Yeah, that’s actually a photo of the last batch of granola I made, but they all look pretty much the same that I thought I’d recycle the photo.  And by “recycle the photo” I mean that I’m too lazy to take another.

For my latest batch of granola, I used the rest of a can of sweet potato puree to moisten it.  I like to use grated apples, pumpkin, etc. to moisten the mix because it lets me significantly cut down on the amount of oil and sugar.  My standard granola recipe:

6 cups oats

2 cuts nuts/seeds

2 cups dried fruit

1/2 cup (or more) flax meal

1/2 cup liquid sweetener of choice

1 cup canned pumpkin, sweet potato (or 4-6 grated apples)

2 TB oil

Spice mixture of your choice

This time, I used sunflower and pumpkin seeds for the nuts; brown rice syrup for the sweetener; 1 cup sweet potato puree; 1 TB blackstrap molasses;  spices: 2 tsp cinnamon, 1 tsp nutmeg, 1/2 tsp ground ginger, 1/2 tsp ground cloves.  Flavorwise, this granola was like a spicy pumpkin tasting granola.  Yummy!!

Thanks to my parents, grandma and aunt, I am back in business with a camera! It’s so nice and fancy and takes the best looking photos. Check out our dinner last night:

I’ll admit that it’s not the best photo but that’s because the food was so hot that I kept getting a picture of the steam coming off of it.  This dish was really easy and is perfect for those clean-out-the-fridge nights.  I sauteed one small red onion with one clove of garlic in some olive oil.  Once soft, I added some frozen artichoke hearts, some chopped broccoli and cauliflower and sliced zucchini (broccoli, cauliflower and zucchini all organic from the farmer’s market).  After allowing it to cook for a few minutes, I dumped in one jar of organic marinara sauce and let it simmer for about 10 minutes or until the veggies were soft.  A little basil from my garden and the sauce was done.

We had this with some brown rice noodles, a gluten-free pasta that I picked up from Trader Joe’s.  I’m toying with the possibility of going gluten-free in an effort to fix my thyroid (that’s another post for another day), so I’ve slowly been buying G-F cereals, pastas, etc to try.  This is similar to how I transitioned to a vegan diet and I found that it was the best way for me to transition.  I’m not saying that I’ll for sure go G-F, but cutting out some sources of gluten certainly won’t hurt me.  Anyway, we all really enjoyed these noodles and I think I will buy brown rice pasta from now on.  No one was able to tell that it wasn’t wheat pasta.

I also made these cookies last week.  They are not G-F, but they were pretty tasty.  The recipe is a slight adaptation from the Cranberry-Walnut Oatmeal cookie recipe from Vegan Planet. I’ve made this recipe a few times– once with raisins and pecans– and this time with dried cranberries, pecans and white chocolate.  I think I preferred the first one with the raisins, but I liked this one too.  If you’re wondering where I get vegan white chocolate (good luck finding it in any store), I have to special order it from Vegan Essentials.  I order my vitamins from there too and usually do a big order once every three months.  If I’m low on the white chocolate, I’ll throw that into my virtual cart too.  Here’s a tip for ordering from Vegan Essentials: sign up for their email newsletter that they sometimes include discount codes in.

Have a good weekend everyone!

This a spin on the granola recipe posted here.  The thing I like about granola is that you pretty much throw in whatever you’ve got around the kitchen and it usually turns out delicious.  Since I did change up the recipe some, I’ll post it again here with all the changes.  It’s seriously good… I’ve found myself eating 3 bowls of this a day!  I suppose there are worse things I could be overindulging in, right?! 

Spicy Apple Granola, v. 2

6 cups oats

2 cups mixed nuts and/or seeds (or more), chopped; I used a mix of pecans, almonds, walnuts, sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, and pumpkin seeds

1 cup dried fruit; I used a combo of dates (chopped), cranberries and raisins

1/2 cup flax meal

1/2 cup liquid sweetener (agave, maple syrup, etc); I used brown rice syrup

4 apples, peeled and grated

2 TB canola oil

2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp nutmeg

1/2 tsp ground cloves

1/2 tsp ground ginger

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.  Combine all granola ingredients in a large roasting pan.  Mix well to be sure that all oats and nuts are coated in the oil and sweetener.  Bake uncovered for 60 minutes, stirring often.  The granola is done when it is golden brown.

(I am still without a camera after breaking mine, so you’ll have to settle for this crappy phone pic.  Sorry!  A new camera should be mine soon.)

A good use up for all that zucchini you’ve probably got this summer… we were having a few playdates and I thought it would be fun to bring some “healthy” brownies.  Sure, there’s better ways of sneaking veggies into your kids, but when you’re making a treat, isn’t it an added bonus to make them with vegetables?  I think so.  I’ve never made these brownies before and was super skeptical when I was making the batter, but they turned out really delicious.  The batter will be incredibly dry, almost crumbly, but it will bake up fine.  These zucchini brownies are awesome!  Next time, I will add some vegan chocolate chips to the batter.

This meal wasn’t super gourmet, but definitely much more so than anything I’ve prepared in the last couple of months.  I was in Sacramento over the weekend and got a huge haul of organic fruits and veggies at the farmer’s market there.  Since I haven’t been to the regular grocery store, that’s pretty much what we had on hand.  I used what I had to whip up these stuffed portobello mushroom caps, which I served alongside a mixed green salad with blueberries and cherry tomatoes and a few slices of white peach.  And then for dessert, I used some frozen bananas to make an “ode to Elvis” ice cream.  I think we had our 5 servings of fruits and veggies just in this one meal!    I’m sure there are far worse things to O.D. on.

Since this stuffing would work really well with any vegetable mix, I’ll just describe how I made it.  Feel free to sub whatever it is you’ve got on hand.  I did use a bag of organic instant stuffing mix that I’ve had in my pantry since Thanksgiving, but I imagine you could use your own favorite homemade stuffing recipe as a substitute, or even something like Stove Top would work.  I have no idea whether or not Stove Top is vegan and/or healthy (I imagine it’s neither), which is why I’m saying to try something like it.  I know that mine was vegan and was relatively healthy, as in it didn’t have anything in it besides bread and spices.  Anyway, cook your stuffing according to package directions or follow your own homemade recipe.

While the stuffing is cooking, saute the veggies.  I diced up some onion, carrots, the mushroom stems and 2 small zucchini– one yellow and one green.  Be sure to add in the remnants of whatever veggie you are stuffing– for example, if you will be stuffing an eggplant, add the part of the eggplant that you scooped out to make room for the stuffing.  I also added in a clove of minced garlic to the veggies.  Saute in a wee bit of olive oil until just beginning to get tender.  Add about 1/2 cup raisins or dried fruit of your choosing (cherries, cranberries, apricots would all be good) and about 1/2 cup white wine.  At this point, I also threw in a bay leaf.  Turn up the heat and allow the wine to reduce so that there is no liquid left.  Seas0n with salt and pepper.  Once the wine has completely cooked off, combine with an equal amount of the cooked stuffing so that your final stuffing mixture is about half stuffing and half sauteed vegetables.  Stuff into your vegetable of choice.

If you are using portobellos, you’ll want to scrape the gills off with a spoon before stuffing.  I also rubbed mine on both sides with olive oil and sprinkled with salt and pepper.  Once stuffed, place into a 425 degree oven for about 10 minutes.  After 10 minutes, turn on the broiler and broil for about 2 minutes or until the top of the stuffing is crunchy and golden.

These turned out really, really good… and I have to mention that I detest mushrooms.  I could eat these every day and not get tired of them.

And now, let’s talk dessert!  When I returned home from Sac, I found that all of my bananas had spots on them.  Even one spot on a banana indicates it’s too ripe for me (I prefer mine slightly green and starchy), so I peeled and sliced them and put them in the freezer.  When they were frozen, I put them into my food processor (sorry, but you will need a food processor for this… a blender isn’t going to work) and processed them until smooth like ice cream.  It’ll take a little while to get them super smooth and you may even find that you need to let them defrost a bit.  Once smooth, add about 2 TB peanut butter– I used 5 bananas to give you an idea of the banana to peanut butter ratio– and a drizzle of agave.  Either eat right away or place back in the freezer to solidify.  Actually, you may even want to make dessert before dinner so that it can be freezing while you make and eat dinner.  I topped mine with a drizzle of chocolate sauce, but I think a handful of vegan chocolate chips would have been yummier.  Any kind of nut butter will work here, so use your favorite or leave it out if you want plain banana.  I’ve made this type of “ice cream” with all kinds of different fruits, so play around with it.

My dad’s favorite dessert is peach pie. I didn’t have it in me to make pie dough and roll it out, so I decided to make a peach cobbler instead. And man it was good!

I used the peach pie filling recipe from The Joy of Vegan Baking, then used the biscuit topping recipe from the Blueberry Cobbler recipe. It turned out really delicious, but next time I will use more peaches and let them defrost before putting into the recipe (I used frozen organic peach slices). As delicious as it was by itself, it was even better a la mode:

I picked up a pint of soy ice cream– this flavor was cinnamon caramel– and it was SO YUMMY! The perfect summertime dessert for Father’s Day weekend.

Emma is having a valentine exchange at school today, and I have visions of her bringing home oodles and oodles of candy made from HFCS, artificial colors and probably some type of animal product. I’m not so much of a hard ass that I would forbid her from eating a few of these candies, but I wanted to think outside the box and send her to school with some useful treats and gifts to give to her friends.

Part of the fun of Valentine’s Day is picking out your valentines at the store. Since I knew Emma wouldn’t be into handmaking 24 Valentine cards, I let her pick out some from the store. We ended up with Disney princesses and Scooby Doo. Then, I ended up finding these fun Valentine bags at Target for cheap and I filled them with all kinds of goodies.

Each bag had a (homemade) CD of some of Emma’s favorite songs, a bag of cookies– chocolate chip using this awesome recipe, and heart shaped sugar cookies from The Joy of Vegan Baking, and an organic lollipop… not that organic makes candy any healthier, but at least I know it’s made with real sugar and doesn’t have any weird colors in it.

I hope her friends like them!

I actually did some cooking last week, but failed to blog about any of it.  Well, here it is…

While everyone else is probably sick of Thanksgiving leftovers, I felt like we didn’t get our fair share.  All 3 of us were sick on Thanksgiving, which meant (for me, anyway) no appetite.  Any Thanksgiving dishes that were suitable for us just didn’t taste right, or I only ate a little bit.  Anyway, last Monday when I asked Emma what we should have for dinner, she said we should have “Friendsgiving.”  I had to go to the store anyway, so I picked up a pack of organic stuffing mix (basically some croutons and spices), a field roast, some cranberry sauce and some potatoes.  Normally, I would be more inclined to make everything from scratch, but sometimes there’s nothing wrong with taking a little help from the store (especially since I was still getting over my cold).

The only interesting topic of conversation from our Friendsgiving meal was the field roast.  I’ve never had one before, but the size of it seemed more suitable for 3 people than an entire Tofurky.  I’ve never had Tofurky (aside from the lunch “meat” which I like), but I didn’t want anything that big or that expensive– even on sale it was $20!  Anyway, I opted for the lentil sage flavor of the field roast.  It has a very chewy texture and I’m not sure I would buy it again.  It just didn’t appeal to me, but don’t let my opinion keep you from trying it.  It was only around $5.

Whenever I find Dandies marshmallows, I like to stock up.  At $6 a bag, they are pretty pricey, but they are probably the best vegetarian marshmallows I’ve tried.  They are pretty close to the real thing.  Anyway, if you live in or near San Francisco, you can find Dandies at Rainbow Grocery and if you live in or near Sacramento, you can find them at the Natural Foods Co-op.  The problem with Dandies is that once you open the package and there’s no air to pad the marshmallows, they tend to squish into each other forming a gigantic blob.  Once they are in this blob form, it is impossible to pull them apart, which makes them perfect for treat making.  I picked up a box of Brown Rice Krispies (they taste the same as the other ones, but are a little bit healthier).

Vegan Rice Krispies Treats

10 oz. vegetarian marshmallows (1 bag of Dandies)

3 TB Earth Balance margarine

6 cups rice cereal (a 10 oz. box is 6 cups)

In a large pot, melt the marshmallows with the Earth Balance.  When completely melted, stir in the cereal.  Pour into a greased baking sheet and press the treats evenly into the sheet.  When cool, cut into squares.

Lastly, I made some Mexican quinoa (like Mexican rice,but with quinoa instead).  I have to thank my friend Jen for this cooking method because I can’t cook rice to save my life and have tried to make Mexican rice several times but usually end up with a goopy mess.  Once she explained to me how to do it properly, I figured I could do it, but use quinoa instead of rice.  It turned out pretty good!

Mexican Quinoa

1 cup quinoa, dry

1 TB canola oil

1 small onion, diced

1- 8 oz. can tomato sauce

1 1/2 cups vegetable stock, or water

Pinch of S&P

In a medium sauce pan over medium heat, toast the quinoa in the oil until golden brown.  Add the onion and saute until the onion is tender.  Pour in the tomato sauce and stock and add the S&P and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat to simmer, put a lid on it and cook 15 minutes.  Remove from heat and remove lid and let stand for 5 minutes.  Fluff with fork and serve!

I love Halloween.  It’s my favorite holiday.  Here are some pics of things that I’ve made this Halloween, as well as some pics of my butterfly fairy.  My edible “blood” recipe is also included below.

Creepy Halloween Cupcakes:

Edible “Blood” Recipe:

Corn Syrup

Red Food Coloring (use the gel food coloring available at cake and craft stores.  The liquid stuff from the grocery store will thin it out too much).

Cocoa Powder
Combine the corn syrup and the food coloring until it is the color that you want it.  Add cocoa powder, a little at a time until the desired opaque-ness and consistency is reached.

Cupcakes for the Halloween Party at Emma’s school:

My Pumpkin (Jack & Sally from Nightmare Before Christmas):

My beautiful Butterfly Fairy:

A scorpio themed birthday cake:

And a cupcake topped with some edible dice:

My Dad’s birthday was on Friday and we all headed to Sacramento to celebrate.  We left Friday evening when Matt got home from work.  He had to DJ on Saturday night, so he left Saturday afternoon, but Emma and I stayed through Sunday and took the train home.

My Dad’s favorite dessert is peach pie.  I think I only make pie about once a year (for his birthday) and every year right before I’m ready to make it, I realize that I don’t own a pie plate.  First of all, how is it possible that I want to start a baking business and I don’t even own a pie plate?!  Anyway, I now have one on my wish list and I will definitely get one before next July 17.

A cake pan did the trick this time.  Just for fun, I cut out stars in the top crust.  The peach pie recipe was from The Joy of Vegan Baking.  The only change I made was to mix the peaches with the butter/flour/sugar mixture instead of layering it as the recipe suggests.  I also threw in some very ripe apricots.  Save yourself a buck and use frozen peaches for a pie.  You can’t really tell the difference between fresh and frozen.

Since I can’t resist and opportunity to make a cake, I also made my dad a birthday cake– vanilla with raspberry buttercream.  Yummmmy!!  Sadly, the fondant that I had made to cover the cake failed me.  It was too dry and crumbled when I rolled it out.  Anyway, I had to resort to store bought fondant– eww!  The swirls on the top are made from gum paste, which I made in my stand mixer this time and it’s the best batch of gum paste ever.  The trick is to knead in some shortening, even if the recipe doesn’t necessarily call for it.

And this horrible photo is an asian noodle salad that I made to have with dinner.  It turned out really good, so I’ll blog about it despite the horrible photo.  I didn’t measure, but it’s pretty much fool proof:  Boil noodles per package directions (we used spaghetti, but you could use whatever you want).  While noodles are boiling, make dressing in bottom of large bowl (juice from 3 limes, about 2 TB rice vinegar, about 4 TB soy sauce, pinch of red pepper flakes, a drizzle of toasted sesame oil, 2-4 TB agave).  Throw in your veggies and toss to coat with dressing.  I used some cucumbers (from my Grandma’s garden!), red cabbage, red onion (would have preferred green, but didn’t have any), cilantro, edamame, and cherry tomatoes (from my Dad’s garden).  When noodles are cooked, drain and add them to the salad.  Toss and refrigerate until ready to serve.  Top with peanuts.