Fabulous Vegan Recipes

My peanut butter craze reached an all new high the other day and it got so bad I swore off of it for 3 whole days. I can eat peanut butter several times a day everyday, if I let myself, which I did this past week. It's so damn good; I mostly prefer the Whole Foods 365 brand, there is just nothing quite like it. Maybe I should stop buying that brand and go with one I don't prefer so I won't go reaching for peanut butter every chance I get. Why it is so addicting?!

I'm so sorry for the delay in posts! I sure have missed blogging but this past week and a half was super busy. I went home over this past holiday weekend to see my family for my birthday. I haven't seen my almost 2 year old niece since Christmas and I miss her. It was such a great weekend , I had vegan cupcakes on my birthday and spent alot of quality time with my family. I didn't really have a chance to make new recipes or to really take good photos but now I'm back. Can't wait to share this recipe with you.

Oh my oh my, I must say I've been killin it with the recipes this week! I absolutely love this recipe, it's easy and sweet and healthy and I LOVE the lemon flavor...absolutely love it. Usually I make cheesecake with a crust but I just eliminated it, mainly because I didn't have dates so these will end up being less calories than my usual raw desserts. I used a cupcake pan for these so grab yours and get going!

I never do mashups, which I want to do more of, because I have so many recipes that I feel I need to organize them better. What better way to do that than combining a few recipes into one blog post so you can see them more easily?! I picked 10 chocolate recipes because 1. chocolate is the bomb and 2. the holidays are here and everyone loves a chocolate dessert. These recipes are mostly clean, way healthier than processed, store-bought recipes and easy to make.

So, when I got back to New York City after a visit home, I felt so full and bloated. I can't say I was eating a ton while visiting my family but we had alot of potatoes and I had some mock meat and I just needed to detox. My friend was talking all about how she was going raw and I got super inspired! Oh and see what my friend is up to doing THIS ! She is amazing! Anyway, she inspired me and so I have been raw for the past four and a half days. Today I am making food for my Munch and Meditate event and I did have a few tastes of fudge. Anyway, that's it for today, I'm going to be raw until I go home again this week and then I will probably switch to two raw meals and a cooked dinner. I can't say I've lost weight or feel insanely happy but my mood is content and I did run 15 miles on Saturday. So, that theory that plants make you weak is not holding up :)

Pea protein is the new ingredient that is added to protein powder and smoothies, I'm just realizing. Am I late to the game? I feel like I always overlook peas as being boring or something I used to be made to eat as a kid but they are actually pretty awesome. I bought frozen peas yesterday at Whole Foods so I could make a smoothie today and I wasn't disappointed. To make the sweetest smoothie with bananas, make sure you use super ripe, speckled bananas, as ripe as you can possibly buy. The riper the banana, the sweeter the ice cream.

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!

I'm always in the mood to make raw desserts but I feel like I'm not very good at them. I don't buy alot of exotic ingredients like coconut butter or mesquite powder so I pretty much work with nuts, oats and a dried fruit. Of course, I always have peanut butter on hand and then usually run out of chocolate ingredients. These bars were easy and I had all the ingredients except oats so I used a mixture of buckwheat, chia seeds and other superfoods (it's Trader Joe's ancient grain and superfood mix).

I woke up the other day wanting to eat raw; I think I do this when I overindulge or have too much sugar. This cheesecake is an ode to nice cream, the ice cream I make from frozen bananas. The crust is a mix of fruit and nuts and is sweet and filling. This is such an awesome, lower in fat cheesecake you can whip up in case you have a crazy insane sweet tooth like me and don't want to snack on crap or high calorie sweets like baked goods. The cheese in it is simply the nice cream, no nuts, so it's totally cool, refreshing and chocolatey delish.

I'm writing this post now at 1pm on Saturday partly because I'm procrastinating when it comes to doing my long run today (6 miles) and partly because it's the weekend, I have no pressing engagements this afternoon and I can actually take the time to write this! I woke up later today because I went to bed super late but I was productive as soon as I opened my eyes. I donated three big bags of clothes and one big bag of shoes to the farmers market reusable clothing collection. I donated clothes, towels and shoes. It feels great to unload everything and to clean up my apartment. I live in a tiny apartment on the Upper East Side of Manhattan but damn, I have a lot of shit! Also at the farmers market, I dropped off my compost and bought organic spinach and come organic carrots. Do you collect your food scraps for compost? You should!

Happy Holiday Season!! I originally posted this recipe last Christmas and now it's back! Because it's easy, awesome and so yummy and I will probably be making it again. This recipe is supersized so that you have a enough pie for your whole family. You can use any amount of the ingredients as you wish so feel free to change this recipe to fit your holiday table. I loooove this avocado pudding mix, I make it for everything, you can eat it by itself or top a pie or cupcake with it. It's so yummy and versatile and everyone will love it!

It's that time of year again! The hectic running around, the overindulging, the lack of sleep, the fun, family get togethers; a time when we need to remember to reconnect with ourselves. It's easy to mindlessly eat or forego exercise during this time so having a plan is the best way to go this holiday season. I'm writing this now after years of gaining weight during the holiday season, feeling horrible about myself then working to lose the weight.

Halloween!!! I love Halloween so I had to make a recipe, of course! Since I changed my blog name, I swear, I have thought of more recipes and taken more food pics then I have in the last few weeks! It feels great to rock out in the kitchen again and my theme for this weekend is dessert. I have thought non stop about raw desserts lately so I made a grocery list and ran to Trader Joe's. Tomorrow my yoga studio is hosting a running and Halloween event led by Runstreet , this awesome running club that leads runs around the city where we can also check out street art. We are running 3 miles (a shakeout run for those in the marathon on Sunday) and then back to the studio for some Halloween fun and my treats! I made these chocolate peanut butter bites and these chocolate and vanilla bliss bites that were made kinda by mistake.

I made my raw chocolate cupcakes for my friend who just had a baby and I improved on the icing. It's so hard to believe that this is good for you and that by eating it right from the bowl is actually not bad. There is no risk of a sugar rush from this icing as it is made entirely of fruit and veggies.

It's supposed to be hot again in NYC starting today but that is not why I made this; I just wanted chocolate! And just because you have chocolate doesn't mean you can't have your greens. I love adding spinach to a creamy, chocolatey smoothie, it's never been easier to get in your greens. 

Spring rolls are a great way to get in your greens, they are healthy, delicious and fun to eat. The last two times I made these I dipped them in ume plum vinegar but you can experiment with all kinds of dips: peanut sauce, dijon mustard, soy sauce, so much yumminess in one meal. I bought swiss chard and kale at the farmers market so I filled the spring rolls with these greens plus an avocado. It was great. I know I just posted a spring roll recipe but why not another one? You can never have too many spring roll recipes, especially ones that don't involve frying. 

Rice wrappers, veggies, dip, these are a few of my favorite things! I love spring rolls, I love steaming my favorite veggies, spicing them up and then rolling them into a spring roll or sushi. So yum, so filling and so CLEAN. Seriously, if you haven't tried making spring rolls, follow this recipe. No frying or steaming required, just soften the rice wrappers in warm water and there you have it.

I have super sensitive skin. It gets red, itchy and dry very easily and it's been the source of much angst as I was growing up. I usually get flair-ups when the weather changes and extreme temperatures do nothing to help it! When I go home to PA, I get a facial when I can, which includes a hydrating peel, exfoliation and deep moisture (as well as an upper body massage!) One thing I've noticed over the past few months is if I drink my green smoothie or load up on the leafy greens, my skin will clear up. I used to rely on topical steroids but I prefer food as a natural medicine (plus steroids have major side effects!)

The best part about living in NYC is having access to juice and smoothie bars any time you want. I always find a smoothie that I want to make at home and it usually involves a nut butter and chocolate. I love going to Juice Generation and getting the Joyful Almond smoothie or Peanut Butter Blast smoothie. I decided to try to replicate the Joyful Almond smoothie...it didn't turn out exactly tasting the same as the one at JG but it was a delicious chocolaty filled mason jar and there is nothing wrong with that! This is another one of those smoothies that is a dessert and tastes like you will need to run 10 miles to burn it off but it is made of whole foods, perfectly portioned.

Every time I stress out about weight loss or feel frustrated because I don't have perfectly sculpted arms and a flat tummy, I think about how I'm eating. Sometimes I turn to the fully raw diet or change around my eating times but weight loss always comes right back down to eating clean. A well balanced diet of fruits, veggies, nuts and seeds with more emphasis on the fruits and veggies. The last two days I have eaten raw until dinner when I start cooking a beautiful meal of leafy greens, organic potatoes, rice noodles and a raw salad with tahini dressing. This meal leaves me so satisfied, filled and floods my system with the best nutrition any human can have, I want to share with you how you can cook a vegan feast leaving out the processed foods, salt and oil.