Homemade Chocolate Protein Bars

We like protein bars around my place because they're easy, quick, 

& portable nutrition. 

However, I don't like the sticker price... nor do I like the oftentimes included 'mystery ingredients' 

Here's a super simple, much cheaper way to make them yourself.

P.S. They taste good too. 

You will need:

DATES. PROTEIN POWDER. COCOA POWDER. NUTS. 

WATER (you have that right?)

~ Into your food processor goes... 10 oz pitted dates, 1/2 C. vanilla protein powder (we use dairy free), 1/4 C. plus 1/8 C. cocoa powder, and 3 T. water. Whirl until mixed. 

Super Nummy Chocolatey Protein Bars.

~ Add 1 & 1/2 Cups nuts/seeds of choice. I used 1 C. cashews and 1/2 C. sunflower seeds. Whirl until incorporated. 

~ You can then smash this down evenly into a square baking pan, then cut into 8 bars... 

or if you're me, dump it on the counter and form it into a somewhat even squarish shape and then cut. I wrap them individually in foil and store in the fridge.

These are a killer cure for a chocolate craving. Just sayin.

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Mango Sticky Rice. Our Newest Love.

Sticky, coconuty, warm and melt in your mouthy, mildly sweet, a little sour...

Mango Sticky Rice.

This is quickly becoming an obsession in my home. 

I'm not eating leftovers right this very moment for breakfast. I swear.

We made this last night to go with our Valentine's Day Veggie Sushi. 

I realize Sushi is Japanese and Mango Sticky Rice is largely a traditional Thai dessert, but there are no rules in my house. 

Look at that big beautiful platter of sushi.  We ate every last bite... if you were wondering.

This was our first ever attempt at making sushi ourselves. Cucumber, avocado, and pickled radish. Topped with thinly sliced jalapenos and a hoisin & tamari sauce (not pictured. obviously.)  I'm in love.

Turns out Sweets is a master sushi roller. Who knew?!

I have a feeling there will be much sushi crafting occurring in my house from now on. Even Miss M loved it, and worked her chopsticks like a champ.

Okay, why was I writing this post again? Oh yeah, Sticky rice... 

Sweets and I discovered the joy of Mango Sticky Rice one night, several months ago, at our favorite Thai food place. We had eaten there a gajillion times, always always getting dessert. Because we love it. 

For some reason the sticky rice had never jumped out from the dessert tray to say, "Eat Me! Eat Me!" before that night. Maybe it was because of it's simplicity. The poor thing didn't really stand much of a chance up against chocolate lava cake with cappuccino ice cream, white chocolate strawberry shortcake, or green tea infused cheesecake. I'm pretty sure I could hear the other desserts chanting "we're better than you are, we're better than you are, people want to eat us, too bad for you-ou"

This one evening though, we must have felt bad for the amount of ridicule and mockery the poor little innocent Mango was being subjected to, because we ordered it. Although not without a back-up dessert... just in case it sucked. We've pretty much been madly in love with it ever since. 

Even more so since we've taken on this season of vegan thing. Eggless, dairyless restaurant desserts are pretty hard to come by, so this has definitely become a go-to for us. 

Anyhow, to make a short story long, which I've sufficiently done here, I boycotted my kitchen this last weekend (or maybe it boycotted me...) so we were out for dinner once again at our fave Thai place. Through the entire meal we harbored eager anticipation for our mango sticky rice. I even boxed up half of my entree to save room, just to find out the little pile of sticky goodness was not on the dessert tray that evening. *Gasp* It was a horrific tragedy. (We're very serious about dessert) 

It was at this moment in time, it occurred to us that the delicacy we were longing for was quite simply rice and fruit. How hard could that be to make? So, after a trip to the ghetto Oriental Market (which is now one of newest favorite places), and a small amount of kitchen time, I can confidently answer, "Not very."

Here's what you'll need: 

SWEET RICE. COCONUT MILK. BROWN SUGAR. MANGO. SALT.

This makes quite a bit. We like left overs. You know, for breakfast and stuff. 

You could cut this in half if you're not into sticky rice for breakfast you crazy person. 

~ In a large stock pot measure 2 Cups of rice and 2 Cups of water. Let sit for 30 minutes. 

~ Do not drain. Add to the pot, 1/2 Cup coconut milk, 1/2 tsp. salt, 2 T. brown sugar, and another 1 1/2 Cups of water. 

~ Bring to boil, reduce heat covering partially. Simmer for 15 minutes or until liquid is absorbed. Stirring occasionally. This mixture will get VERY sticky. That's okay. You will want this to be custard like in the end. 

~ Turn off heat and cover securely. Let sit 5 - 10 minutes. 

~ Pour remainder of the can of coconut milk into a small sauce pan.  Sweeten with 3-5 T of brown sugar, depending on how sweet you like things. Remember this will taste less sweet once it's on the rice, since the rice is not very sweet at all. Warm through. Serve with a scoop of rice and sliced mango.

Be sure to let me know how you like it!

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Double Chocolate Coconut Oaties... My ♥ Day Gift for You

Here's a gift I really feel splenderifous about giving you.

It's made entirely of good stuff like oats and coconut and cocoa powder and love,
 sweetened with only a small amount of brown sugar.

 

 

This only makes 5 cookies which is a perfect sized V-day gift to yourself.  

  

Falling in love with yourself is the ultimate Valentine. Then you have infinite love to give to a partner. 

 ~ Alan Cohen

If you should happen to have other cookie loving Valentines this year 

(aside from yourself)

 you could easily double or triple this recipe.

~ Melt together 2 T Coconut spread and 3 T Brown Sugar. 

~ In separate bowl mix together 2 T Coconut Milk and 1 T Ground Flax Seed. Set aside. 

~ To the brown sugar mixture, add 1/4 tsp. baking soda, 1/8 tsp. salt, 1/4 tsp. vanilla, and 1 heaping T. cocoa powder. 

~ Stir in coconut milk and flax seed mixture. 

~ In food processor or magic bullet, blend together 1/4 cup shredded coconut and 1/2 C oats. 

~ Add coconut/oat flour to wet ingredients along with 1/2 Cup whole rolled oats and 1/2 oz chopped semi-sweet baking chocolate. 

~ Form into 5 balls and place on baking sheet, flattening slightly. Bake for 10 minutes at 350 degrees.

I have found the paradox that if you love until it hurts, then there is no more hurt. Only more love.

~ Mother Theresa

What will you do today, to show the world around you the love that you're capable of?

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Creamy Coconut Quinoa with Berry Compote

There seems to be a commonly held misconception that an Earthfood heavy or completely Earthfood based diet can't be satisfying and/or comforting. I'm here this winter and, more specifically, this week to prove any naysayers wrong. Bouyah!!

It's almost February which happens to be the month of love, so I'm going to be spending the entirety of it discussing all things having to do with Looooove. I'm not talkin' mushy romantic love here, although I can't guarantee there will be none of that.

The love I'm referring to is the love of food and other worldly pleasures, the love of all that is around us, and the love of ourselves. I have decided to kick off the month with a love of Miss M's (and I'm sure many of yours as well) ...

All things creamy.

(Think Mac & Cheese, Fettuccine Alfredo, Ice cream, Cream of 'Whatever' Soup... you get the jist)

This is the Earthfood Experiment however, so these creamy things will be minus the cream and cheese. This is certain to be a challenging experiment, but I'm DETERMINED to arrive at weeks end with a beginner's collection of delicious, healthy, and indulgent tasting creamy recipes.

Since February is a short month, I figured I'd just go ahead and start a few days early.... because there's no such thing as too much love.

To Kick off our week.... 

Creamy Coconut Quinoa with Berry Compote

(that's a lotta Kuhhhhs)

I actually threw this together for breakfast because I was:
a) trying to use up some crap I had leftover from last week
2) inspired by this sticky rice with coconut cream and Mango that I had at a Thai food place this weekend.
It's Sweet's and I's new favorite Vegan dessert, and I was thinking it might just be fabulous for breakfast if it wasn't made with white rice and what HAS to be a considerable amount of sugar. So this is what I came up with:

I used some left over grains that I'd made earlier in the week. I always make extras since they take a good 15-20 minutes to cook and who wants to do that at 6 in the morning?

So the picture above is 1 Cup cooked quinoa & 1/2 Cup cooked Stoats!
For those of you that might be new here... Stoats! are steel cut oats. Really you could use any type of grain for this recipe. All Stoats! or all quinoa.... or it would be fantastic with some left over brown rice from the night before.

 I combined my grains in a saucepan with 1 tsp. real maple syrup, 1/2 tsp. vanilla, 1 Tablespoon Coconut Oil, and 1/2 Cup Lite coconut milk (from the can). I brought that to a simmer over low heat and let it thicken up.

Meanwhile, I gathered some berries from the freezer.
 These particular berries were ones that I threw in the freezer last week when I realized they were on their last leg and wouldn't survive much longer in the fridge. I do this ALL the time in my effort to waste less food. 

Anyhoo....
While the the grains were thickening, in another sauce pan I combined 1 cup sliced strawberries, 1 Cup blueberries, 2 Tablespoons all natural mixed fruit preserves, and a cinnamon stick.
My favorite is St. Dalfour's Four Fruits. It has nothing in it but fruit, fruit juice, fruit pectin, and lemon juice. Can I get a shout out for no high fructose corn syrup! Hell yeah. 

I let simmer until the blueberries were all are bursty, then served over my coconut quinoa.

Simple, nutritious, creamy, comforting, delicious.

See you tomorrow with more creaminess... 

What's your favorite creamy comfort food?

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Oatmeal cookies for 2 & 1/2 people. Or 1... if you're me.

It appears as if these cookies had a rowdy party and didn't invite us... 

I'm pissed.

It also kinda looks like one really tall cookie in this picture, but there's 5. Trust. 

 That's how many cookies this recipe makes. I like that a lot. 

So, I have this oatmeal raisin cookie recipe that I acquired from a lady I worked with 12 years ago. It has, for all of these years, consistently been my favorite. The original form of this cookie was so tender, and so spiced, and so perfect... 

but made a couple dozen cookies (who needs that many?) and was also loaded with a cup of sugar, a cup of shortening (eeew), and more white flour than oats. Not a whole lot of nutrition.

 I've recently developed a new philosophy on sweet eating: If I'm gonna eat sugar (which I will surely do), I want to give my body something it can use along with it. 

And since I'm not sure I can live a lifetime without these cookies, it was glaringly obvious that they must be made-over.

So, here's my shot at it.

These little suckers have almost 4 grams of fiber and 6 grams of protein in each one! 

No wonder they had a party.

You will need:

RAISINS. GROUND FLAX SEED. BAKING SODA. COCONUT OIL. MAPLE SYRUP. SALT. OATS. ALMOND FLOUR. CINNAMON. NUTMEG.

~ Step 1: Microwave 1/4 Cup raisins & 1/4 Cup water for 2 minutes. 

(Think of this as a raisin spa session. It will rejuvenate your shriveled grapes, returning them to a plump and juicy state. Mmmmm... shriveled grapes.)

~ Step 2: Drain your youthful looking raisins, reserving 2 Tablespoons  of the raisin water.

Set the raisins aside.

~ Step 3: To the reserved water add 1 1/2 Tablespoon ground flaxseed plus 1/4 tsp baking soda. Set aside also. 

 

~ Step 4: In a separate bowl, smoosh together 2 T coconut oil, 2-3 T real maple syrup (depending on how sweet you like things) & 1/8 tsp. salt with the back of a spoon. Stir in 3/4 tsp cinnamon, 1/8 tsp nutmeg, and flax mixture

~ Step 5: To the above mixture, stir in 1/2 cup oats, 1/4 C oat flour (i made this by grinding up oats with my magic bullet) , drained raisins, and 1/4 cup almond flour.  

~ Step 6: Form into 5 balls. They will be wet, but don't you fret.

Bake in 350 degree oven for 10 minutes. 

Half way through the baking time, you may want to reach in the oven and smoosh down gently with a fork, unless you don't mind round cookies.

Let them hang out on the baking sheet for about 5 minutes before removing, then cool completely to allow for your little nutritional powerhouse cookie lovers to set up. Store these sweet things in your refrigerator.

As you can see, this recipe calls for coconut oil. It's a bit pricey, but totally worth it. 

Coconut oil is thought to possibly prevent/alleviate disease and prevent weight gain,  has antimicrobial, antiviral, and anti-fungal properties plus it also prevents free radical damage and improves appearance of skin and hair. WINNER!!! Oh, and I forgot to mention, it tastes like tropical heaven in your mouth. Lately, I've taken to spreading it on my toast in the morning. I die.

 If you're unfamiliar with coconut oil (as I was just one month ago) check out the deets here.

 And then, go get you some!

Also, while you're making things with your coconut oil you'll probably want to make these
Sea Salt Peanut Butter Cups.

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Sea Salt Peanut Butter Cups

The two loves of my life are both possessors of sweet teeth.

In the past, to satisfy this craving of theirs, I would bake sugary floury treats; which I would then follow up with a full fledged, self imposed, discombobulated guilt trip that would go something like this... Why do I keep making them food that's so awful for their bodies ?!... but it makes them so happy!!  
Ya catch my dilemma?

Here's the dealio...  we all love to indulge from time to time. Or often (if you're us)

By trying to stop ourselves, we just crave "what we can't have" even more.

So, I've decided that if I'm going to splurge (and I know I will) I might as well make sure I'm delivering some sort of nourishment that my body can use along with the sugar... seeing as how I'm going to eat it anyways!

And I can attest, I feel a WHOLE lot better about feeding these sorts of treats to my loved ones.

Here are some peanut butter cups I created around a recipe I found in Alicia Silverstone's book/cookbook 'The Kind Diet'. I just LOVE her.

Her recipe is super delicious... but I felt it could offer a tad more nutrition. So, I took her version and made them smaller in size with less sugar, less added fats, plus a bit o'fiber. Then, just to gild the lily, added a sprinkle of sea salt on top.


Here's my version:

Melt together:  
1/2 C Crunchy Peanut Butter ( I used natural unsweetened, salted PB with added flax seeds) 
1/4 C  ground oats (i just gave mine a whirl in the magic bullet, but you could use a food processor)
2 T Coconut Oil
2 T Earth Balance Butter
2 T Maple Sugar

Spoon into 12 lined mini muffin cups. Place in freezer until hardened to the touch.

Meanwhile, melt together:
3 oz Semi-sweet baking chocolate
2 T non-dairy milk

Top peanut butter cups with chocolate, sprinkle with slivered almonds, then top with a few turns of freshly cracked sea salt and return to fridge until firm.

Store these in your refrigerator, snack away at your leisure, and feel good about it. Dammit
See... we can have our cake and eat it too.

What are your tricks for making indulgent foods a little bit healthier?

PS you can register to win your own copy of  'The Kind Diet' here!
 

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3 Ingredient Nectarine Galette

Here are your ingredients for this super easy, super yummy dessert. 

 

Thinly slice 3 nectarines and arrange in a circle on an unrolled pie crust (i buy mine at the store, because I'm lazy)  

So Pretty!

 Sprinkle with 2 T of raw sugar and 2 T cold cut up butter. Then fold up sides and brush them with water. Finish by sprinkling crust with an additional 1 T of raw sugar. 

Bake in a 375 degree oven for 35-40 minutes. 

I served this galette after my 3 Ingredient Mediterranean Feast. I didn't take a picture fast enough. 

This was all that remained...

Enjoy! 

Peace & Love, 

Chandra Nicole

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Indulge Me Please!! - Roasted Pineapple with Ice Cream

You must eat this!!

Roasted Pineapple with Vanilla Soy Ice Cream

I have, as of recently, developed a MASSIVE sweet tooth. It is my personal goal to find many delicious desserts that are not awful for me.

This is SOOOO good and super easy to make. If you do not try it, we can no longer be friends... sorry.

Feast on this:

Core and thinly slice into wedges 1 Pineapple. Brush both sides lightly with a mild flavored oil such as Safflower or Canola. Mix together 1 tsp. Allspice and 1/2 tsp. Cayenne pepper and sprinkle over pineapple. Roast in 500 oven for 12 minutes. Remove and brush with the juice of 1 lime. Return to oven and broil 1-2 inches from heat for 4ish minutes or until lightly browned around the edges.

Throw it over a scoop of ice cream... I like vanilla soy. It's the perfect amount of sweet.

Put in face :)

P.S If you haven't noticed... I like roasting things.

(This was adapted from a Weight Watchers recipe I found)

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