Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies and a road trip to Bodega Bay

Today we are taking a little road trip to Bodega Bay where we will help one of our close friends celebrate his 30th birthday party... so naturally I had to make some chocolate chip cookies (Any excuse to make classic chocolate chip cookies!) I don't know if I have mentioned that I am a total cookie monster... I know I know, I talk about nutrition all the time, but we all have our weaknesses and what would life be without indulgences from time to time? Mine is chocolate chip cookies. I have mastered the perfect vegan chocolate chip cookie recipe. It's a little different than your standard vegan version of Nestle toll house. In this recipe you use the butter (earth balance of course!) cold and I also refrigerate the egg replacer mixture for a few minutes. I  use a blend of barley flour, oat flour and whole wheat pastry flour (so maybe there is a little nutrition in there... just a little though) and a combination of unrefined rapadura and evaporated cane sugar for the sweetener. These cookies are the perfect blend of chewy, soft, crisp and of course chocolatey. I can't wait to share these with our friends out on the beautiful north coast.

Tostadas with Sauteed Squash Blossoms & The kick off of Vegan MoFo!

More time has elapsed since my last posting than I would have liked, my life has been a little crazy lately, but today is the first day of VEGAN MOFO! So that means I am going to be posting a looottt more! What is Vegan MoFo? It is Vegan Month of Food! You can read more about it here: Postpunkkitchen, but the basic idea is that bloggers all over the world will write as much as they can about vegan food, from home kitchen experiments, to tried and true techniques, favorite ingredients, and great vegan restaurant meals.... at least 5 days a week! So be ready for some serious blogging, and to learn lots about delicious, plant-based cooking! 

... On to my tostadas.  I actually took this picture a few weeks ago and have been meaning to write a blog about it for awhile now, but better late than never, right? I had picked up some late season squash blossoms at the farmers market, and wanted to integrate them into some other dish... and I had a hankering for mexican food. It was a Sunday, and I love to spend time in the kitchen on Sunday, it's like therapy/mad scientist day for me... I can try out new things and really find it relaxing, actually. Plus, my husband gets to eat whatever concoction I have made for dinner (may be a good or bad thing for him... depends :) So I made some homemade tortillas. My Grandma is Mexican, and when I was young I remember her making homemade tortillas when she was babysitting my brother and I, and I really think there is almost nothing better in the world  than I fresh homemade tortilla that is still warm (with some Earth Balance on it, of course) They really aren't hard to make, just time consuming. Here is a good recipe for tortillas.

Moving on- I had some quinoa to use up, so I mixed that with some vegetarian refried beans for the protein layer of my tostada. I spiced this mixture up with some great seasonings: Chipotle chili powder, garlic powder, oregano, basil, salt and pepper. The next layer of the tostada is diced Heirloom Tomatoes (mmmm... I wish these were in season year round) Then, the squash blossoms. I sauteed these lightly with some sliced garlic and olive oil. Very simple and very tasty. The whole dish is topped off with some tangy avocado cream (Avocado, lime juice and cilantro processed in the food processor with a pinch of salt) and some fresh chopped cilantro.

Voila! I love food with layers, you get the best of every layer in each bite. This dish is absolutely bursting with flavor, and the best part is that it is totally adaptable- you can add in extra layers of any of your favorite mexican style ingredients. 

Spring Rolls with Collard Greens

For any of you who live in the bay area, you may be familiar with a popular vegan restaurant chain, Cafe Gratitude. It is one of my favorite treats to go there and have a really delicious and fresh meal, in a nice atmosphere. I often try to recreate their dishes at home. This one was kind  fun. One of their appetizers is spring rolls, but they wrap them in greens instead of rice paper. I have done dolmas wrapped in collard greens before, so I was confident I could recreate these spring rolls somewhat successfully at home. So I bought some collard greens, and all of the veggies that I wanted to stuff them with: avocado, carrot, scallions, heirloom tomatoes, bell peppers, and I decided to add some marinated tofu (not on Cafe Gratitude's menu). And it was surprisingly easy! So, I blanched the collard greens whole. You do this by bringing a large pot of water to a light boil, and then dipping the whole leaves in the water for a few seconds until they start to turn bright green. Then you submerge the leaves in ice water to stop the cooking process. Once the leaves are cool, you remove the stems so that you have two equal sized and shaped "wrappers". Give them a quick pat dry with a paper towel. At this point, you should have all of your fillings of choice prepared- any veggies and even fruit, that you like: cucumbers, carrots, tomatoes, peppers, papaya, orange slices, arugula, mint or other herbs, etc. Now you are ready to roll. Put your filling in a line on the lower side of the wrapper closer to you, leaving a little bit of room from the bottom. Then pull the part of the wrapper closer to you up and over the filling, fold in the two sides like a burrito, and then roll it away from you until all of your wrapper is used up. It may take a couple trys to get your rhythm going with this, but you will get it, I promise! If you are having a hard time keeping all of your filling together, then you could always add a little sauce like a peanut sauce to your fillings to keep them from falling apart. If you don't have a sauce on the inside, then I highly suggest a dipping sauce. In this case I made a sauce with almond butter, just like they serve at the cafe.  This can easily be made by whisking some almond butter with tamari, rice vinegar, minced garlic and ginger, and a little chili paste. I finish it off with some lime juice for an extra little kick. Slice the rolls in half at a diagonal, and serve either as an appetizer, or a few rolls with a side dish as an entree. 

Purple Power!

I just had to share these incredible purple foods.. this first one is a purple yam. I first had a purple yam when I was in school at Bauman College and one of my teachers brought one in to show us. She had baked it, and we all tasted it just plain without any seasoning at all, and it was delicious. Ever since then, I have been keeping my eyes open to try to find them again. Well I was at the farmer's market, and low and behold there they were, a small basket of purple yams almost hidden behind larger baskets of regular potatoes and yams. So, of course I bought more of them than I needed just because I was so happy to have found them again! This photo was taken just after I baked the yam whole, then split it in half, and what was inside was this stunning color and beautiful design! The outside of the yam is virtually colorless with just a light beige skin to it. I still eat the skin however, because as with all potatoes and yams, a good amount of the nutrition is contained in the skin.

To the right, is purple cauliflower. This is a little bit easier to find than purple yams, but the purple cauliflower can add some really amazing colors to several dishes. The taste is very similar to cauliflower, maybe just a little bit more complex. My favorite way to prepare this is cut into florets, and simply tossed with a little olive oil, salt and pepper. Then roast in the oven turning once or twice for about 25 minutes. You could certainly also integrate purple cauliflower into curries and casseroles, just know that you are going to have a gorgeous intense purple color to your dish!

Purple vegetables and fruits are packet full of beneficial phytochemicals and flavonoids that are great for protecting you against heart disease, cancer, and help to improve brain function among several other benefits. Eat up! 

Friday Night Pizza Night

I have this certain memory from my childhood, that Friday nights we often went to the Pizza "Parlor". Gosh. Nothing is called a parlor anymore. Maybe I'll open a restaurant someday and call it a some sort of Parlor. I find that word charming. Anyways, I seem to equate Friday nights with pizza or at least some type of comforting food. Almost a reward for making it through the week, and a good note to start the weekend off with. 

Vegan pizza is soooo good. It is one of my favorite treats. I know... I know... what is pizza without the cheese some of you may be saying.... Well I'll tell you. It is a delicious fresh tomato sauce made with the most ripe and delicious tomatoes of the season. It is fresh basil, and in this case sauteed onions and swiss chard, and barbecue soy chicken. I topped it off with a non-dairy white cheddar cheese. An absolute treat.  I don't think I have made the same vegan pizza twice. There are soooo many options with all of the incredible vegetables to choose from. I recommend either roasting or sauteing your veggies first, because vegetables have a high water content, which they release as they cook. With most veggies, if you put them on the pizza raw they will release their liquid as they cook on the pizza, and nobody likes a watery pizza pie!! Just a little tip for ya. 

Garlic & Ginger Asian Noodle Soup with Dark Greens and Tofu

Ginger is a complex and delicious flavor. It is almost fascinating to me that something so pungent, spicy, sweet, and savory can come all in one package, and growing from the earth at that! Ginger is known to help when you have a cold, to soothe your stomach when you are nauseated, and to be a beautifully fragrant tea. But the uses for ginger can go on and on. I love an Asian style broth with a strong scent of ginger, and ginger is always the perfect match to garlic, no doubt. If you have never tried raw ginger, I highly encourage you to do so, (mind you, only a small amount at first) to really appreciate the true flavor of ginger. Cooking it will certainly mellow it out some, and today I had a craving for a nice savory broth loaded with ginger, garlic and lots of fresh veggies. I added some baked tofu I had in the fridge, and some dark leafy greens (I can't hardly go a meal without these) and low and behold, I had a dinner to indulge all of my senses to end a good day of work...

 Garlic & Ginger Asian Noodle Soup with Dark Greens and Tofu

2 cloves garlic, minced 1 teaspoon garlic, minced ½ large yellow onion 1 tablespoon tamari 1 teaspoon seasoned rice vinegar ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes ¼ teaspoon chinese five spice powder 1 ½ cups filtered water 2 ounces quinoa pasta or brown rice pasta ½ cup snow peas or sugar snap peas, whole ½ cup carrots, julienne 1 cup swiss chard or spinach, chopped ½ cup firm sprouted tofu, cubed 1 teaspoon red miso paste chopped scallions for garnish In a large saucepan, add garlic, ginger, onions, tamari, rice vinegar, red pepper flakes, five spice powder, water, and dry noodles. Add water and bring to a light boil. Add snow peas and carrots, then reduce heat to simmer and cover. Let simmer for 10 minutes and add swiss chard or spinach and tofu. Stir, and let simmer another 2 minutes until greens cook down and noodles become tender. Turn off heat and add miso paste. Stir gently until all miso is dissolved into the broth.  Garnish with scallions and serve.

Oat Berry Salad with Roasted Tomatoes and Garlic

I love whole grains, like really chewy rustic whole grains. In my pantry at any given time, I have barley, millet, quinoa, wheat berries, farro, brown rice, bhutanese red rice... I just like to have a small amount of whatever I might want to use available at any given time. Recently, I was at Rainbow market (my personal equivalent of Disneyland) and saw Oat Berries, and I couldn't believe I hadn't ever tried these before! Oat Berries are the whole form of oats before they are rolled flat, cut up, or any of the other forms of processing they go through to make the oats that we all know and love. Now that I have tried them, to be totally honest, flavor-wise I don't see a huge difference in taste and texture between oat berries, and wheat berries, but either way the were delicious, and super nutritious too! With any whole grain that I listed above, I recommend soaking the grains for at least 8 hours up to 24 hours before cooking. This is for two reasons- 1.) It starts the germination process, and improves the nutrition (you won't see any sprouting yet) and 2.) It reduces the cooking time. Most hearty grains such as barley, oat berries and wheat berries can take up to an hour to cook! If you soak ahead, you are probably looking at more like 40 -45 minutes cooking time. 

So, after a long day at work I felt like a nice light healthy salad, so I put my pre-soaked oat berries on the stove to simmer, and I roasted up some sweet cherry tomatoes (both red and yellow, and oh so so sweet) along with some garlic and onion. The three roasted up together for a classic combination. When the oat berries were done, I tossed them with some fresh arugula, parsley, and then my trio of roasted delight. I topped it all of with some white balsalmic vinegar, lemon juice, sea salt, pepitas, and fresh cracked pepper. You could make this oat berry salad in similar variation with any number of veggies you might have on hand, tossed with a nice dressing, and some chopped nuts or tofu. A perfect dinner.