Sweet Tooth

We needed a simple snack to cure our sweet tooth...and I had a fresh bag of flower just waiting to sift.  It's a wild Tuesday night, y'all!

I found this recipe for maple cinnamon cookies somewhere on the internets and took a screen shot.  It was so simple, everything is pretty much a staple item in my kitchen, and they are delicious!  Nothing like warm cookies and cold almondmilk—am I right?

Maple Cinnamon Cookies

Ingredients:
3/4 c. canola oil
1 tsp. vanilla
2 T applesauce
1/4 c. maple syrup
3/4 c. sugar
2 1/2 c. flour
1/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
cinnamon for sprinkling

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Mix wet ingredients:
3/4 c. canola oil
2 T applesauce
1 tsp. vanilla
3/4 c. sugar (I know, this isn't a wet ingredient but we're pretending today)
1/4 c. maple syrup

In a separate bowl, mix dry ingredients and then add to wet:
2 1/2 c. flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda

Mix to combine.  Then, place dough by spoonful onto baking sheet.  I used my hands to roll them into balls.  Bake for 10 minutes.  Sprinkle with cinnamon.

During the first batch, I check at the halfway point and noticed they weren't spreading at all.  I pulled them out and pressed them with a fork (peanut butter cookie style) so they would bake through in the time allotted.  For the second two trays, I pressed them prior to baking.  You can sprinkle the cinnamon before baking or after.

Next time: I think I will form the dough into a tube and wrap and place in the fridge for a few minutes to chill.  Then, I'll slice and bake instead of pressing.  For some reason, the pressed hash marks on cookies don't taste right if they're not peanut butter.  Yep, I'm quirky. ;)

Enjoy!

Dinner for a busy evening

I am a homeschooling mom of 3 with a pilot husband.  We are busy, just like so many other families.  Last night after Punky's gymnastics class and before Sunshine's martial arts class was dinner time.  I menu plan every week but sometimes I'm just not feeling it.  Last night was one of those nights.  The menu said spinach fettuccine.  This is a family favorite (it used to include shrimp but is absolutely delicious veganized) but I wanted to change things up.  Plus, I was avoiding the grocery store (forgot to pick up the noodles earlier in the week).  Anything to avoid the grocery store, right?

I had about 1/3 pkg. of fine, whole wheat spaghetti noodles that I cooked to al dente.  In a large pan, I melted about 1 T seasoned Earth Balance spread and 1 tsp olive oil.  I added about 5 oz. fresh spinach and the grape tomatoes (halved) that I had on hand.  The spinach wilted down and the tomatoes swam in the seasoned "butter".  As soon as the noodles were ready, I strained them and added them to the seasoned veggies and tossed.  Delicious!

We used an extra sub roll to make garlic toast under the broiler (more Earth Balance spread, olives, and non-dairy cheese of your choice), and our busy evening meal was complete!

Tip: Add freshly ground pepper, to taste, after plating the food.  My Punky does NOT like pepper in her food, so we use it sparingly during the cooking process.

Bún Chay

Tired of the same old lunch menu (PB&J, hummus & dippers, chickpea salad sandwiches, etc), I decided to google "vegan lunch recipes" during my menu planning last week.  It's been fun reading through new recipes, but I was most excited about this one!  I have been looking forward to it since I typed it in on Sunday.

Bún Chay (Vietnamese Noodle Salad) was a hit with the kids!  I did find rice sticks and we tried those today, but decided that we don't care for the texture so we won't be using them again.  We also sautéed the tofu bits instead of deep frying.  Otherwise, we pretty much followed the suggested items and then I let the kids choose how much of each item they wanted in their bowl.

I was proud of my littlest sidekick, who tried everything and only turned her nose at the cilantro. ;)  My 10 year old didn't care for the mint or cilantro, but was the only one of us who liked the rice sticks (noodles).  My 13 year old liked everything except the rice sticks.  Their favorite was the dressing...mine too! :)

And that's what it's all about!

In our homeschool co-op, Sunshine is taking a class in which each student has to complete a 20 minute presentation on a topic of his/her choice.  Today was Sunshine's day to present.  Their teacher instructed them to choose something they felt passionate about.  Sunshine chose...veganism!  :)  We were very proud of her informative presentation and her passion for veganism.

She spent 3 weeks doing research and organizing her notes, prepared a PowerPoint presentation, and then decided that she wanted to share some vegan food with her friends.  After all, most people assume that vegan food is nasty.  She wanted to prove otherwise, so she armed herself with chocolate chip cookies.  YUM!  We've made these at least 4 times in the past (almost) 7 weeks.  They come together easily and are delicious!  (I've had several non-vegan friends ask for this recipe, too!)

Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients:
2 1/4 c. flour (I have used 1/2 white and 1/2 whole wheat)
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 c. Earth Balance "butter"
3/4 c. brown sugar
3/4 c. sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
replacer for 2 eggs (either 1/4 c. applesauce per egg or Ener-G Egg Replacer)
1 1/2 c. chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Sift flour, salt, and baking soda into a large bowl.  In a separate bowl cream "butter", sugar, brown sugar, vanilla, and "egg".  Add dry ingredients and stir until combined.  Fold in chocolate chips.

Drop teaspoonfuls of dough onto baking sheet.  Bake 8-10 minutes until edges are golden.

Sick day!

Last night about dinner time, our littlest herbivore got sick.  UGH!  As soon as I got her settled and felt comfortable leaving for 30 minutes, I ran to the grocery store for rations.  Lemon-lime soda, little noodles, cleaning supplies (we try not to use paper towels but when somebody gets sick I have no problem using disposables), bananas, bread, etc.  You know, stuff to follow the BRAT (Bananas, Rice, Applesauce, Toast) diet.  There went my plan of using up pantry food and not hitting the store again until payday.  Oh well, going with the flow!

Fortunately, the bug seemed to be very short-lived (knock on wood) and Punky was up for some solid food by lunch time today (we tested her stomach this morning with saltines).  I relied on an old standard, what my mom always made us when we were sick but able to stomach solids: little noodles in chicken broth.  But, uh, no chicken broth, right?  Unless you use these awesome little nuggets of goodness:

I wanted to make a substantial amount of broth, so I used 4 cubes to make 8 cups of broth.  As soon as it came to a boil I added angel hair pasta that had been broken into small pieces.  The pasta now mimicked the "little noodles" my mom used to make us (Skinner Fideo Mediano, but our grocery store didn't have any in stock).  My kids have learned to appreciate a mug of little noodles as fantastic comfort food.  They were all delighted to slurp their noodles down with some saltines on the side.

Review by the kids:  They all ate happily, and said the "Not Chick'n" broth tasted just like the real thing.  They actually used straws to slurp their noodles and said it was the perfect way to warm their bellies on our first fall day (yay for Texas cold fronts!).  There was nothing left in the pot or their mugs after lunch.

Review by the mom:  The broth was fantastic, and I'm glad we found it at our grocery store and decided it would be a good pantry item (it was also endorsed by a v-friend, who said she orders it from Amazon).  The angel hair was a great sub for the little noodles.  I'm glad I didn't get discouraged when I couldn't find the old standard. 

We made it vegan: Korean Beef

I'm a sucker for a simple, kid-pleasing recipe.  I stumbled across this Korean Beef recipe on Pinterest a while back.  I made it once and the kids loved it, so it quickly became a favorite.  Other than making sure I had beef in the freezer, it was a pantry item menu filler.  At least at our house.  I did modify it just a bit to make it more pleasing to my kids (they don't like green onions) and hubby (he loves water chestnuts) and me (not a fan of ginger).

Ingredients:
"beef" crumbles
1/4 c. soy sauce (organic, low sodium is our preference)
*1/4 c. brown sugar (or sugar and molasses)
hoisin sauce (1-2 T)
1 tsp sesame oil
small can water chestnuts, drained & chopped
crushed red pepper (I usually leave this out, but you can definitely add it to desired spiciness)
green onion (see above)
ginger (see above)
**cooked rice

Put sesame oil in skillet with garlic for a minute on medium.  Add soy sauce, brown sugar, and hoisin sauce.  Stir carefully.  Add "beef" crumbles and water chestnuts (and optional ingredients as you wish).  Allow crumbles and water chestnuts to soak up the delicious sauce and warm through.

Serve over cooked rice.  Garnish with green onion if desired.

*I used the information in the sugar & molasses link to make a substitute for light brown sugar using vegan sugar.
**I use a rice cooker to make life easier.  I always burn stovetop rice. ;)

Recipe review: Banana muffins!

I got lucky.  I googled "vegan muffin recipe" and this one was the first on the list.  That seems to keep happening.  The first one I tried is the one that we're going to stick with.  I did find one other one, but the muffins fell and were too dense.  We still ate them, just took us a bit longer to scarf them down.  This one is the one I went back to when Punky had to take snack to preschool.  I love that my kids want to help, and we had fun baking these vegan banana muffins.

(The first time I made them I added pecans to half of the muffins, and I loved them.  This time we left the pecans out completely because I wasn't sure how the kids would feel about them.)

Punky couldn't wait for the muffin to cool so she could gobble it up!
She had one as a bedtime snack and one for breakfast the next day.
Then another for school snack.  They were delicious!

Product Review: Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free Brownie Mix

Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free (and vegan!) Brownies
(Paper plate dress up idea courtesy of Pinterest)

Belle was invited to a friend's house over the weekend for a small gathering.  She asked me if there would be food: yes.  Then she asked how she would know what was okay for her to eat.  I gave her what I assume will become my standard reply: Eat what you are comfortable eating.  Eat what you want to eat.  Do not make a big deal out of it.  If you want to eat something that is not vegan, eat it.  Nobody is going to give you a hard time, nobody is going to judge you, nobody is going to say you're not doing a good job.  You're nine years old.  Enjoy life.  Period.

And then the question I actually had prepared for: Can I take something to share that is vegan?

But, of course!  I had planned for this, but not entirely.  It was a project filled weekend for me, so I decided to grab a pre-packaged mix for brownies while I was picking up other groceries.  I had a sneaking suspicion that my girlie was going to want to take a snack to share.  She was excited to hear that she was taking a family favorite, but I think she was a little leery when I pulled out the ingredients.

Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free Brownie Mix calls for butter & eggs.  Instead, I used Earth Balance Vegan Buttery Spread and applesauce.  Yum!  I love applesauce as a substitute for eggs in sweet recipes like brownies, muffins, cupcakes, etc.  It really helps keep the final product moist and delicious.  (Next time I'm going to use coconut oil in place of the buttery spread.  Doesn't that sound delicious?!)

One line reviews for the brownie mix:

Sunshine (13):  They are very moist and chocolatey.  Very delicious!

Belle (9):  Sticky, milk chocolatey, delicious!

Punky (3):  I think they are yummy and juicy!  (Me: Juicy?! o.O)