A Bellingham Foodie Blog Restaurant Reviews Bellingham Washington 98225

Sweet little treats. I love them. 2 new vendors this year at the Bellingham Farmer’s Market:

Sweet Nothings 100% all natural cotton candy has a Saturday booth. Mother daughter pair Stefanie Weis and Teresa Thompson make their cotton candy with organic cane sugar and organic maple syrup. SWEET. My 3 kids couldn’t finish a bag. Leftovers for me?

Little Shovels’ Rex Hall and Colette McNabb make sweet refreshing all natural popsicles. They serve more than a dozen different flavors from a shiny white and red, wheeled umbrella cart. I ate a cucumber chili lime popsicle and was so happy and satisfied, I passed on all other market foods. I know, unbelievable. Later that same evening, we saw Rex walking along pushing the popsicle cart around downtown. We had had a hot beach day in Bellingham, so it was a good night for a popsicle vendor to be out and about.

Heidi Swanson‘s blog, 101Cookbooks, and book Super Natural Cooking is for the vegetarian ready to break out. It is so full of imaginative recipes it makes Martha look old-fashioned (no offense). I have made several of her recipes, and one is better than the other. Even the carnivores in my house wear smiles when I serve her dishes.

But today’s recipe took the cake (her cakes are BEYOND, but I’ll talk about them soon):  Giant Crusty and Creamy White Beans with Greens is my kind of way to eat beans and greens. I know. Not a combination to excite, yet this was excellent; it was crispy and creamy and salty and garlicky. Perfection!

And when baking one of her cakes, be prepared for there to be NO leftovers. Relish your portion while you can.

We made the Raspberry Curd Swirl Cake (I used lemon curd from TJ‘s in place of raspberry butter) and due to my impatience, caved it. But, alas, this did not deter any of us from devouring it 4th of July. The week before we made the Sticky Teff-Kissed Spice Loaves. My partner was transported back to sweet sticky childhood as he licked his fingers. Be aware: Heidi’s cake recipes don’t skimp on the sweet. The ingredients are organic and natural in all her recipes. Though, let’s face it, a dessert is dessert; it SHOULD be sweet and decadent. Otherwise, go eat something else.

Heidi Swanson has the benefit of living walking distance from a huge co-op in the heart of San Francisco. She has at her fingertips some very special ingredients: wild rice four, mesquite flour, a dozen types of dried seaweed. She creates some tempting recipes (pancakes, chocolate chip cookies, salads) using them. I’ll be giving it a try soon, and let you know how they tasted.

Here:  give her Otsu recipe a try. It’s delicious! And for dessert Black Bean Brownies. Wendy made them and loved them!