• Choose a category
• All
• Classic-Fiction

1¼ cups natural juice (our favorite brand is

Naked Juice)

1 banana, peeled and broken into thirds

1 (6-oz.) pkg. soy yogurt or soy-free coconut

milk yogurt

Yield: 2 smoothies

Prep time: 4 minutes

Serving size: 1 cup

1. In a blender, combine juice, banana, and soy yogurt. Blend for 1 minute or until smooth.

2. Pour into a glass, and serve with a straw.

That’s So Vegan

This smoothie is a good opportunity to try different soy or soy-free nondairy yogurts to see which one your child likes best. The coconut milk version has 30 percent the adult Recommended Daily Allowance of vitamin B12 and live and active yogurt cultures.

Chapter 16

Delectable Desserts

In This Chapter

◆ Delicious vegan desserts

◆ Cool vegan ice creams

◆ Yummy vegan cookies and cakes

Vegan desserts are some of the most delicious on the planet, and many tasty, ready-made vegan desserts are available in stores. These are yummy as is, but they’re even better when you spruce them up with quick, at-home additions. For days when you’re inspired to DIY, we’ve given you several of our favorite vegan dessert recipes in this chapter—including our family’s Vegan Chocolate Birthday Cake!

These Desserts Are Vegan?

The most anticipated food group in our family is dessert. Fortunately, vegan desserts have come a long way in recent years, especially vegan frozen treats like ice cream. And most vegan desserts are relatively, if not completely, guilt-free compared to their nonvegan brethren. Even some popular sweets like Oreos and Swedish Fish candies are vegan.

Some of the most kid-friendly vegan desserts are packaged and sold in major grocery stores. If you can’t find something in your local store, ask your grocer to stock items from places like the Alternative Baking Company (its line of vegan cookies are incredible); Tofutti brand vegan ice-cream sandwich cookies called Tofutti Cuties; and Temptation’s vegan ice cream, which comes in an amazing array of flavors. Trust us, bugging your grocer to stock these vegan specialty foods or bringing a cooler with you to stock up on these desserts the next time you visit the big city is worth it!

Amy’s Kitchen brand carries two oh-so-delicious vegan cakes—chocolate and orange—perfect to serve after quick weeknight dinners. Jazz up the chocolate cake with some strawberries and vegan whipped cream. Drizzle the orange cake with a homemade glaze (we give you a recipe later in this chapter) and blueberries, sliced fresh apricots, or raspberries.

Let Them Eat Birthday Cake!

We admit our birthday cake recipe in this chapter is more sweet, moist, and rich than healthful. Hey, it is a birthday cake after all! There are other, perhaps healthier, vegan birthday cake recipes you can try. (For example, check out the Vegetarian Resource Group’s page on birthday cakes at www.vrg.org/recipes/vegancakes.htm for a chocolate and a vanilla version, as well as an interesting discussion about veganism and birthday cakes.)

A few packaged vegan cake mixes are now sold in well-stocked grocery stores or health food stores. And if you happen to be a city dweller and can afford a splurge, you could order your child’s birthday cake from one of the vegan bakeries popping up in many of America’s major cities, especially on the East and West Coasts.

Strawberry Malt Shake

What a healthful, yummy alternative to the dairy-heavy traditional strawberry ice-cream malt! (Recipe by Hannah Kaminsky.)

2 cups fresh strawberries (preferably

organic), hulled

1 (12-oz.) pkg. firm silken tofu

1 cup vanilla soy milk

2 TB. barley malt syrup

¼ to ⅓ cup agave syrup

Yield: 2 servings

Prep time: 10 minutes

Serving size: About 2 cups

1. In a blender, combine strawberries and tofu until thoroughly mixed together. Scrape down the sides of the blender, and process once more until completely smooth.

2. With the blender running, add soy milk and barley malt syrup. Add agave to taste, depending on