Mixed Berries and Cream

I have some pretty strong opinions on dairy.  I was a strict Vegan for a period of a little over two years. But I think that on occasion, we do need healthy fat sources.  Most of the time, I try to find it from plant sources, but even when I cave in to the creamy texture that can only can from a cow, I try to find clean whole food sources.  Raw milks and dairy are best in my mind but when it can't be found, I love using the pure vanilla ice cream from Costco.  I'm not advertising for Costco, but that place is Heaven to me.  And their ice cream is delicious.  So my hubby threw some ingredients into the blender today and came up with this:

- 5 scoops of Kirkland brand Vanilla Ice Cream (you'll love the ingredients on the label - easy to read)
- 1/2 Cup of Rice Milk
- 1 Cup of Frozen Mixed Berries from Costco too (Now, I've seen the circulating hype on the berries from Costco being the cause of Hepatitus A.  I think there are many things that contribute to such a complex disease and find it a little bit silly to blame berries for this, when there are probably a number of other factors that have yet to be considered.  Just my two cents on the matter).
- Cherries (To put a cherry on top)

Throw the first three ingredients into your blender and serve into dessert bowls right away.  Throw a cherry on top.  Or more.  Sure hit the spot today.  

Question of the day:
During berry season, do you prefer your berries by the handful or bucketful?  No seriously, I want to know if I'm the only that devours berries any way possible.    

Indian Sweet Carrots

This little dish can be a great side or dessert.

4 TBSP melted unsalted Butter
2 Cups Grated Carrots
1/2 Cup Coconut Milk
1 tsp. Vanilla
1 tsp. Sea Salt
1/2 Cup Maple Syrup
1/2 tsp. Cinnamon or A toothpick dipped in Cinnamon essential oil and then stirred into the melting butter.
2 Cups of already Steamed Brown Rice
1/2 Cup cashews (roasted or raw to garnish on top or mix into the carrot and rice pudding.

If you're using the cinnamon oil, just dip a toothpick into your bottle and stir it into the melted butter.  A full drop will be too much.  It's a very hot and potent oil.  On medium heat, stir the carrots into the butter.  Add coconut milk, vanilla, sea salt & maple syrup.  Keep stirring to infuse the flavors and soften the carrots.  Toss in the 2 cups of brown rice once the carrots are a bit soft.  Stir the mixture until the rice has absorbed all the milky gooey mess.  You can then either throw the cashews into the mixture for softer cashews or roast them and at some crunch to this yummy pudding.  Sweet and yummy.  Who says sweet things can't be healthy too?

Millet Pudding

I really can't take credit for this. My cousin Ursula made it for me on our trip out to New Hampshire but it's one I crave often and so I'm posting it up for her.

2 Cups Granola

3 Cups Millet (cooked . . . 1 Cup Millet and 3 1/2 Cups Water, for 45 min., let it cool)

4 Tbsp. Maple, Honey or Agave (your choice)

1/2 tsp. Sea Salt

1 1/2 Cups Cashew Cream (1 Cup Cashews & 1 Cup Water & 2 Tbsp. Lemon Juice)

1 Tbsp. Vanilla (And I'll add once again, Danncy's is best)

Layer 1/2 of the granola on 11x13" pan. Make cashew cream by blending ingredients in a good blender. Slowly add the cooked and cooled millet into the blender as it's blending until the mixture is nice and creamy. Pour over the granola in the pan. Sprinkle the remaining granola on top and chill till the mixture thickens. This just makes the pudding thick and easier to cut and serve. Slice up and enjoy with your favorite fruit or fruit that is in season. Yum!

Easy Vita-Mix Flax Carrot Cake

You'll be amazed at how easy it is to put together this cake. Granted you have a Vita-Mix or other high speed blender. And lately, I'm in love with making my own flours so I know what's in my breads and cakes. And this recipe is super moist and very nutritious.

1 1/2 Cups Wheat, Spelt or Farro Berries

3/4 Cup Flax Seeds

3/4 Cup Oat Groats or Rolled Oats

2 tsp. Baking Soda

1 tsp. Baking Powder (I use the Rumford Aluminum-Free brand)

1/2 tsp. Sea Salt

2 tsp. Cinnamon

1 1/2 Cups Spring Water (you could also use almond milk or half water and any other nut or rice milk)

1 Cup Honey (I love using Raw Honey, but since this is getting baked, raw honey is not necessary)

1 tsp. Danncy's Mexican Vanilla (I stress this one in most all my recipes because the Vanilla really does make a difference)

1 Medium Apple

3 Medium Carrots

1 Cup chopped Walnuts (optional)

1/2 Cup Raisins (optional)

Blend first three ingredients in a Vita-Mix or Blend Tec until ground up. Pour contents into a bowl. Add the baking soda, powder, salt and cinnamon and stir. Blend the water, honey, vanilla, apple and carrots in the empty blender and then pour into the dry ingredients and stir well. Add walnuts and raisins if you want and incorporate. Pour into a bread, cake or bundt pan and bake at 350 degrees for 40-45 minutes. This recipe also makes great muffins if you want to reduce the baking time to about 20-25 minutes. Let cool and enjoy! In my family, this cakey bread does not last.

Coco Nutties

I've had people begging me for this recipe and have just barely posted it today.  So here it is for all who have wanted it.

2 Cups Pecans
2 Cups unsweetened shredded Coconut
1 Cup chopped Chocolate (dairy free chocolate chips work too)
1/4 Cup Coconut Oil
3 Tbsp. Organic Agave Nectar
3 Tbsp. Raw Honey
1 tsp. Danncy's Mexican Vanilla (or any vanilla - but Danncy's makes a big difference)
1/2 tsp. Salt

Pulse nuts in a blender or food processor.  Not too fine.  Then place all ingredients in a bowl and stir together.  Let chill in a freezer for about 15 min. to solidify oil a bit and then take out and squeeze into cookie balls.  The mixture does not roll into balls very well.  So you really have to squeeze them into balls.  Then keep in the fridge or freezer until ready to eat or serve.  Best dessert or snack ever.

Vanishing Vegan Oatmeal Cookies

Okay, so we all need some holiday treats on occasion. Even if they do contain sugars, here's a recipe that is a much healthier substitute and still tastes great. Definitely satisfies that sweet tooth. I promise I will start posting more healthier recipes after the holidays are over.

-1/2 Cup + 6 TBSP Earth Balance Vegan buttery spread

-3/4 Cup sucanat (a less refined sugar)

-1/2 agave or maple syrup (another less refined sugar)

-2 Tbsp. ground flax seeds in 8 Tbsp, or about 1/2 Cup, of Water (This is your egg substitute)

-1 tsp. Danncy's Mexican vanilla or 1/4 of a whole vanilla bean blended with the flax seed mixture in a blender (trust me, if you choose the extracted vanilla, the brand makes a difference)

-1 Cup whole wheat flour

-1/2 Cup unbleached white flour

-1 tsp. Aluminum free baking soda

-1 tsp. Ground Cinnamon

-1/2 tsp. Sea Salt

-3 Cups of Oats (I blend about half of this to almost make an oat flour. I prefer it this way.)

-1 Cup dairy-free Chocolate chips or Raisins. (Optional.)

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Blend the buttery spread and sugars together well. Add the flax seed mixture and vanilla. Mix all the dry ingredients together and then slowly incorporate it into the rest. Stir together well.

Drop by rounded Tablespoonfuls and bake 8-11 min. or until golden brown. Let cool completely. Enjoy!

Fudge with Essential Oil Zing

Another take on some fudge. Pretty similar to Kira's. A little more dark and fudgey. If that's a word.

1 1/2 Cups Coconut oil

1 1/4 Cups Agave Nectar

1 Cup Organic Cocoa Powder

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

1/8 of a whole vanilla bean or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (Preferably Danncy's Mexican)

1-2 drops doTERRA Peppermint essential oil (you can go up to 3-4 if you want a stronger minty flavor)

Liquefy coconut oil over hot water. Blend the rest together until creamy. Pour into a pan over some wax paper. Cool and solidify in fridge. Cut into bite size candies. Enjoy.

-Sometimes throwing peanuts or almonds into the mixture is fun.

-For truffles: Roll your fudge squares into little balls, and roll them in cocoa powder or crushed nuts for a deliciously lovely presentation.

-Flavor substitutes: 1 drop Cinnamon essential oil, 1-2 drops Wild Orange essential oil, or 1 drop Lavender essential oil.

Key Lime Mousse

So I'm sure some of you are aware I have quickly and excitedly become a doTerra girl. Here's one of my first recipes using the oils to help support immune function as you enjoy it in a dessert.

1 1/2 C. Mashed Ripe Avocado (About 1-2 large ones)

1/2 C. Raw Honey or Agave Nectar

1/4 C. Fresh Lime Juice

3-4 Drops doTerra Lime or Lemon essential oil

Sliced Fresh Fruit of your choice to enjoy with. (I prefer strawberries and pineapple.)

Blend first four ingredients together well in a blender or food processor and use fruit to dip into or layer. Makes about 2-4 servings. Dazzle your family with the dessert of the season. Healthy for you and tastes GREAT!

Lemon Thyme Bars

These lemon thyme bars are just plain delicious and so much chic compared to the regular ones! You gotta try this. Of course I had to make some changes from the original Giada de Laurentiis because well...I can't help myself :) 

Ingredients

• Vegan butter, for greasing dish
• Whole wheat flour, for dusting dish

Bars:

• 1 stick (4 ounces) earth balance vegan buttery spread, at room temperature
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh thyme leaves
• 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
• 1/2 cup organic powdered sugar
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Glaze:

• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 1/2 cup organic powdered sugar

Directions

Place an oven rack in the center of the oven. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Butter and flour an 8 by 8-inch glass baking dish.

For the bars:

In a small bowl combine flour, thyme and salt. Set aside. Using a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together 1 stick of butter and powdered sugar on high speed until light and fluffy, about 30 seconds. Beat in the lemon juice and vanilla. Reduce the speed to low and gradually add the flour mixture. Using damp fingers, press the dough into the prepared pan. Bake for 30 minutes until golden. Cool for 30 minutes.

For the glaze:

In a medium bowl, whisk the lemon juice and powdered sugar together until smooth. Spoon the glaze over the cooled crust. Allow the glaze to harden, at room temperature, for at least 1 hour.

Using a metal spatula, remove the crust from the pan. Cut into 1 1/2-inch square bars and arrange on a serving platter or store airtight in a plastic container at room temperature.

Since the original recipe is with all-purpose flour it looks white but yours will be brown

Raw Chocolate

This is way too yummy. I have to make a 1/2 batch of it because I usually eat all of it within a day.

Raw Chocolate

• 1 cup almonds-blend into flour
• 1/2 cup coconut oil (warm to liquid)
• 1/2 cup agave
• Blend until incorporated
• 1/2 cup cacao pwd.
• Blend until incorporated.

Put wax paper in 8x8 pan, pour mixture in and freeze.

*A friend told me you need to follow the blending directions because adding the cacao powder earlier will make it separate? Also, this is a treat to leave in the freezer until you're ready to eat it, since the coconut oil melts easily.

Lucuma Ice Cream - The Blender Way

This childhood flavor from my country is something I've been craving for a long time now and so when I found organic powdered lucuma at the health food store, I quickly began looking for a good ice cream recipe to make this yummy dessert once again. After trying a few different recipes, I combined a few different ones and changed a few ingredients here and there and came up with something new and original that I love, my kids love and is much easier than making ice cream in the old-fashioned ice cream maker.

1 Cup Lucuma Powder (I used the Navitas Naturals brand).

1 Cup Cashews or blanched Almonds (I prefer cashews for a creamier ice cream, but use almonds for my son who has allergies to cashews).

2 whole vanilla beans or 2 TBSP. vanilla

1/2 Maple syrup

1 Cup Water

1 Cup Almond Milk

1 Cup Coconut Milk

Throw all ingredients together into the blender and blend until creamy. Then you can do one of two things: 1. Pour into popsicle molds for creamy popsicles. Beware of kids. They may pester you for hours on end to have these before they've actually frozen. 2. Pour into ice cube trays and wait until frozen solid. Then pour a little water or almond milk into the blender with about 6 ice cubes and blend just long enough to make a yummy soft serve ice cream. Or if you want to blend it longer, you could eventually make it like a shake. Which is also yummy. Will definitely suppress the sweet tooth.

My kids love these. New family favorite. Oh and by the way, Lucuma is a fruit from Peru. In case you were wondering.

Raw Strawberry Cheesecake

So after much trial and error, I came across this recipe that I absolutely love. Who doesn't love cheesecake? And what better than a dairy-free raw cheesecake? I swear, you won't be able to taste the difference.

Crust

1 Cup Pecans

1 Cup Almonds

1/4 tsp. Salt

4 Medjool Dates

Filling

3 Cups Raw Cashew pieces, soaked overnight (or at least 3 hours)

1/2 Cup Agave Syrup

1/4 Cup Water

1/4 Cup fresh Lime Juice

1 tsp. Vanilla (Danncy Mexican is best)

3 1/2 Cups Strawberries

3/4 Cup Coconut Oil, melted over a little hot water.

Strawberry Coulis (Coulis is a fancy word for pureed sauce)

2 Cups Strawberries

3 Tbsp. Agave Syrup

In a food processor, grind almonds and pecans fully. Then add dates and salt. A nice dough should form. Press into a cake or pie pan. For the filling, in a good blender, combine cashews, water, agave, lime juice, and vanilla. A VitaMix is ideal. But if you don't have one, add the cashews a few at a time, until the mixture is smooth. Scrape down occasionally. Feed strawberries through the top until incorporated. Add melted coconut in a steady stream. Pour filling right over the crust. It will look like a smoothie at this time. But the oils will set with about 4 hours in the fridge. We couldn't wait 4 hours and so our cheesecake was a little gooey in the middle still. But it still tasted wonderful. One bite won't be enough. But the good thing about this cake is that it's raw and so dense that a few bites will really satisfy any craving. This cake will last, and that's a good thing. When ready to serve, just puree the strawberries and agave and drizzle over the cake. YUM YUM YUM!

I'm Thankful for Sweet Potato Smoothie

I kind of just threw this all in a blender to see what happened. Turned out like a sweet potato pie shake. Much better than I anticipated. And all natural sugars. Creamy and healthy. The best of both worlds. I think this just may be my new favorite holiday drink.

1 Cup of Soymilk

1 1/2 Cups of boiled Sweet Potato wedges

5-7 pitted dates (depends on how sweet you like it)

1 tsp. Cinnamon

1/2 tsp. Nutmeg

1/2 tsp. ground Cloves

1 1/2 Cups of Ice

Blend together until nice and creamy. Serve right away. Almost like pumpkin pie in a shake. Gets that sweet tooth satisfied.

Raw Carob Coconut Truffles

1 Cup of Walnuts
1/2 Cup of dried Dates
1/2 tsp. of Carob Powder
1-3 Tbsp. fresh Coconut Milk

Put the first three ingredients in a food processor or high speed blender and mix all together. Then add a Tbsp. at a time of the coconut milk to the mixture till a soft dough forms. You may not need a lot. Roll into little balls. Keep refrigerated. This is my new favorite dessert. You can also make these into cookies just flatten the balls. It's a pretty generic recipe for raw brownies also. I've also added different fruit into the mix. So yummy and you don't even need chocolate.

Banana Shake

This is what I make when i have a sugar craving. We make these several times a week, usually late at night to enjoy while watching a good movie or an episode of star trek. :) Before you can make this you need to freeze ripe bananas. Because we use so much of these I try to buy over-ripe bananas in bulk from the produce manager. They will often give them to me at half off or some other deal. I peel and break the bananas in half (if your blender isn't very tough you'll need to break the bananas in bite size pieces) and stuff them in big zip-loc bags to freeze. The frozen bananas are what makes the shake so creamy. Don't substitute unfrozen bananas! In a few hours they'll be ready for your banana ice cream.

3 Frozen Bananas
1 cup vanilla Soy or Rice Milk
1/8 tsp Nutmeg
1/2 tsp Cinnamon

This isn't a science. I hardly ever measure anymore, I just grab a few frozen bananas, add enough milk to blend it and make the the consistency you like and add spices to taste. Blend until it's all smooth and enjoy.