Its been hard finding restaurants in Maine that cater to a vegan lifestyle. There are some, especially in the big city of Portland, but thats almost an hour from us and frankly, I'd rather eat close to home when I can. We've been doing a lot of cooking for ourselves, which I love, but it would be nice to occasionally order out and not have any dishes to wash.
Last week we finally found a restaurant that we love...and its close to home! Located in Damariscotta, Savory Maine offers a little bit of everything. They are familiar with the vegan lifestyle and willing to accomodate to it. Gluten-free? Vegetarian? They've got your backs, too.
My first trip in I ordered their Tempeh-based Reuben with homemade vegan potato salad and I've been craving it ever since. Though I wish I could eat there every night, I just can't afford it. I needed to quell the craving...so I came up with my very own recipe! 

It starts with a good, flavorful bread like rye or pumpernickel. I found lots of options at the market but settled on an organic loaf made on a farm right here in Maine. Rich in caraway and with a touch of espresso grounds in the batter, this bread adds so, so much flavor to the sandwich.
Topped with fried tempeh, spicy vegan cheese, and local sauerkraut and you've got yourself a meal even Savory Maine would be proud of. 
Pair it with our balsamic potato salad for a truly 'Maine' meal.

Ingredients 
(for one sandwich):
2 slices Rye or Pumpernickel bread
Tempeh- about 4 1/4 in. slices
2 tablespoons vegan thousand island dressing
1-1/4 inch slice of Daiya havarti jalapeno & garlic block (or your favorite cheese alternative)
1/4 cup sauerkraut
1 tablespoon coconut oil or vegan butter for frying
1/2 teaspoon Braggs aminos or soy sauce

Method:
Set aside your two delicious slices of rye or pumpernickel. Its good to use a darker bread here to get the caraway and espresso flavor of the bread-trust me, it adds a ton of flavor to the sandwich!

If your tempeh is in block form, slice four 1/4 inch slices. If pre-sliced, use about 3-4 slices. In a frying pan, melt a little oil or butter and add the soy sauce. Fry the tempeh strips until crispy and golden brown, about 2-4 minutes on each side. 

Grab your bread slices and spread about a tablespoon of vegan thousand island on each side. Top with fried tempeh, and the slice of cheese. Put the sandwich together and using the same frying pan, grill sandwich until cheese melts, a few minutes on each side. Remove from pan, separate bread slices, top with sauerkraut, and reassemble into sandwich form. Now take a giant, gooey, cheesy bite...enjoy!

I'm a sandwich kind of girl. I love them. You can put just about anything in between two pieces of something bread-like and call it a sandwich. Usually portable, they've been around as long as history can remember.
In 2006, a court in Massachusettes determined that a sandwich does indeed need to include at least two slices of bread, differentiating it from items eaten in a tortilla and ending a dispute between Panera Bread and Qdoba. Yep. That really happened.
But either way, I love things stuck between two slices of bread or on a single piece, open-faced style. This tangy salad travels well, so wrap it up in a jar or bring that bread and munch on it anywhere you go.

Ingredients:
1-15 ounce can chickpeas, drained
3/4 cup vegenaise
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/4 cup onions, diced
1/2 cup almonds, chopped
1/4 cup celery, diced
1/4 cup radishes, diced
1 teaspoon curry
1 teaspoon coriander
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
pinch of smoked paprika

Drain and rinse your chickpeas and pour them into a medium sized mixing bowl. Use a fork to mash the chickpeas until about half are completely smooshed, the other half can be mashed or chunky to your liking.
I prefer to leave about half of the chickpeas unmashed- it adds more texture and holds together better on a sandwich.
A quick note on the ‘chunks’ in the salad: its nice when all of your veggies are diced to about the same size. It makes the texture more pleasant! 
Add vegenaise, lemon juice, onions, almonds, celery, radishes, and all spices. Stir until combined. Serve immediately or save in the refrigerator for up to a week.

But like we talked about, its really best in a sandwich. 
My favorite is topped with lettuce, tomatoes, and a bit of avocado and served with a side of crunchy potato chips.

This recipe has been a long time in the making. Four tries, at least, until I was happy enough to share. The other couple tries ended in me smuggling ziploc bags of crumbly blondie squares down to the cabin before anyone could see how much I'd messed them up. I'd wait till 11 pm rolled around and I'd munch away the evidence. 
I'm happy that this version worked so nicely: I can't afford to keep hoarding baked goods and waking up in a pile of crumbs. 
Even if the crumbs do taste buttery, rich, and oh-so nutty...

Maple and pecan go together so well. I had originally envisioned these to have macadamia nuts mixed in, but I like my recipes to be accessible (not everyone can find macadamia nuts in their local market- or afford them!) and simple. The pecans accent the buttery, decadent maple flavor beautifully. I made these little beauties using fresh, homemade pure maple syrup from the Maple trees tapped on my family's property. It is so, so good.
Being that I am from Maine and have access to a substantial amount of maple-y things, I also topped my blondies with a little pure maple sugar. It adds just a little texture and sweetness to the top, but is certainly not necessary. 
If you are interested though,  you can get some here.

I've been experimenting a lot with gluten-free flours and making my own gluten-free flour mixture. There have been a lot of mistakes and missteps, but I'm starting to get better at making gluten-free baked goods that don't suck. And when I perfect my homemade gluten-free flour mix, I'll let you know. In the meantime, Bob's Red Mill works fantastically. Or, if you have a favorite all purpose gluten-free baking mix of your own, use it and let me know how it turns out!
You could also probably sub out the gluten-free flour mix and xantham gum for regular ol’ whole wheat and get the same results, only more glutinous. I haven’t tried it, but usually whole wheat will bind anything.

Ingredients:
1 cup vegan butter or shortening
1 teaspoon vanilla
3/4 cup turbinado sugar
3/4 pure maple syrup
1/4 teaspoon maple extract (optional)
2 flax eggs (2 T. ground flax+ 1/3 cup warm water)
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 1/2 cups all-purpose gluten-free flour mix (see note above)
1/4 tsp. + a pinch of xantham gum
1 cup chopped pecans
pure maple sugar, for sprinkling (optional)

Method:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 
Prepare flax eggs in a small dish and set aside to gelatinize, about 5 minutes. 
In a mixer, combine butter, vanilla, sugar, maple syrup, and extract if you’re using it. (I’ve made it both with and without and think its maple-y enough without it but if you LOVE maple, add it.) 
Add flax eggs and continue to mix on medium speed until combined. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, salt, baking soda & powder, and xantham gum. Add dry ingredients to wet slowly with mixer on low. 
Mix until uniform in consistency, then remove the mixer bowl from the stand, throw in the pecans and give it a good stir. Pour batter into a greased or floured 9x13 in. baking dish. If you have it, lightly sprinkle pure maple sugar over the top. 
Bake for 25-30 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean and the edges of the blondies start pulling away from the sides of the pan. Let cool completely before cutting. 
Makes 12-16 squares, depending on how big you cut  ‘em. 

I was never a traditional tomato soup fan. Like watered down tomato paste, it is bland and flavorless. Sort of like a warm bloody mary without all of the other fun additions. My family feels similarly. Last week, when I told them I had actually come up with a tomato soup recipe that I not only liked, but was proud of, they were skeptical. I got a lot of heavy sighs and disgruntled looks.
They always underestimate me. 

I needed to prove them wrong. I needed to know if my soup passed the test. 
I watched expectantly as spoons were lifted to mouths; smiles and second bites...to their own surprise, they loved it. I knew they would. 

Unlike Campbells cans, this soup is loaded with fresh vegetables, flavorful herbs and a secret ingredient- my homemade cashew cream! 
It adds a richness in texture and slight nutty flavor that brings this soup from average to excellent. Its simple to prepare and even easier to re-heat later. 
Tastes best alongside a gooey grilled cheese sandwich.

As you already know, eating more veggies is a good thing. Tomatoes especially are a powerhouse food. And while you may already know that tomatoes are fat-free, low in calories, and high in nutrient value, you may not have known that tomatoes are full of beta carotene, which give skin a natural, healthy glow; they are rich in vitamin K, lycopene, and calcium to help build strong bones; tomatoes are a natural source of chromium- great for balancing blood sugar levels, and they are high in cartenoids and bioflavenoids, which are natural anti-inflammatories. 
Plus, because we're talking health: both tomatoes and cashews are high in fiber; tomatoes are also very water dense. The combination of the two makes this soup a little more filling than most- helping you to eat smaller portions of more healthful foods.
Summer is coming, and cutting back on belly fat is something we all want.
Exercising regularly and eating healthy, nutrient-rich meals like this is the way to do it.

Ingredients:
2 1/2 lbs. tomatoes
6 cloves garlic
2 medium yellow onions
4 T. earth balance or olive oil
1 quart (4 c.) vegetable broth (or water)
2 bay leaves
1/2 cup fresh basil, chopped
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
1 cup soaked cashews
1 cup water

Cashew Cream:
Soak 1 cup cashews in warm water for 1-4 hours. Drain cashews, pour into a blender, and add one cup water. Blend until consistency is creamy and no cashew chunks remain. Set aside.

Tomato Soup:
Wash, weigh, and chop tomatoes. Set aside. 
In a large soup pot, melt butter. Add chopped onions and garlic, and sautee about 8 minutes, until onions are glassy but not carmelized. Add tomatoes and continue to cook until onions and tomatoes are completely softened, about 15-20 minutes.
Add vegetable broth, bay leaves, basil, salt and pepper and cook on medium heat for about 30 minutes, until the smell of garlic and basil are wafting through the air. Remove the bay leaves and toss ‘em in the compost. Pour the cashew cream into the pot, and using a regular or immersion blender, blend the soup until creamy, usually about 20 seconds in my vitamix. 
Serve immediately while warm, or simmer on low heat until ready to serve. Garnish with roasted cherry tomatoes, a drizzle of cashew cream, or fresh basil leaves.
Keeps in the fridge for about a week. Makes great leftovers!

This milkshake brings all the boys to the yard, I could teach you, I won't even charge.
But seriously.
Alex has been craving a milkshake for days. I crave milkshakes on ALL days, so we decided this week to make it happen. I used to consider any softened ice cream essentially a milkshake. Alex, an aficionado, taught me otherwise. A good milkshake is a thick, creamy treat that is blended just to the point of perfection, then topped with cookies.
The perfect milkshake requires the right ratio of ice cream to milk. With this recipe, we nailed it. Our preference is 3:1 for ultimate creaminess.

This milkshake is 100% percent organic. Use the stuff we did and yours could be, too. On that note, while double-stuffed Oreo’s are technically vegan, they’re also filled with way more junk than anyone needs. Do yourself a favor and use Newman’s Own organic cookies like we did, your favorite organic brand, or homemake your own. Oreo’s are seriously nasty little cookies. Okay, lecture over.
Back to the milkshake.

Milkshake Makin’ Tips:

Freeze your glass first. This allows the temperature of the glass to cool down and keep your drink colder, longer. It also gives you that delicious looking frosty glass to pour your milkshake into. Bloggers: it makes your photos look better.

Let the ice cream soften before you use it. I usually pull it from the freezer about 5-10 minutes before I actually scoop into it. Its easier to scoop that way and won’t turn your milkshake to a block of ice, forcing you to add too much milk and dilute the flavor.

Never add ice to your milkshakes. Milkshakes are all about creaminess; adding ice is for smoothies.

Use a 3:1 ratio. Or a 2:1 ratio, for thinner milkshakes. For instance, 1 c. ice cream + 1/3 c. milk. For whatever reason, the liquid vs. solid in a milkshake works best with this formula.

If you’re mixing up your milkshake in a blender, use a very low blender speed to start. I made this particular milkshake in my Vitamix, and I always start it on the lowest speed, increasing the speed just enough to crush the cookies and gently blend the milkshake. You don’t want to whip it into submission, just a thick, creamy treat.

When adding cookies to a milkshake, I would recommend adding no more than four small or two medium-large sized cookies. Too many chunks turn a milkshake into a blizzard and make it hard to use a straw.

Add extras if you like, but a milkshake is about simplicity. 

Creaminess is key. 

Ingredients:
-2 cups organic chocolate vegan ice cream
-2/3 cup organic unsweetened almond milk 
(you can use up to 1 cup of milk if you prefer a less thick shake)
-4 organic cream filled chocolate cookies
(3 in the blender, one crumbled on top)


If you have access to a milkshake wand, throw your ingredients in a tall metal cup and froth away. 

For the rest of us: Let your ice cream sit for 5-10 minutes. Scoop 2 cups into a blender. Add the almond milk and 3 cookies and start the blender on a very low speed until ingredients combine and cookies are just crushed, about 15-30 seconds. Pour into a tall, icy glass straight from the freezer, top with that last crushed cookie, and share with someone you like. Or don’t, and eat it all up yourself. I won’t say a word.

We've been in Maine for about a week now, and its been lovely. Catching up with cousins, hiking with our puppy, watching the wild turkeys in the field outside our cabin every morning with Alex; its been idyllic and relaxing.
But now that we're settled in? I want to cook.
I offered to make breakfast Sunday morning and wanted a simple meal that was sure to please, especially since I was feeding a breakfast table full of non-vegans.
It turned out perfectly, hearty and sweet.
A crunchy cinnamon crust leading into warm, gooey banana bread.
Topped with some earth balance and a little of Dad's homemade maple syrup? Oh man.

My Dad makes his own maple syrup from the pine trees on his land. It tastes phenomenal. Its lighter, naturally sweeter, and darker in color than even the most raw, organic syrups you find at the grocery store. 
It is liquid gold on warm, fluffy french toast.

After mixing my batter, I always like to pour it into a wider, more shallow dish for dipping. A pie pan or casserole dish works great, and makes dipping, flipping and coating your french toast slices super easy.

The bread is really the secret to a great french toast. Thin, soft bread makes for soggy frech toast; too thickly sliced and it will be too dry in the middle. 
Baguettes and boules, cut into about 1/2 inch slices, are best. Having air pockets in the bread allows trapped batter to get gooey and gives you pockets of warm, melty cinnamon goodness. Mmmm.
This recipe has been approved and officially dubbed by my sister: 
Banana Bread French Toast.
Its her new favorite.

Ingredients:
2 ripe bananas
3/4 cup hemp milk
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
6-8 slices of crusty vegan bread

optional add-ins:
1/2 tsp. orange, lemon, or almond extract
1/4 cup chopped nuts
2 T. powdered peanut butter
(I just discovered powdered PB. It adds a nice, light PB flavor to things without being overwhelming. Great in baked goods and oatmeal!)

Instructions:
Mash bananas in a medium mixing bowl with a fork. Whisk in milk, cinnamon, & vanilla until combined.
Pour mixture into a shallow dish- a pie plate works great. Dip bread into the wet mixture, flipping to coat the whole slice evenly.
 Place dipped slices onto a pre-heated and greased skillet and let cook about 3-5 minutes on each side, until the edges no longer bubble and both sides are golden brown and crispy.
Enjoy while warm with maple syrup, agave nectar, or fresh fruit!
Makes 6-8 pieces of french toast.

Savory, salty, rich french toast...and just in time for St. Patricks Day, too!
When Rocky from Vegg, the vegan egg, contacted me and offered to let me try his product, I was thrilled. I'd read plenty on the Vegg (it was very twitter trendy a few months ago), but had never tried it and never seen anyone make a recipe with it. I don't generally miss eggs, but I miss the taste sometimes, and I absolutely miss how easy it used to be to crack an egg into any baked good batter and know exactly what you were going to get. Vegan & gluten-free cooking can be very trial and error without eggs-they're a great binder!
Anyway, Rocky and I grew up in the same beautiful state of Maine, so I knew that when I created a recipe with his innovative product, it had to be something that would make him proud.

I had a whole freshly baked loaf of marbled rye bread at my disposal and a grumbly tummy. 
I sliced the bread, dipped it in the thick, eggy batter and placed it on a frying pan. As it fried in vegan butter, I made the white potato gravy. 
Caraway, garlic, butter: these are flavors I associate with my Irish heritage!

The Vegg is an awesome product. It comes as a powder, made mostly of nutritional yeast and B vitamins, it has the bright yellow color and the very convincing, slightly sulfuric smell of eggs; its incredible how much the powder smells and looks like eggs when blended with water! (Must be blended-hand mixing results in a gloopy mess!)
The Vegg is free of cholesterol, gluten, soy, & fat. 
One package contains 30-40 'egg' servings, and you can use as much or as little as you'd like and can close up the bag without worrying about it spoiling in the cabinet. If you do pre-make all the egg batter, it lasts 2-3 weeks in the fridge and longer in the freeezer. You can buy egg molds if you want to freeze your Vegg yolk liquid into a yolk-shape, but the flavor was enough for me!
Plus with every package of Vegg you buy, 10% of net sales will be donated to Compassion Over Killing, where they work to end animal abuse and cruelty and promote a vegetarian lifestyle.

Savory French Toast
Ingredients:
4-8 slices rye bread
Vegg mixture (1.5 cups water + 1.5 cups cashew milk + 4 tsp vegg powder= BLEND!)
1 large clove of garlic
1/2 tsp each salt & pepper
1/8 tsp paprika

Cut rye bread slices in half. Set aside.
Blend Vegg mixture together (1.5 cups water + 1.5 cups cashew milk + 4 tsp vegg powder) in blender for about 30 seconds with the garlic, salt, pepper, and paprika. Pour into a large bowl and set aside. 
Preheat a nonstick pan on the stove. Add about a tablespoon of vegan butter to the pan and let it melt.  Dip slices of bread into the Vegg mixture, about 10 seconds on each side. 
Fry them in the vegan butter until golden and crispy, about 3-5 minutes on each side.

White Gravy
Ingredients:
3.5 cups cashew milk
3 tablespoons potato starch
2 tablespoons vegan butter
1 teaspoon each salt and pepper
1/2 teaspoon garlic salt

Whisk together all ingredients in a saucepan over medium heat until gravy thickens. If gravy is too thick add more milk; too thin, add more starch or a little flour.

Serve your savory french toast topped with white gravy, fresh parsley, and some coconut bacon for a little extra smoky & salty flavor. 

Looking for some St. Patty's Day recipes to get you through the rest of the day? Try our recipe for Corned Bean Hash, it goes great with cabbage! 

And dessert? We're eyeing these Chocolate Stout Cupcakes with Irish Cream Frosting from Oh, Ladycakes. YUM! 
And on that note: have a fantastic, healthy, and safe St. Patrick's Day!

Okay, okay...I'm guilty. I've been a little obsessed with pairing chocolate & orange together lately. And I've been eating a lot of chocolate.
 Last week I posted a recipe for Raw Orange Chocolate Cheesecake, and I've made it twice since. I promise, with spring will bring new fruity and delicious flavors...but for now, I'm stuck on this fantastic combination. 
My favorite kitchen flavor-pairing book, The Flavor Thesaurus, tells us that Terry's, the brand famous for the candy Chocolate Orange, originally started as a pairing of chocolate & apple. In 1930, the orange version was introduced and quickly took over as the brand's more popular treat, replacing the original apple/chocolate pairing all together.
And I'm sure glad it did, because it has given me plenty of dessert inspiration these last few weeks.

Dipped in melted dark chocolate and topped with freshly grated orange zest, these sweet confections are a perfect dessert for sharing...or not!

Ingredients:
2 cups unsweetened shredded coconut
1/4 cup coconut oil, softened to room temp-not melted
1/4 cup coconut flour (WW works here, too)
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1/3 cup maple syrup or agave nectar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon orange extract
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2-4 teaspoons cold water
1/4 cup (about 2 oz.) dark chocolate, melted

Instructions:
Combine coconut, coconut oil, flour, cocoa powder, syrup, salt, orange & vanilla extracts. Coconut oil should NOT be melted. You want to have to fork the mixture together until the solid coconut oil has been completely smooshed up and combined with everything else. It takes about 2 minutes of dedicated forking.
Add water, starting with two teaspoons, and mix until mixture comes together and becomes sticky.
Once combined, use your hands to form the mixture into (about) 1 inch balls. Or two inch balls...because who am I to tell you how much macaroon to enjoy?
Once your macaroons are formed, set them on a paper lined cookie sheet in a cool place. The fridge will work beautifully here.
While the macaroons are chillin', melt about 2 ounces of chocolate. To keep the recipe raw use the bain-marie (the double-boiler) method. To do this, fill a large saucepan with water. Bring the water to a boil, and cover with a heat safe bowl, never allowing the heat safe bowl to come into contact with the water. Gently melt the chocolate.
Once chocolate is fully melted, remove macaroons from cooling area. Dip macaroons carefully into the chocolate, being careful not to coat them, but rather add the chocolate as more of an accent, 'cause these babies are rich! (Sometimes we use a piping bag to add a little decorative chocolate to the tops.) This is most easily done using a spoon and/ or your fingers (I used my fingers so I had a reasonable excuse to lick the chocolate off of my fingers after...).
Once a little chocolate has been added, place the completed macaroons back onto lined cookie sheet and refrigerate for about 30-60 minutes, allowing chocolate to set. This process can be sped up by placing the entire cookie sheet into the freezer until the chocolate cools completely. 
Once the macaroons are hardened and the chocolate has set, pull them out of the fridge and enjoy! They're best after coming to room temperature but equally delicious cold.

Store the macaroons in an airtight container for up to two weeks to keep 'em fresh.

Like this recipe? Try our recipe for Coconut Macaroons, one of the most popular dessert recipes on the blog. And for more orange & chocolate together, try our Raw Orange Chocolate Cheesecake!

Tomorrow, March 1st, is National Peanut Butter Lovers Day.
And I love peanut butter.
Growing up, my family called me Peanut in reference to my love of all things peanut butter. When Reeses Puffs cereal debuted back in the '90s,  it was like they had made a breakfast cereal just for me. I was crazy about the stuff.
Now I eat far more nut butter, but far less peanut butter than I used to. Cashew butter, macadamia nut butter, even almond butter- delicious alternatives. But simply nothing can replace good ol' peanut butter in a cookie.

I kept the cookies gluten-free by using brown rice flour as a base instead of wheat flour. I added potato starch for moistness, since often times my gluten-free experiments turn out far too dry.
The result? A perfectly soft, chewy cookie with just a little crunch. Try dunking 'em in some dairy-free milk. Or just gobble 'em up. But be careful, they make your mouth ooey-gooey if you eat too many...like any good peanut butter cookie should!

A note: We used organic chunky peanut butter with no added sugar or oils. Just ground up peanuts. Feel free to use whatever you have on hand, but note that the cookies may be considerably sweeter if you use PB w/ added sugars. But they're cookies, so its all good.

Ingredients:
1 chia or flax egg
(1 tablespoon ground chia or flax powder + 3 tablespoons water)
1/2 cup mashed banana
1 cup chunky (or creamy, your choice!) peanut butter
3/4 cup raw sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 tablespoons milk
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup brown rice flour
1 teaspoon potato starch (optional, for moistness)

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
First, make your 'egg' by combining 1 tablespoon ground chia seeds (or flax) and  3 tablespoons water. Let it sit for about 10 minutes to gelatinize; in the meantime, prepare the rest of the dough.
In a large mixing bowl, combine mashed banana, peanut butter, sugar, and vanilla. Mix well using a fork or whisk.
When chia egg is ready, add that and the milk to the bowl. Mix to combine.
Finally, throw in the salt, baking powder, baking soda, flour and potato starch.
Mix very well using a fork, a strong wooden spoon, or your hands. Just make sure there are no clumps of dry ingredients anywhere in there and that everything is well mixed.

Spoon balls of cookie dough onto a non-stick baking sheet. Slightly flatten with the back of a spoon. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes, or until edges firm up and slightly brown. Makes 16-20 cookies.

**To make traditional fork lines in the cookies, take them out halfway through baking, and press a fork twice, in opposite directions, into the cookie. Place the baking sheet immediately back into the oven to finish cooking.**

Stored in an airtight container, these chewy, soft delicious cookies will last about a week.
But tomorrow is National Peanut Butter Lovers Day so really, don't hold back. 

Enjoy!

Spring is just around the corner, but here in Orange County, it already feels like June. Temperatures were at a high of 86 degrees last week. Its February, mind you. Where I'm from, February still means mittens and galoshes.
To beat the feels-like-summer heat, Alex and I got our lemonade on.

Since last summer's annual camping trip, he'd been raving about this awesome maple syrup sweetend lemonade, and we knew we were ready to try and recreate it. Except...we were out of maple syrup. So we started experimenting.
And now, we have a new favorite drink.

The secret is in the simple syrup. By dissolving the sugar first, you don't have any sugar sinkin' to the bottom and changing the flavor of the lemonade. And the coconut sugar, naturally brown, adds a maple-y flavor without being too sweet. It looks more like iced tea, but its tastes like heaven.

Ingredients:
3/4 cup organic coconut sugar
1 cup water (for simple syrup)
1 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
4 cups water (to dilute)

To Prepare:
To create a simple syrup, combine coconut sugar and one cup water in a small saucepan. Heat on low, stirring occasionally, until sugar dissolves completely (about 5 minutes). Do not bring the mixture to a boil.
As the simple syrup is cooking, grab a citrus squeezer and several fresh lemons, usually about three large or 4-5 small ones.
Pour freshly squeezed lemon juice into a large pitcher.
Once your simple syrup is ready, pour it into the pitcher with the lemon juice. Add 4 cups of cold water, to dilute. Stir to combine.
Serve over ice, & enjoy! 

This lemonade recipe is easy to multiply for large gatherings and takes about 10 minutes to prep, start to finish.
I bet it would even be good with a sprig of fresh mint.
If you're looking for more delicious (and healthy!) spring drinks, try our Lavender Lemonade or Peach Ginger Smoothie! 
But the best combo for this deliciously sweet lemonade? Raw Carrot Cake with Lemon Cashew Creme...yum!