Oatmeal "Wookie" Cookies

While savoring warm-from-the-oven cookies with Jordan and my mother she reported that the dessert was soft and chewy...  Chewie???  We looked at each other and laughed as the title came to us in an instant: 

Chewie, the nick-name of the large, furry character, Chewbacca from Star Wars, is a member of the alien race called Wookies.  And "Wookie" rhymes with "cookie"... Before we knew it, the three of us had transformed a batch of seemingly ordinary baking into something even Han Solo could be proud of! 

Starting with a Quaker Oats cookie recipe, I modified the ingredients a little to make everything vegan, even fat-free: no added oils!  But not to worry--they're still easy to bake and taste delicious!  I even think a big brown hairy space pilot "long ago, in a galaxy far far away..." might take a liking to them!  :D

Oatmeal "Wookie" Cookies
Makes about 3 dozen.

Organic Ingredients:
1/2 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
1 cup white sugar
2 mashed bananas or Ener-G egg replacer for 2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup white flour or whole-wheat flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
2 cups rolled oats, dry (quick or old fashioned)
1 cup raisins or vegan chocolate chips

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 375 F degrees.  Note: If you use whole wheat flour you will probably need to add 2 Tbsp of water or plant milk. Begin by beating together the sugars, banana/egg replacer, vanilla, and salt.  In separate bowl mix flour, baking soda, cinnamon, oats, and raisins.  Combine all ingredients.  Roll dough into small balls and place on a greased or ungreased cookie sheet.  Bake for 8-9 minutes or until golden brown.  Remove from oven and allow to cool on the pan for 3 minutes.  Transfer to wire rack.  Enjoy!

Dr. Oz' Chocolate Zucchini Muffins

Who doesn't love the good doctor, Mehmet Oz, M.D., and his self-titled television show?  Yes, I know that he spouts food industry mumbo-jumbo over the airwaves a lot.  But other times, he's right on the money.  And you can't deny it--he has great wit and charm!  I mean, have you seen the female guests on his set?  Why, they practically worship the man!  :)

Well, while I was cruising around the official DoctorOz.com web site, I happened upon this delightful recipe!  Is it a breakfast food?  Is it a dessert?  I don't know.  But I do know from personal experience that it certainly is a taste treat!  I altered it slightly, completely eliminating the eggs to make it vegan.  I swapped the oil ingredient for applesauce. I also added an extra fourth cup of sugar because I thought the muffins could stand to be a little sweeter, but you could cut it back if you like.  This recipe is moist, chocolaty goodness, wrapped in a pleated paper cup!  Makes 12 servings.

Dr. Oz' Chocolate Zucchini Muffins

Organic Ingredients:
1 cup whole-wheat flour
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. sea salt
1/2 cup plain soymilk
2 tsp. lemon juice
1/4 cup applesauce
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
3/4 cup zucchini, grated
1/2 cup distilled water, boiling
1/2 cup chocolate chips


Instructions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Line muffin tin with 12 paper liners.  Or you can do like me and use none; just be sure to apply a generous coat of cooking spray to the tin, and they'll come out beautifully!  In a large bowl, use a mixer machine or a hand whisk to combine flour, sugar, cocoa, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt; set aside.  In another bowl, combine soymilk, lemon juice, applesauce, and vanilla; mix well.  Pour wet ingredients into the bowl of dry ingredients.  Mix until everything is well incorporated.  Stir in the zucchini, followed by the boiling water.  The final mixture will be thin.  Fill each of the tin's cups 3/4 of the way up and sprinkle with chocolate chips.  Bake uncovered for 13-17 minutes, until a tester inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean, and the tops spring back when lightly touched.  Enjoy!

Happy Vegan Valentine's Dinner!

It was a very enjoyable Valentine's Day!  Jordan and I didn't have the funds available to go out to a restaurant or fundraiser this year.  But we more than made up for any imagined loss. 

Before stuffing our bellies we went on a four mile walk together.  It was such a nice day; it seemed a pity to spend all of it being indoors!  And I must say, it was a good thing we did burn a few extra calories, because we ate far too much later on!  :)

It took us hours to get our holiday dinner on the table; we went all out, tonight!  But it finally came together beautifully... 

I prepared an organic tossed salad of red leaf, red kale, and baby spinach, and all the organic trimmings: tomatoes, avocados, red cabbage, cucumber, carrots.  Oh and I can't forget the dressing of equal parts organic flaxseed oil and fresh-squeezed lemon juice, with a dash of Bragg's Liquid Aminos.  It was a dense salad, yet so sweet, flavorful, and refreshing! 

Days before, we concluded that a whole-wheat spaghetti dish would be dinner's main course.  But what kind of sauce would we choose? While cruising the blogosphere many weeks earlier, I chanced upon a tantalizing Alfredo recipe, courtesy of Matt at "My Veggie Kitchen".  And tonight seemed like the perfect setting for Pasta Alfredo!  The only problem was I'd never made this before!  We decided to give it a try anyway.  I quickly pulled up the recipe for easy reference.  It was then I belatedly realized that we didn't have half of the listed ingredients.  Oh well.  We forged ahead without them, forced to make some adjustments on the journey.  Matt's recipe called for cashews, but all we had was walnuts or hazelnuts.  We picked walnuts.  We didn't have shallots, but we an ordinary onion, which we utilized.  We didn't have unsweetened soymilk, but we did have the "original" variety, so we used that.  Lastly, we didn't have the wine.  We didn't sub anything for that.  After all our changes to the actual recipe, it's doubtful that our version tasted anything like Matt's!  But we still liked it!  We did note that it was missing something in it's flavor and texture.  But it WAS missing something--a lot of somethings!  :)  Yet it was warm, creamy, and fun to eat; a buttery, saucy dish, completely out of the ordinary for us! 

We hardly ever bake breadsticks.  But tonight was special so we did!  We followed my sister, Marcy's recipe.  It was fun!  We took turns kneading the dough, and stood at the counter together rolling it into traditional snakelike shapes.  But then I had a brilliant idea...  Bend the breadsticks into hearts!  I pinched them in just the right places and Voila! Breadstick Hearts!  They looked so cute!  Unfortunately, that's about as great as they got.  The recipe originally called for white flour and we used all whole-wheat.  And since we don't bake bread very often, we have little understanding of the repercussions of swapping one flour for another.  In hindsight, we probably should have added more liquid to the dough and slightly shortened the cooking time.  Maybe the yeast never activated.  Still, I'm still not sure that any of these ideas would have been the correct solutions.  Sadly, the end result turned out to be quite heavy instead of light and fluffy; they never really did rise properly.  And they were much drier than we'd have liked.  But we managed to enjoy them.  I remarked to Jordan that they would have made far better pretzels than breadsticks!  At least they looked appealing!  :)

We also added "Wagon Wheels" to the fare!  Jordan peeled and cut the carrots, and set them on the stove to cook.  They almost met a sorry demise, as we did not add adequate water to steam them for the allotted ten minutes; the "wheels" started scalding to the sides of the pan!  Luckily, Jordan smelled smoke and we managed to rescue them before the whole pot of carrots turned black!  Gratefully they still tasted yummy, even after that extra dash of drama! 

To top everything off, with no help from me, Jordan whipped up his specialty dessert, "Jordan's Chocolate Cake"!  Yummy!  He actually baked the cake before our walk.  He frosted it after we got back.  He works so efficiently!  (Unlike me!) 

After working in the kitchen for nearly three hours, the meal was at last ready!  I took pictures, Jordan lit candles, we said a prayer, and then finally,

...we stuffed ourselves silly!  

It was a long time coming, but it was worth it!  Good food and good company!  What more could we ask for?! 

I was so happy to be spending the evening with my very own Valentine!  Jordan always works on Sunday night, so it was extra special of him to take work off to be home with me!  And even though he didn't buy me a sparkly Hallmark card or boxes of chocolates or even flowers, none of that was what I really wanted--just him.  His presence made the very best present!  With Jordan by my side, walking and talking, cooking and eating, my evening was complete! Thank you, My Goo! I love you! 

I hope your holiday, at home or abroad, was just as grand, or more so, than ours! 

 Happy Vegan Valentine's Dinner! 

Banana Nut-Butter Cookies

While I was reading through a 1978 church pamphlet entitled, "Essentials of Home Production and Storage", I stumbled upon this recipe.  And to my delight, I hardly needed to adapt the ingredients; they were already vegan-friendly.  (You can't imagine how excited I was about that!)  You will like these cookies!  They are easy to make and bake.  And the recipe is versatile!  Exercise your right to go without gluten.  Use your typical nut butter or try something new.  Even feel free to omit the banana for a different egg substitute if you like.  You can't go wrong!  But I do have to say, the very best thing about this dessert is eating it.  :)  Yields 30 cookies. 

Banana Nut-Butter Cookies

Organic Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups whole-wheat or gluten-free flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/2 cup vegan butter, softened (Earth Balance brand)
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 ripe banana or a powder egg substitute equivalent to 1 egg
1/2 cup nut butter

Instructions:
It's easiest to make cookie dough with a mixing machine.  I hope you have one!  And remember to get your silicone spatula ready to scrape the bowls as they rotate.  Let's get started!  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  In a large mixing bowl measure the flour, baking soda, and salt.  Stir on lowest speed for a few moments.  Set bowl aside.  Next, place the butter, sugar, banana, and nut butter of your choice into another mixing bowl and set the beaters to a low speed for a minute or two.   Finally, add the wet ingredients into the bowl of dry ingredients.  On a low speed, mix everything together thoroughly.  Roll the dough into small balls and arrange them evenly on ungreased cookie sheets.  If you want, with a floured fork, press a checkered pattern into each ball.  Now, bake for 9-10 minutes or until lightly brown.  Cool on the sheet for another minute before removing.  Enjoy!

Rich Chocolate Chip Cookies

I've been searching for what seems like forever (three years) for the perfect vegan chocolate chip cookie.  And at the charity dinner for Ching Farm last weekend, I finally tasted them.  After only the first bite--WOW!  I celebrated!  This very well might be it!  I just had to meet the creator of such a wonderful dessert.  When I discovered he was sitting just a table away, I grabbed a piece of scratch paper and a pen, then hastened to his side.  His name was Rich Hawkes, a very friendly young adult and down-to-earth fellow vegan.  To my delight, he was more than happy to share his recipe with me.  Now I desire to share it with you!  In Rich's honor, I named the cookies after him!  The only thing I adapted was the flour.  I use whole-wheat.  It makes a darker finished product, but takes nothing from the flavor.  Enjoy!  Yields approximately 30 cookies.

Rich Chocolate Chip Cookies

Organic Ingredients:
Ener-G brand egg replacer, equaling 2 eggs
2 cups whole-wheat flour
1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 cup vegan butter, softened (Earth Balance brand is ideal)
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp pure vanilla
2 cups chocolate chips

Instructions:
Preheat the oven to bake at 350 degrees.  First, in a cereal bowl, follow the equivalents and directions on the Ener-G egg replacer box for 2 eggs.  Wisk well by hand and set aside.  Now, if you have an electric mixing machine, use it for the remainder of the recipe to simplify things.  (Remember to use a silicone spatula to scrape the sides of the bowls while mixing for a better overall consistency.)  Next, use a large mixing bowl and combine on lowest speed the flour, salt, and baking soda.  Set aside.  Use a smaller mixing bowl for the butter, sugar, vanilla, and egg replacer mixture.  Blend these wet ingredients on lowest speed.  Pour wet ingredients into the large bowl of dry ingredients and mix together on a low speed setting.  Now add the chocolate chips and mix again.  Roll the dough into small balls and place on a baking sheet.  You don't need to grease it.  Place tray in the oven for 9-10 minutes.  Remove from oven and let cookies cool on sheet for another 3 minutes or so.  Cookies are now ready to serve warm, or cool them on a rack.  Continue until all the dough balls have been baked.

Fat-Free Vegan Chocolate Cake

This dessert is vegan and fat-free!! I know, right?!  I titled it in my Jordan's honor because he makes it for himself, he makes it for me, he makes it for neighbors, he makes it for anybody and for any reason.  I think everyone knows about his delicious cake!  It's fast becoming a legend.  And if you don't know about it yet, you have only to ask... he'll make one for you, too!  Be sure to pair this dessert with a fat-free frosting: Just use applesauce or mashed bananas in place of margarines or oils in your favorite recipe.  Enjoy!  Makes 24 servings. (The picture above features a half recipe--it bakes as a 9x9 cake beautifully!)

Jordan's Fat-Free Vegan Chocolate Cake

Organic Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups of whole-wheat flour
1 1/2 cups of white flour (or use wheat flour)
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp sea salt
3/4 cup cocoa powder
1 1/4 cup applesauce
1 1/2 cups sugar or dry sweetener
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
2 cups water or plant-based milk

Instructions:
Preheat the oven to 375 F degrees. In a large bowl combine flour, baking soda, salt, and cocoa powder and mix on lowest speed setting.  Set aside. In a separate bowl mix applesauce, sugar, vanilla, and water/milk.  Now pour wet ingredients into the bowl of dry ingredients and stir until "just mixed" and the batter is smooth.  Pour into baking dish and bake for 35 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean when inserted into cake center. It's hard to burn this moist cake, so if in doubt leave it in the oven an extra 5-8 minutes. Remove from heat and let it cool before applying frosting. Easy-peasy! Enjoy!