Mango- Acai Smoothie

The best part about smoothies is that they are simple- you can just throw things in the blender and not worry about specific measurements. So, I'm simply going to show you what I throw into one of my favorites. It's full of natural protein, fiber, probiotics, antioxidants, potassium, vitamin- A, vitamin-C, and more. 

Vegan Mango- Acai Smoothie 

1. Amande (Almond) Vanilla Yogurt

I recently discovered this yogurt on the shelves at Whole Foods and was pretty stoked to find a soy-free, protein rich yogurt. I love it. They also have other flavors like blueberry, peach and strawberry. But, the vanilla is my fav. 

2. Slices of banana

4. Slices of frozen mango

5. Frozen Acai Berry

(I also found these at Whole Foods)

Agave Roasted Chai Granola

Happy New Year! This past Christmas I made granola for some family and friends. I had never made granola before and had always wanted to, so I gave it a try. I love chai and I love agave, so I blended a few different recipes together to create this granola. It was simple and fun to make, and is delicious in vanilla soy yogurt.

You will need:

2 large, rimmed baking sheets

1 sauce pan

2/3 cup earth balance margarine

1& 1/2 cups agave nectar

1 & 1/2 cups honey

10 cups of rolled oats

3 cups of almonds

3 cups of dried cranberries

2 cups of shredded coconut

2 teaspoons vanilla

2 teaspoons salt

2 teaspoons ground ginger

2 tablespoons cinnamon

2 tablespoons ground cloves

2 tablespoons ground cardamom

I used local honey :)

Pre-heat your oven to 375 degrees. Over low heat, in a sauce pan, melt the earth balance margarine with the agave, honey and the vanilla. On the lowest heat, keep cooking until the color turns a bit darker, then turn the heat off.

Next, in a small bowl, mix all of the spices together. In a larger bowl, mix in the rolled oats, almonds, the mixed spices and shredded coconut. Then, pour the melted margarine, agave, honey and vanilla mixture into the large bowl and stir to make sure everything is covered.

Spread the mixture onto two large baking sheets and drizzle some extra agave nectar on top.

Place in the oven and bake for about 10 minutes, then check to make sure it is not burning on the sides and mix with a spatula. Bake for another 6 minutes or until the granola is golden brown. Once the granola is done baking, pour it back into the large bowl and mix in the dried cranberries. Allow it to cool and then enjoy!

Untitled from Theresa Hayes on Vimeo.

Vegan Crepes

I'll admit.... the hardest part about becoming vegan was giving up crepes. They are my favorite, hands down. After a few months of being vegan and thinking that making a vegan version of crepes would be pretty impossible, I checked out a few different recipes for them. I found that flaxseed and buckwheat recipes do not work for these if you are used to the non-vegan kind. Here is the tastiest recipe so far:

1 cup unbleached all purpose flour

1 1/2 cups soymilk (or almond milk, soy milk creates a denser batter)

3 tsp ener-g egg replacer (mixed with 4 tablespoons of H2O)

2 tbsp of canola oil

2 tsp vanilla extract (if you're making these for savory crepes, you should probably use 1 tsp)

a dash of salt

Bring your skillet to medium heat. Butter it up with some Earth Balance Natural Buttery Spread, depending on your skillet size and how large you want your crepe to be, scoop 1/2 cup or 1 cup of the batter into the skillet. Depending on how talented you are at crepe making, you can either rotate the pan to spread the batter or with a thin, flat, rubber spatula spread the batter around the skillet. It should be ready to be flipped fairly soon; these can be fragile and take a lot of attention. Once your crepe is done, make sure to wipe the skillet and add more Earth Balance before pouring the batter for the next crepe.

Your first crepe might turn out like this...

But it will definitely get easier with practice :)

There are so many ways to enjoy these! Tonight, our crepe menu was:

- lemon, sugar, agave, strawberries

- semi sweet vegan chocolate chips, agave, strawberries, cinnamon

- agave, cinnamon, sugar

Delish :)

Happy Birthday Laura