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Orange Matcha Smoothie
As someone who rarely drinks coffee, I do love the occasional morning pick-me-up. Enter matcha! Matcha is finely ground green tea, that comes in the form of a powder. Matcha’s benefits far outweigh your typical mug of steamy green tea, as you are ingesting the whole leaf, not just water brewed from it. When it comes to nutritional value and antioxidants, I have read that just one serving of matcha is equivalent to 10 servings of regular green tea! Matcha boasts a very long list of benefits, including increased energy levels, boosting memory, it’s also been known to help to burn calories and detoxify the body. Additionally, matcha has also been shown to improve cholesterol and fortify the immune system, with a long list of vitamins and antioxidants show to have antibiotic properties know to promote overall health.
Not only do I enjoy matcha as I do any traditional hot teas, simply with boiled water poured over (whisked to make a frothy hot beverage), I especially enjoy it in a latte, with steamy coconut and/or almond milk. However, adding matcha to my morning green smoothies has quickly become my favorite ways to find a boost of energy for the day!
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Paleo Chocolate Cake with Dark Chocolate Ganache Frosting {gluten-free, dairy-free}
This Paleo Chocolate Cake with Dark Chocolate Ganache Frosting requires no strange or hard to find flours or starches, its simple to make, rich, decadent and most people would never believe it’s totally gluten-free and grain-free!
I feel like it’s alarming and shocking whenever I share a dessert recipe here on Tasty Yummies. I do it so infrequently. In the nearly 5 years I have had this blog, you have probably heard me say more than a dozen times, that I have never really cared much about baking and I don’t get super excited about sweets. But, this month (January 2017) marks the 10 year anniversary of me going gluten-free, so this is certainly something to celebrate and what better way than a super epic Grain-free Chocolate Cake with Dark Chocolate Ganache Frosting. With nearly 5 years of gluten-free recipes here on Tasty Yummies, it’s time we have a good special occasion cake up in here!
I know to some of you, celebrating the complete removal of some of your favorite foods from your diet, forever – wouldn’t likely be something you would get excited enough to bake a cake for, but for me it is! Before my diagnosis, I spent so many years with silly health issues, an unhappy gut, unexplained migraines and many sicknesses. Discovering my gluten intolerance is something I am forever grateful for and I never regret seeking out the answers that led me to such a huge lifestyle change, nor do I ever wish that it hadn’t happened to me. It truly has been a blessing disguised as a curse. It has made me a stronger person and has led me to look at things in a much different way. Without that discovery and that huge life change, I wouldn’t be who I am today, this site wouldn’t exist and I don’t think my love for cooking would have evolved in the way that it has.
Without knowing where my severe gluten intolerance stemmed from, I simply ate 100% gluten-free upon discovering how gravely it affected me after that month-long cleanse, at the end of January, 10 years ago this week. By the time a doctor finally tested me for celiac disease, I had already been gluten-free for 5 years and it of course came up negative. So for me, an exact reason or diagnosis was never as important as simply knowing my body couldn’t tolerate it and therefore avoiding it at all costs and never looking back, for 10 whole years (and counting)! {You can read more about my journey to living 100% gluten-free, here. Written Aug. 2013}
The irony of this big anniversary for me is that I am currently in the middle of a whole new health exploration, if you can call it that. This past summer I was diagnosed with IgA Nephropathy, a kidney disease. This kidney disease was presenting, what I thought, were little to no symptoms and I only discovered that I had it, by a routine life insurance physical in the spring of 2013. After being declined life insurance due to high levels of protein in my urine, as well as blood, I had to get myself health insurance so I could begin the journey to discovering what was causing it. After over a year, many tests and several doctors, finally a kidney biopsy this past summer confirmed that I had an autoimmune kidney disease called IgA Nephropathy.
In speaking with several doctors and doing some research, I have learned that it is very common for there to be a crossover with celiac patients and IgA patients. So, I suppose it is even more possible than I once thought, that I do actually have celiac disease.
After finding a nephrologist and getting a second opinion from another, I started by protecting my kidneys in the short term and I began taking several pharmaceutical drugs as prescribed. These drugs immediately set off a slew of new symptoms and seemed to tip the scales of balance in my body in epic ways. Two weeks ago I had my first appointment with my new naturopath, to not only treat my kidney disease but to also help me heal some other health related issues I’ve been dealing with over the past few months. Unhappy digestion, strange skin rashes and acne, low B12, allergies & sinus issues, etc. At our first appointment we discussed the probability that I am likely dealing with leaky gut and candida and we started with a small amount of supplements and herbs to start healing my gut and balancing things out a bit, so we can begin to get to the root of what might be causing all of these issues.
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Vegan Eggnog
This time of year I feel like as much as I am craving holiday flavors and traditional recipes, I am also looking to keep things as simple as possible and I really look to and work hard to stay on track with my eating. No reason to throw everything I work so hard for all year long, right out the door for a month of terrible choices. Between holiday parties and gatherings, events, my yoga teacher training coming to an end, mass amount of holiday orders from our websites, gift shopping and everything else, time is of the essence right now. There hasn’t been much extra time to bake cookies or to make homemade everything, like I always try to. When I was approached by Silk about their new Cashewmilk, I was super excited at the opportunity to try it and report back to you guys.
We all know that I am the queen of homemade nut milks, but I am always on the lookout for store-bought alternatives, both for myself when life gets busy, but also for those of you that don’t have the desire or time to make homemade nut milks. For me, the important things I look for look for are brands whose nut milk products are certified non-GMO, certified gluten-free, are minimally processed, free of artificial flavors and preservatives and don’t contain carrageenan. I also prefer unsweetened nut milks, so I can control the amount and type of sugar used.
Silk’s new Cashewmilk is a really great alternative to both homemade nut milks and if you are looking to make the switch, it is a great substitution for regular dairy milk, with 50% more calcium than dairy milk with only 25 calories per serving (25% less than skim milk)*. It’s so irresistibly creamy and delicious, it’s great over cereal, in your favorite recipes or just on it’s own. The moment I poured the first glass and saw just how thick and luscious it was, I immediately was inspired to recreate my favorite classic holiday drink, eggnog.
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99 More Gluten-free Thanksgiving Recipes
After the popularity of last year’s 99 Gluten-Free Thanksgiving Recipes post and hearing from so many of you how much it helped to have a long list of recipes to choose from for your holiday feasts, I knew I had to follow it up with another post this year. So without further ado, here are 99 MORE gluten-free thanksgiving recipes!
99 MORE Gluten-free Thanksgiving Recipes
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Watermelon Hibiscus Lime Cooler
Having an organic farmer that shows up at your door every Wednesday afternoon with the freshest, yummiest and most in-season foods is literally a dream come true for this girl.
It’s like my own personal Food Network show where I am given a box of random ingredients and I have to create something delicious with them. I guess the only difference is, I don’t also have to use random canned weirdness, fish body parts or other strange things no one has ever heard of.
Basically, it just means I get to play with my food and I get to be creative with different delicious treats, each week. It really is so fun.
Lately, we’ve been getting all kinds of amazing fruit in our boxes and most excitingly we have been getting these big beautiful watermelons that are seriously the tastiest things I have ever had. So sweet, so juicy and just so perfect for these hot sunny days we’ve been having.
I created these non-alcoholic Watermelon Hibiscus Coolers simply because at one point we had more watermelon than we knew what to do with. They are soo refreshing, so perfectly sweet and aromatic and a beautifully impressive, refreshing treat when you have guests. I served these at the little Memorial Day BBQ we hosted here at our place. Some was even served as margaritas (recipe below) with silver tequila and a little extra fresh lime juice.
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Carrot Cake Smoothie {Gluten-free and Vegan}
After moving out here to California, from New York last year, the list of things that we love about living out here just continues to grow and grow. There really isn’t much to complain about when you live less than a mile from the ocean, the sun shines every day and you are living the life you always dreamed of. That said, the one major draw back to being here in California, is being away from family. After living 15 miles or less, away from my family my entire life, being roughly 2,500 miles away from them this past year has been the only thing I don’t love about being in California.
This is something that bothers me most of the time, but for obvious reasons with the holidays it is the hardest. Even the smaller holidays, like memorial day or labor day. Because I know if we were living at home in New York, no matter what we had going on, we would all take a break from our busy lives to get together at my parents house for an entire day, brunch in the morning, cocktails and snacks in the afternoon, playing with the kids and of course, a huge dinner. Since living in California, Mark and I haven’t gone home for any of the holidays and we have done out best to make the most out of them together. Both Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years were full days, planned with friends and majorly delicious meals and we made brand new traditions and memories. Walking barefoot on the beach on Christmas day, definitely didn’t suck. That said, both last year and now likely this year too, we didn’t plan a thing for Easter. It kinda crept up on us.Easter isn’t a big holiday for my family, by any means, but we would always get together with the family, the kids would have some sort of easter egg hunt, we would often times have brunch with the extended family and then we would have a traditional dinner or ham or something similar back at my parents house.
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Grain-Free Strawberry Basil Goat Cheese Tart {w/ Vegan option}
You guys know that it’s quite rare you’ll find a recipe on my site with dairy these days, after I cut dairy out of my diet two years ago – due to some digestive yuckiness. However, over the last 6 months or so, I have been enjoying, in moderation, small amounts of sheep milk and goat milk cheeses – as they always do OK for me and my sensitive gut. Both seem much easier on my little emo tummy so I have just been going with it and seeing how I react. I am all about listening to your own body, realizing we are all very different and that there is no single diet for everyone! I personally don’t believe in forcing labels and titles onto my diet (outside of the necessary gluten-free, one) and I find that when I eat intuitively and pay attention to my body’s cues, it really is easy to know what works for me and what doesn’t and this can change from day-to-day. Realizing all of this has been quite freeing, actually.
This Grain-Free Strawberry Basil Goat Cheese Tart is very simple to make and it is obviously great as a dessert, but it would also be a wonderful addition to a fancy schmancy brunch menu. The tart crust is totally grain-free and so simple to make. After that, no more need for the oven and you can just throw this together and be ready to serve it up in no time. Oh, and I have to say – god bless the people of the internet that have the patience to arrange strawberry slices, one-by-one, in a perfectly symmetrical pattern across the top of a tart or cake. You know the ones. We all want to be them/secretly despise their incredible attention to detail. Well, if you couldn’t tell from the photos,that’s not me. I am a dump and serve kinda gal, it all tastes the same anyhow, right? Read the rest of this entry »
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Paleo German Chocolate Bundt Cake {Grain and gluten-free, Dairy-free}
Around Christmas a good friend of mine, Margaux, contacted me to ask if I had any good gluten-free cake recipes for her newly gluten-free sister-in-law, Mandy. I realized that I had really never experimented with a full-on cake recipe in all the years of me being gluten-free. How is it possible that in 9 years of eating gluten-free I had never made a chocolate cake? Shame on me, right? This has to be considered sacrilegious.
Cake is something I have never really cared about too much about, most times I find cake to be far too indulgent for my taste. Too sweet and just too much for me. I much prefer a small square of great quality dark chocolate or maybe one good homemade gluten-free chocolate chip cookie. My husband, Mark, however is quite the opposite. That man could live on a slice a cake every single day, that is if I wouldn’t nag him to death even before the excessive sugar would get to him. If there is but a single slice of cake in our house, no matter the flavor, it will haunt him until he finally gives in and indulges. Cake for breakfast is a common occurrence ’round here. Considering there was a time he used to drink several Cokes in one day, and he has stopped that and many other bad habits, I have chosen to pick my battles with this kind of stuff. A little cake in the morning never killed anyone.
When MightyNest contacted me to ask if I wanted to try out their amazing glass bundt cake pan, creating a new gluten-free recipe with it – I was slightly hesitant and a bit intimidated. Not only had it been forever since I made a cake, I have never made a bundt cake. I know, right? Read the rest of this entry »
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Snickerdoodle Smoothie {Gluten-free and Vegan}
I am not above having cookies for breakfast, I may have done that a time or two. But, generally I prefer smoothies in the mornings. They are so quick to put together and the variations on flavors and add-ins are really endless. So, why not combine the two and make a smoothie inspired by a cookie? This Snickerdoodle Smoothie is everything!
Up the street from my house is a smoothie/juice shop that is pretty amazing and so convenient. Meg and I love taking walks there to grab a couple smoothies and to catch up since we saw each other last. Most of the time, I have instant guilt when I spend $7 – $10 on a smoothie that I could easily make myself at home, but it’s a great convenience for when I don’t have the desire to or when I want something a little different.
In early February the smoothie shop featured a Snickerdoodle Smoothie that I had to try and I instantly both fell in love and also realized that I should be making something similar at home. My version is made with different ingredients, but that same flavor is there. Theirs included Maca which I can’t seem to consume at all and I think they may have also added hemp seeds to it, I honestly can’t recall what was in there. I decided to simplify it to what I had on hand and what I like best. I am just gonna go ahead and say it, mine is way better! There!
To me, the best part of this smoothie is the flavor and texture from the rolled oats, not something I usually put in my smoothies (since I prefer to limit my grains whenever possible) but a really nice addition. The oats really brings the cookie flavor to life, the texture makes it different from other smoothies and it ends up being a bit more substantial.
Of course the spices are what really bring the Snickerdoodle flavor to life. I put a lot of cinnamon in this smoothie, both for the flavor and all of the amazing benefits.
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12 Gluten-free Chocolate Recipes
With Valentine’s Day being just a week away, I have had chocolate on the brain! So, I thought I would share some of my very favorite gluten-free chocolate recipes that would make just about anyone swoon this Valentine’s Day.
What’s your favorite way to enjoy chocolate?
This post is part of my restricted diet series from the Free People Blog BLDG 25.
Dark chocolate Almond Butter Mini Cups (vegan)
Joyful Almond Coconut Bites (vegan)
Dark Chocolate Red Wine Truffles (vegan)
Grain-Free Salted Chocolate Tart (vegan)
Dark Chocolate Bark with Pistachios, Dried Bing Cherries and Grey Sea Salt (vegan)
Frozen Chocolate Covered Bananas (vegan)
Head over to the Free People Blog BLDG 25 to get the other 6 recipes.
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Grain-free Spiced Molasses Cookies – Gluten-free & Dairy-free
It has been a very busy few weeks for us, we have had shows every weekend, we have been trying to get our Christmas shopping done as early as possible since we have to ship ALL of our gifts this year. On top of all of this I have had a lot of work to do and I just can’t seem to get it all done. It’s been madness. I am looking forward to Christmas eve when I think all of this craziness will be over and I can truly just enjoy the holidays. My favorite time of year.
We had a bunch of friends over last night for a little Christmas cocktail party thing. Nothing fancy, just some mulled wine, spiked egg nog, a hot cocoa bar and lots of snacks and treats! Sooo much food, as always! Mark ran to the store and bought a big tray of various gluten-filled Christmas cookies for everyone else, but I wanted to make a fun holiday-inspired cookie that both me and my friend Debbie (who is new to eating gluten-free) could enjoy! Read the rest of this entry »
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Cranberry Kale Smoothie {Gluten-free, Vegan and Sugar-free}
Most of the time, as of late, I am struggling to believe it’s mid-November. Sure the calendar says so, there are lots of holiday decorations at the stores, I even saw the pictures from the first snow my family and friends got earlier in the week in NY. But, being my first year here in Southern California – the excessive sunshine and warmer temperatures are making it really hard for me to believe we are just a few weeks out from Thanksgiving. I have been a tad concerned that it would be hard to get into the holidays this year, with this new drastic change in lifestyle and scenery.
On my run to the beach yesterday morning, I passed by a home with a huge tree with beautifully vibrant leaves, falling so haphazardly all over their yard. The tree was more bare than not. I was mid-run and had a really great stride going, but I had to stop and take it all in. Snap a photo or two. It’s the little things in life, this like, that I may have once took for granted, that can now literally stop me dead in my tracks, leaving me with an immense amount of gratitude. I wonder how many people pass that very tree in a day, not realizing just how special it is. It is maybe one of just a few trees like it in our entire neighborhood. Only the second that has caught my attention.
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99 Gluten-free Thanksgiving Recipes
For even MORE gluten-free Thanksgiving recipes, be sure to check out the follow-up post to this
99 MORE Gluten-free Thanksgiving Recipes.Thanksgiving is a time to reflect on our gratitude. To take time to appreciate all that we have. This month I have been participating in a 21-Day Gratitude Meditation Series. Each morning I wake up and I dedicate a set amount of time before I start my day, to reflect on the gratitude I have for my life and those that are a part of it. It has been a wonderful journey and I don’t let a day pass by that I don’t recognize what a gift each and every moment truly is.
OK but let’s be really real and totally honest, Thanksgiving is also ALL about FOOD! Delicious, yummy, satisfying, comforting food! Rather than share a bunch of new recipes throughout this month, I thought I would take some time to pull together some of my all-time favorite Thanksgiving recipes, from here on TY and from some of my favorite bloggers. Some I have made before, some are on my menu for this year and some on my fantasy menu (if only I could have a skilled team of chefs to help me prepare an 11-course meal)!
Here is a list of some great gluten-free Thanksgiving recipes, sure to please everyone at your celebration. There is a little bit on something for all. Some of the traditional classics you’ve come to know at your holiday feasts, some lightened up and extra healthy dishes. Some covered in cheese, some are literally just vegetables. Whatever your preferences are, I do hope that this list of Gluten-free recipes will help you plan your best Thanksgiving, yet!
Whether you are gluten-free yourself, or hosting a guest who is gluten-free this Thanksgiving, check out my tips on entertaining – How to be an Accommodating Host and a Gracious Guest. And please, if this is your first holiday season gluten-free, be sure to check out my Quick Guide to Gluten-Free, so you can be mindful and aware of all the unsuspecting places gluten could be hiding.
And now the good stuff – I’ve got 99 Recipes and Gluten Ain’t One. (sorry had to)
99 Gluten-free Thanksgiving Recipes
Dietary Legend
ALL of the below recipes are gluten-free! Some are vegan, some paleo, some dairy-free, etc.
Use this key to easily select the recipes that will work for you:V – Vegan
Veg – Vegetarian
P – Paleo
DF – Dairy-free
NF – Nut-free
SF – Sugar-free*
RSF – Refined Sugar-free*
* So it wasn’t repetitive and redundant, I only used these on the recipes where you could expect to find sugar or sweeteners. Read the rest of this entry »
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Vegan Pumpkin Spice Almond Butter Fudge (Gluten-Free)
Phew this has been a busy couple of weeks here on Tasty Yummies. I hope you guys have enjoying all of the new stuff and I am not overwhelming you with pumpkin already. I have obviously been inspired by the start of the new season!
I love coming up with fun new ways to enjoy pumpkin this time of year. Who wants to get stuck in a pumpkin rut? Not me! There are plenty of muffins, cookies, smoothies, lattes, etc – so a simple no-cook pumpkin almond butter fudge recipe seemed like a fun new way to enjoy pumpkin.
This sweet treat is super simple to make, grain-free, refined sugar-free (depending on the chocolate you use on top), vegan, etc. If you can’t have nuts, consider trying sunflower seed butter in place of the almond butter. Read the rest of this entry »
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Salted Dark Chocolate Nut Bites
A true test of how much I love one of the many cookbooks in my collection, is how messy and “used” the book appears. If there are oil stains, melted chocolate fingerprints, bookmarked pages, etc – you know it’s one of my favorites. I haven’t had Kelly from The Spunky Coconut’s new cookbook in my collection for even a month yet and it already has quite a few of those things. If you pulled it off my shelf right now, you’d swear I have had it over a year. It looks that used, already.
The Paleo Chocolate Lover’s Cookbook features 80 gluten-free treats for breakfast and dessert and it will have you drooling just a few pages in. I know you guys know this already, but I don’t go crazy over all sweets and baked goods. I am just not wired that way. But, if you were to set something in front of me that has been dipped in some melted high-quality dark chocolate, it almost doesn’t matter what it is. I will eat every last bit of it. I don’t need heavy rich desserts, I rarely crave sugary, sweetness, but when I do – just a little something chocolatey usually does the trick for me. Sometimes just a small square of cold dark chocolate is all I need. Satisfying and comforting.
Making healthy, gluten-free chocolate treats that aren’t loaded with refined sugars and grains is just so gratifying and you can still enjoy the rich goodness without the guilt. I am so excited to now have a healthy chocolate “bible” of sorts, to refer to for the perfect chocolate treats whenever I want. An entire book filled with recipes, every single one safe for me and my way of eating. There are breakfast options, cakes, cookies, pies, ice cream, candy and so much more. There is even a section of savory recipes including stews, salads and other dinner-time meals. Besides all of the recipe goodness, Kelly explains some basic tips on getting started with a Paleo lifestyle, going in depth about specific ingredients and techniques. Plus she shares the science, history and ethics of chocolate and some of her favorite brands of store-bought chocolate. It is an incredibly comprehensive book about one of the most yummy topics you can think of! Read the rest of this entry »
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Pumpkin Chai Smoothie {Gluten-free, Vegan & Refined Sugar-free}
It isn’t even October yet and already I have consumed several pounds of pumpkin! I seriously want to put pumpkin on and in everything right now. Probably my most favorite way to enjoy pumpkin is in smoothies. I like to get creative and play around with adding in different things, sometimes I add in spinach or maybe some protein powder, other times I like to just play around with different spices. With this smoothie I altered the spice mix a bit to mimic the lovely spice combinations in a good chai tea. One of my favorite flavor profiles. The beauty of this smoothie is that you can add in more of the spices you like (or others not listed) or take away any of the spices you don’t care for. You can truly make it your own. Read the rest of this entry »
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Grain-Free & Vegan Apple Cobbler In A Jar
Even if you were unaware of the dropping temps and earlier sunsets, given all the pumpkin and apple recipes floating around online right now, it’d be hard not to notice that fall is on its way! I just love fall and all of the yummy comforting food that comes along with it. Spiced apple anything is a pretty surefire way to get me into an autumnal mood! The smell wafting through the house while anything apple-spiced bakes is probably one of the best smells in the whole entire world. These single-serve grain-free vegan apple cobblers in-a-jar are so simple to make, and they are a lovely healthy alternative to the usually heavy-on-the-butter and grain-containing original. Plus, these are great for those of us with restricted diets.
If you follow a paleo diet, I think just swapping the maple syrup out for honey should make these more paleo friendly. If you can’t have nuts, try using sunflower seed flour in place of the almond flour. If you like butter and you aren’t vegan, swap out the coconut oil with some good local grass-fed butter.
One bite of these amazing little treats will have you in the fall state of mind, as quick as can be! What’s your favorite fall food?
This recipe was originally shared on the Free People Blog BLDG 25.
[print_this]Grain-Free & Vegan Apple Cobbler In A Jar
makes 2 servings
Apple Filling:
- 2 large apples, peeled and diced small
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 3 teaspoons arrowroot starch (or other starch, corn, tapioca, potato, etc.)
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons maple syrup or honey
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
Cobbler Topping:
- 3/4 cup blanched almond flour (I use Honeyville brand)
- 3 tablespoons arrowroot starch (or other starch, corn, tapioca, potato, etc)
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 tablespoon ground flaxseed
- 1 tablespoon maple syrup (or honey)
- 1 tablespoon melted coconut oil or butter
- 2 tablespoons warm water
- dash of salt
- additional coconut oil for greasing jars
- coconut sugar or regular sugar for the top, plus additional cinnamon
Preheat oven to 375ºF
Lightly grease two half pint-sized jars with coconut oil*
In a medium mixing bowl, mix all of the cobbler topping ingredients together. Make sure all of the ingredients are incorporated very well. Get your hands in there, if need be.
Form the dough into two equal sized balls using your hands and wrap tightly in plastic wrap. Place it into the fridge while you prep the apples.
Once the apples are peeled, core them and cut them into small thin slices or small cubes, place them in a bowl and add the remaining filling ingredients.
Take the dough out of the fridge — it should be a bit firmer now — and roll it out between two pieces of parchment paper or plastic wrap. Don’t press too hard, just enough to flatten it out into circles the size of the jars (it helps to use the lid).
Carefully cover the apple filling with the cobbler dough, cut a small slit in the middle and sprinkle a little cinnamon and sugar (of your choice) on top.
Place the jars on a baking sheet and bake for approximately 20 minutes. The topping should be browned and the filling should be bubbling. Serve warm and, if you’d like, add some dairy-free ice cream or whipped coconut cream to the top.
*I used two 12-ounce sized jars but there was a little bit of extra room — that’s just the size of jars that I happen to have. If you use a half-pint sized jar they should be nice and jam packed with apples! [/print_this]
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Fig, Vanilla Bean and Cardamom Infused Vodka (Gluten-free, Vegan & Sugar-free)
It’s been a while since I have shared a cocktail recipe here on Tasty Yummies. These days I am only really drinking at home when we have people over for dinner or something of that nature, but with this fig tree in our yard, I have been forced to get super creative with all of these figs we are getting.
I even came up with a hashtag #gettingfiggywitit on Instagram, for all my fun fig adventures. Besides all of this yumminess, I have been freezing them for use in smoothies later and I have dehydrated some to also use later and some are getting mailed to my parents. If you can believe it, our tree is still going strong. We are going to have figs for quite some time.
This Fig, Vanilla Bean and Cardamom Infused Vodka is so simple to make, within a week you’ll be making cocktails that will blow your friends away! If you aren’t big on cocktails and the fuss of mixing, this vodka is so good you can enjoy it as is on the rocks or as a simple martini (see the recipe below). Read the rest of this entry »
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Fresh Fig & Banana Smoothie (Gluten-Free, Vegan & Sugar-free)
With the excessive amount of figs we are getting from our tree, I am trying to get very creative with all the different ways I can use them. I think making a fig smoothie might just be the best idea I have some up with yet, to enjoy them. A great way to enjoy a few fresh from the tree now while they are in season and it will be a really nice way to use some of the figs I froze whole, later, after the season is long gone and over. This smoothie is creamy and so perfectly sweet, without needing any sweetener at all. You could add some spices like cinnamon or cardamom if you wish, but I really wanted to fully enjoy the delicious but mild fig flavor.
What are some of your favorite ways to enjoy figs?
This recipe originally appeared on the Free People blog BLDG 25.
Fresh Fig & Banana Smoothie (Gluten-Free, Vegan & Sugar-free)
Print Pin RateServings: 1 -2 servingsIngredients
- 3-4 fresh figs, washed and stems removed the halved (I used black mission)*
- 1 frozen banana
- 1 ½ cups unsweetened almond milk, or other non-dairy milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon ground flaxseeds, optional
- Handful of ice
Instructions
- Add all of the ingredients to your blender, blend until smooth and creamy. Serve immediately!
- *This recipe works great with frozen fresh figs as well.
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Kale Banana-Berry Smoothie – Gluten-free, Vegan + Refined Sugar-free
I think I might be a smoothie nerd. I find myself craving smoothies at random times, I find myself dreaming of new smoothie concoctions while strolling through the farmers market or grocery store. Sometimes in a conversation someone will mention a particular type of produce and I find myself wondering if it could work in my smoothie the next morning. I keep a large bag of already peeled bananas in my freezer, so I always have a frozen banana ready and waiting for me to pop into a smoothie. I may have a problem!
One of my favorite ways to create new smoothie flavors is to just look at what I happen to have on hand, whether from my CSA box or leftover from another recipe and I just go to town. This recipe came out of not knowing what to do with a small amount of kale leftover from our CSA box and some blueberries I had bought to make another recipe. I thought they would be perfect together and although the resulting color is definitely an interesting hue, the flavor is nothing short of delicious. Read the rest of this entry »
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Creamy Chocolate (Avocado) Fudgesicles – Gluten-free, Vegan + Refined Sugar-Free
I told you guys I am on a major homemade popsicle kick lately. I have seriously been thinking of popsicle flavors at the most random times. The idea for these came to me when I threw together a quick batch of my avocado chocolate mousse the other day. As I was eating it, I was thinking how simple it was to make and how it could make the perfect rich and creamy fudgesicle. I tweaked the recipe a bit to make it work for freezing and I also decided to use some beautiful organic dates, I got from our farm share this week for sweetening. If you don’t have dates or want to skip them, just add a bit more sweetener to taste. I used a great local raw honey that I had in the pantry, if you wish for these to be vegan you can go with maple syrup, coconut nectar or you could try just using dates, too.
There is one thing I can tell you for sure about this recipe, you will have a really hard time not wanting to just eat ALL of the pudding/popsicle mix as you are filling the molds. It is so sinfully good. Feel free to make less popsicles and eat this as is, as a pudding. It is incredible and it is addicting, you will want to make it all the time.
