Saturday, May 26, 2012

"Sinful" & Swirly Cinnamon Bun Pie

Just to clarify....this delicious recipe is NOT sinful. Yay! It's actually quite healthy in comparison to other desserts (not mine of course. You all know I like to "healthify" desserts). It is GLUTEN FREE and can be made VEGAN by using vegan cream cheese for the swirly icing  (such as Tofutti). 














hold on a sec....






















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Ok I'm back. 
I couldn't resist the smell of warm and oh-so-sweet cinnamon wafting in my kitchen! Had to take a bite! Mmmmm mmmm good. 


ADD moment.....GO!
Today we took bugaboo to the zoo for the first time! 






It was HOT HOT HOT and we stayed for around 3 hours. Micah really enjoyed the animals and it was a fun day but man were my doggies barking after all that walking! (Next time I may wear tennis shoes instead of super cute sandals) 












Oh wait....what was I writing about? Oh yeah, "Sinful" & Swirly Cinnamon Bun Pie. Got a little distracted by that cutie pie...




Most of you know I gained a wonderful 60 pounds while pregnant with Micah and I'm trying to get back to pre-prego body the healthy way. This means I can have desserts (in moderation). Now that's what I'm talking about!


After all the walking today, I really wanted something sweet. After a little pintrest perusing, I decided on making the following...



"Sinful and Swirly Cinnamon Bun Pie"
with cream cheese frosting
   adapted from: Chocolate Covered Katie

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cans white or garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed

1 cup oats (or oat flour. same thing)

1/4 cup applesauce

2 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract

3 T coconut or canola oil

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 cups raw sugar (if you are brave and don't have a super sweet tooth you could try 1 cup. That's what we did)

2 T cinnamon 



Directions: 
Blend all ingredients REALLY well in a FOOD PROCESSOR. If at all possible, don't use a blender. It doesn't blend the beans well. If that's all you've got, then do whatcha gotta do. :) Pour into a well greased pie pan (or whatever pan you have will probably do. You could make them "brownies" if you wanted). Bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes. 

while it is baking/cooling you can make the FROSTING!!!



Cinnamon Bun Frosting
adapted from Chocolate Covered Katie 

Ingredients:
1/4 cup silken-firm tofu (50g)

4 Tablespoons cream cheese (can use Tofutti brand to make it vegan)

1/4 tsp pure vanilla extract

2 Tbsp Almond, Soy, or any other non-dairy milk

1 Tbsp raw sugar

Directions: 
Place all ingredients in a blender or food processor and blend until smooth. 


and......


VOILA!!! DIG IN!



Oh did I forget to mention? Add as much icing as you want! Its only 10 calories per Tbsp!



Friday, May 4, 2012

Pumpkin Pie Meets Sweet Potato French Toast (VEGAN)

So.....lately I have been SO busy with work and school that I've been eating the same things over 

and over

and over....

You get the picture. Its been something like toast with peanut butter for breakfast, salad for lunch, and stir fry for dinner. With a few cups of coffee added throughout the day. BORING!!!

So this morning I decided I was going to make something healthy, yummy, and new for breakfast. 

Of course I got a little distracted by baby boo first. We had to do his 7 month pictures and since tomorrow is cinco de mayo, I figured we should be festive  :)



Feliz Cinco de Mayo!!!!
( How do you like the awesome pajamas, zero makeup, and crazy hair? This is what I look like unless its after 12 PM or its Sunday morning. Truth)


Ok, back to the French Toast....



Confession, the recipe calls for a sweet potato and all I had was some of Micah's sweet potato baby food. 

Hey, don't judge. You do what you gotta do for french toast right? 

Enough's enough, here it the recipe...

Pumpkin Pie Meets Sweet Potato French Toast (Vegan)
adapted from The Diva Dish

Ingredients:
1 cooked sweet potato (or in my case, 2 jars of sweet potato baby food)

1 1/2 cup Almond Milk (or any other dairy free milk. Or dairy filled if you wish! But then it wouldn't be vegan...)

1 tsp. vanilla 

2 tsp. Pumpkin Pie Spice

Bread 
(I highly recommend Ezekiel Bread. Its uber healthy AND when I tried to use Nature's own I ended up with a yummy but soggy mess. Just make sure its a thick bread. No flimsy 35 calorie bread peeps!)

Directions: 
1. Cook the sweet potato (microwave it, bake it, whatever! Just cook it). After its cooked, drop it (without skin of course) into a blender with all of the other ingredients (except bread) and blend until like a puree. 

2. Empty puree into a bowl 

3.Lightly coat (DO NOT SOAK) bread in the bowl and then place on a sizzly, buttered griddle (pan) for 2-3 minutes on each side or until golden brown.
* side note: if you soak the bread, you will end up with a soggy mess. Just dont' do it. :)

3. Add a little powdered sugar, dairy free butter, maple syrup (or whatever toppings you desire) and devour.

4. Lick the plate. 

You can omit step 4. I didn't. I literally licked the plate clean when I was finished...