A Cooking Milestone: My Very Own Cookie Recipe

I gotta say I'm pretty excited to write this post, because I get to document a cooking milestone: my very own recipe! One of the main reasons for this blog was to document my experiences in the kitchen as a new vegan cook and hopefully get to the point where I would start creating my own recipes that are edible and maybe even delicious. The other day I finally got brave enough to try one out and I'm happy to report that these Trail Mix Energy Cookies really did turn out well. Husband tested and approved.

After my half-marathon on Saturday, I was unsurprisingly in the mood to bake. There's something about weekends that just brings out my desire to be in the kitchen experimenting. I've been wanting to make hearty "trail-mix" cookies so I started looking on-line for cookies that were chalk full of dried fruit, nuts, grains and healthy fats. I couldn't quite find what I was looking for so I found a few basic cookie recipes to go off of and invented my own.

These cookies are made with whole wheat flour and oats, chia seeds and hemp hearts, almond butter and coconut oil, walnuts and pecans. Tons of natural energy sweetened with a little sugar and agave nectar. Yum!

You can view these as a hearty dessert or eat them as granola bars. They're delicious without being too sweet. I baked half of them on a cookie tray and tried the rest in muffin tins. Both versions turned out great. The dough baked in the muffin tins didn't take as long to cook in the oven and held together slightly better because I was able to firmly push the dough into the bottom of the tins.  I'll definitely make this recipe again! Next time I'll even decrease the sugar a little to or use only agave or date paste. But for a first try, I'm quite happy with the result.

I hope you try these out...but beware, the chia seeds will get stuck in your teeth!

Hearty Trail-Mix Cookies

(Makes 18 cookiess)

 Ingredients:

· 1 cup quick oats

· 1 cup whole wheat flour

· 1/4 cup natural cane sugar

· 2 tablespoons chia seeds

· 2 tablespoons hemp heart seeds

· 1/4 cup semi-sweet Ghirardelli chocolate chips, chopped

· 1/4 cup walnuts, chopped

· 1/4 cup pecans, chopped

· 1 teaspoon cinnamon

· 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

· 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

· 1 flax egg: 1 tablespoon ground flax seed + 2.5 tablespoons water

· 1/4 cup craisins

· 1/4 cup coconut oil

· 1/4 cup almond butter

· 1/4 cup agave nectar

· 1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line two baking sheets with parchment paper or spray two muffin pans with cooking spray and set aside.

2. In a large bowl whisk together the dry ingredients, from the quick oats to baking soda.

3. In a separate bowl stir together the wet ingredients, from the flax egg to vanilla, until combined.

4. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix together until everything is incorporated.

5. Take two tablespoon amounts of dough at a time and press it into the bottom of muffin tins or roll tightly into a ball and then flatten as cookies on a baking sheet.

6. For muffins, bake for about 13-15 minutes.

7. For cookies, bake for about 15-18 minutes.

8. Let the cookies cool fully so that the coconut oil can harden and keep the cookies from breaking.

9. Enjoy a hearty bite of goodness!

   

Eat Consciously,

     Faith

Rungry

Since my half-marathon on Saturday (Yay, first one! Recap here), I've been "rungry." I figured I would be really hungry the day after the race, but I didn't think the constant hunger would last so long. Now that I'm planning to keep training and run a marathon, I can only imagine how much more hungry I'll become! Any advice for a first-time marathoner? Since I have a history of injury when I increase my mileage, I'm going to take it slow and try to cross-train a couple times a week. Oh, and try out some yoga and pilates.

I was able to stay home yesterday so I'm going to share yesterday's eats and some food prep for the week. One of the reasons I started this blog was to document my experiences as a new vegan cook. It's been so cool to see how far I've come in my cooking skills and how many new ingredients I've tried for the first time. And yesterday marked a big event...vegan cheese! I always hoped I'd become good enough at the vegan cooking basics so I could start branching out to things like dairy-free cheese and faux meat and yesterday it happened! Even if you aren't vegan, this cheese recipe from Vedged Out is amazing. I'm excited to see what Brett thinks when he get's home from his work trip and tries it out.

So without further ado...

Breakfast:

Overnight buckwheat groats, oats and chia seed parfait with strawberries

I soaked 1/4 cup buckwheat groats in water overnight

In a separate mason jar I soaked 1 tablespoon of chia seeds, 1/4 cup oats, 2/3 cup almond milk, 1 tablespoon cocoa powder and 1/2 smashed banana

In the morning I rinsed the groats in a strainer and mixed them in with the chia/oat mixture and layered it with strawberries.

Morning snack:

1/2 of a homemade lara bar

Lunch:

A whole wheat tortilla with a small sweet potato, black beans, sauteed bok choy and tomato

Afternoon Snacks and Meal Prep:

I made this Cheesy Vegan Spaghetti Squash and Broccoli Casserole and ate some for a snack

It was my first time using spaghetti squash and I'm hooked!

Vegan Cheese!

I made this recipe from Vedgedout and I will definitely be making it again

I had some of it with some pretzels

Dinner:

I ate some baby carrots before heading out to my work Christmas party.

I didn't take any pictures there, but I had salad and a vegan dish of puff pastry dough filled with rice and veggies. It was delicious!

And that's it! Check out some other eats and get new recipe ideas over at Jenn's website: PeasandCrayons. Have a great rest of your week!

Eat Consciously,

     Faith

Cheesy Vegan Spaghetti Squash and Broccoli Casserole

I've made a lot of progress this week in my goal to cook with at least one new ingredient each week. After my half marathon (recap here!), Brett and I stopped at the Winter Park Farmers Market and picked up a bunch of produce. In addition to our regular produce, we got bok choy, fennel and spaghetti squash, three veggies that I have yet to cook with before. 

I sauteed the bok choy with some salt and pepper and put it inside a whole wheat wrap with sweet potato, black beans and tomato. It definitely reminds me of some Asian dishes I've had and made me want to try it again soon in a noodle soup or stir fry.

For the fennel, I roasted the bulb with some potatoes and carrots and used the leaves and soft stems to make a lemon, fennel dressing. This dish turned out great! I'll be sharing it soon.

Lastly, for the spaghetti squash I combined two recipes to make this cheesy dish. I know I'm way behind in using spaghetti squash, but it really was so easy and shredded just like spaghetti.

To cook the spaghetti squash, preheat your oven to 400 degrees and cut your squash in half length-wise and scoop out the seeds with a spoon. Then place the halves face up on a baking dish and spray the halves with cooking spray. 

Then stick it in the oven and roast for about 50 minutes until its tender enough to poke with a fork. After it cools enough to touch, just take a fork and shred the squash horizontally until all the squash has been removed. 

You can use it as a spaghetti substitute or have it act as rice for stir-fries or curries. Or even better, you can make this awesome Vegan Cheesy Spaghetti Squash and Broccoli Casserole.

Cheesy Spaghetti Squash and Broccoli Casserole

(Makes 6-8 servings)

Ingredients:

· 1 large spaghetti squash, roasted and shredded

· Two cups steamed broccoli

· 1/2 –1 cup green peas (optional)

For the Cheese Sauce:

· 1 1/4 cups water

· 1 cup almond milk

· 3/4 cup nutritional yeast

· 3 tablespoons cornstarch

· 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

· 1 teaspoon salt

· 1/2 teaspoon minced garlic

· 1/2 teaspoon paprika

· 1/2 teaspoon turmeric

· 1 tablespoon tahini

· Ground pepper and red chili flakes to taste

  

Directions:

1. See above for how to roast and shred a spaghetti squash.

2. For the cheese sauce, place all of the ingredients from water to tahini in a blender and blend until smooth.

3. Pour the sauce in a large sauce pan and heat over medium-low heat. Allow the sauce to thicken while stirring occasionally. This should take about 5 minutes.

4. Once the sauce begins to thicken, add in the spaghetti squash, broccoli and peas.

5. Season with ground pepper and red chili flakes.

Notes: The cheese sauce is adapted from Oh She Glows.

Eat Consciously,

     Faith