Fall Favorites

October is a busy busy month! So many leaves to admire, foods to make, pumpkins to carve, birthdays to celebrate, costumes to sew, classic thrillers to watch, produce to harvest, festivals to attend..
Not to mention that classes are in full swing. I'm still loving every bit of them though, especially after the A I received on a midterm I was seriously stressing over!

I've been trying to do it all this month. I don't ever recall being as stressed as I am currently, but I at least know I won't have regrets when October is over and things slow down.

One of my favorite places in the fall is the Mill Pond in Setauket. I've been twice in the past couple weeks, and not many things make me as happy as strolling around the pond observing the wildlife and changing foliage. Logan loved watching the turtles sunning themselves on a log, and we even saw a great blue heron!

Logan contemplating life under one of the huge trees.

Logan and Terra watching the turtles.

He's very excited about the ducks.

The great blue heron. I was so excited to see one of these!

The leaves changed so much in just one week.

I've been looking forward to using my Halloween cookie cutters for months now. The pumpkin shape was really the only one that worked, so I ended up with lots of pumpkin cookies using my recipe for vegan sugar cookies. Logan helped me decorate them with a vegan cookie icing I found on Kelli's blog, animal-friendly eating. My little artist had as much fun "painting" the cookies as he did eating them.

Ready for decorating.

Logan is serious about this.

This was before he figured out how yummy the icing was.

My creations.

Though it was a drizzly day, we spent a lot of time outdoors. Andrew planted lily bulbs, Logan sang and played his guitar on the lawn mower (he likes to use the handle as a microphone!), and I hollowed out pumpkins to make mum containers.

I saved the pumpkin seeds and made two absolutely delicious recipes with them. One involved roasting them in the oven, and the other in a pan on the stovetop. If you haven't already carved your pumpkins, save those seeds! These only take minutes to make!

Candied Pumpkin Seeds

• 1/2 cup pumpkin seeds, rinsed
• 2 packed Tbsp. brown sugar
• 1/4 tsp. pumpkin pie spice

1. Mix very thing together in a small bowl.
2. Spread the mixture over a foil lined baking sheet.
3. Bake at 250º for 40 minutes.
4. Once cooled, break into pieces and store in an airtight container.

Toasted Pumpkin Seeds

• 1/2 cup pumpkin seeds, rinsed
• 2 Tbsp. butter substitute, like Smart Balance
• 1/4 tsp. tumeric
• 1/4 tsp. celery salt
• 1/4 tsp. cumin

1. Mix everything together in a pan on the stove.
2. Toast over a medium flame for about 20 minutes, stirring frequently until starting to brown.
3. Remove from heat and store in an airtight container.

These toasted seeds taste like crunchy popcorn, and are super addictive!

Chocolate Chip Sunflower Butter Bites

Sticky dough in the food processor.

I've been a little obsessed with my new food processor, using it for everything. Even cookies. Yup. Cookie dough in the food processor. These aren't your typical cookies though, these are vegan and gluten free, yet still delicious! The recipe this is inspired from was based with peanut butter. With the prevalence of people with peanut allergies (including my son), there are plenty of substitutes that are almost as good. Almost. The best I've come across so far is sunflower butter. I attempted to grow sunflowers this year to harvest seeds so I could make my own butter, but the chickens are enjoying the leaves too much. Only two plants have survived their plucking, and one of them is only a couple feet tall. It looks like out of all the seeds I planted, I may get one blossoming flower.

While these cookies aren't as rich and satisfying as my vegan chocolate chip cookies, they're a close second and a great gluten free option. Did I mention they don't have processed sugar either? They get their sweetness from honey. And who doesn't like honey?

Oh and don't get turned off by the chickpeas. I know it sounds weird to add chickpeas to cookies, but it's more for texture and substance. You won't taste them at all. Promise.

Chocolate Chip Sunflower Butter Bites

Makes 30 bites

• 1 can chick peas
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 3/4 cup sunflower butter
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup vegan chocolate chips

1. Preheat the oven to 350º.
2. Blend all ingredients except the chocolate chips in a blender or food processor until a sticky dough forms.
3. Add the chips and pulse until just combined.
4. With wet hands (this is important, otherwise the dough will stick to you), roll the dough into one inch balls and place on greased cookie sheets.
5. You can fit up to 15 bites per sheet, since these won't spread when baked.
6. Bake for 10 minutes.

Raw Thin Mints

I was sent a recipe for One Green Planet's thin mint recipe from my friend Bri. After hearing her rave about them I had to try it, even though it called for stevia. I just can't stomach the stuff. I figured it couldn't be so bad since a batch only needed 1/2 a teaspoon, so I borrowed the sweetener from my mom and got to work. Bleh! I could taste the stevia in every bite. I ended up tossing the whole thing. I have no idea why I hate that stuff so much. Maybe it's one of those polarizing foods like cilantro, some people love it, other people say it tastes like soap. I was determined to make these work though, so I tried again using a couple substitutions. Since I used up all my protein powder in the first batch, I used homemade almond flour the second time. You can probably buy it in the store, but here's how I make my own: after I make almond milk in the juicer, I dehydrate the pulp, then grind it into a fine powder using the baby bullet. Since there was no way I was using stevia again, I replaced it with agave. I also added a few crushed leaves from an organic chocolate mint plant I picked up over the weekend. It was perfect for these cookies! While the end result wasn't exactly like the girl scout version, these were still delicious and much healthier. Logan and I couldn't get enough of them, and I can't wait until I have more almond flour so I can make them again!

Raw Thin Mints

Makes about 15

The mixture should be about this consistency when you
roll them on the cookie sheet.

• 3/4 cup of almond flour
• 1/2 cup + 2 Tbsp. of cocoa powder
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 tsp. peppermint extra
• 1 tsp. agave
• 6 Tbsp. coconut oil, melted
• A few chocolate mint leaves, crushed very fine (optional)

1. Mix all the ingredients in a large bowl.
2. Let the bowl sit on the counter for a few minutes until the mixture has just started to solidify.
3. Using a melon baller (a spoon would work too, but I have a thing for the melon baller), scoop out small portions of the batter.
4. Place the scoops of batter on a cookie sheet lined with wax paper, and mold them into the desired shape.
5. Chill the cookie sheet in the fridge for about an hour.
6. Store covered in the fridge or freezer.

Ready to be chilled

Done!

Cocomon Balls

Coconut + lemon = cocomon

I whipped up this raw, vegan dessert yesterday while waiting for my curried split pea soup to cook (check back for that blog post soon!). When I found the recipe this was adapted from I was excited to see that it called for almond flour. For weeks I have been making almond flour, hoping that I would someday find a use for it. Every time I make almond milk in the juicer, I dehydrate the pulp, then grind it into a fine powder using the Baby Bullet. Almond flour!

Popping these in the dehydrator for an hour gave them a crunch on the outside, but left them warm and gooey in the center. Omg yum. They're phenomenal with the lemon, but next time I make them I'll use lime. Lime and coconut? Yes please!

Cocomon Balls

Makes 2 dozen

• 1 1/2 cups of almond flour (homemade or store bought)
• 2 1/2 cups of shredded coconut, unsweetened
• 1/3 cup of coconut flour
• A dash of salt
• 6 Tbsp. of agave
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• Zest and juice from one lemon

1. In a large bowl, stir the almond flour, coconut, coconut flour and salt until combined.
2. In a small bowl, mix the agave, vanilla and lemon.
3. Slowly add the agave mixture to the large bowl, mixing with a hand mixer until combined.
4. Roll the mixture into small, one inch balls.
5. Place in the balls in the dehydrator for one hour.
6. Serve immediately.

Vegan Sugar Cookies

My cousin Liam decorated his own
cookie. Now that's a cookie!

Any holiday can be celebrated with sugar cookies, and ever since my mom bought me 100 assorted cookie cutters, every holiday has. Making sugar cookies is no fun if your kids can't eat them, so I've been searching for a vegan recipe for awhile. After coming up empty handed I finally found one on animal-friendly eating, a wonderful blog for vegan and raw food. Kelli's recipe uses an egg substitute that you make by whipping together water, flour, baking powder and baking soda. I've never heard of an egg substitute like that, but it works! I can't wait to try it for other recipes.

barf.

I found the picture on this flour 
package to be pretty anti-feminist.
 Is it just me? Regardless, it was still great flour.  

I made my first trip to Trader Joe's last week. I'm normally a loyal Whole Foods customer, but I checked out Trader Joe's since I was told it was cheaper. It is, but their selection isn't that great. After stocking up on organic produce and other basics I still had to go to Whole Foods across the street to complete my shopping. I was looking for Bestlife, but the only butter substitute I could find at Trader Joe's was Earth Balance buttery spread. Has anyone ever tried this? I'd love to hear your thoughts on it, because I thought it was one of the most disgusting things I have ever eaten. A lot of vegan blogs rave about it, but I couldn't stand it! I can't be the only one who feels this way. It left the most awful taste in my mouth, like I just licked a plastic patio chair after someone had been sitting in it in the hot sun and they left a pool of sweat on the seat. Not that I've ever done that, but I imagine that's what it would taste like. I will never, ever eat that stuff again. Since it was the only butter substitute I had (I don't know why I didn't think to use shortening), I used it anyways, hoping that the other ingredients would mask the taste. They didn't. I ended up masking the rancid flavor by adding extra sugar and some almond extract. The end result wasn't bad at all. You couldn't taste the salty, offensive flavor of the Earth Balance, and the cookies came out light, fluffy, and delicious. I've found a new holiday staple!

Vegan Sugar Cookies

Makes about 18 cookies

• 3/4 cup of butter substitute (like Bestlife, but NOT Earth Balance)
• 1 1/2 cups of sugar
• 1/4 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 tsp. almond extract
• 2 egg replacers (see below)
• 2 1/2 cups flour
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. salt

Egg Replacer

Substitutes 2 eggs

• 6 Tbsp. water
• 4 Tbsp. flour
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. baking soda

1. Preheat oven to 350º.
2. In a large mixing bowl, cream together butter substitute and sugar with an electric mixer.
3. Blend in the vanilla and almond extract.
4. In a small bowl, whisk together the egg substitute ingredients until thick and foamy.
5. Add this to the mixing bowl and stir with a wooden spoon until incorporated.
6. Add the flour, baking powder and salt, and stir until thoroughly mixed. 
7. Roll batter on a floured surface to somewhere between 1/8" to 1/4" thick.
8. Make shapes using cookie cutters.
9. Place on a grease baking sheet and bake for about 10 minutes, or until the edges start to brown. 

This particular batch was made into shamrocks for St. Patrick's Day!

Ginger Snaps

I made these a few weeks ago. It's been in my archive of vegan recipes to blog about, and today is the perfect time to write about them. I bought fresh ginger specifically for this. I had a small piece lying around from making real home made ginger ale, but stocked up on more roots in anticipation for this recipe. I'm so glad I did, since it helped me combat the stomach virus that attacked Logan last night. It was the first time he ever got really sick, so it was scary and stressful for both of us. After his first bout of nausea (at 1 in the morning- of course) I crushed up some of the root and added it to water in his sippy cup. I put a little extra ginger juice on his pacifier and he was over the sickness by 3 am. I'm convinced it would have gone on longer if I didn't have the ginger in my arsenal. 

Anyways, back to the real reason I bought the ginger. My friend Nikki gave me a recipe for ginger cookies. I really wanted to try it, but I didn't have molasses in the cabinet (nor will I ever again, since I found a great substitute- more on that in a minute). Turning to the internet, I tried to google a recipe for ginger cookies without molasses. I couldn't find one that didn't have it, so I got creative. At this point I forgot all about Nikki's recipe, and used one that I found somewhere on the internet. This recipe called for molasses, but I took a chance and made my own. I started by putting 3 Tbsp. of brown rice syrup (I use the organic Sweet Dreams brand, I hope that's not one of the brands containing alarming levels of arsenic. I haven't been following that story too well) in a measuring cup and adding brown sugar until I had 1/4 cup of the mixture. It wasn't exactly molasses, but it worked. 

With a few changes to the original recipe to make it vegan, the addition of fresh ginger, and a substitute for molasses, I ended up with ginger snaps. Not the intended result. At first I thought the recipe was a bust. The cookies ended up spreading really thin on the baking sheet, so they came out flat and crisp. They weren't the chewy, soft cookies I was expecting. I kept them anyways, since Logan seemed to like them. A couple days went by with me just staring at them on the counter, occasionally passing one to Logan. I don't know what made me try one, but they were delicious! They definitely had a bite to them, the ginger being the prominent taste, but it was balanced nicely by the rest of the ingredients. It took me a couple days to realize that just because they didn't come out how I expected, it didn't mean that they weren't good. I'm glad this recipe made so many, because I couldn't get enough of them.

Ginger Snaps

Makes 6 dozen

• 2/3 cup safflower oil (vegetable oil works too)
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup apple puree
• 3 Tbsp brown rice syrup
• < 1/4 cup of brown sugar
• 2 cups flour
• 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1 Tbsp freshly grated ginger
• 1/2 tsp. salt

1. Preheat oven to 350º.
2. Mix oil and sugar in a large bowl.
3. Add apple puree and mix well.
4. Put brown rice syrup in a 1 cup measuring cup, and add brown sugar up to the 1/4 cup mark. Add this to the bowl and mix well.
5. Add the dry ingredients and mix until combined. 
6. Pour a small amount of granulated sugar in a bowl. Form a tsp of dough into a ball and coat with the sugar. 
7. Place dough on a greased cookie sheet, and bake for about 7 minutes. 

Keep your eye on these while they're baking. I burnt the first couple batches since the original recipe had them in for 15 minutes. Also, don't make the dough balls too big, or you'll end up with a full sheet of flat cookies, like this one.

Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies

I have an insatiable sweet tooth. As healthy as I resolve to make my diet, I won't even try to exclude sweets. It'll never happen. I unfortunately passed my sweet tooth on to my son. He had sugar for the first time shortly before he turned one, when I did a trial run on vegan cupcakes to make for his birthday. Up until then, his diet consisted of breast milk and the homemade organic baby food I laboriously prepared for him. With the video camera rolling, he bit into his first cupcake and loved it! My normally messy eater didn't waste a crumb, picking every last drop off the high chair tray. His love for sweets began that day. It was no surprise that his first two syllable word was "cookie".

Andrew, who normally doesn't go for sweets, requests chocolate chip cookies all the time. I inherited this amazing recipe from my mom, who seemed to make them almost every day. I'm sure that every single one of my childhood friends remember these cookies. They were always in the house, and always requested when anyone came over. When my mom copied the recipe in a cookbook for me when I moved out of the house, I thought I was being privileged to a exquisite family recipe. Then one night far into my pregnancy I was bingeing on Nestle chocolate chips (that could explain Logan's sweet tooth). I turned the package around and started reading the recipes. The chocolate chip cookie recipe was exactly the same as my mom's! I felt like my whole life had been a lie.

Anyways, I make chocolate chip cookies every so often for Andrew. Logan always sees them on the counter and yells "cookie!", and a temper tantrum ensues when he doesn't get one. I decided to alter "mom's recipe" to eliminate animal products.

The first step was finding vegan chocolate. I checked the label of a bar of an Endangered Species chocolate bar that was in the cabinet, and was pleased to see no milk fat! Whole Foods sells vegan chocolate chips, but I doubt it's as good as this stuff. I just chopped up this bar and added it to the batter.

The next step was finding ingredients to substitute for the eggs and butter. Eggs are easily substituted with applesauce or bananas without altering the taste. 1/4 cup of applesauce or 1/2 a banana for each egg. The harder decision rested with the butter. Oil is easily substituted for butter in cakes and muffins, but I was afraid it would make the cookies too dense. I decided to use vegetable shortening. Not the healthiest choice, but chocolate chip cookies aren't exactly good for you anyways. For some people, anything with white sugar isn't considered vegan, since it's filtered with animal bone char. The bone char isn't in the sugar, but it is used as a filter. I'm not one of those people, so to me, this recipe is vegan.

Right away I could see a difference in the batter. It was so light and fluffy, and I could eat as much as I wanted without fear of getting sick from the eggs. Logan loved it, too. He kept running up to me to lick my fingers.

The end result was amazing. The cookies taste the same, if not better than the regular recipe. They have a lighter feel, and are crunchy and chewy at the same time. Imagine that. And they pair very well with homemade almond milk. I'll definitely make these again, even for non vegans. Sorry mom, but I've found a new recipe to pass on!

Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies

Makes 4 dozen

• 1 cup of vegetable shortening
• 3/4 cup of white sugar
• 3/4 cup of brown sugar
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup applesauce
• 2 1/4 cups of flour
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• vegan chocolate bar/chips

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Cream the shortening and the sugars with an electric mixer. Add vanilla, followed by the applesauce.

With a wooden spoon, mix in the flour, salt and baking soda.

Add the chocolate.

Drop tablespoon sized balls of dough on a greased cookie sheet and bake for 10 minutes.