Lemon Coconut Cupcakes

Lately I've been experimenting with putting coconut butter into all the places that vegan butter normally goes. Cookies, cupcakes, and everything else really. Sometimes it imparts a little bit of coconutty flavor, other times I don't even notice it except for the rich light texture it leaves. In cookies it keeps them moist and chewy but not oily, and in these cupcakes it made them a little denser than an ordinary cupcake but incredibly moist and flavorful. I hate the word moist but I honestly couldn't think of a word to replace it.

My original plan was to put lemon zest as well as juice in the batter, but our zester's vanished so that didn't happen. Adding a couple teaspoons would be an awesome addition though!

These guys are pretty tasty on their own, and frosting would make them even better. I'm one of those people who prefers the tops of muffins to the rest of them, and that happened with these a little as well. There's a couple sitting in my fridge decapitated right now actually. No shame.

I used homemade cashew milk for this recipe which turned out awesome, (1/4 cup cashews blended with 1 cup water), but any commercially made nut or soy milk should turn out fine as well.

Lemon Coconut Cupcakes

1 cup cashew/almond milk
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
3/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup coconut butter, softened
2 tsps vanilla extract
1 cup cake/pastry flour, sifted
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 tbsp lemon juice
1 tablespoon lemon zest

Preheat the oven to 350, line a muffin tin with liners.

Mix together cashew milk and apple cider vinegar with lemon juice, set aside for a few minutes.

Cream together sugar and softened coconut butter. Add vanilla, and milk and apple cider vinegar mixture.

In a separate bowl mix together flour, baking soda, baking powder, lemon zest, and salt.

Mix the dry into the wet, and combine until smooth. Fill liners and bake for 18-20 minutes.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

I don't think chocolate chip cookies need a lot of introduction. They're round, they're perfect, they're chocolatey. I'm a chewy cookie kind of girl, and I recently discovered the secret that adding a bit of cornstarch to your cookies keeps them soft and amazing.

I also discovered that I don't think there's a saturation point for too many chocolate chips in a cookie. It's just not possible. When the cookies harden and cool, so does the chocolate and that keeps it together. Handy for when you're only using cookies as a vehicle to get chocolate into your mouth.

Another cookie tip to keep in mind is that if you prefer softer cookies take them out when they look just barely cooked. The edges can be crisped up and a little brown, but if the middles look a bit doughy it's perfect. They continue to cook once they're out of the oven, so doing this keeps them from becoming to crispy.

Putting the cookie dough in the fridge to rest for 30 minutes before baking helps keep cookies from spreading too much, and relaxes the gluten a little keeping your cookies soft. It's not essential though if you're impatient.

I used spelt flour which resulted in a slighty denser, almost nutty tasting cookie. You can use whatever flour you like though.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

3/4 cup vegan butter
1 cup sucanat
1 egg replacer(I used 1 tablespoon chia seeds and 3 tablespoons water, mixed and left to sit for 5 minutes)
2 tsps vanilla extract
2 cups spelt flour
1 1/2 tsps cornstarch
1 tsp baking soda
pinch of salt
1 cup chocolate chips

With a hand mixer cream the vegan butter for a minute or two til smooth, then add in the sugar.

Cream together til smooth, add in the egg replacer, and vanilla.

In a separate bowl mix together flour, cornstarch, baking soda, and salt.

Mix into the butter mixture til smooth. Add in chocolate chips.

Place in tablespoons onto cookie sheets, place in the fridge(if you're doing that step) for 30 minutes.

Set oven to 350, bake cookies for 10-12 minutes.

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

A lot of good recipe stories begin with a bunch of bananas languishing on a counter. That's what happened in this case as well. I smushed the offenders up with some ground up almonds and oats, and these babies were born.

I once saw some graffiti on a wall that said "Oatmeal raisin cookies are the reason I have trust issues". I can relate. It's the worst when you're deliberating in front of a pile of cookies and you can't tell the difference between chocolate chip and raisin. I don't see why you have to choose though, just put them all into one cookie and your problem is solved. And I don't see why you need to stop at those, goji berries, chopped nuts, and hempseeds should also be invited to the party. Some is good, more is better, too much may be just enough.

If you're not feeling bananas, you could try pumpkin puree, or applesauce perhaps. Each banana is equal to about 1/2 cup. If your dough looks a little too wet though, try adding some more oats.

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

1 cup almonds

1 cup rolled oats

2 tablespoons oat flour

2 large ripe bananas, mashed

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp baking powder

2 tablespoons chocolate/vanilla protein powder

1/2 cup raisins

1/2 cup chocolate chips

pinch of salt

Grind the almonds in a food processor so that it's almost flour texture, but still a little chunky.

Mix almond meal, oats, oat flour, cinnamon, baking powder, protein powder, and salt in a bowl. In another bowl combine bananas and vanilla, then mix into oat mixture. Add in chocolate chips and raisins, stir till combined. 

Bake on a cookie tray at 350 for 12-14 minutes, depending on the size of your cookies.

Chocobanana Fudge

I've been trying to come up with a solid brownie that's also gluten free, and it's been an interesting, if tasty road. They come out almost right but one thing will be off. Like the texture, or it's capability to hold itself together. These were part of that process, but to be honest it seemed more like fudge to me. They're no bake, which is nice, and you can keep them in the freezer for awhile. You need a high speed blender for them to properly get the right texture however.

Coconut butter and oil are two different things. Coconut butter is just pureed coconut meat, and the oil is something else although I'm not entirely sure what. Coconut butter melts slightly, but doesn't liquify. Coconut oil is solid at room temperature, but melts into liquid. While it's probably not the end of the world if you interchange them in this recipe, I have no idea what happens, so you're on your own with that one.

Chocobanana Fudge
1 cup cashews, soaked overnight
1/2 cup chocolate chips
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
1 mashed banana
1/2 cup coconut butter(NOT oil)
pinch of salt

Melt the chocolate chips and coconut butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Place everything into a blender and blend until smooth, then spread into a pan and let set in the freezer. These are best kept cold, they tend to melt a bit when they warm up!

Vegan Pumpkin Cheesecake

Since Halloween is right around the corner I think it's okay to keep piling on the pumpkin themed recipes. Especially when I found the most adorable little pumpkin for a dollar, just crying out to be roasted and made into pie. Last night was the windiest one I can ever remember, but since I was hiding away in my apartment, I didn't see too much of the storm. So much to be grateful for, my power didn't go out, and since there's no trees around my condo that wasn't a worry either. On the second hand I don't know if the no tree thing is great or awful, but it worked for last night! My heart goes out to all the people who are affected by Sandy, I can't believe the photos that keep popping up on Instagram and twitter. A strange age we live in now where the most up to date and reliable news sources are social media, no?

I made a raw cheesecake for the first time last week, and was so in love with it I thought it could only be improved with pumpkin thrown in to the mix. And a spooky topping for the holiday! My spider web looks a little like the spider making it may have had a few too many, but we're not judging it. This cheesecake's almost raw, but I don't think raw pumpkin would taste too great, which is why it's roasted. You can sub canned pumpkin for the roasted chunks, I think the ratio would be about 1 cup of puree, but I'm not positive since I haven't tried it.

In most raw crusts dates are the usual, but raisins are a little more affordable, taste great, and work fine for sticking the crust together. A little water is needed to get it to stick, since they're usually a bit drier.

Vegan Pumpkin Cheesecake

Crust:
1 cup almonds
1 cup raisins
1/2-1 tablespoon water
Dash of cinnamon and cloves
Pinch of salt

Cheesecake
1 cup roasted pumpkin cubes(roast a seeded pumpkin for about 35-40 mins, remove skin and cut into pieces)
1 1/2 cups soaked cashews(at least 5 hours)
juice from 1 lemon
1/3 cup coconut oil, melted
1/6 cup maple syrup
1/6 cup agave(or other liquid sweetener)
1 tsp vanilla

1/3 cup chocolate chips
1 tablespoon coconut oil

Blend crust ingredients in a food processor til fine and they start to stick together. If it's not sticking, add water a little at a time. You don't want it to be mushy, just until it starts to clump. Press into a springform pan, and let set in the fridge.

Blend cheesecake ingredients(except for pumpkin) in a blender until super smooth. Remove 1/3 of the mixture and set aside. Add in pumpkin and blend again. Pour into crust, and let set in the fridge while you're making the topping.

For the topping, melt the chocolate chips and coconut oil together. Cover the cheesecake in the rest of the filling mixture, then draw circles onto the cheesecake like a bulls eye. Run a knife through from the outside to the middle to create the pattern.

Leave in the freezer for 2 hours to let set, remove 30 mins before serving.

Pumpkin Pudding with Maple Cream and Granola

Sometimes things are greater than the sum of their parts.

People changing the world.

Chocolate and almonds.

This recipe.

The pudding's good on it's own, and so it the granola, but when you combine them all together something amazing happens. It's ridiculously easy as well, which makes it all the more worthwhile.

You can used canned pumpkin, but I'd really recommend trying, at least once, roasting your own. Tis the season after all, you can buy canned pumpkin whenever you want. The real deal only comes around once a year! For directions on how to roast a pumpkin, go here.

Pumpkin Pudding with Maple Cream and Granola

Pumpkin Pudding
2 cups pumpkin puree
1/2 small banana
3 tablespoons maple syrup
1/2 cup almond milk
2 tablespoons chia seeds
1-2 packets of stevia(to taste)
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp cloves, nutmeg, ginger

Blend pumpkin, banana, chia seeds, maple syrup, almond milk, and stevia in a blender til smooth. Add in the spices and blend til incorporated, let set in the fridge for about an hour.

Maple Cream
1 cup vegan whipped cream
2 tablespoons maple syrup

Stir maple syrup into whipped cream.

Maple Almond Granola
1 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup chopped almonds
1/4 cup maple syrup
2 tablespoons coconut oil
1/2 tsp cinnamon

Stir everything together, and bake for 12 minutes in the oven at 350, or until slightly crispy.


Serve pumpkin pudding with a dollop of maple cream and a sprinkle of granola on top!

Banana Soft Serve

This week is flying by, I can't believe it's Thursday already. This morning I woke up planning on maybe making today a rest day, but I was feeling zesty and wanted to go lift some weights, so off to the gym I went! It was empty today, which is my favorite way for it to be. I did some strength moves in short bursts of 20-30 seconds, with 15 second breaks which was great for getting my heart rate up. I feel like I noticeably lost strength when I stopped lifting heavier while I was in Vancouver, so I've been easing back into it slowly.

While I was in Vancouver I was experimenting with adding more healthy fat into my diet, and somehow from that I lost weight. Or toned up a bit more, or a bit of both. I've been using photos to measure progress because they don't seem to bother me the same way knowing numbers does. Even though it's been a year since I started making a conscious effort to feed my body what it needs, and not restrict it still seems like it's slowly stabilizing itself still. I only started getting regular periods in January, and I guess things are still working themselves out.

Lately I've been trying adding more carbs into my diet in the forms of whole grains mostly. It's kind of making my energy levels go off the walls! In my head for some reason I still think I should stay away from carbs, even though I know your body needs them. Still learning to let go of weird food hangups I guess.

I've done miraculously well with cutting down my sugar intake the past couple days. I've been eating less fruit than previously, and more lower sugar fruits. One thing I noticed was even though I've been eating lower sugar fruits, after I eat them I crave more for no particular reason, even if I'm full. It's interesting to see how foods can affect you when you start paying more attention to them.

I had my 5th Health History session today, and I finally feel like I'm getting the hang of it. It was so much easier to talk and connect, and get meaningful answers. I enjoy so much about learning about other people's diets and journeys'. I never get tired of talking about food.

Banana soft serve is so ridiculously easy, and not even really a recipe. It's one that's been floating around the internet for awhile. I made some the other day because I was excited to try my new food processor, and it photographed well, so here it is:

Banana Soft Serve

Take 2 bananas, chop into pieces, then freeze til hard. Process in a food processor until soft. It will sounds like the food processor is about to die initially, but it will be okay!

For a bit firmer texture freeze it for about half an hour before serving, or use as is for a more soft serve consistency.

You can add 1/2 cup frozen other fruit as well, like strawberries, blueberries, mango, etc. Chocolate chips are a good mix in as well.

I topped mine with this recipe!

Blueberry Peach Parfaits

Summer is my favorite season for eating. All the fruit, berries, and vegetables in the stores looks luscious and vibrant, and all my favorite fruits are in season. I find that the simplest ways to enjoy them are sometimes the best, as they taste so great they don't really need much done to them. I picked up some peaches recently, and we had a fridge overflowing in blueberries, so I decided to throw them together, make some extra blueberry sauce for topping, and make some parfaits.

I've tried some brands of soy yogurt previously, but wasn't all to impressed with the flavours. When some genius (Amande, which is French for almond by the way), started making almond milk into yogurt. Probiotics and almond milk, what's not to like?! I tried vanilla, and it tasted great to me. The texture is remarkably similar to dairy yogurt, and it has a similar sweet tanginess.

Whilst in Whole Foods I was overwhelmed with the choices of dairy free whipped cream toppings, so I decided to purchase them all so I could determine which one I liked best, and then share that knowledge with you. In the past faux whipped cream has been very hit or miss(more misses than hits, really). While it's not too difficult to make your own using agar, I missed the joy of squeezing whipped cream out of a can into pretty shapes. Presentation is everything, my friends. And while yes I could just get my own piping tubes, I'm not really that motivated in that direction.

Soyatoo makes both a soy whipped topping and a rice milk one, which both contain about 16 calories per tablespoon. They don't have any strange ingredients on the label, which is a plus in my books(I'm looking at you Cool Whip)! The soy one tasted a little strange on it's own, but when mixed with other ingredients, it passed muster. It was a bit harder to get out of the can, and was a bit more solid than most whipping creams, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. There was a bit of a weird sweetness to it though. I'd eat it again however!

The rice milk one was definitely my favorite in terms of taste and resembling real whipped cream texture. It came out of the can a little easier, and didn't have the weird sweet flavor to it. I've still yet to try the nut milk whipped cream, which comes in a carton and you have to whip it yourself. I'll report back on that one soon!

Blueberry Peach Parfaits

Blueberry Sauce(recipe to follow)
1/2 cup blueberries
1 peach, chopped finely
1/4 cup puffed quinoa
1/2 cup dairy free yogurt
Vegan whipped cream to top

Layer some blueberries in a glass, cover with a layer of yogurt, puffed quinoa, and peaches. Repeat in both glasses til all ingredients are used up, then top with blueberry sauce, more quinoa puffs and whipped cream.

If you can't find puffed quinoa substitute granola or buckwheat.

Blueberry Sauce

2 cups blueberries
2-3 packets stevia
juice and zest from half a lemon
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp almond extract
dash of cinnamon

Mix all ingredients in a saucepan, and bring to a boil. Turn down to medium low and let simmer until reduced into a thick sauce.

Coconut Dream Bars

As of late I've been on a coconut binge. No shame though. Coconut is awesome for you! It may have gotten a bad rep in the past due to it's saturated fat content, but since it's natural saturated fat, not man made, it's not bad for you. Some fats are healthy for you, and the fat in coconut oil can improve your heart health, boost your thyroid, increase your metabolism, and support your immune system. The magic ingredient in coconuts is lauric acid, which has unique health benefits. Your body converts it into monolaurin, which has anti-viral, anti-bacterial, and anti-protozoa properties. The medium-chain triglycerides in coconut oil are also smaller, so they're easier for your body to digest and use as fuel. Whereas long-chain triglycerides, which are harder for your body to break down, and therefore easier to store as fat.

Farmers discovered this back in 1940 when they tried to use low grade coconut oil to fatten their livestock. It didn't work! Instead it made the animals leaner and more active. Coconut oil has shown to help optimize body weight, and can improve healing and immune function. All the more reason to scarf down these bars!!

Coconut Dream Bars

Raw, Vegan, Gluten and Soy Free

2 cups pitted dates

2/3 cup almonds

2/3 cup cashews

2/3 cup shredded,unsweetened coconut

2 tablespoons coconut oil(melted)

1/2 cup chocolate chips

Topping

2 tablespoons cocoa powder

1 1/2 tablespoons coconut oil

2-3 packets stevia

coconut for sprinkling

In a food processor process dates, almonds, cashews and coconut oil until thoroughly mixed, but a little chunky. Add in coconut and chocolate chips and process until combined. Press into a 9x9 pan.

Topping: Mix all ingredients together in a small bowl, pour over bars. Sprinkle with coconut.

Place bars in fridge or freezer to set, cut into pieces!

Chocolate Truffles and Coconut Snowballs

Since I have a huge lump of cacao butter sitting in my cupboard, and by sheer luck there was hardly any clients at work today so my boss let me leave early, the obvious thing to do was to go home and start making some chocolate truffles. People are generally surprised when I tell them how just how much I adore chocolate. They give me this weird look and say 'Aren't you a vegan?'. Not really sure of when people started believing vegans don't like chocolate. Or that all chocolate contains milk? Maybe all the gross stuff like Aeros, Kit Kats, that kind of thing. But I'm sort of a chocolate snob, and I really rather eat a little bit of super dark, super expensive chocolate than a bag of Oh Henrys any day. Most chocolate isn't raw(although you can find raw bars), but I generally make an exception for it. Or you can make your own. It's fairly simple, all you do is re-unite cocoa butter and powder, along with some sweetener and whatever other goodies to choose to throw in.

For the truffles I made 2 different types, chocolate ones and coconut snowballs. The coconut snowballs didn't take to being dipped in the chocolate too well, they didn't really firm up properly so I rolled them in some more coconut afterwards and it seemed pretty tasty.




Chocolate Truffles
1/4 cup coconut butter
1/2 cup dried unsweetened shredded coconut
1/3 cup maple syrup/agave
1 cup cacao powder

Blend everything except the cacao powder in a blender, then mix the cacao powder in by hand in a bowl. Let set in the fridge for about half an hour(or in the freezer if you're impatient as I always am). If you use the freezer check on them in about 15, you don't want rocks. Scoop into balls and roll in more cacao powder, or dip in melted chocolate then place on a baking sheet lined with wax paper and place in fridge/freezer to set.



Coconut Snowballs

1 cup nuts(I used almonds and brazil nuts, but macadamias, cashews, hazelnuts, anything really would work also)
1 1/2 cups plus 1/2 cup unsweetened, shredded, dried coconut
1/4 cup melted coconut oil
1/2 cup maple syrup/agave

Process the nuts in a food processor until they're finely ground. Add 1 1/2 cups coconut, coconut oil, and maple syrup, then process until the mixture is a sticky paste. Place in the fridge/freezer until slightly firm. Roll into balls and then roll in additional coconut.

Chocolate
1/3 cup melted cacao butter(in a bowl over boiling water, or in a dehydrator set at 120 degrees)
1/3 cup plus 1 tblspn cacao powder
3 tblspns agave/maple syrup

Mix all together in a bowl, dip truffles in!

Cheesy Noodles and Lemon Pudding

I've been going through the archives on one of my favorite blogs today, Choosing Raw, and came across this recipe for Cheese Sauce. This is the first recipe I've made off of Gena's blog, there's so many there it's hard to pick which one to do first. But I love cheese sauce, so anything similar to that makes me happy. The colour made me particularly pleased, it's the exact alarming shade of Kraft Dinner. The 'meatballs' are a Falafel recipe from Raw Food Real World that I had hanging out at the back of my fridge, and I kept singing that song about meatballs rolling out the door while I was eating it.


A salad with Miso Ginger dressing, daikon radish noodles, sprouts, and hemp seeds. The dressing works pretty well as dipping sauce, or to put on really anything you can think of. If you blended some with some water you could use it as a broth too.

Miso Ginger Dressing
1/4 cup Miso
1/4 cup mirin
1/4 cup brown rice vinegar
1 tblspn minced ginger
1/3 cup sesame oil

Mix in a blender until smooth.



I had a couple mangos languishing on my counter, so they turned into this.

Lemon Pudding
1 mango, chopped
1/2 an avocado
1/4 cup coconut
Juice from 1 lemon
1/4-1/2 cup agave syrup(depends how sweet the mangoes are)
1 tsp. agar powder
2 tblspns coconut oil, melted

Mix mango, avocado, coconut, lemon juice and agave in a blender until completely smooth, if overly thick you can add some coconut water. Pour in agar powder, then with blender on drizzle in coconut oil. Let set in fridge until thickened.