Chocolate Banana Seed Granola + Peanut Butter and Blueberry Jam Tarts

Hello everyone! We haven't been posting as much lately, because the LCD on our camera broke!...so it's been more difficult to take pics.

But nevertheless we have two tasty treats for you using ingredients from Elan Bio Perfection, a company based in Montreal that produces top notch quality nuts, dried fruits, trail mixes, chocolate products, and seeds/grains. We chose to review their sprouted buckwheat, hulled hemp seed, pumpkin seeds, and chia seeds. Everything is so fresh and the pumpkin seeds were actually crunchy! :) not the old chewy ones you get at bulk barn (sorry bulk barn, we love you but not for your pumpkin seeds).

If you're interested in their products you can find them in Canada, we've seen them at Whole Foods, as well you can order them online here.

Elan's sprouted buckwheat is nice and crisp and fits in perfectly with this granola ;).

CHOCOLATE-BANANA SEED GRANOLA

1 banana, pureed

1/2 cup water

1 tbsp coconut nectar

10 drops stevia

Sea salt, to taste

1 1/2 cups rolled oats

1/2 cup coconut

2 tbsp hemp seeds

1/4 cup pumpkin seeds

2 tbsp flax seeds

1/4 cup carob powder

1/3 cup sprouted buckwheat

Preheat oven to 350F. Combine ingredients in a medium bowl. Mix in stevia and coconut nectar with banana puree before adding in. Spread evenly onto a parchment lined baking sheet. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden and baked through. Let cool so it gets nice and crunchy!

choco-city

Banana Ice Cream! w/ choco granola

Can't forget the chias!

There just something about a tart, you feel very refined eating it like it's a special occasion. Well the
only occasion we were celebrating was trying out these wonderful little chias from Elan, as well as having a surplus of peanut butter in the back of our fridge.

We've made Raspberry Chia Jam before and we thought we could bring that recipe back and into a peanutty-coconut crust (ahem...which is also high in protein if I do say so myself).

A super low sugar-treat for those times when you want a little sweetness with your PB.


PEANUT BUTTER AND BLUEBERRY JAM TARTS

Crust:
1/4 cup peanut butter (natural)
1/2 cup + 2 tbsp of shredded unsweetened coconut
3 tbsp brown rice protein powder
1/4 cup water
Stevia to taste
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
Pinch of salt

Blueberry Filling:
2 cups frozen blueberries
1 tbsp lemon juice
Stevia, to taste
3 tbsp water
1/4 cup chia seeds

Combine crust ingredients, mix with hands until a dough forms. Press into muffin tin (4 tarts). Mix blueberries (frozen) with water, lemon juice, stevia and chia seeds, let soak for at least an hour.

Well I do say, I would LOVE a tart..

For more low-sugar treats check out our Simple Sweets ebook!

Lemon Coconut Dream Pancakes + Falafel Chips

Jenn had a dream last night that she made these very pancakes. They were like macaroon pancakes with lots of coconut in them. We've posted a recipe before where it came from one of our dreams, No-Bake Pistachio Orange Cookies, and they turned out amazingly! Have you guys ever had your dream life leak into your everyday life?

These pancakes were bursting with lemon flavour from the lemon zest and the shredded coconut gave it a nice macaroon-y texture.

The recipe is from our Simple Sweets e-book from the Chocolate Pancakes w/ Peanut Butter Sauce, honestly this recipe is no fail! It's also high in fibre and protein and just makes the fluffiest little pans!

You can check out our Simple Sweets E-book here.

Panners with a little drizzle of coconut nectar 

Have you ever come across falafel chips? They sell this brand in Canada, and it can get up to 7 dollars for a bag. That's just crazy talk! We splurged on them when we went to New York when they were on sale for 5$ at Trader Joes and fell in love.

This homemade baked version, I must say it isn't the same as the bagged version, they turned out more like crackers, but were awesome with hummus!


If you don't have all of the spices, don't worry, we've come to realize that falafel flavour comes from just combining every and any spice that you have on hand, just be sparing with the cayenne, so hot!

BAKED FALAFEL CHIPS:

1 cup + 2 tbsp corn flour
1 can garbanzo beans
1/4 cup water

1/4 cup organic sunflower oil

3 sundried tomatoes, soaked

2 tbsp sesame seeds
3 tsp parsley flakes
1 tsp garlic powder
2 tbsp chopped onion
2 tsp cumin powder
1 1/2 tsp coriander powder
1/4 tsp turmeric
Pinch of cayenne, depending on how spicy you like it
2 tsp + more salt (to taste)
Black pepper, to taste


Puree chickpeas, water, oil, sun dried tomatoes and onions in a food processor until formed into a puree. In a medium bowl combine chickpea mixture with the rest of the ingredients. Roll out dough (you may need to do this in 2 or 3 batches to ensure maximum thin-ness). Score with knife to make squares in dough, bake at 350F for 20 minutes or until golden brown and crisp.

Tomato Potato Pizza w/ Pesto and Tahini "Cheese" Sauce

A pizza is a rare thing when you're vegan and gluten-free. It only comes up once and a while, but when it does, it's appreciation all around. My favourite part about this pizza is the crust, it's actually very thick, cooked all the way through and chewy like a pizza crust should be, I think because of the cooked quinoa in there.

The pesto is rich with cheesy flavour and creamy because of the almonds, making a perfect sauce base.
We didn't have many fancy toppings so we went with potato and tomato, weird combo right? But it sufficed. On top of the cheesy pesto was an even more cheesy tahini sauce which went really well with the potatoes. If I made this again, I would have pre-roasted the tomatoes and potatoes instead of boiling the potatoes and just putting on fresh tomatoes. A very cheesy pizza indeed!

Pesto Pizzi

After baked

Baked up

GREENS PESTO:

2/3 cup packed greens (I used spring mix, minus the red leaves)
1/4 cup olive oil
Juice of half a lemon
2 tbsp water, or to blend
1/4 cup almonds
Salt and Pepper to taste
1 clove garlic

Combine all ingredients in a food processor, process until throughly combined and uniform and until well, it looks like a pesto. (We had enough of this leftover for one full serving of pasta, so if you don't want extra, halve this recipe).

QUINOA CHICKPEA CRUST:

1/2 cup chickpea flour
3/4 cup cooked quinoa
Water to form a sticky dough (we had to spread our crust with a spoon on parchment)
Pinch of salt

Mix ingredients together, you may not have to add water depending on the wetness of your quinoa. Spread onto a parchment lined baking sheet and bake on 350F for 20-25 minutes or until thoroughly cooked through. (We have to mention, we don't know the exact measurements in the crust, we just made it by eyeballing, hopefully these are right though! Let us know if you make it if it turned out).

TAHINI "CHEESE" SAUCE:

2 tbsp tahini
1/4 cup water (or enough to form a thick sauce)
1 1/2 tbsp nutritional yeast flakes
Salt to taste

Combine all ingredients until a sauce emerges! Spoon into ziploc bag and pipe onto pizza before baking.

Once crust is baked, spread on pesto sauce, add tomatoes (halved) and potatoes (pre boiled and sliced) and then add on cheese sauce. Bake pizza for another 15-20 minutes or until cooked. Makes enough for two people.

Chickpea Omelette

This may look like a regular omelette using eggs, but it's actually a chickpea pancake! The taste is nuttier and sweeter but it has likeness to a veggie omelette. Chickpea flour is much lower in fat and calories than 2 eggs and is cheaper as well. Serve with a side of salad for a satisfying breakfast.

1/3 cup chickpea flour (1/3 cup = 2 "eggs")
1 tbsp nutritional yeast flakes
1/4 tsp baking powder
Salt and Pepper to taste
1/3 cup + 2 tbsp water
1/2 tbsp coconut oil (for cooking)
Assorted veggies (I used kale, carrots, tomatoes and red onion)

Start by sautéing the veggies on medium heat with coconut oil. Once cooked through, combine rest of ingredients and stir until a batter forms. Pour batter into pan, cook for 5 minutes or so, (you can even add some more nutritional yeast flakes on top before folding for a cheesier centre) then fold "omelette" in half and continue cooking for another minute or until cooked through. You want it to be slightly soft in the middle though, so don't cook it too much! Makes 1 omelette.

Sunshine yellow omelette

If I knew it was this easy to have a protein rich, filling breakfast I would have been making these a long time ago. Protein smoothies are nice, but nothing beats a hearty cooked breakfast!