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Mint Chocolate Chip Cashew Cream Cake {Gluten-free, Vegan and Refined Sugar-free}
Before you jump ahead and read the ingredient list on this cake and get pissed at me for adding a vegetable to your dessert – please, please hear me out and give it a chance! This cake is life changing. It is creamy, thick, rich and so decadent.
I know I tell you guys this all of the time, but the true litmus test to a successful gluten-free dessert or baked good that I create – is the reaction of my husband. As a man that literally can and will eat just about anything, the gluten-free treats that I get so excited for are oftentimes totally unappealing to him. He likes traditional sweets, the sweeter the better – that man most times would prefer a cookie from a tube, than a less than perfect homemade gluten-free cookie fresh from the oven. The same also goes for (and usually more-so) the vegan creations I develop. I can’t blame him though – he literally can eat anything, no food intolerances, no responses or reactions. Just a stomach of steel!
The thing is, when I can create something gluten-free, that isn’t made with refined sugars, that uses an alternative to cream and butter that he actually goes nuts for – nothing makes me happier and that’s how I know I’ve created something amazing. He really loved this one and he cannot stop talking about it, he actually ate a piece for breakfast today. That’s a WIN!!
I’ve been obsessed with cashew cream cakes a while now, I love the versatility and how it appeals to all eaters, vegan or not. The No-Bake Vegan “Cheesecake” I made last summer is something I have made for many of our friends and every single one has always been impressed that the creaminess is all from soaked cashews.
This cashew cream cake has the perfect amount of subtle mint flavor, both from the fresh mint and the mint extract and the chocolate of the crust and the chocolate chips on top compliment it so well. I love serving it with a little whipped coconut cream on top. Plus, rather than the beautiful green color coming from an artificial dye, it comes from some fresh baby spinach! Whether you want to believe it or not, there isn’t a bit of flavor from the baby spinach – just a beautiful, fresh and natural green hue. Read the rest of this entry »
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Pumpkin Pie Power Smoothie & Vega One French Vanilla Nutritional Shake Giveaway
********* The giveaway is now closed! Thank you so much to everyone that entered and congrats to, Chef Amber Shea, our randomly selected winner! *********
(winner was randomly selected using Random.org)I will be emailing you to let you know you have won and to get your mailing address.
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A while back Vega One contacted me and asked if I would like to try their new French Vanilla Vega One Nutritional Shake, I of course obliged, I mean who doesn’t love sampling new (and hopefully yummy) food products? I received two packets and with the first I made it straight-up, as is with just some almond milk and ice in the blender. It was quite good, super thick and creamy and it had a really nice flavor. It definitely had just a little of the chalkiness that we’ve all come to know with these types of products, but it was still very appetizing and satisfying and had a really good flavor.
After making the first one straight-forward, I decided to have fun with the second shake and I made a pumpkin pie smoothie. I enjoyed this even more than the first one I made, that is besides the fact that I spilled a good 3/4 of it when the wind blew over my photo back drop (thankfully that was the only tragedy we experienced in over here Western New York due to Sandy). Check out my Photo Fun Day Friday post where I show a little behind the scenes blooper shot of this smoothie’s ultimate demise.The smoothie was even creamier and it had a fun color to it, the spices and the pumpkin were nicely complimented by creaminess and the smooth french vanilla taste, it kept me full longer than most smoothies I make.
[print_this]Pumpkin Pie Power Smoothie
serves 1 or makes 2 smaller servings
1/2 cup organic coconut milk, the canned kind (full fat or lite)
1 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk
1/2 cup organic pumpkin puree
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground ginger
1 level scoop (or one snack pack) of Vega One French Vanilla Nutritional Shake
sweetener of your choice, if needed – I add a couple of drops of vanilla liquid stevia
small handful of iceAdd all of the ingredients to the blender and process until smooth and creamy.
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Besides being quite tasty, Vega One‘s Nutritional Shakes pack a serious nutritional punch! Here is some more info:
Vega One- All-In-One Nutrition Shake – Use on a daily basis to cover your key nutritional requirements for optimum health.
“Cover your bases”
· Great tasting foundational nutrition to build your day on. All the essentials. All-in-one.
· Contains 10 different supplements including: Protein, Multi-vitamin, Multi-mineral, Essential fatty acids, Digestive enzyme, Probiotics, Antioxidant, Chlorella/greens, Maca.
· 50% of RDI for vitamins/minerals-replaces your multivitamin!
· 15 g protein, 6 g fiber, 1.5 g omega 3
· Dairy, gluten and soy free
· Low Glycemic (19.2)
· No added sugar-sweetened with steviaGood for your body and the planet, Vega One Nutritional Shake is the clean, plant-based choice to fuel your healthy, active lifestyle—without compromise. Made from natural, whole food ingredients, Vega One is a convenient, all-in-one supplement.
Vega One is free from dairy, gluten and soy, and contains no added sugar, artificial flavors, colors or sweeteners.
Some bonus info, I read that Vega One can also be used in recipes to replace a portion of flour for a gluten-free and protein-rich addition to brownies, pancakes and more.
Since, I enjoyed the French Vanilla Vega One Nutritional Shake so much, we are giving away a large 30 oz tub of it to one special winner, so you can enjoy it, too.
The giveaway is just open to US and Canada residents only.
Enter the contest
Please leave a *separate comment* below for each entry!
You can enter up to 4 times1) In order to be entered into the giveaway, please comment below and share your favorite smoothie or shake that you would love to recreate using Vega One French Vanilla Nutritional Shake?
Additional entries will be accepted for the following:
2) Like both the Tasty Yummies and VegaOne pages on Facebook.
Share the post I put up on the Tasty Yummies page to be included in the giveaway then come back and comment here telling me you liked both pages, that you’ve shared my post.3) Tweet about the contest and while you are there follow me on Twitter @herobeth and follow @VegaTeam
You could say something like: “Enter to win a large tub of French Vanilla #VegaOne from @VegaTeam & @herobeth on Tasty Yummies http://wp.me/p23r4t-Jq #plantstrong #vegan”
Make sure you comment here to let me know that you posted about the giveaway.4) Subscribe to the Tasty Yummies RSS feed in your RSS reader or by email
or follow me on Pinterest. Again, make sure to comment here to let me know that you subscribed or follow me.Please note – this giveaway is only open to the US and Canada.
Again, please make sure you leave a *separate comment* below for each entry,
if you don’t comment you will not be entered!The giveaway will be open until the end of the day Monday, November 12.
Winner will be selected at random and announced on Tuesday, November 13. 1 winner will be selected and notified through email and this post. -
Mint Chocolate Chip Smoothie – Gluten-free + Vegan
With the abundance of fresh mint in the yard, I decided I had to find a smoothie to make that would really highlight the mint. And what goes best with fresh mint? OK, that isn’t really a serious question, we all know the answer… it’s chocolate.
I created a quick and very easy mint chocolate chip smoothie that you would swear cannot be good for you, until you hear there is a full 2 cups of baby spinach in there. If Mark hadn’t walked into the kitchen while I was making it, I know I could have totally convinced him it was some type of junk food. But when he tasted it and I asked him what he thought, his reply was “this is so amazing, but I saw you put something green in there, what was it?”. He couldn’t believe that is was baby spinach. There is no weird texture or taste, at all.
The spinach brings a beautiful shade of green to the drink, but besides a serving or two of your daily veggies, it also supplies you with many wonderful benefits like Vitamins K, A and C. Plus spinach is a great natural anti-inflammatory. Additionally, spinach is found to have a new category of health-supportive nutrients called glycoclycerolipids, studies are now showing glycoglycerolipids from spinach can help protect the lining of the digestive tract from damage — especially damage related to unwanted inflammation. Read more about the benefits of spinach here.
This smoothie is creamy with a really nice fresh mint flavor and the little flecks of chocolate are perfect. If you don’t want to blend the chocolate chips in or you don’t want the little bit of sugar from them, instead just blend in a tablespoon or two of good quality unsweetened baking cocoa or even shavings of a good quality unsweetened chocolate. I didn’t have any unsweetened chocolate on hand or I would have went with that.
This would be a great smoothie to serve the kids (or your hubby) to sneak in a ton of veggies.
[print_this]Mint Chocolate Chip Smoothie – Gluten-free + Vegan
serves 1- 1 cup organic unsweetened vanilla almond milk (or other non-dairy milk of your choice)
- 1 frozen organic banana (if it isn’t frozen, just add a bit more ice in at the end)
- 2 cups tightly packed organic baby spinach
- 1/3 cup tightly packed fresh mint leaves
- 1 tablespoon ground chia seeds (optional)
- 2 Medjool dates (or any other sweetener of your choice like maple syrup or maple sugar, honey, liquid stevia, etc)
- 1/4 – 1/3 cup dairy-free, gluten-free mini chocolate chips
- small handful of ice cubes
Add all of the ingredients except the chocolate chips and the ice to your blender and blend until very smooth and creamy, blend for about 3 minutes. Then add in the ice and blend until there are no large chunks, then add the chocolate chips and give it a few pulses to break them up a bit. Serve immediately. Toss a few chocolate chips or some chocolate shavings on top with a sprig of fresh mint, if you wish.
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