raw fruit crisp (vegan, no sugar)
(Printable version of this recipe are near the end of the post. This post contains affiliate links which help fund this blog but at no cost to you.) Last week, I shared one of my favorite go to recipes: raw granola. This week, I’m sharing one of my favorite ways to eat it, especially as a snack. When you first “give up” eating certain foods, it can be hard not to lament all the foods you loved to eat B.D.C. (before the diet change). Like traditional fruit crisp. While I’ve never been much of a pie person, I always adored crisp because of the topping. With added sugars (mostly)…
apple cabbage slaw with apple cinnamon dressing (vegan, raw, paleo, gluten free, no added sugar)
In the apple vs. pumpkin debate, I fall in with the apple crowd. What about you? It’s been a great year for apples here in Northeast Ohio…especially the organic red apples we’ve been enjoying from my parent’s neighbors. Which got me brainstorming ideas for a fresh fall apple-based salad… Voila! Apple cabbage slaw with apple cinnamon dressing. I can eat it like candy. My favorite thing? I can’t decide. It’s a toss up its crunchy sweetness (but without any added sugar!) or being the perfect balance to the heavier comfort food dishes because the apple cinnamon dressing is free of heavier oils found in traditional coleslaw. The apple cabbage…
6-ingredient chocolate earth truffles (vegan, gluten free, sugar free, raw option)
As promised yesterday, here is an Earth Day-inspired recipe that is simple to make and a way to satisfy the sweet tooth without any added sugar (unless you want to add a little). I came across this recipe at the Whole Foods Market recipe site, but made it over so that it didn’t contain sugar. I always love when I find recipes that are easily sweetened by fruit…recipes that leave you feeling good about what you ate instead of weighed down and sluggish. You might want to double this recipe if you have children or are bringing this to share because they don’t stay on the plate for very long.…
date night: eating raw @ The Root Cafe (a review)
Cleveland, and Lakewood in particular, has a seriously under-rated food scene. If you live in Northeast Ohio, you’ll know what I mean. If you’ve never been here…well, you are missing out my friend, though I suspect many people will discover this hidden treasure in July during the RNC. Last night my husband and I were treated to a three-course raw foods meal at one of our favorite local hang outs…The Root Cafe. I love The Root’s commitment to locally sourced, organic ingredients for it’s vegan and vegetarian menu and that the atmosphere reflects our community. It is quintessentially Lakewood. And I’m not alone in my opinion…this past Tuesday, The Root…
chocolate mousse cake (vegan, sugar free, gluten free, paleo)
I’m not really sure if “cake” is the right work to describe this dessert. Pie doesn’t really fit either, although this does have a crust. But after doing some research to see if there was a more fitting name for this confection and turning up nada, I’m running with cake. Food people, if I’ve missed named this dessert, please let me know. I’m all ears. Ever since radically reducing my sugar intake a couple of years (and more on this to come next week), I’ve tried to stick to desserts that use mostly fruit to sweeten them. After seeing similar concoction around the Web, I knew I had to try…
Leng’s salad (vegan, gluten-free, peanut free option)
As promised, here’s the post I promised which features one of my favorite sauces that pairs well with many dishes. Although the National Day of Peanut Butter may have passed, peanut butter lovers know that any day is a good day to enjoy this nutty legume. (For those with allergies and non-peanut butter lovers, you can sub in almond butter). I call this recipe Leng’s Salad in honor of a woman our family got to know a couple of years ago. She and her family were refugees we had the privilege mentoring for a short time. While they’ve since moved away, every time I make this salad, I think of…
throw back thursday go to snack // ants on a log
Grow up in North America and peanut butter is almost synonymous with childhood. Except, perhaps, if you are severely allergic to it. Perhaps it is not surprising then that one of the snack I fondly remember my mum making for us as children is the classically simple, “Ants on a Log.” The genius of combining these three ingredients harkens back to the 1950s (I couldn’t help looking up its history) and I am forever grateful. As I shared here, my husband looked forward to coaching little league from the time our children were babies. Me? I looked forward to the day they were p.b. + celery ready so I could…
naturally salty sweet peanut butter banana jumblelaya (vegan, nut-free/raw option)
Sometimes, I think the best recipes are those that are cobbled together…a little of this, a little of that, nothing measured. Just a few favorite ingredients in a bowl, in a cup, on a plate. Snacking especially lends itself to improv eating. Although my go to snack often is enough to satisfy, sometimes, I’m looking for something a little bit more… This snack is by no means intended to approximate the traditional Cajun jambalaya in the rice-veggies-meat sense, but it does mimic the dish’s mish mash approach to pulling ingredients together. Peanut butter + banana have long been a favorite of mine. (In my white-bread eating days, it was especially…
oven-baked sweet potato chips + guacamole (vegan, oil-free)
I grew up in a home where we ate quite a variety of foods, especially fruits and vegetables. But somehow the avocado eluded us. And guacamole? The first time I tried it I was in my late twenties. It was love-at-first-bite. But chips, guac’s side kick, are rather low on the healthy eating spectrum, sprouted, organic, GMO-free or not. And despite their salty, crunchy tastiness, I’ve been looking beyond the vegan label to examine what I’m actually putting into my body. Because eating a plant-based diet doesn’t necessarily = a healthy diet. So when I want a healthier compadre for my guacamole, I round up some sweet potatoes and put…
oh-lay early spring salad
It’s funny how much we talk about the weather, at least around these parts. Perhaps it’s because we’re all in it together, this waiting for spring to be spring. I check weather updates repeatedly as if somehow my multiple visits per day to our local weather station’s website will translate to warmer temperatures in the forecast. Even now my fingers are itching to check it once again. The calendar says it’s spring, but the temperatures seem reluctant to leave winter behind. I need to remind myself as I remind my children that it is the Lord who controls the weather and, thankfully, He is not bound by a calendar. At…
