Creamy Vanilla Bean Chia Custard

I seem to be working on quite a few different cookbooks at the moment, which may mean that it will be some time before this wonderful recipe is in print.  I will be nice and share it on here now.

This is a healthy and filling snack or dessert with the delicious taste of real vanilla and a decadent creamy mouthfeel.  It takes very little actual kitchen time – just put a couple of ingredients on to soak for a while, then add some extra ingredients and blend it up.

Gluten-free, soy-free, under 45 minutes option

Kitchen time 5 minutes
Serves 2

Ingredients:

3 tablespoons chia seeds
6 tablespoons raw cashews
1 1/2 cups vegan milk (for best results use homemade unsweetened almond, cashew or sunflower seed milk)
2 tablespoons agave syrup
pulp from one vanilla bean (or 3 teaspoons high quality real vanilla extract)
a pinch of salt
optional 1/2 teaspoon maca powder

Method:

Combine the chia seeds, cashews and vegan milk in a bowl.  Cover and leave to soak in the fridge for at least 10 minutes, preferably over 2 hours or overnight.

Add this to a blender along with the agave, vanilla bean pulp, salt and optional maca powder.

Blend until smooth and enjoy right away, or refrigerate and enjoy later (it will thicken in the fridge).

This post is a part of Wellness Weekend, Healthy Vegan Fridays, Pennywise Platter, Raw Foods Thursdays, Wheat Free Wednesdays,

Raw Vegan Caramel Sundae

This recipe is based around the magic trick of putting frozen bananas in the blender to make soft-serve ice cream. Recently I’ve discovered some raw dark agave nectar that tastes like caramel, along with hulled hemp seeds and found combining these with the ice cream makes a delicious caramel sundae. If you don’t have hemp seeds, any other crushed-up nut would be fine to replace it with. The caramel sauce recipe in this post would be a good replacement for the agave.

To freeze bananas, peel them and place them in the freezer in a container or bag.  If you’re in a hurry you can slice them up really small, but I usually just break them in half and leave them in there for at least a few hours.  Once they’re frozen they’ll last in there for months, so if you find some cheap bananas this is a quick way to store them for use later in this ice cream, as well as for smoothies and cakes.

Makes 1 big serve, or 2 small
Gluten-free, soy-free, raw

Ingredients:
2 bananas, frozen
1/3 cup vegan milk (use a raw nut milk if you want it to be 100% raw)
2-3 teaspoons dark raw agave or date caramel sauce, for drizzling
hulled hemp seeds, or crushed-up nuts, for sprinkling

 
Method:
In a blender place the bananas and vegan milk.  Leave to sit for a minute (not very long though) and then blend until it resembles soft-serve ice cream.  You may need to stir it a couple of times during the blending to help it blend evenly.

 
Place on your serving dish, drizzle with dark raw agave and sprinkle with hulled hemp seeds.  Eat right away.