Strawberry Oat Milk

One of the most redeeming qualities of summer is the fresh, super sweet, strawberries that grow in the early part of the season. Bright red little gems that I go and hand pick from a strawberry field (early in the morning because who wants to be in a beating hot field in he middle or the day?), eating one berry for ever two I pick. Hands stained red. Belly full of berry happiness. It’s times like these that I am glad for summer.

And now that I have strawberries, I can make strawberry milk. Have you ever had it? This strawberry milk is nothing like the milk made from the nasty and crazy sweet fake pink syrup (strawberry syrup reminds me of my little brothers when they were little. They would drink cups and cup of the fake strawberry milk and I always thought that they were gross. But not just because of the milk…hehe). No this strawberry milk is oat milk with fresh strawberries and taste just like a berry explosion of goodness in your mouth. Its smooth and creamy and tastes like real strawberry, like it should.

A true summer treat. And it is so easy to make, almost as easy as squirting syrup into a cup.

Now to the strawberry oat milk!

The struff. Strawberries, oats, and water.

Only thing you really need to do is remove the greens from the berries.

Then pop them into a blender with water and oats and blend until smooth and creamy. That is it. Now you have strawberry oat milk.

Pour into glasses, garnish with a few berries (or a bowl to snack from) and that is that.

Summer milk.

-C

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Strawberry Oat Milk

• 3/4 cup old fashion oats

• 2 1/2 cups cold water

• 1 cup fresh strawberries

• 1 tablespoon sweetener or a couple dates (optional to add sweetness)

Note. For a thicker and creamer milk just add another 1/4 of oats.

Remove greens from strawberries and toss them into a blender with the oats and water and any sweetener (if using). Blend until smooth.

Optional. Pour through a strainer or nut milk bag to remove any grittiness. I do not do this.

Pour into glasses and enjoy.. I like to add an ice cube or a cut up frozen strawberry into the milk to make it really cold.

Milk can be stored in a jar in fridge for 2-3 days.

Chocolate Pudding Parfaits

Pudding is comfort. Pudding is simple. Pudding is just that, nothing but pudding. And if you add some graham cracker crumble, well you got yourself a pudding parfait. And a pudding party of sorts, if you need one.

Now do you, like me, think about grade school when you see pudding? Or how about Billy Madison. Oh hell yeah, definitely watching Billy Madison, in grade school, with a snack pack. HA. Those were some days right there. And with all the littles being homeschooled these crazy days, I figured why not bring in a bit of the grade school feeling into the routine and make some pudding for an after lunch or after “school” snack. For the routine purposes and also as a form of a bribe. Yes. You can bribe your children with pudding. Or your partner. The mr got his pudding too, just after he dealt with the recycling on the porch.

And plus. Oat milk. You got a stash? Yeah? Well use it in this pudding. It will make you glad you panicked bought 10 cartons and hid them under your mattress. Right next to all the canned beans of course.

Now to the pudding!

The stuff. Oat milk (use any milk you want or have), cocoa powder, brown sugar, corn starch, brewed coffee (optional), vanilla extract, graham crackers, coconut oil, and a little salt.

Start with a pot. Mix in the cocoa powder, brown sugar, and corn starch, and pinch of salt. Add in a little milk and coffee if using and mix around until its a thick paste and everything is incorporated.

Now add in the rest of the milk and place on medium heat on the stove. Heat up for about 3ish minutes and once it starts get hot and you see a bubble or two, start whiskingand don’t stop. Whisk all around pot, all over the bottom, so no spot start to burn. Whisk whisk whisk, until it thickens to pudding consistency. Should take 3-5 minutes.

Once thick and pudding like turn heat off and add in the vanilla and chocolate chips. Whisk until completely melted and incorporated.

Silky and smooth. Hot pudding.

Pour the pudding into a jar or bowl and place into the fridge to set. 1- 2 hours.

In the meantime, graham cracker crumble. Smash up the crackers into a bowl, (big chunks are good) and add in the melted coconut oil and a tablespoon of brown sugar.

Mix around until evenly incorporated

Dump the crumbs onto a baking sheet and stick into the oven to toast up for about 10 minutes.

And now you assemble. Graham crumble on a vessel, topped with pudding, more crumble, and whatever whipped cream, yogurt, ice cream situation you might want to top it with.

Pudding. All for you to eat.

-C

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Chocolate Pudding Pie Parfaits

make 4-6 serving

• 2 cups oat milk (can use any milk you have on hand)

• 1/3 packed cup brown sugar

• 2 tablespoon brewed coffee (optional but makes it a little more deep and chocolatey)

• 3 tablespoon cocoa powder

• 1/3 cup chocolate chips

• 2 tablespoons cornstarch

• pinch of salt

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

  For Graham Cracker Crumble

• 6 full sheets of package of graham crackers

• 2 tablespoon melted coconut oil or vegan butter

• 1 tablespoon brown sugar

In a medium size pot mix together the cocoa powder, brown sugar, corn starch, and a pinch of salt. Add in the coffee if using, and about 1/2 cup of milk. Mix until all the ingredients are evenly incorporated and the mixture is kind of pasty. Place pot on stove on medium heat and add in the rest of the milk . Let mixture heat up for a few minutes and once it starts to warm, start whisking. Whisk consistency until the mixture heats up and thickens to a pretty thick pudding consistency. Remove from heat, add in the chocolate chips and vanilla and keep whisking until the chocolate completely melts it.

Pour pudding into a jar or bowl and place into the fridge. 1-2 hours to cool and set.

In the meantime make the graham cracker crumble. Preheat oven to 350. Crush up crackers into a bowl (some big chunks are good) and mix in the brown sugar and melted coconut oil. Mix around until the crumbs are evenly moisten. Dump the crumble onto a baking sheet and place into oven for about 10 minutes or until the crumble is a nice deep golden brown. Remove from oven and let cool.

Once the pudding is set and the crumble is toasted, it is time to assemble. Scoop some crumble into a bowl or jar, add in some pudding, then top with more crumble. If you want, top with a dollop of something creamy like whipped cream, yogurt, or even ice cream.

Eat.

IF there is pudding and crumble left over, store the pudding I the fridge (will last a few days) and the crumble separately at room temperature in a airtight container.

Tofu Veggie Pot Pie

Pot pies. I grew up on them. But not real pot pies, no, it was those little frozen, single serve, terribly terrible nasty things. Yup. All you needed to do was turn on the oven or better yet, open the microwave, poke a few holes in the frozen pie, and 10 minutes later, food. The ultimate in afterschool snacks. Oh those days. What the heck was I thinking? But my best or, most vivid memory of those pies was when I was like 10 and was stabbing one of those frozen pot pies with a very sharp knife (again, the directions stated to add a vent hole) that went threw said pie and right into the palm of my hand. I remember screaming, blood everywhere, and thinking I just cut my hand off. Luckly, it was just a big gash and the knife didn’t go all the way threw my hand so that was good. And I think that was the last time I made a pot pie. Ha.

This pot pie is nothing like those pot pies. First off, it is not frozen which is good because you won’t accidentally stab a hole into your and. Secondly, it is not nasty. And third, it is freaking awesome. There are other things that make them vastly different, but you get the idea. This pot pie is full of good veggies and tofu that are nicely spiced with a creamy oat sauce that is alll wrapped up in a easy hot water pastry crust. Everything and more a real pot pie should be. Sure, it is definitely not as quick and easy as opening a cardboard box, stabbing, and tossing the contents into the microwave but screw that, we are here for the good stuff.

To the pot pie!

The stuff. Tofu, an onion, a couple carrots and a couple mushrooms, some frozen pies, garlic, oats, spicy mustard, and spices. Also salt and pepper, oil, flour, and some boiling water.

Start with the tofu. Grab a skillet, add a dash of oil and set o the stove on median heat. Cut the tofu into small cubs and pat as much of the liquid out as you can. Place tofu into skillet, sprinkle with a little salt, and let cook.

Whle tofu is cooking, cut up veggies into small, not tiny, pieces. And mince the garlic too.

Browned and tasty tofu.

Remove tofu from skillet and place into a bowl. Add all the veggies you just cut up into the skillet along with the spices and another pinch of slat ans lots of pepper. Keep on heat and cook.

While veggies are cooking, place water and oats into blender and blend until smooth. Making oat milk to thicken the whole shebang.

Once the veggies start to soften just a bit, add the tofu back in and add the mustard too. Then dump in the oat mixture you just blend up. Mix it al up and cook for a until it just start to thicken.

Now add in frozen peas, mix, and remove from heat. Set aside. It’s now time to make the crust.

FLour, hot oil, boil water and salt.

Add all the stuff together and mix until dough forms.

Dump hot dough onto counter and kneed for a minute of two. It shouldn’t be too hot to handle, but if it is, just wait a minute.

Once kneaded and unicorn. cut 2/3 of dough off and roll out about 1/8 inch thick either on a piece of parchment or a splat mat. IT is way, way easier to deal with then trying to roll it directly on the counter.

Place rolled out dough into spring form pan. It is going to rip and tear but guess what, no big deal. Just mush and patch the holes. That is the beauty of hot water crust. Once crust is all nice and uniform and all in the pan, dump in the filling.

Now roll out the top.

Place top on, seal it up, add some vent hole and make a few little hearts with any scraps you have (only if you want too!) Now into the oven this baby goes, about and hour, until a nice golden brown.

Done and beautiful and yeah, it sprang a little leak, but thats quite all right with me.

Remove he spring form. And probably do it on a pan. Any little leaks will well, leak out a bit. But again, it’s all good.

And now all you heave to do is eat it.

A pot pie in all its glory!

-C

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Tofu Veggie Pot Pie

makes one 8 inch, 2 inch deep, pie

For the filling

• 1 medium sized yellow onion

• a few white button mushrooms (about a 1/2 cup diced)

• 1/2 cup frozen peas

• 2 small carrots

• 1/2 block (8oz) firm tofu

• 1 teaspoon each thyme, dill, rosemary, and ground ginger

• 2-3 cloves garlic

• 2 heaping tablespoons spicy brown or dijon mustard

• 1/4 cup old fashion oats

• 1 1/2 cups water

• salt and pepper

• a splash of oil

For Hot Water Crust

• 1 3/4 cups flour

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• 1/3 cup coconut oil,warmed

• 1/3 cup neutral oil,warmed

• 1/3 cup boiling water

Before you start cooking know that you need to make the filling first and can even make it ahead of time. The crust needs to be used right away so don’t make that in advance!

Start with tofu. Cut into small 1/2 inch cubes then press as much liquid out as you can. Place a drop of oil into a large skillet and turn onto medium heat. Drop in cubed tofu and sprinkle with a pinch of salt. Cook until browned.

While tofu cooks, dice up carrots, onion, and mushrooms. Mince the garlic. Once the tofu is browned, dump it in a bowl then add the veggies and garlic to the skillet. Also add in all the spices and another good pinch of salt and lots of pepper. Stir and then cook until veggies are slightly tender.

While veggies cook, place the oats and 1 1/2 cups water into blender and blend until smooth.

And after the veggies are slightly soften, add the tofu back in, along with the mustard and the oat mixture. Stir it all around and keep on medium heat for another few minutes until the oat milk just starts to thicken. Add in the frozen peas, stir, then remove from heat. Give it a taste and season with more salt and pepper if needed.

Preheat oven to 375

Now for the crust. Place flour and salt in a big bowl and mix. Then add in warm oil (either heat on stove or in microwave) and boiling hot water. Mix unit it all comes together. Dump dough onto counter and knead for couple minutes until dough is uniform and smooth.

Cut 2/3 of the dough off and roll out in between parchment paper or on a splat mat to about 1/8 inch thick. Place into a spring form pan. It’s going to fall apart a bit but that is ok, just mush and patch up all the rips and tears so there are no holes. This dough is like play dough, very easy to manipulate. Once bottom crust is in, dump in the filling. Take the remaining dough and roll out the same way you did bottom and place on top. Seal the bottom and top crust by pinching it together. You want to try and avoid any holes so the filling doesn’t leak out. Once the crust is sealed, cut a little vent hole into the middle of the top then place pie into oven. Bake for an 60 -70 minutes or until crust is a nice golden brown.

Once baked, remove from oven and let cook for a few minutes. Then remove from pan by place pie on something like a bowl or cup that fits underneath the bottom of pan. Unlock the pan and slip ring down while the pie stays perched on cup. You can even pop the bottom of pan off if you feel like you can, but I say, why risk it. That is up to you. And sure, the pie might have sprung a little leak, but that is very much ok.

Now basically all you need to do is eat it so place pie on a big plate, grab a knife, and fork, and cut yourself a big ass piece of pot pie.

Leftovers store great in the fridge for a few days.

Banana Oat Smoothie

It’s a smoothie. And no, we have never really been smoothie people in this house, but what can I say, sometimes smoothies happen, especially when you have about 20 ripe bananas in the fruit bowl with no room in the freezer and no need for 7 loafs of banana bread.

So I smoothied. And I like it (a lot).

This is a smoothie of simplicity. Nothing fancy. Simplest of simple. Straight to the point. And all sorts of good.

You might think, does this simple smoothie you speak of taste very good? Yes, yes indeed it does. It is all sorts of fantastic. Basically if you like creamy, nutty, oaty, bananery things, you will like this. And it’s a perfect breakfast, snack, dessert, or just wanting a little treat like thing that is not garbage food. A smoothie of all smoothies with the most basic ingredients. And takes about 15 seconds to whip up. Can’t complain about that.

To the smoothie goodness!

The stuff. A ripe banana, some old fashion rolled oats, a pinch of salt, water, and a smidge of maple syrup if you want it.

Everything goes into blender.

And blended until smooth. Hence the word smoothie.

Pour it into a cup (or if you are feeling primal, drink it straight from the blender… it’s totally cool)

And done.

A banana oat smoothie.

Let the good time roll!

-C

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Banana Oatmeal Smoothie

makes 1 smoothie

• 1 very ripe banana

• 1/3 cup raw old fashion oats

• 1 1/2 cups water

• pinch of salt

• a tablespoon or two of any sweetener you like (optional)

• a pinch of cinnamon (optional)

Place everything into a blender and blend until smooth. Pour into a cup, sprinkle with cinnamon if you wish, and drink right away.