Raw Banana Cream Pudding (No nuts!)

Generally, my husband is a great supporter of my cooking efforts.  Since I can count on the kids almost always complaining about something on their plate, I rely on Anthony to bolster my spirits with his gusto for the meal. When it comes to dessert, though, his palate leans toward the traditional fat and sugar laden kinds. If he suspects beans or dates, he's gone. Ironically, my healthier dessert creations are most popular with the kids.  Abiline loved this pudding treat I whipped up when I came home from church last week, famished because I had forgotten to pack any snacks for myself. She and I had a little girl date gobbling it up.  Little did she know she was eating a whole banana, my fruit-hating girl!

2 medium, ripe bananas (yellow, but not really spotty)
1/4 cup coconut butter
1/4 cup raw, shelled hemp seeds
2 tsp. vanilla extract

Place all of the ingredients in a high-powered blender or food processor (I used my Vitamix) and blend until completely smooth. This made two really fillings servings.  Try adding a tablespoon or two of cocoa powder for a chocolate version! Or double the recipe and fill a pie shell for banana cream pudding pie!

Let's hear it for pudding power!!!

 This recipe is linked to Slightly Indulgent Tuesdays Allergy Free Wednesdays Whole Foods Wednesdays Gluten-Free Wednesdays Raw Food Thursdays Wellness Weekend Healthy Vegan Fridays.

Hummus Shepherd's Pie with No-Roll GF Crust

Last week my husband officially accepted a new job opportunity in Oregon, so we will be enjoying sunny California for one more week before we are off on our new adventure.  I am in the process of trying to use up as much of the food in the freezer and fridge as possible, which makes for some creative cooking. What to do when you have a huge bag of frozen mixed vegetables in the freezer and only a week to eat them? My husband suggested pot pie, but the bag of potatoes on the counter told me shepherd's pie, and the hummus in the fridge that I whipped up at the behest of a 10pm craving just had to be included as well. I actually think this would have been even better with broccoli in the filling, but if you, like me, have to use up those frozen mixed vegetables, here is a nice, simple dish that will do the trick. 

I have to put in a good word for the crust as well.  I first used this crust a number of weeks ago when I was experimenting with the gluten-free flours in my freezer and have used it a bunch of times already for various savory pies and tarts I have made.  This is a flaky, tender crust, which has my husband asking, "Are you sure this is good for me?"  I just love an easy, no-roll crust. Add a bit more coconut sugar, decrease the salt a bit, and sub coconut oil for the olive oil, and this crust is great for use in dessert recipes as well.



For the no-roll, flaky gluten-free crust:
3/4 cup millet flour
1/2 cup chickpea flour
1/4 cup tapioca starch
1/2 tsp. sea salt
1/2 tsp. xantham gum (optional. I have made it without the xantham gum, and it is just a bit crumblier.)
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. coconut sugar
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
2-4 Tbsp. cold water
1 tsp. apple cider vinegar

For the filling:
1 cup prepared hummus (There is no exact recipe for hummus around here. When I make hummus, I just add lemon juice, tahini, and x-virgin olive oil a tablespoon at a time to 1.5 cups of chickpeas  until it suits my taste and then add about 1/2 tsp. salt and pepper and enough water to thin it out.)
3 cups frozen mixed vegetables, defrosted, or steamed broccoli florets (or a combination of both!)

For the cauliflower mashed potato crust:
4 small-medium golden potatoes, diced
1/2 small head of cauliflower, cut into small florets
1 cup of white beans
1 Tbsp x-virgin olive oil
1-3 Tbsp. plain non-dairy milk
1 1/2 Tbsp. goddess dressing (If you have a severe soy allergy, then just sub a Tbsp. more olive oil.)
salt and pepper, to taste

1. Oil a 9 inch pie plate and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.  Bring a large pot of water to boil and steam your potatoes and cauliflower until very tender (20-30 mins., in my experience). 
2. Meanwhile, make the crust.  In a large bowl, mix together the flours, starch, salt, xantham gum, baking powder, and coconut sugar.  Using a fork, gradually mix in the olive oil to form petite pea-sized crumbles. In a small cup, combine 2 Tbsp. of cold water with the vinegar, and mix it slowly into the crumbles. If the dough is still dry in spots and does not hold together when you try to form it into a ball, add more cold water 1/2 Tbsp. at a time until the dough is evenly moistened and sticks together without being too wet and sticky.
3. Press the dough into the bottom and up the sides of your pie plate. If you added a bit too much water, and the dough is pretty sticky, just keep wetting your hands to prevent too much sticking and persevere--a bit of dough on your hands won't hurt anything.
4. Clean out your mixing bowl and use it to combine the vegetables with the hummus. Scrape the mixture evenly into the crust.
5. Once your potatoes and cauliflower are fully cooked, either mash them with a potato masher or whip them with your mixer along with the beans, olive oil, dressing, and non-dairy milk. Start with one tablespoon milk and add more as necessary to get a smooth consistency. I don't peel my potatoes, but you may if you prefer a completely smooth texture. Add salt and pepper to taste, and then scoop the potatoes onto the pie and spread them out evenly over the filling.
6. Bake in the preheated oven for  30-35 minutes, until golden on top. Whip up a side salad and enjoy!

This recipe is linked to My Meatless Mondays, Slightly Indulgent Tuesdays, Allergy-Free Wednesdays, Whole Foods Wednesday,  Gluten-Free Wednesdays, Tastetastic Thursday, Fit and Fabulous Friday, and Wellness Weekend.   
 
 I don't think that wearing Daddy's enormous shoes will ever lose its thrill.

 

No Bake Easy, Cheesey-Cake: Soy, Nut, and Dairy Free

Of course after I made my first successful batch of homemade coconut-cannellini cream cheese, I was immediately thinking "Cheesecake!"  Best of all, I didn't even have to bake it.  I can't call this recipe raw, though, because the cream cheese has beans in it, which are most definitely cooked.  However, healthful and delicious it is, with no refined sugars.  This is a small recipe, enough for 4 or 5 individual tarts, since I have kids and am always trying to make things miniature for little hands.  Double the recipe if you want to put this in a cheesecake or pie pan.

For the crust:
3/4 cup raw buckwheat groats
1/2 cup pitted dates, soaked for a few hours to soften (or microwaved for 2 minutes) and then drained
2 Tbsp. coconut oil
pinch of sea salt

For the filling:
1 recipe homemade coconut-cannellini cream cheese
3 Tbsp. maple syrup
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

Optional Topping:
3 Tbsp. dairy-free chocolate chips (preferable grain-sweetened)
1 tsp. coconut oil

1. Oil your chosen pan(s). Place the buckwheat groats in your food processor and grind to a coarse flour. Add the softened dates, coconut oil, and pinch of salt. Process until a smooth dough forms that you can easily form into a ball.
2. Press the crust dough evenly into your prepared pan(s), working it up the sides for even coverage.
3. Clean out your food processor and add the "cream cheese," maple syrup, and vanilla. Process until smooth and then scoop evenly into your prepared crust(s).
4. If you love all things chocolate like we do in our family, then melt your chocolate chips and coconut oil in the microwave and drizzle on top of your cheesey-cake with the tines of a fork. Refrigerate for about an hour before enjoying to firm it up.

We love pretending in our family. Pretending that coconut and white beans are cream cheese. Pretending that we are all Mr. Toad on a wild ride (see the crazy bunch below).  It's a great life.

This post is linked to Fit and Fabulous Fridays, Allergy-Friendly Friday, My Meatless Mondays,  Slightly Indulgent Tuesdays,  Allergy-Free Wednesday, and Wellness Weekend.

Updated Soy-Free Tofu and Sweet Potato Kale Frittata

The no-soy tofu has been working very well to make vegan french toast, vegan mayo, and creamy vegan pies, but I was thinking to myself the other morning that I wish I could get it firmer.  Then it occurred to me: just add some agar powder to the mix.  I tried out my idea this week with chickpea tofu and was very pleased with the resulting firmness.  I was able to successfully use it in place of soy tofu this evening in our sweet and sour sauce over vegetables and rice.  It also worked really well in this frittata-style dish I made a few nights ago, based off of a recipe in Hearty Vegan Meals for Monster Appetites.  To my complete surprise, Sawyer loved this; I did not hear one word of complaint about all the orange and green chunks as he chowed down.  He is becoming a more adventurous eater: today he ate broccoli-sweet potato soup and an enchilada 'quesadilla' I made.  Miracles certainly do happen.

For the tofu:
1 1/2 cups chickpea flour or white bean flour
1 1/2 tsp. agar powder
5 cups water

Preparation:
Oil a bread loaf pan. Bring 3 cups of the water to a boil in a large heavy-bottomed pan.  While you are waiting for the water to boil, place the flour in a medium bowl and mix in the agar powder. Slowly add the remaining 2 cups of water to make a thick, goopy paste. Once the water is boiling, start whisking in the bean flour paste, a little bit at a time (about 1/4 cup) so as to avoid lumps. (Another easy way to do this is to mix the flour, agar, and water in a blender and just use the blender pitcher to gradually add the mixture to the boiling water.) Once all of the bean paste is whisked into the water, keep stirring continuously until the mixture reaches a really thick, glutinous consistency--to the point that you can barely stir it any more. This should take only about 10 minutes with the agar powder in there.  Pour the mixture into the oiled loaf pan and smooth out the top. Cover with foil and refrigerate for a few hours before slicing. I needed mine for a recipe I was making in about an hour, so I stuck it in the freezer, and it firmed up super-quick!
 

For the frittata base:
1 1/2 cups no-soy tofiu
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
1/4 cup kamut, millet, or barley flour
1/4 cup arrowroot or tapoica starch
2 Tbsp. olive oil
1 tsp. onion powder
1/2 tsp. sea salt
1/4 tsp. turmeric
1 Tbsp. dijon mustard

For the veggies:
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1 medium sweet potato, diced
1 bunch lacinto/black kale, stems removed and leaves torn into bite-sized pieces
2 Tbsp. vegan worcestershire sauce (I made mine soy-free by following this recipe and subbing coconut aminos for the soy sauce.)
1 Tbsp. agave nectar
3/4 cup diced seitan sausage, optional

1. Preheat the oven to 350 and oil a 9 inch pie pan. Heat 1 Tbsp. olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat.  Add the sweet potato, stir to coat with the oil, and saute for 5 mins. Then add the kale, worcestershire sauce, and agave, cover the pan and cook for about 10 minutes, until the sweet potatoes are very soft and starting to brown.  Remove from the heat and add the diced seitan, if using.
2.  In a food processor, puree the no-soy tofu, nutritional yeast, flour, arrowroot, olive oil, onion powder, salt, turmeric, and mustard.  Stir the tofu mixture into the vegetables in the pan and then scrape all of the filling into the prepared pie pan, smoothing out the top. Bake for 45 minutes in the preheated oven. Allow to cool on a wire rack for 15-20 mins. before slicing and serving.

 For more delicious vegan recipes, check out Whole Foods Wednesdays and Wellness Weekend!  And, indeed, we are well this weekend. Sawyer and Abiline are so thrilled about their new shoes. Sawyer's light up every time he stomps--and so does his face.  

Mango Custard Pie

My success with the vegan cheesecake has motivated me to try my hand at making other creamy vegan pies without using the typical soy products or nuts as the dairy replacement.  This past week I tried out a soy-free, nut-free mango custard pie: the mango cream filling got a big thumbs up, but my husband said that the crust was a bit too healthful tasting compared to his preferred graham cracker crust. So feel free to sub graham cracker crust, although I will include the recipe for my granola-type crust for those like me who like a hearty, less sugary crust. If you want to try out this recipe, but you don't have access to Trader Joe's and its mango butter, you could certainly try subbing canned or fresh mangoes plus some evaporated cane juice or agave nectar. 




For the filling:
2 cups soy-free tofu
2 cups oat milk (You could sub another non-dairy milk.)
2 egg replacers (either Ener-G brand, or 1/4 cup tapioca starch mixed with 1/4 c. water)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. orange extract
8 oz. jar of mango butter
1/3 cup white flour
2 Tbsp, soy-free Earth Balance buttery spread
generous 1/4 tsp. sea salt
3 Tbsp. lemon or orange juice
1/4-1/2 tsp. stevia powder, to taste (optional, if you want it a bit sweeter)

For the crust:
1 cup dried, unsulfured mangoes, soaked overnight to soften
1/2 cup rolled oats
1 cup raw sunflower seeds
1/3 cup dried, flaked coconut
1/8 tsp. cinnamon
1/8 tsp. salt

1. Oil a 9 inch pie pan and preheat the oven to 350. Place all of the crust ingredients in a food processor and pulse until well combined. Press the mixture evenly into the bottom and up the sides of the pie plate.
2. Either clean out the food processor or use a blender and add all of the filling ingredients, reserving 1/4 cup of the mango butter for topping the cooled pie. Puree until smooth and pour into the prepared crust, smoothing out the top.
3. Bake in the preheated oven for 40 minutes, and then cool on a wire rack for about an hour before spreading the remaining mango butter over the top of the pie and placing it in the fridge to cool completely before serving.

Soy-Free, Dairy-Free Cheesecake

I had a friend who hated cheesecake. I think he was the only person I have ever met with such an alien aversion.  As evidenced by the numerous vegan cheesecake recipes, there are many enjoying a dairy-free diet who still bemoan the loss of this sumptuous dessert.  Every vegan cheesecake recipe I have ever found, though, calls for vegan cream cheese (all soy-based) and/or tofu. What was our soy-free family to do? Once I started making the no-soy tofu, the wheels started turning--I knew this was the key ingredient to making a non soy-based vegan cheesecake.  I finally put my plan into action yesterday during nap time, to great results.  I took one bite after dinner and incredulously exclaimed, "It worked!"  When Sawyer tried some last night, he was like, "What IS this?"  I guess he couldn't believe that there was a whole category of dessert to which he had never before been introduced.

This cheesecake is certainly not as rich as the original, but it is deliciously creamy with an awesome similarity in taste. As an added bonus, it is not terrible for you like dairy-based cheesecake is. The one improvement that certainly needs to be made is that the filling should be a bit firmer. Some agar powder would probably fix this, and I will post an update once I give that a try.  The top of the cheesecake cracked, but this has happened to me with every cheesecake I have ever made.  My solution for that is to just put fruit on top and pretend all is well.






 
 

For crust:
One sleeve graham crackers (about 1 1/2 cups when ground into crumbs)
2 Tbsp. agave or other liquid sweetener
1/4 cup canola oil

For filling:
2 cups no-soy tofu
1/4 cup canola oil
2 Tbsp. agave
1 tsp. vanilla
1/3 cup lemon juice
1/2 tsp. salt
3 Tbsp. tapioca starch (could sub arrowroot, or cornstarch if no corn allergy)
1/2 cup evaporated cane juice

1. Preheat the oven to 375.  Prepare crust by pulsing graham crackers in a food processor until finely ground. Add the oil and agave and pulse until evenly moistened. Oil a 9 inch round pie pan and press the crumbs onto the bottom and up the sides of the pan.
2. Rinse out the food processor and then add all of the filling ingredients to the bowl. Puree until completely smooth. Pour the filling into the prepared crust and bake in the preheated oven for 30 minutes. The pie will be pretty much set, with a bit of a jiggle still in it. Cool on a wire rack for about an hour, and then transfer to the fridge to completely cool (at least a few hours) before serving. 

The other big development around here is that Abiline is learning to count to ten. Behold, the cuteness:

Soy-Free Vegan Pumpkin Pie

I have been contemplating how to make pumpkin pie without using the typical tofu as dairy and egg replacement, since I wanted Abiline to be able to eat some. "What could I use to add the creaminess?" I wondered? I then saw the jar of coconut manna (aka coconut butter) on sale at Whole Foods, and it all came together--the perfect tofu, evaporated milk replacement.  This pumpkin pie is a bit creamier than your traditional pumpkin pie, but it is not quite pumpkin cheesecake status.  It may sound like there are a lot of coconut-based ingredients, but it doesn't have a strong coconut flavor, really.  For the crust, I just made my favorite oatmeal cookie dough, and that turned out tasty, but too thick.  I think it would have been better with a regular pastry or even graham cracker crust, so use whatever suits your crust fancy.




For filling:
1 cup pumpkin puree
2 Ener-G egg replacers or 4 Tbsp. arrowroot powder mixed with 4 Tbsp water
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice, or more to taste
1/3 cup coconut manna
2 Tbsp. maple syrup
1/4 cup coconut sugar (could sub brown sugar)
3 Tbsp. coconut milk or coconut creamer

For whipped topping:
1 can full-fat coconut milk, chilled fully in the fridge
1/4 c. powdered sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla 

1. Prepare crust, but do not bake it.  Preheat oven to 350.
2. Place all filling ingredients in a blender and blend until completely smooth.
3. Pour filling into prepared crust and bake for 30-35 minutes, until set. This filling didn't jiggle like regular pumpkin pie does, but it was perfect. Cool 30 mins. on a wire rack, and then transfer to the fridge to cool down completely.
4. While the pie is cooling in the fridge, prepare the whipped topping. Place a metal mixing bowl and wire whisk in the freezer for 15 mins. (It is best to use a stand mixer like Kitchen Aid, but the beaters from a hand-held mixer would probably work, too.) Take them out of the freezer, and remove the coconut milk from the fridge. Skim the solid part of the coconut milk off the top of the can and put it in the cold bowl, leaving the liquid part. Whip on high for about 5 minutes, until it is starting to get thick. Add powdered sugar and vanilla and continue to whip, 5-10 minutes longer until it is about the consistency of Cool Whip. Spread over cooled pie and serve.

Savory Black Bean Pumpkin Pie with Brown Rice Pastry Crust

Anthony asked me the other day why I keep making pies for dinner, in a curious not complaining way, and the answer is, of course, that pies are delicious.  Doesn't everyone appreciate a pastry crust? The kids sure do, which is the main incentive for me exerting my kitchen efforts in this direction. Ingredients that they might otherwise snub are relished when encased in flaky pie crust. The crust here is my favorite part of this pie; this is a great way to use leftover rice, and since the rice makes up most of the crust rather than flour, it is not heavy like many pie crusts are.

The black bean filling is a good way to get the kids to eat their beans, as these legumes and their tough exterior are not always smiled upon in my house when served whole. Sawyer happily gobbled up this pie, and Abiline really liked it, too, once I broke up the crust and smooshed it all together with a fork for easier chewing by someone with only six teeth. Anthony and I ate this with a salad of spinach, mangoes, roasted sweet potatoes, avocado, and the cinnamon vinaigrette from Peas and Thank You, and they paired nicely together. (I am yet to entice Sawyer to eat salad. So far Abiline will suck the dressing off the leaves and take a few nibbles, but for the most part she just takes the fork and feeds the salad to me.)   

For the brown rice crust:
1 1/2 c. cooked short grain brown rice
1/4 c. raw pumpkin seeds
1/2 c. white whole wheat flour (could sub rice flour for gluten-free crust)
1 tsp. sea salt
3 Tbsp. melted soy-free Earth Balance, coconut, or canola oil
2-3 Tbsp. cold water

For the black bean filling:
2 cups cooked black beans
2 Tbsp. chickpea miso (or standard white soy-based miso if you don't have a soy allergy)
3 Tbsp. apple butter
2 Tbsp. pumpkin seed butter (You could sub additional sunflower seed butter or ground pumpkin seeds)
1 Tbsp. sunflower seed butter
1 tsp. onion powder
1 tsp. agave nectar

For the pumpkin topping:
1 c. canned pumpkin puree
1/2 tsp. sea salt
1 Tbsp. agave nectar
1 1/2 Tbsp. soy-free vegan mayo, such as Earth Balance or Vegenaise makes
1 Tbsp. melted soy-free Earth Balance or coconut oil  
dash of ground black pepper

For the pumpkin seed garnish:
1/2 Tbsp. soy-free Earth Balance, coconut, or canola oil
1/3 c. raw pumpkin seeds
1/2 Tbsp. agave nectar
1/8 tsp. sea salt
1/8 tsp. cinnamon

1. Preheat the oven to 375 and oil a 9 inch pie plate. Finely grind the cooked brown rice and pumpkin seeds in a food processor; don't let them turn into a paste--you just want them crumbly. In a medium bowl combine the ground rice and seeds with the flour and salt and stir to evenly combine.  Add the melted Earth Balance or oil and stir with a fork until crumbly. Add the water one tablespoon at a time until the dough holds together when pressed into a ball. Place the ball in the oiled pie plate and press it into the pan and up the sides.  Set the crust aside while you make the filling.
2. To prepare the filling, place all of the ingredients in a blender or food processor and blend until smooth and fully combined. Scoop the filling into the prepared crust and smooth it out.
3. Stir the pumpkin topping ingredients together in a small bowl and then spread it evenly over the black bean filling.
4. Place the pie in the preheated oven and bake, uncovered, for 45 minutes. The topping will look a bit browned, but still a little unset in the middle, just like with dessert pumpkin pie.  While the pie is baking, prepare the pumpkin seed garnish by melting the Earth Balance in a small skillet over medium heat. Add the pumpkin seeds and stir around for a few minutes until they start to smell toasty and are browning a bit. Add the agave, salt, and cinnamon and stir around for a few more minutes; be careful they don't burn. Remove the seeds from the heat. Once they are cool, transfer them to a food processor and pulse into small bits.  After removing the pie from the oven, sprinkle with the seeds before slicing and serving.

Chocolate Mint Cookie Dough Ice Cream Pie

It all started with the chocolate graham crackers. Sawyer turned to me at breakfast and asked, "Mommy, can we make cookies with the shapes?" A while back I bought a pack of 100 cookie cutters that helped for a while in getting Sawyer to eat when he was having a rough time getting motivated. You don't want french toast, eh? What about 'truck bites'?! Everything looks more appetizing to a two-year old boy when it is shaped like a car. But despite his eating difficulties from ages 1-2, one thing I have never had trouble getting Sawyer to eat is dough--cookie, bread, muffin, pancake--he would eat them all raw even when the cooked product was circumspect. So when I introduced Sawyer to the joy of combining eating cookie dough with making car shapes, he was hooked. On this particular day, I decided that we would try to make our own chocolate graham crackers, since they are hard to find at the store without high-fructose corn syrup and partially-hydrogenated soybean oil. I based the recipe on the one in the King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking Book, which makes for crackers that are not vegan and are too full of butter and sugar. We didn't roll our crackers thin enough, though, so they were more like cookies. But, oh, were they chocolatey!

Chocolate Graham Crackers

1. c. barley flour (could sub white or more whole wheat)
1 c. whole wheat pastry or white whole wheat flour
1 c. cocoa powder
1/2 c. coconut sugar or brown sugar
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/3 c. canola or melted coconut oil
1/3-1/2 c. non-dairy milk
1/4 c. agave or maple syrup

Preheat the oven to 350 and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Combine flours, cocoa powder, sugar, baking powder and salt in a medium mixing bowl. Add the oil, 1/3 c. non-dairy milk, and syrup. Stir the wet ingredients into the dry with a fork until thoroughly moistened and the dough can hold together in a ball like pie crust. Add additional milk if necessary to moisten. Knead the ball of dough a few times on a floured work surface, and then roll out; we did about 1/4 inch thickness, which made them more like cookies. You will need to be less lazy than I was and roll the dough our to about 1/8 inch thickness to get true crackers. If you are going to make the ice cream (see recipe that follows), then you will need to reserve 1/3 of the dough. Cut the dough into your desired shapes, place on the prepared baking sheet, and bake in the preheated oven for about 10 mins for softer cookies, 12 mins for crisper ones.


The cookie/crackers were tasty, but we made far too many, and I even had extra dough left-over, so I needed to find a way to use the excess. Thus the ice cream was born. As a teenager I worked at Baskin Robbins, and, as if there weren't enough flavors there already, I would dream up new flavors I wished they had. One was mint chocolate cookie dough. This old fantasy came back to me when the leftover chocolate cookie dough in the freezer teamed up with Sawyer's penchant for green, and the new bottle of spirulina powder in the cupboard. How often had he asked me for green ice cream, and I hadn't had a way to satisfy his whim? Now, I had a natural source of green dye and the means to make the vegan mint chocolate cookie dough I had longer for all these years! The idea of using spirulina powder to make green mint ice cream is one I read in jae steele's Ripe from Around Here, but I do not like how the mint ice cream recipes in her book use water and coconut oil. That combination made for rock-hard ice cream that was too icy rather than creamy. Here is my version of non-dairy mint:

Mint Chocolate Cookie Dough Ice Cream

1 can full-fat coconut milk
1 c. plain non-dairy milk or additional coconut milk, if you want it super creamy
1/2 c. agave nectar
1-2 tsp. mint extract, to taste
1 tsp. spirulina powder (This made it pretty green; if you want a pale green color, use 1/2 tsp at the most)
Remaining cookie dough from the recipe above, about 1 cup

Blend the first 5 ingredients in a blender until fully combined, and then freeze in an ice cream maker according to manufacturer's directions. Once the ice cream is getting firm, about five minutes before you would normally transfer it to the freezer, break the cookie dough into bite-sized pieces and slowly add them to the ice cream maker. Once they're all mixed up, place the ice cream in the freezer for a few hours to firm up. Here is what ours looked like right after I made it:




Here is what Abiline looked like eating it. I know, I'm terrible; starting her on chocolate so young. But I don't believe in the hypocrisy of denying my kids treats while I freely enjoy them. Most of what we eat is so wholesome anyways...Enough of my rationalizations.

There's no picture of Sawyer with a cone because, after all of his begging for green ice cream, I couldn't get him to touch it until it was in pie form. So on to the pie. I found myself with a lot of chocolate cookies and mint cookie dough ice cream, and I needed a dessert for a little dinner party we were having. With an extra layer of chocolate on top (topping inspired by a recipe in 500 Vegan Recipes), the combo was sooooo good. Sawyer actually had a moment of stunned silence when he tasted it; I think because he was expecting the worst but got the best.


Chocolate Mint Cookie Dough Ice Cream Pie

For crust:
2 cups crushed chocolate graham cracker cookies
2 Tbsp. canola or coconut oil
2 Tbsp. agave or maple syrup

1 recipe chocolate mint cookie dough ice cream

For Topping:
1/2 c. chocolate chips
1 tbsp. Earth Balance margarine
1 c. vanilla non-dairy yogurt (I used home-made coconut milk yogurt)
1/4-1/2 tsp. mint extract, to taste

1. Preheat the oven to 350. Grease a 9 " pie pan. Combine crushed graham crackers, oil and syrup until the crumbs are thoroughly moistened, and then press them evenly into the pie pan. Bake in the preheated oven for 10 mins, and allow to cool completely.
2. While the crust is cooling, melt the chocolate chips and Earth Balance in the microwave for 1 minute, and then stir with a fork until smooth. Buzz in a food processor with the yogurt and mint extract.
3. Once the crust is cool, take the ice cream out of the freezer and let it soften for a few minutes so that you can spread it over the crust. Scoop it into the crust, and smooth it out until it is an even layer. Spoon the chocolate topping onto the ice cream and smooth it out. Freeze the pie for at least 2 hours before serving to firm it up.

Frozen Chocolate Coconut Cream Pie

My friend and her daughter came over today to help us make (and eat!) some pie. I wanted to try something different and thought coconut would be good because-heck, I add coconut to almost all of my recipes! (Sorry, Ang.) But most vegan coconut cream pie recipes call for tofu as the thickener, and I wanted Abiline to be able to eat this. So I decided to try to thicken it up with some melted chocolate chips, tapioca starch, xantham gum, and some time spent in the freezer. I was also trying to mimic amy mother's fabulous frozen chocolate cheesecake with which she won many a baking contest back in the day. Anthony says that it would need more chocolate to measure up to my mom's, but that it is still mighty tasty. Abiline loved it, and she doesn't usually go for sweets. And, in case you are wondering, no, I don't only make desserts. I promise my next post will be for a yummy stir fry I have been imagining for the past few days.

Frozen Chocolate Coconut Cream Pie

For crust (based on a recipe from Sweet Utopia)

1 cup rolled oats
1/2 c. dried coconut flakes
1/4 c. coconut oil (could sub canola)
1/4 c. agave nectar or liquid sweetener of choice

Preheat oven to 350. Grease a 9" pie pan. Grind oats and coconut in a food processor. Add oil and sweetener and process until everything is moistened. Press into the prepared pan and bake for 12 mins.

For Filling:
1 cup coconut milk (the much lower fat kind they are selling next to the soymilk nowadys; I used So Delicious vanilla)
3 tbsp. tapioca starch or arrowroot powder (could sub cornstarch if no corn allergy)
1 tsp. xantham gum
1 c. dairy-free chocolate chips, melted
1 can regular coconut milk
1/2 c. powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 1/2 tsp. coconut extract
flaked coconut, for garnish

1. Whisk the cup of coconut milk and the starch in a small saucepan and place over medium heat until thickened.
2. Add thickened milk and all other ingredients to a mixing bowl and beat with an electric mixer until smooth. Alternately, you could combine all in a food processor or blender.
3. Pour filling into prepared crust and sprinkle with flaked coconut. Freeze for at least 2 hours before serving. You can then move it to the fridge for a good pudding pie. If you want a really frozen pie, then keep it in the freezer for 4 or 5 hours to get it really set up and then store it there.