Mint Double Mocha Cookies

.5 c butter
1 c raw sugar
.5 c unsweetened apple sauce
3 T Cocoa (please for the Love of God not Hershey's/Baker's)
3 T finely ground Coffee
1 t baking powder
.5 t salt
1 t real vanilla
1 t peppermint extract
2 c whole wheat flour
8 oz Chocolate chips or chunks (try Guittard, or your favorite Chocolate bar)

Melt butter, add everything else in order (more or less), mixing in the flour before adding chocolatey bits. If you want to feel like a daredevil, pretend that there's a vegan equivalent of salmonella and eat the batter. Or eat it with ice cream. If you have any dough left, bake it at 325 for 15-20 minutes.

More Scones: Carrot Apple Ginger

Here's a yummy soft crumbly variant of Aquila's scones.

1.5 c w/w flour
1 t baking powder
.5 t baking soda
.5 t salt
2 t nutritional yeast
some ground pepper, ginger, garlic, mustard, and cayenne
5 T butter substitute
.5 c finely grated carrot
.5 c onion, diced
.25 c parsley, chopped
.5 c apple sauce

Bake at 350-375 for 15-20 minutes, depending on size. Makes about 10.

Banana Bliss Ice Cream

Branden's parents gave us a nice little ice cream maker when they came to visit. It's taken us a little while to start experimenting with it, but this ice cream was worth the wait! We made an orange sorbet first (just orange juice and sugar). This is the first creamy ice cream we tried, and it just blew us away! It was so much better than I expected a first try to be. Just be warned: you may not be able to stop eating this once you've made it, the recipe makes something like a quart, and we finished it off in about 24 hours.

3 c soy milk
2 bananas
4-6 T oil
6-8 T liquid sweetener
1 T vanilla extract
2 T cornstarch
Pinch of salt

Blend everything until smooth.
Heat on low-heat, stirring constantly, until just about to boil (the first bubbles should just be starting to burst).
Let cool until at room temperature (I put the whole pot in the refrigerator).
Freeze according to the directions for your ice cream maker.

Savory Oat Scones

I was so excited about the scones that I made last night, that I made more this morning. This recipe is similar to the last one, but I changed enough that it seemed worth posting a new recipe. We had these with baked beans, which made a satisfying breakfast.

1 1/2 c whole wheat flour
1 t baking powder
1/2 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
2 t nutritional yeast
a pinch of cayenne
5 T margarine, cut into small pieces
1/2 c oats
1/2 medium yellow onion, diced
1/4 c packed chopped fresh parsley
1/2 c soy milk

Pre-heat oven to 375F.
Mix dry ingredients (flour through cayenne).
Cut in margarine with a pastry blender, until dough has a gravel-like texture.
Stir in oats, onion, and parsley.
Add milk and knead by hand until dough is moist.
Divide dough into twelve pieces.
Place scones on a cookie sheet oiled with olive oil.
Brush tops of scones with a little extra olive oil.
Bake for 10 minutes.
Flip over and bake for another 7-10 minutes, or until both sides are lightly browned.

Autumnal Lentil Soup with Chanterelles

Branden and I went camping in the snow and came back cold, wet, and ready for soup! This hearty soup was just what we needed, it was great with carrot scones on the side. We happened to have some chanterelles, which made a lovely garnish. If you don't have chanterelles, you could use a different mushroom or just skip it entirely. This recipe made about twice as much soup as we needed, and while leftovers are always great, if you're not feeding anyone with an appetite quite as large as Branden's, you might want to make half as much.

1 large onion
2 c lentils
10 c broth
3 medium potatoes, chopped (about 2 cups)
1 large golden beet, chopped (about 2 cups)
1 large carrot, sliced thick
3 stalks celery, slice thick
2/3 head of garlic, roughly chopped
1 bunch chard, chopped
black pepper
1/3 lbs chanterelles, sliced thin
1/3 head garlic, diced

You'll need a big soup pot for this!
Cook onion in a little oil until translucent.
Add lentils and broth.
When it starts to boil, add potatoes and beets.
Cook for about 10 minutes, or until vegetables are just starting to get soft.
Add carrots, celery, and garlic.
Cook until the lentils are soft.
Add chard and pepper.
Cook until chard is done, about five minutes.
Meanwhile, saute chanterelles and garlic in a little olive oil until mushrooms are soft, 5-10 minutes.
Serve soup with mushrooms on top.

Carrot Scones

This is my highly experimental first attempt at scones.

2 c whole wheat flour
1 t baking powder
1/2 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
1 t dill
1 T nutritional yeast
a pinch of cayenne
5 T margarine, cut into small pieces
6 T soy yogurt
4 T soy milk
3/4 c loosely packed grated carrot
1/4 c packed chopped fresh parsley
1 green onion, minced

Pre-heat oven to 400F.
Mix dry ingredients (flour through cayenne).
Cut in margarine with a pastry blender until the dough has gravel-like texture.
Add remaining indredients and knead by hand until the dough is moist. It should stay a pretty stiff dough, but add more soy milk if it's really too dry.
Cut dough into twelve equal pieces.
Shape each piece into a rough rectangle.
Place scones on a cookie sheet oiled with olive oil.
Brush tops of scones with a little extra olive oil.
Bake for 10 minutes, then flip over and bake for another 5 minutes.

Aquila's Lunch in Peru

Aquila - remind me what this Peruvian salad is called and ingredients.

Reina de Palta ?

And here is the Shangri La of a subtropical garden at our little BnB in the Sacred Valley of the Andes (where we awoke very surprised to see a palm tree, bougainvilla, passion fruit vine, butterflies, and angel trumpets inspite of towering snowy peaks in the distance!). From here we walked into town for quite enjoyable sunny plaza-side lunches and a fire-cooked pizza dinner by a rushing stream as the night air grew cold.

The town it self was a magical surprise of ancient Inca stone walls, flowing water in cobbled channels everywhere through out the streets, and a surreal, timeless water fed terrace system of corn fields (exactly like the taro is grown here in Hawaii) .... this is Ollantaytambo on the Urubamba River - names that conjure up Kipling-like exotica. Definately a land where the Food of the Gods has been passed from generation to generation for thousands of years. And we never would have discovered this if there hadn't been the train strike that delayed (and shortened) our time at Machu Picchu. Thank goodness for a workers rebellion - it lead to discovering this cafe and wandering through the ancient village that is still full of life today, living not all that much different than thousands of years ago.

Transcendental Grilled Veggies and Tofu - aka Tulum Bliss

This is not so much a secret recipe as a technique. When Aquila and I went to Tulum on the Yucutan we had an incredible Thai-chef's lunch in a beautful beachfront restaurant and went into a blissful reverie. I came close with this meal: on brown rice ( of course) I added grilled olive oil-brushed zuchini, eggplant, plus mushroom and tofu marinated in soy sauce. To accomplish this, I bought a (really too small I find) tiny George Foreman electric grill for under $20. It has ridges on both sides so it grills in a press creating a succulent vegetable with that charred grilled flavor perfectly. Worth investing in one of these, but mine is so small I can do only one vegetable at a time. Fancy ones are pannini presses, but a modest grill works just fine. (some even have a panel to make waffles too)

First, I sliced a small zuk and a dainty long Japanese egglant in half. On each of the four inside surfaces I poked holes with a fork tine every 1/8 inch and then poured a little olive oil on them to soak in. I think next time I will also wipe them down with the sliced edge of a garlic clove. Then grilled them one veggie pair at a time (while the pre cooked rice was reheating). The pair of 3" mushrooms had the stems removed and wiped off, but nothing more (will try olive oil on it next time) and grilled down to a really tasty circle of yumminess. And lastly, I took firm tofu that I had cut earlier into 6 - 1"x1"x3" little blocks, poured a little bit of soy sauce over them to soak in (usually also score tofu to increase absorption) - and then grilled those too.

Wowee! No magic ingredients, just the grilling technique made it great. The tofu developed a brown skin that gave it a new texture with out having to deep fry it. And the grilling adds a smoky complexity to the flavor, creates a succulent veggie inside with a carmelized outer skin/surfaces that make the whole thing great hummy fun in the mouth ...

Too bad I can't also replicate that totally mind blowing fluffy (yes, really fluffy like a snowy powder) limestone sand on the beach at Tulum - or the vivid turquoise sea against white sand and the blue horizon, but this is the next best thing ;)

PS - dined to Natalie Merchant's soulful Motherland - seemed just right to have a musical goddesses voice accompanying the meal. Aq said we had techno instrumental in Tulum tho. Never underestimate the combination of music and a fabulous meal for a sensory high!

Absurdly Easy Chocolate Cake

i got this recipe off of the veggie boards(veggieboards.com)
it is very good. but i added more flour, not sure how much.

Ingredients:-----------------------------------------------------
3 1/2-4 cups flour
2 cups sugar
12 tablespoons cocoa
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup vegetable oil
2 tablespoon vinegar
3 teaspoon vanilla
2 cup cold water
Instructions:-----------------------------------------------------
Mix the dry ingredients.
Add the wet ingredients.
Stir until smooth. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Makes two layers of a two-layer 9-inch or 8-inch round cake, or one small sheet cake. When cool, frost it if you want to.

i tried it with out the frosting and that was ok but it is better with frosting, for the frosting i think i used the doctor oetker organic chocolate frosting mix.

-morgana

Chocolate-Banana Muffins

Here is another great muffin recipe adapted from the Post Punk Kitchen forums. It has a very cake-like texture, so I think I may try to make it into a cake someday.

3/4 c sugar
5 T margarine
1 t vanilla
1 banana
1 c flour
2 t baking powder
1/4 c cocoa
1/4 t salt
2/3 c soy milk

Pre-heat oven to 350F. Mix sugar, margarine and vanilla. Add banana to sugar mixture and mash with a potato masher. Separately, combine flour, baking powder, cocoa, and salt. Add flour mixture and soy milk to the sugar mixture, combining thoroughly but gently. Pour into 12 muffin cups, bake for about 20 minutes.

Spiced Apple-Walnut Bread

This is very similar to our banana bread, but with apples instead of bananas. Be sure to let it cool before taking it out of the pan; I didn't, and it was a bit crumbly. Next time I might add more cinnamon. There's just something about these moist fruit breads, I can't seem to stop eating them!

1/2 c margarine
1/2 c turbinado sugar
1/2 c brown sugar
1 T blackstrap molasses
2 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
1 t vanilla extract
1/2 t ground cinnamon
1/4 t ground nutmeg
1/4 t ground allspice
1/8 t ground cloves
1/2 c apple sauce
1/3 c soy milk
2 c flour
2 c apples, diced
3/4 walnuts, chopped

Pre-heat oven to 350F. Melt margarine over low heat in a metal loaf pan. When margarine is melted, add sweeteners, baking powder, and spices. Mix in soy milk and applesauce. Add flour, stirring to combine thoroughly. Fold in apples and walnuts. Bake for 50-60 minutes.

Nutella Substitute

Nutella, the popular hazelnut-cocoa spread, contains cow milk, tons of sugar, and artificial vanilla. Here's an easy vegan alternative, if you can find/make hazelnut flour:

.75 cup hazelnut flour, as finely ground as possible
.25 cups cocoa, Scharffen Berger or some other good sort (not Hershey's, Baker's)
.25 cups oil: peanut, walnut, safflower or corn
2 T sugar, melted or in small crystals
1 t authentic vanilla, for the sake of Madagascar

Mix, then spread on breads, pancakes, cookies, candy bars, and everything else.