Vegan Chocolate Caramel Nice Cream Sundae

Want to make your kids or yourself a treat you can feel good serving?  Well, this would do it!

It's healthy, fast, and most of all simple.  Anyone with a blender/food processor can do this.  I have basic quality equipment, no vitamix over here.  And they work perfect for this! 

So, okay does the caramel taste just like "real" caramel? No, but it tastes great and if you care about being healthy, why not give it a try!  The caramel is made from dates, and the nice cream is bananas!  The consistency is just like ice cream!  Its amazing. When you see your bananas are getting ripe and don't know if you'll be using them, just break them into chunks and freeze.  We've been doing this for awhile, so I thought I would share.  My kids and husband love it!  This is just one of the many ways you can make this tasty treat!

 

We've even had this for breakfast!

                                             Once the Nice Cream is all done!


Ingredients:

Nice Cream:

2 or 3 frozen sliced bananas (3 was too many for us to finish)
2 tsp vanilla
1 tbl cocoa powder
1 tbl tahini (you can use any nut butter, or exclude this, but I highly recommend it

Caramel

15 Medjool Dates soaked overnight
1/4 cup to 1 cup boiling water
crack of pink salt
1 tsp vanilla


Method:

Make the caramel first so your nice cream doesn't melt.  Put all ingredients into blender, except water.  Add 1/4 cup and blend.  Check consistency and taste and add a little water at a time until still thick but not too much.  This part is personal preference.  I think I added about a 1/2 cup. And that's it!

Next add frozen bananas to food processor.  Turn on and watch the magic.  After about a minute your bananas will become ice cream!! Once that happens, add the remaining ingredients and process again.  That's it!
Then, I just layered them into a glass!  So easy, and fun!  My daughter loves to help, and to the kids it's ice cream!  They will love it, and love that they can make it.
I have a bit of caramel leftover, and I'm hoping to create something with that!  Let me know if you try it!.

Warm Salad/Rice Bowl with Kale and Spicy Sauce

This is such a great food day, and a bad day for my phone to be broken!

I didn't know what to call this other than delicious!  I know that these pictures suck, and it may sound weird to eat a grain with a salad, but try it!  It's awesome!!

Just throwing stuff together and it turns out great! Love when that happens! A salad like this is great because you can really throw in anything you want to use up.  Like beans, veggies, nuts, or grains.  It's all good! I'm always coming up with things, or planning my week around what I have already.  In order to plan and save money, and eat healthy at the same time.  I swear I'm the laziest person in the world, so if I can do it, you can do it!

Healthy with some indulgence in the sauciness.  I got this aioli as a Christmas present, don't know where it's from.  So, you can use just vegan mayo or go to a grocery store and see what you can find!  Or just use any dressing you like, the mayo texture though is pretty bomb in this I think!  

Serves 1-2

Ingredients:
Leftover plain brown rice 1/2 cup
1 large kale leaf
1/2 cup organic salad blend
Chunk of red, orange, and yellow pepper chopped
Chopped onion (as much as you want)
6 cherry tomatoes chopped
1/4 cucumber chopped

Dressing:

Juice from 1/2 lemon
1tsp olive oil
1 tsp habanaro mango aioli
1 tsp vegan mayo
Salt/pepper

Chop all veggies and place into good size bowl, except cucumber and tomato. Warm rice with vegan butter, and try to get it pretty hot. Add rice to veggies while hot so it wilts the kale slightly. Top with tomatoes and cucumber. Mix up the sauce in a little bowl first, and then add it and some salt and pepper on top.  Add more dressing ingredients as needed.  I never measure things like that. Eat and thank me later!

           

                      

Herbed Alfredo and Veggie Pasta

You know it's a successful night when both kids eat dinner, and the three year old thanks me two minutes into the meal! 

Of course one child is eleven months old, and will eat about anything, but I'm going to call it a win!

This was very easy and fast especially if you have the time to chop the veggies and herbs in the morning or even the night before. If so you're looking at a half hour or less. And if you are making this for nonchild humans you shouldn't have to mince everything like I did. I just find they're more likely to eat tiny veggies compared to big ones. I never lie to them about what's in the food though, I find that counterproductive for life.

So, unlike most alfredo recipes I used almond milk and vegan butter. This makes the sauce not as heavy, but still tasty!! Like real tasty!  This turned out really well, I was very pleased with it. On to the important part... Also I rarely measure so sorry.

Ingredients:

1 zucchini minced
1/2 cup of mushroom minced
1/2 cup fresh spinach minced
Fresh thyme, basil, parsley, oregano minced. Mine was about 1/4 cup altogether
1/2 cup vegan butter
1 cup almond milk
1 cup plus Parmesan
1 lemon
Salt, pepper, garlic powder
1/2 ish box of mini bowtie pasta

Method:

Saute veggies on medium low with salt and pepper until tender. About 5-7 minutes. Then add spinach and squeeze a little lemon over the spinach to get rid of any bitterness. Cook for one more minute then set aside. Also, heat the butter and milk in a small saucepan while boiling water for pasta as well.

Make pasta as directed. Once butter is melted add about 3/4 cup of cheese and then add juice from half the lemon and a dash of garlic powder. Stir and add salt pepper and more cheese to taste. Sauce is ready once cheese is melted and everything is all mixed together.  Drain pasta. Pour sauce over veggies and the amount of pasta you want back into a pot all together.  I like to squeeze extra lemon once I plate it and extra cheese of course. Eat it!

                                               

                              Lotto Herbs                   =                    Tasty Goodness

Best Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies

No seriously, these are the best cookies I've ever made or eaten! Well those are my thoughts as of this minute. My three year old and I started singing about chocolate after we ate one.  So insanely good, and simple!! I do make a healthy chocolate chip cookie, these are not those. These are naughty, but oh so worth it from time to time.

It's freezing outside, school is canceled and my phone is broken. So, I made cookies! But when they turned out amazing, and I couldn't take pictures ( due to broken phone) I felt sad. Luckily I made it work enough with the tabby. (tablet not cat)

Just make these, eat them,freeze them so u don't eat them all. Then share them, oh and you can thank me when you're done!

Ingredients:
2cups all purpose
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp cracked pink salt
1/2 cup vegan butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 tbl vanilla
1/4 cup to 1/2 cup almond milk (start w/1/4 cup, if dough is crumbly at the end add more)
1 cup mixed vegan chocolate chips, white choc chips, butterscotch chips (or your preference)

Preheat 350 

Bake 7-10 8 was perfect for mine, then let them set for 10 minutes if you can

Method:

Mix dry ingredients in a bowl except sugar and set aside.  Whip sugar to get it fluffly, then slowly add sugar and mix until fluffly.  Add milk and vanilla, mix.  It won't be very fluffy anymore , but that's fine.  Add to dry ingredients.  Mix with spatula until a nice dough forms. Spoon tablespoon amount onto parchment lined cookie sheet! Bake, eat!

           

                                    She's happy about it