Can you truly have your cake and eat it, too? I bet you believe that’s not true if you want to be healthy, right? How about if I show you the error of your ways? On board? Super!

Healthy food can taste great. Can actually be something you’d prefer. Yeah, I know, hard to believe, isn’t it?

Well, as a person who loves good food but aims to be healthy and strong, I make it my mission to find things that equal both good food and good for me. And, guess what? It’s not that hard. You just have to be willing to experiment a bit.

My best example of having your cake – okay, pie – and eating it, too, without one nagging thought about what it might be doing to your health is raw key lime pie. That’s right – raw. No cooked crust, no artificial topping, no chemical anything. Just a whole pie of whole food. So darn healthy that you can eat it for breakfast if you want.

Raw key lime pie is created from things like avocados, limes, coconut, nuts, dates. Nothing weird, nothing unpronounceable. But how does it taste? Truly great! And not only to someone whose taste buds have adapted to love healthier fare. My daughter is my raw key lime pie maker (yay!), and I have – and she has and we have – served it to a variety of people. Each time the expression of delight is the same. We usually don’t call it raw; we just let people have some key lime pie. Before being told what it is, comments range from, “Oh my gosh, I so shouldn’t be eating this, but this is so good!” to “This is the best key lime pie I’ve ever had!” So, then, of course, people are even more thrilled when they find out that, yes, indeed, they so should be eating this!

If I wouldn’t have been open to trying some raw recipes, I wouldn’t have found out about this delicious dessert. I was curious; I investigated; I tried. Came up with a lot of new, healthy meals to fix … including dessert. Or, well, breakfast or lunch or whenever. When it’s this healthy, it really doesn’t matter when you eat it.

Okay, so I know what you’re waiting for … the recipe, right? You’re in luck; I have my daughter’s tweaked recipe that gets such rave reviews. It’s yours for the trying below. She likes to make it in mini muffin pans so each is like a small tart, but you can makes yours as one whole pie if you prefer. It’s much easier, but the others look so pretty to serve guests plus they are easy to pop out of the freezer for a quick treat.

Enjoy! Let me know what you think.

Melissa’a Raw Key Lime Pie

Crust:

Macadamia nuts

Dates (soaked for a few hours or overnight)

Coconut oil

Crush up the macadamia nuts in a food processor, then add dates and coconut oil and mix. Crust should be sticking to the walls of the food processor when it’s ready. Press into a pie pan and freeze.

Filling:

2 Avocados

Dates (soaked) or honey/agave or a combination of both

Coconut oil

3/4 cup lime juice

Lime rind

I never fully measure this. Just taste it as you go along; you can make it sweeter or tarter depending on what you like. Mix all ingredients in a blender. You can add some of the water you used for soaking the dates if you need it to be a little thinner.

Spoon on top of the crust, then place back in the freezer.

Whipped Topping:

Cashews (soaked for a few hours in water with some salt)

Vanilla

Sweetener (honey, agave or dates)

Coconut oil

Blend up. Again, taste and see how sweet you want it.

Pour this on as the top layer, then top with shredded coconut (raw and unsweetened).

Freeze, and you are all set!