cookies

Vegan Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

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These vegan oatmeal chocolate chip cookies taste as good as they look!!  Parent and kid approved, they are a great mid day snack to treat your taste buds and fuel your body right.

INGREDIENTS:

  • 1 cup gluten free oats
  • 1/4 cup maple syrup
  • 1 cup almond flour
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • Pinch of salt
  • 1 tsp of vanilla extract
  • 2 tbsp melted coconut oil
  • 2 tbsp cashew butter
  • 1 tbsp flaxseed
  • Handful of vegan chocolate chips

DIRECTIONS:

  1. Mix wet ingredients first and then add in dry ingredients
  2. Add in the chocolate chips
  3. Freeze dough for 10 minutes
  4. Roll dough into balls and flatten with hands
  5. Bake 350 for 10 minutes
  6. ENJOY!!

Looking for more vegan snacking idea’s?  Click here for my Gluten free Vegan Fat Bombs!

Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

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These thick and chewy chocolate chip cookies are sure to make any mouth water! Not only are they easy to make, they’re also a healthier than other cookies.

INGREDIENTS:

-1 cup & 2 tbsp of almond flour
-2 tbsp coconut flour
-1 organic egg
-1/4 cup raw honey
-1/4 cup avocado oil
-1 tsp vanilla
-1/2 tsp pink salt
-1/4 cup almond milk
-Desired amount of chocolate chips

DIRECTIONS:

1.Mix together egg, honey, avocado oil, vanilla, salt, and almond milk
2.Add almond and coconut flour mix. MIX WELL.
3. Add in chocolate chips
4.Place in fridge for 20 minutes
5. Form into balls with avocado oiled hands. Press flat
6. Bake at 350 for 11-13 minutes. Let cool. Cookies will look slightly “doughy”

Lastly enjoy every single satisfying bite of these thick and chewy chocolate chip cookies!

VEGAN COOKIES & CREAM BARS

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These cookies & cream bars are gluten free, dairy free, only contains natural sugars and is a healthier alternative to traditional desserts!  I hope you guys enjoy this fun and tasty recipe, I’m looking forward to feedback! ✨

INGREDIENTS:

Cookies Bottom Layer:

-1 cup pecans
-1 cup almonds
-1/2 cup cacao powder
-1/2 cup sulphur free coconut flakes
-1/4 cup organic 100% maple syrup (optional: if you want for more sweetness, I didn’t use it for this recipe)
-4 dates
-1/4 tsp sea salt

Cream Layer:

-1/2 cup soaked raw soaked cashews
-1 cup coconut butter
-1/3 cup coconut milk
–Optional to add a date or 1/4 cup of 100% organic maple syrup depending on what you like.  For my top layer I didn’t add anything
-1/2 bar of giddyyoyo dark chocolate

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. In a food processor or blender, process pecans and almonds until they are in fine little pieces. Mix together all other bottom layer ingredients until everything is mixed evenly.

2. Use a baking sheet to line a glass dish. Pat mixture in the dish and place in the freezer for 1 hour.

3. For the cream, process cashews, coconut butter, and coconut milk until creamy. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix.

4. Place cream on top of the base cookies layer and add your crushed chocolate.

5. Place back into the freezer and wait 1 hour until serving.

And then as always, ENJOY!!  If you liked this recipe, click here for my Paleo Friendly Chocolate Coconut Bars.

The Most Decadent and Healthy Dessert You Can Make for Mom this Weekend

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Decadent Healthy Dessert Mothers Day

It is common to end the meal with a rich, chocolatey dessert, or fudge, cookies or brownies.

This decadent and healthy raw vegan cheesecake will absolutely change the way you think about healthy desserts.

You don’t need to have processed sugar, gluten, flour, milk, eggs or fake frosting to make a dessert taste spectacular. Actually, quite the opposite!! When you create a recipe with real food, real ingredients and keep it as raw, organic and natural as possible, the flavours combine to create a magical, decadent dessert that will knock your socks off! And Mom’s too!

Jo’s Raw Vegan Cheesecake Recipe

Ahead of time:

  1. Take frozen blueberries, cherries and strawberries out of the freezer and let thaw separately in small bowls. You can use fresh berries, but when the frozen option thaws, it creates a nice juice that adds to the flavour of the cheesecakes.
  2. Begin soaking 1.5 cups of raw cashews in water

For the Crust:

1 cup packed pitted dates
1 cup raw walnuts

Decadent DessertAdd dates and walnuts to a food processor and chop until small bits remain and it forms into a ball. Pour into a bowl. If too wet, add a few more walnuts, or if too dry, add a few more dates.

Put 12-15 muffin cups into a muffin tin and press the mixture almost 2cm deep into each muffin cup. Set in freezer while creating the next steps.

For the Cheesecake:

1.5 cups raw, soaked cashews (for a few minutes while making the crust)
juice of 1 lemon
1/2 cup of coconut milk (if you can separate the solidified cream from the milk in the can, the thicker consistency is much better) or use coconut cream
1/2 cup real maple syrup (or less to taste)

Decadent DessertAdd all ingredients to high speed blender and blend on high until creamy and smooth. Adjust to taste with a bit more or less maple syrup. Pour into bowl and then spoon on top of the walnut-date crust (that was hardened in the freezer).

For the Topping:

Spoon the defrosted fruit onto the cashew cheesecake and press some of the berries into the cheesecake so they don’t roll off. Add a little juice on top. Use your favourite fruits for the topping – I used blueberries, strawberries and black cherries.

Freeze the muffin trays for an hour or so until the cheesecake is firm. Move to the fridge until you serve. They soften quickly and this is the best time to serve them to your special guests.

Decadent Dessert

Enjoy!

5 Hacks to Upgrade Your Paleo Diet

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5 Hacks to Upgrade Your Paleo DIet

There are so many diet plans that you can choose from to follow, but it really comes down to how your body functions best. You know your body and how you function, and how your body feels after eating certain foods.

That’s not to say that you can proclaim “my body feels best on bread and chips” just because your taste buds like it.

This is a real observation about how your body feels after eating meat, or dairy or starches.

It’s time to listen to your body because it’s easier to hear it when it whispers, than when it has to start shouting.

So if you have listened to your body and chosen to follow a Paleo diet, there are a few ways to make it even better.

But first of all, let’s break the Paleo diet down.

A Paleo diet consists of foods that mimic what our pre-agricultural, hunter-gatherer ancestors may have hunted, gathered or foraged for in the wild. Such as a variety of meats and vegetables and a small amount of fruits and nuts. No grains or processed sugar.

Hacks to Upgrade Your Diet:

1. Buy Organic!

Organic foods that are not treated with pesticides and heavy metal toxins contain more accessible vitamins and minerals that conventionally grown produce. They may cost a bit more, but they are definitely worth it. To learn more about the value of organic, check out our previous blog on The Dirty Dozen and Clean 15 here.

2. What Meat are You Eating?

Think back a few million years. Were there abundant sources or added growth hormones, antibiotics or vaccines added to the animals’ feed? I doubt it. So steer clear now!! Choose organic, grass-fed beef, buffalo, free-range chicken, wild caught salmon, elk, venison, etc.

3. Focus on Veggies

Choose a variety of leafy and cruciferous veggies to go with every meal! That means kale, lettuce, spinach, Bok Choy, Celery, Brocoli, Cauliflower, and Brussels Sprouts. Also add in low-sugar fruit, like raspberries, strawberries, blackberries, blueberries, cranberries and Granny Smith apples. These fruits will not spike your blood sugar. Raw nuts and seeds and avocados are great sources of healthy fats.

4. What else are you eating?

Food marketing companies are very tricky – they can put Paleo on just about anything and get away with it! I don’t think that cookies, bread and chips were available in the wild a million years ago, but somehow they have found their way to the Paleo aisle at the grocer. They tend to have excessive amounts of sugar, sweeteners, preservatives and varying degrees of unhealthy additives but fly off the shelves because they are “Paleo”.

I also don’t think that our ancestors had a deli they strolled up to and ordered salami, pastrami or any other nitrate-filled preserved deli meat. Eat real food!!

5. Mix it Up

Who says you have to be purely Paleo every day? Agricultural developments and transportation advancements have allowed for nutrient, vitamin and fibre-rich foods to come along. If your body likes legumes as they are significantly lighter to digest than meat, give it legumes! Or if you like freshly squeezed orange juice in the morning, have at it! Listen to your body and hear what it has to say.