Flashback Spicy Peanut Sauce, Sweet Potato Mash with Vegan Cashew Cream Sauce, and Chia Chai Latte

Someone recently mentioned to me that they were looking for more peanut sauces to try so I went back thru my photos and recipes and came across this one.  It's a Spicy Peanut Sauce that just so happens to be vegan.

1/2 C Peanut Butter 

1/4 C Coconut Aminos

3 Cloves Garlic

1 T Sesame Oil

Juice of 2 Lemons 

1 T Sriracha (or other hot sauce)

1/2 t Cayenne

If needed: Water to thin & Sprinkle of Coconut Sugar to sweeten

This might look like a colorful slop but it was actually quite good. I need to make it again soon! It's a Sweet Potato and Spinach Mash with Vegan Cashew Cream Sauce.

(For The Mash)

About 1 Pound of Cubed Sweet Potato

About 4 C Spinach

(For The Sauce)

1 C Cashews

Up to 1 C Water

1 Clove Garlic

1 T Grapeseed Oil

Nutmeg & Black Himalayan Sea Salt To Taste

Directions:

Cook Sweet Potatoes until soft.

Add Spinach and stir or gently mash leaving lumps.

Set Aside.

For the sauce add all those ingredients into a high speed blender until smooth.

Drizzle sauce over the Sweet Potato and Spinach Mash.

Serve warm.

It's been too long since I have attempted a Chia Pudding but the last time I did enjoy one I was pretty hot on a Chia Chai Latte for a while.

Ingredients:

3 T Chia Seeds, dry

1 C Almond Milk

2 T Agave Nectar

Pinch Cinnamon, Nutmeg, Vanilla Extract

Directions:

Soak Chia Seeds in Nut Milk, stir often.

Add spices, stir often.

Over the next few days I hope to share with you more Vegan Finds but also some things I will be attempting for Thanksgiving!  What will you be up to?

Vegan Rice Crispy Treats ~ Inspired By Jason Wrobel

I made these vegan 'rice crispy treats' inspired by Jason Wrobel.  I used the 'chocolate' version of the cereal noted below but I didn't have the other flavor.  What I did have was another vegan cereal that was quite similar with the addition of chia and shredded coconut so I mixed those two together.  I stuck pretty true to the recipe that he mentioned in the video with the exception of the Lucuma Powder.  I used Mesquite Powder instead.  They turned out tasty and I was pretty proud of myself with this attempt.  I was going to blog about a few other eats as of late but I think I will just leave you with this fun video that Jason did so you can see the full recipe!

Vendors of WNY VegFest

Most of this week I will be posting about the WNY (Western New York) VegFest that took place this past Sunday.  If you have been reading the other posts thus far you will see that I really had a great time!

Here's a silly photo of me in one of those character cut outs.  I think someone named this green guy in a purple suit "Cilantro Frank".

In this post I will be sharing some of the vendor tables we visited.  Everyone was really nice and fun to be around!  I made a few donations at a couple of the tables one being Ester The Wonder Pig.  Late last night I found that The Vegan Zombie posted a video about the WNY VegFest AND Ester The Wonder Pig so check out their embedded video at the end of this post.

Eventho I don't consume a lot of meat alternatives I was happy to see Tofurky be a large part of the event.  They are a HUGE Vegan company that is for sure!  I have tried some items I do like from them.  They had another guy that was wearing a HUGE Tofurky Box for the race which was pretty funny.  I guess it was the first 5k Tofurky Trot above the Mississippi from what I hear.

Of course anything chocolate will grab the attention of most.  This dessert company sold all vegan desserts at the event.  The corner of the building they were on was a little congested so we didn't stay long but I heard a lot of interest from vegetarians and non-vegetarians alike.  I did hear someone ask if they were Gluten Free and these weren't bit some of the other items were Gluten Free.  I was just glad that you didn't have to ask if there were vegan options since everything there HAD to be in order to be displayed.  It's like you didn't really even have to think!  It was AWESOME!

Another great thing about the festival were all of the speakers.  Since my sister and I only stayed for a few hours because of our other obligations that day - we didn't stay for the speakers.  But here is a list of about half of the ones they featured that day.

Many of them sounded interesting!  MAYBE next year we can attend some of the talks, presentations, and seminars!

I really see this event getting bigger and bigger every year!  I still think they had WAY more people attend than they originally expected or even hoped for!  That's ALWAYS a plus, eh!?

Another thing that I liked doing during my time at the festival was donating food!  I grabbed a few items from my stash including some brown rice pasta, some individual protein powders, some tabbouleh, and some natural sweetener and donated it when we got there.

Food donations went to Food Not Bombs.  They gave out informational and free sample bags for those who donated something.  There were a few snacks in there including some veggie chips and a sample of a Raw Revolution bar.

Tomorrow I hope to have a post about some of the food vendors, too!  

Thankful ~ Quick Vegan Snacks!

I really enjoy simple snacks.  Especially since going vegan.  I have more of an appreciation for them now than I ever have.  I'm also thankful for my local "Herb Store" where I buy most of my bulk items as well as some snack to have while I'm at work! 

I'm kind of going backwards here - but I REALLY wanted to show you what I did for a quick and easy dessert last night! 

Underneath these cherries?  Raw dates rolled in coconut that I smushed down into a 'crust-like' base.  I then used some canned cherries that happened to be vegan that I found at a discount store a while back.  I would have used fresh but they are not readily available in my area at the moment.  I have shredded coconut on hand so I sprinkled that on top as well.  This was VERY satisfying and VERY MUCH a treat!  I only did a "mini pie"...I used a dish that we have on hand for dips/dressing/condiments.

In case you cannot picture what I am talking about with the dates rolled in coconuts...here's a photo!  I ate two small 'rolls' yesterday with my lunch, too!

Another thing I am thankful for is dried apricots!  When I was 3 years old my FAVORITE foods were dried apricots, lima beans, and sprouts!  My mom should have KNOWN I would grow up to be a vegetarian with a menu like that, eh!?  These are just a few things I have been thankful for this week!

Sweet Avocado Walnut Fruit Layered Dessert

Yesterday I blogged about the Super Sweet Avocado Treat that I made.  I used it here, too, as the body of this dessert!  But I added a few extra layers for a whole new flavor combo and it turned out pretty good!

Again for the middle "green" part - it's the same recipe I posted yesterday - the Avocado Mousse, if you will.  The bottom layer and the layer towards the top are are BLENDED combo of the following:

1.5 C Walnuts
3/4 C Mixed Raisins
1/2 Scoop of Apple Flavored RAW Perfect Food from GoL

I also added a  little bit of water for consistency

Here's another photo of the whole dessert.  On top - as you can see - I used Blueberries!  You can eat it like this...almost like those "dessert shots" they used to serve at Applebee's or you can mix it all together if you want.

I think I am going to do something similar down the road and try and make a (mostly raw) pie using similar ingredients.  I just have to get better about making "crusts" out of nuts and dates or nuts and raisins, I guess.

Overall, I am pretty excited about this dessert and will be making versions of it again, I am sure!  I'm also VERY excited with the flavor of the Coconut Nectar.  A review on THAT in the future as well!  I hope everyone is having a GREAT weekend!

Participating Post:
Leftovers On Friday

Super Sweet Avocado Treat!

I have about 7 things I COULD post today...but...I will only post this one and the one I already post below so keep scrolling!  I am preparing many more posts in the coming days and weeks!  Yes!  I have been BUSY!  But I'm also having a lot of FUN keeping busy!

If you didn't notice the title of this one you were probably wondering what the heck this green blob is, eh!?  Well, it's a Super Sweet Avocado Treat!  This is the stand alone version of this and I will be combining it with other ingredients for an upcoming post for a dessert.

You could probably call this a mousse or a pudding or a custard, I suppose.  Here is what is IN it, tho...

2 Avocados
1/4 C Coconut Oil
2 T Cacao Powder (I grinder it myself in a mini coffee grinder I use as a spice grinder)
2 T Maca Powder (from Foods Alive)
1 T Vanilla Flavored Agave Syrup (from Wholesome Sweeteners)
2 T Coconut Nectar (from Coconut Secret)
1/2 Scoop GoL Raw Perfect Food (Regular Flavor)

All in my Ninja!  It was SO SO SO Sweet and So flavorful.  It's VERY rich.  This will last me a while...I only ate a few tablespoons because it was so sweet.  But it fulfilled my sweet tooth last night that is for sure!

Most likely over the weekend I will be posting a 2nd recipe using this Avocado as the "body" of my dessert!  So stay tuned!