Banana soft serve with chocolate fudge syrup

Banana soft serve

In the food processor, combine 1 cup sliced FROZEN banans and 1/4 cup fresh almond milk and process until ice cream!

Chocolate fudge syrup

Combine 1 TBSP raw carob powder and 2 TBSP raw agave nectar in a bowl.  Mix with a fork until well combined.  At first, it will seem like they will never combine, but stir for a little and it will soon turn to syrup!  This is sweet so you don't need a lot!  If it's too thick, add a little more agave.  The way it hardens when placed on the ice cream is amazing.  Brings you back to childhood and hot fudge sundays.

I found these banana split pictures I must have forgotten to post, and I don't remember exactly how I made it.  I think for the wafer on bottom I just blended some bananas with a TBSP agave, spread it thick on a parchment lined baking sheet and "dehydrated" it in my oven on the lowest setting for a couple hours or until hard (taste like an ice cream cone!)  For the strawberry puree I dried out some sliced strawberries in the oven on the lowest setting until the middles were soft but the outsides were dry and blended it in the processor.  Place the wafers on bottom, split a banana and spread banana soft serve on it.  top with fresh cut strawberries and berries, strawberry pure and chocolate fudge syrup.  I just remembered, there is also cashew whipped cream on there, recipe here.  Lots of steps but it was worth it, and the huge stomach ache afterwards...

Cashew butter

In a food processor, process raw cashews until creamy.  Scrape down the sides as needed.  I only used about 1 1/2 cups cashews because my processor is small.  This will get creamy quite a bit faster than almond butter because cashews are a lot softer.  It's not as creamy as almond butter, it's a little thicker but still is delicious!

I'm going to make some homemade "LARA Bars" and mix some of this in, or sandwich it between a bar and chocolate...mmmm!

Sprouted lentil salad with coconut oil-balsamic vinegar dressing

Sprouting beans is really simple and totally beneficial.  It brings them back to life (who knows how many months or years they've been sitting around in the bag before you bought them?), makes them easier to digest, less prone to produce gas and packs them full of nutrients and vitamins.  The best part is, you can eat them raw, preserving all these benefits.

All you need to do is choose your favorite beans, rinse them a couple times and soak them overnight (8-12 hrs for lentils, check for your bean here) in filtered water.  In the morning, rinse again and place in a glass jar (or a strainer is easier, if the holes are small enough so nothing falls out, place over a bowl to drain the excess water), cover the opening with a square of cheesecloth.  Turn the jar on it's side and shake a little to distribute lentils evenly.  Place propped up on a bowl or something, so that the opening of the jar is facing down, this is so the water can drain as it sits.  Rinse again before bed and place it back on it's side in the bowl (rinsing should take place every 8-12 hours).  Repeat this the next day and you should have sprouts by dinnertime.  You can leave them longer if you want longer sprouts, I would suggest putting them in the fridge to sprout if it's been more than two days.  You can sprout them up to 6 days.

These are so tasty in a salad or by the handful, but here are some other suggestions;

Blend sprouted lentils with an avocado for a spread, mash into a garden patty, sprinkle with a little garlic powder, salt and pepper for a snack, stir-fry them with some seasonings and veggies, you can also cook these and use them like usual-they will only need 5 minutes of cooking.

More on the benefits of sprouting lentils here.

My salad is packed full of goodies including; yellow squash, white onions, tomatoes, red, orange and green bell peppers, parsley, green onions, arugula, and green and red leaf lettuce.

Coconut oil-balsamic vinegar dressing

serves 1

Simply melt 1 TBSP coconut oil over low heat.  In a small bowl, mix the coconut oil and add 1 TBSP balsamic vinegar, 1/4 tsp garlic powder, dash salt and black pepper and a pinch a cumin.  Whisk with a fork until the oil and vinegar are combined and drizzle over your salad.  

"LARA Bars" or 5 minute raw energy bar recipes

I can't get over how easy these are to make and they are SO GOOD.  You just process dates until they are like a paste, dump it in a mixing bowl, process cashews till they are small chunks (not flour!) and mix it in the bowl with the dates....soooooooooooo simple.  Add anything else to make your favorite flavor!  Place on plastic wrap in a long bar form and smoosh to desired thickness, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate a couple hours.  Depending on how thin you roll it out, it makes 2-4 bars.  Recipes here.  

I tried the "cashew cookie" and I adapted the "chocolate coconut macaroon"- I made the cashew cookie, mixed in about 1 TBSP carob powder and 1 1/2 TBSP shredded coconut and a dash of cinnamon.  Both are amazing, I can't believe it takes literally 5 minutes (maybe less!)

I wish so badly I had chocolate chips to mix into the cashew cookie...mmmmmmmmm!

5 minute no-bake deserts (vegan, raw, gluten free!)

Simple 5 minute recipes from love veggies and yoga (raw and vegan);

peanut butter cookie dough balls

chocolate chip cookie dough balls

donut balls

peanut butter vanilla balls

dark chocolate fudge balls

And extras;

raw strawberry thumbprint cookies

raw chocolate chip cookies

white chocolate cheesecake

chocolate glazed and cinnamon donuts

cacao dipped almond thins

chocolate mousse torte





More amazing raw food recipes!

Out with the old...

I was so surprised to come home to these today!!  My sister knew about my "knife situation" (and probably that I would never do anything about it) and she sent us these babies!

The top two are my old knives.  One is like trying to cut using a pencil...absolutely pointless.  The other my dad found in the garage and you can't even cut an apple with it, it's so dull.

Never actually owned a real knife so it's kind of intimidating, but I'm so grateful!  Makes life a lot easier!!

Not so traditional doughnuts and an iced latte

Made these the night before and somehow I didn't touch a single one, saved them for the morning so I could enjoy them with an iced latte... mmmmm.  They are nothing at all like the doughnuts you're used to, but they have a sweet, unique taste and I really liked them.  Especially the chocolate ones!  If you made these the night before, let them sit at room temperature for a minute before serving.

Adapted from Nouveau Raw

1 cup almonds
1 cup sunflower seeds (she uses pecans, I think that would be better but sunflower works too!)
1/2 cup coconut flakes
1/2 cup buckwheat flour or oat flour (make your own by processing buckwheat groats or oats until fine) or or all-purpose flour.
8 soft pitted dates
1/4 cup agave nectar
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp sea salt
3 1/2 TBSP cacao or carob powder (optional)

Preheat oven to 250 degrees and line a baking sheet with foil.

In the food processor, process almonds, sunflower and coconut until fine.  Place in a mixing bowl and set aside.

Make buckwheat flour.  Add dates, agave, vanilla and sea salt and PULSE at first until combined, then process for about 30 seconds.  Add to the mixing bowl and smash with a spoon into the almond-sunflower-coconut mixture until combined.  Use your hands to mix some more until you can form balls that stay together.

Place half of the mixture back in the food processor with 1 tsp water and pulse about 10 times using with short pulses and then process for 20 seconds or until combined.  Roll dough into logs and form donuts, place on foil. Makes about 5.

If you are not using carob powder, go ahead and repeat with the process with the rest of the dough.  If you are using carob powder, place half in the processor, fill halfway with the rest of the dough, add the rest of the carob powder and the rest of the dough on top of that (it mixes easier if placed in the processor in layers).  PULSE with quick, short pulses until combined.  If dough is dry you can add the tiniest bit water or agave.  Roll into logs and form donuts, place on foil.  Makes about 5.

Bake for 15 minutes.  Let cool before frosting.

I used the g-lazy glaze.  Keep stirring to combine the banana and coconut oil fully.. You'll see it getting whiter and thicker.  To make it easier, I held each doughnut over the pan and spooned the glaze over, letting the rest fall back in the pan.  This made just enough for 10 doughnuts.  The glaze was good, but it's not something you'd want to lick off your plate because of the coconut oil.  On the donuts you don't taste it though, but maybe mess around with a couple small batches of different frostings like this or this.

For the iced latte, brew a strong 1/2 cup coffee while you're making almond milk or the night before.  When room temperature, mix with 1/2 cup almond milk and some ice cubes! optional to add vanilla and agave for a sweeter drink, but honestly, ice coffee if the best when you can taste the coffee and it's not overpowered by sweeteners. 

I attempted the chocolate ganache but it didn't go so well.  My chocolate making skills are way off, for some reason all my chocolate turns hard like a dough instead of a melty chocolate.... I'm pretty sure it's the carob powder because all recipes call for cacao or cocoa powder and I've been using carob.  Oh well, still just as good!!  I made these while I was waiting for my doughnuts to bake and I used my hands to cover them with the "ganache" (press it around the balls and roll between your hands to make it smooth).  Check out the rest of the blog by the way, it's amazing!

Currently listening to this.  A dreamy, sort of sad mix but full of amazing songs.