Vegan Pumpkin Cake with Dates

I adapted this recipe from Veganomicon.

Vegan Pumpkin Cake with Dates

Streusel:
1/2 cup pitted medjool dates
1/3 cup regular oats
1/3 cup pecans
pinch of sea salt

Process in the food processor until crumbly. Set aside.

Cake:
1 (15-oz) can pureed pumpkin (not pumpkin pie mix)
3/4 cup almond milk
1/4 cup coconut oil
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 1/2 cups pitted medjool dates
2 teaspoons vanilla extract


2 2/3 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1 Tbl baking powder
1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg


Directions:
Preheat oven to 350. Lightly grease 9 x 13 inch baking pan.
Blend the wet ingredients plus medjool dates in blender until dates well blended.
Whisk together dry ingredients in a mixing bowl. Add wet ingredients from the blender until well mixed.
Spread mixture into pan. Top with streusel.
Cook for 45 to 50 minutes until knife inserted in middle comes out clean.


** This is my hubby's all time favorite cake!! A real winner.

Vegan Coconut Lemon Bundt Cake - made with dates

This is one of those recipes that helps you to know that you never have to go back to eating refined sugars. This cake is really, really, really good. (Did I mention that it is really good?)

I tweaked this recipe from the cookbook, Veganomicon by Isa Chandra Moskowitz. She is an amazing vegan chef, by the way. If you ever come across any of her recipes, give them a try!

Vegan Coconut Lemon Bundt Cake - made with dates

1 2/3 cups pitted medjool dates
2/3 cups coconut oil (use virgin to add to the coconut flavor)
1 (14 oz. can of coconut milk (reg or light - both work)
1/4 cup almond milk (unsweetened)
1/3 cup lemon juice
3 Tblsp finely grated lemon zest (really helps bring out lemon flavor)
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 3/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp sea salt
1 1/2 cups unsweetened shredded coconut

Preheat oven to 350F. Light grease bundt pan.

In blender blend dates, coconut milk, coconut oil, almond milk, vanilla, lemon juice until smooth.

In large bowl whisk together dry ingredients with the lemon zest. Add the blended wet ingredient. Fold in shredded coconut.

Pour batter in pan and bake for 1 hour or until knife inserted in cake comes out clean.

Remove from oven and let cool for 10 minutes and then remove from pan.

I heart Dates - Date Brownies

Wow! That was a really long break! So I meant to only take a month off but then that month turned into 6 months. Isn't that funny how that happens?

Healthwise for me these last 6 months have been in pretty much lousy. In September I had another miscarriage and it just was really hard for me to bounce back from that, emotionally. When I am sad like that I turn to really unhealthy behaviors, like secretly eating large bags of m&ms by myself, eating lots of processed foods, staying up too late, and not exercising. I was pretty much a wreck. I felt like a fraud writing this blog. But it's a new year. I am feeling better and I am back on track. I have been trying some new recipes and I can't wait to share them.

One of my goals this year is to not eat any sweets, unless they are sweetened with dates, or other fruits. Dates are awesome! I buy the 2lb box of medjool dates from Costco. They are soft and delicious.  I have basically learned that you can do a lot with dates. So I am going to be posting a lot of date recipes this year.

The first tip I have in working with dates is to get a food processor, if you don't already have one. In these recipes you want to get the dates really well processed. Sometimes you can do that in a blender but in a lot of these recipes there isn't enough liquid to make it work. So without further ado here is a yummy brownie recipe.

Date Brownies

Ingredients

• 1 cup butter or coconut oil 
• 6 (1 ounce) squares unsweetened chocolate
• 2 cups medjool dates pitted
• 4 eggs
• Little less than 1 Cup whole wheat pastry flour
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups chopped walnuts

Directions

1.    Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9x13 inch baking pan.

2.   In your food processor blend the dates , add the eggs if you need more liquid

      to get the dates to blend.

3.   In 3-quart saucepan over very low heat (or with a double boiler), melt butter or coconut oil and chocolate,  stirring the mixture constantly. Remove from heat. Allow the mixture to cool slightly. Stir the date mixture into the chocolate.

 

4.  If you didn't use all the eggs with the dates, beat in the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each, then stir in the vanilla.

5.  Combine the flour and salt in a separate bowl; stir into the chocolate mixture.

     Fold in the walnuts. Spread the batter evenly into the prepared pan.

6.  Bake in oven 30 to 35 minutes. Brownies are done when toothpick inserted    into center come out clean. Cool in pan on wire rack.

** Warning these brownies are not at all low fat. But they are sugar free and they are delicious!

Date Sweetened Apple Cobbler - You can thank me later

I combined parts of two different recipes here and here  (you will have to download her raw dessert recipes) and changed them to use dates as a sweetener and I came up with this. IT IS SO AWESOME. Seriously, you will be eternally grateful for this one.

Date Sweetened Apple Cobbler with Cashew Cream

Preheat oven to 400F and grease 9x13 pan with coconut oil.

Apple Filling

5 medium apples

1/2 cup medjool dates

1tsp. cinnamon

juice of 1/2 a lemon

1 tsp. vanilla

1 tsp. ground nutmeg

1 tsp. sea salt

Slice 4 apples in thin slices and stick them in a bowl. Coarsely chop up the 5th apple and put it in the blender. Add the remaining of the ingredients in the blender with the 1 apple and blend them until smooth. You might need to add a little water to get it to blend. You can also use your food processor.

Mix the sliced apples with the blended mix and then spread in a 9x13 pan.

Cobbler Topping

1 cup almonds

1/2 cup rolled oats

2/3 cup medjool dates

1 tbsp coconut oil

pinch of sea slat

1/2 tsp. vanilla

Process the almonds by themselves a little in your food processor and then add the rest of the ingredients. Don't over process, you want the topping to be crumbly.

Put the topping over the apples.

Cover the pan with foil - poke some holes in it and bake for about 40 minutes.

Cashew Cream

1/2 cup soaked cashews (

soak for about 1 hour)

1 tsp. coconut oil

1 tsp. vanilla

2 medjool dates

Almond milk to help blend

You can do this in your blender or food processor. Slowly add almond milk till you get the consistency you want. I like mine thick.

Allow cobbler to cool for about 15 minutes before serving - it will be super hot. Top with the cashew cream

** Don't forget to put the foil on or you will burn a little bit of your topping like I did!!

** Words cannot express how good this was.

A compromise - no bake chocolate rice crispy treats

So a few weeks ago my sister-in-law and her six boys came to visit for a week and a half. Yes, I said six boys. And you know what? It was awesome! We used paper plates the whole time (sorry Earth), My SIL and her boys did my dishes the whole time (my kitchen has never been so consistently clean) and the younger boys played with my girls the whole time. I actually had more free time because they took over all my jobs for me. It was awesome. Plus they are a really fun family so it was great. I was a little nervous about what to feed them. I made them some of my vegan recipes and I got thumbs up on most of them. The one issue we had was the lack of sweets in my house. One of my nephews ( I won't name names) was convinced he was having headaches from sugar withdrawals. It's called detox, buddy!!  :) At one point they were skyping with some of their other cousins and one of my nephews shouted out (kind of in a panicky, help me voice) "They have no sugar here!!!"

But I did make them sweets. I am not totally mean. I made them fudge balls and chocolate smoothies and this recipe from Greensmoothie girl:


No Bake Chocolate Rice Crispy Treats

1 cup almond butter, peanut butter, or sunflower seed butter ( I usually use peanut butter)
1/2 cup raw honey or agave
1/4 cup ground flaxseed
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1/4 cup coconut oil
1 Tbsp vanilla
1/4 tsp sea salt
6 cups puffed brown rice ( can find at health food stores)

Cream together wet ingredients in large bowl by hand. Add flaxseed, cocoa, salt and blend. Add crisped rice and stir until evenly mixed.

Spread onto greased (with coconut oil) 9x13 pan. Then put in freezer for at least 30minutes. Cut into squares.

** This recipe is a compromise recipe to me because I really only want to use dates for sweeteners but sometimes my girls want more so I make these. I have also been known to let thme eat this as cereal in the mornings. Sometimes...Not all the time...

Date Syrup and a Vinaigrette recipe

So in my quest to only use dates to sweeten my dishes I came across this video from the raw chef. This will make a date syrup that you can use to replace maple syrup, agave, or honey in recipes. The date syrup is not as sweet as those other sweeteners so you might want to add a little more or you might just like your recipes a bit less sweet than usual.


Date Syrup
1 cup pitted medjool dates (soak them in the water for a while if you don't have a high power blender)
1 cup water


Blend water and dates in blender until nice syrupy texture. (See video)


You can store this in jar in your fridge to have on hand to add to your recipes.


Here is a vinaigrette recipe that uses the date syrup:


Balsamic Date Vinaigrette (adapted from ohsheglows)


2 1/2 TBSP balsamic vinegar
2 TBSP apple cider vinegar
1 tsp dijon mustard
2 TBSP date syrup
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/2 clove minced garlic (optional)
2 TBSP extra virgin olive oil


*** Don't forget to exercise this week.!!!

Best Dessert Ever and how to slice an orange

Wait for it... Fruit!


Since I have been trying to lose weight, I have been really trying to cut back on sweets and of course then I crave them more. And interestingly enough, I have not been craving fruit at all. Lately, I just haven't wanted to eat it. I mean fruit just hasn't seemed appealing at all. But I just make myself eat it. I know this sounds weird. Anyhow, so these times when I have been craving sweets I make myself eat fruit, specifically an orange. And you know what, most of the times that satisfies my craving.


Fruit used to be almost the only dessert we ever ate. In the past year as I  have been experimenting with unrefined sugars we have been eating a lot of treats. I think, perhaps, too many. I have really felt this need lately to get back to basics, to simplify my life and to get all these sweets OUT OF MY HOUSE!!

Now I am not saying that everyone should only eat fruit as a treat but for a while we want to really cut back on sweets over here. So we have decided to just have fruit and the occasional chocolate smoothie.

Some of our favorite fruits for dessert are - oranges, grapes, pears, and apples with peanut butter.

The other night A. had the idea to make a fruit salad and she was really proud of herself so she had me take a picture. I made a simple "cream" sauce to put on it made from almonds, cashews, water, and dates.


A few years ago a friend of mine showed me a better way to cut oranges and it changed my life. This way it is so much easier to eat all of the orange without getting too messy. Here are some pictures to show you how.

Start with the orange sideways then slice it like this:

You will end up with circles...

Then cut the circles in half...

You end up with this..

and this...

You can basically rip the fruit out with your teeth...

And you are left with nothing but peel...

A versatile chocolate sauce

Chocolate Sauce:

3/4 cup dates soaked 15 minutes
1/4 cup soak water
1/4 cup coconut oil
2 1/2 tbsp cocoa powder

Here is a great raw chocolate sauce I invented using dates. I have used this for

Banana Popsicles

For these I just stuck a skinny craft stick in half a banana and then spread on natural peanut butter and then the chocolate sauce. Then freeze them. They are a lot easier to eat if you let them defrost a little before biting in.

Chocolate strawberries

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups

For these I lined a muffin tin with foil (next time I will use paper liners) and the put a layer of chocolate sauce, layer of peanut butter filling (see recipe below), and then another layer of chocolate sauce.

Peanut Butter Filling
1/2 cup natural peanut butter
2 dates
1 banana
blend in food processor

* I also saw a recipe for peanut butter filling using nutritional yeast. I will have to try that one and let you know how it turns out.

** You need to freeze the chocolate sauce or at least refrigerate it to get it to firm up.

Warning: Make these at your own risk, Peanut Butter Oatmeal CooKies

We have been planning the refreshments for my daughter's upcoming baptism and I really feel this need to have everything be healthy since I kind of  present myself that way. It has been kind of stressful coming up with idea that would be healthy, quick, appealing, not messy etc... So E wants to have cookies at her baptism and I said that I would make some. She said she wanted store bought. I thought she was crazy. I mean who thinks store bought cookies taste better than fresh homemade?? I tried to convince the kids that homemade was better but they did not believe me. So we did a taste test. And one of my hypotheses was confirmed...

My children ARE crazy! They thought the store bought cookies tasted better. So I agreed to buy some for the baptism. Hey, that is less work for me. But of course none of this stopped them from scarfing down all the homemade cookies I made. I mean these cookies I made were awesome so it just proves that my kids' taste buds are whacked.

So here is my recipe for

Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies.

First Mix: (I used a hand held beater)

1 Cup natural peanut butter
1/2 Cup butter or refined Coconut oil (if you use the virgin coconut oil it will interfere with the peanut butter flavor)
1 Cup organic brown sugar (healthy stores and some grocery stores will carry this)
1/2 Cup Sucanet (evaporated cane juice, ditto about where to find it)

Then add:

2 range free eggs
1 tsp. of no alcohol vanilla
2 Tbsp of favorite nut milk, or cow's milk if you want

Stir in:
1 1/2 Cups Whole Wheat Pastry Flour
1 tsp. baking soda
4 shakes sea salt

Finally add:
2 Cup regular oats
1 Cup chocolate chips

Bake on ungreased cookie sheet at 350 for 10-15 minutes. Makes about 4 dozen

** I haven't had "real" cookies in the house for a long time and they sorely tested my will power. I must admit the cookies won, hence the warning!

Raw Apple Pie

So here is my attempt at recreating that awesome raw apple pie from Ecopolitan. Seriously, next time you are in Minneapolis, you have to go there!!!

Crust

2 cups walnuts

1/2 cup dates

1/2 cup unsweetened shredded coconut

Process everything in the food processer until it is crumbly. Don't over process. Then press crust mixture into a spring form pan or round cake pan. If you use a regular cake pan, line it with saran wrap. Then after it freezes you can pull out the whole pie by the saran wrap.

Apple Filling

• 5 medium apples ( I used gala)

• 1/2 cup dates
• 1 tsp. ground cinnamon

• Juice of 1/2 a lemon

• 1 tsp. vanilla

• 1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg

• 1 tsp. sea salt

You can soak the dates if you want but if your dates are pretty juicy you don't need to.  Chop all 5 apples into cubes, then place one of these chopped apples in your high speed blender or food processor. Add the remaining ingredients (but not the other chopped apples) and blend until smooth.

Hand mix the remaining chopped apples and pour into pie crust.

Put pie in freezer for a couple of hours before serving.

** I tried to make a caramel sauce but I ran out of dates. ( You can kind of see my lame attempt on the top picture) At Ecopolitan they told me they made their caramel sauce with water, dates, and a bit of cinnamon. Next time!!

** This was so refreshing and good. The pie filling kind of fell over once we started eating it but it tasted great. Maybe next time I will add a little coconut oil to the blender mixture to help it to set up.

Weigh In - Low fat, Vegan Fudge Cookies

I did my weigh in a day early because I didn't want the weigh in hanging over my head during my birthday dinner. So I lost 3 pounds this week. Yay! So far I have lost 10 poundsin 4 weeks. I am really happy about that. So I want to lose another 7 pounds or so. I know I can do it.

For my birthday dinner I made a vegan version of mac-n-cheese that I will post next week and a green salad with basil vinaigrette and these fudge cookies. The original recipe comes from Fat Free Vegan Kitchen.

One cookie is only 1 weight watcher point - if you care to know.

Balsamic Fudge Cookies
These fudgy cookies have three chocolate enhancers: cinnamon, prunes, and balsamic vinegar. You probably won’t be able to detect any of them in the finished product, but they lend the cookies a deeper, more chocolaty taste.

1 cup white wheat flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
pinch cinnamon (optional)
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup plus 1 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
2/3 cup coconut sugar
1/2 cup prune puree (see note)
1/3 cup plain yogurt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

Preheat oven to 350 F. Cover two baking sheets with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.

Mix the flour, soda, cinnamon, and salt together and set aside.
In a medium-sized mixing bowl, mix the prune puree with the sugar and cocoa and stir to combine. Add the yogurt, vanilla extract, and balsamic and stir until mixed. Finally, add the flour mixture and stir just until it’s combined—don’t over-mix.

Using a cookie scoop or tablespoon, drop tablespoons of the dough onto the baking sheets about 1 1/2-inches apart. Using the back of a spoon, flatten each cookie slightly and sprinkle with vanilla sugar. Place them in the oven. Bake for about 9 to 11 minutes—be careful not to burn the bottoms!

Remove from the oven and lift the parchment paper or silicone mats onto cooling racks. Allow to cool completely. These taste best cold and somehow even better the next day. Makes about 2 dozen cookies.

* I used baby food pureed prunes.

** The original recipe said these were fat free but they also used soy yogurt, which I guess is fat free. I uses low fat plain yogurt instead because I am not a fan of soy.

We ate these with peanut butter ice cream and with a chocolate sauce on top. It was really rich and I ate too much.

Peanut Butter Ice Cream

2 cups almond milk
6 frozen bananas
2 huge scoops of natural peanut butter

Blend up.

Chocolate Sauce

1 Tbsp coconut oil
1 Tbsp pure maple syrup
1 Tbsp cocoa powder

Mix oil and syrup in small pot over low heat. Once combined and thin, remove from heat and mix in cocoa till smooth.

Chocolate Macaroons and a Dehydratorless Version

Note to self:  I can't eat all the treats I want but these are fine in moderation.


This recipe is from the book, Raw Food/Real World: 100 Recipes to Get the Glow

Macaroons

3 cups unsweetened coconut flakes (find at health food store)

1 1/2 cup cocoa

1/3 cup extra virgin coconut oil (solid state)

1/2 tsp sea salt

1 Tbsp vanilla

about 1 cup maple syrup

stir together all ingredients

shape into tablespoon size balls

place on dehydrator screen at 115 degrees for 10 to 12 hours. 

They are done when they are crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside

** These are sooooo good. Even my non - health food friends love these.

Freezer Cashew Coconut Balls



1/2 cup medjool dates

1/2 cup cashews (soaked overnight)

1/2 cup almonds (soaked overnight)

1/2 cup unsweetened shredded coconut (find at health food stores)

1 Tbsp extra virgin coconut oil

Process everything in a food processor and then roll into balls. Freeze.

** Very coconutty and good. Family likes these. Shared them with one friend and she gave them a thumbs up.

Healthy Sweets - A how to and the Best Chocolate Shake Ever!!!!

A few months a go I made a deal with my kids that if they would stop asking for store bought treats and turn down treats offered them by well meaning people I would make them all the treats they wanted at home. The treats you make at home will almost always be healthier than what you buy at the store and they will taste better too. Here are some tips on how to make your treat recipes even healthier.


1. Eggs - try to buy  free range organic, preferably from a local source.


** If you don't want to eat eggs at all. You can use a mixture of 1 Tbsp ground flax seed and 2 Tbsp water for each egg in your baked goods.

2. Use Whole Wheat Flour. Soft white wheat is the closest to white flour. You can also get Whole wheat pastry flour at some stores but it is more expensive.

3. Consider using Virgin Coconut Oil instead of butter or margarine. Here is a link that describes the health benefits of coconut oil. Here is a link for a great place to buy quality coconut oil for cheaper than you can get at the health food store. You want the virgin, unrefined one.  If you don't want to use coconut oil, use butter.

4. Replace the sugar with Sucanat, which is dehydrated, unrefined organic cane juice. You can also try Coconut or Palm Sugar.*

*I really like the palm sugar, nutritionally it is probably one of the best suagrs you can use.

5. Use Aluminum Free Baking Powder. You can find this at health food stores and most grocery stores.

6. Get Alcohol Free Vanilla Extract. Did you realize it had alcohol in it? I didn't until a few years ago. Finding alcohol free can be harder and it is more expensive. I have found some at Trader Joe's and my local health food store. I really like this brand.

7. Use Sea Salt (or Original Crystal Himalayan Salt) for all the minerals in the whole food rather than the processed salt stripped of nutrition, and cut the amount of salt in half.

Best Chocolate Shake

The only sweeteners in this are bananas and dates.

3 cups unsweetened almond milk
4 - 6 frozen bananas (Important – they must be frozen or it won’t be a “shake”)
2-3 medjool dates with pits out (we like 2)
1-2 Tblsp of unsweetened cocoa (we like closer to 1)

2- 3 Tblsp of natural peanut butter (optional)

Blend it all in your blender

** You can use regular milk if you want. We use Almond Breeze unsweetened vanilla flavored almond milk. You can find it at health food stores and some grocery stores.

** Whenever your bananas start to get too brown, break them in to pieces and freeze them in ziploc bags. I always have a ton of frozen bananas in my freezer. If you don't have a powerful blender, let the bananas defrost a little so you don't kill your motor.

**Start out with the smaller amounts of cocoa and dates and taste it, if you want more, add them.

**These are seriously so delicious. They taste like a shake you can get from a malt shop. So good.

Not Really Fudge

Here is another quick and healthy treat. I got this recipe originally from Iheartwellness.com of course I changed it a bit and of course we added peanut butter. Our motto is "everything tastes better with peanut butter.


1 banana
1/2 cups soaked and pitted dates (soak at least 15 minutes)
1 heaping Tbl of coconut oil
1/4 cup raw sunflower seeds (I like to soak mine for a few hours but it is not necessary)
1/4 cup cocoa
natural peanut butter (optional)

process all ingredients in a food processor except peanut butter
smooth out onto wax or parchment paper on a small cookie sheet or casserole dish
swirl peanut butter through fudge with a knife (or spread on top once fudge starts to freeze)
freeze

serve frozen in bite size pieces *

*This fudge thaws really quickly. It cuts easily frozen and by the time you get it on your plate or pop it in your mouth it is perfect.

I heart This Cake - Chocolate Beet Cake

I made this chocolate beet cake for Valentine's Day. After My husband took his first bite. He dropped his fork, turned to me and exclaimed "This is SO GOOD!" Well I thought it was great but I don't know if it was all that. But he could not stop gushing over it. In fact he only let himself eat one slice because he felt guilty eating more.

For this recipe I used coconut sugar for the first time. I bought this Sweet Tree brand at my local health food store. It has a very mild taste and itis great because it is organic, not highly processed so it still has a ton of nutrients in it and it is low on the glycemic index.

I got this recipe from greensmoothie girl but I changed it a bit. Here is my version:

Chocolate Beet Cake

3 eggs (organic, range fed)

¾ cup coconut oil (can substitute applesauce for half of this, if desired)

1 tsp. vanilla

1 3/4 cups baked or steamed beets (about 2 medium-large beets, peeled)

4 Tbsp. baking cocoa (nonalkalized)

2 cups whole-wheat flour (soft white wheat, ground fine)

1 ½ tsp. baking soda

½ tsp sea salt

Puree beets in  blender with  eggs, sugar, oil, and vanilla. Transfer to a bowl and add chocolate and other ingredients. Bake in 9”x13” oiled pan at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

1 ½ cups Coconut sugar

Frosting

¼ cup unsweetened cocoa ½ cup coconut oil

½ cup powdered coconut sugar - to do this I blended up the sugar in the blender until it turned into a powder.

Cream together:

** Everyone liked it. My husband liked it best. E said "Mom, this is so good, it only tastes a little bit like dirt!"

Healthy Comfort Food - even better than the real thing? Spinach Artichoke Dip and Cheesecake

Sometimes you just need something creamy and comforting, or is that just me? The other day I was having kind of a stressful day and then I found this recipe on Iheartwellness.com and she got it from Ohsheglows.com and it was exactly what I needed

Spinach Artichoke Dip


Yield: About 2.5-3 cups
Ingredients:

• 1 medium sized onion, diced (~2 cups)
• 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1 piece bread + 1 tbsp earth balance (processed into crumbs) OR 1/4 cup bread crumbs
• 1 (15oz) can navy beans, drained and rinsed
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 4 cups packed fresh spinach, roughly chopped
• 1 can artichoke hearts, drained, rinsed, stems removed, and chopped
• 2 tbsp nutritional yeast (or cheese if you prefer)
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• 1/8th tsp dried basil
• Pinch of red pepper flakes

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 400F. Add 1 tbsp olive oil into a very large skillet and add in the 2 cups of chopped onion. Cook about 7 minutes on medium heat until onion is translucent.
2a. Meanwhile, in a food processor, process the bread into crumbs with 1 tsp earth balance. Remove and set aside. Omit this step if you use pre-made bread crumbs.
2b. Now process the drained and rinsed navy beans, 1/4 cup water, 2 tbsp nutritional yeast, 1 tsp kosher salt, basil, and red pepper flakes.
3. Add in minced garlic to skillet and cook for another few minutes on low. Add in your 4 cups of packed spinach and chopped artichoke hearts to the skillet and heat until spinach is wilted over low-medium heat.
4. Add navy bean processed mixture to the skillet and stir until combined. Taste and adjust seasonings if necessary. Stir in 3/4 of the bread crumbs. Pour into an oven safe dish (I used a 4 cup Pyrex dish). Sprinkle on the remaining bread crumbs (and cheese if desired) and cover with foil.
5. Cook, covered, in the oven at 400F for 20 mins. Now remove the foil cover and cook for an additional 10-15 minutes watching closely so as not to burn. Makes 2.5-3 cups. Allow to cool for about 5 minutes and then serve immediately with sturdy chips and crackers. 


** We ate this warmed up with wheat pitas. E said it was the grossest looking thing she had ever seen but I told her she had to try it. She hid a spoonful in her pita and the chanted to herself "There is nothing in there.. There is nothing in there." As she started chewing I could tell she liked it. She said "Mom, this is actually delicious!" A didn't like it and wanted to spit it out. It was a hit with my husband and me.


** It doesn't taste like the spinach artichoke dip you are thinking of but it is still warm and delicious.


** Nutritional yeast is a yeast grown just for it's nutritional value (hence the name!). Vegans use it a lot to create a sort of cheese flavor and it is a great source of vitamin B12. You can find it in health food stores or buy it online. Store it in your fridge.



My husband gave up refined sugars over 3 years ago (I know, he is amazing) and the one thing he has really missed is cheesecake. So this last Sunday I finally tried a raw cheesecake recipe. I found a bunch of recipes on the sunny raw kitchen blog and here is the one I used with my alterations.

Raw Cashew "Cheesecake"

Crust:2 cup of pecans (I get mine at costco - you can also get them anywhere where they sell bulk nuts)
1/2 cup medjool dates ( I get mine at costco)
a dash of salt (use sea salt)

Process the ingredients in a food processor until they are crumbly and will hold together. Press the crust mixture into the bottom of a spring form pan and set aside. ( I used a round cake pan lined with saran wrap and then once the cheesecake was set I just pulled it out.)


Filling:
3 cups cashews soaked for a few hours
1/2 - 3/4 cup honey or agave ( I used 1/2 cup agave)
1/2 cup lemon juice
2/3 cup coconut oil (warmed up in dehydrator or in bowl of warm water)
2 " piece of vanilla bean (or 1 tsp pure vanilla)
1/4 cup of water (or maybe a little more)

Blend everything in a high power blender or food processor until smooth. If using a FP, stop to let it rest a few minutes so as not to stress the motor.

Some of us topped our slices with this raw whip cream:

1 1/2 cups of cashew almond mix - ( I used 1 cup cashews and 1/2 cup almonds)
3/4 cup water
2 Tblsp pure maple syrup
1/ tsp vanilla

** This was soooo good. It was a big hit with everyone. The consistency was divine. The only thing is it doesn't taste like real cheesecake but we all agreed it was still yummy and creamy enough to hit the spot.

** So the moral of the story is you can find healthy alternatives to comfort food. They might not taste exactly the same but they will still be delicious!!

Vegan Raw Fudge balls

I got this recipe from a friend who got it from a book called Living on Live Food. We have changed it a bit.

2 cups medjool dates (pitted and soaked for at least 15 minutes - save some of the soak water)
2 cups almonds (soaked overnight, then drained and rinsed)
1/2 cup cocoa powder
pinch of sea salt
1/2 tsp vanilla extract


1. In food processor, blend dates to smooth paste - might need to add some of soak water


2. Add the remaining ingredients and process till smooth ( I always need to add some soak water to get it smooth)


3. Form into round balls and freeze or refrigerate.


**I have rolled these in unsweetened coconut flakes and sesame seeds and after they freeze for a while I smear natural peanut butter on some. My family just LOVES these. My friend refrigerates hers but we like them frozen.

Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins

This is my altered version of the recipe I found on this blog.

1/4 cup plus 2 T poppy seeds
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
4 t grated lemon zest
1/2 cup nondairy butter ( I used 1/4 c regular butter and 1/4c unsweetened applesauce)
1/2 cup dates, pitted
1 T arrowroot powder ( I used cornstarch)
1 cup nondairy sour cream (I used plain yogurt)

2 cups spelt or whole-wheat flour ( I used white wheat flour)
2 t baking powder
1 t baking soda
1/4 t Celtic salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a muffin pan with 12 paper liners.

In a blender, combine the poppy seeds maple syrup, lemon juice, lemon zest, butter, dates, arrowroot, and Vegenaise.

In a large-size bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

Fold the wet ingredients into the dry, being careful not to overmix. Divide the batter equally among the muffin cups. Bake for 20 minutes. Let cool on a wire rack.

** Everyone in the family loved these. They were just the right amount of sweetness for us. If you are used to eating a lot of sugar these won't taste very sweet to you. I think next time I make these I will add a bit more lemon juice and use coconut oil instead of butter.