Vegan Chocolate Chipper Cookies

I LOVE chocolate chip cookies...I always have, but I don't eat pre-made, processed, conventional ones anymore because of some food allergies and personal ingredient choices. 

After experimenting with many cookie recipes over the last 8-9 years, I feel that this is the best at-home, veganized one so far.

I think that these really tatse like warm, yummy chocolate chip cookies and not like a bad, sad reproduction!

Let me know what you think...

Vegan Chocolate Chipper Cookies

½ cup vegan butter substitute, like Earth Balance

¾ cup organic sugar of choice

2-3 teaspoons of vanilla extract

3 (or more) tablespoons of water

2 cups whole grain flour

½ cup finely ground walnuts

2 teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon sea salt

¼ to ½ cup vegan chocolate chips

Preheat oven to ◦350

In a large bowl, blend the butter substitute, sugar, vanilla, and 2 tablespoons of water until well mixed.

Stir in the flour, ground walnuts, baking powder and salt. Keep stirring until it forms together like dough. If it is too dry and crumbly add more water one tablespoon at a time, just until a small piece of the dough will hold together when formed into a little ball.

Form small dough balls and press onto an ungreased cookie sheet. When pressed, cookies should be about ¼” thick.

Bake for about 15 minutes and check. They should hold together but be sure the bottoms are not burning. My batch took a bit longer and I checked them about every 2 minutes.

Let them cool on a wire rack and enjoy!

Cold Rescue - Green Smoothie Recipe

This is a combination of a couple of recipes I found online and just using what I had at home.
I was all sniffly, sneezie and congested and I wanted a green smoothie to help my body fight off whatever was attacking.
This did the trick.

It was soothing and I knew that all of the goodness in these ingredients would be hard at work fighting evil!

Cold Rescue Green Smoothie

1 Ripe banana
2-3 handfuls of frozen green grapes
2 large kale leaves, with the stems
2 handfuls of butter lettuce (or any other leafy green you like)
Finely grated fresh ginger to taste (ginger is strong so start with a little and build up)
Just enough water to make your blender work

Blend it all until smooth and pour it in a pretty, colorful cup to lift your spirits!

Heavenly Vegan Eggs-Free Benedict

Since finding an awesome Veg-friendly restaurant in Providence, RI called “Julian’s”, where I have had the most amazing Vegan Eggs Benedict, I have been on a hunt to make a great vegan hollandaise sauce at home. I have used a recipe in the past that called for vegan sour cream as a base, but it didn’t taste authentic…more like a creamy cheese sauce. Not bad but not like the beautiful sauce at Julian’s.

After playing around and combining several recipes that I found on the web, THIS IS IT! In fact, I loved it so much, that the first time I made it, I didn’t even wait to photograph it! I had to make it again for my husband so I could take pictures.

It might seem like a lot of work at first, but like most of the recipes I post, once you make them they are pretty simple to recreate.

This sauce would be great over asparagus too!

Let me know what you think.
Enjoy!
Pam

Heavenly Vegan Eggs-Free Benedict

Step 1: Vegan Hollandaise Sauce

2 tablespoons vegan margarine. I use Earth Balance
3/4 cup + 1/4 cup unflavored nondairy milk, divided, I used Soy Milk
1/8 cup or less lemon juice

1-2 tablespoons nutritional yeast

teaspoon sea salt and pepper to taste
dash cayenne pepper
dash dry mustard
2 dashes turmeric

1 tablespoon cornstarch

In a small sauce pan, melt 2 tablespoons margarine. Stir in 3/4 cup nondairy milk, lemon juice, nutritional yeast, sea salt, pepper, cayenne, dry mustard, and turmeric. Simmer. Mix the tablespoon of cornstarch with the soy milk you had set aside until all lumps are gone. Add this mixture to the sauce, and bring to boil. Keep stirring consistently as sauce will thicken quickly. Remove from heat and cover to keep warm.

Step 2: Tofu Poached “egg”

So easy and versatile!

Any firm Tofu (I use Sprouted Tofu)
Nutritional Yeast
Sea Salt and Pepper to Taste
Shoyu (Wheat Free Soy Sauce)

Drain and pat the tofu dry. Cut a small chunk off, the size is personal preference. Mine is usually about ¾” thick by the width of your tofu block.

Sprinkle about 2 tablespoons of Nutritional Yeast on a plate or shallow bowl. Add Sea Salt and Pepper to taste and mix. Gently press all sides of the cut tofu blocks into the powdery mix.

Heat your oil of choice in a small frying pan. Carefully place coated tofu blocks in the heated oil and brown on both sides. They tend to splatter. When they are almost don, drizzle a few drops of Shoyu on the tops. Drain on a paper towel, if need be.

Step 3: Some Add-on Ideas

Sauted spinach
Vegan “meat” – Canadian bacon, sausage
Tomato

Step 4: Assemble

Toast your choice of bread or English muffin

Layer your add-ons, tofu egg and drizzle (or if you are like me, pour) Hollandaise on top

Devour!

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
The biggest inspiration for my version of Vegan Hollandaise: http://vegweb.com/index.php?topic=32284.0 submitted by oliviabeans

Apple Pie (Green) Smoothie - Recipe

So, it's fall in New England and I have been craving apples!

Tonight I wanted something simple...something that had greens but wasn't a salad. I was also thinking about apples. I went online to look up apple smoothie recipes for inspiration and ended up creating this one.

It was yummy. So yummy that I drank almost all of it before I could take a picture!

I liked it just the way it was...room temperature and creamy but my husband and son said they would prefer it cold. So they put theirs in the fridge.

Let me know what you think.

Apple Pie "Green" Smoothie

2 apples, rough chopped (I used red apples)
4 pitted, soft dates

1 cup rice milk, vanilla or plain

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

a pinch of sea salt

2-3 tablespoons agave syrup

1 tablespoon Lecithin (optional)

3 generous sprinkles of "apple pie spice"

1/2 of a peeled cucumber, rough chopped

1 extra large hand full of romaine

Blend it all in a high speed blender (I use a K-tec) and enjoy!

* it made two large glass fulls!

Vegan Spinach Dip - Recipe

At Last!

I have always loved creamy, gooey, rich spinach dip.

We used to make it for parties and it was always such a treat.

After giving up most dairy, I just sort of forgot about it but today I decided to create a vegan version of our beloved dip. I was inspired by some vegan recipe books I have been reading to expand our food repertoire. They all have some type of creamy spinach dip...sometimes with stuff added like artichoke hearts.

Some are cold...some are hot.

Below is what we did...just try it and see if you can tell that there is no dairy or eggs!

Simple and Safe Vegan Spinach Dip

1 box or bag of frozen spinach, thawed, with the water squeezed out

1 container of vegan sour cream (12 oz.)

1/3 cup vegan mayonnaise (you can add a little more if you want it creamier)

1 can drained and chopped water chestnuts

1 package of dried vegetable mix

Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl making sure to break up the clumps of squeezed spinach.

Chill in the fridge for a couple of hours or so (if you can wait to dive in) to bring out the flavors.

We have used this as a dip with veggies and chips or you can use it to stuff tomatoes or olives.

Serve it in a pretty bowl, a martini glass or a scooped out loaf of bread.

You Are What You Eat - Book

I picked this book up at an airport waiting for my flight.

I liked the cover and have a personal belief that we are indeed, what we eat.

I read almost the entire thing on the plane and found the information really practical and easy to comprehend.

Her style of writing was clear and made sense to me. It was broken into small sections, which I really like.

I like to be able to find the information that applies to me directly.

I would recommend this book to someone that is interested in learning how to decipher physical symptoms and learn more about how their body works and how what we put in our mouth effects it.

She has another book out too that I got after finishing this one.