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Oat Rawnola (a.k.a. healthy cookie dough)

January 4, 2016 · Natalie 55 Comments

Rawnola. The ultimate easy healthy 2-ingredient topping or snack. Chewy and sweet, this no bake granola alternative tastes just like cookie dough–it’s addictive!

The other 360-something days of your year will be better if you start making this today.

Many bloggers start off the year with a green smoothie recipe. I start off with something to put on top of that green smoothie to make it taste like a cookie dough blizzard (blend the smoothie up extra thick of course, and sub spoon for straw). You may be thinking “But Natalie, you are missing the whole point of a healthy detoxifying start to the new year!” But I promise Oat Rawnola is the perfect detox food.

Here’s my logic…
– It will make you eat more green smoothies because they taste like a cookie dough blizzard.
– You’ll still be eating green smoothies 11 months from now because no one ever gets tired of cookie dough blizzards.
– It will satisfy your dessert cravings and fill you up more than a plain green smoothie because chewiness and sweetness and general yumminess of a cookie dough blizzard, so you are less likely to eat an entire bar of chocolate at 11 p.m. because you’ve been “eating clean” all day.
– And finally, oats and dates are both VERY high in fiber. So that certainly can’t hurt.

My favorite simple smoothie blend to go underneath the rawnola is spinach + kale + almond milk + maca + frozen bananas. If you are looking for more green smoothie recipes here are a few ideas…
– Tropical Green Smoothie from Veggie Inspired
– Energizing Green Smoothie Bowl from The Glowing Fridge
– Spinach Banana Super Smoothie from Hurry the Food Up
– Green Machine Spinach Smoothie from Full of Beans
– Going Green Smoothie with Oat Rawnola from A Virtual Vegan
– Or for the green smoothie skeptics, this Healthy Green Smoothie Guide from My Berry Forest

It’s a tasty snack by itself too, of course.

I made rawnola for the first time a few months ago and haven’t stopped since. It has shown up on my Instgram and in my What I Eat video because I eat it every day.

I usually go back for more rawnola part way through the smoothie bowl because…well… I’m obsessed with this stuff. Thats the best part of healthy toppings, you can pile them on high!

This is certainly not my original idea, all that credit goes to Loni Jane. My version is a little different than the original, which uses coconut as well as oats. I thought by now most everyone had heard of rawnola, but someone asked me on Youtube how to make it. If there is even one person who hasn’t tried it, then I need to make a video showing exactly how because everyone needs this in their life. Everyone.

The ultimate nicecream/smoothie/everything topping--2 ingredients, tastes like cookie dough, healthy, easy RAWNOLA!!Click To Tweet

Oat Rawnola (a.k.a. healthy cookie dough)

★★★★★ 4.4 from 7 reviews

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 10 minutes

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Description

Inspired by Loni Jane

Ingredients

Scale

10–14 pitted medjool dates
1 cup rolled oats
Optional: cinnamon

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Instructions

Add the oats and 6 dates to a blender.
Blend on low speed till all the dates are broken up.
Keep adding dates 2 at a time until you get a chunky crumbly texture. Shake the blender periodically if things are moving.
Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days.

⬇︎ Click below to pin ⬇︎

Looking for a baked granola that is filled with crunchy clusters? Try my Easy Oil-Free Granola!

Already a rawnola fan? Try my Carrot Cake Rawnola!

Have you ever tried rawnola? If the answer is no then go to the kitchen, make it, fall in love with it, come back, and then we’ll talk.

Top 10 Recipes of 2015

December 31, 2015 · Natalie 23 Comments

I have been brainstorming about what to write for this post for a while. The perfect words to sum up 2015. A mix of reflection and looking forward. Something personal but with a nod to the yumminess of the year. Its been many days of thinking and not much writing.

Of course the inspiration finally hit me at 1 a.m. the day before I had to wake up at 5 a.m. for a road trip. But when the words start flowing, the need to sleep can’t stop them. So with one day of 2015 to go, I’m sharing the favorite recipes of the year as chose by you plus some thoughts on life, blogging, and gratitude. But let’s start with the food…

10. Vanilla Date Breakfast Bars

9. Snickerdoodle Sweet Potato Blizzard

8. Chocolate Bit Cookie Cake

7. Black Bottom Banana Cupcakes (gluten-free, fruit-sweetened, oil-free)

6. Apple Upside Down Cake (gluten-free, fruit-sweetened, oil-free)

5. Vanilla Blueberry Muffins (oil-free, gluten-free)

4. Vegan Pumpkin Creme Brûlée

3. Vegan Gluten-Free Snickerdoodles

2. Everything-Free Cinnamon Cupcakes with Apple Frosting

1. 5 Ingredients Flourless Dark Chocolate Cake

The number one recipe didn’t surprise me one bit, but a few of the others did. For anyone who is new to my recipes I point them straight to that flourless cake. It is decadence embodied in a bite! Still one of my favorite recipes, and I’m glad you guys agree.

Seeing your recreations of these recipes always lights up my day! And my face. Seriously you should see the big goofy grin that takes over my face 🙂 Thank you to every singe one of you who has tagged me on Instagram or left feedback on the blog or just quietly made one of my treats in your home even if you didn’t tell the whole internet about it. Thank you for baking along with me!

Here are a few from the year…

A few other things I am feeling very grateful for in this moment…

Graduating. Finally. College has been a long road of frustration, doubts, and questioning why the hell they think group projects are a good idea. But all those bumps made the end of the road even sweeter.

Fruit. This is my sweet tooth talking.

This crazy warm winter. Yes yes I know its really bad and sad and not rad–global warming and all that stuff. But Christmas day at the beach in shorts was still awesome. Just let me have my moment please. All fingers crossed that January isn’t extra chilly to make up for December.

Yoga. The only type of movement that appeals to me sometimes. Even when I’m feeling lazy, stiff, and unmotivated, the thought of down dog can usually lure me to my mat.

People. Especially family, but all people. Interacting with each other is the reason we are all on this big rotating ball, right. Really connecting with someone and exchanging words, thoughts, and emotions is a high like none other.

Laughing. The kind that makes it hard to breathe. I’ve never been sure if happiness leads to laughing or laughing leads to happiness, but whichever way they are entwined I love every moment I spend in laughter.

Blogging. Having a reason to be creative every damn day. And the never-ending learning curve that comes along with it.

Without this blog, I wouldn’t have a reason to pick up my camera every day–constantly challenging myself to take a better photo than I did the day before. I wouldn’t be constantly learning and experimenting, sometimes failing but sometimes succeeding. And I wouldn’t have so many amazing blogger friends who inspire me and teach me and support me constantly. It gives me hustle. It gives me drive.

For me the blog isn’t really even about the food, it’s about all of those things.

And YOU! I am incredibly grateful to you for trying my recipes and watching my videos and being right here right now reading this. Your support means more to me than you even know.

P.S. If you aren’t already a blogger but maybe want to kick your own creativity into gear in 2016 then check out my fellow blogger Howie’s 3 step guide on How to Start a Food Blog. It’s super helpful and could’ve saved me SO much time in the beginning.

If you are a blogger already, then I definitely recommend his eBook The Complete SEO Guide for Food Bloggers. Super helpful stuff and very interesting too. I read the whole thing in one day and learned so many actionable tips from it. It definitely makes SEO seem a whole lot simpler!

I wish you a wonderful New Years!

Maple Mulberry Brittle (nut-free!)

December 23, 2015 · Natalie 44 Comments

I always end up posting holiday recipes way too close to the actual holiday. But most of the world procrastinates anyways right, so maybe I’m actually right on time.

This Maple Mulberry Brittle has not a single ingredient in common with the classic nutty variety, but it’s a very close mimic nonetheless. The texture is somewhere between brittle and lace cookie. The taste is extra sweet. And the ingredient list is very short.

It’s the sort of sweet concoction that you won’t want to stop munching. But you have to save some to crumble on top of your next bowl of nicecream, I promise it’s topping perfection!

Maple Mulberry Brittle creation took a few tries…

Take 1: I tried cooking the sugars on the stove, true candy-making style. Got impatient, thought I smelt sugar burning, freaked out and turned it off before it ever reached hard crack temperature.

Take 2: I decided to step away from the stove and put down the candy thermometer. I know not all of you have a candy thermometer, and I know lots of specific temperature talk in a recipe can definitely make me run the other way.

So to keep it simple, I went for an oven alternative. Mix the mulberries and maple syrup dry, lay out, bake. Think extra sweet granola in one ginormous chunk. But the mulberries were too large and not absorbent enough, so it ended up a mulberry mess in a puddle of maple.

Take 3: Grind the mulberries! Small mulberry pebbles are the key to better brittle. I adjusted the ratio of maple syrup to coconut sugar a bit too. And success!

This brittle passes the hammer test–it shatters and snaps and is still sticky sweet, everything brittle should be. See for yourself…

Maple Mulberry Brittle (nut-free!)

★★★★★ 5 from 3 reviews

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 25 minutes
Yield: 6 -8 pieces 1x

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Ingredients

Scale

1 cup dried white mulberries
3 tbsps maple syrup
1/4 cup coconut sugar

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Instructions

Preheat the oven to 325F.
Process the mulberries in a dry blender on low speed or a food processor until they are in small chunks. Don’t over process, you don’t want them to become powder or start sticking together.
Add the mulberries, maple syrup, and coconut sugar to a bowl. Mix to coat the mulberries completely.
Spread out on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a silicon baking sheet.
Bake for 15 mins at 325F.
Remove from the oven, let it cool, then refrigerate for at least 4 hours.
Remove from the fridge and break apart into large chunks.
Keep in the fridge to retain the hard brittle texture. Or you can freeze if for an even harder texture.

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Vegan Christmas Tree Brownies

December 21, 2015 · Natalie 37 Comments

I have a whole cabinet (yes an entire cabinet) of cookie cutters, at least half of them holiday themed, and it felt like a waste to use only one of the whole bunch this year. If I have to wait 11 months before those shapes are in style again, then I should at least use one more before Christmas.

But I am a little cookie-d out right now. The closer we get to Christmas, the more I think we need easy–stir, dump, bake style–recipes. So the cookie cutter will be playing brownie cutter today. Fruit-sweetened brownie cutter. Fruit-sweetened Christmas Tree Brownie cutter.

I always love reading your comments. But one particular comment I received last week on these Persimmon Thumbprint Cookies planted an idea in my head. That idea is apple juice. Replace the non-dairy milk I usually use as a wet ingredient with apple juice. It adds moisture and natural sugar at the same time. Genius!

The combination of dates and apple juice makes for a perfectly sweet Christmas Tree Brownie. No added sugar, but no one will know. Lost in chocolate tree devouring delight…

Evergreen, never-dyed frosting. Green smoothies have taught us that spinach works well as green dye. But I have an even easier, even tastier way: matcha! Whisk one teaspoon of high quality matcha powder into creamy coconut yogurt for gorgeous creamy green. Frosting with antioxidants? Yes please!

And I suggest using a sweetened yogurt unless you are really ready for a topping with some serious tang. Or if you don’t want the tangy taste at all, opt for whipped coconut cream in place of the yogurt.

And if you don’t have a tree shaped ~~cookie~~ brownie cutter, then you can use a paper stencil to cut around or just make very festive tree-inspired squares 🙂

And the video…

Vegan Christmas Tree Brownies

★★★★★ 5 from 2 reviews

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 30 minutes

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Ingredients

Scale

Brownie

1 cup oat flour
1 1/2 cup apple juice (or white grape juice)
12 pitted Medjool dates
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup cacao powder
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup cacao nibs or vegan chocolate chips (optional)

Matcha Frosting

1 tsp matcha powder
6 oz dairy free yogurt (I used So Delicious Vanilla Greek Cultured Coconut Milk)
Goji berries and hemp seeds to decorate

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Instructions

FOR THE BROWNIES: Preheat oven to 350F.
Blend the dates and apple juice.
In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, cacao powder, baking powder, and vanilla. Add the date mixture. Mix.
Fold in the cacao nibs/chocolate chips if using.
Spread into an 8×8″ square baking pan that is lined with parchment paper or lightly oiled. Spread evenly.
Bake for 20 mins at 350F.
Cool or even chill before cutting into shapes.
TO DECORATE: Whisk the matcha powder into the yogurt. Frost the brownies. Sprinkle on the goji berries and hemp seeds. Enjoy!

Peppermint Mocha Date Balls

December 15, 2015 · Natalie 33 Comments

I didn’t create these Peppermint Mocha Date Balls because I am obsessed with dates. Although I am.

I didn’t do it to recreate a Starbucks holiday drink in snack form.

I didn’t do it because I haven’t posted a chocolate recipe since October. Or because I’ve never posted a mocha recipe before and it was about time.

I didn’t do it to because snack balls are the easiest thing to make.

And I didn’t do it because I needed something to sprinkle my candy canes on.

I did it because I realized I have a red, green, and white dish and they do the wonky stack so well. And I’ve been dying to do the wonky stack for a while. And the colors are just perfect for this month. And I had to have something to fill that top teacup. And date balls fit the part.

But despite that twisted reasoning, these little date balls rock my snacking socks. Sweet dates. Rich mocha. Chilly peppermint. They are the best sort of grab and nibble bite for your busy pre-holiday days.

The coffee part of the peppermint mocha can come in many forms…
-The classic baking way is espresso or instant coffee powder.
-The easy baking way is coffee flavoring. Frontier is the brand of flavoring that I usually go with since it is all natural (whatever that means) and alcohol-free.
-The protein-rich way is coffee flavored protein powder. I used Garden of Life Plant Protein in the video.

Or if you want to avoid caffeine completely, just skip it. Opt for chocolate peppermint date balls. Still so festive and sweet you won’t even miss it!

Peppermint Mocha Date Balls

★★★★★ 5 from 5 reviews

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 10 minutes
Yield: 15 balls 1x

Print Recipe

Ingredients

Scale

1 cup rolled oats
1 tbsp cacao powder
1 scoop coffee flavored protein powder OR 1 tsp espresso powder OR 1 tsp coffee flavoring
20 pitted medjool dates
1 1/2 tsp peppermint flavor
For coating: cacao nibs or crushed candy canes (TruJoy Sweets makes vegan candy canes)

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Instructions

Process the oats in a food processor until fine.
Add the rest of the ingredients.
Process to make a ball.
Divide and roll into 13-15 balls.
Roll in cacao nibs or candy canes or whatever you like.
Refrigerate. Keep in the fridge.

Oat Rawnola (a.k.a. healthy cookie dough)