dairy-free
Strawberry Cheesecake
Strawberry Lemonade Popsicles
With all of my favorite fruits in season and the sunny San Diego weather to inspire me, I’ve decided to make some incredible Popsicles for you to make and enjoy!
Now, my 3 1/2 year old nephew loves sweets (what young child doesn’t?!), but he’s learned that at Auntie Laura’s house, they’re always allowed! His favorite dessert to see in my freezer…Popsicles! So in making these recipes, I really wanted to make sure they were child-friendly as well.
For the perfect icy summer treat, I made three flavors – Peaches and Cream, Blackberry Melon, and my nephew’s personal favorite, Strawberry Lemonade! He loved that flavor so much, he has yet to try the other two. (I had my husband and twin try the other two… Just to make sure they were up to par!)
If you can imagine a 3 year old raving about a completely natural, refined sugar-free Popsicle, and letting me know he was going to bring these to his friends… well, that’s music to my ears. 🙂
To know that I can make this little guy just as happy with out giving him something that will send him on a sugar high or have any negative side effects is priceless! Now you and you family can enjoy this delicious summer time treat too!
Ingredients
- 2 cups strawberries (hulled)
- 1 lemon (juiced)
- 1 tbsp date paste
- 1 cup strawberries (sliced)
Servings: popsicles
Instructions
- Place all ingredients (except for sliced strawberries) in blender and blend until smooth. Divide the sliced strawberries into popsicle molds. Pour popsicle filling into molds. Freeze for 2-4 hours.
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Chocolate Truffles
Chocolate Fudge
Food Restrictions: Are They Real & How To Deal With Them
Today, I want to talk to you about something that impacts my life on the daily — dining out with family and friends. This article is for those of you who have food allergies and intolerances, and those who don’t. Read on!
Now, if you’re one of the many people who has a food allergy or intolerance (peanuts, dairy, gluten, strawberries, you name it), you may remember a time when you were dining out with a friend or family member and you had to explain why you couldn’t eat a particular item… And maybe the response was positive and supportive! But, maybe it wasn’t.
Or maybe you don’t have a food allergy or intolerance, but you made a meal for an individual only to find out that they couldn’t even eat the food. Bummer! If only you had known you would have tried to make something for them!
This blog is to help everyone figure out how to navigate this common problem much more easily!
In today’s day and age, we all know someone who either has a lifestyle preference in relation to food, a food allergy, a sickness or a disease. So, how do we get by when almost all social activities revolve around food?
To those of you who have modified or specific diets, don’t be afraid to speak up. But I get it… It’s easier said than done. I’ve been there — I’ve gotten the “oh, you’re just doing this to lose weight, aren’t you,” the unsupportive “it’s probably in your head,” or even the “well, one bite isn’t going to kill you!” What you need to remember is that some people may not understand because they do not have the same physical reactions. This is where I have learned that by kindly explaining why you can’t eat something make a BIG difference. Now I am not telling you to shout it from the roof tops, but if you just let the people know that you are close with such as friends, family and coworkers that you eat lunches with it helps a lot!
Whenever I let someone new know about my food allergies, I immediately follow it up by letting them know that those foods I’m giving up just aren’t worth the discomfort, feelings, or pain I feel after, but that I still miss some of my old favorites like donuts and ice cream. I then say “If I could still eat it, I would.” Personally, I think this better helps the person you are talking with to not feel like you are judging them for their food choices either.
*Side note: There are two things most people without food reactions do not want to hear ever! #1: The Snooty, “I can’t eat that!” #2: The gory details of your intolerances. (Trust me! Not Cool!)
3 Tips For Social Dining When You Have Food Restrictions:
1. Offer to bring a dish large enough for everyone that is modified to your diet.
2. Give suggestions as to where you can all go out to eat.
3. Host dinners at your house.
For those of you who are lucky enough to have no specific diet, I am jealous! But, if you’re on the receiving end of someone telling you about their diet restriction, please try to be supportive and respectful. Focus on what they can have and if you don’t understand something please ask. Really! We don’t mind! The last thing to remember is that anyone who truly has a food allergy is not, I repeat, IS NOT judging you for what YOU eat.
3 Tips For Social Dinning With People Who Have Food Restrictions:
1. When hosting a party always ask your guest if they have any food allergies or restrictions.
2. Ask your guests to bring their favorite dish.
3. Try new foods, meals and restaurants that allow you and your loved one to eat in accordance to their diet.
The main thing is respect from both sides — if we can respect, support and not pass judgement on each other, the dining out experience should be fun and easy!
Comment below on your own tips and tricks to dining out with food restrictions.
Easy No Bake Nectarine Cobbler
This may not be a big shocker, but I really like fruit. Like if I had to pick one food group to eat for the rest of my life, fruit would be it!! I love everything about fruit — its natural sweetness, its juiciness… I mean, what’s not to love?! Now if I had to pick a favorite fruit, that’d be a bit harder…
Anyways, about two weeks ago, I finally had time to go to a local produce store in San Diego that I had been meaning to go to for months now. It’s called Specialty Produce and I’d heard amazing things about it. They supply the produce to local restaurants in San Diego and even better, they only sell food from California, meaning this produce is crazy fresh!
When I arrived, I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect as it is not your typical grocery store. It is this massive warehouse, nothing very special to look at, but what it lacks in appearance, it makes up for in quality! My first goal — go directly to the cooler. Why? Well, because I saw that they promoted purple raspberries, and there was no way I was going to leave this place without trying one! But, when I got there, I saw sooo much more!
If you were to ask my husband about this trip, he’d say I was like a little kid in a candy store! There was so much fruit, and some that I had never even seen before! Lucky for me, the nicest guy working there clearly saw I was excited, possibly even overwhelmed honestly, and came to the rescue. He started off my fruit exploration experience by asking what I enjoy the most, and then took it one step further and asked if I preferred tart versus sweet fruit. Because I couldn’t narrow it down, he let me sample all the different varieties of fruits (who knew there were so many differing flavors?!), but I was unaware he was saving the best for last! We starting off with fruits a little more tart, like the purple raspberries and bush berries, then moved onto fruits a little sweeter, such as the blueberries, strawberries and peaches. But that last fruit… white nectarines. I mean, I love nectarines, but on my list of favorite fruits, it’s just average. Until he sliced me a piece. Now, if you can imagine fireworks going off in your mouth from a pure sweet bliss, that is exactly what was happening to me! I knew right then and there I was going to buy a ton of these bad boys and whip up a special dessert!
And there you have it — the White Nectarine Cobbler. Now it is time to go enjoy my new favorite dessert, before my husband finishes it all! 🙂
I LOVE this time of the year! The sun is shining, the birds are chirping and stone fruits are finally in season! This is the perfect time of year to enjoy peaches, nectarines, plum, apricots and cherries. My favorite part of this season is making an already amazing fruit even better by jazzing it up with other whole and healthy ingredients. This week I was inspired to to make a white nectarine cobbler!
| Servings | Prep Time |
| 6 servings | 10 minutes |
| Passive Time |
| 3 hours let set in fridge |
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I LOVE this time of the year! The sun is shining, the birds are chirping and stone fruits are finally in season! This is the perfect time of year to enjoy peaches, nectarines, plum, apricots and cherries. My favorite part of this season is making an already amazing fruit even better by jazzing it up with other whole and healthy ingredients. This week I was inspired to to make a white nectarine cobbler!
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Ingredients
Fruit Base
- 6 white nectarines peeled
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp coconut oil refined
- 1 tsp lemon juiced
Servings: servings
Instructions
Fruit Base
- Peel ripe nectarines and cut into slices. Sprinkle with vanilla lemon juice, coconut oil and cinnamon. Gently mix by hand and place in to 8x8 pan.
Crumble
- Place pecans, dates, salt and cinnamon into food processor and blend for 1 minutes. Sprinkle over Fruit Filling.
Recipe Notes
To find the perfect nectarine:
1. Look for a medium-sized fruit. Gigantic nectarines will be a little grainy or mealy, and the really small ones tend to be tart and generally picked before fully ripening.
2. Look for a soft, sweet-smelling fruit. Buy them when they are still somewhat firm (not rock hard), but almost a little soft to the touch. This will ensure that they will be ready in one to two days if left out on your counter. Now, you may look a little silly, but smell your fruit! It should have a light, sweet fragrance.
3. Ask some in produce or at the farmer’s market to try a sample. Not only will it guarantee you a great batch, but the people working may teach you even more tricks to ensuring a great fruit every time!
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ADVANCED BOOK SIGNING OF SWEETS IN THE RAW: NATURALLY HEALTHY DESSERT COOKBOOK!
The day is almost here, the day of my very first book signing. Two years ago, when I first decided I was going to create a healthy dessert cookbook without refined sugars, I had no idea the journey it would take me on. My goal at the time was pretty simple: create a couple dozen healthy and delicious dessert alternatives for my friends, family and clients and put it into a cute cookbook… Easy enough, right?
In the industry of healthy and fitness, there is a lot of time and energy put into the next big fad and way too much time spent telling everyone what they can’t have and very little on what you can have. After taking the time to learn and understand what highly processed foods and sugars do to the body, I began some R&D into the healthiest desserts I knew of at the time — vegan desserts. Unfortunately, I found that many of these desserts were using highly processed ingredients. I then turned to raw desserts and, although the basic concept was amazing — simple, no baking required, all whole ingredients — they still weren’t actually healthy. Most of recipes I found were loaded with so much refined sugar (the kind that makes your blood sugar go sky high) that it completely cancelled out the benefits of the whole foods they were being paired with! Lucky for me, I came across a few bloggers, chefs and cooks who showed me how to use whole ingredients in a new way! People like: Susan Powers of rawmazing.com, Angela Liddon of ohsheglows.com, Megan Gilmore of detoxinista.com, Heather Pace of sweetlyraw.com, Laura-Jane The Rawtarian at therawtarian.com and Ella Leché of pureella.com. Now all of these beautiful ladies don’t necessarily just make desserts or exclusively use unrefined ingredients. But, thanks to them, I was truly inspired to start using natural sugars in completely new ways. After learning that skill, the recipe crafting process came quite easily, after all, I did grow up in a kitchen with a mom making homemade desserts on the daily! Months of playing in the kitchen and 46 recipes later, I now have what is the very first raw, vegan family & kid-friendly dessert cookbook made with no refined sugars or processed ingredients – Sweets In The Raw: Naturally Healthy Desserts!
So what can you expect in this book? Simple, beautiful, easy-to-make desserts with fresh whole ingredients. The recipe chapters are organized by dessert type so there is a chapter for: Bars, Bites & Cookies, Cakes & Tarts, Candies, Fudge & Truffles and Frozen Treats, Ice Cream & Sorbets so that when your sweet tooth hits, you can easily find a recipe to satisfy it. There are even handy icons at the top of every recipe page to let you know exactly how long each recipe should take with a Soak Time, Prep Time and Freeze Time symbol. I have even added a whole section about the most important things to know about eating healthy sugars so that you have less confusion with this sweet and sticky subject.
To think that this Saturday I will be hosting my very first book signing for the people who inspired it all is so surreal! I have been able to accomplish so much in such a short period of time, all thanks to your love and support! I hope that this book not only gives you delicious recipes (Strawberry Cheesecake and Raspberry Sorbet are my favorites!), but also gives you some inspiration to play around in your own kitchen.
To get your hands on this Pre-Release, be sure to RSVP to the event. If you are unable to make it this time around, the book will be nationally released in September, and you can expect a large book tour when it comes. Thank you for all the help during this journey!
Vegan Chocolate Milk
Is there a single kid out there who didn’t want to upgrade their traditional school milk for chocolate milk? If you weren’t deemed lactose intolerant, milk was probably a staple in your childhood diet. For most of us, it was milk in our breakfast cereal, a carton with our school lunch and finally, a big glass of milk with dinner. Unfortunately for me, I have been lactose intolerant for as long as I can remember. And I am not the only one. About 1/3 of Americans are as well. In addition, milk has been in the hot seat the past few years with questions about how healthy it really is. So what is a health-conscious girl like me supposed to do? Create something that tastes even better of course, with no gray areas! That’s right — Chocolate Milk is getting a Naturally Healthy makeover!
Now, I created this chocolate milk recipe for my little 3 year old nephew. My twin sister and brother-in-law are trying very hard to ensure that he eats healthy, but in a world where every restaurant wants to serve your kid juice or chocolate milk, it can be hard. They win some battles and lose others, but now, he can have “chocolate milk” whenever he comes to visit Auntie Laura! Plus, I added a little touch of yacon syrup to the recipe. So, not only is he getting something delicious with no refined sugar or fake ingredients, but he is also getting some prebiotics which are great for his tummy and mine, too!
*This recipe was originally featured on Blendtec 4/20/16. http://www.blendtec.com/recipes/vegan-chocolate-milk
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup raw cashews soaked for 2 hours
- 3 cups water
- 5 medjool dates pitted
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/8 tsp vanilla bean powder optional
- 1/8 tsp cinnamon
- dash salt
- 2 1/2 tbsp cacao powder
- 1 tbsp yacon syrup
Servings: servings
Instructions
- Place all ingredients (excluding yacon syrup) in a blender and blend for 2 minutes. Add yacon and pulse 2-4 times until well blended. Serve and enjoy immediately of seal in an airtight mason jar in the refrigerator for up to 7 days.
Recipe Notes
Helpful Hint: If you don't accidentally drink all of the chocolate milk as soon as you finish it, note that it is completely normal for the milk to separate slightly. Simply shake before serving.
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Espresso Truffles
Just the thought of espresso and chocolate puts a smile on my face! Now that I have merged them both into a truffle…watch out world! It is the perfect treat to complement a cup of coffee for breakfast or to satisfy your sweet tooth at the end of a long day!
Ingredients
TRUFFLE BASE
- 1 cup hazelnuts
- 1 tsp organic ground coffee
- 1 cup cacao powder
- 1/8 tsp cinnamon
- 12 medjool dates
- 3 tbsp cold brew coffee
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 medium avocado ripe
CHOCOLATE
- 1/4 cup refined coconut oil melted
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 3 tbsp yacon syrup
- 1/4 cup cacao powder
Servings: truffles
Instructions
TRUFFLE DIRECTIONS
- Process all dry ingredients together until flour-like in consistency in the food processor. Add pitted dates and process until the mixture is an even, crumbly consistency. Add the remaining ingredients and process until the dough turns into ball. Roll the dough into 1 inch balls, place on plate and put into the refrigerator while making the chocolate coating.
CHOCOLATE DIRECTIONS
- Mix all wet ingredients together in a small mixing bowl. Add cacao powder and whisk until well blended. Dip truffles base into the chocolate with a fork and place onto cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Place in the refrigerator for 10 minutes, serve and enjoy. Extras can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.
Recipe Notes
Helpful Hint: I used to top these delicious balls of yumminess with a whole coffee bean, but I found people were trying to eat them. I now garnish the truffles with ground coffee and then sprinkle coffee beans on the plate for presentation.
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