Petite Raspberry Tarts

OW DID MY MOM get me to eat healthy food when I was younger? She quickly learned that it would be a losing battle to use force. There was no point in forbidding me to leave the dinner table until I ate my veggies because I would let them sit in my mouth for hours, leaving her feeling pretty defeated. But being the resilient person my mom is, she found new ways.

I am very conscious of what I eat now that I am older, and I accredit that largely to my mom. She made me realize that there's a pretty direct (seemingly obvious) correlation between what you eat and how you feel. With fruit, she got me hooked with some of the most irresistible berries nature has to offer—raspberries. Not only did I enjoy their sweet and sometimes subtle tartness, I enjoyed eating them the way Amelie did. My boyfriend and I love putting them on our cereal, eating them by the handful, and lately, on top of tarts and in pies.

Raspberry Tart Heaven

I took a stab at making a vegan raspberry tart for my boyfriend's birthday. I had a bit of difficulty with the pie crust, but the trick I learned is not to overdo it on the kneading. You want to work the dough as little as possible while still forming its shape. Sounds paradoxical but it'll make sense once you get to trying it for yourself.

TART CRUST INGREDIENTS

• 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 2/3 cup Earth Balance Butter (Vegan)
• Several tablespoons ice water

TART FILLING INGREDIENTS

• 1/2 Package Soft Silken Tofu
• 2 teaspoons Lemon Juice
• 2 teaspoons Vanilla Extract
• 4 Tablespoons Confectioners Sugar
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 2 Tablespoons Soy Milk

INSTRUCTIONS
1. For crust: mix flour and salt. Cut in vegan butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. One tablespoon at a time, add ice water and mix until the dough holds together. (Don't overdo this step!) Form into a ball, cover in saran wrap, and place in refrigerator for 30 minutes.

2. Remove dough from fridge and roll out to 1/8 inch thick. Fill tart pan with crust and score bottom of the dough to prevent air bubbles from forming.

3. For filling: combine all ingredients in food processor and pulse until smooth. After baking tarts at 400° for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown, spoon filling into shells and top with raspberries. Return to fridge to set.

If you're feeling more ambitious than I was, you can also make a chocolate ganache to top over the chilled filling, or sprinkle chocolate shavings on top. Can't go wrong with either!

Thanks for reading,
Margaret

Kiss Me, I Eat Kale!

VEN THE BEST junk food can not rival a fresh selection of vegetables as far as I'm concerned. As a vegetarian, they're the largest part of my diet, but even when I ate meat, I remember feeling like the meal was lacking without them. Naturally, my love for vegetables and animals made a plant-based diet an easy decision. My latest endeavor has been learning about and finding different ways to prepare veggies not currently in my repertoire.

I was never too fond of kale because of the sulforaphane in it that makes it smell the noxious way it does, (and all cabbages, the family to which kale belongs) but once I read about its health benefits and tried a couple of good recipes, I had a change of heart. Sulforaphane, I learned, actually triggers the liver to produce enzymes that help detoxify carcinogens. There are lots of studies that confirm this and discuss its implications for cancer prevention too.

I pulled out the food processor I received for Christmas and whipped up a healthy St. Patrick's Day treat for vegans and non-vegans alike:

Leprechaun-approved!

INGREDIENTS

• 3 cups chopped kale
• 1 cup toasted pine nuts
• 1 1/2 tbsp. minced garlic
• 1/4 cup nutritional yeast
• 1 1/2 tbsp. miso paste
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1/4 cup lemon juice

DIRECTIONS

1. Blanch kale in 1/4 cup of water for approximately five minutes or until leaves are tender. Reserve water for later.
2. Toat pine nuts on low heat until slightly brown.
3. Combine kale, pine nuts, garlic, nutritional yeast, lemon juice and miso paste in food processor.
4. Slowly add olive oil and water used for kale, and pulse mixture until you reach desired consistency.
5. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Serve with pita chips, on crostini, in pesto tortellini or pastas... you can work it into just about any meal! 

Bon Appétit,

Margaret

Ice Cream, The Gateway Dessert

SKING ME TO imagine happiness before ice cream is like asking me to imagine consciousness before coffee. Put the two together and you'll have created a taste of heaven. When Nick was gifted an ice cream machine and I a stand mixer last Christmas, I knew the kitchen gods were smiling down upon us. 

The combination of desserts dancing in my head have been astronomical—creamy scoops of gelato tucked into fluffy brioche buns, chocolate pound cake ice cream sandwiches, and cool watermelon bombes for summer.

Nevertheless, we thought it best to stick to perfecting one flavor at a time, at least initially. I must say that Nick did an amazing job with this recipe! The secret to the coffee ice cream is the Kahlúa and coconut milk. Kahlúa is a coffee-flavored liqueur but does not end up being very strong when used to flavor ice cream. You can also use Bailey's Irish Cream, which tastes lighter than Kahlua, but is not vegan because it contains dairy (if you're not opposed to dairy, go for it, because it is the bomb dot com.)

I used coconut milk in lieu of heavy cream for vegan ice cream aficionados (dieters be warned: the saturated fat content is alarmingly high even though it's vegan), but the difference in taste is unnoticeable, even to the sophisticated palate. Coconut milk is my preferred alternative for use with very strong flavors that will mask the flavor of coconut; milder flavors like vanilla and pistachio don't work so well.

 photo by Nick Holley

KAHLUA ICE CREAM INGREDIENTS

• 13.5 oz full fat coconut milk 
• 1 1/4 cup plain soy milk 
• 1/2 cup sugar 
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract 
• 3 heaping tablespoons instant coffee 
• 1/4 cup Kahlúa or Bailey's Irish Cream

I wish I could jokingly say "please eat responsibly," but the taste of alcohol is virtually unnoticeable in this sweet treat. Regardless, it's probably not something you'd want to give your young ones, especially since it contains caffeine as well.

Happy Summer,

MARGARET