Blueberry Banana Ice Cream Bars

Don't you just love the summer time? So many wonderful fruits available, and usually on sale! Blueberries were going for really cheap the past couple weeks at the grocery store, so I stocked up and decided what better way to use them than a cool summer treat like ice cream? With this heat, it just seemed like the perfect dessert. I decided to do something a little different than just regular ice cream, so I made a chocolate brownie crust with nuts and dates and turned them into ice cream bars!

As you can see in the photos, the ice cream is super smooth and creamy, even though its 100% dairy free. It's made with a blend of coconut milk, bananas, blueberries, and honey. So it's naturally sweet and creamy, without any heavily processed foods! It also contains no eggs, so if you're a vegan you can probably substitute the honey for maple syrup or agave nectar and I'm sure it will taste just as good.

Toasted Coconut Nut Butter Cookies

If you've read my last post, Chocolate Olive Oil Brownies with Cashew Butter-Cream Spread, you'll know I recently got a Vitamix and since then have been making fresh nut butter on a regular basis. I eat it plain a lot or with fresh fruit (especially bananas!), but I've found it is also a great ingredient to cook with. Which leads me to my latest dish, Toasted Coconut Nut Butter Cookies.

In this dish I have combined raw almonds and cashews to form a thick, creamy butter, along with some toasted coconut for a little crunch and extra flavor. The eggs alone were enough to poof up the cookies, and the nut butter helped them hold a uniform shape, so no flour was needed! They tasted kind of like chunky peanut butter cookies. I decided to drizzle a little chocolate over top too because...chocolate. I feel that chocolate makes every thing better, but if you are a big nut butter fan these cookies are good on their own as well, so feel free to leave off the chocolate sauce if you like. :)

Raw Coconut Tangerine Pie with Zesty Apple Spread

 

Okay, so I have been reading about all the raw food cakes and pies out there lately and decided I wanted to give it a try myself. They always look so beautiful! Not to mention all the healthy fats and vitamins they contain.

This is my first attempt at a raw food pie, and I'm not going to lie, it could have been better. It was much sweeter than I had thought it was gonna be. In fact, I was surprised at how rich it tasted since it is composed mostly of fruit.

It wasn't bad tasting, but the texture was kind of mushy. I highly recommend adding some sliced apples or pears to the top, since it helps mellow out all the richness and adds a little crunch.

Overall, I'd say this is a decent starter pie for someone trying to attempt a raw dessert. I do want to try to make it again, but next time I think I will add an extra cup of cashews and possibly omit the banana. It was plenty sweet, and the banana just turned it more brown than what I would have liked.

Anyway, if you decide to give it a try, let me know if you make any changes and how yours turns out!