Ginger Snap Cookies

Today I was planning on making some cookies to have available for the weekend. I went straight to one of my favorite food blogs, elanaspantry.com , she posts delicious recipes that are gluten free and can be converted to meet all sorts of food issues (ie, vegan, dairy free, sugar free etc...)

I have previously been making her chocolate chip cookies as a go-to cookie but wanted something different. And, I found it. A ginger cookie. Here's her recipe...

http://www.elanaspantry.com/ginger-cookies

Ginger Cookies
2 ½ cups blanched almond flour
½ teaspoon celtic sea salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 tablespoons ground ginger
½ cup grapeseed oil
¼ cup yacon syrup
½ cup agave nectar
1 tablespoon lemon zest

1. In a large bowl, combine almond flour, salt, baking soda and ginger
2. In a medium bowl, combine grapeseed oil, yacon, agave and lemon zest
3. Mix the wet ingredients into the dry
4. Scoop 1 tablespoon of dough at a time onto a parchment lined baking sheet
5. Bake at 350° for 7-10 minutes, until tops start to crack
6. Cool and serve

I actually wanted to make a few changes to accommodate our needs and the ingredients I had available so here's is my version:

Ginger Snaps:
2-1/2c Bob's Red Mill Almond Flour
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 tablespoons ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2c canola oil
1/4c organic sorghum molasses
1/2c Suzanne's Specialties original brown rice syrup
1 tablespoon lemon zest

Pre-heat the oven to 350


First gather up all of your ingredients to your workspace.

Next, in a large bowl combine the almond flour, baking soda, salt, ground ginger and cinnamon. In a large measuring cup combine the oil, molasses, rice syrup and lemon zest and whisk together until well blended. Pour wet into dry and stir. This is a thick dough but it should not be sticky.

Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. I used a tablespoon of dough per cookie and rolled each one into a ball and then pressed flat. Bake for about 10 minutes until they are golden and have cracked on the top.


Take them out of the oven and let cool. Although to be perfectly honest we ate some nice and warm and they were delicious. Be aware, the ginger flavor seems subtle at first but builds as you eat the cookie until it is full bodied and wonderful.

Raw Chocolate Pudding

It's been a whilr since I've posted anything new here, I guess life has been busy. I just made this delicious dessert that an acquaintance of mine from Athens, GA came up with. Her name is Holly Riley and she has a creative flair in the kitchen. Trust me when I tell you that this pudding is absolutely delicious and catres to all my peeps who are Vegan, Gluten Free, Raw Fooders... Raw Pudding 2 ripe avacados 1 ripe banana 2 TBLS coconut oil 1/2 cup raw cacao 1/3 cup agave 1 tsp vanilla (alcohol free) dash salt dash cinnamon if you found it enjoyable you can check out some of her other ideas at www.growingrileys.blogspot.com

Happy New Year

Well, I'm a little slow on the uptake here but I have a delicious recipe to share. It's a Veteto family New Year's Day tradition and I am just about to sit down and eat it up.

A number of years ago when I started spending New Year's Eve with my in-laws, I tased these yummy black eye peas for the first time and have looked forward to them every year since. Sorry I didn't remember to post this earlier so you could enjoy it today, but I will try my best to remember for next time around.

1c canola oil
1 clove garlic sliced
1/2 tsp salt
1/4c white vinegar
1 small onion sliced into rings
1 small red bell pepper sliced
2 cans of black eye peas (often I cook 1-2c dried black eyes and use those, this year I bought eden brand)

I also add a picnch of black pepper and this year I dropped a dried chile into the mix.

Mix all the ingredients together in a dish and let sit, ideally for a few days to soak in all the flavors. Heat before serving and eat with fresh collards.

enjoy.

In the spirit 2010

As I sit beside the fire with the Christmas aglow I am feeling warm and in the spirit as it were. I have been spending Christmas in Hot Springs, AR for about a decade now and every year I have begun to feel more and more a part of the Veteto/Neff holiday triditons. This year especially I feel as if I am a real partof the ritual. Over the years I have added to the traditions by bringing in a Praline cookie from Caroline Ellick, a homemade eggnog for Christmas eve, and a Cookie Tree that becomes the center piece for the table decor.

The sugar cookie recipe comes from Betty Crocker and while I do use all organic ingredients it's not really a healthy cookie, although it's sweet and delicious.

1-1/2c powder sugar
1c softened butter
1 egg
1tsp vanilla
1/2tsp almond flavor
2-1/2c all purpose flour
1tsp baking soda
1tsp cream of tartar

Cream together sugar and butter. Add egg and flavorings. Mix dry ingredients together and add to the rest. Refrigerate 2 hours.

Divide dough in half and roll out to 1/4 inch and cut into stars of varying sizes. I have a set of star cutters that dcerease in size just for this. Bake for 8-10 minutes until barely golden.
I used powdered sugar, a little milk, melted butter and food coloring to make a green icing. The icing served as a bonding agent to hold the stars together. So I just drizzled the icing between each layer and stacked them up.

After I stacked all the cookies up I then drizzled the reast of the icing over the top and allowed it to drip down and cover the cookies. Then I used colored sprinkles and non-parils to decorate the tree.

The top star I coated in yellow sugar (because I was too lazy to make more icing in yellow) and since Ian wanted snow I lined the base with marshmallows. Viola a holiday center piece that it nice to look at and serves as dessert.

Although I didn't do it, I'm sure you can make this tree with gluten free, dairy free, egg free cookies and toppings.

I just want to end today by sending warm wishes to everyone's hearth. As we move through the winter, having just past the solstice, may you all be warm and well nourished. May the deep winter spirits seep into you and help you gether energy for the coming spring. Happy Holidays!!

Best Vegan Mac and Cheese Ever

I tried this recently at a potluck and it was awesome. So today I made it and it is still awesome. It's not my recipe but I found it online and I wanted to share it with all of you!!! Enjoy.

Best Vegan Mac and Cheese in the entire world...seriouslyIngredients (use vegan versions):

1 1/2 pounds pasta of your choice, preferably macaroni

"Cheese" Sauce: 1
1/2 cups unsweetened nondairy milk
1 1/2 cups nutritional yeast
1 cup canola or vegetable oil
1 cup water
1/3 cup tamari or soy sauce
1/4 (12-ounce) block of firm (not silken) tofu
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon paprika
1 tablespoon vegesal or in lack of fancy product, just use salt
1 dollop mustard, optional

Directions:1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Boil water in a big pot and cook pasta according to package directions.
2. Add all of the "cheese" sauce ingredients in a blender and process until smooth. Once pasta is cooked, drain and put it in the baking pan (about the size of a brownie pan). Pour the "cheese" sauce over the pasta.
3. Bake until the top of the pasta looks slightly browned and crispy, about 15 minutes, but not too crispy because that is gross. This is very simple and tastes amazing!I honestly do not know the serving information or nutritional content I can tell you it feeds a heck of a lot of people and if you are cooking for yourself it will last about 5 days if you eat it for all three meals of the day.Serves: a lot;

Preparation time: about 8 minutes; Cooking Time: 15 minutes

Kraut

So, one of my goals this fall was to have continual frementation going on. I started about a monh ago or so and have been alternating between batched os kimchi and sauerkraut. I have been using the book Wild Fermentation by Sandor Katz as my guide. He is a true genius when it comes to fermented foods and I hope you will check out his website at http://wildfermentation.com/ .

I started with a head of green cabbage from the local store and a few collard and mustard leaves from the garden.

I had about a T of salt. I have sort of taken Sandy's lead and try to just salt by feel.

In the fridge I had saved some finely sliced cauliflower stem and decided to add them to the mix.

After chopping up the cabbage into fine slices, I alternated handfuls of my brassicas with pinches of salt and, using my hands, massaged the salt into greens. Then I tightly packed it into my ceramic fermenting crock.

I just happen to have a small plate that fits perfectly into the crock and so I used that to weight the cabbage down and cause enough pressure to help the salt draw the moisture out of the cabbage.

Finally I coverd the crock and allowed it to set in a nice corner of my kitchen to ferment and turn delicious.

Kimchi = yum

After many years of admiring Sandor Katz, I finally got his fantastic book Wild Fermentation.
If you like to ferment foods and you do not have this book, you are completely missing out. It is well worth the price and will provide really good information as well as instruction. If you want to see more of what Sandor is up to you can check out his website
http://www.wildfermentation.com/

Over the past decade I have been present at many of his fermentation workshops. There have been times when I have made sauerkraut and pickles (although I haven't had the best luck with pickles) as well as kombucha, and I love to eat good fermented foods. For years now I've talked about adding fermenting into my life in a more regular and permanent way. However, life moves along swiftly sometimes and intentions get stuck in brambles on the banks.

Finally last week I felt like it was time to really get going. So I pulled the cabbage and carrots out of the fridge, the garlic and ginger from the shelf, and the wakame and dried peppers (which is all I had) from the cabinet and set to work following in the wise words of Sandor Ellix Katz.

The vegetables soaking in brine.

onion being grated for the spice paste

grated ginger for the spice paste

viola! the finished product packed tight into this wonderful lidded jar we received many years ago from some old friends.

We loved the finished product. It wasn't too spicy, but had a little kick and that was just right for us. In fact we like dit so much that it is now gone and a new batch is in the works. I couldn't believe how easy it was to produce this delicious treat that will surely become a staple of our diet.

side note*** If you like to ferment foods and have to grate things like onions and ginger a lot for pastes, I would highly recommend investing in a Japanese ginger grater. They are very affordable and they do a great job of completely breaking down whatever your grating.

Mudballs

This recipe was given to me by a friend who also loves to experiment with foods and try new things. The first time I tasted them, I instantly fell in love.

You can check out her other trials at http://growingrileys.blogspot.com/

I tweeked it just a bit, so here you go. I hope you too enjoy these delicious sweets that have no refined sugar or dairy.

Mudballs

1C walnuts halves or pieces
1/2c raisins
1/2c dates (pitted)
1/2c cocoa powder plus and extra 1/4 -1/2c (unsweetened, raw would be super)
2T coconut oil
1/2c unsweetened shredded coconut

Combine all ingredients excepts extra cocoa powder and shredded coconut in a food processor. Blend until smooth. Add enough of the extra cocoa powder to make the mixture a bit drier and that doesn't feel too oily when rolling. Roll into walnut sized ball and then roll in shredded coconut to coat. Can be put in the refigerator to harden or eaten right away. Sinfully delicious without the need to feel guilty.

Cornbread Recipe

This cornbread is delicious, light and fluffy and a family favorite. It came to me from my mother-in-law Jeanne Veteto.

1C cornmeal
1C sifted flour
1/8C sugar (optional)
4tsp baking powder
1/2tsp salt
1 egg
1C milk
1/4C shortening

preheat oven to 425 degrees

sift dry ingredients together. add shortening, milk and eggs and beat until smooth. pour in greased 8inch pan or size 6 skillet or will make a dozen muffins. bake 15-20 minutes until toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Mooless Chocolate Pie

Here is a delicious recipe adapted from my friend Amy. She came over this weekend with her fmaily and we had such a blast. Of course the lake fun was topped off by this awesome and super easy dessert. Enjoy!


2c Chocolate chips (use grain sweetened if you want)
1/2c Soymilk
1t Vanilla extract
16oz Silken tofu
1T Agave nectar

Pre-made pie crust, either bought or made ahead of time.

1. Melt chocolate chips in soymilk and then stir in vanilla.
2. Combine tofu, chocolate mixture and agave nectar in a blender until smooth.
3. Pour into pie crust and chill at least 2 hours.

Chilled Cucumber Vegetable Soup

I wanted to share this great cooling summertime recipe that I came up with yesterday. We really enjoyed and maybe you will too.


2T olive oil
1T minced garlic
1/2 onion diced
1- 1/4" piece of fresh ginger
1 bay leaf

3C peeled, seeded, cubed cucumbers
1 medium sweet potato peeled and cubed
1C seeded and diced watermelon
1 small beet peeled and diced
1/4C fresh basil leaves
3/4tsp sea salt
1/2tsp dill
white pepper to taste

2C broth of your choosing

*Heat olive oil in a medium sized pot. Add garlic, onion, ginger and bay leaf and sautee until onion browns slightly. Add remaining ingredients excpet broth and sautee about 3-5 minutes stirring often. Pour both into pot and bring to a boil. Turn heat down and simmer covered for about 25 minutes (or until all vegetables are soft and cooked through). Allow to cool to room temperature. Remove bay leaf (and ginger if you wish) and pour into a food processor. Process until the soup is rich and creamy. Refrigerate about an hour before eating.