Vegan GF Monster Cookies

This is a revamped recipe from this cookie recipe. The differences make for a coconutty, chewy cookie that is not too sweet.

Ingredients:

4 Tbls flax seed

2/3 cup water

1/2 cup coconut oil

1/4 cup grapeseed oil

1 cup peanut butter

2 tsp vanilla

3/4 cup sugar

3/4 cup brown sugar

1 cup almond flour

1/2 cup rice flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

2 cups oatmeal

1 cup chocolate chips

Preparation:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Grind the flax seed in a spice grinder
3. In a large bowl, combine the flax seed meal and water and beat until frothy
4. Add oils, peanut butter and vanilla. Add sugar and brown sugar.
5. In a separate bowl, combine flours, baking soda and salt. (No need to sift)
6. Combine with oil mixture.
7. Stir in the oatmeal and chocolate chips until well combined.
8. Drop by spoonfuls onto a baking sheet.
9. Bake for 15 minutes or until edges are lightly browned.

Cashew Cheese - Cheddar Style (Vegan, Gluten-Free)

Most people when confronted with the change from vegetarian to vegan claim they could never give up cheese. This is not really where I want to get into that statement so much as to offer alternatives to cheese that are not only soy-free, but tasty and will also melt. The below recipe is kid approved - we had a taco bar party and there were at least 10 kids ages 18 months to 6 years. All the kids and the parents loved the cheese, and at long last, here is the recipe to share as requested.

Cheddar Style Vegan Cheese (adapted from The Uncheese Cookbook)

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups water

2 T agar powder (get this from the Asian market or you will pay way too much for it)

4 oz jar of pimiento pieces, drained (this lends flavor and color - if you do not like the taste, you can subsititute 2 T tomato paste

1/2 cup raw cashews

1/4 cup nutritional yeast flakes

juice of 1 large lemon

2 T tahini

2 tsp onion powder

1 tsp salt

1/4 tsp garlic powder

1/4 tsp dried dill

1/8 tsp mustard powder

Directions:

1. Place the water and agar in a small saucepan and bring to a boil
2. Reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes, stirring often and making sure to stir down the sides of the saucepan
3. Place in high-powered blender with the remaining ingredients and process until completely smooth
4. Pour immediately into a lightly oiled 3 cup loaf pan
5. Cool in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours to overnight
6. To serve, take a slim knife around the edges of the loaf pan, and turn out of the mold. You can now slice, grate or cube this cheese as you would any other cheese.

Yields One 3-cup brick

As an alternative, for a liquid sauce (great for mac & cheese or topped on baked potatoes) skip steps 1 and 2 and just blend the mixture with approximately 1 cup of water until the cheese sauce is the consistency you want.

Cauliflower Au Gratin (Vegan, Gluten-Free)

Ingredients:

1 medium to large head of cauliflower

1 cup water

1/2 cup cashews

1/4 cup nutritional yeast flakes

juice of 1 large lemon

2 T tahini

1 T onion powder

2 T Dijon mustard (like Grey Poupon)

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp mustard powder

1/4 tsp dried dill

1/4 - 1/2 GF breadcrumbs, or other crusty topping - I used crushed blue corn chips

1/4 cup chopped parsley

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350
2. Oil a 9x13 baking dish
3. Wash and chop cauliflower to bite size pieces
4. Place cauliflower in baking dish - try to keep it to one layer
5. Mix next 11 ingredients in a high powered blender until creamy
6. Pour sauce over cauliflower
7. Sprinkle breadcrumbs over the top
8. Bake at 350 for 25 minutes
9. Top with parsley

This is great as a side dish, or can be served as the main course. I served this as a main course over a bed of millet with a large salad.

Serves 8 as a side dish

Serves 4 as a main course

Vegan GF Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies

I was craving Peanut Butter, Oatmeal and Chocolate Chip Cookies but could not find a recipe in any cookbook or on the internet that was vegan and GF or could easily be adapted, so I just modified a traditional Oatmeal Choc Chip Cookie Recipe and came up with this. They are pretty rich and really tasty! This recipe is also soy free - as long as you check your chocolate chips to make sure they do not contain soy lecithin.

Ingredients:

3/4 cup vegetable oil (I prefer Grapeseed for this recipe)

1/2 cup peanut butter

Egg replacer for three eggs

2 tsp vanilla

3/4 cup sugar

3/4 cup brown sugar

1 1/2 cups GF All Purpose flour (I used Bob's Red Mill)

1/4 tsp xantham gum

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

2 1/2 cups oatmeal

1/2 - 3/4 cup chocolate chips (depending on how chocolatey you want the cookies)

Preparation:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a large bowl, combine the oil, peanut butter, egg replacer and vanilla. Add sugar and brown sugar.
3. In a separate bowl, combine flour, xantham gum, baking soda and salt.
4. Combine with oil mixture.
5. Stir in the oatmeal and chocolate chips until well combined.
6. Drop by spoonfuls onto a baking sheet.
7. Bake for 15 minutes or until edges are lightly browned.

Rustic White Beans and Mushrooms Casserole

This is from Veganomicon - so many great recipes and this one is really simple and really great on a cold fall/winter day. This is really good as a main dish with a side salad or some braised greens (like bok choy or kale)

Ingredients:

2 cups dried white beans, soaked for at least 8 hours

1 small onion, peeled & sliced in half

1 stalk celery, cut into 2 pieces

1 small carrot, sliced in half lengthwise

1 teaspoon dried thyme

2 teaspoons dried tarragon

1/4 cup olive oil

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 large leek, sliced thinly

1/2 lb mushrooms

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

fresh ground black pepper

Directions:

1. Drain and rinse beans. Add to stockpot with 4 c cold water. Bring to a boil and simmer for 3 minutes. Skim off any white foam from the top. Cover the pot and lower the heat to medium. Add the onion, celery, carrot, thyme and tarragon. Simmer for about 45 minutes.
2. Remove the carrot, onion and celery (either discard or use in a stock). Lower the heat to low and continue to simmer. The beans should resemble a thick stew, if there's too much liquid, leave the pot uncovered and stir occasionally.
3. About 10 minutes before the beans are done, place the garlic and 2 T oil in a cold skillet. Heat the skillet over medium heat, allowing the garlic to sizzle for about 30 seconds. Add the chopped leeks and saute 1-2 minutes. Scrape the leeks into the beans.
4. Add the remaining 2 T oil, allow to warm, and add the mushrooms. Sprinkle the mushrooms lightly with 1/2 t salt and saute until most of the mushroom liquid has evaporated, anywhere from 8-12 minutes depending on the types of mushrooms. Add the mushrooms to the beans.
5. Turn off the heat and season the beans with the remaining salt and pepper.
6. OPTIONAL - Preheat oven to 350.
7. Top with bread crumbs (or other crumb topping) and bake for 20 - 25 minutes.

Purse Organizer

I saw a long time ago on late night infomercial TV, a commercial for a purse organizer. They sold it as a great way to keep track of things, but to me it is a great way to take the essentials from one bag to another - very important for me right now not because I have so many handbags, but because I don't want to carry my purse to night school when I have plenty of room in my backpack - thus I made a mini purse organizer.

Step 1 was to figure out how big - I laid out the items that I need to keep in my purse and want to take to class. I then allowed for 1/2" seam (1/4" seam allowance on each of the sides). I also allowed space for the bulk of the items in each pocket. I then wanted to fold the organizer up to make the pockets about 3 inches.

Cutting the fabric - for my organizer, I used 2 pieces (one liner and one for the outer fabric) of fabric that measured 21" x 9" plus I used a piece of receiving blanket also 21" x 9" instead of interfacing - still trying to get rid of all this nursery flannel and using it in place of interfacing where I can.

Lay the right sides together of the liner and the outer fabric, then place the interfacing/receiving blanket on top of wrong side of the liner. Stitch together with a 1/4" seam allowance around all sides, leaving a 2" gap at the bottom for turning.

Clip corners and trim seam allowance, then turn inside out. Press, then edge stitch the entire rectangle. Fold 3" from the bottom up with the liner fabric facing you so that the liner stays on the inside. Stitch the left and right side so you have one big pocket. Measure where your pockets will go, mark with chalk and pin in place. Sew each line from bottom to top.

Place your goodies in the pockets, then wrap either around itself, or you can place it so that the items line the bag instead of wrapping around itself. Now you can easily transfer bags, or easily find your stuff in the pockets.

Aloo Gobi (Indian potatoes and cauliflower)

I have lost touch with an Indian friend of mine who had me over for dinner one day when his mom was in town. She made the best aloo gobi I have ever had and shared the recipe with me. I have not made it in years, but was craving this yesterday. I cannot find the recipe now and am quite bothered by this because there were two other recipes that she gave me that I loved as well. I searched high and low on the internet and in the Joy of Cooking, and could not find anything that had all the same ingredients that I remembered hers having, so this is a compilation of a several recipes and an experiment that went very well this afternoon. My friend's mom's recipe was much drier than this one, so there will be further experiments - this has canned tomatoes to make it stew like.

Aloo Gobi

Ingredients:

1/4 cup grapeseed oil (or other light oil with high smoke point)

1 large onion, chopped

1/2 tsp cumin powder

1 bunch fresh cilantro - separate stalks from leaves - fine chop stalks and rough chop leaves

2 tsp turmeric

1 tsp sea salt

1 tsp red pepper flake - adjust to taste

20 oz can crushed tomatoes and juices

1 head cauliflower - with florets separated into bite size pieces

5 medium potatoes - cut into 1/2 inch cubes

1 cup water

1 inch piece of ginger, minced

4 cloves garlic, minced

Directions

Heat oil in dutch oven - add the chopped onion and cumin to the oil. Saute until translucent.

Add chopped cilantro stalks, turmeric, sea salt and red pepper flake. Mix until well incorporated - almost to a paste.

Add tomatoes, ginger and garlic - stir thoroughly

Add potatoes and cauliflower - Add water and stir

Cover and simmer for 20 minutes or until potatoes are cooked through

Add cilantro leaves

Turn off heat, cover and leave for about 30 minutes (if you can wait that long) The longer this stews, the better. If you can't wait, it is pretty tasty fresh from the stove too.

This is prior to stewing without heat, but still on the burner.

My son's portion - he wanted me to take a picture of his food since I took a picture of my food. This was too hot for him - next time, I'll probably use about 1/8 - 1/4 tsp of red pepper flake. I used red pepper flake instead of a chili thinking I could better control the heat.