Healthy Vegan Raw Carrot Cake Balls

My sister found this recipe on instagram and I am now a believer in healthy raw desserts! So delicious, so healthy, and so simple to make with only 4 ingredients. It tastes exactly like carrot cake! These are a good guilt-free alternative  when you are craving sweets and they also make a good pre-workout snack.

Recipe from @maja_lalalala on Instagram

Makes approximately 20 balls

Ingredients:
2 medium carrots grated
1 cup dates
1 cup nuts*
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
about 2 tablespoons shredded coconut** (enough to coat the cake balls, I didn't really measure how much I used)

1. Peel and grate the carrots
2. Pit the dates
3. Combine shredded carrots, dates, nuts and cinnamon in a food processor. Mix until you have a sticky dough mixture.
4. Using a tablespoon, measure out the "dough" and roll it into a ball.
5. You can use ground cinnamon or shredded coconut to roll the balls in.
6. Voila! I hope you try this recipe so you can enjoy these delicious healthy bites!

*I used unsalted mixed nuts but I think any type of nuts would work for this recipe 
** The shredded coconut we got from Trader Joe's was too long and big so we put it in the food processor to make it smaller...this made a prettier coating for the cake balls 

Acai Bowls!

My sisters and I headed to Huntington Beach one weekend to try Ahi Poke bowls at North Shore Co. When we saw Banzai nearby, we couldn't resist the temptation of stopping to try Acai Bowls. I remember my friend Dannie talking about how good they are so we stopped to try and the rest is history! This is happiness in a bowl! We got the Maui sunset, which was an acai smoothie topped with fresh fruit, coconut flakes, granola, and a drizzle of honey. The combinating is so amazing, you've got to try it! So after making 2 trips to Banzai in a week (we live about 25-30 minutes away), I needed to find an easier way to satisfy our cravings for an acai bowl. Not to mention, one bowl at Banzai costs $8-10 dollars so I wanted to find a cheaper alternative. This is what I came up with and it tastes almost the same at a fraction of the cost. It is very simple to make and takes me about 10 minutes or less. In addition, this is very good for you because Acai is loaded with antioxidants and boasts a variety of other health benefits.                 

Ingredients for One Bowl
1/2 frozen banana
1 cup frozen mixed fruit
1/2 cup frozen berries
1 cup acai juice

Toppings
Granola
Shredded coconut
Chia seeds (optional)
fresh fruit
honey

1. Put the frozen fruits and acai juice in the blender and blend until smooth. You are looking for a consistency that is slightly thicker than a smoothie you would drink. I always have frozen fruits in the freezer for acai bowls or a green smoothie. You can get the Acai juice from Costco or you local health food store.

2. Pour the mixture into your serving bowl and top with your desired toppings. Drizzle some honey to finish and that's all there is to it! 



Cheesy avocado egg breakfast burrito

I love the combination of egg, cheese, and tomato on a hot breakfast sandwich. I was craving quesodillas the other night so I went out and bought some whole wheat tortillas. What I came up this morning was delicious, healthy, and super simple to make.

Easy guacamole 
1 avocado
1/2 lime
pinch of salt to taste
handful of grape tomatoes

Ingredients (for 2 burritos)
3 eggs
shredded cheese
2 tortillas
1 chicken apple sausage (costco)

I diced the tomatoes and mixed it together with the avocado, lime juice, and salt to make the guacamole. Next, I heated up my frying pan and slightly warmed the 2 tortillas up. After dicing the sausage, I added a bit of olive oil onto the pan and panfried the sausage bits until slightly brown. Crack eggs onto the pan and scramble. When the eggs are almost done, I separated it into two equal portions and sprinkled cheese on top. To assemble, scoop half of the eggs onto the tortilla and top it with half of the avocado mixture. Enjoy with ketchup and Tapatio.

Voila! Super easy, delicious, and nutritious! My mom's a pretty harsh critic and even she was wowed by these. She even gave me the biggest completment because she said my dad would love these (he's tougher critic than she is).