Tag Archives: vegan

A Cookie to Rely On

Posted on by

One of the [many] things I love about baking is how wonderfully reliable it is.

Now matter how gray the sky is, or how tired I feel, or how many times I dropped my pen in a 10-minute period, I know that I can mix butter, sugar and flour together in a very specific combination and it will make something wonderful. I love that.

It is that passion, in fact, that is what got me interested in vegan baking. Just because someone exercises their personal right to not consume animal products do NOT mean they shouldn’t experience that same reliable joy that a cookie or cupcake can bring. It just shouldn’t.

And so as I tiptoed into the realm of vegan baking, I came across Dreena Burton, author of three quite successful vegan cookbooks and a fantastic blog. I made her chocolate cake and fell in love. But what drew me to her first were these.

Super-Charge Me! Cookies.

Sick and tired of the hydrogenated-oil filled, high fructose corn syrup-ridden, over-processed cookies that are all the rage on grocery store shelves, she got down to the business she knows so well and created a cookie as delicious as it is healthy.

For me, it was love at first bake. The recipe involves OATS, one of my favorite foods, and yet was still adaptable in terms of flavor combinations and add-in variety. Most importantly, they taste.so.good. I kept a constant stash in the freezer and looked forward to whipping up a new batch when the last one disappeared. They made a perfect pre-gym snack, early morning my-stomach-is-not-awake-yet bite, accompaniment to tea. And I can’t remember how many times I would finish a batch and have to make another after the plate of fresh cookies “mysteriously” disappeared when a wanderer happened by the kitchen.

I played around with the recipe a lot, but here is my basic go-to mix when my stash starts to get low. I always play around with the spice combination, add-ins, and nut/seed butter, and every batch turns out just a little differently. You can make them wheat-free (with spelt flour) if you’d like – this recipe actually introduced me to spelt flour and I’ve kept some around ever since!

Ingredients:

1 c. rolled oats

2/3 c. spelt flour OR scant 2/3 c. whole wheat flour

1 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. sea salt

1/2 – 1 tsp. cinnamon (I always use more like 1 tsp because I’m a cinnamon addict)

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1/4 tsp cardamom

3-4 Tbs chocolate chips (I use vegan chips because they taste the exact same and are cheaper at Whole Foods)

1/4 – 1/3 c. dried fruit (cranberries are my fave, but anything will work – you don’t have to add any at all, if you’d prefer!)

1/3 c. ground flax

1/2 c. maple syrup (or any kind of liquid sweetener; maple seems to have the best texture)

3 Tbs. nut/seed butter

1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract (can also do combinations of vanilla + almond, vanilla + rum, etc)

2 Tbs oil (olive, canola, sunflower…walnut oil makes one amazing cookie!)

Preheat the oven to 350 F. I always forget that part, and then I have to use all of my will power to not eat all of the dough…don’t do that to yourself.

 

Mix the oats, flour, baking powder, salt, and spices in a medium-large bowl.

Then add the chocolate chips (or butterscotch, or peanut butter…) and the dried fruit and mix it in.

Next in a smaller bowl, mix your wet ingredients: flax meal (yes, I know, not really ‘wet’, but it has just enough moisture that it works better mixed in here), maple syrup, extracts (vanilla and whatever else – I’m a fan of rum extract myself ;) , nut butter, and oil. Not gonna lie – I’ve used half oil/half applesauce before for various reasons (walnut oil is, um, a tad pricey), and it works [almost] just as well.

I highly recommend experimenting with different nut butters – even the brand makes a difference in flavor. I’ve used different peanut butters, almond butters, and most recently sunflower seed butter (one of my roommates is deathly allergic to nuts). Nutella is next on my list…

Looks weird, tastes great. Go with it.

You probably know where I’m going with this: wet —> dry!

Mix it all together, put it on a silpat mat/parchment papaer/aluminum foiled/greased baking sheet and bake for about 12 minutes – check it then. They can dry out, but in my experience they need more time in the oven rather than less.

And while you’re waiting….lick the spoon.

These freeze really well, and I’ve found they last longer if I freeze them after letting them cool for about an hour.

And by “last longer,” I mean it becomes slightly more difficult for me to eat 4 in one sitting.

Do let me know if you make these and come up with a particularly amazing combination – I’ll do the same.

Over-The-Humpday Challenge: Veganizing Brownies

Posted on by
After multiple awe-inspiringly successful attempts at tofu frosting topping Dreena’s Triple Chocolate Cake with tofu-based frosting…
…you had to have seen this one coming.
Oh yes, people. This week’s Over-the-Humpday Challenge: tofu brownies.
I figured there had to be a recipe out there in the depths of Google somewhere – and lo! The universe and I were clearly on the same page, because I woke to find my AllRecipes.com newsletter in my inbox with none other than a recipe for Triple Chocolate Tofu Brownies. If that’s not a sign, I don’t know what is.
So, I got straight to work – you can view the recipe here.
I stuck to the recipe as closely as possible, which I like to do when trying a recipe for the first time. Then, I figure out what needs to be changed. The only alteration I made this time was to use a combo of  vegan chocolate chips and white chocolate chips in the batter – and LOVED it. I would definitely keep the white chocolate next time, it rocked! A nice contrast to the dark cocoa-y flavor.
It was overall a success – they were almost gone by the time the plate returned after I sent it over to the neighbors’. I found them a tad too sweet though, and would like to add some instant espresso powder to the batter – coffee in general emphasizes and complements chocolate and just helps bring it out more. I meant to add it, I just forgot! I think I’d reduce the sugar – I knew a whole cup of white sugar sounded like a lot, but I went with it. I’d prefer to use raw sugar, and not quite so much. I’d also like to experiment with different oils – I couldn’t quite tell how the olive oil affected it, but I would like to try canola or walnut just to see what happened. 
Another day, another OTHd Challenge done. And the weekend is almost here! Make some brownies – it will get here faster. I promise.
~Namaste~

Mango-Pesto-Choco-WHOA!

Posted on by
You know you’re a blog-addict when: you don’t update for one day and it feels like forever!

Ok, so that exciting something I mentioned last post?
Drum roll please….
I HAVE A CAR! With four wheels and an engine and everything. SO EXCITING!!!! Pictures to come, of course (it rained cats and dogs pumas and St. Bernards today). Still thinking of names – need to drive her around a little more. YAY!
Saturday was blissfully uneventful, starting with this:
Fage yogurt + applesauce + some random apple cinnamon granola I found, with a sprinkle of cinnamon.
Ok, actually, this wasn’t too good. The applesauce totally killed the wonderful thickness of the greek yogurt and only left the tang, and…well, one of my less enjoyable creations. Live and learn! And it was rather pretty :)
 Unfortunately, my brother’s Saturday didn’t begin quite as happily. The lucky devil had to be awake and alive at 7:30 AM for his SAT. EW with a capital E. He was very much in need of sustenance when he returned from the ultimate brain drain, so we went off to…
First of all, love the slogan. So true.
When I was in high school, my biffle (BFFL, in word-form) and I discovered this place when we took the T into Boston to go shopping for sweet prom dresses and were hooked. They have some A-MAzing fries, and for a looong time they were the only place I knew in Mass. that had sweet potato fries!!! One of my faves :)  They also have great burgers (you can get beef, turkey, homemade veggie, or chicken breast!) and yummmmy smoothies. I wasn’t too hungry, but I did steal several fries of both varieties and sip a yummy mango smoothie.
I have to tell you about my improvised dinner!
I just mixed some tuna with dijon mustard and tabbouleh, threw it on some greens/slaw, and drizzled with some olive oil and herbs – SO good! Tuna and tabbouleh make a truly wonderful combo – I highly suggest trying this ASAP. (Works with salmon, too!)
Today was pretty fun, minus the random thunderstorms that lasted for 2 minutes at a time. I like thunderstorms – just not the kind where rain pours down onto your new car whose windows you may or may not have forgotten to roll up. Keeps a girl on her toes!
My dad makes either pancakes or waffles every Sunday morning (my brother’s request), but I usually sleep too late to partake. This AM, I was feeling a pancake, so I whipped one up myself. We usually have Bisquick, but today he had used Fiber One’s pancake mix. Just add water and go:
I halved the amount for 3 pancakes to make just one big one and try out the F1 mix – and I’m glad I did. It was, well, not good. It was really dry and unpleasantly crumbly, and even cinnamon and maple syrup couldn’t fix it. Sad. I need to make Jenna’s or Kath’s p-cakes, pronto. Real food is always better anyway :)
Breakfast also included a bunch of melon (I could seriously eat a whole melon a day in this humidity) and this guy, in honor of the end of yogurt week:
Meh. If I liked cherries more, I would have liked it more. The flavors are dead on though – the cherry and vanilla and very present and well-balanced. And – no fruit-on-the-bottom! Although the few I have had recently, like other Stonyfield and Chobani flavors, don’t bother me as much as I remember. Probably because it’s fake-ingredient-free – it just tastes like jam that I often just add myself!
Took my new baby for a test-drive to the gym for some ellipticalling – btw, Glee + NSYNC make some of the best gym music ever. In fact, I’m waiting for Glee to do a 90s episode – boy bands, Britney, Spice Girls, oh my! Tell me that would not be epic.
Unfortunately, I did not eat enough before the workout; I was definitely lacking in energy today. I usually go later in the afternoon, and I think it makes a biiiig difference. I don’t like eating too close to the workout, but it’s really hard to get the timing right sometimes. We made a pit stop and Whole Foods and my madre and I got lunch, including this:
What is that odd yellow thing in my sushi? MANGO!!!! This was mango+salmon+cucumber+cilantro. Ohmygod, genius in a box. The flavors were just perfect together – and some of my favorites! Sweet citrusy mango, fresh cool cilantro and cuke, and the tasty sweet salmon = to.die.for. Would be pretty easy to make on your own, too!
My parents hired me as personal chef tonight (no complaints here, I’ve been itching to cook!), and I made one of my favorite pastas from my cooking class: trofie al pesto e pescatrice!
-400 g fresh pasta (trofie is that particular twisted shape, holds the flavors better in this dish)
-300 g cherry/grape tomatoes, de-seeded & cubed
-500 g monkfish – I used swordfish both times I’ve made this and it is de-LISH.
-1 spring onion (or leek)
For the pesto:
-20 g fresh basil
-20 g ricotta cheese
-10 g pine nuts
-1 garlic clove
-1 Tbs parmesan
-4 Tbs cold water
Start your water aboilin’ for the pasta. It takes a while.
I made the pesto first – you can use either a blender or food processor. Throw it all in with a little salt and blend ’til it’s a sauce. (Add more water if it’s too thick – although in my experience, 4 T is plenty!)
Deseed & cube your tomatoes now. If you want, you can add the seeds to the pesto to make it even creamier and get all that healthy lycopene :)
It’s probably a good idea to cook your swordfish before the rest begins. It’s not important how you cook it – pan, grill, broil. When it’s done, cute it into cubes and keep it near your stove.
Chop up the onion. I used a leek, and if you do – only chop up the bottom white part! The green outer layers you can puree and make vegetable stock/soup with.
Saute the onion (or leek, or whatever you’re using!) in some oil, then add the swordfish. The recipe says to cook for 3 minutes, but I didn’t wait that long (didn’t want the fish to overcook). Go with your gut – that’s what cooking is all about anyway!
Is your pasta water boiling yet? Good – throw in that trofie!
Now add your tomatoes with a little S&P to the onion-fish saute pan.
After a couple minutes, check your pasta. If you used fresh, it’s probably very close to done. Throw it in the pan and “quickly saute” – just toss it around and show it a good time ;)
Add the pesto sauce, mix, and plate into a perty bowl. Serve and watch as everyone bows to your sick-nasty-ill Italian culinary skills!
My mom made a nice green salad to go with it – can’t get enough green!!
I also made dessert – feeling ambitious today! I have been wanting to try Dreena’s Triple Layer Chocolate Cream Cake for a while – tofu frosting? This sounds too interesting to not try!
Because it was my first time and I wasn’t sure how much it would make, I decided to halve the recipe. I made two layers instead of three, also – rather thin layers at that. I also added some chocolate chips to the cake batter (had a tablespoon or two left in the old bag). Well, it wasn’t a total success aesthetically-speaking…
Oy. But, my mom helped me patch it back together:
Nothing a little strategically-placed frosting can’t fix!
Can we just talk about how amazing this cake is? Oh yes. And the frosting – WHOA! I love tofu, but I love it even more now that I know it can turn into deep, fudgy ganache goodness. When I was making the frosting (for which I used vegan chocolate chips and damn those are good!!), I kept tasting it and here is what I added:
-a good couple of tablespoons of cocoa powder
-a hefty tsp of instant espresso (coffee will make chocolate flavor much more intense – I do it in my oats all the time!)
-cinnamon —but this I regretted. Didn’t like it as much as I expected.
-fresh mint leaves – YUM!
It was a hit. Even my brother enjoyed it – and he would run the other direction of anything with vegan or tofu in the title. If you never make another cake again in your life, make this!!!
I’m not gonna lie – I had quite the breakdown today. I felt gross, my cake was falling apart, and that evil ED voice in my head was screaming about how fat I was. And I just snapped. All I want is for it to not matter so damn much. I know I’m healthy, and I’m just so tired of fighting against that stupid voice in my head. It’s so stupid that it can put me in such an awful mood so fast. I think this is another big part of why I am so focused on learning to east intuitively: I feel like if I can do that, I’ll be more connected with my body inside and out. I just don’t understand why I tolerate the negative self-talk – it REALLY pisses me off. Somedays it just feels like such an uphill battle. 
That said, I think this week will be Project: Positive Self-Talk. And I would love others to join me! At some point during the day, look in the mirror and be grateful for your awesome self – whoever you are right now. We all have flaws – they’re a pretty important part of being human! But, I know I’m pretty disrespectful of my flaws, and that’s just silly. They’re just as much a part of who we are as our talents, and they deserve a little more respect. Yes, sometimes they trip us up and get in the way. I’m such an obnoxious perfectionist, I’ve had many a sleepless night spent worrying about a test the next day or that paper due next week. But, it’s part of what makes me me, and I’ve accepted it. So, I look into the face of negativity and say: try me. It’s on.
Thanks for letting me rant, y’all. It helps to just get it out, ya know? I’m very interested to see how this project ends up…I’ll letcha know;)
In other news, I’m thinking of taking my blog in a new direction – still food and lots of it of course, but maybe a little more travel-centric? Well, I have lots of brainstorming to do.
~Namaste~

YogurTastic

Posted on by
Ok, so originally I was going to start a “theme of the week.” And then I decided to do one big themed post instead. And then that post was getting a little ridiculous and overwhelming, so I’m back to my theme week. Oy. Anyway, welcome to…
WEEK OF YOGURTASTICNESS!!!
Yes, all of this ado has been about yogurt. But some really, really yummy yogurt!
Let’s start with the ultimate. The best of the best [so far]. The almighty…
Fage Total 0%.
This is greek yogurt on crack. It’s just sooo thick and creamy and plain ol’ good!
I go for the 0% because in all honesty, I really don’t like full-fat dairy. I have always hated the taste of milk and can’t for the life of me drink it straight. When I was little, it had to be spiked with Hershey’s or I would hold my nose while swallowing. One of my many [lovable!] quirks. Yogurt and ice cream tend to be the same. Cheese was the same too, up until I went to Italy, cheese Mecca. The flavor of regular dairy just grosses me out. I’m odd, but I accept it.
I adore Greek yogurt in general because it’s so thick and creamy and amazing. Fage is the best of the best that I’ve tried, although I am making a point to try them all. I eat yogurt every single day (one of my favorite breakfast elements!), so this is a very doable challenge. But seriously, how many yogurts do you know can pass the sideways-spoon test?
[Fage + blueberries + cocoa powder. SO yummy.]
Look at that! Doesn’t even budge! It’s a little tangy, like most plain yogurt, but not in a bad way – makes for a lovely and interesting, dessert-like flavor I think. If you like Greek yogurt and have yet to try Fage – seek it out! You will not be disappointed. (Although I can’t say the same for your wallet…but I know you can buy the big a$$ containers for about 8 bucks up here in Mass, and it can last for a while.ish.)
I am aware that there are indivudal Fage flavored containers, but I have to talk myself into spending the dough on them…and also, they are usually add-in-the-fruit style, which I am not a fan of. Nope, I’m not much for -fruit-on-the-bottom style. In my experience it’s just too syrupy-sweet and, um, unfruity to be worth when I can just add in my own fresh fruit and enjoy it more. But, I do love trying new things, so we’ll see ;)
I did try another greek brand – Brown Cow, in Strawberry flavor:
Unfortunately, this beige bovine proved to be far inferior to dear Fage. It did NOT pass the sideways-spoon test:
In fact, this was dangerously similar in texture to regular, nonGreek yogurt. Not necessarily a bad thing, except for the fact that it claims to hold the classic Greek thickness and it, well, doesn’t. It had a little of the Greek tang, and it wasn’t soupy or anything. I enjoyed it in general, but not as Greek yogurt. Sorry Brown Cow, keep on grazing.
Next contender (and part of this morning’s complete breakfast):
Chobani 2% Pineapple
Yes, 2%. I figured 2.5 grams of fat wouldn’t be enough to gross me out and, well, I really like pineapple! This did NOT disappoint. Although it didn’t exactly pass the sideways-spoon test with flying colors…
It was still definitely Greek with the texture and tang. It’s no Fage, but it’s a solid second choice. And I really like all their flavors…I hope I can find the pomegranate!
Today was one of those days where the only moving I did was from counter to fridge. I’ve had worse days;) And the fridge bore some lovely eats!
This may sound ca-ray-zay, but I made this on a whim after I came home and was craving some BBQ sauce. I found this guy hanging out:
And went with it. LOVE the sweet onion flavor!!
Roasted parmesan-BBQ broccoli. I love broccoli – especially roasted (and even more as a pizza topping! UNO’s spinoccoli, anyone??), and I know it’s delish with parmesan, so I combined all 3. Literally all I did was set the oven at about 375, throw the broccoli on a sheet with a little cooking spray [or olive oil], sprinkle with the parm and drizzle with the sauce. It’s really yummy, I promise!! Makes for a pretty awesome snack :)
I also was eager to try the quinoa salad I made last night, because grain salads are usually much better after they’ve chilled overnight and the flavors have the time to mesh more. It didn’t disappoint!
 I took one bite, though, and genius struck: it was screamin for some guac!
Totally took it to the next level. Note to self: Add avocado next time this salad is on the menu!
After a day of…well, absolutely nothing, I turned to my favorite rainy day activity: baking!
I have been dying to try Dreena (from Eat, Drink, & Be Vegan)’s vegan cookies because I usually have most of the ingredients on hand and, um, when is it ever a bad time for delicious, freshly baked cookies?? [NEVER!]
I started with her Homestyle Chocolate Chip cookies:
I’ll admit, they’re not Tollhouse, but this was only the first time, and I did have to make substitutions – half granulated/half brown sugar instead of all unrefined, kosher salt instead of sea salt, and though I think what I used was unbleached all-purpose flour, we keep it in a big unlabeled container so I am not 100% sure. I also used 3/4 white flour and 1/4 wheat flour, but I like the extra bit of grainy texture it gave them. Definitely worth a try…or seven!
Next batch: Double Chocolate Almond Explosion cookies!
Seriously, with a name like that, how could you not want to make these??
The recipe is very similar to the choc. chip one, and I altered a couple other things as well. I didn’t have sliced almonds, but I did add the almond extract and I’m pretty sure that was what put these cookies over the top of amazing chocolatey goodness. I LOVED these!! I added the almond on top (gotta make it perty!). On the last three, I added a crushed-up 72% cacao Ghirardelli square.
I thought they kind of looked like wings!
And then the wings melted into little melty pools of deliciousness. MMMMMM!
Please make these now. That is all.
Oh, and did anyone love Glee tonight?? I’ll be totally honest, I’m not sure how much I even like Vocal Adrenaline. All Jesse does is screamo, which is sad because he has such a nice singing voice. I like the variety of the solos in New Directions. 
Oh god. I’m beyond addicted.
~Namaste~