Homemade Vegan Coconut Yogurt made into Parfaits

Thick, rich and creamy, not only is this yogurt delicious but it is good for the body with it’s probiotics and healthy fats. I have been seeing homemade yogurts for a while now. First at Nouveau Raw, if you have never checked this woman’s blog yet and you are in to raw foods, you MUST go now!!! She is incredible. Her creativity paired with her skill, knowledge and presentation leave me speechless. She is like the Martha Stewart of raw food.

Then I’ve seen this yogurt done several more times. But the one that finally got me doing it is Larice over at Feeding Your Beauty. Larice and I don’t know each other but reading her feels like we have been friends for a while because we seem to feel the same way about raising nutritionally conscientious children and have the same taste in food 🙂  She just made it all look and sounds so simple that I decided it was time for me to give it a go. And I am SO glad I did!!! And so are my kids!

Other than breaking open the coconuts, the yogurt in itself was so quick and simple and came out great the first time!

Will be making this often 🙂

Here I am showing you the yogurt turned into a delicious morning treat, by layering fresh fruit, a drizzle of honey and some homemade raw grawnola. 

Ingredients for the yogurt:

• 5 young thai coconuts
• 2/3 cup of coconut water
• 2 capsules of probiotics

Steps:

• open all the coconuts and sac the water aside. Larice shows her step by step system, in her post. Which is slightly different than mine but since hers is photographed you might as well check hers 😉
• put the young coconut meat in the blender with the water. Blend on high until a rich and creamy consistency is achieved. Add water if you want a slightly thinner yogurt.
• pour in a bowl, open the probiotic capsules and dump them in. Mix with a wooden spoon.
• put a towel over it and let it sit somewhere dark and warm for 12-24 hours. I left mine in my unopened, turned off stove.
• Taste it and if it’s to your liking, eat right away or store int he fridge where it will become a little more tangy.
• I have no idea how long this will last as we ate the whole batch in one sitting, my little family of 5.

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Luxurious Chocolate Chai Latte

Just as the title states, luxurious, hint of chocolate, creamy and decadent, this beverage is a weekend treat. After making my Black Tea Mocha a few months back, I knew I was on to something with replacing coffee for tea in all the specialty coffee drinks. I like coffee, but I prefer tea. My warm beverage drinking world has opened up even wider!

This is a perfect fall beverage. While I enjoy chai tea at any time of the year, I feel more drawn to it during the fall and winter months because of all the warming spices. And if you’ve been following me for a while now, you have surely caught on to what a chocoholic I am, so naturally finding ways to sneak that delicious superfood in where ever I can has become quite a skill 😉

And lastly let’s not forget about what makes this drink so luscious: coconut butter. That’s right. I’ve been using coconut butter in drinks for a while now to add healthy fats and decadence. A winner every single time.

While I would love to say I get to enjoy this beverage quietly in a cozy chair while reading a book, the truth is, I generally have 3 minutes to myself before I have to brace the cup and raise it high above my head while I get jumped on by one of my children, or shoved off my seat by another or even just have the cup grabbed out of my hand because “Can I have some?”. In any case, how ever you get to enjoy this Latte, it is well worth it and will put a smile on your face 🙂

Ingredients:

• 2 cups steeped and strained chai tea (I buy mine in bulk and prefer the slightly spicy kind)
• 1 cup almond milk (or any other milk), for this drink I used almond coconut milk that I had just made, and it was such a divine choice 🙂
• 1.5 TBS coconut butter OR 3TBS coconut cream (the rich stuff from a can)
• 2-3 dates
• 1-2 tsp cacao powder (Depending on how chocolatey you want it)

Steps:

• Put everything in blender and blend on high until you get a little foam at the top
• pour and enjoy!

Banana Birthday Cake

Banana chocolate chip cake with strawberry cream filling and banana frosting. That is the birthday cake that my 3 year old requested. Once again I was inspired by Love. Love so deep for this little human that I wanted to give him the cake he wanted for his birthday, even though I tried to convince him that a banana cake with chocolate frosting decorated with fresh strawberries would be super delicious. I am so happy I listened to him and went for it. Not only was this cake fun for me to make, it was also pretty delicious. I wouldn’t have been able to create anything better or more perfect for my little man hadn’t it been for his heavy input 🙂

I didn’t have much time to snap good pictures of the whole cake,  as I finished frosting it minutes before we were heading out the door to go to the park where my sons party was at.

I found the recipe for the cake here and modified it quite a bit to fit my nutritional preferences. I pretty much followed the instructions for the cake as they were written, even though my rebel was really tempted to do it “my way”, and I feel happy with the outcome. I also doubled the recipe as I wanted to create a layer cake. I did not use the frosting recipe given in that recipe and instead created my own vegan, raw one. I then decorated the cake with fresh strawberries and bananas roasted in coconut oil and date sugar.

Ingredients for cake:

• 3 cups bananas, mashed (about 6 large bananas)
• 4 tsp lemon juice
• 6 cups flour (I mixed rice, buckwheat and coconut)
• 3 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1.5 cups coconut oil
• 2.5 cups maple syrup (or coconut sugar)
• 1/2 cup coconut sugar
• 6 large organic eggs
• 4 tsp vanilla extract
• 3 cups coconut milk
• 1 cup chocolate chips, or homemade chocolate chunks for a completely refined sugar free cake

Steps:

• preheat oven to 275*F
• mix bananas and lemon juice in a small bowl
• in a medium bowl, mix flour, baking soda and salt
• in a large bowl or a stand up mixer, cream the maple syrup, coconut sugar and coconut oil together. I ran out of coconut sugar or I would’ve used only that and not the syrup, which would have allowed for the mixture to actually “cream”.
• beat in eggs, one at a time
• add bananas
• beat in flour mixture and milk, alternatively
• add in chocolate chunks and combine well
• pour in two 10 inch round spring form pans
• bake anywhere from 1 hour to 1.5 hours. Or until a too pick comes out clean. Mine took 1.5 hours.
• put immediately in the freezer for 45 minutes
• I kept my cakes on the counter in the pans overnight before putting it together the next day for the party.

Ingredients for strawberry filling:

• 3 cups coconut cream from a can
• 6 dates
• 4 TBS coconut milk
• 1 package of freeze dried strawberries, or 1.2 oz. powdered in a blender
• 1/2 cup coconut butter, melted
• 1 cup chopped fresh strawberries (added ONLY right before assembling the cake)

Steps:

• put everything in a large bowl and mix well. You can also do that in a blender
• pour in a container and set in the fridge for several hours

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Ingredients for banana frosting:

• 1 ripe banana
• 2 TBS coconut oil
• 6 dates
• 2 cups coconut cream from a can

Steps:

• put everything in blender and blend until smooth
• pour in a dish and set in fridge for several hours

To assemble the cake, take one cake out of the pan and put in on a plate. Mix in strawberries to the filling and spread a nice thick layer all over the cake.

Gently put the other cake on top and spread frosting evenly all over and around the cake. Decorate as wished.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Because the filling and frosting are raw and made from coconut oil and cream, they will soften when out of the fridge. Keep in fridge or cooler until ready to serve, and keep in fridge or cooler until ready to eat. It will still taste divine f you leave it out, but the cake might start falling on itself a bit as the star berry filling softens.