Fabulous Vegan Recipes

This chocolate olive oil cake recipe is not mine but I veganized it and have made it several times. It's so delicious and does not require icing-it's THAT good! You just need to replace one ingredient to make it vegan. It can be made gluten-free if you use GF all-purpose flour or almond/oat flour.

I saw a couple of these cakes floating around Instagram and decided to make a vegan version. The top is all coconut cream and the crust is the most perfect, chewy, chocolatey crust. All you need is a food processor-this cake requires no baking and can be whipped up within minutes. Berry coconut cream cake with chocolate raisin-walnut crust is coming right up and it's vegan and gluten-free.

When I crave sweets, I look for ways to minimize my sugar consumption while also getting that sweet fix. I recently discovered monk fruit sugar so my coffee and sweets have never been the same. It's a great substitute for regular sugar but it has no impact on your blood sugar and has no carbs. I didn't use monk fruit sugar for this recipe, though, so go out and get it because my next recipe will have it.

It's been a minute since I posted. I had my last Munch & Meditate event of 2018 and it was so nice. The menu is always vegan, of course, but this time I did gluten-free as well and it was easier than I thought. I taught a beginner's gentle yoga class followed by vegan appetizers and desserts. Come to my next one on Jan 6th !

*This is not a sponsored post* I just love Forager Project cashew yogurt. I really need to break into the yogurt and cheese arena and just make my own. It would be cheaper and I can expand my skills in the kitchen but I haven't yet and end up buying yogurt and cheese. It's cool though because I get to try different brands, check out ingredients and get inspiration for my own recipes. I actually just ordered a vegan yogurt starter kit on Amazon so I'm going to try to make yogurt first.

I am pretty obsessed with yogurt; I guess because I love that I love the unsweetened yogurt. The unsweetened yogurts are great because they still have that yummy, creamy yogurt taste but without the added sugar. I'm trying to branch out and not buy the same brands and tonight I bought a cashew milk yogurt that I'm psyched to try. Tomorrow morning is going to be a pretty epic yogurt bowl.

I think I've made this recipe three times before??? This version is nut and soy-free and is completely made from vegetables. If you make a vegan mac and cheese sauce and just forgo all expectations, you won't be disappointed. If you make this and expect it to taste like boxed mac and cheese made with dairy, you will be disappointed. One of the changes I noticed when I became vegan was a change in my taste buds. I don't expect vegan cheese to taste like dairy so I'm not disappointed. You can make dairy-free recipes to taste similar to dairy but not at all just like dairy. Leave all of your expectations behind and open your mind and veganism becomes so easy.

I am 20 days away from completing my first marathon and my plan for the next few weeks is to eat clean and try to stay within a moderate calorie range. I probably won't lose weight but I want to at least try. I downloaded My Fitness Pal and I have tracked my food for 13 days straight now. It's going well and I made a ton of food yesterday. Whenever I'm good though, as in, sticking to healthy meals and portion control, I always want a raw dessert. Last week I was obsessed with these and now I just made these bites. These are GOOOOOOD!

Let me start out by saying that I'm not a doctor or a registered dietitian so I cannot cure your sprains, strains, muscle soreness etc with anything I say on this blog. I can only speak from my own experience about how foods effect me so please ask a nutritionist if you need clinical facts about food. It always seems to come down to the same foods when you're having a problem like muscle cramps, feeling down, detoxing, feeling too tired: berries, cinnamon, nuts and seeds. These foods have antioxidant properties and help reduce inflammation. So, whatever issue you are having, you may already be eating the ingredients that are in this smoothie. Just eat healthy, whole foods and you will probably end up feeling your best!

I make chia seed pudding alot but this time I made it without any added coconut sugar and some fruit and homemade cashew butter and it was awesome. I'm not usually good at layering everything to look pretty but I must say this is a good picture! Grab some fresh berries and some raw cashews for this recipe and you got yourself a yummy, filling breakfast. Kids will love this breakfast because it's in a cool mason jar and it's sweet and fun.

If you bake regular chocolate box cake and crumble up the cake and put it in a bowl, you will get my raw chocolate cake consistency. These cupcakes are so much like the "real" baked thing that it will be hard to resist them even if you're a non vegan who is opposed to any vegan baked goods. By the way, it drives me nuts when non vegans put their nose up to vegan food simply because they have't tried it, but that is a separate blog post! 

When you are eating raw, the majority of your calories comes from fruit. I bought a ton of fruit, leaning heavily on berries and I also bought my least favorite fruits: apples, pears and oranges. Oranges are a pain in the ass because you have to peel them but apples and pears are just boring. I mean, they are such a snooze. I hate just taking an apple or pear and eating it; it doesn't fill me up and there is nothing exciting about eating either. Maybe I've been eating apples and peanut butter for too many years but...snoooze! So, I decided to make my pears into a dessert and I'm LOVING them now!

This pie is epic!! And it took me all of 10 minutes to make. I did a little bit of preparation the night before but I pretty much woke up, put the ingredients in my Cuisinart and here it is....the best looking and tasting key lime pie I've ever had (if I may say so myself!). Made with whole, natural ingredients and no added sugar, this pie will impress anyone at your table. The only sweetener is from fruit (dates) and I made the crust nut-free to cut down on fat.

So, it has taken me all week to get this right and I'm 99% loving this recipe because I'm a perfectionist. I say 99% because I wasn't able to achieve the exact consistency as my chocolate peanut butter gelato, perhaps because I need to let the gelato freeze more. Anyway, my new Cuisinart blender was doing overtime for this recipe and I do love how the gelato tastes. It's made with super whole ingredients and it's great to make for your family without having to spend alot of money on non dairy ice cream. Also, I'm not loving my photos but the natural light was weak due to the stormy weather. Anyway, this recipe is here and that's all that matters so get to making some fresh, organic, natural ice cream!!

I finally got this recipe set and I'm psyched. It's the bomb goodness and I love the pics I took! I call this gelato instead of ice cream because it has a higher milk content and it's slowly whipped which makes it thicker and creamier. You don't need an ice cream maker for this recipe; just a little bit of patience and some time before you want to eat it. You need to freeze it and then take it out of the freezer and stir it from time to time before it becomes gelato.

So, you're pretty much 100% vegan but you can't ditch the cheese and the ice cream and the milk. You need milk for your oatmeal and you crave ice cream at night and you love a cheese pizza.  The above picture is nana nice cream, dairy free but completely satisfies a dairy craving.  Take it from a former cheese fanatic, you can kick dairy, it may just take some time and some inner motivation.