Emily von Euw's Blog, page 24

MY FAVOURITE GREEN SMOOTHIE

I have made a lot of smoothies. I drink at least one, usually two, and often three, everyday and I have been doing that for years. I plan to continue doin' it for the rest of my life. I have written an entire cookbook on smoothies (it's coming out in December and you can pre-order it here). Let's just say I know a thing or two about them; including making their textures, flavours and colours the most appealing possible.

So - in my opinion anyways - I think there is some significance of my calling a smoothie "my favourite," because I have never really had a favourite one before. I make a different smoothie everyday because I am always excited to move onto the next recipe idea, enjoy it, and keep on with that delicious, diverse cycle. However, after I made this smoothie for the first time a few days ago, I have been making it everyday since. It just seems like THE PERFECT SMOOTHIE. I cannot imagine it being improved upon. And so due to my deep and ever-growing adoration of this drink, I thought it wise and practical to share with you. Please make the recipe and let me know your thoughts.

Basically what we have got is apple/ginger/kale JUICE blended with frozen bananas, resulting in a creamy, cool, sexy green beverage that is basically irresistible to all humans (and probably many other species). Yeah, we are using fresh green juice for the liquid instead of water or nut milk! CUZ WE'RE CRAZY LIKE THAT. It's almost like a green juice milkshake. Note: to some of you that might make it a huge turn off but personally the thought of a green juice milkshake gets my mouth wet. The benefits of greens are hopefully known to you, they are nature's #1 super food in terms of nutrient density. Juicing them improves their absorption and wickets the nutrient assimilation process. Apple juice is just the bomb and apparently keeps  cancer away. And when you blend anything with frozen bananas, you find heaven. What you are making is a potent, yummalicious, beautiful masterpiece that will let you live to be like 123 years old AND enjoy doing it because you get to drink THIS every morning. Seriously, I want you all to make this smoothie just so I can hear about how much you like it. Also: I love you.


GREEN SMOOTHIE with APPLE-KALE JUICE + BANANAS

4 apples
4 cups kale leaves (or other dark leafy greens) 
1 tablespoon chunk ginger root
3 frozen bananas

Juice the apples, ginger and greens then pour that juice into a blender container with the bananas. Blend everything until smooth, green, thick and frothy. YES. 

Note: I recommend cleaning your juicer and blender right after you use them so you don't have to deal with that once you have your drink ready. The last thing I wanna do when I have just poured a glass full of delicious smoothie is remember I have to clean; it makes it less enjoyable. Maybe that's just me though. 

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ALMOND BUTTER + CHIA JAM BARS with CHOCOLATE

I am getting back into dreaming of recipe ideas. It used to be my main source of creativity for my blog, but after writing Rawsome Vegan Baking my mind for thinking up raw vegan sweets was basically run dry temporarily. Now I am fortunately returning to the familiar groove that is imagining new recipes as I am falling into dreamland, or just waking from it. I have also been perfecting a super healthy, super easy curry recipe for ya'll. Stay tuned. 
These bars are gooey, sweet, and comfortable. Maybe you think comfortable is a weird adjective for food, but I think it's appropriate. Of course this recipe is reminiscent of PB&J (aka the stuff of childhood), so the flavour combo brings back memories for me of being young and not having a substantial care in the world. Comfort. I will be the first to admit these bars can get messy. So have a napkin handy... or #yolo it and proudly wear bits of jam and chocolate on your face for the remainder of the day, I won't judge. Isn't getting a bit dirty part of life, anyway? 
I've been focusing lately on remembering to live in the moment and 'be here now' as my wrist tattoo dictates. I get so caught up in all of the responsibilities I have to myself and others, and the seemingly endless lists of tasks I need to complete at any given time. It's like I am attempting to be perfect - i.e. clean and not dirty - because I believe that is the only standard I can hold myself to, otherwise I'll let myself down along with everyone else who I think is counting on me. Then I inevitably remember that NO ONE is perfect, and I am only human; a human with many faults. This gives me a lot of comfort, re-realizing I can let myself get dirty. I breathe a deep sigh of relief and then allow my mind and body to take a break, chill out, then eventually get back to work. I do love what I am always so busy doing - studying history at university, maintaining my blog, writing cookbooks, spending time with loved ones, exercising, making and eating delicious healthy food, and communicating - A LOT - with you guys. My life is a blessing! I do not subscribe to any organized religions but I AM constantly thankful for the gift of life I have been given by whatever forces rule our world and universe. It seems pretty miraculous to be alive and be aware of such a reality. I struggle with myself a lot, mentally, spiritually and emotionally, about the nature of being human - especially in this age of modernity - but I can usually calm myself down with the fact that no matter what this crazy cosmos means or doesn't mean, I am fortunate enough to have a healthy body, an intelligent, self-aware mind, a very comfortable lifestyle, and be surrounded by people with whom I share mutual love. I am keenly conscious of the fact that most of the global population doesn't get to enjoy some if any of those luxuries; this just makes me more grateful, and eager for the worldwide standards of living and human rights to balance out. I imagine us to be living in an awakening era, caught between the industrial revolution and the future of environmentalism and more responsible human agency, and sometimes it saddens me to know I won't be here to see our society finally bloom into the more compassionate, ethical, open-minded, earth-conscious community I believe we will become. However, it gives me great comfort merely believing in this future. 
At the end of the day, even though I let myself get stressed out over school, my blog, my books, my relationships, myself, existentialism, and the exhaustive list of world problems... I am always able to remind myself that to face these challenges successfully I need to be happy, not anxious or upset. Knowing this reminds me I don't have to be perfect. It reminds me I am just one person, trying to make sense of this ridiculous, amazing, strange thing we call life. It reminds me it's okay to get dirty, because that is part of life. 
Now let's eat.

ALMOND BUTTER + CHIA JAM BARS with CHOCOLATE 

Almond butter base:
1 cups rolled oats 
1/2 cup almond butter
1 tablespoon maple syrup 
1/4 cup flax seeds

Jam: 
1 cup berries
4 tablespoons chia seeds

Chocolate:
Click here for the recipe.

To make the base: grind the rolled oats into flour in a blender, then mix together with the other ingredients in a bowl. Press into the bottom of a lined bread pan (I used two small ones). Put in the fridge. 

To make the jam: mash or blend the berries until smooth, then thoroughly stir in the chia seeds and let it sit for 10-15 minutes so the chia seeds can gel with the mashed berries and thicken into jam. Spread this onto your base, then drizzle on the chocolate evenly. I swirled in some more almond butter at this point because... why not. Stick it back in the fridge and let sit for an hour, then slice and munch! Note: slice them carefully, the jam is gooey... 

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http://www.thisrawsomeveganlife.com/

WIN MY RAW VEGAN DESSERTS COOKBOOK!

Exciting news! Vegan Cuts is doing a cookbook and vegan snack box giveaway, and you have the chance to win! You can either win my best-selling raw, vegan, gluten-free desserts cookbook, Rawsome Vegan Baking, or a few other amazing ones from other bloggers I love: The Blender Girl, Thug Kitchen and The Vegan Zombie. The prizes for this giveaway are four snack boxes paired with four cookbooks, so there will be four winners who each win a snack box and - you guessed it - a cookbook!

Enter the giveaway here for you chance to win!




Did you like this post? Then *subscribe to my blog* and get all my posts by email! http://www.thisrawsomeveganlife.com/

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WIN MY RAW VEGAN DESSERTS COOKBOOK!

Exciting news! Vegan Cuts is doing a cookbook and vegan snack box giveaway, and you have the chance to win! You can either win my best-selling raw, vegan, gluten-free desserts cookbook, Rawsome Vegan Baking, or a few other amazing ones from other bloggers I love: The Blender Girl, Thug Kitchen and The Vegan Zombie. The prizes for this giveaway are four snack boxes paired with four cookbooks, so there will be four winners who each win a snack box and - you guessed it - a cookbook!

Enter the giveaway here for you chance to win!


Did you like this post? Then *subscribe to my blog* and get all my posts by email! http://www.thisrawsomeveganlife.com/

THIS RAWSOME VEGAN LIFE NOW HAS T-SHIRTS!

Come to the rawsome vegan side, we have t-shirts.


WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

I am so stoked to announce I will now be selling custom-designed t-shirts for my blog! (There is also a hoodie option available.) I have partnered with a neato company called Teespring, and we have developed some amazing tees for you guys to wear with plant-based pride! I think they all reflect the clean, fun and positive attitude that my blog has become known for. Nothing extreme, just simple, fun pictures of happy fruits and vegetables celebrating the rawsome vegan life. I have to admit I did not design them myself, but I'm just gonna see how you guys like this first one and if there is demand for others, and/or some designed by me I am happy to do make more designs available! Let me know. For now I am more than pleased with this first t-shirt. The drawings are done by a children's book illustrator!

You can buy the t-shirt here.


Although there are three different designs I love, I'm just gonna start off by selling one in order to gauge how popular it and others might be. If a whack load of people buy this one, I will definitely start selling the other two, and probably more. I wanna make you happy, after all.

Right now we I've got one design available that reads "I HEART THIS RAWSOME VEGAN LIFE", where the heart is a juicy red strawberry. I absolutely love this and can't wait to wear it all over the place. It represents what I try to promote on my blog: that healthiness is happiness, and that simplicity is beautiful.

Now, you might be thinking: "That's great that you have some cool t-shirt designs, Emily, but what about the material? I am a responsible, environmentally-conscious and morally-discplined individual and I demand that the actual t-shirts be made by fairly-paid workers and with sustainable fabric." First of all, thank you for caring about that stuff. Second, I do too! So don't worry your fabulous brain about it. The t-shirts these designs are printed on are all ethically made in the USA. It's all good here and everyone is happy! 
If you think buying ORGANIC is important, I have an organic cotton t-shirt option for you too. It costs a few dollars more, but depending on your priorities, it's worth it. Plus, when you buy the organic cotton t-shirt, $3.00 of your payment will be donated to the World Animal Protection organization!
These would also make great gifts... just sayin'. Well that's about all I have to say, folks! I hope you love these designs as much as me, and consider buying a t-shirt or hoodie! Hehe. Let me know what you think! I always love to hear from you. x
You can buy the t-shirt here!


http://www.thisrawsomeveganlife.com/

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THIS RAWSOME VEGAN LIFE NOW HAS T-SHIRTS!

Come to the rawsome vegan side, we have t-shirts.


WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

I am so stoked to announce I will now be selling custom-designed t-shirts for my blog! (There is also a hoodie option available.) I have partnered with a neato company called Teespring, and we have developed some amazing tees for you guys to wear with plant-based pride! I think they all reflect the clean, fun and positive attitude that my blog has become known for. Nothing extreme, just simple, fun pictures of happy fruits and vegetables celebrating the rawsome vegan life. I have to admit I did not design them myself, but I'm just gonna see how you guys like this first one and if there is demand for others, and/or some designed by me I am happy to do make more designs available! Let me know. For now I am more than pleased with this first t-shirt. The drawings are done by a children's book illustrator!

You can buy the t-shirt here.

Although there are three different designs I love, I'm just gonna start off by selling one in order to gauge how popular it and others might be. If a whack load of people buy this one, I will definitely start selling the other two, and probably more. I wanna make you happy, after all.

Right now we I've got one design available that reads "I HEART THIS RAWSOME VEGAN LIFE", where the heart is a juicy red strawberry. I absolutely love this and can't wait to wear it all over the place. It represents what I try to promote on my blog: that healthiness is happiness, and that simplicity is beautiful.

Now, you might be thinking: "That's great that you have some cool t-shirt designs, Emily, but what about the material? I am a responsible, environmentally-conscious and morally-discplined individual and I demand that the actual t-shirts be made by fairly-paid workers and with sustainable fabric." First of all, thank you for caring about that stuff. Second, I do too! So don't worry your fabulous brain about it. The t-shirts these designs are printed on are all ethically made in the USA. It's all good here and everyone is happy! 
If you think buying ORGANIC is important, I have an organic cotton t-shirt option for you too. It costs a few dollars more, but depending on your priorities, it's worth it. Plus, when you buy the organic cotton t-shirt, $3.00 of your payment will be donated to the World Animal Protection organization!
These would also make great gifts... just sayin'. Well that's about all I have to say, folks! I hope you love these designs as much as me, and consider buying a t-shirt or hoodie! Hehe. Let me know what you think! I always love to hear from you. x
You can buy the t-shirt here!


http://www.thisrawsomeveganlife.com/

WHIPPED COCO CREAM TART with FRESH BERRIES

An ode to tarts:
Precious tart,so elegant and sweet,you tempt me with your textures... a slice I cannot help but eat.Who was your inventor?They were indeed a genius.Your taste and colour are sublime,nothing is more luscious.From your crust to your creamand the fruitiness in between,I love you for your simplicity, I'll see you in my dreams.
So that was really tacky and incredibly lame of me but sometimes ya just gotta write love prose to your fave dessert. Right, guys? ... GUYS? In all seriousness though I do adore raw vegan tarts. They're easier and quicker to make than cakes, and most of the time they come out looking like super stars. You make the crust which is usually just a mix of dates and nuts, press that into a tart pan, and then you make your filling which is normally a simple blending up of bananas, coconut or nuts with  a healthy sweetener, and finally you decorate it with something pretty like fruit. Done. You now have a gorgeous, delicious, uber-good-for-you treat to impress everyone with. This is why I love raw vegan desserts.

I made this recipe a few months ago and am posting it now to remind me of the wonderful berry harvests of the summer. I will miss the sun dearly for the next couple seasons. We basically get straight rain for the next five months here in British Columbia. The only way I survive is by daydreaming about the vibrant berries we had the pleasure of eating in the previous warmer months. Until the next fertile epoch I will be consuming a lot of frozen fruit, apples, greens, carrots and potatoes. I am trying to eat more food that is grown locally, and as I have said before: it's easy to do that when you have TWO winter farmers markets in your city. Yep, we locavore Vancouverites are spoiled.

Another bonus to buying local - in addition to being more connected to your food system, minimizing your carbon foot print, and supporting ethical, environmentally-concious farmers in your area - is the quality of the produce you are getting. Yes, it can be more expensive and usually is (though sometimes you can actually SAVE money at farmers markets) the flavour, colour and texture of locally grown organic food versus internationally shipped stuff from the grocery store is incomparable. What I do now is buy "the dirty dozen"(i.e. the ones most contaminated by pesticides, etc.) if they are available at the farmers market, or at least organically-grown kinds from the grocery store. That way I find a happy balance for my wallet AND still support the local farmers and enjoy amazing produce. Is buying organic important to you? Is buying local important to you? Why or why not? Let me know in the comment section! Have a great day, beautiful people, and try making the tart! x


WHIPPED COCO CREAM TART with FRESH BERRIES

Crust:
1 cup pecans
1/3 cup hemp seeds
1 1/2 cups dates
Pinch Himalayan salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Coconut cream:
Follow this recipe.

Fruit:
3 cups fresh berries
2 bananas
1 tablespoon coconut nectar (optional)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

To make the crust: pulse the pecans and hemp seeds into powder in a food processor, then add the rest of the ingredients and process until it all begins to stick together. Press into a lined tart tin and put in the fridge for a couple hours.

To prepare the fruit: wash and slice the berries and bananas then coat with the coconut nectar (if using) and vanilla and put in the dehydrator for 30-60 minutes, this softens and sweetens them.

Assembly: spread your coconut cream into the crust and top off with your berries. MMM.

http://www.thisrawsomeveganlife.com/

ROASTED VEGGIES with BUTTERY GARLIC + SPINACH SALAD

It doesn't get much simpler than this when you wanna prepare a wholesome, easy, delicious recipe for yourself. We've got oven-baked sweet potatoes, potatoes, eggplant and garlic paired with a spinach salad, all topped off with tomatoes, sunflower seeds and bell peppers. This meal is also pretty cheap to make because it's mostly sweet potatoes and potatoes (I can get these for $1.00/lb at the grocery store and farmer's market). In case you didn't already know this magical fact, I will let you in on it now: when garlic is baked it basically turns into garlic butter. Praise the heavens and all that is good. The cloves hidden under their skin transform into creamy, flavourful pockets of garlic spread that you can cover your meal in. It's fabulous to the maximum.

I will ACTUALLY be posting more and more savoury recipes for you all to enjoy, because meals like this are what my dinner looks like every night now. For awhile there, I didn't wanna share my dinners because they didn't have much colour. I was eating a lot of rice, potatoes and cauliflower. Healthy? Yes. Vibrant-looking? Not so much. But Instagram has inspired me! I kept seeing all these gorgeous lunch and dinner pics and realized: where's the colour in my meals!? So I have added it back in with salads, sweet potatoes, yams, tomatoes, peppers, broccoli, pumpkin seeds, and more. Once I found grocery stores that sold sweet potatoes for a dollar per pound, I rejoiced. I absolutely adore sweet potatoes (especially since Jack's grandma showed me the light of baking them whole in the oven) and they are one of the most nutritious foods on the planet! Some tribes and civilizations historically have lived mainly off sweet potatoes or yams! Firstly because they have trouble hunting/gathering enough other food but they also ARE ABLE to live off mostly sweet potatoes or yams because they have so much of what you need! Calories, carbs, nutrients, vitamins, hurrah! It's like nature decided to throw one nearly perfect meal into a singular root vegetable for our convenience! Evolution doesn't work like that at all but still, you get where I'm comin' from. Besides, that orange colour is such a winner. Buying organic sweet potatoes and yams is certainly better than buying conventional ones, but around here that usually means at least double the price. Since they are a staple of my diet, and also one of the least contaminated conventionally grown foods, I am okay purchasing non-organic ones, but I do like to treat myself sometimes. I always buy my potatoes organic because we can get amazing ones here for good prices from the farmers market, so I can't pass that up. Support local!

ROASTED VEGGIES with BUTTERY GARLIC + SPINACH SALAD

Veggies:
1 sweet potato or yam
1 cup baby potatoes
3 small eggplants (mine were super tiny)
1 head of garlic
1 teaspoon coconut oil

Salad:
3 cups spinach leaves
Juice of a lime
1 teaspoon maple syrup
2 chopped heirloom tomatoes
1 chopped red bell pepper
1 tablespoon sunflower seeds
Black pepper and sea salt (optional) 

To prepare the veggies: preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Wash your root veggies and dry them. Poke some holes in the sweet potato/yam. Slice the eggplants and rub them in a little coconut oil. Bake everything on a parchment paper lined pans and bake for 30 minutes, then see how it's all doing. My little potatoes, eggplant, head of garlic and sweet potato were all soft by this point so I took everything out, but if you have a large sweet potato/yam it will take longer to cook. (And yes, I did simply throw a head of garlic into the oven and it ended up perfect. You just have to peel off the skin to get at the goodness once it's done baking.)

To make the salad: mix the greens with lime juice, maple syrup, black pepper and salt (if using). Throw on the tomatoes and pepper, and sprinkle with sunflower seeds. Pair this with all your baked treasures and enjoy! 

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PERFECT RAW VEGAN GRANOLA (+ PERSIMMON STRAWBERRY SMOOTHIE)

Hello, hello! And happy Sunday! I have spent the entire morning working at my new standing desk (which I got on Craigslist for $30, whaddup), trying to figure out how to make my blog more beautiful and efficient for you. My conclusion is that it's gonna have to wait. I am so busy these days with school, promoting my second book (pre-order your copy now!) and trying to maintain a life that I don't have the time to build a whole new website... yet. However, I want you to know it is something I am planning on doing. I wanna update my recipe index, take better pictures, give you more recipes, focus on putting out great YouTube videos (like recipes demos and FAQ's), and in general just keep improving This Rawsome Vegan Life. I hope that's cool wit you. Don't worry - I'm not gonna turn it into some bland, generic webpage. TRVL is my heart and soul and I always mean to show that in this cyber corner of the 'net. But you don't wanna hear about me and GALANT here wishfully searching for unicorn HTML code... you wanna hear about granola.
Let's talk about granola. This recipe is the bomb! It's crunchy, flavourful, sweet, healthy and uber easy to make! Seriously, I winged it and it ended up being hippie perfection. You can keep this raw in the dehydrator with buckwheat groats or take it easy and use rolled oats and your oven at a low temperature. I did the latter because when it comes to food, I'm easy. I used to love granola and cereal for breakfast, but when I began gravitating towards a more whole foods-centered diet, out of the cupboard they went since they were full of sugar and other stuff my body just doesn't need. This recipe satisfies the granola-lover in me without sacrificing my healthy food standards. Try it out, see what ya think. 
The smoothie is also rockin'. I had never had persimmons until a few days ago, and my oh my - they're delish! So sweet and like a gooey, creamy, fruity, orange pudding. I threw a few in the blender with bananas and berries and enjoyed that with my fresh "baked" granola! It was like I died and went to healthy cereal heaven. Seriously, try having your fave cereal or granola (i.e. this recipe... hehe) with nut milk or a smoothie: YES. 
Okay I will be the first to admit my brain is not functioning at optimal capacity today because I spent all weekend exercising my noggin muscle for essay writing and essay research. I am looking forward to not doing much for the remainder of the day. Even still, please know I love you and I appreciate you being here, checkin' out my granola. x
RAW VEGAN GRANOLA (+ PERSIMMON STRAWBERRY SMOOTHIE)
Granola:1 cup rolled oats (or buckwheat groats)1/2 cup brazil nuts1/2 cup walnuts1/4 cup hemp seeds1/4 cup pumpkin seeds3/4 cup shredded coconut1 1/2 cups dates1 cup water1 teaspoon cinnamon1/2 teaspoon nutmeg1 teaspoon ginger root
Smoothie: 3 persimmons3 bananas1/2 cups frozen strawberries1 cup almond milk
To make the granola: soak the nuts (and buckwheat groats, if using) in water for 8 hours, then drain and rinse. Throw the nuts, seeds, coconut and oats into a large bowl and set aside. Blend together the dates, water and spices. If it's still too thick, add more water. (The consistency of my date mixture was like thin yogurt.) Pour this into the large bowl and evenly coat all the dry ingredients in it. Spread out on dehydrator trays and dehydrate for 2-3 hours at 115 degrees, until it's crunchy. Or do what I did: "bake" at 250 degrees in your oven for 2 hours and get the same delicious result. Store in jars. 
To make the smoothie: blend everything until smooth! Pour into a bowl and sprinkle with your granola!
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CARROT CAKE CUPCAKES with WHIPPED COCONUT CREAM + CHOCOLATE

WOAH. Let's slow things down for a second to acknowledge that these cupcakes are vegan, gluten-free, and made with whole foods. THANK YOU, EARTH.

They're also made with leftovers. Yup. I bought a bag of carrots from the farmers market last week and juiced them, then I was left with all this beautiful carrot pulp. I didn't wanna just compost it so I thought "Hey! I could make carrot cupcakes!" Then I did that. I know, my stories are always so exciting. The cupcake recipe is pretty basic - mostly carrots, nuts, raisins and spices - but that don't stop some epic flavours from being created. Then I topped 'em off with vegan gold AKA whipped coconut cream. Technically coconut cream is not raw, but I give you a raw cashew cream option since I'm inclusive like that. I swirled the cream with raw chocolate sauce because... raw. chocolate. sauce.

I will be bringing one of these sexy orange babes - yes, I'm still talking about the cupcakes - to my friend's birthday dinner for her to *hopefully* enjoy. And the rest? They'll end up in my tummy, Jack's tummy, my parents' tummies and my other friends' tummies. I like the word tummy. It's innocent. I mean I feel like there's no such as an un-cute tummy, otherwise it wouldn't be called a tummy. Honestly when you come to this blog you never know what you're gonna get. Sometimes I think I'm eloquent and cover important topics and other times you get me rambling about stomachs. See? 'Stomach' sounds more... mechanical. Not as cute. Not as innocent... I do not know where is this going.

BACK TO THE FOOD STUFF. These cupcakes are moist, chewy, flavourful and delicious! You can whip 'em up in just a few minutes and share them with vegan sceptics to show how a-freaking-mazing our grub can be. Or if you're not vegan, just make them and see what ya think! Vegan food doesn't require a vegan palate to be appreciated. Jack and I took his friend out for dinner at this new plant-based restaurant on Main Street called Meet (hah... hah... veggie humour) and he was blown away by the flavours and textures of the all-vegan feast we ordered. He apparently was dreaming about the meal the next day. ALL I'M SAYIN' is that I ain't gonna judge you on your diet choices - but I KNOW your mouth can enjoy vegan food just as much as mine. So try out these cupcakes and see what healthy dessert tastes like! Just do it. Swoosh.

These are a great fall recipe because the main ingredient (carrots) is seasonal! I'm into that and really getting enthusiastic about the farmers market every weekend. I literally dream about them. We are lucky bums here in Vancouver because even after the many summer markets close, we have a winter farmers market! So we get easy access to local, organic, sustainably and happily harvested produce ALL YEAR. I cannot complain. Besides, carrots are cheap so this recipe is also inexpensive. Basically you have no reason not to make these. Get yo gorgeous booty in the kitchen right now.


CARROT CAKE CUPCAKES with WHIPPED COCONUT CREAM + CHOCOLATE
Cupcakes:2 cups carrot pulp (or ground up carrots)  1 1/4 cups dates1 cup walnuts (or other nuts)1/2 cup rolled oats2 tablespoons coconut oil1 teaspoon ground cinnamon1 teaspoon ground nutmegWater, if needed3/4 cup raisins
Whipped coconut cream:1 1/2 cups whipped coconut cream (click for recipe) OR1 1/2 cups raw cashew cream (click for recipe)
Chocolate:1/3 cup chocolate sauce (click for recipe)
To make the cupcakes: pulse the nuts into powder in a food processor. Add the dates and coconut oil and process until it all gets sticky. I added a little bit of water here so I ended up with a slightly gooey mixture before adding the rest of the ingredients. Add the rest of the ingredients and process until it's all evenly combined and still pretty sticky (you can do this last step in a bowl with your hands or spoon if you want). I like when there's whole raisins in the cupcakes so I added those after it was all mixed. Also feel free to add more spices! Press the "dough" into lined cupcake tins or papers, or really any shape you like! Set in the fridge for a couple hours at least. Or you could "bake" them at 250 degrees for an hour or two, so they get warm and intensify their flavour. This might also help them stick together more. Up to you. 
Swirl the chocolate sauce into the whipped coconut cream and decorate your cupcakes with it! Alternatively, scoop on some coconut cream and then drizzle the chocolate over it. I sprinkled mine with cacao nibs too. 
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