At the start of summer, my family from Ecuador came to visit and we had an outdoor barbecue to celebrate their arrival. Catching up, sharing all kinds of crazy and hilarious stories and just enjoying the company of one another, I always appreciate those nights. We made grilled vegetable salads that were the bomb.com and I also made dessert, this Raw Vegan Mango Ice Cream with Oat Crumble + Homemade Pineapple Flowers.
This dessert was inspired by
my weekend at Matthew Kenney Culinary, where I learned how to make the absolute best raw vegan vanilla ice cream and oat crumble that I've ever had. After making it at home a few times, and tweaking the ingredients a bit since I didn't have them all and don't use agave, my mom suggested I take this vanilla ice cream recipe and use it to try and recreate her famous Mango Ice Cream that my family loves.
Homemade Pineapple Flowers
I have been slacking on my greens lately, not going to lie! School has started, and adding this on top of my internship has caused me to have long days, away from the beloved kitchen. It has been lots of bananas, dates and dried figs for me, as these are most convenient for both calories and transportation. I finally had some time yesterday after work to whip up a salad, and this is what I came up with.
The star of this salad is the Tomato Jalapeño vinaigrette I used! It is raw, vegan, oil-free and salt-free! I sweetened it with a medjool date, used water instead of oil, and made sure I used a Raw & Unfiltered Apple Cider Vinegar.
Where are all my mango lovers at?!
Mango salads, soups, smoothies or just a plain ol' mango mono meal. All are always the best, right?
Atualfo mangoes are always my favorite. For me personally, I love that they are less stringy, that they are creamy dreamy when fully ripe, and that they are almost always the most affordable mangoes in my area. I was inspired by 
Summer makes me lazy at times, so much that I have been showing my blender all the love and neglecting my poor little juicer. I can't help it, I really really dislike washing the juicer! I always end up getting splashed with water even when I try to prevent it. Plus all of the pieces that need to be clean seem like a hassle, so I turn to my blender!
But I must say, I don't mean to use this as anything against my juicer. It's the best juicer I've ever had and is so efficient in that it is slow juicing, extracts maximum amount of juice and is not loud at all. I use a 
A healthy and delicious raw vegan carrot cake that is low in fat, gluten-free, and filled with nothing but the good stuff. Yes, you can have your cake AND eat it too AND feel amazing afterwords. You don't have to worry about any more of that "detoxing" nonsense after a long birthday weekend.
