Vegan Persimmon Pudding

This is one of my favorite desserts, it just tastes like Christmas to me. It’s one of the first desserts beyond sugar cookies I learned to make back in high school. You have to have super ripe and squishy persimmons for this. I get mine from the farmers market, they save them for me every year. I used walnuts but you could also use pecans. If you like raisins you could add those as well. For the pulp I strained the persimmons through a colander into a large bowl. (Remember to compost the skins and stems).

Persimmon pudding

2 cups of persimmon pulp

3 egg replacement (I used Follow Your Heart’s)

1 1/4 cup sugar

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp ginger

1/2 nutmeg (or pumpkin pie spice)

1/2 cup melted vegan butter

2 1/2 cups almond or cashew milk

1 1/2 cup whole wheat or unbleached flour

1 cup chopped nuts

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  In a large bowl add the egg replacement to the persimmon pulp, whisk in the sugar.  Add baking powder, soda, salt and spices.  Pour in melted vegan butter, stir & pour in the almond milk.  The mixture will be sort of soupy, whisk in flour, fold in chopped nuts.  Pour into a greased 9 X 13 pan.  Bake for 1 hour or until knife comes out clean.  Serve warm or room temperature with vegan whipped cream.

Cashew mozzarella

Caprese salad is one of my favorite summer dishes. So when I went plant based it was definitely something that I missed. Tomatoes perfectly ripe, mozzarella, basil, good quality olive oil and a drizzle of balsamic vinegar or glaze with a little salt and pepper. That right there is near perfection.

I experimented with quite a few cashew cheese recipes, it took a bit of tweaking to find the right combo. The garlic powder in this is totally optional, I’ve made it with and without and both are great. I didn’t let my cheese set up very long before slicing, more like tearing the cheese when I made this. You can soak the cashews anywhere from 2 hours to overnight, I’ve done both and it’s come out fine either way. The longer it sets the easier it is to cut. I love this cheese on pizza and of course there’s always good ole grilled cheese (with tomato soup please). Anyway, use this anywhere you would normal mozzarella.

Cashew Mozzarella

2 cup raw cashews, soaked & drained

1 1/2 cups water

1 tsp apple cider vinegar

2-3 Tbsp nutritional yeast

1/2 cup tapioca starch (this is what makes it stretchy)

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp garlic powder (optional)

bowl of ice water

Blend all ingredients in a high powered blender (a regular blender will work too, it just takes a little longer) until smooth.

Transfer to a medium saucepan and cook over medium to medium-high heat, whisking continuously. (Don’t walk away this happens really fast!) As the mixture heats, it will form clumps. Keep whisking until the mixture is smooth, thick and pulls away from the sides of the pan. Remove from heat.

Using a small scoop, make balls and drop them into the ice water bath. You can shape them into small or large balls. It will stay fresh a few days in the fridge, if you don’t use it all immediately, like I usually do. Enjoy!

Gratitude changes everything

I am grateful.

I am grateful for my health, for my husband, for my children. I’m grateful for my mom and that she’s still alive, I’m grateful for my family. I’m grateful for a business that I love. I’m grateful that I have a home, that I have a garden that produces organic food. I’m grateful for good friends. I’m grateful that I have found my voice and that I get to share my insights and experience.

Gratitude is defined as the quality of being thankful; readiness to show appreciation for and to return kindness

We all know that gratitude is a good thing, but here’s something that might surprise you: gratitude is good for your health. The concept is simple; a healthy mind = a healthy body. Kindness lifts our spirits it can aid in fighting off, healing and sometimes even curing a plethora of illnesses that ail us. There are many ways to practice gratitude. Keep a gratitude journal (I use a section in the notes app on my phone) praying, meditating or simply telling someone what you’re grateful for.

What you focus on grows. Why not focus on what you’re grateful for?

“Your subconscious mind is subjective. It does not think or reason independently; it merely obeys the commands it receives from your conscious mind. Just as your conscious mind can be thought of as the gardener, planting seeds, your subconscious mind can be thought of as the garden, or fertile soil, in which the seeds germinate and grow. This is another reason why harnessing the power of positive thinking is important to the foundation of your entire thought process.

Your conscious mind commands and your subconscious mind obeys.

Your subconscious mind is an unquestioning servant that works day and night to make your behavior fit a pattern consistent with your emotionalized thoughts, hopes, and desires. Your subconscious mind grows either flowers or weeds in the garden of your life, whichever you plant by the mental equivalents you create.” Brian Tracy

My life isn’t perfect, whose is?! Sometimes you have to reduce things to the ridiculous, including finding things to be grateful for. When I’m in that place this is my mantra “I have what I need for today”. I can always come back to ‘I have a house to live in, food in the frig, clothes to wear, gas in the car and I am grateful’.

UC Berkeley wrote an article on how gratitude changes you and your brain, check it out, it’s excellent: https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/how_gratitude_changes_you_and_your_brain (Go Bears! 💙 🐻 💛)

If you don’t have a gratitude practice, I challenge you to start one and see how you feel in 30 days, it takes 21 days to make a habit and this is an excellent habit to have.