Sugar-free Vegan Dessert Balls

Several months ago, my doctor put me on a 3-week cleansing diet.  Naturally, I was not allowed to have any sugar, only honey in small quantities.  I came up with several dessert alternatives in that time to satisfy my sweet tooth, but the best one happened to be a suggestion from my mom.  Apparently my Grandma used to make a delicious dessert consisting of 4 simple ingredients: peanut butter, honey, carob powder, and shredded coconut.

Equal parts honey and peanut butter. Add carob powder (or cocoa powder) to taste. Roll into a ball in shredded coconut.  Store in refrigerator.

1/2 c. wild/raw honey
1/2 c. all natural peanut butter
2 Tbsp. carob powder
1/2 c. shredded coconut

I love this recipe and have since experimented using crystallized vs. "runny" honey, all natural peanut butter vs. homemade almond butter, etc.  This recipe is so forgiving!  If the consistency of your honey is too runny, add more peanut butter.  Or if your honey is too thick, try softening it with hot water first.  I have also found that putting the dessert balls in the fridge for even 15 minutes helps them solidify.  Just use these 4 simple ingredients in whatever way you want, and you are sure to have a tasty dessert!

 

A Taste of Real Food in LA

Sometimes I wonder if restaurants even serve real food anymore.  Yes, there are many tasty places that we  all enjoy and avoid looking at the calorie count.  But how much of what we eat at a restaurant is actually fresh food prepared on location?


One hole-in-the-wall in LA is on the right track.  Four Café in Eagle Rock serves a fresh and seasonal menu with locally grown organic produce.  They offer a wide variety of options, including vegetarian and vegan items.  With so many delicious meals to choose from, it is hard to make a decision!  So when I visited the Four Café last Friday night, I tried a little bit of everything.


To start off with, I enjoyed an iced coconut green tea drink with my broccoli/leek/thyme soup.  It was rather hearty for being so smooth:

My main course consisted of the tuscan kale salad topped with wild salmon, kumquats, almonds, parmesan cheese, and a lemon vinaigrette.  This salad was to die for!  The unique combination of flavors excited my palate and brought satisfaction with every bite:

I concluded my meal with a vegan cheesecake made with coconut oil, agave, and lemon, on top of a date/cashew/pecan crust.  I have never tasted such a rich and flavorful cheesecake.  And trust me, I love cheesecake!  I would drive all the way back to Eagle Rock just to order this dessert again:

In addition to the absolutely amazing food, the Four Café itself is a fantastic restaurant that receives two thumbs up from me.  It has very simple and relaxing decor, mixing natural colors and wood to exude peacefulness.  I felt quite comfortable there.  All of the staff working in the restaurant were very friendly, despite my incessant questions.  They cleared our table with a smile and seemed genuine in creating a pleasant atmosphere for their customers.


My dear friend Lizzy joined me on this grand adventure to Four Café, and we agree it is a "must-return" restaurant.  She enjoyed a completely different meal than I did, but it looked just as satisfying.  Lizzy began with the coconut chicken soup:

And then had the asparagus tart with ricotta and gruyere stuffed in a puff pastry as her main course:

I was pleasantly surprised to find the pricing quite reasonable.  My salad was $11, because I chose wild salmon instead of the free range chicken or grassfed beef.  And it was significantly more satisfying than a typical $11 from a chain restaurant! Four Café is open 11am-9pm weekdays, and 9am-9pm on weekends.  For anyone in the Los Angeles area looking for a delicious organic restaurant with a comfortable atmosphere and friendly staff, I would highly recommend the Four Café!

6 Uses of Coconut Milk

If you are anything like me, you have never given much thought to coconut milk.  Milk is milk, right?  And it comes from a cow.  But a few months ago, I discovered a wonderful addition to my diet in the form of coconut milk.  I was on a special diet prescribed by my doctor and could not have any dairy for 6 weeks.  Initially this seemed problematic for someone who uses milk almost on a daily basis.  However, a quick trip to Whole Foods proved that there are many milk substitutes on the market.

Option #1 was soy milk.  That was quickly eliminated not because of the taste (okay, partly because of the taste...), but because the majority of soy beans grown in the USA are genetically-modified.  And anything that has been genetically altered is not something I want to be putting in my body.

Option #2 was almond milk.  I actually really like the taste of almond milk, but I was already eating a lot of nuts on a daily basis.  And gorging yourself on nuts is not a wise decision.

Which left me Option #3....coconut milk.  I had never tried it before, but I love coconut oil, coconut butter, and just plain coconut, so it stood to reason that I would like this concoction as well.  After experimenting with the white liquid, I found it to be quite valuable in my kitchen.  Even though my non-dairy diet is over, I have continued purchasing coconut milk instead of cow's milk.

Here are some suggestions for how to incorporate coconut milk into your diet:

1.  Drink it out of a glass like regular milk (goes especially well with cookies!)
2.  Use as a substitute for milk in pastries (cookies, brownies, etc.)
3.  Substitute for eggs/milk in pancakes (the thick texture helps batter stick together)
4.  Add to egg mixture for omelettes (makes it a little creamy)
5.  Mix with granola and fruit for a tasty breakfast
6.  Add to smoothies for consistency

And there are so many more options!  I have found that coconut milk (unsweetened) actually helps bring out the natural flavor of whatever you mix it with.  Because it has a thicker consistency than other types of milk, it is especially useful in baking.  But drinking it by itself is also quite tasty!

In addition, coconuts come with an assortment of health benefits including: boost in immunity, wrinkle prevention, renewed energy levels, helps with weight loss and maintenance, lowers cholesterol, and the list goes on.  With all the health benefits in addition to great taste, why wouldn't you try incorporating coconut milk into your diet?

Almond-Pecan Nut Butter Recipe

On a recent visit to my parents' house, I discovered a jar of Almond-Pecan Nut Butter in the pantry.  It sounded intriguing and before I knew it, I was eating it straight out of the jar with a spoon.  The nut butter was so tasty that it didn't last long.  But as we know, purchasing almond butter at the store is expensive, and most places don't even sell a mixed nut butter.

Hence, my mission began to find out how difficult it would be to make my own nut butter.  The only dilemma was that I don't have a food processor.  But as it turns out, a woman can do wonders with a hand-blender!

A simple hand-blender works too!

Taking a few tips from friends who make almond butter on occasion, I combined and modified their recipes to make this delicious almond-pecan nut butter.

Ingredients:
1 c. raw almonds
1/2 c. raw pecans
2 Tbsp grapeseed oil
1/8 tsp cinnamon
pinch of salt

(I used grapeseed oil, because it doesn't have much flavor and therefore preserves the taste of the nuts.)



1. Place all the nuts in food processor (or hand-blender, in my case).
2. Grind nuts, occasionally stirring with a spoon.
3. Keep going!  It takes several minutes to grind the nuts completely.
4. Gradually add oil, one tablespoon at a time.  Add cinnamon and salt.
5. Continue grinding until you reach the desired consistency.  I don't like creamy nut butter, so it did not take long for it to be done after I added the oil.
6. Eat and enjoy your own homemade almond-pecan nut butter!

Prep time: 20 minutes

Voila, delicious homemade almond-pecan butter!

By the way, I found an organic website that sells an 8oz. jar of almond-pecan butter for $15.  For the same amount of money, you can make this recipe about 4 times!