Top o’ the morning to ya!
Were you mint-ed out with all the St. Patrick’s Day Recipes?
Hope not, because I have one more to share!
Yesterday’s special dessert: a fudge-mint parfait. (Yes, today is St. Patrick’s Day, but I had to make it early so I could blog about it before St. Paddy’s Day is over!)
Vegan cream, spelt flakes, and Chocolate-Fudge Frosting.
Like St. Patrick’s Day in a parfait glass.
(St. Patrick’s Day goes French??)
Soy-Free Peppermint Cream
(Makes 1 1/2 cups: one Katie-sized serving!)
- 5 tiny drops pure peppermint extract
- sweetener of choice
- 1/16th tsp salt
- scant 2 1/2 T water (20g)
- 1/2 serving agar base (recipe linked below)
- 3 drops coconut extract (Optional, but highly recommended)
- Optional (for green hue) handful spinach (I used frozen) (You could use green food coloring. Or opt to keep the cream white, like candy-cane cream!)
Instructions: First, make up the agar base. When the base is cooled, put half of it in a blender (or Magic Bullet) with all the other ingredients and blend away. Whip very well. I like to put it in the freezer for a few minutes prior to eating, so it’s super-cold.
See original whipped-cream post for Nutrition Facts.
I’m really lovin’ this holiday-parfait thing. Other holiday parfaits so far:
I’m thinking, for Easter, a carrot-cake parfait is a must. Carrots, raisins, walnuts… delicious ideas are already spinning. (Oh, and in case you were wondering, I totally upped the saturation of that green cream. It did not look as pretty when I ate it!)
When you eat:
What’s most important: looks or taste?
Do you like to make your meals look pretty, using fancy plates and garnishes? Or do you just throw things together and not care about the appearance, as long as it tastes yummy? I do a little of both. Sometimes, I’m in the mood to be fancy-schmancy. But at other times–especially when I’m in a rush–prettiness just goes out the window.
Same if I’m eating a food that can’t look pretty, like my No-Cream Cream of Broccoli Soup.
Hela says
Happy Paddy´s day!!!
oh yum, yum, yum, those parfaits looks delicious! You would never guess the peppermint one does NOT contain any artificial colours… 😉 Must make that asap!! I am going to have a salad today, mostly with greens 🙂
I do care more about the taste, than the look of my food. But somehow it always looks nice on my plate 😉 There are times, when I do care a lot about the appearance, though, like when I give dinner parties.
Chocolate-Covered Katie says
Haha yeah, I guess it does depend on who’s eating your food. I’d NEVER serve some of the stuff I eat to others. Especially some of my blended recipes… 😉
Hela says
true 😉
lol, the blended recipes do look kinda gross, sometimes. but hey, it would be worse to have great looking food that would taste awful!
Holly @ Couch Potato Athlete says
Taste is more important, but if it doesn’t look good, I have a hard time wanting to eat it!
I think a carrot cake parfait is a great idea for Easter!
Tina @ Faith Fitness Fun says
Pretty food always tastes better to me, but it ultimately comes down to taste. Yours definitely have BOTH covered!
katie says
Happy St Patrick’s Day love!!
I am loving the parfait!!!! Yummy!!!!!!!!!
Have a beautiful day! xoxo
Leashieloo says
Taste is the most important, I’ve had some ugly looking things that were way delish.
Tara @The Game of Life says
I like my food to taste good!! But, im not gonna lie when I go to a restaurant and it looks nasty I probably wont eat it!!! Happy st. pattys day 🙂
Carrie (Moves 'N Munchies) says
dang- do you just come up with recipes like in your dreams magically??? thats DANG COOL! you always have something fantastic to show us!!! oh for me.. taste over appearance.. umm my food is ALWAYS UGGGGI!
but tastes oh so good !
Chocolate-Covered Katie says
Sometimes I can’t sleep because I have to write down an idea… it can be annoying actually lol.
And your food is so NOT always ugly. What about those chocolate oatmeal bowls? 😉
Kathleen @ KatsHealthCorner says
TASTE!!! 😀 Sometimes things don’t look so pretty, but they taste amazing. 🙂 Though, for bloggin, I kind of feel both is important. 🙂
This is the perfect St. Patty’s Day Treat! 😀
xoxo
Kathleen
Ari@ThE DiVa DiSh says
You are the parfait queen! That looks so yummy! My meals almost always never look pretty 🙂 haha UNLESS I am photographing them! Such a blogger thing right? Your food LOOKS and TASTE delicious!
Chocolate-Covered Katie says
So true! If I’m not photographing something for the blog, I don’t care if the plates match or anything like that. It’s one of the reasons I could never blog about every meal I eat!
Alaina Rose @ Sweetness of Life says
Goodness, those parfaits are looking so beautiful and delicious! I definitely go for taste more than looks, but when food tastes awesome and looks beautiful too, it makes the whole experience even better!
Kate (What Kate is Cooking) says
TASTE! My food looks like dog food most of the time but it always tastes good 🙂
devan says
the love potion parfarit looks amazing <3!!!
Alyssa - fashion fitness foodie says
Happy St Patty’s day! I hope you enjoy another one of those today because it looks DELICIOUS!! I made one of your recipes last week (mint choc chip smoothie) and im going to do it again today 🙂
Chocolate-Covered Katie says
Aw yay! I’m so honored, Alyssa!
Lisa says
I love your blog, Katie!!!! It’s my favorite!
Steph - VegFortWorth says
Taste is way more important than how my food looks. If it looks good as well as tastes good, that’s just a bonus!
Alex@Spoonful of Sugar Free says
Well……taste of course is the most important because it can look pretty, but it can taste so horrible that you can’t even choke it down……but…….I like to make all my foods look pretty! Makes it exciting!
Happy St. Patty’s Day!
Maryea @ Happy Healthy Mama says
Taste is much more important than looks, but pretty food definitely is more tempting.
Alyson says
I haven’t treated myself to a parfait in quite sometime! 🙂 I think it might be time! 😉
Yum!
Happy St. Patty’s Day!!!
😀
Aly
Catherine @ Running Beginners says
Taste for sure. Obviously I am more inclined to want to eat something that looks good to but so long as it tastes good it could look shocking and I’d till eat it 🙂
Especially good since I’m not fab on presentation. I can cook well – it just never seems to turn out looking as pretty as it should. I’m attempting your cookie dough baked oatmeal on Saturday morning (my eldest sons birthday breakfast 🙂 ) so I’m interested to see how much worse looking than yours they turn out hehe
Chocolate-Covered Katie says
I think as long as it has chocolate chips, there’s no way it can be ugly! Chocolate just makes everything pretty :).
Gen says
I think that a food’s taste is more important!
As my grandfather used to say:
“It doesn’t matter what it tastes like, as long as its sweet!!” 😀
Corey @ the runner's cookie says
Your green parfait looks delicious!! I am way more concerned with how my food tastes, and I could pretty much care less how it looks. Some of my dinners look like (and ARE) thrown together messes, but if they taste good I’m happy 🙂
Kelsey @ Unmitigated Grub says
I vote taste. BUT, as a relatively new blogger, I am discovering the importance of making something look pretty. And it is kinda fun and fancy to garnish food just for the pretty factor. 🙂
You went all out this St. Paddy’s Day! Very impressive dessert.
Lot-O-Choc says
Ooh this looks lovely, theres no real such thing as parfait in the Uk 🙁 wish it was more readily available, yours looks yummy!
Eleanor@eatinglikeahorse says
It’s all about taste, luckily as my food always looks a bit dodgy! but yours always looks good, and looks like it tastes good (if that makes sense!)
Kay says
Your food is almost too pretty to eat!
Jess says
taste, without a doubt; i love food, i’m not sure what it’s called when one love it as much as i do, but i love eating even more, especially food i like. it’s what i have to look forward to each day.
Disturbed says
Taste all the way.
Averie (LoveVeggiesAndYoga) says
looks are important (especially for blogging purposes)…no one wants to look at messy, runny, gloppy, “gross” looking food…
But sometimes that’s the kind of food that tastes the best 🙂 It may not photograph well, but it sure tastes well.
Taste trumps looks b/c if it tastes bad, I am NOT eating more than 1 bite, no matter how pretty it is 🙂
Stacey (The Home-Cooked Vegan) says
Yes, I think a carrot cake parfait sounds just amaaazzzinnnggg. Please do one! Pleaasseeeee 😀 I usually make a meal just the way a recipe says, but if it’s a special occasion, or if I’m feeling fancy, I may sprinkle on some parsley, or coconut..or what have you 😉 So long as my food tastes yummy then I could give a rats butt how it looks!
Ellie@fitforthesoul says
haha you have so many parfaits!! the pumpkin one looks really good Katie! Pumpkin never gets old~ <3
Mary @ Bites and Bliss says
Taste is definitely the most important. Sometimes the ugliest things taste the best! It’s our taste buds, not our eyes that will be ulitimately be experiencing the food anyway.
Emma (Sweet Tooth Runner) says
HAPPY ST PATRICK’S DAY my lovely Irish friend!! You are a genius and that parfait looks to DIE for!! My food is ugly most of the time, but adding chocolate chips beautifies anything in my opinion!! 😛
And although I haven’t had time to make anything green, I am celebrating still!! I’m eating broccoli right now and am having your naughty girl fudge for dessert!! That fits cos YOU are Irish so it counts, right? 😉
Chocolate-Covered Katie says
Chocolate fuge cake ALWAYS counts. I don’t care what flavor it is. It counts! But gosh, girl, we should’ve made mint chocolate fudge, huh? 😉
Emma (Sweet Tooth Runner) says
I totally WOULD have done but I have no peppermint extract!! 🙁 I need some STAT!!
Chocolate-Covered Katie says
Oh yes you do! I wish I could personally deliver you some. Hey, maybe some day I will! 😉
Alexa @ Simple Eats says
Yum, I love parfaits and I love mint in mine!
Jen says
Taste is definitely more important, but I still like my meals to look somewhat presentable! If they don’t, they tend to look unappetizing to me. And If I’m serving others, I definitely like my food to look pretty!
Melomeals: Vegan for $3.33 a Day says
I love your creativity Katie!
kathleen says
taste matters more. some of the best dishes i eat look like a bowl full of ugliness but oh so tasty.
Faith @ lovelyascharged says
I always prefer my food to be appealing to the eye, but lets face it…some things just look nasty! I.e. Indian curry…you get the idea. I’m actually writing for work an article on how chemo patients can increase their intake when food has lost its appeal, and one of the suggestions is to go for visually appealing food. It really is amazing what a difference yummy *looks* matter to appetite!
BroccoliHut says
I think I put equal emphasis on looks and taste–as a foodie, I obviously want it to taste heavenly, but the artistic side of me also likes to make it pretty:)
Tara says
I used to make the agar base all the time just to have on hand, but it’s been forever! I love it mixed with rice and cinnamon for rice pudding!
I am so taste over looks. Like, the best cupcakes are always the simple, homemade ones. The over the top extravagant ones from the stores never taste as good!
Becky @ my life be like says
i always eat with my eyes first 🙂
Albizia says
For me taste is more important than looks. Or it’s just an excuse to make incredibly ugly meals and eat them on my own because no one else dares try them 😀 . So when I cook for others I put some thought in the presentation, but if it’s for me I don’t care about the looks at all if it tastes good.
Lyza says
Aw, these all look beautiful and scrumptious 🙂
I love eating desserts that look like Marie Antoinette’s confections, but in terms of cooking, I’d have to say I am definitely on the taste wing of the spectrum 🙂 A lot of the food I make for myself doesn’t turn out looking very good, but I like it so that’s all that matters 🙂 Also, most of the time I really don’t feel like spending a lot of time in the kitchen to make a food a little less nutritious than it already is naturally, so I tend to eat really bland foods, lots of raw foods…I enjoy them a lot. Really I can’t tell the difference anymore, it’s like one food is always another experience from the other…I guess in terms of that I choose health above everything else! But sometimes, if I’m going to have a treat, I’m going to make sure it feels like a real indulgence, and is gorgeous and heavenly. Usually though, since I’m not much of a sugar fiend, that’s like a jar of almond butter for me or something…I would enjoy that more than a sweet treat. I’m so odd!!
Lyza says
(or chocolate! i’m a chocolate fiend too. i love 99 percent dark!)
Chocolate-Covered Katie says
Mmmmmmm chocolate. I just don’t understand how anyone could NOT be a chocolate fiend.
P.S. Did you get my email? I need your phone # and shirt size for the larabars :).
Lyza says
Oh, thankyou for telling me!! I did not get it, I was just waiting 🙂 I looked around (haha, searched for the word “chocolate,” in my gmail search bar) and now I see that somehow it got in my spam filter!! >.<
I'm emailing you the information back now! 🙂
Katherine: Unemployed says
I’m going to answer your question with a question: what’s more important- health or beauty? okay so maybe not on that scale but I’d rather the goodness come from within
Chocolate-Covered Katie says
Hahaha oh gosh you are so fun! Most-insightful comment ever lol. 🙂
chelsey @ clean eating chelsey says
Taste is much more important than looks. If looks counted, I wouldn’t eat half the things I do!!
Laura says
I love, love, LOVE parfaits! As obsessed as you are with chocolate, that’s me with yogurt! I eat it at almost every meal!
I really wanted to try your soy free vegan cream, so I ran out to my closest special/ organic/ vegan food store to buy agar flakes. $15 for a tiny envelope!?! I couldn’t bring myself to do it. 🙁 But your flavor combinations still sound really good! I’ll try them out with ingredients that are a little less pricey! 😉