Orange Cranberry Coconut Bites

I am a big fan of making bite sized snacks like this because they're easy and require minimum work. All you have to do is put the ingredients in your blender and the machine does the rest. The most exciting part (in my opinion) is that although they are raw, they don't need to be frozen! It's nice to have a treat every once in a while that isn't freezing cold. Otherwise I would eat banana ice cream every day!

These little guys are soft to the touch and refreshingly zesty. Eat up!

Orange Cranberry Coconut Bites

Ingredients:

~ Dates - 1 cup

~ Unsweetened desiccated coconut - 1/2 cup + 1/4 cup for rolling

~ Orange juice - 1/4 cup

~ Dried cranberries - 1/4 cup

Instructions:

1. Blend the dates in your food processor until they are finally chopped.

2. Add the coconut and blend until just combined.

3. Add the orange juice and cranberries. Blend until well combined.

5. Roll into bite sized balls and cover in the remaining coconut.

6. Munch munch, chomp chomp.

Refrigerate these little guys if you aren't planning on eating them all at once. These keeps them more firm - plus there's some OJ in there so let's keep it fre$h.

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WTF: What's That Food?

Introducing the newest portion of the blog! Biweekly I'll be posting about a weird food that's either underrated, unheard of or unappreciated. First impressions, nutrition facts and recipes will all be posted along with some pretty pictures.

THE DRAGON FRUIT.

This is a badass fruit.

~It's hot pink
~It has polkadots
~It has leafy spikes
~It's fine
~It's fresh
~It's fierce
~It looks like a hand grenade

It's a shame more people don't eat this bad ass fruit. Maybe it's a little off-putting in all of its hot-pink-polkadot glory...that's why I'm bringing you some solid facts, a few inspiring pictures and a ridiculously easy recipe to introduce you to your new favorite food.

Which part of it is edible?:

~ Eat the black and white part as shown in the picture. (Dragon fruits can also be a deep red with black polkadots.)

~ The skin is not edible.

~ There is a thin white layer between the skin and the flesh. This is bitter and gross. Avoid at all costs.

How should a dragon fruit be cut?:

~ Cut vertically down the center of the fruit as shown above.

~ The flesh can be scooped out with a spoon, an ice cream scooper, or diced.



What does it taste like?:

~ The colors may be bold but the taste is mild.

~ Very juicy.

~ Think of a cross between a kiwi and a pear.



How should it be served?:

~ On it's own

~ In a fruit cup

~ In a smoothie bowl

~ As a sorbet

~ In a smoothie

~ With oatmeal

~ With cake

~ With rice pudding (healthy recipe coming soon)

~ The possibilities are endless

RECIPE
Dragon fruit sorbet

Ingredients:

1. Dragon fruit - frozen for at least 3 hours, preferably overnight

2. Coconut milk - 2 tbsp (optional)


Directions:

1. I wasn't kidding when I said this was easy. Put the dragon fruit in your food processor and blend until a sorbet-like consistency has been reached. Adding coconut milk will make the sorbet creamier.

2. I served mine with a scoop of banana ice cream. Enjoy!

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Lazy Lunch - Coconut quinoa with almonds and cranberries

Making food in the middle of the day can be a pain. What are we supposed to do if we're hungry, need some good nutrients, but don't want to cook up a big meal or spend our hard earned money? I'll tell you what we do. We make coconut quinoa!

This takes about 15 minutes but you're only preparing food for a solid 60 seconds.

Coconut quinoa with almonds and cranberries:

You will need:

~ Quinoa - However much

~ Coconut milk - 1 part milk for every 1 part water

~ Almonds - 1 handful

~ Cranberries - 1 handful


Instructions:

1. Begin by cooking the quinoa with 1 part water, 1 part coconut milk.

2. When quinoa is ready, prepare in bowl and mix in almonds and cranberries.

3. Drizzle a little more coconut milk if desired.

And then we feast.

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Rainy Sunday Breakfasts - 3 ingredient pancakes

I woke up this morning with my sister, Maddie, packing her things to leave Toronto. She was here for 3 days and everybody - and everything - was sad she was going. While she was here we made lots of delicious foods that I really should have taken pictures of for this blog. We also went to the Beyonce and Jay Z On The Run tour (which was one of the most beautiful things I've ever witnessed in my life) and we explored all over the city. We went to the downtown, to china town and to hippie town. We covered it all, basically. I was sad to see her go this morning and so was the sky. It was raining - no, it was pouring tears. Once Maddie was out the door I really didn't feel like doing much. It was early morning and the sky was grey and it was a Sunday. I think I can speak for everybody when I say that Sundays are for being lazy. I wasn't really in the mood to make some extravagant breakfast and to make sure I got every nutrient I needed to fuel my body throughout the day. I decided on making 3 ingredient pancakes. Quick and simple. But wait! These pancakes DO have the ingredients I need to fuel my boy throughout the day! Protein and fruit! All I needed extra was a side of toast!

3 ingredient pancakes:

Ingredients:
~Banana - 1
~Eggs - 2
~Baking powder - 1 tsp

The simple instructions:

Step 1 : Mash a banana to complete mush with a fork.

Step 2: Whisk 2 eggs, add a teaspoon of baking powder.

Step 3: Mix the eggs, banana and baking powder together.

Step 4: Heat on a pan. Poor the mix into circles about the size of your fist. They are ready to flip when bubbles start to form on top, just the same way you would wait to flip a 'normal' pancake.

Enjoy!

Feel free to add anything your heart desires to the pancakes. Blueberries, dark chocolate, milk chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, the list goes on and on.

I made a couple with blueberries and a couple plain. Then as toppings I used a number of different things such as almond butter, cacao butter, macadamia nut butter and maple syrup. My favorite combination is the almond butter and maple syrup. That's really my favorite combination on everything. It never fails.

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