Exploits of a Vegan Wannabe

Courtesy of Adventures2findhim.com

Happy day my friends. Welcome to part deux of Love Yourself  Day. Today begin a new habit of  treating yourself like a cherished friend and loved one. Every time you go to the ladies or men’s room and face the mirror, use it as an opportunity to say something kind about yourself to yourself. Something like,  “Sherry, your hair looks pretty today, or…you are likable.” If it feels too difficult or strange at first, then start slowly by saying things your mind is less likely to resist such as ,”Sherry you are a kind friend, or… I am proud of you for being on time today.” Once you get over the initial feelings of  insecurity or ridiculousness, you may realize that it feels good…really good to say nice things to yourself all day long. And isn’t the most ridiculous thing of all that it actually feels so foreign to look in a mirror and say something loving to yourself? When did that happen?  I want kindness and self love to be a habit; an everyday all day long action that I engage in for myself and for those I love.

A Valentine gift that I decided to give to myself was pink sugar cookies.  Iced sugar cookies make my heart smile.  They hold a place in my happiness files whose origin I am unsure of. I don’t know how they became so beloved, but they make me happy and I like that.

I wanted to make pink, iced sugar cookies for myself for Valentines Day so I researched natural food coloring made from beets. I found a perfectly easy recipe that created the most divine shade of pink cookies and icing. I also used beet sugar to carry the theme throughout. They were the best iced sugar cookies I have ever had. Making them from all things beet was a bonus.

Sugar Beet Hearts

By S. Duquet

I used the perfect sugar cookie recipe from Peas and Thank You and slightly modified it using beet juice coloring and beet sugar.

Note: I used the beet coloring in the cookies to make them a baby pink color. It was subtle but looked very sweet. I used it as well in the icing. You will want to make your beet coloring before you make your cookies.

Beet food coloring:

Recipe from EmilyWeaverBrownPhotography.com

Thank you Emily. I loved using this beautiful, natural food coloring

~Place beets (tops removes) in glass dish with  about 2 inches of water. Cover with foil and bake at 400 for about 45 min (up to an hour for very large beets). I used 2 cups of small beets
~Let beets cool, remove from beet juice. (I carefully poured warm juice into a sauce pan and began to boil)
~ Move beet juice to a pot and boil until juice is reduced to a thick syrup.

Makes enough syrup for cookies and icing

Cookie Ingredients:

~ 2 1/2 C unbleached organic flour

~ 2 tsp baking powder

~ 1/2 tsp salt

~ 1 C beet sugar

~ 1/4 C non-dairy milk (I used vanilla coconut milk)

~ 2 tsp vanilla extract

1 C vegan margarine (I used Earth Balance)

1-2 Tbsp beet food coloring

Make it Happen:

In a small bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt. In large mixing bowl, beat together sugar, milk, vanilla and margarine and food coloring. Gradually add dry ingredients to the large bowl, mixing until a dough comes together.   Remove dough from bowl and wrap in plastic wrap.  (I wrapped mine in two long rolls) Refrigerate for 1 to 3 hours until dough becomes firm.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Remove dough (one roll at a time)  from fridge and roll out onto floured board with a floured rolling pin until dough is about 3/4 inch thick.  Using cookie cutters, cut into desired shapes and carefully transfer to a cookie sheet.  Bake for 10-12 minutes until edges are slightly browning.   Be careful not to over bake.  Allow cookies to cool on cookie sheet for a minute before moving to a cooling rack. (I found that after I cut out my shapes a few times and re-rolled, the dough became very soft so I wrapped it back up, put in the fridge to re-chill.)

Icing Ingredients

1 C sifted powdered sugar

1 Tbsp or more if you would like of beet food coloring

1-2 Tbsp vanilla or flavor of your choice

Make It Happen

~Add liquid to sifted sugar and mix briskly with a whisk. Add enough additional liquid if needed to create your icing.

~Ice your cookies, let dry and enjoy.

I had one while Sandy was gone then pretended I hadn’t. I had another as I was photographing them, then I made myself a pot of tea so I could enjoy another one.  They made my heart smile really big.

Have a delicious Love Yourself  Day.

Tags: 30 day challenge, compassionate eating, dairy free, iced sugar cookies, Peas and Thank You, plant based diet, sugar cookies, trying vegan, valentine sugar cookies, vegan, vegan challenge, vegan cookies, vegan recipe, vegan sugar cookies, vegan wannabe