Carrot cake quinoa flake porridge

I adore oatmeal and ran out so reached for my neglected bag of quinoa flakes, buried at the back of the pantry, and and created a breakfast masterpiece. 😂

Carrot cake quinoa flake porridge (serves 2)

ingredients

• 2 cups plant based milk (I am loving the extra protein and texture of Ripple pea milk right now)

• 1 cup quinoa flakes

• 1 carrot, grated

• 1 Tbsp shredded unsweetened coconut

• 2 Tbsp golden raisins

• 1/4 cup walnuts, broken up

• 1 Tbsp maple syrup

• 1 tsp each cinnamon and turmeric

• 1/2 tsp grated nutmeg

• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

• pinch of salt

Bring the milk to a simmer, add your quinoa flakes and reduce heat. Stir until combined and let simmer for one minute then turn off heat and cover for a minute to set. Add the spices, vanilla, maple and raisins first, let sit a minute covered, add your carrots, walnuts, and coconut. Stir to combine. Add vegan margarine and more milk to top it once it’s bowled up. Enjoy!

Giving back 💗 One Percent Donated

2020 was rough for so many of us and I am so lucky we were able to have so much support from you all. We were honored to be able to donate hundreds of our soaps to front line workers and to our neighbors of the Navajo Nation through the pandemic. By year end we were able to achieve our goal of donating 1% of the total dollars that came our way to organizations we believe in focusing on planting trees, social justice, green spaces, the arts and of course animal welfare. Thank you for helping us make this possible and for supporting my business and the causes we support.

June Covid-19 Update

Our Soap Shop & Vegan Boutique storefront remains closed but our online shop is available and shipping with speedy turnaround. We are NOT offering store pick up currently but will reconsider based on Covid-19 cases in our area in July or August. Our area is unfortunately a hot spot for cases right now (https://www.fox10phoenix.com/map-arizona-coronavirus-cases-by-zip-code)  

and Arizona currently has the highest number of new cases so far (https://g.co/kgs/6zrra8 )

We have immune compromised folks on our team and in our families so we can’t risk any kind of contact yet. We are still working and keeping things super sanitized and all Soap Gnomie shifts are run independently so there is minimal chance for infection between us.

Hope you all are well. We miss and love our community very much. Thanks for thinking of us. 💞 We are offering to pay for your shipping on orders over $40 with coupon code GIFTITFORWARD as a token of our appreciation for your support through these times. Code is good through Father’s Day at StrawberryHedgehog.com

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Tomato Basil soup

Ingredients:

4 cups halved fresh cherry tomatoes

2 cups veggie broth (or 2 cups water and 4tsp better than bouillon)

5 cloves garlic thinly sliced

1 cup raw cashews

heaping handful each spinach and basil leaves

1 cup coconut milk from can

1/4 cup Earth Balance butter

1/4 cup nutritional yeast

salt and pepper

🍅🌿 🍅🌿🍅🌿🍅🌿🍅

Heat the garlic in a bit of olive oil until it starts to brown, add in the tomatoes, cashews and broth and simmer to cook down for about 20 minutes.

Carefully scoop the cooked mix into blender (or use a hand blender) along with the raw basil and spinach. Purée until smooth, return to pot and mix in the coconut milk, nooch and butter. Taste and add salt and pepper to desired taste. Serve with toast and brace for impact. 😋

May Covid-19 Update

I know things are shifting out there in the real world - beyond our special Soap Bubble we operate in. We will continue to protect ourselves and respect our community by remaining closed. Some of you know my story and you know my lung-struggle that lead me to starting this company (cliff notes version - thanks to Pulmonary Sequestration I have ~1.5 lungs). On top of being one of the caretakers for my Mama Hedgehog who is immune compromised, we won’t be opening any time soon because I know we aren’t the only ones. What we will do is continue working diligently and safely behind locked doors on solo Gnomie shifts to bring you our soaps and all the magical toxin free, cruelty free goodies through StrawberryHedgehog.com and our bulk soap to our friends at @blueskyorganicfarms @tangledrootbotanicals plus your local Whole Foods 💞💞💞 Thank you so much for your support. Thank you for staying safe. We honor and respect all of our fellow small businesses going to great lengths to keep you safe and phase into opening their doors through appointment and pick up options. Thank you for understanding our need to keep our doors closed and acting with the utmost caution. Seriously, we miss you all and I know I must sound like a broken record but I am so grateful. Take care 💞🙏💞

Easy Seed Crackers

Quarantine has made things a bit trickier to obtain at the soap factory and in the kitchen... Among other Steinkamperkins’ staples, I ran out of crackers long ago but luckily I keep a stockpile of raw seeds in my pantry. I’ve been doing some pickling and needed to put pickled things on crackers so yummy Easy seed crackers were born..

Easy Seed Crackers

I made half the batch plain and half with fresh herbs, both were delicious but the herbed is certainly more interesting, have fun mixing it up!

1 cup sesame seeds

3/4 cup pumpkin seeds

1/2 cup hemp seeds

1/4 cup flax seeds

1/2 cup chia seeds

1 1/2 cup water

Handful of herbs chopped (rosemary, thyme, oregano, basil flowers) 

2 cloves garlic chopped 

Salt and pepper 

Mix it all together, let sit for 10 minutes to gel. Spread thinly on a couple pans lined with parchment paper. Bake at 350 for an hour, keeping an eye out for browning on the edges. Allow to cool as long as you can tolerate (I am impatient!) then very gently break into individual cracker pieces. 

Covid-19 Update

Strawberry Hedgehog Soap Shop & Vegan Boutique at 15th Ave and Thomas Rd in downtown Phoenix storefront is closed for the safety of our Soap Gnomes and community. We are working in solitary shifts with masks and super sanitized surfaces and clean hands to keep our community clean without the use of toxins or animal byproducts. We make toxin-free soaps that destroy the lipid layer that binds viruses together while also removing and washing away bacteria. Cinnalyptus and Tea Tree Rosemary have our highest concentration of disinfecting essential oils but all of our blends are effective and never contain harmful synthetic ingredients, instead are scented with pure essential oils and organic food grade extracts and colored with herbs and minerals. 

We do have a fresh batch of Healing Herbs Surface and Hand Spray available to order at StrawberryHedgehog.com. It is 75% alcohol with antiviral herbal extracts of lomatium, echinacea, thuja, and licorice along with disinfecting essential oils of ginger, cinnamon, rosemary, eucalyptus, and more. It is consequently the best hand or surface sanitizer I have ever smelled!  

The health of our community is of the utmost importance to us. We feel it is our duty to keep our Gnomies working to provide the healing and calming products our community demands to comfort and protect them through this stressful time. To lighten the load on our friends ordering online I am offering a limited time offer to pay your shipping fee on orders greater than $45 with coupon code HOMESWEETHOME at StrawberryHedgehog.com. We are starting to branch out and list some of our other non-soap items from the Strawberry Hedgehog Vegan Boutique including incense, favorite chocolates, bath bombs and more to come. We are so grateful for the support right now and wish you all the best! 

Smell ya later,
Tracy Perkins
Owner / Soap Maker 
StrawberryHedgehog.com

Corona virus update: online orders continue, in person shopping closed

Hello beloved Soapies, I am proud of my team, the precautions we took and lengths we went to this week to be open safely and make available sanitizer and soap to our dearest Soapies who do not or cannot shop online for lack of cards or internet. It is official now.. the store front is closed. Online orders and Whole Foods will be our life lines. We will continue to pay for your shipping when you spend $35 or more before tax with coupon code HOMESWEETHOME at StrawberryHedgehog.com. If you need to send a care package to a loved one or haven’t restocked on soap yet, now is a most helpful time. We love you and want you to stay safe and healthy. We will be back and can’t wait. Please take care and stay home if you are not required to leave for essential work.

Made with and run by 100% Renewable Energy

We are always striving to be as ethical and environmentally conscious as possible.  I never thought this would be possible 😭 We are now offsetting ALL of our power use (coal, natural gas and nuclear) with wind, biomass and landfill gas. 🎉 Huge thanks to my childhood friend, Lana, for popping back into my life in such a profoundly helpful and eye opening way to get our actions in line with our values (while subsequently kicking business booty and getting her sustainable MBA!) Woohooo!! Stay tuned this summer for continued greater action based alignment with our core beliefs, socially and environmentally.