Raw Chocolate Avocado Pudding

March 17, 2013 by aprilcball

This pudding is AMAZING! Both of my kids refuse to eat avocados and often balk at their green smoothies so I needed a new way to hide avocados. The first time I made this, I had to put it in the fridge and force myself to walk away. It’s dangerously good!

I apologize for the terrible picture but trust me, you’ll understand why I didn’t have time to set up and take a good one when you taste it! I was preoccupied!

Raw Chocolate Avocado Pudding

Ingredients:

1 ripe avocado, pitted – (do not use brown avocados, it will make the pudding taste bad!)

6 to 10 dates, chopped (I’ve used 8 medjool dates, 6 dates and a little under 1/8 tsp stevia or 10 deglet dates)

1/2 tsp vanilla or 1/2 scraped vanilla bean (I prefer the vanilla bean)

4 Tbsp cocoa powder

1/4 cup raw cashew, soaked for at least 4 hours & drained (cashews are optional but good)

1/4 – 1/2 cup water

Directions:

Place all ingredients (except water) in a food processor and blend.
Slowly pour the water in, stopping to scrape sides of bowl if need be, until the mixture resembles a thick, chocolate pudding. Let it continue mixing until smooth and creamy.

Cash LOVES it!

Thumbs up!

Healthy Spinach Artichoke Dip

February 8, 2013 by aprilcball

This is my second favorite spinach artichoke dip! (First favorite here!) I’ve made this for a few gatherings and people love it!! My kids love it too, double bonus!! I serve this with fresh veggies on the side. I love using the leftovers in my collard wraps or on sprouted bread for the kids! 🙂

Healthy Spinach Artichoke Dip

Healthy Spinach Artichoke Dip

Ingredients

2 (14oz) cans artichoke hearts (in water), chopped
16 oz frozen spinach
1 cup raw cashews
~ 1/3 cup water
juice of 1/2 medium-sized lemon (a little under 2 Tbsp)
1 Tbsp nutritional yeast
1 Tbsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp dried basil
1/2 tsp sea salt
½ tsp black pepper
¼ tsp cayenne pepper
smoked paprika, to top (optional)

Instructions

Add frozen spinach and artichokes to large saucepan over medium heat and cook until thawed, stirring often.
Place cashews in food processor, process until your cashews become a flour then begin to pour in your water until you get a creamy consistency.
Once your spinach is completely thawed and it’s all good and warm, drain the excess water from your saucepan and add spinach and artichoke to a large bowl.
Add your creamy cashews, lemon juice, nutritional yeast and seasons to the bowl and mix thoroughly. Place in pretty dish, sprinkle with smoked paprika and serve!
You can serve this now or stick it in the oven at 300 for about 10-15 minutes. Both ways are good!

Cook frozen spinach and chopped artichoke hearts over medium heat until thawed and hot

Process cashews into a flour using your food processor, slowly add water until it reaches a creamy consistency. (This was before I added more water to make it smooth)

Drain water out of spinach artichoke mixture and place in mixing bowl

Add creamy cashew mixture to spinach/artichokes and stir well. Add in lemon juice, nutritional yeast and all the spices and combine well. Serve immediately sprinkled with a little smoked paprika or bake in the oven for 10-15 minutes at 300 degrees

Yummy!

Original recipe from iknowsquat.com

Our Favorite Hummus & Sweet Potato Hummus (2)

January 21, 2013 by aprilcball

Here are two hummus recipes, the first one is our absolute favorite!

I make this first one at least once per week. I pack it in Ava’s lunch with snap peas or carrot sticks.

Our Favorite Hummus!!

Ingredients:

2 (15 ounce) cans chickpeas drained and rinsed – OR – 3 cups cooked chickpeas
1/2 cup tahini
6 tablespoons fresh squeezed lemon juice
3-4 garlic cloves, pressed
1 heaping teaspoon ground cumin
Salt and pepper – I use a few shakes of Seasonello herbal salt and pepper

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Drain beans and reserve the liquid when you do so OR use cooked beans.

2. Combine beans, along with the other ingredients in your food processor. Use the bean liquid or water to thin it out to your desired consistency. I use about 1/4-1/3 cup water. Adjust seasonings to your liking and enjoy on everything!

Blend ingredients in food processor until it reaches your desired consistency – use bean liquid or water to thin it out.

Taste and season to your liking!

Our Favorite Hummus!!

Sweet Potato Hummus

You may have seen this one on my Facebook page. A few people asked for it so I figured I’d better post it before it gets lost!

Sweet Potato Hummus

1 large cooked sweet potato, cut into chunks
1 can or 1 1/2 cups chickpeas (drained and rinsed)
3-4 Tbsp tahini
1 tsp curry powder
1/4 tsp salt, or to taste (I did a pinch)
Black pepper, to taste
Water or bean liquid

Place ingredients in food processor, add water or bean liquid while its running until you get the consistency you like. Scrape sides, run again.

Carrot Oatmeal Breakfast “Cookies”

October 7, 2012 by aprilcball

I’m always looking for ways to pack a bunch of nutrition into my preschoolers tiny breakfast/lunch box all while keeping the mess to a minimum. It’s not easy packing whole food plant-based meals sometimes so anything in a muffin, bar or cookie form is perfect. I very rarely use flour or other processed foods so that poses a bit of a challenge when cooking such things. These breakfast “cookies” are made with leftover No-Pumpkin Pie Oatmeal and they are very good! I’m sure you could use regular leftover oatmeal but I don’t think they’d be as good as these.

Carrot Oatmeal Breakfast “Cookies”

Recipe from Melomeals!!! What would I do without her!?!?! She has mad skills when it comes to the recreation of leftovers!!

Leftover Oatmeal Breakfast Cookies

½ batch ( around 1.5 cups ) No-Pumpkin Pie Oatmeal
1 c dry rolled oats
2 carrots, pulsed really well in the food processor
½ c raisins or dried fruit
1/8 t Kal Stevia (optional)
¼ t baking powder
Around ¼ c liquid ( non dairy milk )

Method:
Mix well. Taste batter and add more spices if desired as well. Add to parchment paper.

Bake for 20 minutes at 375 – I used an ice cream scoop to make bigger cookies and I found that 20 minutes was the right amount of baking time. The original recipe calls for 11 minutes so try that first if you’re making regular sized cookies.

Add leftover oatmeal with carrots, raisins, oats, stevia (if using) and non-dairy milk and mix well

Spoon onto cookie sheet lined with parchment paper – I used a larger ice cream scoop and flattened the cookies before baking

Flattened and shaped’ish

Allow them to cool completely. Ready to pack in our preschooler’s breakfast box!!!

Raw Lime Avocado Pie

August 5, 2012 by aprilcball

I had a few ladies from my Crossfit gym over last night and we had a blast! Most of them follow the Paleo Diet so I tried to find a recipe that would please everyone’s dietary needs. This pie looked really good so I decided to try it and I’m glad I did because it was delicious! Very rich but delish! Who would’ve thought to use avocados in a pie?!

This recipe uses a ton of limes so prepare yourself, I got quite a workout zesting them all!

Raw Lime Avocado Pie

Original recipe from Health Damy.

Crust Ingredients:

2 Cups Raw Cashews
1 Cup Unsweetened Shredded Coconut (a little extra to top it before serving too, if you wish)
1/2 Cup Pitted Dates
2 Tsp Vanilla Extract
2 Tbsp Lime Zest
3 Tbsp Lime Juice
Dash of Salt
4 Packets of Stevia
2 Tbsp Agave (You can use maple syrup)

Mousse Ingredients:

4 Large Ripe Avocados (Pealed and Pitted)
1/2 Cup Lime Juice
1/3 Cup Lime Zest (You’ll need 8-10 limes for this entire recipe)
1/4 Cup Agave (or maple syrup)
2 Tsp Vanilla Extract
Dash of Salt
8 Packets of Stevia

Directions:

Place the crust ingredients in your food processor and blend until dough-like.
Spray your 8 inch spring form pan with non-stick cooking spray – I’m sure any pan would work, really.
Using your hands press the dough evenly into the pan.
Place all mousse ingredients in your food processor and blend until smooth (stopping occasionally to scrape down the sides).
Pour mousse over-top of crust.
Chill in your refrigerator or freezer (depending on your desired texture) for at least 3 hours.
Cut and serve immediately.
Enjoy!

Crust making in progress

Crust done!

Smooth into spring form pan

Filling ingredients

Nice green color!

Ready to chill!

Oh so pretty!

Serve with coconut on top (if you wish!)

Pizza Hummus

May 4, 2012 by aprilcball

I’ve been trying to make a new hummus flavor each week since we eat so much of it, the plain version gets a little old after awhile. I wanted to try a pizza flavored hummus since we loved the Sun-Dried Tomato & Basil “Cheese” so much. This turned out pretty good! I may use sun-dried tomatoes next time, just to see how that turns out.

Pizza Hummus

Pizza Hummus

* 2 cups garbanzo beans – I used cooked beans but I think you could use about 2 cans worth, drained and rinsed

* 1/2 cup tomato sauce

* 2-3 cloves garlic

* 2 T bean liquid – I use this instead of using oil. Try water instead if you don’t have bean liquid leftover from cooking or canned

* 4-6 Tbsp nutritional yeast

* 1 1/2 – 2 tsp dried oregano

* 1 tsp dried basil

* 1/8 – 1/4 cup fresh basil – I used a little under 1/4 but just add to your liking

* pinch of salt

– Blend all ingredients in food processor until smooth, taste and adjust seasonings to your liking.

Combine all ingredients in food processor and blend until smooth

First taste…

I think it’s good now!

Ready to eat!

Delicious Oil-Free Hummus (kidtestedfirefighterapproved.com)

Kid Tested Firefighter Approved

Healthy plant-based recipes everyone in your family will love!

Tag Archives: Food processor

Raw Chocolate Avocado Pudding

This pudding is AMAZING! Both of my kids refuse to eat avocados and often balk at their green smoothies so I needed a new way to hide avocados. The first time I made this, I had to put it in the fridge and force myself to walk away. It’s dangerously good!

I apologize for the terrible picture but trust me, you’ll understand why I didn’t have time to set up and take a good one when you taste it! I was preoccupied!