A December Treat- Dairy Free Chocolate Covered Cashews and Cranberries

My husband used to travel a lot for work.   When that travel was to Chicago or through Chicago's O'Hare airport he brought back chocolate covered nuts for us!  He doesn't travel much for work any more and the kids were wishing the other day for chocolate covered cashews.   These were quick and easy to make and gone in the blink of an eye.  So I made more!  And thought I'd pass the recipe along to you.

Apple Crumble

Three cheers for Fall!  It's a great time of the year.  So beautiful with the leaves turning the cooler temperatures and fantastic sunsets.  If you come over to our house anytime of the year and you will likely be served apple crumble for desert.  It is a stand-by in our family.  However, right now is apple season!  So this is the absolute best time of the year for apple crumble.

Apple Crumble

Crispy Treats

Life in the summer is made to be simple.  And simple recipes are appreciated anytime of the year, right?  Especially ones that kids and adults enjoy. 

When you go gluten free deserts can be tough.  And when you are also dairy, egg and soy free it gets tougher.  We are also pineapple, citrus and cranberry free.  (Although I do keep them around once in awhile so those of us who can eat them have that choice, I don't usually make anything with them.)  Pies, cakes and crumbles all have to be tweaked, sometimes completely revamped.  It gets complicated.

But there is one simple desert.  A favorite treat using a cereal and a campfire staple.  The original recipe had dairy in it but here is a just-as-simple tweaked version.  A favorite treat tweaked to fit our dairy free life- simply.

Who doesn't love Crispy Rice Treats?

Vanilla Ice Cream

Vanilla ice cream was a tough one for me.  I tried a couple of recipes that weren't good.  I think part of it is that those of us who could eat ice cream at one point have a well ingrained memory of what vanilla ice cream should be.  Plus vanilla is a complex but delicate flavor.  Unlike chocolate, where the strong flavor of the chocolate can hide a multitude of "sins", vanilla can be easily overpowered.

I tried hemp milk for the first attempt.  It had a really bitter aftertaste.  Yick.  The second batch had sucanat in it.  Blech.  The taste of the sucunat overpowered the vanilla.  While we like sucunat in quinoa chocolate chip cookies and banana bread, it was too much for the vanilla. The third attempt was better but still had a strong taste from the demara sugar that my younger son didn't like.  (He poured chocolate sauce over the ice cream and ate it anyway.  It didn't slow him down too much.)   But, really, is a stand alone vanilla too much to ask?  

So fourth time's a charm...

Champagne Mango Ice Cream

Did you know that there are over 50 varieties of mangoes?  And that mango is the most consumed fruit in the world?  (The last comes from Fruit Ninja's fruit facts... so take it with a grain of salt, or a slice of mango.)

Champagne mango ice cream.

Fresh Mint Ice cream for the summertime!

I've been quiet... for almost 2 months.  Did you miss me?  We've been busy here.  Mark's job is taking us to Massachusetts.  Which means that we have to sell the house.  That means that we had to clean the house top to bottom and sort through... stuff.  Lots and lots of stuff.  We've only been here for 5 years.  How did we get so much stuff?

But now it is just wait and see... Who wants to buy a house?

Fresh Mint and Chocolate Chip ice cream

In the meantime I have a small problem.  One son who loves ice cream... and can't eat milk or eggs.  So we need vegan ice cream.  And he can't eat soy which is how most vegan ice cream is made.  (Technically it isn't ice cream unless it has cream in it.  But non-dairy frozen desert sounds rather unappetizing doesn't it?)  And it is summertime.  Summertime demands ice cream...

Chocolate Avocado Cake

So why the cake?  April 1st is a dear friend's birthday.  Very cool right?  It was my older son's due date, although he couldn't wait that long.  And for other reasons April first is a day that we celebrate fondly.  Thus a cake was needed.

Chocolate avocado cake

This idea of avocados and chocolate comes from Joy the Baker's blog. She uses avocados in wonderful ways and I'm sure more of her recipes will be spring boards for some gluten free goodies here too.  I know you're thinking "Weird" right?  Actually "Yum!" is the word for this rich moist chocolate cake.

Cinnamon Crisps

Perfect for tea!  Crispy, crunchy, sinnamon, er, cinnamon-y little delights.  Mmmm.

Cinnamon crisp cookies and tea.

Creme Brulee Anyone?

One of my favorites: milky, eggy, creamy with a crust of sugar on top.  *Sigh* and yum.

Creme Brulee- dairy, egg and soy free

But dairy-free and egg-free creme brulee?  Without tofu? Is it possible?