8 Ingredient Strawberry Rhubarb Tart...Summer is Here!

What would your perfect day look like?

Mine would start early in the morning with some oatmeal, tea and reading. Then I would pop a chick-flick on while experimenting in the kitchen. I'd then bring those baked goodies to a brunch with friends and enjoy delicious food and great company.

Then the party would head outside...to the beach! We'd drive with the top down and the music blaring, iced coffee in had. Once at the beach I'd simply soak up the sun, read a good book and have good conversation. If the water was warm enough I'd get in.

Before heading home we'd stop at a hole in the wall food joint and eat our fill. Then the day would end with popcorn and a good movie. 

And then I'd sleep like a baby.

Of course this is just one of many days that I would love, but this one was real and happened yesterday! Two of our friends were in town for the weekend and they only had two things they wanted to do: see friends and go to the beach. So we made it happen!

While my sister Ruth and I were in Ireland we went to a farmer's market and of course I couldn't stop thinking of recipes I want to try out in the kitchen based on the colorful produce and baked goods we saw. I have always loved anything combining strawberries and rhubarb, but I had never bought rhubarb before. When we saw the bright, red rhubarb at the farmers market I knew I had to try cooking with it A.S.A.P., and a Saturday brunch with friends was the perfect time to do that.

This Strawberry Rhubarb Tart is oh, so easy and only requires 7 ingredients! I hope you enjoy it as much as we did.

Strawberry Rhubarb Tart

(Serves 8)

Ingredients:

Single Pie Crust:

• 1 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 8 tablespoons earth balance spread, chilled + a little more for brushing
• 3-6 tablespoons ice, cold water

Strawberry Rhubarb Filling:

• 2 cups chopped rhubarb (~1/2 lb.)
• 1 cup chopped strawberries
• 1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons sugar + a little more for sprinkling
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice

Directions:

For the pie crust:

1. Whisk together the flour and salt in a large bowl.
2. Add in the chilled, earth balance spread and use a pastry cutter (or your hands) to cut the spread into the flour until course crumbs form. Use an up and down chopping motion. The crumbs should be no larger than pea-sized.
3. Add in 3 tablespoons of ice water and stir with a fork. Draw the flour from the bottom of the bowl to the top and push down any large clumps.
4. Add more water by the tablespoon until you can pinch a marble-sized amount of dough with your fingers and it stays together. Only add as much water as is necessary!
5. Shape the dough into a ball and wrap it in saran wrap or place it in a plastic bag and chill it in the fridge for 1/2 hour to 2 days.

For the filling and to assemble the tart:

1. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.
2. In a medium-sized bowl, mix together the chopped rhubarb, strawberries, sugar and lemon juice until the strawberries and rhubarb are well coated. Set aside to let the mixture moisten.
3. Take out your chilled pie crust and on lightly floured parchment paper roll the ball into a 14" circle, about 1/8" thick.
4. Place the parchment paper and dough on a baking sheet and carefully spoon the strawberry and rhubarb mixture into the middle of the circle, leaving about 2 inches of dough around the edges.
5. Fold the edges of the dough over the filling one section at a time and push the overlapping dough together slightly so that it sticks together. Continue this all the way around the tart until it's finished.
6. Brush some melted earth balance on the top of the crust and sprinkle with coarse sugar. 
7. Bake for 40 minutes until the crust is golden brown.
8. Let the tart cool for a while and then cut into 8 slices and serve!

Notes: I used the ratios for Crisco's pie crust recipe for the crust and substituted earth balance spread for the crisco.

For step-by-step pictures see below!

Eat Consciously,

Faith

Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls with Candied Pecans...A New Family Tradition!

These cinnamon rolls are finger lickin' good. I made them for Brett and my one year anniversary last weekend and we were both in heaven as we ate them. It's not everyday that Brett gives me a high five after something I've created myself! Don't let the name fool you either. They may sound complicated, but they really aren't hard to make. I hope you try them and if you do, I'd love to hear how they turn out!

To be honest, experimenting with cooking and baking when I first went vegan wasn't easy. I didn't have enough basic knowledge of the science behind cooking and baking in general, so trying to create my own recipes without using any meat, eggs or milk wasn't easy! There were definitely nights of cooking that left me discouraged and wanting to give up on my new dairy and meat free life. 

I'm so glad I stuck with it and kept researching and practicing, because it's starting to pay off. I don't botch as many meals as I used to and lately the recipes I've created myself have turned out pretty good. "Pretty good" being the key phrase. I still have a lot of learning to do, but I must say that these cinnamon rolls turned out better than pretty good. They are now officially going to show up at special VanderMolen events, holidays and celebrations. 

Well, enough talking. Let's get to the recipe!

Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls with Candied Pecans

(Makes 8 rolls)

Ingredients:

For the dough:

• 1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons almond milk, divided
• 2 tablespoons earth balance
• 2 tablespoons sugar, divided
• 1 teaspoon active dry yeast
• 2 tablespoons unsweetened applesauce
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup pumpkin puree
• 3/4 cup whole wheat flour (scoop and sweep)
• 1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour, divided

For the Cinnamon Sugar Filling:

• 1 tablespoon earth balance
• 1/2 tablespoons cinnamon
• 1/4 cup brown sugar

For the Candied Pecans:

• 1/4 heaping cup pecans, chopped
• 1 teaspoon earth balance
• 1 tablespoon sugar

For the Sugar Glaze:

• 1/4 cup powdered sugar
• 2-4 teaspoons almond milk

Instructions:

1. To form the dough, start by combining the 1/4 cup of milk and 2 tablespoons of butter in a heat-safe bowl and microwave it for about 40 seconds until the butter is completely melted. Set aside to cool a little.
2. While the milk/butter mixture is cooling, combine 2 tablespoons of milk with 1/2 tablespoon of sugar in a bowl and mix. Sprinkle the yeast on top and stir. Set it aside until the mixture is foamy (about 10-15 minutes).
3. After the yeast mixture has gotten foamy, stir in the milk/butter mixture, followed by the applesauce, remaining 1 1/2 tablespoons sugar and salt. Then add in the pumpkin puree and whisk until smooth.
4. Add the whole wheat flour and 1 cup of the all-purpose flour into the wet ingredients and stir until a sticky, shaggy dough forms. Use your hands to knead everything together into a moist dough.
5. Turn the dough onto a floured surface and knead for about 10 minutes, adding up to 1/4 of the remaining all-purpose flour as needed. Only add in as much as is needed to keep the dough from sticking to the kneading surface anymore.
6. Form the dough into a ball and place it in a large, greased bowl. Cover it with a towel or plastic wrap and let it sit in a warm place for 1 1/2 - 2 hours until doubled in size. (I turned my oven on to 200 degrees for a couple minutes and then turned it off. I covered my bowl with aluminum foil and placed it in the turned-off oven.
7. As the dough rises make your cinnamon and brown sugar filling by stirring together the 1/2 tablespoon of cinnamon with the 1/4 cup of brown sugar. Set aside.
8. Prepare a 8" x 8" baking dish with cooking spray and set it aside
9. After the dough has risen, punch it down to deflate it. Lightly flour a clean surface and use a rolling pin to roll the dough out into a large rectangle. Have the long edge be parallel to you.
10. After you've rolled out the dough, rub 1 tablespoon of earth balance across the surface and then sprinkle the cinnamon and brown sugar mixture all over the earth balance spread.
11. Roll up the dough starting at the long end nearest you until you get a log. Seal the long edges together by pinching the dough. 
12. Use a serrated knife to cut the log into 8 sections. Place the rolls into your prepared baking dish.
13. At this point you can over the pan with plastic wrap and put it in the fridge until ready to bake. If you do this, let the dough sit out for about 1/2 hour until the dough is at room temperature and the rolls have risen some.
14. If you are baking your rolls right away, preheat your oven to 350 degrees and as your oven heats, allow your rolls to rise a little by placing them in a warm place.
15. Bake the rolls uncovered for 20 minutes or until golden and cooked through. 
16. Prepare the sugar glaze and candied pecans as they bake.
17. For the sugar glaze, start by mixing 1/4 cups of powdered sugar with 2 teaspoons of almond milk. Add milk 1 teaspoon at a time until you get the right consistency.
18. For the candied pecans, heat the teaspoon of butter in a small skillet. Once it melts add in the sugar and nuts and stir continuously for about 3-5 minutes. You don't want them to burn! Pour the nuts out onto a plate with parchment paper and allow the carmel coating the harden.
19. Remove the rolls from the oven after they have finished baking and drizzle the sugar glaze on top. Sprinkle with candied nuts.
20. Serve warm!

Notes: You can store the leftovers in an airtight container in your fridge for a few days. Reheat the rolls for about 20 seconds in the microwave.

Adapted from The Bright-Eyed Baker.

Let your dough rise for 1 1/2 - 2 hours in a warm place.

Roll the dough into a rectangle on a floured surface.

Cover with earth balance and sprinkle with the cinnamon and brown sugar filling.

Roll it up into a log and seal.

Cut the dough into 8 sections and place in a greased baking dish.

Let the rolls sit for a few minutes while you pre-heat your oven.

Prepare the sugar glaze and the candied pecans while the rolls are baking to perfection.

Remove the rolls from the oven and drizzle with the sugar glaze.

Top with the candied pecans and dig in!

I promise they won't last long.

Eat Consciously,

Faith

Homemade Whole Wheat Rosemary Wheat Thins! They taste like the real deal.

Well, I'm proud to stay that I'm still on my "make-everything-I-can-at-home" streak and going strong. For those of you just now reading, about a week ago I decided that I wanted to try to make our basic staple foods at home (when I have the time, that is). I never would have even thought that you could make almond milk, yogurt, wheat bread, crackers or cheese at home about a year ago. But since going vegan almost a year ago a whole new world of cooking and baking has opened up to me and I've had to be more creative. 

Also, as Brett and I plan to move overseas in a couple years, I don't know what types of food we'll have access to so I figured now is the best time to get down the basics.

So far I've botched the following:

Whole Wheat Tortillas

Bear Bread

With that said, I've also successfully made the following:

Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread

Almond Milk

Non-dairy Yogurt (Can you even believe it!! I'll share more soon.)

Wheat Thins

Oh. My. Goodness. Let's talk about these homemade wheat thins. I absolutely loved how these little squares of goodness turned out and they were surprisingly easy to make. The dough wasn't sticky and I was able to roll it out really thin for an amazingly delicious cracker that tasted like the real deal. I'm excited for my first batch to run out so that I can experiment with some different spices in the next batch. I'm thinking about even adding in some nutritional yeast to make a cheesy flavored cracker. 

Savory. Sweet. The possibilities are endless!

This is not my recipe by any means, but I really hope you try them out. There are only 7 ingredients, one of which is water. Get creative and share with me any new combinations you discover.

Homemade Wheat Thins

(Makes 100 crackers)

Ingredients:

• 1 1/4 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 teaspoon dried rosemary, minced
• 4 tablespoons non-dairy butter (I used earth balance)
• 1/4 cup water
• Sea salt for topping

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, salt and rosemary.
2. Using a pastry cutter or two knives, cut in the butter until there are now pieces larger than a pea.
3. Pour in the water and stir until combined. It might seem dry at first, but use your hands to keep incorporating the ingredients until you get a ball of dough.
4. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
5. On a piece of parchment paper that has been lightly floured, roll out 1/4 of the dough at a time into a rectangle. Roll it as thin as possible! And then roll it even thinner!
6. Use a long, sharp knife to cut the dough into squares or triangles. Make the crackers whatever size and shape you want. If you like perfect crackers, you will probably need to trim up the edges of your dough. Otherwise keep things rustic!
7. Do step 6 with another 1/4 of the dough so that you have two sets of crackers ready to bake. Pull the parchment paper onto baking sheets. 
8. Sprinkle the crackers with sea salt and slightly press the salt into the dough.
9. Bake the crackers for 5-10 minutes until slightly browned. It's a long range of time because it all depends on how thin you roll your crackers. Mine usually take about 8 minutes. Be careful though because they can go from perfect to burnt in a short time.
10. Repeat steps 6-9 for the rest of the dough. 
11. Brake any crackers apart that are stuck together and let them cool on a separate plate. 
12. Store them in an air tight container. 
13. Enjoy!

Notes: Adapted from Kitchen Stewardship 

Eat Consciously,

Faith

Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies

I'm writing this as I rest on the couch after a 10-mile run. I was able to get off work early and took advantage of the beautiful, Florida winter afternoon. It was hotter than I though it would be, but there was a nice breeze and barely a cloud in the sky. Overall it was a good run. I always feel like I'm putzin' (as in 10-minute miles) but my average pace was 8:45. I'll take it for a long run. I've never been a fast runner, but I'm hoping to add in some fartleks to my weekly schedule. We'll see if I experience any improvement!

Tomorrow Brett and I leave for Destin, Florida to celebrate Christmas with his family. We are both so excited to be on Christmas break and to spend some quality time with everyone. It's the first time I will be away from my family over Christmas, so that's new, but I'm looking forward to our road trip to Destin and a (hopefully) sunny, Florida Christmas. 

Since we aren't going up North for Christmas I've had to put in extra work to get in the Christmas spirit. We got a "Charlie Brown" Christmas tree, some new stockings and I let our wrapped presents take over the top of one of our book cases. It's my little Christmas corner that I often find myself gravitating to whenever I'm home. I always have our Frosty Yankee Candle lit when I'm home too and the flickering light makes me feel like I'm by a fireplace all bundled up....when in reality I'm sitting in my shorts on the couch. Even Brett, who says he's not very "Christmasy" was kind enough to watch Home Alone with me last night. Such a classic.

Along with all the Christmas decorations, wintertime always makes me want to bake even more than I already do. I wanted to bring some baked goods for the family to enjoy while in Destin so I knew I couldn't try out any new, super healthy recipes. While I may love bland, crunchy, super-duper-healthy things,  not everyone else does. So I decided to play it safe and "veganize" a cookie recipe that I've made before. This recipe is actual from my friend Jill who recently moved to Colorado. It was fun to reminisce on good times with her while making these! And it was a lot easier to substitute the dairy products than I thought. I just used earth balance instead of butter and a flax egg instead of a real egg. As always, Brett the taste-tester approved. Hopefully the family will too!

Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies

(Makes 24 Cookies)

 Ingredients:

· 1/2 cup old-fashioned oatmeal

· 1/2 cup flour

· 1 teaspoon cinnamon

· 1/2 teaspoon salt

· 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg

· 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

· 1/2 cup earth balance

· 1/2 cup natural peanut butter

· 1/2 cup natural cane sugar

· 1 tablespoon ground flaxseed + 3 tablespoons water (flax egg)

· 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

· 3/4 cup semi-sweet Ghirardelli chocolate chips

*To make the flax egg, whisk the ground flaxseed and water together and let sit for 5 minutes

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

2. In a medium sized bowl, mix together the dry ingredients, from oats to baking soda.

3. In a large bowl, beat the butter, peanut butter and both sugars together with a hand mixer or standing mixer.

4. Beat in the flax egg and vanilla.

5. Slowly beat in the dry ingredients on low speed until everything is incorporated.

6. Stir in the chocolate chips.

7. Drop 2 tablespoon sized balls of dough onto the baking sheets.

8. Bake for 12-15 minutes.

  

Merry Christmas!

Eat Consciously,

     Faith

Simple Sugar Cookies (Dairy and Egg Free)

Before we get to talking about sugar cookies, I gotta say that this has been a great weekend. Friday night Brett and I went to his office Christmas party decked out in our ugliest Christmas sweaters and ready to fight for the best white elephant gifts. I brought Spicy Buffalo Cauliflower Bites from Skinnytaste and they were a big hit!

Saturday morning we got coffee with some friends before heading to the beach for the afternoon. It was my friend Kelley's birthday and she just had a baby, so it was a fun day of celebrating with friends. We finished the night eating so much delicious, Mexican food that we all left in pain...but happy.

Today Brett and I got up early and went to Starbucks to study, read and work on random projects. Then we went for a "hike" at a park near our house. It was cloudy and cool today, perfect for being outside. We looked out for some alligators by the river banks, but didn't see any. Thank goodness. 

And Brett took a nap.

But now...onto the sugar cookies.

I love sugar cookies. That is, sugar cookies smeared with icing and covered with sprinkles. I used to pride myself on how easy it was for me to tolerate large amounts of sugar. I could eat a piece of Costco sheet cake (you know the kind...white cake, creamy middle layer with about an inch of icing on all sides) like it was nothing. Most of my friends could only handle a few bites, but man, I loved that stuff. Soft, store bought sugar cookies have always been some of my favorites too. They're basically like a piece of Costco sheet cake in cookie form. Delicious.

Since I've stopped eating dairy my sweets intake has increased dramatically. Most desserts have egg, milk or butter in them which don't sit well usually, so I just pass them up. This has also caused my sweet tolerance to decrease a ton as well, which I'm fine with, but I still love a piece of cake or a warm cookie every once in a while. With all these Christmas parties happening, I've been seeing a good amount of decorated sugar cookies so I quickly decided that I needed to make some dairy and egg free ones for myself to enjoy...oh right, and give to others.

This recipe is so easy and only requires 7 ingredients. The cookies stayed plump and uniform after baking and tasted great. No one will know their vegan. I'll be making these a holiday staple for sure!

Simple Sugar Cookies

(Makes 20 cookies)

 Ingredients:

· 1 1/2 cups + 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

· 3/4 teaspoon baking powder

· 1/4 teaspoon salt

· 1/2 cup earth balance spread, softened to room temperature

· 1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons natural cane sugar

· 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

· 2 tablespoons almond milk

Easy Icing

· 1 cup powdered sugar

· 1 tablespoon + 2-3 teaspoons almond milk

Directions:

1. In a medium sized bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

2. In a large bowl, cream the earth balance butter and sugar together with a hand mixer.

3. Add in the vanilla extract and milk and mix a little more.

4. As you continue to mix, slowly add in the dry ingredients. Mix until everything is combined and a dough forms.

5. Take the dough and form it into a disk and wrap it in wax paper. Let it chill in the fridge for about an hour.

6. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

7. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough with a rolling pin until it is about 1/4 inch thick.

8. Use cookie cutters to cut out desired shapes and place the cut outs on the baking sheets.

9. Re-roll the remaining “scrap” dough and continue to cut out cookies until all the dough is used.

10. Bake in the oven for 10-12 minutes and the underneath is golden brown.

11. Let cool completely before icing and decorating.

12. To make the icing, put the powdered sugar in a bowl and add a tablespoon of milk and stir. Continue adding a teaspoon of milk at a time, stirring in between, until a thick frosting forms. Be careful not to add too much milk! A little goes a long way.

Roll out the refrigerated dough until it is 1/4 inch thick.

Use cookie cutters to cut out fun shapes.

Place the cut out shapes on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet.

Bake for 10-12 minutes until starting to brown on the edges.

  

Let cool completely before frosting!

  

Eat Consciously,

     Faith