OhYaGood

Whole Food Lover + Recipe Hacker

Raw Chocolate Pecan Cookies

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Chocolate Pecans Cookies

My Grandma used to say “If you aren’t having fun, it’s your own damn fault.” Well, it’s Halloween tomorrow and what I consider the fun part is eating enough sugar your teeth curl. With my dietary restrictions, Halloween candy is in general a no-no, so I made my own sugary delight.

This is NOT my creation but instead a recipe from my favorite vegan chef, Isa Chandra and her book Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar. It’s THE BEST if you are looking for dairy-free treats of all kinds. Her website, Post Punk Kitchen is a great source too. If you don’t like pecans, I’m sure almonds or macadamias could work just as well. Hope you all have a fun and safe Halloween!

Chocolate Pecan Cookies
 
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Recipe type: Cookies
Cuisine: American
Serves: 16 cookies
Ingredients
  • 2 cups pecans, divided
  • ½ cup brown rice syrup
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 1 cup chocolate chips, melted (Enjoy Life is dairy free)
Instructions
  1. Place 1 cup of the pecans in a processor into coarse crumbs
  2. Roughly chop the other cup
  3. In a medium bowl, use a fork to mix together the rice syrup, salt and vanilla
  4. Mix in the pecan crumbs and chopped pecans
  5. Add the melted chocolate
  6. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and drop spoonfuls of the mixture onto it
  7. Place the cookies in the fridge for one hour to set. If it's warm outside, keep them refrigerated, otherwise they should be fine at room temp

 

Vegan Pumpkin Smoothie

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Pumpkin Smoothie

I guess I am a little fall-obsessed right now. I think it’s because of the beautiful weather we’ve been having. In the past, it’s always felt like immediately after my birthday (10/13) the weather takes a giant poo and it’s cold and rainy till the inevitable snow. Not this year friends. It’s been 60 and gloriously sunny here in Minnesota. That means being outside as much as possible.

All week I’ve said to myself-

“Clean up the kitchen or go outside?”

“Fold laundry or go outside?”

“Put on some decent clothes or go outside?”

No joke. We just go outside. Decent clothing not required.

This explains my short recipe this week. It’s inspired from a Whole Foods Pumpkin Smoothie recipe that I tweaked. If you don’t like pumpkin pie or anything pumpkin, I’d steer clear friend. If you do, drink on up!

Pumpkin Smoothie
 
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Recipe type: Smoothie
Cuisine: American
Serves: 2
Ingredients
  • 1 cup of pumpkin puree
  • 1 ripe banana
  • ¾ canned coconut milk (I used TJ's coconut cream)
  • ½ water
  • 1-2 T maple syrup depending on your sweetness preference
  • 1 T ground flax seed
  • 1½ t pumpkin pie spice
  • 1 t vanilla
  • juice of one lemon wedge
  • 5 ice cubes
Instructions
  1. Place all ingredients into blender and blend

 

Monster Noodles

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Monster Noodles BologneseI’ve never eaten so much zucchini in my life. I love these little “monster” noodles and they are so damn easy. I should clarify, I named them “monster” so my kids would eat them and I think it helped. I did the same with broccoli calling them “little trees” which for some reason made them eat them like candy. I guess it’s a form of playing with their food.

Here’s the the recipe for the bolognese sauce minus the slivered almond garnish.

Monster Noodles
 
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Recipe type: Staple
Cuisine: American
Serves: 2
Ingredients
  • Oil of choice (I prefer coconut)
  • 3 med size zucchini
  • salt
Instructions
  1. Trim off zucchini stem
  2. Spiralize zucchini into a bowl
  3. Salt the zucchini with a few shakes and let sit for 30-60 minutes (This step helps eliminate some of the water from the zucchini so it's not so soggy after cooking)
  4. Press the zucchini with a few paper towels
  5. Use a medium sauté pan over medium-high heat
  6. Oil the pan
  7. Sauté the noodles for 5 minutes

Here are a few extra shots showing the spiralizer I have. I like it because it takes up little cupboard space and super easy to clean.Monster Noodles In ProgressMonster Noodles Finished

Roasted Acorn Squash

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Roasted Acorn SquashFall fare can be so lovely but I think I over due it every year and by Thanksgiving, I’m over it. I watched this Whine About It about Fall—ROFL “Pumpkin is like putting cinnamon on a sandcastle.” Matt Bellassai is pretty hilarious and his points are valid but I still embrace it. I won’t be drinking rum and cider—–yet, but I’m using a lot of this autumnal vegetable, acorn squash. It’s so warming on my belly. I love it and so do my girls.

If I could eat cheese, I’d top this with some pungent blue cheese or gorgonzola. If only..

Here’s a quick tip. Partially cook the squash in the microwave before roasting it in the oven to save some time. With this recipe, it saves about a half hour of cook time.

Roasted Acorn Squash
 
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Recipe type: Side Dish
Cuisine: American
Serves: 2-4
Ingredients
  • 1 acorn squash, cut length-wise and seeds removed
  • 1 T of pecans, chopped
  • 1 T of pomegranate seeds
  • coconut oil
  • maple syrup
Instructions
  1. Preheat the oven to 400°F
  2. Rub each half of the squash with coconut oil
  3. Place the squash on a microwave safe plate, face up and cook for 10 minutes
  4. Transfer the hot squash to an aluminum pan, face up
  5. Add more coconut oil and the pecans to each half
  6. Roast in the oven for an additional 10-15 minutes
  7. Dress with pomegranate seeds
  8. Drizzle with maple syrup

 

Beet Smoothie Bowl

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Beet_Smoothie_BowlThis was my most popular post while doing the Whole30. I guess it’s been a bit of a craze on IG and I think it’s also quite pretty. When I began Whole30 I had just quite coffee cold turkey. My stomach always felt unsettled after I drank it and I had an occasional arrhythmia from it. Obviously my body was trying to tell me something. So if I wanted my guts and my nervous system to be back to normal, I’d need to go back to drinking coffee as a treat. Sure I missed the warm drink and substituted with green tea but what I really missed was that little teaspoon of sugar I would add to it. Morning smoothies have helped that craving. Smoothie bowls, well they are like eating cereal without the grains and surprisingly filling too.

Beet Smoothie Bowl
 
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Recipe type: Breakfast
Cuisine: American
Serves: 1
Ingredients
  • SMOOTHIE
  • 1 large beet (frozen or fresh, Trader Joes has packaged versions in their produce section)
  • ½ frozen berry mix (I like Trader Joes)
  • 1 celery stick
  • 2 kale leaves, stems removed
  • ½ c. carrot orange juice (no sugar added)
  • ¼ c. water
  • TOPPINGS
  • Pecan pieces
  • Pistachios
  • 2-4 Mint leaves
  • 1 T chia seeds
Instructions
  1. Place all ingredients in a blender and blend
  2. Sprinkle with toppings