Pumpkin Pie & Guest Feature on Plant-Powered Kitchen

I know I don’t usually post consecutive days but this one will be brief.

I’m sure any plant-based foodies or those into healthy eating will be more than familiar with Dreena Burton, blogger and cookbook-writer extraordinaire!

Today she’s sharing a gorgeous pumpkin pie recipe with a little feature on Coconut and Berries since I had the pleasure of photographing the pie

Even if you’ve already got a tried and tested pumpkin pie recipe I urge you to give this one a try-Its soft and creamy filling and wholesome oat crust are simply irresistible. Serve it with non-dairy vanilla ice-cream to seal the deal!

Now go get that pie!

Virtual Vegan Potluck November 2013- Dessert

So excited to be part of the Virtual Vegan Potluck this year! I’ve only ever been to one potluck in “real life” before, but had such a great time that I think I need to organize some myself.

I hope you’ve saved some room for dessert because I’ve got a real treat in store for you!

As this is a party I figured I’d go all out with something a little special- I put together a few things for a mighty feast- Vegan Crêpes filled with Date & Orange Compote and “supremed” oranges (as we’re feeling fancy…). All topped off with a creamy cinnamon ice cream.

There are a few components to this dessert but they’re not time-consuming or difficult. You don’t have to make them all either. The crêpes and compote would still be delicious with vanilla ice cream and a sprinkle of cinnamon or just make the quick compote and serve with ice cream if you don’t fancy making crêpes. Lots of options!

I was pretty pleased with how the crêpes turned out. I haven’t had much success in the past but scouted around online and combined a few recipes to come up with this one.

As for the compote- just a couple of ingredients simmered in a pan for 10 minutes turn into something magical. If you’re a long-time reader you’ll know how much I like to use dates in desserts. I love their caramel flavour and natural sweetness.

You don’t even need an ice-cream maker for this ice-cream! I learnt a nifty technique (see below) from blogger and cookbook author Ricki Heller– a life-changer for sure! This recipe is minimally adapted from the “Chai Ice-Cream” in her wonderful new book, Naturally Sweet and Gluten-Free.

Date & Orange Compote:

1C (lightly packed)Dates, pitted and chopped
Juice of 1 Orange
Zest of 1/2 Orange
1T Lemon Juice
1/2C Water

Combine all ingredients in a small pan and simmer over medium-low heat until thickened and dates have broken down (10-15 minutes). Set aside to cool.

Cinnamon Ice Cream:

1/2C Cashews
1C Canned Coconut Milk (full-fat)
1C Non-dairy milk
1 Medium Banana
1/4C Agave Nectar
10 Drops of Stevia, or to taste (optional)
1T Cinnamon
Pinch of Salt

If using an ice-cream maker, set it up according to the manufacturer’s directions. Otherwise, set 6-8 silicone muffin cups, or 3 silicone ice-cube trays.

Add all ingredients to a high-power blender and blend until completely smooth. Divide the mixture evenly among the muffin cups or ice-cube trays until firm; pop out of the cups or trays and into Ziploc bags. Store in the freezer until ready to use.

When ready to make the ice cream, remove 1 muffin-sized disk or 4 ice cubes per serving. Chop the muffin disk into pieces. Place in the food processor and process until it resembles breadcrumbs. Press down with a rubber spatula, then continue to process just until the mixture begins to come together in a ball. Use an ice-cream scoop, as usual, to serve.

Vegan Crêpes:

1/2C All-Purpose Flour (Preferably Organic, Unbleached)
1t Coconut Sugar
1/8t Salt
1/2C + 2T Non-dairy Milk
1T Melted Coconut Oil
1T Maple Syrup

Sift together flour, sugar and salt in a medium bowl. Add milk, melted coconut oil and maple syrup and whisk to a smooth batter. Refrigerate the bowl for 30mins-1hr (depending on how impatient you are).

Heat a large frying pan over medium-high heat and lightly grease with a little coconut oil. Add a few tablespoons batter to the pan and swirl to coat the bottom. Cook for 1-2 minutes and carefully flip it once it loosens from the pan’s surface (Don’t be disheartened if it doesn’t turn out, my first of a batch is almost always a failure). Cook on the other side for a further minute, or until speckled brown.

Remove to a plate covered with a piece of parchment paper and keep warm in a low-temperature oven until you’ve finished cooking.

Repeat the process with the rest of the batter. You should be able to make 4-6 crêpes, enough for 2 people.

Spread one side of the crêpes with the compote, tuck in a few slices of orange and fold over.

Serve topped with more oranges, another dollop of compote and a scoop of cinnamon ice-cream.

Serves 2 (with plenty of leftover compote and ice-cream)

Are you just jumping in to the Virtual Vegan Potluck? You can go to the very beginning by visiting our lovely host over at Vegan Bloggers Unite.

Visit the dish before mine by clicking the button below:

See what comes after my dish by clicking the button below:

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W is for…

Walnuts!

Amazingly I’ve managed to featured 3 seeds this month- chia, hemp and sunflower, but no nuts, despite the fact that I eat them everyday in some form or another.  I’m changing that today and talking about walnuts!

I tend to use them mostly in in cakes and muffins- they’re vital in carrot cake in my opinion and I love both banana bread and oaty-raisin cookies including walnuts in the mix. They’re rich in healthy omega-3 fatty acids and their oily nature means they’re excellent in raw desserts too. My favourite raw brownies have a walnut and date base.

On the savoury front, walnuts are beautiful in crunchy, tangy salads, and the pear, walnut combination is well-known. As well as pairing them with sweet and tangy foods, they go well with similarly earthy flavours like lentils and mushrooms. This Lentil-Walnut Salad is delicious, as is this Walnut-Mushroom-Tempeh Pasta Sauce.

I’m clearly making up for the dearth of sweetness last week since I’ve got another dessert recipe for you! I doubt anyone’s complaining though…This sumptuous bowl is filled with my 10-minute Raw Vegan “Chunky Monkey” Ice Cream.

I imagine all my readers are familiar with Ben & Jerry’s “Chunky Monkey” flavour ice-cream, but in case you’re not, according to the creators themselves it’s “Banana Ice Cream with Fudge Chunks and Walnuts”

Sounds pretty simple, right? Simple it may be but it’s the perfect flavour to me, and was my favourite B&J flavour growing up. (Followed closely by Strawberry Cheesecake…) Not that I actually got to enjoy it too often as, although we almost always had B&J in the freezer (my Dad, in particular, was an ice cream fanatic) Chunky Monkey was hard to come across sadly and so it was extra special when I did have it.

My version is vegan, of course, much healthier, and comes together in just a few minutes. Definitely quicker to make than going out to buy some

I hope you’ve all come across the frozen banana ice-cream trick, if not, that needs to change NOW! All you need is frozen bananas and a food-processor or blender and you’ve got the most amazing sweet, creamy and healthy ice cream. I added a generous handful of buttery, toasted walnuts (store-bought ice cream is always skimpy on the add-ins) and homemade raw fudge chunks.  It was far better than I remembered B&J being.

10-minute Raw Vegan “Chunky Monkey” Ice-Cream:

Note: for  completely raw ice cream use raw almond butter, raw cacao and leave walnuts raw

2 Medium-size bananas, sliced and frozen

1/4C Walnuts

Chocolate Fudge Chunks:
1T Almond butter
1t Coconut oil, melted
1t Raw cacao powder OR Cocoa powder
1t Maple syrup
1/8t Vanilla extract
Pinch of salt

Make the fudge first of all as it will need a few minutes to set up. Mix all the ingredients together in a small bowl, pour into a tiny container or spread thickly onto a piece of parchment paper. Place in freezer for 10 minutes, or longer, to set. Remove from freezer and cut into small chunks. Store in the freezer whilst prepping other ingredients as it will melt if at room temperature for long.

If desired, toast walnuts in a pan over medium-heat for approx 5 minutes, stirring frequently, until they begin to darken slightly and smell nutty.

In a food processor blend the sliced banana until smooth, don’t over-process though or it will melt. Fold through walnuts and fudge chunks, reserving a few for topping. Scoop into bowl (s) and serve.

Serves 1-2

PRINT RECIPE HERE

What was/is your favourite Ben & Jerry’s flavour?

Raw Vegan Green Tea Ice Cream

I don’t like the taste of coffee so I drink a lot of herbal teas. I only recently found out that green tea (and chocolate!) contains caffeine. Maybe the little energy kick I get from it is what makes it appeal so much to me?

Well, ice cream is definitely a pick me-up, so this green tea variety is sure to give you a boost!

You might have had green tea in bags but not tried matcha powder. Matcha is a type of finely milled green tea grown in the shade and which is traditionally used in the Japanese tea ceremony. It’s this shading process which turns the leaves darker and results in higher levels of caffeine and antioxidants than found in other teas.  The matcha lattes, cakes and smoothies you might have come across aren’t traditional recipes but matcha has a delicious, unique  flavour that’s perfect for desserts.

I used Clearspring Organic Matcha Green Tea Powder for my ice cream, a premium grade variety and smoother and less bitter than others I’ve tried so I highly recommend it. Note that if you use other varieties you might want to add more or less to taste.

A full review of Clearspring Snacks is coming up tomorrow!

I’ve seen various matcha ice cream recipes about but they’re usually either not vegan or high in sugar and so I ruled them out. I’ve also seen matcha banana soft serve which I’m sure is delicious but I wanted mine to be a little richer, and scoop-able! Cashews are a staple in my pantry as they blend up into creamy, dreamy sauces and I decided they’d work well here.

I used frozen bananas for their natural sweetness and a little drizzle of agave and blended them with cashew cream for my thick ice cream base.  A touch of matcha is all you need for the distinctive flavour and pretty shade of green. Finally, a few mint leaves in the mix add a little “somethin’ somethin’” too so if you have them available to you definitely use them.

Look at that pretty green colour!

Raw Vegan Green Tea Ice Cream:

I made this WITHOUT an ice-cream maker and it was still luscious and creamy, although you need to leave it out for 5-10 minutes for it to be scoopable. Using an ice-cream maker would be preferable but mine takes up so much space in the freezer that I rarely use it!

1C Cashews, soaked
3/4C Water or non-dairy milk
4 Bananas, frozen and broken into chunks
5-6 Mint leaves
1T Agave nectar
1 1/2t Matcha (Green Tea) powder
1/4t Xanthan gum OR 1/2T Vodka (stops it being too solid)

Blend cashews and water in a high powered blender until smooth. Blend in frozen bananas. This might take a little time depending on how powerful your blender is, but stop and scrape down the edge several times to get everything incorporated. Add in matcha powder, mint leaves and agave and blend again. Finally add xanthan gum or vodka and blend for a final time. Pour into a freezable container (I used a loaf pan) and cover tightly. Freeze for several hours until solid.

Serves 4-6

Have you tried Matcha before? How do you like to use it?

Chocolate-Coated Peanut Butter Banana Pops

Even if I haven’t made ice cream in my ice-cream maker yet this summer, that doesn’t mean I haven’t been enjoying frozen treats. The heat-wave that’s hit England the last few weeks seems finally set to break but that definitely won’t stop me continuing to enjoy these delicious banana pops. I’ve long been freezing bananas with sticks in and eating them as simple frozen pops (or lollies as we usually call them here), but seeing people around and about with decadent chocolate-coated ice creams put me in the mood for something a little more naughty! As these are homemade you can avoid all those nasty added ingredients in store-bought ice cream and feel rather more virtuous about eating them. You could even make these raw using raw almond butter for the filling and making your own raw chocolate with cacao, agave and coconut oil.  Date caramel would also be a great filling if you’re not a big nut butter fan ( although just writing that sounds crazy to me!).

These involve a couple of stages but are super simple to make, and the result is so worth it.

Chocolate-Coated Peanut Butter Banana Pops:

2 Ripe bananas
1/4C Salted peanut butter (or other nut butter)
Optional extras: 1/2 t cinnamon, 1/2t vanilla, 1T raisins- I added all of these and loved the little chewy raisins and sweet cinnamon flavour)
2/3 Dark chocolate chips
1T Coconut oil
4 Ice lolly sticks or wooden skewers

Slice Bananas in half across the middle to get 4 pieces then slice each of the 4 pieces in half lengthwise to get 8 pieces.

If using extras mix them into your peanut butter now. Spread 1/4 of the peanut butter onto the flat side of 4 of the pieces, place the skewer on top and sandwich together with another half banana.  See picture above. Place on a parchment-lined baking tray and freeze until solid.

When ready, melt chocolate chips in a bowl over a bowl of hot water or bain marie and stir in melted coconut oil. The coconut oil makes the chocolate runnier and easier to spread.

Take the bananas out of the freezer at the last minute and spread each one with chocolate. I used a mini spatula to spread it evenly. The chocolate will firm up immediately on the frozen banana so move quickly! When bananas are completely coated place back on the tray and freeze for a short while.

Store wrapped individually in parchment paper or in a sealed container in the freezer.

Makes 4

I’m submitting this recipe to  the weekly blog hops Raw Foods Thursdays and Healthy Vegan Fridays

I’m a huge fan of the peanut butter and banana combination and the thick layer of salted peanut butter and crunchy chocolate coating made for a fabulous summer dessert, especially enjoyed sitting on the grass in the garden.

I’d love to make some fruity lollies but I don’t have a mould unfortunately. Any ideas for making them without?