Maple Walnut Cookies

Another fabulous recipe from Vegan with a Vengeance.



MAPLE WALNUT COOKIES
Servings: 1-3 dozen cookies depending on size
Time: 20-30 minutes

INGREDIENTS
1/2 cup canola oil
1/4 cup pure maple syrup
2 TBSP molasses
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp maple extract (i didn't have this, so i added an extra 1 TBSP of maple syrup)
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup rice or soy milk
2 TBSP cornstarch, arrowroot starch or tapioca starch
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp salt (damn i just realized i forgot to add this to the cookies i made)
1 1/2 cups chopped walnuts
3 dozen walnut halves (or not, i make big cookies so the recipe yields about 1 dozen)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Grease cookie sheet or line with parchment paper.
3. Combine OIL, MAPLE SYRUP, MOLASSES, VANILLA & MAPLE EXTRACTS and SUGAR.
4. Add FLOUR, SALT and BAKING SODA. Fold in CHOPPED WALNUTS.
5. Drop onto cookie sheet and bake for 8-10 minutes.
6. Transfer to cookie cooling rack.

Possibly my favorite cookie.

Golden Raisin Pancakes

Mmmm...pancakes.



So this is a really simple recipe. Apparently the key to good pancakes in all in the way you make them. I recently saw an episode of Good Eats that focused on pancakes and I learned some valuable tips. It's best to use a cast iron griddle. I don't have one so I used a cast iron skillet. The downside is you can only make one big pancake or two medium pancakes at a time. I still prefer to make the big ones. The other important thing is when you mix the ingredients, stir it about ten times and then STOP. I forget the exact reason, but over stirring the batter does something undesirable to the pancakes.

I used Bob's Red Mill gluten free dry pancake mix and followed the ingredients on the package. I only had to substitute flax meal with water for the single egg and they turned out great.

GOLDEN RAISIN PANCAKES
Servings: ~3 BIG pancakes or 5-6 smaller pancakes
Time:
Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups dry pancake mix (i used bob's red mill)
3/4 cup rice/soy milk (or whatever you like)
1 TBSP vegetable or canola oil
1 TBSP flax meal
3 TBSP water
Golden Raisins (OR regular raisins OR blueberries etc.) (optional)

1. Mix the flax meal with the water and let sit for 5 minutes.
2. Preheat the skillet on medium heat. (griddle at 350 degrees)
3. Mix everything except for the raising together right before you are going to cook it. Don't let the batter sit for long.
4. Spoon out the batter into the pan until you get the size pancake you want.
5. Now is where you add the raisins on top of the individual pancake.
6. Flip them when they're brown on the bottom and flatten them with your spatula.

BONUS DELICIOUSNESS
If you want, you can mix equal parts Earth Balance with powdered sugar (i used 3 tsp each) and a bit of cinnamon. Smooth this between two pancakes and top with maple syrup. Enjoy!

Stewed Potatoes and Sauteed Kale with Tahini Dressing

I got the kale recipe from Vegan with a Vengeance by Isa Chandra Moskowitz. It is my favorite way to cook kale and the tahini dressing is good on anything, especially salads. The only thing I modified from the original recipe is the tahini dressing. It says to use a food processor and add fresh parsley, but I choose not to because I don't want to get it dirty and I usually don't have fresh parsley in the house. I will post the recipe as it is published, then describe how I change it so you can decide whether it's worth it or not. In order for everything to be ready at about the same time, I would put the potatoes on, make the dressing and put it in the refrigerator then do the kale.


STEWED POTATOES
Servings: 4-6
Time: about 1 hour

Ingredients:

8 Yukon Gold Potatoes
2 TBSP Earth Balance
Salt (sea or mineral)
Pepper (fresh ground black)
Powdered Sage (optional)
Cayenne Pepper (optional)

1. Cut the potatoes into chunks. A lot of variation in size in important so that the little pieces form a potatoey mush and the big pieces don't.
2. Put everything in a pot and cover with water. Bring it to a boil and then reduce the heat. Cook it until there's no water left and the potatoes are thick.


GARLICKY KALE
Servings: 4-6
Time: 10-30 min. depends on how you like your kale cooked

Ingredients:

5-6 cloves of garlic; chopped or thinly sliced
3 TBSP olive oil
1 bunch of kale; well rinsed and coarsely chopped
1/4 tsp salt

1. Saute the garlic in the olive oil over medium high heat until it is fragrant and golden brown.
2. Add the kale and enough water to help steam it. The amount of water depends on how long you want to cook it. I like it really soft, so I use anywhere from a 1/2 cup to a whole cup. Stir the kale frequently until it reaches the texture you want and all or most of the water is gone.


TAHINI DRESSING
Servings: makes 2 cups
Time: 5-10 minutes plus 30 min. in the refrigerator (I have found that chilling it isn't entirely necessary for the flavors to blend, but I'm sure it helps some)

Ingredients:

8 tsp olive oil
3 cloves of garlic; chopped
1/2 cup tahini
2 tsp balsamic vinegar
1/2 tsp salt
juice from one lemon (about 4 tsp)
several dashes of fresh ground black pepper
1/2 tsp paprika (Hungarian if you have it)
Dash of cayenne pepper (optional)
1/4 cup lightly packed fresh parsley (optional)
1/2 cup cold water

1. Heat the olive oil and saute the garlic until it is fragrant. Don't let it turn brown.
2. (This is where I deviate.) The recipe says to put all the ingredients except the parsley into a food processor along with the heated garlic. Blend it until smooth then add the parsley and pulse until it's finely chopped but not pureed. The way I do it, is add everything except the parsley and water into the pan with the garlic (turn the heat off). Once everything is mixed together (it will be brown and ugly) mix in the water with a whisk until the dressing comes together nice and smooth. It should be a light orange color from the paprika. I leave the parsley out altogether, but I guess if you chopped it up fine and added it in that would work too.

Chili Dogs

Hello! This is my very first post. I don't have anything spectacular to start off with. I didn't want to wait until I had the inspiration to cook up something awesome to start blogging. I only had a piece of Ezekiel cinnamon raisin bread with blueberry jam and natural chunky peanut butter for breakfast. I just now got around to fixing lunch so I wanted to make something fast and delicious. I decided to make these on a whim a few of weeks ago and have had them three times since.



CHILI DOGS
Servings: 4
Time: about 10-15 minutes

Ingredients:

4 vegan hot dog buns (i used Nature's Own whole wheat; just use the healthiest ones you can find)
4 vegan hot dogs, brats or italian sausages (i have tried both Tofurky italian sausages and bratwursts, the italian tasted much better)
1 can of vegan chili (i used Amy's spicy)
1 small onion
Mustard
Earth Balance

1. Heat the chili in a small pot on medium heat.
2. Heat a small amount of olive oil in a small pan.
3. Butter the buns with Earth Balance and toast them. I put them in the toaster oven on broil and keep a close watch while preparing everything else. This way the tops get toasty, but the bottoms stay soft.
4. Put the sausages/brats/dogs in the pan and brown on all sides.
5. While they are browning, dice the onion. I throw about three fourths of the total onion into the pan a couple minutes before they are finished, just enough to get a nice aroma and break down the raw onion a bit.
6. The only thing left is assembly: take out the buns and put the sausages in them. Top with mustard, raw onion and cooked onion. Finish it off with as much chili as the bun will hold and you're done.

So this is just a simple lunch construction. Most of the stuff I will be posting on here will be from made from scratch dinner recipes or desserts. I love baking!