Carpe pancakes

Seize the pancakes...

2 c. milk (soy or rice milk work too)
1 T ground flax seed

mix the milk and flax seed in a separate bowl--this is your egg substitute. It makes the consistency when cooked a little different (more "doughy"), so be ready, it's delicious.

1.5 c. whole wheat flour
2 T wheat germ (we probably did 3T or more--can't go wrong with more)
1 T sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

mix all of these dry ingredients in a separate bowl, then add in the milk/flax seed mixture and stir just until mixed.

1/3 c. chopped walnuts
1 sliced banana

add these to the batter, and cook 'em up. Using oil is recommended instead of spray/butter:

2 T oil (canola, sunflower, or safflower is recommended, we used olive and it was excellent)

We just made these a second time this weekend, and did blueberry instead of banana/walnut, and they were amazing. We also did some with the Cascadian Farms frozen mangoes mixed in with the blueberries, which was redonk.

The best soup ever

I made the broccoli cheddar soup from 101 cookbooks earlier this week, and have been eating the leftovers for lunch. I am confident in saying that it is possibly the best soup ever. The whole wheat mustard croutons are key. Amazing.
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Tofuballs (tofu meat-less-balls)

1 package firm or extra firm tofu (pressed)
italian spices, lots of parsely
2 slices of bread
1 egg
olive oil

Pressing tofu

How to press tofu: wrap it up in a lint-free cloth (I use a cloth napkin, but a few layers of paper towels also can work), put it on the counter. To press it, you need to add weight; so put a cutting board on top of the tofu, and add something heavy to the top of the cutting board (e.g. a gallon of water or several big cans). Leave the tofu for an hour or more, then put new, dry wrappings over it, and press it again for another hour+. You can't press it too long; the longer you press it, the more "meaty" it gets. WARNING: The tofu wont press evenly, so eventually the cutting board will lean to one side and your weight will fall to the floor. You need to put some sort of "stoppers" (maybe small pieces of tupperware or bowls; see picture) under the ends of the cutting board that will prevent it from tipping over as the tofu presses. It should be just short enough so the cutting board isn't resting on it, but tall enough so that as the tofu presses, the cutting board will come to rest on your stoppers. We made a huge mess and busted a glass yesterday because we didn't do this.

Making the tofuballs: In a mixing bowl, crumble the pressed tofu with your hands until it's all ground up. Crumble the bread into the bowl. Add the spices and egg and mix everything up. Heat up a half inch of olive oil in a frying pan. Form the tofu mixture into balls and fry 'em up. I recommend frying rather than baking because frying adds good flavor that you'd miss out on with baking.

Carrot, Dill & White Bean Salad Recipe

Last night, in an effort to feel more like a sane human being, I decided to forego schoolwork and instead make a nice dinner for myself and eat on the patio while reading Vanity Fair. My favorite cooking blog 101cookbooks had posted a delicious looking recipe for a carrot, dill, and white bean salad, so I decided to try it. And ... it was fabulous! I'll post her original recipe below and let you do with it as you see fit.

But first I'll tell you what I changed... I added a a bit a feta and used chopped white onion instead of shallots. Also, I doubled the lemon juice in the dressing. For the beans I used 1 can of canneloni, 1 can of butter beans, and 1 can of some other random white bean produced by Goya.

I had some of the left overs for lunch today and I have to agree with her that it's even better the next day. I will definitely make this again.

DRESSING:
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon fine grain salt
1/2 cup thinly sliced shallots

SALAD:
more olive oil (or ghee) for cooking
2 cups sliced carrots, cut 1/4-inch thick on deep bias
3 cups cooked white beans
scant 1/4 cup chopped fresh dill
2 tablespoons brown sugar (or honey)
1/3 cup sliced almonds, toasted

Combine the olive oil, lemon juice, salt and shallots in a small bowl. Stir and set aside.
In your largest skillet over medium high heat, toss the carrots with a splash of olive oil or a spoonful of ghee (I love ghee with carrots). Let them cook in a single layer - they'll give off a bit of water at first. Keep cooking, tossing gently every three or four minutes until the carrots are deeply browned. All told, about twelve minutes.

Add the beans and dill to the skillet and cook for another five minutes, or until the beans as well heated through. If you are using beans that weren't canned you can allow them to brown a bit as well (just cook a bit longer, and stir less frequently) - they can handle this in a way that most canned beans can't. If you need to add a bit more olive oil to the pan - do so.

Place the contents of the skillet in a large mixing bowl, sprinkle with the brown sugar and pour the 3/4 of the lemon-olive oil mixture over the top. Toss gently. Let sit for ten minutes. Toss gently once again, taste and adjust with more salt or sugar or lemon juice if needed to balance the flavors. Serve warm or at room temperature and finish by sprinkling with the almonds just before serving.

Serves 6 - 8 as a side.

Lactose-free Spinach-Artichoke Wonders

Since I have been on this crazy diet this was a real treat and great surprise, and you won't be able to stop eating it!

2-3 c chopped fresh spinach
1 can artichoke hearts, drained
1/4 c veganaise
1/4 c mixed hard cheeses, shredded (Parmesan, Asiago)
1 spoonful chopped/crushed garlic (I didn't have any so I used fresh garlic chives from our weekly CSA pick-up)

Preheat oven to 350. Mix all ingredients except cheese in a bowl until evenly coated with the veganaise. Spray small baking dish with cooking spray. Pour mixture into dish and top with cheese. Bake 15 minutes, or until cheese is all melted. Serve with tortilla chips, crackers etc.

Brad also came up with the sinful idea of using this dip as the filling for sflouatt (sp?). We've made it twice and I think you could probably do without the veganaise, but I'm not sure. Also, we made it once without having pre-steamed the spinach and it didn't seem to make a huge difference, although if you do cook the spinach first, you should probably let it cool so it doesn't make the dough difficult to work with.

Cashew-jalepeno butter

We sort of stole this idea from the co-op, because they use this butter on several sandwiches. It's AMAZING on the Back to Nature multi-grain crackers! The only mistake we made was buying mild jalepenos rather than spicy ones. sad.

You'll need:
3 c Raw cashews, not roasted
Jalepenos (we just use the ones in a jar)
Canola oil

Blend cashews in a food processer. Once it resembles a butter consistency, add jalepenos (we used about half of the jar, although you may need less if you use spicier ones). Add in oil as needed, to reach desired consistency.

Brad has been eating this on a sandwich with portobello & roasted peppers. It's also delicious in wraps with mixed greens, tomatos, sprouts etc. Be creative...it's a great compliment if you want to give your food a little kick!

Vegetarian Meatloaf, Mashed Potatoes, and Cashew Gravy

Recipe:

1) Get in the car.

2) Drive to Monty's Blue Plate Diner in Madison, WI.

3) Order the Vegetarian Meatloaf with Mashed Potatoes and Cashew Gravy

4) EAT!

Peanut Butter Banana Cookies

Peanut Butter Banana Cookies
4 large egg whites room temperature
¼ teaspoon salt
3 cups confectionary sugar
1 cup cream peanut butter
2 tablespoons butter room temperature
3 tablespoons mashed ripe bananas
¼ teaspoon fresh lemon juice
½ cup chopped peanuts
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper
1) Beat egg whites with 1/8 teaspoon salt in electric mixer on medium high until they form stiff peaks
2) Gradually add 1 ½ cups confectionary sugar until thick for about 2 minutes, fill in BP until just blended.
3) Using 1” ice cream scoop place 16 mounds of cookie mixture evenly on parchment lined baking sheets.
4) Bake each cookie sheet on racks and then switch top and bottom. Total 12-20 minutes- be careful not to burn bottoms.
5) Cool completely then remove with metal spatula.
6) Mix 1 ½ cups confectionary sugar with 2 tablespoons soft butter. Add 3 ttablespoons ripe mashed bananawith ¼ teaspoon fresh lemon juice. Beat until smooth frosting.
7) Frost cookies then put crushed peanuts on top.

Tofu No-Egg Salad

What up WFD!!? Yo yo yo! Welcome to the WFD Week-Before-Spring-Break WFD-stravaganza!

Let's kick things off with a quick update from the Sarr-dogg...

Sarr-dogg: "What up WFD!! No more eating yeast or sugar for me!! This is the coolest WFD-stravaganza evaaaaa!!!"

Word up Sarr-a-doodle-do. For all of y'all suga' and yeast haters out there, and all of those mack-attack-meat-n'-heart-attack-cuttin'-backers out there, this recipe is FOR YOUUUU! [Producer's note: echo; insane applause; pan to mosh pit; fade in baseline]

Chop 1 block (12-16oz) extra firm tofu into small 1-2cm cubes
Mix with 2-3 heaping scoops mayo (veganaise is really what you should use)
Add 2-3-ish tsp ground yellow mustard seed
2-3-ish tsp turmeric powder
garlic salt
onion powder
fresh ground black pepper
salt

make into sandwich with slice of cheese, tomato, lettuce, etc.!

b-radical out!

The absolute best doughnuts EVER

I found this recipe on 101cookbooks a while back and figured I'd try it. (I owed Joel big time for being so patient this week!!) They were not nearly as much work as I thought they'd be and they rocked. They're baked, so they are much healthier for you and I found you didn't need nearly as much sugar to coat them as the recipe called for. I'm thinking next time of trying a mixture of whole wheat pastry flour and regular flour. Click here for the recipe.

Pumpkin Ravioli with Apples and Pecans

Lazy dinner alert... literally, all I did was boil the frozen ravioli mom brought down. While it was cooking I chopped up some apples and sauteed them with about 2 tablespoons butter and some cinnamon, toasted some pecans, and voila... lazy dinner. Soooo good.

Look I kept something alive...

For over a year!!!!

Mediterranean Stuffed Chicken

I'm not sure why, but I recently decided to cook more. So I'm posting a bunch of stuff I made in the last week, starting with this stuffed chicken. It seems like lately we've been obsessed with feta and sundried tomatoes, adding it to practically everything we eat. Our current favorite: tuna salad with feta, sundried tomatoes, and raw baby spinach on whole wheat naan. It's insane. Anyhow, we decided to mix it up a bit and stuff some chicken breasts with feta and sundried tomatoes, a little basil from the plant I've somehow managed to keep alive, and then saute the spinach greens on the side. Quite tasty. Oh and the rice is Kashi's partially cooked rice from a bag that only takes 90 second to make. It seems that real rice is one of two things I can't seem to make, the other... banana bread (much to Joel's dismay).