Chilled Chocolate Coconut Cream Pie

The other day I was craving chocolate like mad, but not just any chocolate! The creamiest chocolatey dessert ever! This pie was the perfect solution to my desideri cioccolati. It is also the perfect pie to make when you want the rich smooth texture of a cream pie without the added cow milk fat and butter. 

Yields about 12 servings

Crust:

• 3/4 cup raw almonds

• 1/4 cup coconut oil

• 3 tablespoons maple syrup (or can use agave syrup as well)

• 1/4 teaspoon fine grain sea salt
• 1/2 cup oat flour (can grind oats with food processor)
• 1 cup regular oats

Filling:

• 1 bag semi-sweet chocolate chips (or dark chocolate)
• 1 (15-ounce) can full-fat coconut milk, chilled in the fridge 4 hours or overnight
• Pinch of salt
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1) First step is to preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Pour raw almonds into food processor and grind them until the pieces are fine (maybe just a tad less fine than almond flour). Then if you don't have oat flour, grind the 1/2 cup of oats into a flour and add to almonds. After this, put the salt in with the ground almonds and oat flour. Mix around a bit. Toss in the whole oats afterwards. Then stir in the maple syrup. Now if you don't have maple syrup or wish to use something not so calorie dense, you can use agave syrup. After this, mix in the coconut oil. If you have your coconut oil stored in the fridge like I do, you must first heat up the oil over a stove or in the microwave. After this, stir all ingredients together. It makes a very mush-like concoction.

2) Squish all of the dough into a pie pan. Unfortunately I was lacking a pie pan while making this so it didn't turn out as pretty as possible. Although if you do use a pie pan, I'm sure your pie will turn out just lovely. Either way it will still be very yummy (which is the most important part in my opinion). Make sure the dough is decently flattened out in the pan evenly. The harder you press it, the better it will stay together. Poke a few holes in the dough with a fork so no bubbling will occur.

3) Stick in oven. Bake for about 10-13 minutes until golden brown. Pull out and let cool for 20 minutes.

4) Pull coconut cream from fridge. It should be either solidified or a very thick cream. Open can with caution and pour out excess water. Scoop rest into stove pan. Heat on medium low heat. While heating, pour in entire bag of chocolate chips. Stir until melted completely. Remove from heat and add salt and vanilla. Stir all ingredients together.

 While all this adding and mixing was happening both of my dogs could not take their little eyes off of the process.

5) When it it completely mixed together, pour onto the cooled crust. Carry pie gently over to the freezer. Let set in freezer for at least 2 hours (this part is the worst, I'm so impatient).

 6) Finally after all that waiting you can pull out your beautifully decadent looking pie! If your pie is still super jiggly or slightly liquidy when it comes out, it would probably be best to let it freeze for a little longer. After this you should let it sit for about 15 minutes at room temp. Then! Finally! You are allowed to cut into it. Sometimes washing hot water over the knife first helps the cut come easier. Enjoy!!!!

*If you want a little something extra you can add a fruity topping (blueberries, strawberries, etc.)

Fruity Topping:

• 1 cup fruit (I used blueberries..... obviously)
• 2 tablespoons pure maple syrup (or agave)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon cornstarch

Heat fruit on medium low. Whisk together cornstarch and sweetener (no little clumps). Mix with fruit. Then add vanilla. Mix together until syrup-like. Lastly drizzle over your wonderful slice of heaven. It's sooooo GOOD!

Scrambled Tofu (Egg Substitute)

Since I became vegan, one of the things that I missed the most was scrambled eggs... So I decided to experiment on my own with making scrambled tofu. I was a bit apprehensive beforehand, but needless to say, it turned out to be pretty yummy.

 -Ingredients

• 1 package extra-firm tofu, rinsed and pressed
• 1 tsp extra virgin olive oil
• 4 garlic cloves
• 1 1/2 cups diced yellow onion
• 1 cup diced tomatoes
• 1/4 cup nutritional yeast
• 1-1.5 tbsp fresh lemon juice (optional)
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp hot spices (red pepper flakes, etc)
• 3/4 tsp kosher salt and desired amount of black pepper
• Topping: Avocado, salsa, etc

1) You can really use any kind of tofu for this, but I would definitely recommend firm tofu. When you open it drain all of the water and wrap how ever much tofu you want to use in a towel. Leave it in the towel for 20 minutes of so. This way the towel can soak up the excess water. 









2) Measure a teaspoon of olive oil into a skillet. Then sautè the garlic and onion for a few minutes. After this add in desired veggies. I only added in tomatoes, but mushrooms or spinach would be incredibly yummy as well. Reduce the heat and sautè for about 10 minutes (give or take).

 






3) Remove tofu from the towel and cut into small chunks. Reduce heat even more to low. add in the tofu crumbling it a little in your fingers. Also add in the nutritional yeast, cumin, herbs, seasoning, salt and pepper. You can also add in a squeeze of lemon juice which is nice for more flavor. (I like to add in a little bit of hot sauce for a spicy kick)

 




4) Stir in ingredients and keep stirring softly so nothing sticks to pan. Stir till everything is coated and hot.

5) Serve immediately. Add a couple slices of avocado and/or some salsa. 

*If you want -- Wrap tofu scramble in a whole wheat tortilla and there you have a yummy and high in protein breakfast burrito!

Growing sprouts!

I recently grew my own sprouts: Easy, delicious, cheap. Need I say more?

I started by picking up a bag of seeds at a local grocery. ( I found that simple Google search of sprout seeds can get you a bag just as easily.)

My sprout mix.

up close of the seeds.

My first try I added about half a bag, way to many seeds! this time I am going to go with 2 tablespoons and see what happens!

this is what 2 tbsp looks like in a jar 

 Now when I started I wasn't sure things would work out so I was extra cheap and did not purchase the straining screw on cap, I will be sure to pick one up next time I am at Weaver's.   In the mean time I use this.





Cover your seeds in cold water and rinse a couple of times. Then let them soak for between 8 and 12 hours.

I cover them with a paper towel and rubber band.

 Rinse and strain till no water comes every day a few times until they sprout! then store them in a paper towel lined airtight container for up to a week, but best to eat them quicker! Mine sprouted in less then a week (about 4 days), but different seeds have different time tables.

Enjoy!