Sweets, treats, and book reviews

I realize it’s been quite sometime since I posted a recipe or even a thought – my apologies. “Life” has been happening lately, which has put blogging at a lower spot on my current priorities list. However, I do love sharing things with you, so I thought I’d take some time and do so.

About a month ago I purchased a couple of great e-books, one was the latest e-book from Heather Pace and Philip McCluskey, Raw Food Carob Deserts. This recipe book was “out-of-this-world” divine! Simple, healthy, and de-li-cious!

My favorites from the e-book were the Buckwheat Caramel Crispy Treats, the Cardamon Carob Ice Cream, and are absolute favorite in the house – the Oatmeal Carob Chip Cookies!

As you know, I love changing up the ingredients just a bit. However, I didn’t have to do too much with these gems. For the Cardamon Carob Ice Cream I added some Anise spice along with the Cardamon – it made it very fragrant, exotic and delicious. For the Crispy Treats, I exchanged maple syrup for Coconut Secrets and chocolate flavored SweetLeaf Liquid Stevia. The cookies are so great on their own. However, I added raw carob powder, and vegan carob chips. There is a recipe to make your own carob chips, but I went ahead and added some pre-made chips – yummo! I’ve made about 6 batches of these cookies so far, and they go as fast as I make them. They are that good! I also dehydrated them to make them crispier like chocolate chip cookies. It’s a great recipe!

All the recipes are fantastic, and easy to make. I encourage you to get a copy of this e-book for yourself. You will not be disappointed.

While making all these yummy treats, I decided to make ice-cream cookie sandwiches and used the cookie recipe, the cardamon ice-cream recipe, and a raw ice-cream recipe using lucuma that I got from Ani Phyo’s raw recipe book, Ani’s Raw Food Essentials.

I also made some frozen banana soft-serve ice-creams. Here are the recipes:

Chocolate-Carob Chip, Banana Soft-Serve.
Ingredients:
2-3 peeled, frozen bananas
1/4 cup raw cacao powder
3 T raw carob powder
1/2 cup vegan chocolate chips and/or vegan carob chips
few drops chocolate flavored SweetLeaf Liquid Stevia
1/2 cup fresh blue berries
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Preparation:
Blend all ingredients in food processor or high-speed blender, and place in air-tight container and freeze. It’s ready to serve.

Strawberry-Banana Soft-Serve.
Ingredients:
2-3 peeled, frozen bananas
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup fresh strawberries
1 T lucuma powder
few drops clear or vanilla flavored SweetLeaf Liquid Stevia
1/4 cup raw cacao nibs

Preparation:
Combine all ingredients in food processor or high-speed blender, and mix until smooth. Place in air-tight container and freeze.

Enjoy the recipes, and definitely purchase a copy of the Raw Food Carob Deserts, you won’t be disappointed.

More book reviews to come.

‘Till next time. Peace! =)