15 Minute Protein Granola // Gluten-free & Vegan

It's raining granola over here! This is a quick 15 minute recipe that I came up with when I was in desperate need for something different for breakfast!

Ingredients

• 2 cups gluten free oats

• 1/4th cup cocoa powder

• 1/4th cup pea protein

• Pinch of sea salt

• 2 Tbsp sunflower or peanut butter

• 1 tsp vanilla extract

• 4 tbsp agave

• 4 tbsp coconut oil
  

Instructions

• Set your oven to 350F

• Mix together the dry ingredients and then mix in the wet ingredients.

• Bake on a lined cookie sheet for 15 minutes.

• Let cool and then enjoy with your favorite dairy free milk or yogurt or store in an airtight container to enjoy later!

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!

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!

Don’t’ forget to pin it!

Homemade Chocolate Peanut Butter Drizzle Ice cream Sandwiches // Gluten free & Dairy free

Last week cookie dough trio I decided it was a good idea to team up with another fellow blogger to bring you not one but two beautiful cookie sandwich creations! I teamed up with my friend from Heathers Home Bakery, who also is a fellow lover of all things in the form of a cookie sandwich! Her classic baking methods and use of butter and Flour (jealous) helped her create beautiful Soft Vanilla Cutout Cookies with a Creamy Vanilla Filling that is everything you dream of in a classic vanilla sandwich cookie! The type of cookie that makes you want to throw away those store-bought cookies, put on your favorite apron & choice music, and get to work creating something beautiful and delicious for your family!

Now on the flip side, we have Chocolate peanut butter drizzle ice cream sandwiches that will rock the socks off of your gluten & dairy-free world! These chocolate peanut butter cookies make for a perfect base for sandwiching sweet vanilla ice cream in between! The drizzle of peanut butter takes these cookies to the next level, but if you think you have to stop at a drizzle, feel free to dip, drizzle or douse these ice cream sandwiched with your desired amount of peanut butter sauce!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Ice Cream Sandwiches

INGREDIENTS

• 1 & 1/2 cup gluten-free oat flour*

• 1/3rd cup smooth peanut butter**

• 1/4th cup agave

• 1/4th cup cocoa powder

• 2 egg whites

• 1 tsp vanilla

• Dairy-free Vanilla Ice cream

Peanut Butter Drizzle

• 1/4th cup Creamy Peanut Butter**

• 1 Tbsp melted coconut oil

• 1 Tbsp agave

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Pre-heat your oven to 350F and grease a cookie sheet.

2. In a large bowl whisk together your oat flour and cocoa powder

3. in a separate bowl whisk together the agave, egg whites, and vanilla together.

4. Combine the wet and the dry ingredients together until fully mixed.

5. Using an ice cream scoop, make balls of dough and flatten them in the palm of your hand till they are about 1/4th of an inch thick.

6. You want to make sure these cookies are uniform in shape and size. If you want to you can roll the dough out and use a cookie cutter!

7. bake the cookies for 10-12 minutes and let cool completely, pop in the freezer while you make the peanut butter drizzle.

8. For the peanut, butter drizzle combines peanut butter, coconut oil, and agave in a small bowl and drizzle over your chilled cookies.

9. place in the freezer to set the peanut butter.

10. Once the peanut butter has sed scoop out your ice cream and sandwiches it between two cookies!

11. roll in sprinkles or drizzle with more peanut butter, but most importantly grab a few friends and enjoy!

    * To make out flour you simple need to blend gluten-free oats in a blender until a fine powder forms and there are no large pieces of oats. You can make this in large batches for ease in baking.

    ** If you cannot have peanut butter feel free to use sunflower seed butter. Just make sure that is slightly runny & creamy. I suggest buying the trader Joe’s brand or SunButter for getting the right consistency

    Don’t forget to PIN it!

COOKIE DOUGH BLIZZARD // VEGAN & GLUTEN FREE

That moment when Natalie from feasting on fruit, Britt from the banana diaries and I devised a plan in quarantine to bring more edible cookie dough into the world. Toady we bring to you three incredible cookie dough recipes for your Friday night! So grab a friend, make some cookie dough treats, turn on your favorite 90’s chick flick, and enjoy!

SO get ready for Homemade Cookie Dough Blizzards, Edible Cookie Dough Oreo’s & Healthy Protein Cookie dough!

Check out Natalie’s Cookie Dough Oreo’s HERE

For Britt’s Beautiful Edible Healthy Cookie Dough click Here

For my recipe I am making a Cookie Dough Blizzard!

Not a milk shake, not a smoothie, not soft serve, but a blizzard.

When it comes to ice cream I am a tried and true expert. I have spent most nights ending my day with a beautiful bowl of slightly melted, chocolate coated ice cream that brings me all the joy! Some fall in love with their mothers baked goods, or their grandmothers homemade pies, but it was my Pas love for ice cream that won me over!

Ice cream was a staple in the house and was acceptable to eat any time of the year. It was also very important that ice cream accompanied any cake, pie, cookie, etc. that came into the house. They were simply friendly additions to a perfect bowl of ice cream.

In the summertime our go to spot was Dairy Queen! It would only open for a few months during the year and we would always make sure to be there the first day it opened!

My dad’s favorite was their soft serve cones, and who could blame him? They are the best around! The second best option was their blizzards! The consistency is thick and creamy, theirs tons of texture and it’s loaded with your favorite goodies like cookie dough, peanut butter cups, etc.

I had o figure out how to get the same texture which wasn’t easy. I tried blending frozen coconut cream, frozen bananas, ice cream and more, but nothing was coming out right. I was watching the Bon Appetite YouTube channel when Clair was making choco tacos. In order to get the ice cream piped into her taco base she simply put the ice cream in a bowl and used a spatula to mix the ice cream until it became like a thick cake batter.

I realized this was exactly what you need to make the frosty consistency at home! You simply need a bowl, spatula, your favorite ice cream & your favorite add ins!

Today I am showing you how to make your own vegan cookie dough blizzard, but feel free to use whatever you want! Get the kids involved, make it a family ordeal and most importantly have fun!

Ingredients

• 1 Pint Vanilla Ice Cream

• 1/4th cup Chocolate chips

• Almond flour

• agave

• vanilla

• sea salt

• 1/4th cup cacao Nibs

Instruction

1. In a bowl mix together your almond flour, vanilla, sea salt and agave until fully combined. fold in the chocolate chips.

2. Using a teaspoon measure scoop the cookie dough and form them into small cookie dough balls and set aside.

3. Scoop your vanilla ice cream it into a mixing bowl. Mix with a spatula until slightly soften. The ice cream should resemble thick cake like batter.

4. Gently fold in your cookie dough balls and cacao nibs. If your ice cream is looking runny, place the bowl in the freezer for about 10-15 minutes.

5. Serve with whipped cream, extra toppings and more chocolate if you want

6. most importantly, enjoy!

   NOTE

   totally customizable method! You can use whatever ice cream is your favorite and simply fold in your favorite cookies, cake, fudge, nuts, seeds, candy, etc!

   Pssssst! Don’t forger to Pin the recipe!

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!