A few months ago, I was involved with a youth activity for our church. Activities like these always, always include dessert. For the treat, we used a recipe for easy banana cream pie cups. A typical recipe found on Pinterest would include bananas, pudding, cool whip and Nilla Wafers layered for a perfect sweet dessert.  As I was helping to assemble these dessert cups for the kids, inspiration stroke for a healthier version.

This Banana Cream Cup dessert uses bananas, non-dairy whipped cream and homemade Nilla wafers for the same effect but with less calories and sugar. Using homemade cookies was a great addition to this pudding for their super soft cookie texture which made them different from these Granola Fruit Parfaits. Soft cookies sure are delicious in the middle of luscious cream and sweet bananas! I can guarantee any store-bought cookie will also be fantastic in this pudding. They would create a nice crunch and would be an easy substitution. But for a healthier dessert, the homemade wafers are fun to make and will satisfy the sweet tooth in a very delectable way!

Banana Cream Cups  ( vegan)

• 3 Large Bananas, thinly sliced
• Dairy-Free Whipped Cream *
• Homemade Vanilla Wafers (recipe halved)

In small bowls or glasses, put a large dollop of cream at the base of the glass. Layer sliced bananas and cookies on top. Continue layering until the dishes are full. Store uncovered in the fridge for 10 minutes or until ready to serve.

Makes 3-4 parfaits

 * I have tried adding powdered xylitol, powdered honey or flour in place of the agave inulin at different times and the cream always turns out delicious! You could also add banana extract for more of a cream pie flavor.

I’ve had a grand revelation this month that I love pineapple.

If you had asked me if I liked pineapple just a month ago, I would have said no. However, a month ago, I had never tasted fresh, sublimely sweet pineapple in a little place called Tahiti:

And it made me change my whole perspective.

A couple weeks ago, I was in Tahiti. Maybe it was just the change of scenery, but pineapple on a tropical island is basically irresistible.

Tahiti, and more specifically Bora Bora, has delicious fruit. Maybe they inject it with sugar or crack (maybe both), but the pineapple we tasted was nothing like I’d ever tried before.

After we got home and I began testing recipes again, I started working on oatmeal cookie ideas. With pineapple still on the brain, my brilliant husband suggested another flavor for my oatmeal cookie repertoire – pineapple! Adding the tropics to a typically old-fashioned, home-style cookie creates a really nice twist. Small chunks of this fruit give an extra moist texture and a sweet, subtle flavor that almost goes unnoticed…  until small pieces burst in your mouth and you feel a tang of pineapple sweetness. YUM!

Oatmeal Pineapple Cookies (vegan)
Print Recipe

1/2 cup Earth Balance Butter, softened
3/4 cup Applesauce
1 1/4 cups Coconut Sugar
2 Tablespoons Ground Flax
2 teaspoon Pure Vanilla Extract
1 teaspoon Natural Butter Extract (optional, but recommended!)
1/3 cup Finely Chopped Pineapple
2 cups Oats
1 3/4 cups Spelt Flour
2 teaspoon Baking Powder
1/2 teaspoon Baking Soda
1/2 teaspoon Pink Salt
1 1/2 teaspoon Cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon Nutmeg

In a small bowl, beat the earth balance butter, applesauce and coconut sugar until light and fluffy. Add the extracts and finely chopped pineapple and mix. In a food processor or blender, combine all the dry ingredients. Blend until the oats are a very course meal. Add the dry to the wet mixture and mix until just incorporated. Scoop out dough about generous tablespoon balls on a parchment lined baking sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 9-10 minutes.

It’s here! Summer is here!

Isn’t the beginning of summer so wonderful? These days are not too hot, not unbearably humid or totally crawling with bugs. (We like nature and all, but who really likes those creeping or flying insects all over the place?)

Weather that brings our very favorite fruits and vegetables makes this season even better! What will you find us eating more of during the summer months? Organic, natural produce!

We eat fruits and veggies that are in season, usually organic and with seeds because that is their natural state!  Here are some of our favorite ways to eat real, deliciously fresh produce:

 Fruit Salads

 Watermelon Salad with Feta & Mint

Fruit salads are nice way to make fruit a little special. Watermelon especially is great during the summer. It is literally brimming with water which is fabulous for keeping us hydrated during these hot months. It is also an extremely alkaline food.

 Veggie Slaw 

 Cabbage, Beet & Celery Slaw

Sometimes slaws can be really heavy or too bitter for our liking. But slaw filled with veggies  you love and a dressing you love even more will give a nutritious boost! Also, slaws help for eating produce that you sometimes don’t normally eat! (For us, it’s beets!)

Raw Pesto

Mint Pesto

Sometimes we forget about the incredible health benefits of raw herbs like basil or mint. And let’s not forget about raw garlic! These foods in their raw state are amazingly healthy and better yet - have incredible flavor!

Fruit Crepes

Green Lemon Crepes

We love stuffing crepes with fresh fruit for a healthy breakfast or dessert. Added spinach and lemon or other fruits to crepe batter is another fun way to eat more produce!

Green Drinks

Raspberry Green Drink with Mint

It might be impossible to talk up green drinks enough. Dark leafy greens, cucumbers and broccoli have amazing powers in their raw state. Blended up in a smoothie is one of the best ways to get these into any diet.

Raw Green Salads

 Green Blood Orange Salad

Fresh fruits combined with dark leafy greens is a delicious way to eat raw! The options are limitless and there are always ways to hide extra veggies in there with enough fresh fruit!

In general, we are trying to eat more raw fruits and vegetables. As we make more of an effort doing this, we thought of something that we really wanted to share:  It is important to properly wash your produce!

This is the time when we are all shopping at our local markets, farmers markets or harvesting produce from our gardens. When we buy produce, we always try to buy organic. We want the produce we eat in it’s most natural state. However, this gives all kinds of opportunities for bugs and rodents to get into your fruits or vegetables. Dirt is very common in root vegetables and other plants. Dirt can carry bacteria, lead, germs, etc… all of which are not good for us!  Annie has opened up her organic bok choy on many occasions to find big dead spiders or wormy slugs hidden in the leaves. And who knows what larger animals have touched or picked away at it!

Many veggies, organic or not are sometimes rinsed or soaked in unhealthy chemicals. And dirt can find it’s way to any plant! Further more, how many times have we heard of products being recalled?

Holly told us a story about throwing in some bagged triple washed spinach into her blender for a smoothie. She added the spinach along with some frozen berries and blended it up. When she was halfway done drinking her smoothie, she found a big hard and jagged (half cut up from the blender) piece of plastic in her glass! Her only conclusion (because she had only added a few frozen berries and water) was that the plastic came from her spinach. So even produce that claims to be clean (triple washed) could have foreign objects tucked away in it’s packaging.

What do we wash our fruits and vegetables with?

We love washing or soaking produce in either a natural vegetable wash or white distilled vinegar. We then rinse everything off with clean water. Be sure whatever you use, the product is natural!

Taking precautions to wash produce well will help keep you and your family safe and healthy! We wish you all happy and healthy summers!