Fudgey Vegan Brownies (Shockingly Low-Fat!)

Need someone to fall in love with you or forgive you for something? Present them with these. Problems solved. Also, lest you be worried that they will not get that crackly brownie top, they do...yes they do. (Please use fair trade and organic chocolate from companies who are engaged in humane labor practices. Chocolate, like diamonds, is frequently produced at great human cost.)

Ingredients
1.5 c granulated vegan sugar
1 large overripe banana, mashed
2 T water
2 t flax meal
1/2 c water
2 t vanilla
2/3 c all purpose flour
2/3 c whole wheat pastry flour
3/4 c unsweetened cocoa powder
1 t cinnamon
3/4 t baking powder
1/4 t salt
1 c vegan chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350. Use raw coconut oil to grease an 8x8" baking pan.

In a small bowl, mix the flax meal with 1/2 c water, whisk vigorously. Mix the sugar, banana, + 2 T water, vanilla and the flax "egg."

Sift the flours, cocoa powder, salt, cinnamon and baking powder together in a small bowl. Stir in 1/2 the chocolate chips. Fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until just mixed.

Pour into the greased baking dish and top with the rest of the chocolate chips and bake for 45 minutes.

Black bean pumpkin soup

We put this together using a lonely sugar pumpkin hanging on our counter from a few weeks back. Makes a festive Halloween dinner!

Adapted from Gourmet

Yield: 9 cups

1/4 cup olive oil

1 1/4 cups chopped onion 1/2 cup minced shallot

4 garlic cloves minced

1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons ground cumin

2 teaspoons guajillo powder

1 teaspoon ancho chile powder

1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika

pinch cayenne

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

about 2 cups roasted pumpkin

Three 15 1/2 ounce cans black beans (about 4 1/2 cups), rinsed and drained

1 cup canned tomatoes, chopped, with juices

2 cups broth

1/2 cup dry red wine

3 to 4 tablespoons Sherry or other vinegar (we used balsamic)
Garnish: sour cream and coarsely chopped lightly toasted pumpkin seeds

In a 6-quart heavy kettle cook onion, shallot, garlic, spices, salt, and pepper in oil over moderate heat, stirring, until onion is softened and beginning to brown. Stir in pumpkin, beans and tomatoes. Stir in broth and Sherry until combined and simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally, 10 minutes, or so. Puree soup to desired consistency either with an immersion blender, or in batches in a blender. Bring soup back up to a simmer.

Just before serving add vinegar and simmer soup, stirring, until heated through. Season soup with salt and pepper.

Serve soup garnished with toasted pumpkin seeds.

Ancho Honey Glaze or What to do with your soup mix

Last week we got a giant bag of soup mix (rutabagas, turnips, carrots, and parsnips) in our Irv and Shelly's box. Not really feeling like making soup, we made a double batch of this lovely little glaze for roasting a chicken and the soup mix veggies (and some beets). The results were delish!

Adapted from Bon Appetit
1 tablespoon olive oil

2 tablespoons honey

1 1/2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1 garlic clove, minced

1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme

1/2 teaspoon ground ancho chiles

1/2 teaspoon ground guajillo chiles

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Stir oil, honey, lemon juice, garlic, thyme, cumin, cinnamon, and cayenne pepper in a small bowl. Season to taste with salt. Let glaze stand at least 45 minutes to allow flavors to blend.

Red Lentil Soup with Lemon

From Orangette:

4 Tbsp. olive oil, plus additional good oil for drizzling
2 large yellow onions, chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced or pressed
2 Tbsp. tomato paste
2 tsp. ground cumin
½ tsp. kosher salt, or more to taste
A few grinds of freshly ground black pepper
Pinch of cayenne or Aleppo pepper, or more to taste
2 quarts broth
2 cups red lentils, picked through for stones and debris
2 large carrots, peeled and diced
Juice of 1 lemon, or more to taste
1/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro

In a large pot, warm the oil over medium-high heat until hot and shimmering. Add the onions and garlic and cook until golden, about 4 minutes. Stir in the tomato paste, cumin, salt, pepper, and cayenne, and cook for 2 minutes longer. Add the broth, 2 cups water, the lentils, and the carrots. Bring to a simmer, then partially cover the pot and reduce the heat to maintain a gentle simmer. Continue to cook until the lentils are soft, about 30 minutes. Taste, and add more salt if necessary. Using an immersion or regular blender, puree about half of the soup. It should still be somewhat chunky, not completely smooth. Reheat if necessary, then stir in the lemon juice and cilantro. Serve the soup drizzled with good olive oil and dusted very lightly with cayenne, if desired.

Yield: 6 to 8 servings

Chickpea + lentil salad with sun-dried tomato vinaigrette

Another perfect, healthy lunch that makes lots. From the Once Upon a Tart cookbook, which I highly recommend. Omit the parm in the dressing to make this vegan.

Chickpea and Lentil Salad with Zucchini and Sun-Dried Tomatoes

1 cup of French lentils (Puy lentils), well rinsed
1 cup of dried chickpeas, well rinsed
1 small red onion, finely chopped
1 red pepper, finely chopped
1 large jalapeno pepper, finely chopped
1 zucchini, finely chopped [I didn't have any so I used a bunch of radishes, diced]
6 - 8 marinated sun-dried tomatoes, julienned
one recipe sun-dried tomato dressing
1/2 cup of fresh basil leaves, cut into strips
chopped parsley

Soak the chickpeas in enough water to cover overnight. Drain, transfer to a medium large pot, cover with water and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low, and cover and simmer until the chickpeas are tender - roughly 1 - 1 1/2 hours. Drain and transfer to a large bowl.

In another medium large saucepan, bring the lentils to a boil in 4 cups of water. Reduce the heat to low, and simmer until the lentils are tender - roughly 20 - 25 minutes. Drain and add them to the bowl of chickpeas.

Add the onion, red pepper, jalapeno pepper, zucchini/radish and sun-dried tomatoes, along with the dressing to the beans. Toss until everything is evenly coated with the dressing. Now add the fresh basil leaves and parsley, a pinch of S+P, and toss again gently.

Serve chilled or at room temperature.

Yields 4 - 6 servings.

Perfect Everytime Straight Up Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies

Today I was CRUSHED by the discovery that my current crush is engaged...So, cookies. These are no frills, no nonsense cookies. They hit the spot, the sad spot. Luckily I had the dough pre-made in my freezer...Because I bake when I'm bummed and I've been bumming a lot lately :(

Ingredients
1/2 cup Earth Balance
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup vegan raw sugar

1 flax egg (1/4 cup unsweetened hemp milk + 1 heaping T finely ground flax meal, let it sit for 10 minutes)

1 t vanilla

3/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour
3/4 cup all purpose flour
heaping 1/2 t baking soda
1/4 t unbleached sea salt

1 t cinnamon

1 cup vegan chocolate chips

(Use frozen or chilled cookie dough, always. It makes the cookies so much better.)

Cream the margarine and sugars together in a large bowl. Fold in the flax egg and vanilla. In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Fold the dry ingredients into the wet and mix well. Toss in the chocolate chips (and any other add-ins if you're going for frills...) and portion out the cookie dough onto a parchment lined cookie sheet to freeze. I use a tablespoon measure to portion out the cookies.

When you're ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350. Line a cookie sheet in parchment paper, place the pre-portioned cookies on it, and bake for 15 minutes. You will have perfectly sized, puffy chocolate chip cookies at the end...perfect for drowning your little sads in.

Roasted and Stuffed Delicata Squash

Delicata squash are perhaps my favorite of all squashes. I am always saddened by how short their little season is. Delicatas are magical little babies-- Their skin is edible (and delicious) when roasted, they're small (i.e. single person sized), and they have an incredible nutty, sweet flavor that really doesn't need any bells or whistles. Seriously, I'm usually hard pressed to season mine with anything beyond salt and pepper.  Usually I make something a couple times before I share the recipe. I like to tweak and perfect...But, I don't think that I could improve upon this one. Luckily, I took notes while the magic was happening!

Roasted + Stuffed Delicata Squash

1 Delicata squash, halved and seeds removed

olive oil

1/4 cup sweet onion, finely diced

1 large shallot, finely diced
1 t Aleppo Pepper or 1/2 t Red Pepper flakes

1/2 red bell pepper, finely diced

2 cups red kale, de-stemmed, rinse and torn into small pieces

1/4 cup chunky almond meal (pulse a handful of raw almonds in your food processor until they are half the texture of flour and half very small chunks)

1 T nutritional yeast

2 T tomato paste

1 cup cooked adzuki beans with about 2 T of their cooking water (can sub veggie stock for the cooking water)

1 t orange zest

1/2 t fennel seeds

1/2 t mustard seeds

5- 6 cherry tomatoes, halved

Preheat the oven to 400. Lightly brush the squash with olive oil and roast for 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool. When you can handle the squash, scoop a little of the flesh out of each half to make larger boats for the filling. Reserve the scooped out squash. 

While the squash is roasting, heat some olive oil in a large skillet. Add the onion and shallots and cook slowly so that they caramelize a bit. I don't mean brown the onions, I mean cook them low and slow so that they get nice and sweet and wilty (about 10 minutes). Add the Aleppo Pepper and diced red pepper and cook for another couple of minutes until soft. Add the kale and allow it to gently wilt. Stir in the almond meal, nutritional yeast, and tomato paste. Remove from the heat and stir in the cooked adzuki beans, the cooking water and the orange zest.

In a small, covered frying pan heat 1 T olive oil and add the fennel seeds and mustard seeds. Remove from the heat when you hear the seeds start to pop. Stir the oil and the whole spices into the filling with the scooped out squash. Taste for salt (I didn't need any).

Mound the filling evenly into the squash halves. Decorate the tops with the halved tomatoes, face down. Place the squash back into the oven for 15 minutes. When the squash is done cooking, allow it to settle for a couple of minutes before serving as it will be very hot. 

I recommend eating this at the table, with a napkin. Something about feeling civilized again really helped make this long day seem more manageable!