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!

Chewy Vegan Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies with Cherries

If I'm baking it means one of two things: 1. I have a crush on someone and I'm trying to woo them with sugar; 2. I'm really stressed out and trying to calm myself with sugar. This weekend's baking is brought to you by the latter...Though if you know any dapper, tall, skinny, silly, bike-riding, book reading, non meat eating gentlemen who like art and good music, I'd be happy to be baking for the former reason...It usually means that I eat fewer of the cookies!

Chewy Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies with Cherries
1 cup all purpose flour
3/4 t baking soda
1/4 t baking powder
1/4 t salt

1/2 c Earth Balance
1/2 c brown sugar
1/2 c vegan sugar
1 t vanilla
1 t cinnamon
1.5 T flax meal blended with 3 T non-dairy milk

1 c quick cook oats
3/4 c vegan chocolate chips
1/2 c chopped dried tart cherries

Line a cookie sheet with unbleached parchment paper and place in the freezer.

Sift the dry ingredients in a small bowl.

In a large mixing bowl, cream the earth balance and sugar for 3 minutes. Add the vanilla, cinammon and flax/milk "egg" and beat for one more minute.

Fold in the dry ingredients until you have a sticky dough. Mix in the oats, chocolate chips and cherries. If the dough is still really wet, add another 1- 2 T flour.

Place the cookie dough in the fridge for 15 minutes while the oven preheats to 350.

Scoop the dough (about 1.5 T/ cookie) onto the cold cookie sheet and bake in the top of the oven for 15 minutes, turning the sheet halfway through. Let the cookies cool on a rack...And try not to eat them all yourself.

Depending on how much cookie dough you eat, this recipe makes about 20 large-ish cookies.

Anatolian Red Lentil Stew with Wheat Berries and Chickpeas (very slightly adapted)

Anatolian Red Lentil Stew with Wheat Berries and Chickpeas (very slightly adapted from Madhur Jaffrey's World Vegetarian)

 1/4 cup wheat berries

1 cup cooked chickpeas (Make your own! But, you can use canned...If you use canned, don't use that bean water in the soup.)

3 T olive oil

1 medium onion, diced

2 small eggplants, peeled and diced

2.5 T tomato paste

1/2 t Aleppo pepper

1/2 t smoked paprika

1 cup red lentils

4 cups vegetable broth

2 T dried mint

unbleached sea salt

juice from one lemon

Chopped parsley to garnish

Cook the wheat berries in 2 cups of water. Cook them in a covered pot until they have absorbed all the water. 

Heat the olive oil in a large soup pot. Add the onions and fry for 4 minutes. Add the eggplant and fry for 2 minutes. Add the Aleppo pepper, tomato paste, and paprika and cook for 30 seconds. Turn the heat down to medium low and add the red lentils, cook for 30 seconds and then add the vegetable broth. Simmer in the covered pot for 40 minutes. Once the red lentils have broken down, purée the soup with an immersion blender and then add the chickpeas, 1 cup of the chickpea cooking water or 1 cup of water if you're using canned beans, wheat berries, and mint. Simmer uncovered for 15 more minutes. Serve garnished with chopped parsley. 

Red Lentil + Brown Rice Soup

I am obsessed with this 101cookbooks recipe. It's super cheap, super easy, super filling and AMAZINGLY delicious. As with all soups, it's super good with some sautéed kale thrown on top. 

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 onion, chopped

3 shallots, chopped

1/2 teaspoon red-pepper flakes

1/2 teaspoon aleppo pepper 

6 cups good-tasting vegetable stock (or water)

1 1/3 cup red lentils, picked over and rinsed

1/2 cup brown rice, picked over and rinsed

as much fine grain, unbleached sea salt as you need

In a big soup pot, over medium heat, combine the olive oil, onion, shallots, and red pepper flakes. Let them brown, and caramelize a bit, stirring occasionally.

Stir in the broth, bring to a boil, then stir in the lentils and rice. Simmer for about 30 minutes or until the rice is very tender, and not at all toothsome. By this time, the lentils will have collapsed into a thick slop of sorts. If you need to add more water/broth at any point do so a splash at a time, until the soup thins out to the point you prefer.

Unless you used a salty broth, you will likely need to salt generously, until the the soup no longer tastes flat. 

Edamame Hummus

Edamame Hummus

1/3 cup cilantro (this is basically 1/3 of a good sized bunch from the grocery store, leaves only)

1 clove garlic

1.5 cups thawed frozen, shelled, organic edamame (unsalted)

3 t tahini

2 t olive oil

2 t rice vinegar

1 lime, juiced

1+ T white miso

5- 6 T warm water

In a food processor or blender, whir the garlic and cilantro until they are well chopped. Add the thawed edamame and pulse on low. Then add the tahini, miso, olive oil, rice vinegar and lime juice. Blend for 4- 5 minutes, adding the warm water slowly until the hummus is smooth and fluffy. Taste. If you'd like it to be a bit saltier add a small amount more miso or a pinch of sea salt.

Quinoa Salad Inspired by Kelly (Riffing on a theme)

Quinoa salad with herbs, tahini and fresh veggies
1 cup quinoa cooked
4 Thai eggplants, diced
1 bell pepper, diced
1 tomato, diced
3 carrots, shredded
1 beet, shredded
1/3 cup tart dried cherries

3 T roasted sesame tahini
juice of 1 lemon
1 clove garlic

1/2 cup mint, chopped
1/2 cup parsely, chopped

unbleached salt + pepper + olive oil

Rinse the quinoa and then toast lightly in 1 T olive oil. Add 1.5 cups of water and cook until done, but not mushy. Set aside.

Generously salt the eggplant after dicing and set aside while you chop the other veggies. Try to get a consistent size on everything. Drain, rinse and dry the eggplant after about 10 minutes.

Heat about 2 T olive oil in a large skillet. Add the eggplant and let cook for 2 minutes before adding the bell pepper, tomato and cherries. Cook together for about 5 minutes. Everything should stay pretty al dente, but you want the flavors to marry.

In a small food processor make an emulsion with the tahini and lemon (it will turn into a mayonnaise-y consistency) and then add the minced garlic.

When the veggies are done dump them in a big bowl with the cooked quinoa, shredded beets and carrots, and tahini dressing. Stir to combine and add salt and pepper to taste. When the salad has cooled stir in the green herbs and serve.

Sweet Potato and Adzuki Bean Soup

Quick Gingered Sweet Potato Soup with Adzuki Beans and Miso
1 T olive oil
1 large sweet potato, scrubbed and cubed (skin on)
1 sweet onion minced
1 bay leaf
2" of ginger minced
1/2 t fennel seeds, lightly crushed
2 t red miso
1/2 vegan bouillon cube
1/2 cup adzuki beans, cooked (I cook mine with just a 1" piece of kombu for flavor and add a little salt at the end)
1/2 t smoked paprika
cilantro for garnish

Sweat the onions in a large sauce pan with the olive oil. When the onions start to become fragrant (about 5 minutes) add the cubed sweet potato and continue to stir until the sweet potato becomes fragrant. Toss in the fennel seeds, ginger and bay leaf. Stir for a minute or two before adding the water, miso and bouillon. Simmer until the sweet potato starts to fall apart, then remove the bay leaf and buzz lightly with an immersion blender. The soup should be chunky rather than silky. Add the adzukis and the smoked paprika and remove from the heat. Serve garnished with cilantro.

Another quinoa salad, this one Persian-style

I just discovered food52.com and made this salad the other nite. I made a ton of alterations - swapped in healthier quinoa for couscous, eggplant (in need of use) for squash, and cherries for raisins (eww!). The great thing about this recipe is that you can, and should, use what you have on hand. Following is my version and what I was munching on in class yesterday. That lentil salad topper on there will have to wait - that involves cookbook transcribing and I can't procrastinate that much!

Quinoa salad with eggplant, cherries, pistachios, and mint, aka Persian Love Salad

Serves 6-ish

• 1 tablespoon lemon zest
• Juice of one lemon
• 1/2 teaspoon honey
• Olive oil
• 3 garlic cloves, crushed
• 2 cups dried quinoa, cooked according to directions
  
• 1 diced eggplant
  
• 1 medium shallot, finely chopped
• 1/2 cup dried cherries
  
• 1/4 cup chopped pistachios
• Kosher salt
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh mint
• Freshly ground black pepper

1. In a small bowl, whisk the lemon zest, lemon juice, honey, and 1/4 cup of olive oil. Add the garlic cloves and let them steep for about 30 minutes.
2. Next, cook the quinoa - rinse the grains, boil in water till the little germ spirals pop out, and drain. Toss it with a fork so the grains don't start clumping together, pour into a large mixing bowl, and set aside.
3. In a skillet over medium high heat, add about 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Then, add the chopped eggplant, salt and pepper. Saute until semi-soft with nice brown edges. Then add the shallot, cherries, pistachios, and more salt and pepper. Only cook for about a minute or two -- you still want the eggplant to be al dente. This just ensures all the flavors can marry before they hit the couscous. Set aside until everything reaches room temperature.
4. Once the veggies have reached room temperature, add them to the bowl with the couscous and combine.
5. Then, remove and discard the cloves of garlic from the dressing, and toss it with the couscous (add the dressing gradually, as you may not need it all). Fold in the mint, season with additional salt and pepper if necessary and serve at room temperature.

Read more: http://www.food52.com/recipes/5425_summer_squash_couscous_with_sultanas_pistachios_and_mint#ixzz0z3teL1AP