Yummy Protein Goo Ball Bites

I have been doing my best to get as much protein as possible lately. (Thank goodness for Brendan Brazier’s Vega Bars!) I have made many versions of this snack throughout my life, but never added protein powder before and it really was such a perfect addition! I made both vanilla and chocolate versions to enjoy :) Awesome!

These were so super fast to whip up and even faster to eat haha so make sure you make some extra for the perfect on the go snacks.

Yummy Protein Goo Ball Bites

Chocolate Version

1 scoop chocolate protein powder (as I mentioned above – I love Brendan Brazier’s products from Vega and his Shake & Go Smoothie Chocolate is amazing!!!!)
2 tablespoons Artisana coconut butter (this is the best stuff ever!)
2 teaspoons honey or agave
1 heaping teaspoon organic peanut butter (or other nut butter)
1/2 cup unsweetened dried shredded coconut
1/4 cup light coconut milk

Vanilla Version

1 scoop vanilla protein powder (my absolute favorite vanilla powder - Life Time Lifes Basics Plant Protein)
2 tablespoons Artisana coconut butter
2 teaspoons honey or agave
1 heaping teaspoon organic peanut butter (or other nut butter)
1/2 cup unsweetened dried shredded coconut
1/4 cup light coconut milk

Combine all ingredients. You might need a little more protein powder or coconut if too wet or some coconut milk if too dry. Roll into balls in your hands.

Optional add ons:

  • 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips
  • Extra shredded coconut

Melt chocolate over a double boiler and dip the bites in the bowl. Then sprinkle coconut over and freeze until firm.

Vegan Fudge: Soy, Tree Nut, & Gluten Free

Thanks so much Averie for this recipe! OMG! This one “magically” dissappeared fast out of the fridge over the week. ;) I don’t normally make these kind of desserts to keep in the house, but it was Birthday Week so I thought we could have this special treat. SO good, So fast (to make AND to eat!!). YUM!!!!!! It’s rich, decadent, fudgy, wonderful.


Vegan Fudge–Soy, Tree Nut, & Gluten Free; and a 10 Minute Recipe
Recipe from Averie

1 Cup Vegan/Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
1 box Confectioner’s Sugar
1/2 Cup Cocoa Powder
2 Tablespoons Dairy-Free Margarine (Earth Balance)
1/2 Cup Regular Coconut Milk *DO NOT USE LIGHT Coconut Milk*
1/2 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract

  1. In a large bowl, combine the chocolate chips, sugar, and cocoa.
  2. Separately, place the margarine and coconut milk in a small saucepan, and stir together over medium heat.
  3. Cook the mixture until the margarine has melted, and bubbles just begin to break at the surface.
  4. Remove it from the stove, and immediately pour the liquid over the dry chocolate & sugar mixture.
  5. Let everything sit for a couple of minutes (and if you wait too long and it hardens up on you, feel free to nuke it for 15 seconds at a time or until melty), and then stir vigorously to melt the chocolate and incorporate the dry ingredients.
  6. Continue stirring until a completely smooth mixture forms.
  7. Mix in the vanilla, and quickly pour everything into your prepared pan, a lightly greased or cooking-sprayed 8×8 pan (or another similar size)
  8. Let cool completely before cutting into squares.

I'm surprised any of this made it into the pan :) It was so good! The ultimate spoon licking dessert!!

Ready to Chill

Vegan Dessert Bars

These are amazing! I have been making and impressing people for years with them!!! And we all know that I rarely repeat a recipe so these must be amazing hahah

Vegan Blondies / Dessert Bars
25 squares-ish

  • 1 5/8 sticks of Earth Balance, melted (Love that they make the sticks of Earth Balance!!)
  • 1 pound light brown sugar
  • 3 vegan egg replacer
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 2 3/4 cups white flour
  • 2 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup chopped nuts (I use half pecans and half walnuts)
  • 1 12 ounce bag vegan chocolate chips
  1. In a bowl, combine melted Earth Balance and brown sugar. Let cool.
  2. Pre-heat oven to 350F.
  3. Add the egg replacer and the vanilla, mix well.
  4. In another bowl, add the dry ingredients together, mix and then add to the liquid mixture. Mix everything thoroughly.
  5. Spread into a greased 13″x9″ pan.
  6. Bake for 30 minutes or until golden brown. Let cool and cut into squares, and enjoy!!!

All Gone!!

My 30th Birthday!

I LOVE Birthdays and I turned 30 last week! SO of course a fun reason to celebrate!

On Friday Night we celebrated at Friday Night Yoga Social! FNYS is an AMAZING class I teach with two unbelievable, inspiring and beautiful teachers and friends; Mimi and Angie. It was so perfect to be able to celebrate with many of our students and friends, such a special night as always! If you are ever in NYC on a Friday Night, come to our fun class!!

Saturday was more fun party time :) And of course since this was my party, there had to be yummy vegan food!

Terri’s delivered their SUPER YUMMY sandwiches. Michael and I LOVE all their Vegan sandwiches but seem to never get enough of the Vegan Bacon Cheddar Chicken Ranch sandwiches. See my review here from when they first opened. It was great to see all these non-vegans Loving these scrumptious sandwiches too, always fun of course! Sorry, I didn’t take any pictures. But go there yourself and try these sandwiches out, so good!

I also had a crudité platter from Whole Foods. Of course a crudité platter would not normally get a honorable mention but this one was special because it had a super yummy Vegan Caramelized Onion Dip. The catering guy at Whole Foods Union Square, Mark, was Super awesome and so helpful! We went around the whole store to score the best vegan dip for the platter. Perfection!

I love my sweets and since it was a birthday party, there had to be a cake and then of course some more desserts ;) I brought the deelish vegan brownie bites, chocolate chip cookies and oatmeal raisin cookies from BabyCakes. And the cake, oh the cake…. one of our faves, Chocolate Peanut Butter Bomb Cake from Vegan Treats… we bought it at Atlas since Vegan Treats is in PA, but they sell their AMAZING cakes and treats all over the city so thank goodness not hard to come up with. (pic below)

Then on another night Michael took me to Pure Food & Wine to celebrate just the two of us :) YUM!! And of course this meal had to end with the amazing Mint Sundae. (pic below)

Thanks to everyone who came out to celebrate with me and who sent Birthday Wishes!! Lots of love all around!!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Bomb Cake

Ugh Oh! This is a dangerous cake to have leftovers of! YUM!!

Mint Sundae from Pure Food & Wine

5 minute Tofu Chocolate Pudding & Whipped Cream Pie

Recently I needed a fast dessert to bring to a party. I didn’t really have time to make something, and not that there is anything wrong with buying something to bring, it just really isn’t me. So I needed to improvise :) My mom had recently sent me a 5 minute recipe for a Tofu Dream Pudding. (Thanks Mom!) I figured why not use this recipe to make a quick pie.

The pudding was incredible!!! We could have just eaten this on its own but it was super deelish as a pie filling as well.

It is easier to slice when frozen, but even more deelish when defrosted!

Tofu chocolate Pudding & Whipped Cream Pie

Pudding
Recipe adapted from food.com

  • 2 boxes of firm silken tofu (the asceptic type…One brand is Mori-Nu…not the water packed kind!)
  • 1/3 cup sugar
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
  • 2 teaspoons almond extract
  • 2/3 cup cocoa powder (good quality)
  1. Simply blend tofu, cocoa, sugar, vanilla in a food processor or blender until smooth and well blended.
  2. Add the almond extract in a little at a time, and adjust to taste. (optional)

Pie

  • vegan pie shell (I chose chocolate…see picture below)
  • vegan whip cream (I used Soyatoo Soy whipped cream and was not so impressed, buy Hip Whip instead)
  • chocolate bar
  1. Pour pudding into pie shell
  2. Decorate with whipped topping and then grate chocolate over it.
  3. Either serve immediately or freeze. (freezing made it perfect for travel! But it tastes best defrosted)

Pie Shell

Just the pudding in the pieshell

The pudding was amazing just on its own!

Raw Fudge Brownies with frosting

The fudge brownies are delicious! The frosting on top really added to how yummy they were. It gave the brownies 2 different textures, awesome! I love how amazing raw desserts can be. Make a batch of these and keep them in the fridge. All you need is little slices, just a taste is enough. These will stay great for over a week.

Raw Fudge Brownies
adapted from Raw Lou Lou

1 Tablespoon melted cacao butter
2 Tablespoons cacao nibs
2 Tablespoons cacao powder
1/2 teaspoon hemp protein powder
1 Tablespoon carob powder
1 cup soaked macadamia nuts
2 Tablespoons ground flax seeds
1 handful goji berries
2 Tablespoons almond nut butter
1 Tablespoon coconut oil
1  1/2 Tablespoons agave
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

Blend all of the above in a Vitamix or a food processor. Press into a loaf baking  pan and set in fridge.
Chocolate Frosting
1 avocado
1 Tablespoon agave
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 Tablespoon cacao powder
Blend all of the above together and spread on top of the fudge brownie mix and leave to set in the fridge. Enjoy!

Before Frosting

with the yummy frosting!

Chocolate Banana Oatmeal Cookies

One of my fabulous readers, Kim sent me this deelish cookie recipe! They came out so great! Plus these were super simple and fast to make. This is a recipe you can whip up any time in no time :)

I ended up quadrupling the recipe to bring to Prema & Alex’s engagement party. I never even mentioned they were vegan and all the boys couldn’t get at them fast enough. Always so nice to see that! Some people hear that something is vegan and are immediately turned off. Have them taste them first and then let them know just how amazing vegan food can be! YUM!

Thanks Kim!!!


Chocolate Banana Oatmeal Cookies
Prep: 10 min
Cook time:  25 min
Makes 16 cookies
Recipe from Susan Sarandon (love her!!)

1 cup oat flour (I use half white flour and half whole wheat flour)
¾ cup old fashioned rolled oats
½ teaspoon baking powder
1/3 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup raw sugar
1/3 cup canola oil
1/3 cup plain soy milk
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
½ banana, cut into small pieces (I mash them, it makes the cookies more moist)
¼ cup walnuts (optional), chopped
1/3 semisweet chocolate chips (dark chocolate tastes good as well)

Preheat oven to 350°. Combine first 5 ingredients (up until sugar) in a bowl.   Whisk together oil, soy milk, and vanilla in a separate bowl.  Add wet mixture to dry ingredients; stir to combine.  Fold in banana, walnuts, and chocolate chips.

Line baking sheet with parchment paper or grease the pan.  Scoop dough onto pan.  Bake 20-25 minutes or until golden brown,  turning baking sheet halfway through.  Let cool and enjoy.

For a healthier cookie:
Honey, or agave syrup can be used to replace sugar.  Dried fruits or nuts can be used in place of chocolate chips as well.

Parent’s Dinner Party – Dessert Time!

Although the meal was sooo good, dessert is always our favorite time! I made a deelish Fresh Mango Coconut Cobbler, my Mom brought yummy home-made vegan cookies and my Mother in Law brought amazing Jacques Torres Dark Chocolate and fresh fruit! How fabulous!!!

Thank you for coming over and sharing a wonderful meal with us!

Raw Mango Cobbler Goodness

Mom's Cookies

Decadent!!

Cobbler Filling

Fresh Mango Coconut Cobbler
Adapted from Ani Phyo

Cobbler Crust:
3 cups pecans, dry
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 cup pitted dates

For the crust, process pecans, vanilla, and salt in food processor with S blade. Add pitted dates and process until mixed well.
Sprinkle half of the cobbler crust onto the bottom of your pie dish, and set aside.

Cobbler Filling:

3 to 4 ripe mangos, peel, seed, slice (about 2 cups)
1 batch Orange Coconut Syrup, below

Place sliced mango into a large mixing bowl and toss with Orange Coconut Syrup.

Cobbler Coconut Syrup:
1/3 cup pitted dates
1/3 cup agave
3 Tablespoons coconut oil
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
2/3 cup water, as needed

Place all ingredients into blender, adding water as needed to make a smooth syrup. Pour syrup into bowl with mango, and mix well.
Scoop coated mango onto cobbler crust. Top with half of remaining cobbler crust and serve!
Will keep for 3-5 days in refrigerator. Try as a delicious way to start your day!
Mom’s Banana Nut Bread Cookies
adapted from vegweb.com

1 1/4 cup flour (unbleached, all purpose)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 cup canola oil
1/4 cup apple sauce
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 mashed banana
1 teaspoons baking powder
handful of walnuts, crushed

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Mix together flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt in a small – medium bowl and set aside.
In a large bowl, mix together oil, sugar, and vanilla.  Mix in mashed banana and baking powder.
Add ingredients in the small bowl and stir well.
Once it is well stirred, lightly mix in the crushed handful of walnuts.
Drop by tablespoons onto lightly greased cookie sheet.  Bake 15-18 minutes

Meltaway Peppermint Patties

I love Coconut, Chocolate and Mint! YUM!!!!! If you are not into mint just leave it out and enjoy the chocolate coconut goodness! This was super simple and fast to make and more importantly to enjoy!! Love that! Keep these babies cold and they are perfect for these already super hot summer days!

Meltaway Peppermint Patties
recipe adapted from Elaina Love

Mint layer:
3 cups dry, raw shredded coconut
1/3 cup maple syrup
1/2 tsp. mint extract or 3 drops peppermint essential oil

Chocolate or carob layer:
3 cups dry, raw shredded coconut
1/3 cup maple syrup or date paste (made by blending dates and water)
1/8 cup organic cocoa powder or raw carob powder (add until mixture reaches desired color)
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/8 tsp. Celtic sea salt

1: Blend the first 3 cups of coconut in a dry blender on low speed with the lid off. Use a spatula to keep things moving until it becomes the consistency of butter. Make sure you do not blend so long as to separate all the oil from the coconut. This step is tricky, and takes a good blender like a Vitamix. If you don’t have a Vitamix, you can still do this step, although you may need to separate the coconut into 2 batches.

2: Remove the coconut and put in a mixing bowl. Add the sweetener and mint extract. use a spatula to mix well. Set aside.

3: Blend the coconut for the chocolate layer. Mix the coconut by hand with the rest of the ingredients in a bowl.

4: Separate the chocolate mixture into 2 halves. Take one half, and press it into the bottom of a 4 x 4 baking dish or Tupperware. Put it in the freezer for 5 minutes until it is solid.

5: Remove your dish from the freezer and add all of the mint layer. Place in the freezer again for a couple of minutes.

6: Add the second half of the chocolate mixture to the top of the mint layer. Freeze again until solid or refrigerate.

7: Pop the meltaways out of the container by twisting or using a spatula to pry up. Place on a cutting board and cut your candies into whatever shape you like using a sharp, thin knife. Enjoy and store in the refrigerator.

Raw Ice Cream Trio Sundae

I love Banana Ice Cream! It is always so deelish and you can have so much fun playing around and making so many yummy flavors. Michael and I were Loving this one! Sundaes are so comforting and fun to eat. They are even more fun when they are healthy and delicious!

Pre-Topping Yummyness

Complete Sundae Love!

Raw Ice Cream Trio Sundae
2 big servings

3 frozen bananas
2-3 tablespoons nut butter (I used almond)
2 tablespoon agave nectar
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
dash sea salt
2 1/2 cup frozen strawberries
1 1/2 tablespoons cocoa powder

toppings of your choice

  1. Start off my combining the frozen bananas,  nut butter, agave nectar, vanilla and dash of sea salt in a Vita-mix, blender or food processor until well combined and smooth.
  2. Have 2 serving bowls ready and using a large ice cream scoop or spoon, scoop out 1 scoop for each bowl and set in the freezer.
  3. Next, add the frozen strawberries to the frozen banana mixture in your blender and process until well combined.
  4. Take the bowls out of the freezer and add 1 scoop of the gorgeous strawberry “ice cream” to both bowls and put back into the freezer.
  5. Add the cocoa powder to the strawberry “ice cream” and process until well combined.
  6. Take the bowls out of the freezer and add 1 scoop of the chocolate  “ice cream” to both bowls and put back into the freezer to set.
  7. Feel free to eat as is or add toppings. I made a strawberry sauce out of agave and strawberries in the blender. I also used chocagave on top, yum! Use nuts, cocoa nibs, etc.
  8. DEVOUR and ENJOY :)

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