Carob Nut Banana "Ice Cream"

4 Ripe Bananas
2 Tbsp Carob powder
1 Tbsp ground Arrowroot
1 Tbsp Chopped Almonds (or other nut)
1 tsp liquid Sweetener (maple, ect)
1 tsp Soya or Rice Milk

Place all ingredients sans the nuts in a medium or large bowl. With a masher or a fork, mash it all together until you acheive a pudding-esque consistency. Stir in the nuts and freeze for 30 min. Serves 2-4.

Ice Cream Fudge COOKIES

Yes. You read that correctly. Ice Cream Fudge Cookies. This is basically a spin off of my Double Chocolate Ice Cream With Fudge Sauce, but I think it tastes even better!

120 Ml (1/2 Cup) Corn Flour
120 Ml (1/2 Cup) Other flour---you can use ground oats if you like, but I used Dove's Gluten Free White Flour.
60 Ml (1/4 Cup) Cacao or cocoa Powder
1/2 Sun Dried Vanilla Bean pod (sub with a teaspoon or so vanilla extract if you like)
1 Tbsp Arrowroot Powder
2 Pinches of Date Sugar, optional
3-4 Dried, Pitted Dates
60 Ml (1/4 Cup) Rice milk (or oat milk, or breast milk, whatever)
3 Tbsp Maple Syrup
2 Tbsp Freedom Natural Sweetener (a syrup made from dates & grapes, you can sub maple syrup or agave if you like)
1/2 tsp Virgin Coconut Oil
OPTIONAL:
6 Pecans
A chunk or two of vegan chocolate
A swirl of peanut butter

Starting with the dry ingredients, blend together in a food processor. Now add the wet ingredients and blend. This will require a bit of stirring because the ice cream tends to clump together like a clay. When it is well mixed, heap it onto the counter and form a log. Roll it so that it has an ovular shape, and cut cookies from it. It should be firm enough to do this without freezing. Now, allow your cookies to freeze for about an hour. In the meantime, make a Raw Chocolate Fudge Sauce-this is optional but, I cannot recommend it enough. You can eat the cookies on their own with fudge spread over them, or you can sandwich them together, up to you. These are seriously chocolatey and yummy.

Salmonella free COOKIE DOUGH!!! :)

I got the inspiration for this from the awesome vegan dessert blog, Chocolate-Covered Katie's most popular post. However, her recipe wasn't working out for me for some reason, so I completely reinvented it working around a couple of same base ingredients.

1 Can of Chickpeas, Drained (Yes, you read that right. Chickpeas. Garbanzo beans.)
2 1/2 Tablespoons Nut Butter of your choosing
2 Tbsp Sunflower Oil
About 120 Ml (1/2 Cup) Sweetener-I used a combination of Agave & Maple Syrup
145 Ml (or a little over half a cup) Rolled Porridge Oats (Oatmeal)
1 Sun-Dried Vanilla Bean
1-2 Tbsp Rice Milk
1 Tbsp Gluten Substitute (I used Orgrans' G-F Gluten Substitute)
1 Tbsp Cornflour
1 Tbsp Arrowroot
1/2 Tbsp Date Sugar (Optional)
1/8 teaspoon Baking Powder
1/8 tsp Fleur De Sel/Sea Salt

Everything goes into the food processor at high speed. Leave it on for a few minutes, stir periodically. You may do what I did and add some vegan chocolate chunks, or you can stir in some cinnamon. Freeze for 20-30 minutes if you want it a bit thicker.
Makes a huge bowl of cookie dough-divide between 2-4 people. Yum!!

Double Chocolate Ice Cream with Fudge Sauce

As far as decadent goes this takes the cake. YUM. This is not entirely raw so if you are a very strict raw foodist you may wish to omit this recipe. However; this is gluten and sugar free goodness with lots of rawness. Mmmmm!

For the ice cream; you will need...

240 Ml (1 cup) Corn Flour
60 Ml (1/4 Cup) Cacao Powder
60 Ml (1/4 Cup) Rice Milk (or breast milk or almond milk, whatever)
3 Tbsp Maple Syrup
2 Tbsp Organic, Local Honey
3-4 Dried, Pitted Dates
1/2 of A Sun Dried Vanilla Bean Pod (I am sure you could substitute with a teaspoon or so of vanilla extract if needed)
6-8 Pecans (OPTIONAL, if you have nut allergies avoid this)

Blend all dry ingredients (incl dates & vanilla) except the pecans in a food processor until well mixed. Now transfer to a bowl and stir in the liquid ingredients...or you may do as I did and do it in the food processor BUT be forewarned it will require plenty of stirring and creates a hard to clean food processor if you do it this way. Now chop some pecans, stir them in, and let freeze for an hour (create your fudge sauce in the mean time).

Fudge sauce:

240 Ml (1 Cup) Dates
120 Ml (1/2 Cup) Rice Milk
80 Ml (1/3 Cup) Cacao Powder
60 Ml (1/4 Cup) Water
4 Tbsp (Virgin, Cold-Pressed) Coconut Oil (AKA Coconut Butter)
1-3 Tbsp (depending how sweet you want it) Maple Syrup or Honey ect
1 Tbsp Cornflour or Arrowroot, to thicken
1-2 Cashews, optional, to thicken

Everything goes on a blender at high speed-you will need t scrape the sides a few times, and give this at least a few minutes of nonstop high speed blending to really get the consistency right. This fudge sauce tastes just like the real thing.

After the ice cream has frozen for about an hour, drizzle in fudge sauce and serve. Serves 2-3 (or 1 if you love chocolate, ha ha) you will probably find you have some fudge sauce left over, feel free to refridgerate this and use as a dip for fruits or a frosting for something else.

Dark Chilli-Chocolate Balls

2 Heapin' handfuls of Desiccated Coconut
3 Handfuls of Dates (if I had to guess I would say 240 ml/1 Cup)-Dried & Pitted
5 Pecans (you may omit this if you are allergic but I think they make it much nicer)
2 Tbsp Wholenut Peanut Butter (regular will do in a pinch, but whole nut is less sweet so if you use smooth ect reduce the sweeteners that you add)
2 1/2 Tbsp Cocoa Powder (I prefer cacao as it is raw, but we are broke and cocoa powder is cheaper.)
2 Pinches Date Sugar
2 Pinches of Chilli Powder(or about 1/8 to 1/4 Teaspoons)
3/4 Tbsp Maple Syrup

Everything goes in the food processor. Add dates & coconut first, grind them on hi-speed, then rinse the pecans to remove the enzyme inhibitors and then add them...and then everything else, one by one blending each time you add an ingredient. I used 1/2 Tbsp to scoop it into balls but any size spoon will do. Yumm! I missed chilli chocolate-not anymore!

Vanilla Cheesecake

Crust:
1 Cup + 2 Tbsp Nuts (of your choice-I used mixed nuts as they arte CHEAP!)
Large handful of Dates
Pinch salt

Grind it in a food processor and line a cake/pie pan...you may put down desiccated coconut or corn meal down before hand if you are worried about it sticking to the bottom.

Filling:
3 Cups Cashews
1/2 Vanilla Bean
3/4 of a Fresh Lemon (The Whole Lemon may be used if you wish it to be more "zesty")
3 1/4 Tbsp Maple Syrup
1/4 Cup Rice Milk
2 Dates, Dried + Pitted
1/4 tsp Arrowroot

Soak the Cashews for 3-4 hours (to sofetn and remove enzyme inhibitors). Add all ingredients except the ricemilk & arrowroot to a food processor and blend on high speed. Mix the ricemilk & arrowroot in a seperate bowl, stirring until well blended. Add this too, to the food processor and mix well. Spoon the cheesecake mixture on top of the crust and refridgerate or freeze while you make the topping (the coldness will help the arrowroot to "set" and harden the cheesecake.

Topping:
3 Handfuls Frozen Blueberries (Or Other Berry of Choice)
1 Handful Dates
1 Tbsp Agave Syrup

Everything goes in the blender at high speed. You may need to use a spoon to stir up the dates. Drizzle atop your cheesecake and spread around with a spatula or the back of a spoon.

...And enjoy! Will serve 4-8 (depends how hungry you are...)

How beautiful is this?

All Hallows' Eve Special-Pumpkin Pie! Yum...

Wow, this turned out so, so good. Minus the filling being a bit more sloppy than the baked kind, it's pretty spot-on I'd say. This makes A LOT of pie, so half this recipe if need be, but serve it in a small pie pan if you're gonna do so. It will keep well in the fridge or freezer with some tin foil over it though.

For a Basic Pie Crust, you do something similar to my (un)cookies. This is really easy and doesn't take much work.
1 1/2 cups Cashews
2 Cups Dried, Pitted Dates
1/2 tsp Cinnamon

Pulse this in your blender/food processor until it's blended up nicely. It's gonna be chunky, but you want it to be well mixed. It won't take more than a minute'r two.

Now take this, and press it with the back of a spoon and your fingers into a large pie pan. The crust is sticky so this part is a little difficult, but it's not that bad. Stick it in the fridge while you make the filling.

Filling:
(I halved this and did each half at a time since I only have a cheap blender. If you have a food processor you can do this all at once and save yourself a lot of time, however.)

Approximately 1420 ml/6 Cups chopped pumpkin (small pieces)
240 ml/1 cup Ground Almonds
2 Tbsp Desiccated Coconut
4 Tbsp Maple Syrup
2 1/2 Tbsp Organic, Local Honey (Otherwise the Bees are treated in a manner that is very cruel and grotesque...eugh...)
2 Tbsp Provamel (or other rice milk/milk substitute)
1 1/2 Tsp Allspice
1 Tsp Cinnamon

This is tough work in a cheap blender, and might take some time, but pulse, stir, pulse, stir, ect until you get it well blended.

Topped With A Walnut, Just Because I Thought It Was Cute.

Fill your pie crust with your filling and smooth out the top with the back of a spoon. Refrigerate for 30 min to an hour and serve. Yum, yum, yum!

Moist Carrot Cake

mmm...

Cake:
4 Organic Carrots
240 ml/1 cup Desiccated Coconut
240 ml/1 cup Dried, pitted Dates
1 Cup Mixed Nuts
1 tsp Cinnamon
1/3 tbsp raw Carob Powder
1-2 tbsp Maple Syrup

Wash & finely grate the carrots into a large bowl. Tedious, but this recipe is well worth it, believe me. Grind (pulse, stir, pulse, stir...) Dates & Nuts together in a blender or food processor until they are a relatively smooth mush. Add this and the rest of the ingredients to your large bowl. You may whisk or stir this until it is very well blended, but I found it easier to just get in there with my hands and mix it up. Press the cake mix into a glass pan and even it out with your fist. Alternatively, you could turn these into cupcakes! Frost and enjoy. Will easily serve 4-6, or more...but not if you're hungry like we were when I made it. The two of us ate about half of it in one sitting. :))

Frosting:
About 1 cup Ground Almonds (you may grind them yourself in a food processor if you wish, but they were cheaper to buy pre-ground at Tesco's. Easier too.
4 Tbsp Maple syrup
2 Tbsp Desiccated Coconut
Rice Milk

Add all ingredients into a bowl & stir, add rice milk gradually until the desired consistency is obtained. Recipe may be doubled if you want a sweet cake or you just want some extra frosting for whatever else. Smooth onto the cake with a knife or the back of a spoon.

Butternut Soup and...Nutterbutt Ice Cream!

Creamy Winter Squash Soup:

About 240 ml/1 cup Butternut Squash, peeled and chopped
1 Small carrot
1/2 to one whole small leek leaf, depending how you want it to taste
1/2 tsp Cinnamon
1 tbsp ground Black Pepper
2 tbsp Sunflower oil
2 tbsp Basic Cashew Cheeze
1 Tbsp Pine Nuts
1 Clove Garlic
1 tsp Fleur de Sel (which you can read about here, it is so good and loaded with minerals-I highly reccomend ditching your white salt and opting for this instead!)
240 ml/1 cup warm Water
Dash of Allspice, optional.

...You know the drill...toss it in the blender and mix on high speed until creamy and smooth. Serves 2.

Carob Nut Ice Cream

The bottom (round plump part) half of a Winter/Butternut Squash, peeled, seeded and chopped (I left about half of the mulch/pulp inside, but not the seeds.)
1 large handful of dried, pitted/stoned Dates
2 handfuls of nuts (I used 1 ea of Walnuts and a "Mixed Nuts" blend that contained Almonds, Peanuts and Walnuts)
3 Tbsp Maple Syrup
3 1/2 tsp Raw Carob Powder
1/3 tsp Allspice (I know, I use this stuff in everything...but it's so damn good!)
1 Tbsp Rice, Almond, Coconut or Breastmilk (for this particular batch I used Provamel's Rice Milk, which is one of the nicer milks I think)

It is important to note that this is not one of my easier recipes, so, I apologise in advance (but HEY, give me some credit, most of my things are pretty cheap and easy). This might not be the case however if you have a really good food processor, but if you are like me and are working with a cheap blender, be prepared to put in a bit of elbow grease.

Now. Chop up that squash into small pieces because otherwise you will do what I did and be stuck blending the darn thing a bit longer than you will like to. I put in very large pieces and was blending for ages. Toss the squash in with the liquid ingredients and pulse, stir, pulse, stir until you've got it into a chunky mush. Now add the dates and nuts and continue doing that pulse and stir thing until you have a consistency you are happy with, it should be like runny home-made ice cream with small chunks (I like chunks in my ice cream, don't you?) now add the powdered ingredients, pulse and stir a couple more times, and you can put this into a couple of plastic tubs and freeze it. I used two large hummous pots and managed to fill them to the brink, so in other words this will easily serve 4, or could just as easily serve only 2 if you keep it on hand in your freezer for those occasions, you know, when a friend needs you to come over pronto with a tub of ice cream...keep this on hand for just such occasions. What a favour you'll be doing them, bringing something so delicious AND giving their body to a raw treat... :) This has a very carob-y, nutty, ice-cream esque taste and consistancy and is just. YUM.

Apple Walnut Pie With Caramel Crust

More sweet, un-sugary, un-baked goodness for the harvest season. Yummy yummy!!

First, I made the caramel crust:

240 ml/1 cup Dried, Stoned/Pitted Dates
About 180 ml(3/4 cup) Nuts (I got a bag of mixed nuts at Tesco's for .50p that had Almonds, Peanuts and Walnuts and that is what I used here. Bargain!)
1 1/2 tbsp maple syrup
1/4 tsp carob powder

Mix all ingredients in the blender/food processor on high-speed-pulse, stir, pulse, stir, repeat until the dough is gritty and well mixed. scoop into a bowl and refrigerate while you prepare the apples.

Apple-walnut filling:

3 organic apples, peeled and diced
120 ml(1/2 cup) chopped walnuts
1 tbsp maple syrup
1 tbsp water
1/4 tsp allspice

Stir together the walnuts and apples in a large bowl. In a small bowl, stir together the maple, water and allspice. Add into the apple-nut blend and stir continuously until they are evenly glazed.

Pull the 'crust' out of the refrigerator and press as evenly as you can into a small round cake or pie pan. Spoon the apple-walnut blend on top of it and spread it out. Serves 3-4 (or less if you're feeling gluttonous...warning, this is very hard to put down!)

NOTE: This is quite sticky and a bit hard to serve (though surprisingly easy to clean out of the dish) so unless you are like me and eating this with someone you don't mind eating straight out of the pan with I recommend halving or quartering the dough beforehand onto separate dishes to make individual pies. :)

A Taste Of Autumn: Creamy Spiced Corn Chowder & (un)Cookies

Mm, mmm! Dinner turned out SO yummy...I LOVE my cheap blender.

Creamy Spiced Corn Chowder:

1 Tin of Green Giant Sweet Corn
Warm Water
About 3 big spoonfuls of Basic Cashew Cheeze
Fresh parsley
2 tbsp Olive Oil
1/4 tsp Allspice
Sea salt
Black Pepper

Empty the tin of corn, including the water in it, into your blender. Scoop in the cheeze and add the oil. Rip off a tiny handful of fresh parsley and toss it in. Add the allspice and put a few grinds each of black pepper and salt. Finally, fill the tin with warm water and add this to the mix. Blend on high speed until smooth and serve. Garnish each bowl with a sprig of parsley. Serves 2-3.

We ate this with carrots and hummous. Mm, mm! For dessert, we had...

Maple (un)Cookies

240 ml (1 cup) Pitted Dates
240 ml (1 cup) Cashews
1-1 1/2 tablespoons Maple Syrup
1/4 tsp Allspice

Place all ingredients in a blender or food processor and blend on high speed, pulse and then stir, pulse and then stir, ect...do this as many times as you can be bothered to do, basically. Then, form the dough into balls, mash flat in your palms and serve. These keep very well and taste great with a side of rice milk. Yum, yum!