Zizi's Adventures - Real Food, Real Stories

Vegan Green Vanilla Protein Smoothie

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We tried something new in our breakfast smoothie. We added pea protein to it to make it more nutritional. Pea protein is a natural vegetable based protein which offers a comprehensive nutritional and amino acid profile. It has over 23g of protein per serving which will contribute to the growth and maintenance of muscle mass. It’s also low in fat.

Cashew butter is also great tasting and natural source of healthy protein. Cashew butter is loaded with phosphorus, copper, iron and magnesium, which all present wonderful health benefits both independently and in combined various kinds of food. Cashew butter also contains half less sugar than peanut butter and significantly less additives.

Vegan Green Vanilla Protein Smoothie

Ingredients (serves 3)

– 2 ripe bananas, peeled
– 2 cups hazelnut milk (any other non-dairy milk can be used)
– 4 tablespoons cashew butter
– 2 tablespoons pea protein powder
– 2 tablespoons flax seeds
– 1 tablespoon lucuma powder
– 1 small handful kale, leaves removed and torn into small pieces (spinach and Swiss chard can be used too)
– 1 vanilla bean, split and seeded

Method

Place all ingredients in the blender and process for 5 minutes, until smooth. If you find it too thick, add more hazelnut milk.

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Homemade Cashew Butter

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It started with a jar of cashew butter I had got from a friend of mine from the USA. I tasted it and I fell in love with it instantly. All this happened after Adam was born and I needed natural foods that increase breast milk production. And cashew is one of them that boosts lactation. I think it is important that if you have a low milk supply it’s always best to try first to increase milk production naturally through herbs, drinks or your daily food intake.

Raw almonds, cashews, walnuts, macadamia nuts are the best ones to snack on during breastfeeding. Choose raw nuts instead of salted or roasted ones!

Make sure that you are eating (leafy green vegetables; carrots; beets; whole wheat pasta; grains like oats, barley; garlic; ginger, etc.) enough calories through your day. This will help increase breastmilk quantity and quality in general.

And the most important advice from me is to drink enough water (at least 3 liters a day). Your body will need extra water to keep up with milk production and keeping you hydrated.

So after the whole jar of cashew butter was gone I was heart-broken. Cashew butter is not available at stores in Hungary. It’s not common to use nut butters in my country but thanks for the open minded people (like me! 🙂 ) who are willing to eat more healthier, nut butters are getting popular. The most common is peanut butter of course… it is availabe at few stores. I had to do something to have cashew butter in my pantry. I decided to make it on my own… I was so happy with the result. Since than I didn’t stop making it!

My favourite way to eat it: whole wheat bread slices are toasted, spreaded with cashew butter and I spoon my  mom’s homemade sugar free plum jam on top. Oh My!

Here are a few phase photos of the making from the beginning until it turns into creamy cashew butter…

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After 1 minute it will turn from whole cashews into cashew pieces. Spin 3-4 minutes more and it’ll turn almost flour.

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Another 3 minutes and you’ll see oiliness of the cashews. Keep the food processor spining and it’ll slowly stick together into a paste.

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Another 3-5 minutes and it really becomes a thick paste. It starts to look like a “dough ball”. Keep going, you are almost there! 🙂 In the meantime give your food processor a few breaks otherwise it’ll be ruined from the too much work!!!

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When the butter looks like a ball, stop the processor and push your finger into it. The consistency should be very soft. Turn the processor on and keep it spining. The ball will slowly fall into creamy butter after 3-4 minutes.

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And voila! Your cashew butter is made! Now give your food processor a rest!

Homemade Cashew Butter

Ingredients (makes about 250-300 ml = 1 cup)

– 400 g raw cashew

Method

Add cashew to the bowl of your food processor and process for a very long time, until creamy and smooth. Giving your processor a few breaks it’ll be ready in about 25 minutes.

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Raw Cashew Raspberry Dreamcake

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One day before we left to Paris (in the beginning of April) I made this dreamcake for my boyfriend’s birthday. Last year I baked ginger carrot cake (with orange mascarpone frosting) for him and that was a hit. But this raw cashew dreamcake… I have to say it is heavenly.

Because it is raw – it means 100% healthy! All the minerals, vitamins are presented in this cake. Of course we couldn’t eat all of it in the morning before leaving to Paris so we freezed the leftover. We knew it will come handy when we arrive home from the city of love. Paris was wonderful and oh so romantic but when our plane landed in Budapest, the only thing we could think of, was this cashew cake. Eating the leftover was the first thing we did after dropping our backpacks in the flat. 🙂

The recipe is from one of my favorite blogs, My New Roots.

Raw Cashew Raspberry Dreamcake

Ingredietns

For the crust
– 1 cup raw (peeled) almonds
– 1 cup fresh dates, pitted
– 1/2 teaspoon salt

For the cream
– 1 and 1/2 cups raw cashew, soaked for at least 5 hours, then drained
– 1/3 cup honey or agave syrup
– 1/3 cup coconut oil
– 1 cup raspberry (thaw completely if using frozen)
– 2 lemon’s freshly squeezed juice
– 1 vanilla bean, split and seeded

Method

Place dates, almonds and salt in a food processor and pulse to chop until the fineness is a bit chunky (good if you spoon out a small amount of mixture, you roll it in your hands and the ingredients hold it together). Line a spring-form pan (diameter about 20 cm) with clingfilm and scoop out crust mixture in it. Press firmly the mixture with your hands, making sure the base is well packed. Rinse the food processor well.

Place soaked cashew, lemon juice in the food processor. Start blending it, then slowly add honey, coconut oil and vanilla until very smooth. Pour about 1/3 of the mixture out onto the crust and smooth with a spatula. Add raspberries to the remaining cream in the food processor and blend on high until smooth creamy. Pour onto the first cashew layer of the cake. Place in freezer until solid. To serve, remove from freezer 30 minutes before eating it. You can keep the leftover (???) in the freezer for one or two weeks.