Vegan and Gluten-Free Mocha Granola

there are two things I am certain about when it comes to granola, 1 it is the best breakfast cereal out there, and 2, it is always worth making a double batch. So for today's dream granola, you are going to need only 7 simple ingredients that are easily interchangeable if needed!

Let’s start with the oats. I use gluten-free rolled oats because traditional rolled oats can contain traces of gluten. So if you are like me and are very sensitive to gluten, spend the extra dollar and get yourself a big bag of gluten-free rolled oats! I like to get mine at Trader Joe's because they are the cheapest and taste awesome! If you can’t access a Trader Joes you can buy them online. I use Thrive Market and they have them on there for only a dollar more than Trader Joes. You can also try Bob’s Red Mill and order them off of Amazon. 

Now for the coconut sugar, you can use whatever granulated sugar you like. The benefit of coconut sugar is nit just because it’s “healthier” but because coconut sugar has a unique caramel-like flavor that gives a lot more flavor to the granola! SO do what you wish, but I highly recommend using coconut sugar!

when it comes to the espresso, daniel and I dring ut coffee at home, if you don’t have access to freshly ground coffee, you can use store-bought espresso powder.. also if you use fresh coffee the milk will be smoother and more enjoyable. If you don’t have espresso powder at home feel free to omit the espresso powder and just make it chocolate! Don’t worry, you won’t be disappointed, either way!

When it comes to baking the granola make sure you follow the instructions and mix it around halfway through. This helps the granola to bake evenly, then when you take it out of the oven, put the granola in a glass plate to cool. I have learned the hard way, burning one too many batches of granola by letting it wit in a hot pan to cool off, then realizing I have half-burnt granola…

Anyways, thankfully I am here to make the mistakes so you don’t have to! 

So without any further chit-chat here is your recipe for Mocha Granola! 

Ingredients

• 2 cups gluten-free oats

• 1/4th cup coconut sugar

• 1/4th cup chia seeds **

• 1/4th cup cocoa powder

• 1 tsp fine sea salt

• 1 tbsp espresso powder

• 1/3rd cup melted coconut oil

Instructions

1. Preheat your over to 350F and spray a baking sheet with coconut oil, set aside. 

2. In a large bowl whisk together your dry ingredients

3. Mix in the coconut oil until fully combined

4. spread your mixture evenly onto your baking sheet and place in the oven. 

5. Bake for 10 minutes, take your granola out of the oven, and give it a good mix, evening it out when you're done. 

6. Bake for another 10 minutes. 

7. Remove from the oven and transport granola into a glass plate to cool. Do not leave on the baking sheet as this will stay hot and possibly burn your granola. 

8. Once cool serve with milk, on yogurt or all by itself!

9. Enjoy!

Ten Minute Cherry Jam

The moment I laid my eyes on a big bag of cherries on sale in the produce section, I knew it was a sign to take them home and create something just for you and me! I will be honest, it has been a long time (a whole 7 days!) since I last created anything and I needed to start small.

Small batch cherry jam seemed to be the perfect solution! it’s something lovely, delicious and wouldn’t take a whole afternoon to make ! I had heard of this sweet and simple way to jam in the kitchen using chia seeds so I gave it a go and I was sold!

You can adjust the sweetness to your liking My cherries were sweet cherries, but they aren’t super sweet so I only used 1 tbsp of sugar but you could use two or three if you like it sweeter!

I ended up pitting the cherries by hand, and that took way longer then I would like to admit…I highly recommend getting a cherry pitter.

other then that, just make sure to have fun and feel free to experiment! add in some raspberries or black berries to the mix!

Ingredients

• 2 cups pitted cherries

• 1 tbsp coconut sugar

• 1 tbsp lemon juice

• 1 tbsp chia seeds

Instructions

• Pit your cherries and then put all your ingredients in a food processor. Pulse for about 60 seconds.

• Pour your mixture into a saucepan and heat on medium, stirring constantly until the mixture is heated through and bubbling.

• Take off the heat and let it cool.

• Store in a sealed container in the fridge or serve immediately!

• I like to use mine to make parfaits, spread onto gluten free toast, or just eat bu the spoonful from the jar!

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Strawberry Milk

You might think I have gone a little crazy when I say this but…I like strawberry milk more than chocolate milk! AH I know, I said it…BUT wasn’t strawberry milk the unsuspected hero during childhood? It was always a disappointment when you saw the strawberry syrup or powder coming out of the grocery bags, but once you actually make a cold glass of strawberry milk with way more syrup then you were supposed to have, life was good!

I haven’t had strawberry milk in years and really do feel after making this drink I waited far too long to try! I had the idea when my friend Natalie and I made our Neapolitan Cupcakes and used freeze-dried strawberries to get the pink color and strawberry flavor in the frosting! It came out so good I figured why not try using them to make strawberry milk!

So here I am with a cold glass of the best strawberry milk I’ve had in a long time, and I have to say it easily beats using the processed flavorings, and will be making this for the rest of my life!

INGREDIENTS

• 1 & 1/2 cup almond milk

• 1/2 cup freeze-dried strawberries

• 2 Tbsp Agave

• 1/2 tsp vanilla

INSTRUCTIONS

1. in a blender combine all of your ingredients.

2. Blend on high until fully blended.

3. pour over ice and enjoy!

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RHUBARB PEACH CRISP // GLUTEN FREE & DAIRY FREE

Daniel and I celebrated 5 years as a married couple this last weekend. I could tell you we had all these grand plans of road tripping, hanging out at a cool restaurant, going to a museum, etc. and we did have these plans! Then, we started to think about a few things…First off we live a Dave Ramsey lifestyle and are always looking for ways to save money to better our future. 

He never tells you not to enjoy what we have been given, but also to know what you can afford and if possible, live below your means! Daniel and I have found great value in coffee shops, walks, working from home, watching movies, and just plain old talking. 

So we started with going to coffee, which turned into talking, talking about working together, creating recipes, making commercials, etc. We began to discuss our budget and realized what we wanted is to create more together, even if that technically meant working. 

So we came home, devised a plan, and got to work. We laughed and joked with each other, enjoyed good food, got to think creatively, and truly enjoyed our time together. I know this might be one of those scrolls to get the recipe stories, but that’s okay with me. I just want to let you guys know that in life you can make anything fun, and it’s just the way you look at things! In the end, a road trip or a day in the city would have given us the same things that working together did. Don’t feel pressured to not do what you are passionate about, just enjoy doing what you love!

Now this recipe is amazing because Rhubarb is one of my all-time favorite summer vegetables that my mom would grow in her garden. She used to let us pick a stalk and peel the red skin off so we could have them as a snack. The thing is, we always got the stalks of rhubarb accompanied by a small cup of sugar for dipping the rhubarb in. The taste of the rhubarb coated in a layer of sugar was amazing! It wasn’t even one of those moments when kids only used the rhubarb as a vehicle to eat sugar and then the Rhubarb is left behind. We wanted to enjoy them together! 

Unfortunately, Florida and Connecticut are very different states and I have a hard time finding Rhubarb anywhere. Thankfully I was at a local farmers market and found beautiful stalks of Rhubarb just waiting to be made into something delicious! 

So on our fifth anniversary, we made this Rhubarb Peach Crisp for you to enjoy!

Ingredients

Filing 

• 2 1/2 cup peeled & chopped rhubarb

• 1 cup chopped peaches

• 2tbsp lemon juice

• 2 tbsp arrowroot powder

• 1/2 cup coconut sugar

Crumble

• 1/2 cup almond flour

• 1 1/2 cup gluten-free oats

• 1/2 cup coconut oil

• 1/4th cup coconut sugar

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 375F and spray a glass pie plate with coconut oil.

2. Peel your rhubarb so that most of the red skin on the outside comes off. 

3. Chop up your Rhubarb and peach. In a large bowl, combine your chopped rhubarb and peaches, lemon juice, arrowroot, and 1/2 cup coconut sugar, and set aside.

4. In a separate mixing bowl combine your almond flour, oats, coconut oil and 1/4th cup coconut sugar until fully mixed and there are no lumps of coconut oil. 

5. Pour your fruit mixture into your pie plate and use a spatula to spread out the fruit evenly, making sure to cover the whole bottom.  

6. Crumble your dry mixture on top until well coated. 

7. Bake in the oven for 35-45 minutes. It should look golden on the top and the fruit should be bubbling, but not burned. 

8. Let cool for about 20-25 minutes

9. Serve warm with vanilla & strawberry ice cream and enjoy!

Banana Bread Smoothie

Nothing beats waking up to banana bread during the star at home orders…thankfully you can now enjoy banana bread in several forms thanks to this rending food item right now. For me I a big fan of smoothies in the morning, so when everyone was baking away, I remembered a recipe that I had come up with last year and totally forgot about! Let me explain…

Last year I spent some time in South Africa to see family and there is this smoothie place that is over the moon delicious! One of my favorite smoothies I had there was one that tasted exactly like banana bread! I figured that since I am in America now, and couldn’t get my hands on a smoothie made to perfection, I would have to make one at home!

When you freeze your bananas they should be ripe, none of this green banana business. Remember you want this to taste like banana bread & when it comes to banana bread spots = deliciousness! Just make sure they aren’t at that stage of the peel looking completely brown, that flavor is a little too intense for this smoothie…

If you would like to make this a vegan smoothie feel free to omit the collagen and instead replace it with vegan protein powder. Just keep in mind that this will change the taste and texture a bit. Try to stick with unflavored or vanilla protein powder.

Ingredients

• 1 cup Almond Milk

• 1 Tbsp Tahini**

• 1 Tbsp Cacao nibs

• 1 Tsp Cinnamon

• 1 Frozen banana

• 3 to 5 ice cubes

• 1 scoop Collagen

Directions

• combine all the ingredients into your blender, making sure to pour in your almond milk first! This helps to ensure that your dry ingredients don’t get stuck at the bottom of the blender.

• Sip and enjoy it!

  **If you don’t have Tahini on hand, the next best thing is cashew butter or 2tbs soaked Cashews.

Tahini Energy Bites // Gluten Free & Dairy Free // Vegan Optional

Staying at home has its ups and downs, on one hand, it’s awesome because I don’t have to put on makeup all day! On the other hand, I have to make sure I have snacks and dessert ready in a moment’s notice to satisfy all the hunger and cravings. This has been kind of annoying, because it feels like I am a teenager again, with minimal responsibility and a lot of time filling my time with random activities. The thing is when I was a teenager the snacks just appeared after every Thursday when my parents would grocery shop…But obviously I am an adult now and have to provide for myself.

Thankfully being an adult means getting to make whatever you want, and since I am a firm believer that snacks and dessert have the ability to be totally interchangeable good things happened in the kitchen this week.

Behold, I bring to you, Tahini Energy Bites. They taste like dessert, but totally can pass as healthy snacks! They are packed with protein & healthy fats from the nut butter, collagen & hemp hearts! All while offering you a tasty treat that has the perfect balance of sweet & bitter from the dates & cacao!

You can make a whole bunch of these and store them in the freezer for whenever your feeling peckish so don’t be shy! Double or triple the batch, either way, you won’t be sorry!

Ingredients

• 1 cup Pitted Dates

• 1/4th cup Hemp Hearts

• 1/2 cup Tahini

• 2 Tbsp Cacao Nibs

• 2 Tbsp Almond Milk

• 1/4th tsp Sea Salt

• 2 scoops Collagen (optional)

Directions

In a food processor or a high-speed blender combine all of the ingredients except for the almond milk.

Blend on high until well combined. Add in your almond milk and then blend for about 1-2 minutes longer, until combined.

Roll into balls, coat in hemp hearts, and then store in the freezer!

Eat whenever pleases you & enjoy them!