Icy Treats

As soon as the temperature begins to sore, I start wanting, no craving, icy cold treats. Ice cream is always a nice fix and I certainly eat my fair share, but it can also be pretty caloric to eat throughout the day. This is where ice pops come in. You can make them in any flavor, quickly make bunches at a time and they can be very virtuous. They also cool you down quickly, making you forget for that icy moment, just how hot it is outside.

As promised, I have several quick and delicious recipes that will fill your freezer full of these icy treats. If you're really short on time, you can simply pour your favorite fruit juice directly into the molds for single flavor pops. Look for the pop molds online, at kitchen stores or even at grocery or dollar stores (the molds in the photo are from Tovolo). So what are you waiting for? Get freezing!

Iced Tea Lemonade Pops
These are very refreshing.

2 cups boiling water
2 to 3 tea bags (herbal, green or black)
2 cups lemonade or juice of choice
Sugar to taste

1. Place tea bags in boiling water and let steep for 10 minutes, or until temperature has cooled down slightly (if using green tea bags, only let mixture a couple of minutes or flavor can get too strong and grassy tasting).
2. Fill a large pitcher half full with ice. Pour brewed tea over ice. Top with lemonade, stirring well. Add sugar (or desired sweetener) to taste, stirring until dissolved.
3. Pour iced tea into pop molds. Place in freezer until frozen solid. If using paper cups, insert a popsicle stick into semi-frozen mixture. Continue freezing until solid.

Variation: You can substitute bottled unsweetened black or green tea for the hot water and tea bags.
Copyright © 2007 Julie Hasson


Mango Orange Vanilla Pops
Similar to a 50/50 bar, but better!

2 cups mango vanilla soy cream (Double Rainbow brand vanilla soy cream with mango sorbet, softened just enough to scoop easily
1-1/4 cups fresh orange juice
2 tsp pure vanilla extract

1. In jar of blender, add ice cream, orange juice and vanilla. Blend on high until smooth. Mixture should be consistency of cream.
2. Pour mixture into ice pop molds and freeze until solid. If using paper cups, insert a popsicle stick into semi frozen mixture. Continue freezing until solid.
Copyright © 2007 Julie Hasson


Pina Colada Pops
These are so good! You'll feel like you're in the tropics.

1 pint coconut sorbet, softened just enough to scoop easily
1 cup pineapple juice

1. In jar of blender, add sorbet and pineapple juice. Blend on high until smooth. Mixture should be consistency of cream.
2. Pour mixture into ice pop molds and freeze until solid. If using paper cups, insert a popsicle stick into semi frozen mixture. Continue freezing until solid.
Copyright © 2007 Julie Hasson

Icy Treats Coming Soon...

Sorry I haven't been posting much. I'm buried in recipe editing, but I promise to post tomorrow. I'm making some fun and icy treats tomorrow morning on AM Northwest (Channel 2 in Portland), and will post the recipes and photos on the blog. Should I take my camera down to the station and snap some pics too?

Berry Picking, Pie & Vegan Cookies

One of my favorite things to do is go berry picking. It's something that I look forward to each year. So last Saturday I dragged my hubby and son and went berry picking. We also had friends in town visiting from Boise, and they were dragged along too. Fortunately my son (who's 13), still loves picking berries. My daughter, on the other hand (who is 16 and still at camp), thinks that berry picking is one of the worst forms of torture inflicted on children.

So off we went to the West Union Gardens to fill our buckets and tummies. Their no spray berries were amazing, and just what I needed to help finish the recipes for my cookbook. The boys helped me pick about 20 pounds or so, and looked like they could have picked all day.



Here I am with my berry buckets, skipping down the path. You've got to love thorn-less berry bushes.


Then, as we were leaving, we saw the most adorable little girl, who looked like she was enjoying the berries as much as we were. We just had to snap her picture. As it turns out, this gorgeous little girl also happens to be vegan (let's hear it for healthy vegan children!). Her parents recognized me from the demo that Bryanna and I did at Vegfest. Small world.


On another note, if you happen to be in the Portland, Oregon area this Saturday (July 7th), stop by the Herbivore store at 2:00 for a vegan cookie fest.

I leave you with an easy berry pie recipe, perfect for the 4th of July. If anyone makes it, I would love to see your pictures.

Julie's Easy Berry Pie

4 cups fresh berries
1 9-inch pastry crust or crumb crust, baked and cooled (homemade or store-bought)
1 cup fresh or frozen berries
2/3 cup sugar
3 tbsp plus 1 tsp cornstarch
2/3 cup water
1 tbsp water

1. Place the 4 cups berries in cooled crust. Set aside.

2. In a medium saucepan, whisk together sugar and cornstarch. Slowly whisk in water until smooth. Stir in 1 cup fresh or frozen berries and bring to a simmer over medium heat, stirring continuously. Cook and stir until mixture is thick. Continue cooking 1 more minute and remove from heat. Whisk in additional 1 tablespoon water and spoon hot topping over berries in pie shell. Let pie sit until filling is cool. Cover and refrigerate for four hours before serving.

*You can include some fresh, sliced and peeled fresh peaches for part of the 4 cups fresh berries

**If you're looking for a good store-bought vegan crust, look for the Wholly Wholesome brand. They taste great and don't have any hydrogenated oils.

Vegan Camping

What could be sweeter than a week of camping? Once our kids were safely off at camp, my husband and I decided that a camping trip was in order (and long overdue!). So we packed up our car with an obscene amount of food, 1 tent, 2 sleeping bags, 1 air mattress, 1 camp stove, a lantern and our dog Bruno and headed off for a week of adventure.

Our first stop was in Eugene for lunch at Cafe Yumm. My veggie burger was indeed yummy, served with their special yumm sauce. I wish we had more time to try some of the other veg restaurants in Eugene.
Then we were off to Crater Lake (with a few of quick stops at hot springs along the way).

Bruno loves posing for pictures.
Now onto the food. Like I said, we brought an obscene amount of food. Here's a shot of our stuffed food bin.

We brought all of the essentials: coffee, tea, whole grain bread, instant oatmeal, gnocchi, pasta, tomato sauce, nuts and dried fruit, tofu, veggie hot dogs, veggie chili, lentil soup, lots of fruit and veggies, hummus, nut butter, cherry jam, hazelnut milk, smoked Tofurkey slices, Vegenaise, mustard, Braggs... Basically, the essentials ; )

Here's Jay making his Firecracker Tofu. It was really good!


Here's another Jay dish. The picture doesn't do it justice. It was one of my favorite dinners -Gnocchi with a tomato basil mushroom sauce. I think he also put some veggie meatballs in there too. It was delish!


Two things we learned on this trip:

1. If you plan on enjoying wine with your dinner, don't buy your bottle openers at the dollar store.
2. Don't forget to pack mosquito repellent. No matter how much you might hate spraying yourself with poison, it sure beats a thousand mosquito bites.

Tapioca Pudding

Tapioca pudding anyone? I know that pudding is something you either love or hate. Personally, I love it. Pudding is comfort food at it's best.

When my husband and I were first dating, he would sweetly say "tapioca", and I would bound to the kitchen to whip him up a batch. I later learned that he wasn't even a pudding person, but having someone willingly whip up a batch at the drop of a hat, made him appreciate it's finer points (and mine too apparently).

This weekend my daughter had her wisdom teeth out, and could only eat soft food. The first thing she uttered after awaking from anesthesia was "tapioca". Of course you can't buy ready-made vegan tapioca in the market, so as soon as I got her settled in bed I started cooking.

Although my pics are a bit dark, the pudding was delicious. I adapted a recipe from Bryanna Clark Grogan and made my daughter very happy (or as happy as she could be given the circumstances). I guess you could call the pudding vegan penicillin.



Tapioca Pudding

3 cups plain or vanilla soymilk
3 tablespoons Bird’s Custard Powder
3 tablespoons Minute or instant tapioca
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a saucepan, whisk together the first 4 ingredients. Let mixture sit for 5-10 minutes to soften tapioca. Place saucepan over medium low heat and, whisking continuously, cook mixture until thickened. This will take about 10 minutes. Stir in vanilla.

Scoop pudding into a bowl. Let pudding cool and refrigerate pudding until firm.

*If you can't find Bird's Custard Powder, I believe that you can substitute an equal amount of cornstarch. Look for Bird's Custard Powder at grocery stores, specialty markets & Cost Plus World Market.

Recipe adapted from Bryanna Clark Grogan

And The Winner Is...

I want to thank everyone for participating in the giveaway. I thought it would be fun to give away two DVD's (instead of one), so the two winners are...

Tal
Fughawzi

Congratulations!!!

Tal and Fughawzi, you need to email me by 3:00 (Pacific time) on Monday (June 11th). I need your name and mailing address so I can send them out to you. Yeah!! Please send the email to blog@everydaydish.tv.

I'm thinking about doing another giveaway in July. Details to come...

Dark Chocolate Chip Cake And A Giveaway

Yes, this is one amazing chocolate cake. It’s just as fabulous with frosting as it is without. I think of this recipe as “a little black dress”. It works for fancy or casual occasions; it has widespread appeal and always makes people smile.

The recipe is included on the Everyday Dish DVD, so I can’t publish it here. What I can do though is a DVD giveaway, because everyone must have this recipe (along with the 15 other fabulous vegan recipes on the DVD). Now here’s the scoop:

You can enter the giveaway through the comments. One entry per person is eligible. Anonymous comments have to include a first or last name.

I will randomly select a winner by putting all of the names in a big mixing bowl, and will announce the winner here on the blog. Once the winner is announced, they will need to email me within 2 days, or I will have to randomly select another winner. I’m not sure when I will announce the winner, so check back often.