Fried Sweet Tortilla "Cakes"

Sticking with uncertainty, getting the knack of relaxing in the midst of chaos, learning not to panic - this is the spiritual path.
— Pema Chödrön
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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!

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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

Obstacles do not block the path. They are the path.
— Zen Proverb
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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!!

 

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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)

 

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

Pour yourself into each moment. By immersing ourselves in a song, we become part of the music.
— Tamara Levitt
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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!!

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chocolate hazelnut base ingredients

Coconut Flour—5 oz, or 1 ¼ C

Cocoa Powder—1 oz, or 1/3 C

Shredded Coconut—0.75 oz, or 1/3 C

Coconut Oil—2 TBL

Wild Friends Hazelnut Spread—6 oz, or ½ C + 1 TBL

 

process

In your food processor or blender, combine all ingredients and pulse until combined

This mixture should be wet enough that it holds together when pinched, otherwise add in a TBL more of the Wild Friends Hazelnut Spread

Press into a tart pan or an 8”x8” baking dish

Set aside in the fridge until ready to use

 

berry filling ingredients

Cashews, soaked for 4 hours—9.5 oz, or 2 C

Berries—10-11 oz, 2 C

Vanilla Extract—1 tsp

Coconut Oil, melted—2 oz, or ¼ C

Coconut Cream—4 oz, or ½ C

Honey—2 tsp

 

process

In a blender, combine all ingredients

Blend until becomes homogenous

This is quite thick, so don’t feel as if you need to add more liquid! Just continue to scrape and blend until all combined

Pour this filling evenly into your prepared tart pan

Put in freezer for at least 2 hours prior to serving

Slice and serve with fresh fruit and more Wild Friends Hazelnut Spread (trust me!!)

Note: if you allow this to sit at room temperature for about 20 minutes before serving, the texture is perfect!

 

Bon Appétit!

Nut Butter Cookie Dough Bites

It is not joy that makes us grateful; it is gratitude that makes us joyful.
— David Steindl-Rast
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Good Morning! Happy Weekend!

I will be totally transparent here: this recipe was an ALMOST fail that turned into a BIG win! I had this brilliant idea of making these yummy raw cookie dough bars with a coffee filled crust, but somehow it just did. not. work. I made the “crust,” if you will, a few times, and truly loved it! Coffee, cocoa, almond butter, dates, oh my it was truly lovely! And then, once I layered the following cookie dough recipe on top of it, it just fell flat to me! So, as I sat eating this cookie dough, being totally bummed out, I realized that THIS was the recipe I had to share!! An egg-free (well actually vegan and raw…) nut butter cookie dough!

Is it good as a snack on its own? Yep. Is it ideal for a late-night dessert? Duh. IS IT A PERFECT SMOOTHIE TOPPER?!? Oh, hell yes. That’s when I knew that I had created something so beautiful and delicious: when I threw a bunch of these on top of my morning green smoothie and the flavors were so in sync—wow totally in a dream world with that thought…

I’m truly loving these nap time sweet treats! Even though Oliver can just about sit up on his own in his highchair, I don’t want to spend hours with him just sitting there watching me throw ingredients in a bowl and mutter to myself just yet! But, let me tell you, once this boy can eat and can understand what I’m doing in the kitchen, he will totally be plopped there while I not-so-gracefully run around trying to cook/bake something new (him trying everything, of course!). ANYWHO! The failed first recipe took me probably about an hour. And then, my sad-girl turned ecstatic-girl dough recipe only took half the amount of time! Boom. Another one. Do people still quote DJ Khalid? Is that so 2016?

Overall, we can say that I am pretty dang jazzed. I love putting granola on top of my smoothies but doesn’t everyone?! So, let’s really get wild here in 2020 and put COOKIE DOUGH on them things. Like, SAFE cookie dough. I eat as much eggy cookie dough as the next person, but I suppose I should be slightly more careful now with our little dude (even though he will totally get sneaky bites of it!). I would even argue that this cookie dough is relatively healthy! There ain’t much in these bites, and a nice chocolate chip in the morning on top of a beautifully greens filled smoothie is truly what we all need these days!

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ingredients

Nut butter—9.5 oz, or 1 C

Coconut Sugar—8 oz, or 1 ½ C

Vanilla Extract—1 tsp

Milk—4 oz, or ½ C

Coconut Flour—8 oz, or 1 C

Salt—1 tsp

Maca Powder (optional)—2 tsp

Chocolate Chips—7 oz, or 1 C

 

process

In the bowl of your mixer, cream together the nut butter and sugar until smooth.

Add in the vanilla extract and milk, mix until combined.

In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, salt and maca powder.

Slowly pour this into the mixer, making sure to scrape down the sides.

Add in chocolate chips.

Spread cookie dough out evenly onto a baking sheet or a dish so that it is easier to cut into chunks once it has firmed in the fridge.

Allow to sit in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.

Once the dough has firmed up, cut it into small chunks/cubes.

Store in a sealed container in the refrigerator.

This is great as a healthy treat, to top on your smoothies, ice cream, etc.!

 

Bon Appétit!

Raw Chocolate Coconut Slice

Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself. You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here. And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.
— Max Ehrmann

Raw. Vegan. Gluten Free. Chocolate. Slice.

I am like that bad partner who comes and goes as they please, throws a lot of nice stuff your way, then leaves again. I’m hoping that y’all will keep coming back for more, but maybe you won’t. Let’s hope I can shape up and be that girlfriend you love and miss so much!

Okay, now that you know how I’m feeling and that I’m truly working on this relationship, let’s get into it. Happy New Year! 2019! Yeah! Funny thing about me—I have this weird tick when it comes to numbers. Volume on the radio has to be at certain numbers, same with the tv. If I’m running, I can’t just stop my Garmin on any number, there are specific ones I like…so yes, I’ll keep going if I’m not comfortable with the number. Same goes with times of doing things, and here we are at 2019. NINETEEN is not a number I love. Nope, don’t love 1, don’t love 9, certainly am not a fan of 1-9! I like 20, but eh that 19 really is messing with me.

That being said, I think this year is going to be gooooddd. That self care has already started to kick in, mentally and physically I’m stronger, I’m quite a bit less stressed than usual (don’t get me wrong, I am still a stressed out lil lady, but we’re improving!), and I’m even finding my work to be chill sometimes. Like enjoying it. Minus the fact that Atlanta is now cold (eye roll) for the next month, I am oh so content! Did I mention that my rough and tough New England body can’t even handle the chilly mornings that are below 35˚?! I’ve turned soft.

This has turned silly and not even a life update, not even a recipe talk, just a cool ol’ Kitkat ramble!

Okay. This recipe.

I worked on it for a MINUTE. Like, woof, over a month on this bad boy and I love it so much. The whole dairy free life has really sparked creativity in me. Also, just the fact that I now am more in tune with my digestion, I know what to eat and avoid, how to eat certain things to make my tummy less gurgly, too. Listen. To. Your. Body. Yeah, Sarah’s Day reference, get at me!

The base of this raw/vegan/gf slice is dreamy. I would just snack on it alone. OH! Idea! Let’s make it into a granola-type next time. Taking note now.The blend of nuts and seeds with a touch of sweetness from the dates, mmmm yes. And a hint of peppermint, really just calms and soothes you. Oh, and cacao powder. Toasted coconut. Duh. What a lovely match!

Next is the MOOSE. Mousse. You can’t even taste the bananas. Blew my mind when I threw this together! I wanted a creamy, smooth, luxurious mousse, and ya girl has come out on top! It’s so smooth. Like body butter smooth. YUM. And to me, it’s a spoonful of health! Or like…healthier. And sprinkle the top with basically a blizzard of toasted coconut, you got yourself a ZERT!

Here you have it, my first pride and joy of 2019. Tummy ache free, delicious, has the goods, has the seeds, has the cacao, has the oils, has it ALL! It’s also been slowly enjoyed by my roommate and I this week… so I’d say the number 19 isn’t all that bad if it’s going to start like this!

base ingredients

Almonds—5 oz, or ¾ C

Pepitas—2 TBL

Dates—4

Toasted Coconut—1 oz, or 2/3 C

Chia Seeds—1 TBL

Maca powder—1 tsp

Flax Meal—1 TBL

Vanilla Powder—1 tsp

Pink Sea Salt—1 tsp

Cacao Powder—2 TBL

Coconut Oil—1.5 oz, or 3 TBL

Peppermint Extract—¼ tsp

 

process

Combine all of the ingredients in your blender or food processor and pulse until all ground and combined.

If you are having a tough time, add in a Tablespoon of coconut milk.

Press this into the bottom of a tart pan. You can also use a pie dish, cake pan, whatever you have that works best! The tart pan is nice because you can remove the sides.

Put in the freezer while you prep the mousse.

 

mousse ingredients

Banana—2

Coconut Milk—2 TBL

Coconut Oil—2 TBL

Cacao Powder—1.75 oz, or ½ C

Peppermint Extract—¾ tsp

Dark Chocolate—2 oz

Toasted Coconut—1 oz, or 2/3 C

 

process

In the same blender or food processor (don’t even think to clean it!), combine all of the ingredients except the toasted coconut.

Pulse until nice and smooth. You may add a splash more coconut milk if needed!

Spread this evenly over the base.

Cover with the remainder of the toasted coconut and freeze.

You may also put this in the fridge, but I prefer the ‘icebox’ bar better.

When ready to eat, remove from the freezer, slice a nice thick piece and enjoy!

 

Bon Appétit!