Avocado Mango Ice Cream (healthy green treat for St. Patrick's day)

St. Patrick's Day is this week and what better way to celebrate than by eating all things (naturally) green? In this post, I'm going to share with you one of our favorite (and simpliest) desserts - Avocado Mango Ice Cream! It's delicious and oh so nutritious - that's a lyric in a new song I'm writing. I'm kidding about the song but I'm serious about this treat. Full of healthy fats yet refreshing! Light yet satisfying! This recipe is perfect for Spring! And a great way to participate in all things green on St. Patrick's day.

 

 

 

It's fun to drizzle with honey (which hardens into a chewy, taffy-like topping on contact with the cold ice cream) or top with fresh fruit.

 

You'll need a high-speed blender (food processor will work but will take longer) to make this in less than 3 minutes.

 

Here my little one is showcasing it before he takes a big bite. Love my little helpers!

 

 

 

Avocado Mango Ice Cream (vegan, paleo)

2 cups frozen organic mango
1 ripe avocado (room temp or refridgerated)
2-4 TB coconut milk

Tiny splash lemon juice helps bring out sweetness

 

Blend all ingredients until completely incorporated. Enjoy, my sweet readers!
 

My instagram phone pictures shows I topped it with fresh blueberries. It is a pretty dessert!

 

Other green food ideas are:

Egg in a Clover

2 Ingredients Green Ice Cream (this goes great with chocolate)  

Potato Asparagus Soup

Shamrock Shake with Peppermint Herb

Greener than Grass Smoothie

 

I hope you enjoy this tasty ice cream! Do you like to make healthy desserts? What's your go-to recipe? I'd love to hear from you!

 

 

 

Sprouted Granola Bread (vegan + gluten and leavening free)

Moving made me crave the comfort of food I could not cook (I originally wanted a big bowl of homemade crunchy granola). With this easy bread inspired by a Sarah B's life-changing bread on My New Roots, I had some satisfaction of homebaked goods but with very little mess (one dirty spatula? yes, please!) and a flavor uncompromised.

And you really must check our Sarah B's recipes. She is one of my favorite blogs to follow. Thanks Sarah for the inspiration!

For the almonds, you can use another nut if you wish. Sunflower or pumpkin seeds can be substituted for coconut flakes. Also the vanilla protein powder can be omitted.

The bread "dough" must be made ahead at least two hours (or overnight) before baking. This allows the chia, flax, and psyllium to fully expand, making the bread stick together. This also allows the grains and nuts to "sprout" for easier digestion.

Feel free to experiment with other dried fruit. Dried Mango, apricot, and some lime zest might be a delicious tropical alternative. Dried cherries with hazelnuts instead of almonds would also be yummy.

Sprouted Granola Bread
1 1/2 cup rolled oats (gluten-free certified if sensitive)
1/2 cup flaxseeds
1/2 cup coconut flakes
2 TB chia seeds
3 TB vanilla protein powder of choice (I used a vegan variety)
3 TB psyllium husk powder
3 TB coconut oil, melted
1/2 cup craisins
5-7 chopped dried figs
1/2 cup almonds
3 TB maple syrup or agave nectar or warm honey
1 1/2 cup water

1. Line a loaf pan with parchment paper. Add all dry ingredients. Stir with spatula.
2. Add all wet ingredients (and dried fruit if you haven't already) and stir with spatula. Make sure to get everything on the bottom to the top and worked into the "dough."
3. Let sit for two hours or overnight.
4. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Remove from oven. Pull the loaf out of the pan by using the parchment paper, turn the loaf over and stick back into the oven (out of the loaf pan but on the parchment to prevent a huge seedy mess in the bottom of your oven. Bake for 40 more minutes.
5. Remove from oven and let cool completely before slicing.

Enjoy!

This bread was our companion to a wine tasting at Arbor Crest Winery. Us gals sat in the rose garden, enjoying glasses of merlot with this bread (and other treats) overlooking Spokane and listening to Tuxedo Junction. Quite the evening!

Here is our view from the Rose Garden.

Red, White & Blueberry Vegan Cheesecake Bars for Fourth of July

If you're looking for a fun Fourth of July treat (that's vegan and gluten free too boot!), then look no further! I present you with Red, White & Blueberry Vegan Cheesecake Bars!

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A lovely lady at bible study recommended that I call it a "loaf" because "cheesecake" makes it sound indulgent. What do you think? This dessert doesn't contain excess amounts of sugar but I think it's rich in its own right. But I wouldn't want people passing it over because it sounded too decadent... hmmm. Thoughts, oh my darling Sweetlings?

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Yum! Razzle dazzle me! This baby has got pizzaz!

The "cheesecake" turns out a little spotted with vanilla bean seeds and the psyllium husk powder but you can use vanilla extract instead - if you're striving for a more stark white. Vanilla beans and psyllium husk powder can be found in your local health food store, amazon (click here for psyllium and here for Madagascar Vanilla Beans), or Mountain Rose Herbs.

Oat Crust and Crumble
3 1/2 cups oats (use gluten free certified if sensitive - Bob's Red Mill sells a reputable variety)
3/4 cup sorghum flour
1/2 cup tapioca starch
2 TB chia seeds
1/4 cup evaporated cane juice sugar (or coconut sugar)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup + 2 TB non-dairy (and unsweetened) milk
1/2 cup coconut oil

Red & Blue Fruit Layer
2 cups chopped rhubarb
2 cups chopped strawberries
2 cups frozen blueberries                       > (You can use any combination of fruit that you like.)
1 TB chia seeds                                  
3 TB evaporated cane juice sugar

White Vanilla Vegan Cheesecake
1 1/2 cup cashew pieces, raw and rinsed
1 cup heavy coconut milk
2 TB evaporated cane juice sugar
1 TB psyllium husk powder
Seeds from 1 Vanilla Bean

1. Combine dry ingedients of the oat crumble. Cut in the coconut oil and non-dairy milk (or mash with a potato masher until combined and the mixture looks like gritty sand (the mashing part can be really fun for a toddler as pictured below)
2. Push 3/4 of the batter into the bottom of a 9x13 oven-safe dish.
3. Combine the fruit layer together in a separate bowl. Layer on top of the oat crust.
4. Blend in a high speed blender the ingredients for the vegan cheesecake Layer on top of the fruit layer (may need to use spatula to spread this).
5. Crumble remaining oat mixture on top of the cheesecake.
6. Cover with foil and bake in preheated 375 oven for 30 minutes. Uncover and bake another 15-20 until the top oat mixture is golden. Let cool 10 minutes or completely before slicing.

My little girl loved mashing together the oat crust! Perfect bonding time and we used small measuring cups to help counting. It was a great way to have a relational and fun learning time - and we made dessert (or breakfast). Win Win!

ENJOY!

I hope you have a wonderful Fourth of July! And that maybe you find the time to make this festive treat. What are your plans for this lovely and very hot week?

Chai Spiced Banana Breakfast Cake

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This week has been a whirlwind. Big Blue Eyes got sick - Witty Husband and I working hard to make her feel better and not get sick ourselves, and we're preparing for a memorial this weekend. To top it all off, I was finishing a slideshow for the memorial and my computer got sick... Yeah, that's right. A virus. Then I messed up lunch and dinner... Originally this post was about quinoa but I screwed that up. I mean, come on, who messes up quinoa? I do, apparently.... oh and I broke my favorite photographing dish this week. Boo.

Finally I dropped everything and I called my momma. (Because we all need a shoulder to cry on once in a while).

"Hi Mom. How are you?" Trying not to whimper.

Her reply, "Good. How are you?"

Then I just broke down, "I had an awful day. I need a pep talk."

...And thank the Lord for my Mom! It feels so good to be able to call her whenever and have her listen, sympathize, and then remind and redirect. And that's exactly what I needed. I could have done it myself but sometimes it helps to vent all that bad energy out to someone who can help redirect us.

Some advice from my mom to you all - "You're brilliant!"

You're Brilliant! All of you... so beautifully and brilliantly made by your Creator.

Thank the Lord that He created Mommas! Because that was brilliant.

So after a full day of hair-pulling and heart-clenching, my computer is fine. No files were damaged. Thankfully I caught it early otherwise this blog might be going post-less for a long, long time.

Finally for all those waiting, here is the recipe... Thank the Lord again for Moms and this delicious cake after an awful, terrible, horrible no-good day.

Big Blue Eyes and I ate half of this last night then danced all over. It was a wonderful, brilliant, and beautiful end to our otherwise terrible day.

This Chai Spiced Banana Breakfast Cake is dense - just the way I like banana bread. It is completely sweetened with bananas and is wonderful with a spread of coconut oil or butter of your choice. It's gluten-free, dairy-free, egg-free, sugar-free, and soy-free along with being vegan!

A reader asked me recently about baking without eggs. I love farm fresh eggs but I understand that some people choose not to eat them and some actually can't. In this delicious breakfast cake, we use bananas and flaxseeds so there is no need for eggs. I found a great chart on substitutes for egg-less baking on pinterest if you are interested in baking more without eggs. We also have a few other egg-less baked good recipes here on Sweet Roots, inluding Pecan Gingersnaps and Mini Spiced Pumpkin Whoopies.

And this cake ends our Chai Journey Week. If you missed out, check out Chai Tea Oatmeal and Pumpkin Cookies with Chai Glaze from Dandelions on the Wall and Chai Spiced Espresso from Alisa's Garden. Here on Sweet Roots, we posted chai spiced elderberry cobbler and pumpkin chai lattes.

For the spices, you can choose to add whichever you like. I included most of the spices from my chai concentrate. Cardamom is super strong so I use just a pinch. Aside from the spices, this cake is only seven ingredients! And it's super easy to make.

I hope this brightens your day as much as it did mine!

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Chai Spiced Breakfast Cake
3 ripe bananas
1/4 c boiling water
3 Tb ground flaxseeds

1/4 cup millet flour
3/4 cup almond meal
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground clove
1/4 tsp freshly ground clove
1/4 tsp ginger
Pinch of Cardamom

1. Grind flaxseeds. Combine with boiling water, whisking to prevent clumps.
2. Mash bananas and combine with flaxseeds.
3. Combine dry ingredients in seperate bowl. Then combine wet into the dry ingredients.
4. Bake in a 350 preheated oven in a greased 8" cake pan for 40 minutes. Let cool 10 minutes then invert onto a plate and serve.

Additional Add-Ins
Chocolate Chips or chopped chocolate
Craisins
Chopped Nuts or Dates

Would be great with Creamy Vanilla Date Frosting!

Mini Spiced Pumpkin Whoopie Pies with Creamy Marshmallow Root Frosting (vegan)

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I hope you enjoy these deliciously spiced and moist little pumpkin whoopie pies with their creamy marshmallow root frosting. I know we did and was really looking forward to sharing it with you!

 

This is our second to last post in a series of Marshmallow Root recipes sponsored by the amazing Mountain Rose Herbs. Thank you MRH for donating the Marshmallow Root for our giveaway! And be sure to look wednesday (when I announce the winner) for a Marshmallow Root Round-up.

You can can win an 8 oz package of Marshmallow Root powder right to your front door! Just like us on facebook, and/or suscribe to the feed and comment below or on this original Marshmallows post before Monday 12 pm (PST), September 3rd. Also feel free to check out Mountain Rose Herbs who sponsored the giveaway. Thank you Mountain Rose Herbs!

And if you've missed our previous posts, here is a little information about Mountain Rose Herbs:

Since 1987, Mountain Rose Herbs has been known for its uncompromising commitment to organic agriculture, sustainable business practices, and a steadfast focus on the pure aesthetics and freshness of botanical products. Their wide range of certified organic product offerings includes bulk herbs and spices, aromatherapy and essential oils, tea and tea supplies, and natural health and body care. Every aspect of product creation is carried out in accordance with strict quality control and organic handling procedures by employees who care. From fragrant and beyond-fresh organic herbs and spices, to soothing essential oils and delicious herbal teas, the quality and integrity of Mountain Rose Herbs is unparalleled - with smiles guaranteed. To learn more about Mountain Rose Herbs please visit www.mountainroseherbs.com.

Do you want to know another great thing about Mountain Rose Herbs? They sell psyllium husk powder! Psyllium husk powder is great for binding gluten-free ingredients and works better than starch or gums. Plus only a tablespoon or two is needed! Because of its wonderful binding properties, it's often sold in colon cleansing products but don't worry, eating a couple of these whoopie pies shouldn't effect you (unless you eat a quadruple batch and trust me, you will want to).

These little whoopie pies are a version of something I bake weekly for my hubby (similar but somehow completely different and very much pumpkin-less because Witty Husband doesn't eat pumpkin) and will make its debut in the blog eventually.

This is another marshmallow fluff-like recipe, different from the egg based Marshmallowy Root Frosting on the dark chocolate cupcakes and the Coconut Chia Marshmallow Root Fluff on my herbified version of candied yams. This vegan version uses tofu as it's base, which may seem weird but it's actually a favorite. Our dear Aunt visiting and I joked about eating it off a spoon (which I did later when she was gone... sshh). The maple syrup in the recipe is a lovely compliment to the marshmallow root powder and the vanilla seeds added a nice little finishing touch.

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I've been meaning to retake these pictures, tell more of a little story but really it's good news for you that I wasn't able to. I've made four batches of these in the last two days and Amaressa and I ate them all! That's right, all of them. Well, not all... A dear visiting Aunt ate one whoopie pie but I'm not really counting that - she really can't take credit for devouring them like we did. One morning, Amaressa ate eight individual cookies for breakfast. (And for any concerned, we wouldn't normally just eat cookies for breakfast plus these are pretty small anyway).

Mini Spiced Pumpkin Whoopie Pies with Creamy Marshmallow Root Frosting
Ingredients
1/2 c + 2 Tb rolled oats (gluten-free certified if sensitive)*
2 T flaxseeds
1/4 t cream of tartar
1/2 t baking soda
1/8 t salt

1 T psyllium husk powder
1/2 c pumpkin puree
1/2 c milk
1/4 c maple syrup
2 t ground cinnamon
1/2 t ground ginger
1/2 t ground allspice

1. Combine wet ingedients. Set aside.
2. Grind oats in coffee or spice grinder then grind flaxseeds. Combine rest of dry ingredients together.
3. Combine wet into dry with a spatula. The mixture thickens nicely and just smooth out the clumps with the spatula. Scoop large tablespoonfuls onto a parchment lined or slightly oiled cookie pan.
4. Bake in a preheated 350 oven for 20-25 minutes. Let cool 10 minutes.

*You can use 3/4 cups of oats instead if you prefer a drier cookie. I prefer mine moister but generally consensus was drier so I compromised and met those drier-cookie-lovers in the middle.

Creamy Marshmallow Root Frosting
1/2 of a 14 oz extra-firm tofu
1 Tb + 2 t marshmallow root powder
1/2 vanilla bean, seeds scraped out (save the empty pods to later add to tea)
3 Tb coconut oil
3 Tb maple syrup

1. In a mini food processor, process all ingredients until smooth. Refridgerate.
2. Lather onto half of a whoopie pie and then top with another pumpkin half.

Bon Appetit!