The best cookies EVER

I love cookies but I am also, as many of you know, neurotic about my weight and health...So, I'm always looking for a cookie that satisfies and packs a nutritional punch. I adapted this recipe from 101 Cookbooks to make the following delightfully spicy, chewy, only marginally sinful cookies. These little carrot/oatmeal/tart cherry/walnut/ginger goodies more than satisfy my cookie craving...Though, it is hard not to eat all the dough before you bake them!

I also made this soup last night...And I highly recommend the recipe! I doubled the ginger, used a couple extra cups of water, and added a hefty bit of orange zest and some chard at the end and it is AMAZING...So hearty, so healthy, so flavorful that it almost makes me wish that winter were not (hopefully) about to come to a close. Almost.

A note on coconut oil: As Heidi mentions, coconut gets a bad rap. These are cookies so they aren't totally healthy...You should not eat 7 in one evening like I did. But, I think that as long as you're using "real food" ingredients pretty much everything is okay in moderation. On the plus side, coconut is delicious, making these makes your hands soft, and now that you have the coconut oil in the pantry you'll be able to use it to make really excellent Thai style stir fry!

Things I might do differently next time:
1. To make them more of a health snack than a treat I would sub 1/2 the coconut oil and 1/2 the maple syrup with puréed, super ripe banana.

2. Use more of a health flower (like spelt) instead of the mix of unbleached all purpose and whole wheat all purpose.

3. Experiment with other flavors-- red currants instead of cherries (my original desire, but dried red currants are hard to find!), use zucchini in addition to the carrots, sub wheat germ for some of the flour, add shredded coconut to make them even more indulgent, etc.

Ingredients
1/2 cup all purpose whole wheat flour
1/2 cup unbleached all purpose flour
1 cup rolled oats
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon fine grain sea salt
2/3 cup chopped walnuts
1 1/2 cups shredded carrots (packed into the measuring cup)
1/2 cup TART dried cherries
1- 2 tsp ground cinnamon
2 tbsp of candied ginger, excess sugar shaken and/or scraped off, chopped really fine

1/2 cup real maple syrup, room temperature
1/2 cup unrefined (fragrant) coconut oil, warmed until just melted (I used the Whole Foods 365 Organic kind. Its pretty important to the flavor that the coconut oil smell and taste like coconut.)
1 1/2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger

Directions
Preheat oven to 350F degrees and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

Mix together the flour, baking powder, salt, and oats. Add the nuts, fruit, candied ginger and carrots.

Heat a small saucepan. Remove from the stove top and use to melt the coconut oil. Add the grated ginger, and let sit for a minute or two before adding the maple syrup. Stir well and mix gently into the dry ingredients to create a wet dough.

Refrigerate cookie dough for one hour so that it firms up.

The cookies will hardly spread. Use about 1 tbsp of dough/ cookie and bake them in the top of the oven for 13- 14 minutes until the tops are just barely golden.

Cool completely on a rack and store in an air tight container. Because these contain a lot of "damp" I don't think they're likely to last too long in storage so I recommend making however many you need and carefully wrapping and freezing the dough.

Yield: 2 dozen cookies (After you inevitably "sample" the dough several times while baking.)

Italian White Bean Soup

This recipe is adapted from Jack Meyer's Italian Vegetarian Cookbook and the foundation of "soup knowledge" I'm building from cooking my way through Deborah Madison's Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone.

I wanted to do something with white beans, which I always think of as being rather "fancy."

2 tbs butter
1 onion, chopped
2 carrots, peeled and thinly sliced
2 cloves of garlic pressed
4 red potatoes, scrubbed, chopped
1.5 teaspoon dried rosemary
1 teaspoon dried sage
small bunch of fresh parsley chopped
2 cans white beans, rinsed and drained
6 cups water
salt and pepper to taste

Saute onion and carrots until onion is translucent (about 10 minutes) in butter.

Add garlic, potatoes, and dried spices, stirring frequently (about 4 minutes).

Add 2 to 3 cups of water, scrape bottom so that the brown layer at the pot's bottom seasons water. Make sure that potatoes are covered, bring to a boil, the turn down heat and let simmer until potatoes are soft and break apart. Add another 2 to 4 cups of water, parsley, white beans, salt and pepper. Adjust temperature so that soup begins simmering again and flavors combine.

If you'd like, run two cups of soup through blender and add back to the pot.

I had this with homemade bread and it was a pretty delightful winter dinner.

The soup reheated a few days later was almost even more satisfying.

Chana Punjabi

Yes, Peter and I have been on an Indian food kick. This recipe is one of our favorites--we've been making it regularly for over a year and I'm finally delivering on my promise to share it.

Chana Punjabi
Serves 2

1 tablespoon canola oil or other vegetable oil
1 medium onion, chopped
2 teaspoons minced garlic
1 teaspoon minced ginger
1 small Thai bird chili, chopped or 1 jalapeño, seeded and chopped
2 large tomatoes, chopped or a 14-ounce can of diced tomatoes, drained
1 1/2 teaspoons paprika
1 teaspoon salt, or as needed
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon garam masala
1/4 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
2 15-ounce cans chickpeas, drained
2 tablespoons minced cilantro
Cooked rice for serving (optional)

In a medium saucepan over medium-low heat, heat oil and add onion. Sauté until translucent and soft, about 5 minutes. Add garlic, ginger and chili, and sauté until soft and fragrant, about 3 minutes. Add tomatoes and 1/4 cup water. Cover and cook until tomatoes are very soft, about 5 minutes, then remove from heat.

Purée mixture in blender or food processor until smooth. Return to pan and place over medium heat. Add paprika, 1 teaspoon salt, coriander, the garam masala, turmeric and lemon juice. Add chickpeas and bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low.

Cover and simmer until sauce is thick and chickpeas are soft, 45 minutes to 1 hour. Stir pan about every 10 minutes, adding water as needed (up to 1 1/2 cups) to prevent burning. When ready to serve, sauce should be thick. If necessary, uncover pan and allow sauce to reduce for a few minutes, stirring frequently, until desired consistency. Stir in cilantro, adjust salt as needed and serve with cooked rice, if desired.

Palak Daal

Aka the best weeknight (read: busy studying) dinner ever. And it makes a great lunch. Make it this week.

Palak Daal

1 cup white urid or urad daal (white lentils), picked over and rinsed

6 cups water, plus more if necessary


1/2 pound spinach, washed and finely chopped


1 tablespoon ginger, peeled and finely chopped


1/2 teaspoon turmeric


2 serrano chiles, minced


2 tomatoes, chopped


1/2 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons butter


1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds


1 teaspoon pure red chile powder


a pinch of asafetida, optional


more salt to taste


juice of 1/2 a lemon


1/4 cup cilantro, chopped

In a large pot over medium-high heat combine the daal and water. Bring to a boil, then add the spinach, ginger, turmeric, serranos, and all of the tomatoes. Reduce the heat, and simmer for 1 1/2 to 2 hours or until the lentils are extremely soft. You may need to add a bit more water during the cooking process to keep the lentils soupy. After an hour and a half, stir in the salt. In a separate pan, heat the butter and cumin and fry until the cumin seeds start to pop. Now add the red chile powder (and asafetida if you're using it) and fry for another 30 seconds. Taste and add more asafetida if you like. Add this butter mixture to the lentils and allow to cook for another five minutes. Taste, and season with more salt if needed. Stir in lemon juice.

Serve over basmati rice topped with the cilantro.

Curried Tomato Soup

This recipe is slightly adapted from Madhur Jaffrey's World Vegetarian. As the first thing that I made in my kitchen after 6 weeks away, I may be giving it more credit than necessary. But, this is a really filling and tasty twist on tomato bisque...

INGREDIENTS
2 tablespoons canola oil
1 medium onion, diced
2 tablespoons madras curry powder
2 cups chopped tomatoes (i used a large can of whole italian tomatoes)
2 medium carrots, chopped
2 medium boiling potatoes, chopped
1 cup frozen peas
salt
1/4 cup cream or coconut milk
handful of chopped cilantro and fried onion for garnish

- In a soup pot, heat the oil on medium high until HOT. Add the onions and cook until golden brown.
- Add the curry powder and stir with the onions for 10 seconds.
- Add tomatoes, potatoes, carrots, peas, and salt to taste. Saute for 1-2 minutes.
- Add 4 cups of water (I used water and the liquid from the tomato can to add up to 4 cups) and bring the soup to a boil.
Cover and reduce heat to very low. Let simmer for 45 minutes until vegetables begin to break down.
- Remove soup from the heat and puree until smooth. Jaffrey recommends straining the soup through a seive, but I didn't bother and liked the thick quality of the soup. Were I making this for a party, I'd strain it to make it all silky and fancy.
- Once the soup is pureed, add the cream or coconut milk and stir over low heat to combine. (I used coconut milk, but the recipe calls for 1 cup of cream, but 1/4 cup of coconut milk was perfect for my taste.)
- At this point, I felt that the soup needed a little something, so I added about 1 tablespoon of rice wine vinegar and a pinch of cayenne pepper. I think some whole, popped, mustard seed would have been nice too.
- Serve hot with a healthy garnish of cilantro and fried onion.

Barley Stew with Leeks, Mushrooms and Greens

I came across this recipe while cruising the December issue of Bon Appetit at Peter's parents' house over the long Thanksgiving weekend. It is perfect cold-weather eating.

INGREDIENTS
1 tablespoon olive oil, divided
2 cups chopped leeks (about 2 stalks; white and pale green parts only)
About a pound mushrooms--we used a mixture of shiitake, crimini and button
2 garlic cloves, pressed
2 1/4 teaspoons minced fresh rosemary
1 14.5-ounce can diced tomatoes in juice
1 cup pearl barley
4 cups (or more) chicken or vegetable broth
1 bunch kale, trimmed, center stalks removed, leaves coarsely chopped

Salt and pepper to taste

PREPARATION
Heat oil in heavy large pot over medium heat. Add leeks; sprinkle with salt and pepper and sauté until leeks begin to soften, stirring often, about 5 minutes. Add mushrooms, garlic, and rosemary; increase heat to medium-high and sauté until mushrooms soften and begin to brown, stirring often, about 7 minutes. Add tomatoes with juice; stir 1 minute. Add barley and 4 cups broth; bring to boil. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer until barley is almost tender, about 20 minutes. Add kale; stir until wilted, about 1 minute. Cover and simmer until kale and barley are tender, adding more broth by 1/4 cupfuls as needed for desired stew consistency, about 10 minutes.

Foolproof Smoothies

I secretly worked at a smoothie place my first year of undergrad, and have been making smoothies at home ever since. The key ingredient is banana - without it the smoothie will be, well, not as smooth. I recently got a new blender, which is why smoothies are on the brain. They're great for hangovers too :)

The standard:

1/2 c. orange juice or other juice
1 banana
1 scoop protein powder (I prefer Spirutein but haven't found it in Chicago so I've been using Whole Foods' vanilla flavored protein powder with spirulina)
1/4 c. frozen or fresh fruit - blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, cherries, peaches, and/or mango all work well
4 ice cubes

The always-failproof combo is OJ, strawberries, and banana.

Optional add-ons: vitamin C tablet, dash of vanilla, freshly grated ginger, and/or honey, even booze

Toss in blender and blend till smooth. Voila!