Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies

We're back! Time to bring on the holiday festivities & foods! Yesterday, during an impromptu visit to the co-op, KK's eye caught an end cap, of an aisle full of baking goodies on sale. Rows of different kinds of chocolate chips, and she asked if she could get one for cookies {to practice for what she can leave for Santa.. this is nothing she's seemingly seemed interested in prior years, but what the heck.. if it's that what she wants, why not}. Of all the different kinds of chocolate chips, she chose the ones that were vegan {she's been taught well, right?!}. The proud mama that I am, scoured the internet for AWESOME Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies! I finally found one on VegWeb.com that seemed promising.

Lastly, this blog and recipe goes out to one of the most AMAZING {vegan!!} Mama & Daughter teams I know. Meg is an extraordinary mother with the most amazing little daughter. We compare recipes/music/websites/foodie & nutrition info/product knowledge... etc etc etc.. the list goes ON AND ON. She's been a great source for vegan information and is one of the absolute nicest people I've ever had the pleasure of meeting. So to Meg & Violet... this one's for you lovely ladies!


Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookie Ingredients

2 cups unbleached flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
cinnamon {to taste}
vegan chocolate or carob chips {put in as many as you like!}
1 cup raw sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 cup water

{Very important! Make sure all ingredients are at room temperature. It will work if they're not at room temp but it works much better if they are. Also while your oven is pre-heating put the cookie sheets you are going to use on top of the oven so they get preheated as well.}




Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a large bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon. Set aside.





In a medium size bowl, add together sugar and oil; mix well. Add the vanilla and then add the water; mix well. Add the wet to the well in the dry. Mix it well but be careful not to overwork it.

Add chocolate chips. Stir well.

Spoon onto ungreased cookie sheets & flatten slightly {they don't thin out like regular choclate chip cookie dough does}. Bake for 5 minutes and then flip and rotate the sheets (top to bottom & 180 degree rotation). Bake another 5 minutes and check them. The cookies are done when they seem a little bit softer then you want them to be. They will harden up as they cool down {IF, they at this point do not seem fully cooked, check in 2 minute increments, but after the second 5 minute round, ours were fully cooked}. Let sit for 10minutes, then transfer cookies to wire cooling rack.

Now, ENJOY THOSE DELICIOUS VEGAN COOKIES! {and share with your family & friends!} Cooking vegan food isn't scary, and it tastes just as delicious as non-vegan foods! We try to cook fairly vegan in the house {and 90% of the time, succeed quite well at this}!

And lastly, this recipe was adapted from VegWeb

xoxo,
KK {& Brooke}

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving One & All!

We will return next week and are thinking.. a tasty soup for a cold day, homemade candies {or maybe cookies?!} and a hearty holiday inspired dinner!

Until then, enjoy your family & friends.. and we hope you have much to be thankful for!

xoxo, KK & Brooke

Pumpkin-Cranberry Bread

It was FINALLY Baking day! Finally, time to free the cranberries from slumber in the fridge! The past three days in Olympia have been freezing cold... literally. The kids had snow days the past two days from school- extra long break from school- almost a whole WEEK, since tomorrow is Thanksgiving. Yesterday, the kid's spent the afternoon sledding on the hills a few blocks from our home with Dad, then rose early this morning for Pumpkin Pancakes, tea & more sledding! They've enjoyed the time off to play in the snow, watch movies, play games [though, KK likes to cheat and none of us like that...] & just hang out. I can't even begin to explain how many cups of tea, coffee & hot cocoa have been made here the past few days. Now.. onto the recipe!

Pumpkin- Cranberry Bread with Walnut Ingredients

• 1 3/4 c. Flour
• 1 tsp. Baking Powder
• 1/2 tsp. Baking Soda
• 1/4 tsp each: Cloves, Allspice, Nutmeg, Cinnamon
• 1 can [15 oz.] Pumpkin {Or 2 cups puree from fresh sugar pumpkin}
• 1/3 c. Margarine {Earth Balance, Melted}
• 2 Eggs
• 1 c. Sugar
• 1/4 c. Brown Sugar
• 1 tsp. Vanilla Extract
• 1 1/2 c. Fresh Cranberries
  
• 1c. Raw Walnuts

Preheat oven to 350 degree. In a large mixing bowl combine flour, sugar, brown sugar, spices, baking soda, and baking powder.



Once all ingredients have been well incorporated in mixing bowl, set aside.



{The was the first recipe that KK successfully measured each, and every ingredient out by herself.. in the past she has always asked for help on at least a couple things and how much is where on the measuring cups & spoons- but my confident girl did it all on her own this time!}



In your separate mixer bowl combine pumpkin, eggs, vanilla and margarine. Mix well.



Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients in mixer bowl. Mix on slow setting until moist.

By hand, fold in walnuts to batter.



The star of the show... CRANBERRIES! Gently, fold in berries to batter. Transfer batter to a greased loaf pan & cook at 350 degrees for 60-70 minutes!

{KK couldn't WAIT to taste the cranberries.. they were NOT as delicious as she figured they would be...}

The finished product looked so incredible, and made the WHOLE house smell like spices! Let the loaf cool, and then slice a piece {or two..} to enjoy. The bread was slightly sweet, and the cranberries were a perfect addition. KK loved the cranberries once they were cooked inside of the bread!

xoxo,
KK {& Brooke}

French Bread Pizza

Last night, our nephew was coming over for a sleep over. Everytime he comes over, the kids have deemed it necessary to have pizza. Sometimes we order out, sometimes we get take 'n bake, but usually me MAKE our own pizza! They kids love rolling out the dough and adding toppings, but knowing ahead of time it was probably going to be a fairly busy day, we decided to try something else... FRENCH BREAD PIZZA! Super easy, affordable & quick!

We hadn't planned on this being a blog entry, but KK quickly snagged the camera off of Dad's desk in her jammies straight from her bath and pleaded we add this to her blog too. How can I say no?! Plus... no measuring required.. just throw it all together!

French Bread Pizza Ingredients

• French Bread {We used a thick sourdough baguette}
• Olive Oil
• Oregano
  
• Marinara Sauce {We always choose this option, as it's cheaper than pizza sauce & then can always incorporate it into a dish later in the week as only about 1/3 of the sauce gets used}
• Shredded Mozzarella & Cheddar Cheeses
• Toppings of Choice
  

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cut bread into 4 equal pieces, slice down the middle if not pre-sliced. Transfer to pan & lightly coat with Olive Oil.



Sprinkle with Oregano. Spoon sauce onto bread for desired amount of saucey-ness.



LOTS OF CHEESE!



Add toppings. We chose Olives, Pineapple & Pepperoni {Except for Mom's!}. Add an extra sprinkle of cheese once toppings are in place & a few shakes of the oregano.



Bake for 5 minutes or until bubbly & hot! Enjoy!

xoxo,
kk {& Brooke}

Butternut Squash & Gorgonzola Sauce over Penne

Wow! A week & a half since the last post! We've been cooking a lot lately, just not doing photos of it! KK was given her choice of a couple dozen recipes to choose from making, and surprisingly chose this one. This has to be a new favorite, and didn't take too much effort to make. We made the recipe with 1/2 cream & 1/2 water, but can be substituted as ALL water. Additionally, we steamed a medium butternut squash, but in a pinch pureed canned squash of any sort could be used. Enjoy!

Ingredients

• Medium Butternut Squash
• 1 package Penne Pasta {or any desired pasta}
• 2 Tbsp Olive Oil
• Small Onion
• 3 cloves Garlic
• 1 bunch fresh Sage {Chopped}
  
• 1/2 cup Water & 1 Tbsp No Chicken "Better than Bouillon" Base {or 1/2 cup Vegetable Stock}
  
• 1/2 cup Cream
• Fresh cracked Pepper
• Sea Salt
• 2 cups Fresh Baby Spinach
• 1/2 cup Crumbled Gorgonzola Cheese {plus more for garnish}

• Cut squash into pieces & transfer to large pot with steamer insert. Steam for 30 minutes, or until soft.

• Remove squash & cool. Once squash has cooled, remove skin. Set Aside.
• Heat Olive Oil on medium-high heat. Start to boil water & cook pasta per package directions.

• Add chopped onions to oil, cook until soft.
• Reduce heat to medium, and add garlic. Once garlic has cooked for one minute, add water, cream, squash, sage & no chicken base, stirring constantly until all has been incorporated.

• Add Salt & Pepper to pan, continue stirring until heated through.
• Once mixture has been heated all the way through, carefully transfer to food processor and blend until smooth.

{To make things easier for KK, we transferred the cooked penne & sauce to a larger bowl, then added the spinach, but all could be mixed into the pot the penne had cooked in to avoid further dishes being used.}

• Stir spinach into sauce & penne mixture, then, stir in Gorgonzola to fully incorporate.

• Transfer to previous pot used to cook pasta and cook on medium-high stirring constantly until cheese is melted and spinach has wilted.
• Garnish with additional Gorgonzola cheese & serve warm! Eat up & enjoy!!
  

xoxo,
KK {and Brooke}

Apple Pie... from scratch!

Cooking with apples twice in one week... peeling, cutting, coring... I'm done with apples now. I'm going to have to convince KK to move on to making something non-apple related. We did buy an apple "cutter" at the store today though.. which, helped some. She loved making pie, and in all actuality, it didn't really take us that long to make [and in between me helping her make her pie was able to successfully make a Southwestern Frittata for dinner!]

Apple Pie Crust

• 3 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• ¾ cup margarine
• 1/4 cup [or more] water

1. Stir together flour and salt.
2. Cut in margarine until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
3. Add water little by little, until dough is no longer flakey
4. With hands, shape dough into ball
   
5. For a two crustcrust pie, divide pastry into 2 pieces
6. On lightly floured surface with lightly floured rolling pin, roll larger ball into a 1/8 inch thick circle, 2 inches larger all around than pie plate.
7. Roll half of circle onto rolling pin; transfer pastry to pie plate and unroll. Fill with pie filling.
8. For top crust, roll smaller ball as for bottom crust; with sharp knife, cut a few slashes or a design in center of circle; center over filling in the bottom crust.
9. With scissors or sharp knife, trim the pastry edges.
10. Bake pie!

Apple Pie Filling

• ¾ sugar
• 2 tablespoons flour
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoon cloves
• dash of allspice
  
• 2 lbs sliced, peeled and cored organic applescooking apples
  
• 1 tablespoon margarine[we use Earth Balance]
  

1. In small bowl sugar, flour, cinnamon, cloves & allspice.
   
2. Place half of the apples in pie crust; sprinkle with half of sugar mix. Top with rest of apples, then rest of sugar mixture.
3. Spoon margarine on to the filling.
   
4. Preheat oven to 425° F.
5. Bake pie for 20-40 minutes or until crust is golden.

The turned out pretty good! Probably wouldn't do cookie cutter top next time, and it only took about 20 minutes to bake.. but a good first try for us [it has been YEARS since I made pie from scratch!] .. Start to finish took us around an hour & 15 minutes... Not too bad! I should also note... 2/3 of the pie is now GONE!!

xoxo
Brooke & KK