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Beaming Vegan

A blog on life by vegans.

Why Hiring a Pinterest Manager is the Best Way to Grow Your Business

I started blogging years ago as a hobby, with little growth seen for years. When I decided to stay home full time I chose to invest my time in expanding my knowledge on blogging, e-commerce, and the general digital nomad land.

The main thing I noticed when taking online courses, reading e-books, reading physical books, listening to podcasts, and talking with friends on the matter, was that everyone’s common source of business growth was Pinterest.

That amazing Etsy shop owner- Pinterest-made. The 6-figure blogger- Pinterest! The super successful food photographer- that was Pinterest too. Oh and let’s not forget the well-known online course instructor… DEFINITELY Pinterest!

When I started my first blog in 2016 I was forced to understand Pinterest on an even DEEPER level, and began utilizing tools like Tailwind for Pinterest, group boards, Canva, “tribes”, etc. to help my blog gain traction. Today I’m home blogging full-time, using Pinterest daily to tie together my blog’s content. I have EXCEEDED 1 million monthly views and the vast majority of my blog’s traffic comes from Pinterest. Over the course of my four years of blogging I’ve completed dozens and dozens of Pinterest-for-business trainings and online courses, wrapping up all my knowledge into one simple resource that I hope will make your life easier.

From the beginning, I knew Pinterest wasn’t just an inspiring, social-media like platform for the new mom or bride-to-be. It’s not that simple! Pinterest is a search engine. And it is THE search engine your target audience is most engaged with. Once I shifted my perspective to understand the potential of this platform, I started to see huge Pinterest growth success, directly reflective of my input.

I understand though that not everyone (myself included) has the time to be the backbone of every component of your business while still maintaining that Pinterest growth. If you were to outsource one component, I’d say make it this. Experienced virtual entrepreneurs would agree that a quality Pinterest Manager is the best investment you can make because your brand exposure will be increasing on an extreme upward slope in an automated fashion. While you’re busy creating, handling back-office tasks, and working directly with clients- a Pinterest Manager is working to constantly and rapidly grow your business as a whole.

“I’m doing all the things she taught me about using Pinterest for business right now and it’s made an enormous difference in just a couple days … Impressions up 25,000% and that’s only about a week or two of working at it … Highly recommend and I am excited about traffic to my website and blog from there!”

– Danika Lynn Co

So how does that work? Check out this post on Pinterest Management services to learn more, and utilize the chat box at the bottom to get in direct contact with me for an even better understanding of how this is going to get business booming for you in your unique situation!

Even if you’re not looking to outsource this task right away, get in touch. Let me help you figure out where to go from this point!

15 Ways to Make Your Plant Based Grocery Bill Cheaper

Some things have changed in our three years being vegan. A LOT has changed, actually. First of all, super delicious vegan meat and cheese alternatives have hit markets available to us. Our grocery bill has fluctuated through the years. Tons of restaurants are offering vegan options or plan to soon. We went from living two hours from a natural/health food store, to living one block away, to now living over an hour away again. We went from eating whole food plant-based meals to walking one block and grabbing vegan sandwiches, burgers, pizza, etc.

This is where the lesson lies: When we lived in Middle Of Nowhere, Kansas and were fresh off the meat-eating train, we didn’t have the slightest idea how to make a our newfound vegan diet budget-friendly! We also didn’t have many grocery options racking up a big bill. The only vegan alternative product available to us at the time was plant milk. We never really splurged on anything. We shopped at discount grocery stores and bought in bulk before we really even knew what buying in bulk meant. It was natural to us because we didn’t have another choice! We bought 0 vegan cheese, vegan meat, etc.

When we landed in the heart of Spokane, Washington we felt so at home with all the new vegan options available to us! We LITERALLY walked to Natural Grocers at least 4 times per week. We bought allllll the meat and chese alternatives, allll the processed snacks, pre-made dinners, organic foods, shopped at all the high-end grocery stores, ate out at all the vegan restaurants, and had the LUXURY of ORDERING OUT, something that had long been foreign to us. This (obviously) got expensive.

We once again cut ourselves off from these luxuries by moving back to the country (but in WA this time). With intentions to get our butts to (expensive) Seattle to establish residence for little a while, we realized the groceries were a really sneaky, drawn-out financial setback. It’s been two years out here now, and I’m pretty sure we’ve mastered the vegan grocery bill balancing act.

As I mention all the time, our health is a priority to us. Having an abundant fridge and pantry well-stocked with whole foods and vegan staples is always going to be non-negotiable for us. We truly recognize how much of a privilege it is to have access to these things and it’s something we’ll never take for granted. That being said, we will, without a doubt, 100% make whatever other cutbacks we need to make financially to achieve a well-stocked vegan kitchen. I know it sounds dramatic and like we’re making sacrifices others’ aren’t able to or willing to make, but we’re really not… It is not difficult to swap some budget-eaters for a grocery savings. It just comes down to what’s most important to you! (Just please don’t tell me your unhealthy habits are more important to you than having a vegan pantry!)

  1. Make one list for the health food store, and one list for your average grocery store. There’s tons of things we buy cheaper at WinCo or Trader Joe’s or Safeway or URM Cash and Carry, so we hit those spots for some staples and get everything else at Natural Grocers. You don’t have to make a million stops, just two will do!
  2. Buy in bulk! This saves sooooo much money! We get bulk oats, nutritional yeast, cashews, rice, beans/lentils, potatoes, and bananas.
  3. Buy ripe bananas. I cannot stress enough. I never understand seeing someone pay more for green bananas than for the half off nans with the few spots. For one thing, your body digests ripe bananas so much easier, making them more nutrient accessible and all around healthy. Also, I always come home and freeze them for the most part anyway! A smoothie is nothing without a frozen banana! Even when we don’t freeze them, they stay perfectly good on the shelf. Unless the skin is completely brown, the inside of the spotty banana is probably perfect for eating.
  4. Use the dirty dozen list to choose what organic produce to buy and what you could pass on.
  5. Refill/reuse containers for discounts. Griffin refills a glass growler with kombucha they have on tap at a local grocery store and saves a lot of kombucha money that way! Sometimes bulk stores, health stores, and coffee shops will give discounts for bringing your own containers as well.
  6. Make your own milk! Save waste and money by blending raw soaked cashews (that you bought in bulk) with water. The. Best. Milk. You could also use almonds, hemp hearts, walnuts, even peanuts if your budget is really tight! There’s a recipe for this in “Plant Based on a Budget” by Toni Okamoto.
  7. Cook as many of your meals at home as possible, and use simple whole-food ingredients. Rice, beans, potatoes, squash, greens, and some veggies are great bases for an infinite amount of cheap meals!
  8. Strive for zero food waste. We save veggie scraps and herb stems/pieces in a container in the fridge to use for veggie broth (or is it stock? I never know). Other things go in the compost for our garden. If the food is pet-safe it will also be mixed into the dogs’ breakfast as a special treat.
  9. Make your own dog food. A bag of vegan dog food to feed our two large dogs for a week costs upwards of $40! We buy their food when we need to (when we’re camping, traveling, hosting visitors, or in a time crunch) but for the most part their food is homemade. There’s a lot of great recipes online, but I usually do some combination of lentils or split peas with rice, potatoes, pumpkin, sweet potato, spinach, berries, cold-pressed flax oil, nutritional yeast, hemp seeds, natural peanut butter, and a teensy bit of liquid aminos. On doggo “cheat days” they’ll have oatmeal with hemp milk, flax oil, peanut butter, and bananas or berries. Super easy to prep on a Monday morning!
  10. Order your basics (TP, dish soap, shampoo, trash bags, etc.) on a subscription to save! You can do this through Target or Thrive Market.
  11. ALWAYS CHECK CLEARANCE. Natural grocers has a clearance section in the dairy cooler and we’re always able to get bases for meals or little luxuries there for half off or more. They also have a section for discounted produce at $2 for a randomly assorted bag. I found my favorite organic vegan dark chocolate bar selling for .50 at a Holiday gas station’s clearance, when I’ve been buying them for almost $2 at Nat Gro! Always check.
  12. Make your own bread. Invest in a bread machine, find one at a thrift store, or pop the dough in the oven directly. If bread is a staple on your list, definitely make it yourself. It can cost just pennies per loaf this way!
  13. Make your own snacks. Prep some healthy brownies for the week, pop your own popcorn, make your own hummus, whatever! Find some recipes you love and be smart about buying the ingredients.
  14. Buy store brands. Even if they’re the health food store’s brand, why pay more for the same product??
  15. Buy in season. This is really important and since gardening on a huge scale last year I’ve been really appreciative of in-season foods for gratitude, health, and affordability reasons.
  16. BONUS- Shop farmer’s markets! We hit a couple local produce stands regularly through the summer and got to know the owners really well. They ALWAYS gave us a huge discount on our purchases, often times even sending us home with free bags of cherries or tomatoes to try. Supporting local food growers while they support us… Win win!

One Pan Vegan Italian Sausage Bake

One pan vegan Italian sausage bake. All the “wins” are right in the title. One pan, three base ingredients (the rest is optional), and 30 minutes. Fair price to pay for a cozy dinner for two! Griffin is committed to a frugivorous diet this winter, so I’ll be prepping lots of squash… If anyone has any cozy frugivore meals please enlighten… I think lots of savory jackfruit, coconut curry, and squash will be staples! He could literally eat cold fruit all winter and be happy, the comfort foods are for myself. Haha! But when the ingredients are handy I fully intend to bake this as meal prep for a week of lunch for myself!

A few tips to make this meal a little easier on the budget: Buy brussels sprouts on the stalk (then save that stalk for vegetable broth!). You can find them at natural food stores with a good produce selection, or the bulk food stores like Winco usually have them at a great price! Plus the sprouts themselves are way larger on the stalk than pre-prepped.

Secondly, just use whatever potatoes are affordable/in season/available locally. We live in potato country, I’m not even kidding. There’s giant potatoes laying all over the sides of the highway from the trucks hauling them across the state, and we regularly see semi-loads of gigantic sweet potatoes. Fun fact: they smell completely awful! I’ve noticed that potatoes are significantly more affordably here than when we lived in Southeast Kansas, so I don’t feel so bad buying the pricier purple sweet potatoes. With herbs and butter though, there’s no bad potato for this recipe. Remember it’s a sausage bake recipe, not a purple potato bake 😉

My last tip is this; cut this recipe with salad or quinoa! If you’re serving a crowd there’s no need to spend more to up the ingredients listed here… Make this the focus of the meal but serve it on a bed of quinoa, pasta, rice, salad, etc. Have fun with it 🙂

Also, I should mention that Field Roast is my favorite sausage for this recipe. The pieces roast so nicely and pack sooo much flavor!

If you’re in need of some creative dinner ideas definitely check out my custom meal plan options!

Print Recipe

One Pan Vegan Sausage Bake

An easy, cozy, delicious meal for prepping lunches in advance or warming up on chilly nights!
Prep Time5 mins
Cook Time30 mins
Servings: 2 people

Ingredients

  • 3 Field Roast Italian Sausages
  • 3 cups quartered brussels sprouts
  • 1 medium diced sweet potato
  • 1 tbsp plant based butter (I use Earth Balance or Melt)
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • a few sprigs of rosemary, thyme, or parsley

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 365
  • Slice brussels sprouts, potato, and sausage
  • Toss brussels sprouts in olive oil
  • Arrange sprouts, potatoes, and sausage on pan/baking sheet
  • Place in the oven and bake for 15 minutes
  • Remove from oven and brush potatoes with butter and garnish with herbs
  • Place back in oven and bake for another 15 minutes

Quick Fall Harvest Granola Bars

These fall harvest granola bars were a spur of the moment idea I had, inspired by a Bob’s Red Mill ad for quinoa granola bars. I just saw the colors in the ad’s recipe and knew I’d recreate them eventually. When “eventually” arrived, Danika of Danika Lynn Co. and I planned a cooking/lifestyle shoot I saw this as not only my opportunity to test my recipe idea but to also have the pretty colors photographed. This post’s photos are courtesy of Danika!

If cinnamon rolls are the official breakfast of Christmas morning, these bars are like the official breakfast of Thanksgiving morning. Not that we need breakfast on a full day of binge eating, but hey. They’d fit the part.

Besides that they’re pretty for serving to friends and fam, they’re a pretty overall healthy and whole-food-ingredient recipe, which could be converted to a raw vegan recipe with a few easy swaps (raw nut butter, extra to compensate for the absent brown rice syrup, raw nuts and fruit, and raw chocolate)!

If you’re vegan and don’t have brown rice syrup as a pantry staple, you need to buy a jar and give it a shot. I bet you’ll be hooked. It’s the absolute closest thing to honey we’ve used and it works perfectly as a honey substitute for converting non-vegan recipes to vegan! I just used it in a bread recipe today, and while I’m not entirely sure what honey does for bread, the recipe turned out perfect, sooo… :’D Then again if you don’t find yourself using maple syrup or needing a honey replacement a lot you might not find a use for it. I’m one of those who love to make EVERY non-vegan recipe vegan, so I use it a lot!

Print Recipe

Quick Fall Harvest Granola Bars

Prep Time15 mins
Servings: 8 bars

Ingredients

  • 1 fresh pear
  • 1/3 cup walnuts or pecans
  • 1/2 cup pistachios
  • 3 cups gluten free oats
  • 1/3 cup dried cranberries
  • 1 tbsp cinnamon
  • 1 oz chocolate Esspresso-infused dark chocolate is ideal if you can find it! Seattle Chocolate Company makes a bar.
  • 1 1/2 cups smooth nut butter
  • 1 cup brown rice syrup

Instructions

  • Dice pear into fine pieces. The smaller the dicing, the better the bars will hold together in the end
  • Lightly chop nuts
  • In a large bowl, toss together oats, nuts, pear, cranberries, and cinnamon
  • Add nut butter and brown rice syrup to the mixture
  • Combine thoroughly, ensuring all of the dry mixture is covered evenly
  • Prepare a 9" baking pan by lining with parchment paper, being careful to leave about an inch of overhang around the edges of the pan
  • Wet hands and press granola mixture into pan firmly
  • Melt chocolate by microwaving in 10 second intervals, stirring between each one
  • Drizzle chocolate generously over the mix
  • Refrigerate 10-15 minutes
  • Lift the pressed mix from pan using the parchment paper and carefully slice into 8 bars. Tip: Wetting the knife before slicing helps, as does using a large knife and pressing into bars then lifting directly up instead of dragging the knife.

If you make the fall harvest granola bars, tag me or send me a pic! I love seeing how you put your touch on these recipes!

Savory Vegan Sweet Potato Pizza

This sweet potato pizza is a cold weather recipe if I’ve ever seen one. Warm caramelized sweet potato pieces, savory tofu ricotta, and my secret ingredient pizza sauce all smothered on a toasty from-scratch crust. I don’t know what the weathers like as you’re reading this, but if it’s chilly outside I bet you just realized this is exactly what you didn’t know you needed!

I intended for this to be a butternut squash pizza, but somehow ended up preparing a sweet potatoe pizza instead. My brain knew what my heart wanted! They’re super close in taste and texture though, so I say if you’re feelin’ squash, go with squash. I’ll do that next time, but for now I’ll just take a breather from all the squash I’ve been eating from our garden. Trying to eat 300+ squash/pumpkins before they go bad is even harder than it sounds!

One of the key ingredients in this recipe is the homemade ricotta. I found this recipe over at From My Bowl and I’ve never found any vegan ricotta as close to the real deal as this one! I love how it bakes onto pizzas too, it adds such lovely sustenance.

*Blend blend blend blend blend with tofu, lemon, nutritional yeast, salt and peppa, and garlic*

Then walk away with this delicious treat… I spoon it out of the blender (no food processor here, just a Vitamix), leave it in this container, and store it in the fridge for quite a while. I can’t say for sure how long it’ll stay good, but you could definitely prep it in advance for the holidays. I think the longer it sits in the fridge the more the flavors meld. Definitely should be a staple in a vegan kitchen. It’s a great way to jazz up so many recipes! I use it alllllll the time!

Now about this sweet potato pizza’s CRUST, this is the one I’ve been sharing in my IG stories for like a year or more now. It’s a little clipping *I THINK* I found in a Rachael Ray magazine. It’s super easy if you skip the whole refrigerate forever thing! It’s for sure another card you’ll want in your vegan recipe box. I often make it with Bob’s Red Mill 1:1 Gluten Free Baking Flour or cut the regular flour with any other gluten free version. My favorite is making the recipe with 3 cups of all purpose flour and 1/2 cup of coconut flour, then rolling it out in coconut flour. So good!

Beaming Vegan: Savory vegan sweet potato pizza a cold weather recipe
Print Recipe

Savory Vegan Sweet Potato Pizza

Warm caramelized sweet potato pieces, savory tofu ricotta, and my secret ingredient pizza sauce all smothered on a toasty from-scratch crust.
Prep Time1 hr 15 mins
Cook Time25 mins
Servings: 2 8-inch pizzas

Ingredients

For the crust

  • 3 1/2 cups flour (see note above for GF)
  • 1 cup warm water
  • 1 packet quick rise yeast
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 2 tbsp olive oil

Toppings

  • 1 medium finely cubed sweet potato, cooked
  • pizza sauce
  • 2 tbsp maple syrup or brown rice syrup
  • 1 handful greens (fresh basil or spinach)
  • 1 cup vegan mozzarella shreds
  • 1/2 cup vegan cheddar shreds
  • 1/2 medium thin sliced red onion

1 recipe vegan ricotta (linked above)

    Instructions

    • To start the dough for the crust, combine water, 1/2 cup of flour, and yeast. Let sit for 10 minutes (until foamy on top)
    • Add olive oil, salt, then add remaining three cups of flour one cup at a time
    • Let rest in a warm place for 1 hour
    • Preheat oven to 375
    • On a lightly floured surface, knead dough until it becomes a smooth ball
    • Separate dough into 2 equal halves
    • Roll each piece of dough out on floured surface. Place both crusts on a baking sheet once they are the size/thickness desired for your pizzas
    • In a small bowl, whisk together pizza sauce and syrup
    • Spread sauce on pizzas and top with remaining ingredients
    • Bake in preheated oven for 25 minutes or until ricotta and crust turn slightly golden

    Just a little FYI in case you’re interested, I’ll be coming up with a fall/winter sample meal plan and sharing it here on the blog! Until then, you can find custom meal plan options here!

    Buttery Vegan Cutout Cookies

    I decorated my cutout cookies with plain white icing spread across the entire cookie again, plain and simple. It’s probably the third year in a row I’ve done that, and I started wondering why I like colored Christmas lights and minimally decorated cookies, while others like white Christmas lights and colorfully decorated cookies… Hmmmm.

    I can’t tell you where I got the recipe this one is based off of, because that’s top secret. Have no fear, I’m not infringing on anyone’s rights to their content. I got permission to share. 🙂 Consider yourself VERY lucky!

    Last year I posted these cannabis-infused sugar cookies which are soft and fluffy and have a light spice to them. Highly recommend trying the recipe, if you’re in a state where it’s legal to do so of course. You can always sub plant-based butter for the dosed coconut oil, you’ll still get a unique delicious cookie! These cutout cookies are comparable in that they hold their shape really well and get a bakery quality taste from my newest baking obsession, almond extract.

    The real MVPs of this entire recipe are, of course; vegan butter, egg replacer, and almond extract. Thanks to these heroes, any cookie recipe (basically) can be vegan-ized with a couple simple swaps. The almond extract isn’t for vegan-izing, but it does make a darn good final product. I called this company last year to confirm that the extract was vegan, and they informed me it is. So almond extract in every baked treat, please!

    Funny story: when I moved out of my mom’s house years ago, I took all her cookie cutters with me LOL. I didn’t need any other kitchen appliance or tool, I was just seriously concerned I’d have to go the rest of my life without the cookie cutters I grew up with. The metal ones pictured in the recipe’s image below have a sticker on them that says “2/$1” (it looks like a hobby lobby sticker). I can’t bring myself to buy new cookie cutters, not even at the thrift store, because I can’t find them this cheap! I did buy the house cutter from the Magnolia collection at Target a couple years ago because I thought I was going to decorate little gingerbread houses. I was ambitious, but wrong. Ha! I also bought a vintage rabbit cookie cutter at an antique store when I went with my mom years ago in Kansas, but I only use it at Easter.

    Decorating cutout cookies was always a tradition at my grandma’s house in Kansas and she had all the classic cookie cutter shapes…. Plus a squirrel. So every year we made and decorated “the Christmas squirrel”.

    Buttery vegan cutout cookies on cutting board with cookie cutters in the shape of a star and Christmas tree
    Print Recipe

    Buttery Vegan Cutout Cookies

    Soft, buttery, no-spread cutout cookies perfect for decorating for any holiday/event! Made with super simple ingredients, nothing weird.
    Prep Time45 mins
    Cook Time20 mins
    Servings: 24 cookies

    Ingredients

    • 6 cups all purpose flour
    • 2 cups Melt Organic vegan butter
    • 1 cup organic brown sugar
    • 1/3 cup egg replacer (Bob's Red Mill powdered egg replacer or aquafaba work well here)
    • 1 cup organic cane sugar
    • 1 tsp vanilla
    • 1 tsp almond extract
    • 1 pinch salt

    Instructions

    • In a large bowl cream butter, vanilla, almond extract, and sugars
    • Blend in egg replacer and salt
    • Add flour one cup at a time
    • Place bowl in freezer for 10 minutes
    • Preheat oven to 350
    • Prepare a surface for rolling out dough
    • Separate dough into two halves and roll out one half at a time
    • Cut cookie shapes out of dough and place on a cookie sheet. Spacing shouldn't be a concern as long as they're not touching, because they won't spread
    • Bake each batch of cookies for 7 minutes for a softer cookie or 10 minutes (until golden brown) for a crunchy final product.
    • Remove cookies from pan to avoid over cooking and rest on a cooling rack before frosting

    For a basic icing recipe: whisk 1/2 C vegan butter, 1/2 C shortening, 1tsp vanilla, 1 tbsp plant milk, and about 3 C organic powdered sugar (add more if icing is too runny). Separate into a few small bowls and add vegan food coloring to each (optional)

    I’d love to see how yours come out! Tag me on IG @beamingveganblog, message me, whatever! It warms my heart to see that you value these plant-based recipes 🙂

    Vegan/Gluten-Free Apple Crumble Bars

    Apple crumble bars! They’re here, they’re here! Just in time to be added to your Thanksgiving baking list… I’m sure you already have the ingredients in your pantry and fridge, so it will be easy to add them to the menu and impress your vegan or gluten-free guests!

    These buttery, caramel-y, crumble-y bars are one of my very favorite gluten free desserts. I made this same recipe with regular all-purpose flour the first time and the crust set up a little too hard, but with Bob’s Red Mill Gluten-Free 1:1 Baking Flour the crust holds the bars together just enough without being too dominating.

    We won’t even get into how good this topping is… I just want to make a pan of it and eat it out of a bowl like cereal. Totally normal, no? :’D

    Note: These pictures capture my fave way to enjoy the apple crumble, warm and fresh out of the oven. If you’re serving them for a holiday they are perfect for making a day in advance and refrigerating because the caramel-y sauce will be less gooey and the bars will hold together more like a finger food. Fresh out of the oven or cold and sliceable, doesn’t matter! They’ll be delish both ways!

    Four gluten free vegan apple pie bar slices on wooden cutting board with a drizzle of icing
    Print Recipe

    Vegan/Gluten-Free Apple Crumble Bars

    Gooey, caramel-y, spiced apple pie bars with a buttery crumble topping and gluten free crust.
    Prep Time20 mins
    Cook Time45 mins
    Refrigerate3 hrs
    Servings: 10 people

    Ingredients

    For the crust

    • 1/2 cup Earth Balance butter (1 baking stick)
    • 1/4 cup organic sugar
    • 1 cup Bob's Red Mill 1:1 Gluten Free Baking Flour

    For the filling

    • 4 finely sliced honeycrisp apples (the thinner the slices the more held together your bars will be in the end!)
    • 1/2 cup organic sugar
    • 1/3 cup organic brown sugar
    • 2 heaping tbsp apple pie spice

    For the topping

    • 1 cup gluten free quick oats
    • 1/2 cup Earth Balance butter
    • 2 tsp cinnamon
    • 1/4 cup any type of gluten free flour (almond flour works great but if you don't have it feel free to use the baking flour!)
    • 1/2 cup organic brown sugar

    (Optional) Icing

    • 1 cup organic powdered sugar
    • 1 tbsp plant milk
    • 1 tsp vanilla

    Instructions

    • Preheat oven to 375
    • Grease or line a 3 quart baking dish
    • Prepare crust by combing the three ingredients. You may have to use your hands to ensure butter is evenly incorporated
    • Press crust dough into pan using a spatula. Be sure the dough is spread flat and isn't thicker in some areas
    • In a large bowl, toss together filling ingredients
    • Spread filling across crust evenly
    • Using the same bowl, combine topping ingredients. This is best done by hand as well. You should end up with pea-sized crumbles
    • Sprinkle topping over the filling in pan
    • Bake in preheated oven for 45 minutes or until the crust at the bottom of the dish is visibly starting to brown. It should be a deep gold color by the time it is removed from the oven
    • Cool in the fridge for a few hours and then drizzle with icing (optional)
    • Separate into squares using a sturdy spatula. A knife pulls on apples and causes the bars to disassemble

    If you make these be sure to let me know what you think or tag me on IG! It warms my heart to see these plant based recipes shared!

    Also, I think I’m going to start making the effort to get pictures of the process and write step-by-steps with images along with the recipe style used above. Let me know if this is something you’d find helpful or if you don’t think it matters 🙂

    If you need more vegan dessert ideas for the holidays be sure to check out this post for the best vegan chocolate chip cookies or find me on Pinterest for tonnnnns of recipe ideas!

    The Best Vegan/Cruelty-Free Bath and Body Products

    Let me just start with: This is not a sponsored post… I’m bragging on my fave cruelty-free bath and body things because it took an exceptionally long time to find those perfect repeat-purchase items. Hopefully this takes some of that elbow grease out for you and you can keep that money you’d have spent trial-ing “the best” products (that are never as good as they claim).

    I had some major skin issues a while back (I talked about this in my gut health series) and wasted so much money in the process of finding a healthy, healing, vegan AND cruelty-free solution. I shopped the top shelf, tried all the DIYs, and surfed through shelves of every natural/health store.

    One bottle of vegan, cruelty-free shampoo in eucalyptus scent by the brand The Seaweed Company and one bottle of The Seaweed Company's vegan cruelty-free lavender scented body wash with a sprig of dried eucalyptus for decoration.

    A couple products ticked all the boxes and were consistently healing without losing that effect over time. These include:

    Psorzema by Derma E. I started with this one. I had terrible eczema and was cycling through dozens of products and treatments when I found it. (My skin was so terrible that I misdiagnosed with scabies one time! No joke!) The first time I used it I felt immediate relief and was stoked that for the first time in my treatment there was no weird smell, residue, or texture to the lotion. I kept using it and my skin only healed more and more with each use. It kept me from scratching my arms to blisters, and not only that but I didn’t have any visible sign of eczema or scratching at all. Although I’ve healed the root cause of my skin issues at his point, I still have a tub of this cream and use it EVERY day just to keep my skin hydrated and keep the eczema in check. The cold PNW climate does a number on my hands but one use of this and any sign of dry skin is gone. It has more power than any prescription cream I’ve been given over the years except it’s vegan and made of natural and safe ingredients. I swear by this lotion and I can’t stress that enough! Find it at Natural Grocers and Whole Foods.

    The Seaweed Bath Co. also makes a really great body cream, although I haven’t used it as long and can’t say as much about it. I have used other products from this brand for about a year now and everything I’ve used has been amazing. The credibility of this brand is actually what led us to grabbing a tube of their lotion at a recent Natural Grocers visit. My hands were insanely dry and wrinkly and I didn’t have any of the previously mentioned lotion on hand so I used a little of this and it kept my hands smooth for hours! Also perfectly unscented and not too heavy or oily. Try this one, I promise it won’t disappoint. I find these items at Natural Grocers and Thrive Market.

    One bottle of vegan, cruelty-free shampoo in eucalyptus scent by the brand The Seaweed Company and one bottle of The Seaweed Company's vegan cruelty-free lavender scented body wash with a sprig of dried eucalyptus for decoration.

    If you’ve been vegan for any time at all I assume you’ve found your ride-or-die cruelty-free shampoo/conditioner brands. I thought my go-to was Nature’s Gate, and that’s still a very close runner up, but about six months ago I switched to Seed Phytonutrients and, assuming I follow a normal hair care routine, it’s been a miracle worker. My only complaint about this one would be the lack of lather. I always feel like I need to use extra because I can’t feel that it’s really getting in there- but it is. The entire anti-frizz collection is a true keeper! You can find Seed Phytonutrients at Ulta and Thrive Market, and Nature’s Gate can be found at Natural Grocers.

    Let’s see, what else do you want to know about what I put on my body… :’D

    Toothpaste! I acted like I had to think about what I wanted to share, knowing all the while I’m just writing this post for this toothpaste feature. Haha! My ALL TIME FAVORITE toothpaste brand of all toothpaste brands, flouride, flouride-free, vegan, cruelty-free, etc. is Dr. Brite. They have grown-up tubes of toothpaste with kids flavors (Coco Chai is a flavor now? What?!), but that’s not why I love them. I’m the type to really appreciate a good foam at the mouth when I’m brushing, and this does that for me. So much foam and bubbles and freshness… Your teeth will feel extra clean for hours following. There’s no harsh artificial chemical-y too-strong-mint flavor with any of them. All the flavors taste so natural and leave your breath fresh and mouth clean. At risk of sounding completely crazy here, I would like to point out that I have actually healed my teeth with a whole foods plant based diet and natural toothpaste. I did this by accident and when I realized it I did my research and found out this is indeed a thing! Try it!

    One bottle of vegan, cruelty-free toothpaste in mint flavor by the brand Dr. Brite and one bottle of Dr. Brite's vegan cruelty-free coconut mint flavored toothpaste.

    I recently also started using the Dr. Brite whitening pen for coffee and tea drinkers and was skeptical about it because the ingredient list looks like a bunch of herbs and natural components that I’ve never heard of using for whitening, but it’s better than any whitener I’ve tried. Now if only I can remember to use it consistently enough that it has ample opportunity to do it’s thang… I Get Dr. Brite products at Natural Grocers and Thrive Market.

    My favorite cruelty-free shower gel/body wash/soap actually consists of three products and brands I alternate between, but I’ll start with my most used and work my way down to one I just recently fell in love with.

    1. Nature’s Gate body wash
    2. Mountain Madness Soap Company Fresh Herbs scent (This is a local company, but ordering from their website is super easy)
    3. Whatever that new holiday soap at Natural Grocers is… As soon as I find it I’ll link back to it. If you know what the brand is, please do tell! I just finished a bar of the pine scent and it smells like Christmas. They also have a peppermint scent, almond scent, and bath bombs.

    I think the only thing we have left to cover is deo! I used a locally made, natural, vegan, cruelty-free, zero-waste deodorant for about one and a half years before it started causing some serious rashes in the underarm area. They got so bad I’d have the hardest time falling asleep just because my pits were so itchy and inflamed! Not sure why this happened so out of the blue, but I kept using because until then this deodorant had been the best I’ve ever used, and I thought it was a fluke!

    Anyway, about 6 months ago I switched to Herban Cowboy (in the Blossom scent) and I still love this one, Griffin uses the man version of this which is also great. Then I found out one of my favorite house cleaning brands Love Home and Planet has a vegan body care line, Love Beauty and Planet. I started using their Lavender deodorant and haven’t regretted it a bit. It smells amazing all day and works like magic. You can find this one at Target!

    That about sums it up! I tried to link all the products mentioned in their spot on the post but basically you can find these things at Natural Grocers, Thrive Market (online), Amazon, or Target. Feel free to reach out if you want to know the best place to find something!

    Corn Canning Keeper Recipe: Zesty Corn Relish

    We have endlesssss vegetables to can from our garden. Especially having harvested nearly 200 ears of corn in a day over the weekend! I only have a water bath canner, so I’m having to add acidic foods and pickle the veggies to get them preserved.

    I was a little skeptical of canning corn, especially in a relish recipe, but I’m soooo happy I did! This recipe is AMAZING… And while it’s not my own, (trust me you wouldn’t be safe eating something I canned off the top of my head!) it comes from a source I trust and it needs to be shared.

    I accidentally read the recipe wrong and only purchased one small jalapeno when I went to buy ingredients for this treat, so I followed the directions for adding extra bell pepper to keep the acidity at a safe level.

    While I’ve been guilty of eating this with a spoon, I have some recommendations for how to eat it. I know, it seems a little weird to just keep jars of. But you won’t regret using it on tofu eggs (In breakfast burritos! Yum!), on chili, meat substitutes, mixed into soup, as a dip for tortilla chips, as a garnish for tacos, mixed into guacamole or queso, on veggie dogs/brats, and so many other options….

    Posting this recipe to my website exactly as it appears where I discovered it would really be robbing the owner of those views, so please visit Foodie With Family for the recipe along with tips, tricks, and hacks!

    Gluten Free Chocolate Cherry Tomato Cavatappi (Two Versions!)

     

    Of all the dozens of plants we are gardening this year, these tomatoes from Floret are my faaaaavorite. They’re so rich and flavorful and unique, but on top of all that they’re so easy to grow and they fruit like crazy!

    I started them all inside really early….. like, March early… Which is insane for the PNW unless you have a greenhouse. Oops, guess I was a little over zealous 😉 They got really big in the house and when it was time for them to go outside Griffin lined their pots along the edges of the patio. I was really apprehensive about a tomato-lined patio at first, but today as I lay in the hammock and pluck decadent treats from beside me, I’m fully appreciating his idea!

    Helius really appreciates lounging around the plants, too 🙂

    I made the cherry tomato sauce using a blender. If you want to smash it with a fork or leave the tomatoes whole or whatever else is convenient for you, please do that! I will point out that you’ll need a blender or food processor for the creamier version, which I HIGHLY recommend trying. It’s like a sweet vodka sauce… Very unique, super delish! Just trust me on this one!

    Print Recipe

    Gluten Free Chocolate Cherry Tomato Cavatappi

    Homemade, garden-fresh tomato sauce in an original + creamy version served over my favorite gluten-free pasta!
    Prep Time5 mins
    Cook Time15 mins
    Servings: 2 people

    Ingredients

    • 1 box Banza chickpea cavatappi gluten-free spaghetti would do fine but trust me when I say you'll want that sauce pooled up in the pasta spirals!
    • 2 tbsp (good) olive oil
    • 4-5 small tomatoes
    • 2 cups chocolate cherry tomatoes any cherry tomatoes from your garden will do the trick, the more robust the flavor, the better!
    • 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar I used apricot balsamic vinegar, which if you can get your hands on, will take this to the next level I swear it!
    • 1/2 medium diced onion
    • 1 clove minced garlic
    • handful of fresh basil
    • 2 tsp smoked sea salt
    • 1 tsp black pepper

    (For creamy version)

    • 2 cups soaked cashews
    • 2 tbsp plant milk
    • 1/2 cup nutritional yeast

    Instructions

    • Heat olive oil in large cast iron skillet over medium heat
    • Add tomatoes and without stirring let them simmer for 5 minutes
    • Bring a medium pot of water to a boil and cook pasta in it
    • Drizzle tomatoes with balsamic vinegar and gently stir to combine
    • Toss in onion, garlic, salt, and pepper and give another gentle stir
    • Let simmer for 5 minutes
    • Add sauce mixture to blender and pulse until tomato skins become unnoticeable
    • To make the creamy sauce, add extra ingredients to the blender and blend until smooth
    • Pour sauce of choice over cavatappi and serve warm