Yesterday was World Cancer Day.
Yesterday was the day I spent the morning with my dad and the head of oncology at our hospital. Hearing a new cancer diagnosis, with an accompanying recommendation of a laryngectomy. Dad will have his voice box removed permanently, and with it, the cancer. Hopefully permanently.
Surgery is scheduled for this Thursday. Which is a good thing, because I will not be able to think of anything else until then.
I want to say Thank You, again. Thank you to all of you who continue to pray and send good thoughts, ask about Dad and ask about me. You all have made this experience much more bearable. Sometimes, even happy.
I think it is appropriate that I originally made this recipe as a Thank You for someone who has been a huge lifesaver to me.
My strawberry lemon rice crispies are dessert number two in my Vegan Valentines series, and they are one of my favorite recipes for rice crispy treats. Bright lemon flavor and sweet strawberries throughout – a unique flavor for a crispy treat – a good one.
strawberry lemon rice crispies
dairy and gluten free, vegan
makes 9-12 squares
2 tablespoons coconut oil
10 oz package marshmallows (Dandies vegan!)
juice and zest of 1 lemon
2 tablespoons beet juice (optional for color)
5 cups rice puffs
3/4 cup dehydrated strawberry pieces
Melt coconut oil in saucepan, add marshmallows. Stir over medium heat until melted, add beet juice, lemon juice and zest. Remove from heat, add rice puffs and strawberries, stir until combined. Press into prepared pan – 9×9 square makes tall rice crispies!
I’m making a batch of these to bring to the nurses Thursday. I know many by name now.
What else was I going to do with kale during a ‘Treats and Sweets’ month?
Seriously, I came up with several ideas. Many that are not ready for spabettie just yet,
but these? Several taste testers have approved – vegan or not! They all loved these.
and to my surprise, they were still crunchy and crisp, even after a few days – still delicious!
chocolate dipped sugared kale chips
kale
coconut sugar
chocolate - melted
Wash and dry kale. Tear / cut leaves into small pieces, removing ribs and stems. Arrange in single layer on baking pan or dehydrator sheet. Sprinkle with coconut sugar.
Oven: bake at 250-275 for 45 – 60 minutes.
Dehydrator: 145 for 2-3 hours.
Once dried, brush with chocolate and allow to dry.
More recipes using kale:
miso sesame kale chips
plant based steak dinner
grapefruit kale chiffonade
raw taco Tuesday
lemon avocado massaged kale salad
tahini kale stuffed waffles
To see more kale creations, visit Heather for Meatless Monday A to Z!
Dehydrated pineapple flowers definitely make a pretty presentation.
The first time I saw them was when Annie shared them (she says they are from Martha Stewart), and I have wanted to make them ever since. My lovely friend Sarena just made some too – hers are gorgeous as well!
I have made these flowers three times now, once as cupcake toppers for Jeni’s going away party, which called for some over the top desserts.
The way I made them was very simple – I sliced very thin rounds of fresh pineapple (which was by far the most difficult part), peeling some of the slices and leaving some slices with peel intact – resulting in different looks for the flowers. I placed them over the backside of a muffin tin and dried them in my dehydrator (I am sure this would also work in an oven, lowest temperature, door open) for several hours.
I checked on them every so often, moving them around as they softened. Moving them is an important part – as they soften they become sticky and moving them helps keep them from ripping or sticking to the pan. After several hours (like 6 or 7) they are pliable and chewy, and crunchy around the edges.
After frosting the (cooled) cupcakes with green frosting and darker green “leaves”, I placed a pineapple “flower” atop each cake. Then I filled a raspberry with icing, which became the middle for each flower.
I made two flavors of cakes for Jeni and her party – chocolate and vanilla.
For the chocolate, I used this cake mix. Not only is it gluten free, it appears to be naturally vegan as well! I used the same recipe method that I used with these cupcakes, without the orange flavor. The vanilla cupcakes were a recipe I am making for a project off this website, if I can share it later I will.
Summer is here, and my dehydrator is working overtime, for sure. More goodies coming soon.
