The warm weather is finally here and there is absolutely nothing better after spending time in the bright hot sun than cooling off with some homemade sorbet or frozen yogurt.

My favourite frozen treat ever is not only dairy-free but also unbelievably easy to make. All you need is a food processor or a good blender and you’re all set. Thank you Mark Bittman for pointing me in this tasty direction.

I’ve made this sorbet, or a variation of it, more times than I can count.

Mango Sorbet

1 medium container plain soy yogurt (mine was 425 grams)
1 bag frozen mango (or your favourite – I used a 600 gram bag)

Add yogurt and frozen fruit to food processor and process just until smooth. Pause processor occasionally to scrape down the sides and make sure fruit is making contact with blades. Don’t over process or the sorbet will start to melt. The fruit is so sweet there’s no need for added sweeteners.

Transfer to glasses or bowls and serve immediately.

Enjoy the yumminess.

This scrumptious spin on my favourite rice pudding is like a warm bowl of coconut cream pie. It is absolutely delicious, completely satisfying, toothsome comfort food.

Who doesn’t like pudding?

You can go ahead and use your favourite non-dairy milk , however making it with unsweetened almond milk makes this incredibly rich, complex flavoured dessert downright lo-cal. That means you can have extra, right?

Coconut Cardamom Arborio Rice Pudding
Serves 2

1/4 cup Arborio rice
1/4 cup unsweetened finely shredded coconut*
2 cups unsweetened almond milk (or your favourite non-dairy milk)
1 – 2 Tbsp sugar (depending on how sweet you like it – I’ve tried it both ways)
1/4 vanilla bean, split (or 1/2 tsp vanilla extract)
Pinch of cardamom (my 1/4 tsp measure was about 1/3 full)

*Note: If your shredded coconut is coarse or tough (and you prefer a softer pudding overall) try putting it through the food processor, blender, or spice grinder to achieve a finer texture. Alternatively, you can soften up tough coconut by soaking it in advance (as you would soak raw nuts in preparation to make nut milks) – this should soften the coconut significantly.

In a large saucepan, place all the ingredients (except extract, if using). Bring to a gentle boil and turn down immediately. Allow to simmer gently, stirring often (or it will stick to the bottom) for 35 to 45 minutes, depending on how thick you like it. A silicone spatula makes an excellent stirring tool, allowing you to easily scrape the pudding down the sides and off the bottom of the pan. The rice should be soft and significantly plumped up. Check it often towards the end of cooking to ensure it does not get overdone or burn.

Once it’s cooked to your liking, remove the pot from the heat and stir in the vanilla extract.

Serve immediately in the cutest bowl you can find, if you like it hot – otherwise let it chill in the fridge and enjoy later. It can also be reheated. Enjoy.

I’ve made this pudding a few times now and I LOVE it. It’s perfect for breakfast on days when I’m not in the hugest rush and it so so tasty. I like the added shredded coconut a lot and wouldn’t describe it as sandy…I think that’s the whole point! If someone has very petrified coconut and they don’t like that sort of thing, I’d say give it a whirl in a spice grinder or good blender to make it finer before using. LOVE the cardamom too. Warm, spicy goodness.

Reply

September 7, 2009 at 12:37 am

madcap cupcake

(edit)

Hi CocoLoco! That’s a great suggestion (pulverizing the coconut in a blender if it is tough). Another option for those who prefer a softer texture – if you think your coconut is on the harder/ tougher side, try soaking it first, as you would soak raw nuts in preparation to make nut milks. That should soften the coconut significantly. Another option is to make the pudding without the coconut, and then sprinkle it on top. I am going to amend the instructions to reflect these options too – thanks for the input!

I have been craving something of late – not just anything and, no, not all-out sweets for a change. I wanted something super tasty that would not only satisfy my taste buds, but also provide a healthy energy boost. Oh, and make it quick and easy please.

What is more energy-laden than seeds and nuts? These tasty whole food wonders pack a nutritional punch that takes a back seat to nothing else. Packed with vitamins, healthy oils and essential fatty acids, nuts and seeds definitely fall into the category of things that make you go zoom.

Grab a bunch of my favourite ingredients and throw them together = scrumptiously energetic success. And an added bonus: no refined sugar, dairy-free, egg-free, and gluten-free.

This recipe is so versatile that I’ve already made it 5 different ways in the space of 24 hours. It’s delicious and it really hits the spot when you need a boost – and if you’re on the go, it’s the perfect take-away snack.

Marathon Seed & Nut Energy Bars

1 cup raw sunflower seeds
1/2 cup raw pumpkin seeds
1/2 cup unsweetened coarsely shredded coconut
1/3 cup Thompson raisins
1/4 cup sesame seeds
1/4 cup raw almonds or pistachios, coarsely chopped
2 tbsp flax seeds
1/4 cup brown rice syrup
3/4 tsp cinnamon

Preheat oven to 325F.

Lightly toast sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds, coconut and nuts in the oven for ten minutes. Make sure the coconut is in its own pan and stir it after 5 minutes – check often as it will toast faster than everything else. You may need to remove the coconut earlier to prevent it from burning.

Remove toasted nuts, seeds and coconut from oven and transfer to a large bowl. Add flax seeds, raisins and cinnamon, and stir everything together.

If you like, you can warm the brown rice syrup for ten seconds in the microwave so that it pours more easily. You can also spray your measuring cup with a spritz of vegetable oil before measuring so that the syrup slides out more readily. Add the brown rice syrup to the bowl with one hand while mixing ingredients with the other. Stir until well combined.

Line a jelly roll pan or rimmed cookie sheet with parchment paper and transfer seed and nut mixture to pan. Use a silicone spatula (which won’t stick) to spread the mixture out evenly and press it flat. The mixture should be less than 3/8″ thick, or about 1cm. Try to get it as flat as possible without crushing it. The above ingredients fit rim to rim in a 13.5 x 10-inch pan, but you could definitely use a larger pan and just have extra space left over.

Return pan to oven and bake for ten minutes (check at 8 minutes and monitor frequently – remove if seeds start to brown).

Place pan on rack to cool completely. Break into pieces or cut into squares.

Eat. Enjoy. Run a marathon.

It’s Daring Bakers time again and this month brings another sweet treat that I had yet to try making myself: flourless chocolate cake.

To add to the challenge, our DB hosts also asked us to make our own ice cream as an accompaniment – and what goes great with chocolate? Raspberry sorbet, of course.

Since I am an Alternative Daring Baker, baking vegan, I would be following alternate recipes. For the cake, I turned to what promised to be a great recipe from Hannah’s Bittersweet Blog. You can find Hannah’s original recipe for the cake here. I made one substitution, using adzuki beans in place of black-eyed peas. I’ve always wanted to bake with adzuki beans and this recipe afforded me the perfect opportunity. I also cooked my cake for an additional 20 minutes as it was super moist – my adzuki beans probably contained more moisture than the black-eyed peas called for in the original recipe.

The batter tasted so good I almost didn’t want to put it in the oven – you could eat it like pudding. The baked result is an incredibly rich, thick, dense, fudgey, chocolate lover’s dream. The edges were my favourite part to be sure – crispy and chewy – I had to fight my husband for the corners. And this rich decadent dessert is not only dairy and egg-free, but gluten free as well, so bring on the indulgence.

For the raspberry sorbet I winged it. I read an article by Mark Bittman in the NY Times not too long ago about mixing a bag of frozen fruit with yogurt. He doesn’t specify amounts but I got the gist of what he was suggesting. So I grabbed a large container of plain unsweetened soy yogurt and a bag of frozen raspberries and added them to my food processor. As Bittman suggests, you can eat it right away as soon as it’s blended, but I opted to put the mixture into my ice cream maker in an effort to give it more body.

It’s probably the best homemade sorbet I’ve made so far. Sweet, tangy, incredibly refreshing – the perfect foil to the fudgey richness of that oh so chocolatey cake.

Thanks to this month’s hosts for picking something fabulous! Be sure to check out the awesomeness that is the Daring Bakers Blogroll for inspired examples of this month’s challenge.

Our hosts ask that we share this message:

The February 2009 challenge is hosted by Wendy of WMPE’s blog and Dharm of Dad ~ Baker & Chef. We have chosen a Chocolate Valentino cake by Chef Wan; a Vanilla Ice Cream recipe from Dharm and a Vanilla Ice Cream recipe from Wendy as the challenge.

I was in the mood for cookies the other day. Well, truth be told, I’m always in the mood for cookies. The other day I gave in. But which cookies to make? There were so many delectable possibilities from my sizable stack of vegan cookbooks to choose from. I started to flip through the pages of the mighty Veganomicon. Hmmm. Lots of tasty treats deserving of a test run in there. Then I spied it – near the back of that respected tome: Wheat-Free Chocolate Chip Cookies. Perfect.

My sister was recently diagnosed with gluten and dairy allergies – which means she has invariably been left out of even just tasting my sweet foray into vegan desserts of late. I knew I had to make these cookies for her. I would satisfy my craving with a good few, share some with hubby, and pass the rest on to my sis. Sounded like a plan.

Firstly, these cookies were incredibly easy to make. I mean easy. And fast. They came together in a veritable blink while I was barely paying attention as I chatted with hubby who was assembling a new wooden chair for the kitchen across the room.

More importantly, these cookies are delicious. I love how they kind of collapse down in the middle – crispy on the outside and super chewy on the inside. And the oat flour, used in lieu of wheat flour, gives the cookies an awesome flavour.

It was super hard to keep both myself and hubby from eating them all before I had a chance to snap a few pics and save some for my sister.

I will most definitely be making these again soon. Very soon.