Vegan, Gluten Free, Soy Free Peanut Butter Pie!!

Back when we were dating, my husband introduced me to the most delicious peanut butter pie in the world.  The ingredients are: peanut butter, a box of powdered sugar, a LOT of cream cheese, and a whole container of coolwhip.  Take my word for it, this pie tastes SO good.  This weekend I was craving that pie; I haven't had it in a very long time! So I started to search my cookbooks and the web to find a suitable alternative recipe.  Naturally, the cream cheese and coolwhip have to go, and I wanted to make a dessert with a little less sugar.  I found recipes that used silken tofu and/or vegan cream cheese (usually made from soy!), which won't work for me.  SO, I did a little experimenting, and this is what I created!! By no means is it healthy; it still has a good amount of sugar...but, I would say its's much healthier than the original version!

Vegan Peanut Butter Pie
dairy free, soy free, gluten free, egg free


2 cups raw cashew pieces
3 Tablespoons melted coconut oil
1/2 cup (plus up to 1/2 cup more) powdered sugar 
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup creamy peanut butter
3 Tablespoons milk alternative (I used plain, unsweetened almond milk)


Place raw cashew pieces in a pot and cover with water.  Bring to boil, reduce heat and cook for 5-10 minutes.  Remove from heat, cover, and let cool for a couple of hours, or overnight in the refrigerator.


Once cooled, drain soaked cashews and place in your blender.  Add the melted coconut oil and vanilla extract, and blend until cashews become a thick paste.  You may need to add a little bit of water to help the cashews along.  Once blended, add the 1/2 cup powdered sugar gradually, and blend well.  


Add to a large mixing bowl:  the cashew paste, peanut butter, and milk alternative.  Mix with an electric mixer until smooth.  Add the extra powdered sugar, up to 1/2 cup more to taste, and continue mixing until well-blended.  Add the pie filling to a cooked pie crust (I used this gluten free pie crust recipe from www.thespunkycoconut.com.  It was delicious and I highly recommend it!!)
and refrigerate for at least 4 hours before eating.  


**Note:  I used an 11" tart pan to make this pie, and not the conventional 9".  If you use a 9" pie pan, you may need to adjust the amounts, or you will have some left over.


Enjoy!!


*Ashley*

Snacks & Smoothies

How in the world do you stay healthy and get enough food and nutrients on a limited diet??? I'm not exactly sure yet.  That is just one of the many issues I'm dealing with on this food allergy journey I'm on.  Sometimes, if I'm not prepared with an arsenal of snacks that will give me energy and sustain me (especially with my stressful job), I will cave under pressure.  I mean, absolutely CAVE....like, eat pizza.  or a regular cookie.  Or whatever else is around me.  This is not acceptable, because I feel the affects of these foods for at least 3 days, sometimes up to 1 week (skin rashes, body aches, cold/nasal allergy symptoms, extreme fatigue...etc.) .  So, what do I do to combat this? Well, I'm not sure.

But, I bought a new cook book, Raw Energy by Stephanie Tourles, that has tons of snack, smoothie, nut milk, bar, trail mix, and "candy" recipes that I can't wait to try out, all of which are vegan, raw, and (mostly) gluten free! My hope is, that with snack foods readily available in my home and at work, I will always have something to grab when I'm feeling hungry or need an energy boost.

Here's a smoothie my husband and I had today for an afternoon snack - It's technically a "green" smoothie, but the blueberries turn it purple. It's best to eat leafy greens raw, in order to get all of their nutrients.  But, its tough to eat raw greens, especially if you don't really have a taste for them. I couldn't even taste the kale in this smoothie (and neither could my husband, who is much more discerning than me when it comes to food taste). Its also very healthy and sustaining!

Blueberry-Banana-Kale "green" (PURPLE!!) Smoothie

1 1/2 cups milk alternative (I used almond.  This smoothie is very thick, almost like a shake, so if you desire a more liquid consistency, use water instead.)
1 cup frozen blueberries
1 frozen banana
2 Tablespoons nut butter (I used peanut butter)
1 Tablespoon honey
roughly 1 cup kale leaves, washed and de-stemmed. 


Add all ingredients to a blender, and blend until smooth.  I had to stir a couple of times to make sure all of the kale was blended.  


Pour into glasses, and enjoy! Makes about 2 servings.  


*Ashley*

Oatmeal Flax Banana Cranberry Muffins

If you're like me, breakfast is always difficult.  I'm not a morning person, and I often find myself running out the door in the mornings with an empty stomach, trying to get to work on time.  It's always nice to have something to just grab on your way out, or eat while you finish getting ready. But, "grab-n-go" type breakfasts are usually laden with sugar, sure to give you that mid morning crash (not to mention, pre-packaged foods aren't exactly allergy-friendly!!)    I made these muffins today, so that they will be an option for me on those mornings when I just can't seem to get it together in time to sit down and eat a real breakfast.  And, they're tasty enough to eat for a healthy afternoon snack! 

This is a basic recipe that can be adapted, you can replace the banana with apple sauce for a different flavor, or even pumpkin puree if you want.  Also, you can add whatever dried fruit you want; I decided to go for cranberries this time.

OATMEAL FLAX BANANA CRANBERRY MUFFINS (Vegan, gluten free, refined sugar free)

1/2 cup non-dairy milk (I used almond, but coconut would be great too)

1 TB. apple cider vinegar

1 cup gluten free oats

1 1/2 cups oat flour (I just ground my gluten free oats in my coffee grinder.  You can use a coffee/spice  grinder or food processor)

1/2 cup flaxseed meal (again, I used my coffee grinder to grind whole flax seeds)

2 ts. baking powder

1 ts. baking soda

1/2 ts. sea salt

3 TB.  honey or agave nectar

1/4 cup oil (preferably melted coconut oil, but I ran out of coconut oil and used extra light olive instead. It turned out fine.)

1 cup mashed ripe banana

1/2 cup dried cranberries

Preheat oven to 350, and prepare muffin tins.  In a small bowl, combine the milk alternative with the cider vinegar, and let curdle for about 10 minutes.  Mix dry ingredients (oats, oat flour, flaxseed meal, baking powder, baking soda, and salt) in a large bowl.  Add wet ingredients (curdled milk, oil, honey or agave, and banana), and mix well.  Add in dried cranberries last, and mix to evenly distribute throughout batter.  Pour into muffin tins and bake for 25 minutes at 350 degrees.  Allow to cool on a rack before eating.  

Makes 12 regular-sized muffins or 18-24 mini-muffins.  

Enjoy!!

*Ashley*