FoodFash

Adventure Begins in the Kitchen

4th of July Muffins: Sour Cherry & Ricotta

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Forth of July Muffins

When I walked into World Market today, I was not thinking about muffins.  To be honest, I wasn’t thinking about much of anything.  The hope was to cruise through the aisles and find a dish or an ingredient that would inspire a recipe.  Thankfully, that’s exactly what happened.

Sour Cherry & Ricotta Muffin Batter

Inspiration started with a jar of sour cherries and a few mindless laps around the store. Sour cherry and ricotta ice cream, crumble, or tart – all things that came to mind before landing on sour cherry and ricotta muffins. And then I spotted the most adorable patriotic muffin outfits {can I call them that?} and my mind was as made up as it could be.

Sour Cherry & Ricotta Muffins

I used a Bob’s Red Mill gluten-free blueberry muffin recipe as my guide, replacing blueberries with sour cherries and adding ricotta, knowing the ricotta would give the gluten-free muffin some richness and moisture.  And what resulted was similar to a blueberry muffin, but a lot more fun.  The sour cherries provided a burst of tart worthy of a summertime holiday treat!

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Coconut Truffles

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Vegan Truffles

Being resourceful in the kitchen can {sometimes} get you into a bit of trouble.  Most folks that find themselves without chocolate during a massive chocolate craving just simply do without chocolate for the time being.  Me?  I whip random ingredients together until I’m either sort-of-satisfied or surprisingly super satisfied.

Vegan Truffles 2

After a week of gentle tweaks, I was super satisfied.  A progression of hemp seed chocolate bars to coconut/almond chocolate bars to just coconut bars led me straight to coconut truffles.   And now I have a bundle of sweet treats waiting for me in anticipation of any chocolate craving, big or small.

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Peach & Pecan Chia Seed Pudding

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Vegan Chia Seed Pudding

If I had to choose between ice cream and pudding, it would be pudding all day, every day.  And any kind of {homemade} pudding – chocolate, vanilla, pistachio, tapioca, rice.  I like it all, but rarely have it in the house.

Medjool Dates

Naturally, the discovery of chia seed pudding blew my mind.  How a fiber and protein packed seed could taste so similarly to tapioca was beyond me.  This treat quickly became my new favorite thing to pick up from Snap Kitchen as a mid-afternoon snack.

Chia Seed Pudding

The ingredient label was simple enough that I knew I could recreate at home. Sweetened with dates, seasoned with vanilla and cinnamon, and garnished with peaches and pecans – this chia seed pudding is wonderful for both breakfast and dessert alike.

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Piña Colada Skewers

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Pina Colada Skewers

Earlier this week I had an unexpected dinner party, which meant there was nothing even remotely dessert-ish to serve when our meal finished up.  And even though I rarely eat dessert, dinner with guests just doesn’t feel right without ending on a sweet note.

Vegan Whipped Cream

And then I remembered I had a can of coconut cream in the back of the fridge {for future mousse making}. I whipped it up, added vanilla and sugar, and served with bowl of strawberries.  Dinner was saved!

The next day at work, I described this save to my culinary co-workers.  Ben, lover of veg-friendly food, thought it was great and said, “you could totally make piña colada skewers using pineapple instead of strawberries”.

Pineapple

So I did.  And it was amazing!

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