Almond and Cashew Cherry Yogurt (Vegan!)

When I first went vegan I thought yogurt was going to be the hardest thing to give up. I had grown to love plain greek yogurt with fruit and granola for breakfast, so the thought of giving it up made me sad. While it was hard to stop eating it the first week, I soon found different things to eat for breakfast that made up for it.

The longer I've been vegan the more I've begun experimenting with harder recipes. A while back I finally started researching homemade yogurt. I would occasionally buy non-dairy yogurt at the grocery store, but it's so expensive that I wanted to learn how to make my own. And I did! You can check out the recipe here!

While my homemade yogurt became a staple in my house, I still wanted to find a yogurt substitute that didn't take hours of incubating to make. Not long after, I came across Deliciously Ella's Cashew and Almond yogurt and it sounded delicious to me...and unfortunately expensive. I decided to make a few substitutes and try it out and, voila! This delicious, fruity yogurt was the result! It takes a fraction of the time to make, is thicker, and has more consistent results.

Yum!

Almond and Cashew Cherry Yogurt

(Make about 4 servings)

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup almonds
• 1/4 cup cashews
• 1/4 cup dates
• 1/2 cup frozen cherries (or any frozen fruit)
• 1 1/2 cups water, divided
• 1 teaspoon cornstarch (or other thickener)

Directions:

1. Soak the almonds, cashews and dates in a bowl for about 4 hours.
2. Drain the nuts and dates and place them, along with the frozen berries and 1 cup of water, into a blender. Blend until smooth.
3. In a small bowl, whisk together the remaining 1/2 cup water and teaspoon of cornstarch until dissolved. Pour it into the blender and blend with the other ingredients until combined.
4. Pour the contents of the blender into a medium-sized sauce pan over medium heat. Let the mixture heat slowly while whisking often until the "yogurt" thickens. You can know when it's ready when your whisk leaves marks in the yogurt.
5. Pour the yogurt into a jug and place in the refrigerator to cool.
6. Serve with fruit and granola for a delicious breakfast!

Eat Consciously,

Faith

A Berry Refreshing Smoothie

Cute post name, right? I thought so. This is going to be short and sweet, but I wanted to share with you all a quick, refreshing beverage. First of all, while I call this a smoothie, the base is water so it's not as thick as you may think. It's still full of nutrition and truly is refreshing. Don't let the color scare you away either. I really think we ought to say, "Don't judge a smoothie by it's color," because so often when you blend veggies and fruit together you end up with a nice, murky color. There's nothing much we can do about it, except get over it and drink up. Once the deliciousness of these murky drinks hit our tongues, we usually don't care about the color anyways. 

Making this beaut is simple. Place 1 1/2 cup of berries, 1 1/2 cup of greens, 1 cup of water and 1/2 cucumber in a blender and blend until smooth. That's it! Enjoy this drink on a hot day or after a good, sweat producing workout. 

A Berry Refreshing Smoothie

(Makes 1 serving)

 Ingredients:

· 1 1/2 cup mixed berries

· 1 1/2 cup greens (kale, spinach, etc.)

· 1/2 cucumber

· 1 cup water

Directions:

1.  Place all of the ingredients in a blender and blend on high until smooth.

2. That’s all!

Eat Consciously,

     Faith

Berry Baked Oatmeal

I love oatmeal. If I wasn't married I would probably eat it for dinner a couple times a week. It's good I'm married I guess (okay, for a lot of reasons other than that). Anyways, today we had some friends over for breakfast and I "veganized" a baked oatmeal recipe a friend had given me and it turned out so good. Ah, I'm hooked! Try it out.

Berry Baked Oatmeal
(Makes 6-8 servings)

2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
1/3 cup natural cane sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon fine-grain sea salt
1/2 cup toasted, chopped walnuts (divided)*
2 cups milk
1 flax "egg"*
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 ripe bananas, cut into 1/2 inch slices
1 1/2 cups blueberries and strawberries (or whatever kind you have on hand)
1 1/2 tablespoons vegan butter, melted

*To toast your walnuts, place them on a baking dish in an oven heated to 375 degrees for about 7 minutes.
*To make a flax "egg", whisk 1 tablespoon of ground flaxseed with 3 tablespoons of water and let sit for five minutes until the texture turns "yolky"

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees and spray an 8x8 inch square baking dish with PAM.

In a large bowl mix the dry ingredients together: oats, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, sea salt and 1/4 cup of walnuts.

In a separate bowl whisk together the flax egg, milk, vanilla and melted butter.

Once your dry and wet ingredients are all ready, place the banana slices on the bottom of your prepared baking dish until the bottom is completely covered. Sprinkle half of the berries over top of the bananas and then top the berries with all of the dry oat mixture. Next slowly pour the wet ingredients over top of the oats and gently shake the dish or use a spatula to make sure the liquid is evenly distributed.

Lastly top with the remaining berries and walnuts.

Bake for about 40 minutes, uncovered until golden and bubbly. Let cool for a few minutes before serving plain or with maple syrup.

Everyone loved this and we ate it all up! I think next time I'll try omitting the butter and I bet it will turn out just as good.

Nutrition for 1/6: Cals: 288; Fat: 11.4g (Sat 1.72g); Carbs: 44g; Fiber: 6g; Sugars: 18.5g; Protein: 6 g

Eat Consciously,

     Faith