"Sweet" News!

Even though I'm normally a chocolate (or creamy, as in cheesecake) girl when it comes to desserts, I've been craving fruit desserts all summer. We've been making the most of the plentiful supply of organic strawberries at Whole Foods lately and enjoying our favorite new dessert: Fresh Strawberry Pie from Vegalicious.

I like this recipe (which we've made many times) because it is a no-bake pie. (You fill the pie with fresh berries and cover it with a sauce of cooked strawberries, cornstarch, sugar, and water.) Half of the strawberries remain uncooked, so I feel like I'm eating a healthier pie. Also, I always cut the sugar in half (at least), and it tastes great without so much. (I've even tried adding strawberry fruit spread with just a little sugar, and that works, too.) Our only trouble with this pie is being impatient by cutting it too soon (which doesn't affect the taste). If you let it sit in the fridge many hours or overnight, it will form up very well.

We enjoyed some blueberry picking this summer at a local pesticide-free patch...

...and some of those berries ended up in these pies. (The strawberry portion is for my 6 year old who doesn't love blueberries in every capacity.)

That pie turned into this.

And blueberries sometimes find their way into our Vegalicious strawberry pies, too.

strawberry shortcake, using broken up pieces of pie crust and Soyatoo

I actually did a Strawberry Shortcake-themed unit (for homeschooling) with the kids this summer. We cooked and enjoyed as many strawberry recipes as possible like...

...strawberry muffins.

I also made a cherry pie recently (served with almond icecream). I'm tellin' ya; we're a little fruity lately.

Of course, that doesn't mean I've entirely given up my first love: chocolate. I discovered Sarah Kramer's Nanaimo Bars on Shenandoah Vegan's blog. These are insane. As in ridiculously tasty and so rich we couldn't eat more than a few bites at a time. I think next time I'll make the middle layer a little thinner because we're not used to so much sugar. My 6 year old had no problem eating more than a few bites at a time, though. He can't wait until I make these again.

And, for my other "sweet" news...

No, it's not from eating too many desserts! We're expecting #4 in January. My uterus and stomach wasted no time in popping out this time, and I've looked pregnant pretty much since I found out the news. I'm about 22 weeks right now; this picture was taken several weeks ago. And we have already found out...it's a...

BABY BOY!!! To surprise the kids with the news, Ryan took them into the other room while I set the table with the balloons, blue plates & napkins, and the ultrasound pictures. (The kids were verrrrry amused with the pics of the you-know-what. With 3 guys, soon to be 4 guys, in my house, this is obviously a frequent topic of conversation in our family.)

Our celebration meal: tater tots & veggie burgers with all the toppings, including pesto and my favorite - homemade chipotle "mayonnaise" made by using any vegan soymilk/oil mayo recipe online and blending it with a chipotle pepper.

The picture above doesn't really do my size justice.

Maybe this one, taken at 15 weeks, does a better job. People are a little surprised when I tell them I'm not due until January. I always offer a feeble, "Yeah, I know I'm really showing." I don't always go into details about the fact this is my 4th so my uterus is already "broken in." And I'm just one of those women whose body naturally packs it on during pregnancy.

Also, I really do love to eat.