CHOCOLATE PEANUT BUTTER RICE CRISPY SQUARES

Hello, friends. I stumbled upon a giant bag of puffed rice at a local grocery store a few days ago and immediately had the urge to create a vegan choco pb rice crispy bar. This is a super quick and easy recipe; sweet, chewy and crunchy, a perfect energizing snack or fun dessert any time of day. I'm not kidding: I threw this recipe together in under 15 minutes while I was waiting for my dinner to finish cooking. The bars turned out excellent the first try, so while I didn't actually plan on sharing the recipe, here I am. This would be made more epic if you add chocolate chips, pretzels, crushed potato chips, and/or vegan marshmallows. Then again, wouldn't everything?

MANGO BANANA SMOOTHIE with GINGER KOMBUCHA

Hello, darling readers. I've been away for 8 days in the far north of Turtle Island, in Kwanlin Dün lands (aka Whitehorse, Yukon Territories). The temperature was -20 most days, and whole rivers and lakes were frozen under many feet of pure, white snow. I hiked through the woods and took in the humble silence of earth in the absence of other humans. I wrote a lot of poetry and experienced some profound moments of realization atop tall hills, utterly and gloriously surrounded by icy blue peaks and deep green forests. I become a witness to my own existence in a way I've never been before. There are no words to express the emotions that found their way to me in those mountains. Since I am literally made of earth, I am always home, no matter where I am on the planet. However, in a more specific sense, I have returned to my regular living space, and bring you this recipe now. 

STRAWBERRY COCONUT SMOOTHIE with a LIL BEET

Baaaaaabes. How are you. How is your month going. How are you sleeping. What are you eating. Why am I not putting question marks at the end of these questions. In today's post I am gonna give you a quick lil run down of what's been up with me. Then I'll talk about the recipe for a sec. Then I promise I will go. I SWEAR. 

After a long period of what felt like a necessary hibernation, I have emerged from the cavernous recesses of my emotive existence in a refreshed and renewed state. I feel capable, grown, confident and energized to continue manifesting the life I know I desire and deserve. (Can you tell I haven't stopped listening to Oprah's Super Soul podcast. Still no question marks.) I am SO SUPPORTED by my amazing friends. Bless our hearts for the femme softness we provide and embody for one another.

1-INGREDIENT COCONUT BUTTER

What is there to say? You came for a coconut butter recipe, and I am here to provide. This could literally not be any more simple, unless someone out there has figured out how to make a 0-ingredient coconut butter. However, I imagine that would either be 1) a minimalist, conceptual art project, or 2) a very sad, unsatisfying batch of coconut butter. So I will stick with my recipe.

WALNUT CHOCOLATE CAKE with SWEET POTATO FROSTING

Do you like moist, dense brownies? Do you like creamy, cinnamon-y sweet potato or pumpkin pie? Then I bring good news with me today, friend. This recipe is for you. It's both those magical, wondrous foods combined into one cake. Hellooo.

COCONUT TWIX BARS

This recipe is 100% inspired by and adapted from The Coconut Goddess. I saw their raw vegan Twix bars on Pinterest or somewhere a few days ago and my heart was like: "Hey we need to make these today, mkay??" So I did, with my own tweaks. They are soooo decadent and delish. I have been eating them as energy snacks on bike rides and after the gym, etc. They are mainly made up of nuts and dates: first we've got a cookie layer followed by caramel, finally all coated in dark chocolate. YOU CAN'T GO WRONG. Make a bunch and keep 'em in the freezer for a quick, sweet snack whenever ya feel like it. Probably a great choice if you're trying to move your kids' treats in a healthier direction too. Or any human's treats.

OREO-ISH TARTS: VANILLA WHIPPED COCO CREAM with CHOCOLATE COOKIE CRUST

I am back from Montreal. Hey. 

For the four-ish weeks I spent there - away from home, Jack, Dante and Blender - I remembered a lot of important stuff about myself, and realized some new things. It was a whirlwind of experiences, people, places, emotions, tastes, colours, smells. I felt overwhelmed most of the time but what else is new. I often feel overwhelmed living in my particular world because I usually think [too] extensively about everything that is happening around me (and not around me). So being in a new place WITH the same over-thinking brain took it to the next level. Meditation was more difficult than normal, probably because of this. I went on a lot of walks by myself so I could have time to ponder who I am, what I want, my relationship with the external universe, and that kind of thing. I had some pretty intense and excellent discussions with my friend's roommates; we talked about the difficulties of navigating the current world in relation to gender, race, class, location, education, etc. Besides classism, I am generally optimistic about where we are going. Obviously - or maybe not that obviously - most human groups are still routinely oppressed by societal and political structures in place, but we are on the right trail; we're just at the beginning of the hike. 

MY CURRENT FAVE SMOOTHIE {RECIPE}

As the title blatantly shouts, this is my smoothie of choice right now. I made it for the first time maybe four days ago (when I was still hungry after dinner) and ever since I have been having it every morning with my oatmeal before I go to the gym. It came together randomly and ended up blowing my mind. It's nice and sweet but also super nutritious. I just put in all the ingredients for this drink on cronometer.com and here's what we've got going for us when we sip it down: nearly 20% of your recommend daily intake for protein, 58% for riboflavin (B2), 79% for pyridoxine (B6), 499% for vitamin C (!!!), 107% for copper, 28% for vitamin K, 37% for magnesium, 64% for manganese, 36% for potassium, 30% for selenium, and I could just keep going.

THIS IS IN ONE [DELICIOUS] DRINK, PEOPLE. HELLO.

A NICE GREEN SMOOTHIE with MINT + TURMERIC

I was gonna call this a "healing" green smoothie blah blah blah but then I though, "Hmm, don't wanna buy into that pseudoscience stuff so I'll keep it simple." Because honestly I don't know if this smoothie will heal anything for you, but in my opinion it's at least certainly nice and yummy and green. I'll leave it at that. I am not a doctor. 

SUMMER ROLLS w/ GARDEN VEGGIES, BASIL + TAHINI CHILI SAUCE

YAY 4 SUMMER ROLLS! I always wanna give credit where credit is due: these are inspired by the traditional Vietnamese dish Gỏi cuốn (although my take on them is pretty untraditional). These are super cute and even more delicious to eat. I am sorry I haven't been posting very often lately. I'm going to be spending more time on this blog again now that my third book, The Rawsome Vegan Cookbook, is finished! You can pre-order it now if you'd like (you'd like). On that note, this recipe for summer rolls is a great example of the kind of recipes that fill up my new cookbook so if you dig these rolls, you will REALLY dig the book.

CRUNCHY GOOEY SWEET CARAMEL CHOCOLATE BUCKWHEAT SLICES

So these are really decadent.

A new and now very dear friend, Sophie, stayed with me for a few days over the last week/weekend and we made these up before watching a movie called Inside Out. It's funny because when were discussing our fave movie genres I basically just listed a bunch of dark, depressing films where people die (*shrugs with helpless look*) and Sophie was like: dude, I love kids movies and chick flicks. EVEN STILL: we both really liked Inside Out. It's a kids movie but I tell ya, directors for kids movies are now A) giving the lil ones way more credit than ever before and B) considering the parents and other non-kiddie folk. This movie had a lot of mature themes and basically was about explaining the psychology of the human brain... in a really entertaining way. The main character was a girl but I was so pleased to see how traditional gender expectations were blatantly being broken: the girl was in pretty gender-neutral clothing the whole time and her fave hobby was hockey. Progress.

TACOS with TOMATO CORN SALSA + SPICY NUT MEAT

The power was out for 24 hours [until just a couple hours ago] 'cause of crazy wind storms so I had no choice but to make raw food yesterday for lunch. Thus, this recipe requires no equipment but a knife and a hand or two. Fortunately I was planning on making it anyways. What we've got here is cabbage leaves wrapping up fresh, juicy, limey veggies with crunchy, spicy nuts and seeds. Ya can't go wrong.

BLUEBERRY NICE CREAM with CINNAMON + BAOBAB

Eating massive bowls of nice cream for breakfast, lunch or dinner is 100% a THING in the vegan world. This is because our nice cream is just made of frozen bananas and other fruit. That's why you can and SHOULD eat as much as you want. In this version I'm givin' ya today, I threw in blueberries from the front yard as well as some baobab and cinnamon powders for A) extra flavour and B) extra nutrition.

VANILLA CHIA OAT PUDDING with LOCAL BC BLUEBERRIES

Let's celebrate BLUEBERRIES. I like to call 'em my BBs because it kind of makes sense and also shows my adoration for them. The first time I truly understood the phrase, "You are what you eat", was when I was picking blueberries from the front yard a few years ago. I was gently taking them from the branches into my mouth and really appreciating the smells, tastes, colours and textures of the experience. I was talking to the berries (obviously) and that's when it hit me: they are going to BECOME me as much as I am going to become them! I am not simply eating. I am participating in a relationship of synthesis. The blueberry and myself are changing our structures to become one being together, different from before I consumed them. Their cells will become mine, and simultaneously my cells will become theirs. Does that make any sense? Do I just sound cooky?? Ah, I know what I mean so at least there's that. Anyways, I love BBs. That's the point.

VANILLA CHERRY NICE CREAM

So. I shaved my head. (Well actually Jack shaved it, but only because I asked him to.) We're all voyeurs at heart so if you wanna see what I look like now, just check out the photo on Instagram.

CHOCOLATE PUDDING BOWLS with COCONUT CREAM + CHERRIES

This recipe is everything you want chocolate pudding to be. I have nothing else to say for now, so talk soon.

X

JUICY CLEANSE 2015: DAY THREE (THE END)

We're done! The three days went by really fast and I think I have solved the issue of my skin rash (which was the goal of this whole cleanse in the first place). I THINK it's because ever since I started eating high carb (around a year ago) I ate WAY more fruit. I'm talkin' like 8 bananas in my smoothies, 5 mangoes as a snack... ya'll know what my diet has looked like in the past year or so. Just look on my Instagram. Now, I have never listened to those folks who are like, "You need to restrict fruit, it has too much sugar!" I have just scoffed at them and kept eating my watermelon - the whole thing. But maybe it's time I listened.

JUICY CLEANSE 2015: DAY TWO

Another day, another juice.

Today went pretty well. My skin is looking really good, and since the aim of this whole cleanse is to heal this weird rash around my nose and rebalance my gut flora, I'm happy about that. I am so glad I don't care about being strict with "cleanses" anymore. I remember a few years ago when I did a 10-day juice fast (you can find it on my blog) and I was crazy restrictive. I think a motivation for doing that juice fast had remnants of my disordered eating from the past, but this time there's none of that. I am not doing this to lose weight or any other sh*tty reason that doesn't matter. I am doing it to feel good.

JUICE CLEANSE 2015: DAY ONE

My babes! I got some news! Jack (my lover) and I are doing a juice cleanse for around 3 days, or whenever we feel like stopping. We started yesterday. Neither of us are too strict so we're also consuming raw fresh fruit if we feel like it, veggie broth with seaweed, chia seeds and banana ice cream. The point of this cleanse is to refresh our digestive systems. More on this below. I will be posting all the recipes we consume so you can join in! I'd love it if you did because it's more fun to share experiences like this than doing it alone, and I know a lot of you are into juice cleansing. So if you do wanna join, I encourage you to post your comments below, or on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to let the rest of us know how you're doing. 

DOUBLE CHOCOLATE LAYER CAKE

This recipe is raw, vegan and low fat! I've been leaning towards low fat recipes more and more, but I had a freak out last night when I realized: oh god, my blog is based around raw desserts which kinda need to be high in fat cuz nuts and stuff make 'em creamy and rich. WELL, I SHOWED ME.