Vegan Peanut Butter, Banana and Jam Ice Cream

The heat is on in Washington! I never thought I would ever hear myself saying this about the weather here, but man, it has been hot!!!

We've been enjoying the beautiful sun and gorgeous weather, but it is making us down loads of green smoothies, salads, and our new favorite, raw vegan ice cream!

The Little Boy and I have been having so much fun experimenting with different "ice cream" flavors like Banana & Cacao Chip, Honey Walnut, Vanilla Cinnamon, but this one, a spinoff of the Strawberry Banana Ice Cream we made a couple of days ago, is currently the Little Boy's big favorite!

Vegan Peanut Butter, Banana and Jam Ice Cream

1 frozen banana (in chunks)

1 tbsp peanut butter

1 tbsp strawberry preserves

1-2 pieces of frozen strawberries

Start off with just blending the frozen banana and strawberries until you get a creamy consistency. Once you have some creamy ice cream, add the peanut butter and the strawberry preserves and blend again, just long enough to make peanut butter & jam swirls in the ice cream! Enjoy immediately!!! ;-)

What I love about this "ice cream" recipe is that you don't have to be exact with any of the ingredients so feel free to experiment -- add more peanut butter if you want a nuttier taste, add walnuts or almonds for chunks, whatever makes it yummier for you! You can even substitute raw almond butter for the peanut butter and skip the strawberry preserves and just add a couple more strawberries to make this a completely raw dessert!

Ice cream for dinner? Why, yes, please!

 

 

The other day, our Little Boy had to go in for dental surgery and ended up having four (yes, FOUR!!!) of his teeth pulled out and getting silver caps on several more. The poor, poor boy.

I was very uncomfortable with the idea of having him sedated for the procedure. I just didn't love the idea of injecting a ton of sedatives into his tiny little body! So, we actually took him to three different pediatric dentists to see if we had any other options, but they all agreed that having him out for the whole procedure was our only choice if we did not want to traumatize him forever! :(

So on Tuesday morning, we brought him to the Center for Pediatric Dentistry in Seattle for the procedure. We were lucky enough to find this place because the staff here were just awesome. They were all so warm and helpful and were more than happy to talk us through the whole procedure since they knew we were a little unsure about the whole thing. They were also so caring and really went out of their way to make sure our Little Boy never felt afraid. They even let the Little Boy choose a stuffed animal to hug and keep before he went into the OR. And even if we were not entirely comfortable with the idea of the dental surgery at first, I'm just happy that it's finally over.

Anyway, with four of his upper molars missing, chewing has definitely been a challenge these past couple of days so we've been downing a LOT of smoothies for his meals. And since he couldn't really have anything too warm on that first day, for dinner, I made him a special treat (a reward for being so brave, too!!!) and made him fresh fruit "ice cream" for dinner!

I know ice cream has always worked wonders for soothing toothaches and sore gums and is always a part of any major trip to the dentist but I also wanted to stick to staying dairy-free, so I knew I wanted to make him homemade ice cream and this really easy, quick recipe was perfect!

Raw (and Almost Vegan!) Strawberry Banana Ice Cream

1 frozen banana (in chunks)

4-5 frozen strawberries

Put frozen fruits in the blender and pulse and blend until you get a creamy consistency, and that's it! I must warn you though that those frozen strawberries will give a good fight before it is completely blended into the bananas. I made the mistake of freezing our strawberries whole, so that made it take longer so next time, I'm freezing the berries in halves or maybe quarters. But other than that, it is super, super simple to make!!!

This recipe makes enough ice cream for two people though so after I gave the Little Boy his share, I added a couple more stuff to make a Mommy treat for myself! So, in addition to the banana and strawberries, I also added:

a handful of cacao nibs

and a drizzle of raw, wild honey (you can use agave syrup, too, but I LOVE the taste of the "caramel swirls" wild honey makes!)

...blend these into the fruits and top with walnuts and more honey or agave syrup! Or go crazy and top your ice cream off with anything you fancy -- pecans, sliced almonds, raisins, buckwheat groats, etc!

How often can you say that ice cream for dinner is good for you?! Well, this one is! And it made a perfect "I-jus-had-four-of-my-teeth-pulled-out" dinner for the Little Boy and it worked wonders in cheering him up. :)

Quick Raw Vegan Breakfast: Banana, Cacao and Chia in Coconut Milk

It's been a tough couple of weeks in our kitchen. Our Little Baby has been having tummy problems and getting eczema rashes lately and it's looking like it's because of what I've been eating. I've already kicked dairy completely out of my diet and that helped a little bit but the rashes are still showing up! :( It has been a huge struggle just trying to figure out what exactly this little man is reacting to and I could rant on and on about this but to cut a long story short, I have decided to cut out soy and wheat (two notorious food allergens!) from my diet for now, too. So, yeah... bummer. :(

And while at first, I was feeling a little depressed about how much I had to give up -- seeing that wheat and soy are in practically everything!!! -- I think I have come to terms with the fact that it'll probably do me some good to stay away from all the processed wheat and soy products I have been eating anyway. So looking at the bright side, at least I get to go back to my awesome raw whole food favorites now!

This breakfast favorite was one of the things that had me looking forward to the big change! It's super simple and quick to prepare but it is super nutritious! And with the chia seeds and raw cacao nibs, it's an excellent way to get that much-needed energy fix in the morning!

Banana, Cacao and Chia in Coconut Milk

1 banana
1 cup coconut milk
1 tbsp raw cacao powder
1 tsp wild raw honey or agave syrup
1 tbsp chia seeds
...and whatever good stuff you have on hand! (cacao nibs, walnuts, buckwheat groats, sunflower seeds, goji berries, raisins, etc.)

Mix coconut milk, raw cacao powder and honey or agave syrup (I either put these in the blender or put the ingredients in a jar and shake well to make sure I don't get whole blobs of cacao in the milk). Chop the bananas and put in a bowl. Add the chia seeds. Pour cacao-coconut milk mixture into the bowl and add all the other good stuff you want! (I always just put whatever I have on hand or whatever I'm in the mood for but I almost always end up with the following things in my breakfast: cacao nibs, walnuts, and raisins!)

And voila! A super easy power breakfast free of dairy, wheat or soy and just chockfull of whole, super foods! :)

A Peace Offering: Raw Dark Carob Truffle Tart on Living Coconut-Walnut Crust

Raw Dark Carob Truffle Tart on Living Coconut & Walnut Crust
(recipe way below!)

And so I'm back from yet another long hiatus. As much as it pains me to admit it, I don't think I can ever be a diligent blogger. I try though. I try.

And I'm not making excuses so please consider this post more of an explanation, or actually better yet, just a narration of what I've been up to lately and what's been keeping me insanely busy these past few weeks.

This February, the Mister and I actually made real one of our long-term dreams: an organic, sustainable cafe. :) We are so very blessed and lucky, and truly very, very grateful for this chance. We decided to call it the Earth Cafe because really, as cheesy as it might sound, the Earth Mother and all she gives us was really what inspired us to create and open this cafe.

We plan to make the Earth Cafe, not just a place to get good organic, healthy food, but also a venue for educating or showing more people that there are lots of sustainable dining options for us all, if only we made a bit more of an effort. It doesn't even have to be an extreme change in the way we all eat. If I had my way, I would serve only vegan or vegetarian dishes, but we didn't want to impose that on everybody so we'll be playing around with our menu a lot, offering lots of sustainable options: free-range chicken, fish, gourmet vegetarian dishes! We try to make everything from scratch: bread, pasta, all our sauces, etc etc.! And we try to make use of only organic, natural and local ingredients.

It was a lot of work (it still is and will continue to be!) but we are so happy with what we have created so far. :)

But anyway, so that's what we've been up to. So you see? I wasn't just being too lazy to blog. :p

our brand spankin' new "green" kitchen! <3

Oh and apart from the cafe, we've also been busy "greening up" our kitchen! With the help of my very talented sister (who's about to graduate with a degree in Interior Design -- I am such a proud sister hen!), we now have a brand spankin' new sunny little kitchen! It's very open with lots of windows and sky lights to let the light in (we never ever have to turn on the lights except at night!) and also to let the breeze in so it hardly ever gets too hot. We have little pots for herbs that always find its way into our meals and we now have more space to make breads, pasta, and all sorts of stuff in! Needless to say, the Mister (who's a chef!) and I have been having way too much fun in the kitchen lately!

He's been experimenting with all sorts of baked goods like whole wheat vegan cranberry orange muffins, whole wheat oatmeal raisin cookies, whole wheat bread, and lots lots more! I, on the other hand, have been going crazy, experimenting with all kinds of vegan, vegetarian and mostly living food recipes.

In the last week alone, our lunch and dinner menu at home have consisted of:

- Sauteed Garlic Mushrooms with Herbed Rice (vegan)

- Coconut- and Almond-crusted Tofu in Ginger Honey (vegetarian that's super easy to make vegan, just replace the honey with agave nectar!)

- Living Banana & Cacao Chip Ice Cream (raw, vegan)

- Spinach- and Feta Cheese-stuffed Mushrooms with Homemade Caesar Salad (vegetarian)

- Eggplant Tempura (vegan)

- Jicama, Papaya & Pomelo Salad in Citrus Mint Vinaigrette (vegan)

- Raw Buckwheat Crispies with Bananas & Blueberries in Carob-Almond Milk (raw, vegan)

- Spicy Potato Salad (vegan)

- Tofu Mexicali Scramble (vegan)

- Living Carob-Cashew Freezer Fudge (raw, vegan)

- Spinach in White Wine & Cream Sauce on Organic Penne (vegan)



homemade caesar salad with soy breadsticks,
spinach- and feta-stuffed mushrooms and
a glass of organic Chateau Guiot Rose



The reason I listed all the dishes down was definitely not to bore you all, but I do plan on using this post to remind me to post the recipes I used for all these dishes once I have the time. They all came out delicious and even the Mister is now considering going vegan -- still the single best thing we can all do to lessen our carbon footprints.

Most of the recipes I used came from Ani Phyo's Raw Food Kitchen and Kim Barnouin's Skinny Bitch -- books I considered my food bible these past few weeks! The thing was, since these books are written in the US, not all of the ingredients the recipes require were available (or in many cases, affordable) back here in the Philippines so I did have to tweak most of the recipes a bit.



jicama, papaya and pomelo salad with a citrus mint vinaigrette



And while all the dishes came out yummy, there's a living food recipe from Jennifer Cornbleet's Raw For Dessert that I tried that really stood out! I actually don't have much time to blog still and the only reason I'm putting off my errands for after this post, is really just to share this awesome recipe with you all! It is way too good to keep to myself!

The recipe in the book is actually for a Chocolate Truffle Tart. But I was running low on raw cacao powder and I had really fallen in love with the flavor of carob now so I made it a Carob Truffle Tart instead, just by replacing the cacao powder with carob.

Carob Truffle Tart

makes a 9-in. tart that serves about 8 to 12 slices (depending on how big your slices are!)

For the crust:

1 cup unsweetened shredded dried coconut

1 cup raw walnuts (unsoaked)

1/4 teaspoon salt

6 pitted medjool dates (I soak my dates for about 10-15 minutes to make it a bit softer and easier to process)

Process coconut, walnuts and salt until finely ground, then add the dates and continue to process until mixture begins to stick together. Press crust onto a 9-in. pie tart and pat down firmly.

For the truffle filling:

1 1/2 cups raw carob powder

1 1/2 cups raw agave syrup (agave syrup here in Manila is so expensive! So I substituted 1/2 cup medjool dates for the extra 1/2 cup of agave syrup - came out fine!)

2/3 cup virgin coconut oil

a pinch salt

Process all truffle filling ingredients until smooth. Pour the truffle mixture into the crust and spread it evenly. It should have a toffee-like texture and a bit of a sheen from the coconut oil. Put the tart in the fridge for atleast 2 hours before serving!

I swear, this has been the best thing I have ever made, raw or cooked. Even my dad, who usually refuses to eat whatever I make since he knows it's mostly raw or vegan, loved it! The entire tart is supposed to keep for 5 days in the fridge but this one was wiped out in two days! (I ate most of it!). Do keep in mind though that it still is a very rich dessert (remember how much coconut oil you put?). The good news is that it's full of vitamins and enzymes that it's still much, much better than its cooked versions!

I love this recipe and can see myself making this every single week! It is THAT good and super easy to make! Probably the easiest raw recipe I have ever come across. It took me less than 30 minutes to make this, and only had to wait a couple of hours before we can eat it!

I'll be posting more yummy recipes soon! But for now, consider this a peace offering. I feel guilty for not having been able to post much lately but I do hope this recipe makes up for it. :)



Back from another hiatus!

The universe works in the funniest ways.

The Mister and I had been dealing with some pretty heavy stuff lately and we were getting pretty burnt out when we got a call from his family in Seattle asking us to visit very soon since my dear father-in-law was recently ill and during that time didn't seem like he was getting any better. Of course, the immediate thought bubble was: "Wow, when it rains, it really does pour!". We were of course terribly worried, so we took our chances and tried to book tickets and in no time, we were booked for a flight that leaves in a couple of days and barely had time to pack and fix things at work before we had to leave.

So in a rush, we left all reservations, recipes and bilins to my family and our staff and packed and left for what was supposed to be just a two week-long visit to Seattle.

In the plane on the way to Seattle, I was already thankful for the time off and the extra time I'd have on my hands to spend with family and finally be able to read atleast a couple of the books that have been piling on my bedside table; experiment with more raw food recipes; do yoga daily; and was really looking forward to finally being able to post all my blog backlog from so many of our recent trips and green adventures. What made me think I'd have time to do all those things is beyond me now. Of course, no blogging happened. And as hard as I tried, I didn't even get to read a single page from any of the books I brought with me!

I did get to do so many other things though. Apart from the time we happily spent with family, I did get to enroll at Hot Yoga in Federal Way and was able to go to class almost daily (something I could never do back here since the nearest yoga studio is about an hour away!)... I also went gaga over how beautiful organic veggies and fruits in Washington are and how easily available raw natural food is so the Mister and I ended up cooking up a storm there and making and experimenting with more new dishes than we ever have back home... I was also able to finally fix my body clock and am happy to say that we sleep normal hours now, no longer going to bed way past midnight and waking up a little before noon; and basically, I was just happy for the breather that the Mister and I along with the Little Boy got from this visit.

beautiful fresh organic fall produce

a raw food dinner we prepared in Seattle

The best news, however, was that when we got there, my dear father-in-law was no longer ill and was just getting better and better each day and in no time, was back to his daily laps in the gym pool and watching football like he never even got sick at all! It was like the Universe just made an excuse to get us there for literally a breath of fresh air and a dose of positive energy.

Washington was gorgeous at the time of our visit, too. It was my first fall in the US and I was just amazed and overwhelmed by its beauty: the trees with their red, orange and pink leaves; the beautifully-shaped fallen leaves that still looked just as beautiful covering the streets and the sidewalks as they were when they were still clinging on to their branches; the gorgeous views of snow-capped Mt. Rainier from just about anywhere; the calm lakes and the sounds; and just how crisp and fresh the air was.

Of course, my lovely in-laws were such gracious hosts and took us to more wonderful places to see more of Washington's beauty. We went to Leavenworth for its little Bavarian village that makes you feel like you're in a fairytale; we visited Stevens Pass to make a snowman and throw snowballs; we went to gorgeous Snoqualmie with its trails & waterfalls; Alki Beach for a grand buffet at Salty's and the best view of Seattle and the Puget Sound; and just saw so many incredible places while we were there.



faerietales come to life at Leavenworth



our Little Boy's first snowman!

gorgeous Snoqualmie Falls

the view from Salty's at Alki Beach

On our own, we rented a cozy little apartment at St. John's in Capitol Hill in Seattle for a few nights and explored downtown and its many vegetarian, vegan and raw food cafes! We went for a full Vegan Happy Hour at Plum Bistro; a lovely vegetarian lunch at Cafe Flora; bought colorful organic fruits & veggies from Pike Place Market; had a deliciously spicy Thai vegan dinner at Araya's at the University District; tried raw nachos, yummy cacao tortes and smoothies at Thrive and more raw desserts and chai tea lattes at Chaco Canyon and Healeo. We also met Kelly of Seattle Raw Food and she gave us super useful tips & easy recipes and made us yummy raw treats like tacos, pizza and those carob fudge brownies that were just too delicious! While I am a pescetarian at the moment (I cannot give up seafood & fish just yet -- especially with all the salmon & clam chowder Washington has to offer!!), we did have a lot of full vegan days while we were in Capitol Hill and it felt great! We didn't even have to try so hard to look for full vegan meals because they were so readily available!

flying fish at the Pike Place Fish Market

more fruits and vegetables at the Pike Place Market

Vegan Happy Hour at Plum Bistro

raw nachos at Thrive

In a nutshell, that visit to Seattle (or Washington actually) was just what we needed! We were so happy in Seattle that leaving became a bit painful, so what was supposed to be a visit for just 2 weeks was extended to 3. And despite the extra work that we had to put in just to be able to manage work from the other side of the world and all its hassles, it was worth it! 

It really was amazing. At a point in our lives where were were at the brink of being just too burnt out and jaded, the Universe interferes and conspires to bring us to this place where we were able to regain a sense of belonging and balance in our lives again and gave us that much-needed inspiration and all this positive energy to go forth and live happy and passionately once more!

So, I am grateful. Very, very grateful. And as a means of expressing my gratitude to the Universe, to Washington and for all the beautiful people that sent us so much loving, positive vibes while we were there (whether thru actions, thoughts or thru their wonderful food), I am promising to blog a little more diligently now. I have so much to share about how green the state of Washington is in so many ways and what I've learned on eating sustainably that it would be a pity not to be able to share it with friends and more people. Not to mention all the amazing vegetarian finds we discovered in Washington that I MUST write about!

Also, some of the most important things I brought home from Seattle with me are my new raw food recipe books, a brand spankin' new blender and food processor (yay!) and all the natural raw food ingredients like nuts, carob powder, grains and seeds that I hoarded from the Natural Food Store's bulk section. So needless to say, I've taken over our kitchen now and have been experimenting relentlessly on yummy raw food recipes since we got back! So I've got loads of recipes to share, too!

raw stuffed mushrooms

raw nori shiitake sushi rolls

coconut carob fudge

So dear blog, let me get my recipes together first and starting tomorrow, I'll be posting recipe after recipe, and many other stories to tell, and blogging every day. I promise.

And again, dear Universe, for all your good energy, a big, big THANK YOU. :-)

Today's Raw Lunch: Cucumber & Eggplant Lasagna with Cashew Pesto & Marinara Sauce

I love eggplants! So when Daniw of Bahay Kalipay told me that you can actually eat eggplants raw, I got super excited and I decided to make a raw lasagna for lunch today (another great tip from Daniw. Thank you, my raw food guru!!) :)

Raw Lasagna with Cashew Pesto & Marinara Sauce

Ingredients:

1 eggplant

1 cucumber or zuchinni

extra virgin olive oil

Braggs liquid aminos or Nama Shoyu

dried rosemary

sea salt

freshly ground black pepper

raw cashew pesto (recipe here)

raw marinara sauce

For the raw marinara sauce:

tomatoes

garlic

onion

dried rosemary

fresh basil leaves (dried basil will work, too!)

sea salt

black pepper

a bit of wild honey

I just throw all the marinara sauce ingredients into a blender & process. If you guys are planning to make it at home, again I would encourage experimenting with the quantity of each ingredient to suit your taste. Different strokes for different folks! ;) Set aside.

For the lasagna, I just soaked some slices of eggplant in a mixture of olive oil (I only drizzled enough to cover the slices), Braggs liquid aminos or Nama Shoyu, dried rosemary, a bit of sea salt & ground black pepper for 20-30 minutes.

To make the lasagna, arrange the first layer of eggplant slices on a plate. Top it with some cashew nut pesto. Then top the cashew nut pesto with another layer, this time with the cucumber slices. Pour some of the raw marinara sauce on top of the cucumber slices before putting on another layer of the eggplants & then the cashew pesto. I topped off my lasagna with a slice of eggplant & another slice of cucumber and poured some of the raw marinara sauce on top.

This was a fun dish to make! And I had the Little Boy watching the whole time I was making it and even got him to try a few bites since he was so fascinated by the whole process. He likes it, thankfully! Yay!

I had some cashew pesto left over from lunch a couple of days ago so I decided to use that instead of making a different sauce altogether,  though I would imagine that experimenting with several other different sauces would work well for this dish, too! It's so versatile! Maybe next time, I'll try it with some marinated mushrooms! 

Also, I'm no big fan of cucumber! But I ran out of zuchinni so I had to use cucumber instead. It still tasted great but made the dish a little watery once you start cutting into the slices. I'm definitely using zuchinni the next time I make this dish though!

Anyhoo, I've got tons of work to do but I got so excited about how tasty this was I just had to share it! ;p

So, that's it for now! On to dessert now: Mango & Cashew Nut Milk Smoothie. Yum! <3

Today's Raw Lunch: Raw Cashew Pesto on Zuchinni Fettucine

For today's raw lunch:

Raw Cashew Pesto on Zuchinni Fettucine

For your raw pesto sauce:

1/2 cup cashew nuts (soaked in water for atleast 20-30 minutes)

1/3 cup olive oil

1 tbsp. freshly squeezed lemon juice

a handful of basil

a handful of cilantro

sea salt

Just throw everything into a blender/food processor and process until smooth.

For your "pasta", just use a peeler to peel off fettucine-like strips off the zuchinni. Pour some cashew pesto sauce on top and top it off with some chopped tomatoes (and any other vegetable you like!) and some Bragg's Nutritional Yeast for "cheese".

Yummy & easy!

...and for today's Green Smoothie:

bokchoy

lolla rossa lettuce

frozen mango

frozen bananas

freshly-squeezed lemon juice

wild honey

Chop fruits into chunks & throw into the blender with your greens. Pour in juice from half a lemon and put in some wild honey if you want your smoothie sweeter. Pour in just enough cold water to cover half of the ingredients in the blender. Blend away! :)

This combo is a new favorite of ours. We love bananas & mangoes and the bit of lemon juice really gives it an add'l zing (not to mention Vitamin C)! It was our first time to use bok choy, too, and it's great! Bok choy is a great source of Vitamin C, calcium and Vitamin A which makes this an extra healthy green smoothie! :)

And while I'm at it, here's a few of notes on green smoothies:

1) If you noticed, I intentionally left out quantity since it should really be up to you how much of each ingredient you'd want to put in. No measuring needed! It's all about experimenting with the quantity and the fruits you use before you get the "perfect" combination that suits your taste. As far as fruit to greens ratio, the general rule (as I've gathered from many green smoothie advocates & websites) is that you put 60% fruit, 40% green vegetables. I tend to go 50-50 though and it still tastes great!

2) I almost always use fresh fruit, as opposed to using frozen. However, I started to use frozen fruits during a time when we had way more bananas & mangoes than we knew what to do with, so we had to put some in the freezer so they won't go to waste and now, I'm beginning to learn that using frozen fruits may actually be better since I end up with refreshingly cold green smoothies without having to add ice. I'm assuming though that the freezing process takes away a bit of the fruits' nutritional value (I need to research some more on that actually!) but hey, frozen fruit is always better than no fruit at all!

3) There're many green smoothie drinkers who prefer their smoothies with no water at all to really make the most out of the greens & fruits in it. I for one cannot enjoy a warm, way-too-thick green smoothie so I always add a bit of water to thin out the smoothie's consistency. Another great alternative is to use fresh fruit juice instead of water so that it's still a fruit base!

I'm so hooked on green smoothies now! It's always a great drink for a quick energy boost plus it's so filling, I actually don't crave so much for junk now. What I love about it though is that you can pretty much use any green vegetable (lettuce, cabbage, spinach, pechay, bok choy, arugula, etc.) and any favorite fruit so the green smoothie list is just endless! And it's always fun to just experiment with different combinations everytime and every once in a while stumble upon a favorite (like this one is for us!).

Enjoy your green smoothie!!! :)