It kind of all started with the realization that I need to lay off the almonds a bit. Sad but true. I seem to be having some nut issues lately and so I have wanted to start experimenting with more seed milks since I like to have some milk on hand for a smoothie, just to drink for a light snack or to use in cooking for my family. My kids don’t tend to drink the almond milk anyway unless it is masked in a strawberry shake so on I went with my experiment.

I love the combo of hemp and pumpkin seed milk! It is packed with nutrition from the hemp seeds being a complete protein, fantastic source of Omega 3 and Omega 6 essential fatty acids, iron, zinc, phosphorus and magnesium. Pumpkin seeds are high in protein, iron, zinc, phosphorus and have essential fatty acids.  The milk is super easy to make and you don’t need a nut milk bag!! So, no excuses not to give this one a go! The ratio is 1 cup seeds to 5 cups water.

Hempkin Milk

• 1/2 cup hemp seeds
• 1/2 cup pumpkin seeds
• 5 cups water
• 2 pitted dates
• pinch sea salt
• 1/2 tsp vanilla(optional)

Put all the ingredients in your Vitamix and blend until smooth. Really you could just stop there and drink. If I am making this to drink immediately, I add 2-3 ice cubes so it is cold milk not warm. If I am not in a hurry, I will sometimes strain the milk to remove the very little amount of pulp there is otherwise, I don’t bother, fiber is good. I like the flavor of the milk with the dates and pinch of salt so I do not add vanilla unless I want a vanilla flavored shake.

Onto the choco maca part! For 1 1/2 cups of milk, I add 1 TBS cacao and 1 TBS maca powder. The cacao gives me a nice little pick up and satisfies any chocolate fix I am in need of. It also takes me back to my childhood when I liked drinking that brand with the bunny on the box of cocoa powder! This is so much better!! Cacao is a good source of antioxidents much higher than red wine and blueberries commonly talked about when antioxidents are mentioned. Cacao is also a neurotransmitter booster for endorphins, seretonin, phenylethylamine and anandamide. All of these play a role in the feeling of love, pleasure and bliss so they help reduce stress, make you feel good and are brain healthy not to mention helping with depression and pms. Cacao also contains magnesium for strong bones and sulphur for good looking skin, ahir and nails as well as helping in detoxing the liver. Maca is high in amino acids. It is a root vegetable that is more often being used as a medicine because of it’s adaptogenic qualities for hormonal balance. It can be an aid for increasing libido, fertility in men and women and increasing energy and stamina. It helps support the immune system, adrenal function and helps regulate the endocrine system. It can also be used to help alleviate chronic fatigue. ! TBS a day is sufficient and in our choco maca milk that is how much is called for!

One more thing I add to my mix is bee pollen. I only add 1 tsp otherwise I find it alters the flavor of my choco bliss and I can’t have that! Bee Pollen is full of vitamins, minerals, carotenoids, bioflavonoids, phytosterols, amino acids, fatty acids and enzymes.  It is often referred to as “natures perfect food”. It also helps eliminate free radicals, increase stamina, strengthens the heart, controls blood pressure levels, helps regulate body weight, and is a natural antibiotic. It can help reduce the amount of nutritional deficiencies one has and help the body to rejuvenate.

Yesterday, I was rushing around and neglected to make my choco maca milk and I was amazed that later in the day I was craving it! I still am this morning and can’t wait to make myself a nice tall glass of goodness.

For a single serving here is my recipe:

Choco Maca Milk

• 1 1/2 cup water
• scant 1/4 cup hemp seeds
• 1-2 TBS pumpkin seeds
• 1 pitted date
• very small pinch sea salt (optional)

OR

• 1 1/2 cup already made hempkin milk

AND

• 1 TBS cacao powder (you may want to start off with half this)
• 1 TBS maca powder
• 1 tsp bee pollen (optional)

Blend it all up and pour in a glass. So easy and quick! So yummy and now, you may confidently drink to your health!!

Into the fridge I went……. I came out with a new favorite sweet treat that truly makes me blush. Almond butter seems to have that warming effect on me.

I scooped a big dollop of raw almond butter into a bowl and topped it with strawberry sauce and a nice dollop of whipped cashew cream. Ooooo wheeeee! It is quick and easy!

I used the cashew cream recipe in Ani Phyo’s Raw Food Essentials since I have it on loan from the library right now. This book also has the wonderful crepes mentioned earlier.

Strawberry Sauce

• 2 cups fresh strawberries or 15 oz frozen strawberries
• 1-2 TBS ground chia seeds

1. Mash the strawberries in a bowl. I use a potato masher.
2. Grind chia seeds in a spice or coffee grinder
3. Mix ground chia seeds with strawberries until well combined
4. Leave to sit 5-10 minutes.

The chia seeds absorb moisture. Chia seeds also help to keep you hydrated since they absorb so much water. Adding more or less ground chia seeds allows you to reach a sauce consistency or a jam like consistency. This stays fresh in the fridge 3-5 days.

Go ahead and be creative! place sliced bananas on the bottom of your sundae or over banana ice cream. Add different toppings like chopped walnuts, whole chia seeds, cacao nibs, buckwheaties or dried coconut.

Have a sundae party and put everything in it’s own bowl and let everyone make their own. Especially fun for kids!

Enjoy!

Almond Butter Granola
serves 1-4

1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 c. raw oats
1/4 c. dried cranberries
1/4 c. goji berries
1/2 c. almonds chopped
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/4-1/2 c. honey
1/2 c. almond butter

Mix in a bowl starting with 1/4 c. honey. Taste for sweetness. Dehydrate 8 hours or overnight. Eat warm or cold.

Well, I tasted this little bit that it makes and fell in love so I started dumping a lot more in. I used about 1 tsp cinnamon, 1 1/2 c oats and doubled the cranberries. I didn’t have gojis so I used raisins instead. I hadn’t soaked more almonds so I only used the original 1/2 c. but added chia seeds and hemp seeds, a little more salt and only 1/2 c. honey total. And yes, more lovely almond butter to make it ooey and gooey. I started dehydrating it in the afternoon and Gatlin and I both had it for a snack that evening warm with some almond milk in it. By morning, it was done in the dehydrator. I had some plain in a bowl. It would be fantastic with berries on top as well.

Another option with this great recipe would be to make cookies. Form the batter into balls and freeze for a couple hours. Play around and add your favorite dried fruits to make all sorts of fantastic granola perfect for breakfast, a filling snack or to take on those summer vacations!

For Lucia’s birthday this past week, she wanted a vanilla cake with pink frosting, so I turned once again to this book, which I was able to get from the library! I made the vanilla cupcake recipe (I followed the one that has a surprise inside, since it was a little different than the other), using a 6 inch and 8 1/2 inch springform pans. I baked it for about 22 minutes for the 6 inch and almost 30 minutes for the larger pan, covering it after about 18 minutes once the top had browned so that it wouldn’t burn while the center cooked. The texture, while more dense than a white flour wheat cake, was still moist and light and the flavor — absolutely delicious!

I frosted it with the same cashew-based frosting that I used for the raw lemon poppy seed cake, but added a half a bag of defrosted frozen strawberries to it for flavor and color (it was a nice medium pink, the flash bleached it out). This made the frosting a little too runny, but if I’d drained the berries or whizzed the strawberries in ahead of time and let it sit, it would have thickened (I had leftovers in the fridge that did so). After frosting the bottom layer, I put chopped strawberries on before adding the second tier.

I also took some frozen bananas and strawberries and made pink ice cream — a hit with all the kids. I served this cake to my family, who eat a primarily standard American diet, and didn’t have to compost any pieces left on plates, except for the scraps of my nephew’s second piece. An impressive feat for no wheat!

I liked the tanginess of the frosting offseting the sweetness a bit, but Lucia wants round two (cupcakes with friends this week) to not be so lemony. And we’re going to try the chocolate cake AND chocolate frosting recipe from that book for the cupcakes as well. I can’t wait!

We have also made the pancakes, and while it took me a few tries to get the heat right (keep it low low low!) the pancakes themselves were light, fluffy and scrumptious! You should see them puff when you flip them — the kids oohed and ahhed upon viewing this phenomenon.

Using low heat (and I mean 3 or 4 on my stove) means it takes longer to cook them, but I popped the oven on warm and kept the done pancakes in the oven. Or I would have. If my children hadn’t insisted on eating them all and lining up at the stove performing a constant chorus of “Is it done yet?” I also halfway through the process started putting a lid on the frying pan to keep the heat in and make sure the middle cooked, although using the low heat helped with this as well. (Before I figured this out, they were dark brown on the outside and gooey inside.)

And last night we made the chocolate chip cookies. Lucia’s review: “Hey! These taste just like the junky ones!” What more can you ask for? Well, Luke asked for me to add some shredded coconut and chopped almonds next time, or maybe a maple walnut version, or a cranberry pecan version, or… well, you get the idea. We are delighted to have found a delicious way to make baked goods without gluten flours.

Elena’s Chocolate Chip Cookies

• 2 1/2 cups blanched almond flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 cup grapeseed oil
• 1/2 cup agave nectar
• 1 Tbs vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup coarsely chopped dark chocolate

1. Preheat oven to 350, line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. In a large bowl, combine dry ingredients, including chocolate.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk together oil, agave and vanilla.
4. Stir wet into dry until thoroughly combined.
5. Regrigerate dough 2o minutes.
6. Spoon 1 heaping Tbs at a time onto sheets, pressing down with your palm to flatten.
7. Bake 8-10 minutes until lightly golden.

I used maple syrup and honey instead of agave, coconut oil instead of grapeseed and didn’t refrigerate the dough, due to the puss-in-boots eyes on my cookie monsters that demanded cookies asap! We actually baked and cooled them while we ate, and had them for dessert after cleaning the kitchen from dinner. YUM YUM YUM. We imagined dunking them in almond milk, so we’ve got some almond soaking for the next batch tomorrow.We’ve had a long break from baked goods and are making up for lost time!

So now you’re wondering “Where on earth do I get this almond flour?” Well, the Bob’s Red Mill almond flour that you can get at most grocery stores  is allegedly too coarse a grind for these recipes, and gives a grittier, less cake-like texture. I bought mine from Lucy’s Kitchen Shop. I called and placed the order — it took less than 2 minutes to do so and I had my flour in 3 days.  It’s well worth the price for the occasional baked treat, and keeps well in the fridge or freezer. Elana also recommends some other sources (as well as other inspirational recipes and ideas on her blog Elana’s Pantry.

Happy baking!

Another beautiful quality of this dish, aside from versatility and quick prep, is that it can be made last minute with things I tend to have on hand. And honestly — why limit it to a dessert — it makes a very fine breakfast, lunch or snack as well. Not to mention that having a jar of both parts of the recipe (fruit as well as crumble topping) means you can add a new dimension to banana ice cream, chocolate mousse, banana pudding and more.

Oh, and did I mention that you can also make it ahead of time, keeping the crumble separate from the fruit until ready to serve. This makes it a great holiday dish when you have other things to do last minute besides worry about dessert. Seriously, what more could you want from a delicious dish!? I had stored some apple filling in a small metal tiffin, so I dumped this out into a plate and it held it’s shape. So I put crumb topping around it instead of on top for the picture. It’s much prettier with some sort of berry or cherry, but hey, looks aren’t everything, right?

Better than Betty’s Apple Crumble

Crumb mixture:

• 2 cups walnuts
• 2 cups pecans
• 1 cup dates
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 1 Tbs honey
• cinnamon to taste
• pinch salt

1. Pulse nuts in food processor until smallish — if you take it down to a flour at this stage your crumble will have a different, more cohesive, dough like texture, less crumbly. Not a bad thing, still delicious, just a different feel.
2. Add remaining ingredients and process just until the dates are broken down. Pour out into a bowl or storage container if you aren’t serving immediately.  I don’t bother cleaning out the food processor bowl, as this comes out without leaving much residue, so on to the fruit without further ado.

Apple delight:

• 4 lbs apples, cored
• 1/2 cup raisins
• 1 Tbs honey
• cinnamon to taste
• 1/2 banana

1. I chopped my apples into 1 inch cubes or so. Well, actually, I quartered the apples (a mixture of green, braeburn and pink lady) and tossed all but 3 of them into the processor. And couldn’t get my Cuisinart to process them — the chunks were too big, and the blade just couldn’t get to most of them. So, I dumped out half and cut it all into smaller pieces and was able to get it to process.
2. After the apples were almost pureed, I put in the rest of the ingredients. I added the half banana because it seemed like it needed something to give it a bit of creaminess as well as sweetness to balance the tartness of the green apples I used. I would consider adding a whole banana next time, but this one was really ripe, thus intensely flavored, and I didn’t want to taste banana when I ate it.
3. Once the puree was all set, I scraped that out into a bowl and added small pieces of the 3 remaining apples to the processor. I pulsed until these were what looked like a good size (small enough to chew politely but big enough to give my teeth something to do) and then mixed them into the puree.
4. The nuts will get soggy if you mix this ahead of time, so I like to serve it in two bowl and let people take the amount of crumble they want right at the table.

I think you can easily make this recipe without the honey, using whole food sweeteners like the dates, raisins and bananas. The original recipe called for a tablespoon of coconut oil in the fruit mixture, but I tend to leave that out. I bet coconut butter would also  be delicious — especially if you use mango, papaya, pineapple, strawberry or a combination of those for the fruit.

I also occasionally add a couple tablespoons of hemp, chia or ground flax to the crumble once it’s been processed to boost the nutrition. I’ve been adding hemp seeds to guacamole — Dante and Lucia haven’t noticed and I feel good knowing I’m getting lots of healthy fats, vitamins and minerals, and protein into something they love to eat. Make sure you have enough dates or dried fruit going on in the crumble to absorb these extra dry ingredients if you choose to do so.

We use organic apples, so I just wash them and leave the skins on — if you haven’t had a chance to see the Shopper’s Guide to Pesticide to know which fruits and vegetables contain high levels of pesticide residue even after washing, head on over to our post about limiting chemicals in your home.

Happy crumbling!

Ann Wigmore’s Banana Cream Pie (from Alissa Cohen)

Crust:

• 1/2 cup pecans
• 2 cups dates, pitted and soaked
• 1 1/2 cup dried coconut
• 1 tsp vanilla

Filling:

• 4-5 bananas
• 1 cup shredded coconut
• 1/2 cup apple juice
• 2 tsp tahini
• 2 tsp honey
• 1 tsp vanilla

1. Grind pecans in food processor til fine.
2. Add dates and blend til creamy. I think the dough came out too wet, and would probably not soak the dates next time around.
3. Add remaining crust ingredients, and blend well. Sabrina had made this for raw potluck once, and recommended cutting the coconut to a scant cup. Since I’m not a coconut lover, I took this advice. Also, I’m reading David Wolfe’s Superfoods, and in the chapter about Maca he recommends using it to help bind crusts made from dried fruit and nuts, so I put 2 Tbs of maca into the crust as well.
4. Pour into pie place or springform tart pan and chill while you make the filling.
5. Add 4 bananas and remaining filling ingredients to food processor and process. I used an apple instead of the 1/2 cup apple juice. I also added a 1 Tbs of flax meal, and 1 Tbs of psyllium husk because I didn’t have a lot of time to chill the pie and wanted to make sure it was firm.
6. Pour filling into a bowl, and cut remaining banana and stir. Pour filling into crust and chill in fridge.
7. Just before serving, decorate the top with extra banana slices, cacao nibs, various seeds, berries, dried fruit, etc.

I took this pie to a family birthday party so I could have a sweet treat, but surprisingly many of the other guests tried it. None was left on the plates, except a particularly thick portion of crust. My kids liked it, but preferred the filling, so I will probably just make banana pudding for them in the future and save the pie for something special. Easy peasy wholesome dessert treat! One half went at the party, and my family gobbled the rest of it for breakfast the following day. Mmmmm pie for breakfast!

Maca is a root vegetable found high in the Andes of Peru. Consumption of the maca root powder is shown to strengthen the immune system, increase energy, and  improve memory, endurance and libido. It is also an adaptogen, helping to relieve stress and depression. It has a malty flavor, and we like it in nut milk shakes with cacao. YUM!

Chia Seed Pudding

• 2 cups almond milk
• 2 Tablespoons chia seeds
• berries to taste

Pour nut or seed milk into a bowl, add chia and stir. Let this mixture sit for 20 minutes, stirring periodically. Sweeten if the milk wasn’t, and top with berries, crunchies, etc.

The kids love this and made it twice last week. We add perhaps an extra tablespoon or two, so that the pudding is very thick. We add chopped frozen fruit to the pudding,  but you could blend berries, fruit, cacao, maca, vanilla, or other flavorings with the milk before adding the chia seeds. If you add goji berries, they will plump up nicely if you leave them in the pudding for a day or so, softening up nicely.

Have you tried chia pudding? How do you like to flavor it? Do you like it thick or runny?

I used to love family night at our house as a kid. We would get out our milkshake maker and load it up with cow’s milk, ice cream, ice cubes and some fruit or we would also make root beer floats.

I went in the fridge the other day and realized the almost still full pitcher of homemade almond milk needed to get used right now or it will have to visit the world below the drain. So, I decided to start the day with a yummy treat for the kids. Strawberry milk shake time!

This was so easy and packed with good stuff and very filling! I poured about 6 cups of milk in the Vita-Mix with close to 2 cups of frozen strawberries, 6 pitted dates and 1 TBS maca (optional), whizzed it up and served!

It was so delicious, we all came back for seconds. For me, I should probably have this mid day as it was very filling and I do better with light in the morning which is true for most of us as that is when we are breaking our fast and digestion is just waking up as well. The kids do well with a heavier morning meal so it worked well for them and they stayed full for awhile which is always a challenge when we just have fruit in the morning.

The milkshake is so versatile and begs for you to be creative. For vanilla, use milk, add frozen banana and 2 tsp vanilla. For chocolate, add about 2 TBS cacao powder and a frozen banana. Throw in some mint with the chocolate one for mint chocolate chip. Top with cacao nibs for an extra treat. All can be topped with buckwheat crunchies as well.

It’s time for a  fresh approach to fruit! Fruit skewers are always appreciated — especially grapes frozen on skewers. These go over well, especially with hot or feverish little ones. As we mentioned in the banana ice cream post (also a great way to play with your fruit), frozen banana pops are a perennial favorite. Chop up some melon and set the bowl on the table with some toothpics and see what sorts of structures your family can create.

Put out some small bowls full of nuts, seeds, cacao nibs, and fresh fruit and/or veggies and see what sort of a zoo you can build — strawberry mice with cacao nib eyes and almond slice ears. Green apple frog with green grape feet.You’re only limited by the contents of your fridge and your imagination!

Mango Hedgehog with a Pinealoupe caterpillar

Breakfast ants on a log — bananas halved, smeared with almond butter and topped with raisins or other dried fruit

Apples with cinnamon — sliced apple sprinkled with cinnamon or almond butter

Have fun!

Our basic process involves putting about 3-4 frozen bananas in the food processor and whizzing them up. If they have been frozen for more than an hour or so, you may need to either wait a few minutes for them to soften or add one room temp banana to the processor and whiz again to achieve a soft-serve ice cream consistency.

This creates a great banana ice cream as it is, but we have started adding things both to the processor and as toppings to enhance this tasty treat! We have added cacao powder to the processor to make a chocolate ice cream, and vanilla by adding vanilla extract. We make a chocolate chip nut butter swirl by drizzling nut butter  onto the banana ice cream and topping that with cacao nibs. Other add-ins we like are coconut flakes, nuts, seeds, berries, and other fruit.

We make a sorbet by putting a bag of frozen berries into the food processor and whirring it up into sweet, frozen goodness. Some people add dates or honey as well, but we like it without this and consume enough sweet stuff elsewhere that we leave it out. I made a version of this with raspberries and blueberries for Dante last weekend when he was feeling poorly, but he didn’t finish it all. Later in the day, he requested banana ice cream, so I pulled the melted sorbet from the fridge and poured it into the food processor bowl with the already-whizzed bananas and Voila! A beautiful, ruby-red berry ice cream! I topped it with some frozen berries and chia seeds and served (it’s the pic at the top).

When we lived in Boston, we frequented J.P. Licks ice cream shops and one of Luke’s favorites there was Maple Butter Walnut. So we took the basic banana ice cream, and drizzled maple syrup over it and tossed in some chopped walnuts. Lucia wanted chocolate chip ice cream, so we took the plain banana soft serve and put it in a bowl with cacao nibs for her. Take a gander at this shot of goodness — this was breakfast a couple of weeks ago!

Dante didn’t want either of those variations, so he left his portion of the banana ice cream in the food processor and added some frozen raspberries. He used a slice of banana and more frozen raspberries to make a flower on top of his raspbanana ice dream! The boy loves to garnish…

If you haven’t tried this before, pop some bananas onto a cookie sheet or plate in the freezer with enough space between them that they don’t overlap much. Once frozen, you can store them in a zip lock freezer bag to keep them from getting freezer burn. We also make banana pops — cut the bananas in half, insert a popsicle stick up and wrap them in foil or put them on a cookie sheet until frozen and again, store in a freezer bag or other airtight container. These are one of our favorite treats for a hot day!

What’s your favorite cool snack for the dog days of summer?