Fair Trade Musings

Finally, we can have our fair trade tea and eat it too! At first we were skeptical of this recipe: Are you sure you put the tea leaves directly in the batter? No straining? Yes! We tested it and love the result.

Thanks to the juicy sweet pineapple and oranges and the dried black currant, cranberry, blueberry, elderberry fruit in the Little Berry Hibiscus Tea, this sangria recipe doesn’t need any added sugar to be delicious, unlike traditional sangria recipes. Get the recipe!

This bright, filling salad can be served warm or cold and would be an excellent side dish to any springtime meal, or eat on its own for a nutritious lunch. The mint and lemon make each bite fresh and lively, and the almonds and arugula add a texture-filled crunch.

Give your next brunch a full spring theme with this cute fruit platter bunny. Watch our how-to video in our latest post! (It’s easier than you think).

These adorable chocolate egg nests are the perfect dessert for easter. They’re easy to make with no baking and look so impressive! Watch our how-to video in this post.

Okay, so our definition of what constitutes a “pie” is a little fuzzy, haha. Last year we made a Pineapple Pizza for Pi Day and this year we ventured into tart territory with a Chocolate Peanut Butter Tart.

Muddy Buddies or Puppy Chow (or whatever name you call it) can be fair trade! Elevate this cereal-centered classic by switching to fair trade ingredients. It’s finger-lickin’ good!

Sometimes your body needs protein, but you just aren’t in the mood for meat. Quinoa, it turns out, is an excellent source of protein, with over 8 grams in each serving. These little patties also have egg and cheese for an extra boost of protein. Add a small salad on the side and you’ve got a terrifically healthy lunch. There are about

Nothing beats the summer heat like an ice cold glass of iced tea. We cooled off with a batch made of fair trade Choice Organic peach green tea and northwest blackberry. The combination is perfect for summer afternoons with a bit of sweetness from the peach and half the caffeine since northwest blackberry is an herbal tea. It’s hard to

We can never get enough watermelon around here (breakfast, lunch, dinner, snack, repeat!) It’s easy for little hands to hold and little teeth to chew — and adults love it too, of course. Our summer is happier and juicier because of it. Thankfully, we have spotted fair trade watermelons in lots of places at a great price — look for

Mana’eesh bi Za’atar Lebanese Flatbread with Za’atar Mana’eesh can be eaten plain or served with olive oil or hummus for dipping. It is also commonly eaten by topping with tomatoes, olives, basil, or cheese. This recipe was adapted from The Complete Middle Eastern Cookbook by Tess Mallos and recipes taught to me by my Lebanese friends and family. Enjoy! – Avery

Fair Trade Strawberry Buttermilk Cake Adapted from Smitten Kitchen Strawberries are abundant and so juicy this time of year, and fair trade strawberries are easy to find at most grocery stores. We couldn’t resist featuring them in this easy, light, and moist cake. It also gave us an excuse to make whipped cream, lightly sweetened with fair trade sugar. Dive

Growing up, I always remember a plethora of zucchini growing in our garden each summer. I would always find at least one more hiding after I thought I picked the last one! My mom would make zucchini pancakes as a special treat — a perfect way to use up the zucchini that grew too large. When I found fair trade

Happy Pi Day! Normally, we’d use any excuse to make pie, cause pie is just the best, but we were wracking our brains trying to figure out what kind of fair trade pie to make for Pi Day and came up with nothing. It’s actually pretty hard to find fair trade fruit. We couldn’t find any fair trade apples or

How do brownies in 30 minutes flat sound to you? Fair trade brownies in 30 minutes sound even yummier! We found a bunch of easy brownie recipes online using Nutella, but we have our own fair trade version from Barefoot & Chocolate that is even more delicious and GMO-free. Smile when you take a bite out of these! Recipe makes

Roasted Carrots with Fair Trade Balsamic Chocolate Syrup Adapted from Theo Chocolate: Recipes & Sweet Secrets from Seattle’s Favorite Chocolate Maker, published by Sasquatch Press.  In the rare chance that you have any Valentine’s Day chocolate leftover, or you’re looking for a nutritious yet decadent side dish for dinner tonight, then this recipe is for you! These carrots are easy

You gotta love recipes that are quick and easy, but still healthy. We turned this roasted veggie soup recipe into a Fair Trade recipe by using Fair Trade USA certified tomatoes and Alter Eco quinoa. The quinoa makes this soup pretty hearty so you could have cornbread or other bread on the side and make it a meal! The recipe calls for

We have made a lot of yummy recipes with fair trade ingredients, but this is our first foray into fair trade breakfast! This french toast is elevated with the sweet crunch of fair trade cinnamon sugar, and you don’t even have to get out your frying pan. It can even be made ahead — it is easy to prepare the

There’s been an awakening, have you felt it? The Force (or fork) has been strong in fair trade land these days, telling us to make some fair trade sugar cookies! Here are Grandma’s Turkey Cookies with a reboot for 2016 — the dough was awakened by the Force. Same recipe, different cookie cutters. Fair Trade Star Wars Cookies Ingredients: 3

Our recipe for Fair Trade Butter Crunch Almond Toffee is as scrumptious as it sounds! Wrap a few pieces in a cellophane bag with a festive ribbon and it makes a great holiday treat!

Thanksgiving is a big holiday in our family. There’s usually around 20 of us, gathered at our aunt’s house in Ohio for three days of non-stop eating, drinking, and being merry. It’s the one time of year we can all get together and we’ve come to enjoy it more and more as we’ve all gotten older. We have all the

Put some pep in your dinner! Before turkey steals the spotlight at Thanksgiving, give beef a chance. A few spoonfuls of this stew will perk you right up. Recipe tip: Caffeine does not “cook out”  like alcohol does, so use decaf coffee in your stew if you avoid caffeine in the evening. Adapted from Beef: It’s What’s for Dinner. We

Fall is here, and festively flavored coffee drinks have reappeared on coffee shop menus. The concoctions conjure memories of our favorite holiday desserts, and we imagine sitting by the fireplace in our cozy pajamas, inhaling the spicy-sweet aromas, and savoring each sip. But if the coffee isn’t fair trade, then we can’t enjoy it. The price is steep. And the

Halloween is a great time to make popcorn – it’s a festive snack that can easily be made salty or sweet, depending on your mood or the occasion. We decided to test two fair trade recipes: Fall Spice Popcorn and Cocoa Popcorn. They pair well together and you could use them for a Halloween Party or just a fun snack this week as you’re getting in the spooky spirit!

Moist and cakey chocolate chip bars with a fun seasonal pumpkin twist! Substitute fair trade ingredients for the sugar, vanilla and spices and you’ve got one delicious fair trade fall treat!