Remember when I thought I broke the family food processor whilst attempting to make Gena’s banana soft serve? Well. I didn’t break it.

In fact, it’s so very unbroken – and apparently so full of contrition for its previous failure – that it graciously allowed me to succeed at my soft serve-making endeavors. But more on that later, because banana soft serve wasn’t the only raw part of my day.

I’ve been eyeing Gena’s sunflower seed-based pate ever since she posted the recipe, and today I finally got around to trying it. You see, my sister has a fairly severe allergy to nuts, and because I don’t make or bake food that she can’t eat, I’ve not tried out as many raw recipes as I’d like since so many of them are nut-based. Although I personally feel that peanut butter is akin to the wheel as one of the greatest inventions of all time, VeggaSis wouldn’t appreciate it if I baked huge batches of peanut butter cookies every night and gobbled them down in front of her, so I tend to tone down my nut consumption in her presence. After all, sharing is almost the best part of baking and cooking! Almost.

So when Gena posted a recipe for a pate made from sunflower seeds, I was ecstatic. The recipe has been at the back of my mind for a few days now, so when I happened upon a tub of raw sunflower seeds at the grocery store last night, I knew the moment had come. I didn’t realize Gena uses dates in her recipe (to add thickness, I imagine), but since I didn’t have any in the cupboard I just left ’em out. Actually, I added a tiny scoop of raisins, since I figured they’d function similarly. I don’t really like raisins, but my dear friend the food processor chopped them into oblivion, so all’s well that ends well. And end well this recipe did.

As you can see, I used the pate in a mini “rawsagna,” nestling the spread between thick slices of zucchini. And since I ended up deconstructing the rawsagna and eating it slice by slice, the extra mound of pate served as a perfect dip. It made for a truly delicious meal; the pate was a little tangy from the lemon, slightly salty, and just substantial enough to fill me up without making my tummy feel uncomfortably full. With a Peanut Butter Cookie Larabar for dessert (hey, I never said I didn’t eat single-serving nutty items!), it was a perfect raw lunch.

And then came the soft serve. Oh, the soft serve. I’ll admit, I was skeptical. First of all, my food processor is obviously temperamental. That’s why I let my frozen banana chunks thaw out a bit before attempting to make this tasty treat. Also, I’m not the hugest fan of banana-flavored things. Never would I ever choose banana flavored ice cream, that’s for sure. So yes, I was skeptical.

But then my food processor decided it was in the mood to do its job. And then I made the soft serve. And then I tasted it.

And reader, I loved it.

Seriously. I was so surprised to discover that not only did the soft serve taste good, but it had an amazingly creamy, light, and fluffy texture! So that’s why the blog world’s been going crazy about Gena’s ingenious invention! I liked this stuff so much that I decided it was perfectly acceptable to eat dessert before dinner. Even if it kinda “melted” and got a little runny when I took it outside for a photo session, it was truly enjoyable. Next time I’ll be sure to keep it in the food processor a little longer.

All in all, today was a super successful Sunday, and I can’t wait ’til Raw Wednesday to eat more sunflower seed pate and try even more delicious raw recipes!