Multi-texture frozen banana bites

You take a bite into your dessert, you first feel something frozen melting in your mouth next you feel chewy and crunchy bits of flavors infusing together followed by a chocolate finish. This my friends, is what it's like to experience this dessert.

Not only is it pretty healthy, it's also easy to make and its a crowd pleaser. 

I'm a big fan of texture and different flavors, I like foods that are both crunchy and creamy or sweet and salty. 

I was craving something sweet and had some browning bananas, so I thought, why not? 

Ingredients:

   1 medium banana

   1/4 cup raw cashews,chopped

    1/4 cup dried cranberries, chopped

    2 handfuls dark chocolate chips

    1/4 cup almond butter

    Dried coconut, enough to sprinkle on top before you drizzle the chocolate. I used about 2 TBPS

    

What you do:

        Slice the banana up into 1/2 inch slices. Using a butter knife, spread a think layer of almond butter i'm to each slice. Basically enough to have your cranberries cashews and coconuts to have a base to stick to. Next, sprinkle on some of your chopped cranberries and cashews and if you'd like, the coconut. Melt chocolate chips either in a double boiler or microwave. I microwaved my chocolate chips for about 40 seconds, stopping every 10 seconds to stir. With a fork, drizzle the chocolate onto the ready banana slice with the ingredients. Place in freezer for about 35 minutes to let them harden and enjoy!

**try sprinkling some orange peel onto this too! It really compliments the cranberry! 

Spicy Fiesta Lime Tortilla Chips

'Twas the night before finals, when all through the house, one could hear my stomach rumbling....even a mouse...? Gah, I tried!

Anywho....

Hey guys! So the other night I was studying and was craving something salty and spicy. I had a whole bunch of guacamole but unfortunately no tortilla chips. However, for some reason, I had a huge-family size-grande bag of corn tortillas just chillin' in my fridge. So I went to work.

 You see, I'll use any excuse to excuse myself from studying. If I wasn't such a broke college students and had a lot more food in my fridge, I'd probably prepare myself a five course meal. Unfortunately, the jumbo size bag of flattened white corn frisbees had to do.

Spicy Fiesta Lime Tortilla Chips

Here's what you'll need:

    1/4 teaspoon of the following:

              Lime Juice

              Garlic powder

              Cayenne pepper

              Cumin

    Dash of the following:

               Black pepper

               Salt (or salt to taste)

               Paprika

5 Corn tortillas

2 TBSP Olive Oil

Here's what you do:

       Preheat the oven to 275* F.  In the mean time, pour all of the ingredients EXCEPT for the corn tortillas into a bowl. (Make sure the bowl is pretty big. Big enough to toss around the tortilla trangles.) Mix together well.  Stack up the tortillas and cut in half, and then again across. You can see what I mean by looking at the picture below.

              

                                         

  Once you have them all cut up, throw them into the bowl with the oil, lime juice and spices. Coat well. Let sit for about 10 minutes. Now, I know it's kinda weird to be marinating corn tortillas, but trust me on this. Take out a flat, big baking sheet and EVENLY distribute the chips. They should not be stacked on top of each other. If there isn't enough room, you'll have to do separate baking "trips". Bake for approx. 20 minutes, flipping them halfway through.

 Don't be alarmed if they're soggy when they're done. I promise it's because they're still warm and oily. They'll eventually get crispy.

 Now, I know this isn't some special recipe. It's pretty simple. To me, they were delicious and I hope that you think so too. Tweak the recipe if this is too spicy or not spicy enough. Most importantly, enjoy! It tastes best with guacamole.

Til next time, y'all.

Field Roast Vegan Chao. Could this be the next best cheese alternative!?

I don't care what anybody says, cheese is delicious. I don't know if it's the texture or flavor of it, but we just love to pile on the smelly stuff, whether it's vegan or not.

   Yesterday, as I was just walking down the vegan cheese section at my local Whole Foods, minding my own business and all, I was stopped by this new packaging that I haven't seen before. Field Roast has come out with a cheese alternative.  Could this make my quesadillas even more cheesy? Could this change vegan pizzas?? Could I possibly make myself some grilled cheese!?!? My food loving self  was just thinking of the possibilities. 

Well, let me start out by telling you what this stuff even is; It's called Vegan Chao and according to the package, it's a  vegan cheese alternative made of coconut oil and fermented chao tofu. It brings you a fusion of  Asian and European heritages. They come in a few different flavors, including the Tomato Cayenne that I picked up. Also, my Whole Foods sells it for $5.99. ( a little much for 10 slices.....but the taste of this stuff makes my broke college student self forget about that) 

Here's what I think- HOLY MOLY this stuff is great. I figured that since Field Roast makes it, it would be pretty good since I love their meat alternatives, but I didn't think that it would be this close to tasting like cheese. The stuff melts fairly well, I decided to make myself a grilled cheese and eventually got frustrated with the bread burning, since the cheese wasn't melting. I had to microwave the grilled cheese before I fried it for at least 20 seconds, but it's not a big deal. The texture is great, heated or not. I've tried almost every cheese alternative there is and this one takes the cake. I give it a 9/10. Good job, Field Roast! And great job you Greek and Taiwanese geniuses! 

Now excuse me as I go back to eating this grilled cheese (I added some tomato and tempeh bacon in there) and run back to whole foods for some more!