Blend Blend Blend...

I love blending... come to think of it, doesn't anyone who eats raw? Do you find that your blender is constantly running? I do! Sometimes I'll have it going 5 times or more in a day. I might do a smoothie for breaky, soup for lunch, whip up an ice cream mixture which will be for the next day's dessert, a batch of salad dressing to have on hand for a few days, pudding or other item for dessert (which often requires multiple blended parts) ... that's already 5 times and doesn't include dips or sauces for a dish.

I would rather use my blender (vita-mix) than any other piece of kitchen equipment I own. It makes food preparation easy and most of the time only requires a good rinse to clean it.

It seems that most of my latest creations have been easy, blended ones... I've got a few of these to share today.

A few weeks ago, Adam and I collaborated on a parfait type dessert. He made a pudding using hemp butter and maple butter among other things (I'm not entirely sure what else, but I think banana was in there too). I made a pudding using strawberries, frozen banana, lucuma, cashews, and maple syrup.... and we already had a frosty chocolate creation on hand, consisting of frozen banana, cacao, vanilla, and almond butter. Totally decadent, right?

Crunchy things to complement the smooth and creamy stuff: sprouted, dehydrated buckwheat, goji berries, shredded coconut, maple glazed walnuts, and cacao nibs.

I started with a layer of hemp pudding in the glass with cacao, buckwheat, and gojis...

Followed by a layer of cacao pudding with walnuts and cacao nibs... which was topped off with the strawberry layer and more crunchies... (didn't get a pic of that - was ready to eat it already!)

Now, for an actual recipe - we came up with a really great maple pudding. Adam was loving the abundance of maple syrup up here, using it as his sweetener of choice while visiting. I would describe this dessert as thick, rich, smooth, and flavorful.

Maple Pudding

1/2 cup raw almond butter

1/4-1/3 cup maple syrup

1/4 cup water

2 Tbs agave powder*

1 Tbs lecithin

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

2 pinches sea salt

3 Tbs coconut oil

Blend all ingredients until smooth, adding the melted coconut oil last.

Chill in the fridge or freezer for a few hours.

Garnish with goodies of your choice! I like a bit of crunch when I'm eating something creamy. We topped ours with maple walnuts, buckwheat, and raw dark choccie.

*not for sweetness, but for a creamy/fluffy texture

This stuff was damn good - too bad we made such a small amount, I could have eaten it for days. It would be good spread into a cacao pie crust!

What are your favourite blended creations??