When I first heard about So Delicious Mint Chocolate Coconut Milk and Coconut Nog I couldn’t wait to get my hands on them! I’m a huge fan of their products so I just knew these two would be amazing. I was right. I mostly drink the mint chocolate milk warmed with some instant espresso. I heat a 1/2 cup of it along with 1/2 cup of the unsweetened coconut milk and 1 teaspoon of instant espresso. It’s seriously amazing! But after seeing lots of people experimenting with the stuff I wanted to have a little fun myself.

First you need to whip up some coconut cream. I suggest following this quick and easy how-to. Then get 2 brownie squares (store bought or homemade) and crumble them. For the mint chocolate pudding pour 1 cup of So Delicious Mint Chocolate Coconut Milk in a small saucepan with heat on medium. Then in a measuring cup add 1/4 cup water and 2 tablespoons cornstarch; mix well. Whisk the cornstarch mixture into the mint chocolate milk. Bring to a boil continuously whisking the mixture. Remove from heat and allow to cool. Once completely cool I popped the pudding in the freezer for a few minutes (flash chill FTW?). Now time for the fun stuff! I used 2 8 oz mason jars. Start with a layer of brownie, then a layer of pudding, and top with the whipped coconut cream. Continue until the jars are full. I had just enough to fill the 2 jars. Garnish with some crushed mint candy and/or your favorite vegan marshmallows. I used Dandies! I swear those things are tiny pillows of deliciousness!

Oh and I actually added the 1 teaspoon of instant espresso to the milk before whisking in the cornstarch. I wanted more of a mint mocha type of pudding. I also used this same method with the nog. Instead of crumbled brownie I used crumbled gingerbread cookies. That was also delicious, but I sort of ate it before taking decent photos. Oops?

If you know me, then you know that the closer it gets to Thanksgiving the more anxious I get. I start planning out my Thanksgiving feast and eventually decide I can’t wait for Thanksgiving dinner. Then I end up caving in and making a cheater version beforehand. Maybe you remember me talking about this last year when I made those awesome Thanksgiving taquitos? See? I told you! This happens EVERY year!

Well, this year I decided to try something different. Something not fried and on the healthier side. But equally comforting and delicious! I made the guys a traditional shepherd’s pie and while I was at it my version just sort of came to me. I took 2 of the Gardein Savory Stuffed Turk’y(s?) I had saved in the freezer and cooked them according to the instructions on the package. Once they finished cooking I sliced them up into chunks. I tossed it into a 9x9 inch baking dish along with 1 cup of frozen mixed veggies. Since I didn’t have the gravy packet that came with the turk’y (I used it last time I made them… I seriously eat more gravy than food, it’s sad) I had to make my own. My quick and easy go to gravy is this brown gravy from Happy Herbivore. I took 1/2 cup of the prepared gravy and tossed it into the baking dish and mixed it all up. Then I topped it all off with some mashed sweet potatoes. All I did was bake 2 medium sweet potatoes until tender. Then mashed them up with a 1/2 cup So Delicious Unsweetened Coconut Milk, 1 tablespoon Earth Balance and a dash of cinnamon. Then bake the shepherd’s pie for about 20 minutes at 375°. Serve with the remaining gravy.

This was definitely enough to keep me satisfied until Thanksgiving. Seriously good stuffs!

Oh how I loved these with my Starbucks coffee weekend mornings. I’d be standing there in line staring into the pastry case debating on whether or not I should. Most times the scone won. But really. Who CAN resist the combination of maple, oats and pecans?

Yesterday the craving hit. I wanted a maple oat scone. BADLY! I had this recipe bookmarked from way back. I’ve been meaning to make them, but scones sort of intimidate me. I’ve made a few that turned out great, but I can’t say they were ‘perfect’. I guess I just didn’t want to be disappointed. Well, with a few tweaks here and there I can honestly say, these bad boys WERE perfect! All 8 of them are gone! Not a single one left. And I was already asked to make more.

It looks like a lot of work, but I assure you it’s not. Toasting the oats and pecans adds so much more flavor to these scones. The maple sugar is a nice touch too. I was lucky enough to find some in the baking section of Whole Foods a while back. I topped my scones off with some streusel I had left over after making a batch of pumpkin loaf. Some chopped toasted pecans would be great too!

And now the fun stuff. The original Starbucks Maple Oat Pecan Scone contains 440 calories, 18 g fat, 75 mg cholesterol, 490 mg sodium, 24 g sugar and 8 g protein. My version contains 341 calories, 15 g fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 240 mg sodium, 22 g sugar and 6 g protein. Not too shabby, eh? Of course it would be a lot better without all of that sugar on top. But where’s the fun in that? Nothing a little extra cardio won’t cure!

I’d like to start off by apologizing for my photo. I took this one using my iPhone. I keep meaning to take a better photo, but end up drinking my smoothie before I get the chance. Oops!

In case you haven’t noticed, my food choices have changed drastically over the course of the year. I’ve gone from eating nothing but processed foods to eating more whole foods. I’ve cut way back on oil and sugar. I hardly ever fry my food anymore. I quit soda. I’m trying really hard to lead a healthier lifestyle. I even joined the local gym. I workout there at least 4–5 days a week. I go hiking weekday mornings. I go for nightly walks. I’m feeling pretty great about my choices lately.

I’m mostly proud of my new morning breakfast routine. I used to have coffee and pastry. Sometimes I’d make French Toast or pancakes. Basically sugar on top of sugar. Sure, it tasted great, but it left me feeling crappy ALL day long. I’ve always wanted to be one of those people who woke up early in the morning, drink a smoothie and be HAPPY with that. Believe me when I tell you, I tried. For a long time it just wasn’t happening. But I kept trying. I just knew one day I’d find a combo that worked for me.

Then one day I ran across this green tea smoothie recipe. It was fantastic! Only problem is it’s not meant as a meal replacer. I wanted something that could easily replace my nasty habits. So I asked around for some protein powder suggestions. I didn’t want soy and I’m not a fan of rice. Lots of people suggested hemp protein. With a little Google magic I came across Nutiva Hemp Protein. This stuff is AMAZING! At first I tried their Chocolate Hemp Shake. It’s good, but you’re sort of limited to what you can and can’t add to it. I don’t think green tea would compliment chocolate. I usually just blended up 3 tbsp of the powder with 1 cup of Unsweetened So Delicious Coconut Milk and 1 banana. Nutiva actually improved their Hemp Shake formula recently. I’ll have to try some of the other flavors.

Anyway, back to the green tea smoothie. I took that recipe, changed it around slightly and added 3 tbsp of the Nutiva Hemp Protein + Fiber powder and finally had an awesome meal replacing breakfast smoothie. Now for someone who is not a smoothie drinker you know that this just HAS to be great. And I assure you it is. Not only is it delicious, but it totally holds me off until lunch. And if you have a sweet enough melon you don’t even have to add sweetener! Perfection!

Toss all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth. I usually make my green tea in advance and store it in mason jars in the fridge. I do the same with the honeydew melon. I chop it up and fill up an 8 oz mason jar with the melon and store in the fridge. This way come morning all I have to do is open the jars and dump the ingredients into the blender along with the other stuffs. Super easy!

I haven’t really been up to much these days. Lots of baking! But meal-wise I’ve been trying to keep it fairly simple. I think I’m in a bit of a rut. I just don’t know WHAT I want to eat these days. Alls I know is that I want something FRESH and I want something EASY. Something like this! Now you’re probably thinking that slow roasting tomatoes is far from easy. But it really was an easy meal to throw together. Sunday night I stayed up late playing Monopoly with the guys. I figured that would be the perfect time to throw my tomatoes, garlic and shallots in the oven. Monopoly games can last a few hours. By the time we were done playing my tomatoes were done. And the house smelled AMAZING! See? Perfect!

The next day all I had to do was cook the pasta and toss it with the slow roasted tomatoes. I didn’t have any fresh basil on hand so I used dried basil instead. I also didn’t add parmesan. I could have added vegan parmesan, but I really enjoyed the dish as is.

There are quite a few recipes I’ve tried from Good Life Eats. All of them turned out fantastic. Fresh, fairly simple yet so full of flavor! She has a vegetarian section in her recipe index. All of which can easily be veganized. In fact I made her Sundried Tomato and Spinach Lasagna Rolls last week. I ended up freezing a few for a lazy night. Seriously good stuff!

No! I don’t mean THOSE kind of snowballs. I mean the delicious chocolate cakes filled with marshmallow creme, frosted in even more marshmallow creme and then coated in delicious coconut.

I’ve had this recipe bookmarked for quite some time now. I’m not sure why, but yesterday out of all days I decided I just had to make them. Since I’m trying to stay away from sweets I only ate one and brought the rest to my mother-in-law. She’s living far out in the sticks now so she looks forward to any sweets I bring her way. You should have seen her face when she saw these bad boys.

I made a few changes to the cake recipe. For starters I used Earth Balance in place of butter, 1 1/2 cups of sugar instead of 2 cups and Unsweetened So Delicious Coconut Milk (seriously LOVE LOVE LOVE this stuff!). Also, am I the only one who really wants the glass displayed on their homepage hahaha? Anyway, then I used some Ricemellow to fill and frost the cupcakes and coated them in blue(ish) colored coconut. I ran out of red food coloring or I would have gone with pink.

They were nowhere near as difficult as they look. Frosting and filling the cupcakes were a bit messy, but otherwise it was pretty quick and painless. Afterward I popped them in an airtight container and allowed them to chill in the fridge overnight to firm up a bit. I swear they taste just like I remembered. Only BETTER! Good thing I got rid of them though. These guys would have caused me nothing but trouble.

I still have lots of blueberries on hand even after whipping up several batches of those Fruity Blueberry Crumb Muffins. So when I saw Noelle’s latest blog post and saw that it featured blueberries, I knew exactly what I was going to do with the rest. Blueberry Yogurt Smoothie!

Unfortunately So Delicious Coconut Greek-Style Yogurt isn’t available in stores yet. So I used So Delicious Coconut Milk Blueberry Yogurt instead. I changed the recipe around a bit because I didn’t have coconut water. So I used 1 cup of So Delicious Coconut Milk (unsweetened) instead of the 1/2 water and 1/2 milk combo. Then 1/2 container of the yogurt, 1/2 cup fresh blueberries, 1 tbsp flax meal and 1 pitted date. Boy was this smoothie creamy and delicious. I’m really excited about trying this out with the greek-style yogurt once it’s available.

I don’t like to post about JUST smoothies because I’m not really a smoothie lover. I have been forcing myself to drink them every morning for breakfast. I have found a VERY small handful that I truly enjoy. This being one of them. Which is why I felt the need to share it with the world. So if you have any great smoothie recipes that you think I’d like, feel free to send them my way! I can use all the help I can get.

As of lately whenever I pass by the produce section at the market all of the delicious looking blueberries have been calling my name. I think to myself ‘What can I do with these?’ and all that seems to pop into my head is blueberry pancakes. But I wanted a bit of a challenge. Then my husband chimed in. ‘How about blueberry muffins?’ This, my friends, is why I keep him around. :)

I’ve had this recipe bookmarked for a while now so I decided to use it as a base. I’m sure the original recipe is wonderful, but the calories and fat worried me. With some substitutions and added extras I was able to bring those numbers down quite a bit and I was still left with one tasty blueberry muffin!

Calories: 168 Carbs: 40 g Fat: 1 g Protein: 3 g Sugar: 19 g Sodium: 71 mg

A few notes here. You’re definitely going to want to spray those liners. Otherwise they will stick to the muffins. I had to listen to my father complain about his muffin falling apart all morning after making my first batch. I personally don’t mind it, but I guess it really bugs some people. Also, you can double up on the crumb topping if you like your muffins super crumby and sweet. I’ve tried them both ways. But I really wanted a lower fat, lower calorie muffin so I kept it as is. Everyone seemed to enjoy them. Ethan kept stealing the muffins I made for his grandmother. Here’s to hoping he at least saved one for her!

I’m sorry for all of the eggplant posts. Are y’all sick of them yet? Dierbergs is selling lots of homegrown produce and when I walked by all of the eggplant I couldn’t resists getting a few. I used to just slice it up very thin, bread and then fry it. But I really wanted to learn some new ways to enjoy eggplant. So I’ve spent this past week experimenting. It’s been a lot of fun. Eggplant might just be my favorite veggie now.

My latest experiment is my own veggie burger. The Farmhouse Veggie Burger was amazing. But it was pretty soft. All of the veggie burger recipes I’ve followed in the past were always pretty tasty, but I was always left with a very soft burger. I’ve always wanted something a little firmer. So I took my Eggplant Meatball recipe and tweaked it a bit.

I decided to make siders because they’re fun and cute. Instead of topping them off with mustard and greens I decided to go full on Italian and turn them into eggplant parmesan sliders topped with marinara and mozzarella.

You can cook these burgers as is on a non-stick skillet lightly sprayed with cooking spray on low-medium heat for 5 minutes on each side. Or you can do what I did and bread them. To do this set up 3 small bowls. 1 for flour (about 1/4 cup), 1 for coconut milk (or any non-dairy milk, about 1/2 cup) and 1 for panko breadcrumbs (about 1 cup). Dredge each patty in the flour mixture, then dip into the coconut milk and then dredge in panko breadcrumbs until nicely coated. Then lightly fry in a little olive oil on low-medium heat for 3 minutes on each side, or until golden brown. Transfer to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and bake for 5 minutes at 400°. Take about 8–10 slider rolls (depending on how many patties you ended up with), slice them in half, top the bottom half with the eggplant patty, top with 1 tbsp of your favorite marinara sauce and top that off with a sprinkle of your favorite vegan mozzarella. Bake until the cheese is nice and melty and rolls are nice and toasty. That’s it!

These burgers really do taste just like eggplant parmesan. It’s way healthier if you skip the breading and frying, but truthfully I think it tasted better breaded. It was nice and crunchy on the outside and tender on the inside. This is my new favorite veggie burger! Pop two of these sliders on your plate with a side salad and you’ve got yourself a meal.

In case you’re wondering about the nutrition information I happened to punch it into MyFitnessPal so that I could share it with you. This is for 10 sliders/5 servings.

Calories: 151 Carbs: 31 g Fat: 1 g Protein: 5 g Sugar: 3 g Sodium: 157 mg

This ISN’T including the rolls, marinara and mozzarella. Only because I have no idea what rolls, marinara and mozzarella you’ll be using. It’s also NOT including the breading.

Enjoy!