Cubed Tofu and Beet Salad aka "Pink Fufu"

This throw together salad is easy - Chop. Chop. Drizzle. Drizzle. Marinate if you wish!

 

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For a more developed flavor, marinate the beets and tofu in the vinegar for a couple hours in the fridge.

This is great to bring on picnics. I made it one evening for a girls night in and I've craved it almost every night since.

Yummy for toddlers too - plus, it turns pink! My toddler calls this "pink fufu" - she loves her "fufu."

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I've been buying the organic Love Beets from Costco this summer and they are wonderfully easy to add extra nutrients and antioxidants to any dish. They make this dish a breeze to prepare all for a wonderfully doable price. If you are in need of another beet recipe, try my red velvet cake smoothie.

The directions are very simple, all detailed in the pictures below!

Tofu and Beet Salad
1 package extra-firm or firm organic Tofu ( I used Wildwood)
4 beets, steamed, cooled and peeled (love the organic Love Beets now sold by Costco - this makes it even easier to prepare)
3 TB Extra Virgin Olive oil
2 TB Seasoned Rice vinegar
Fresh ground black pepper and chunky sea salt

Fresh Thyme (totally optional but a plus for antioxidants - keep in mind, some kids may not like this flavor)

1. Chop the tofu lengthwise 3 times and then across 3 times. Then through the tofu like you are slicing a sandwich bun. Cut large cubes down into preferable size.
2. Chop the beets into 1/2" chunks (or smaller if feeding children).
3. Drizzle with olive oil, rice vinegar, salt, pepper and thyme if you wish. Enjoy!

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Which sounds better: Tofu and Beet or Beet and Tofu?

Looking for more easy summer salads?
Try last year's Refreshing Garbanzo Bean Salad

and Zesty Red Quinoa Salad with Mango and Cucumber

and this year's Cold Brown Rice and Garbanzo Bean Pesto Salad

Inspiration Found

Inspiration found is inspiration in need of sharing. Here I will share a little inspiration from my week(s).

What inspires you??? I'd love to hear from you at the end of this post!

As I write this, the sun is setting on this lovely painting above my computer...

Painting found at Ross. It is signed "JB", not sure of origin or artist. My mother bought it as a house-warming gift. Photo by Me.

Homebrewed and Iced Spiced Mint Herbal Tea with mint from Granny's Garden and Spices from Mountain Rose Herbs
& Iced Lemon Jasmine Tea from Zhena's Gypsy Tea

Potted Herbs from Auntie M - I'm growing marshmallow root!

And any greenery and wildlife (this taken on our trip to the cabin)...

Violet Woods - a blog full of whimsy and beauty by Christina Rose, an artist

This Wedding by Rebecca Hollis Photography

She Reads Truth: Women of the Bible series

This verse (little font-work/design I created myself). Please feel free to share, credit appreciated:

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Cold Brown Rice and Garbanzo Bean Pesto Salad + Moving

My short Memoirs of Moving:

Moving can be ugly. A reminder of how much unnecessary stuff that's accumulated over the years. A reminder of how often you didn't clean the bathroom. Tears and growls of frustration over long hours and very little sleep.

But in this ugliness, there is this wonderful opportunity to purge, to start a new. A fresh start. And that's where moving can be a wonderful blessing. Struggling comes with an opportunity to lean evermore on God's grace and glory.

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So as I put my books on my bookshelves, hang clothes in our closet, art on our walls, and cook in my new kitchen, I thank the Lord for this blessing, whether our time here be short or long. There may be two dozen things wrong with our house but when God is in our lives and in our hearts there is nothing wrong with our home... our sweet, sweet home.

May God bless your home!

And before I continue on to the recipe, I must apologize, my dear sweetlings for my absence and the absence of my posts. We have moved (you might have guessed from my short blurb up there) and we have been internet-less for two weeks. I have a lot of recipes stashed which I hope I get to share with all of you very soon!

In the process of moving and the heat of summer, I've created several quick, easy and tasty salads with very few ingredients. Today I'm sharing with you a garbanzo bean and rice pesto salad. I made this and brought it with me to a multi-family garage sale to snack on. It was a hit alongside some iced Zhena's Gypsy Lemon Jasmine Tea (which my toddler also sold instead of lemonade at her little stand - she's an entrepreneur in the making). Also we were treated to my new neighbor's salsa which I must say was amazing! Maybe I can wrangle the recipe out of her eventually and share it with you all.

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I used my nettle basil pesto with basil from the farmer's market and dried nettle from Mountain Rose Herbs. This is a great time to make homemade pesto as basil is super fresh! It's a little late for fresh nettles but the dried, organic herb adds a nice earthy touch that pares nicely with brown rice in this salad. You can use any homemade pesto (be cautious of store-bought as it usually contains cheese).

Also if you have a lot of pesto leftover from making a batch, use an ice cube tray to freeze small serving sizes (I use these leftover from my endeavors in homemade baby food - love that they are bpa free and have lids!).

Brown Rice and Garbanzo Bean Salad
2 cups leftover cooked brown rice (preferably cooked with a little extra water so it doesn't dry out)
1 1/2 cup cooked and cooled garbanzo beans (= one 15 oz can drained and well-rinsed)
3 TB nettle basil pesto (or pesto of your choice)
3 TB olive oil
2 TB white balsamic vinegar (rice vinegar would work as well)
Sea Salt and Pepper

Chopped walnuts to top, optional

Directions: With a spoon, break down the large clumps of rice if any and mix with remaining ingredients. Refridgerate until time to eat. Enjoy!

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Great for picnics! Garage sale-ing! And moving!

Question of the Day: What are you bringing to on your picnics?  Last year we were really into bean dips like this vegan spinach and artichoke dip. But now this salad and a few others have been starring on the picnic menu.

Red, White & Blueberry Vegan Cheesecake Bars for Fourth of July

If you're looking for a fun Fourth of July treat (that's vegan and gluten free too boot!), then look no further! I present you with Red, White & Blueberry Vegan Cheesecake Bars!

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A lovely lady at bible study recommended that I call it a "loaf" because "cheesecake" makes it sound indulgent. What do you think? This dessert doesn't contain excess amounts of sugar but I think it's rich in its own right. But I wouldn't want people passing it over because it sounded too decadent... hmmm. Thoughts, oh my darling Sweetlings?

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Yum! Razzle dazzle me! This baby has got pizzaz!

The "cheesecake" turns out a little spotted with vanilla bean seeds and the psyllium husk powder but you can use vanilla extract instead - if you're striving for a more stark white. Vanilla beans and psyllium husk powder can be found in your local health food store, amazon (click here for psyllium and here for Madagascar Vanilla Beans), or Mountain Rose Herbs.

Oat Crust and Crumble
3 1/2 cups oats (use gluten free certified if sensitive - Bob's Red Mill sells a reputable variety)
3/4 cup sorghum flour
1/2 cup tapioca starch
2 TB chia seeds
1/4 cup evaporated cane juice sugar (or coconut sugar)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup + 2 TB non-dairy (and unsweetened) milk
1/2 cup coconut oil

Red & Blue Fruit Layer
2 cups chopped rhubarb
2 cups chopped strawberries
2 cups frozen blueberries                       > (You can use any combination of fruit that you like.)
1 TB chia seeds                                  
3 TB evaporated cane juice sugar

White Vanilla Vegan Cheesecake
1 1/2 cup cashew pieces, raw and rinsed
1 cup heavy coconut milk
2 TB evaporated cane juice sugar
1 TB psyllium husk powder
Seeds from 1 Vanilla Bean

1. Combine dry ingedients of the oat crumble. Cut in the coconut oil and non-dairy milk (or mash with a potato masher until combined and the mixture looks like gritty sand (the mashing part can be really fun for a toddler as pictured below)
2. Push 3/4 of the batter into the bottom of a 9x13 oven-safe dish.
3. Combine the fruit layer together in a separate bowl. Layer on top of the oat crust.
4. Blend in a high speed blender the ingredients for the vegan cheesecake Layer on top of the fruit layer (may need to use spatula to spread this).
5. Crumble remaining oat mixture on top of the cheesecake.
6. Cover with foil and bake in preheated 375 oven for 30 minutes. Uncover and bake another 15-20 until the top oat mixture is golden. Let cool 10 minutes or completely before slicing.

My little girl loved mashing together the oat crust! Perfect bonding time and we used small measuring cups to help counting. It was a great way to have a relational and fun learning time - and we made dessert (or breakfast). Win Win!

ENJOY!

I hope you have a wonderful Fourth of July! And that maybe you find the time to make this festive treat. What are your plans for this lovely and very hot week?

Red Velvet Cake Smoothie (vegan, dairy and gluten free)

Packed with antioxidant powerhouses - beets, cocoa, and raspberries. This smoothie will rock your socks. And it's smoother than any charming Italian.

 

 

If you've tried my Carrot Cake Smoothie (comes with rave reviews) or even my Green Vanilla Smoothie, then you'll love this sweet vegetable and fruit smoothie.

Did you know my father's side of my family claims they brought back the recipe for red velvet cake from Italy? We're not even Italian! They just lived there a couple years. So this recipe is sort of a piece of my heritage, just with my "blended" spin on it!

Red Velvet Cake Smoothie
1 1/4 cup milk of choice (plain or vanilla but unsweetened - I used almond)
2 beets, steamed and peeked
1 cup raspberries
1/2 banana
3-4 TB cocoa powder (use raw cacao for even greater antioxidants)
2 Dates
1 big scoop nut butter + vanilla extract or 1 scoop vanilla protein powder of choice

1. Blend all ingredients in high-speed blender until completely incorporated.

Have you ever noticed how paper straws, although fantastically beautiful, are really quite awful to sip out of for a long time (longer than five minutes)? They get all soggy and limp. It affects the experience, going from drinking delicious smoothie to slobbering all over wet paper to slurp up a miniscule amount of smoothie (the straws now boasting a slight wet-cement flavor).

And they are almost worth it because they are so darn cute. Almost...

I saw these Stainless Steel Drink Straws (4)  on sale for $5.89 (+$2.99 shipping). They have pretty good reviews and come with a straw cleaner (looks similar to a pipe cleaner). I ordered them for my new kitchen! So excited! I'll let you know how well they work!

Question of the Day:
Have you ever used a paper straw? Was the cuteness worth the limp, ineffective, straw?

Early Grey Rhubarb Sorbet

Oh, rhubarb. I could write a sonnet to your vibrant ruby stalks and lively taste.  I adore you.

I love rhubarb and I love tea (if you know me at all, you know this). And one of my best ideas ever? Combine them!

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Rhubarb has been celebrated on a lot of foodie blogs so I was hesitant to share a rhubarb recipe here (I tarried between this and a crisp, sauce, and other desserts) but I think you'll love this one. There is a reason everyone else is sharing their recipes - rhubarb is versatile, delicious, and currently ripe. You can find rhubarb showcasing on the internet - raw in a salad from My New Roots, layered in buckwheat rhubarb scones, and even whipped into a barbeque sauce from Edible Perspective.

Rhubarb is such an interesting plant. Normally considered a vegetable, it is largely considered a fruit in the United States, particularly in regards to tariff. It's leaves are poisonous but the stalks are more than edible - their delicious. The stalks can be eaten raw or cooked, which brings out its sweeter notes. An excellent source of Vitamin C, rhubarb also contains some calcium and Vitamin K. It is also high in dietary fiber - in some past cultures, it's even been used as a laxative (although no concern for a normal serving).

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Rhubarb makes a delicious debut in this late spring, early summer dessert, pairing sublimely well with Earl Grey tea. Earl Grey is a rich black tea scented with Bergamot, a citrus. It's rich yet easily drinkable and lively with orange flower notes. Bergamot from the Earl Grey tea gives this sorbet a tasty floral note while the black tea deepens the flavor. And the Rhubarb mixed with honey is tangy and sweet. Perfect for a frozen treat!

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I used Earl Grey from Red Blossom Tea Company, a beautiful and somewhat mod little tea shop in San Francisco. Lucky for anyone, they sell their tea online! (After poking around on their site, I realized the Earl Grey is nowhere to be found - am I missing something? Perhaps they don't sell it anymore or don't sell it online. If you would love a lovely organic Earl Grey tea, try Mountain Rose Herbs).

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Don't let the long-looking directions fool you! With only five ingredients (including water), this sorbet is worth the three part ice cream process - macerate, let cool, and blend. The most time you'll spend is probably washing and chopping the rhubarb.

Earl Grey Rhubarb Sorbet
4-5 cups chopped rhubarb
1 cup water
1/3-1/2 cup honey
1/2 vanilla bean
1 TB loose leaf Earl Grey Tea*

Also will need a small muslin bag (available on Mountain Rose Herbs and amazon).

1. Slice half of vanilla bean lengthwise and using flat edge of knife, scrape out seeds of vanilla bean. 2. Add vanilla seeds, empty pod, chopped rhubarb, water and honey (start with 1/3 cup) to a medium saucepot. Boil then simmer 5-8 minutes until rhubarb seems softer. (Taste if extra honey is needed - greener rhubarb will be less sweet so may need more honey).
3. Add a muslin bag of the loose leaf Earl Grey Tea to the simmering pot of rhubarb. Let simmer five more minutes. Remove from heat.
4. Taste the base again. It is your choice to remove the earl grey tea (if it's flavor is pronounced enough for you) or to let it infuse longer for stronger flavor (don't let it sit too long because black tea has some very strong tannins and can be bitter if infused too long).
5. Let cool (about 4 hours over overnight in fridge). Remove vanilla pod and blend in a blender or with an immersion blender (I used my Cuisinart Smart Stick Hand Blender) until smooth.
6. Put in ice cream machine maker (I have Cuisinart Automatic 1-1/2-Quart Ice Cream Maker, White) and use according to manufacturer's directions. Serve! And freeze remainder!

Note: Alternatively, you can pour into popsicle molds and freeze. Or instead of Step #5, freeze the base in large ice cube trays and blend in high speed blender to make ice cream.

*Because we are using black tea, this sorbet will contain caffeine. I used Earl Grey from Red Blossom Tea Company. It's also available on Mountain Rose Herbs, as is vanilla beans, although I bought my vanilla from amazon .

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Also GF Girl's post on Food52 reminded me that Food 52 is opening a new store Provisions. You can sign up now for a $10 credit to use on your first purchase. I can't wait to see what they have!

And if you're looking for a last minute Father's Day gift or a treat for yourself, check out this great magazine deal on Amazon.

Amazon: Purchase a Select Magazine for $5 or less and get a $5 credit

I love magazines so when I saw this dealI just had to share: 

Get a magazine like EatingWell, Field & Streamor Outdoor Lifefor $5 and receive a $5 credit added to your Amazon account within two weeks. Making the magazine essentially free!

I love cooking magazines and they provide a lot of inspiration for this blog so I know I'll be ordering the EatingWell (it's not gluten and dairy free but I do a lot of my own conversions). But if you have a man in your life who likes fishing and hunting, Field & Streamwould be a great Father's Day gift (which is this weekend)!

Just go on over to this page to select your magazine and checkout! Happy reading! Best enjoyed outside with a cup of fresh juice or tea in hand.

Stay tuned for a recipe later on today!

 

 

On a side note, these magazines will selected for one year auto renewal so once purchased, you can cancel anytime in your magazine subscription manager.

Also any purchase made through these links helps support Sweet Roots. Thank your for your love and interest!