chocolate nutella cookies - recipe from vegetarian times

Chocolate Nutella Cookies
 from Vegetarian Times recipe and with my comments!!!

 1 3/4 cup unbleached all purpose flour i used organic
 1/4 cocoa powder plain old hershey's powder!
 1/2 tsp of baking soda
 1/4 tsp of salt i used fine grained salt (i have cse grained salt that i use from time to time, that is why i specify)
 1 cup Nutella i didn't actually have 1 cup of nutella, so i used what i had - about 1/2 cup, and then used almond butter to fill in the rest.  they still turned out great and tasted like nutella.
 4 oz/1stick unsalted butter real butter, not margarine.
 3/4 cup of sugar i used cane sugar, organic, not bleach white processed sugar though i'm sure that is fine too.
 1 large egg farm raised organic!
 1/2 tsp of hazelnut extract didn't have this. used vanilla instead!

1. Sift together flour,cocoa powder salt and 1/4 tsp of salt and set aside does anyone ever do this step?
2. Beat Nutella and butter till smooth (I used an electric hand blender) i used an electric hand mixer, and this was after i put the butter in the microwave for 30 seconds to soften.  it was straight out of the fridge.  mutella and almond butter didn't go in the microwave though.
3. Add the egg and sugar to the above mixture and beat till well combined still used the hand mixer.
 4. Now slowly add the flour and in low speed incorporate into the wet mixture till dough forms.  i just put all the dry ingredients on top of the wet and then used a large fork to incorporate.  it wasn't hard.
5. Transfer the dough into a plastic wrap and shape into a 2inch diameter log and refrigerate for a minimum of 2 hours.  looked like a big poop.  kinda gross.  but, it was really tasty (i ate some yes!!!).  i stuck it in the freezer for about 30 minutes.  it was cold enough after that.
6. Heat oven to 375F.  um, i missed the 375 part.  i cooked them at 350
7. Cut log to 1/4 inch thick rounds and place on a cookie sheet.
8. Bake for 9 minutes and remove from the oven and let cool for 30-45 minutes.  since mine started on a cold stone, it took about 15 minutes.  i put both stones in the oven at the same time on two different shelves - never done that before - but they cooked well together.  and, it only took them about 15 minutes to cool off.

these cookes are AWESOME!!!

Vegan,Gluten-Free Pumpkin Chocolate Bars

I get emails from VegNews magazine and this was one that came a week or two ago.  I instantly knew I wanted to try it- and I did this morning.  It was SO easy to make.  i even made my own oat flour using whole oats in my blender.  I also only used 1 cup of chocolate chips in the recipe i made today.  the next time i make it, though, i will use a little less sugar and let it cook a little longer.  mine was still sorta soft in the middle.  they are like cookie bars.  YUM!


What You Need:

3 cups gluten-free oat flour (make your own by grinding rolled oats in a blender)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
3/4 cup canned pumpkin
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup canola oil, plus more for pan
1-1/2 cups sugar
1 tablespoon gluten-free vanilla
2 cups allergen-free chocolate chips

What You Do:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees and lightly oil a 9 x 13-inch baking pan. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon and set aside.

2. In a large bowl, combine pumpkin with baking powder. Add oil, sugar, and vanilla. Stir to combine. Mix dry ingredients into wet ingredients, one half at a time, and stir to combine. Mix in chocolate chips.

3. Pour batter into pan. With damp hands, press batter to evenly fill pan. Bake 18 minutes, and cool completely before cutting into bars.

salted roasted pumpkin seeds

the best part of carving a pumpkin is roasting (and eating) the pumpkin seeds. 
the pulp should be mostly removed/separated from the seeds.  the seeds should be placed in a colander and washed. a standard pumpkin will have about 1/2 - 2/3 cup of seeds.

in a small sauce pan, put about 2 cups of hot water on the stove - on high.  add about 1 to 2 tbs of salt.  when it starts boiling, add the pumpkin seeds and when it comes back to a boil,  you'll have to turn the burner down to med otherwise it will boil over. after 5 minutes or so, pour the seeds and water back into the colander in the sink and let them cool to the touch.

preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

once they have cooled enough that you can handle them (10 minutes?), drizzle them with olive oil.  i also sprinkled mine with chili powder, cayenne powder, and a little bit of salt (because i wanted them spicy).  mix them with your fingers to coat all the seeds with the olive oil and spices.

pour the seeds on a baking sheet lined with aluminum foil.  put them in the oven and stir them after 10 minutes, and again every 5 minutes until they are done. mine took about 20 minutes to make but i think it is oven dependent (and some of mine were a little "toasty").  you smell them when they are getting done, they smell sorta like roasted peanuts!  they are very aromatic. 

i don't know about storage and keep time because mine never make it through the night.  :)

workable weekend - tomato and chickpea soup

my sister made this soup and raved about it - she gave me the recipe online and i didn't make it.  first of all, i'm not a fan of chick peas.  i DO like hummus, but chick peas any other way just don't appeal to me (i think they are pasty and dry).  so, though she said it was really good, i didn't trust her. (my mistake!!!)

weeks later, she brought a little bowl of it home.  it was cold, and she said "try it!"

it reminded me of a time back in the mid-2000s when one of my friends and i went to a resturant in greenville (fancy to me at the time, but that is representative of my budget at the time) and i got a bowl of tomato bisque (i think that was about all i could afford).  i remember when i was eating it, that i thought it was the best tomato soup i'd ever eaten and it was hardly plain like a can of tomato soup (which was what i expected) as it was so flavorful - and i tried to make it but i never could really master that recipe.

anyway, this soup instantly brought me back to that moment and i realized that she gave me this recipe and i COULD make it.

so, though i still haven't made it, i'm making it for work next week.  we're moving to a new office and i'm not sure if there will be a microwave available.  i was trying to think of something to take to work that didn't have to be warmed - and i HATE peanut butter sandwiches - and i thought of this!  i can't wait to make AND EAT it.  it is wonderful.

here's the recipe in case you want to try it too.  it is super easy, inexpensive, and simple.

In a blender, combine 1 can chickpeas, 2 cloves of garlic. Process until finely ground.

Add 1 can diced tomatoes (I used Italian style with spices), 1 tsp ground cumin, 2 tbs lemon juice, 2 tbs olive oil, 1/2 cup milk (she used lactose free, i'll use regular milk), salt and cayenne to taste. Blend until smooth.

Heat on stove until warm (or not).

recipe: stuffed mushrooms using gimme lean (fake) sausage

my original recipe is from the food network... tyler florence's stuffed mushrooms with sausage.  here are the changes i made to his recipe: 

• 1/4 cup raisins
• 8 large Spanish green olives, pitted
• 1/4 cup pine nuts raw cashews
• 2 handfuls fresh flat-leaf parsley 3/4 Tbs dried parsley
• 1/2 tsp sage (the gimme lean needs some extra parsley)
• 2 garlic cloves 1 tsp garlic paste
• 1 pound Italian sausage, removed from casing 1 tube gimme lean ground sausage
• 3/4 cup freshly grated pecorino parmasean cheese (i don't even know what pecorino is!)
• Extra-virgin olive oil
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• Pinch red pepper flakes
• 1 cup fresh (homemade) bread crumbs
• 24 large white  crimini mushrooms, stems removed

Preheat to 400 degrees.

I actually made only half the recipe, as I had only 10 mushrooms from before making soup.  Even with that, I think half the recipe would be enough to stuff 24 mushrooms.  I made "sausage balls" with the leftover stuffing and i had plenty for 24 mushrooms.  Just sayin' - half is plenty.

Chop the raisins, olives, and cashews; put into a mixing bowl along with parsley and garlic. Add the sausage and 1/2 cup of the cheese. Drizzle the stuffing with about  1 Tbs. of olive oil to moisten and season with salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes; combine with hands.  Notice how greasy your hands are NOT because it isn't sausage!  Gimme lean has NO FAT in it!

Put the bread crumbs in another bowl, drizzle with a bit of olive oil and add the remaining cheese and mix.

I made small balls (like the size you would make for oreo balls) round and then gently stuffed them into the mushroom, one at a time.  Then, I dipped the stuffing side into the breadcrumb mixture and then put it mushroom side down on a stone pan. As I said before, I made stuffing/sausage balls with the remaining mixture and also coated them with breadcrumbs. 

They cooked for about 20 minutes on 400degrees.  They started to brown at about 15 minutes and were a nice golden brown right at 20.  My oven, which typically doesn't cook even, actually did really well with these.  I did roll the "balls" half way along.

Anyway, these were great!  We ate these with our mushroom soup for dinner since there wasn't much left.  I'll definitely use the gimme lean sausage again - and this way too.  Just remembering to add sage for the patties when eating it alone.

mac and cheese(less)

I'm not sure of the right name for this, but mac and cheese isn't it.  so, i name it mac and cheeseless.  because, there isn't any cheese in it.  this takes the place of mac and cheese in your meal - so, if you are lactose intolerant or vegan or just want to try something healthy (i.e. sneak in veggies), you should try this.  it is really simple and DELICIOUS! 

the original recipe is from http://www.vegnews.com/web/articles/page.do?pageId=40&catId=10 but as usual, i modified it to fit my needs.

Start by heating water to boil 8 oz macaroni noodles according to the package.  please note, 8 oz noodles is a half-pack of noodles.  if you want to make a large pot of mac and cheeseless, then you need to double the rest of the recipe.  a box of noodles is typically 16 oz.  i do salt my water - like with a TBS  or three of salt.  i do not put olive oil on the noodles when i strain them.  i started on the rest of the recipe while the water/noodles were heating/cooking.


coarsly chop 1 medium shallot, about 1 Tbs worth.  put it in a medium pot.  wash, peel, and cube 2 smallish potatoes, i had one red and one white.  this needs to end up being 1 cup worth of potatoes. wash, peel, and chop 1 carrot  so that you have 1/4 cup carrot (this gives the sauce its orange color). peel and coarsly chop about 1/4 onion  so that you have 1/3 cup onion.  and, add 1 cup of water to that pot too.  put it on a burner over medium heat, cover, and cook for about 20 minutes until all the veggies are tender.

in the mean time, get out the BLENDER (not the food processor).  put in it 1/4 cup RAW (not planters roasted) cashews, 2 tsp sea salt, 1/4 minced garlic, 1/4 tsp dijon mustard, 1 Tbs lemon juice ( i used fresh), 1/4 tsp black pepper, 1/8 tsp cayenne (no, it isn't too hot), and you can go ahead and turn the blender on to start the chopping (with the lid) or you can wait for the veggies.  either way, it will all get pureed.

don't forget about the pasta!  you don't want it to be overcooked!  when my pasta was done and strained, i put it right back in the pot (not on the burner though).

When the veggies are done, just add them to the blender, put the lid on, and turn it on.  i started on low and then turned it to high.  you want this to be silky smooth.   when it is smooth - taste it, it is AMAZING!  you'll be pleasantly surprised!  just pour this sauce over the mac and stir.  there you have it!  mac and cheeseless!

and let me assure you, kendal and holly were fooled.  they both ate it right up like it was the real thing.  we'll probably never eat the "real" stuff again except for convenience.  this does take like 20 minutes longer to make.  haha!

(the original recipe is for a breadcrumb topping, which i don't like.  if you like that style, go to the website and look!)

marinated kale salad

now, this one goes great with the lemony pasta from my last post.

i found this original recipe at http://vegnews.com/web/articles/page.do?pageId=1464&catId=10
and as usual, i changed it some to fit what i had on hand.  the way i made it was great, so i'm gonna post MY modified version.

you start by washing and shaking a bunch of kale.  now, the bunch i had was the curly kale, and i had already used a few stalks in the lemony pasta.  anyway, you chop it up just as i mentioned in the last recipe.  to restate in case you are visiting just this recipe... "you wash them, shake them, lay them on a towel to drip even more, then shake them again and just grab the green part and pull the stem off.  the stem goes up most of the leaf.  don't worry about tearing the leaf because you chop that up anyway.  after i have all the leaves separated, i hold them tight and chop them into about 1/2 inch pieces, and then turn and keep chopping.  then i keep chopping and chopping until they are all small pieces.  it may be personal preference, but i don't like big pieces of kale.  kale is NOT lettuce, like lettuce i mean, lettuce chews easily.  kale is tough, so i try to chop it as much as i can."
ok. put the kale in a bowl.

wash and stem an 8 oz container of mushrooms - then slice them.  or, you can buy them already sliced.  i just used regular white mushrooms.  add them to the kale.

take a red onion, cut off about 1/3 of it, and then THINLY slice it and then dice it coarsly.  add that to the bowl.

take the juice from about a lemon and a half (depending on how big and juicy they are, going for 1/4 to 1/3 cup of lemon juice) and add between 1/8 to 1/4 cup of soy sauce - this you have to taste. i added the soy sauce right into the bottom of my juicer bowl.   it needs to be salty enough.  then add 2 tbs of olive oil.  whisk, and pour over the kale. 

use tongs to mix the dressing on all the leaves - or your hands.  when you are ready to serve (i let it sit overnight in the fridge), dice 2 avocados and add to the salad. 

THIS IS AMAZING!  i know you probably think that kale is gross but the dressing sorts softenes the leaves.  and the dressing is wonderful, the avocado is a must-have in it too.  the avocados didn't turn brown overnight too (my salad wasn't eaten all in one day).  it actually lasted 2 days and they avocadoes were fine.  i ended up mixing some of the pasta in with the juice on the last day/serving of the kale.  it will make some juice towards the end, i had to drain a little of it.  i think my leaves were a little wet.

anyway, try it.  this is delish!  and so simple.  and light - but filling!  you'll be surprised!  my MOM liked it!

Lemon Pasta

I'm renaming this dish to lemon pasta because that is what it itastes like.  My neighbor sent me this recipe from 5 Dinners.  I'm pretty sure it cost me more than $5 to make it, but I also buy organic everything - and I also don't use parmesan cheese from the jar (i think i spent $5 on just cheese).  Either way, it made a lot and it was REALLY good.  I took it to a family reunion (worked out great, nothing in it needed to be cold or hot, and it is still edible after being out for an hour - the reunion was inside not out in the 100 degree heat!)  2 days later, it is still yummy.

this recipe is modified from the original.  the original is HERE:  http://www.5dollardinners.com/2011/07/pasta-with-kale-lemon-and-parmesan-%E2%80%93-friday-night-bite.html

ok, i started by washing a bunch of kale leaves.  if you haven't bought kale before, they usually come bundled in the store, maybe $2 or $3 a bunch  a bunch maybe 15 leaves.  i bought the curly ones, but any ones would do.  i was also making another kale dish, so i only used 6 leaves. the flat ones are good too, maybe not as tough.  the curly ones have to be chopped up a lot so that they are in bite sized pieces.  ANYWAY... you wash them, shake them, lay them on a towel to drip even more, then shake them again and just grab the green part and pull the stem off.  the stem goes up most of the leaf.  don't worry about tearing the leaf because you chop that up anyway.  after i have all the leaves separated, i hold them tight and chop them into about 1/2 inch pieces, and then turn and keep chopping.  then i keep chopping and chopping until they are all small pieces.  it may be personal preference, but i don't like big pieces of kale.  kale is NOT lettuce, like lettuce i mean, lettuce chews easily.  kale is tough, so i try to chop it as much as i can.  i'm encouraging myself to eat it.  :)

next, you boil a pot of water.  the goal is to cook a box of pasta.  i got the multicolored spirals, 1 lb (16 oz).  this makes a lot of pasta.  this recipe could easily be halved.  when the water gets boiling, i add a lot of salt (2 tbs?) and the pasta.  i set my timer for 8 minutes.  when the timer buzzed, i added the kale and stirred.  i reset the timer for 3 minutes.  when it buzzed again, i poured all of it into a strainer and then lightly rinsed with cold water.  

while the pasta water was getting hot, i prepared the remaining ingredients, which are few!  take 2 lemons and juice them.  add 3 Tbs of olive oil and whisk it together.  also grate and/or measure out 1/2 cup of parmesan cheese. 

when the pasta and kale are ready and not steaming hot, you just mix everything together.  i put them in a gallon size ziploc bag to make the portable to the reunion, then just poured it into a serving bowl when i got there.  it was SO easy to make.

seriously, though, if you were making this for your family at home, i would highly recommend making just half.  it is delish, but it is a lot!  it goes great with the kale salad that i took to the reunion too (i'll post that one next).

let me know if you make it!  i hope you love it too!

mushroom stroganoff

i found this recipe online and modified it to match the ingredients i had on hand.  it was perfect!

http://chezus.com/2011/02/28/meatless-monday-mushroom-stroganoff/

1  to 1-1/2 pound mixture of white, baby portabella, and crimini mushrooms, sliced
3 tablespoons olive oil
1-1/2 tsp minced garlic from the jar
2 medium shallots, minced
1 tsp dried thyme

1 teaspoon coarse sea salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon dry mustard
2 teaspoons vegan worcestershire sauce
1/2 cup vegetable stock 

/2 cup chardonnay
1 cup sour cream
wide egg noodles

In a large pot over medium, heat the olive oil.  Add the shallots and garlic and cook about 4 minutes.  Add the thyme, salt, pepper, mustard, and worcestershire sauce and stir.  Add the mushrooms and stir.  Cook over low heat until slightly soft, about 6 minutes.  Add the stock and wine, stir, and cook over low heat for about 30 minutes or until the broth reduces. 

In the mean time, cook the noodles in another pot.  Add noodles into the mushroom pot until it is the right amount together - you won't use all the noodles. Serve and eat!  It is good as leftovers too.