RAW BANANA CREAM PIE

 

Seriously you guys... its super delicious.  There's nothing like raw desserts for me.  The freshness and flavor you get with raw desserts is like no other.  Once your tastes buds adapt to it, you may not be able to take as much the artificial sweetness from other sugary desserts.

 

I especially love the raw crust with the creamiess of the pie.  The combination is fabulous.  I hope you enjoy it too.

 

 

For the Crust

 

1 cup macadamia nuts

1 cup dried, shredded coconut

10 medjool dates, room tempurature, pitted

 

Put the macadamia nuts and coconut into the food processor and process until it resembles crumbs. Then add in the dates and process until the dates are well combined.  The stickiness of the dates will kick in and it will hold together. 

 

 

For the Filling

 

1-1/2 cup cashews, soaked 8-12 hours, rinsed and drained

1/4 cup raw agave or liquid sweetener of choice

1/2 cup coconut butter

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/4 cup coconut water from a young Thai coconut or coconut milk

1 cup packed coconut meat from a young Thai coconut

2-3 medium bananas, sliced (approximately 3 cups)

1 lemon, juice of

1-2 bananas sliced and dipped in lemon juice for garnish

 

Place all the ingredients except the bananas and lemon juice into a high speed blender. Blend until smooth. You will need to use the plunger or spoon and a little patience to get the mixture moving but it's well worth the effort... Transfer the mixture into a bowl.

 

Slice the 2-3 bananas and toss them with the lemon juice and drain, then fold them into the banana cream mixture.

 

 

To assemble, place the entire crust mixture in your favorite pie pan and press it down evenly all around.  Then, pour the cream mixture on top and spread evenly with a spatula and finally layer with thinly sliced bananas to garnish.  Chill for 1-2 hours and serve.   

 

Enjoy!





Join the discussion!
Do you have a favorite raw pie or cake recipe? We'd love to hear what if is. Please share in the comments below. Links are welcome!

BANANA CREAM VANILLA SMOOTHIE



Sometimes you just want something simple, like you would vanilla ice cream. This is a super simple smoothie that I love to make when I am craving just that.  I hope you enjoy it too!

BANANA CREAM VANILLA SMOOTHIE

1 cup almond or coconut milk
1 to 1-1/2 banana, frozen chunks
2 dates
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Yes, that's it!  Blend all the ingredients together in a high speed blender.  Note:  I like my smoothies to be thick and creamy, especially this one.  Start off with 1 frozen banana and then if it looks too thin, slowly add more frozen banana, piece by piece, until you get the desired thickness.  Top your smoothie with chia seeds and raw cacao powder, or whatever your heart desires!  Yum!

Enjoy!



Join the discussion!

Do you have a favorite smoothie recipe?  We'd love to hear what if is.  Please share in the comments below.  Links are welcome!


QUICK AND EASY RAW DESSERT: APPLE AND BANANA TOPPED WITH ALMOND BUTTER, HEMP SEED AND SWEET CACAO NIBS

 

Looking for something to get over that afternoon sweet tooth?  I am loving this combination!  Apples, bananas, almond butter, hemp seeds and sweet cacao nibs.  You can pick up the hemp seeds and sweet cacao nibs at your local Whole Foods Market or other natural foods store. 

 

These are photos of my Instagram.

 

So delicious!

 

Enjoy!

 

 

 

Join the discussion!

Do you have a favorite quick and easy sweet snack? We would love to hear what it is! Share it in the comments below. Links are welcome.

RAW BANANA CREAM PARFAIT WITH MACADAMIA NUT CRUMBLE

Seriously... I mean seriously!  When I went to a raw food party my friend had with Stacy Stowers we devoured a raw banana cream pie that we so delicious.  Way better than any I had before I went mostly plant based and raw.  I mean, you can just taste the creaminess and the freshness of the dessert.  I also had a friend at work taste test this who is neither vegan nor raw, but she does eat both occasionally and she LOVED it!  Next time I will make this into a pie or cheese cake form, but for now, these were delicious and easy to put together.  Raw desserts are really my absolute favorite thing.

Some people have commented to me that there are too many nuts in raw desserts, but if you take a look at the measurements, there really is not much more than you would use in many other regular desserts.  The ingredients are fresh with no processed sugar added.  Pure love, if you ask me.  This dessert is a must! 

RAW BANANA CREAM PARFAIT WITH MACADAMIA NUT CRUMBLE

Crumble

1 cup macadamia nuts

1 cup dried, shredded coconut

8 medjool dates, room tempurature, pitted

Filling

1-1/2 cup cashews, soaked 8-12 hours, rinsed and drained

1/4 cup raw agave or liquid sweetener of choice

1/2 cup coconut butter

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/4 cup coconut water from a young Thai coconut

1 cup packed coconut meat from a young Thai coconut

1 medium bananas, sliced (approximately 3 cups)

1 lemon, juice of

For the crumble, put the macadamia nuts and coconut into the food processor and process until it resembles crumbs.  Then add in the dates and process until the dates are well combined into the nut mixture and crumbly.  

For the filling, place all the ingredients except the bananas and lemon juice into a high speed blender.  Blend until smooth.  You will need to use the plunger or spoon and a little patience to get the mixture moving but it's well worth the effort... Transfer the mixture into a bowl.

Slice the bananas and toss them with the lemon juice and drain, then fold them into the banana cream mixture.

To assemble, place a layer of the crumble in the bottom of the glass, then the cream mixture, then more crumble.  Top with more shredded coconut and nuts and and a little sweet syrup, if you so desire.  I only used one layer of cream since the glasses I used were on the larger size, but if you use skinny glasses you can definitely construct several layers to build your parfait.

I hope you enjoy these as much as I did.

Bon Apetit!

 

RAW: MANNA BREAD FRENCH TOAST WITH MAPLE SYRUP



 

Ok, I have to admit, even though I love eating raw,  sometimes I do miss eating some of those comfort foods I use to eat. Just the thought of it.  Not always, but occasionally.  You can imagine how happy I was when I came across this idea of using your favorite sprouted bread for french toast.  I saw this recipe in Raw Food Real World.  You soak it the milk mixture and then dehydrate it.  Perfect.  This is what you would call a clean french toast.  It's not all buttery and rich like the french toast you would make with brioche and eggs.  But as Matthew Kenney put it, "...eating that kind isnot even remotely appealing anymore and would just make me feel gross. To me, this is a really tasty indulgence that is (of course) good for you!  It's a nice thing to make for a cold weather brunch."  I second that.  This really is a tasty breakfast with no guilt.

 

My husband I really love Manna Bread.  It may seem a bit dense to some people because they do not use any levening agents and they use sprouted whole grains, but if you dehydrate it or toast it, it really lightes it up.  Manna Bread is a cake-like, sprounted bread, yeast free and vegan organic.  Its free of salt, no oils, no sweeteners, no leavening agents.  It is Organic Certified and Kosher Certified.  For more information about their sprouted bread, click HERE.  We get our favorite flavors Banana Walnut Hemp and Fig Fennel Flax at our local Whole Foods Store in the freezer section.

 

The ingredients for this Manna Bread are:  sprouted organic wheat kernels, filtered water, organic black mission figs, organic oat flour, organic flax seeds, organic flax seeds, organic fennel seeds, organic poppy seeds, organic pumpkin seeds, organic sunflower seeds, organic sesame seeds.  So delicious!

 

 

 

MANNA BREAD FRENCH TOAST WITH MAPLE SYRUP

 

INGREDIENTS:

 

1 loaf of Fig Fennel Flax Manna Bread, cut into 1/2 slices

3 cups of almond milk

1/2 cup maple syrup

1 tablespoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon salt

 

Place the bread slices into a shallow baking dish.  In a medium bowl, wisk together the nut milk, maple syrup, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt.  Pour over the bread slices to cover.  Move the pieces of bread around to make  sure they are being soaked on all side.  The bread does get a little fragile so handle with care.  Allow the bread to soad for 30 minutes on each side.

 

 

 

Let the milk drain off each slice and transfer the soaked bread to your lined dehydrator tray and dehydrate at 115 degrees F for 4-6 hours or until the tops are dry.  Flip them over onto the dehydrator screen and dehydrate further for approximately 4 more hours or until dry and slightly crisp on both sides.

 

If you make these ahead of time and refrigerate them, return them to the dehydrator for about an hour before serving, to warm them through to recrisp.

 

Top with your favorite fruite and or nuts and drizzle with maple syrup.

 

So delicious.

 

Enjoy!

 



 

 



PUMPKIN BANANA SMOOTHIE

 

 

I am sure you are just as excited as I am that pumpkins are in season again.  There's just someting about pumpkins that make us feel comfy and cozy.  And the mix of spices used with pumkin just makes my mouth water.  So, of course I had make a pumpkin smoothie to add to the list of smoothies we love.  This smoothie tastes so good, I can't even tell you!

 

My recipe is adpated from Against All Grain.  The combination of flavors is just perfect!

 

PUMPKIN BANANA SMOOTHIE

 

3/4 cup almond milk

3 ice cubes

1 small frozen banana

1 teaspoon flax seed, or flax seed meal

1/2 cup pumpkin puree, preferably fresh*

1-1/2 tablespoons maple syrup

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon ginger

 

*  For fresh pumpkin, cut the pumpkin into small managable pieces, de-seed and steam as shown below.  Cut off the skin and they are ready to use for smoothies. 

 

Blend all ingredients in a high speed blender and serve immediately.

 

Makes 1 serving.

 

If you are curious, check out the benefits eating pumpkin can bring to you HERE.

 

Enjoy!

 

 

Steamed pumpkin

These baby pumpkins are so cute!



 

 

 

RAW: CHOCOLATE BANANA SHAKE

 

 

 

 

Hope everyone's morning is going well!  When I am craving some chocolately goodness, I LOVE making this chocolate shake.  It's simple, but sooo good.  I alway, always try to keep a stash of frozen bananas in the freezer.  When you use frozen bananas in a shake no one can fault it.  It makes any smoothie or shake rich and creamy.  You never know when you want to make some kind of creamy goodness.

 

This recipe serves 2 to 4

 

INGREDIENTS:

 

3 cups frozen bananas

2 cups almond milk or your favorite nut milk

1/4 cup agave nectar (or 2 packets of stevia)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 heaping tablespoons of organic raw cacao powder or carob powder

pinch of sea salt

 

In a blender puree all the ingredients until smooth and creamy.

 

Enjoy!!