A Sweet Solstice Treat

By Carrie Poe

This recipe invokes so much joy for me!

If you have been to the Mermaid Temple, you’ve likely enjoyed these sweet and creamy bites in celebration of the journey and the work you were there to do. This is Eliza’s magic recipe to bring in sweetness in a gentle way that works well after medicine.

The first time I tasted these delightful bites was on the summer solstice of 2019 after a day ceremony full of golden light and so many rainbows with Ayahuasca and Noya Rao. This ceremony brought me home to myself and to my path in such a gentle but definitive way, and it is something I will never forget. This summer solstice, as I will not be at the temple, I am incorporating this recipe in celebration and tribute as these summery, fruity, frozen bites of sunshine will always remind me of that day.

As I bite into the cheesecake and let it melt in my mouth, I will be transported to the portal in the pool, and will feel all of you around me. Often the portal takes me to Lemeria, to a shallow ocean where we are always birthing, always shapeshifting, always rejoicing that we are together.

Strawberries will just be coming into season the day before Litha, and I plan to take Katie and pick a bunch at a local farm. Then we will make cheesecakes for ourselves and some strawberry honey cake concoctions for the faeries! We will also forage in the forest for some wild strawberries to put on top. These tiny jewels are the sweetest sunshine drops imaginable. I’m also using strawberries because Eliza uses them at the temple and I’m missing my 2nd home. It feels a lot like wanting my mom’s cookies, just the way she makes them.

This recipe will be delicious with any berry at all, whatever is in season or calling to you! I also plan to make one that is mixed berries. For the top of the cheesecakes we will press in foraged raspberry & blackberry flowers and whatever else calls. I’m hoping for some elderberry flowers for the ones I make for the video as the timing will be about right I think.

Litha is a good time to communicate with the summer fae or the sidhe as they are abundantly attracted to the flowers blooming in our realm at this time.  We leave out honey, cakes, and other treats to entice them closer and to honor and acknowledge our reciprocity with them in this life.

The Sidhe are our ancestors, living deeper in the earth or through portals to the otherworld; but omnipresent in this realm through our communication, devotion, and reciprocity.  The fearful stories of changeling babies, where the fairies came and took a human baby to their realm leaving behind a dark and sickly fairy baby in exchange, illustrate the time where our trust in the mother, our trust in the wildness of nature, in our own wildness, was demonized, made separate or other from us.

To honor and remember and invite in the Sidhe is to reclaim our wildness and our oneness with nature.  It is to acknowledge that we are 100% divine and 100% human.  It is to reclaim that we are the stewards of nature, protectors of the forests and holy waters.  We are the ones working beneath the surface along with the Sidhe to bring magic into this realm for remembrance and for healing.

Why do the faeries cause mischief in our lives?  To help us reconnect to our laughter, our wildness, and remember what is important.  They also just as easily create miracles.

Berry and Wildflower Vegan Cheesecake 

This Recipe makes 8 individual servings (but you may want to eat several at a time! I double the recipe or else my family complains)
CRUST
● 1 cup pecans
● 6 medjool dates
● 1⁄4 c coconut flakes
● sprinkle of sea salt
FILLING
● 1 cup raw cashews (soaked for 3 hours)
● 1⁄2 cup freshly picked or frozen organic berries
● 1⁄4 cup maple syrup
● 1⁄4 cup coconut oil melted
● 2 tbsp lemon juice

SWIRL TOPPING
● 1⁄2 cup frozen berries thawed, or freshly picked berries slightly smashed DIRECTIONS
1. Measure out 1 cup cashews and set to soak for at least 3 hours before you use them.

2. Soak dates in warm water for 10 minutes. Drain the water, and put the dates in a food processor with all the remaining crust ingredients. Process until crumbled, and the crust is sticking together on its own.

3. If making a pie, cover a pan with parchment paper, and press the mixture onto the bottom of the pan. Or if you are making individual bites, press 1 tbsp on the bottom of a silicone mini mun cup tray. Put the prepared crust into the freezer to set while you make the filling.

4. For the filling, drain the cashews, and rinse freshly. Blend until smooth with the berries, maple syrup, melted coconut oil, and lemon juice. Pour this mixture into a bowl and set aside.

5. Clean the blender. If frozen, allow the berries to melt into softness before blending. If they are fresh you can toss them straight into the blender until a smooth mixture emerges.

6. If making a pie, pour all of the filling onto the freezer set crust. If making the mini mun bits, Take a tablespoon of the cashew filling and put on top of the pressed crust.

7. For the topping, drop spoonfuls onto the topping and then swirl with a toothpick. For mini muns, take 1⁄2 tsp of strawberry puree and drop on top of each before swirling with a toothpick.

8. Freeze the cheesecakes for 1-2 hours or until solid. (it will take longer if making a whole pie. Remove them from the mini mun trays and allow to thaw for 10-15 min before serving.

Be sure to leave some out for the faeries!

Featured art and blog art: Carrie Poe

Blog Art: Edward Robert Hughes