Chocolate Stuffed French Toast

French Toast - Egg free! - even better than the traditional egg battered version?! We think so!

I've got nothing against happy chickens laying happy eggs. But eating those eggs, just doesn't agree with my digestion. I didnt figure this out until "egg class" in Culinary School. We cooked eggs about 20 different ways, and since then eating them makes me nauseous. It was a bummer at first, but I manage! Anyways, enough about that! PLANT BASED FRENCH TOAST!!

BATTER up!
1 banana, fresh or frozen
1 c milk, what have you
cinnamon
pinch sea salt
vanilla
blend well

Dredge your toast of choice in this delicious concoction.. and fry it up. Baking would probably work too, but I would use parchment. Make sure your pan is nice & hot, and add a drizzle of oil. Keep your eye on these, they sometimes stick. Getting the pan hot & using oil liberally (I use coconut) will help.

Once theyre about to come off the stove, sprinkle chocolate chips on top of one slice, and place the 2nd slice on top.. like a sandwich! Those chips should be melted in no time, and its ready to eat!! With maple syrup, of course.

Avocado Chocolate Truffles

Say what? Chocolate Avocado Truffles don't sound so good to you? Allow me to explain.

First, stop thinking about guacamole. Think smooth, simple, creamy, fatty, avocado. Thats the base for the creamy center of these truffles. Avocado, blended with cocoa, vanilla, maple syrup.. til it forms the consistency of a rich chocolate pudding. Way healthier than Russel Stover. Healthier means more bio-available nutrients, good fats that quickly burn into energy, plus its easy to metabolize & digest. Okay? Great!

This concept was 1st introduced to me 3years ago by a dear friend & uber talented culinary classmate, Ms. Kristy Butts. Many thanks to Ms. Butts for the many truffles she fed me over the 2years I lived in Austin.

         frozen avocado creme before being dipped in melted chocolate

Chocolate Avocado Truffles
4 small-med avocados
1/2 c cocoa powder
1/2 c almond milk
1/4 C maple syrup
1 vanilla bean
1 T cinnamon
pinch salt

1 bag high quality chocolate chips

Blend everything except the chocolate chips in a food processor until smooth. Set a peice of parchement on top of a cutting board or tray (somthing that will fit in your freezer) and place small 1/2 T size dollops the mixture onto the parchement. Place in the freezer for an hour.
Melt the chocolate chips in a double boiler or in the microwave for 10second intervals, stirring between each interval.
Once the avocado creme has set in the freezer & your chips are melted, carefully drop the avocado centers into the melted chocolate, one at a time, then place on a clean sheet of parchment. They'll take another minute to set, then are ready to eat! Store in the fridge or freezer.

Brown Rice Crispy Treats

I discovered this recipe from a fellow Vegan Food Blogger named Angela Liddon. Her site is ohsheglows.com. I really love a lot of her recipes & I think we have a similar cooking style, so I occasionally check in to see what she is up to! I've made a couple substitutions from her original recipe, my rendition is as follows:

1/2 c almond butter (or other nut butter)
1/2 c brown rice syrup
1 fresh vanilla bean or 1 T extract
1 T coconut oil
1/2 t salt
3.5 c Puffed Brown Rice Cereal
chocolate chips, melted, to drizzle

Line an 8 x 8 dish with parchment paper.
In a pot, combine almond butter, brown rice syrup, coconut oil, vanilla bean (just the scraped seeds or extract) and salt. Stir until heated through and well combined.

Remove from heat, transfer to larger bowl and stir in brown rice cereal until completely coated.

Spoon the mixture into the parchment lined dish and push down firmly, so that it fills the pan & has a flat surface. Let it set in the fridge for 30minutes-hour, then cut and drizzle with melted chocolate.

Popscicle Bliss

Chances are if you know me well or have spent much time in my kitchen you know that my ice cube tray never gets used for making ... ice. Normally they're used for freezing soup stocks, broths, pesto, citrus juice, herbs and most recently these beauties.

Balsamic Berry Banana
I started these by making a jam.
Strawberries, raspberries and blueberries into a pot. Add a pinch of salt, a squeeze of lemon and a splash of balsamic vinegar and let it reduce. Let it cool, mash with banana and spoon into your tray.

Chocolate Banana
Straight up cocoa powder and mashed banana. I added a touch of maple syrup for good measure.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Banana
I've been buying PB2 lately. Have you heard of it? Basically they smash the oil (fat) out of the peanuts and dry the nuts into a powder. You rehydrate the powder into a paste.. now you've got peanut butter w 85% less fat & calories. I totally dig it.
For these pops I made the above choco-banana recipe plus PB2. so easy.

Homemade Pumpkin Butter -low sugar

I am so excited about this! I'm excited about Autumn in Missouri, leaves on the ground, the drop in temperature aaaand local fall produce. The garden has been turned down, the house decorated, pantry stocked, we're ready for winter. My mind has been racing with the flavor possibilities this season has to offer.

I first tried pumpkin butter a few years ago while working at the Root Cellar in Columbia, MO. It drove me wild. I needed another jar almost immediately. At the time I was eating dairy, and spread it on cream cheese. It was near perfection. Now, as a lactose-intolerant vegan food enthusiast I am looking forward to more creative ways to delight in my beloved pumpkin spread.

Makes 5 cups

2 pie pumpkins (also called sugar pumpkins)
2T pumpkin pie spice (blend of cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice & ginger)
1/2 c apple juice or water
1/2 c coconut sugar (or what have you)
1 t stevia
2T maple syrup

Start by roasting 2 pie pumpkins. You can follow my simple instructions by clicking here.
Take all the flesh from the pumpkin and puree it. For this step you can use a high-speed blender, food processor, immersion blender or food mill. Any of these will work fine.

Transfer the pureed pumpkin to a pot and stir in the remaining ingredients. Simmer on low, with a lid tilted so that steam can escape, for 2 hours.Stir the pot about every 10 minutes or so.

Look forward to upcoming posts about different ways to use the pumpkin butter! I'm thinking I'll use this in a smoothie with almond milk, spread on toast or a tortilla with banana, stirred into my morning oatmeal, and as a dip for pears. You could also spread it onto baked goods like a bagel or muffin, it'd be delicious on pancakes or waffles.. use your imagination! I'm sure once its in your fridge you'll find all kinds of excuses to eat it. Enjoy

These are the sweeteners I used: Coconut Sugar, Maple syrup and Stevia.

This is my first time using Stevia. I am very interested in cutting back on sugar in my diet, especially since I eat so much fruit & have no interest in cutting back on that! I decided not to use Stevia as my ONLY sweetener in this recipe because I am new to it and I understand that it can result in a bitter flavor.

Coconut Palm Sugar is a minimally processed, highly nutritious and sustainabily harvested sweetener. What more could you want?? Maybe some maple syrup...? yeah. me too.

Avocolada Chia Pudding

pineapple, about 2 1/2-3 cups
coconut water, 2 cups
2 bananas, keep separate
avocado, save the pit
2T coconut butter
pinch of salt
juice of 1 lime
3T chia seeds

 Place all the ingredients, except the chia and 1 banana, into the blender and puree. Then, stir in the chia seeds, the avocado pit and the other banana sliced. The pit will help keep the avocado fresh for a few days. Place in the fridge and enjoy a few hours later.

raw Blueberry Dream Chia Pudding

1 pkg fresh bloobs
1 banana
3 oranges, juiced
2 T chia seeds
vanilla

Toss the bloobs, banana and oj in the blender and blend on low. You dont want a perfect puree (or do you?) so leave it a little chunky. Stir in the vanilla and chia seeds. Refrigerate and enjoy a few hours later. I sprinkle a little Bee Pollen on mine.

Mochi Waffles

Mochi Waffle Breakfast Spread

Apple Cinnamon veganButter, Lavender Blueberry veganButter, Orange Almond Syrup. Maple Syrup, Raw Honey, Raw Cashew Butter 

What is Mochi?? Mochi is rice, that has been pounded into a paste, then dried into blocks/ sheets/ what have you. When you heat it, it puffs up. Puffed mochi can be used as dumplings, you can toss it into a stir fry, eat it like a snack, dip it into your favorite condiments & sauces, fill it with ice cream, drizzle honey or a sweet syrup on top, aaand you can make mochi waffles!!!

Its as simple as cutting it into tiny squares and setting it into a hot waffle iron. The inside gets chewy, but the outside crisps up and gets toasty. Perfect for waffles!

Mochi squares melting into the waffle iron

Mochi Waffle with Apple Cinnamon veganButter, Cashew Butter, Banana & Maple Syrup

Mochi Waffle with Lavender Blueberry veganButter, Orange Almond Syrup & Banana

The recipes for the vegan compound butters are in a previous post, you can find those by clicking here.

 Blood Mandarin, Navel orange, Valencia Orange, and Seville Orange

Orange Almond Syrup
4 c Orange juice
1/4 c honey
1 T almond extract
1 seeded vanilla bean, just the empty pod (you should keep these stored in your freezer)
pinch of sea salt

Simmer and reduce to 1 cup. Should take about an hour.

raw Strawberry Banana Chia Pudding w Coconut Cashew Creme

A treat any time of day, garnished with Bee Pollen

Good Goddess, this was a stroke of kitchen genius. Thats what happens when you spend over 35hours a week in your own kitchen.. genius. It went something like this...
Uh oh these strawberries are gonna go bad if I don't use em soon. I'm not a huge fan of fruit smoothies.. so that's out. I dont want to just eat em on their own... thats too easy.  I want to make some strawberry fruit roll-ups in my dehydrator but cant find my "fruit roll-up trays" aaaanywheeere. Hey.. its been a while since I made a chia pudding. Theres bananas in the freezer. I bet a strawberry-banana chia pudding would rock. YES IT DOES. yep.

WHY CHIA SEEDS? Theyre a source of complete protein, iron, calcium, B vitamins and polyunsaturated fats. They're dry little seeds until you add some liquid then they plump up and soften like tapioca, only theyre more gel-ly. A good ratio to work with is 9parts liquid- 1 part chia seed. 

Strawberry Banana Chia Pudding
1/2 c fresh apple juice
10 strawberries
1 1/2 frozen banana
2-3 T chia seeds
vanilla, a dash

Blend all of the ingredients, besides the seeds. I left my mix a little chunky for texture. Add the seeds after blending then let it sit over night. Once morning comes... dig in.  

Coconut Cashew Creme
1 c cashews, soaked 2-3 hours
3/4 c cream from can of coconut milk
vanilla, 1/2 bean seeded
maple syrup to taste

Blend all the ingredients well, until super smooth. It may be a little thin, but it will set in the fridge and get super thick, rich and creamy. The cream from the top of a can of coconut milk... isnt exactly raw, but I had it on hand and it was perfect. Alternatively you could scoop out the flesh of a young coconut and use that.

PBJ Banana Bread Pudding a la Mode

STAY TUNED FOR A COMPLETE RECIPE

PB choco Sauce
1/3 c Peanut butter
1.5 T cocoa powder
1/3 c milk product
pinch salt
honey, to taste

Heat the milk in a skillet. Once it is warmed, whisk in the peanut butter, then cocoa, honey and salt.

Jam
1/2 lb Strawberries, chopped
6 oz blueberries, smashed
1 orange, juiced
splash balsamic vinegar
pinch salt

Heat the orange juice in a small pot. Add the berries, balsamic and salt then and bring to a simmerand cook until the sauce thickens and reduces.


Breadpudding
half loaf 10grain bread
milk product
arrowroot powder
maple syrup
vanilla
cinnamon

Serve with a baked banana and ice cream!

4 Courses

Fresh Figs, Arugula, Roquefort, toasted Pecans & a Balsamic glaze


Homemade Focaccia topped with Caramelized Onions, Roasted Garlic & fresh herbs

Zuchinni Noodles with a black olive medley, roasted tomatoes, roasted peppers, fresh basil, toasted pinenuts & parmesan
Berries, Cherries, baked Banana & Cashew Cream


Salad
Arugula
Tiger Stripe Figs (best Ive ever tasted, as if they were filled w strawberry jam)
Roquefort cheese
Toasted Pecans
Balsamic Reduction

Focaccia
adapted from Tal Ronnen's Conscious Cook

Dough:
1 T sugar
3c warm water
1 packet active dry yeast6 c all purpose unbleached flour
sea salt
1/3 c extra virg olive oil

Following the recipe from this book really stressed me out. I had to change his 1 1/2 c warm water to 3c.. because the dough was incredibly dry and never would have worked. Thankfully we just completed our breads courses at school & I am familiar with how the dough should feel. Also, he set the oven temp for 400 degrees, which I thought was way too low for the bread to cook thoroughly w a golden top. ugh. So basically, I am using a different recipe next time & you should too. But don't let this discourage you from baking your own focaccia! Its so good. Even though I wasn't thrilled with it I ate the whole thing, and my dinner guest loved it!

Onions:
2 onions
vegan Butter (Earth Balance)
1 head roasted garlic
salt
thyme rosemary sage

Thinly slice 2 onions, and throw them in a pot with the butter & cover. Stir them often. Once they are golden brown and super soft add 1T Balsamic Vinegar and sea salt. Allow to cool, then stir in roasted garlic, fresh sage rosemary & thyme.

Zucchini Pasta
1 large zucchini
1/4 red onion diced
1-2 cloves garlic minced
olive medley
roasted tomatoes (or sundried)
roasted bell pepper
fresh tomato
fresh basil
salt
pepper
Parmesan
toasted pine nuts

First of all, for this dish you need a Spiralizer to cut your squash into noodle strands. I love this tool. I works on most hard fruits and vegetables like potatoes, apples, pears, winter squash, radishes...

Start by heating oil in the pan, then adding onion. After several minutes, they're soft & delicious add olives & garlic. Let cook another minutes, then add the roasted tomatoes, roasted bell pepper. Let them heat up, then toss in fresh tomato, fresh basil, toasted pine nuts & turn off heat. The olives will make this dish quite salty, so you may not need to salt it. Garnish w fresh parm & cracked pepper.

Cashew Cream
Cashew cream is so easy and its one of my classmates favorite things to make.

1 c cashews
1 T maple syrup
1/4 fresh vanilla bean pod seeded
water

Soak Cashews for up to 3 hours. They'll fatten and even take on a purplish hue. If you don't have the time to soak this long, boil water and use this hot water to blend them.
Place the cashews in a blender and cover with 1in water. Add fresh vanilla and maple syrup and puree until smooth. Enjoy

I served with blueberries, cherries, strawberries & a baked banana.

to bake a banana, place a banana in its peel on a tray in an oven at 350. Bake until the peel is black and juice is starting to ooze out. Amazing.

Brown Rice Pudding with Grilled Pineapple Reduction

RECIPES FOR LATEST POSTS COMING SOON...

Just Bake a Banana!

Craving dessert, but don't have any cookies? Or maybe you don't think you deserve a cookie?? Just Bake a Banana! This has been a favorite some friends and I for several years. I can't remember why or when we came up with it.. but I think it was my first of 3years living on Anthony St. in Columbia at the time.You wont believe how good it is until you try it. It needs no topping.

Lay a piece of foil on the counter, put the banana in the center, and curl up the sides. Some juice is going to cook out, and you dont want it ending up on the bottom of your oven.

Bake at 350 until the peel is black and it starts to juice. It's ready! Carefully peel, then enjoy!

Banana Chocolate Chip Bread Pudding

Unless you are on a low-carb diet, this dessert is completely guilt free!!
It is very soft, warm & flavorful. Success! It was my first bread pudding, and I pulled the recipe from one of my new fave cookbooks, Veganomicon. Now that I am confident in bread puddings and realize how simple they can be I will start trying out some of my own recipes, some savory, some sweet.
Veganomicon's Banana Choc Chip Bread Pudding
6c (1in cubed) stake bread (about 1 lb)
2 ¼ c rice/soy/almond milk
3 T arrowroot powder
½ c pure maple syrup
1t vanilla extract (I used ½ a fresh vanilla bean)
½ t ground cinnamon (I doubled it in my recipe)
¼ t ground nutmeg (doubled this too)
1 c chocolate chips
3 large, ripe bananas, sliced ½ in thick

Preheat the oven to 350. Lightly grease a 9x5 loaf pan. I couldn’t wait for stale bread, so I diced fresh bread, and baked it in the oven for 5 minutes. Perfection. Place bread in a large bowl.
In a small bowl, whisk together 1/2c milk with arrowroot powder until no lumps remain. Add the remaining milk, plus vanilla, cinnamon & nutmeg & whisk to combine. Pour this mixture over the bread & stir to coat every piece.
Allow the bread to sit for 15min to soak up the liquid. Add more liquid if necessary, it should look mushy and they should be a little bit of liquid in the bottom of the bowl.
Fold in the chocolate chips & bananas, mashing the bananas slightly. Pour the mixture into a loaf pan, patting down to make an even top. Bake 30-35minutes until top if puffed, slightly browned & feels firm.
No sugar, no dairy, no eggs.. just yummy yummy bread pudding. We ate this every night for a week.

Then I made this variation:

peanut butter chips instead of chocolate
and a row of homemade jam in the middle (homemade jam is the same recipe as the "berry topping" in my post for mini-vegan cheesecakes)
& I stuck to her original measurements of cinnamon & nutmeg.
(Adding more worked really well for the choco chip bread, but I didn’t think it would go over as well with the jam.)

So it is like a peanut butter & jelly banana bread pudding. I recommend eating the chocolate chip bread pudding warm, but I think this one is better cold. I gave some to friends of mine, and they thought it was very yummy. yay!

Mini Vegan Cheesecakes

Topping:
6 medium strawberries
1/4c blueberries
1 T meyer lemon juice
1 t agave nectar
1 t balsamic vinegar

Cheesecakes:
8oz vegan cream cheese
¼ c sugar
1/8 c brown sugar
1 ½ T meyer lemon juice
½ vanilla bean (seeds)
plus Keebler 6pack of mini graham cracker pie crusts

Anna and I were in absolute HEAVEN eating these mini cheesecakes, and yes, they taste just like the real thing.. actually I thought they were better.

In a blender combine all the cheese cake ingredients and puree until smooth, or use hand held electric mixer. Fill the pie crusts and bake for 20minutes at 350. Allow to cool, then stick in the fridge.

The berry topping is astoundingly good. Just smelling it brings me more joy than anything in a jar possibly could. And it is so simple! Dice up the strawberries, and put them in a small pan or pot with lemon juice, balsamic and blueberries. Turn on the heat, and when it starts to bubble, turn it down, so that it is as low as it can go while still slightly simmering. Add the agave nectar, and continue to cook until the sauce reduces and thickens. Mm mm mm mm mmmmmmm

Zucchini Baarrsss!!

This is a recipe from Anna's Family Cookbook, called Tempting Thelen Tasties. WOW, they're good!!!

3c flour
1 1/2t baking soda
1t baking powder
1t salt
1/8t cloves
1/8t nutmeg
3/4c margarine
1c brown sugar
1t vanilla
1/2 c sugar
2 eggs
1c grated zucchini
1/2c chopped walnuts
1/2c raisins
1. Sift together the first 6 ingredients; cream together the next 5. Combine both mixtures, then gradually add the rest of the ingredients.
Pour into greased 10x15in pan. Bake at 350 for 20-25min.

I made a cream cheese icing for this.. which was 1/4 stick margarine, 5oz cream cheese, and about a cup and a half of powdered sugar beat together.