Vanilla Chai Shake

My Vitamix has me in a whirl this weekend. So far I've made; hummus, chocolate avocado pudding and pops, almond milk, green smoothies (this one needs work), orange sorbet and this amazingly delish shake.

This shake really is incredible, the perfect blend of chai spices to sweetness. I drank mine in about two minutes. Didn't have ground cardamon so I crushed a pod and threw it in. Added a bit of honey, which made it a bit too sweet for me, next time I'll omit.

A must make for anyone that loves chai! I'll for sure work this recipe into an ice cream.

http://chocolatecoveredkatie.com/2012/04/27/vanilla-chai-breakfast-shakes/

Summer Melt and Coolin Down - Orange Sorbet

I thought that my ice cream, sorbet, cold stuff addiction was due to being prego's over the summer with both kids. What I've come to realize is, I just love cold, fresh, simple ingredient stuff when it's hot.

Today's cool down of choice was a two ingredient orange sorbet using my  (drum role and angel chorus please),  VITAMIX! I'll have to write a separate post of how in love I am with this thing and keep a running list of stuff I've whipped out. Today was avocado fudge pops, sorbet, hummus and a green smoothie.

Any high powered blender I'm sure will work, if it can crush ice, you'll be okay.

2 oranges, peeled, halved, seeded
2 Tablespoons sugar - I used evaporate cain juice
4 cups ice cubes

1. Place all ingredients into Vitamix / Blender in the order listed and secure lid
2. Blend and serve immediately

Nutrition: per 1/2 cup serving: Calories: 37, Total Fat: 0g, Saturated Fat: 0g, Protein: 0g, Fiber 1g, Carbohydrates: 9g

Summertime Glide - Edamame Hummus

I love summertime foods. Fruit, hummus, salads, fresh veggies, farmer's markets, CSAs, gardens - all of it is perfect; and we've seemed to glide right into the summer love.

Tonight I'm filling you in on Edamame Hummus. I doubled the batch and my kids plowed through this in less than ten minutes, next time I'll triple it. Really, just one batch of this is certainly not enough.

This hummus has a fluffly texture which kind of reminds me of whipped cream cheese. I honestly don't think I changed anything about the recipe, it's excellent as is and nice change from the usual standard.

Recipe here

Make sure to buy GMO free soybeans, there are far too many reasons as to why for me to get into so I'll leave you with this click here.

Cookie Dough Dip all Healthy Schmealthy

I'm not sure where to start with this one so I'll just say it. 

This is a post for a recipe, for a cookie dough dip that tastes really, really good and it's made with chickpeas, it's also healthy. Enough said.

Saw the idea on Pinterest among many, many other ideas that I can only pin and dream of getting to and ended up on this blog. It's a huge score for me, finally someone that doesn't use white flour, sugar etc and can still land on a pretty decent dessert and sometimes down right awesome.

I've made her voluminous oats for breakfast every morning this week, with cocoa powder and a few other things.. will post that too - it's like eating chocolate pudding. 

Recipe here

My mods:

Heat the chickpeas for the smoothest consistency. Once you get them hot, rinse in hot water and drain. Add to processor and mix as directed.

I'm not a fan of stevia at all and have tried to be.. used maple syrup the first time and evaporated cain the second. I measured out the sweenter and added slowly to taste. I added extra vanilla b/c I like it. Used homemade almond butter, peanut butter makes it taste like peanut butter cookie dough (which really isn't a terrible thing). I also added cocoa powder to the first batch and it was ridiculous good, tasted like brownie batter. Used pretzels to dip into that one. I chill it in the fridge for a few hours before eating and it's much better than when it's warm. I also added the oats.

This cookie dough recipe is great with graham crackers too. Enjoy!