Tag Archives: dessert

Have you ever heard of these?  It is basically a smoothie bowl.  Imagine eating some frozen yogurt with fresh, juicy fruit on top.  That is basically what this is, except all of the sugar is completely natural and there is no dairy.  Therefore, no guilt plus tons of nutrition!  A wonderful thing to have, especially when it’s hot and you want something cool and refreshing.  These are so easy to make and so delicious!  Of course, it also helps that it’s raw vegan and gluten free!

Ingredients:

• 2 unsweetened frozen açaí packs
• 2 bananas, 1 sliced into 1/4″ thick coins
• 1/4 cup coconut water (I use the refrigerated ones)
• 2-3 strawberries, sliced thinly
• 1/4 cup sliced pineapples
• 1/4 cup sliced mangoes (I thawed out frozen mangoes for this)
• finely shredded coconut to garnish

1. Run the açaí packs under hot water for 10 seconds, then squeeze them out into a blender.
2. Add the unsliced banana and coconut water, and blend into an even consistency.
3. Pour smoothie into a bowl and arrange the rest of the fruit on top to your liking.
4. Grab a spoon and dig in!

What a way to sneak in some extra protein and nutrition!  I’ve been looking for a vegan, no-bake brownie that still kept that moist, soft texture and didn’t bombard me with that bitter taste of cacao, and I’ve found it!  This is now my favorite way to sneak in lentils, hemp seeds, and cacao into my diet.  You should try it!  It’s easy to make, delicious, and hits that sweet, chocolatey spot!  One batch makes about 8 brownies.  If you can’t find these ingredients, just click them and you’ll be directed to the appropriate Amazon link.  Please note that this recipe uses cacao as opposed to cocoa, which is processed.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup red lentils
• 1 cup water
• 1/3 cup hemp seeds
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp coconut oil
• 3/4 cup coconut sugar
• 4 tbsp oats, ground into flour
• 5 tbsp coconut flour
• 2 tbsp maple syrup
• 2 tbsp raw cacao powder
• 4 tbsp raw cacao nibs

1. Wash lentils, then add lentils and water into a small pot and cook, partially covered, on medium heat until the lentils have absorbed all the water (about 11-14 minutes).  Allow to cool to room temperature.
2. Blend lentils and hemp seeds until smooth.
3. Add vanilla extract, salt, oil, and sugar and blend.  Divide mixture into 2 bowls.
4. Into one bowl, add half of the oat flour, coconut flour, maple syrup, cacao powder, and cacao nibs and stir until combined.  Layer it onto the bottom of a glass pan.
5. Into one bowl, add the rest of the oat flour, coconut flour, maple syrup, and cacao nibs and stir until combined.  Place on top of the bottom layer.
6. Refrigerate for at least an hour or freeze for half an hour before serving.  Keep refrigerated.

Fall weather is approaching and my home was getting cold, so I had to bake something to warm up the place.  Luckily, I always keep a batch of bananas ripening in my home (because you can always freeze them for later use) so it was perfect for some glorious gluten free, vegan banana bread!  The bananas make the bread naturally sweet and moist.  What I love about this bread is that it’s pretty much guilt-free.  I can eat half the loaf and not feel guilty because I’m getting potassium as well as protein (about 39 grams per loaf)!

I also added in some wheatgrass powder for an additional nutritional boost, which is totally masked by the rest of the wonderful flavors in the bread!  Wheatgrass has a TON of benefits, including a ton of minerals, vitamins A, B-complex, C, E, I, and K, protein, 17 amino acids (the building blocks of protein), chlorophyll (a blood builder), and an enzyme to slow down the aging process.  It neutralizes toxins in the body, helps purify the liver, and improves digestion, among so many other benefits!

As with all my recipes, if you click on the links in the ingredients, you’ll be directed to the Amazon page for that ingredient!

Ingredients:

• 4 medium, very ripe bananas, mashed
• 1/2 cup coconut oil, melted* (plus extra to grease the pan)
• 1/2 cup coconut sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon powder
• 1/8 tsp or a pinch ground nutmeg
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 1/2 cups gluten free oats, ground into flour
• pinch sea salt (optional)
• 1 tbsp wheatgrass powder and 1 tbsp maple syrup (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Grease a loaf pan with coconut oil.
3. Mash the bananas.  You can do it by hand or put it in a blender.
4. Mix in melted oil, sugar, vanilla extract, cinnamon, and nutmeg.
5. Fold in baking powder, baking soda, oat flour, and salt.
6. Add in wheatgrass powder and maple syrup, if using, and stir until combined.
7. Pour into loaf pan and bake for 35-40 minutes.
8. Serve warm.  Coconut oil can solidify at cooler temperatures, which would make the bread dense.  Just reheat the bread when serving.  I suggesting wrapping a slice in aluminum foil and placing it in the toaster oven until the slice is heated thoroughly.

* To melt coconut oil, place oil in small bowl.  Set the bowl over a cup of hot water.  The steam from the water will heat the bottom of the bowl, which will melt the coconut oil.

Try not to eat it all at once!

I have a sweet tooth.  And I’ve been trying to add more protein into my diet.  This was a wonderful way to combined the two.  I had other people try it and they found it to be delicious.  The recipe makes a dozen cookies, but I need to make bigger batches, because these babies are not lasting very long!  They are so easy to make, too!

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup gluten free oats
• 1/4 cup raw walnuts
• 1 scoop vegan protein powder
• 1/2 cup almond flour
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp almond extract
• 2 ripe bananas

1. Preheat oven to 350º F.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or aluminum foil.
2. In a small and strong blender or food processor, blend the oats and walnuts until they form a flour-like consistency.  Add protein, almond flour, cinnamon, and extracts.
3. In a medium-to-large bowl, mash the bananas.
4. Stir the remaining ingredients to combine.
5. Scoop up the dough and place onto baking sheet into round balls, with each cookie placed about an inch apart from the other.
6. Bake for about 13 minutes, and then let sit for 10 minutes before removing from sheet and serving.

Try to tell me this does not look delectable.  This is a great, refreshing dessert.  I like to have it after a workout, due to the potassium from the banana.  If you want it to feel more like a sorbet, feel free to add more strawberries.  I find that using those single-serve blender containers is easiest when it comes to blending the fruit together.  It is so easy and fast to make!  And the cleanup is easy, as well – just put a little dish soap into the container, fill it up with water, and then blend the soapy water for 5-10 seconds.  Rinse away and you’re done!

Ingredients:

• 4-5 frozen strawberries
• 1 frozen ripe banana

1. Let fruit sit out at room temperature for 10-20 minutes.
2. Add fruit into blender and blend until mixed thoroughly.

One of the great things about having a mother who cooks great food is easy access to such deliciousness.  Not only can I pick her brain on how to make the food, but I know how it tastes, too, so I can play around with ingredients to healthify them!

Ché is a term used to describe a large variety of Vietnamese desserts.  There isn’t really a way to pin them down, except that they all seem to contain liquid as well as food.  They are all vegan, but some are only eaten cold, some are only eaten hot, and some can be eaten both ways.  This can be eaten both ways, and I enjoy it both ways but I think I may slightly prefer eating it cold.  Don’t worry about measurements for this – adjust it to your tastes and preferences.  I have yet to figure out a healthy way to recreate my favorite ché, but here is a super simple version of one that my mom made for me over the holidays that I couldn’t stop gobbling.  It is so easy to make that you can basically let it sit while you go watch TV or do other things.  It has a sweet and nutty taste to it from the mung beans, in a creamy base from the coconut milk.  This dessert is gluten free and high in omega-3 fatty acids, protein, and fiber.

If you are having trouble finding any of these ingredients, just click on the ingredient and you’ll be taken to the Amazon.com link for the item.

Makes 4 cups

Ingredients:

• 4 tbsp chia seeds
• 1 can full fat coconut milk
• 6 tbsp maple syrup
• 3/4 cup dehusked mung beans
• 1 cup water or more

1. Add chia seeds to a large container.
2. Shake the can of coconut milk until the liquids and solids mix together and add milk and syrup to the container.  Don’t worry if you have chunks of coconut milk – they will melt later.  Stir ingredients until they turn into a light brown color.
3. Rinse mung beans and add to a large pot.  The beans should be a thin layer across the bottom.  Add enough water so that it rises above the layer by about half an inch.  You can add more if you want the beans to become softer and thicker.
4. Heat beans on medium low until they simmer. Reduce heat to low until most of the water is absorbed into the beans and the beans have softened, about 30-40 minutes, stirring once or twice.  There should be no more water rising above the layer of beans.  You can always adjust the water and amount of mung beans to your taste, or let it heat longer if you want the beans even softer.
5. Add beans and remaining water from the pot into the container and stir until the solid chunks liquefy and blend with the rest of the dessert.
6. Serve immediately or refrigerate for at least a few hours and serve cold.

Tip:  If you want to serve it immediately, I recommend letting the chia seeds soak in the milk mixture for at least a couple hours before starting the mung beans, so that the chia seeds can have time to form that gel coating.

So easy and so quick to make, and a great way to get some potassium, zinc, iron, and manganese, not to mention vitamins A, B, C, and E!  This raw vegan, gluten free delight is my favorite way to eat fruit!  You can use other fruits, of course, instead of mango and pineapple, but the banana is necessary to sweeten it.  I find that raspberries result in a slightly unpleasant texture due to the seeds.  The easiest way to make this is to use a juicer with a homogenizer attachment, which should be found with most single and twin gear juicers.  I’ll provide a recipe for use with a blender but I cannot entirely vouch for it, and it may result in more of a soft serve than a sorbet.

Ingredients:

• 1 frozen ripened banana
• 1/2 package frozen pineapple
• 1/2 package frozen mango

Juicer Method

1. Break up the banana into 6 pieces.
2. Put through juicer using homogenizer attachment, alternating fruits.  I put a couple pieces of pineapple, followed by a piece of banana, and then a couple pieces of mango.

Blender Method

1. Let banana sit out at room temperature for about 10 minutes.
2. Blend pineapples and mangoes to break them up, then add the banana.
3. You may have to stop the blender and scoop the sides many times before everything comes together.

There you go!

If you haven’t already heard, chia seeds are awesome for you.  They have those essential Omega fatty acids and have plenty of protein and fiber.  They are incredibly useful when you want to figure out a way to have guilt free yet absolutely healthy and nutritious pudding.  This totally hits the spot for me when I want something sweet, cold and creamy.  You can use any frozen fruit you want, but I love adding frozen mango because as the mango defrosts, the juices spread throughout the rest of the pudding.

Chia seeds are also wonderful for your digestive system.  So if you are looking to lose weight, definitely have some of this raw vegan, gluten free pudding!

Makes 4 servings.

Ingredients:

• 9 medjool dates, pitted
• 1 can full fat coconut milk
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp almond extract
• 4 tbsp chia seeds
• frozen fruit of choice

1. Blend dates in food processor or blender.
2. Add coconut milk and extracts and blend.
3. Divide mixture into 4 containers and stir in 1 tbsp seeds into each container.
4. Top with frozen fruit and let sit in fridge for at least 2 hours.  Keeps for about 4 days.

Bonus: Raw Vegan Berry Compote

I whipped thi1s up using leftover berries and some sweetener, so keep in mind these measurements are approximations.  It is super simple but still delicious.  Frozen leftover pineapples were included within the picture shown below.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup raspberries
• 1/2 cup blackberries
• 2-3 tbsp agave nectar or maple syrup

1. Purée half the berries with the agave nectar or maple syrup.
2. Add remaining berries and pulse.
3. Serve by spooning some of the compote on top of the pudding.  Store separately from pudding.