Sweet Deliciousness

Alrighty. I have practically no voice today. I tried to do pilates at the gym this morning (what was I thinking) and ended up leaving half way through the class because I was burnin up. This fever just won't go away. I thought sweating it out would help, but it just made it worse. I'm just one of those people who hates sitting. Even when I'm sick, I try to clean and work out, but it doesn't do me any good haha And studying, for that matter, is useless when I'm sick. I've noticed that I can't retain any information for tests... such as huge midterms. haha That was a mess yesterday. I did well on Religions of the World, but the Bio test and Lab Exam were just a blur. I had to take my shirt off in Bio (I had a tank top on) because I felt like it was 200 degrees in there. And after the tests, we had a lab of course. The class is from 12:15-4:10- just lovely. We had to extract DNA from split peas and I ended up dropping the DNA extraction. Thankfully, my lab partners are REALLY nice and understood that I wasn't mentally "there." haha

Anyway, last night, I ended up cooking up a storm. I just couldn't sit still anymore. I ended up making Halva. I had seen it on Gone Raw and I don't think my version is raw, but I don't care. I changed the recipe so much that I don't know if it's still considered Halva haha I hope it is. It tastes like nothing I've ever had before so it's hard to relate it to anything else. It has the consistency of a crumble (kind of) and tastes like sweet tahini. Does that make any sense at all? It's a popular dessert in India and I had it for breakfast this morning. I halved the recipe and that was a mistake because I'm gonna have to make more... it's all gone. haha It's really THAT addicting!!

Here's the recipe:
Halva
3 cups almond meal
1/2 cup roasted white sesame seeds
2 tbsp agave nectar
2 tbsp honey (you can use brown rice syrup, too)
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1 vanilla bean, scrape out the vanilla
1/2 cup dried fruit
3 cups of water

Directions: Place the sesame seeds in a blender with 3 cups of water. Blend for about 15-20 seconds. Using a very fine strainer or cheese cloth, separate the sesame seed pulp from the water. Put the sesame seed pulp in a food processor. Add the almond meal, cinnamon, nutmeg, and vanilla bean seeds/remains (not sure what to call them). Pulse those ingredients together and then add the agave nectar and honey. Add the dried fruit and pulse for a few seconds. That's it.

Note: The Trader Joe's Blend of Dried Cherries, Dried Blueberries, and Dried Strawberries is to die for. It tastes so well with the Halva so you just have to go out and get it. I ended up enjoying my halva with some frozen cherries and frozen mangoes that I warmed up in the microwave. It created a sauce that was just amazing. I was just so content while eating it. Our house could've been on fire, but me and my halva would have been in complete harmony. haha