Simple Mini Blueberry Muffins

Ever find yourself craving muffins but don’t indulge cause deep down you know you really shouldn’t  Well I can’t say these are completely guilt free but you can enjoy these little guys with a little less guilt. Pop one of these bad boys in your mouth and you are will be completely satisfied.

What You’ll Need:

1/4 cup Earth Balance

1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup sugar

2 cups flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 cup soymilk

2 cups blueberries

What You’ll Do:

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Line muffin tins with paper liners or spray with nonstick spray. Mix all ingredients together until moistened. Fill muffin tins about 3/4 full. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until the tops are firm. Remove from oven and cool on a wire rack.

Note: If you are making regular sized muffins, bake them for about 35 minutes.

Cinnamon Coconut Milk Yogurt Fruit Dip

I use to make this recipe with cow’s milk yogurt, but haven’t made it in a long time.  Until, that is, our most recent summer visit to Connecticut.  My sister needed something to bring for ‘snack day’ at work.  I gave her a few options, and wouldn’t you know… she loved the sound of everything.  So I chose my old favorite and it was settled.  I was in the kitchen for the rest of the evening preparing snack for tomorrow’s ‘snack day’. Oh don’t feel bad - we all know the kitchen is my favorite room to be in!

The Results? When she came home from work the next evening, she was so excited to tell me how much people loved the snacks.  Especially the fruit dip she brought! I was beaming as she told me how they ate every last bit.  They even resorted to dunking the brownies in the dip when the fruit was all gone! Not a bad idea actually.   

Anyhow, I was so thrilled about my sister’s reviews, that I decided to make it again for an upcoming family BBQ.  Only this time, I ‘veganized’ it by using the coconut yogurt.   The results? Well, when I went to pick up my plates at the end of the day – there was nothing left.  That’s a great sign! 

 

Now I really don’t believe we need to add sweeteners to fruit - it’s already so sweet and delicious by itself!  But sometimes, I like to change things up a bit and make them even more special.  Well, this is the dip that does it!  Enjoy. 

What you need:

1 cup of coconut milk yogurt

2 tbs brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
Lots of fresh fruit

Mix ingredients well and chill in the refrigerator for 2 hours. Serve with lots of fresh fruit.
 
*If you can’t find coconut milk yogurt you can substitute with soy yogurt.

**If you are interested in making a simple homemade raw vegan coconut yogurt, here is a link from a newly discovered favourite blog that’ll tell you how.

 
http://www.choosingraw.com/greek-yogurt-raw-vegan-style/

Vegan Strawberry Shortcake

I wanted to make something special for my daughter’s 2^nd birthday.  People just expect cake or cupcakes at a party but I wanted to create something people would not expect.  I’d been craving Strawberry Shortcake for a while and since strawberries are in season this time of year it seemed like the perfect choice.  But how was I going to make this traditional dessert, vegan.  That was my mission and I successfully completed it.  It doesn’t just look amazing it, tastes amazing.

What You’ll Need:

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 Tbs. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

4 Tbs. cold vegan margarine (we like Earth Balance), cut into small pieces

2 Tbs. sugar

3/4 cup cold soy milk or almond milk

1 pint strawberries

Cashew Crème (recipe follows) or other vegan whipping cream

What You’ll Do:

Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees.

Put flour, baking powder, salt and sugar in a large bowl and mix.

Cut the vegan margarine in small pieces into the flour mixture.

Using your hands work in the butter into the flour mixture.

When the mixture has become the texture of sand it is ready to add the soy or almond milk.  Mix large spoon.

Place the dough on a lightly floured workspace and gently kneed to a soft consistency. You may need a little more flour if it is too wet.

Now roll your dough to a 3/4-1 inch thickness and cut out your biscuits, should make 10-12 medium sized biscuits Place them on a baking sheet lined with baking parchment and bake 10-15 minutes or until lightly golden.

Meanwhile, clean the strawberries, set a few aside for garnish. Chop the remaining strawberries.  No need to add sugar to the chopped strawberries, they are naturally sweet.

When the biscuits are ready, remove from the oven and allow them to cool. 

Assemble your shortcakes by slicing each biscuit in half and placing in on an individual plate. Place a generous amount of strawberries on the bottom piece of shortcake. Add the part and top with Cashew Crème or other vegan whipping cream or vegan ice “cream”.

Garnish with sliced berries.

Cashew Crème

What You’ll Need:

4 1/2 cups raw cashews, soaked for about an hour and rinsed
1 lemon juiced
Pinch sea salt
1/3 cup maple syrup
1/3 cup agave
1 1/3 cup water (+/-)

What You’ll Do:

Blend Cashew Creme ingredients in Vitamix until smooth and creamy. Taste and adjust as needed. Remember that salt and lemon juice bring out sweetness. I know it sounds counter-intuitive, but if you need it a bit sweeter, try adding a tiny bit more sea salt or lemon juice.

Apricot Chutney

After a recent weekly trip to a new favourite restaurant in Sofia, a couple of friends decided that I needed to figure out how to make the Apricot Chutney to accompany my Chapatis when preparing Indian meals at home. So, here it is…

What You'll Need:

Dried Apricots - 450 grams (about 16 oz), finely diced
Garam Masala - 1 tsp
Honey - 1 1/4 cups
Apple Cider Vinegar - 2 cups
Fresh Root Ginger - 1 tsp, grated
Salt - 1 tsp
Golden Raisins - 1/2 cup
Water - 2 cups

What You’ll Do:

Put the dried apricots and Garam Masala into a medium pot and add the honey, vinegar, ginger, salt, raisins and water. Mix thoroughly with a spoon.

Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 30-35 minutes, stirring occasionally.

When the chutney has thickened to a fairly stiff consistency, spoon it into 2-3 clean jars and leave it to cool.

Store it in the refrigerator.

Sweet Rice and Mangos

Recently we had some new friends over and I wanted to make something special for our Asian themed evening. My son wanted Sweet Rice with Bananas (yes, we’ll get that recipe up soon) but I wanted something a bit more refreshing. So I decided to replace the bananas with mangos. I switched the Banana Sweet Sticky Rice recipe up a bit and came up with this light and sweet delectable treat. It so simple and delicious, I just know you are going to love it as much as we did.

What You’ll Need:

1 cups uncooked sweet rice 2 cups water
1 can (13.5 oz) of coconut milk (cream and all)
¼ cup sugar
2 mangos, peeled and sliced

What You’ll Do:

Combine the rice and coconut milk in a rice cooker and cook. Should only take about 10-15 to cook.

Mix the sugar into the hot rice. Portion the rice into 4 bowls. Top with mango slices. Enjoy this sweet refreshing treat. Your guests will rave over it, mine did.

Vegan Banana Bread

I haven’t had banana bread in years. It’s just not one of those things I ever think about making. But, I had a few over ripe bananas and my freezer was already well stocked with frozen bananas…. so I figured -why not?

All of my old recipes called for milk and eggs, so I made a few modifications and came up with a new version that is just as tasty. This version still had to go through the same old trusted and true taste test procedures though, my kids! I called my ‘taste testers’ to the kitchen to report for duty. Two thumbs up!

What you’ll need:

1 3/4 cups flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup mashed bananas (2-3 bananas)
1/2 cup vegetable Oil
Ener-G, 5 tablespoon water + 3 1/2 teaspoon powder)
1/3 – 1/2 cup vegan-buttermilk - combine 1/2 cup soymilk with 2 tsp of apple cider vinegar.
½ cup chopped walnuts (optional)

What you’ll do:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees
Mix flour, sugar, baking soda and salt in a large mixing bowl.
Mix bananas, oil, and buttermilk in a medium mixing bowl.
Combine the banana mixture with the large bowl containing dry ingredients, and stir well. Add the Ener-G Egg Replacer, and stir well again. If using walnuts add them now.
Pour into a greased 9x5 inch bread pan.
Bake in 325 degree oven for 1 hour and 15 minutes, or until a knife in the middle comes out clean.

Variation: Add chocolate chips for a banana chocolate chip treat.

Shish Kabobs

Colorful, healthy and delicious! What more could you ask for in a meal?

We love shish kabobs. They are simple, quick and flexible. Yes flexible! You can use whatever veggies and/or fruit you have on hand (yes I said fruit). They can be cooked on the grill or right in your oven. Get your kids involved - trust me they will love creating their own kabob, each one is different and unique (just like your littles). Oh and did I mention how much fun they will have painting them? Yep, painting the Kabobs! So what are you waiting for? Grab your favorite marinade and veggies, and then get cooking!

What you’ll need:


Marinade – We like Sweet Baby Ray’s BBQ sauce
Tofu- cut in cubes
Mushrooms -sliced in half
Grape tomatoes
Red onions - cut in large chunks
Zucchini - thick slices
Pineapple (fresh is best) - cut in large chunks
Bell peppers (use yellow and orange to add more color ) -cut into large chunks
Any other veggies or fruit of your choice
Wooden skewers

Marinate your tofu for about one hour in the fridge, make sure to flip the container about half way through so that the tofu gets completely covered. In the meantime cut up your veggies.
Now you are ready to assemble your kabobs. Take your skewer and add one ingredient at a time. The order doesn’t really matter and each one will be different and unique.

Oven version:
Place skewers on a cookie sheet and paint additional marinade over veggies. Broil on high until nice and crispy golden. Flip and repeat.

Grill version:
Place skewers on grill and paint additional marinade over veggies. Grill until nice and crispy golden. Flip and repeat.

Snack Time. J & J Date Bars

So, you want a snack that’s sweet, but healthy....good luck with that. No, we're kidding. We’ve got something to satisfy your sweet tooth, and it’s healthy too.
J and J Date Bars are a great snack for anyone. I knew if my kids would eat them, they would definitely pass the kid test, but what about someone who is not raw, vegan, nor vegetarian? Would they like them? To find out,I did what any rational adult would do; I experimented on my friend, whose diet does not fit into the aforementioned categories. The results? She absolutely raved about these bars. After she tried the first one and loved it, I was inspired to bring her more. So Krystal, thank you for being my fearless taste tester, and without further ado, here are the recipes as promised. Oh, and don’t worry Krystal, next time I make a batch- I’ll bring some in for you.

Cashew Crunch

What you’ll need:

2 handfuls of raw cashews
Pinch of sea salt
8 – 10 dates

Grind cashews and salt in your food processor till desired consistency, I prefer mine ground into small pieces rather than chunks. Add dates and grind until the mixture forms into one large ball.

Remove and form into small bars or rounds. Eat immediately or put in fridge to harden and enjoy later.

Cherry and Almond Tart

What you’ll need:

1 – 2 handful(s) of raw almonds
1 – 2 handful(s) of dried cherries
Pinch of sea salt
8 – 10 dates

Grind almonds, cherries and salt in your food processor till desired consistency, I prefer mine ground into small pieces rather than chunks. Add dates and grind until the mixture forms into one large ball.

Remove and form into small bars or rounds. Eat immediately or put in fridge to harden and enjoy later.

Peanut Buster

What you’ll need:

1 – 2 handful(s) raw peanuts
Pinch of sea salt
8 – 10 dates

Grind peanuts and salt in your food processor till desired consistency, I prefer mine ground into small pieces rather than chunks. Add dates and grind until the mixture forms into one large ball.

Remove and form into small bars or rounds. Eat immediately or put in fridge to harden and enjoy later.



Pecan Pie

What you’ll need:

1 – 2 handful(s) raw pecans
1 – 2 handful(s) raw almonds
Pinch of sea salt
8 – 10 dates

Grind pecans, almonds and salt in your food processor till desired consistency, I prefer mine ground into small pieces rather than chunks. Add dates and grind until the mixture forms into one large ball.

Remove and form into small bars or rounds. Eat immediately or put in fridge to harden and enjoy later.

Coconut Pie

What you’ll need:

1 – 2 handful(s) raw almonds
1 – 2 handful(s) raw cashews
1 handful of raw coconut flakes
Pinch of sea salt
8 – 10 dates

Grind almonds, cashews, coconut and salt in your food processor till desired consistency, I prefer mine ground into small pieces rather than chunks. Add dates and grind until the mixture forms into one large ball.

Remove and form into small bars or rounds. Eat immediately or put in fridge to harden and enjoy later.

Variations:
Substitute dry fruit in recipes for any of your favorites; apricot, blueberry, cranberries, strawberries, you name it. These bars are versatile, so go crazy making your own creations,

Chocolate lover? Just add cocoa to create a simply divine treat...Chocolate Covered Cherry, yummy!!

And, for those of you foodies who are interested in raw recipes, these bars make an amazing pie crust.

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Cashew Creme Fruit Parfaits

Simple, decadent and satisfying, a household favorite for any age. Great for breakfast, snack (or even dessert!)








Cashew Creme
4 1/2 Cups Raw Cashews, soaked for about an hour and rinsed
1 Lemon juiced
Pinch Sea Salt
1/3 Cup Maple Syrup
1/3 Cup Raw Agave
1 1/3 Cup H20 (+/-)




Variety of seasonal fresh fruit.(Photo to the right includes Bananas, Strawberries, Atulfo Mangos,and Pineapples)

Sprouted Buckwheat:
Make sure to purchase Raw Buckwheat (the dark Buckwheat is called Kashi and is not a living food)
To sprout, soak in water for 4-6 hours, drain and rinse in colander. Leave colander on a plate and occasionally rinse lightly to keep it moist (at least a few times a day). In 24 hours small sprouts should appear. If they are not visible by 36 hours, your buckwheat is dead.. try a different source. Keep the process going until the sprout is larger than the actual buckwheat. This should take 1- 2 days. After 36 hrs, unused sprouts should be refrigerated or dehydrated.

Blend Cashew Creme ingredients in Vitamix until smooth and creamy. Taste and adjust as needed. Remember that salt and lemon juice bring out sweetness. I know it sounds counter-intuitive, but if you need it a bit sweeter, try adding a tiny bit more sea salt or lemon juice.

Putting it all together:
Now that you have your delicious Cashew Creme ready and your fresh seasonal fruit cut up, you can layer the Fruit and Creme (with or without Buckwheat) as you wish.

Non Raw options:
Don't feel like waiting for the sprouts? No worries, just use Kashi or granola, or omit completely. Keep a lookout for our Raw Granola Love recipe....coming soon.

*This is a live food recipe.