tart or a pie based on what sounds nicer. I'm pretty sure this is not a torte...aren't tortes filled with denser fillings or something? I have no idea.

Anyway, I know it's been forever forever forever since I posted anything. The reasons are many-fold:

1. we had to bring our computer in for fixing so it was away for a while
2. we both came down with the WORST FLU I HAVE EVER HAD IN MY LIFE. It is horrible! And it's still kicking! Thank god it's on the way out now at 1.5 weeks. I actually didn't get out of bed for 3 straight days. And then, when I did, I could only do light activity because simple tasks like cleaning the cats' litter exhausted me too much. And today I made the mistake of taking some cough syrup, which it would appear I'm allergic to. So, I couldn't control my movements for the first half of the day or sit up, and for the second half of the day I had a stabbing headache. NEVER AGAIN. This flu is a wonderful strain of infectious disease that in addition to making you feel like crap, makes everything taste like crap.
   
3. I haven't been eating all that wonderfully. I did make a lot of ice cream with MY BRAND NEW (well now month-old) ICE CREAM MAKER!!!! More on that later.
4. We're moving at the end of the month. I hate moving. But am excited to move and to have a place I can actually take good food photos! No more dimly lit messy places! yay!
   
5. It's November in Toronto. Meaning that there is about 6 hours of sunlight in the day, none of them occurring when I'm home and able to take photos.
   

I'm trying to get back into healthy yummy eating, if not just in hopes that my mouth will finally stop tasting like snot (yay being sick!). Ew ew ew I had such a classy moment on the way to work the other day: My nose was full on running and I forgot to bring any tissues and had to blow it on a pair of (clean at least) underwear that was in my bag from going to the gym!! In public!! I was hoping hoping hoping that people didn't see the La Senza logo and just thought it was a fancy handkerchief; though what 25 year old uses a handkerchief I wouldn't know...

Anyway, in step 1 toward being healthy again, I made pasta with kale and roasted tomato sauce for dinner and chocolate raspberry torte for dessert! And it tasted good! Yay!!! Finally, something that doesn't taste like snot and ickyness!

(recipes after the jump!)



Roasted tomato sauce

Oven-roasted tomato sauce

6 roma tomatoes, chopped
1/2 red onion
3 cloves garlic
dash olive oil
1tsp sea salt

cook in oven at 450F for 30 min, stirring occasionally. Broil for 5 min (until starts to blacken). Pulse quickly in food processor for chunky tomato sauce. yum yum!

chocolate raspberry torte
crust
1c almonds
1c macadamia nuts
5T cacao powder
1/2c dates

filling
raspberries

Pulse nuts in food processor until finely crumbly. Add cacao and pulse until well blended. Add dates and blend until it forms a dough. Press into pan, chill in fridge 15 min (or until ready to serve). Fill with raspberries, drizzle chocolate sauce on top and serve.

I'll upload photos in a bit!
Enjoy!!!
xoxo

NOT SO SEXY UPDATE: ok, I looked up torte, and yes I was correct in that I am incorrect. This is so so not a torte...well I guess the crust is kind of torte-ish in that it's made from ground nuts...??? No, I stand by my not really having any idea.