Tag: Recipe

• Enjoy Life: Dark Chocolate Morsels

  Posted at 8:29 AM by Brittany, on February 6, 2014

  When Enjoy Life Foods messaged me and asked if I’d like to try and review their new dark chocolate morsels I didn’t have to think twice. This is the sixth product review I’ve done for ELF, and just like everything else I’ve tried, these morsels are delicious.

  

  I had to try them by the handful because, well…because I had to.

  

  Once I knew they were rich and decadent on their own, I wanted to try them in a tried and true recipe. SO, I made my coffee energy bites that I am obsessed with and added 1/2 cup of these chocolate morsels for an extra special treat. They were delicious.

  

  I promise these are the last photos of coffee energy bites you’ll see for a while. I think…

  Next, I wanted to make a chocolate treat that started as brownies, then turned to muffins, and then turned to breakfast pucks. The texture and density changed throughout the baking process so much that I couldn’t call these a brownie or a muffin. They are gluten free, dairy free, and almost sugar free (the only sugar in these are from the chocolate morsels, giving each chocolate puck about 2.5G of sugar.) Boy oh boy were they tasty.

  Don’t let the word breakfast fool you, these are rich and pair perfectly with a scoop of ice cream for a decadent dessert. Otherwise, the flax seed, coconut oil, and nutrient packed GF flour make these an acceptable breakfast bite on the go.

  Dark Chocolate Breakfast Pucks

  

  • 1/2 cup coconut oil
  • 1/2 cup xylitol
  • 2 large flax eggs (2 tbsp flaxseed + 6 Tbsp water)
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 3/4 tsp baking powder
  • 1/4 tsp sea salt
  • 1/2 cup cocoa powder
  • 3/4 cup all purpose GF flour
  • 1/3 cup Enjoy Life dark chocolate morsels

  

  1. Preheat oven to 350F and spray 7-8 standard-sized muffin tins with cooking spray.
  2. Prepare flax eggs in a small bowl and let rest for 5 minutes.
  3. Melt coconut oil on the stove. Then stir in the flax egg, xylitol, vanilla, baking powder, salt and cocoa powder. Lastly, add the flour, then the chocolate morsels.
  4. Scoop batter evenly into 7-8 muffin tins until 3/4 full, and bake for 22-26 minutes, or until the breakfast pucks start to pull away from the sides and they spring back to the touch. Be careful not to overcook or they will get crumbly. Remove from oven and let rest in the tin for 5 minutes before removing to cool completely on a plate or rack.

  

  I love the visible flakes of flax seed in these. I use a flax and ancient grain GF flour mix that is a 1 for 1 swap, meaning I don’t have to use my brain while baking. The ingredients in the flour alone are enough to set your day up for success! I found this amazing flour at Costco!

  

  

  I tend to be a terrible judge when it comes to my baked goods, and can be a bit harsh on myself, but I shared these with my coworker and she loved them. I will eat just about anything, but have high expectations for my treats, so it was nice to know they passed the civilian (non limited eaters) test! While these tasted fine alone, I enjoyed them with a scoop of the cookie dough ice cream I had from my waffle creation. I had to finish it off somehow!

  Q: Are you too harsh on yourself when judging the food you make? Guilty!

  

  | 54 Comments Tagged Chocolate, Enjoy Life, Recipe, Review, Vegan

• 10 Minute Fudge Pie

  Posted at 8:14 AM by Brittany, on December 27, 2013

  With a need for dessert and drool in my mouth, I needed a recipe that wouldn’t add weight to my south. High in protein and all made from scratch, a pie from the heavens would soon be my match. A secret ingredient that was sure to fool all, a fudge like texture to make your knees buckle and fall. Sinful, and decadent, and well worth the wait, Christmas dinner was good, but dessert was like fate. 

  The last two and a half weeks I didn’t eat any sugary cookies, candy, or cakes. As crazy as that sounds it wasn’t all that hard, and it was more than worth it for the decadent pie I made for Christmas dessert. This was the easiest pie I have ever made…ever.

  I had so much success with my pumpkin pie I knew it was time to try something similar, but with chocolate. This pie is so rich you won’t need more than one slice! Not only does this pie not need to be baked (nope, not even the crust) it literally took me around 10 minutes to throw together once I had all my ingredients set up! Talk about a perfect last minute dessert idea!! NO one will know you didn’t slave for hours with this beauty. My favorite part – FIVE ingredients, and 36G of protein! Have your pie AND eat it too!

  10 Minute Fudge Pie

  

  • 12.5 oz sprouted tofu
  • 2 tsp cocoa powder
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 2 tablespoons almond milk
  • pinch of salt
  • 1 2/3 cups semisweet chocolate chips (to tone down the richness, use 1 1/3 C)

  

  Mix your tofu, cocoa powder, vanilla, milk, and salt in a blender or food processor. Once mixed, pour into a large bowl. Melt your chocolate chips in a heat safe bowl on the stove, or in a microwave. Once chips are melted pour into the bowl with your other mixed ingredients and fold together until well combined.

  Once well combined pour out onto your pie crust. I’m a crust lover, and I made a graham cracker crust that was even easier than the pie filling! I used an entire box of GF graham crackers, which was a total of 8oz. You can do the math for that…

  

  These are what I used.

  Graham Cracker Crust (GF)

  

  • 8oz graham crackers
  • 3 tblsp almond milk

  Blend your graham crackers in a blender or food processor until powder like. Then add your milk and blend until combined. Once combined, pour into your pie dish and push the crust out onto the sides, make sure you push firmly. This is ready to use immediately.

  Once your fudge pie is poured onto your crust stick the pie into the fridge for at least 4 hours. The longer it stays in the fridge, the firmer it will be.

  

  I barely had enough patience to take these photos, hence the lack of quality. Pie before pictures this time! This pie was so durable, a hefty slice made it all the way to Arizona with me! I was able to share this with my family in the desert. I hope everyone had a lovely Christmas, and if you don’t celebrate I hope you had a wonderful Wednesday. My house was full of love and joy, and of course GREAT food!

  Q: Who wants to face plant into this pie with me?

  

  | 60 Comments Tagged Chocolate, Christmas, Pie, Recipe

• Surviving the Holidays

  Posted at 4:43 AM by Brittany, on December 20, 2013

  It’s no secret that many people gain weight during the holidays. I don’t have any spare weight I can afford to gain, so my secret to staying in my pants this holiday season is simple- high protein meals and high intensity workouts. I’ve also cut out sweets, but that’s a personal preference and I am not at all against eating sweets..balance is bliss remember?

  This week was my holiday work party, and it was potluck style. Being a vegan, I know ahead of time there aren’t many options for me at parties like this. It just so happens I don’t enjoy eating food made by other people very often, so it all works out! I brought a dish that allowed me to survive the night without looking twice at the cookies.

  Quintessential Quinoa

  

  • 2 cups quinoa (one red, one tan)
  • 2.5 tablespoons olive oil
  • 2 tablespoons fresh orange juice (AKA straight from the orange)
  • 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
  • 1 tablespoon lemon/orange zest (half of each)
  • 1/3 cup green onions
  • 1 cup pistachios
  • 1/2 cup crasins
  • 1/2 cup chopped mint
  • 1/2 cup chopped parsley

  Cook your quinoa as directed on your packaging. Once your quinoa is cooked and cooled add the ingredients in the order listed. Starting with the liquids, and ending with the herbs. DO NOT add the pistachios until you are ready to serve though, this keeps them crunchy and fresh tasting. Hence the cup full of nuts on the side.

  

  I featured this recipe on my blog many moons ago, but it’s so good I had to bring it back for its own post. This is a light, refreshing, but filling dish welcome at any party! I had to have some before I left my house, being full helps deter my sweet beast from rising.

  

  Delicious alone, or paired with a bowl full of beans and greens!

  

  The party was filled with laughs and I had a wonderful time. We did a secret Santa exchange and you’ll never guess what I was gifted…my secret Santa did gooooood.

  

  Q: How do you survive the holiday temptations, or do eat whatever you want around the holidays?

  

  | 38 Comments Tagged Recipe, Vegan

• Virtual Vegan Potluck: Cake That Can’t be Beet

  Posted at 12:01 AM by Brittany, on November 16, 2013

  I’ve been bringing my desserts to the Virtual Vegan Potluck for over a year now. This bi-annual tradition is becoming something I look forward to. You would think I would want to bring a dish other than dessert, but it’s now my own tradition to share my sweets with the world. In May 2012 I brought Oreo covered brownies, November 2012 I brought chocolate chip cookie dough bites, and this past May I brought some classic chocolate cupcakes. Chocolate, chocolate, and MORE chocolate.

  When I discovered there was a secret ingredient us bloggers were being challenged to use in our dish, I was immediately sold. Initially I was going to attempt something with chocolate, but I decided to deviate from that and go with something more fitting for the fall holidays. Something with apples, something with cinnamon, something with..beets?

  Apple Cinnamon Beet Cake w/a Classic Cinnamon Glaze 

  

  For the cake:

  • 1 1/4 cup whole wheat flour
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1/2 cup Earth Balance Vegan Butter (softened)
  • 1 1/4 cup raw sugar
  • 1 cup homemade (or store bought) applesauce
  • 1 cup of beet/apple puree (recipe below)
  • 1 vanilla extract
  • 1 tsp cinnamon

  For the beet apple puree: chop one large beet and one large (cored) apple into small cubes and place into a sauce pan with enough water to cover. Top with a lid and bring to a boil. Simmer the cubes until the beets are soft and easily poked with a fork (about 20minutes.) Once softened, drain the water and puree the apples and beets in a food processor or a blender. I used my blender. Cool to room temperature before adding to cake batter. Drink the remaining puree, it’s delicious.

  

  For the cake: Preheat your oven to 350F. Grease an 8 in pan and set aside. In a medium bowl, mix your flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt until well combined. In a separate larger bowl, use an electric mixer to combine your butter with your sugar until fluffy. Pour in your applesauce, vanilla, and beet puree and continue to mix. The mixture will look a bit curdled, but that is OK. Gradually pour in the flour mixture and continue to mix until the batter is smooth. Pour batter into your pan and bake for 50-60 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.

  

  For the glaze:

  • 1-2 tblsp almond milk
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 1 cup powdered sugar

  In a small bowl pour one tblsp milk and combine your cinnamon and half your sugar. Whisk together and then add the remaining sugar. The glaze will be a bit thick, so add a bit more milk as needed or for desired consistency.

  

  A few notes: I used 1 cup of whole wheat flour and 1/4 cup of cake flower because that’s what I had on deck. If I were to make this again I would use chia eggs instead of applesauce. I thought the extra apple would help the flavor, but it made the cake a bit more moist than I would have liked.

  Despite the mushy texture towards the middle the overall cake was a success. It tasted delicious and you’d never know there was an entire beet mixed in! Besides, once you add ice cream it gets a bit mushy anyway!

  

  To view the desserts before and after mine, click the pictures below. Click here to start at the very beginning of the potluck. Happy eating!

  

  

  Q: Do you like beets as much as I do??

  

  | 69 Comments Tagged Cake, Recipe, Vegan, Virtual Vegan Potluck

• ‘Tis the Season

  Posted at 5:26 AM by Brittany, on October 31, 2013

  Happy Halloween everyone! In spirit of today’s holiday, I have a recipe to prepare you for the NEXT holiday! Too soon? At least I don’t have any Christmas music playing…

  It’s no secret that I love to bake. I also happen to love almost everything I bake, but I have found that my taste buds are accustomed to flavors that some people would call bland. I enjoy the flavor of plain grains and veggies, my meals don’t get extra seasonings, and I am a coffee and tea purist to the max. I don’t add cream or sugar to either.

  

  I’ve been wanting to attempt a gingerbread cookie recipe for a while now, and finally gave it a shot. As per usual I LOVED them, but I wanted to see what the civilians thought (non vegan eaters.) Most people I know are skeptical of my treats before they try them, and I get a total baking high when I introduce my friends to the better side of vegan baking.

  

  I wanted to make all these cookies into maple leaf shapes, but had too much batter and not enough patience, so I made some circular cookies as well. These are perfect for those of you that enjoy a simple cookie that’s not overpowering in the sweet department. I LOVE extra sweet treats, but these mild cookies were delicious. Perfect along side a cup of black coffee.

  Super Soft Gingerbread Cookies

  

  • 2 1/4 cups whole wheat flour
  • 2 tsp ground ginger
  • 1 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp ground cloves
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1 1/2 tsp of a chia or flax egg (I used chia)
  • 1/4 cup coconut oil
  • 1/2 cup Earth Balance vegan butter
  • 3/4 cup xylitol
  • 1/4 cup raw sugar
  • 3 tblsp vanilla almond milk
  • 1/4 cup molasses
  • a couple more pinches of raw sugar

  

  1. Preheat oven to 350F
  2. Combine your flour, spices, salt, baking soda, and chia or flax egg in a medium sized bowl.
  3. In a separate bowl, mix together your xylitol, sugar, coconut oil, and Earth Balance vegan butter. Then mix in the vanilla almond milk and molasses.
  4. Slowly stir in the dry ingredients until mixed
  5. Form into small balls (or shapes), sprinkle the top with sugar, and bake for 8-10 minutes.

  A few notes: I used part xylitol, and part sugar because I wanted to lessen the amount of sugar, but you can use all sugar if you want. I also ran out of coconut oil, so I used part oil and part butter, but you can use all of one or the other. I liked the combo of both.

  

  I had to…because I am 12. It is Halloween after all!

  This was my first time baking with molasses and I have to say I was scared of the smell. Thankfully it tasted nothing like it smelled, and I already have requests to bake a second batch! Oh how I love seasonal baked goods, bring on the eggnog cupcakes!

  Q: Do you like gingerbread cookies?! If you said yes, you must make these.

  

  | 39 Comments Tagged Cookies, Halloween, Recipe, Vegan

• Sharing is Caring

  Posted at 7:43 AM by Brittany, on October 7, 2013

  When I try to explain my blog friendships to my real life friends I feel a bit awkward. It’s hard to explain and I can tell some of my “real life” friends think I am crazy, and that it’s weird to develop such close bonds with people that I have never physically met. The funny thing about it is that I feel closer with some of my blog friends than I do with my real life friends..go figure. One blog friend I did happen to meet was Megan, and I adore her.

  

  Oh look…goodies in the mail from Megan!

  Ohh but there is more.

  

  I absolutely LOVE maple leaves. They are the epitome of fall, and sometimes I even think about getting a maple leaf tattoo. Such a gorgeous leaf. MAPLE LEAF COOKIES HERE I COME! I couldn’t get over how cute the little owls were.

  

  Plus a pumpkin delicious candle for my romantic solo dinners.

  I love sharing goodies with my real life friends, but I SO wish I could share them with my blog babes!! I’m sure I could mail some of the baked goods I create, but I never know if they will hold up during transport. I made a delicious treat that is worthy of sharing with all my blog friends, if only we could have a huge blogger party in my living room! A combination of three delicious elements all in one created this delicious masterpiece. I saw a photo of this on Pinterest, and I just HAD to recreate it myself.

  Chocolate Dipped Cookie Dough Pretzel Bites

  

  For the cookie dough:

  • 3/4 cup brown sugar
  • 1/4 cup melted coconut oil
  • 1/4 tsp. vanilla
  • 1/4 cup almond milk
  • 1 cup flour
  • Pinch salt
  • 1/2 cup chocolate chips

  Mix everything together in a medium sized bowl. I added the dry ingredients together first, and then the wet, but you can add it all in any order. You may need to add a bit more milk also.

  

  Once the dough is complete spoon small scoops onto your pretzels and then smoosh another pretzel on top. Then dip into melted chocolate and place onto wax paper. Place finished sandwiches into the fridge for 20 minutes.

  A few notes:

  • The chocolate chips in the dough got in the way at times when trying to sandwich two pretzels together. You don’t need the chips because you are dipping these into chocolate. Next time I will leave the chocolate chips out.
  • The pretzels will get soggy from the moisture in the cookie dough, so these are best eaten within a few hours of being made. Good treat for a (blogger) party. If making for a small group, half the cookie dough recipe (or use your own dough recipe) because my cookie dough made over 20 pretzel bites.
  • These were do delicious I died and was reborn 7 times while eating them. SO GOOD.

  Chocolate, cookie dough, AND pretzels..that’s what I call a triple threat. The salt from the pretzels added the perfect balance to all the sweet! Go make these, they are easy!

  Q: Are you a fan of the salt/sweet combo? YES YES YES!

  

  | 73 Comments Tagged Bloggers, Chocolate, Recipe

• Brownie Protein Pancakes

  Posted at 8:02 AM by Brittany, on September 10, 2013

  Sometimes when I have a day off from work, I like to make myself a legit breakfast. Yesterday was no exception. Below are some of the best pancakes I have ever created..hands down. I don’t make pancakes often, but when I do I go big. I’ve done classic pancakes, I’ve done pumpkin pancakes (I could eat pumpkin pancakes every day), but this time I wanted something different…something new..something…chocolate.

  Brownie Protein Pancakes

  

  Once I took this first photo, I realized I needed a better presentation plate. The dark pancakes blend in too much with the dark plate.

  Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup vanilla almond milk (and then some more after everything is combined)
  • 1 tblsp olive oil
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 1/4 AND 1/8 cup of whole wheat flour (just go with this, my math skills suck)
  • 1/8 cup vanilla rice protein
  • 1.5 tsp baking powder
  • 1/4 cup cocoa powder
  • 1 tblsp raw sugar
  • pinch of salt

  

  Then once I grabbed a white plate the bananas got “washed out” by the color contrast.

  Directions

  1. Mix milk, oil, and vanilla in a small bowl and set aside.
  2. Mix together the flour, protein, baking powder, cocoa powder, sugar, and salt in a separate bowl until well combined.
  3. Add the liquid mix to the dry mix and stir until well mixed. You will need a bit more milk at this stage because they batter came out a bit thick. Add enough milk to thin the batter a bit.
  4. Scoop mix onto a lightly greased skillet and cook one side until you can easily slide a spatula underneath to flip. Same for the other side.

  

  I was not expecting these pancakes to taste like brownies, but they did. Hence the name brownie pancakes. I thought they would taste like chocolate, but I didn’t realize I would be face planting into a pile of dessert for breakfast. These were amazing.

  

  I’ve always wanted a pouring syrup photo, I clearly need more practice.

  These were gooey, delicious, and perfect for one person. I gobbled up every last bite of these brownie like cakes. I’ll be adding this recipe to my mental cookbook. In the end, the first photo with the dark plate turned out to be my favorite. Go figure.

  Q: What’s your favorite pancake flavor?

  

  | 68 Comments Tagged Chocolate, Pancakes, Recipe, Vegan

• Hold the Cheese Please

  Posted at 7:52 AM by Brittany, on August 30, 2013

  If anyone ever tells you that you need cheese on your pizza, look them straight in the eye and say, “NO, cheese clogs your colon!” Actually I happen to love cheese, I just don’t eat it these days. I promise I don’t judge those that do, but I think making pizza without cheese forces you to be more creative with your flavor combinations. I’ve had my fair share of vegan pizzas before and each time I do the flavor combinations get a little more wild.

  When deciding what to make for dinner the other night, I suddenly remembered I had some walnut cream sauce left from my dinner last week. Pizza immediately popped into my head as a way to finish up the sauce. BOOM. The only problem was that I didn’t have any yeast on deck, and I didn’t want to drive to the store just for that. To be honest I just didn’t want to use the yeast period..so I didn’t! This yeast free dough turned out great!

  

  Yeast Free Pizza Dough

  • 2.5 cups whole wheat (or all purpose) flour
  • 2 3/4 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp sea salt
  • 1 tblsp olive oil
  • 1 cup of water (possible a skosh more)

  

  Mix your dry ingredients together and then add in your water and oil. I used a fork for maybe 5 seconds before getting my hands in there and rolling the dough around until it was well combined. Knead the dough on a floured surface for a few minutes and then roll out onto baking tray (I used a pizza stone) and top with desired ingredients!

  I topped mine with the walnut sauce, spinach, rosemary potatoes, roasted Brussels sprouts, roasted beets, chopped green onions and not photographed nutritional yeast. For my veggies I roasted each of them before topping my pizza dough, the pizza will only take about 20 minutes at 400F so you want these veggies already cooked for the most part. The potatoes were roasted with the rosemary prior to topping the pizza.

  

  This pizza hit the spot, and even my non vegan family members gave it two thumbs up. The best part? Leftovers for lunch! Somehow leftovers make me just as excited.

  

  Q: What’s your favorite pizza topping? Potatoes are essential for me on pizza.  

  

  | 66 Comments Tagged Pizza, Recipe, Vegan

• Apple Spice Cupcakes…Turned Muffins

  Posted at 7:48 AM by Brittany, on August 28, 2013

  The other day I started to bake some cupcakes, because you know..I didn’t get enough last weekend. In my defense, the cupcakes my mom brought me just didn’t hit the spot. DON’T get me wrong, they were unbelievably delicious, but a lemon cake with raspberry filling is so… last summer. (Disclaimer: I’d never turn down a cupcake regardless of flavor.)

  I am foaming at the mouth for fall to hurry up and get here, so to honor my favorite season I got spicy in the kitchen with cinnamon, and nutmeg. Bring on the fall spices! Sadly, the maple “butter” cream icing I attempted to make turned into a soupy mess, which means these went from cupcakes to muffins faster than you can say, “vegan butter is a b*^ch.”

  Apple Spice Cupcakes/Muffins

  

  For the apples

  • 3 peeled and cored apples, diced into cubes
  • 1 1/4 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/4 tsp nutmeg
  • 1 tblsp flour
  • 2 tblsp brown sugar
  • 1 tblsp coconut oil

  Toss your apples in the spices and flour. Over medium heat, heat the brown sugar and coconut oil until slightly bubbly. Add in your apples and cook until caramelized, most of the liquid has been cooked off, and the apples are soft. Remove from heat and let cool.

  For the cupcakes

  • 1 cup almond milk
  • 1 tblsp lemon juice
  • 1/3 cup olive oil
  • 3/4 cup raw sugar
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 1 1/2 cups flour
  • 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/4 tsp nutmeg

  Mix together the almond milk and lemon juice and let sit for a minute to curdle. Then add in the oil, sugar, and vanilla. In a separate bowl combine your spices, flour, baking soda, and baking powder. Once combined, add to the milk mixture.

  

  So much apple goodness

  Preheat your oven to 350F. Line a muffin tin with cupcake liners. I used the ADORABLE liners my dear friend Lily sent me a while back. Fold the cooled apples into the cupcake batter and fill your liners almost to the top. Your kitchen will smell like FALL!

  I am a bit depressed that the icing didn’t turn out, I had some high hopes for these cupcakes. Muffins are good too though, and sometimes trying to turn a non vegan recipe into a vegan one just doesn’t work. Live and learn. Overall these were still delicious and I ended up eating them with a GLOB of PB on top. I will make these again!

  Q: Do you get bummed when you have kitchen failures? I’ve gotten a lot better in time, I used to have internal melt downs. Failures are now excuses to bake again! 

  

  | 65 Comments Tagged Cupcake, Fall, Recipe, Vegan

• Let’s Get Saucy!

  Posted at 7:33 AM by Brittany, on August 26, 2013

  Sometimes my mom takes on the shape of an angel, a cupcake carrying angel.

  

  Yeah, this totally happened.

  Bottom two are mine, but the others deserved to be in the picture too because they are gorgeous. Especially middle left. Lets take another look from a different angle.

  

  I don’t know if I should admit to people how amazing I feel inside just looking at cupcakes like this. There is an ART about cupcake decorating that just gets me excited. You know what else gets me excited..secrets..inner secrets.

  

  Food porn as its finest.

  To balance out the cupcakes I’ve been inhaling eating, I am also making myself decent meals. I’ve really started to fall back in love with the concept of taking the time to cook.

  

  Cous cous, avocado, tomato, and pistachios over a bed of Swiss chard.

  I bring bowls like this to work with me to prevent me from cracking out on too much coffee. It’s all about balancing the caffeine with real food, or so I tell myself. This snack takes no more than 10 minutes to throw together, but is so much heartier than a PB&J.

  Insanity is still insane, and running is going fine. I have felt a bit tired these days, but I think it’s because I’m not eating enough cupcakes..that’s obviously why (however these cupcakes fueled my 7 mile run this weekend at a 9:42 pace per mile.) I’ve also been ravenous at times due to the extra calories I am burning, which helps give me motivation to continue making myself some solid dinners.

  

  I had a recent craving for gnocchi, because I think it had been at least a year since I last had it! One day I will make my own from scratch, but for now the tricolored gnocchi from my local market does just fine. Paired with roasted beets, roasted Brussels sprouts, and sauteed asparagus for a complete meal. Let’s get a close up of that saucy gnocchi.

  

  I made a walnut cream sauce to lather on top. For those of you that love the heavy cream based sauces I encourage you to try making a nut based sauce, it will change your life.

  Walnut “Cream” Sauce 

  • raw walnuts (or sub in any nut-cashews are my favorite, but this is what I had)
  • water
  • garlic powder
  • salt
  • lemon juice

  -This is somewhat of a DIY recipe, basically you will need equal parts water and nuts. Combine the two in your high powered blender, or food processor and blend. For a thicker sauce, add more nuts, and for a thinner sauce add more water. Experiment with whatever consistency you prefer. I used about a cup of nuts/water for two people.

  -With the seasonings I used about 1/2 tablespoon of garlic powder, and about 1/2 tsp of sea salt. I squeezed in half of a lemon (completely squeezed, you will need to drain that lemon dry.) Blend again. The fattiness of the walnuts balance these flavors perfectly.

  With the leftover sauce I plan to make more veggie/grain bowls and continue gettin saucy!

  Q: What’s your favorite sauce? SALSAAAA and mustard find their way onto most things I eat, but I am always a fan of nut sauces! 

  

  | 80 Comments Tagged Cupcake, Insanity, Recipe, Running, Vegan

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