EXTRA GOOD Crispy-Rice-Cereal-Bars

The lovely people at Chicago Soy Dairy recently sent me TWO packages of their lovely Dandies vegan Marshmallows to experiment with. My kids were overjoyed, as they LOVE all things "marshmallow-y" and probably feel more deprived over the lack of marshmallow-y goodness in their diet than most kids would over a cheeseburger.

I have to admit (sorry Dandies) that I was never a fan of any type of marshmallows, so the only thing I had ever done with them was make Rice Krispies Treats^tm or S'mores for my kids. And a lack of good vegan marshmallows never seemed to be a problem for me. (Apparently I was very, VERY wrong!!)
Nevertheless, I was more than willing to make use of these babies to give all the marshmallow-lovers out there yet one more wonderful way to enjoy vegan marshmallow-y-ness - including my kids and their slightly warped palates.

Let me say, these little gems delivered in both taste AND texture. My kids were perfectly happy and insisted the Dandies were JUST as good (obviously better, since they're animal free, right?) as the gelatin-filled, jet-puffed counterparts. And cooking with them seemed just the same, no weird vegan-only directions needed to conjure up a quick gooey, sticky marshmallow-based snackky things!

The first bag was immediately made into the standard Rice Krispies Treats^tm that we all know and love. And devoured just as quickly. No pictures taken, I suppose I could show you the empty pan, virtually licked clean by several teenagers and their friends...

The second bag, I determined to make something a little more "original' than your standard back-of-the-box Rice Cereal Treat. I have to admit, my treats still have similarities to the original, because just as I pulled out the whole grains, nuts and dried fruits, my kids squawked that they wanted MORE marshmallow-y Rice Krispie Treats^tm treats, so we compromised. Just a bit. I am pretty sure health-conscious parents AND marshmallow-cereal-bar fans alike will be happy with the end result!!

EXTRA GOOD "Marshmallow" Rice Cereal Treats

* 1/3 cup REAL maple syrup
* 1 1/2 Tbsp. coconut oil
* 4 cups Chicago Soy Dairy's DANDIES Vegan Marshmallows
* 1/2 cup peanut or almond butter
* 1/2 teaspoon maple-flavored extract
* 5 cups Crispy Rice Cereal of your choice
* 1 cup granola
* 1 cup dried cranberries or cherries
* 1/2 cup chopped dried apricot
* 1 cup chopped or sliced almonds

Lightly spray a 9x13-inch baking pan with nonstick cooking spray or oil, and set aside.
In a large saucepan set over low heat cook the maple syrup and coconut oil until melted and bubbly.
Add the marshmallows, extract and nut butter and cook, stirring often, until melted.
Remove the saucepan from the heat. Mix in the remaining ingredients, stirring until combined and well coated.
Pour the mixture into the prepared pan and press into place with a large square of wax paper or a buttered spatula.
Cool completely. Cut into desired size bars.
Store in covered containers between layers of wax paper in the fridge or a very cool room (like the garage).

Fruit Cobbler (Today it's Blackberry!!)

It's towards the end of blackberry season here in the Pacific Northwest. You can see them along every roadside and vacant lot hanging in shiny black, forgotten clusters.

Once in a while you'll see a car parked and people filling container after container with free fruit, but they're so ubiquitous that most people

don't bother.

Friends invited us over to pick blackberries in their backyard a few days ago, berries they had cultivated; much more accessible and easy to pick. (Virtually unheard of in the land of blackberries as hated and uncontrollable weeds)

These berries were HUGE, often bigger than my thumb, and in just a few minutes we had buckets overflowing and purple stained fingers.

My youngest Sprout helped me gently put berries in pint freezer containers, we now have a lovely little stash for later this winter.

We (she!) made Blackberry Cobbler with the rest.
Our recipe for Fruit Cobbler works with most any juicy fruit, you just adjust the sugar for the sweetness of your fruit and your taste.

Blackberry (or any fruit) Cobbler

¾ - 1 cup sugar (depending on sweetness of fruit)

4 tsp. cornstarch

1 cup water

1/2 tsp. lemon juice

a few DROPS vanilla* extract

(*or almond extract if using apricots or pitted pie cherries)

tiniest pinch of salt

Mix cornstarch with water.

Bring above ingredients to a boil and boil 1 minute, stirring constantly.

Add 4 - 5 cups berries or other fruit.

Add fruit to the sauce, and with any accumulated juices. Stir gently.(Peaches, plums, apricots,

berries; You'll need to peel peaches or the skins float off in an unappetizing way. Chop or slice into desired size pieces.)Pour fruit into 1½ - 2 quart baking dish. (an 9 X 12 glass pan or similar, you don't want it too full or it will bubble over). Dot fruit with a bit of margarine (And I usually add a bit of cinnamon if I'm using peaches)

1 cup flour* of your choice

(I like part white and part spelt)

1 Tbsp. brown sugar

1 ½ tsp. baking powder

½ tsp. salt

3 Tbsp. coconut oil

½ cup milk

Heat oven to 400°. Mix flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a bowl. Use a pastry blender or two forks to cut in coconut oil until mixture looks like crumbly 'meal'. Stir in milk. Drop dough by teaspoon fulls over hot fruit. Cover as much of the top of the pan as possible, it will

spread during baking though...

Bake for 25 - 30 minutes until cobbler top has puffed and browned. Serve warm.

--------------------------

Two of my Sprouts and I went to Pike Place Farmers Market for Labor Day (along with half the state) and enjoyed looking at the beautiful flowers and end-of-summer produce there.

Glad we got our berries for free!!

My children also wanted to visit the infamous "Gum Wall" on Post Alley which I personally thought was wildly disgusting.

They seemed to LOVE it, I may be traumatised for life. I'd much rather look at fruit and flowers.

Hope you all had a great weekend!!

Vegan Mexican 'Cheesecake' Sopapilla Bars

• Quite possibly the most crazy-good, embarrassing, bad-for-you, crowd pleasing, yet actually VEGAN potluck dessert EVER. But no apologies!
• I dare you to make these and share them with your skeptical friends. They may convert to veganism on the spot just to convince you to make more...
• 
  
• They do not resemble Mexican food, sopapillas OR cheesecake in any way, but that's what the 'original' recipe is called, so I'm sticking with the title. And it really doesn't matter what you call them, they are inhaled in about ten seconds flat. Before you even have a CHANCE to warn everyone away from the freaky vegan food - heehee! (I veganized the approximate recipe from a friend's version of NOT vegan, but still yummy, bars, she's not sure where it originated from either... thanks Julianna!!)
• Many of you know I'm not a fan of cinnamon, but I've made an exception here because these things are SO freakin'good, and they don't use a lot, you might add more if you're a fan...

Vegan Mexican 'Cheesecake' Sopapilla Bars

• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 tsp. good quality real vanilla extract
• 1 tsp. lemon juice
• 2 tsp cornstarch
• 2 (8 ounce) packages Tofutti Better-than-cream-cheese
• 2 (8 ounce) cans refrigerated crescent rolls (yes, many varieties are actually vegan! Yes, they do have weird ingredients and yes, some trans fat and yes some artificial crap, so deal with it or go make granola bars!! Or use puff pastry for a slightly different texture but still yummy!!)
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 cup Earth Balance, room temperature
• 1/4 cup honey, agave nectar, maple syrup, brown rice syrup, or fruit syrup

Preheat an oven to 350 degrees.

Lightly(!!) oil a 9x13 inch baking dish with canola oil.

Mix cornstarch into 1 cup sugar. Beat together the Tofutti cream cheese with 1 cup of sugar/cornstarch, vanilla extract and lemon juice, in a bowl, until smooth.
Unroll the cans of crescent roll dough, and use a rolling pin to shape each piece into 9x13 inch rectangles. (Or use pc. of puff pastry)

Press one piece into the bottom of a 9x13 inch baking dish.

Evenly spread the cream cheese mixture into the baking dish, then cover with the remaining piece of crescent dough.

Stir together 3/4 cup of sugar, cinnamon, and butter. Dot the mixture over the top of the pastry.

Bake in the preheated oven until the crescent dough has puffed and turned golden brown, about 30 - 35 minutes. Remove from the oven and drizzle with honey or syrup of choice.

Cool completely in the pan before cutting into squares.

Rhubarb-Plum Crisp

No profound musings today, just dessert - which is really the important part anyway, right?

This rather uninspiring picture is none other than......

Rhubarb-Plum Crisp

Topping:
2/3 cup old-fashioned oats
2/3 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup all purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup coconut oil (NOT melted, if it's liquified, chill until the consistancy of butter)
1/2 cup almonds, whizzed coarsely in food processor but NOT ground into flour

Filling:
4 cups sliced fresh (or frozen and thawed) rhubarb
6 large purple plums, sliced or chopped (I leave the peel on)
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons quick-cooking tapioca
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Pinch of ground nutmeg

Heat oven to 375 degrees.

First make the topping:
Combine first 5 ingredients in medium bowl. Add coconut oil, and cut in using pastry blender or rub with fingertips until mixture begins to clump together. Mix in almonds. (Can be prepared 3 hours ahead. Cover and chill.)

Filling:
Combine all ingredients in large bowl. Let stand 1 to 3 hours.

Oil 9 - 12 glass baking dish. Transfer filling to prepared dish. Sprinkle topping evenly over filling in dish, covering completely.
Bake until fruit is tender, juice bubbles around sides and topping begins to brown slightly, about 40 minutes. If it doesn't brown enough, remove crisp from oven. Preheat broiler. Broil just until topping is crisp and golden, but WATCH CLOSELY!!! Transfer to rack and cool about 30 minutes.

Very-Veggie Pasta Salad and Rhubarb-Ginger Crisp

Hello dear ones, I swear I'm still cooking and eating. Just not blogging. Sad really, because I have no excuse.
So here to appease you, a couple items of yumminess that we enjoyed last week:

Very-Veggie Pasta Salad
(This makes a HUGE bowl, we keep it in the fridge and munch on it for several days. The kids LOVE it and it's crunchy, cool and nutritious in hot weather when you just don't feel like eating anything!)

4 cups cooked pasta of your favorite shape
1 cup broccoli flowerlets, blanched briefly in boiling water
1/2 cup chopped tomatoes
1/2 cup frozen peas
1/2 cup garbanzos/chick peas
1 bunch green onions, sliced
1 small can sliced black olives
1/2 cup coarsely shredded carrot
3/4 cup (1/2 a package or so) baked, flavored tofu, cubed
1 cup chopped fresh (raw) spinach or arugula

Mix the above ingredients together.
(You can really use whatever veggies your family prefers here)

Dressing:
1/4 cup good olive oil or grapeseed oil
1/4 cup white wine vinegar
1 Tbsp. lemon juice
1/2 tsp. finely grated lemon zest
2 cloves pressed garlic
salt and pepper to taste

Whisk dressing ingredients together, pour over salad. Taste and adjust seasonings. Chill salad and enjoy.

And next? Soooo easy.

Rhubarb-Ginger-Apple Crisp
2 c. rhubarb, diced
3 large apples, cut in bite sized pieces (peel if you feel the need, I don't)
1/2 c. sugar
1 tablespoon crystallized ginger, minced
1 tablespoon flour

For the crisp:
1/2 c. flour
1/2 c. brown sugar
4 tbs. vegan margarine, cold, cut into chunks
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 c. oatmeal

Place rhubarb, apples, 1/2 cup sugar, crystallized ginger, and 2 tablespoons flour in a large bowl and toss well.
Combine “crisp” ingredients in a bowl and mix with a pastry blender or fork until crumbly.
Spread about 1/3 of the crisp mixture on the bottom of a greased baking dish.
Place the apple rhubarb mixture on top of the crisp mixture. And spread the rest of the crisp mixture on top of the apple rhubarb mixture. Bake at 350F for 30+ minutes, until fruit is tender and topping is browned.
Serve warm or cold.

Decadent Chocolate-Marshmallow S'Mores Pie!

Oh. My. Gosh.
Graham-cracker crust. Chocolate-y pudding filing. Burnt-sugary toasted 'marshmallow' topping. Just like those S'mores you used to make over the campfire. Only in a pie. And all vegan. And totally decadent.

I have to give credit where credit is due... this is my Middle Sprout's idea, completely! (and except for a few minor tips, she did the whole thing herself!!)

Crust:

(You could just buy one, but I wanted to show my Sprout how easy it was to make a graham cracker crust, plus most commercial graham cracker crusts have honey in them, which vegans usually avoid.)

1-1/2 cups vegan graham cracker crumbs
2 tablespoons brown sugar
6 tablespoons Earth Balance, melted

Preheat oven to 350° F.

Combine all of the ingredients in a medium bowl.

Press into the bottom and sides of a 9-inch pie plate. (#1.)

Bake until set and golden, about 8 minutes.

Cool completely on a wire rack.

Chocolate Filling:

1 package chocolate pudding mix (we used Oetker Organics, but there's several different types. And even plain old "Jello" chocolate pudding mix is vegan!!!) Just mix with soy milk.

Mix pudding according to directions, (#2.) but use 1/2 cup less soymilk so it sets up firmer.

Pour into chilled pie shell. (#3.)

Refrigerate.

Toasted "Marshmallow" Topping:

OK, the tricky part.

We used Ricemallow Creme which is a vegan version of marshmallow fluff. (If you eat egg-whites, Marshmallow Fluff will work fine too).

We thought we'd toast it under the broiler to get that "toasty marshmallow" color and flavor.

Word to the wise, it melts into a liquid PUDDLE if you try this straight out of the jar.

So, we made a 9-inch circle of Ricemallow fluff on a cookie sheet, and froze it solid (about an hour).

THEN we stuck it under the broiler until it started to bubble and turn all "toasted marshmallow-y" (#4.) and QUICKLY slid the toasted, and only slightly-melted mass onto our chilled chocolate pie.

The melted marshmallow oozed around the edges of the toasted part (as you can see) but that only made it more yummy! (#5.)

TAH-DAHHHH... success is sweet.

(Though the picture does NOT do it justice!!)

Chill.

Sprinkle with vegan chocolate shavings if desired.

Enjoy. Compliments of my creative Middle Sprout...(#6.)