Fabulous Vegan Recipes

Persimmons are back in season and I had to use them in a recipe. I bought two the other day as I was wishing I had some homemade jam in my fridge and so I made persimmon jam. It's not the usual fruit that you would make jam with but persimmons are considered a berry so why not? Persimmons are sweet but not as sweet as strawberries or raspberries so I sweetened the jam with maple syrup.

Berries and dates...they are such an awesome combo when you want to make sauce or syrup. My previous post featured a blueberry-date tart; these two ingredients make a great icing or sweet topping on pretty much anything. It's so easy and takes two seconds to whip up. If the dates are two hard, just soak them in warm water for a few minutes and they will be good to go.

This smoothie was pretty freakin ridiculously delish. It was loaded with PB&J flavor and was just a dream to eat. The story behind this smoothie centers around having made way too much strawberry chia jam and not knowing what to do with it besides freeze it. I wanted to make peanut butter and jelly cups and I messed up bad so I turned the mess into a smoothie. My smoothie base is always super ripe bananas and lately my bananas have almost turned to mush because they are so ripe. Very ripe bananas give you an amazing smoothie/ice cream base. So, don't be afraid to buy ripe bananas or wait for them to ripen and freeze them. NEVER throw out a bruised/black banana, are you kidding??? Ice cream central!

Blueberries are everywhere, at least for the next week and then the season ends. Every trip to the farmers market ends in at least two quarts of organic blueberries that I use in recipes or just eat for a snack. There is something about blueberries that appeals to me more than strawberries sometimes; maybe it's how easy they are to eat and because they are never too sweet or sour but I just love taking a handful and munching on them.

Three ingredients and a whole lotta awesomeness. I often find myself in the jam aisle at the grocery store pondering what to get and trying to find the jam with the least amount of sugar. Even if the jam is made with natural fruit sugars, there is always some kind of preservative or something I don't want in it. So, I thought, let me just make my own jam. It turned out fabulous and I just had to share.