Eat your Pastels

EAT YOUR PASTELS // PINK PEPPERMINT NANIMO BARS

December 8, 2017December 6, 2017 by Alyssa Garrison

Nanaimo bars are one of my all-time favourite treats – when i lived in BC growing up they were just about everywhere we went, and I could never get enough. After moving to Toronto I realized they were much harder to come by out of province. Did you know Nanaimo Bars are named for their birthplace, a small city on Vancouver Island in BC? I grew up at bike races (yes, I was super sporty!) in and around that area, so it’s no wonder these sweet triple-layer treats make me feel warm and fuzzy inside.

Traditional Nanaimo bars are certainly not healthy or even close to vegan, but as per usual Amanda of Blueberry Moon came through and made our vegan dessert dreams come true! Instead of custard for the centre filling she created a pink peppermint coconut-based cream, and oats, dates and almonds were used alongside coconut to boost health points in the base layer.

Scroll down for the recipe

What you’ll need //

Crust:
1 cup almonds
1/2 c packed dates
1/2 c oats
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 c cocoa powder
1/2 c shredded coconut
2 tbsp coconut oil

Cream center:
1 cup coconut butter
3/4 chilled full fat coconut milk
1 cup icing sugar
2 tsp mint extract
2 tsp peppermint extract
2 tsp beet juice (may need to adjust slightly based on colour preference)

Topping:
1.5 cups melted chocolate chips

Optional: Crushed candy cane, sprinkles

Recipe //

Prepare your base layer by adding all crust ingredients listed into your food processor.
Once it reaches a crust like consistency, press firmly into a greased square pan. You could also cut out some parchment paper tabs to line the bottom for easy removal.

Next, begin to prepare the middle layer by adding all ingredients into your high speed blender. We used our Vitamix. Once this layer is thick, creamy and smooth, pour it over the crust and spread as evenly as possible. You may want to carefully slam the tray (it not glass) a couple times against your counter to remove air bubble and really pack down.

Move to freezer to set faster.

Once the middle layer feels firm enough you can begin to melt your chocolate.

To do this, boil a couple inches of water in a pot and use a heat safe bowl to place on top of the pot (making sure its big enough to not fall through!) Add your chocolate chips into the bowl and keep stiring with a spatula until the chocolate has melted.

Pour over the middle layer and add your crushed candy canes.

Shopping links!

Pink Food Processor

Beetroot Powder (Natural Food Colour)

4pc Gold Cutlery Set

Lorann Oils Natural Peppermint

Pink Christmas Tree

Sips, Sweets & Snacks

Eat your Pastels // Unicorn Fresh Rolls

September 15, 2017September 11, 2017 by Alyssa Garrison

Whenever something magical and pastel starts circulating around the internet, we take it as a personal mission to test the trend. Scrolling through Pinterest a few weeks back I came across a post headline that read “Unicorn Noodles Are the Biggest New Food Trend”.

It was my solemn duty to investigate this new claim.

Apparently there’s a totally natural way to dye glass noodles pink, AND you can make them change colour! Various blogs all over the internet claim by cooking the noodles in purple cabbage they’re turn a vibrant shade of turquoise, and when citrus like lime is added to the mix the noodles change to shades of purple and pink. It seemed almost too good to be true, so we got to work testing this theory on our next staff lunch break.

Turns out, the rumours were TRUE! We made the prettiest rainbow fresh rolls with no added food colouring, just natural enchanted veggie magic! Scroll down to find out how we did it.

What you’ll need //

1 package vermicelli or glass noodles
1 package Rice paper
Half a head of purple cabbage (roughly chopped)
Blue Majik Capsules

Avocado
Mango
Cucumber
Purple carrot
Green onion
Lime

Sweet Chilli Thai sauce for dipping

Instructions //

Begin by making the magic blue noodles, in a pot over high heat boil a handful of purple cabbage with 2-3 cups of water. Stir and boil for 5-10 minutes, the longer you boil the cabbage the darker blue the water and final result. Take the pot off the heat and strain out the boiled cabbage with a spoon. Add the noodles, stirring occasionally to ensure all the noodles are covered with liquid. Cover and wait 2-3 minutes. If you want to add a little extra colour to your noodles, we used a capsule of Blue Majik opened and stirred it into the strained noodles!

You’ll find that adding an acid, like lime will start to change the blue to pink!

Set the noodles aside, and cut up veggies. Grate, or slice thin vertical pieces of each item and line them up ready for assembly. Fill a large bowl with hot water, not boiling. Slowly place one sheet of rice paper in the bowl at a time until it softens. Carefully shake excess water off and drape over a plate. Place a small handful of noodles and veggies along the middle of the plate and fold both the bottom and top inward. Now roll it up from the sides, the rice paper is very sticky so it will help to shape the roll.

Once you’re done rolling, cut each one in half and serve with a dip! Add a little extra lime juice if you’d like.

Sips, Sweets & Snacks

#EatyourPastels Rainbow Cauliflower Tacos

July 24, 2017July 24, 2017 by Alyssa Garrison

As you all know very well, the more pastel coloured foods we can get our hands (and mouth) on, the better. So, when Amanda proposed Rainbow Cauliflower Tacos as the next adventure for #EatyourPastels we were more than just excited. It’s no secret everyone loves tacos – they’re adorable, bite-sized, and packed with flavour, so what’s not to adore?

Eating vegan 24/7 can be tough – I know I struggle with cutting certain foods out of my diet, especially when dining out. It’s easy to fall into the pattern of eating plain veggies and carbs and ending up a bit bored. These recipes are quick and make it easy for anyone to eat vegan at home. The tacos we made for this post use lentils as the base, instead of the traditional meat or faux products. Lentils are a great unprocessed alternative to using tofu or other protein replacers, and with the right spice blend they taste surprisingly meaty.

Scroll down for the recipe!

What you’ll need //

Lentils:
½ cup lentils
1 cup water
¼ tsp garlic powder
¼ tsp smoked paprika
¼ tsp chili powder
¼ tsp cumin
1 tbsp tamari

Seasoned Cauliflower:
½ head cauliflower
1 tbsp coconut or olive oil for frying
1 tbsp taco seasoning
salt to taste

Guac:
1 avocado
¼ tsp salt
¼ tsp garlic powder
½ lime juiced
cilantro to taste

Garnish:
shredded candy cane beet
pickled onions (learn how to make your own here)
watermelon radish
nutritional yeast
tortillas

To Make:

Lentils:

Start by rinsing your lentils. Combine with water in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Once they reach the boiling point, reduce heat and simmer on low for 20-30 minutes. Keep an eye on them and add water as needed. When lentils are finished cooking, season with tamari, garlic, chili, smoked paprika and cumin.

Cauliflower:

Cut or break up cauliflower into small pieces. Add your oil of choice to a pan and fry on medium/high until golden brown. Season with taco seasoning and salt.

Quick Guacamole:

In a bowl, mash you avocado adding in all the ingredients listed until you reach desired taste. Voila! You have yourself some guac.
To assemble, be creative! We garnished our crew with some pretty pink friends; watermelon radish, shaved candy cane beet and pickled red onion. (Find the recipe here) We then sprinkled on some nutritional yeast and fresh cilantro. Enjoy these beauties with a squeeze of lime juice and maybe even a margarita!

Sips, Sweets & Snacks

#EatyourPastels Coconut Ice Cream

July 14, 2017August 1, 2017 by Alyssa Garrison

Hold on tight, because today our #eatyourpastels series gets NEXT LEVEL. Amanda really went above and beyond with the ultimate challenge for this post – not one, but three flavours of totally natural organic homemade coconut ice cream!

We’ve been super inspired by all of the amazing rainbow food that’s been taking over Instagram lately (expecially Hippie Lane and Alison Wu), and we wanted to take a stab at making things other than just in shades of pink. Apparently it’s well known in the healthy food world that blueberry dyes most things purple, but what about shades of blue and green? We did a bit of research, and it led us right to E3Live Blue Majik, aka different kinds of algae with really incredible health benefits.

Every time you see something all natural that’s an almost unreal shade of blue, its likely been made with Blue Majik powder. The powder itself is pretty constantly sold out, but if you get the capsules and open them up it’s essentially the same thing (we ordered ours here). With the help of this magical powder, plus beet juice and blueberries, we were able to make 3 perfect shades of “nice cream” to play with (and eat of course!)

Scroll down for the full recipe!

Notes from Amanda: Making ice cream is actually SO fun! A) Because you can make so many cute colours and B) Because there is something so satisfying in seeing your ice cream churn! The following recipes are enjoyed best if consumed right away. Once they freeze solid in the freezer they lose that creamy soft serve texture. My mission this summer is to figure out how to make them last with a soft creamy texture even after frozen. But for now, whip your coconut ice creams up and eat them all immediately ’cause hey, it IS National Ice Cream Day and all!

What you’ll need //

An ice cream maker (we used CUISINART Mix it in Soft Serve Maker)
6 cans of full fat coconut milk
¾ cup of maple syrup
¾ cup of coconut sugar
½ cup frozen blueberries
3 tbsp beet juice
6-8 Blue Majik Capsules (just the powder inside)

To Make:

To make all three beautifully coloured ice creams we obviously had to make three different batches of ice cream!

Pink:
Blend 2 cans of coconut milk with ¼ cup of coconut sugar and ¼ cup maple syrup and your beet juice. Add in one tbsp at a time so you can adjust the shade of pink to your desire. Once blended, transfer to your ice cream maker and churn for 25-30 minutes.

Lavender:
Blend 2 cans of coconut milk with ¼ cup coconut sugar, ¼ cup maple syrup and your frozen blueberries. Transfer into your ice cream maker and churn for 25-30 minutes.

Blue:
Take the last 2 cans of coconut milk and add to your blender with you guessed it, the sugars! Also add in your blue majik for colour. Again, transfer your mixture into your ice cream maker for 25-30 minutes.

Advice:
Coconut soft serve is best enjoyed right away. As if freezes it becomes fairly hard to scoop and serve! We recommend trying one of the pretty colours at a time. If you’re feeling ambitious, be sure to refreeze the bowl between each batch, otherwise your ice cream won’t churn!

If you’re interested in making other Coconut Milk desserts this book is a great resource! Coconut Milk Ice Cream: Vegan & Grain-free Ice Creams & Frozen Treats

Sips, Sweets & Snacks

#EatYourPastels Pink Strawberry Mylk

July 5, 2017July 5, 2017 by Alyssa Garrison

Making nut mylk is one of those things that just makes sense – it’s quick, simple, and yields a really delicious and nutritious end product. We’ve been trying to get on board with nut mylk and cheese in favour of dairy as much as possible, for the sake of ourselves, animals, and the environment, and luckily we have Amanda from Blueberrymoon here to help!

Cashews are one of the best nuts to use in dairy-inspired recipes thanks to their creamy rich texture. We made this version a bit more fun by adding some fresh local strawberries and a touch of beet juice to make our pink milk that much more pink! It’s super delicious on it’s own, in a strawberry banana smoothie, or blended with a bit o vegan ice cream for the ultimate strawberry shake!

Scroll down for the recipe

Hey guys! Blueberrymoon here. I just wanted to add some notes and tips about making nut mylk at home! As noted above it’s so simple and so much better than store bought. Since cashews don’t have skins and become so soft once soaked, there is no need for a nut straining bag. If you’re using nuts with skins such as almonds, hazelnuts, brazil nuts or walnuts, a straining bag is required. However even with the extra step, you’re still looking at an easy process! When storing your mylk, make sure it’s kept in an air tight container or jar in your fridge and consumed within 3-5 days.

What you’ll need //

1 cup soaked cashews
1 cup fresh strawberries
4-6 dates
1 tsp vanilla extract
pinch of salt
beet juice

Instructions //

Soak cashews in water for 4-8 hours or overnight.

Once soaked, rinse well adding all ingredients to your high-speed blender, we used our Vitamix.

Blend on high for about one minute.

If you like your mylk sweet, add a touch of honey or maple syrup!