Perfect Lentil Soup

Although autumn arrived last month, Northern California clearly hasn’t gotten the memo. In late October we were still enjoying the spoils of 70+ degrees. I’m sure you are appalled at someone complaining about such ‘perfect’ weather but hey, sometimes you just want to layer! I love summer as much as the next girl but just like a house guest over staying their welcome, one soon tires of being sweaty. Every year around early September I eagerly await the changing colored leaves and smell of pumpkin bread wafting out of my kitchen. But much to my chagrin, this year it seemed that summer just didn’t want to let go… Finally on one glorious morning a few days ago, I woke to a brisk 50 degrees and excitedly brought my knit scarves and cozy boot socks out from hibernation.

As the chill in the air grows ever stronger and the nights grow ever longer I am inspired to stay home, cuddle up to my family and enjoy hot soup out of well insulated mugs. A tried and true staple in my home is lentil soup. I’ve been playing with this recipe for years and with each little tweak it further evolves into one of my favorites. As with any good recipe you can use the bare bones of this to experiment and make it your own. Spices and veggies can be tweaked to your liking and you can puree a lot or a little depending on your preference. I prefer mine heavy with tomato and spice and pureed just a little so I can still experience the texture of the ingredients.

Perfect Lentil Soup

Ingredients

• 4 tbsp coconut oil or ghee
• 1 yellow or white onion, chopped
• 2 organic carrots, chopped
• 2 organic stalks of celery, chopped
• 3 tsp salt
• 1 3/4 cups dried lentil soaked for 12-24 hours
• 1 quart (4 cups) bone broth or veggie broth for a vegan option
• 1 large organic heirloom tomato, chopped
• 1 tsp coriander
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp turmeric
• black pepper to taste
• 1 bunch organic Swiss chard, de-stemmed and torn into manageable bites

Process

1. Place coconut oil or ghee in a large dutch oven over medium heat until oil is hot
2. Add onion, carrot, celery and salt and cook for about 5 minutes
3. Add lentils, broth, tomatoes and spices, increase heat and bring to a boil
4. Once boiling, reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for about 25 minutes
5. Add Swiss chard and with pot uncovered gently cook until tender, about 8-10 minutes.
6. Take soup off heat and using an immersion blender, puree soup ever so slightly to add a creaminess without losing the texture of the lentils and vegetables.

Vegan Strawberry Banana Sherbet

It’s starting to feel like summer in Fremont. Temperatures have been hitting 90 nearly every day and the sun has been relentless. I got a burn after only 10 minutes in my backyard! It’s true I am pretty pasty but usually I can go at least 20 minutes before becoming a lobster. 😉

What do I crave on hot summer days? An ice cold beverage, maybe a dip in the ocean and always ice cream. I’ve been staying away from most dairy lately as I’ve noticed it stuffs me up and makes me a little sluggish. I do however still enjoy my butter/ghee. It is one of my favorite things on this earth and I must have it on my toast in the morning. It makes me too happy inside to give it up. Besides, I believe good quality grass fed butter is a health food… in responsible quantities of course. Butter is loaded with the vitamin K-2 and the anti-inflammatory fatty acid, Butyrate. These are very important nutrients for heart and bone health.

That was a bit of a tangent wasn’t it? … you can tell I love my butter. 😛 ANYWAY, since I’ve been avoiding most dairy I have been satisfying my hot day ice-cream craving with homemade vegan sorbet instead. It is so easy and delicious you guys, if you haven’t tried it, you MUST. All you need for homemade sorbet is any combination of frozen fruit and a blender. Seriously. It’s amazing.

Lately though I’ve been craving more of a sherbet, something with a little creaminess to it. So… I just added a little coconut cream to my frozen fruit and voila! A vegan sherbet with no refined sugar and a whole lot of hot day ice cream craving satisfaction. My ice cream maker is in storage so I needed to use a little elbow grease to get this creamy but I’ll tell you it was well worth it.

Vegan Strawberry Banana Sherbet

Ingredients – Makes about a pint

• 1 1/2 frozen bananas
• 15 frozen organic strawberries
• 1/2 cup coconut cream (I skim the cream off the top of a chilled can of coconut milk) 
• 1/8 cup honey
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 tsp vanilla

Process

1. Add all ingredients to food processor and process until combined and creamy. This took me about 5 minutes because the strawberries were so hard.
2. Pour sherbet into mixing bowl and place in freezer for about 20 minutes.
3. Take bowl out of freezer and vigourously whisk for a minute,
4. Place back in freezer for another 30 minutes
5. Repeat the process another 2-3 times
6. Let sherbet harden in the freezer for another 2 hours or so
7. Using an Icecream scoop, doll out your deliciousness!
8. Keep sherbet in an airtight container in the freezer

I would recommend taking your sherbet out of the freezer about 15-30 minutes before enjoying (depending on the temperature of your house) The consistency is softer and creamier when it’s a little less frozen. Just make sure you don’t let it become a smoothie. Unless of course you feel like one! ❤

XO ~ Sam

Raw Chia Cardamom Cocoroons

I love cookies. Who doesn’t right? If they weren’t so void of nutrition I’d likely be popping them all day. I used to be able to eat like that. In fact I used to eat so poorly that I’m surprised I didn’t have a coronary by my senior year.

In high school, I’d polish off an entire medium sized dominoes pizza for dinner and about 10-12 chips ahoy cookies for dessert. All.by.my.self. This was only after my McDonalds breakfast of 2 egg, cheese and ham McMuffins with 2 hash browns and my lunch of a double quarter pounder with cheese with a large fry and soda.

Yes… I’m serious. I ate like that nearly every day until I was 18. I was an active teen, playing water polo and swimming and I have good genes so I never gained any weight, regardless of the fact that I rarely ingested anything green or with much fiber. Although I didn’t get fat externally, my organs were obviously bearing the brunt of the abuse. I suffered from rampant infections; bladder, kidney and yeast, had intense heart palpitations, crippling headaches and I was sick 6-8 times a year. All the while I was never able to connect the dots. I had no idea that what I was putting into my body was affecting my health. Nutrition finally came to my rescue after highschool. I became a more aware individual in every facet of my life; I started reading more, expanding my consciousness and quickly concluded that I would die if I kept eating this way. I completely changed my diet for good by age 22, cutting out soda, fast food and gluten and I’ve never looked back. Now when I crave cookies, I make my own.

These little babies are bursting with healthy fats, fiber, phosphorus, calcium and manganese. They are still cookies and calorically dense so try your hardest not to eat the whole batch in one sitting. I managed to keep my hand out of the cookie jar after my first two. My little one was not fond of my restraint. She unarmed all of her big guns in trying to get cookie after cookie into her little hands. She’s a master manipulator, this one. She should really teach lessons in ‘getting what you want.’

Now that I’m a mama, I hope that I can strike a balance between guiding my daughter on her own path of healthy eating and letting her indulge once in awhile. Forbidding things seems to be the surest way to get children fixated on them.  Plus, I believe that life is about pleasure. These cookies allow my girl to satisfy her sweet tooth all while I inject her with some much needed nutrition. Everybody wins. 😊

 

Ingredients – Makes about 12 golf ball sized cookies

• 1 1/2 cups shredded coconut
• 1/2 cup coconut butter
• 1/4 cup coconut flour
• 3 tbsp coconut oil
• 1/4 cup chia seeds
• 1/4 cup maple syrup
• 1 1/2 tsp almond extract
• Seeds from one cardamom pod, grinder

Process

1. Grind cardamom seeds in spice or coffee grinder
2. Throw all ingredients in a food processor and process for a few seconds, until batter starts to stick together
3. Press batter into little macaroon sized balls (or whatever shape tickles your fancy)
4. Enjoy a few now with a hot cup of tea and save the rest in an air tight container for future taste bud pleasing

XO ~ Sam

Raw Energy Balls

The clan and I have been doing quite a lot of traveling around these last few weeks. Moving, visiting friends, flying to LA to spend a few days with my family, driving to the beach an hour away for some fun in the sun… all of our little excursions require that we have handy sustenance for the road. Fruit and nuts are our go to car snacks but sometimes it’s nice to have a special treat to nosh on to make that hour fly by more quickly. 

These bite sized date balls are that perfect special treat. They are sweet enough to feel like an indulgence yet healthy enough to gobble up 6 of them without feeling those all too familiar pangs of regret. I whipped these up in just under 5 minutes. How groovy is that? Groovier than bell bottoms that hug John Travolta’s perfectly sculpted butt in Saturday Night Fever, I reckon. 😉 

You can dress these up with any of your favorite extras. I rolled a few of them in raw cacao powder for an elegant antioxidant boost. You could dip them in melted chocolate if you wanted a more decadent dessert ball. I found that these satisfied my ever present sweet tooth just fine as is.

Raw Energy Balls

Ingredients

• 1 cup walnuts
• 1/2 cup Dates
• 1/4 cup almond butter
• 1/3 cup chia seeds
• 1/2 cup sunflower seeds
• 1/4 cup shredded coconut
• 1/4 cup cacao nibs
• 2 tbsp honey
• 1/4 tsp salt

Process

1. Place all ingredients in a food processor 
2. Process until ingredients are finely chopped and starting to stick together
3. Roll into bite sized balls and decorate however tickles your proverbial pickle. 

XO ~ Sam

Orange and Lemon Coconut Cookies

My daughter has been talking up a storm these days. Her favorite words seem to be Mama, Cookie, Please and Thank you; she prefers to use them in this order. Since I am such a dutiful servant mama I made her some cookies today when she asked for them. If you read my last post you will remember that I have just moved in with my parents in law. I now have many old and beautiful cookbooks at my disposal. One is titled simply, ‘Cookies’. I opened it up this morning and skimmed through while nearly drooling all over the pages. I found a recipe I liked and substituted a few things, honey for white granulated sugar, coconut flour for all purpose. The result is a very crumbly, very delicious, very toddler friendly cookie… My husband came home and ate 3 of them himself. I guess they are pretty husband friendly too. 😉

~Paleo, Gluten Free, Vegan, Refined Sugar Free!~

Ingredients

• 1 cup coconut flour
• 1/2 cup arrowroot flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 3/4 cup fresh squeezed orange juice
• 1/4 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice
• zest of one orange
• 1/2 cup honey, sub maple syrup if strictly vegan
• 3 tbsp coconut oil, plus more for greasing

Process

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees
2. Line a large cookie sheet with parchment paper
3. Grease parchment paper with coconut oil
4. In a small bowl mix together all dry ingredients, set aside
5. In a small saucepan, heat orange, lemon juice, honey and coconut on low heat until it becomes slightly syrupy
6. Combine dry ingredients with wet ingredients
7. Scoop out little balls onto cookie sheet and slightly flatten with a spatula
8. Bake for 10 minutes
9. Nom nom nom!

These sweet little cookies are best with a cold, creamy glass of milk. I enjoy almond milk, my little one prefers goat milk. Any kind of milk will complement this cookie perfectly.

XO ~ Sam

Supermarket Musings and Beet-ganoush

We love Whole Foods around these parts. Yes, I mean the brick and mortar establishment. I assume the nourishing whole foods that we eat on the daily go without saying. 🙂 I can get utterly lost in Whole Foods. Their produce is absolutely gorgeous, their bulk section never ends and the layout is extremely visually captivating. The interior designer of that place needs a raise, immediately.

My love affair with Whole Foods is fairly superficial. I go inside, I look but I rarely buy. I mean who can afford those prices? Not me, not now anyway. So I longingly wander the aisles, sporting a big she boner and ultimately walk my proverbial blue balls straight on down to a place that I can afford, trusty old Berkeley Bowl.

If you don’t live in the east bay of California, it’s very likely you’ve never heard of Berkeley Bowl. Its an independent market that has only two locations. It’s nowhere near the eyegasm that Whole Foods is but dare I say, the produce selection is superior and at half the price! It’s a pretty rad supermarket and I feel lucky to have it so close, until I dump it’s ass for Whole Foods when I hit the mega jackpot that is. 😉

While I was perusing the cheese aisle of Berkeley Bowl a few days ago, I noticed an employee handing out free samples of some purple looking goop on gluten free crackers. I had my daughter with me so naturally she grabbed at it. She acts like a starved homeless child around other people’s food but at our dinner table, she often can’t be bothered. She may be single handedly responsible for my growing wrinkles. Anyway, after further inspection I realized the spread was made of beets. What an awesome idea I thought. The flavor was pretty good but I knew I could improve upon it. I was excited to get home and play.

Beet-ganoush

Ingredients

• 4 beets, boiled and peeled
• 1/2 cup soaked almonds
• 1/4 cup tahini
• 1 tbsp miso
• 2-3 cloves of garlic
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• juice of 1 large lemon
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp cumin

Process

1. Place beets in a food processor and process until smooth and creamy
2. Add in all other ingredients and process until well combined
3. Spread on crackers, cucumbers or use as a spread for a sandwich… this would be incredible on so many things, your imagination is the limit.

Nom nom nom nom…

XO ~Sam

 

DIY Willowbark Facescrub

My husband is Armenian. In his case this means beautiful luscious black hair, eyelashes that women would kill for and unfortunately for my cheeks, rough bumpy nose skin. Although he exfoliates, inevitably the roughness is back again the very next day. His exfoliant of choice is Burt’s Bees Willowbark and Apricot Scrub. I once thought that Burt’s Bees was an awesome, forward thinking company and I purchased their products regularly. I’ve since learned that although they started out using all natural ingredients in Maine 30 years ago, they have since sold their company to Clorox for 900+million and their integrity has started to waver. Mass production has diluted the quality of their products and now you may find pesky chemicals and preservatives where wholesome ingredients used to be. This is understandable for products that are expected to sit on a hot shelf for months, possibly even years. Understanding aside, I refuse to put that crap on my largest, most porous organ.

Here are the ingredients that I take issue with,

Sodium Borate- This is essentially Borax. If you haven’t heard of it, it’s a chemical compound that is regarded as a ‘natural’ cleaner. It can be used for bleaching clothes, cleaning toilets… I personally use it as ant poison. Sound like something you want on your face? Didn’t think so. 

Fragrance- Fragrance, huh? Ambiguous much? I’m just assuming they aren’t using organic essential oils to make their scrub fragrant. 

Glucose Oxidase- This is a ‘natural’ preservative. It releases hydrogen peroxide which is harmful to bacteria. Hydrogen peroxide can also create free radical damage to the skin. According to MSDS sheets, it is also an eye irritant, a skin irritant a lung irritant and “prolonged or repeated exposure may lead to irreversible damage to health.” Lovely. Why the hell is it in this face scrub Burt’s Bees? Oh yes, because you are now Clorox and aren’t afraid of nasty chemicals. 

I decided that after doing my research, my hubby would no longer be slathering his sweet face with this stuff. I went to my laboratory AKA, kitchen counter, and got to work on making something superior. This scrub smells like a lemon bar. I kinda have a problem not eating it. Although many ingredients in it are edible, Willowbark wouldn’t feel very good going down, so I stop myself… just barely. After using my creation, the hubby proclaims it works way better than his ‘Burt’s Bees’ scrub. Take that Clorox! 

Willowbark Face Scrub
Ingredients 

• 1 cup dried Willowbark 
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup unmelted coconut oil 
• 1 tbsp rose hip seed oil
• 1 tbsp carrot seed oil 
• 20 drops lemon essential oil

Process

1. Grind Willowbark in a clean coffee/spice grinder until a rough powder is formed 
2. Empty ground Willowbark into a medium bowl 
3. Mix in all other ingredients together with a spoon 
4. Store in a airtight container for several months
5. Use a clean spoon to dip into the jar for each application to extend shelf life
6. Enjoy your soft smooth skin!

 

 

 

Gluten Free Chocolate Cake with Vegan Chocolate Frosting

Today, I had a flash back of a really sweet moment in my childhood. I was 8 maybe 9, sitting at our dinner table with my brother, 6 and sister, still in diapers; chocolate smeared our faces as we chugged down ice cold milk. The milk was always ice cold in our house. My mother insisted it be so. Although I don’t drink cows milk anymore, I’d still have to agree with her; milk tastes best just before it freezes and accompanied by chocolate. Always. 

In this instance the chocolate that lined our smiling mouths was frosting from a chocolate cake. This seemingly insignificant memory danced around my head all morning. I could smell the frosting, I could feel the crumble of the cake in my mouth. It was slowly driving me mad! I knew I had to make one. 

The cake of my memories was a boxed Betty Crocker creation, no doubt. My mama was never much of a baker. I was inspired to create my own take on the delicious yet overly processed box version. It had been awhile since I used butter and sugar to create anything. In the interest of health, I’ve been going for coconut oil in lieu of butter and honey or maple syrup to substitute granulated sugar when baking. Although I believe the flavor rarely suffers with these substitutions, the texture inevitably does. Sugar and butter can create a more tender, moist baked good. For this cake, I wanted to create something as close to the original as I could get while using organic whole foods to make it happen. I think I succeeded. Here’s what I did,  

(Recipe adapted from Tasting Table)

Gluten Free Chocolate Cake with Vegan Chocolate Frosting 

Ingredients:         

Chocolate Cake:

• 1 cup cacao powder
• 1 cup filtered water
• 4 oz unsweetened baking chocolate 
• 2 cups gluten free all propose flour (I made my own using 1/2 cup potato starch, 3/4 cup white rice flour, 1/2 cup sorghum flour and 1/4 cup teff flour)
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 tsp baking soda 
• 1 1/2 sticks grass fed butter, kerrygold is my all time favorite. 
• 1 1/2 cups coconut sugar 
• 5 eggs
• 3/4 cup goat milk

Vegan Chocolate Frosting



• 8 oz unsweetened baking chocolate, chopped 
• The cream from one can of coconut milk, refrigerated overnight or frozen for a few hours
• 1/2 cup almond milk
• 1/4 cup cacao powder
• 8 tbsp coconut oil 
• 2 tsp vanilla 

Process

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees 
2. Grease two 9-inch cake pans with oil or butter of choice and dust with cocoa powder, tapping out the excess.
3. In a small bowl, stir the cocoa powder with the water until you form a paste.
4. Using a double boiler or a small glass bowl atop a tea kettle, melt your 12 oz total of baking chocolate 
5. Mix flour, baking soda and salt together well in a large bowl
6. Using a stand mixer or an electric hand mixer, beat the sugar and butter together until smooth. 
7. While still beating, add one egg at a time to butter and sugar mixture. 
8. Lower beater speed and add cacao powder paste and melted chocolate
9. Add flour and milk a bit a time to ensure mixture doesn’t get too chunky and combines well 
10. Place batter evenly into greased cake pans 
11. Place in middle of oven for 30 minutes
12. Meanwhile make frosting – Take can of coconut milk out of fridge/freezer and scoop out the separated coconut cream from the top.
13. In a small saucepan over medium heat, warm the coconut cream and sugar, stirring often until the sugar dissolves, about 2 to 3 minutes
14. Place the remaining 8 oz of chopped chocolate in a medium-large bowl.
15. Pour the warm cream over the chocolate and let sit for 2 to 3 minutes or until the chocolate begins to soften. Whisk until smooth and allow to sit for another 5 to 7 minutes to cool slightly.
16. Whisk the coconut oil into the chocolate, adding 1 tbsp at a time and whisking until it’s blended in before adding the next.
17. Let frosting set in the refrigerator for an hour or so before taking out and adding cacao powder, milk and vanilla. 
18. Using an electric beater, mix cacao powder and milk into frosting until it becomes thick and creamy 
19. To assemble the cake, place one of the cake layers bottom-side up on a cake plate or platter. Using an offset metal spatula, ice with about 1 cup of the frosting. Place the second layer, also bottom-side up, on top of the frosting. Spread the remaining frosting over the sides and top of the entire cake. 
20. Dig in! Preferably with a cold glass of milk, I prefer the almond variety. 😉 

Raw Lemon Cheesecake Bites with Coconut Whipped Cream

Flexibility is the personality trait that I covet most. Luckily, I am offered opportunities to practice my ability to be flexible nearly every day. Every morning I am armed with a list of my very best intentions and by the end of the day life has undoubtedly gotten in the way, repeatedly. Intentions are good, even necessary to create the things we want but without the ability to bend with the winds of change, we will find ourselves fighting a losing battle against the reality of the moment. Okay, I think I’m done waxing poetic for now. 🙂 I only bring this up because I started out intending to make a lemon caramel shortbread cookie bar, don’t even ask me what that is because I don’t know, never had one. All I know is it sounded good in my brain, so I went to work on gettin’ ‘er done. Without divulging the literally messy details, I’ll just say, it wasn’t my finest creation. Instead of scratching the whole thing and wasting expensive ingredients, I decided to go with the flow. I let my unsuccessful concoction tell me what it yearned to be. ‘Lemon Cheesecake Bite’ it whispered softly. When food talks to me, I listen. Don’t you?

Armed with my new game plan, I threw some cashews in hot water to soak, processed them in and 30 minutes later was delighting in my succulent lemon cheesecake batter. As totally scrumptious as it was, I decided a light whipped cream would really bring it all together. Oh boy, did this ‘mistake’ ever turn into a triumph. Thank you universe for yet another opportunity to practice my ability to change course when needed. This time I have some seriously rockin’ treats to show for it.

Raw Lemon Cheesecake Bites
Crust ~

Ingredients

• 1 cup coconut flakes
• 1/2 cup cashews
• 2/3 cup walnuts
• 2/3 cup dates

Process

1. Process all ingredients in a food processor until they form a sticky dough
2. Press into the bottom of bread loaf pan, making a 1/2 inch crust
3. Place pan in freezer to set for 30 minutes

Filling ~

Ingredients

• 1/3 cup cashews soaked in hot water for 30 minutes
• 1/2 cup coconut oil
• 1/4 cup maple syrup
• 6 dates soaked in 1/2 cup water for 30 minutes
• 3 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 tbsp lemon zest, more for topping
• 3 tbsp mesquite powder
• 1 tsp vanilla

Process

1. Drain cashews and place with all other ingredients including date water in a high speed blender
2. Blend until consistency is smooth and creamy
3. Pour filling on top of crust and spread out evenly
4. Place back in the freezer for 6 hours or more
5. Once set, using a shot glass, press little circular bites out of your ‘cake’ and top with whipped cream and lemon zest.
6. Enjoy immediately!

Coconut Whipped Cream ~

Ingredients

• Coconut cream from 1 can of coconut milk.
• 1 tbsp psyllium husk
• 1 tbsp coconut sugar
• 1 tbsp maple syrup
• 1 tsp vanilla

Process

1. Refrigerate the coconut milk overnight or in a pinch, throw can in the freezer for an hour or so. Without tipping or shaking the can, remove from refrigerator/freezer and open immediately. Scoop out the cream from the top of the can which should have separated from the coconut milk underneath it
2. Place this cream along with all other ingredients into a cold mixing bowl
3. Using a beater, whip ingredients together until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes
4. Serve immediately on top of cheesecake bite, top with lemon zest
5. Keep in a sealed container in the fridge

Vegan Butter Pecan Ice Cream with Raw Caramel Sauce

Are you salivating yet? Just typing out the title got my mouth watering. Butter pecan is my all time favorite ice cream. Wait, that’s not totally true, coffee is pretty damn high on my favorite list too. Okay, butter pecan and coffee are my two favorites. Hmmm…. but what about salted caramel? I looooooove salted caramel. Then of course there’s trusty vanilla, with it’s simple unpretentious flavor that transports you right back to the good old days of Chinese jump rope, cassette tapes and chasing ice cream trucks in the summer. Ok scratch that. Butter pecan is ONE of my favorites but honestly if it’s cold, creamy, sweet and fits nicely stop a crusty cone, I’m scarfing happily, enjoying my good fortune.

As I mentioned in a post a few weeks back, my darling bought me an ice cream maker for Christmas. Since then I’ve pulled it out twice and attempted to create a vegan chocolate ice cream. Both times the flavor was spot on, and both times the texture was a disaster… well, as much as chocolate soup can be a disaster. It was still sweet, it was still rich, it was still chocolate and we still slurped it right up. Still, a tasty chocolate soup was not what I was after. So after realizing that my instructions were missing (damn trolls!) I looked them up online and got to work a third time on making some killer vegan ice cream. This time…. Success!! Turns out my freezer wasn’t cold enough. Easily remedied and now that it has been, check out this rich, decadent dairy free ice cream right here. You want, right? Of course you do. 😉 Here’s the recipe, lovelies.

Vegan Butter Pecan Ice Cream

Ingredients

• 1 cup full fat coconut milk
• 1 cup vanilla almond milk
• 1 cup cashews, soaked for 4 hours
• 1/2 cup coconut oil
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 1 tbsp psyllium husk
• 1/4 cup maple syrup
• 1/4 cup coconut sugar
• pinch of salt
• 3/4 cup pecans

Process

1. Soak cashews for 4 hours. If you don’t have that long, you can heat the water before you soak the nuts, that will soften them quicker.
2. Place all ingredients, except the pecans, in a high speed blender and blend until thick and creamy
3. Transfer to a mixing bowl, cover and refrigerate until chilled – 3-4 hours.
4. Once chilled, pour into pre-chilled ice cream maker bowl and make according to directions.
5. While ice cream mixture is chilling, toast your pecans.
6. Roughly chop pecans and place in skillet.
7. Heat until pecans just become fragrant

I think we can all agree, ice cream is plenty good enough on it’s own but I think it’s exponentially better with the right topping. It just so happened that I had a jar of caramel sauce sitting in the fridge waiting for the perfect vehicle to showcase it’s brilliance. What better vehicle is there for caramel than ice cream? None other than my mouth maybe and my mouth got plenty of it during the creating process. My mouth really has the best job! This caramel sauce is pretty epic. I’ve been dipping into the jar more often than I’d like to admit. I just can’t help myself! It’s rich and creamy and the flavor while touting the obvious caramel notes, also reminds me of a gourmet nougat. I die! So good. I hope you will all enjoy this as much as I do. I have other delicacies in mind to create with this caramel in the future. There are no limits to what it can do. 🙂

Raw Caramel Sauce

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup coconut oil
• 1/3 cup maple syrup
• 1/4 almond milk
• 4 dates soaked in 1/2 cup water
• 2 tbsp coconut sugar
• 3 tbsp mesquite powder
• 1 tsp vanilla
• pinch salt

Process

1. Soak dates for 30 minutes to an hour
2. Place all ingredients including date water in high speed blender
3. Pour on ice cream, use as a dip for fruit or just use a spoon and dig in!
4. Store in refrigerator in an airtight container
5. The coconut oil will solidify in the cold so let it sit out in a warm area to get all melty again, or use a double boiler to gently warm

 

Get to work on making your tastebuds happy.
XO
Sam