Strawberry Milk

You might think I have gone a little crazy when I say this but…I like strawberry milk more than chocolate milk! AH I know, I said it…BUT wasn’t strawberry milk the unsuspected hero during childhood? It was always a disappointment when you saw the strawberry syrup or powder coming out of the grocery bags, but once you actually make a cold glass of strawberry milk with way more syrup then you were supposed to have, life was good!

I haven’t had strawberry milk in years and really do feel after making this drink I waited far too long to try! I had the idea when my friend Natalie and I made our Neapolitan Cupcakes and used freeze-dried strawberries to get the pink color and strawberry flavor in the frosting! It came out so good I figured why not try using them to make strawberry milk!

So here I am with a cold glass of the best strawberry milk I’ve had in a long time, and I have to say it easily beats using the processed flavorings, and will be making this for the rest of my life!

INGREDIENTS

• 1 & 1/2 cup almond milk

• 1/2 cup freeze-dried strawberries

• 2 Tbsp Agave

• 1/2 tsp vanilla

INSTRUCTIONS

1. in a blender combine all of your ingredients.

2. Blend on high until fully blended.

3. pour over ice and enjoy!

Don’t’ forget to pin it!

Cookie Dough Bites // Guten Free & Vegan

Hello there, and welcome to another episode of What I Made During COVID-19! Today I am bringing you guys the vegan and gluten-free cookie dough bites that are sure to trump those store-bought cookies you bought in a panic because they were the only dry goods left in the store…

Anyway, these cookie dough bites are brought to you today in an effort to provide fun and easy recipes that you can make with simple ingredients! I also want to ensure that these recipes are indeed kid-friendly! I have 9 nieces and nephews all under the age of 10, so trust me when I say I would not be afraid to make these with any of them…except maybe the baby, but he would just sit there and sleep anyway so maybe it would work?

Other than the fact that these are delicious, simple, kid-friendly, healthy, vegan, gluten-free, etc. They also allow you to work with what you have! For example, If you are not a sunflower butter family, use what you have on hand! Just keep in mind that if your peanut butter or whatever other nut butter you use is sweetened, It will alter the flavor and sugar content.

If you don’t have almond flour laying around, you could definitely blend up oats and use that flour instead of the almond. Just keep in mind to check in on the consistency. If it is too runny add in more oat flour about one tablespoon at a time until the texture is a little thicker and easier to mold. With oat flour, you can also leave the mixture in the fridge for about 15 minutes and see how it looks as the oats will soak up some of the liquid!

You don’t have agave? Use maple Syrup!

All of these things will change the texture and alter the flavor of the recipe a bit, but when it comes down to it, the same idea applies! This recipe is about being able to utilize what you have on hand and do something fun while everyone is cooped up at home!

SO without further delay, here is the recipe for your Cookie Dough Bites!

Ingredients

• 1 Cup almond flour

• 1/4th cup sunflower butter

• 1/4th cup Agave

• 1/2tsp vanilla

• Pinch of sea salt

• 1/2 cup dairy-free chocolate chips

• 1 Tbsp coconut oil

Directions

Combine the Almond flour, sunflower butter, agave, vanilla and sea salt together.

Fold in half of your chocolate chips, reserving the rest of the chocolate chips for your chocolate coating, and put in the fridge.

For the chocolate coating, combine the rest of your chocolate chips and the coconut oil and melt using a double boiler method.

Once your chocolate is melted, remove your dough from the fridge and roll into balls. I used a tablespoon measure, but you can make them smaller using a teaspoon measure.

Once you have formed the dough into balls coat in the melted chocolate and place on a plate covered with either parchment or wax paper.

When you are done, sprinkle with flaky salt or sea salt and place in the fridge or freezer until the chocolate has set.

Serve and enjoy!

Healthy Gluten & Dairy-free Chocolate Chunk Oatmeal Cookies

Something urged me to make oatmeal cookies this week, I don’t know if it was the fact that I had an abundance of oats in my house, or I just wanted something sweet to dunk in my morning coffee! Who knows, probably both!

Anyway, I just wanted to bring you a simple and easy recipe that will fill your bellies with something wholesome and sweet!

These cookies are made gluten-free by using gluten-Free oats which you can find at your local grocery store, or online. I buy mine at Trader Joe’s because you get a lot for what you pay for!

When it came to the chocolate I didn’t have any chocolate chips on hand, so I just chopped up a chocolate bar! I love doing this because the chocolate bars I buy are always at least 65% dark chocolate, making them usually dairy-free! So if you like things less sweet, go for the dark chocolate trick, but if not go for some dairy-free chocolate chips! Either way, you won’t be sorry you made these bad boys!

Time: 30-35 minutes

Makes about 12 cookies

Ingredients

• 1 cup GF oat flour

• 1 cup GF whole oats

• 1 tsp baking powder

• 1/4th tsp salt

• 1tsp cinnamon

• 1/3rd cup coconut sugar  

• 2 large eggs

• 1/4th cup coconut oil

• 1/4th cup almond milk

• ½ cup dairy-free chocolate chips (or chunks)

Instructions

Preheat your oven to 350F and prepare your baking sheet.

Whisk together the dry ingredients and then whisk in the wet ingredients until a batter forms.

Gently fold the chocolate into the batter.

Scoop the dough into 1 inch balls using an ice cream scoop and place on the prepared baking sheet about 1 to 2 inches apart.

Place in oven and bake for 22-25 minutes.

Let cool on a cooling rack for about 15 minutes and enjoy!

Psst….dont forget to pin it!

5 Minute Nutella Pudding // Paleo, Vegan, & Refined Sugar free

I don’t know about you, but when it comes to pudding I am a big fan. When I was little I specifically asked that if the circumstances arose that I was to live with my grandparents, I requested I be fed only chocolate pudding, Jell-O, and chocolate milk. I was 5 and there was no reason I would have gone to live with my grandparents. I just wanted to make sure I had everything in line just in case.

As you can probably guess I was a little dramatic and hopeful when it came to unlikely situations. Who would have known as an adult I wouldn’t be able to drink milk and have o desire to eat Jell-O. Thankfully my determination to enjoy the things I love has brought me here, making recipes out of thin air…or so people tend to think when I mention the fact that I can’t eat gluten or dairy. I came up with this recipe after dreaming of my favorite foods while staring into a near-empty fridge.

Once I realized there was a jar of coconut cream that demanded my attention I started to think about the possibilities and came to the conclusion that I really needed chocolate pudding in my life that wasn’t made from an avocado.

SO I used the coconut cream straight from the fridge, and it is important to do this as the coconut cream will be thicker and you can serve this treat immediately because the coconut cream will keep it cold!

The banana I used in place of sugar, so make sure it is ripe, but not so ripe that it tastes like, well an old banana.

I also used dry roasted hazelnuts to get the Nutella to feel, but you can use hazelnut butter if your that boujee.

If you do not have the benefit of a high powered blender, feel free to use a food processor, and If you don’t have one of those, omit the hazelnuts for any type of nut butter you have on hand. This will change the flavor of course, but it will be just as tasty! It will feel more like peanut butter, banana vibe, but who doesn’t love that?

SO okay, done with all the chit chat, here’s the recipe!

Ingredients

• 1 & 1/4th cup Cold Coconut Cream

• 1 ripe Banana

• 1/4th cup Dry Roasted Hazelnuts, or any nut butter you might have on hand

• 2Tbsp cocoa powder

• pinch of salt

Directions

In a high powered blender or food processor combine all of the ingredients and blend for 1-2 minutes, stopping to scrape down the sides of your machine.

Chill in the fridge for 1-2 hours.

Serve, top with hazelnuts, coconut chips and enjoy!