This has been my new favorite breakfast recently… and dessert… and… you get the idea. My recipe is based on this recipe, but with a few tweaks. I found her waffles too oily for my liking and didn’t quite fluff up as much as I like. Plus, I like to add a protein boost so I added some plant-based protein to the recipe (although you can easily use some coconut or even almond flour instead)
Plantain Waffles
Makes about 2-3 waffles (depending on how big you make them)
Ingredients:
1 large ripe plantain (yellow with some brown spots)
1 large unripe plantain (green)
1.5 tbs melted coconut oil
2 tbs. coconut flour OR plant-based protein
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2-1 tsp. baking soda (use 1/2 if at altitude, 1 if at sea level)
1 tsp. apple cider vinegar
1/2 tsp. sea salt
Plug in your waffle iron and let it heat up while you prepare the batter.
Peel your plantains and chop into quarters. Place plantain chunks in high speed blender or food processor and blend for about 30 seconds (until roughly pureed).
Add remaining ingredients and blend until smooth. You should have a thick batter that isn’t easily pourable (you’ll have to scoop it into your waffle iron).
Follow waffle iron instructions. You may need to cook these waffles slightly longer then a normal waffle, but they should be fluffy and perfectly browned when done.
Top with fresh fruit, fruit compote, almond butter, maple syrup, whatever your heart desires. And, Enjoy!
This Kale and Persimmon Salad is a simple, but delicious holiday salad. It highlights one of my favorite seasonal fruits and is a fully gluten free and dairy free recipe.
healthy kale and persimmon salad
This Kale and Persimmon Salad is a family favorite for Thanksgiving. If you’ve never had a persimmon, you need to try one! They are absolutely delicious, but you can only find them a few months out of the year. Persimmons are sweet with just a little tang.
This salad is very easy to make. You combine everything in a bowl, mix the dressing, and serve. The dressing is a simple honey-mustard type dressing with a little bit of tang from apple cider vinegar.
What kind of persimmons to use?
I recommend Fuyu persimmons in general and for this recipe. You want to use ripe persimmons, so they don’t leave your tongue feeling fuzzy.
What to add to this kale and persimmon salad
This is a simple salad, so the added cranberries and pumpkin seeds are important for making this salad less boring. If you can’t have pumpkin seeds, you could try another nut or seed, but I can’t speak to the flavor. The pumpkin seeds pair perfectly with the other flavors in this recipe. If you do try something different, leave a comment and let me know how it went!
If you don’t like cranberries, dried cherries would also be a lovely option in this kale salad.
This simple salad is a Thanksgiving favorite in our American household. It’s a lovely fall salad that takes advantage of the short persimmon season. The sweetness of the persimmons is complimented by the more acidic dressing.
Course Side Dish
Cuisine American
Keyword Easy, fall, Simple, thanksgiving
Servings 6people
Ingredients
Salad
1/2bunch of green kale
1/2bunch of red kale
1/2head of butter lettuce
2-3persimmons, thinly sliced
1small red onion, diced
1/4cupdried cranberriesfruit juice sweetened
1/4cuppumpkin seeds
Dressing
2Tbspapple cider vinegar
1/4cupolive oil
2tspdijon mustard
2Tbspfull fat coconut milk
1Tbsphoney
Instructions
Wash and dry your lettuce. Pull the kale off the stems and chop/tear into bite size pieces. Place your kale in your salad bowl and sprinkle with salt. Massage your kale until the greens begin to darken and soften.
Tear/chop your butter lettuce into bite size pieces and add to the kale. Add the remaining salad ingredients to the bowl.
Combine all your dressing ingredients in a small bowl and whisk until thoroughly combined.
Taste and adjust, sometimes you need a little more mustard or honey
Well, I had planned on getting a few recipes posted BEFORE Thanksgiving. Then I got the flu. And we all know how that goes. So I apologize. But today I’ll be sharing the delicious meal my family ate on Thanksgiving and the recipe for the delicious dessert we had.
I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving… well, to all my American followers. Otherwise, I hope you had a great Thursday ;).
I realize there is a giant turkey in the middle of this table. I might be vegan, but my family is not. Don’t worry, I didn’t touch it.
Roasted Beets with an Orange-Anise Glaze (from Thrive magazine)
Raw Vegan Caramel Apple Cheesecake (recipe below) (Also to die for!)
Now let’s get on to the best part of the meal, DESSERT!
Raw Vegan Caramel Apple Cheesecake
Serves 6-8
*Be sure to read full recipe before beginning to make this cake as it does need to be made ahead. It’s very easy but requires some setting.
Crust:
1/2 cup sprouted and dehydrated buckwheat*
1/4 cup sprouted almonds
1/4 cup sprouted walnuts
1/2 cup shredded coconut
1/2 cup dates, soaked
3 tbs. dried chopped apple
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. vanilla extract
Pinch of salt
*You can just buy buckwheat groats from the store, soak overnight and then dehydrate in your dehydrator or in the oven at a low temperature for several hours. If you don’t care about being fully raw, you can soak them and then dry them in the oven at 250F for about 30-45 minutes.
Combine the first 4 ingredients in the food processor and process until beginning to break down. Add the remaining ingredients and process until a dough-like consistency forms.
Press the dough into the bottom of a springform pan and up the side by 1/2 inch. I line the pan with parchment paper, but that is optional.
Place crust in the freezer while you make the filling.
Filling:
2 cups of cashews, soaked for at least 4 hours
1/2 cup coconut cream from the top of a can of full fat coconut milk that has been refrigerated
2 gala apples, peeled
1 tbs. lemon juice
1 vanilla bean
1/4 cup maple syrup
4 tbs. coconut oil
1 tsp. cinnamon
Process your cashews first (in food processor or high speed blender) until the break down and begin to smooth out. Add the remaining ingredients and process until completely smooth and creamy. Taste test. Of course.
Remove crust from freezer and pour the filling on top. Smooth out. Return to freezer for at least 2 hours. You can make this ahead and keep in the freezer until the day of. Let thaw in refrigerator for 2-4 hours before making the topping and serving.
Topping:
1 fresh apple (gala, honey crisp, or pink lady)
1/4 cup dried apple (if freeze dried, soak in warm water first to soften)
Chop all apple into bite size pieces.
If you don’t mind it being not 100% raw, you can sauté the apples in a little coconut oil until soft.
Caramel:
1/2 cup dates, soaked
1 tbs. maple syrup
1 heaping tbs. almond butter
1 tsp. vanilla extract
Pinch of salt
2-4 tbs. coconut cream from the top of the coconut milk can
1/4 cup water
Combine all caramel ingredients in food processor using only 2 tbs of the coconut cream to start and NONE of the water. Process until smooth and silky. You’ll want to taste at this point and see if it is the caramel flavor you desire. Adding more coconut milk increases silkiness.
You want your caramel to be a pourable consistency (not thick), add water slowly as necessary to reach desired consistency.
GET YOUR CHEESECAKE OUT! Remove the springform bottom from the edges and place cake on a serving dish (with bottom still attached). Decorate the top with your apple pieces and then using a spoon, pastry bag, or plastic bag with a hole cut out, drizzle the caramel over the top.
I apologize for my messy presentation, we all just wanted to eat it last night! 🙂
Again, I hope you all have had a wonderful holiday and are enjoying your post T-day bellies ;). The holiday season has officially begun!
I never liked salt and vinegar chips… I thought they were disgusting, I hated vinegar. And the vinegar flavor in those chips was way too strong. I was always the odd ball out because my friends were obsessed with them. Actually, I still hate salt and vinegar chips. But for some reason these coconut chips taste awesome to me. Perhaps it is because I use apple cider vinegar rather then white vinegar. And you can adjust the amount of vinegar you use to your vinegar-loving likeness.
These are vegan and can easily be made raw vegan by using a dehydrator instead of the oven. Basically, they can fit every diet unless you are allergic to coconut. If you are, I’m so so sorry. These are also the simplest and easiest “chips” ever and now you have no excuse for eating the crap chips from the grocery store when these are 3 ingredients (yes, you read that right) and take 10 minutes total!
Salt & Vinegar Coconut Chips
Makes 3 cups
Ingredients
3 cups of coconut chips/flakes (not the finely shredded variety, the thicker cut version)
3-5 tablespoons apple cider vinegar (depending on how strong you want the flavor)
1/4 teaspoon salt
Preheat oven to 350 F.
Combine everything in bowl, making sure all coconut chips are thoroughly covered with ACV. Spread mixture out onto a baking sheet in one even layer.
Bake for about 7 minutes, until flakes are slightly browned and crunchy. Check on chips regularly to ensure they don’t burn (every oven is different and coconut can go from white to burnt black reallll quick) and stir mixture half way through.
Let cool and then get your snack on!
The past few weeks I have been dealing with A LOT of nausea. My tummy has always been a mess but this extreme nausea is pretty new. Smoothies seem to be the calmest thing on my stomach and easy to digest so I’ve been making a lot of them. I have a favorite which I will share in a later post. For now, I want to share the smoothie I make when I’m nauseas but hungry and know I need to get some food in me. This smoothie includes fresh ginger which 1) is pretty much my favorite flavor ever, you all should know that by now and 2) is great for nausea and an upset stomach as it helps decrease in inflammation, relaxes the stomach muscles, and helps the neutralize stomach acid.
Tummy Calming Banana-Berry Ginger Smoothie
Serves 1
Ingredients:
1 frozen banana
1/3 cup frozen raspberries
1 inch piece of peeled and grated ginger
1/4 cup full fat coconut milk
1/2 cup almond milk (you can use all coconut milk, I just prefer mixing the two)
1 handful spinach (optional but I like to add some greens to get my veggies in. Green veggies can also help detox out any toxins that may be contributing to nausea)
Throw everything in your blender and blend until smooth. Drink up and feel your nausea slowly dissipate.
Homemade nut butters are so easy and you can flavor them however you like! I love making my own food, even almond butter, because then I know EXACTLY what goes into it (yes, sometimes I’m even skeptical of the organic, raw labels in grocery stores). This recipe adds a little sweetness to almond butter to make it the perfect treat (or, ya know, part of your daily meal plan 😉 ).
I’ll be posting a full LDI update in the upcoming weeks so be on the lookout for that. In the meantime things have been a bit up and down. I had about 3 VERY rough weeks both physically and emotionally. I hadn’t changed anything treatment wise so I don’t know if it was the weather, a flare, or some weird moon cycle but I felt absolutely miserable. I was in horrible pain on many days (widespread body pain which I really never deal with), severe headaches (which I’m still dealing with), horrible cravings for non-lyme diet approved foods (that, yes, I gave into and we all know that didn’t help my symptoms), and pretty bad anxiety and depression. I’m not afraid to admit it, I deal with some pretty bad mood swings associated with Lyme and any little thing can set me off sometimes (I don’t even mean to go off!)… does anyone else deal with this? I also go in and out of a depression and generally deal with bad anxiety 24/7 (that one is just part of my personality!) but this past month was some of the worst it has been in the last 6 months. Hoping the worst has passed for now and I do get to see my doctor in two weeks.
Anyway, on to the good stuff.
Vanilla-Cinnamon Almond Butter
Ingredients:
3 cups organic, raw sprouted almonds (this is what I used but you can use roasted or raw or whatever works for you)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1/8-1/4 teaspoon pink Himalayan salt
Place the almonds into a food processor and turn it on. Let it run (it will be VERY loud at first) until the almonds are broken down. Before it becomes creamy, it will form this ball that just whirls around inside the processor, but don’t worry that will pass! As soon as the ball passes and it starts to become creamy, pause the processor and add in the vanilla, salt, and cinnamon. Continue to process until nice and smooth and it looks like the below picture.
Scoop out and store in a glass container… or do it the right way and eat spoonfuls of it straight out of the food processor praying that there will be some left for tomorrow. Yes, I have an almond butter addiction. We don’t need to discuss it.
Hi! I'm Victoria. I was diagnosed with Lyme in 2012 and have been on a healing journey ever since. I love helping others on their road to healing through allergy friendly recipes, exercise, and overall well-being.
