Banana Milk

This recipe is super simple and fast to make. It's healthy, hydrating, and it tastes delicious. I like to make this in the mornings or after I work out (I like to use coconut water if I've just worked out for the added electrolytes). 

Ingredients:

• 1 banana
• 1 cup water, coconut water, or non-dairy milk
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• pinch of cinnamon 
• banana slices for garnish

Directions:

• Blend banana, water/milk, and vanilla extract in a blender.
• Place banana slices on top of the banana milk, sprinkle cinnamon on top, and enjoy!

Vegan Tuna Salad Lettuce Wraps

Now obviously this recipe doesn't have any tuna in it, but it looks very similar and tastes similar as well (but so much better and without the fishy taste) to tuna salad. I served the salad on lettuce leaves but you could make this a sandwich or just eat it by itself!


Ingredients:

• 1 can garbanzo beans or chickpeas
• 2 celery sticks, chopped
• 2 pickle spears, chopped
• 1 green onion, chopped
• 2 tablespoons vegenaise 
• 1/2 teaspoon apple cider vinegar 
• 1 tablespoon mustard (I used sweet onion mustard)
• freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• dash of cayenne pepper
• a few slices of fresh tomato (optional)
• romaine lettuce leaves for the wraps

Directions:

• Add garbanzo beans or chickpeas to a bowl, and mash them with a fork or spoon until there are only a few or no whole beans.
• Add the celery, pickles, and green onions and mix until all the ingredients are blended together.
• Add the vegenaise, apple cider vinegar, and mustard, and continue to mix until everything is blended. 
• Add your spices and mix everything together one last time. 
• Use a spoon to add the mixture onto your lettuce leaves. 
• Add fresh tomato on top, serve, and enjoy!

Vegan Crunch Wrap

This recipe is very versatile. I just used what ingredients I already had, so you can be creative with this!

Ingredients:

• 1 large whole wheat tortilla or gluten-free tortilla
• about 1/4 cup vegan refried beans -  this is what I used
• 1 tostada shell (you can make your own by baking a corn tortilla if you don't want to use a fried one)
• a small hand full of chopped lettuce (iceberg or romaine depending on preference)
• 2 tablespoons diced tomatoes 
• A few sliced jalapeños
• 1 tablespoon corn or corn salsa
• 1 tablespoon green chili sauce
• dash of chili powder
• side of your favorite salsa or hot sauce

I just eyeballed a lot of the ingredients so these measurements are just approximate and can be adjusted depending on preference and size of tortilla. You can also add your preference of a vegan cheese alternative, but I prefer it without. 

Directions:

• Heat up beans in a small saucepan or in the microwave. 
• Lay tortilla out flat and place tostada shell in the middle to see how much of the tortilla it covers. 
• Remove tostada shell and spread beans out to cover the space the tostada shell was covering. 
• Place tostada shell back over the refried beans. 
• Spread and stack the rest of the ingredients on top of the tostada shell; I did it in this order: corn salsa, jalapeños, green chili sauce, chili powder, diced tomatoes, lettuce.
• Once all ingredients are there, start folding the tortilla making one fold at a time in toward the center of the tostada shell until the entire tortilla is folded (usually about 5 or 6 folds)
• Heat a medium pan on medium-high heat. Toast both sides of the crunch wrap until it reaches desired crispness. 
• Serve with a side of your favorite salsa or hot sauce and enjoy! 

Thank you Score Nation!

Thank you to Jenny Blakley and all of Score Nation for writing such a great article about me! Check out the article here! Who said ballet dancers can't be athletes?

Simple Greek Salad

Ingredients:

Salad

• 1small red onion, chopped
• 1 cucumber, cut in bite size pieces
• 2 tomatoes
• 1 small red pepper, chopped
• 3/4 cup kalamata olives
• 1 head lettuce or bag of baby spinach
• A few pepperoncinis

Dressing

• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/3 cup red wine vinegar
• 2 cloves garlic, minced and crushed
• black pepper to taste
• 1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
• juice of 1/4 a lemon
• 1/2 dijon mustard 
• 1/2 teaspoon dried basil
• a pinch of salt (optional)

Directions:

• Combine salad ingredients in large bowl and toss the salad. 
• Combine dressing ingredients and stir until well blended.
• Dress salad with dressing and enjoy! 

Vegan Chocolate Cake With Chocolate, Coffee and Coconut Ganache

While this cake recipe doesn't follow my usual whole food plant-based recipe posts, it certainly was a delicious cake!  I made this recently for my father's birthday, and everyone loved it. It's fun to be a little indulgent every once in a while. :)

Ingredients:

Chocolate Cake

• 3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 2 cups sugar
• 3/4 cups natural unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 4 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 tablespoons white vinegar
• 2 cups coffee (or water)
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil

Chocolate, Coffee, and Coconut Ganache

• 8 oz semi sweet or bitter sweet (depending on desired degree of sweetness) chocolate chips (dairy free)
• 2/3 cup almond milk (or other non-dairy milk)
• 3 tablespoons raw blue agave syrup (or maple syrup)
• 1/4 cup powdered sugar
• 7 tablespoons coffee
• About 8 oz unsweetened shredded coconut

Directions:

Cake

• Heat oven to 375° Fahrenheit.
• Grease and flour two 9" cake rounds (you can also line them with wax paper if you prefer).
• Combine all dry cake ingredients in a large mixing bowl. 
• In a smaller mixing bowl, combine all wet ingredients. 
• Slowly add wet ingredients to dry ingredients until well blended together with minimal lumps. 
• Add mixture to cake rounds and cook for about 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out dry.
• Let cool for about 10 minutes before carefully removing cake from pans (it will be harder to remove cake if you wait much longer than 10 minutes so try to keep cool time to 10 minutes or under)
• Let cake cool completely.

Ganache

• In a small saucepan, heat milk on medium heat until it comes to a gentle boil.
• Add chocolate chips and agave syrup and stir until chocolate melts. 
• Remove pan from heat and add powdered sugar and coffee. 
• Let cool for about 25 minutes. 

Cake Assembly

• After letting ganache cool for about 25 minutes, spoon some of the ganache mixture onto the top of the bottom layer of your cake. Cover the top completely with the ganache (ganache should still be pretty runny at this point; that's ok).
• Place the other cake round on top of the freshly frosted bottom layer. 
• Place the ganache in the fridge for a few hours before completing the rest of the cake so that it is easier to apply to cake. 
• After letting the ganache cool in the fridge for a few hours, or overnight, begin by frosting the very top of the cake leaving the sides unfrosted. 
• After the top is thoroughly frosted, start adding the shredded coconut to the remaining ganache in the pan and stir. Continue adding coconut until it becomes your desired consistency. I didn't add quite the whole bag of shredded coconut.
• After achieving desired coconut to chocolate ganache ratio, begin to coat the sides of the cake until the cake is completely covered. 
• Let set in the fridge for an hour or two (optional) and enjoy! 

Brown Rice Pasta With Veggies in a White Wine Sauce

Another vegan pasta recipe!

Ingredients:

• one package brown rice pasta 
• 2-3 tablespoons olive oil
• About 5 cremini mushrooms, sliced
• 3-4 roma tomatoes, chopped
• 1 small yellow onion, diced
• 4 garlic gloves, minced
• 5-7 ounces baby spinach (depending on how much you like)
• 1 cup vegetable broth
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper (optional)
• 1/4 of lemon for juice
• handful of fresh parsley

Directions:

• Cook brown rice pasta according to package directions.
• Meanwhile, add about a tablespoon of olive oil to medium high heat in a large pan. Add onion and sauté until translucent, then add garlic and cook for another 30 seconds to 1 minute. Remove onion and garlic and set aside. 
• Add about 1/2 to 1 tablespoon of olive oil to pan again, and add mushrooms. Sauté for a few minutes.
• Add spinach and cook until spinach begins to wilt, adding more olive oil if needed. 
• Add the onions and garlic back into the pan with the spinach and mushrooms as well as the tomatoes. 
• Cook on medium heat for about 1 minute, then add wine. Let the wine reduce. 
• Add vegetable broth and cook for another few minutes, stirring when needed. 
• Add salt, pepper, and crushed red pepper flakes to your liking in the sauce.
• Using tongs, slowly add pasta to sauce making sure sauce coats the pasta as you add more (I didn't end up using the entire package of pasta). Depending on how you like your sauce to pasta ratio, add more or less pasta. 
• Squeeze lemon over pasta. 
• Add pasta to serving dish and add fresh parsley to garnish. 
• Serve and enjoy!