Food: Cookie Hearts

Hello Friends!!! It is Lori and Michelle from pure2raw. 


Today we have a super easy and super tasty Valentines Day inspired dessert!  It can be made ahead of time too! And another great part about this chocolate dessert is that there is no baking required, so whipping these cookie stacks can be done easily!

 

This dessert is made out of cashews for the cookies and is layered with a creamy banana cocoa mousse. Perfect for those chocolate lovers at heart like us. And any amount of chocolate screams Valentine's Day right? These may look difficult to do but promise they are not. An exquisite looking healthy dessert that anyone can do! Just our kind of recipe! We pulled out our Valentine day heart cookie cutters and decided to use 3 different sizes to make a cookie stack. 

We love desserts with layers. What about you? Recipe: Cashew Banana Cocoa Mousse Triple Cookie Heart Stacks prep-time: about 10 minutes the amount of cookies it makes varies depending on what size cookie cutter you use.  

Cashew Cookie Ingredients:

• 1 cup cashew pieces
• 1/2 cup coconut flakes
• 1/2 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• 1/4 cup agave nectar (maple syrup or honey would be fine, or even a few pitted dates)

Directions: Place all your ingredients into food processor and pulse till combined. You want the batter to be holding together but without being to wet. 

 

 

Place cashew cookie batter onto a cutting board and roll out. We used a rolling pin. You can use your hands (great for kids) 

 

Once the cookie dough is rolled out grab your cookie cutters and start cutting into the shapes.

 

Set aside the cookies. And the hard part now is trying not to eat them all.

   

Now time to make your banana cocoa mousse for the filling. Banana Cocoa Mousse Ingredients:

• 2 medium bananas
• 1/4 cup cocoa powder
• 3 tablespoons coconut oil
• splash vanilla

Directions: Place bananas, cocoa powder, coconut oil, and vanilla into a blender and blend till smooth. Pour filling into a bowl and let sit in fridge for 5 minutes to set. This makes it easier to use on cookies for layering. Once you have everything ready time to begin building the stacks. We got three stacks with a few extra cookies. 

 

Place one cookie down on the bottom and top with some mousse. Repeat layers till you get a stack of 3 cookies. With our cookie stacks we did 3 different sizes of hearts so we started with the large cookie heart on bottom followed by the medium size heart and then topped with the smaller heart.

 

We feel with the 3 different sizes really helped give this dessert more personality and depth. But if you only have one size cookie cutter that is totally fine too. The stacks will still look amazing!

 

After building all our stacks we placed them in fridge and let them set for a few minutes. This makes them a little easier to eat. 

 

We hope you all enjoyed our Valentine Day inspired dessert! Making these cookie stacks are a perfect way to show that special someone how much you love them. 

 Enjoy! Lori and Michelle

Food: Quinoa Bake Pie

Hello Made by Girl readers, today's recipe inspiration came from our original quinoa bake pie we made a few months ago on our blog that was a big hit. we got to thinking of adding in some veggies to the mix.

This recipe is great for feeding a family and great for making ahead of time. plus it is a great way to get more veggies in your diet. and we just love quinoa for so many reasons.  

Quick facts about Quinoa:

• sometimes called a whole grain, quinoa is actually a relative of leafy green vegetables like spinach and Swiss chard. it is a recently rediscovered ancient "grain" once considered "the gold of the Incas."
• has a mild taste, almost nutty flavor, and creamy texture.
• it is a complete protein, has all 8 essential amino acids, great for a vegetarian diet.
• great source of dietary fiber and contains B Vitamins and iron.
• quinoa is also gluten-free, easy to digest, extremely versatile (great sweet or savory) and super simple to make!

Now what is not to love? time to get cooking  

Recipe: Quinoa Veggie Bake Pie prep-time: 5-10 minutes bake-time: about 25 minutes  

Ingredients:

• 2 cups whole dry quinoa
• 2 cups water
• 2 cups almond or coconut milk
• 1/4 cup nutritional yeast (or cheese would be fine)
• 1 teaspoon garam masala (optional)
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 1/4 cup tahini
• 1 tablespoon mustard
• 1/4 cup handful fresh chopped parsley
• 1 garlic clove
• 4 tablespoons flax meal
• 2 cups chopped broccoli
• 1 leek

Directions: First have to make quinoa. Pour your 2 cups of water into a pot over a stovetop and bring to a boil. Once water is boiling add in your 2 cups of dry quiona. Return to a boil, add in your 2 cups of almond milk then reduce heat to low and simmer for about 15-20 minutes. Till your liquid is just about all gone.  

While quinoa is cooking time to chop veggies. You can use any veggies of your choice. We roughly chopped our broccoli and leeks then tossed them into a food processor to finely chopped them more. This is optional, all depends on how 'big' you want your veggies in the quiona bake pie.  

Once quinoa is done toss in cooked quinoa, chopped veggies, and remaining ingredients and stir till combined. Then pour batter into a deep dish pie shell. Place pie shell into a preheated 350 degree oven and bake for about 25 minutes. Remove from pan and let cool slightly before cutting into slices. Serves 4-8 depending on size of slice and if this is the main part of meal or not. Other notes about recipe:

• you may add in any veggies of your choice
• may add in any additional flavorings
• may add in some cheese instead of nutritional yeast. nutritional yeast is great for vegetarians or vegans.

We added in some almond milk to help round out the creaminess of the recipe and add in a touch of more flavor. You can do all water if you would like. That is one great thing about this recipe it really is versatile and you can add in things that you love! 

Also the flax meal that we use in the quinoa baked pie is to help hold it all together, if you would like you can add in 1 egg instead of flax meal. Any questions let us know. 

Enjoy!

-Post by pure2raw

Food: Pumpkin Snickerdoodle Cookies

 


A super delicious holiday inspired cookie.

Who loves pumpkin? Who loves cinnamon and sugar? Who loves cookies? Who loves holiday baking? 

If you answered yes then you will LOVE these cookies! They are gluten-free but you can use any flour of choice. We also used stevia to help reduce the sugar in these cookies but you can replace the stevia with maple syrup or agave nectar.

The main sugars we like to use are coconut sugar (a low glycemic sugar) and sucanat (less processed sugar) but again you can substitute any sugar of your liking. For these cookies we lightly dusted them with a little powered sugar. It is optional but helps give the cookies a little more holiday look to them like dusted snow?  

Pumpkin Snickerdoodle Cookies created by: Lori and Michelle makes 20-24 cookies depending on size of scoop prep-time: 5 minutes bake-time: 10-13 minutes  

Ingredients:

• 2 cups gluten free flour blend (or spelt, or any flour of choice)
• 1 1/2 teaspoon soda
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon allspice
• 1/2 teaspoon cardamom
• 1/2 cup coconut oil (or oil of choice)
• 1 cup coconut or sucanat sugar (or sugar of choice)
• 20 drops liquid stevia (or 2 tbsp maple syrup or agave)
• 1 cup pumpkin puree
• 1 egg

Directions: Grab a large bowl and place all dry ingredients into the bowl and whisk. And set aside. Next grab another bowl and add in your wet ingredients and sugar. Stir till combined. Then slowly add in your dry ingredients into your wet ingredients. And continue to stir till combined. Scoop cookies onto parchment lined cookie sheets and set in fridge to set while making your cinnamon sugar coating. Cinnamon Sugar Coating:

• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon cinnamon
• 1/8 teaspoon cardamom (optional, we added it because we love it)

Place all cinnamon sugar coating ingredients into a bowl and stir. Next grab your cookies from fridge and place one cookie at a time into the sugar coating and coat each cookie with mixture. Then place your cinnamon sugar coated pumpkin cookies back on your parchment lined cookie sheet and place cookies trays into a 350 degree oven. Bake cookies for about 10-13 minutes.  

Now don't these cookies just scream the holidays?

We think so! Treat yourself and your loved ones to these cookies this holiday season you will be glad you did! These pumpkin snickerdoodle cookies have a light and fluffy texture on the inside with a slight crunch on the bottom. And the touch of powered sugar on top just is icing on the cake for these cookies. Enjoy. 

-post by pure2raw

Food: Eating Healthy During The Holidays!

Hello Made by Girl readers! We are Lori & Michelle and we write for a healthy living & food blog called pure2raw. 

We are beyond excited & so honored to be a contributor (along with many other great ladies) for Jen here on Made by Girl. Not only is Jen, and everything about her blog, amazing, but real, inspirational, and fun! On our blog we mainly talk about food!

We eat a diet that focuses on pure, wholesome ingredients along with being gluten-free. We also live for desserts, what about you? Any other dessert lovers out there? Today we are focusing on the holidays. 


The holidays are always a tough time for many to eat healthy, stay on track, but enjoy the holiday celebrations at the same time. We struggle too. But today we have some amazing recipes that we hope inspire you to stay healthy this holiday season as well as have some fun! Remember less is more. Keep food simple like guacamole squash.

Maybe try something non-traditional but still has all the flavors of fall like this lentil squash pie.

We love chocolate and find it is a perfect way to spread the holiday spirit. Chocolate makes for the perfect gift.

Make these healthy, delicious and super easy homemade bon bons for friends, co-workers, or even for yourself.

Going to a holiday party and need a quick recipe that any one will love, these biscotti cookies might do the trick. They are quick to make too. Anything with chocolate is always a crowd pleaser too right?

 

Mini chocolate hazelnut cookie biscotti

 

Looking for a new way to enjoy winter squash, then you must try it in a sandwich like our chocolate flatbread with layers of basil and squash. Chocolate bread anyone? Told you we love our chocolate.

 

In need of a quick healthy pumpkin pie recipe, look no further our unbaked pumpkin chocolate pie is always a great and new idea.

 

Looking for the ultimate holiday recipe? One that you can wow people with, well we got you covered with our pumpkin brownie cupcakes. 

Ever had a squash or pumpkin blended up? Call us crazy but they make for some amazing creamy, rich smoothies like this ginger pumpkin kefir smoothie!

We hope we have inspired you to try some new things this holiday season. Maybe try out a new recipe, play around with new ingredients, or play with new flavor combinations! The possibilities are endless with a little creativity. Wishing you all happy, healthy, Holiday!  

-post by Lori & Michelle