Vegan Chocolate Shake

A healthy (vegan) tip - keep bananas in your freezer all the time so you can whip this up at the drop of a hat for the little ones who will totally dig it and if they're anything like mine will think of it as ice cream. Or better yet, for yourself! :) The five-year-old food critic gave it his blessing, "Mommy, this is the best! Much better than the avocado one - that one was so disgusting!"
Enjoy~

Ingredients:

• -3 frozen bananas
  
• -3 dates
  
• -2 tablespoon cacao powder
  
• -1 tablespoon maple syrup
  
• -1/4 cup cashews or 1 tablespoon nut butter
  
• -2 cups water or non-dairy milk
  
• -1/4 teaspoon cinnamon (optional)
• -1/8 teaspoon cayenne (optional)
• -1 handful ice cubes

Directions:

Combine all ingredients in a blender or vitamix.

From Shape.com

Vegan Halloween Treats!

 I got this idea from Gary Francione's facebook page and I love it: http://www.abolitionistapproach.com. Every year for the past five or so we've been giving out
pretzels  :/ and while I don't have a problem with vegan candy (in moderation, of course - moderation for us means candy only at Halloween time;) it's been kind of hard to find up until now.  I found three really good, totally vegan candies to wrap up ('Yummy Earth' is a pretty good company but keep in mind their gummy bears and worms are not vegan!). So the little five year old is super gung-ho to present his fellow halloween goers with this kinder alternative. Let me know what y'all come up with :)

A few of these:

plus these:

and one or two of these:

Equals: Happiness.

Happy Vegan Halloween!

Penne and Broccoli in Doritos Cream Sauce

Doesn't this look fab? Well, I'm going to attempt tonight.....
From Vegan Richa: http://www.veganricha.com/2012/02/penne-and-broccoli-in-dorito-cream.html

Ingredients: Serves 2

4 cups cooked Whole grain Penne or any pasto of choice

3 cups broccoli florets(blanched)

For the cream sauce:

2/3+ cup raw cashews, soaked in water for atleast half an hour

2/3 cup water

2 teaspoon lemon juice or apple cider vinegar

1/2 teaspoon salt or to taste

few teaspoons evoo

Doritos Spice Mix: Gluten-free

3 Tablespoon nutritional Yeast

4 teaspoons dried onion flakes or 1 teaspoon onion powder

1 to 2 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon cayenne

2 teaspoons paprika(to taste/color)

a generous pinch of salt

a generous pinch Rock salt/Kala namak(optional, if using lemon juice for wet uses. Not optional for dry spice since it does help add the sour. you can try lemon zest instead)

You can add Daiya cheddar, yellow mustard powder, for cheddar, lemon zest, dried parsley for ranch, red chili/black pepper for the spicy variations.

Topping Crumbs:

Toasted Bread Crumbs or Toasted Oats and rice flakes, coarsely ground.(4 Tablespoons)

Method:

Mix the doritos spice mix or blend in grinder to get a well blended mix. Taste test and adjust.

Cook the Penne per instructions. Blanch the broccoli(cook 3-4 minutes in boiling water, then rinse in cold water).

Blend the soaked cashews with enough water to make a flowy cream.

Add lemon juice, salt to taste and half of the Doritos spice mix to the cashew cream.

You can just toss the pasta and broccoli and serve at this point. I usually like to heat everything a bit so the spice taste comes out more and cashew cream doesnt taste raw.

In a pan, add 2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil, heat on medium.

Add the broccoli and toss for a few seconds.

Add the pasta and the cashew cream. Mix well. Cover and let it start to bubble on low heat. (1-2 minutes).

Taste test and adjust spices and salt and take off heat.

Mix some of the Doritos spice with bread crumbs or crumbs of toasted Oats and rice flakes.

Sprinkle the crumbs on hot pasta right before serving!