I’m back! + Vegan Strawberry Cheesecake Recipe

Did you hear all that static noise? 😅 Sorry about that, but now I’m finally back and I can explain. My last post was almost a year ago, and my nonexistent posting afterwards came down to three reasons: inspiration, health and frustration.

As a student who doesn’t have to make all her meals (thanks mom!), it was hard finding inspiration and motivation to make food on a weekly basis. I found myself worrying over what to make each week, and I knew if I didn’t succeed I wouldn’t have the chance to make it over again (I get stressed easily). Besides that, I also wanted to eat healthier, and although the recipes posted here were mostly healthier versions, I think we can all agree that dessert is still dessert 😁. The other reason was based on my photo skills. I just couldn’t take a pretty photo with the dark winter lighting!

The Best Chewy Oatmeal Cookies

My brother has made these cookies over and over again, and each time I  turn into a sort of cookie monster. They’re so delicious and chewy, plus they don’t crumble all. This cookie has everything you could possibly want in a cookie, and they’re all healthy ingredients (well except for the chocolate chips).

This is definitely a recipe to save, and it is one that makes the house smell deliciously warm and comfy.

Vegan Chocolate Cake with Figs and Pistachios

The Crossroads Cookbook has been sitting in my shelves for quite a while now and I decided to take a look at it recently. It’s a vegan cookbook with lovely recipes such as homemade pasta, soups, and this decadent chocolate cake. I did modify the recipe a bit because I was too lazy to make all those different components at once. The figs and pistachios add an extra flair to the once simple chocolate dessert, and it tastes wonderful.

Berry Almond Quinoa Porridge

My brother recently took out a big stack of cookbooks we had stashed in a cabinet to find some creative ways to make breakfast and lunch. I think he gave up pretty quickly, as usual, but he never moved them back into the cabinet. Since the stack of books was right in front of me, I rifled through them and was intrigued by the concept of quinoa porridge in The Hungry Student Vegetarian Cookbook. This cookbook was gifted to me by a friend, and the recipes are quite easy and interesting to make.

The next morning, I made it and changed a few things, such as replacing the milk with almond milk, switching the sugar with maple syrup or honey, and changing the toppings.

Rhubarb Almond Ginger Cake

Along with the Coconut Lavender Ice Cream recipe I shared with you guys, I also made this rhubarb almond ginger cake for my mom’s birthday. It is a simple recipe to make and is healthier than you might’ve thought.

This is a moist and fluffy cake that has a mixture of the tartness from the rhubarb, the sweetness from the coconut sugar and the healthy addition of ginger. Instead of sour cream, I used Greek yogurt with great success.

Also very easy to make and clean up since it’s a one-bowl recipe! I love one bowl recipes.

Banana Açai Smoothie Bowl

Açai has been everywhere on Instagram so when I saw a packet of açai puree at Trader Joe’s, I jumped at the chance to finally make my own açai bowl. First of all, for those of you who wonder what açai is, it’s a berry that comes from Brazil and it contains a lot of antioxidants. I’m not sure about the rest of the claims, such as preventing diseases and weight loss, but açai sure is delicious.

I always thought it was pronounced a-KAY, but it’s not! The real spelling is açai, with a c-cedilla, so that means the ‘c’ is said softly and the ‘i’ is not silent. The correct pronunciation is ah-sah-EE. You’ll thank me in the future when you’re faced with the prospect of ordering something with açai and don’t want to embarrass yourself pronouncing it.

I added 1/2 cup almond milk in my açai bowl, which was a bit too much because it doesn’t have the consistency of scoop-able ice cream, so I revised the recipe and cut the milk down to 1/3 cup to make it thicker.

• Servings: 2
• Time: 10 mins
• Difficulty: Easy
• Print

A smooth and delicious bowl of creamy goodness. Made with bananas, blueberries, açai and spinach, this is sure to subside the sweet cravings for the day.
Ingredients:
2 bananas, peeled
1 packet of Trader Joe’s açai puree, put under warm water for 5 seconds
1/4 cup blueberries
1/4 cup spinach, washed
1/3 cup almond milk

Instructions:

1. Put all the ingredients in the blender and blend until smooth and thick. It should have the consistency of ice cream. Divide smoothie into two bowls and enjoy right away with toppings such as berries, granola and coconut flakes.

Strawberry Rhubarb Upside Down Almond Cake

I made this cake to clear out the very ripe strawberries in our fridge and use up the last stalks of rhubarb. This is a gluten-free almond cake with strawberry and rhubarb and it is so delicious. It’s also healthy because it has fruit, coconut sugar (which is better for you than white sugar), and almond flour. I have to admit, the cake won’t win any beauty contests, but I have high regards for the taste.

This recipe comes from a combination of an almond cake recipe from Well Plated by Erin and my own mixture of fruit on the bottom. The most famous upside down cake is probably the colourful pineapple one, but I would choose this one over the pineapple one any day.

Healthy Coconut Lavender Ice Cream

Okay, I promise my vacation post will be up soon, but while I finish it up, I’m leaving you guys with an ice cream recipe. And it’s not just any ice cream recipe. This one is:

• Dairy-free
• Vegan
• Healthy
• Naturally sweetened
• Flavoured with lavender and blackberry
• No churn

When summer is hot, ice cream is the perfect way to cool yourself down. I really wanted to make something healthier than the normal ones, so I did! We have a bunch of lavender in the garden which dried out due to the heat, so it was perfect for the recipe. There’s also a lot of wild blackberries around our neighbourhood, so my brother and I always go out with a container in hand to pick them all. Well, all that we can take. There’s always this annoying little group of perfectly ripe blackberries just a bit too high and deep in the bush for us to pick.

Kohlrabi and Zucchini Fritters with Wasabi Mayo

I didn’t even know kohlrabi existed until a few months ago. It was my brother’s birthday, and someone decided to give him seeds to plant in the garden. I looked at the package, frowning at the foreign name, and that was my first encounter with kohlrabi. Fast forward to the present, and the seeds have transformed into lovely green bulbs with leaves on top. These fritters are the first time I used the vegetable, so I was quite surprised by how hard of an effort it took to cut into it! I also recognized a smell but couldn’t put my finger on what it was. Of course, my mind needed to know, so one online search later and I came up with Martha Stewart’s definition of kohlrabi: it’s like a cross between a radish, jicama, broccoli, and collard greens. And that was it! My nose had detected the radish smell. But when the kohlrabi’s cooked, it doesn’t really taste like radish but more of a mixture between broccoli, zucchini and potato. Strange, huh?

These fritters are a wondrous combination of the strange veggie named kohlrabi, zucchini, egg, breadcrumbs and spices. It’s crunchy and soft (oxymoron point in English class!) plus the fritters smell so good when they’re cooking in the pan. It’s excellent with the wasabi mayo, which gives it an extra pop that I love.

Fig, Banana and Peach Smoothie

After a 6-week long holiday in Europe, I’m finally back home. It was a beautiful trip, which I will post about later, but for now, you’ll have to content with a smoothie recipe. One thing about traveling is that you can’t always find the healthiest foods all the time, so I’m trying even harder to eat healthy now that I’m home. For example, this was my first smoothie in 6 weeks!!! And I think I passed my monthly quota of meat and potatoes by a mile. Whoops.

This smoothie is the sweetest smoothie I’ve ever tasted, and this is without any additional sugars. The sweetness mainly comes from the figs, which came from our own fig tree! The rest of our garden exploded as well, including the lettuce and zucchini. The only thing that kinda turned for worse was the grass. Brown grass is not that nice… Anyways, I’ll try to finish up the vacation post soon (hopefully), and make more food!