Banana Protein Truffles

January 7, 2021

“All that is gold does not glitter; all those who wander are not lost; the old that is strong does not wither; deep roots are not reached by frost.”

— J. R. R. Tolkien

New recipe of the new year and damn, it’s a winner!

I have been on SUCH a snack kick lately, I think that the holidays got the best of me. While balance is basically how I live my life, the past couple of weeks have been more cookies and chocolate, less veggies and hummus, and that is OKAY! That being said, my skin told me to chill a bit with the heaps of nuts, plantain chips and chocolate oranges as did my exhaustion, so I’m listening to both sides of my cravings with this recipe!

As we all know, chocolate anything is my love language, and add in some nut butter? SOLD! Straying away from the overdone protein balls, I wanted to introduce protein TRUFFLES - sounds so fancy doesn’t it?! The texture in these is much softer and less chalky, there’s no protein powder, no almond or coconut flour, nothing that will make you feel as though you need a gallon of water after each bite. Don’t get me wrong, I love a good protein ball, but, I don’t know, they feel very 2018 to me right now, and I’m trying to bring some excitement to 2021!

Mixing (or mash!) in chickpeas to these was a true game changer!! As we know, chickpeas + tahini = hummus (basically), so why not chickpeas + nut butter?! The same smooth texture, the same nonexistent flavor of chickpeas with whatever nut butter you want, some banana, some spice, some chocolate … HELLO to these soft and decadent snacks/desserts/whenever you want them pillows of YUM! I also realized that these can be baked if you want some melted chocolate in there, they can be rolled in crushed peanuts, in unsweetened coconut (seen below), drizzled with chocolate, the list goes on and on! They take about 10 minutes to whip up, if you don’t have a little babe running around, and they aren’t sickeningly sweet, either. The best of every single world!

Will these be a new staple in my snacking diet? Hell yes. Will they become a (hopeful) favorite of Oliver?! You bet! Simple, slightly sweet, packed with protein and healthy fats, unprocessed, homemade snack truffles - what a mouthful. The new year doesn’t exactly mean that things will be back to “normal” any time soon, but it does bring a sense of freshness, in whatever sense you’d like that to mean for yourself, and for me, it’s the excitement of new recipes, new milestones for O, and new oportunities!

ingredients

Banana—1 medium

Chickpeas—1-15.5 oz can

Nut Butter—3 oz, or 1/3 C

Honey—2.5 oz, or ¼ C

Vanilla—1 tsp

Salt—1 tsp

Cinnamon—1 tsp

Oats—3 oz, or ¾ C

Chocolate Chips—4 oz, or ½ C

Coconut—to coat

process

In a food processor or a large bowl, combine the banana, chickpeas, nut butter, honey, vanilla, cinnamon and salt. Blend/mash together.

Add in the oats and chocolate chips, blend until just mixed, making sure that there are still some full pieces of the oats. Great for texture!

Using a small scoop, or your hands, put the scooped truffles onto a baking sheet lined with either parchment paper or a nonstick mat. If using your hands, the size is up to you, but about 2 tablespoons is great!

Once you have finished scooping the truffles, you have a few options: either roll them in coconut, crushed up nuts, a drizzle of chocolate, or you can bake them at 350˚F for about 12 minutes, just enough for the chocolate to melt!

If you are rolling in coconut, etc., afterwards, place in the fridge or freezer to firm up for about 30-60 minutes before storing them in an airtight container in the fridge!

Bon Appétit!

Tahini Caramel Bars

August 2, 2020

“The universe is full of magic things, patiently waiting for our senses to become sharper.”

— Eden Phillpotts

I am welcoming a new love into my life: tahini!

I believe that I only have ONE recipe on here with tahini in it?! How is that possible?! And it’s from almost 4 years ago!! What. The. Heck. Anyways! This tahini caramel is out of this world. Dare I say that I prefer this to just a regular old caramel? I just might…

This exciting mix of being dairy free, baking with whole ingredients that actually taste good, and doing it all with a 6-month-old while also having been unable to really go anywhere since he was born is truly quite an adventure! I can no longer gain inspiration for things by going places, so it’s been far too much screen time and imagination for me to really get ideas for baking, for life, etc., which I both love and then also sort of dislike. I am constantly making lists in my head about places I want our family to travel to once we actually can, telling Oliver how many incredible things we will do once it’s allowed and safe, how fun airplanes are (I also love airports…), all of the food he’s going to get to try! Even just making these lists and going over them with my baby, yes, I have full on adult conversations with him, excites me as I want to truly spoil him with travel and life experiences!

All of this being said, during one of my weekly as-fast-as-possible grocery trips, I picked up some tahini and welcomed it like a long-lost friend. Is it a super unique ingredient? Not so much. Is it an incredible flavor that Oliver will be trying on his foods soon? Absolutely!! He began to try foods with spices on them this week and, let me tell you, cinnamon roasted carrots were a (messy) hit! So, while I sit here every day, or while I’m chasing our quick little 6-month-old around the house, I think of all of the foods Oliver is going to try when we can get out of our few block radius, jump on a plane, get in the car and drive for a few hours, whatever we can do to up his culture. For now, it’s going to start at home, start with this simple jar of tahini!

Thank you for reading my daydream above while I completely just skip over the fact that there’s a recipe below! As we want Oliver to be as enthusiastic about life as possible, having it start with food should be no surprise! This little dude sat with me as I made these, which also means it is fast AF to throw this together!! The shortbread crust? Takes maybe 4 minutes. The caramel? 5 minutes. While that is all setting up and you melt the chocolate: 10-15 minutes. FAST. AF. Aside from the tahini, which is subtle but has a beautiful aftertaste I might add, the star of this is the chocolate. Heck yes, I am talking about the Almond Milk Taza Chocolate (heart eye emoji). IT’S DAIRY FREE YET TASTES LIKE FULL ON MILK CHOCOLATE. What?! How?! It’s incredible. Also with nothing but 6 common ingredients, so dang satisfactory!! I have no words except go get yourself some!

And there we have it. My daily thoughts for you with a quick recipe for some tahini caramel bars attached! Thank you for humoring me, now go scoop up your baby, your dog, yourself, and treat yo’self to some of these incredibly delicious and perfect and smooth bites of heaven!

shortbread ingredients

Almond Flour—9 oz, or 2 C

Salt—1 tsp

Honey—2 TBL

Coconut Oil—3.75 oz, or ½ C

process

In a large bowl, combine almond flour and salt

Melt the honey and coconut oil together

Add this melted mixture to the dry ingredients

Mix until combined, should hold together when pressed

Press into an 8x8” pan, freeze while making the caramel

tahini caramel ingredients

Tahini—3 oz, or ¼ C + 2 TBL

Coconut Sugar—3 oz, or ½ C

Vanilla Extract—2 tsp

Oat Milk—1 oz, or 2 TBL

Cinnamon—½ tsp

process

In a small saucepot, combine the tahini, coconut sugar, vanilla, milk and cinnamon

Allow to simmer for 2-3 minutes

Let cool slightly, and then pour on top of the shortbread

Put back in the freezer for the caramel to firm up

chocolate ingredients

Taza Almond Milk Chocolate—5 oz, or 2 bars

Coconut Oil—1 TBL

process

In a heatproof bowl, combine the chocolate and coconut oil

Melt and mix until homogenous

Pour over the caramel layer, put in the fridge to set

Once set, remove from the pan/dish and cut into desired size and enjoy!

Bon Appétit!

Fried Sweet Tortilla "Cakes"

July 28, 2020

“Sticking with uncertainty, getting the knack of relaxing in the midst of chaos, learning not to panic - this is the spiritual path.”

— Pema Chödrön

Let me just start with saying that with the oh so incredible yet exhausting life with an ever growing and developing 6-month-old, this dessert couldn’t have popped into my mind at a better time! Oliver is truly the most wonderful, perfect little guy, but dang does he know how to wear mama out!

If you haven’t noticed, I’ve been ALL about those quick nap time desserts. I’m no “30 Minute Meals,” but I can whip up a mean dessert in less than an hour, so this sleepy woman is proud of herself! I would say that these sweet fried tortillas are the quickest thing I’ve ever put together, and also probably the most insanely good. Think cinnamon-toast-crunch-plus-caramel-and-whipped-cream. Sound strange? No? I didn’t think so!

This all started when the beautiful Siete Foods family sent me this unreal little care package, full of their grain free chips, their hot sauces, and these babies: TORTILLAS! Of course, I ripped into everything immediately, devouring quite a bit before taking a step back and deciding that I should actually make something with this besides just shoving it all into my mouth. Honestly, they couldn’t have come at a more perfect time! The past couple of weeks have been tiring, I’ve felt kind of deflated, just in a slump. I would say it has a lot to do with the fact that my husband, son, dog and I have been at home since February, unable to really go anywhere, see anyone, and some days I just feel like we will be here forever!

Of course, I know that’s not true and it’s just quarantine brain getting to me, but these feelings are real, y’all.

When this beautiful box arrived on our doorstep, I could have cried tears of joy! It’s the little things, truly. The Siete family is probably one of the sweetest families I have never met, and they relit my creative spark! Their tortillas, let me tell ya, are out. of. this. world. Cassava flour? Almond Meal? Chickpeas?! Like what the heck!! And they don’t taste like all other weird grain free/GF things. I’m certainly a gluten lover, but I will never turn down something as satisfying as these tortillas! Our freezer is now stocked, thank you very much!!

All of that being said, I didn’t want to take away from their flavor, texture, goodness, but also I wanted to spice them up a bit with just a few little additions. My husband kept saying “just make a tortilla cake!” To that, I had no idea what he meant but then these were born! Fried them up a bit in coconut oil, coated in my all-time childhood favorite of cinnamon + sugar (and some cayenne this time!), then covered in some whipped coconut cream + DF caramel sauce. Huge thank you to Wild Friends Foods for introducing me to their almond cashew butter *drool* Is this a tortilla cake? Maybe? Sure? I guess my husband gave me some inspiration! And is this something you will need to create whenever we can have dinner parties again? ABSOLUTELY!! It’s a little messy, a lot sweet, and one of the best nap-time desserts/snacks out there!

nut butter caramel ingredients

Almond Butter, Wild Friends Foods is my preferred—4.25 oz, or ½ C

Coconut Oil—1.85 oz, or ¼ C

Vanilla Extract—1 tsp

Coconut Sugar—1.5 oz, or ¼ C

Salt—2 tsp

process

Combine all ingredients in a saucepan

Bring to a simmer, and allow to lightly boil for 2-3 minutes

Remove from heat and let cool just slightly before using, it’s hot!

cinnamon sugar ingredients

Cinnamon—1 TBL

Cayenne Pepper—1 tsp

Coconut Sugar—2.25 oz, or ¼ C + 2 TBL

process

Combine altogether in small bowl!

coconut milk whipped cream ingredients

Coconut Milk, full fat—1 can

Vanilla Extract—1 tsp

process

Put your coconut milk in the refrigerator for 12-24 hours in order for the fat to firm up

When you are ready to make the whipped cream, take the coconut milk out of the fridge and spoon out the top, which is the firm fat of the coconut milk

Place this in your mixer and whip on medium-high until it begins to thicken

Slowly drizzle in the vanilla extract

Turn off the mixer when it has become thick and fluffy

frying tortillas

In a small skillet (I love a good cast iron one!), heat a tablespoon of coconut oil

Once melted and shimmering, put in one of your tortilla. Siete Foods tortillas are AMAZING! They are grain free, but don’t use any funky ingredients to substitute that out—instead, it’s foods like almonds, cassava, chickpea, cashew, and chia! The flavor is certainly NOT sacrificed!!

Fry on each side for about 20-30 seconds

Allow excess oil to drip off of the tortilla, then transfer to either a plate or cutting board and sprinkle both sides with the cinnamon sugar mix

Do this with the remaining tortillas! I used 4 for this recipe!

assembly

Take one of your fried and spiced tortillas, place a large dollop of the coco whipped cream on top, drizzle with your caramel, top with another of the tortillas

Continue to do this until you’ve used up all of the fried tortillas!

This is definitely the easiest yet most delicious recipe I have made!! You can add as much or as little of the toppings as you want and makes for such a satisfactory afternoon snack or evening dessert! The toppings keep SO well, so you can make a larger batch of them and just fry up the tortillas “to order!”

Bon Appétit!

Zucchini Banana Cakes

July 16, 2020

“Obstacles do not block the path. They are the path.”

— Zen Proverb

Can we just start by saying that I forgot how much I LOVE adding things like zucchini, banana, and the like to my baked goods?! They are like an instant moist maker (if you know, you know) and I couldn’t be happier! With this recipe, I wanted to see if I could go eggless, just as a fun little challenge for myself—and I was not prepared to fall in love with these little cuties as much as I did!

To me, zucchini cakes and breads are such a summer staple, as zucchinis are truly thriving and, even during this time, they can be found in abundance at the grocery store. At our local shop, they are front and center in the produce section, so naturally, I grabbed way too many of them for our weekly consumption! Then I was like seriously, Katie?! Why haven’t you baked with zucchini yet this season?! And these little bites were born! To go even a step further, I threw in a banana (#quarantinebananabread), subbed the butter for coconut oil (a true obsession of mine), used some coconut sugar (if you haven’t tried this yes, DO IT! Your life will be changed), and, the pièce de résistance, TAZA CHOCOLATE!!

What do I love about Taza?! Uhm well for starters it’s dairy free. Yes, so your girl can eat it with a happy tummy! And there are truly just a handful of ingredients, no added sugar, no added anything, it’s such a nice bean to bar company and I am living for it!! The dark chocolate I used in these babies is unreal! The perfect combination of just a bit bitter with just a bit sweet, so you aren’t having any sugar spikes in these mini cakes! For the glaze? Oh, I went for it and used their coconut chocolate bar. It is so. dang. divine!! We all know your girl loves chocolate, so when I got a big box of both their traditional and nut milk bars, I was on cloud 9!

Anyways, let me come down a bit here! Let’s just end this little bit by saying that 1. They are the perfect size, so popping in a few of these at a time is truly encouraged; 2. My husband loves them—and when he likes something, it makes me even happier!! Mainly so I’m not the only one eating them; 3. These are SO great for summer! Easy to whip up, simple ingredients, take only 15 minutes to bake, what more could you ask for?!

As a lover of all things chocolate and then adding in fresh produce into something as well, I’m SUCH a happy camper—and trust me, you will be too once you stop reading my ramble and get to baking!!

ingredients

Coconut Oil—3.75 oz, or ½ C

Coconut Sugar—3 oz or 2/3 C

Banana—1 medium

Vanilla Extract—1 tsp

Flour—5.5 oz, or 1 C

Baking Powder—¾ tsp

Baking Soda—½ tsp

Salt—½ tsp

Cinnamon—1 tsp

Zucchini, grated—4.75 oz, or 1 C

Oat Milk—1.5 oz, or 3 TBL

Chocolate, chopped—1 bar (2.5 oz)

Coconut Oil—1 TBL

process

Preheat your oven to 350˚F.

In a bowl, combine softened coconut oil and coconut sugar, mix until homogenous.

Fold in the mashed banana and vanilla extract.

In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon.

Gently alternate folding in this mixture and the milk into the banana mixture.

Fold in the grated zucchini and chocolate.

Spray either a mini bundt pan or cupcake pan with nonstick spray.

Scoop this batter until it is ¾ way up the sides of each cup.

Bake for 7 minutes, rotate, then 7 more minutes.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely on a cooling rack.

To make the glaze, melt together another TAZA chocolate bar with 1 TBL of coconut oil.

Dip each mini cake into the melted chocolate, allow to set before storing.

These keep wonderfully in the refrigerator, while still very moist due to both the banana and zucchini!

Bon Appétit!

Frozen Berry Slice

July 6, 2020

“Pour yourself into each moment. By immersing ourselves in a song, we become part of the music.”

— Tamara Levitt

Guess what, y’all? It’s SUMMERTIME. And guess what that means?! ICE CREAM! Also, guess what this gal can’t have? Ice cream… You’ve heard me preach about my dairy free life (eye roll!), but I still try to get in a sneaky bite of it if my husband ever brings home a Ben & Jerry’s pint, heavily regretting it later. Anyways—I have made quite the dairy free and vegan ice cream slice for you today! It’s so refreshing. so magical. so necessary!

What is even MORE exciting is the chocolate hazelnut base! I’ve partnered up with Wild Friends Foods to make this kick ass chocolate hazelnut cookie-like raw crust. But who am I kidding, I consume Wild Friends nut butters so often, it’s not like this jar wouldn’t have been in our cupboard anyways! What do I love so dang much about their spreads?! They’re no BS, that’s what. They aren’t loaded with refined sugars and oils, just good old whole ingredients. I mean, take this chocolate hazelnut spread, for example. It has got some hazelnuts, some cocoa, a bit of sugar, and boom. THAT’S IT! It’s so simple, which makes for baking with, and consuming by the spoonful, so dang easy!

Okay, so let me get back to this recipe! I love nothing more in the heat than some fruit, some popsicles, anything that will allow me to cool off from the 90+ degrees and the 100%+ humidity that is Atlanta in the summertime. I’ve been consuming popsicles like NO OTHER for my late-night snack, yet still craving some ice cream, so that’s where this berry slice comes in. It’s got fruit, it’s got chocolate, it’s got that popsicle/ice cream feel—woof, this baby is perfect! It is truly sweetened by the fruit, nothing crazy added, which is alllll that we need these days!

Does this go over my one-nap time limit? Sure! But that’s really inactive time, if you will. At this point, Oliver loves chilling in his highchair, playing with all of the toys, so he’s totally content doing that while I quickly whip this baby up and throw it in the freezer to set! Did I mention that he has started to eat FOOD!!?? This encourages me to make even more things with whole ingredients so he can join me! Sure, we are in the single food per week, all mashed up phase, but soon he can get his own piece of this frozen berry slice!! *Instant smile*

Enough rambling about my FIVE-month-old baby’s eating habits, get yourself started on this thing so you can have a slice by afternoon snack time!!