Look you could tell me peanut butter is bad for you all day long. My ears are unavailable for this kinda talk. I have been eating peanut butter since I was a wee young girl by the spoonful. It. is. my. favorite.
My favorite.
I'll never quit you, peanut butter.
Not never, not know how.
Sincerely, 
Me.

Ok- sorry about that. Just wanted to clarify my love for peanut butter. If you for some reason do not feel this special way about peanut butter- by all means substitute almond butter in this recipe. Or if your nut free, sunflower seed butter could possibly work too.
​ Try it, ya never know!


I almost gave up on this recipe- half way through cause it just was not turning out right. But I pushed through & voila. I'm so glad I didn't. Cause this genuinely might be the best dessert I've ever made. Seriously. I had to force myself to create something new after this cause I would've made it again- and again, and again. And probably again.
​Well lets be real- I will be making this a lot in the future.

​Keep scrolling down for the recipe.

RAW CHOCOLATE PEANUT BUTTER CHEESECAKE SQUARES
Recipe by: Krysten Jorgensen, The Daily Kale

Ingredients:

For the crust:

• 1 cup almonds
• 1 tbsp. coconut oil
• 1 tbsp chia seeds
• Pinch of salt
• 10 pitted dates or about 1/2 cup 

For the filling:

• 1/2 cup cashews
• 5 tbsp peanut butter
• Pinch of salt
• 1/3 cup or 5 tbsp  + 1 tsp coconut oil (melted)
• 2 tbsp water
• 2 tbsp maple syrup

For the chocolate drizzle:

• 1/4 cup chocolate chips (70% cacao or higher)
• 1 tbsp cacao powder
• 3 tbsp coconut oil
• 1 tbsp maple syrup 

Directions:
​

1. Line a loaf pan with parchment paper. Make sure it's lined both ways so this won't be touching any of the actual pan.
2. For the crust: In a food processor, blend just the almonds for about 10-15 seconds until they are in fine/little bits. Add in the rest of the crust ingredients and blend for about 15 seconds until evenly combined. If needed: add in 1-2 tbsp. of water so that the crust starts to form when you blend it for another 5-10 seconds. Now you've got your crust. 
3. Place the crust in the pan. And push with your fingers or fist to flatten it out evenly so it's covering the entire bottom of the lined pan. 
4. Place all filling ingredients inside of the food processor and blend until completely creamy & smooth. Add in the extra tbsp of water if it is not creamy/silky. Keep blending until it's evenly blended. I let my processor run for about 1 minute. Making sure it's as creamy & combined as possible.
5. Pour the filling into your loaf pan on top of the crust. Use a spatula to make the filling even out. Or tap the pan a couple of times on the counter until it evens out.
6. Heat up about 1/4 cup water in a small pot until just boiling then turn off.
7. In a small stainless steel bowl, combine all of the chocolate drizzle ingredients. Put it on top of the small pot and let the mixture melt, while stirring. *Reminder, the flame is turned off for this. You don't want to burn the chocolate. It should melt down to a nice chocolate sauce.
8. Drizzle the chocolate sauce anyway you want over the top of the cheesecake. Have fun and get creative with your designs. I also drizzled more plain peanut butter on top too.
9. Set in your freezer for 2 hours.
10. Store in the freezer in an air tight container for up to 5 days. Take out about 15-20 minutes before enjoying, so that it's nice & thawed out.

ENJOY!

if you make it please #THEDAILYKALE or @TheDailyKale on instagram so I can see your recreations!
Or tag/follow me on Facebook.
​

(Obviously I'm more of a savory gal)


TOAST DETAILS:

Top: Left to right (1 & 2)
Bottom: Left to right (3 & 4)

1. Sliced Bananas, blueberries, peanut butter, granola
2. Sweet Potato Toast with sliced avocado & hemp seeds
3. Slice avocado, sauerkraut, hemp seeds & cashew cheeze drizzle.
4. Roots garlic hummus, pumpkin seed pesto, cherry tomatoes, avocado, Kite Hill almond cheese & black pepper.

I eat toast close to everyday. I love it. I recently had to switch over to a gluten free diet- prescribed by my Dr. I otherwise have no problem with gluten. (Believe me, noooo problem) ;)

So eat your toast, gluten or no gluten.
Heck, even a sweet potato can be toast these days! I just wanted to share with you some of the combinations I put on my toast. I love switching it up and making it creative. 

​
I will say tho- my go to is usually an avocado and sauerkraut combo.
Thats definitely my favorite. I know it might sound weird, but seriously, try it.
Hope ya'll enjoy!

P.s. If you're looking for a gluten free bread- I really love the brand Canyon Bakehouse, it's not vegan. But then again- I am not vegan. I'm pescatarian. So I do eat seafood, eggs, and cheese when I want, while focusing most days on a plant based/vegan diet. There are a ton of gluten free options out there, vegan or not. If you don't care if it's gluten free or not I highly recommend switching to sprouted bread by Food For Life. They were my previous favorite healthy not 'gluten free' bread. 

No. I'm not crazy, just FYI. Thats a reference to Elf ya'll. Who out there did NOT know that? Have you not seen that movie? Cause it's gooooood. And random quotes from it will probably get stuck in your head. Like that one. No, not gum drops at all. But dreamy swirls yes.
I love making these swirls in raw desserts- ever since I figured out how to do it.
SO FUN. 
But I am an artist. So anytime I get to use painting type skills in my food- I love.
You can do it too! It's quite easy.
If you have a tooth pick or anything similar you can do it too.
But if you want to skip that step in this- you totally don't have to do that. You can leave the top all purple from the blueberry mix and still will be looking super pretty! I mean, the color.
Oh my. Colors reallllllly get the best of me.

Ok enough enough- on to the recipe.
Completely raw.
Completely vegan.
Completely good. 
...My non vegan- dessert loving boyfriend approves. 

​
Try it out and let me know what you think! 
Please leave any questions below. And if you do make this recipe, be sure to tag me on instagram & #thedailykale or Facebook so I can see your recreations!

RAW BLUEBERRY CHEESECAKE SQUARES
Recipe by : Krysten Jorgensen, The Daily Kale

Ingredients:​

For the crust:

• 1 cup almonds
• 2 tbsp. coconut flour or unsweetened shreds
• 10 pitted dates or roughly 1/2 cup
• Pinch of salt

For the filling:

• 1 cup cashews 
• 3 tbsp maple syrup
• 2 tbsp lemon juice
• 1/2 cup coconut oil (melted)
• 1/4 cup water + 1-2 extra tbsp water
• 2 tbsp unsweetened coconut shreds

For the top filling: 

• 1/2 cup thawed frozen or fresh blueberries

Directions:

1. Line a loaf pan with parchment paper. Make sure it's lined both ways so this won't be touching any of the actual pan.
2. For the crust: In a food processor, blend just the almonds for about 10-15 seconds until they are in fine/little bits. Add in the rest of the crust ingredients and blend for about 15 seconds until evenly combined. Add in 1-2 tbsp. of water so that the crust starts to form when you blend it for another 5-10 seconds. Now you've got your crust. 
3. Place the crust in the pan. And push with your fingers or fist to flatten it out evenly so it's covering the entire bottom of the pan. 
4. Place all filling ingredients inside of the food processor and blend until completely creamy & smooth. Add in the extra tbsp of water if it is not creamy/silky. Keep blending until it's evenly blended. I let my processor run for about 1 minute. Making sure it's as creamy & combined as possible.
5. Set a side about 2 tbsp. of that mixture. *optional for swirls on top* skip this step if you don't care about the swirls.
6. Pour half of the filling into your loaf pan on top of the crust. Use a spatula to make the filling even out. Or tap the pan a couple of times on the counter until it evens out.
7. In the food processor, blend the other half of the filling with the blueberries until it's completely creamy & smooth. Optional- add an extra 1-2 tbsp melted coconut oil, if for any reason it's not smoothing out.
8. Now pour the blueberry mixture into the loaf pan.
9. Take the optional 2 tbsp. of middle filling that you've set aside earlier. Drop about 1 tsp or less of it in different spots all over the top. Play around with the toothpick and draw different swirls, dragging it into the purple. It will start to create beautiful swirls. You don't actually have to do swirls, you could do abstract lines, or any decoration really. Have fun with it :)
10. Set in the freezer for about 2 hours.
11. Take out and cut into squares or whatever shape you'd like. You can even cut it like an actual cheesecake slice. 
12. Store in the freezer in an air tight container for about a week. Take it out about 20 minutes before enjoying, so that it has time to thaw. 

FIRST OFF, HAPPY JUNE 1ST!

​I am so excited to share with you my new and improved granola recipe! Well I suppose it's only new to you- as I've never posted my granola recipe here cause I always knew it wasn't exactly the way I wanted it to be. YET. Until now folks. UNTIL now. 
I have been putting this on everything! Toast, coconut ice cream and just plain as a snack is also amazing!
* P.s. I know cluster-y is not a word. I do however, like to make up my own words. It's quite fun. 

So I wanted to make a granola that had no added syrup sweeteners or sugar. Although I have no problem with maple syrup & coconut sugar. This was just something I wanted for my granola.
I love that this granola also can be eaten like cereal. Probably my favorite part about it. I used to love cereal- especially Kashi cereal. The cluster-y kind. See what I did there ;)

Any who. I hope you'll try it out! Please let me know if you have any questions in the comments below- and obviously please let me know if you make it & how you like it! If you're on instagram tag me with your re-creations. ​

DATE SWEETENED, OIL FREE GRANOLA
Recipe by: Krysten Jorgensen, The Daily Kale

Ingredients: 

• 2 cups gluten free oats
• 10-12 pitted dates or roughly 1/2 cup (soaked in hot water for 5 minutes & drained)
• 1/4 cup buckwheat groats
• 1/4 unsalted almonds
• 1/4 cup pumpkin seeds
• 1 tbsp chia seeds
• 1/4 cup unsweetened coconut flakes
• 3 tbsp. almond butter 
• 1/2 tsp Cinnamon 
• 1/4 tsp pink salt

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 325. 
2. In a small pot boil about 1/2 cup of water. Turn off after boiling and place the dates in the hot water to soak for 5 minutes. Then drain the dates.
3. Line your baking sheet with parchment paper. Spray a bit of coconut oil evenly on the paper.
4. In a food processor blend the dates & the almond butter together.
5. In a bowl mix together everything except the dates & almond butter mixture.
6. Now add in the wet, date/almond butter mixture into the dry mixture in bowl until it's all evenly combined.
7. Place the mixture onto your pan and pat down so that it's all even.
8. Bake for 15 minutes. Toss around for extra crunchy granola or leave it as is for slightly chewy granola. 
9. Bake for another 15-20 minutes. Keeping an eye on it closely as it can burn quickly.
10. Let it cool in pan after taking it out of the oven.
11. *Very important last step*: Make sure it's completely room temperature before storing. Once you put it in an air container if it's even the slightest of warm still it will turn into stale tasting granola. You don't want that! So make sure it's completely cool/room temperature. I leave mine out for an hour or two to make sure this doesn't happen. 

This sauce! This sauce is so good. I have used it every single day since making it- didn't realize it would make so much. So I definitely recommend cutting the recipe in half if you plan on only using it for 1 dish. It has kept in a tight fitted mason jar, in my fridge for 5 days. I don't recommend keeping it after that amount of time.

I do recommend however, making this sauce & enjoying it. :)
It's good on grilled fish, grilled tofu, grilled tempeh, tacos, salad, zoodles (or regular noodles) with grilled shrimp, topping on grilled veggies or a dip for veggies! I mean really whatever you think it would be good on, it probably is good on. Give it a go :) & let me know how you enjoyed it!


Creamy Green Summer Sauce
Recipe by: The Daily Kale

• 1 avocado
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 3-5 tbsp. lemon juice
• 1/4 cup chopped onion
• Handful of fresh cilantro
• Handful of fresh basil
• Salt (to taste)
• Black pepper (to taste)
• Cayenne pepper (optional)
• 1/4 cup water (slowly added in & possibly more for desired consistency)

Directions:

1. In a food processor, add in all ingredients except water. And blend for about 10 seconds.
   
2. Slowly add in water, little by little. Scraping down sides with a spatula. Continue adding in the water & scraping down the sides to make sure everything is combined. Make sure to add in water little by little so that you don't do too much- and it'll be a very nice creamy sauce.
   
3. Keeps in the fridge for up to 5 days, in an air tight container.​

Enjoy!
@TheDailyKale