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.

Chocolate Covered Caramel Banana Pops

I tried baby bananas for the first time a couple weeks back. If you've never had them, I encourage you to give them a try! They are kind of similar to bananas, but compare closer to a fully ripened plantain. They have a very nice sweetness to them, more so than a banana, and are less mushy as well. That's why they are the perfect candidate for these chocolate covered caramel banana pops!

I decided that it has been far too long since I've had a chocolate covered banana pop, and I thought what better way to make them then by adding caramel? When I was a kid my mom used to make chocolate covered frozen bananas occasionally, and they were always so delicious. Sometimes she would roll them in nuts or sprinkles before the chocolate hardened, and they were so good. I didn't do that for this recipe, but of course you are more than welcome to do so yourself.

I made half of these with baby bananas and half with regular banana halves. The baby bananas worked out much better since they were firmer and held their shape on the sticks better. The regular bananas kept trying to slide off. Both were tasty, but I preferred the baby bananas personally.

Caramel Pear Chocolates

Believe it or not, this recipe was actually a mistake. I tell you, if all my mistakes were this wonderful I wouldn't have any problems at all!

I was actually making the chocolate sauce for something else and ended up only using about half of it (don't worry, I already halved the original recipe for this post). I figured I should try to come up with an idea to use the rest, because I know much better than to waste chocolate. I didn't want to put it in the fridge for later because I knew it would solidify and be difficult to work with. Then I thought, why not make mini chocolates with it and THEN let it harden!

So, I opened the fridge and cabinets to try and figure out what I could use. I saw there was half of a pear in the fridge from earlier that day and immediately knew that is what I wanted to use. But was pear chocolate going to be enough? I'm sure it would be perfectly tasty, but I wanted something more.

Then I saw the dates, and I knew a caramel topping was the way to go! And believe me, it did not disappoint. The pears added a nice juiciness to the chocolate and the caramel made me feel like I was eating a decadent dessert. Definitely a perfect match. :)

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!

Tangerine Coconut Cream Chocolates

  
You know what makes a perfect match? Chocolate and oranges. Well, that is what I was craving when I came up with these chocolates...But I didn't have any oranges. I did, however, have tangerines, which turned out to be just as awesome!

You know what made it even better? COCONUT! You may not know this, but I am a huge fan of coconut. And chocolate....probably more so of chocolate. Ahem...in any case, adding tangerines to the mix just turned it into totally awesome.

I wanted to try and replicate an orange cream filled chocolate with this recipe, only using more natural ingredients, like coconut, dates, and raw honey. I try to stay away from things like high-fructose corn syrup and food colorings, which are found in most commercial chocolates.

The result? A success! I achieved a creamy, but slightly chunky coconut texture for the filling. Not quite what I intended, but I actually preferred them over the smoother orange chocolates I was originally trying to replicate!