Non-Dairy Strawberry Shortcake

Ymmm! Strawberry Shortcake! Love it!!! 


I picked over a gallon of strawberries from our patch in one day! (I talked about our strawberry patch in a previous post) I decided to make Strawberry Shortcake--well, duh! I like to use the biscuit type shortcake and just use the one in my old Betty Crocker Cookbook. However, I stopped using shortening several years ago and use Coconut Oil instead. At room temperature the Coconut Oil looks very much like shortening and works the same in recipes. Hmmm, maybe I should do a post on Coconut Oil. The recipe I have for you today is for Whipped Topping. We don't use dairy and if you read the ingredients on the Cool Whip package you wouldn't use it for sure! I tried several Whipped Topping recipes with undesirable results until I found the one I will share with you today! If you are lactose intolerant or vegan, you will love it!!!


Whipped Topping
Makes 6 cups


1 cup water
2 Tablespoons agar flakes (2 teaspoons powder)
1/2 cup raw cashew nuts
1/3 cup honey or 1/2 cup sugar (I only use 2 Tablespoons sugar)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon coconut extract
1/4 teaspoon xanthan gum (optional, but especially nice in icing)
1 can coconut milk 

1. Stir together the agar and water and bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Reduce heat and simmer for 1-2 minutes.
2. Place remaining ingredients in blender along with hot agar mixture. Blend on high until smoother, adding water as needed to make 3 1/2 to 4 cups total mixture (3 1/2 cups total mixture for icing; 4 cups for whipped topping). Pour into quart container and chill in refrigerator several hours or overnight. For quicker chilling, use a large, shallow container. Hint: Since this recipe needs blending twice, leave the blended mixture (step 2) in the blender in the refrigerator overnight. Then simply reblend as in step 3, saving the work of washing the blender and containers twice!
3. Before using, place chilled mixture (which will be quite firm--almost sliceable) in blender or food processor and blend until creamy. (If you have a lightweight blender, you should blend just half of the mix at a time.) It should be the consistency of Cool Whip, and spreads on a cake very nicely. Try not to add more liquid. The mixture will eventually go through the blades and become more creamy if you carefully push it toward the blades with a rubber spatula. 

The agar is a key ingredient in this recipe. The mixture has to be reblended only once. Then it can be frozen and used without reblending, but remains a nice creamy texture. So make a double recipe and freeze in small containers to use as needed for icing or dessert topping.

This recipe is from a favorite vegan cookbook of mine called 7 Secrets Cookbook by Neva & Jim Brackett. 

Have a great day and a wonderful weekend! I'll be back on Sunday Night for the Sunday Night Chit-Chat! Kat

What's for Breakfast

I don't have a recipe for you today but had to share my bowl (about a quart) of luscious strawberries fresh picked from my strawberry patch! Don't they look yummy?!!! And yes, I ate some of them for breakfast! 


The large strawberries are Albion. We learned about these from The Costco Connection. Costco contracts with farmers to grow Albion strawberries for them to sell in their stores. The smaller strawberries are called Tristar. I don't remember how we found out about them but have been growing them for a few years now.

We purchased our strawberry plants from Sakuma Market Stand from Burlington, WA. The catalog describes the strawberries:

• Albion--A new release from UC Davis. Fruit is long, conical, symmetrical; firm with excellent flavor. Resists verticillum wilt, phytophthora crown rot and some resistance to anthracnose crown rot. Susceptible to root rot and must be planted in well-drained soil, with crown set at soil level. Yield under the best of conditions is about one basket per plant per season. June bearers generally produce a single large crop in spring to early summer (as early as March in warmer regions such as Southern California and Florida) and are prolific producers for 3 to 4 weeks. Are especially suitable for growers who wish to harvest a constant supply of berries throughout the summer.
• Tristar--Everbearing, similar to Tribute, but noticeably sweeter and more aromatic. Medium size, symmetrical, short conic fruit. Firm, glossy, deep red skin. Solid, medium red flesh. Excellent for fresh eating and freezing. Medium size plants; moderate number of runner which bloom and bear fruit before rooted; good for hanging baskets. Fall crop is heaviest. Cool fall weather brings larger, more elongated fruit. 

I love this time of year when the fruit starts and the garden is looking fresh with new baby plants:) The raspberry bushes are loaded with green berries so it won't be long before we are eating raspberries as well. Strawberry Shortcake, fresh Strawberry and/or Raspberry Lemonade--my mouth is watering already!!!

Enjoy today! Kat

Spring is Here!!!

I love Spring! And Summer! And Fall! Not Winter so much as I don't like to be cold. It appears that Spring has finally sprung in our neck of the woods and I couldn't be happier.

Today I am showing you a few signs of Spring in my yard--no, not me tanning!!! This is a closeup of the buds on my lilac bush getting ready to open up with beautiful blossoms! My lilac bushes are special because they were given to me by a special friend who died about a year and a half after giving them to me. Every year when they bloom I am reminded of what a wonderful friend he was. He left behind a sweet wife who is just as wonderful as he was.

This next picture is of our Kirk's Blue Plum tree. Raintree Nursery's description of this delectable delight is "Introduced by Joseph Kirke of London in 1830 and still the finest flavored of all plums. The large round dark blue freestone fruit has yellow drippingly juicy flesh with a fantastic flavor." I am not a plum lover because of the tart skin but the Kirk's Blue doesn't have a tart skin so is sweet and juicy all the way through! This tree only bares heavy every other year and this is the year!!!

My strawberry patch is feelin' the heat--leafing out and flowering! I can hardly wait to taste those fresh, sweet, succulent berries! Last year they struggled a little but this year they look like they are going to be good strong plants. Any of you who read my blog last year know that picking berries is one of my favorite things to do--It's like a treasure hunt!  My husband had them covered over with straw for the winter but has pushed the straw back so they can soak up some rays! The straw is nice when the berries are on to keep the berries out of the dirt so they don't get wet. When they sit on the wet ground they tend to rot and we don't want that now, do we?

The raspberries are just starting to leaf out and I do LOVE raspberries! Soon you won't be able to see through the fence because of all the raspberry leaves. It will soon be time to make Raspberry Lemonade again! Last year we found it was even better than Strawberry Lemonade!! It is so much fun seeing the plants budding and blooming and getting ready to produce wonderful fruit through the summer.


My husband is an avid gardener. He actually gets excited about working in the soil and planting food and flowers! I didn't get that bug but do enjoy watching the things he plants grow.

This last picture is of destruction and despair! We have a lovely asparagus patch and have been looking forward to being able to eat freely from it for the first time this year. Well, our sweet little Rocky has decided that he really likes vegetables. A few weeks ago he ate a whole row of kale and just recently we found him munching down in the asparagus patch. You can see in the picture where he munched off and broke off the asparagus. However, we did have a nice mess of asparagus this weekend and it was DELICIOUS!!!


I hope you are having a great day and are enjoying all the signs of Spring! Tomorrow I will be back with a card from our Happy Stampers club meeting from last week. Happy Spring! Kat