Once upon a time, there was a woman named Eve, who, unable to resist the luring temptation of a fragrant orchard, took a bite of forbidden fruit from the tree of knowledge. Perhaps Eve was bored. Perhaps she was ovulating and had a desperate craving for something sweet. Perhaps life in the little garden was becoming stressful or claustrophobic. Perhaps she felt out of control or lacked passion in her life and in order to numb her emotions or soothe herself from Adam's lack of attention or his ambivalence in starting a family, she chose to indulge. Perhaps Eve was an emotional eater. But as Eve soon discovered, neither the bite, nor the whole fruit fulfilled her as she had hoped. Not only did she realize she was naked but that she had contempt for the way she looked. Perhaps Eve suffered with body dismorphia. Eve tried to stop eating the forbidden fruit and eventually avoided eating altogether but that didn't work and she ended up eating until she could no longer breathe. The point of this is that Eve lost her intuitive ability to nourish herself. She no longer had balance in her life and was willing to do any and everything to get that back. 
Halloween Special - Coconut Butter & Chia Seed Eyeballs
From all-things-pumpkin to clean treats that satisfy the sweet tooth, Halloween has definitely inspired many of my recipes in the past few weeks. And now the 31st has finally arrived!
Perhaps this explains why something incredible happened in my kitchen yesterday. I was making Tosca’s Eat Clean Diet Vegetarian Cookbook’s Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Backpack Kisses as a clean treat for my friend’s children for Halloween and my creativity got the better of me. What resulted was more like Vegan Coconut Butter Chia Seed Eyeballs!
These ‘Eyeballs’ and full recipe will be featured today for Halloween on Tosca Reno’s blog and the Eat Clean Diet Facebook page!
This is a clean and delicious gluten-free, vegan, sugar-free treat perfect for the kids or yourself for a clean Halloween treat!
Zain’s Peanut Butter Cups (Vegan)
Happy Halloween everyone! Today I will be posting some clean, healthy Halloween treats that are very quick and easy to prepare.
These treats are vegan, gluten and sugar free. I made a ton of them for my friend’s little ones who loved them (and kids are the ultimate critics, so you know they’re good!).
Today’s first treat is also the first choice that I made for my Recipe Revamp! Reese Peanut Butter Cups were always my favourite candy come Halloween. I would rip through packages like Charlie looking for the golden ticket but man did I feel like complete crap after the sugar crash that followed.
Unlike the store-bought version, these are full of healthy, healing, unprocessed fat and contain no GMO’s, colours, preservatives or artificial flavours. The best part (besides how good they taste), is that they take less than 10 minutes to prepare.
Ingredients:
1/4 Cup Natural Organic Coconut Butter
1/4 Cup Raw Cacao Powder
10-20 Drops Vanilla Creme Stevia
1 Tbsp BPA Organic Pumpkin Puree (optional)
11/2 Tbsp Natural Organic Crunchy Peanut Butter, divided x 4 Pinch Sea Salt OR Himalayan Crystal Salt (optional)
Directions:
1. In a warmed bowl or lightly heated saucepan, mix melted coconut butter, cocoa powder, and stevia together until smooth.
2. Pour a little bit of coconut/chocolate mixture into the bottom of 4 mini muffin tins, silicone candy moulds OR paper baking cups and put into the freezer for 1-2 mins.
3. Take out of the freezer and spoon 1/4 Tbsp OR 1 Tsp peanut butter onto each cup (if using pumpkin & salt for a creamier effect mix into the peanut butter first before spooning).
4. Placing Peanut Butter in the center if you do not want the peanut butter to show, or spread to the edges if you prefer a ‘sandwich look’ then pour the remaining coconut/chocolate over the 4 cups.
5. Place in the fridge or freezer for a few minutes until the chocolate has solidified, remove and enjoy!
**Note, these stay fresh in the refrigerator for up to a month (or maybe longer…they just never last that long in our house) so they are great to keep on hand as treats!
Zain’s Vegan Pumpkin Pie Ice Cream
For those of you whose lives and tastebuds have been enhanced significantly by the incredible Vita-Mix or another high-powered blender, you will fully understand my passion to create new flavours of ice cream.
With only a couple more days left of October, I wanted to continue the celebration of all things pumpkin with my delicious Pumpkin Pie Ice Cream.
This recipe is vegan, and unlike other VitaMix ice cream recipes (which I find to be really slushy and watered down), it is thick, rich and creamy—exactly how ice cream should be.
***Note, you can make Zain’s Pumpkin Pie Ice Cream festive for Halloween by adding 11/2 Tsp Chia Seeds!
Ingredients:
1 Scoop Vanilla SUNWARRIOR Protein Powder or Vanilla Whey
1/4 Tsp Natural Vanilla
1 Vanilla Pod (optional but so, so good!)
1/16 Tsp Himalayan Crystal Salt OR Sea Salt (don’t omit)
1/2 Cup Unsweetened Almond Milk
1/2 Cup Light Coconut Milk (cream)
***Note, you can sub the almond and coconut milk for 1 Cup Organic Greek Yogurt for a non-vegan version that is higher in protein. This also makes for a very creamy ice cream
1 Tbsp Coconut Butter
5-10 Drops Vanilla Creme Stevia (or to taste) OR Sweetener of your choice
Add 3/4 Cup BPA Free Unsweetened Pumpkin Puree
1 Tsp Cinnamon
1/4 Tsp Nutmeg
1/4 Tsp Allspice
1/2 Tsp Fresh Ginger (minced)
Directions:
1. Combine all ingredients together in BPA free tupperware or in popsicle moulds.
2. Once frozen (usually 2-3 hours, or unless you have the super pop 9 minutes) remove from moulds or containers.
3. Blend in your VitaMix or high-powered blender until you achieve a thick, creamy consistency.
4. Use ice cream scooper to scoop into balls and serve immediately.
***Sprinkle with chia seeds or other optional ingredients such as chopped pecans or walnuts.
Mother’s Day Wild Berry Mousse
So this is how it all went down yesterday: The oven was on preheat all morning as I wanted to bake something for each of my beautiful mothers. For my fiancees mom, I made one of my famous loaves of Chunky Banana Bread (vegan style). This was a pretty easy decision seeing as how she loves my vegan breads and prefers not to have anything too sweet, 45 minutes later there was a gorgeous golden loaf filled with flax, chia, walnuts, dates and chunks of overripe bananas.
The choice for my mom was…unfortunately a little more difficult because she hasn’t been into bread much lately and we had not managed to get our grocery shopping done for the week so it forced me to get creative with my Mother’s Day baking. On the menu?
Hmmmm, well I had oats, dates, nuts that sounded like a great base for a raw or baked crust. I had organic frozen berries, coconut oil, honey, Greek yogurt, perhaps a mousse filling? So I gave it a go…
About an hour later…it looked and smelled incredible, unfortunately, no time to post as I was off to brunch but definitely wanted to share this one with you guys as it turned out delicious! Nothing makes me happier than creating something incredible out of not much at all. The recipe was easy and turned out to be gorgeous and delicious, the perfect combination for the gift of something sweet for my beautiful mom.
Ingredients:
Crust
11/2 Cups Oats
7 Medjool Dates (soaked in boiling water for at least 10 mins)
1/2 Cup Walnuts
Filling
2 Cups Frozen Mixed Berries
4 Tbsp Sugar-Free Fruit Jam (I used Raspberry and Blueberry)
1/2 Cup Greek OR Soy Yogurt
1/4 Cup Unsweetened Almond Milk
1 Tsp Cornstarch
1 Tbsp Unflavoured Coconut Oil
1/4 Cup Raw Honey OR Sweetener of your choice
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Blend all ingredients for crust until combined well, then press down into a glass or aluminum pie plate.
3. Blend all ingredients for filling using a food processor and pour overtop the crust.
4. Bake for 45 minutes, remove from oven and allow to cool on wire rack for at least 30 minutes. For best results, refrigerate for at least 2 hours before serving.
*top with your choice of fresh or frozen berries, nuts, sugar-free jam or dried fruit
Zain’s Coconut-Marzipan Energy Balls
* Recipe adapted from Oxygen Magazine’s Chocolate Energy Balls (I posted this morning)
Makes 23, 1”inch energy balls
Ingredients:
1/3 Cup Vanilla Protein Powder (I use Interactive Iso Whey)
3/4 Cup Almond Butter (Crunchy)
3-6 Drops Almond Flavouring (Optional)
1/4 Cup Instant Non-Fat Milk
1/4 Cup Sugar-Free Syrup OR Raw Unpasteurized Honey
30g Unsweetened Coconut Flakes (ground)
1 Tbsp Flax Seeds (ground)
12 Almonds (Ground)
Directions:
1. Mix all ingredients together EXCEPT coconut flakes, use a melon scooper to roll into 1”inch thick balls.
2. Once balls are formed, roll in unsweetened coconut flakes
3. Chill for at least 30 minutes
Craving chocolate? As many of you know, some of my most amazing recipes come to me in dreams…this was my dream from last night and I have to say, they are melt-in your-mouth heavenly!! Not sure if I should save this divine recipe for my upcoming book, or share it. What do you guys think?
I think sharing is caring, hope you love em as much as I do.
Zain’s PB&J No Bake Cups (AKA Reese Peanut Butter Cups Squared)
Ingredients:
15g Coconut Butter (coconut flakes blended) OR 2 Tbsp Ready Made Coconut Butter (I like Artisana brand but prefer homemade)
1/2 Cup Frozen or Fresh Raspberries OR Strawberries
2 Tbsp Peanut Butter
3 Tbsp Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
1 Tbsp Raw Honey OR 2-3 Packets Stevia/Splenda
Directions:
1. Blend coconut with a bit of water in vita mix or magic bullet until it becomes creamy (you may have to do this several times before you get the right consistency, it should be buttery).
2. In a small sauce pan, melt the coconut butter, add raspberries or strawberries, then add remaining ingredients and mash or lightly blend together.
3. Spoon into sprayed mini cupcake pan and place in the fridge until solidified (they will be quite soft like a Reese PB Cup). You can also make this into a pie by using a 9”inch pan and increasing the ingredients by 4X.
4. Serve cold as a treat (I like to eat two per serving), use as a spread for pancakes or waffles or in any other way you like they are delicious and versatile.
