Vegan

Homemade Almond Butter

If you follow me on Instagram, then you probably know that I love almond butter. I eat it on toast, put it on top of smoothies, make cookies, and use it to make almond milk for matcha lattes (my favorite). After I make my almond butter, I always add some water to the food processor and blend it some more to make almond milk with the almond butter still stuck to the sides. 

Recently I’ve been making almond butter from home instead of buying it, and it tastes amazing! I like making my own food because I know the ingredients I am consuming, and sometimes store-bought items can have questionable or unnecessary ingredients. 

You can also add other ingredients to this recipe like cinnamon, vanilla, maple syrup, honey, or even cacao powder. 

Ingredients

  • 3 cups raw almonds
  • 3 tablespoons avocado oil (or another neutral flavored oil)
  • ½ teaspoon salt

Directions

  1. Spread the almonds out on a baking sheet and toast them for 10 minutes at 350° F.
  2. Let the almonds cool for a few minutes after toasting them, and then add the almonds, oil, and salt to a food processor. 
  3. Blend the ingredients together. Use a tamper to push the ground almonds down the side of the container. If you don’t have one, you can stop blending and use a spatula to push the almonds down. Continue to blend until the almonds become creamy and it looks like almond butter. If the mixture is too clumpy, you can add more oil.
  4. Once everything is blended, transfer the almond butter to a container and store in the fridge for up to two weeks.

Avocado Toast


Ingredients

  • A piece of bread
  • ½ an avocado
  • ½  teaspoon lemon juice
  • A pinch of salt
  • A pinch of pepper
  • A peeled garlic clove
  • 1 teaspoon olive oil

Directions 

  1. Toast a piece of bread.
  2. Mash up half an avocado in a bowl, and mix in the lemon juice, salt, and pepper.
  3. Once the toast is done, rub the garlic clove on it and drizzle on some olive oil.
  4. Add the mashed avocado on top of your toast, and add any other toppings. I love topping my avocado toast with crushed red pepper, everything but the bagel seasoning, an egg, or tomatoes and balsamic glaze. Add whatever you want on top to make it your own!

Creamy Avocado Smoothie

I hadn’t used avocado in a smoothie until recently and I’m glad I tried it because it makes the texture smooth and creamy. I will definitely be using avocado in more recipes. 

I used a pitted date to sweeten this smoothie a little bit, but feel free to add maple syrup or another sweetener if you’d like. You could also make it without this. 

Ingredients

  • 1 banana
  • A handful of spinach
  • ½ of an avocado
  • 1 pitted date or a little bit of maple syrup
  • A scoop of protein powder (optional)
  • ½ cup almond milk
  • About 5 ice cubes

Directions

  1. Blend all the ingredients together.
  2. Pour into a glass and top with anything you’d like (I used hemp seeds).

Chocolate Peanut Butter Shake

This smoothie is like a shake and it’s perfect for breakfast, lunch, or even dessert. It’s also pretty filling because of the oats, protein powder, and peanut butter.

I don’t typically measure out my ingredients when making smoothies. I usually just eyeball it, but I wanted to create some smoothie recipes with concrete measurements for people to recreate. To make this smoothie thicker, add more ice and if the smoothie isn’t blending very well, then add a little more almond milk. You could also add sweetener to this smoothie if you’d like, but I think it’s sweet enough with the banana. 

Ingredients

  • 1 banana
  • ¼ cup gluten-free rolled oats
  • A serving of chocolate protein powder (I used the Nuzest Digestive Support protein)
  • 2 teaspoons cacao powder
  • 1 tablespoon peanut butter
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • ½ cup almond milk
  • Ice (I probably used about 10-12 ice cubes, but you can add as much as you’d like. The more ice, the thicker the smoothie)
  • Cacao nibs to top (optional)

Directions 

  1. Blend together all the ingredients except the cacao nibs.
  2. Pour into a glass and top with cacao nibs and some more peanut butter, if wanted. 

Date Caramel

If you’re someone who has a sweet tooth or loves caramel, then this recipe is for you! This caramel is a lot healthier than store bought and is super easy to make. Serve this with apples, pretzels, or whatever else you’d like. This recipe is gluten-free, vegan, dairy free, and can be made nut free if you use Sunbutter. 

Ingredients:

  • 12 pitted medjool dates
  • 1 tablespoon nut or seed butter (I used Sunbutter)
  • ½ cup water (use more to make it thinner or less to make it thicker)
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions

  1. Add all the ingredients to a food processor.
  2. Blend until smooth. Stop and scrape down the sides as needed. Add more water if needed. 
  3. Scoop out into a dish to serve and enjoy!

Gooey Peanut Butter Chickpea Blondies

These chickpea blondies are so delicious and can easily be made vegan! My family devoured these within days, so I’ll have to make more in the future. This is another recipe using a can of chickpeas, so keep the liquid to make my chocolate mousse or another recipe!

Ingredients

  • A can of rinsed and drained chickpeas (keep the liquid to use in other recipes if you want)
  • ¾ cup brown sugar
  • ⅓ cup peanut butter (or any nut butter)
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • ¼ cup almond flour
  • ¼ teaspoon baking soda
  • ½ teaspoon baking powder
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • Desired amount of chocolate chips (use non-dairy chocolate chips for vegan)

Directions 

  1. Add all of the ingredients except the chocolate chips to a food processor and blend until combined.

2. Fold in chocolate chips

3. Pour the dough into an 8×8 inch pan lined with parchment paper and spread evenly with a spatula.

4. Sprinkle more chocolate chips on top, if desired.

5. Bake at 350 F for about 30 minutes. Let cool and enjoy!