Tonight I wanted something creamy and easy. And I manifested my own destiny with this glorious quick weeknight dinner.

Literally 5 minutes to whizz everything together in a blender, and only one pot. Gotta love it.

Also loving that there's an awesome amount of filling protein and healthy fats in here to give me some fuel that will last me all the way till the mornin'!

Give it a whirl! You won't be sorry!

Recipea:

Prep time: 10 mins (if you don't have cashews already soaked, then 30) | Cooking time: 20 minutes
Serves two

Ingredients:
Juice of half a lemon
1/4 cup soaked cashews
1/2 small avocado
1 clove garlic
1/4 cup almond milk
1/4 cup sundried tomatoes
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 teaspoons oregano
1 teaspoon ground pepper
2 cups fresh basil + 1/2 cup for garnish
4 tablespoons water (if you need it)

Wholewheat pasta
2 cups fresh asparagus
5 cherry tomatoes

Directions:

Pour boiling water over 1/4 cup cashews and let sit for 20-30 mins or until relatively soft.

In a medium pot, boil water and throw your pasta in.

While that's brewin', drain your cashews and put them in a blender with the lemon juice, avocado, garlic, almond milk, sun dried tomatoes, olive oil, oregano, pepper, and basil. Blend until smooth. If you need it, add water one tablespoon at a time until you reach the desired thickness. I like mine a little thinner than hummus consistency. If you wind up making it a bit too thin, not to worry, you can always condense it down when you stir it in your pasta.

Chop the asparagus into bite sized pieces.

When your pasta is 5 mins from being al dente, throw it in the same pot and continue boiling.

Meanwhile, quarter your cherry tomatoes.

Once the pasta and asparagus is ready, drain and then return to the same pot.

Over a low heat, stir in the tomatoes and the sauce until the sauce reaches your desired consistency.

Chiffonade the last bit of your basil and stir some through, leaving some to sprinkle on top of each bowl.

Fill a container to the brim with the pasta, shove it in a bag with two forks and a frisbee, walk to the park down the street, spread out a blanket, and enjoy it with someone great.
(You don't have to do this last bit, but it is highly recommended :] )



(Yes, that's the pot of my glorious basil plant, Massimo in the background. You go, Massimo!)

Let's just call it like it is. Granola is a gift from the heavens.

It has a perfect crunch, it's sweet, and it's super versatile.

But if you get granola from the grocery store, it'll have a ton of extra sugar added in.

And making your own is such a chore, right?

Wrongo!

This granola has a total of 3 ingredients (all of which you probably already have in your pantry anyway), is a snap to make, and it won't give you a sugar coma, but will still satisfy your sweet tooth.

Plus your house will smell like delicious peanut butter goodness. Who wouldn't want that?

MIRACLE OF MIRACLES, THE EASIEST PEANUT BUTTER GRANOLA!

Prep time: 5 mins | Cook time: 30 mins
Makes about 3 1/2 cups

Ingredients:
- 3 cups of oats (best to use old fashioned, but you could use any really)
- 1/3 cup creamy peanut butter
- 1/3 cup maple syrup

Directions:
- Preheat oven to 180 celcius
- Place oats in a large bowl
- In a small bowl, combine the peanut butter and maple syrup. Heat in the microwave for 30 seconds.
- Pour over the oats and stir until well combined (at this stage, you can keep it as is, or add whatever else you want... a little sea salt, cinnamon, dark chocolate chips, pumpkin seeds, flaxseeds, sunflower seeds, or dried fruit are all great options)
- Spread the oats evenly onto the baking sheet
- Bake for 15 minutes, stir, then bake for another 15 minutes. or until granola is slightly golden brown
- Remove (don't stir when you take it out) and let cool completely on the baking sheet
- Store in an air tight container for up to 1 month (like it'll last that long)

These are just as delicious as they are adorable.

Put a little love in your heart and your belly with these lil' cute-sters.

Plus raspberry preserves. Nothing can go wrong when you've got raspberry preserves in a recipe.

I don't care how you felt about Valentine's Day before this... now you've got a reason to love it.

Yerm!

Recipea:

Ingredients:

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoons ground flaxseed        
3 tablespoons water
3/4 cup vegan butter
3/4 cups white sugar
2 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 tablespoons powdered sugar
6 tablespoons raspberry preserves


Preheat oven to 180C.

In a small bowl, mix together the flax seeds and water and set aside to thicken.

In a medium bowl mix together all the dry ingredients.

In another medium bowl beat the vegan butter and sugar together until creamy.

Add the remaining wet ingredients including the flax mixture, and mix well to combine. Add the dry mixture into the wet in two batches and combine until a dough is formed.

Put the dough between two sheets of parchment paper and roll it out to about 1/4 inch thick. Place it on a baking tray and chill for 15 mins in the freezer or 30 mins in the fridge.

Once chilled, use a heart cookie cutter to make as many heart cookies as possible. Leave half of the heart cookies whole, and use a smaller heart cookie cutter to cut out the center of the other half.

Continue until all the dough has been used up (you may need to stick it in the fridge between baking to keep the dough cold.

Lay the cookies on the parchment lined cookie sheet and bake for 7 - 11 minutes, until they are just a little bit golden on the bottom.

Let the cookies cool completely. Place all of the cut-out heart cookies on a piece of parchment paper or plate. Use a fine strainer or sifter (I always use one of those clamp loose leaf tea holders - does the job perfect!) to sprinkle the powdered sugar over top.

Take the whole cookies and spread about 1 teaspoon of the jam over the top, keeping most of it in the middle of the cookie. Top with the sugar-coated cut-out cookie. Repeat with all the remaining cookies.

NOM.

Have you ever wanted to make something that's similar to an apple crumble, only savory?

Just me?

Alright then.

Well, be glad I had that weird craving because I've invented something BOMB.

It has delicious, filling ingredients and it's super simple to make.

Let's get comfort fooding, people!

Recipea:
Prep time: 20 mins | Bake time: 30 mins
Makes one casserole (9x13)
Serves 6

1 small white onion
2 cups chopped mushrooms
4 cloves garlic
1 tsp thyme
1 tsp herbs de provence
1 tbsp olive oil

1/2 cup almond milk
2 teaspoons corn flour

1 medium swede
3 carrots
2 parsnips
1 medium potato
1 vegetable stock cube

1 box sage and onion stuffing mix (or use homemade - or leftovers!)
2-3 tbsp walnuts (optional)
2 tbsp olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Peel and chop all of the veggies.

Place swede, carrots, parsnips, potato and stock cube into a medium pot over medium high heat and cover with boiling water. Try to cover just above the veg. Don't leave too much room, so as much of the good stock flavor goes into the veggies as possible. Leave to simmer.

While that's cooking, in a medium pan over medium heat, sauté the onion with garlic and oil. When translucent, add mushrooms and herbs.

In a small bowl or mug, whisk together the milk and corn flour. When the mushrooms have wilted a bit, turn off the heat and add the milk mixture to the saucepan and stir consistently until a thick sauce has formed.

In another medium bowl, mix the contents of the stuffing mix with water (according to the package instructions), erring on the side of less water, rather than more. You don't want the stuffing to be soggy - better to be a bit more crunchy. Stir in the walnuts if that's your thang - or whatever else you like in your stuffing.

By this time, the root veggies should be just about fork tender (less tender is better than more for these guys - don't want them to be too mushy - they still have cooking to do in the oven...). Once they are, using a slotted spoon, scoop out the veggies into a 9x13 baking dish (keep the water they were boiling in - that's yummy veggie stock just asking to be made into a soup later!).

Stir the mushroom mixture through the root veg until combined.

Sprinkle the stuffing mixture evenly over the top and pat down to fully cover the veg.

Brush the top with the olive oil and add ground salt and pepper.

Bake in a 180 degree celcius oven for 20-30 mins or until the top has browned.

Enjoy the comfort food bonanza that is about to be your dinner.

It's a cake.

With crumbled up chocolate chip cookies inside.

Do I really need to say anything else?

Thought not.

Also, shout out to my good pal Dave, who's 33rd year of life inspired this delicious concoction. Who knows what 33.3 will bring!?

Recipea:
Makes 1 cake
Prep time: 20 mins | Cook time: 60 mins | Assembly time: 15 mins

Cake:
1 cup unsweetened almond milk
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
8.5 tbsp dairy free butter
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 3/4 cup self raising flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt

Icing:
7 tbsp dairy free butter
2.5 cups icing sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1-2 tsp dairy free milk

Cookies:
Make 1/2 of my Best Chocolate Chip Cookies recipea (hyperlink isn't working for some reason - type "chocolate chip" into the search bar on my main page). Or make the whole thing. If you have way too many leftover, well that seems like a problem that isn't really a problem... to me, at least. Also you can freeze the dough for those times where you want cookies but can't be fussed to prep all the ingredients. Your future self will thank you.


Instructions:
Preheat your oven to 160 celcius and grease two round cake tins. Place parchment rounds on the bottom of each tin.

Mix the milk and vinegar in a small bowl and let sit for a few minutes.

Beat the butter and sugar for 1 minute or until combined. Mix in the vanilla.

Add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and milk and vinegar mixture and beat until well combined.

Pour equally into your cake tins and bake until the cake springs back when pressed - or when a toothpick or knife comes out clean. Will probably be around 40 minutes, but check at 30 just to be sure.

Let cool in the pan.

Bake the chocolate chip cookies, following the "Best Chocolate Chip Cookies" recipea. Use teaspoon sized dough balls instead of tablespoons, so that you have smaller cookies to place whole on the top of the cake. Once the cookies are cooled, reserve 10-12 of the cookies for the top of the cake. Loosely break up the rest of them, making chocolate chip cookie chunks/crumbles.

Make the icing: Beat the butter to soften, and then gradually add the icing sugar and vanilla. Add in the dairy free milk to loosen the icing a little. Start with 1 teaspoon and if you need it looser, add a bit more milk in 1/2 teaspoon increments. Much easier to add than take away! If it gets too runny - add more sugar.

Once the cakes are cooled, run a knife around the sides. Lift one of the cakes carefully onto a cake plate. Spread a thin layer of icing over the top.

Place the crushed chocolate chip cookies on top of the icing. Go on - pack in as many as you can (reserving about 1/2 cup of the crumbs to decorate the outside of the cake).

Lift out the other cake onto a rack and spread a thin layer of icing on top of this cake as well. Carefully flip the cake icing side down, so that the icing side rests on the cookie crumbs. (If you think this will be too tricky, you can instead place a thicker layer of icing on the bottom cake and really press the chocolate chip cookies into the icing. Then just bypass the second layer of icing and place the second cake directly on the cookie layer.)

Spread the rest of the icing to cover the top and sides of the cake.

Arrange the 10-12 whole cookies you reserved on top of the cake and press the 1/2 cup of cookie crumbs you reserved onto the sides of the cake.

Enjoy the greatest fusion of cookies and cake you ever did eat!

Yes, you will be in a sugar coma after. It's worth it, don't worry.

Wondering what to do with the other half of that can of pumpkin from the Pumpkin Pasta recipea?

I've got your solution right here, baby.

These cinnamon rolls take only an hour to make - no rising overnight business... because let's be honest, when you're craving a cinnamon roll, you want one as soon as humanly possible. Ain't nobody got time for waiting till tomorrow...

So get in there, people! Delicious cinnamon rolls await!

Recipea:
Prep time: 45 mins | Cook time: 15 mins
Makes 12-20 rolls

4 1/2 teaspoons quick rise yeast
1 cup warm water 
1/3 cup melted coconut oil
1 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (*for the rolls pictured, I used half wholewheat and half all purpose. Either works well, but for more traditional rolls, go for all all-purpose)
1/4 cup + 1 teaspoon sugar
2 tablespoon melted vegan butter
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 can pumpkin puree
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
2-3 tablespoons unsweetened almond milk
1/4 tea. vanilla extract