Coconut Haystacks

This is a very quick (if you have an electric hand mixer), very simple recipe here that I got from the book The First 40 Days.

This is my first time making coconut haystacks the more traditional way as I have been making the raw version, that I call Rawcaroons, for years now.  I have a basic version, the almond rawcaroon, a lemon one, raspberry flavor, and there are probably a few other flavors in my recipe repertoire as well, if you are up for the search 🙂 I have definitely made many more flavors just cannot remember if I have blogged about them all.

While I LOVE the raw versions, they can be heavy on the digestion and they take so much longer to make. Since I am still in my early post partum days I am continuing to be mindful of my digestion and choosing foods that feel gentle and not to heavy.

These were wonderful! They don’t hold up as nicely as the rawcaroons as they are more fragile, but so worth it! I hope you enjoy!

Ingredients:

• 6 large egg whites
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup honey
• 2 TBS pure vanilla extract
• 4 1/2 cups shredded unsweetened coconut
• 2 or 3 drops rose water (optional)

Steps:

• Preheat over to 350*F
• In a medium bowl, whisk together the egg whites until a stiff peak forms (this is my first time using my hand held mixer with eggs whites, and oh man was it easy and quick!!)
• Gently mix in all other ingredients until just combined. Do not over mix!
• Drop tablespoons of the batter on to a greased or lined baking sheet
• Bake for 8 minutes and check. They need to be slightly golden brown. The book says 8-12 minutes here, and I did mine for almost 20 before they started to brown on the top! They got crispy on the bottom and I actually liked that as it added a little caramel flavor 🙂
• Remove from oven when done to your liking and let cool 5-10 minutes.

 

 

These are the perfect snack for me to have around the house for a quick pick me up or little treat with my tea.

Banana Peanut Butter Ice Cream

Bananas.Peanut butter. Chocolate. I mean c’mon. If you love bananas, you can’t go wrong with banana ice cream. SO easy. SO delicious. SO nutritious. SO cheap. And pretty fast to make. One of my very first posts was a banana ice cream. I’ve been making this ice cream for years, and although I have upped my skill in the kitchen and purchased an ice cream maker to make more fancy frozen things, I still love the simple and easy dessert that a frozen banana offers. I am sure most of you reading this have tried a version of the banana ice cream. What is your favorite combo?

Ingredients:

• 4 large frozen bananas
• 3 TBS natural peanut butter (I used crunchy)
• 7 TBS chocolate sauce

Steps:

• if you don’t have any, make chocolate sauce
• in a food processor put all the bananas and blend. You will have to turn off the machine every now and then to scrape down the sides. Eventually it will catch and a beautiful creamy mixture will start forming
• At this point, add the peanut butter and 3 TBS of the chocolate sauce
• resume blending
• spoon into bowls and top with 1 TBS of chocolate sauce. This will harden at the contact of the frozen banana and create a nice crunchy chocolate layer. MMMMMM goodness….

This made just enough for my little family of 5. We all could’ve had a little more 😉

Blueberry Corn Oatmeal Bites

While snuggling in bed this morning, the kids were putting in their breakfast requests. My daughter said she wanted corn muffins. I responded I don’t have corn flour. She says: “But we have the frozen corn! My son:”I don’t want corn muffins Tika! I want oatmeal wif boobewies!” In order to make them  both happy, we came up with these as a solution. They were so easy to make, my daughter did most of the work. As they were baking i thought “Great, here’s school snack for the next few days!”.

Well as I’m typing this, there are barely a quarter of them left. I doubt there will be any left by the end of the morning. I guess the kids love them!!

You can get as creative as you want with the flavors here. Raisins? Cranberries? Shredded coconut? The possibilities are endless. And these are super quick to make I actually could make these before school one morning.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups small oats
• 1 large ripe banana
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup frozen blueberries
• 1/2 cup frozen corn

I would have added 2 TBS of honey but we are out. The kids don’t seem to mind but if you are used to having a sweetener breakfast, i would suggest you add a couple TBS of sweetener as these are just slightly sweet.

Steps:

• preheat oven to 350*F
• put all ingredients but frozen fruit in a bowl and have your kids mash it all together with their hands!
• add the frozen fruit and continue mashing until well combined
• grease mini muffin tins with coconut oil
• fill them up pressing them down so they keep there shape
• bake for 10 minutes
• cool and enjoy!

Fig Spread

Figs are not in season, but they are sooooo tasty!! That’s why I purchased cases of them and froze a bunch so that I could eat them at any time of the year. When looking for something else I stumbled upon these in my freezer and immediately I thought “Fig Spread”. So here it is. I don’t know who started spreading mashed fruit on things but I find it a very clever idea. A very delicious and clever idea. I don’t generally buy jam or jelly as it is packed with sugar. I will eat homemade jam that someone has gifted me though. Nothing like homemade goodies to make me temporarily forget that refined sugar is evil. At my house though, we stick to fruit sweetened jams if we buy them. Trader Joe’s actually has a brand that I don’t mind my kids eating. Nonetheless, I still generally choose to not eat it regularly. Making my own is a different story. Since I love eating raw breads, I enjoy switching up what I top them with. After letting the figs thaw, this spread was so quick to put together. And so incredibly delicious. I can see this going great with some porridge, or yogurt, or anything you typically enjoy fruit with! Ingredients:

• 1 cup thawed figs (you can use fresh but the texture will be different)
• 2 TBS honey
• 1 TBS almond butter
• 1/2 tsp lemon juice

Steps:

• Put everything in a food processor and blend until well combined
• store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a week

Basic Chocolate Sauce

This is my basic raw chocolate sauce that I use for so many chocolate treats in my house. I build off of this to create all kinds of delightful satisfying temptations. I need to share it with you guys as I will be referring to it quite a bit in this blog. I have used a version of it in my banana ice cream as well as in my raw persimmon pie. So stay on the lookout for more yumminess to come here!!

As the name indicates, this is a basic, simple healthy chocolate option. Three ingredients and just minutes away from mouth watering bliss (if you are a chocoholic like I am, this is key).

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup coconut oil
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1/2 cup  cacao powder
• dash of salt

Steps:

• in a double boiler melt all the ingredients (you can do this in a pot on the stove top, just make sure to have it on very low heat and turn off the heat before all the oil is melted, and finish melting by whisking).
• whisk together until well combined
• either pour it in a jar with a tight fitting lid (this is my favorite option) or pour in in a bowl
• if in a jar, shake it vigorously every 5 minutes until it has come to room temperature, the sauce will become thicker.
• if in a bowl, just whisk it until it has come to room temperature.

This last step is very important as it will allow for all the ingredients to cool while blending together. If you do not do this the oil and honey will separate, creating a very sweet bottom layer and a very oily dark chocolate upper layer when it cools completely. This is especially important when making raw chocolate in the freezer. I have made raw chocolates without blending all the ingredients together and the honey layer was all gooey and stuck to the bottom of the mold while the top was super dark in chocolate flavor. It wasn’t bad at all mind you!! Just not a nice chocolate that I could easily pop out.

This sauce will keep for weeks on the shelf. It will become very thick because of the coconut oil. Just put the container you keep it in, in some hot water to soften it up before using. (Or just eat it out of the jar with a spoon!)

Easy Peasy Peachy Jelly

This is the easiest peach jelly to make. For real. And it has zero refined sugars in it.

My kids love jelly. I do to, but the store bought kind just has too much white sugar in it to make a staple in our house. Although we have found a Trader Joe’s brand that I don’t mind buying every now and then, I still prefer to make it myself, like pretty much anything else I eat 😉

I used frozen peaches here, which I like better than the fresh kind because of the texture. Also, it’s not peach season anymore, so I cannot get the fresh kind at the market. These peaches I froze over the summer so I could satisfy my peach cravings even when the season is over 🙂

This is so easy you can substitute peaches for any fruit that tickles your fancy! Again, since this a raw jelly, I would recommend using frozen fruit. Once thawed they are super soft, just like cooked fruit, which makes their texture work better for this kind of preparation.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup thawed peaches
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• 1 TBS psyllium husk, that I ground finely in the coffee grinder
• 2 TBS sweetener (I used coconut sugar).

Steps:

• Put in blender and blend until desired consistency.
• Let sit for at least 30 minutes before eating. I made mine last night so we could have it for breakfast.
• Store in a jar in the fridge for up to a week.

Almond Rawcaroons

I try not to waste food if I can help it. Especially when it’s something as great as almond pulp. After making a batch of delicious almond coconut milk I had the leftover pulp and wanted something sweet. I had several things in mind I wanted to do but I choose to go with what would be the least amount of prep. So I created these delicious little balls of energy. 

As usual, pardon my lack of photography skills, not only do I have none, but I had made these for a camping trip we just had, and as we were packing I realized I hadn’t taken a picture, so I snapped one quickly and got back to packing. These were so easy to make and tasted delicious and filling. 

 

 

Ingredients:

• 1 cup packed almond pulp
• 3/4 cups almond butter
• 10 soft medjool dates
• 1/8 cup maca (optional)
• pinch of salt

Steps:

• Put everything in a food processor and process until well combined
• Scoop out and either dehydrate for 10 hours, or roll into smaller balls and keep in freezer

 

Mango Sorbet with Strawberry Coulis

We just had a fun day in the sun and it seemed like the perfect way to end a great day was with ice cream. Although I do love ice cream and frozen yogurt, I try to limit the frequency of which I have them. Thankfully I had a bunch of frozen mangoes in my freezer ready to be made into sorbet!! This sorbet is so creamy and rich you wouldn’t believe it’s just mangoes!! I hope you enjoy this as much as we did 🙂 

 

Ingredients for sorbet:

• Frozen MANGOES!!! I had three small ziploc bags filled. That’s what I used. If it were all chopped up I would say maybe 2 or 3 cups? 

Ingredients for coulis:

• 1 cup fresh strawberries
• 1/8 cup coconut oil
• 1 TBS raw honey

Steps:

• make coulis first by blending all the ingredients on high until very well incorporated. Set aside.
• run mangoes through champion juicer with the blank attachment. 
• Put in bowls and enjoy!!!

This made barely enough for 4 of us. Next time I will add another ziploc bag of mangoes (or two 😉 )

I haven’t tried making this in the food processor like I do my banana ice cream, if anyone tries it, let me know how it turns out!!

“Bottom of the fridge” Veggie Patties

Obviously I am no photographer and most of my photos do not do my food any justice. This one in particular. But every time I look at this picture, I am reminded of the beautifully blended flavors and textures that came out of this creation. So I want to share it with you. Also, I make veggies patties quite often, and after eating these, my husband said these were his favorite so far of all the patties I’ve made. Another worthy reason to share 🙂

When I have grains leftover, I often end up making some kind of vegetable medley, or a scrumptious salad, but every now and then, I make veggie patties. And I am never disappointed. Patties are a great way to incorporate more veggies into my kids diet.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup cooked grains ( I used farro here but any grain will do)
• 1 cup cooked veggies (i had leftover steamed broccoli and carrots, but again, anything will do and even fresh veggies work fine)
• 1/2 small onion
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 TBS olive oil
• 1 egg
• 1 TBS herbs of choice
• 2 TBS bread crumbs (optional, but I like the added texture thing)

Steps:

• Put all in a food processor and blend until well incorporated.
• In a heated pan, put a little oil so the patties won’t stick, and spoon patties into the pan
• Since everything is already cooked or at least chopped very finely, you do not need to cook too long, just enough to brown each side and bind everything together.
• Eat ’em up warm! They taste great cold too, as leftovers or packed for a lunch.

I prefer mine with a fresh crispy lettuce and some hot mustard, but if you are more traditional, they taste great in between buns with any toppings of your choice! My son devoured these so quickly, it made me so happy to see 🙂

This recipe is just an idea. Imagination is your limit here. You can add any kind of spices (curry?), or veggies, or nuts or seeds (sunflower seeds would’ve tasted great here) or anything you are in the mood for or can find hanging out in the bottom of your fridge needing to be eaten. Have fun with it!

Banana Chocolate Crunch Ice Cream

MMmmmm, there’s nothing like guilt free ice cream. This banana ice cream is so easy and delicious. And versatile too. I did this batch with chocolate but you can get as creative as you want, adding nuts, berries, anything really! My daughter wasn’t a fan of the crunch of the chocolate, which came mainly from the cacao nibs, and partly from the hardening of the chocolate once it hits the ice cream (one of my favorite parts of this treat) If you have kids who don’t like crunch, or yourself like a creamier texture, just skip the nibs!

Ingredients:

Chocolate crunch

• 1/2 cup coconut oil
• 1/4 cup raw honey
• 6 TBS cacao powder
• 3 TBS cacao nibs
• dash of salt

Put all ingredients in a double boiler or in a jar in boiling hot water and mix until well combined. Set aside. The benefit of doing this step in a jar is that if you don’t use all the chocolate mixture (I didn’t), it’s conveniently stored in a jar that you can put a lid on and save for later use (which I did).

Banana Ice Cream

• 4 frozen bananas

Put bananas in food processor and blend until creamy texture is achieved. This step can take a little bit of time and work, depending on your food processor. It takes me under 10 minutes but I have to constantly open the lid, scrape the sides down with a butter knife, to get things moving. At first it will seem like it’ll never become ice cream, but after sufficient scrapping, the bananas will catch and you will witness a deliciously creamy mound form right before your eyes. So satisfying.

Once that happens, add a few tablespoons (3 or 4) of the chocolate mixture into the food processor and pulse a few times to combine.

Dish out in small bowls, top with more chocolate sauce and enjoy!